Tag: main course
Costillas de Cerdo (Oven Baked Ribs)
Costillas de Cerdo(Oven baked ribs)
Ribs are very popular in South American cuisine. They are always marinated with some type of citrus and a chili pepper. The particular marinade I used contains aji panca pepper paste, which tastes similar to chipotle peppers in adobo, and orange juice. These ribs need to marinate for at least 24 hours to get full flavor. I let mine sit in the marinade for 2 days.
Ingredients
- 3-4 lb rack of spareribs
- 6 garlic cloves
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 4 green onion
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp aji panca paste
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
Mango Aj Panca Glaze
- 1 tbsp aji panca paste
- 1/2 cup mango juice
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients in a food processor or blender.
- Purée until smooth.
- Marinate the ribs for at least 24 hours. I did mine for 48.
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Place the ribs on a roasting pan lined in foil. Completely wrap up the ribs in the foil, allowing the ribs to steam.
- Bake the ribs for 2 1/2 hours.
- Unwrap the ribs from the foil. Turn on your broiler. Broil the ribs for 8 minutes.
- Turn the oven back to 300 degrees. Mix together the aji panca and mango juice. Brush on a layer of the glaze. Bake for 10 minutes. Do this step 2 more times so you can get 3 layers of the glaze on the ribs.
- Let rest for 10 minutes before cutting.
Anticuchos (Peruvian Beef Heart Kabobs)
Peruvian Beef Heart Kabobs
In Stoned Soup’s September installment of “How In The Hell Do You Cook That?”, site followers voted between beef heart and beef intestines. Beef heart won with a majority of the votes. So how am I going to cook this thing? I know what it tastes like, but have never personally prepared heart. So this is what I’ve learned from research…Beef heart is very low in calories and fat; about the same as a chicken breast. It is very high in iron, protein, and vitamin B12. The only downside to beef heart is that it is very high in cholesterol. While the heart is an organ, it is also a muscle. It is fibrous unlike liver, kidneys, or other organ meat. I purchased my beef heart at my local Asian market. I bought 2 chunks that equaled about 3lbs. They came untrimmed, which isn’t a problem for me to do. If you purchase a beef heart untrimmed, all of the fat, silver skin, veins or arteries need to be removed. After the trimming, I yielded 1 1/2lbs of lean meat. The best part of purchasing the beef heart is that it’s $1.99lb.I’ve recently been reading up on Peruvian cuisine and culture to add more South American recipes to the website. I just happen to stumble across a beef heart recipe where the heart is marinated and grilled on kabobs. They are called anticuchos and are a huge staple in Peruvian cuisine, dating back to the country’s colonial times. They are also sold as a popular street food in Peru.Making these kabobs is pretty easy once the heart is trimmed. To get maximum flavor, marinate the meat overnight. You can either grill or broil the kabobs. Heart doesn’t need to be cooked for very long. In this situation, it is best medium rare. If cooked more then that, they will be tough. These kabobs only take 4-5 minutes a side, turning out surprisingly tender. Like, really, really tender.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs beef heart trimmed
- 1/2 red onion
- 6 garlic cloves
- 1 tbsp cumin seed
- 2 canned chipotle peppers
- 3 tbsp smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Purée in a food processor or blender the garlic, cumin, chipotle peppers, red wine and apple cider vinegars, smoked paprika, and olive oil.
- Set aside in a bowl.
- Here in the pic are 2 chunks of beef heart. Trim them of all fat, silver skin, and any veins or arteries.
- Once trimmed, you will end up with 2 nice pieces of meat.
- Cut the meat into 1 1/2” cubes. Add the heart to the marinade and marinate for at least 8 hours, preferably overnight.
- When ready to cook, turn on your oven’s broiler, moving the top rack 6” away. Skewer up the heart with pieces of red onion in between the meat. Place on a broiler pan or on a baking rack.
- Broil for 5 minutes a side.
BBQ Pork Rice Noodle Salad
BBQ Pork Rice Noodle Salad
There is a lot of food prep in making this Vietnamese rice noodle salad; but it pays off in the end. You will see this on just about every Vietnamese menu, served with various forms of protein. My absolute favorite is char siu bbq roast pork. You can use lemongrass marinated grilled pork or chicken, meatballs, and shrimp as well. I just recently ate this at my favorite Vietnamese restaurant, IPho by Saigon. I ordered their special and almost couldn’t finish it, it was so big. That’s saying something. It was topped with 2 types of pork, chicken, and shrimp. It was so good that I had to learn how to make it. 5 days later…
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 1 bunch green leaf lettuce chopped
- 8 oz rice vermicelli noodles prepare according to package
- 2 cup bean sprouts
- 1 cucumber seeded, cut into long strips
- 1 cup pickled carrots and daikon
- 1 cup fresh mint
- 2 green onions chopped
- 1/2 cup peanuts crushed
- 1/2 cup cilantro
- 1 1/2 lb bbq pork
Dressing
- 6 tbsp water
- 4 tbsp vinegar
- 4 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 3 garlic cloves thinly sliced
- 2 thai chilies thinly sliced
Instructions
- Mix all of the sauce ingredients together in a small pot. Bring to a simmer. Make sure all of the sugar is dissolved. Take off the heat and let cool.
