Ginger Beef

It is widely accepted that Ginger Beef was first created in Western Canada. The story goes that a Chinese restauranteur was having difficulty getting locals to try the exotic dishes on his menu. He created a dish with local beef and a Chinese-inspired sauce and a new classic was born. 

Fast forward to this weekend. Nine people in the house, a craving for Chinese food, as a chunk of beef in the fridge. Voila. 

RECIPE: GINGER BEEF

Ingredients:

Beef (prepare however you want - could be left over roast, grilled steaks, or ground beef)

1 tbsp oil for cooking

1 onion, finely minced

1 large hand of ginger, finely minced

A splash of water (maybe 1/2 cup)

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/3 cup fish sauce

1/4 cup Srirachia

2 lemons, juiced

Method:

> prepare beef as usual (grill steak, slice roast into strips and fry, cook ground beef or make meatballs, etc.)

> heat up the oil in a pan and sauté the onions until soft; add in the ginger and water and let cook another 5 minutes or so

> pour onion and ginger mix along with the rest of the ingredients into the blender; blend until smooth 

> pour the sauce over the beef, garnish with bell peppers, cilantro, green onion, and sesame seeds

> serve over rice or rice noodles and enjoy!!

Sloppy Joes

A lot has happened in the last two years. The boys grew (a lot) and both now play football. My new one-year contract job has changed titles three times and should last over a year into the future. Our dog died. We got a new dog. We visited Chris's parents on the island. My parents both turned 70 (and were each thoroughly celebrated). And Chris got sick. It's taken nearly two years, but we might finally have some answers on that front. 

Just before Christmas, our stove died. The dishwasher was also on its last legs. So, we decided to replace the old flooring while we had both appliances out - why not?! And then the flu hit. It has been so awful for all of us for well over a week. The doctor said if Chris got any worse to take him to the hospital. That bad. 

Work has been amazingly busy these past few weeks, and I have zero ability at the end of the day to come home and make dinner. There are times this kind of chaos and difficulty inspire amazing dishes. 

Today was one of those days. 

Sloppy Joes

Ingredients 

4-5lb ground beef (or whatever meat you want)

1-2 tbsp coconut oil

2 onions, chopped

1 large finger of ginger, diced

1/4cup coriander seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp turmeric

2 tbsp fennel seeds

4 sticks cinnamon

20ish green cardamom pods, ground (or 1/2 tsp ground)

15ish dried juniper berries, ground

1 tbsp dried garlic or 1 head fresh garlic, minced

5 dried figs, chopped (or a handful of raisins)

2 green apples, diced 

1-2 tsp salt, to taste

1-3 tsp black pepper, to taste

Garnish

1 bunch cilantro, chopped

1 bunch green onions, chopped

1 loaf French bread

Butter, garlic, salt

Method

1. Heat the coconut oil, add the spices, then the onion, ginger, and garlic

2. Once #1 is fragrant, add the meat. Now really, don't be super concerned about the method or timing here; if you do this 2 minutes after you add the garlic, great - if it's 15 minutes later and the onions have browned and the bottom of the pot is dark, no worries. It will be yummy, I promise. If pieces brown to the bottom, add some water and scrape them off. That's flavour. 

3. Add in the rest, whenever. Figs and raisins always benefit from being in the pot longer. If you'd like the apples to add a punch of fresh, add them right at the end. 

4. Cut the French bread lengthwise, like you're going to make a huge sandwich. Butter, garlic, and salt it; broil or bake like you would to make garlic bread. I like doing this in a cast iron skillet with the loaf cut in quarters. 

5. Serve; garnish with green onions, cilantro (any herb would be great here, including celery leaves), and eat with the garlic toast. 

I can hardly wait to have leftovers for breakfast tomorrow.  

