Bulgogi

Isn't that a fun word? I love saying it.

We had beef bulgogi at the food and wine festival at Disney World a few weeks ago- I've been writing this post for over a week now, it's actually kind of embarrassing I can't get it done. But you know why? Inserting photos into blogger is a huge pain in the... you know. And the F&W post will have upwards of 30 photos. It's a daunting task.

I'm also lazy and have attention span issues lately. But that's neither here nor there. Also? I opened an etsy shop. Making things for my etsy shop takes up a lot of my time- but it's super fun so I usually don't care that I completely miss lunchtime and forget about making dinner until 9pm (which then means that we have cereal or sandwiches for dinner- until I got smart and made a huge batch of pulled pork and homemade grinder rolls, allowing dinner to be thrown together in about 10 minutes). Clint may not agree with the funness being worth eating at 10pm, but pulled pork heals all wounds.

Go see my etsy shop! Sorry, end of advertisement.

So let me quickly tell you about this pork bulgogi recipe I made.

It's not authentic, it's Martha Stewart. But inauthentic can still be delicious! (especially when it's Martha Stewart) It was lovely and easy and thinking about eating the leftovers 2 days later was particularly joyful. We served it with sushi rice for a super yum meal.

Pork Bulgogi
Recipe from Martha Stewart

4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup soy sauce
2T sugar
1T sesame oil
2t crushed red pepper (I used 2t sriracha, use 1t if you don't want it really spicy)
2t ginger, freshly grated (I used ground ginger, I was lazy)
1/4t ground pepper
1lb pork tenderloin, very thinly sliced crosswise
1 onion, cut into 12 wedges
1 red bell pepper, cut into strips (my addition)
Toasted sesame seeds (optional)

In a shallow pan, assemble the marinade: whisk together the garlic, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, crushed red pepper/sriracha, ginger and pepper. Slice the pork very thinly across, and add to the marinade. Stir around to coat, cover with plastic wrap and marinate for 10-15 minutes (I left it on the counter to marinate).

Spray a large pan with cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat. Add the onion, pepper and pork with marinade (in 2 batches if necessary), and stir fry until pork is cooked through, about 5 minutes. If cooking in batches, place on a plate while cooking the next batch, and when everything's done, add back the already-cooked back to warm back up. Serve over rice and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.


This was such an easy dish, and is very flavorful. I cut corners by using ground ginger instead of fresh, but really, it was still great. 2t of sriracha makes it my ideal degree of hot- hot so you notice and after several bites you need some water, but not burn-your-mouth-immediately hot. Of course, we all have different preferences for spiciness, and Clint didn't think this was hot at all. The marinade makes a nice salty, sweet glaze. I plan to make this again.

Best Sandwich Bread EVER

Last night I made some sloppy joes. Now, I don't really like sloppy joes (Clint does), but these were sloppy joes with a Vietnamese twist. And you can pretty much give any dish and Asian twist and I'll try it. But when we ate the sandwiches, what blew us away was not the sloppy joes (they were totally fine) but the sandwich bread. The sloppy joes recipe wanted to be put on French bread, and of course I didn't feel like going to the store, so you know me, I'll just make some. I googled "french bread recipe" and made the first recipe I found... which was ridiculously amazing. This is my new favorite sandwich bread. Forget your wonder bread, your healthy multi-grain bird seed bread, even your fancy artisan bakery bread. This is an easy-peasy bread recipe and only took me about 2.5 hours start to finish. I cannot wait to make a nice cuban using this bread, or maybe I'll get brave and make a french dip.

Best Sandwich Bread EVER
recipe from food.com
makes 3 grinder roll-sized loaves, each loaf good for 2 sandwiches

2 cups warm water
1T yeast
pinch of sugar
1t salt
1T oil (I used olive)
5-5.5 cups bread flour*

*I used King Arthur's First Clear flour, which is a high gluten flour used in Jewish rye. I'm not sure if it's as high gluten as bread flour, but it has a nice earthy taste to it, kind of like whole wheat flour. I used 4 cups of first clear and 1 cup of whole wheat, and the bread wasn't heavy like whole wheat, but had that kind of hint of flavor to it. I highly recommend the First Clear.

