Korean Beef Stew

Trooping over to Korean groceries have been quite a usual habit for me. At the area where we stay, Asian groceries abound and thrive quite lucratively. Back in the day when Asian ingredients and condiments were exclusively accessed only from hard to find Asian specialty stores, I barely knew about, say, mirin or Kasugai! Okay, now is a totally different generation of convenience stores. It has come to embrace spices and other food stuff of countries outside this republic.

Okay, today’s menu had Korean beef stew in it. What I like about this dish is that it infuses flavors that make you savor it, bite after bite. Flavors that make you dump more rice onto your plate and totally enjoy the food! The sweet-salty sauce combo that smothers the fall-off-the-bones kind of short ribs just makes for a perfect meal.

KOREAN BEEF STEW

1/2  kilo beef short ribs

1/2 kilo beef brisket

5 cloves of garlic, minced

1 chopped onion

2 laurel leaves

2 tbsps sliced ginger

1  cup soy sauce

1 cup brown sugar (adjust according to your preferred sweetness if necessary)

spring onions, chopped

1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds

1/4 cup sesame oil

chili flakes to taste

water

Procedure:

Season ribs with salt and pepper. Saute ginger, garlic and onion using sesame oil. Add short ribs and continue tossing the meat until well coated with the gisa mixture.  Add water (just enough to cover the ribs).

Halfway through the cooking add soy sauce and sugar plus the laurel and chili flakes. Simmer until meat of the ribs start to fall off and the sauce has been reduced to half of the original amount.

Note: Adding water may be necessary until meat is very tender.

Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and spring onions. Serve hot.

Creamed Beef With Mushrooms

Creamed beef with mushrooms

The tedious spinning class I had today just had me hankering for a satiating plate of good food. And ‘good’ meant embracing all the requirements to make tonight’s dinner  gastronomic:

1. Relatively healthy  (So I’d be guiltless after the gobble up).

2. ‘Beef related’ (Hey, I spinned hard! I deserved a good serving of protein!)

3. Labor unintensive (Tamad eh! Lol)

4. Nice to plate! (Yeah, for the blog, hee).

Okay, so the cooking began. I defrosted a pack of beef brisket that I would make into creamed beef with mushrooms. From the pantry cabinet, I dislodged a can of mushrooms and a pack of all purpose cream.

Zero transfat and  50% reduced cholesterol — reading the nutrition facts on the newly relaunched Magnolia all purpose cream got me sold in using it for tonight’s dinner of creamed beef with mushrooms.

For this dish you will need:

1/2 kilo beef brisket, thinly sliced

1 carton all purpose cream

1/2 cup butter

1 cup button mushrooms, drained and sliced

4 cloves of garlic

4 tbsps flour dissolved in 1/2 cup water

1 onion

salt and pepper to taste

oil

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Season meat with salt and pepper.

In a skillet, saute onion and garlic. Add beef. Pour water and bring to a boil. Cook until beef becomes tender and water is reduced to half the original amount.

Add butter and flour mixture. Add mushrooms and cream. Stir until desired thickness is achieved. Serve hot.

Japchae

I took a trip to a public market somewhere down east to find this stall that sold Batangas beef. Foodies literally run the extra mile just to bring home what’s deemed the best, you know. Ha! So, there I was, finding myself all prepped up for the palengke tour.

Scouring the market, I was gawking at the produce lavishly displayed at every stall, corner and bilaos. My, they were totally inexpensive, very fresh and looked picturesque. My eyes were panning from left to right, up and down!

Okay, back to my mission, I looked for a store that had a signage that read “Senya’s Batangas beef”. Upon trekking the aisles and alleys  of this market, lo and behold, I found it and what goldmine I saw. Yeah baby, two kilos of sirloin went straight to my basket.

Yesterday had me do two dishes:  Garlic Tapa and Japchae.

So, what’s the big fuss about Batangas beef? Well for one, this southwestern province of Batangas is well known for its cattle industry. It is home of the best species of cattle. Grass fed, robust in size, they are so special that meat dealers  have made it a ‘claim to fame’ label that the meat is from Batangas. A big smile was plastered on my face as I left with my beef on one hand.

The second dish was japchae. I have been bugging my good friend, Marielle, to take me back to Ye Dang for my Korean food fix but being swamped with household chores would not allow us. So, I decided to just make my own.