Hilachas / Guatemalan Beef Stew

RECIPE: Hilachas / Guatemalan Beef Stew

(serves 6)

Ingredients:

- 2 pounds beef, cubed

- 5 cups water

- 2-3 tbsp oil

- 1 onion, chopped

- 1 cup chopped tomatoes

- 1 cup chopped tomatillos

- 2 to 3 guajillo (say 'gua-HE-yo') chiles, warmed over a flame, deseeded and chopped

- salt and pepper - to season

- 1 pound potatoes, peeled and chopped

- 2-3 carrots, peeled and chopped

- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs

- 1 bunch cilantro, chopped

Method:

> place the beef, water, and a big pinch of salt in a large saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat

> reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until the beef is very tender

> while the beef is simmering, place the onion, tomatoes, tomatillos and chiles in a food processor or blender and puree, adding a little water if necessary

> heat the oil in a large pot over medium; add the onion-tomato puree and simmer until the puree is cooked down and darkens somewhat in color, about 10 minutes; do not burn

> add the shredded beef and about 3 cups of the broth to the onion-tomato puree and season with salt and pepper; reserve the rest of the broth

> stir in the potatoes, onions and a little more broth if necessary

> simmer until the potatoes and carrots are cooked through, about 15-20 minutes

> stir in the breadcrumbs to thicken the sauce (optional)

> stir in the chopped cilantro, adjust seasoning and serve hot with corn tortillas or rice with shredded cabbage and chopped cilantro to garnish

Variations:

- add 2 teaspoons achiote seasoning to the onion-tomato puree for added flavour; bricks of achiote seasoning can be found at many Latin markets

- the potatoes and carrots can be eliminated if you like

- canned tomatoes and tomatillos work just fine in this recipe

- tomatoes can be used if you would like to eliminate the tomatillos

- if you can't find guajillo chiles, use anchos or pasillas (say 'pa-SEE-yas') or substitute with 1 tablespoon of paprika and 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

To see the full menu for the Guatemalan lunch, go here.  

Tapas for Dinner

It was one of those nights where we just did not feel like making or eating a "real" dinner. So instead, I made this:

Simple Salad Dressing

I love salad. I love salad dressing. I love home made salad dressing. And my favourite dressing could not be simpler to make.

Are you ready?

Philly Cheese Steak

Sometimes I think that any cookbook I make might have a full chapter devoted to "things that go on a bun". This sandwich would be in that chapter.

Neither I nor my husband have ever been to the east coast, but this is our best guess at what this legendary sandwich might taste like...

Steak and Salad

Dinner Saturday night was amazing!! I made a salad and My husband grilled the steaks. Sounds simple, but it was incredible!!

Lazy Pizza

The other day, I decided on pizza for dinner. It was already nearly 5:00 pm and I was low on ideas.

The kids decided on ham, pineapple, and bell pepper pizza. For Chris and I, vegetarian. We picked up two pizza crusts (gasp) at the store and got to making it. I really did not want a tomato pizza sauce, so I made a "white" pizza sauce that worked quite well.

Comfort Soup

At my house, we have been sick for a week. My husband has been mostly home since last Thursday (he went in twice but came back home soon thereafter). It is one of those colds that have hit all of us, all at the same time and it has been awful.

Trying to cook or eat when you are sick is not a simple task. Our week has been full of soup, grilled cheese, and skillet-browned boneless chicken thighs and rice. 

Tonight we had soup with a broth that has simmered since yesterday. It was simple and delicious and took (maybe) 5 minutes.

Community Lunch Lasagne

When it comes to food and cooking for others, running out is NEVER an option. If there is a fault in this category, it is that we tend to over-do it. So, when we volunteered to help out with food for the Community Lunch after church this last week, we aimed high...

... top of this mountain of twenty loaves of garlic bread, high.

Home Made Pasta

A little while ago, I popped some chopped beef into the freezer with some garlic, olive oil, and some Italian herbs. I forget what exactly I put in with the meat, but to find out, check here. Now the time has come to cook the beef!

I sautéed the beef with the herbs, added some chopped onion, and dressed it at the end with some halved cherry tomatoes. Now for the noodles...

