Food Makes Me Happy

Aug 22, 2015

High Quality Beef Trimmings - Seared Beef, Kimchi, and Egg Yolk Donburi

Found a pack of Snake River Farms American Kobe beef trimmings for a bargain price. The meat is about twice or three times thicker than usual beef slices, just perfect for my simple donburi (rice bowl) recipe.

Seared beef, kimchi, and egg yolk donburi -

Ingredients (for two)?

0.7 lb/320 grams thick beef slices
2 egg yolks
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
Tiny bit olive oil
Some kimchi
Some steamed white rice
Some toasted white sesame seeds
Some salt
Some freshly ground black pepper

How?

Prepare steamed white rice for two.

Remove the beef from the fridge and let it rest at room temperature for 5 to 10 minutes before cooking. Season both sides with some salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Drizzle just tiny bit of olive to evenly coat the bottom of the pan and turn to medium high heat. Once the pan reaches high temperature, add in the beef slices. Sear both sides till desired doneness. Slightly rare center is fine because we are using high quality beef here.

Remove the meat from heat. Continue to use the same pan and leave the heat on. Drizzle some soy sauce from the side of the pan so the direct contact of the heat can further bring out the soy sauce aroma. Add in butter and sugar then mix a little. Cook till the sauce gets slightly thicker, should take less than 30 seconds with such small amount of liquid.

Scoop some steamed white rice to two serving bowls. Arrange the beef slices around the edge and drizzle the sauce throughout. Add store bought kimchi in the center and sprinkle some toasted white sesame seeds. Carefully transfer an egg yolk in the very center on top of kimchi.

Little trick here, make a shallow hole in the center of the kimchi pile so the yolk can stay in place without sliding down.

I'm eating like a queen here.

Other rice bowl recipes:

Aug 16, 2015

Baby Arugula Salad with Store Bought Marinated Octopus

Arugula is quite expensive here in Taiwan, not mentioning the triple washed kind for salad. However, my urge for this peppery leafy green was growing out of control. In the end, I've decided to give up on my bucket of fried chicken in exchange for a small box of baby arugula. Talking about eating healthy.

Baby arugula salad with store bought marinated octopus -

Ingredients (smaller portion for two)?

1 small can marinated octopus
1 1/2 cups baby arugula
1 small tomato
1 tablespoon pitted black olives
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon Fleur de Sel or sea salt
Some extra virgin olive oil
Some white wine vinegar

How?

Open up canned octopus and drain out the oil or water inside. Thinly slice the octopus if possible. Judging by the pictures, yes I failed on that part. As a result, I laid the better sliced octopus on the bottom for one batch and simply mix the not so good looking chunks with the remaining salad.

Cut the tomato in half, deseed, and then chop into smaller cubes. Halve then slice the black olives.

Pour in equal amount of extra virgin olive oil and white wine vinegar, I used 1/4 cups each but still got some leftover dressing. Season with some salt and black pepper, whisk and give it a taste see if more salt if needed. However, there's no need to over season this simple salad dressing since the marinated octopus and black olives are both salty to a certain extent.

Mix the salad dressing with tomato cubes, black olives, and octopus first. Lastly, gently mix with baby arugula right before plating to prevent the leaves from wilting too fast.

Decorate with more freshly ground black pepper on the plate.

Octopus can be substituted with cocktail shrimps or squid, these two other ingredients should be easier to come by at most major grocery stores.

Other salad recipes: