Showing posts with label Alphabet Challenge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alphabet Challenge. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 17, 2024

Spicy Orange Braised Short Ribs

Orange juice adds a lovely sweetness to these spicy orange braised short ribs. Slow cooking intensifies the flavors and the ribs melt in your mouth.

Food Lust People Love: Orange juice adds a lovely sweetness to these spicy orange braised short ribs. Slow cooking intensifies the flavors and the ribs melt in your mouth.

Despite their "golden riches" symbolism in Chinese culture, I didn’t think that oranges featured in many otherwise Chinese-inspired savory dishes. I certainly don’t remember any from the many years we lived in Malaysia and Singapore where Chinese restaurants abound.

But I was wrong! A simple search reveals, that as usual *deep sigh* everyone from Serious Eats to Kroger. com, for goodness’ sake, has an orange braised beef short rib recipe online. It’s hard to be original in this world. That said, I’m here to tell you, orange juice and zest are great additions and that’s probably why they are popular. 

Spicy Orange Braised Short Ribs

Short ribs are such a succulent cut but they do release a lot of fat when slow cooked till tender. If you want to discard most of the fat, cook this ahead of the day you’d like to serve it. You will have time to chill it overnight and remove most of the fat that rises to the top and hardens. My method below includes that step. 

Ingredients
3 lbs 5 oz or 1.5kg short ribs
1 tablespoon five-spice powder
Fine sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1/2 cup or 120ml soy sauce
2 cups or 480ml fresh orange juice
1 celery stick, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 thumbs fresh ginger, peeled and minced
2 red chili peppers, minced
2 tablespoons salted black beans, rinsed
1 orange
1 star anise
1 bay leaf

To serve: small handful cilantro, chopped plus more for garnish, if desired


Method
Using a sharp knife, cut off the zest of the orange in strips, as whole as possible, but thin, no white pith. Peel and chop the onion and garlic. Peel and slice the ginger. Remove the stems and cut the red chili peppers into two halves and chop the celery stick. 


Tuck the spare ribs in a Dutch oven that has a tightly fitting lid and sprinkle them with the five-spice powder, fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. 


Add in the sesame oil, soy sauce then orange juice. 


Tuck the chili peppers, ginger, garlic, salted black beans, star anise and bay leaf on and amongst the ribs. 


Top with the chopped onions and celery. 


Put the pot on the stovetop over medium heat and bring to a low boil. Cover with tightly fitting lid and lower the heat to simmer. Cook for about four hours., checking occasionally to make sure it isn’t drying out. 


My LeCreuset Dutch oven really seals well and I don’t have to add water, but I know that not all pots are that great.  Add a little water, if needed from time to time.

If you have planned ahead as I mentioned above, pour the cooking liquid into a heatproof bowl. Pick out all the bones that have separated from the meat in the pot and discard them. 

Add the meat into the cooking liquid and chill overnight. The next day, carefully remove the solidified fat and discard. 


Rewarm the short ribs and stir in the small handful of cilantro.

Food Lust People Love: Orange juice adds a lovely sweetness to these spicy orange braised short ribs. Slow cooking intensifies the flavors and the ribs melt in your mouth.

I recommend serving the ribs with mashed potatoes or rice because of all the lovely gravy. Garnish with extra cilantro, if desired.

Food Lust People Love: Orange juice adds a lovely sweetness to these spicy orange braised short ribs. Slow cooking intensifies the flavors and the ribs melt in your mouth.

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 15th addition to the 2024 Alphabet Challenge, brought to you by the letter O. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the N recipes below:



Pin these Spicy Orange Braised Short Ribs! 

Food Lust People Love: Orange juice adds a lovely sweetness to these spicy orange braised short ribs. Slow cooking intensifies the flavors and the ribs melt in your mouth.

 .



Wednesday, July 3, 2024

Miso Butter Noodles

These Miso Butter Noodles are savory and rich, with crunchy snow peas and slivers of green onions. Add some shichimi togarashi for a little spiciness.

Food Lust People Love: These Miso Butter Noodles are savory and rich, with crunchy snow peas and slivers of green onions. Add some shichimi togarashi for a little spiciness.

Everyday my husband forwards me his email from New York Times Cooking with lots of great recipe links and meal ideas. I don’t read them every single day so sometimes I find myself catching up a week or more. 