Easy Dinner: Serve Over Rice

Last night, I needed an easy solution for dinner; something quick, simple, that my children and husband would all love, and that would also be good for school lunches today. Here was the solution:

Prepare Ahead: buying larger quantities of meat to pre-marinate, spice, dice, and sauce them yourself!

About once every week or two I buy several larger packages of meat and end up spending about 20 or 30 minutes with them.

How do you know what is a good price for meat? Start by looking at the price per pound or the price per kilogram. The price per kilo for regular ground beef will usually be the cheapest; the price per kilo for boneless skinless chicken breasts will be the most. 

With beef, watch the prices per kilo and compare them to other cuts - when I bought these “marinating” steaks, they were $1.20 per kilo cheaper than cubed stewing beef!!

Another important thing to watch is the “best before" date or the “packed on” date. I always want to take home the freshest meat, so next to the price per pound, that is the next most important.

This week, I bought one package of marinating steaks and one package of chicken thighs with the bone in.

In our family, lunch is leftovers from dinner the night before, so when I am packing up meat, I am actually packaging one dinner and one lunch for four. 

This is a wonderful opportunity to plan ahead if you are cooking for one or two or if there are several nights of the week when you need to throw something in the slow cooker or the oven on low before you run out the door for a few hours. This pre-planning has saved us from eating dinner out and spending nearly $40 when the dinner in the oven costs less than $10 and will also feed us lunch tomorrow. 

Pizza... Home Made Pizza

There is something so warm and comforting about the smell of baking bread when it is cold and dark outside. On those days, I find myself scouring cookbooks and food blogs looking for the recipe I will bake. Last night, it was home made pizza from a cookbook my mother-in-law made for Chris when he left home.

Making your own pizza dough is actually quite simple. It involves paying attention for small periods of time, lots of ignoring, a few minutes of baking, then - VOILA! - pizza!!

Yes, it is that simple. Okay, it might take a little longer the first time or two, but after that, it is simple AND quick.

Dinner Tonight: Curry

After school on Thursdays, the boys and I get home quickly and eat a snack that is more of a meal than a little bite. Then we load into the car with boxing gloves, shorts and tee-shirts and head off to their kick-boxing class in Calgary.

By the time we get home, it is nearly 7:00 and with bedtime FAST approaching, if dinner is not already ready, the wheels fall off and the kids end up going to bed way too late, cranky. 

Here is my solution for tonight’s dinner... curry! I will prep everything before I go help out in Kindergarten this afternoon and I will start the slow roasting before we leave at 4:20 pm for the 5:15 pm class.

RECIPE: Apple Curry

Ingredients:

2 lbs beef, sliced and diced (I chop up cheap steaks for this, but ground beef would also work or stewing beef cubes)

1 large onion, diced

2 large apples, cored and diced

1 can coconut milk

2 tbsp yellow curry paste (or curry powder if you don’t have the paste)

Method:

> mix it all together in an oven-proof casserole dish, clamp on the lid, and put it in the oven at 325*F for 2-2.5 hours; alternately, you could use a crock-pot


> rice, the amount and method you usually use (I will talk more on rice a little later)

Garnish:

fresh cilantro & green onions sprinkled over

I will post photos of this tomorrow as well as any sides I create to go with it! I have no idea what they will be, but I know my fridge is brimming with produce that begs to be eaten! 

* For an authentic experience, do not use any forks, spoons, or other utensils when eating.  Use only your fingers on your right hand and rip up a piece of Indian Naan Bread to scoop and sop the yumminess up!!

** Yes, I am seriously suggesting that you eat rice, small pieces of meat and veg, and sauce with your fingers. Think of how much fun your kids will have!


UPDATE: 
My 7-year-old decided that this was the VERY BEST curry he had EVER had and ate three large bowls before declaring that he was too full for a fourth. 


Here is a photo of the apples, vegetables, coconut milk, and curry paste before I added strips of cheap beef. And curry in the bowl served over brown basmati rice - with cilantro and kosher salt - yummy!