Turkey and Spinach Lasagna

 Turkey and Spinach Lasagna

Sauce (makes enough for two 9x13 pans):

In a heavy-bottomed pot over medium high heat, add: 

4 Tbsp EVOO

2 lbs ground turkey 

salt

Use a spatula to break up the turkey, and cook until the moisture evaporates and the meat begins to brown.

Can use straight from frozen! Use a wooden spatula to scrape it off the block as the heat melts/cooks the surface.

Once the meat is a nice golden brown and some fond develops, turn the heat to medium-low, and add:

8 cloves garlic

sprinkle of red pepper flakes

2 tsp dried oregano

(more oil if necessary)

Allow spices to bloom and garlic to infuse for 1 or 2 minutes, and then add:

2 cans of tomato paste (12 oz)

Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, for about 5 minutes, to cook off the raw edge of the paste.

This step is very important! It takes a while because of the sheer amount of paste.

You should get a gentle sizzle, but the paste shouldn’t stick or darken too quickly.

Add more oil if it looks dry, add a splash of water if the fond is sticking before the paste is ready.

Once the paste darkens and no longer has a raw tannic aroma and taste, add:

two 28-oz cans of crushed tomatoes

2.5 cups water (rinse out the cans!) *see below

2 tsp salt

lots of black pepper

Let the mixture simmer for like 30 minutes over medium heat to allow flavors to meld.

I add even more water, to the point it doesn’t sputter and gurgle when simmered, to the consistency of a loose soup. This way, as it cooks and reduces, you don’t have to babysit it as much until it cooks down again.

Taste and re-season. It shouldn’t taste bland, but it doesn’t need to be too salty either.

Use right away, or store in two gallon-sized ziplock bags. I usually use half of it immediately to assemble a lasagna, and store the other half in the freezer.  It’s good as a nice and light pasta sauce for a quick dinner too!

Assembly (per one lasagna)

Cook the spinach mixture:

Saute over medium heat:

Extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 onion, sliced pole-to-pole (so it doesn’t just melt away into the casserole)

Season the onion with salt, and cook until the edges just start to brown.

Throw in 5 oz spinach, or several large handfuls - more if you’d like. Season with more salt, and cook until spinach wilts fully.

Transfer into a bowl and allow to cool.

The cheeses:

Toss very well in a bowl:

1 lb mozzarella (I usually cheat using pre-shredded part-skim. It’s not ideal but it works okay)

5 oz pecorino romano, microplaned

Open a container of:

1 lb whole-milk ricotta

The noodle:

Don’t use oven-ready sheets, they taste gritty and bad.

Don’t need to boil the sheets beforehand. Just soak in hot water.

Don’t use hot water from the tap, because iron and pipes.

I prefer to heat lasagna sheets + cold up together in a large saute pan. Once the water forms little bubbles (it doesn’t need to boil), turn off the heat and soak for 5 more minutes. 

The only thing to note is that the water has to go in the pan first. If you just dump a block of noodles in and add water, the water won’t get between the sheets correctly, and your noodles will stick together and/or soak unevenly

Assembly order:

TOP OF THE PAN

generous sprinkle of cheese

a thin layer of sauce

3 slices of noodle

[repeat from noodle to sauce, 2 to 3 more times]

*1 cup sauce (a thin layer spread evenly across cheese mixture)

*spinach mixture, lightly scattered

*ricotta, an even smear on the noodles

*4 pieces of noodles, slightly overlapping

1/2 cup sauce (thin layer to start)

BOTTOM OF THE PAN

This is the diagram I follow, building form the bottom. 

For the ricotta and cheese, just sort of eyeball 1/5 of each to make sure you have enough for the whole thing. 

For the sauce, I make sure to measure because otherwise it’s easy to use too much and run out. I start with dollops, and spread them out all the way to the corners.

The spinach just gets an artful scatter. It doesn’t need to cover the entire surface. 

 To Bake…

Preheat oven to 400F. 

Cover the assembled lasagna tightly with foil.

Bake for 30 minutes with foil. 

Remove the foil, lower the oven to 350F, and bake for 20 more minutes, or until a knife easily pierces through the noodles.

If you’d like more color on the top, turn the broiler on for like 2 minutes. But watch it very closely so it doesn’t burn in the blink of an eye!

Almost too long in the broiler

My favorite part of this recipe is how light yet hearty it is. 