In a bowl, sprinkle the yeast and sugar over the warm water. Let sit for 10-15 minutes for the yeast to wake up. Stir in the salt, oil and 3 cups of the flour. Stir for about 2 minutes. Add 2 more cups of flour and knead for 10 minutes. Let sit in an oiled bowl until doubled, about 1-1.5hrs. Shape into long baguette-shaped loaves (I shaped into 2 loaves, next time I'll make 3 loaves), cover with a towel and let rise for another 30 minutes. Sprinkle with water (liberally) and bake in a 375F preheated oven for 30-40 minutes, until they start to turn golden brown.


This bread is crusty without being rock-hard-crunchy, and super soft in the middle. It's still kind of chewy like french bread, not cottony like most grocery store sliced breads, and is my ideal sandwich roll texture. It's not so flavorful it takes away from a sandwich, but it tastes good on its own. You have to try this!!


Vietnamese Sloppy Joes, or Sloppy Baos
recipe modified from Martha Stewart

I halved the recipe, which would serve 4-5, and wanted to use onion instead of shallots

1-1.25lb ground beef (or sub in another ground meat if you like)
1 small onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1T chopped lemongrass (I used dried)
2T red curry paste
1 cup ketchup
1T fish sauce
10 basil leaves, minced
1t brown sugar
2T mustard
julienned green mango or green apple
sliced jalapenos
french bread

In a large skillet, brown the meat with the onion, garlic, lemongrass and curry paste. Cook for about 5 minutes, then add the ketchup, fish sauce, half the basil, brown sugar and mustard. Turn the heat down and simmer for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, slice the loaf of french bread lengthwise (like for a grinder/sub) and toast in the oven for about 5-8 minutes.

To assemble the sandwich, spread the sloppy joe mixture on the bottom half of the bread, arrange julienned mango/apple and sliced jalapenos on top, and top with the top half of the bread. Slice the grinder into individual-sized portions and enjoy!


I really only made this dish because we wanted to use up some ground beef in the freezer. Clint loves sloppy joes and used to eat them often before we got married. I kind of can't stand them. But like I said, I'll try almost anything with an asian twist. And.... these were ok. Clint had seconds, so you *know* he liked them. If you're a sloppy joe kind of person, you'll probably like these. And like I said before, the bread is amazing.

Take-out at home, II

As I've mentioned before, I have had my share of Japanese take out. Once I grew up enough to realize fast food wasn't really good food, I started requesting take out from the nearby Japanese restaurant. My parents and I would usually order 2 dinners to share among the three of us, each dinner came with a salad, shrimp and veggie tempura, a potato dumpling and the entree. Usually we'd order one beef negimaki and one chicken teriyaki. For 2 adults and one teenaged girl with a healthy appetite, it was plenty of food, and it was always delicious.

Since I started liking sushi, I usually ignore the cooked entrees at Japanese restaurants- or else we're there for a hibachi meal. I haven't had beef negimaki for a long, long time, but when I was rooting around in the freezer one day (actually, looking for ground turkey for those asian-inspired turkey meatballs, and failing at that), I discovered we had a pound of flank steak. Somehow, I thought of beef negimaki.

I added my own spin- mostly based on the ingredients we had. I wrapped the beef around blanched asparagus instead of scallions. The results were good. The results were even better the second time I made this and use both scallions and asparagus.

Beef Negimaki
recipe adapted from Gourmet, found via epicurious.com.

1lb flank steak
6 asparagus stalks
6 scallions
1/4 cup mirin
2T white wine
2T rice vinegar
3T soy sauce
2t sugar

Blanche the asparagus and scallions: bring water in a medium saucepan to a boil, and add the asparagus. Boil, covered, for 3 minutes, then add the scallions and boil for 2 minutes. Drain the water and set the veggies aside.

Prepare the meat: thinly slice the steak- very thinly! Cut long strips of meat, against the grain. Then line them all up on the cutting board, cover with plastic wrap, and pound with a meat mallet to very, very thin, about 1/16 in thick. (Note: the first time, I was lazy and ignored this step- don't!! The meat won't cook if it's too thick. Better to pound the meat now than have to unroll it later and recook it.)

In a shallow dish (pie dish works nicely), combine the rest of the ingredients (mirin, wine, vinegar, soy sauce and sugar) and whisk together.

