Grass-fed Korean Beef Ribs over Coconut Rice

I'm trying really hard to cook with what I have on hand which is a variety of grass-fed beef I picked up from A Bar H Farm a few months ago. So far, I've really liked the flavor of the beef and these ribs were no exception. Whats even better is I cooked them in the crock pot all day so there wasn't a lot of work in preparation for a good Sunday night dinner. I found the original recipe for the ribs at Daily Unadventures in Cooking but I did make a few changes which you'll see below.

Korean Style Beef Ribs
adapted from Daily Unadventures in Cooking
(serves 4)

4 pounds beef ribs
3/4 C soy sauce
1 1/2 C orange juice
2T rice vinegar
2T ginger, grated
2t hot chili flakes
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
2T toasted sesame oil (next time I would substitute olive oil for 1 T of the sesame oil as it was a little strong for me)
2T honey
3T toasted sesame seeds, for garnish
2 scallions, thinly sliced for garnish
2T corn starch, as needed
olive oil
salt and pepper

Heat olive oil in a large dutch oven over medium high heat. Season the ribs with salt and pepper. Brown ribs in batches until all ribs are nicely browned on all sides

In a large bowl combine the soy sauce, juice, vinegar, ginger, garlic, chili, oil and honey and mix well (this can be made in advance as I did, the night before).

Transfer ribs to slow cooker and pour sauce over top. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or until meat is very tender. Remove the ribs to a platter and pour the sauce from the crock pot into a gravy separator. Pour the sauce (without the excess fat) into a medium sauce pan and bring to a boil. Make a slurry with equal parts cornstarch and water and add to the sauce to thicken. Reduce heat and simmer until sauce is at desired consistency. Serve ribs over rice and top with sauce. Garnish with scallions and toasted sesame seeds if desired.

For the rice I followed this recipe I found over at Jaden's Steamy Kitchen. I really liked the mellow sweet flavor of the rice which really paired well with the ribs.

Seared Grass Fed Ribeye over Asparagus and Shiitake Risotto

I know, I know...I've been away longer than I'd planned. Too many things in life getting in the way. I had to travel for work for a week where I was lucky enough to experience my first earthquake. It was nerve racking to say the least and I'm glad to be back on solid ground. I'm also serving on Grand Jury two days a week and back in Physical Therapy for my back. All those things add up to very little time to cook, and when I do, it's old standbys that have already been blogged about. Except for tonight. My husband went off to watch the UFC fight and I was looking forward to having the house to myself. It's a rare occaision these days and I take advantage of it! I knew I wanted to make a risotto to use up some of my homemade chicken stock in the fridge. A quick trip to Sprouts this afternoon resulted in some fresh asparagus, shiitake mushrooms and nice piece of grass-fed Ribeye.

Asparagus and Shiitake Risotto:
(serves 2)

1 T extra virgin olive oil
2 T butter, divided
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 cup arborio rice
1 cup white wine
4 cups chicken stock
1/2 bunch asparagus, chopped into 1 inch pieces and blanched
6 shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and julienned
1 tsp lemon juice
1 cup parmigianno reggiano, grated

Heat the chicken stock in a saucepan and hold at a simmer.

Heat a dutch oven over medium high heat and add the olive oil and 1 tablespoon of the butter. Add the garlic and shallot and saute until fragrant. Add the rice and cook until opaque. Deglaze with the wine and stir with a wooden spoon constantly until most of the liquid is absorbed by the rice. Ladel the chicken stock, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly until all liquid is absorbed. This takes a bit of time but is quite worth it. Once the rice is creamy and plump add the asparagus, mushrooms, lemon juice, and cheese. Stir well to combine and keep warm until ready to serve.

Seared Grass Fed Ribeye
(serves 1 plus some scraps for the dogs)
Salt
Pepper
extra virgin olive oil
1/2 lb ribeye - brought to room temperature

Season the ribeye with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat a pan over medium heat and add the olive oil. Place the ribeye in the olive oil and allow the beef to sear for about 3 minutes. Flip and sear the other side. Normally I would finish a steak in the oven once it is seared but I didn't want to heat up my oven for one 1/2 lb steak. Once the steak rested for a few minutes I sliced it up (it was still VERY rare, even for my taste) and then I placed the slices back in the pan and seared each side an additional minute or so. Place the slices of the ribeye on a bed of risotto and serve. Pair this with a nice Pinot Noir and you have the makings of a wonderful dinner...

