Tag: main course
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.
Filipino-style Chicken Macaroni Bake
Filipino style Chicken Macaroni Bake
Need a simple dish to feed a large group of people? This Filipino style chicken macaroni bake will get the job done. What makes this Filipino is the use of sweet spaghetti sauce. Obviously by name, it is sweeter in flavor than an Italian spaghetti sauce that you might be used to. Also the addition of the Filipino quick melt cheese gives the macaroni a creamy texture. This cheese is hard to find unless you have access to a Filipino grocery store. You can substitute parmesan, mozzarella, or Monterey Jack cheeses. This recipe is fairly straightforward to make. My only recommendation would be to undercook the macaroni by 1-2 minutes. They will soak up a lot of the sauce while baking.
Ingredients
Filipino Sweet Spaghetti Sauce
- 3 cups tomatoes
- 1 cup ketchup
- 1 tbsp sugar
Chicken Macaroni Bake
- 16 oz elbow macaroni undercooked by 1-2 minutes
- 2 lbs cooked chicken chopped
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/2 medium onion diced
- 8 oz button mushrooms sliced
- 1 green bell pepper diced
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 2 tsp chicken bouillon
- 1/2 cup fresh herbs (basil/parsley/oregano) chopped
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup Filipino quick melt cheese or mozzerella cheese
Instructions
- Puree the sweet spaghetti sauce ingredients in a blender. Set aside.
- Heat up cooking oil in a large pot or saucepan over medium high heat. Add in the onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, and garlic. Cook down for 4 minutes.
- Add in the chicken and fresh herbs. Cook for 5 minutes.
- Pour in the sweet spaghetti sauce and the chicken bouillon. Simmer on medium heat for 10 minutes until the sauce thickens.
- Turn off the heat. Mix in the macaroni, making sure that the noodles are evenly incorporated with the chicken tomato sauce mixture.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9”x13” baking dish. Pour in the chicken macaroni. Cover with a layer of mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Bake for 25 minutes.
- Let rest for 15 minutes before serving.
