Mango & Tomato: beef

2/2/23

Cooking with Friends: Arepas Feast

Two of my favorite people to cook (and eat with) are Sylvie and Jazmin. This past weekend Jazmin and I had an impromptu sleepover at Sylvie's *there were no pillow fights,* and in the morning had an Arepas Feast!

I think this all started after Sylvie asked about the difference between arepas and pupusas. Because Jazmin is half Venezuelan, she offered to make us arepas (patties made from corn meal with water, salt, and a bit of butter).

Of course we could not just have the arepas on their own. We made shredded beef in a pressure cooker with fresh tomatoes and peppers; a pot of black beans with onions, garlic, and an orange; guacamole with tomatoes; and a side of feta or queso fresco.

This was such fun! The leftovers were awesome too.

Do you like cooking with others?

1/12/23

Russian Recipes Revisited: Pirozhki (Piroshki)

Every cuisine has a dish of a filling stuffed into dough. Dumplings, pelmeni, empanadas, and then there are pirozhki or piroshki. The latest ones are these wonderful baked Russian pockets of thin dough stuffed with a variety of fillings.

This past weekend my friend Jazmin and I got together to make them! This was the first time I made pirozhki, and the first time Jazmin made and tried them!

For the dough and the filling/baking process we used a recipe from Sonya. It was pretty easy to follow, but I did have to add quite a bit more flour. The dough puffed up beautifully and smelled so deliciously yeasty.

For the fillings, we made two:

1) sauteed onions, cabbage, and scallions seasoned with salt and pepper and mixed with chopped hard boiled eggs

2) sauteed ground beef seasoned with salt, pepper, and adjika and mixed with little cubes of a cooked potato

Definitely have a friend when making these because it'll halve your job ;)

I give us a B- for the crimping job, but an A for the taste!

It took longer to bake these than the recipe called for in order to get a golden brown top, and we ended up putting them under a broiler for a bit.

I served these with pickled okra and peppers, and adjika. This is definitely not authentic. My mom said she normally likes them with a bowl of broth or a cup of tea with sugar and lemon.

Other fillings: rice and chicken, potatoes with sauteed onions, or you can even do something sweet like farmers cheese with cherries.

You do you!

9/2/20

Ground Beef Bulgogi Platter

bulgogi, korean, ground beef, beef, kimchi, salad, eggplant, mushrooms

After getting a few Asian pears in my Washington's Green Grocer order last week, I asked my instagram followers what I should make with it. Several people said bulgogi: a flavorful Korean beef dish. In fact, I've made bulgogi before, but this time around I only had ground beef.

Not to worry, I found a bulgogi recipe using ground beef on Carmy's blog. It did, however, not have Asian pear in the list of ingredients, and I also did not have a few ingredients that Carmy called for: thus, and as always, I made a few alterations.

Ground Beef Bulgogi Platter

Ingredients

6 tablespoons soy sauce

1.5 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 small onion, cut into chunks

1/2 Asian pear, cut into chunks

4 garlic cloves, smashed

1" ginger, chopped

1 pound ground beef

1/2 onion, sliced

green onions, thinly sliced

sides: kimchi, cucumber salad, kimchi, red pepper slices

Directions

1. Put the first 7 ingredients into a blender and puree until smooth. Pour the marinade over ground beef in a large bowl, mix to combine, and allow to stand for 30 minutes.

2. Add the marinated beef into a heated skillet with the sliced onions and saute until the beef is cooked through.

NOTE: I used 80/20 beef. It was quite fatty and did not need extra oil for sauteing. In fact, at one point I had to drain the beef and onions to get rid of extra fat. You may have to do the same. Just be careful not to splash yourself.

3. Serve topped with green onions and all the sides.

I'm currently not eating rice, but that of course would be a perfect accompaniment for the dish.

So much flavor! Such great comfort food. Perfect leftovers.

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