Czech Tomato Gravy (over Sliced Beef) – Rajská Omáčka

Date Published: May 28th, 2024 | Last Updated: May 28th, 2024
Author: Abby |Category: mains, Czech, easy
Serves: 4 | Prep time: 15 mins | Cook time: 45 mins

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I’m told that “Rajská Omáčka” (pronounced: rays-ka oma-ch-ka) directly translates to “tomato sauce”. This is one of Toby’s childhood dishes that his grandmother used to make him. Every time he says it, all I hear is “racecar” 😅. To me, this sauce pretty much tastes like a tomato soup without the herbs, but it’s served over slices of beef or pork and some knedliky (Czech dumplings – potato or bread). There are other versions of this sauce that vary in tartness and sweetness (like my original attempts), but I’ve written this recipe to be as similar to babička’s as possible.

You have no idea how hard it is to get a picture of babička standing still and smiling 😅

To be honest, this is not my favourite dish, but its got nostalgic value for Toby so I set out to try and make it for him. After a couple of attempts from online and cookbook recipes, he said it “just wasn’t like babička’s” but he couldn’t tell me what was wrong with it 😒. So I put it on the back burner up until our recent trip to Czech a couple weeks ago and we asked babička to show us how she makes it. Her version was a little less tomato-y than the versions I made and although it’s still not my favourite dish, seeing Toby’s happy face slurping down his second helping of the tomato sauce was enough reason for me to add this recipe to the collection.

This recipe is easy and cooks up quickly. You can pair the sauce with whatever meat you wish including a vepro, but for a quick lunch or dinner with minimal effort, I’ve included the instructions to cook a rump roast in a pressure cooker in 30 minutes and it’ll be ready around the same time as the sauce.

Anyways, without further ado, here’s the recipe! If you have any comments or suggestions, I’d love to hear from you in the comment section! You can follow me on instagram, youtube and facebook to see all the recipes I post!

Happy cooking!

Recipes that pair well together with this sauce:

Vepřová Pečeně – Czech-style Pork Roast

Czech Potato Dumplings – Bramborové Knedlíky

Czech Bread Dumplings – Houskové Knedlíky

Ingredients you’ll need:

Beef:
- 900g (2 lbs) rump roast/chuck steak
- 1/2 Tbsp salt
- Enough water to cover the beef
Sauce:
- 1 Tbsp pork lard
- 2 medium (~800g) onions, diced
- 1 large can (793g/28oz) diced tomatoes
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 4 cups (1L) beef broth
- 1 tsp salt
- 1.5 Tbsps granulated sugar
- 5 black peppercorns
- 3 allspice berries
- 2 bay leaves
- 2-4 Tbsps heavy cream (to taste)
To serve: with slices of knedliky/Czech dumplings (potato or bread)

Directions:

A. Cook the beef: in a pressure cooker/instant pot: *This step is optional. You can serve this tomato sauce with whatever type of meat you like, but if you’re looking for a quick cooked beef, the instant pot will be the fastest.

Add the beef, salt and enough water to cover the meat. Put the lid on and cook on HIGH PRESSURE for 30 minutes, then quick release. Remove the beef from the liquid and let it rest for 10 mins before slicing.

Alternatively if you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can boil the beef in water over the stove until the beef is tender. This will take about 2 hours.

B. Make the sauce while the beef is cooking:

In a small pot on MED-HIGH heat, melt the pork lard and sauté the onions for 5-8 minutes until softened.
Add the salt, sugar, black peppercorns, allspice berries, and bay leaves. Stir for 2 mins until the sugar has fully dissolved.

Next, add in the flour and stir for 2 minutes until well incorporated and the flour cooks a little. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pan so nothing sticks.

Pour in the beef broth and stir everything together. Bring the heat up to HIGH to let it come to a boil then back down to MED heat and let it boil for 8-10 minutes until the sauce thickens into a gravy-like consistency.

Once it has thickened, pour in the can of diced tomatoes including all of the liquid. Bring the sauce to a boil again, then simmer on MED heat for 20 minutes.

Note: Make sure to stir and scrape the bottom of the pot every few minutes so nothing sticks to the bottom.

After 20 minutes, turn off the heat and discard the bay leaves and all spice berries.

Next, use a stick blender (or transfer the sauce to a blender) and blend the sauce until you get a smooth texture. If you want an extra smooth sauce, strain it through a fine sieve.

Add 2 Tbsps of heavy cream then taste and adjust salt, sugar, or more heavy cream as needed. (Babička will sometimes add in some ketchup if she wants it more tart and tomato-y 🤫.)

Serve the sauce ladled over the cooked sliced beef and a few knedliky. Enjoy!

