Wild Ginger

Mmmm.... Mongolian Beef...simple, straight forward and tasty. Still can't make it as tasty as the chef at my favorite restaurant Sheep King, but this recipe still makes a darned good dish. I think the secret at Sheep King is to drop the beef for just five to ten seconds in boiling hot oil before finishing with the onions and peppers in the wok, which keeps the beef tender.

INGREDIENTS
1 lb. flank steak, cut into thin strips (cut across the grain of the meat)
1 med. yellow onion, sliced
1 bunch green onions, cut 2 inches long
6-8 pieces dried hot chili peppers (red Chinese chili or Arbol chili)
2-3 slices ginger root
2 tbsp. cooking oil (high heat oil like peanut or safflower is preferred)

Marinade
1 tbsp. dark soy
2 tbsp. rice wine
2 tbsp. oyster sauce
1 tbsp. cornstarch
3-4 slices ginger root

PREPARATION

• Marinate the meat in the marinade for 35-40 minutes
• Heat up cooking oil in wok or heavy skillet until smoking
• Add yellow onion and cook over high heat for 1-2 minutes
• Add ginger, and chili peppers - cook for 15 seconds
• Add meat and cook for 2-4 minutes until done, adding green onions for last minute of cooking

Serve immediately with steamed rice.

Admittedly, Boeuf Bourguignon is a stew. And, as stews go, this one's a lot of work. But Boeuf Bourguignon is decidedly the King of Stew, and well worth the effort. It's not just the unctuous goodness of the meet braised in wine, but that Gallic balance of the holy trinity with a bouquet garni. This is the ultimate comfort food in my book.

Do not skimp on the wine, or at least use a decent one. I don't think you should cook with a wine or spirit that you wouldn't drink on its own and it particularly important here because the wine imparts its flavor so dominantly in this dish. In fact, if you make it your rule to serve a bottle of the same wine with your dish, you'll likely choose well.

Serve over new potatoes with butter and parsley with a side of a simple fresh vegetable - root veggies or a squash are great for Autumn or Winter, greens in the Spring.

INGREDIENTS
½ lb thick-sliced bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 lb boneless beef chuck, cut into 2-inch pieces
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp vegetable oil
4 ½ tbsp unsalted butter
½ cup brandy
1 piece of celery
4 fresh parsley stems (no leaves)
4 fresh thyme sprigs
2 bay leaves
2 cloves
2 onions, finely chopped
3 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 carrots, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 (750-ml) bottle dry red wine - Pinot Noir, Merlot or a nice burgundy (use a bottle that you would enjoy drinking)
1 lb small (1 1/2-inch) boiling onions or pearl onions (frozen is fine)
½ lb mushrooms, quartered if large

Best served over peeled boiled potatoes tosseed with butter and parsley - new potatoes or fingerlings are perfect.

PREPARATION

This is a delicious Burmese curry. Its fairly hot, so if you're not a love of hot chili, you might want to try making initially with only a single chili. I like it with three..or one fresh and two dried is also wonderful. This recipe can be served with steamed rice or Chinese vermicelli rice noodles.

INGREDIENTS
For the paste
4 garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
1 bsp freshly grated ginger
2 red chiles, seeded and chopped
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
1 tsp turmeric
1 handful chopped fresh cilantro
1 handful chopped Thai basil leaves

For the beef
2 tbsp peanut oil
2 shallots, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp shrimp paste
12 oz. sirloin steak, cubed
1 ¼ cups coconut milk
1 lemongrass stalk, chopped
½ tsp brown sugar
1 tbsp ground coriander
2 tbsp fish sauce

PREPARATION
Preparing the paste

• Blend all the paste ingredients together.

Preparing the beef

• Heat a wok over high heat, add the oil and stir fry the shallots with the shrimp paste for less than 1 minute. Add the paste ingredients and stir fry for 1 minute. Add the steak and stir fry for 2 minutes until browned on all sides.
• Stir in the coconut milk. (For a thinner sauce, you could also add a little chicken stock at this stage. For a creamier curry, you could add some coconut cream.) Add the lemongrass, the brown sugar, ground coriander and fish sauce. Bring to the boil and sprinkle with a handful of chopped fresh cilantro and Thai basil leaves.
• Bring a large pan of water to the boil and cook the vermicelli rice noodles according to the packet instructions, drain and place in 2 serving bowls. Ladle curry over the noodles and serve immediately.