So here goes the recipe:

JAPCHAE

500 grams  glass noodles (soak in water for 20 minutes before cooking)

1/2 cup chopped spinach leaves

3/4 cup hoisin sauce

3 tbsps brown sugar

1/4 kilo sirloin, cut in thin strips

1 medium-sized carrot, cut into strips

5 cloves of garlic, minced

1 white onion, minced

2 tsps chili flakes

salt and pepper to taste

sesame oil

water

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Season beef with salt and pepper. In a skillet, saute onion and garlic. Add beef, spinach and carrots. Stir in hoisin sauce ang sugar. Pour about 4 cups of water and bring to a boil.

Add glass noodles and reduce heat  to a medium simmer.

Cook until noodles are tender and soupiness is gone. Add chili flakes. Serve hot.

Classic Baked Macaroni

It was my daughter Sam’s Christmas party and parents were asked to dish out something for the buffet spread. Swamped with yuletide chores, I flexed some muscles, mustered energy to whip up a great dish of pasta. Classic baked mac was to be. Scrumptious, relatively easy to make and a universal favorite, I knew I cooked the right thing.

Baked Macaroni

Cheesy Baked Mac

1 pack elbow macaroni  noodles

1 box quickmelt cheese, grated

3/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated

1/2 cup mozzarela cheese, grated (optional)

Meat Sauce:

1/2 kilo ground beef

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 medium-sized onion, minced

1 tomato, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

750 grams tomato sauce, Italian blend

1 can chorizos, cut lengthwise and sliced horizontally (optional)

Bechamel Sauce:

2 boxes  all purpose cream

1 cup milk

1 box cheddar cheese, grated

1/4 cup  butter

1/4 cup curly parsley, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

3/4 cup  flour

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1. Cook pasta according to package directions.

2. In a separate pan, saute garlic, onion and tomato. Add beef. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer until cooked. Add tomato sauce and chorizos. Continue stirring for the next ten minutes. Remove from fire then add cooked pasta in the beef mixture. Set aside.

3. In a skillet, heat  butter then add all-purpose  cream and milk. Mix well. Add cheddar cheese. Slowly add flour to thicken the sauce (the thicker the better!). Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

4. In a baking dish, assemble the pasta. Scoop up some beef mixture that would be the first layer. Smother with a generous amount of bechamel sauce on top of the beef mixture. repeat the layering twice.

5. Top the dish with the remaining cheeses.

6. Preheat the oven to 350c and bake for 15 minutes or  until cheeses are turned into golden brown. Once cooked, let stand for 15 minutes. Sprinkled with chopped parsley. Serve with you favorite toast.

Garlic Tapa

It was half past ten in the morning. The fantastic aroma from the skillet was beginning to fill up the kitchen while the baunan was atop the counter, ready to catch the day’s baon. The baon was garlic tapa with sliced tomatoes, ahh, a major comfort food in the Yrastorza batcave– now and always.

So, who was the lucky member of the household to tuck in a savory tapa into the lunchbox? Not hubby Jake and certainly, not little Sam. Whoelse but Janine, our trusted kitchen help. Yup, I cooked for her. She’s been a very efficient all-around house aid and whipping up some garlic tapa was a little price to pay. She brought it to my daughter’s school while she waited it out until Sam’s dismissal time.

Our tapa isn’t the sweet style or anything close to that. It is the garlic-pepper ridden kind. Frankly, I am not a fan of marinades that mask beef’s wonderful flavor. I don’t like coating it with sugar nor pineaple juice that deprives me from tasting the almost nude taste of beef.

I like garlic. Lots of garlic. Lightly toasted but never overly done as it yields a quite offensive bitter taste. And, cane vinegar should be a good acid to bring out beef’s great flavor. Beef, vinegar  and garlic together should be the bomb.

The choice cut, thickness and overall qulality of beef meat is as crucial as what seasoning goes into the tapa. I like the sukiyaki or the breakfast cut that allows me to pare down cooking time into half because of its thinness. Cooks fast, engaging to eat and usually reasonably priced.

Oh well. Time to wear that apron and do this garlic tapa!

1/4 kilo beef, breakfast or sukiyaki cut

1/4 cup cane vinegar

1 whole head of garlic, minced

salt and pepper to taste

oil

1 large tomato, sliced

3 tbsps cup green onions, chopped

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Combine all ingredients and let sit for 30 minutes.

Fry beef with the garlic and vinegar marinade on medium heat until desired doneness id achieved.

Serve with sliced tomatoes and sprinkle with chopped green onions.

