So I'm finally starting my 40x40 project (more info here) and the first dish is Cornish Pasties (pronounced "past-tees"; "paste-ies" are, erm, something different). I've always wanted to make them because I love the meat/veg/pastry combo & they turned out pretty good. I was a little fearful at first about making pastry from scratch (I'm somewhat dough-impaired) but using the food processor made it really easy and it turned out fine. I went very traditional since this is my first time making them. I found the end result to be a bit bland and under-seasoned (I couldn't taste the filling while making it because the ingredients are raw and cook inside the crust) so I dipped mine in HP Fruity Sauce mixed with my favorite hot sauce, sambal oelek. The recipe came from a nifty British cookbook that I bought years ago (pictured below). The only change I made was to use a rutabaga instead of a carrot (rutabagas are more traditional, or so I've read).
I got a new Korean ceramic bowl at H-Mart (my local Korean supermarket) & decided to make my favorite Korean dish bibimbap again. I wanted to buy another granite dolsot (pictured above), but they're sooooo expensive. I still get the crispy rice I crave (called nurungji) from the cheaper ceramic bowl, so this works. I had a vegan friend coming over for dinner & found it surprisingly easy to make him a vegan portion - I just omitted the beef and egg from his bowl. The assembled dish is much prettier than my hastily-taken photo shows....I just needed to fit everything in the bowl and we were hungry!
Dolsot Bibimbap
Serving Size: 4
Ingredients:
CARROTS
1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
4 carrots, cut into matchsticks
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
CUCUMBERS
4 Armenian or pickling cucumbers or 1/2 English cucumber, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons red pepper dressing (see below)
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
RED PEPPER DRESSING
2 tablespoons Korean red pepper paste
1 tablespoon rice or cider vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon apple juice or water
2 teaspoons sesame oil
SPINACH
1 lb. fresh spinach, rinsed and stemmed
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
1 teaspoon salt
MUSHROOMS
6 mushrooms, sliced
1 teaspoon sesame oil
salt
sesame seeds
BEEF
2 ounces beef rib eye, cut into strips (or use ground beef)
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon brown sugar
ASSEMBLY
2 tablespoons sesame oil, plus more for sprinkling
3 cups cooked white rice
1 egg, raw
3 tablespoons red pepper dressing (see above)
Nori strips
Directions:
1. CARROTS 1. In a skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the carrots and salt. Stir-fry for 2 minutes. 2. Remove them from the pan.
2. CUCUMBERS 1. In a large bowl, toss the cucumbers and salt; set aside for 5 minutes. Gently squeeze the liquid from the cucumbers. Transfer to a bowl. 2. Add the dressing. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
3. RED PEPPER DRESSING 1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the pepper paste, vinegar, honey, juice or water, and sesame oil. 2. Set the dressing aside.
4. SPINACH 1. In a pot of boiling water, cook the spinach for 1 minute. Drain and rinse with cold water. Squeeze out the water by the handfuls. Chop coarsely. 2. Transfer the spinach to a bowl. Add sesame seeds, oil, and salt.
5. MUSHROOMS 1. Sauté mushroom with 1 teaspoon of sesame oil. Season with some salt and sesame seeds and remove.
6. BEEF 1. In a bowl, combine the beef, soy sauce, sesame oil, and sugar; marinate for 15 minutes. 2. Heat a small skillet. Stir-fry the meat for 2 minutes; set aside.
7. ASSEMBLY 1. Set the dolsot over medium heat (on the stovetop). When it is really hot, add 2 tablespoons of sesame oil. Heat for 1 minute. 2. Add the rice and spread it around the bottom of the pot to form an even layer. Cook for several minutes or until the rice begins to brown on the bottom and you hear the grains sizzle. 3. Carefully arrange each of the seasoned salads on top of the rice, grouping them like the spokes of a wheel. Set the beef in the center. Continue heating for 2 minutes. Crack the raw egg in the center. 4. To serve: Add the dressing and nori strips and fold the rice, vegetables, egg, and meat together, scraping the bottom of the pot to distribute the crust. Serve in individual bowls, sprinkled sparingly with sesame oil and extra dressing.
Notes:
Adapted from this recipe from the Boston Globe
Today's lunch - beans on toast. Sourdough bread, Heinz Beans (imported from England, natch), Tillamook cheddar cheese, Worcestershire sauce & Sriracha sauce.
My mom teases me for making a hot lunch most days, so I'm tagging this Hot Lunch Holly
Dinner tonight was baked chicken tenders with (optional) buffalo sauce, carrots & celery and baked potatoes. Hot sauce was optional because of my four year old. Recipe here. Really solid recipe, the only change I made was to double the sauce (because I love it).
Dinner tonight was Cottage Pie. Cottage Pie is a lot like Shepherd's Pie, but using beef instead of lamb. I used this recipe because I was intrigued by the addition of cheddar cheese to the mashed potato topping but.....I didn't really care for it.
First problem (and this is not the recipe's fault): I forgot that I don't really like ground beef except for in hamburgers, meatloaf and picadillo. Secondly, the recipe, as written, would have come out grossly under-seasoned. It never states to season the beef / veggie mixture (which, of course I did....I even added my favorite hot pepper sauce sambal oelek because it was bland, bland, bland). Third problem: I used lean ground beef and it still came out greasy. It'd be better to cook the vegetables and beef separately and then drain the beef, but the recipe says to cook the vegetables first and then add the beef to the pan and cook it for another 6-8 minutes. Also, I thought it needed more potato topping, like it shows in the recipe photo. I used one more potato than the recipe stated and it still wasn't enough.
So I'll be looking for a new recipe and I'll definitely switch to Shepherd's Pie because I like lamb way more than ground beef. It's sometimes hard to find lamb here in regular (read: affordable) grocery stores, but it's worth the effort to seek it out. I will definitely add cheddar cheese to the mashed potato topping because that was the best part.
Last night I made +Closet Cooking's Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Popper Stuffed Chicken. It was quick, easy and adaptable to suit different people's tastes....one person doesn't like spicy food (he gets a pass, he's 4). One doesn't eat bacon (not going to justify this one). I simply assembled them according to people's needs and cooked them in the oven on separate pie plates to ensure that the bacon grease didn't get on the non-bacon-eater's portion. I think next time I may par-cook the bacon a bit because I like really crispy bacon and that's hard to achieve here without totally drying out the chicken breast in my super-hot convection oven. Also my chicken breasts were monstrously large & therefore hard to pound to the correct thinness. Next time I will look for thinner breasts & put more yummy stuffing inside. I served with a rice pilaf on the side & it was definitely a hit with my peeps. Note to self: sharpen your knives!
Here is a picture of my first ever loaf of challah that I made for Hanukkah.
The entire menu was this:
Crostini with 3 spreads - chicken liver pâté, white beans & red onion or mushroom medley
Brisket with onion gravy
Latkes with apple sauce or sour cream
Brown sugar & ginger glazed carrots
Challah
Raspberry sorbet & chocolate cake
Everything was homemade except the desserts (I don't do desserts)
But I thought the challah was the prettiest thing I photographed that night. It was hard to braid, so I called up a how-to video on YouTube and braided right along with the gal.