A while back, there was a recipe for miso butter pasta which caught my eye. Goodness knows that there were plenty of times I ate plain buttered noodles growing up and the addition of miso would add a welcome savory hit for my now very adult palate.

I saved the recipe to my “recipe box” then promptly forgot about it. Then a couple of weeks ago, our daughter made miso butter chicken for dinner and it all came back to me. Miso butter noodles was again on the list. 

Miso Butter Noodles

The original NYT Cooking recipe used dried pasta and, in addition to the salty miso, Parmesan cheese. I decided to lighten mine up by adding the snow peas and green onions to fresh egg noodles and omit the Parmesan. Excellent decision. Makes about 4 servings.

Ingredients
2 green onions 
5 1/3 oz or 150g snow peas
1 lb 4 oz or 565g fresh egg noodles
1/3 cup or 75g butter
4 teaspoons miso
Generous couple of sprinkles shichimi togarashi or crushed red pepper

Optional for serving: Shichimi togarashi or crushed red pepper

Method
Slice the green onions (white and green parts) and snow peas into narrow strips.


Bring a large pan of salted water to boil, add the fresh noodles and cook them over medium-high heat for 1 minute.


Remove the noodles to a colander with tongs and rinse. 


Add the strips of snow peas to the pot. Cook for 1 minute then drain them, reserving 1 cup or 240ml of the cooking water. 


Rinse the snow peas in cool water to stop them cooking and set aside.


Add half of the reserved water into a saucepan, along with the butter and miso. 


Whisk over medium heat until the butter is melted and everything is combined into a homogeneous liquid.


Add the drained noodles into the pan. 


Use tongs to vigorously stir them over low-medium heat for a few minutes, until the liquid emulsifies and smoothly and evenly coats the noodles.


Add in most of the green onions, saving a few bits for garnish, and the parboiled snow peas strips. 


Stir them in and cook briefly until they are heated through. Sprinkle with shichimi togarashi or crushed red pepper and stir again.
 

If at any point the sauce gets too dry and the noodles stick together a bit, stir in a bit extra noodle water to make it smooth and glossy again.

Serve topped with the reserved green onions and some more shichimi togarashi or crushed red pepper, if desired.

Food Lust People Love: These Miso Butter Noodles are savory and rich, with crunchy snow peas and slivers of green onions. Add some shichimi togarashi for a little spiciness.

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 14th addition to the 2024 Alphabet Challenge, brought to you by the letter N. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the N recipes below:

N. Miso Butter Noodles - this post!


Pin these Miso Butter Noodles!

Food Lust People Love: These Miso Butter Noodles are savory and rich, with crunchy snow peas and slivers of green onions. Add some shichimi togarashi for a little spiciness.

 .

Wednesday, June 19, 2024

Fresh Mint Sauce

Sharp and bright, this fresh mint sauce is the perfect, classic accompaniment for roasted and grilled lamb. Make it at least one hour ahead of serving to allow the ingredients time to meld together.

Food Lust People Love: Sharp and bright, this fresh mint sauce is the perfect, classic accompaniment for roasted and grilled lamb. Make it at least one hour ahead of serving to allow the ingredients time to meld together..

I know it’s not eaten as commonly in the US as it is in the UK, but lamb is becoming more readily available, at least in Houston, and that is a good thing. It’s one of our favorite animal proteins.

If you live in the States, I can highly recommend the lamb chops that Costco stocks. They are tender and usually quite thick cut so they are great on a charcoal grill. If you live in the UK, Australia or New Zealand, you are spoiled for choice of lamb cuts and sources!

We recently spent a week in Wales and were in absolute lamb-y heaven. We even managed to source hogget (lamb 1-2 years old) from a well-stocked local butcher and salt march lamb, raised in the Gower on the southern coast from the farm shop

If your mint plants are anything like mine, they grow wild in the summer. Now is a fabulous time to make fresh mint sauce.  

Fresh Mint Sauce

My sprigs of mint weighed 125g. Strip the mint leaves from the stalks. Keep the leaves and discard the stalks. This recipe is adapted from one on Fuss Free Flavors.