Summarized Recipe:

Czech Tomato Gravy (over Sliced Beef) – Rajská Omáčka

Date Published: May 28th, 2024 | Last Updated: May 28th, 2024
Author: Abby |Category: mains, Czech, easy
Serves: 4 | Prep time: 15 mins | Cook time: 45 mins

Ingredients:

Beef:
- 900g (2 lbs) rump roast/chuck steak
- 1/2 Tbsp salt
- Enough water to cover the beef
Sauce:
- 1 Tbsp pork lard
- 2 medium (~800g) onions, diced
- 1 large can (793g/28oz) diced tomatoes
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 4 cups (1L) beef broth
- 1 tsp salt
- 1.5 Tbsps granulated sugar
- 5 black peppercorns
- 3 allspice berries
- 2 bay leaves
- 2-4 Tbsps heavy cream (to taste)
To serve: with slices of knedliky/Czech dumplings (potato or bread)

Directions:

A. Cook the beef: in a pressure cooker/instant pot: Add the beef, salt and enough water to cover the meat. Put the lid on and cook on HIGH PRESSURE for 30 minutes, then quick release. Remove the beef from the liquid and let it rest for 10 mins before slicing.

Alternatively if you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can boil the beef in water over the stove until the beef is tender. This will take about 2 hours.
*This step is optional. You can serve this tomato sauce with whatever type of meat you like, but if you’re looking for a quick cooked beef, the instant pot will be the fastest.

B. Make the sauce while the beef is cooking:

In a small pot on MED-HIGH heat, melt the pork lard and sauté the onions for 5-8 minutes until softened.
Add the salt, sugar, black peppercorns, allspice berries, and bay leaves. Stir for 2 mins until the sugar has fully dissolved.
Next, add in the flour and stir for 2 minutes until well incorporated and the flour cooks a little. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pan so nothing sticks.
Pour in the beef broth and stir everything together. Bring the heat up to HIGH to let it come to a boil then back down to MED heat and let it boil for 8-10 minutes until the sauce thickens into a gravy-like consistency.
Once it has thickened, pour in the can of diced tomatoes including all of the liquid. Bring the sauce to a boil again, then simmer on MED heat for 20 minutes.
- Note: Make sure to stir and scrape the bottom of the pot every few minutes so nothing sticks to the bottom.
After 20 minutes, turn off the heat and discard the bay leaves and all spice berries. Next, use a stick blender (or transfer the sauce to a blender) and blend the sauce until you get a smooth texture. If you want an extra smooth sauce, strain it through a fine sieve.
Add 2 Tbsps of heavy cream then taste and adjust salt, sugar, or more heavy cream as needed. (Babička will sometimes add in some ketchup if she wants it more tart and tomato-y 🤫.)
Serve the sauce ladled over the cooked sliced beef and a few knedliky. Enjoy!

May 28, 2024May 28, 2024

Abby1 Comment

Korean Sweet Pickled Radish (“Chicken-mu”)

Date Published: April 16th, 2024 | Last Updated: April 16th, 2024
Author: Abby |Category: Asian, easy, sides, vegetarian, quick, healthy, low cal, vegetarian
Serves: 6 | Prep time: 10 mins | Cook time: marinate for 2 days

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Toby and I are obsessed with Korean Fried Chicken. Whenever we move to a new town, we are always on the lookout for a good Korean fried chicken spot (and also a good ramen spot). Throughout our travels around Australia, our favourite Korean chicken spot still remains to this day, 7 Grams Chicken in Perth, Western Australia. It’s just so damn good and the chicken is always cooked perfectly – there’s no comparison. With every serving of Korean fried chicken, a little bowl of sweet cold pickled radishes always accompanies it. This little bowl of radishes is the perfect accompaniment to cut the grease – it’s not too sour and not too sweet, and the refreshing crunch of the perfect little white cubes makes you forget that you’re gorging on oily fried chicken and that somehow you’re still being healthy by eating your vegetables. We love our pickled radishes so much that we always get extra orders, but now that I’ve learned how to make this, I can stop paying extra for the pickled radishes and make it myself ahead of time!

We’ve never been to Korea, but when I was researching this recipe I found that it is also often called “Chicken-mu”. ‘Mu’ means radish in Korean and this specific pickled radish dish is pretty much only served with fried chicken, which is why they call it ‘Chicken-mu’!

What type of radish?

It is no surprise that a Korean radish is used to make this recipe. It is generally smaller and rounder than the common Chinese style daikon radish and has a green colour on the top half. A Korean radish has a little less water content which results in a crunchier texture and holds up well in the pickling liquid. If you can’t find a Korean radish, substitute with daikon instead, but results may differ a little.

Happy cooking!

