Korean Beef Rice Bowls

 

Korean BBQ Beef Rice Bowls

Savory beef with a tiny bit of bite
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine Asian
Servings 4 people

Equipment

  • 1 Skillet
  • 1 mixing bowl

Ingredients
  

  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 3 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 bunch scallions sliced (for garnish)

Sauce

  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce reduced sodium is better
  • 2 tsp sesame oil
  • 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper

Instructions
 

  • Brown the hamburger and garlic in a pan. Break it up into crumbles as it browns.
  • While the hamburger is cooking, whisk the sauce ingredients (brown sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, red pepper, black pepper)
  • When the hamburger is browned, drain off the fat and mix in the garlic. Simmer for a minute.
  • Pour in the sauce. Simmer for another couple of minutes. Mix in the scallions and serve.

Notes

Serve over rice with a side of broccoli to round out a complete meal
Keyword ground beef

This recipe was an instant hit.  I have to make a double batch if I want leftovers for the next day.

Adapted from therecipecritic.com

Stir-Fried Udon Noodles with Pork

Pan-fried Udon Noodles with Pork

Delicious noodles
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine Asian
Servings 4 people
Calories 570 kcal

Equipment

  • 1 Skillet large, like 14" cast iron
  • 1 bowl heat-safe

Ingredients
  

  • 3 tbsp Sesame oil
  • 1 bag Slaw mix, dry or about 4 cups chopped cabbage
  • 14 oz Instant udon noodles discard flavor packets, if included
  • 1 pound Ground pork
  • 1 bunch Scallions roughly half-dozen stalks, chopped and separated green from pale
  • 2 tsp Ginger Finely grated or minced
  • 1 tsp Crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1/3 cup Mirin
  • 1/3 cup Soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp Sesame seeds optional

Instructions
 

  • Put on a pot of water to boil, for the noodles later
  • Heat a tablespoon of oil in your skillet over medium-high heat
  • Add cabbage/slaw to the skillet, tossing often, until edges are brown. Reduce heat and continue cooking until thickest parts of the cabbage are tender.
    Remove from heat and transfer cabbage to bowl
  • Wipe out skillet, add a tablespoon of oil, and bring back to medium heat
  • Add pork to skillet, break it up, and cook until browned. Once the meat is broken up, don't keep fussing with it, give it a chance to get browner bits.
  • Once water from step 1 is boiling, turn off heat and add noodles.
    Let noodles sit for 1 minute, then drain. Toss with 1 tablespoon of oil and transfer to bowl with cabbage. Mix together.
  • To the pork, add the pale scallion bits, ginger, and red pepper flakes. Toss for a minute or so, until scallions start to soften.
  • Add noodles and cabbage, mirin, and soy sauce to skillet. Mix until noodles are well-coated with sauce.
  • Remove from heat and toss in green scallion bits and sesame seeds (if desired).

Notes

  • Requires a large skillet.  Our 14″ cast iron is the perfect size.  It’s not quite a one-pot meal, because there’s a swap of ingredients in the middle, but it’s close.
  • Mirin is like sweet sake syrup.  The Japanese equivalent of cooking sherry, you should be able to find bottles of it in the grocery store.
  • The original recipe was pretty strict about amounts, but we’ve found that this recipe is pretty tolerant of variation.
Keyword cabbage slaw, ground pork, noodles

Adapted from https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/stir-fried-udon-with-pork

Last-Minute Chicken

This recipe is shamelessly copied from https://iwashyoudry.com/last-minute-chicken-recipe, which itself copied the recipe from “The Weekday Lunches & Breakfasts Cookbook.”

Ingredients

 

  • 2 teaspoons garlic powder
  • 1 ½ teaspoons onion powder
  • 2 teaspoons paprika OR smoked paprika
  • 2 teaspoons dried oregano
  • 1 ½ teaspoons black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 3 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
  • Enough olive oil to coat chicken
  • 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped (optional)

Directions

  1. Combine the garlic, onion, paprika, oregano, pepper, salt, and olive oil into a freezer bag
  2. Toss in the chicken
    • Most pre-packaged chicken thighs get folded into themselves, so be sure to spread them out as you put them into the bag so they get evenly coated
  3. Seal up the bag and mix everything thoroughly
  4. Heat up a grill pan over medium-high heat, or a grill, while the chicken steeps in it’s spices
    • If using a grill pan, add some olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan – but be sure to use a splatter guard
  5. Cook the chicken until not pink throughout, about 5 minutes on the first side and three or four minutes on the other side

Garlic Roasted Potatoes

This is a great side for pretty much any meat dish, especially on a cool fall day.  The smaller, skin-on potatoes are tasty and not nearly as bad for you as a full-size, peeled and boiled starch-bomb white potato.