The turkey isn’t overwhelmingly meaty, but is still satisfying to eat. A little spinach makes it feel healthy, despite being lasagna.

Obviously those parts can be swapped. And you can add more/less veggies and/or meat. This recipe is very forgiving. I just eyeball it every time, and it’s always delicious.

Kalbi Jjim, David Chang Style

 Kalbi Jjim, David Chang Style

Preheat oven to 350 F. 

Make braising liquid. Combine in a saucepot and simmer for 1-2 minutes:

1.5 cups blended Asian pear (or honeycrisp apple). Usually 1.5 large juicy pears, or maybe 2 large honeycrisps.

If you are me and often don’t buy enough fruit for this, just sub in a glug of rice syrup to taste

1 cup sake (usually subbed w/ a combination of dry wine + Chinese shaoxing wine for me)

1 cup mirin

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup soy sauce 

2 Tbsp cracked black pepper 

2 Tbsp chopped garlic

10 whole garlic cloves

1 Tbsp sesame oil

1.5 cup water

In an oven-friendly pot like a 6 or 7 quart Dutch oven, sear on med-high heat:

5 lb short ribs

Do in batches if necessary

Sear as many sides as possible

When the fond seems like it’s in danger of burning, deglaze with:

2 onions, roughly chopped

The liquid from the onions should prevent the fond from burning, and you can usually finish searing the short ribs until the onion is sweated down

Return the ribs to the pot, arranging them bone side up, meat side down.

Add braising liquid to the pot, and add a little more water if necessary to almost cover the meat.

Bring the pot to a boil, and transfer to oven. Bake uncovered for 2 hours.

At the 2 hour mark, add:

1 lb carrots, chunked

8-12 fingerling potatoes, chopped

I had some russets left from Thanksgiving. It was odd, like it sort of cured into a dried potato? Fingerlings or small yellow potatoes definitely yield a more creamy consistency. I usually buy fingerlings or “heirloom potatoes” when available.

Bake uncovered for 2 more hours, or until short ribs are tender.

If, for some reason, the liquid level has gotten too low, just add a little more water. But the displacement of the vegetables should allow everything to be covered.

Maybe check at the 1 hr mark and give it a tossy-toss.

Let the meat cool in the braising liquid, then strain.

Usually I do everything from here on the next day if I can. Smelling the braise all day makes it taste really dull the first day, but it does taste amazing the next day. Also, it’s much easier to skim the fat.

Return the liquid to a pot, skim off most of the fat, and reduce until it’s thicker and syrupy. 

Tbh I rarely bother with this extra reduction, unless I’m serving guests. 4 hrs in the oven reduces it plenty, and I love having extra sauce to spoon over. 

But it does glaze be-a-u-tifully if you do take it to a syrupy, shiny consistency.

Remove the bones that should be falling off at this point, and gently toss everything with the liquid.

Garnish with green onions, and serve with rice and side dishes.

This is probably the only David Chang recipe I’ve tried and truly liked. Someday, I hope to venture into other versions of kalbi jjim. But this version is just so easy and so good, it’s hard to want to shave carrots into balls and source fresh gingko and jujubes or something.

Notes:

The whole thing is supposed to eat a little sweet. But it goes well with refreshing, lighter side dishes and can take a ton of black pepper.

When you taste the liquid at any point, it may taste a little bland. But resist the urge to season more, because it’ll be too salty when reduced. Generally following the recipe will yield a decent result.

For this recipe, I tend to use English-style short ribs for easier handling. Whole Foods usually has ones that have a ton of meat per bone, like the ones I used in this batch, but they’re very expensive. I only make this dish when they’re on sale, and it’s worth it!

I’ve also done beef bones + boneless Costco shortribs, but the bone is where all the flavor is. Costco’s boneless short ribs tend to be better marbled.

Instant Pot Braised Short Ribs (Galbi-jjim)

 by Doris Delight Cho https://www.dorisdelights.com/post/ipgalbijjim

Romanization: galbi-jjim

Another favorite dish served during the holidays and special occasions, Galbi-jjim is usually the first to disappear from the buffet tables, amirite? Or when it's fresh out of the pot and transferred to the table on a platter...you can't help but stare at the decadent plate of meat and soft vegetables. Traditionally, if you want to get that fall-off-the-bone (but not mushy) consistency, it requires a slow cook over the stove with lots of love and care. But when you're pressed for time, the Instant Pot can assist with making this delicious meal and your guests will think you've spent hours slaving away in the kitchen!