Ingredients you’ll need:

Pickling liquid:
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup white vinegar
- 2/3 cup water
- 2 tsps kosher salt
450g (1lb = 1 small) Korean radish, peeled and cut into 1.5 cm cubes

Directions:

In a large glass container (with a lid), add in the sugar, vinegar, water and salt. Shake the container until the sugar and salt have dissolved.

Rinse the radish and peel it, then chop it into 1.5cm cubes.

Add in the cubed radishes. Ensure all of the radish is submerged into the pickling liquid – if not, double the amount of pickling liquid. Close the lid and let it marinate for at least 24 hours (flavours will be better after 48 hours). Store up to 10 days, flavours will be best if eaten within 4 days.

Summarized Recipe:

Korean Sweet Pickled Radish (“Chicken-mu”)

Ingredients:

Pickling liquid:
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup white vinegar
- 2/3 cup water
- 2 tsps kosher salt
450g (1lb = 1 small) Korean radish, peeled and cut into 1.5 cm cubes

Directions:

In a large glass container (with a lid), add in the sugar, vinegar, water, and salt. Shake the container until the sugar and salt have dissolved.
Add in the cubed radishes. Ensure all of the radish is submerged into the pickling liquid – if not, double the amount of pickling liquid. Close the lid and let it marinate for at least 24 hours (flavours will be better after 48 hours). Store up to 10 days, flavours will be best if eaten within 4 days.

April 16, 2024December 30, 2024

AbbyLeave a comment

Haluski – a yummy buttery cabbage & noodle dish

Date Published: April 16th, 2024 | Last Updated: April 16th, 2024
Author: Abby |Category: mains, easy, Czech, <30 mins
Serves: 4-6 | Prep time: 20 mins | Cook time: 30 mins

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I’ll be honest, I had never heard of Haluski before until one day I was googling recipes for inspiration on how to use up my week old leftover cabbage in the fridge, so there’s no heart felt nostalgia or travel memory associated with this dish to fill up this post. I simply saw it, tested a few recipes, and decided on this version that I’m sharing today because it’s tasty.

From my Google research, Haluski is a central/eastern European dish with arguable origins of either Poland, Solvakia, Hungary, or Ukraine – Toby thinks there’s even a Czech version too. It’s essentially bacon, onions, and cabbage cooked in butter and bacon fat, then mixed with fresh cooked egg noodles. It’s quick and easy, a little oily (from the butter and bacon fat), and definitely delicious. Give it a try!

Happy cooking!

Ingredients you’ll need:

3 Tbsps butter
400g (~6 strips) of thick cut bacon, chopped
1 large yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 med cabbage (~1kg), cored and diced
4 portions (~10oz) of egg noodles – or alternatively nokedli
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
Kosher salt to taste

Directions:

In a large skillet on MED-HIGH heat, melt the butter until it starts to lightly brown – you’ll smell the aroma of brown butter.

Then add in the bacon and sauté until browned and lightly crispy.

Next, add the garlic and onions. Continue to cook for another 3-4 minutes until the onion is translucent and lightly browned.

Next, add in the diced cabbage and sauté for 8-10 minutes until the cabbage has softened and lightly browned.

While the cabbage is cooking, cook the egg noodles in salted water according to package instructions. When cooked, drain and set aside.

Once the cabbage has cooked, add in the cooked egg noodles, freshly ground black pepper, and a big pinch of salt. Mix it around and taste to adjust salt as needed. Done!

Summarized Recipe:

Haluski – a yummy buttery cabbage & noodle dish

Ingredients:

3 Tbsps butter
400g (~6 strips) of thick cut bacon, chopped
1 large yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 med cabbage (~1kg), cored and diced
4 portions (~10oz) of egg noodles – or alternatively nokedli
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
Kosher salt to taste

Directions:

In a large skillet on MED-HIGH heat, melt the butter until it starts to lightly brown – you’ll smell the aroma of brown butter, then add in the bacon. Sauté the bacon until browned and lightly crispy.
Next, add the garlic and onions. Continue to cook for another 3-4 minutes until the onion is translucent and lightly browned.
Next, add in the diced cabbage and sauté for 8-10 minutes until the cabbage has softened and lightly browned.
While the cabbage is cooking, cook the egg noodles in salted water according to package instructions. When cooked, drain and set aside.
Once the cabbage has cooked, add in the cooked egg noodles, freshly ground black pepper, and a big pinch of salt. Mix it around and taste to adjust salt as needed. Done!

