Island-Style Beef Tomato

Beef Tomato is one of my favorite dinner dishes. When I was a kid, I could have done without it, perhaps because of the tomatoes, green peppers and celery I always found in it. Y’know me, typical kid that finally grew up to appreciate good food.

I’ve found delicious beef tomato in just a few Chinese restaurants, most notably the Joy Luck Bistro in Cupertino, California. The Joy Luck beef tomato is the best I’ve ever tasted … everywhere else was either “just okay” or didn’t measure up.

I’m happy to say this recipe comes pretty close to the Joy Luck Bistro offering.

Ingredients

• BEEF SIRLOIN, 1 pound, thinly sliced
• ONION, 1 medium, 1-inch pieces
• GREEN BELL PEPPER, 1 seeded, 1-inch pieces
• CELERY, 2 stalks, peeled, 1-inch pieces
• TOMATOES, 2 large, wedged
• GREEN ONIONS, 3 stalks, 1½-inch pieces

Marinade

• GARLIC, 1 clove, minced
• GINGER, 1 teaspoon, grated
• ALOHA SHOYU, 3 tablespoons
• SHERRY, 1 tablespoon
• CORNSTARCH, 1 tablespoon
• SUGAR, 1 teaspoon
• SALT, ½ teaspoon
• WHITE PEPPER, pinch

Sauce

• CHICKEN BROTH, ¼ cup
• CORNSTARCH, 1 tablespoon
• KETCHUP, 1-2 tablespoons
• WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCE, 1 teaspoon 
• BROWN SUGAR, 1 teaspoon

Directions

1. In a mixing bowl; combine marinade ingredients. Marinate beef 10-15 minutes.
2. In a small mixing bowl; combine sauce ingredients. Taste for seasoning, adding more ketchup as desired. Reserve.
3. Heat a tablespoon of oil in a large skillet. Brown the beef, and remove from the pan.
4. Add more oil to the pan, and sauté the vegetables until "crispy tender."
5. Add beef and tomatoes, and cook 2 minutes.
6. Add green onion and sauce mixture, then bring to a boil, stirring until slightly thickened. Remove from heat and serve immediately over hot steamed rice. Serves 4.

Apple Slab Pie

Yeah, yeah, I know. It looks like a banana convention
in a sea of milk.

This delicious recipe was posted on Facebook; it looked simple enough, so I copied it.

However, I made a mistake: When I laid out the pie crust in the baking pan, I had run out of parchment, so I lined the pan with aluminum foil. Forgot to spray it with Pam and when I tried to cut the cooked slab, I kind of tore up the bottom crust because it had stuck in places to the foil.

Next time, it’s parchment paper for me … which it should have been this time, had I not been so lazy and to buy a roll first

To get the crust square when prepping with the rolling pin, you can do what I did and trim off the curved sides, adding them to the right and left side to extend it.

Or, do it the easy way and just roll it out into a bigger circle, flatten it with the rolling pin, and bend the circumference upward before arranging the apple slices.

Also, I made the glaze in a Zip-Loc bag and cut off a piece of the corner so I could make fancy dribbled onto the finished slab. I needn’t have bothered, I could have just spooned it on, because the glaze just settled into the spaces between the apple slices.

Ingredients

• PILLSBURY PIE CRUSTS, 1 box, softened as directed on box
• GRANULATED SUGAR, 1 cup
• ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR, 3 tablespoons
• GROUND CINNAMON, 1 teaspoon
• GROUND NUTMEG, 1/4 teaspoon
• SALT, ¼ teaspoon salt
• LEMON JUICE, 1½ tablespoons
• APPLES, 9 cups (9 medium), peeled and thinly sliced
• POWDERED SUGAR, 1 cup
• MILK, 2 tablespoons

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450°F.
2. Remove pie crusts from pouches. Stack on a lightly floured surface, unroll and then roll to 17 x 12-inch rectangle.
3. Fit crust into 15 x 10 x 1-inch pan, pressing into corners. Fold extra crust under, even with edges of pan.
4. In a small bowl, mix granulated sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and lemon juice.
5. Add apples, stirring to coat, then spoon or arrange the apple mixture into the crust-lined pan.
6. Bake for 30 to 33 minutes or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly.
7. Cool in pan on cooling rack for 45 minutes.
8. In a small bowl, mix the powdered sugar and milk until well blended. Drizzle over pie.
9. Let stand until glaze is set, about 30 minutes, then slice and serve.

Sumthin’ ‘n’ Grits

Grits are great stuff, for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or a snack.

The first time I had grits was in October, 1988, at Dallas’ Hilton Anatole Hotel buffet. "What’s that cream-of wheat-looking hot cereal stuff, anyway? Oh, it’s cheesy grits,” I muttered to myself. Well, why not? It was delish. Tres delish.