BBQ Braised Beef Sandwiches

We really didn't do much for the 4th except relax. I did some baking astonishly enough. I tried my hand at pretzel making and baked a couple loaves of chocolate zucchini bread (no pictures, sorry! Maybe next time!). We had sushi at our favorite sushi place for dinner and watched fireworks from the roof of our patio. It wasn't so bad climbing the ladder to get up there but I was pretty petrified to climb down. I made it to survive another day! The reason we took it easy on the 4th is we had a big party at our friends house to get ready for on Saturday. My husband loves to get together with his friends to watch the UFC fights and I really didn't want to cook a huge spread two days in a row. Since we were going to someone else's house I wanted something that could be cooked in advanced and easily transported. I have never made bbq beef but they sounded like a great way to satisfy both my criteria. I did some searching and found this over at Simply Recipes.

As usual I made a few tweaks to the recipe to make it my own. It turned out beautifully and everyone truly enjoyed the sandwiches.

BBQ Braised Beef:
(serves 12)

3-4 lbs boneless chuck roast (I used 2 separate cuts one about 2.2 lbs and the other about 1.7 lbs)
2 medium yellow onions, diced
1 can whole peeled tomatoes, hand crushed
1 18 oz jar bbq sauce (I used Stubbs Smokey Mequite as it didn't have any HFCS)
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
12 of your favorite sandwich buns

Heat a dutch oven over medium high heat with a good coating of olive oil. Season one side of the beef (if you have a large cut, you may one to cut it into smaller pieces to allow it to brown best) and place it seasoned side down in the pot. Leave it alone for at least 4 minutes allowing it to brown really well. Season the top of the beef with more salt and pepper while the bottom is browning. When well browned flip the beef to brown the top side about another 4-5 minutes. Remove beef and set aside on a plate. Continue to brown all beef seasoning each side as you go.

Once all beef is browned, reduce the heat to medium and add a bit more olive oil and add the chopped onions. Season the onions with more salt and pepper and saute the onions until they brown really well. The juice of the onions will help deglaze all those good brown bits off the bottom of the pot. Use a wooden spoon if needed to help loosen them up and mix them in with the onions. This is flavor!! Once the onions are well browned add the tomates and the bbq sauce. Mix well and bring to a boil for about 5 minutes. Add the beef, ensuring it is covered by the sauce. Cover, reduce the heat to a low simmer and cook for 3-4 hours. I went the full four hours, stirring occaisionally (~every 30 -60 minutes) and flipping the beef in the sauce.

Once the beef is falling apart, remove it from the pot. Bring the sauce to a boil and reduce until the sauce is nice and thick, then turn the heat off. Shred the beef using two forks. Once the sauce is reduced add the beef back in.

At this point I transferred the mixture to a crock pot for transport and kept it on warm during the party. Serve on your favorite buns - I prefer them a bit toasted alongside refreshing glass of vodka spiked homemade lemonade!

Summer Linguine

It's hot here in the middle of the desert, real HOT! I came home from work today to a bag full of beautiful zucchini from my MIL's garden. Immediately I was racking my brain trying to figure out what to make. It's so hot that we wanted something light so I decided to make pasta. This dish came together in a flash and the flavors were incredible.

First, I started a pot of water on high heat to get it boiling. While waiting for that I chopped up one large zucchini, 2 portabellini, garlic, shallot, prosciutto and a handful of sun dried tomatoes (Reserve that oil!) . I put a saute pan over medium heat and added a generous helping of olive oil. I sauteed the garlic, shallot and prosciutto until fragrant and the prosciutto started to crisp up. By this time the water was boiling good and I threw in a handful of salt and a pound of linguine. I added the shrooms and the zucchini to the saute pan, seasoned it with salt, pepper and tossed it all together, sauteeing until the zucchini was cooked through. I decided I wanted a little heat so I threw in some crushed red pepper flakes. I drained the cooked pasta and poured it into a serving bowl. I topped the pasta with the reserved olive oil from the sun dried tomatoes, the juice of one lemon, lots of freshly grated parmigiano reggiano, chopped basil and the sun dried tomatoes. Add the contents of the saute pan and toss well. Enjoy!

