Stuffed Peppers

I'm a baker. I'm sure you know that by the looks of my blog here, but it's something I've ascribed to myself for some time now. Over the years, I've mastered my fears and perfected everything from cupcakes, to cookies to even bread. I've never been a cook. If I was a cook, it was merely just me trying on the title of 'cook' for the moment - following step by step directions for a recipe. 

As a baker, you rely on science, exact measurements. Cooks experiment, they rely on their instincts. I've never been one good with instincts. It's always a constant battle of heart versus head for me. Past internal conversations usually involved my heart longing for this, that and this while my head disagreed and said this, that and this are not possible, will not work, will fail. Recently though, it's been gratifying just to play around and end up with something good once in a while. Sometimes things don't work out, and that's okay. 

It's times when things do work out, and work out splendidly I might add, that make you want to try and try again. These stuffed peppers are an actualization to this fact. I didn't follow a recipe, I improvised, I let my heart guide me:

Heart: I want some mushrooms in my stuffed pepper.

Head: Mushrooms are too watery for the filling!

Heart: To hell with you head! Mushrooms it is!

Mushrooms won and I won in the end. These stuffed peppers are delicious, healthy, and an incredibly satisfying meal if not, an incredibly satisfying life lesson :)

Stuffed Peppers

Yields: 6 - 7 stuffed peppers

6 - 7 bell peppers (I used green because they had a nice shape for stuffing)

1 tbsn. olive oil

1 small red onion, chopped

1 cup mushrooms, sliced

3 garlic cloves, minced, divided

1 lb. lean ground beef (I used 80% lean)

1 cup cooked brown rice

1/2 tbsn. dried parsley or 1 tbsn. fresh

1 tsp. salt, divided

1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper, divided

1 tbsn. Worcestershire sauce

1 large egg

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 8 oz. can tomato sauce

1/4 cup water

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Cut the tops off of the peppers and remove the seeds and ribs. Save the tops and dice them; set aside. If your peppers do not stand well on their own, you can slice off a small sliver on their bottoms to even the base - but be sure not to cut through to the inside. In a large pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and 2/3 of the garlic and cook for 2 - 4 minutes, or until semi-translucent. Add the ground beef and use a wooden spoon to break up the meat. Season with 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. pepper and the Worcestershire sauce. Cook until the meat is no longer pink, about 5 - 7 minutes. Drain this mixture using a fine sieve and then place into a large bowl. 

In the same saucepan, add the chopped bell peppers that you had set aside earlier, along with the mushrooms. Dry saute this over high heat to give some 'sear' to them and so that they just lose their 'crispness.' Once done, throw on top of the ground beef mixture, then add the cooked rice on top. In a small bowl, combine the egg, parsley, Parmesan and remaining salt and pepper; mix to combine, then pour into your bowl. Mix everything to combine, then stuff as much of this mixture as you can into your peppers. Place the peppers into a baking dish. Mix the water and tomato sauce together, then pour around the peppers. Bake for 45 minutes and enjoy!

As a side dish to these, I decided to throw some brown rice and corn together. Seasoned it simply with some salt and pepper and it was splendid.

Kalbi Spring Rolls

Ah, Korean Kalbi, it's the meat of the gods. Juicy, incredibly flavorful and fatty beyond words. 

I've wanted to make Kalbi spring rolls for I don't even know how long. As you all know, I'm pretty obsessed with spring rolls. They're portable, delicious, refreshing and for the most part, healthy. Ever since I made Japanese inspired spring rolls, the Ahi Tuna Rolls, I knew I'd have to make a Korean inspired spring roll, and here it is!

I think the most challenging part of making these rolls were deciding what kind of dipping sauce to serve  with them. Stuffing them was the easy part: kalbi, check! Kimchi, check! Deliciousness, check! For the dipping sauce, I decided to make a tangy gochujang and lime juice dressing. It reminded me more of a salad dressing but the tanginess was nice with the fatty pieces of kalbi. Next time though, I'll try to make a creamier sauce. Mmmmm.

