Malaysian Spiced Beef

Recipe was in a cookbook I was given for my birthday.

The rice is just medium grain rice cooked in a rice cooker with a packet of Sason Goya Con Azafran which is a seasoning available in many grocery stores and most Asian and Mexican markets.




2 T. peanut or vegetable oil

3 lbs. flank steak cut across the grain into strips about 3 inches long and 1/2 inch wide. I used chuck roast.

2 large yellow onions, coarse chopped
3 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped

2T. sweet paprika
2 T. curry powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp.ground cloves
1/4 tsp. red pepper powder

2-inch cinnamon stick

1 can (14 oz) coconut milk plus enough water to make 2 cups
1 1/2 T. raw sugar

brown beef in oil, remove, add onions, garlic and ginger and sautee until wilted and browned, add back milk add rest of ingredients, cover and simmer on very low for 1 1/2 hours.  Serve over rice.

Lasagna

Very loosely based on Patsy's meatball lasagna. No meat balls in this one though.

1 1/2 lb. ground pork made with trimmings from spare ribs seasoned with pinch allspice, 1 T. salt, 1/2 tsp. garlic powder, 1 tsp. tarragon, 1 tsp. black pepper, 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes.  Mix and  refrigerate overnight

OR use store bought Italian sausage.

1 package Barilla lasagna noodles boiled in salted water 8-10 minutes

1 1/2 lb. hamburger

1 1/3 C freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese

3/4 C. fresh basil or 3-4 tablespoons dried or more to taste.

1 lb. fresh Mozzarella cheese

1 package shredded mozzarella cheese

1 C. fresh ricotta cheese

Brown sausage and beef, taste for seasoning. Add salt and pepper if needed.

line bottom of baking dish with non-stick foil, some sauce and a layer of noodles

layer 1/2 of the meat and 1/3 of the romano, basil and ricotta

ladle sauce and add another layer of noodles.  Add a layer of mozzarella, the rest of the meat, 1/3 of the romano, scatter pinches of the ricotta and basil leaves.

add another layer of noodles, mix rest of the ricotta with the rest of the sauce and spread over top

layer fresh mozzarella and top with shredded mozzarella.

Cover with foil and bake at 450 until bubbly, about 30 minutes. Uncover and continue baking until top is browned, about 5 minutes.

Smoked BBQ Spare Ribs

I got some spare ribs and trimmed them St. Louis. St. Louis isn't a special kind of rib or recipe, it means that regular spare ribs have been trimmer of the flap, the boneless part at the top of the ribs and the membrane plus have had the last couple of small ribs removed and extra fat trimmed away.  I had almost three pounds of trimmings which I ground up and will use part of it in a lasagna in the next few days and froze the rest, possibly to end up in a meatloaf at some future date.

I liberally rubbed the cut ribs with The Squeal Hog Rub from Oklahoma Joe's in Kansas City.


After marinating them in the rub wrapped in plastic and foil in the refrigerator over night,



I fired up the smoker. I use charcoal and hickory chunks, not chips. I do not soak the wood in water because I want it to smoke, not steam.  Blue smoke is good. If you can't see smoke but smell it, that is OK too.  You don't want billowing gray smoke.  That means the wood is burning, not smoking. That is not good tasting or good for you.  White smoke isn't smoke. It is steam and while steam is going to keep your meat moist, it also makes it difficult to control the heat in the smoke chamber and it does not add very much smoke flavor.



After 2 1/2 hours smoking, it was wrapped in foil and roasted for another 2 hours, then opened up, basted with a sauce- any saucy you like- over direct heat for a few minutes while the sauce cooked in. You have to watch it or it might burn.







It was just my son and I today so we had the ribs and some dinner rolls. Nothing else.

Fricase de Pollo.

Son found this recipe on line and wanted me to try it.  I also made some asparagus with cheese.

