Korean Beef Tacos

These tacos are goooooood for hungry boys/men/whatever mouths you have open in your home. I made them this summer when my little (actually rather large and muscular) brother Spencer lived with Ben and me for 2 weeks. He shared his work-out habits; we shared our table. 

Recipe fairly verbatim from http://www.mylifeasamrs.com/2011/09/crockpot-korean-beef-tacos.html which I discovered through tastespotting.com (aka food porn). 

For the Cucumber Slaw:


2 hot house cucumber (the wrapped seedless kind)


4 teaspoons rice vinegar


1 teaspoon sugar


2 pinches of salt


crushed red pepper flakes to taste

For the Korean Beef:


6 1/2 pounds (roughly) beef back ribs or short ribs

1 1/2 cups soy sauce


1 2/3 cups packed brown sugar


10 cloves garlic, grated

4 tablespoons grated ginger


6 tablespoons rice vinegar


2 tablespoons dark sesame oil


2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1-2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes

For the tacos:


small flour tortillas


cilantro


sriracha

For the Cucumber Slaw:
Slice cucumbers as thin as you can get them (I used a mandoline slicer to help, but it's not necessary) and place in a bowl. Add the rice vinegar, sugar, salt, and crushed red pepper; toss to combine. Set aside until ready to use. You can make these the night before if desired!

For the Korean Beef:
 Spray a 7 quart slow cooker base with non-stick cooking spray and add the beef back ribs. In a small bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients until combined; pour over the ribs. Cook on low heat for 8 hours. I rotated the ribs on my lunch break and also used a turkey baster to do a quick baste on the ribs with (the majority of the ribs will be submerged in the sauce & juices). When ready to serve, take out of crockpot, remove bones, and shred.

For the tacos:

Warm tortillas in the microwave. Add shredded beef, cucumber slaw, and cilanto. If you are feeling extra frisky, drizzle on some sriracha for a nice kick!

Rosemary and goat cheese mac with roast chicken

Real cooks know how to simmer a liquid when a recipe requires that it reduce by half. Real cooks know that this does NOT mean that you should allow half to boil over out of the pot.

Real cooks have gas ranges, not cooktops. I am sorry if this offends anyone, but it’s simply a well-known fact in the cooking world.  No fair judging anyhow, as I have a cooktop in this new house.

Man, am I glad I am not a real cook.  While making the recipe below for a pot-luck, fate (or inattention) decided for me that I should take a few shortcuts. I suppose I was trying to do too many things at once, but I thought I just glanced away for one second… and a glorious waterfall of cream had cascaded down the sides of the pot and spread across my stove top. My rushed reaction to this mishap was positive, however, as the recipe called for me to reduce the cream by half…and reduce by half I had done! And I still showed up an hour late for the dinner that and I had signed up for the main dish. Good thing for loving/forgiving/hungry friends, eh?

Rosemary and goat cheese mac with roast chicken

1 tbs olive oil

1 pound dried rigatoni pasta

1 quart heavy cream

2 tbs fresh chopped rosemary

3 gloves fresh garlic, crushed and chopped

8 ounces goat cheese

2 cups roasted chicken shredded (from 1 store bought rotisserie)

salt and pepper to taste

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add the oil and the pasta and cook according to package directions, about 10-12 minutes.

2. While you are waiting for the water to boil, pour the cream into a large sauce pan over medium heat. Add the rosemary and garlic to the cream and bring it to a simmer – be careful not to let it boil over! Allow the cream to reduce by about half (have a glass of wine and be patient).

3. Stir in the goat cheese and chicken and continue cooking till the cream is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.


4. Thoroughly drain the pasta. Add the pasta to the cream sauce. Coat the pasta in the sauce and simmer over low heat for a few minutes. Garnish with a sprig of rosemary and serve hot!

pretty lil flops

I would love to exclusively rave about my successes in the kitchen, but let's not forget about the failures. I am labeling these failures only because they failed in their goal oriented task of feeding the husBen....simply because he found them a bit unpalatable. I thought I should still document my efforts, however, because a) these soups are still beautiful and c) some people actually like borscht and/or gazpacho (like me!). 

A few months ago I experimented with borscht...

Now I know dinner is not going to go over well when husBen sees me cooking it and says, “That’s not for me, is it? You know I don’t eat those (beets).”

Oh, did I?

Seriously, who DOES eat beets? I think he was trying to say, “I am sorry, but what shade of normal are you trying to pass that off as?” I pulsed the food processor full of vibrant fuscia soup a few more times as if it would silence him.

If you like beets, this borscht is for you…in fact, if you had come over to my house when I made it, Ben might have tried to send you home with the whole batch.

Just recently, I tried to feed him chilled gazpacho. He took one cautious sip (after an already judging glance down at the bowl of bright green soup in front of him) and honestly/politely let me know that it was so hot that it almost tasted like "nothing." I ate alooot of left over gazpacho that week :)

Recipes (in case you are a fan of either of the "failures"):

http://cooking-books.blogspot.com/2011/08/cold-summertime-borscht.html

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Creamy-Cucumber-Gazpacho-105401

escape from jail...and do better!

Some of my patients lately have been promising big life changes as soon as they get out of the hospital. I suppose the jail like effect of IV lines and nasal cannulas makes a person's mind really crave free movement and personal revolution (as far as their health is concerned anyway). They are going to stop smoking this or that, stop eating this or that, and start exercising for sure.

I keep telling myself as soon as I get off the wards, I am going to start being a better blogger. Not that my following of indulgent family members or friends is the motivating factor (puhleaaasseeee yall must be reading this on your lunch breaks) but I honestly am hoping for some self-improvement through these posts. I have always been a believer in processing through writing, hopefully gaining some insight along the way of my life experiences.

Reflection on a busy life makes me slow down at least as long as it takes me to write about it. This internal effort helps me feel more present in my own steps and not just like I am moving from room to room and face to face on autopilot. Also, I am hoping that beginning to blog again-- thus forcing myself to process my day before I hit the pillow at night-- will allow me sleep more peacefully (and help me quit dreaming about being late to rounds or my patients trying to escape the hospital in the breezy teal gowns).

So here we go. New year's resolution circa 3/4 the year too late. In honor of this toast, I'll raise my glass (of Nutella milkshake) and promise to be a little more....well....present.

Nutella Milkshake with chocolate covered pretzels

2 + cups of vanilla ice cream
1/4 cup + milk
1/4 cup Nutella

Whiz the above ingredients in a blender. It helps if your ice cream is a bit melted. Feel free to add more ice cream or milk in order to achieve desired consistency. Do Not feel free to skimp on the Nutella :)

You can buy chocolate covered pretzels to crush up and mix in this shake or top your shake with a few for decoration. To make your own, just melt down good chocolate (I used El Rey 70% discos, but a Bakers bittersweet would be fabulous too) in the microwave and submerge pretzels in the chocolate. Set individual pretzels on a cookie sheet and allow to cool (to harden) in the fridge.