Ingredients
1 cup, packed, or 54g fresh mint leaves
4 teaspoons sugar
3 tbsp boiling water
3 tbsp white wine vinegar
Good pinch fine sea salt

Method
Place the mint leaves on a chopping board. Spoon the sugar on top


Rock your very sharp knife back and forth through the mint to chop it. Push it into a pile again, and chop some more. 


Keep going until it is chopped very finely.


Transfer the mint and sugar mixture to a small bowl. Add the boiling water, and mix together, using a wooden spatula or spoon so you can pound the mint gently to soften it. 


Add the vinegar and the pinch of salt and mix together. 


Leave to stand for at least an hour to allow the flavors to meld. I tasted this immediately and thought, “Oh, no, this isn’t like the mint sauce I’m used to.” An hour later and it was much nicer than store-bought!

Serve alongside/on top of your favorite lamb roast or grilled lamb steaks or chops.

Food Lust People Love: Sharp and bright, this fresh mint sauce is the perfect, classic accompaniment for roasted and grilled lamb. Make it at least one hour ahead of serving to allow the ingredients time to meld together..

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 13th addition to the 2024 Alphabet Challenge, brought to you by the letter M. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the M recipes below:


M. Fresh Mint Sauce - this post!


Pin this Fresh Mint Sauce!

Food Lust People Love: Sharp and bright, this fresh mint sauce is the perfect, classic accompaniment for roasted and grilled lamb. Make it at least one hour ahead of serving to allow the ingredients time to meld together..

 .

Wednesday, June 5, 2024

Easy Lamb and Fresh Tomato Curry

Ripe, juicy tomatoes add a wonderful fresh zing to the fragrant sauce in this easy lamb and fresh tomato curry. Cook it down slowly to intensify the flavors.

Food Lust People Love: Ripe, juicy tomatoes add a wonderful fresh zing to the fragrant sauce in this easy lamb and fresh tomato curry. Cook it down slowly to intensify the flavors.

Many years ago, my husband and I were living in Abu Dhabi where there is a large Indian and Pakistani population so good curry restaurants abound. We either ate out or ordered in at least once a week. 

He always got the chicken jalfrezi, a relatively dry curry with lots of peppers, tomatoes and tender chicken. I always ordered the chicken maharajah, which came covered in the richest, most succulent sauce. There might well have been ground cashews in there. When I close my eyes, I can still taste it!

Here’s the rub. He always wanted some of my sauce! Nice person that I am, I did share, but not without thinking to myself that he could order his own darn sauce. Am I right?

These days I am way more likely to cook curry at home than to go out, so I always make sure it’s a saucy dish. This particular curry is full of flavor and, thanks to puréed fresh tomatoes, it has plenty of sauce to go round for all the family. 

Easy Lamb and Fresh Tomato Curry

I know that not everyone is fond of lamb. If you aren’t lovers of lamb, by all means substitute beef. For me, curry is all about the sauce and this dish is one of my favorites, whatever protein you choose.

Ingredients
1 lb 13 oz or 840g lamb ribs, chopped into bite­sized pieces 
1 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more to taste when the dish has finished cooking
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon vinegar
4 large ripe tomatoes (1 lb 113⁄4 oz or 786g) 
1/4 cup or 60ml olive oil for browning the lamb 
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 red chili peppers, minced
3 tablespoons curry paste
1⁄4 cup or 60g plain yogurt
Good handful cilantro, chopped

Optional for garnish:
dollop of yogurt
chopped cilantro

Method
Chop the lamb into bite-sized pieces and put them in a non-reactive bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Add vinegar and toss to coat. Set aside to marinate.


Core your tomatoes, cut them in quarters and pop them in a blender. Process until completely liquid. You might have to add about 1/4-1/2 cup of water to get them moving.

In a large skillet over a medium high heat, heat the olive oil and brown the lamb in batches, and remove to a plate.


Add the sliced onion to the pan and cook for a few minutes, until softened. Add in the garlic and chili peppers and stir.

Add in the curry paste. Stir and fry for a few more minutes.


Put lamb back in the pan, along with any juices that accumulated on the plate. Stir well to cover the lamb with the curry paste, onions and garlic.


Pour in the puréed fresh tomatoes. 


Stir well. Bring to the boil then reduce the fire to a slow simmer.

