Mmm(bibim)bap!!!!

It may be that you don't remember Hanson, of MMMBop fame. Without trying to insult anyone who loved that boy band from the late 90s, we would probably count them in the category of One Hit Wonders. Yet we just couldn't help ourselves in naming this post after their hit song. Corniness has its place in the world, doesn't it?

Okay, all corniness aside, in case you're wondering what exactly this post is about (if not Hanson), it's about the Korean smorgasbord-in-a-dish that is known as bibimbap. The name alone is so fun to say, we think you should say it out loud right now. Come on, have a little fun. Bibimbap!

The basics of bibimbap involve a bowl with some rice and vegetables, and perhaps some meat or fish, all topped with a fried egg. It's everything in a bowl. It's healthy and delicious. It's fun. It's amazing. Say it again - Bibimbap!

Asian Pear (above), grated (below)

Making bibimbap at home is somewhat of a chore, as you can probably tell, because each component must be made separately and then assembled into the bowl. Frankly, it's a pain in the arse. But if you have the time, a bunch of frying pans, and the inclination, you should try it at least once.

We used, as our guide, this recipe from this month's Bon Appetit via Epicurious. Since we took the time to pickle a pound of daikon radish we got from the farmers' market Sunday, we allowed ourselves to cheat a little by buying a pint of sushi rice from our favorite sushi joint. Cooking is about flexibility, after all!

Mix-in One: As we just mentioned, we started the night before by making pickled daikon for one of our bibimbap "mix-ins" using Tyler Florence's recipe exactly. They came out looking like this (great color, eh?):

Pickled Daikon Radish

On the night of bibimbap, Amy stopped at the store for the final ingredients - scallions and an Asian pear. She forgot the scallions, so we used dried chives. Although the checkout person didn't know what the Asian pear was, the store did have it, and it did make a huge difference in the flavor of the meat, so definitely look for it if, like us, you live in the frozen tundra known as New England where such things are so alien.

Marinating the beef

Amy got home and marinated the meat (thinly sliced ribeye also from the farmers' market) right away before setting about making the other mix-ins, again using the Epicurious recipe as a guide.

For the marinade:

1/2 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce

1/3 cup finely grated Asian pear with juices

2 scallions, thinly sliced (we used 1 tablespoon dried chives)

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon raw or brown sugar

2 teaspoons grated peeled ginger

1 pound thinly sliced (1/8") boneless beef rib-eye steak or short ribs

Whisk first 6 ingredients in a medium bowl. Add beef; toss to coat. Cover; chill for 30 minutes or up to 3 hours.

One unifying component

Mix-in Two: Sesame Carrots:

2 carrots

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

kosher salt and black pepper to taste

1 teaspoon black sesame seeds

Peel and cut thecarrots into long matchstick-size pieces. Heat the oil in a large skillet, preferably nonstick, over medium heat. Add carrots, salt, pepper and sesame seeds, and cook, stirring occasionally, until just tender, 3-4 minutes.

Sesame Carrots

Mix-in Three: Garlicky Spinach:

1 pound fresh spinach

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

2 chopped garlic cloves

2 tablespoons Ponzu sauce

1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar

kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

Cook spinach  in a large pot of boiling salted water just until wilted, 1-2 minutes. Drain, then transfer to a bowl of ice water; let cool. Drain and squeeze out excess water. Heat sesame oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add chopped garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 1 minute. Add spinach, ponzu, and  vinegar. Stir to combine; season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Garlicky Spinach

What's next? Our meat was marinated, and the mix-ins were set up in small bowls, and Amy was waiting for Chris to arrive home with the sushi rice. When he did, Chris crisped the rice and made two fried eggs while Amy sauteed the beef. It's nice having four hands in the kitchen. Finally, it was time to assemble our bowls.

Crisping the rice:

Heat one tablespoon toasted sesame oil in a large cast-iron or nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add rice; pat out in an even layer. Cook, rotating skillet for even browning (do not stir), until rice is golden and crisp on bottom, 5-7 minutes.

Crisping the rice

Sauteing the beef:

Heat one tablespoon toasted sesame oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Add beef and cook, turning once, until cooked through and lightly browned, about 3 minutes.

Sauteing the beef

Don't forget to make a fried egg to top each bowl (and try not to break the yolk like Amy did...)!