Son's SO said her dad made a recipe similar to this with left overs and they had it with flour tortillas. Son thinks it would be good with rice. He also thinks the original recipe is made with whole chicken pieces on the bone with skin.  He's probably right but I thought it would be easier to eat with the meat removed from the bone and skin.



Note I used the chicken bones, skin and back to make a broth which I used in this recipe instead of the water from the can of peas in the recipe. I used frozen peas instead of the canned.

Fricase de Pollo 4 servings.

1 tsp olive oil

2 oz ham, finely diced

1 green pepper, diced

 4 cloves, minced

1 tsp. dried oregano

2 sprigs fresh cilantro

3-lb chicken cut up into pieces

1/2 C. tomato sauce

1 bay leaf

12 stuffed olives

1 tsp. capers

1 Tbs. vinegar

3 tsp. Adobo with pepper 

2 med. potatoes, diced in 1/2-inch cubes

15 oz can sweet peas, drained, liquid reserved

Heat oil and brown ham. Add onion, pepper, garlic, oregano and cilantro. Simmer med heat, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes and addsauce, leaf, olives, dapeers, vinegar, adobo & potatoes.  Combine liquid from peasswith water to equal 2 1/2 C. & add, boil, covered on low heat for 45 minutes, stir occasionally. Stir in the peas, cook uncovered 5 minutes or until sauce is reduced and thickened.

Asparagus was steamed for about 5 minutes. Cheese sauce was just velveeta and parma cheese melted in milk.

New England boiled dinner

You'd think the middle of July was not the best time to make corned beef dinner but the kids asked me to make corned beef a couple weeks ago and it takes that long for it to cure in the refrigerator. It was ready to cook today and they really like this meal.  You could get store bought corned beef if you don't want to go to the trouble of making it but it is really really good.

Homemade Corned Beef 

INGREDIENTS

Serves 8.

• FOR THE BRINE

• 2 quarts water

• 1 cup coarse salt

• 1 tablespoon Morton's Tenderquick

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds, crushed

• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds, crushed

• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns, crushed

• 1 cinnamon stick, crushed

• 4 dried bay leaves, crushed

• 8 whole cloves

DIRECTIONS

1. Make the brine: Bring water to a boil in a large pot. Add salts, sugar, and spices; remove from heat, and stir until salts and sugar dissolve. Let cool.

2. Make the corned beef: Place brisket in a Seal A Meal plastic pouch and seal so it isn't vacuumed but with some room in the pouch for the cure and the brisket to marinate together.Pour cooled brine over meat. Seal, refrigerate for 2 weeks.

3. Rinse brisket; discard brine. Place in a large pot. Add enough water to cover by 2 inches. Add water to cover boil, then simmer 1 hour.  Drain water, rinse brisket, place in fresh water to cover and simmer another 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

4.  About 30 minutes before done, add turnips, cut up, small potatoes, carrots, mushrooms if desired, and cabbage wedges and boil until everything is crisp tender.S

5. Transfer corned beef to a cutting board. 

6. Trim excess fat from beef. Slice thinly against grain, and transfer to platter. Serve with vegetables.

Couscous was made from a box of Near East couscous with basil and herbs.

Not shown are chilled, from a can-beets,  and three bean salad.  We had birthday cake for dessert. 

Pizza today

Yesterday while making the mussels, I saw an unopened stick of pepperoni, some green and red bell peppers and decided to make pizza today. I didn't see the peppers today so forgot to put them in the pizza. The sauce was made with tomato sauce from a can plus onion, garlic, some basil from the garden and a fresh tomato from the garden. ( The first three tomatoes came off the vine today!), some sage and fennel.

Pizza had the sauce, parm cheese, and onions topped with hamburger, pepperoni, Genoa salami, ham and black olives. 

Stuffed mussels, salmon, salmon pizza, steamed clams and salmon dip

I forgot to take a picture of the salmon pizza so the picture here is one I made previously. Steamed clams were done in the microwave.