Crazy About Callos

With either pandesal or rice– I am callos’ most avid fanatic. Inspired by my Mom’s immortal version of callos, I decided to whip up my own creation tonight.

Mom had a bit of tweaking of the conventional callos in that she incorporates potatoes into her version and seasons with our native patis (fish sauce). Why not? I must say, these are welcome ingredients that are loaded up with taste enhancing abilities.

According to my Mom, this dish was a favorite of my Lolo Iking (her late  dad). She said he would usually eat a bowl of callos with pandesal to match. Ah, now that’s good taste, eh? And, so, overtime, my Mom had made this dish as part of her potluck repertoire during special ocassions.

A few years ago, I had the chance to taste callos from its place of origin in Spain. Funny, I thought I like callos better in Pinas, specifically in my own Mother’s kitchen.

Mom, this is for you:)

1/2 kilo ox tripe

4 slices of meat from pata ng baka

1 pc chorizo de bilbao, sliced

tomato paste (optional)

tomato sauce

1 red bell pepper, julienned

1 green bell pepper, julienned

4 medium-sized potatoes

1 cup garbanzos

salt and pepper to taste

oil

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Season meats with salt and pepper. Pressure cook ox tripe and pata  for 45 minutes. Drain and cut for about an inch long and 1/3 inch wide. Set aside.

In a skillet, saute onion, garlic and tomato. Add ox tripe and pata slices season with patis. Stir for the next two minutes. Add tomato paste (dilute with water if you want to adjust consistency). Mom does not use tomato paste because she is partial to its sweet-ish taste.

Add bell peppers, chorizos and garbanzos. Simmer for another 3 minutes then add potatoes. Cook until potatoes are tender. Add tomato sauce. Serve hot.

Pasta Milano

Like a child handed with a choochoo train, I was ecstatic getting a pack of some whole wheat spaghetti pasta direct from Italia. My husband, Jake, is back from a week-long conference in Italy and he came home with spices and other kitchen stuff that totally got me excited.

Okay, what to do. I scoured our freezer for possible ingredients to go with the pasta noodles. Ohhh, I saw a pack of ribeye (sukiyaki cut) and  mentally screened other potential ingredients that could to go with it. I wanted something light, healthy and very Italian tasting. So I settled for some olive oil-coated pasta with meats, peppers, tomatoes and herbs!

In fact, if I had roasted eggplants, zucchinis and capsicum peppers available in my ref, I would’ve let them join the rest of the ingredients. That would have been the ultimate. But hey, this one was a mighty hit just the same.

Oh, just a side comment– I’ve been going to SM Hypermarket Centris Stn and can I just say, the prices of their veggies are far lower than the standard prices of veggies in most supermarkets. Our helper even quipped, “Eh Mam mas mura pa ho dito ang gulay kesa sa palengke namin eh!”.  Just a quick tip for the budget-conscious shoppers.

Anyway, I immediately donned myself in my new apron from the land of pasta and risotto and off I went to cook away the pasta and everything that went with it!

Pasta Milano

1/4 kilo ribeye sukiyaki cut meat

1 red bell pepper

1 green bell pepper

1 can diced tomatoes

3 tbsps fresh basil, chopped

6 cloves of garlic, minced

1 cup black mushrooms, sliced

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

3/4 cup olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Cook pasta according to package directions.

In a skillet, saute garlic. Add meat, bell peppers and mushrooms. Stir until meat is cooked (about 3 minutes). Pour in the mixture tomatoes and  basil.

Season with salt and pepper. Mix with drained pasta noodles.

Sprinkle with cheese on top. Serve with your favorite toast.

Kare-Kare!

I’d eat kare-kare at any given time of the day.  The awesome teamwork of its ingredients that come perfectly into play just blows me away. I’m like, as the gay lingo goes, eating like a “PG” (Patay gutom!), when I’m served with a good dish of Kare-Kare.

My mom, to me, is the kare-kare diva of my life! She does kare-kare as easily as she does her scrambled eggs! Yeah, that easy. Of course, I do like, too, the other Kare-kare dishes I’ve sampled over the years. Top of mind faves are the ones I tried from Abe, Fely J’s, Alex III, Serye and my all time fave, Aristocrat.

The clincher as to how I can tell whether it’s a good kare-kare creation or not is decided usually by how the sauce is done. I’m usually not too fond of some too sweet Kare-kare sauces. I tend to like it more on the ‘peanut-y’ side. That’s why your choice of peanut butter is very crucial. Oh and the bagoong just has to be the perfect alamang, juicy-salty but certainly not sharp on the palate.