Cook covered for 45 minutes or until the lamb is tender, stirring occasionally.

Remove the lid and simmer until the liquid has reduced by half, so the sauce is thick and concentrated. This could take another 10­-15 minutes. Taste for salt and add more if necessary.

Finish by stirring through the plain yogurt and chopped cilantro.


Garnish with a dollop more of the yogurt and cilantro in your serving dish, if desired. Serve with rice or naan.

Food Lust People Love: Ripe, juicy tomatoes add a wonderful fresh zing to the fragrant sauce in this easy lamb and fresh tomato curry. Cook it down slowly to intensify the flavors.

Enjoy!

Welcome to the 12th addition to the 2024 Alphabet Challenge, brought to you by the letter L. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the L recipes below:



Pin this Lamb and Fresh Tomato Curry! 

Food Lust People Love: Ripe, juicy tomatoes add a wonderful fresh zing to the fragrant sauce in this easy lamb and fresh tomato curry. Cook it down slowly to intensify the flavors.

 .

Tuesday, May 21, 2024

Korean Barbecue-style Meatballs

These tasty Korean barbecue-style meatballs are made with both pork and beef, seasoned with garlic, ginger, brown sugar, soy and gochujang paste. Roasted in a hot oven, they caramelize beautifully! 

Food Lust People Love: These tasty Korean barbecue-style meatballs are made with both pork and beef, seasoned with garlic, ginger, brown sugar, soy and gochujang paste. Roasted in a hot oven, they caramelize beautifully!

Serve these delightful sweet and savory bites simply with forks or toothpicks as an appetizer or with rice and/or vegetables as a main course. I like to drizzle the rice with kecap manis – sweet soy sauce – or just more regular soy sauce. Either way, the meatballs are wonderful and bursting with flavor.

Korean Barbecue-style Meatballs

The meatball mixture can be made ahead, covered and refrigerated for three hours or even overnight. You can use all beef for the mixture but make sure it is at least 80 lean/20 percent fat so you don’t end up with dry meatballs. I prefer the mix of beef and pork. This recipe is adapted from one in New York Times Cooking. cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019763-korean-barbecue-style-meatballs

Ingredients
8 oz or 225g ground beef 
8 oz or 225g ground pork 
4 whole green onions/scallions
2 in or 5cm knob fresh ginger, peeled
5 cloves garlic 
1/2 cup or 38g panko 
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons gochujang paste
2 tablespoons, firmly packed, dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
A few generous grinds of black pepper

Optional to garnish: chopped cilantro or parsley leaves

Method
Heat your oven to 425° or 218°C. Use a small food processor to mince the ginger, garlic and the white parts of your green onions. Chop the green part of the green onions with a sharp knife.


In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients, including the minced items and the chopped green onion.  


Use your hands or a firm spatula to gently mix it all together till homogeneous.


At this point of any meatball or patty recipe, I always recommend you cook just a little of the mixture to see if it needs more salt. This pan is my tiny one for frying a single egg so you can see how little I cooked. Add more salt, if needed. 


Use a spoon or small cookie dough scoop to divide the meat mixture on to a baking pan lined with foil or a silicone liner. With damp hands, shape the meat into balls. As you can see from the baked photo. I made 27 bite-sized balls.


Bake until golden and cooked through, about 10-12 minutes. Broil for a further 2-3 minutes if you’d like them darker brown. The pan looks like the juices burned but I am here to tell you that once it cooled, we were scraping that off with our bare fingers and eating it! So good! 


Serve warm, sprinkled with a little chopped cilantro or parsley, if desired.

Food Lust People Love: These tasty Korean barbecue-style meatballs are made with both pork and beef, seasoned with garlic, ginger, brown sugar, soy and gochujang paste. Roasted in a hot oven, they caramelize beautifully!

If you are going the rice route, pop the meatballs on top with a little extra soy or sweet soy sauce. 

Food Lust People Love: These tasty Korean barbecue-style meatballs are made with both pork and beef, seasoned with garlic, ginger, brown sugar, soy and gochujang paste. Roasted in a hot oven, they caramelize beautifully!