I tried to order it in restaurants after that, but the only time I found it offered was with breakfast, and when I had restaurant breakfasts in Hawaii, only Denny’s had it. And then, the Pearlridge Center Denny’s we frequented closed down, so that was that.

Just last year, I went to the House of Blues in the Las Vegas Mandalay Bay. Lo and behold, they had Shrimp and Grits on the dinner menu. Bingo! That’s what I ordered. When I got home, I sought out grits at the supermarket, but only two chains carried it in Hawaii – Safeway and Whole Foods. Not just any Safeway, one has to go to one of the bigger ones. And Whole Foods is an adventure as the wife and I end up buying too much good stuff, wiping out our budget.

I bought a box, made the grits regularly, until one day I couldn’t find my stock. They just disappeared. So I had to go on a safari again until I found some. Today, I have two big jarfuls of grits in my pantry.

Grits are good any way you make it. Here’s my Bacon and Maple-Cheesy Grits recipe; you can substitute any breakfast meat for the bacon if you want to (but why anyone want to is beyond me). If you have left-over shrimp scampi, that’s perfect on top of the grits.

Bacon and Maple-Cheesy Grits

Ingredients

• GRITS, ½ cup
• WATER, 1 cup
• MILK, 1 cup
• MAPLE SYRUP, ½ cup
• BUTTER, 2 tablespoons
• SHARP CHEDDAR CHEESE, ½ cup, shredded
• BACON, 4 slices, cooked and crumbled
• GARLIC SALT, a shake

Directions

1. Bring the water+milk+salt to a boil in a pot, then pour in the grits.
2. Lower the heat to low, and when most of the liquid has been absorbed, stir in the maple syrup, butter and cheese.
3. Remove the pot from the heat and cover, letting the grits thicken at least 5 minutes.
4. Serve in bowls (makes 2 servings), sprinkle with crumbled bacon.

Sweet-Sour Spareribs

 

This is one of my favorite dishes, using the recipe my mother used whenever she prepared this dish for me when I came home from college or for a visit with my young family.

I make it often, mostly substituting chicken for the pork spareribs. But whenever I find soft-bone spareribs on sale, I buy a few pounds and indulge in this most tasty and addicting dish. This recipe tastes extra good the next day, when the vinegar-pineapple tastes permeate into the vegetables.

 

Ingredients

 

• PORK SPARERIBS, 3 pounds, lean soft bone
• FLOUR, ¼ cup
• CANOLA OIL, ¼ cup
• DARK BROWN SUGAR, ¾ cup
• CIDER VINEGAR, ½ cup
• PINEAPPLE JUICE, 1 cup (+ optional ½ cup)
• SHOYU (SOY SAUCE), 2 tablespoons
• GARLIC, 2 cloves, crushed
• GINGER, 3 two-inch pieces, smashed
• SALT AND BLACK PEPPER, to taste
• ONION, 1 large, chopped in large pieces
• SWEET GREEN PEPPER, 1, chopped in large pieces
• CARROTS, 5 small (3 medium, or 2 large), in ¼-inch slices
• CELERY, 1 stalk, in ¼-inch pieces
• DAIKON (long white Japanese radish), 1 medium, sliced into thin "coins"
• PINEAPPLE CUBES, 1 can

 

Directions

 

1. Cut the individual ribs apart. Dredge the ribs in flour. Heat olive oil in large pot or Dutch oven, and brown the ribs thoroughly.
2. Remove the ribs and drain on paper towel. Remove the fat and oil from the liquid in the pot.
3. Add brown sugar, vinegar and pineapple juice to pot, and bring to a boil. Add browned spareribs, salt and pepper, shoyu, garlic and ginger.
4. Bring to a boil again, reduce heat and simmer covered for one and a half hours, stirring often until meat is very tender.
5. (Optional: If possible, let cool, remove from pot, and refrigerate overnight. The next day, remove all visible fat from the pot. Add the optional ½ cup of pineapple juice to the pot before reheating the meat and gravy, to prevent the meat from sticking to the pot.)
6. Bring the pot back to a near-boil, then add the vegetables just before serving. Cook an additional 15 minutes.
7. Garnish with the pineapple chunks, and serve with steamed rice.

 

Trisha’s Skillet Apple Pie

This recipe is from the Food Network’s cooking show, Trisha’s Southern Kitchen, hosted by country singing star Trisha Yearwood (wife of Garth Brooks). It looked so easy that I just had to try it. If you like sweet Southern desserts, then this is the apple pie for you.

Her recipe calls for one can of apple pie filling, but I increased it to two, drained.

Unfortunately, my cast iron skilled is a 12-incher, which proved too big for this recipe. So I ended up finishing it off in my regular deep-dish pie casserole.

I have to say it’s too sweet for my liking, and although using canned apple-pie filling makes everything a whole lot easier, the finished product is much too sweet. I miss the crunch you get when you use fresh apples.

Still, I like the butter and brown sugar concept at the bottom – it produces a crunchy bottom crust.