Always remember, too, that the meats that go with it SHOULD be tender. Hard and almost rubbery meats in Kare-kare is a no-no, in fact, NEVER! It bums out the entire kare-kare dining experience!

Okay, this is how to do it.

1/2 beef tripe (twalya ng baka) 1/2 kilo bituka ng baka

1/2 kilo oxtail, cut 2 inch long

2 cups of peanut butter

2 cups ground peanuts (available in wet markets, sold by the plastic)

1/2 cup grounded toasted rice

1/2 cup cooked bagoong alamang

3 pcs onions, diced

2 heads of garlic, minced

4 tbsps atsuete water

3 pieces eggplant, sliced 1 inch thick

1 bundle of sitaw (string beans) cut to 2″ long

1 banana bud (puso ng saging), cut similar to eggplant slices, blanch in boiling water

3/4 cup oil

9 cups of water

Salt to taste

In a stock pot, boil beef tripe, bituka  and oxtails in water for an 2 hours or until tender or pressure cook for 45 minutes. Strain and keep the stock.

In a big pan or wok, heat oil and atsuete oil.

Sauté garlic, onions until golden brown, then add the stock, toasted rice, beef tripe, bituka, oxtail and peanut butter. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Salt very, very lightly. Remember you will have to eat this with your bagoong that’s salty already.

Add the eggplant, string beans, pechay and banana bud. Cook the vegetables for a few minutes – Do not overcook the vegetables.

Serve with bagoong on the side and hot plain rice.

 

Rib Eye Tapsi!

It’s amazing how a lot of Pinoys have come up with food combinations that have made its way to most of our top of mind comfort foods list. Personally, my favorites include tapsilog, pares and goto-tokwa’t baboy tandem with budbod of roasted garlic and chopped scallion stalks. The combinations just work in perfect harmony, needing each ingredient to orchestrate a palate-teasing taste. I cannot eat my pares without the chillies or the soup or the rice, unfried— no, no, no! These meals are definitely all or nothing!

I chanced upon a pack of rib eye meat (breakfast cut) when we did our grocery at SM Hypermarket at the Centris Station over the weekend. Adoring the pinkness and freshness of this choice cut, I grabbed a pack that I would turn into my tapa.

I usually choose the breakfast or the sukiyaki cut  when I buy my beef for tapa. It cooks fast and you get a grip on how you want your beef tapa cooked– rare,well done or medium well. I usually choose the latter, it is, to me, a middleground between retaining the right level of juiciness and the perfect degree of crisp it should have.

The rib-eye part per se is very tasty. That’s why I only use all of only four simple ingredients to marinate it with. Salt, pepper, loooots of garlic and vinegar. the rest of the flavor would come from the beef itself. I love eating beef almost in its naked taste. It’s simply a must try.

For 1/2 kilo of rib-eye, I used 1/4 cup white vinegar, 10 cloves of minced garlic, salt and pepper to taste. Combine all ingredients. Marinate beef for 15 minutes. Fry in hot oil. Serve with fried rice, sunny side up and coleslaw or atchara.

Shepherd’s Pie

It’s one bombastic dish when all ingredients make you go for seconds. In this case, my favorite sauted beef and creamy mashed potatoes– yes, the savory tandem called shepherd’s pie. The original dish calls for the use of lamb or mutton although the use of ground or roast beef has become  a  preference among foodies overtime.

I usually make this when there’s leftover mashed potatoes in the ref. Why, the overnight version of these tubers tend to be more firm and flexible that makes baking and slicing it afterwards easier.

Okay, here’s how to do it. You will need:

Mashed potato

3 large potatoes

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup heavy  cream

salt and pepper to taste

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Boil potatoes. Drain once tender.

Mash with potato masher leaving the skin on.

Throw in remaining ingredients. Mash until all ingredients blend in.

Meat filling

3/4 kilo ground beef

2 tomatoes, diced

5 cloves garlic, minced

1 onion, minced

1/2 cup tomato sauce

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

oil

1 egg (egg white only)

In a skillet, saute beef in onion, garlic and tomatoes.

Season with salt and pepper. Add cayenne pepper and basil. Add a cup of water. Bring to a simmer until meat is tender and water has evaporated. Add tomato sauce. Simmer for five more minutes.

