I have been raving about the beauty of Braised Short Ribs to my daughter, but sadly, when she was home we had no time to cook them. So she took matters into her own hands!

The short ribs recipe is based on The Pioneer Woman's recipe but to make it paleo, she skipped the flour, and instead of carrots and shallots, she used 2 onions and half a fresh tomato, along with fresh thyme, 2 cups of beef broth and 2 of red wine.

The base here is mashed cauliflower made with sour cream.

Clever girl, don't you agree?

Thai Beef Salad

Ingredients:

3/4 ~ 1 lb. steak, broiled and cut into strips
6 cups Romaine lettuce, shredded
1 cup cucumber slices
6 red radishes, sliced
1 yellow pepper sliced
1/2 red onion thinly sliced

Dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp. Soy sauce
2 Tbsp. rice vinegar or other mild vinegar
1 Tbsp. fresh lime juice (from 1 lime)
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh mint
1 tsp. fresh grated ginger
salt and black pepper

Mix dressing ingredients in a small jar and shake well. Arrange salad on a large platter or several plates. Pour dressing over. 

The recipe Kristen used is here: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/08/peruvian-style-grilled-chicken-with-green-sauce-recipe.html

And the results?

Things We Ate

At Azuma, with shiotan (grilled beef tongue)

A super dinner of grilled Japanese eggplant with ginger, stir-fried pork, and "rice" made of cauliflower.

Sliced cucumber, cream cheese, smoked salmon, and capers.

 Thai Beef Salad

Americanized Thai Beef Salad

Shopping list:

cilantro

mint

a lime (or lime juice)

a jalapeno

a piece of fresh ginger

a head of green or red leaf lettuce

a cucumber

a bunch of radishes

a yellow pepper

a red onion

½-1 lb. nice steak

Have on hand:

¼ cup olive or other oil

2 Tbsp. soy sauce

2 Tbsp. vinegar

Make Dressing:

¼ cup oil

2 Tbsp. soy sauce

2 Tbsp. vinegar

1 Tbsp lime juice

2 Tbsp. minced cilantro

2 Tbsp. minced mint

1 minced jalapeno, minus the seeds

1 tsp. grated ginger

a grind of fresh black pepper

Mix dressing in a jar and let rest while preparing the salad.

Cook steak rare, put in freezer for a few minutes to rest.

Tear up lettuce and place on serving plates.

Add sliced cucumber, radishes, yellow pepper and half the red onion, sliced thin.

Cut steak into thin strips and put on top.

Pour dressing over the salad and enjoy!

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Clam soup and sashimi for dinner

Kushiyaki

Beef tongue and shishito peppers





Chicken (leg and thigh) and skin, and green onions



Small shiitake mushrooms, asparagus, shishito peppers, and green onions

Ready to cook...and....





I sprinkled all the food with salt, put a bit of oil on the veggies, and cooked them in the broiler.
Delicious!

Click on pictures to enlarge them.

Food, Beautiful Food!

Christine, organizer of the knitting group at ECC, has been raving for years about the amazing "tea" put on by her friend Judy Sagami, and for her birthday, she organized a tea for a group of friends and co-workers.

(click on pictures for a larger view!)

The food that Judy creates is simply amazing! The savory course consisted of 5 sushi-sized tidbits of pure creativity. This is not sushi (it is not based on rice), and it is a wonderful cross of Asian and European tastes. Just for one example, the cucumber wrap in the picture had goat cheese inside and tomatoes on top. There was a sort of gyoza, a sort of mini-Vietnamese spring roll, and a combo of lotus root (renkon) with beef brisket.


This was followed by a dessert course that out-did the savory course, as if that were possible! Each guest received a plate of 5 different dessert bites. A mother and baby bunny made of strawberries and white chocolate? A mini apple pie with a rose made out of dried apple? Who could imagine such things?


And because our time was sadly limited, a favor box with two kinds of scone/biscotti type cookies, with actual live roses stuffed with maybe honey butter and apricot jam? Oh. my. goodness. Pure genius!

Christine and her son Eden served, and modest chef-genius Judy Sagami had to be coerced into having her picture taken.

Broiled Trout

So I went to Ranch Market in Gardena and purchased a 1.5 pound farm-raised trout for under $7.00. Not $7 per pound, but $7 total. Under $7. Had it scaled and gutted and brought it home. Placed it on an oiled broiler pan, sprinkled it liberally with salt, and then popped it in the broiler.


Maybe 10 minutes later, it was toasty on both sides (I flipped it halfway through.) It was so large I had to keep moving the broiler pan around to get it cooked on all sides.


To go with it, I made sauteed spinach--melt 2 Tbsp. butter in a frying pan, add a couple of smashed cloves of garlic and let the butter and garlic get brown and toasty but not blackened, then add a package of baby spinach (dry! from a bag.) and stir it around till it wilts. Crazy good.


I removed the head and tail and then cut along the back bone to create two fillets, and removed the rib bones (yes, there were still a few bones left. When you are eating with chopsticks, bones don't seem like such a big deal.) I poured some melted butter over the fish and a couple of drops of lemon juice. The flesh was silky and delicious. Fantastic dinner!

This meal was inspired by a similar meal I had last week at Fork in Chicago. But cheaper, and with a larger fish.


ETA: Another Friday, I made Chirinabe, a kind of Japanese bouillabaisse.