Assembling the Bibimbap Bowl:

Divide crisped rice among bowls. Top with sauteed beef, your favorite mix-ins, and a fried egg. Yell "MMM...Bibimbap" and dig in with gusto, tasting exactly how worth it all that work was!

Tuscan Sausage Soup

We published this picture as a Wordless Weekender yesterday, but had a few requests for the recipe, so here it is. This delicious dish was the fare at a housewarming/dinner party hosted by G and J in celebration of old friends coming back to Connecticut. We were joined by J and J, as well as C and L, and we had a wonderful time catching up and being together for a fun night of food and good company. It was the first time G had made this particular recipe, which her dad shared with her (we're not sure of the exact origin). Everyone loved how hearty and full of flavor it was - a must-try, indeed!

Tuscan Sausage Soup

serves 10-12

Ingredients:

2 lbs. hot or mild Italian sausage

3 carrots, peeled and chopped

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

3 quarts chicken broth

2 14.5-ounce cans diced tomatoes, with juice

2 15-ounce cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1 tablespoon dried basil

2 cups large shell pasta, uncooked

12 ounces spinach leaves

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Remove sausage from casings if necessary and cook sausage meat in a large pot until brown. Add carrots, onion, and garlic, and continue to cook, stirring often, 5-7 minutes. Add broth, tomatoes, beans and basil. Bring to a boil. Add pasta, reduce heat and simmer, covered, until pasta is tender (about 10 minutes). Stir in spinach and cook until just wilted. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve sprinkled with parmesan cheese.

Italian Pork Chops served with Alexia Oven Reds and Garlic Spinach

Since you are one of A Couple in the Kitchen's readers, you know that we are pretty big on cooking from scratch. But sometimes the "busy-ness" of life just drags you down and all you need is good food fast. As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, we received a coupon for a free Alexia Foods frozen food product (we chose their "Oven Reds"). We stopped at the market today, after a particularly busy day, to pick them up. Those, a package of on-sale pork chops, a bag of spinach, and a couple of pantry items is all we needed to make tonight's 25-minute meal (take that, Rachel Ray!), "Italian Pork Chops served with Alexia Oven Reds and Garlic Spinach."

We took a good look at the potatoes once we opened the package. They looked like what they claimed to be, which were wedges cut from "Columbia Basin" red potatoes, and seasoned with olive oil, parmesan cheese and roasted garlic. We could vaguely catch the scent of the cheese and garlic, but then again, they were still frozen at the time. We preheated the oven to 425, as directed, and spread them out in a baking pan. That part was done.

  

We allowed the potatoes to cook for 10 minutes and then started to prepare the rest of the meal. First, we seasoned some plain breadcrumbs with Italian seasoning (you could skip this step by using Italian-style breadcrumbs). We placed those in one shallow bowl; in another, some flour; in a third, an egg beaten with a little water. Into the flour, then the egg, then the breadcrumbs, then into our heated cast-iron pan went our chops. Three minutes on each side, then into the oven with the whole pan. There were five minutes of cooking time left.

Now, for the greens. We heated some olive oil in a saute pan, added most of our bag of spinach, and crushed a clove of garlic into the pan. By the time the pork and potatoes were done, so was our spinach, and all that was left to do was plate the meal. Everything was done at the same time, and all of it done in 25 minutes (the suggested time for cooking the potatoes), from start to finish.

Our verdict on the potatoes? They are pretty good, particularly for a quick-and-easy frozen food product. We do have a couple of criticisms, however. First, we would have liked them to be crisper on the outside (which may be possible with longer cooking time). And second, they were a little bland, so more cheese and garlic flavor would improve the taste. Still, we applaud Alexia for putting out a tasty, all-natural (yes, we recognized AND could pronounce each ingredient) potato product that makes a busy day that much easier.

