Dionysian Red

Flank Steak Korean Style

Last Night's Tasty Dinner

Bulgogi: Flank Steak Korean Style

Two pounds of 1” thick steak yields 8-10 servings.

Marinade: 
Crush sesame seed in salt with back of spoon. Saute sesame seeds in hot fry pan. Add 2 T. soy sauce, 1 T. sesame oil, 1 T. sugar, 1/2 t. black pepper, 1 t. onion minced, and 1 t. garlic minced or powdered. For a large steak, the amounts will need to be increased.

1. Score both surfaces of the steak with diagonal, crossed patterns of knife blade cuts.

2. Marinate flank steak overnight in marinade, above. Save juices to pour over cooked meat.

3. Preheat meat tray then Broil in oven for five (5) minutes per side

Green Beans

Rinse fresh beans in cold water, remove stems, cut into approximately 1 to 1 1/2 inch lengths, steam rapidly for 8 minutes. Drain and toss  with butter or oil.

Rice Pilaf ala GAZ

1. Cook one cup White Rice, allow to cool (I mix long grain white with basmati rice, 1:1).

2. Fine Egg Noodles (about 3 ounces). Break or crush noodles into small pieces, sauté in butter, salt and black pepper, stirring continuously as noodles brown.

(I like to add a tablespoon of previously prepared sauteed, diced jalepeno peppers, marinated in butter and olive oil, with salt and black peppers.) 

As noodles brown add one-half a mashed banana, stirring into the noodles. While these ingredients are browning, fry one egg in the pan, stirring briskly until cooked and mixed with other ingredients. Allow noodles, peppers and egg to cool.

Combine white rice with browned noodles at a 3:1 ratio, or whatever pleases. Reheat on high to maintain noodle crunchiness.

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CST Sandwich

Sometimes, in the heat of kitchen preparations, I begin thinking I invented some new way to prepare food. Ha! you say. What's new?

This is my latest delusion: a CST (chicken-sausage-tomato) sandwich.

hot Italian sausage, tomato sauce, cheese

CST Sandwich: The Delicious Doings.

Chicken:

Bake chicken breast(s), marinated overnight in Teriyaki sauce and diced shallot, at 350 degrees F  in a loosely covered aluminum foil tent for 35 minutes. Cool and slice into sandwich-sized pieces.

I usually bake twice as much as I need for any one meal. That way I save prep time and go directly to the refrigerator to grab a pre-baked breast to slice.

Sausage:

Brown a couple of hot Italian sausage in butter, pour a bottle of beer into the pan, cover the pan, and simmer for 20 minutes or until most of the beer has evaporated. Remove the sausage, slice it lengthwise into two or three slices, butter the pan and fry the sausage, smothering it with Dijon honey mustard. Flip sausage to other side and add a quarter cup, or more, of your favorite tomato sauce, top with cheeses and cover until cheeses melt.

Buns:

French hamburger buns from the nearby supermarket suffice. Slice and spread buns with butter, extra-virgin oilve oil, and minced garlic. Broil until brown.

CST Sandwich

Lettuce or fresh spinach leaves make a nice bed on which to lay your meats. Stack the meat, cover with the top bun, and squeeze ... until it fits into your mouth.

DELICIOUS!

You may wish to spread something like Jezebel Sauce on your chicken side bun.

The Jezebel Sauce recipe arrives here with my next posting.

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Split-Pea Soup

Winter is a lovely time to brew green soup.  My last Split-Pea Soup, which turned out Marhvelous!, started before Christmas when the price of ham was at its lowest.

THE HAM BONE: 
   Starting with a 10-12 pound Shank Ham*  I began to practice Zen Carving to get at the bone.

*(A cut taken from the bottom half of the pig's leg. Contains less fat than butt ham, but is not as meaty and is harder to carve. )

Here's a step-by-step of what this neophytic Zen ham-deboner did:

1. Placed the shank ham broad base down on the carving board.
2. Cut a vertical line from the narrow top of the ham, through the meat to the broad base. Using a sharp blade, it was easy to cut right to the bone.
3. Peeled, with fingers and Zen knife, the fat from between the layers of meat and set them aside for later packing and freezer storage. This fat was easy to separate from the meat.
4. Trimmed the meat along the bone with downward blade strokes, until there was approximately one-half inch or more of meat left on the bone.
5. Separated one-half a cup of meat trimmings for immediate immersion into the stock pot.
6. Held the remainder of the trimmings for later immersion into the simmered soup stock.
 7. Placed the Shank Ham Bone into a two-gallon, stainless-steel copper-bottomed stock pot. Added the half-cup of trimmings (5, above).

THE SPLIT-PEAS: The package Recipe vs the Easy Eats method.
1. two, one-pound packages of green split peas; the package claimed there was NO Pre-Soaking time required. I believed them. Also, I'm lazy.
2. The package called for 6 to 8 cups of hot water for each pound of green split peas; I used 10 CUPS of Water PER POUND of green Split Peas.
3. The package suggested simmering with lid tilted back a bit for 20 - 30 minutes;
I brought the water to a boil, then covered the pot and simmered for two hours. This lengthy simmering made a great condensed soup base that safely stuck to all soup spoons.

