Beef Shank Noodle Soup

When was the last time you put food in your mouth and thought, Wow, that’s exactly what I wanted to eat tonight? I felt that way with this soup. New York City has been having really humid summers that remind me of the intense sun I experienced in Laos last August. While there, I couldn’t help but eat a bowl of Laotian pho from the lady who had a stand in the street market. I sweated over my hot bowl of soup, but cooled down as soon as I got into it. No wonder people in Asia eat hot or spicy meals no matter how hot the weather is outside–sweating cools them down.

If you can’t make the beef stock here ahead of time, you’ll learn to multitask and use three of your stove’s burners at once. You’ll also just have to do some extra work removing the fat from the stock since you can’t just break the solidified fat as easily if you stored it in the fridge overnight. Note that I didn’t use any salt at all. The miso paste with the soy sauce should be enough sodium for your body in one serving. You may adjust the flavor by experimenting with the beef marrow stock and beef shank ratio when assembling the soup for your guests.

There’s a lot of ingredients involved but you only need a small amount for each. I came up with this combination because they’re what I have in the pantry. Throw in lime juice, fish sauce, and cilantro in there for a more Vietnamese flavor profile. As soon as you appreciate making a flavorful broth separate from the stock, you’ll begin to master different soup bases and will get used to trying combinations of herbs and spices you never thought possible. It’s what I like about cooking, really–the leeway you have to make adjustments and the freedom you have to change and make your favorite eater happy: you.

Ingredients:
marrow bones
udon noodles
sesame oil
bok choy
enoki mushrooms
hot chili oil
1 scallion, chopped

For the broth:
oil
beef shanks
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small knob ginger, peeled, sliced
1 small red onion, finely chopped
1 scallion, chopped
2 Thai chiles
2 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick, crushed
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tbsp Sichuan peppercorns
1 star anise
1 tbsp miso paste
4 tbsps soy sauce

1. Make the beef stock ahead of time by boiling water in a very large pot and cooking the marrow bones. Remove impurities that rise to the top, and simmer covered, for about 2 to 3 hours. Let cool before storing in the fridge to let the fat coagulate at the top. When ready to make the soup, remove from the fridge and then discard the fat by scooping off the solidified fat. Set aside.
2. Cook the beef shanks and make the broth. In a large Dutch oven, heat some canola oil. Brown the shanks on both sides and remove to a plate.
3. Using the rendered fat in the same pot, sauté the garlic, onion, and ginger. Add the rest of the herbs and spices and keep sautéing to make them fragrant.
4. Add back the shanks and ladle in enough beef stock to submerge them to cook the meat. Simmer for at least 30 minutes or until the meat falls off the bones.
5. When ready to assemble the soup, boil some water in yet another pot to cook the noodles per package instructions and drain to your serving bowl.
6. In a small sauté pan (or use the pot where the noodles were cooked), heat a scant of sesame oil and flash-fry the enoki mushrooms and bok choy.
7. In your serving bowl of noodles, ladle in 2 heapings of beef stock and 1 broth. Top with the vegetables, sliced meat, and hot chili oil

Pickled Okra with Smoked Paprika and Chiles

This was a big hit during the Fourth of July. Some people asked me how the okras remained crunchy even after being pickled for two weeks. My secret is skipping the blanching part of most pickling recipes. After washing the okras thoroughly, I pat them dry with paper towels and put them in a jar. (I use chopsticks to keep them vertical.) They soften enough to eat raw after being in brine for a few days, but not too soft that there’s no more oomph left to them. For those who think okras are too slimy, I minimize that by keeping the tops intact. When the pickles are ready, the stems are even tender enough to eat.

Ingredients:
1 pound small okra, thoroughly washed, pat dry
2 cups white vinegar
2 tbsps sugar
2 tbsps salt
2 tbsps smoked paprika powder
1 tsp whole mustard seed
1 tsp whole white pepper corns
1 tsp crushed chiles
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 cloves of garlic, minced

1. In pickling jars, stuff the okra standing up.
2. In a small non-reactive pot, bring the rest of the ingredients to a boil for a minute or until the salt is completely dissolved. Pour this mixture into the jar and add enough water to cover the tops of the okra. Use a small tea cup to weigh the okra down. Secure the lid and allow the jar to come to room temperature. Store in fridge.

Lengua, Beef Tongue Tacos with Tomatillo Sauce

Don’t let this offal turn you off. This lengua, or beef tongue, taco recipe will be one of the easiest things you’ll make at home providing that you have the 3 hours to simmer the tongue which you can totally do way ahead of time. The July 4th holiday is coming up, so really, you have no excuse not to do this for you and your omnivorous friends.

The tomatillo sauce was the easiest to make since you just put everything in a food processor and pulse. Sure you can buy the ones from the grocery store, but what are you doing while waiting for that tongue to simmer? You might as well have everything homemade, right?

When assembling your tacos, feel free to add avocados if you’re in your California mood, or thinly-sliced French breakfast radishes for some extra tartness. I simply used my hinona kabu, or Japanese turnips, harvest from my terrace. The roots didn’t quite make it because of the humidity, but I got some nice salad greens out of them.