I modified slightly this wonderful slow-cooked recipe from Gourmet magazine. The mellow heat of the chilies fit melodiously atop the harmony of the sweet maple syrup and lime, supported by the bitter undertones of coffee.

INGREDIENTS
2 dried ancho chiles (also known as pasillio chilies), stemmed, seeded, and ribs discarded
2 dried guajillo chiles, stemmed, seeded, and ribs discarded
2 cups boiling-hot water
1 medium onion, quartered
3 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
2 tbsp finely chopped canned chipotle chiles in adobo plus 2 tsp adobo sauce
2 tbsp and 1 tsp pure maple syrup
1 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 tbsp salt
6 lb beef short ribs (bone-in)
1 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp vegetable oil
½ cup brewed coffee

PREPARATION

Soak ancho chiles in boiling-hot water until softened, about 20 minutes, then drain in a colander set over a bowl. Taste soaking liquid: It will be a little bitter, but if unpleasantly so, discard it; otherwise, reserve for braising. Transfer chiles to a blender and purée with onion, garlic, chipotles with sauce, maple syrup, lime juice, and 1 teaspoon salt.

Pat ribs dry and sprinkle with pepper and remaining 2 teaspoons salt. Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then brown ribs in 3 batches, turning occasionally, about 5 minutes per batch. Transfer as browned to a roasting pan just large enough to hold ribs in 1 layer.

Carefully add chile purée to fat remaining in skillet (it will spatter and steam) and cook over moderately low heat, stirring frequently, 5 minutes. Add reserved chile soaking liquid (or 1 1/2 cups water) and coffee and bring to a boil, then pour over ribs (liquid should reach about halfway up sides of meat).

Cover roasting pan tightly with foil and braise ribs until very tender, 3 to 3 1/2 hours. Skim fat from pan juices. Serve ribs with pan juices.

Cooks' note:
Ribs improve in flavor if braised 2 days ahead. Cool completely, uncovered, then chill, ribs covered directly with parchment or wax paper and roasting pan covered with foil. Remove any solidified fat before reheating.

Makes 6 servings.

Probably the signature dish from Milan, ossobuco is a lovely treatment of braised veal shanks well worth the trouble. Make sure that you have the shank cut into slices no thicker than 1½ inches, for this is the size at which they cook best. Any thicker and the meat ends up either under-cooked or chewy and stringy. This is a dish you want to make sure to give the cooking time it needs - slow and patient cooking is essential.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup onion chopped fine
2/3 cup carrot chopped fine
2/3 cup celery chopped fine
4 tbsp (½ stick) butter
1 tsp garlic chopped fine
2 strips lemon peel with none of the white pith beneath it.
1/3 cup vegetable oil
8 1½-inch-thick slices of veal hind shank, each tied tightly around the middle
Flour, spread on a plate
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup beef or veal stock (preferabley home made)
1½ cups canned plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped, with their juice.
½ tsp fresh thyme or ¼ tsp dried thyme
2 bay leaves
2 or 3 sprigs of parsley
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
Salt

PREPARATION

• Preheat oven to 350°


• Choose a pot with a heavy bottom or of enameled cast iron that can accomodate all the veal shanks in a single layer. Put in the onion, carrot, celery, and butter and turn on the heat to medium. Cook for about 6 to 7 minutes, add the chopped garlic and lemon peel, cook another 2 or 3 minutes until the vegetables soften and wilt, then remove from heat.


• Put the vegetable oil in a skillet and turn on the heat to medium high. Turn the veal shanks in the flour, coating them all over and shaking off the excess flour.

Note: Do not flour the veal, or anything else that needs to be browned, in advance because the flour will become soggy and make it impossible to acheive a crisp surface.