Deep Dish Pizza

Tonight was a great meal made of leftovers from our bi-weekly Friday Pizza Night. I had leftover homemade dough and pizza sauce. I've been wanting to try my hand at deep dish pizza for some time so tonight was the night. I sauteed some leftover roasted garlic over medium heat in olive oil in a cast iron skillet until fragrant then added about a half pound of hot italian sausage. Once cooked through I removed the garlic and sausage and let it drain on a paper towel covered plate. I sprinkled some corn meal on the bottom of the skillet I used to brown the sausage and gently laid the rolled out dough inside, making sure to press the dough into the corners and stretch it up the sides of the pan. Next, I layered slices of mozzarella cheese, added the sausage/garlic mixture, sprinkled some sliced green olive and layers of pepperoni.

I topped it all with some pizza sauce. Put the pan in a pre-heated 400 degree oven for about 30-45 minutes. The crust should pull away from the edges of the pan and and be nice and browned. Top with some freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano and cut into quarters.

Baja Fish Tacos

My husband and I love a good fish taco. We get them on every trip to Mexico when we go diving. We've never really found a great place locally for the kind of fish tacos we enjoy in Mexico so I've been perfecting a recipe to make them at home. I've used several different recipes over the past couple of years and I've combined versions of those I like the best to share with you here. I can't get enough of these so it's great to be able to whip up a batch at home whenever we have a craving. Served alongside a nice cold beer and you almost think you are on the beach in Mexico....almost!

Baja Fish Tacos
(serves 4-6)

2 limes, 1, juiced and 1 sliced for serving
1 tablespoon tequila
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons salt, divided
2 teaspoons black pepper, divided
1 ½ lbs tilapia, halibut or cod, cut into 2 inch long pieces
1 package (8-inch) corn tortillas
Vegetable oil
1 package tempura flour, divided
1 beer (plus more for drinking with the tacos!)
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 cup thinly sliced white cabbage
1 cup chopped tomatoes
1 avocado cut into thin slices

In medium bowl, combine lime juice, tequila, cumin, salt, and pepper; mix thoroughly. Add the fish and toss to coat. Marinate for about 10 minutes.

Divide tempura flour in half in each of 2 shallow dishes for dredging. Season the dry tempura flour with 1 tsp each of salt, pepper and garlic salt. Stir to incorporate spices into the dry tempura flour. With the second dish of tempura flour add about 1 cup of beer and stir to mix. The mixture should be soupy. Add more beer as needed.

Warm tortillas in oven, covered in tinfoil at 150 degrees F.

In a medium Dutch oven, heat the vegetable oil to 350 degrees F. Use enough oil to have about 2 inches deep in the pot.

Remove fish from marinade, shake off excess, dredge in tempura flour then dunk in cold tempura beer batter. Gently, add fish to oil (only about 5-6 pieces at a time), making sure to keep the fish pieces separated. Fry for 2 to 3 minutes, or until light golden brown. Remove and drain on a rack over a paper towel covered cookie sheet.

Place 1-2 pieces of fried fish on top of a corn tortilla, add a slice of avocado, some diced tomatoes and cabbage. Top with white sauce and a squeeze of lime.

Tequila Lime Whitesauce:
2 tablespoons premium tequila
1 lime, juiced
8 ounces sour cream
1/4 cup milk
¼ cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons minced cilantro leaves
Salt and pepper

In small bowl, combine all ingredients. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Keep chilled until ready to serve.

Locavore 2 Synchronicity

I was fortunate enough to score a reservation for the second locavore dinner held at Tapino Kitchen & Wine Bar, owned by Chef James Porter. I had heard about the first locavore dinner back in February of this year and I was so disappointed that I was unable to attend. When I saw mention of a second one I was on the phone getting reservations as fast as my fingers could dial!