Mmmmm juicy, grilled Kalbi:

Kalbi Spring Rolls

Yields: 4 - 6 servings

For the spring rolls:

2 lbs. marinated kalbi, grilled

1/2 head of romaine lettuce, chopped

1/4 package of rice noodles, cook according to package

1 cup kimchi, roughly chopped

4 green onions, chopped

rice paper

For the dipping sauce:

1 tbsn. gochujang

1 tbsn. sugar

1 tbsn. soy sauce

1 tsp. sesame oil

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. sesame seeds, toasted

4 tbsn. fresh lime juice or rice vinegar

To make the dipping sauce, whisk all the ingredients together until the sugar is dissolved and everything is well combined. Add more lime/ vinegar or soy sauce to your liking, set aside. To make the spring rolls, slice the kalbi into bite-sized pieces, set aside. To make rolling easier, set the ingredients out like an assembly line. To assemble, wet one rice paper and lay out on a clean surface (I like to use one and a half sheet for stronger rolls). Add some pieces of kalbi, some lettuce, some kimchi, cooked rice noodles and green onion. Roll by pulling the top towards you covering the fillings, then pull in the sides, then finish by continuing to roll to the bottom. Enjoy with the gochujang sauce!

Bo Tai Chanh/ Vietnamese Beef 'Carpaccio'

Since I can remember, for special occasions, my family has always been going to this one restaurant called Favori. It's not the best restaurant in town, but it has always been a tradition, one that we still keep to this day. Anyways, no matter what, two things were always true. First, my sister and I always had to get their delicious pineapple shakes! Second, we always started with the Bo Tai Chanh appetizer, because well, they make it the best and it's one of my absolute favorites!

Well, I've always wanted to make this at home and I've been eyeing The Ravenous Couple's recipe for it for quite some time! Well I've finally made it, and with some improvisations of my own, it turned out to be quite the meal. Basically it's almost like a mix between beef carpaccio and ceviche; thinly sliced beef 'cooked' only by the acidity of either lime or lemon juice. Then, topped and mixed with all kinds of goodness (as you can see below).
The beef is beyond tender, then mixed with an uber refreshing combination of herbs, mixed with a tangy and sweet sauce, and you get the great texture from the toasted peanuts and fried shallots. Also, you can make it spicy if you want to, like I did, by adding tons more jalapeno or Sambal. I didn't have jalapeno or Vietnamese corriander on hand so I used Sambal for spiciness and a mix of cilantro, mint and other herbs.

Mmmmm, see all that red Sambal? That's my favorite!

Mise en place: Vietnamese herbs, fried shallots, fresh shallots, toasted peanuts, cilantro.

I know this looks gross, but it's informative: how the beef should look as it's 'cooking' in the lemon/ lime juice. I like my steak rare, but if you like it cooked more - just marinate it for longer.

Bo Tai Chanh/ Vietnamese Beef 'Carpaccio'

Yields: 2 salad servings, 4 appetizer servings

Adapted from this recipe.

1/2 lb. beef (beef eye round or tenderloin), thinly sliced

1/2 cup lemon or lime juice

1 1/2 tbsn. sugar

1 large shallot, thinly sliced

2 tbsn. dried shallots (from Asian grocery stores)

2 tbsn. peanuts

2 tbsn. nuoc mam

1 jalapeno, thinly sliced

handful of cilantro, coarsely chopped

1/2 bunch of mint, basil or rau ram (Vietnamese corriander), coarsely chopped

In a large rimmed plate, spread the thinly sliced beef evenly throughout the plate so that it creates one even layer with the meat evenly exposed and not overlapping. In a small bowl mix together the lemon/lime juice and sugar until dissolved. Pour the mixture over the meat evenly and make sure all the meat is covered in the juice. Let the meat 'cook' in the juice in the refrigerator for 20 - 25 minutes (till the done-ness suits you). In the meantime, heat a small pan over medium high heat. Add the peanuts and toast until fragrant and golden brown. In the same pan, add enough oil to create a very shallow pool (about 1/4 cup) and heat. Once hot, add the dried shallots and fry until golden brown, then drain on a paper towel. Once the meat is ready, drain and squeeze any excess juice from the meat. In a bowl, toss together the meat, raw shallots, herbs and nuoc mam until dressed well. Assemble on a plate, then top with the fried shallots and toasted peanuts. Add more nuoc mam, if desired. Enjoy!

Mise en place.

The best mix of textures and flavors, seriously.