Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Whoopie Pies and Beef Short Ribs


So this Valentine's Day my husband made me an amazing meal. I requested it because I had been wanting us to make it for awhile. It was really tasty. It's so hard to make something that cooks for so long and then you sit and eat it for about ten to fifteen minutes. It's so weird. You try and savor it, but at that point the anticipation and hunger has built up so much that you just chow down. Oh, well. It was great. Thank you lover!

Asian-Style Braised Short Ribs

Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse, 2004

Show: Emeril LiveEpisode: Emeril's Butcher Shop

Ingredients

  • 5 pounds beef short ribs, cut into 4-ounce portions
  • 1 cup soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
  • 3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
  • 1 (5-inch) stalk lemongrass, halved and smashed
  • 1 tablespoon peeled and minced ginger
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar
  • 1 quart water
  • 1/2 cup sliced green onion bottoms, white part only
  • 3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
  • 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
  • 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • Jasmine Rice, for serving
  • 2 teaspoons finely grated orange rind, for serving
  • Sliced green onion tops, optional for garnish

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a wide stockpot or Dutch oven, combine the short ribs, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, lemongrass, ginger, brown sugar, water, green onion bottoms, crushed red pepper, and 2 tablespoons of the orange juice. Make sure that the stockpot is deep enough so that the short ribs are submerged in the liquid.

Bake the short ribs, covered, for about 3 hours, or until the meat is tender and falling off the bones. Remove the short ribs from the braising liquid and cover to keep warm. Increase the oven temperature to 425 degrees F.

Drain the fat off of the cooking liquid and discard. Place the remaining braising juices in a medium saucepan with 1/4 cup of the hoisin sauce and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the liquid until only about 1 1/4 cups remain. Strain through a fine-meshed strainer, discarding the solids. Stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons of orange juice and the lemon juice.

Return the short ribs and the reduced sauce to the stockpot or Dutch oven, coating the short ribs well with the sauce. Bake for 10 minutes, until the short ribs are heated through and slightly glazed. Serve hot over jasmine rice. Season each portion with the orange zest and garnish with the green onions if desired.


Julienne Pepper and Bok Choy Medley

Copyright 2002, Brian Duffy, All rights reserved

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 1 teaspoon chopped fresh garlic
  • 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
  • 1 yellow pepper, julienne
  • 1 red pepper, julienne
  • 1 orange pepper, julienne
  • 3 stalks bok choy, julienne
  • 1 dash soy sauce
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

In a large saute pan on high heat, add the oil and quickly sweat the garlic and ginger. Add all peppers and the bok choy. Saute until the veggies begin to sweat and splash them with soy sauce. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Serve immediately.

I have to say, it was all better the next day. I felt like that evening the flavors didn't really have a chance to marry quite yet. When we had the leftovers, they were amazing. The stir fry was the perfect accompaniment.

Jason's school was having a 100th day of school celebration with a black and white theme so I decided to make some chocolate whoopie pies. Oh, mama were they freaky deaky good. I can not describe to you the yummyness of the frosting either. Two words for you marshmallow fluff. That is all you need to know and if hearing those two sweet words doesn't make you want to make them, what will? Well, maybe my pictures.

Whoopie Pies

Gourmet | January 2003

For cakes
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup well-shaken buttermilk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 large egg


For filling
  • 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 1/4 cups confectioners sugar
  • 2 cups marshmallow cream such as Marshmallow Fluff
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
Preparation

Make cakes:
Preheat oven to 350°F.

Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a bowl until combined. Stir together buttermilk and vanilla in a small bowl.

Beat together butter and brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes in a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a handheld, then add egg, beating until combined well. Reduce speed to low and alternately mix in flour mixture and buttermilk in batches, beginning and ending with flour, scraping down side of bowl occasionally, and mixing until smooth.

Spoon 1/4-cup mounds of batter about 2 inches apart onto 2 buttered large baking sheets. Bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until tops are puffed and cakes spring back when touched, 11 to 13 minutes. Transfer with a metal spatula to a rack to cool completely.

Make filling:
Beat together butter, confectioners sugar, marshmallow, and vanilla in a bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes.

I have to say I really messed this up. I didn't measure the fluff and being totally idiotic I was thinking ok, the jar is 7 1/2 oz and there are 8 oz in a cup so I put in two jars. Well, basically what I did was make a double batch because one jar was closer to two cups. No biggie. Now when I make them again, I have the frosting already. Or I could just eat it. Once I added frosting to some home made ice cream and it really tasted amazing. I would also recomend using a small cookie scoop to make your cookies. 1/4 c makes huge whoopie pies and unless you want to be sent into a sugar coma, I would make small ones. They are very sugary. Well, the frosting is. Jason was in shock. Probably the easiest dessert to make that really looks beautiful and impressive. They are very difficult to transpor though, so I would save them for company. I put mine in the fridge to let the frosting set up so they wouldn't slide all over on their trip to school. I hope everyone liked them. Yummy.

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