Orange Beef

One of the first Chinese dishes I ate was crispy orange beef, and I loved it. It was the perfect mix of salty, spicy, crispy, sweet, and sour. Every time I've had it since then I've been disappointed it wasn't quite as good as that first one. This was my attempt to get as close as possible to recreate that dish.

Shred a Pepper

This style of cutting peppers is going to be used in the dish in the next post, and I wanted to explain it first. It is one way to cut a bell pepper into short, skinny pieces, that I refer to as a "shred". I use this more often for red peppers than for green peppers, because red peppers are more intensely flavored and small pieces spread the flavor around.  This goes great in salads, slaws, soups.

Quick Noodle Soup

Soup is no one's favorite food in 80 degree weather, but this preparation is left over from winter... which only ended two days ago. I'm sure there will be a few more chilly days coming through for this to be useful. The soup is made with buckwheat noodles and topped with some Teriyaki Beef. The key is, as always, homemade broth which keeps well in the fridge or freezer.

Ratatouille : A Guest Post from Eleanor

Seth invited me over for dinner yet again, offering to make burgers on Udi's gluten free buns. On my way to meet him I stopped by CMart, a small Chinese grocery in Boston's Chinatown and looked around for what seemed freshest. Surprisingly, I left the store with the ingredients for, ratatouille.

Asparagus Season

Its great when a vegetable or fruit is in season, because they are usually both fresh and cheap. Its now asparagus season, so you can look forward to a few months of $1.99/lb fresh aspargus.

Teriyaki Boneless Shortrib

There are two qualities that are sought after in beef, flavor and tenderness, and cuts that are high in one tend to be lower in the other. Short ribs are a part of the cow that is high in beefy flavor, but have to be prepared carefully to avoid getting tough and chewy. One way that works well is to slice it thin and cook it fast.