vietnamese shaking beef

One of my favorite restaurants in San Francisco is The Slanted Door, a trendy Vietnamese place in the Ferry Building on Embarcadero (I go there for the food, not the trendiness - I've not been there once when the hostess hasn't acted like I should be grateful that they allow me in the door - but I digress). Recently, a friend introduced me to their "shaking beef", which is stir-fried filet mignon cubes with just the simplest of sauces to complement. Someone told me it's called "shaking" due to the way the cook has to shake the pan to quickly sear the meat in the pan. Like everything I've tried at TSD, it's amazing, but never in a million years did I think it's something I could attempt at home. That is, until I came across this full recipe for TSD's version of Shaking Beef on the SF Gourmet blog. I'll let you check out the original, and here I'll post my modified version. Please note that I did NOT use filet mignon, as I'm morally opposed to marinating any cut of meat that costs more than $20/pound. I substituted local ribeye at the suggestion of my butcher, and it was *amazing*.

Grocery list: 1.5 pounds steak, garlic, sugar, salt, canola oil, rice vinegar, rice wine, soy sauce (both light and dark if you have it, if not, just use what you have), fish sauce, lime, 1 bunch green onions, 1 bunch watercress, 1/2 red onion, butter, plus rice to serve.



This is a very simple marinade: just a couple of chopped garlic cloves, 1 tsp sugar, 1.5 tsp salt, 3/4 tsp black pepper, all mixed into a couple of tablespoons canola oil.



Chop your steak into 1-inch cubes, and swirl the meat around in the marinade to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. I actually think it helps to take it out of the fridge for the last 20-30 minutes or so, to allow it to return to room temperature.



Thinly slice half of a red onion, and chop the green onions. While the meat is resting on the counter, prepare the vinaigrette (which you'll add to the stir-frying meat and shake around, hence the name). Stir together 1/4 c rice vinegar, 1 T sugar, 1/4 c rice wine, 4 T light soy, 1 T dark soy, and 1 T fish sauce.



I don't own a wok, so I used a large nonstick skillet for this. With a wok, you have a smaller surface area on the bottom of the pan, so the original recipe says you should divide the meat and onions in half so you can cook it in 2 quick batches. I had room in my pan to do it all at once though. Heat 2 T canola oil over medium-high heat, then add the beef in a single layer. Don't stir it around for the first minute or 2 - you want it to develop a nice crust on the bottom. Flip all the meat cubes over quickly, and sear for another couple of minutes.



Add the onions and stir everything around - cook for another 1-2 minutes (the meat should be medium rare, so be careful not to overcook). Pour the vinaigrette over and shake the pan. Add a pat or 2 of butter, shaking to coat. Serve over a bed of watercress with rice. TSD also serves this with "dipping sauce" - just the juice of one lime mixed with salt and pepper.

thai green curry chicken

In viewing this blog, you could probably infer that I only like Italian food, and Americanized interpretations of Italian, at that. But what I cook is an inaccurate representation of what I love to eat - if I want good Thai, Vietnamese, Indian, Mexican, or anything more adventurous, I go out (blog entries are not daily for a reason). But a few weeks ago our good friends Karel and Talia had us over for dinner, and Talia whipped up some red coconut curry seemingly effortlessly. Not only did it seem approachable, but it was also delicious. Ever since, I've been thinking about how I might need to forget about the disaster that was my one experiment with phad thai (HORRIBLE waste of 3 hours in the kitchen), and try this whole Thai thing again. I found a few recipes on Epicurious and one from Tyler Florence that I was able to work together. It would have still been easier to go to Thai Palate for some take out, but it was great, I knew exactly what was in it, so I'm marking this one down as a win. See what you think...

Grocery list: 1+ pound boneless, skinless chicken (cut into bite-size chunks), green curry paste (found at my local farmers market, but available any grocery store), 1 can coconut milk, chicken broth, 1 onion & 1 bell pepper chopped, 1 eggplant peeled and chopped, minced fresh ginger, cilantro, basil.