Line up some beef strips on your board, enough that when the strips go side-to-side, there are enough lined up, up and down, that the asparagus and scallions will lay down (up and down direction) on beef and not board. Roll each piece of beef around 2 asparagus stalks and 2 scallions, and secure each piece with a toothpick. What you're left with kind of looks like a kebab of beef on asparagus/scallion. Repeat with the rest of the beef and veggies, then place each of this "kebabs" in the dish with the marinade. Marinade for 20 minutes, turning every few minutes or spooning the marinade over the kebabs.

Spray a large frying pan with non-stick spray and heat to medium-high heat. Remove the beef "kebabs" from the marinade and let drip off, then add them to the pan and cook for 3-4 min on each side, until they're cooked through and have a nice sear on them. Place on a clean cutting board and cut through the veggies between the individual pieces of meat, so you have individual rolls (the same way maki sushi are cut). Now pour the marinade into the hot frying pan, and cook for a few minutes, until the sauce is thick and syrupy.

Serve the negimaki with the sauce drizzled over them. Serve with sushi rice.

These are quick, and the sauce is strangely addictive. I've modified it to suit my own pantry, if you actually have sake on hand, use 1/4 cup sake in place of the rice vinegar and white wine. I'm sure the flavor is changed, but my version is still delicious.


The other part I loved about all our Japanese take out was the salad dressing. I'm not sure if this is a traditional thing, or some Americanized take on Japanese flavors, but whatever Japanese restaurant you go to, there's always some sort of delicious gingery salad dressing. I was fortunate enough to find a copycat version of the Benihana salad dressing, which is the restaurant that started it all for me. It was my absolute favorite restaurant. Imagine- a 4 year old wamozart, ordering her Japanese meal in Japanese- thanks to my dad and all his business trips- and using chopsticks without the rubber band and rolled-up paper all the other kids need. (by now I've completely forgotten all the Japanese dad taught me, but I'm sure he still remembers some of the more common words. I'm also less good with chopsticks lately, which is embarassing). I miss Benihana, and I'm glad there are so many other great Japanese restaurants around. (I'm also kind of glad I have that golden childhood memory and I can't go to Benihana as an adult and possibly spoil the memory.)

Benihana Copycat Salad Dressing
adapted from the secret recipe blog

1/2 cup minced onion
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2T water
2T ginger, minced
2T celery, minced
2T ketchup
2T soy sauce
2t sugar
2t lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup olive oil

Place all the ingredients except the oil in a blender. Blend until pureed. Drizzle in the oil while the blender's running. Store in the fridge!

The first time I made this, I omitted the celery- I didn't have any. This was a big mistake! Something about the celery really mellows out the onion and garlic flavors, and without the celery, the onion's just too strong. I'm surprised by how much better it was once I added the celery.

This is the kind of dressing I'll make in large batches and keep on hand. We're eating much more salad because of this dressing!

Meatballs, hold the spaghetti

I don't keep this a secret, but people are still shocked when I say I don't like pasta. I just don't. If it's filled with delicious cheesey goodness then I'll eat it, but otherwise I pass it up if I have other options.

Therefore, the only meatballs I've ever really had are these tiny things on toothpicks. Or the giant bags of frozen Swedish meatballs from Ikea. The meatball is largely ignored in my kitchen. But a few months ago, Martha Stewart had a show all about meatballs. And my eyes were opened to the variety of the meatball: it's not just for spaghetti!

I found this recipe on tastespotting, after having forgotten completely about the MS show. Now I remember, and I have make these buffalo chicken meatballs next.

Asian-inspired turkey meatballs
from Gina's Skinny Recipes (look at that, healthy and delicious!)

1/4 cup panko crumbs
1-1/4 ground turkey (I used chicken and ground it myself in the food processor)
1 egg
1T freshly grated ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2t salt
1/4 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
2 scallions, chopped
2T soy sauce
2t sesame oil

In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together with your hands (icky, but it's the best way). Form about 3T of meat into balls, and place on a *rimmed*, parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 400F for 15-20 min.

Dipping Sauce

4T soy sauce
2t sesame oil
2T fresh lime juice
2T water
1 scallion, chopped

Mix all the ingredients together. Serve with the meatballs.

I never realized how simple meatballs are to make. A little messy, yes, but quick to throw together, quick to cook, and these were ridiculously good. Served with some steamed asparagus and rice, this is a great weeknight meal.