Italian Pork Chops served with Alexia Oven Reds and Garlic Spinach

Ingredients:

1 bag Alexia Oven Reds

2 pork chops

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

3/4 cup plain breadcrumbs

2 tablespoons Italian seasoning

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 egg

1 tablespoon water

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 bag spinach

1 clove garlic, minced

Preheat oven to 425. Spread the potatoes in one layer on a baking sheet and cook according to package directions. Relax for 10 minutes, because you deserve it and because the rest of the meal only takes 15 minutes to cook. Season pork chops with salt and pepper; set aside. Lay out three shallow bowls. In one, mix together the breadcrumbs and Italian seasoning. In another, place the flour. In the third, beat together the egg and water. Heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a cast iron pan over high heat. Dip each side of each pork chop first in the flour, then in the egg wash, then in the breadcrumbs. Carefully lay the pork chops in the hot pan. Sear for 3 minutes on each side, then place the entire pan in the oven. Heat a saute pan with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Add the desired amount of spinach and minced garlic. Toss over heat for 2-3 minutes. Remove potatoes and pork chops from oven and serve with spinach.

Disclaimer: Through the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, we received a coupon to try one Alexia frozen food product for free. The recipe in this post, all opinions, and the photos, are our own.

Skinny Stuffed Tarragon Lemon Mustard Chicken - Made with Saucy Mama Mustard! And a GIVEAWAY!

We were chosen to take part in Saucy Mama's "Skinny Mama - Cooking with Mustard" Recipe Contest, and as such, a nice big box filled with a variety of Saucy Mama mustards appeared on our front porch not too long ago. We were quite excited to try some new mustard flavors, and the "Smoky Garlic" and the "Tarragon Lemon" flavors especially appealed to us. The contest rules dictated that we had to use one of the mustards to create an original recipe that follows the guidelines of any well-known diet plan.

The recipe we came up with is called "Skinny Stuffed Tarragon Lemon Mustard Chicken," and it is as deliciously flavorful as it is low in calories. The Tarragon-Lemon mustard packs an herbacious punch of flavor with hints of tangy citrus, and the vegetables stuffed inside the chicken keep it moist and fork-tender. Even with a side dish of pretty red lentils, a serving comes in at only 302 calories! It has a mere 3 grams of saturated fat, and the dish is low-carb as well as high in protein, niacin, folic acid and Vitamin A. And did you happen to notice that it only takes about 25 minutes to make??? It's the perfect weeknight dinner!

You may think you'd like to try this at home, but you don't have a bottle of Saucy Mama's mustard handy. We have great news for you - Saucy Mama has offered us an additional three bottles of their mustard to GIVEAWAY! All you have to do is leave a comment on this post by Wednesday March 7th, including your email address, and a random number generator will choose the winner for us.

Finally, and maybe most importantly, this contest is being decided on Facebook. So if you like A Couple in the Kitchen, and our "Skinny Stuffed Tarragon Lemon Mustard Chicken" sounds good to you, please vote for us HERE. Voting starts Wednesday February 29th (Leap Day!) and ends on March 7th. And you can VOTE ONCE PER DAY!!!

Skinny Stuffed Tarragon Lemon Mustard Chicken

(Makes 6 servings)

Ingredients:

6 boneless skinless chicken thighs

kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

6 tablespoons Saucy Mama Tarragon Lemon Mustard

1 plum tomato, julienned

2 slices sweet yellow onion, 1/4-inch thick

6 spinach leaves

2 ounces white wine

1 cup fat-free chicken broth

3/4 cup red lentils

Preheat oven to 375. Lay chicken thighs flat on a work surface and season them on both sides with salt and pepper. Pour the mustard into a bowl and gently toss the chicken thighs in the mustard; set aside for 10 minutes to marinate. Once again lay chicken thighs flat on a work surface. On top of each chicken thigh, place one spinach leaf, 3-4 julienned slices of tomato, and 3-4 slices of onion until chicken is covered with vegetables. Roll chicken so that vegetables are encased inside, then place in a baking dish. Add white wine to the dish and cover loosely with aluminum foil. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes, removing aluminum foil when there are five minutes left to go. While chicken is baking, place lentils in a medium saucepan. Cover lentils with chicken broth, bring to a boil, stir gently, then loosely cover and cook for 20 minutes, stirring halfway through.

Disclaimers:

We were given 6 bottles of mustard by Saucy Mama/Barhyte Specialty Foods as participants in this contest. We were not otherwise compensated, and the recipe here, as well as any opinions expressed, are our own.
The winner of the GIVEAWAY will supply us with their contact information which we will send to Saucy Mama; GIVEAWAY prize will be shipped directly from Sauce Mama/Barhyte Specialty Foods.