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In a pie dish, pour meat mixture and top with mashed potatoes. Brush top with egg white and sprinkle with dried basil leaves. Bake for ten minutes at 350 deg c.

Cheesy Lasagna

Marvelling at this Lasagna, a party guest once asked me what cheese I used to make it. Without hesitation I gave away the secret– EDEN cheese and a box of another local quick-melting cheese. To which, the other eavesdropping party people cracked up thinking it was a big foodie joke. Well, that joke happened to be the yummiest amusement to date.  

This recipe is an instant party crowd pleaser, no fail. The 1-2-3 punch comes from the perfect play of the meat sauce and the bechamel. The harmonious and rythmic combo of  spicy, a bit sweet (from the sweet onion and red bell peppers), sour and salty components in this dish give it the oomph that’s to die for (or yeah, live for!).

No, this is not a sponsored blog (how I wish!) neither is it a testimonial dish. I just underscored the fact that you DON’T need expensive cheese to make a killer lasagna. Before some lasagna purists crucify me for publishing this recipe using Eden cheese, let me challenge them first to try this. Then, hand me down the verdict!

Okay, today saw me baking this lasagna for friends Faye and Kristine for a belated New Year catching up.

Kristine, moi and Faye

The lunch also included in the menu some parmesan-crusted calamari with tartar sauce, a plate of greens with some fruit-infused vinegrette dressing and lots of laughter, catching up  and updates from all the stories that went with it. Nothing beats great chats with comfort food at the backdrop.

Lasagna:

1 box  curly lasagna noodles

1 box quickmelt cheese, grated

Meat Sauce:

1/2 kilo ground beef

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 medium-sized white onion, minced

1 tomato, chopped

1 large bell pepper, minced

salt and pepper to taste

750 grams tomato sauce, Italian blend

1 can chorizos, cut lengthwise and sliced horizontally (optional)

Bechamel Sauce:

1 box all purpose cream

1 cup milk

1 box Eden cheese

 cheese, grated

1/4 cup  butter

salt and pepper to taste

4 tbsps flour

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1. Cook pasta according to package directions.

2. In a separate pan, saute garlic, bell pepper, onion and tomato. Add beef. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer until cooked. Add tomato sauce and chorizos. Continue stirring for the next ten minutes.  Set aside.

3. In a skillet, heat  butter then add all-purpose  creamand milk. Mix well. Add Eden cheese. Slowly add flour to thicken the sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

4. In a baking dish, assemble the pasta. The bottom part gets a scoop of meat sauce as base. Smother with a generous amount of bechamel sauce on top of the beef mixture. Lay lasagna noodles. Repeat the layering thrice.

5. Top the dish with the quickmelting cheese.

6. Preheat the oven to 350c and bake for 15 minutes or  until cheeses are turned into golden brown. Once cooked, let stand for 15 minutes. Serve with you favorite toast.

The Perfect Corned Beef!

Two nicely-packaged cans of corned beef greeted me as I arrived home the other day. A friend, Nina Daza-Puyat, had them sent over to my place for tasting. And, what tasting I had!

Now, what to do…

This morning saw me opening a can of Delimondo corned beef by Chef Ed Quimson  to go with some nicely-browned diced potatoes.

Initially, I was tempted to do my classic favorite — a mega combo of corned beef and pork and beans that my lola always cooked for us when we were kids. However, my curiousity killed my impulse and decided to whip up something that wouldn’t mask the original taste of this corned beef that Nina likes so much.

Upon opening the can, I giddily scooped up some corned beef. Haay, I swear, it would’ve gone straight into my tummy before it hit the pan had I not forced myself to STOP! It had the right play of saltiness and linamnam.

Thought, too, that  this corned beef had the perfect color of corned beef. Not too red and definitely not too pale.

The bomb was actually the bits of chunky litid/fat that it had in it. Sarap!!!! Very reminiscent of those homemade corned beef that had some good cuts of beef brisket. It just melted in my mouth with my eyes closed.

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To do this dish, you will need:

1 big can of corned beef

3 medium-sized potatoes, diced

4 cloves of galic, minced

1 onion, minced

1 tsp dahon ng sibuyas, chopped

oil

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In a frying pan, deep fry potatoes until golden brown. Drain and set aside.

Meantime, using a skillet, saute onion and garlic. Add corned beef. Cook for three minutes. Add potatoes. Serve warm.

