Tee's Version of Korean Bulgogi

Finally!!! That's probably the thought that's running through your minds as you peruse this long awaited recipe. I've had the pictures in my camera for weeks now, but today, my body and mind finally relented and I am here to present how to make the deliciousness that I've been feeding you all.

Ingredients:
1 pack of Leroux Shaved Beef
2-3 medium onions [any type will work and actually, you can use as many onions as you please]
optional: green onions, mushrooms, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots [I personally would avoid root vegetables or potatoes as additions when cooking it at this point as root vegetables take a while to soften and potatoes may make the recipe too starchy.]
2 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
3 cloves garlic, minced [how ever much garlic you like, you can put in, I love the stuff so I usually do like a full Tbsp of minced garlic.]
1/3 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
1 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp mirin [optional]
1 Tbsp Korean red pepper paste, kkochu jjang

Heat the sesame oil and lightly cook the garlic until it just begins to sizzle. Garlic burns quickly so have all of your vegetables ready to dump in. Add vegetables and cook until onions are soft and nearly translucent. Add soy sauce, sugar, mirin, and Korean red chili pepper paste. Add the meat at the very last minute and cook until the meat has browned.

Tip: Soak the meat in cold water before you use it. As you add it into the pot, make sure to separate the slices so that all of the meat browns evenly.

Enjoy!

Beatty's Chocolate Cake

courtesy of Ina Garten and Food Network

Ingredients

nocoupons

• Butter, for greasing the pans
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cups good cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup buttermilk, shaken
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Directions

Chocolate Buttercream, recipe follows

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 2 (8-inch) round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

Place 1 layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/beattys-chocolate-cake-recipe/index.html

I made the cake as directed by the recipe, but instead of the recipe that was included with Ina's recipe, I used a Quick Mocha Icing from the Joy of Cooking.

courtesy of Joy of Cooking

1 2/3 c of powdered sugar/confectioner's sugar
1 stick of unsalted butter, softened and cut into small blendable chunks
4 to 6 Tbsp of coffee
2 tsp of vanilla extract
¼ tsp of salt
2 Tbsp of unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp of instant coffee or espresso powder

Combine in electric mixer and beat until smooth.

This cake is seriously unbelievable. I am in total sugar coma mood right now and I LOVE IT. The mocha icing is to die for and I can't wait for you guys to try it.

Baked French Toast

courtesy of Joy of Cooking Rombauer, Irma S., Marion Rombauer Baker, and Ethan Becker. "Joy of Cooking." New York: Scribner, 2006.

Whisk together in a large bowl:

1 cup heavy cream, half-and-half, or milk [I had leftover heavy cream on hand so I used that.]

6 eggs

¼ cup maple syrup [I couldn't find the authetic stuff anywhere, so I substituted with some golden syrup that seemed legit.]

2 Tbsp light brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

¼ tsp salt

Trim the crusts from:

8 slices white sandwhich bread or Challah [I used the loaf of Dark Chocolate and Dried Cherry bread from Albemarle Baking Company that I showed ya'll earlier on.]

I mixed all of the above ingredients together, and then in a large Ziploc bag placed the sliced bread inside [crusts and all] with the mixture poured over it. After squeezing as much air as possible out from the bag, I zipped it. I double zipbagged the mixture so outside of the first Ziploc bag, I had another large Ziploc bag. I set the entire thing on a pan and it's currently chilling in my fridge. I'll be making it for breakfast tomorrow morning, but here's the rest of the instructions.

Refridgerate overnight. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly butter a baking sheet, preferably nonstick [I'll be spraying some Pam on top of my baking sheet.]. Using a wide spatula -or, if you find it easier, your hands-lift the bread, slice by slice, out of the soaking mixture, allowing the excess liquid to drip back into the bag, and place on baking sheet. Bake until puffed and golden, 12 to 15 minutes, turning the slices halfway through baking. Serve immediately with:

Maple Syrup

(Sliced Fresh Fruit)

Baked Brown Rice with Mushrooms

courtesy of Joy of Cooking Rombauer, Irma S., Marion Rombauer Baker, and Ethan Becker. "Joy of Cooking." New York: Scribner, 2006.

After failing wonderfully with that massive batch of brown rice that I made during dinner this past week, I decided to try again with a recipe from my lovely cookbook. It turned out really well and super delicious and I just wanted to share with you ladies.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Over medium-high heat, melt:

3 Tbsp of butter or olive oil [for mine I had butter on hand so I used that, I'm sure vegan butter would work as well, you just need something greasy to coat the rice in later on.]

Add and cook, stirring, until the mushrooms are lightly browned:

1½ cups of coarsely chopped mushrooms [I used 1 pint of mushrooms b/c I didn't feel like measuring it out, that and mushrooms are on sale this week.]

½ cup of chopped onions [I just chopped 1 small onion and said eff it to measuring it out, onions shrink down to piddly nothingness once cooked so it doesn't really matter. Don't sweat the small stuff. It's the end deliciousness that matters.]

1 garlic clove, finely chopped [If you're lazy like me and can't be bothered to keep fresh garlic around, from that lovely jar of minced garlic hanging out in your fridge, 2 tsp of minced garlic = 1 clove.]

Add and stir until well coated with grease:

1 cup of brown rice

Add:

2¼ cups chicken or vegetable broth [I used veggie broth b/c I'm on my eco-Atkins kick. Technically, I should have substituted the butter as well, but ooooooooh well.]

¼ tsp of salt

⅛ tsp of black pepper

Bring to a boil. Cover, transfer to oven, and bake until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender, about 45 minutes. Let stand, covered, for 10 minutes before serving. [I cooked mine in a Pyrex glass 2qt casserole dish and that took an extra 10 minutes of cooking before most of the liquid was absorbed. However, I let it sit out for like 1 hour because I hit the gym while it cooled and by the time I got back it was all nummy yummy goodness.]

If you all decide to make this, lemme know how it turned out. I personally really liked it and felt like I didn't really have to eat anything else but this because it was nummy on it's own.


SHOOMP SHOOMP,

T