Korean BBQ Beef Short Ribs (Galbi) & Veggies

A guaranteed chop-licker this one. The longer you marinade, the better it gets. For best results marinade overnight and use beef short-ribs. Serve with steamed rice, stir-fried bok-choy and cucumber salad.



















Ingredients (serves 4)

Marinade:

• 1 tbs soy-sauce
• 1 tbs honey
• 1 tbs sesame oil
• 4 cloves garlic crushed & chopped
  
• 3 spring-onions finely chopped
  
• 1/4 cup mirin rice-wine
• 1 tsp salt

• 2 lb beef short-ribs

Veggies:

• 2-3 bok-choy cabbages
• 1/2 inch fresh ginger
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 spring-onions
• oil for frying

• 1 cucumber
• fresh cilantro (coriander)
• soy-sauce
• sesame oil

• & steamed rice

Instructions

Marinade the beef
1. In a bowl mix the marinade ingredients.






































2. Mix the beef and marinade in a plastic bag and refrigerate. At least for a couple of hours, ideally overnight.












Cucumber salad
1. Can be prepared in advance. Slice the cucumber in half lengthwise and scoop out the pips with a small spoon, then peel.

2. Chop the cucumber into small chunks and put into a bowl. Add chopped cilantro and a dash of soy-sauce and sesame oil. Cover and put into the fridge until ready to serve.











Stir-fried bok choy
1. Peel & slice the ginger, crush and chop the garlic and finely chop the spring-onions. Rinse and remove base from the boy-choy. If the leaves are fresh and small, you don't need to chop the boy-choy, just cook as-is.














2. The bok-choy only takes a couple of minutes to cook, so wait until the beef is done before cooking. Heat a wok, then add a dash of peanut oil (or olive oil if you want to be healthy...).

3. Wait until it smokes a little, then add the ginger, garlic and spring-onion. Cook for 10 seconds, then add the bok-choy. Stir-fry for a couple of minutes, then add a dash of soy-sauce and rice-wine. Cook for another 30 seconds, then serve.

Cook the beef and rice
1. Light-up the BBQ. Then start cooking the rice -- will take approx 12 minutes, so get it going while the BBQ lights up.

2. Drain the beef and start cooking.














3. Keep an eye on the beef, it will easily burn because of the honey in the marinade. Turn often. It will take about 3-4 minutes each side to cook the ribs.










4. Optional: keep a cast-iron pan on the BBQ to use for serving as well as cooking the beef if it starts to get too burned. Remove beef and garnish with freshly chopped cilantro.












Serve beef with veggies and rice.

French Roast Lamb and Whole Vegetables

Got this recipe from my new French cook book. I'm not sure there is anything particularly French about the recipe, but there are two interesting differences compared to other roast lamb recipes I've tried. First, no oil or butter is used -- the lamb is cooked in in it's own juices. Good for calorie counting I guesss. Second, vegetables are added whole (saves on the prep-time!) and cooked in the lamb juices. Results turned out pretty tres bien as you can see below.




















Ingredients (serves 4)

• 4lb leg of lamb
• 6 whole carrots
• 3 whole leeks
• 1/2 lb potatoes (sliced in half)
• 3 small courgettes (zuchinni)
• Fresh rosemary
• 6 cloves garlic (whole, unpealed)
• Salt and pepper
• Optional for gravy: red-wine, flour, chicken stock
  

Instructions:
1. Wash and clean the veg and lamb.











2. Heat oven to 400F. Put lamb in roasting dish with rosemary and garlic. Season well with salt and pepper.










3. Put lamb in oven for 15 minutes.











4. Meanwhile, bring a large pan of water to the boil. Add salt, then boil the potatoes for 5 minutes.










5. Add the potatoes to the lamb. Reduce heat to 350 F and cook for another 30 minutes.










6. Add the rest of the veg to the lamb, mix well to coat in the lamb's juices.











7. Cook until lamb is done - for medium, about 15 mins per pound. But better to invest in a meat thermometer for best results.











8. Remove lamb from the pan to rest for 10 mins. Keep vegetables warm. Make a gravy if you want. Add a dash of red-wine to the roasting tin and stir-well, then add a little-flour to thicken. Add chicken stock and heat for 5 mins until ready to serve.












9. Serve with a good red wine. C'est formidable!

Fresh herb tagliatelle with lobster

At $8 for a large lobster at HEB, this gourmet dish worked out pretty cheap. And it's simple and easy to prepare as well. Though it does help to have a pasta maker -- if you don't have one, roll the dough really thin and use a pizza slicer instead.
























Ingredients (serves 2)

• 3 eggs
  
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour + extra for dusting
• 1 bunch fresh parsely
• 1 bunch fresh basil
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 dried chilis
• olive oil
• salt to taste
• 1 large lobster (add another lobster for 4)
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 pepper corns
• freshly grated parmesan (or romano) cheese
  

1. Prepare the pasta

1. Rinse the herbs, peel and crush the garlic and put in a blender










2. Add a dash of olive oil and blend into a paste.











3. Put 2 2/2 cups of flour into a food processor. Add the lightly beaten eggs and the herb paste.




















4. Mix in the food processor until a "crumbly" dough is formed. Take out from the food processor and shape into a ball. It will be slightly sticky. If it is too sticky, add a little flour and knead.











5. Cover with cling-film and leave for 20 minutes.











6. Assemble your pasta maker and lightly dust with flour.










7. Tear-off a piece of dough and roughly flatten. Dust a little if it is sticky.










8. Feed the dough into your pasta maker at it's highest setting. Continue to feed through adjusting the rollers until it gets to the desired thickness (or thinness :)) . For tagliatelle, I find it better to use the second-thinnest setting.













9. Once the dough is flat, change to the tagliatelle setting and pass through. Lightly dust and curl into a circle.










10. Repeat until the dough is used up. This recipe is enough for 4 adults, if only 2 adults, then make the tagliatelle and freeze it for another day.











2. Cook the lobster

1. Bring two large pans of water to the boil. One for the pasta, the other for the lobster.

2. In the lobster pan, add some whole peppercorns, salt
and a couple of bay leaves.











3. Rinse the lobster under running water then gently put it in the pan, claws first. Leave to boil for about 10-12 minutes.











4. Remove the lobster and pierce the head, drain excess water.










5. Remove the claws and meat from the body. Coarsely chop the meat and place on the cooked pasta.


3. Cook the pasta
1. Add salt and a dash of olive oil to the other boiling pan of water.


2. Add the pasta, stir. It will only take 3-4 minutes to cook (al dente).










3. Drain the pasta and start heating a large frying pan.

4. Add a dash of olive oil, couple of dried chilis and crushed garlic to the pan. Fry for a minute.










5. Add the drained pasta to the pan and gently fry in the chili and garlic oil for a couple of minutes.










6. Serve pasta on plates, with lobster meat and claw on the side. Garnish with freshly grated Parmesan (or Romano) cheese and parsley sprigs. Serve with chilled Italian Pinot Grigio. If you want veggies, add a side salad or steamed asparagus.