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 11th addition to the 2024 Alphabet Challenge, brought to you by the letter K. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the K recipes below:



Here are my posts for the alphabet challenge, thus far:
A: Anchovy Deviled Eggs
B: Spicy Braised Ginger Pork Belly
C: Cecilie's Favorite Coleslaw
D: Cajun Chicken Eggplant Dressing
E: Everything Pizza Tartin
F: Baked Chicken and Feta Meatballs
G: Grape Juice Jigglers
H: Crispy Bacon-wrapped Chicken Hearts
I: Raspberry Rhubarb Ice Cream
J: Java Dry Spice Mix Chops 
K. Korean Barbecue-style Meatballs - this post!


Pin these Korean Barbecue-style Meatballs! 

Food Lust People Love: These tasty Korean barbecue-style meatballs are made with both pork and beef, seasoned with garlic, ginger, brown sugar, soy and gochujang paste. Roasted in a hot oven, they caramelize beautifully!

 .

Wednesday, May 8, 2024

Java Dry Spice Mix Chops

These java dry spice mix chops are seared for a few minutes in a hot grill pan, then finished off in a hot oven, which keeps them tender and juicy. The java dry spice rub is made with ground roasted coffee beans, cumin, brown sugar, smoked paprika and garlic powder. And, of course, salt! 

Food Lust People Love: These java dry spice mix chops are seared for a few minutes in a hot grill pan, then finished off in a hot oven, which keeps them tender and juicy. The java dry spice rub is made with ground roasted coffee beans, cumin, brown sugar, smoked paprika and garlic powder. And, of course, salt!

This is probably my favorite homemade spice mix. The roasted coffee really adds a depth of flavor that goes so well with pork. So well, in fact, that I also use it on whole pork roasts. If you have a sous vide precision cooker, you'll want to have a look at my sous vide java dry spice pork roast recipe. Boy, howdy, it is good! 

Java Dry Spice Mix Chops

Apologies for the lack of photos of the pork chops being cooked in the griddle pan. Lighting wasn't great but I hope I have made up for it with good instructions. Should you have a question, please leave me a comment. 

Ingredients
2 thick cut pork chops, untrimmed 
3­-4 teaspoons java dry spice rub (Get the recipe here: Java Dry Spice Rub)

Tools needed
heavy grill pan 
wooden skewers

Method
Wash the pork chops and dry them slightly with a paper towel. Sprinkle the chops liberally with the java dry spice rub and use your clean hands to rub it all over.


Cover the chops with cling film and refrigerator at least half an hour or longer if you have the time. 

When you are ready to cook the pork chops, preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C and remove the chops from the refrigerator. 

When the oven is just about at temperature, heat your grill pan or an iron skillet over a medium high flame. 

Use several wooden skewers to pin your chops together, fat/skin side together. Once the pan is hot, stand the chops up fat/skin side down for 4­-5 minutes. 


Move them around the pan to take advantage of the heat to render the fat and get the skin a bit crispy. 

Transfer the chops to a plate and remove the skewers. 

Put the chops back in the pan, this time on their sides and set a timer for 3 minutes. 

When the timer rings, turn the chops over and set it for another 3 minutes. 

Repeat, giving the chops only 1 minute on each side. If you want to get fancy, turn the chops so the grill lines cross. 

Transfer the grill pan to your preheated oven and roast for a further 8-10­ minutes. You can cut near the bone to check for doneness. (If you have a meat thermometer, the ideal temperature is 145°F or 62.8°C.) The pork can be slightly pink. It will continue to cook as it rests. 

Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving. 

Food Lust People Love: These java dry spice mix chops are seared for a few minutes in a hot grill pan, then finished off in a hot oven, which keeps them tender and juicy. The java dry spice rub is made with ground roasted coffee beans, cumin, brown sugar, smoked paprika and garlic powder. And, of course, salt!

Enjoy! 


Welcome to the 10th addition to the 2024 Alphabet Challenge, brought to you by the letter J. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the J recipes below:



J: Java Dry Spice Mix Chops - this post!



Pin these Java Dry Spice Rub Chops!

Food Lust People Love: These java dry spice mix chops are seared for a few minutes in a hot grill pan, then finished off in a hot oven, which keeps them tender and juicy. The java dry spice rub is made with ground roasted coffee beans, cumin, brown sugar, smoked paprika and garlic powder. And, of course, salt!

 .