Ingredients

  • 3 pounds of small red, white, and/or purple potatoes
    • Lots of supermarkets carry 2- and 3-pound bags of mixed, pre-washed small potatoes, which is really handy if you want more colors
  • Olive oil
  • 6 cloves of fresh garlic, crushed
  • A couple of shakes of black pepper
  • a pinch of salt
  • 2 tablespoons of minced fresh parsley (optional)

Steps

  1. Preheat your oven to 400° F
  2. Halve and/or quarter your potatoes; chunks should be roughly between 1 and 3 cubic inches
  3. Toss the chunks into a freezer bag with the remaining ingredients, adding enough olive oil to coat the potatoes, then mix in the bag
  4. Spread the potatoes into a single layer on a pan or baking stone
  5. Bake for an hour, flipping everything over at least once to keep things from scorching

American Chop Suey

American Chop Suey is Meghan’s comfort food.  It’s quick to cook so I can generally make it on short notice, when I know she’s had a really bad day.

The instructions below are meant for multi-tasking and making everything come together at the right time — an expression of an unplanned dinner made on short notice.  🙂

Ingredients

  • 1 pound of small-shape pasta (elbows, mini-shells, or rotini are all good)
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 1 large green bell pepper, diced
  • 2-5 cloves of garlic
  • 1 jar spaghetti sauce, 15 oz or so, depends on how saucy you like it
  • 1 or 2 cups shredded mozzarella
  • olive oil

You’ll also need a large skillet and a 9×13 glass pan to go in the oven.

Steps

  1. Preheat oven to 350°
  2. Put on a pot of water to boil, and put on a large skillet on the stove with medium-low heat
  3. Dice onion and pepper
  4. When the water is very close to boiling, turn up the skillet to medium heat, add some oil, and throw in the onions and peppers
  5. When the water boils, add the hamburger to the skillet and brown it with the onions and peppers
  6. Put the pasta in the water and cook to al dente; strain.  If the meat isn’t done yet, toss with a little oil to keep it from sticking.
  7. When the meat is brown, drain off the fat and mix in the jar of sauce.  Put back on medium heat until the sauce starts to bubble.
  8. Pour the cooked pasta into the 9×13 pan, and stir in the meat sauce.
  9. Sprinkle (or if you’re like me, shovel) the cheese on top, cover with foil, and cook at 350° for 20 minutes

Tortillas

Tortillas are surprisingly easy to make, but it does go a lot faster with two: one to flatten dough while the other cooks the previously-flattened dough.  Each tortilla takes about as long to cook as to roll.

These tortillas are good enough to eat plain.  They store well in a ziploc baggie.

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/3 cup oil
  • (up to) 1 cup warm water

Steps:

  1. Preheat a large skillet on medium heat (our stove runs hot so it’s more like medium-low, YMMV)
  2. Mix flour and salt in a medium mixing bowl
  3. Cut in oil with a pastry blender or a fork
  4. Slowly incorporate water, mixing until a soft dough forms
  5. Make 2-inch dough balls – probably ten or twelve
  6. Roll flat with a rolling pin.  The dough should be as close to paper-thin as you can make it (you’ll probably wind up with cardstock).
    • You  won’t need to flour the surface – if the dough is good it won’t stick (except maybe to the rolling pin)
  7. Cook the tortillas one at a time until they start to bubble, then flip and heat until brown spots form.

Credit to https://kbmillers.wordpress.com/2013/09/05/169/

D-Angelo’s #9

I discovered the D’Angelo’s sandwich chain in my late teens and fell in love with their ‘Number 9’ grilled sandwich.  It’s very easy to make for yourself and it’s delicious!

This recipe makes enough to feed two or three people (or more, if they’re kids).

Ingredients

  • 1 or 2 chicken breasts (2 if they’re small) or a steak’s worth of beef
  • a quarter of a green bell pepper, diced
  • half a small yellow onion, diced
  • a couple of spoonfuls of sliced mushrooms (optional, kids get weird about ‘shrooms)
  • a couple of slices of american cheese
  • a loaf of french bread (softer is better)

Steps

  1. add a little vegetable oil to a hot pan on medium heat, and throw in the onions, peppers, and mushrooms.  Let it soften.
  2. While the above is cooking, dice the meat and add to the vegetables.  Occasionally flip the whole thing over so nothing burns and the meat cooks evenly.
  3. While the above is cooking, slice the bread grinder-style
  4. When the meat is cooked, pile everything together and add the cheese to cover it
  5. When the cheese melts enough to collapse into the meat and veggies, scoop it into the bread and serve.