In a large heavy skillet or dutch oven, heat a few T oil over medium heat. Add the eggplant, onion and pepper, and saute for 3-4 minutes until they begin to soften. Add about 1 T fresh minced ginger, and 2 T green curry paste (this will make 1 - 1 1/2 pounds chicken pretty spicey - you may want to use less curry paste the first time, or read the label to see what kind of ratio they recommend). Stir to coat the paste on the vegetables and cook for another couple minutes.



Add 1 can coconut milk and about 1 cup of chicken broth and stir well; season with salt. Lay the chicken pieces in the pot so they can poach in the hot liquid. Simmer over low heat for 10-15 minutes. Before serving over rice, stir in the juice of one lime plus handfuls of chopped basil and cilantro.

chef sev cracks the benihana code: yum yum sauce

I have always loved a good "Japanese steakhouse" -- in college my friend Morgan and I would save up for special occasions to go over to the hibachi grill for the early bird special (2 for $19.95!). While I love the highly trained grill masters who can create little bunny rabbits out of shrimp tails and flaming volcanoes out of stacked vidalia onions, my favorite thing has always been the mysterious "yum yum sauce"-- the white sauce that they provide on the side for dipping your shrimp and vegetables into (or for smothering your entire plate indiscriminately). I have tried and failed to figure out the secret to this sauce for years, but there isn't a Benihana in the world that will give up the ingredient list. That is, until A's dad, AKA "Chef Sev", decided to crack the code. He has succeeded - don't ask, because he won't reveal his sources - and the result was the absolute perfect replica of benihana's world-famous yum yum sauce. We grilled up shrimp, chicken, steak and tons of mixed vegetables last night, and drowned it all in this amazing sauce. Grab this recipe while you can, before the Benihana trademark police force me to take it down...

Grocery list: 1 cup hellmann's mayo (regular, not light), 1/2 teaspoon each: sugar, paprika, ketchup, ground ginger, hot sauce, dry mustard powder, white pepper; 1/2 Tablespoon garlic juice (found in the asian food section of any grocery store, OR you can substitute garlic powder if you can't find the juice), 1/8 tsp salt, 2 T melted butter, 3 tsp rice vinegar, 1/4 cup water.



This picture looks pretty disgusting, but these are all the ingredients.



Whisk together and refrigerate for at least several hours or overnight, to allow the flavors to blend. Bring to room temperature before serving. Thanks Chef Sev!

hoisin pork roast with rice and sesame broccoli

I'm a little obsessed with my slow cooker (known around my house as the silver bullet, although I'm not sure if I can continue calling it that now that my friend Teddy has pointed out what the term "silver bullet" means around her own establishment...). I just got it 2 months ago, so I'm still in that phase of wanting to try everything at least once. If you put a slow cooker recipe in front of me, I'm compelled to make it.

This one I saw in a Rachael Ray magazine. It turned out well enough, but I'm personally not as big a fan of hoisin sauce as I thought. I think I'll try this recipe again but with a sweeter sauce. Or, like I do with barbeque pork ribs in the silver bullet, make a batch of fresh sauce when the cooking is done. This one calls for the sauce left in the cooker to be reused, and maybe that just grossed me out a bit?

Here's the recipe: tie up one big (2-3#) pork loin roast (it won't look like it needs to be tied when it's raw, but trust me, it will fall completely apart when it starts to cook if you don't tie it at least a couple of times), the put in the slow cooker. Mix sauce in a bowl: 1 bottle (10 oz) hoisin sauce or duck sauce -- I'll have to try the duck sauce next time, bet it's sweeter -- plus 3 smashed garlic cloves, 2 T grated fresh ginger, 1 T chili paste, 1 T rice wine vinegar, 1 T soy sauce, 2 tsp dark sesame oil, 4 tsp cornstarch. Pour this over the meat, set the cooker for 8 hours on low.

When it's done, you take the roast out and set on a platter for a few minutes to rest, then slice it, sprinkle with a little chopped scallions and cilantro, serve over jasmine rice w/extra sauce.

I also made a simple recipe for broccoli from the Moosewood cookbook -- steam a bunch of broccoli florets, then toss with a simple dressing made of 2 parts rice wine vinegar + 1 part dark sesame oil. Salt, pepper, a few red pepper flakes, and shake some sesame seeds on top = nice new way to have broccoli.

(Here's a pic of the silver bullet. What a beautiful baby.)