• When the oil is quite hot - it should sizzle when the veal goes in - slip the shanks and brown them deeply all over. Remove them from the skillet using a slotted spoon or spatula, and stand them side by side over the chopped vegetables in the pot.
• Tip the skillet and spoon off all but a little bit of the oil. Add the wine, reduce it by simmering it over medium heat while scraping loose with a wooden spoon the browning residues stuck to the bottom and sides. Pour the skillet juices over the veal in the pot.
• Put the broth in the skillet, bring it to a simmer, and add it to the pot. Also add the chopped tomatoes with their juice, the thyme, the bay leaves, parsely, pepper, and salt. The broth should have come two-thirds of the way up to th top of the shanks. If it does not, add more.
• Bring the liquids in the pot to a simmer, cover the pot tightly, and place it in the lower third of the preheated oven. Cook for about 2 hours or until the meat feels very tender when prodded with a fork and a dense, creamy sauce has formed. Turn and baste the shanks every 20 minutes. If, while the ossobuco is cooking, the liquid in the pot becomes insufficient, add 2 tbsp of water at a time, as needed.
• When the ossobuco is done, transfer it to a warm platter, carefully remove the trussing strings without letting the shanks come apart, pour the asuce in the pot over them, and serve at once. if the pot juices are too thin and watery, place the pot over a burner with high heat, boil down the excess liquid, then pour the reduce juices over the ossobuco on the platter.

Gremolada
If you wish to observe ossobuco tradition strictly, you must add an aromatic mixture called gremolada to the shanks, when they are nearly done. It is optional and simple:

1 tsp grated lemon peel, taking care to avoid white pith
¼ tsp garlic chpped very, very fine
1 tbsp chopped parsley

Combine the ingredients evenly and sprinkle the mixture over the shranks while they are cooking but when they are done, so that the gremolada, add it only when reheating the meat.

This classic preparation is a very versatile way of preparing steak - a little more trouble than just grilling it, but a method that works equally well with a humble skillet steak or a lovely New York Strip.

I recommend crushing putting them in a frying pan, and than crushing them with the (clean!) bottom of a small or medium size pan. Pepper grinders don't have a sufficiently coarse setting.

INGREDIENTS
Sauce
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1 medium shallot , minced
1 cup low-sodium beef broth
¾ cup low-sodium chicken broth
¼ cup heavy cream
¼ cup brandy
1 additional tbsp brandy
1 tsp lemon juice or 1 teaspoon champagne vinegar
Table salt

Steaks
4 strip steaks (8 to 10 ounces each), ¾ to 1 inch thick and no larger than 3 inches at widest points, trimmed of exterior gristle
Table salt
1 tbsp black peppercorns , crushed

PREPARATION

• Saute shallots in 1 tbsp of butter in a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat until softened, about 2 minutes. Add beef and chicken broths, increase heat to high, and boil until reduced to about 1/2 cup, about 8 minutes. Set reduced broth mixture aside. Rinse and wipe out skillet.
  


• Sprinkle both sides of steaks with salt; spread crushed peppercorns on one side of each steak, pressing the crushed pieces into the steak so they would adhere.
  


• Heat skillet over medium heat for about four minutes - enough that the skillet has enough heat to brown the steaks. Lay steaks unpeppered-side down in hot skillet, increase heat to medium-high, and cook steaks without moving them until well-browned, about 6 minutes. Flip steaks and cook on peppered side, about 3 minutes longer for rare, about 4 minutes longer for medium-rare, or about 5 minutes longer for medium. Transfer steaks to large plate and tent loosely with foil to keep warm.
  


• Pour reduced broth, cream, and ¼ cup brandy into now-empty skillet; increase heat to high and bring to boil, scraping pan bottom with wooden spoon to loosen the fond. Simmer until deep golden brown and thick enough to heavily coat back of metal tablespoon or soup spoon, about 5 minutes. Off heat, whisk in remaining 3 tablespoons butter, remaining 1 tablespoon brandy, lemon juice, and any accumulated meat juices. Adjust seasonings with salt.
  


• Set steaks on individual dinner plates, spoon portion of sauce over steaks, and serve immediately.