Gingered Spareribs

I made these spareribs the other day, and it was DA BOMB! I love the hint of tang you get from the vinegar and the ginger! The smell of the marinade is enough to get you salivating!

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 pounds well-trimmed pork spareribs, cut into individual ribs
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
• 3/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
• 3/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1/2 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 1 tablespoon cold water (optional)
• Steamed white rice

Preparation:

Heat vegetable oil in large wide shallow pot over medium-high heat. Working in batches, add ribs and brown on all sides, about 8 minutes. Transfer ribs to large bowl. Add garlic and ginger to pot; sauté 30 seconds. Add brown sugar, vinegar, and soy sauce. Stir to blend. Return ribs to pot. Cover pot and simmer over medium-low heat until meat is tender, turning ribs occasionally, about 45 minutes. If sauce is thin, gradually add cornstarch mixture to ribs and simmer until sauce thickens slightly, about 2 minutes. Serve ribs over rice.

I got this recipe from Epicurious, and it’s quickly becoming my favorite site to look up recipes and cooking tips. The only problem I had was not buying enough spareribs! The cut I picked was also not meaty enough…

Spicy Chinese Barbeque Riblets

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup hoisin sauce 1/3 cup white wine 1/2 cup soy sauce 1 cup white sugar 1/2 cup tomato paste

1/4 cup chopped garlic 2 tablespoons hot pepper sauce (such as Tabasco®), or to taste 2 pounds baby back ribs, cut into 1-inch riblets

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2.	Combine the hoisin sauce, white wine, soy sauce, sugar, tomato paste, garlic, and hot sauce in large bowl; mix well.
3.	Place the riblets in a large roasting pan and bake in the preheated oven, uncovered, for 45 minutes. Pour sauce over riblets and toss to coat. Return the pan to the oven; bake, stirring often, until ribs are tender and sauce has thickened, about 45 minutes.

Beef Stew for the Lazy

I decided to make beef stew on a whim yesterday, and stopped by a local Safeway market on the way home to buy some ingredients.I thought, “Sure! Why not give beef stew a try?” And of course, I took it the easy way and made beef stew the slow method – in a slow cooker!

The recipe (from allrecipes.com) is rather simple and ingredients easy to get.

• 2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups beef broth
• 3 potatoes, diced
• 4 carrots, sliced
• 1 stalk celery, chopped

Directions:
1. Place meat in slow cooker. In a small bowl mix together the flour, salt, and pepper; pour over meat, and stir to coat meat with flour mixture. Stir in the garlic, bay leaf, paprika, Worcestershire sauce, onion, beef broth, potatoes, carrots, and celery.
2. Cover, and cook on Low setting for 10 to 12 hours, or on High setting for 4 to 6 hours.

Beef Stew in Slow Cooker

One word of caution (advice?) is that the amount of beef broth the recipe calls for does not cover all the ingredients when you first put them in. This is okay! As long as you have your beef at the very bottom and the potatoes in the middle, these thick chunks will cook through. I would prefer more soup in the stew because I like mixing it in rice or noodles, but this is my take. The taste is wonderful though! No need to make changes. I popped everything in the cooker before I headed out to work and came back to a house smelling oh-so-gooood!

Cooking: Slow-cooked Creamy Potato Soup

It seems like every time I think about blogging about what I make, it’s always around this time of year for holiday parties. This year, I will make a slow-cooked creamy potato soup. I found the recipe from AllRecipes(.)com and I can’t wait to try it. All the reviews make it sound like the best soup ever, and it is very simple to make.

Ingredients:

• 6 slices of bacon
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 (10.5 ounce) cans condensed chicken broth
• 2 cups water
• 5 large potatoes, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
• 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups half-and-half cream
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Place bacon and onion in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until bacon is evenly brown and onions are soft. Drain off excess grease.
2. Transfer the bacon and onion to a slow cooker, and stir in chicken broth, water, potatoes, salt, dill weed, and white pepper. Cover, and cook on Low 6 to 7 hours, stirring occasionally.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and half-and-half. Stir into the soup along with the evaporated milk. Cover, and cook another 30 minutes before serving.

I am changing up the quantities because this recipe only calls for 6 servings. Hopefully doubling the amounts will still be okay! (Cooking noob here..) I’ll be cooking this come Thursday morning; pictures and results to come!

Blueberry Mochi Cake

Instead of using red bean, I wanted to try out the mochi cake recipe with blueberry jam. It didn’t turn out too bad, but I probably should not have used blueberries in jam form. The jam is too thick and heavy, so it sunk to the bottom shortly after placing it in the oven…

Better luck next time!