Ingredients:
1 beef tongue, completely thawed if frozen, thoroughly washed
1 large onion, halved
1 head of garlic, peeled and crushed
4 bay leaves
1 tbsp of peppercorns
salt
oil
corn tortillas
radish tops, thoroughly washed
hot sauce

For the tomatillo sauce:
6 tomatillos, husks removed, halved
1 small bunch of cilantro, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalape¤o, chopped
juice from 1 lime
salt
sugar

1. In a large pot, boil the tongue with enough water to cover and add the onion, garlic, bay leaves, peppercorn and salt. Reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook up to 3 hours, or until the tongue is soft to the touch.
2. Remove the cooked tongue from the water to a chopping block until it’s cool to the touch. Using a paring knife and your hands, peel off the white-colored skin covering and discard. You may also discard the the rough patch where the tongue was attached to the cow’s mouth if that’s too much to look at–but it’s perfectly edible.
3. Slice the tongue in 1/4-inch slices. Heat some oil in a skillet and quickly sear tongue slices. Remove to a sieve to drain the oil.
4. Make your tomatillo sauce. Broil the tomatillos in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove to a food processor and pulse them with the rest of the sauce ingredients. Season to taste.
5. Assemble your tacos. On a skillet over medium fire, warm the corn tortillas to soften. Let your guests top their tortilla with the tongue pieces, radish tops and tomatillo sauce. Don’t be afraid to use more hot sauce!

Pan-Fried Arctic Char with Butternut Squash Couscous

Arctic char looks and tastes similar to salmon but I prefer its natural sweetness that lends itself to frying. Cooking either fish filleted is easy as long as you dry them with paper towels and heat your skillet with oil until it’s sizzling–this will keep the fish from sticking to the pan and falling apart when you have to turn them over. Israeli couscous, or ptitim, are shaped like little balls made out of wheat flour rather than the finer North African version made out of semolina. I just added butternut squash here to make the dish more filling. The preserved lemon isn’t necessary here, but I think it makes a nice surprising bite if you have them handy (and, boy, do I have them handy).

This is probably not the dish you’d think of cooking and packing for lunch when you go on a hike, but it’s what I did one Friday night for lunch the next day when I hiked Breakneck Ridge in Cold Spring, New York. We’ve had a dry spell here in the city and I just wanted to be away from concrete for a few hours and be surrounded by some trees and the Hudson River. My hiking companion seemed game for the outdoors even though we just started hanging out, so we met in the train to Poughkeepsie on Saturday morning; him getting on Grand Central, me in Harlem. He earned pogi points for being a good sport and making it to the top of the trail with me, and I think I earned mine for not packing granola bars for lunch.

Wouldn’t you want something extra special to eat with this summer view as well?

Ingredients:
1 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded, cubed
olive oil
salt
1 large onion, peeled and minced
1 preserved lemon, seeded, sliced
a handful of arugula, thoroughly washed, torn
1 3/4 cup Israeli couscous
1 small cinnamon stick
2 fillets of arctic char, rinsed, dried with paper towels
a handful of golden raisins
a handful of parsley, roughly chopped
a handful of pine nuts, toasted

1. Preheat the oven to 475º. Toss the butternut squash pieces in a jigger of olive oil and a pinch of salt in a large baking dish. Place in the oven until squash is tender, about 15 minutes.
2. While the squash is cooking, heat some olive oil in a skillet and cook the onions over medium-high heat with a bit of salt until translucent. Combine the squash and onions into a large bowl with the preserved lemon. Toss in the greens to wilt.
3. Cook the Israeli couscous. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook with the cinnamon stick until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain, but do not rinse, and get rid of the cinnamon. Gently fluff with a fork so that they do not form into one big blob.
4. Cook the fish. Season the fillets with salt and pepper. Heat some more olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil sizzles, add the fish in a single layer with the skin side down. Cook them for 3 minutes, and then using a flat spatula, turn the fillets and cook for another 2 minutes.
5. Add the cooked couscous to the bowl of squash, onions, and lemon and toss with raisins, parsley, and toasted pine nuts. Top with the fish to serve.

Ootoya

8 West 18th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues
$58 each for 2 people, no drinks, with tip
212.255/0018
♥ ♥

Ootoya may be a restaurant chain, but the newly opened New York City branch looks anything but.

Tastiest:
1. Grilled beef tongue – will be the most buttery thing you’ll ever put in your mouth this season
2. Tonkatsu – The pork tonkatsu will make you believe in breaded meat again

Notable:
1. Tofu salad – The soft tofu will remind you of freshly made burrata; make sure you drizzle the dressing all over the greens to get the salad’s whole flavor profile; a little salt may need to be added

Good:
1. Sushi – The fish is fresh, just nothing exceptional. The chirashizushi is a very good deal if you’ll only eat one thing and expect to be full.
2. Yakitori – Just like any other grilled vegetables from Japanese yakitori joints, the asparagus wrapped with bacon are standouts. The okra may have been a tad too mature.

Service:
1. Japanese politeness galore. I will expect more rowdiness when the liquor license comes through.