I wanted generic suburban Chinese takeout but it would of been good of me to cook so I cooked this. Read the rest of this entry » «Takeout Beef & Broccoli»
Tag Archives: tamari
Japanese Beef Plate
I went to The Prime Rib for a solo dinner on Wednesday night (#ballerstatus) and left with a doggie bag containing an 8 oz. filet mignon. Poor me, right? Confronted with a surplus of delicious, tender medium rare beef I knew the best way to use it would be in as simple a preparation as possible.
Here, I opted to thinly slice the meat and plate it with some chilled soba noodles and sliced tomato. The meaty, flavorful heirloom tomato–one of the last of the season–really loves the tonkatsu sauce; a well-dressed slice of tomato paired with the beef is a mouthful of pure bliss. The soba noodles add a bit of spice and some contrasting textures. Umami all over this ish. I was more than satisfied with the final result.
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Chinese Bacon Rillette
This recipe is my second attempt at the Mission Street Food cookbook rillette from last week. I have been looking for an excuse to try cooking Chinese bacon, so I subbed it in for the Spam. The flavor profile of Chinese bacon is hard to describe, but somewhat similar to Chinese takeout spare ribs, and I changed the seasonings to compliment it better. Guess what? The rillette is still damn good.
Bonus! In addition to the rillette, you will have leftover Chinese bacon broth. This is ridiculously fatty, so if you are foolishly misguided enough to try and limit the amount of pork fat in your diet, you may want to separate it by cooling and skimming the surface. My plan is to combine with the Spam broth from last week in a 2:1 ratio for the ultimate ramen soup base. The broth is also good for reviving the rillette if its been sitting in your refrigerator for a few days; just add the rillette to a pan over low heat with a little broth until warm.
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Asparagus Soba
This recipe started with inspiration from an izakaya cookbook and has gone through several iterations since then. It maintains the premise that asparagus, sesame & citrus is a great flavor combination, but takes it from bar snack to meal. I was also thinking cold sesame noodles, and briefly considered aspects of Han Dynasty‘s dan dan mian.
Basically, this is a mess. A delicious mess, but a mess nonetheless.
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Bachelor’s Soba
With the weather gets warmer, one of my favorite lunches to pack for work is soba noodles. Served cold, its a meal that is both filling and refreshing on a hot day.
Typically, I prepare a kind of shiso pesto to dress the noodles. However, my source for fresh sprigs of shiso (and other Asian veggies) did not have any this past weekend. Instead, I opted for mitsuba, something I have never worked with. A taste test revealed it to have a pleasant, parsley-like flavor that could balance out the harsher elements in a dish. My immediate thought was to go all out with garlic & onions.
Its called “Bachelor’s Soba” because after eating all that stuff, your breath will surely frustrate any attempt at a make-out sesh. (But also: vampires.) The recipe presented below is enough for two lunch-portion servings.