Ingredients

• UNSALTED BUTTER, ½ cup (1 stick)
• LIGHT BROWN SUGAR, 1 cup
• PIE CRUSTS (e.g.  Pillsbury ) 2
• APPLE PIE FILLING, Two 21-ounce cans
• CINNAMON SUGAR, 2 tablespoons

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Melt the butter in a 9-inch cast-iron skillet; set aside 1 tablespoon of the melted butter for the top crust.
3. To the melted butter, add the brown sugar and melt them together on medium heat, about 2 minutes.
4. Remove from the heat and line the skillet with one of the pie crusts.
5. Pour the apple pie filling over the crust and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of the cinnamon sugar. 
6. Use the second pie crust to cover the filling. Brush the top with the reserved melted butter, then evenly sprinkle the remaining 1 tablespoon cinnamon sugar on top. Cut vents in the middle of the pie.
7. Bake for 30 minutes. Serve hot, topped with a generous dollop of cinnamon whipped cream.

Cinnamon Whipped Cream

• WHIPPING CREAM, 2 cups, chilled (I used Cool Whip, myself)
• GROUND CINNAMON, 1 teaspoon
• SUGAR, 4 tablespoons

1. Chill a large metal mixing bowl and a wire beater attachment in the freezer for about 20 minutes.
2. Pour the cream, cinnamon and sugar into the cold mixing bowl and beat 2-3 minutes until soft peaks form.

Beef with Snow Peas

I got the basic recipe for this from the cooking show, “The Pioneer Woman” hosted by Ree Drummond on Food Network. It looked scrumptious when she made it, so I thought I’d give it a try.

Actually, I’ve made something like this before – Teriyaki beef slices with Chinese peas – so this dish was familiar and easy. Plus, I had a bottle of homemade teriyaki sauce on hand (my wife’s family’s delicatessen recipe, which you can find elsewhere on this blog).

Consequently, I used our teriyaki sauce, augmenting it with sherry, brown sugar, cornstarch and minced ginger … all of which gave the sauce an extra zing. Ree added in some chili pepper flakes at the end to give it some pop, but my family isn’t into spicy, so I left it out. Instead, I sprinkled some toasted sesame seeds over the completed dish.

Anyway, here’s her recipe, which I basically followed, changing the flank steak into an 8-ounce filet mignon instead.

Ingredients

• FLANK STEAK, 1 to 1½ pounds, sliced very thin against the grain
• SOY SAUCE, ½ cup, low sodium
• SHERRY, 3 tablespoons
• BROWN SUGAR, 2 tablespoons
• CORNSTARCH, 2 tablespoons
• GINGER, minced or grated, 1 tablespoon
• FRESH SNOW PEAS, 8 ounces
• GREEN ONIONS (SCALLIONS), 5, cut into half-inch pieces on the diagonal
• OLIVE OIL, 3 tablespoons
• SALT (as needed)

Directions

1. Combine the soy sauce, sherry, brown sugar, cornstarch and ginger in a bowl.
2. Pour half the marinade over all of the steak slices and toss. Reserve the other half.
3. Heat the oil in a heavy skillet, add the snow peas and stir-fry for about a minute. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
4. Reheat the pan, then, using tongs, add in half the meat mixture, along with half the scallions.
5. Stir-fry the meat, spreading it out. Transfer to a plate.
6. Repeat with the other half of the meat, then add the previously cooked meat, along with the snow peas.
7. Stir-fry over high heat for about 30 seconds to a minute, then turn off the heat. The mixture will thicken as it sits, because of the cornstarch.
8. Serve over steamed rice.

Brined Pork Chops

My pork chops used to be a disaster — over cooked, dry and chewy. And then, several years ago, I discovered brining. Elementary, my dear Watson. And voila! Vastly improved pork shops.

Ingredients (Brine)

• WATER, about 3 cups or so
• KOSHER SALT, 3 tablespoons
• BLACK PEPPERCORNS, 1/2 teaspoons or so
• BAY LEAF, 1 or 2

Directions (Brine)

1. Pour the water into a container large enough to hold your pork chops.
2. Dissolve the salt in the water.
3. Add the peppercorns and bay leaves, and mix well.
4. Dunk the pork chops in the brine (make sure they're fully immersed).
5. Refrigerate for an hour or more.

Ingredients (Chops)

• PORK CHOPS, 4, bone-in if possible.
• OLIVE OIL
• SALT and PEPPER

Directions (Chops)

1. Preheat oven to 400°F, along with a cast iron or oven-safe skillet.
2. Pat the chops dry, coat them with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper.
3. Carefully take the skillet out of the oven and put on a medium-hot burner on the stove.
4. Brown one side of the pork chops (about 3 minutes), then flip and transfer the skillet to the oven.
5. Roast for 6 to 10 minutes, until internal temperature reaches 140°F.
6. Remove from skillet, cover with foil, and let the chops rest for 5 minutes before serving.