Take-out at home

I see a lot of posts here and there, sharing recipes for Chinese take out and how it's just as good and just as fast. I have to say, I really can't stand American Chinese food. Korean food, on the other hand... yeah, I could definitely do well with my own recipe for bibimbob (still looking!). So when I came across this recipe for scallion pancakes on tastespotting (which are called "Chinese pancakes", but they look just like the Korean pancakes I've had from the Korean restaurant or homemade by Korean friends, and I've never seen scallion pancakes on the menu at a Chinese restaurant- perhaps because I haven't been to one in several years), I started to understand everyone's excitement over homemade Chinese takeout.

These pancakes are nice and easy, and while they're not exactly what I'm used to, they're still very good. They reheat pretty well wrapped in foil in the oven.

Scallion Pancakes
from globetrotter diaries

2 -2.5 cups flour
1 cup hot water
1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced
salt
vegetable oil

Place 2 cups flour in a bowl and make a well. Pour the hot water into the well and incorporate more and more flour as you stir in circles. Transfer to a floured board and knead, adding more flour if necessary for kneading. Knead for a few minutes, then cover with a damp towel and let rest at least 30 min.

Roll dough into a log and divide into 6 even pieces. Roll out each into a flat circle. Brush with oil and sprinkle with salt and scallions. Now roll the pancake back up into a snake (like rolling up a poster) and wind the snake into a coil. Roll that out again with a rolling pin, and that's what you'll cook. (if you need pictures, globetrotter diaries has good ones of this process)

Repeat this process with each of the dough balls.

Heat a large frying pan or griddle over medium high heat and cook the pancakes for a few minutes on each side, until golden brown. Serve with dipping sauce.

Dipping Sauce for pancakes
a wamozart12 interpretation

1/4 cup soy sauce
1T rice vinegar (or white)
1T finely chopped scallion
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
Dash of sugar
sriracha (as much or little as you like, I used about 1t)
1t sesame oil

Mix all ingredients together, and use for dipping pancakes in.

Fish en papillote

This recipe is supposed to be salmon, but we had some cod to use up, and it turned out great. So sub in almost any fish you want!

The goal for this dinner with something healthy and relatively quick. Check, and check (with one make-ahead step). Oh, and it's very tasty.

Honey-soy fish en papillote
adapted from Tastes of Home

This recipe uses Yuen Chen Thick Sauce. I have no idea what that is, and our sad little ethnic aisle at the grocery store wasn't much help (they don't even always carry fish sauce) but with the help of google, I figured out how to make my own. I found it kind of amusing. Warning: it's a very aromatic sauce to cook, but even though it's a little fishy, I didn't find it unpleasant. Just... intriguing.

Homemade thick sauce
(I can't remember where I got this recipe)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup fish sauce

In a medium sauce pan, combine the sugar and water and cook until it's caramel-colored. Slowly pour in the fish sauce- it will bubble up wildly, but swirl the pan and it'll calm down. Cook until it's thick, a few minutes.

Let cool a bit, and store in a sealed container in the fridge (I couldn't find any info on storage, so I just keep it in the fridge).

For the sauce for the fish:
2T thick sauce
2T honey
1T soy sauce
splash of sake (I used mirin- not exactly right, but it's what I had)

Whisk the sauce together.

For the rest of the dish:
4 6oz salmon steaks, or other fish
2 leeks, thinly sliced
2 stalks scallions, thickly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1T fresh ginger, grated
2 shallots, finely diced
1/2 head of bok choy, roughly chopped

Tear off 4 pieces of tinfoil, each about 3x the size of each piece of fish. If you want, spray with nonstick spray of brush with oil (I didn't, it was fine). Place a piece of fish on each foil and brush generously with the sauce. Bring up the sides of the foil so it's like a cup/bowl and the sauce doesn't spill everywhere. Divide all the sliced veggies (leek, scallion, garlic, ginger, shallot, bok choy) among the 4 pieces of fish and pile up on top of the fish. Divide the remaining sauce and pour over each piece of fish/pile of veggies. Add an additional splash of sake to each of the 4 fish/veggie piles, and wrap up the foil, completely sealing the foil package except for a small steam hole in each. Line them up on a baking sheet (rimmed is best, just in case) and bake at 350F for 15-20 min, depending on the thickness of the fish.

Serve the foil packages on each plate for each person to unwrap, or transfer the fish and veggies to each plate yourself. We served with rice flavored with a little soy sauce and ginger.