- Assembly: Place a good handful of the leaf lettuce in the bottom of a bowl. Place about 1 cup of the rice noodles on top of the lettuce. Then arrange the ingredients around the perimeter of the bowl, with the peanuts in the middle. Pour the dressing over the top. This recipe makes 4 large servings.
Char Siu (Chinese BBQ Pork)
If I was put on death row and asked what the last thing on Earth that I'd like to eat, my final meal, char siu would be on the top of the list. I have loved this bbq pork ever since I was a little kid. My family would order everything with bbq pork in it from the Chinese restaurant that we got take out from. I love this pork so much, I snuck some of the pork in the picture into the movie theatre in a ziplock bag.Char siu is typically made out of pork shoulder. It can be made out of pork sirloin, pork loin, or tenderloin; but they tend to be less juicy than pork shoulder. Fat is a good thing here. You will want a 3lbs. piece of boneless pork shoulder. I purchased a whole bone in shoulder and processed out the coppa roast and the flat iron, If the coppa roast was a beef cut, you'd know it as a chuck eye roast. You don't have to go to this extreme. You can use any part of the shoulder. I just happen to know how to cut these muscles out of the shoulder and use them. Cut the pork shoulder into 2" in diameter chunks with the grain. The char siu gets its color from the red bean curd. If you've ever seen this pork really red, the color will be coming from red food coloring. But I want to avoid food coloring as much as possible. The red color in the bean curd comes from a natural fungus. This pork needs to marinate for at least 3 days.When ready to cook the pork, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Yes, 400 degrees. Normally when you think of cooking pork shoulder, you cook it low and slow. Not here. It will be tender. Trust me. I was skeptical the first time I tried making this. Roast this for 15 minutes. Pull it out of the oven and brush on the glaze. Roast for 7 minutes. You want to do this for 3 times total. The honey will caramelize the outside while the bean curd juice will give it a nice red color. Once done roasting, let sit for 10-15 minutes before slicing.
Ingredients
- 3 lbs boneless pork shoulder
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 3 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 3 red bean curd cubes + 2 tbsp liquid
- 1 1/2 tbsp Chinese 5 spice powder
- 3 tbsp honey
- 3 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
- 3/4 tsp white pepper
- 1 1/2 tsp sesame oil
- 3 garlic cloves minced
Pork Glaze
- 3 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp red bean curd liquid
- 1 tbsp cooked marinade
Instructions
- Take a 3lb. piece of pork shoulder and cut it into a few long chunks with the grain. Each piece should be around 2″ in diameter. In this picture, I cut out the coppa roast and the flat iron. The coppa roast is the center muscle of the shoulder. If this was beef, you’d know it as a chuck eye roast.
- Mix together the soy sauce, hoisin sauce, red bean curd cubes and liquid, 5 spice powder, honey, cooking, wine, white pepper, sesame, oil, and garlic cloves. Mash the bean curds into a paste. Mix everything thoroughly.
- Add the pork shoulder pieces and the marinade to a gallon sized ziplock bag. Marinate for 72 hours. Turn the bag over every 12 hours.
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Lay the pork shoulder pieces on a rack onto of a foil covered baking sheet. Add a couple cups of water to the baking sheet to prevent smoking. Roast the pork for 15 minutes.
- While the pork is roasting, mix together honey, red bean curd liquid, and some of the marinade. Make sure to cook the marinade in the microwave for a few seconds before mixing in. Now you have your pork glaze.
- After the first 15 minutes of roasting, take the pork out of the oven and brush on the pork glaze. Don’t worry about getting the bottom. Put the pork back in the oven and roast for 7 minutes. Repeat this step 2 more times, for a total of 3 glazes.
- After the final glazing and roasting, let the pork rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing.
Pickled Carrots and Daikon
These pickled carrots and daikon are used as a topping for banh mi sandwiches. Sweet and vinegary with a nice crunch. These are good in your refrigerator for up to a month.
Ingredients
- 6 oz carrots cut into large matchstick sized pieces
- 6 oz daikon cut into large matchstick sized pieces
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup white vinegar
- 6 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Cut your carrots and daikon into large matchstick sized pieces.
- Place them in a bowl with 2 tsp of sugar and 1 tsp salt. Let sit for 5 minutes. Liquid will start to pool at the bottom. Rinse in cold water and pat dry.
- Mix together the water, vinegar, salt, and sugar until dissolved.
- Place the carrots and Daikon in a mason jar. Pour in the brine. Let pickle for a day before use.