Next ...
MORE INGREDIENTS: Wouldn't you know!
While the ham bone was simmering in the stock pot, I prepared these additional ingredients:
1. Sauted about 4 oz of chopped Portabello mushrooms in butter, salting lightly.
2. Chopped two onions; one large white onion and one large yellow onion.
3. Sauted one whole chopped white onion and one-half yellow onion along with
three diced cloves of garlic, and one large shallot, diced.
4. Salted and peppered onions and garlic lightly in the pan.
5. Held the one-half cup of raw onion, more if desired, for later immersion in the pot.
6. Brown sugar, about two tablespoons
7. Maple Syrup, about three tablespoons
8. The Coup de gras: Roasted Red Peppers, Onions, Garlic, Salt, Pepper, Shallot; about one-half to a full cup. (These ingredients formulate a basic food sweetener in my formulary; they are normally roasted bi-weekly and held for use in egg dishes, pasta and tomato dishes, fish tacos, home-made pizza, almost anything with red sauces.

Next ...
THE SIMMERING:
After the ham bone had simmered on LOW for at least three quarters of an hour, I removed the bone and loose chunks of meat and fat by repeated scooping with a slotted straining spoon.

At this point the form of the peas were still recognizable as tiny green lumps. Many recipes call to chill the soup and remove the fat that rises to the top on chilling. I was lazy: I allowed the soup to cool, then laid a paper towel on top of the soup to absorb any fats. It seemed to work.

An hour into the simmering, the sauted mushrooms and onions were stirred into the stock pot. Brown sugar and maple syrup were added at this point, followed by salt and pepper to taste.

Approximately an hour and a half into the simmering, the held-over raw onion and roasted red peppers were added to the pot. Held-over ham trimmings, plus some more for the glutton in me, were added also.

The soup should be stirred periodically throughout the soup making. This is a great time to taste. Care should be taken with the heat; make sure it does not burn peas, etc, on the bottom of the pot. The LOW setting on my old electric stove is a bit hot so I dial a bit under the LOW mark.

The soup was presented for dinner along with buttered, boiled potatoes and ham with jezabel sauce (keep tuned to this blog for the old family Jezabel Recipe).

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Split-Pea Leftovers Melange

 I am the manager of the refrigerator at my house. I also tend to cook more than can be eaten at one sitting. That's why the refrigerator smells of leftovers. And that's why most of our meals lately have been continuations, or extensions, of earlier meals.

Here is a surprisingly ugly, surprisingly tasty meal extension we ate at my house recently. It started out as Split-Pea Soup. And it became ... well, read on.

Split-Pea Leftover Melange

Exiting the refrigerator, entering the frying pan: Leftover split-pea soup, leftover chicken breast and Polish sausage (from another damn container whose disparate lids keep me hunting far too long for a usable device) and leftover red potatoes. :^)

My taste buds had been thinking of making Yellow Rice for days and days, but the volume of leftovers seemed to deny me the pleasure. HA! I grabbed a substitute: a small package of Red Beans and Rice (New Orleans style), nicely seasoned. Twenty minutes, or so, later I had the glue factor that would unite the flavors of the leftovers. Lucky Ger!

 

Split-Pea, Sausage and Chicken Leftover Melange

Naturally, I had to carve a few extra slices of Polish sausage to bulk up the dish. Some sea salt, pepper, and a low heat under a covered pan was all we needed. A side vegetable proved to be ... you guessed it ... leftover steamed broccoli. Try this combination with a loaf of baker Nik's rosemary bread.

OK, wise reader, you guessed the truth: Pam and I had enough of this melange for three more, slightly altered, meals. 

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Gracie Allen Roast Beef

Here is a foolproof recipe for roast beef from old radio star Gracie Allen.

Gracie Allen's Classic Recipe for Roast Beef

1 large Roast of beef
1 small Roast of beef

Take the two roasts and put them in the oven.
When the little one burns, the big one is done.

Where is that woman now that we need her humor?

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Corps du Tomate

Ah, the lovely tomato! It has been roasted. It has been used in last night's dinner. But tonight, the Roasted Lovelies got the additional treatment my taste buds yearned for.

Tonight we had another angel hair pasta, ground chuck, and Corps du Tomate! What to do??

Roasted tomatoes and wooden spoon. Cover pot and bring tomatoes to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Check refrigerator for additional vegetables.

Voila! We have another tomato and a section of yellow pepper. Lucky Ger!

And don't they look handsome in the pot? Add a few more cloves of garlic, salt and pepper. Stir. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes minimum. Oh, lordy me!

Next (no photos ~ use imagination) I cooked three quarters of a pound of ground chuck doused lightly with Teriyaki marinade. Spooned out fat, poured half the Corps du Tomate into the pan, stirred contents, then added remainder of last night's angel hair pasta.

I had to lock the front door. There was not enough for the whole neighborhood! Did I say it was delicious? Add a few sauteed mushrooms from the frig to my portion (hehehe - Pam doesn't like to look at them) and I become a very noisy eater!!! Pam was none too quiet eating either; I love to hear her moaning.

I sincerely hope you will try this Corps du Tomate some time. 

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