Beef With Mushroom Gravy Sauce

The last few weeks saw me mostly biting on Chicken. I planned to cut the pattern and  decided to whip up some beef dish that used my fave part, top sirloin.

Top sirloin should be the tender part as opposed to the bottom sirloin. And equally yummy was the gravy that went with the beef. I love, love, love homemade gravy. It’s got all the beefy goodness that makes gravies the most sought-after sauce next to ketchup.

Believe it or not, this dish is one of the easiest dishes to make. Easy, yeah, EASY as in E-A-S-Y!!!

Okay, the ingredients: 1/2 kilo top sirloin, 1 minced onion, 4 cloves of chopped garlic, salt and pepper.

For the gravy, you will need: 1/2 cup butter, 2 cups beef stock, 3 tbsps flour and 1 big can of sliced button mushrooms.

Okay how to do it:

Saute onion and garlic. Add beef, season with salt and pepper to taste and cover with water. Add water as needed until meat is very tender. And I mean T-E-N-D-E-R!

Okay, this is the deal with sirloin. It’s very tender if you stir fry it for a few minutes but it gets hard and rubbery when you let it fry and simmer a bit longer than a few minutes.

But hey…

If you let it cook some more, as in for another hour, it will soften again with doneness a guarantee. That I like as opposed to cooking it a bit rare. I like the beef staying on for quite sometime in the pan to make the sauce truly beefy!

Okay, once th beef is done, take out the meat leaving juices and oil still in the pan. Reduce oil when there’s too much to avoid curdling. Some remaining 1/4 cup of oil won’t hurt.

Using the same pan, mix in butter, 1 cup beef stock and flour. Mix flour well until sauce is free of lumps. Add more flour in case you want your sauce thicker.

Stir constantly until sauce is thick enough for you. Be sure to thoroughly scrape all beef residues stuck on the pan. The wealth of flavor is there!

Slowly pour in the remaining stock. Adjust consistency according to your preference by adding or minimizing pouring of beef stock.

Finally, throw back beef onto the pan. Mix in chopped mushrooms. Simmer for five more minutes. Serve hot.

Corned Beef With Beans

She cooked from the heart. Savory, succulent and well plated, she paid intense attention to details. Ahh, I miss her food. Her homemade ham that had the best glaze, her pochero with the mashed squash and eggplant siding, her fluffy tortilla, her nilagang kenchie, her calandracas, tinumis, etc. I can go on and on..

My lola was an excellent cook. Okay, biases aside, she was. VERY!

Today, I made one of her dishes. A 2-step wonder. Definitely, the best tasting 5-minute meal.

Okay, how to do this:

1. Saute 4 cloves of minced garlic and 1 chopped red onion.

2. Add in 1 can corned beef and 1 can pork and beans. Stir-fry some more for two minutes.

3. Add 1/2 cup shredded cabbage (optional). Serve hot:)

How easy was that?

Meatloaf With Sundried Pesto Rice

The immortalized classic meatloaf  dish, hands down, has proven to be one of the most popular dishes over the centuries that it has been served in a great number of dining banquets all over the world since the 5th century. It is a traditional German, Belgian and Dutch dish, and is a cousin to the Italian meatball.

Usually made of ground beef with a classic combination of lamb or pork, I personally think that this dish is best when it’s baked or smoked as opposed to steamed. I just adore the juicy, tasty and engaging taste of this dish. The play of flavors just work in perfect coherence. You wanna  bite on it like there’s no tomorrow.

Anyway, here’s how you do it. You will need:

1/2  kilo ground beef

1 small bottle pickle relish, drained

1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated

1 pack cream of mushroom soup (powdered)

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 large onion, roughly minced

1 red bell pepper, minced

2 sliced white bread (tasty), cut into small pcs

1/4 cup raisins

1 cup chopped sweet ham

3/4 cup black olives, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

1.. Preheat oven to 350c. Mix all ingredients.

2. Place the mixture in a 9×4 rectangular baking pan. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes.

3. Serve with VELOUTE sauce.

It’s…

             1 1/2 cups beef or chicken stock

            2 tablespoons unsalted butter

            3 tbsp flour

            Salt & Pepper, to taste

In a saucepan, raise heat to medium. Melt butter then add flour to it to form a roux. Stir in stock until thickened. Season with salt and pepper.

For the sundried pesto rice, you will need:

4 cups overnight rice

4 tbsps sundried pesto sauce

1. Heat pan. Pour sauce. Mix in rice. Serve hot.