The dinner was underwritten by several sponsors so the cost of the event was almost too good to be true - $40 per person with paired wines plus tax and gratuity. Seriously?! I still don’t know how Chef Porter pulled this off so it’s worth mentioning the generous sponsors of this event:

Arizona Farm Bureau
Greater Phoenix Economic Council
Local First Arizona
Tapino Kitchen and Wine Bar
City of Scottsdale

This dinner was all about celebrating the bounty that Arizona has to offer from fruit, vegetables, cheese, shrimp, beef, pork and yes, even wine! The resounding chorus throughout the night, championed by Chef Porter was, “Eat Local!” He urges everyone to support locally owned restaurants and shop for local food. We are giving back to our own economy when we as consumers do this: “For every $100 spent locally, studies show that $42 stays here at home. For the same $100 spent with a national corporation, only $13 remains here to circulate” (tapino.com). It really is something I am striving to do and it was exciting to be in a room full of 160 like minded individuals.

So, on to the dinner….

Chef Porter along with his Sous Chef, Christopher Phipps created a vibrant six course meal to showcase all that Arizona has to offer:

Amuse Bouche – this was a combination of layered gazpachos (tomato, lemon cucumber, Crenshaw melon) topped with a skewer of assorted melons. The melons were unbelievably sweet – like no melons I’ve ever eaten. The gazpachos were delicious and a great start to the meal.

First Course – Arizona Desert Sweet Shrimp Lumpia with Arizona Citrus Ponzu: Wow! This was one of my favorites. I loved the thinly sliced cucumbers which served as a bed to nestle the shrimp lumpias. The flavor of the lumpias exploded with each bite. I really don’t know what was inside the lumpia’s other than shrimp and I spotted some mushrooms but the flavors melded together perfectly. Wine Pairing: Pillsbury, Rose 2006

Second Course – Desert Roots & Duncan Farms Vegetable Terrine with Sunizona Yellow Tomato Coulis: This was a wonderful, light vegetable course, bursting with farm fresh flavor. I’ve never had a terrine before, though I’ve read a lot about them so I was really excited to try this. Wine Pairing: Arizona Stronghold, Tazi 2007

Third Course – Konrath Farm Roasted “Whole Pork” Duo: Both servings of pork were incredibly tender and delicious garnished with some micro greens and what must have been housemade pork rinds (I'm not sure as I forgot to ask our server). Wine Pairing: Pillsbury, Roan Red, 2006

Fourth Course – OX Ranch Grass-fed Angus Beef with Desert Roots Vegetable Sauté: I was really looking forward to this course because I spent the hour before the dinner talking with the rancher from OX Ranch, Jay Murphy. Jay is very personable and his excitement in talking about his ranch was apparent. The beef, like the pork, was incredibly tender. Paired with the vegetables and potatoes it was a well rounded dish. The sauce – amazing! I would have licked my plate had I not been surrounded by 159 other diners!! I’m all about grass-fed beef and what that means for the health of us humans, the animal, and our environment so it was nice to see how good grass-fed beef tastes when cooked correctly, something I’m slowly learning to do at home. Wine Pairing: Pillsbury, Diva 2006

Dessert Course: Fossil Creek Goat Cheese and Green Valley Pecan Fudge Tartlette: What a way to top off a wonderful meal – creamy fudge paired with a knob of tangy goat cheese. Yum! Wine Pairing: Page Springs Cellars, Zinfandel 2007

I’m not educated enough about wine to discuss the nuances of each but I will say that there wasn’t one I didn’t like. My favorites though were the Rose and the Zinfandel. Oh, and the Roan Red!

If my experience has peaked your interest, don’t worry, Chef James is planning Locavore 3! Its scheduled for August 21st and will feature other Chef’s from around the valley. I already have reservations so I hope to see you there!

*I did my best at providing links to all the sponsors and the wonderful farmers who provided their food. If I missed you and you'd like to be included please leave me a comment or send me an email and I'll update the post.