Salmon was cooked for about 35 minutes on the outdoor grill and stuffed mussels were

25 mussels, cleaned and de-bearded

3 tablespoons butter

1/2 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1/4 cup ham, finely diced

1/4 cup white wine

1/4 C. cream

about 1/4 C. dry bread crumbs

3 tablespoons chopped parsley

grated parmesan cheese to top

salt and pepper to taste

Frozen mussels in wine sauce put in a sauce pan and steamed about 7 minutes, removed and  added onion, ham and garlic cooked to the for broth a few minutes, cream and wine added and cooked a little more, bread crumbs added to make a paste, spooned over mussels, parm. cheese grated and sprinkled with parsley and baked 500º until heated through.

Served with crusty bread.

 Left over salmon was mixed with sour cream, mayo, hickory smoked salt and onions and a little mint to make dip.

Pork Chops

Today's dinner was really easy, almost all just open packages and dump.  It was still good though.

No pictures today.  Shake N Bake pork chops. Rubbed thick bone-in chops with mustard, then coated and baked.
 Stove Top stuffing for pork,  no extra stuff, fresh green beans made Southern style with bacon and onions and salt and simmered for about 30 minutes. then tasted for salt and added some butter, and pan fried potatoes with green and red bell peppers, mushrooms and onions and some mango apple sauce.

Eggplant Parmigiana

I always intended to make Eggplant Parmigiana someday.  Today was the day I finally did.  We all really liked it. Son said it was better than chicken parmigiana and I'd he would not mind if I made this again.  In other words, its a keeper.

Eggplant Parmigiana

2 to 3 eggs 

1 tablespoon grated Parmesan 

2 teaspoons dried parsley 

Black pepper 

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder 

2 cups bread crumbs 

2 medium size eggplants, peeled and thinly sliced 

Olive oil, to fry eggplant 

Tomato sauce- I used Barilla Marinara 

2 medium size mozzarella- I used fresh mozzarella. Well not freshly made but the fresh lump kind at the grocery store.

Amounts of all ingredients would depend on how many pieces of eggplant you are preparing. 

Beat together the eggs, cheese, parsley, pepper, and garlic powder. 

Dip the sliced eggplant pieces into the egg mixture and then into the bread crumbs, so that they're nicely coated. Fry each piece in olive oil until very brown on both sides. 

Change oil occasionally if the bread crumbs that fall off into the oil start to get burnt.

As the eggplant pieces are done, you can drain them on a paper towel and then place them in a baking pan. When you have enough for one layer, coat the layer generously with tomato sauce.  On top of that, sprinkle grated mozzarella generously. Keep repeating layers. Make sure the sides of your pan get some sauce, too. 

Bake it in a preheated 350 degree F until the cheese melts and the sauce is bubbly, about 15 or 20 minutes. Check from time to time so the cheese does not brown too much..

Wasabi-Crusted chicken breasts

Chicken breast with teriyaki sauce, rice and 4 kinds of kimchee

Cassie gave me this recipe to try.  Kimchee (s) were Asian Market bought. Owner told me that the were all freshly made.

Wasabi-Crusted Chicken Breasts

1 1/4 C. Panko bread crumbs

4 tsp. wasabi powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

2 eggs beaten to blend

4 skinless boneless chicken breasts flattened to 1/3 inch between 2 sheets of plastic

4 Tbs cooking oil

3 Tbs.teriyaki sauce (used House of Tsang Korean Teriyaki sauce)

3 Tbs. sake

3Tbs chicken broth

3 green onions, thinly sliced

Combine panko, wasabi, salt and pepper in plastic bag and blend

Combine egg in pie pan.

coat chicken with egg wash, dip in panko and press to coat each side well.

Heat oil in pan, add breasts and cook until browned on both sides and done through.

Do in batches if needed.  Drain fat, add teriyaki blend and deglaze pan. Pour over chicken breasts and garnish with green onion. 4 servings.