Guest Post: Garlicky Spinach Soup by Joanne

While we rest on our (teensy weensy) laurels, we invited bestie and fellow blogger Joanne to share her love of soup, in particular, her love of Garlicky Spinach Soup in this guest post.

Joanne writes:

I love soup. (And I love to share soup with Amy, who shares the love!) As much as I experiment with new recipes, there are a few I go back to over and over like this one for garlicky spinach soup.  As you’ll see, it’s beyond easy and requires very few ingredients.

Because it’s so simple, the clear but flavorful broth lends itself to easy variations.  I’ve made it with gyoza and a hint of ginger (very yummy), and plan to try it with rice noodles next. Mushrooms would be a nice addition (though not Amy-approved), and vegetable broth might substitute nicely without chicken as a vegetarian dish.

Modify as you like, but start here with this basic recipe. Enjoy!

Garlicky Spinach Soup

Ingredients:

6 cups chicken broth

4 cloves garlic, very thinly sliced

6 ounces baby spinach

1 cup chicken breast, shredded in bite size pieces (from rotisserie chicken)

pinch sugar

1 tbs butter

1 tbs olive oil

Heat butter and oil over medium heat. Add garlic and ¼ cup of the broth so that garlic can cook without burning. Add pinch of sugar and let cook 3-4 minutes. Garlic will become very fragrant.

Add remaining broth and bring to boil. Reduce to simmer and remove from heat. Add spinach, stirring until just wilted. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Add shredded chicken to bowls and pour soup over chicken.

Makes 4 1½ cup servings.

Shrimp Alexandros for Two

It's Valentine's Day and Amy's home sick with a bad cold and a sore throat. Thankfully, we enjoyed our romantic dinner out over the weekend. Still wanting to make something special, we turned to a restaurant classic for inspiration. Maybe you've heard of Shrimp Alexander, the appetizer of breaded shrimp served in a lemony butter sauce made famous by Morton's the Steakhouse. It's a very good appetizer, but we wanted to make it into a meal, something romantic, something different, something with a Greek twist. Something we've coined Shrimp Alexandros.

Alexandros is a common Greek name that, according to Greek-names.info, derives from the words “alexo” and “andros," which, in ancient Greek, mean “hold off” and “of man” respectively. The name Alexandros was used in Ancient Greece both as a name and an epithet (adjective) describing a person who is unbeatable. That's not to say we think our shrimp dish is unbeatable, rather since we're giving a Greek twist to the dish, we're also giving a Greek twist to the name.

One of the things that makes this a perfect Valentine's dinner is that it works best with more than two hands. One person can take care of coating and baking the shrimp and making the spinach mixture, while the other person can make the sauce. As our motto says, "The couple that sautes together, stays together!"

We loved the crunchy garlicky shrimp atop the bed of spinach with chopped tomato and feta for a contrast of colors and flavors. A soft drizzle of lemony beurre blanc was reminiscent of the steakhouse original. The flavors were not overpowering, but strong enough so even Amy, with her stuffed-up nose, could taste them. This one is going into the "keeper" files - think how much better it will be with a gorgeously fresh summer tomato. Lovely!

Ingredients:

6 colossal (U-12) shrimp, peeled and deveined

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 clove garlic, chopped

1/2 cup panko-style breadcrumbs

1 medium tomato, chopped

1 pound spinach

2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

2 tablespoons minced shallots

1/4 cup white wine

1/4 cup lemon juice

6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

In a large skillet, melt one tablespoon butter with one tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Add the chopped garlic and stir for one minute, taking care not to burn it. Add the panko and cook, stirring often, about five minutes, until toasted. Transfer the breadcrumb mixture to a separate bowl and set aside. Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter. Dip each shrimp first in the melted butter then into the seasoned panko until shrimp are coated with the breadcrumbs. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 450 degrees for five minutes. In a large skillet, saute the spinach and tomato until the spinach is wilted. Stir in the feta cheese and place the spinach/tomato/feta mixture in the middle of a plate. Place three cooked shrimp on each plate, over the spinach mixture. In a small saucepan, combine shallots with white wine and place over medium heat. Reduce until liquid is halved. Add lemon juice and continue to reduce until liquid is halved again. Remove from heat. Slowly whisk in the butter one piece at a time until well combined. Drizzle the plate with the sauce and enjoy with a chilled, buttery Chardonnay.