Ingredients

5 lbs Beef short ribs

1 large Carrot

1 lb Korean Radish, peeled

5 Shiitake mushrooms

10 Jujubes

1 small Korean Pear, peeled

1/2 medium Onion

10 Garlic cloves

1 thumb-size Ginger, peeled

1 cup Soy sauce

1/2 cup Mirin

1/2 cup Sugar

optional:

7 Chestnuts, peeled

15 Ginko nuts, peeled

garnish: 

diced Green onions

Sesame seed

Directions:

1. Place beef short ribs in cold water for 1 hour. Parboil - In a large pot, fill with water and bring to boil. Add short ribs and boil for 5 minutes. Drain water and rinse in cold water. Trim excess fat from the meat.

2. Cut peeled carrots and radish in 1½ - 2 inch pieces. For aesthetic purposes, you can round the edges with a peeler.

3. Remove the stem from Shiitake mushrooms and slice thin into 1⁄4 inch pieces

4. Cut and quarter the pear, onion and ginger.  Add these along with the garlic into a food processor and blend. 

5. In a large bowl, combine the blended ingredients with the soy sauce, mirin and sugar to create the marinade.

6. Pour a quarter of the marinade into the pot and add the short ribs, carrot, radish, mushroom and jujubes. Pour the remaining marinade over the ingredients.

7. IP Directions: Press the "Meat/Stew" and it will preset to 35 minutes. After the 35 minutes, allow it to *NPR (Natural Pressure Release) for 15 minutes and then **QR (Quick Release). Press Cancel and make sure floating metal pin is down before opening the lid. 

8. Remove carrots and radish as carefully as possible. Then remove the braising liquid and leave about 1/2 - 1 inch of liquid in the pot. Press saute and ladle the sauce over the meat for 5 minutes. The sauce will thicken and flavor the meat.

9. Plate the galbi-jjim by pouring some of the liquid on top with a ladle and finish it off by garnishing with green onions and sesame seeds. Enjoy!!

*NPR = Natural Pressure Release. Let the Instant Pot release steam naturally

**QR = Quick Release. Carefully turn the release valve from Sealing to Venting

Helpful Tips:

Remove the Jujube seed and roll the Jujube back when adding to the pot to retain its shape.

Cutting the carrot and radish into round pieces helps prevent the vegetables from breaking. 

I was able to get the short ribs from a local supermarket at a better price than the Korean market. Next time you're there, check for beef short ribs or try asking the butcher if they make those cuts. 

Thai BBQ Chicken

 The secret to moist, tender, evenly cooked chicken is roasting it in the oven, then finishing it on the grill. Trying to grill chicken from raw will make you nuts. Roasting the bird in halves cooks it evenly while locking in the juices and also intensifies the marinade flavors.

Ingredients

1 3½-pound chicken 

2 tablespoons ginger root, minced 

2 tablespoons lemongrass, minced 

1 tablespoon cilantro leaves and stems, minced 

2 cloves garlic, minced 

2 teaspoons white pepper 

1/4 cup thin soy sauce 

1 tablespoon sugar 

2 tablespoons curry powder 

1 cup coconut milk 

Sweet chili sauce, for dipping

The secret to moist, tender, evenly cooked chicken is roasting it in the oven, then finishing it on the grill. Trying to grill chicken from raw will make you nuts. Roasting the bird in halves cooks it evenly while locking in the juices and also intensifies the marinade flavors.

Preparation

1.

Split the chicken in half through the breast bone. Poke holes in the chicken using a fork and place into a gallon size zip-top bag.

2.

Combine the ginger, lemongrass, cilantro, garlic, pepper, soy sauce, sugar, curry powder and coconut milk in a blender and process until smooth.

3.

Pour the marinade mixture over the chicken and coat it evenly. Close the bag and massage the bird well. Zip up the bag tight and let the chicken marinate in the fridge for at least 4 hours to overnight.

4.

Preheat the oven to 375°F and place a rack just below the middle. Lay the chicken halves, skin side up, on a foil lined sheet pan and bake for about 45 minutes or until a thermometer reads 160°F in the fleshy part of the thigh. Pull from the oven and rest for at least 10 minutes. 

5.

Preheat the grill to medium-high heat. Place the chicken on the grill, skin side down, and let cook until dark grill marks form. Remove from the grill and let rest another few minutes.

6.

Cut each half into four pieces (to give you 8 pieces total). Always serve with sweet chili sauce!