April 16, 2024

AbbyLeave a comment

Asian Smashed Cucumber Tomato Egg Salad

Date Published: Mar 5th, 2024 | Last Updated: Mar 5th, 2024
Author: Abby |Category: Asian, side dishes, salads, mains, <30 mins, easy, quick, healthy, low-cal, Taiwanese, vegetarian
Serves: 2 as mains, 1 large plate | Prep time: 30 mins | Cook time: 5 mins

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This recipe came to me on a search to use up leftover salad ingredients to clear the fridge before our 2 week vacation overseas. It’s quick, easy, flavourful, and kept us on track of our healthy eating goals! This dish is like a cross between a smashed cucumber salad and a tomato egg stir-fry (番茄炒蛋).

In our efforts to be more healthy in this new year, we stocked up on fresh salad ingredients in bulk from Costco just over a week ago and have been slowly getting through it before our trip (it’s amazing how long cos lettuce keeps in the fridge!). It’s the night before our flight and we managed to finish all the leafy greens, but I still had one cucumber and a handful of cherry tomatoes left. Toby has not been a fan of this batch of cherry tomatoes and says they’re too tart for him (I think it’s fine), so instead of making a basic chopped cucumber and tomato salad, I looked for other options that might mask the tomatoes, but to also be quick and easy so I could start packing. I came across this recipe from Bon Appétit. It came out beautifully and so easy the first time. I’ve made some adaptations and added in exact measurements and ended up with this recipe to share!

What is Asian Smashed Cucumber Salad?

Smashed cucumber salad is a very popular Chinese starter/side dish. It’s served cold and in its essence is a mix of cucumber, salt, raw garlic, and some sort of acid (usually black vinegar). It’s supposed to light and refreshing, yet still have a punch of garlicky saltiness to be savoury. There are many variations out there and some people will add in sesame seeds, chilli, ginger, and/or cilantro. You’ll commonly see this dish not only in nice restaurants, but also in small street-side shops in Taiwan. It’s quick, easy, and takes minimal effort and ingredients. An Asian smashed cucumber salad does not traditionally have tomatoes nor eggs in it, so if you want to go the OG route, leave them out, but I prefer this version because it bulks it up and balances the dish out so it’s not so punchy in flavours and you can eat a whole bowl in one sitting as a main meal.

Smashing is important!

A key component to this dish is smashing the cucumbers. If your cucumbers look like they’ve been chopped, then you haven’t smashed them enough. You want the outside skin to crack and the inside to be crushed, but not flattened. Smashing cucumbers allow the marinating sauce to penetrate deeper and infuse the flavours better. It’s also a good way to relieve some stress 😜.

Happy cooking!

Ingredients you’ll need:

1 cucumber (English hothouse – those long ones)
1/2 Tbsps cooking salt
A large handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup black vinegar
2 Tbsps granulated sugar
6 eggs
3 green onions/scallions, sliced
1/4 tsp white pepper
Drizzle of sesame oil
2 Tbsps of chilli crisp (or more to your liking) – you can substitute with chilli oil instead

Directions:

Cut the cucumber in half lengthwise and again crosswise. Use a large knife on its flat side to smash the cucumber until cracked then slice into bite sized pieces (see photo).

Place the smashed cucumber in a strainer over a bowl and mix in 1/2 Tbsp of salt. Let the cucumber sit for 30 minutes to allow excess water to be released. After 30 mins, discard the released cucumber water and place the cucumber in a mixing bowl.

Add the sliced cherry tomatoes, minced garlic, black vinegar, and sugar to the cucumbers. Mix everything together and let it marinate for another 30 minutes.

Make the eggs: While the cucumber and tomatoes are marinating, crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk. Mix in green onions and a pinch of salt. Heat a pan on MED HIGH heat and add in enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Let the pan get hot (it’ll be ready when the oil is shimmering and just starting to smoke) then add a drop of egg. The oil is hot enough if the egg drop puffs up right away. Add in the rest of the egg mixture carefully and the edges should start to puff within a few seconds. Once the edges are slightly browned, use a spatula to gently move the egg around to cook evenly. You want big chunks of scrambled eggs that’s slightly crispy on the edges but still soft and moist (see photo). This should take less than 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and scoop the egg into the bowl with the marinating cucumber and tomatoes.

Add white pepper, a drizzle of sesame oil, and a few spoonfuls of chilli crisp. Mix everything around, taste and adjust salt or sugar to taste. You should have a tangy, sweet, and salty dish. Serve immediately on a wide bottom dish so the liquid pools outwards.

Summarized Recipe:

Asian Smashed Cucumber Tomato Egg Salad

Ingredients:

1 cucumber (English hothouse – those long ones)
1/2 Tbsps cooking salt
A large handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup black vinegar
2 Tbsps granulated sugar
6 eggs
3 green onions/scallions, sliced
1/4 tsp white pepper
Drizzle of sesame oil
2 Tbsps of chilli crisp (or more to your liking) – you can substitute with chilli oil instead

Directions:

Cut the cucumber in half lengthwise and again crosswise. Use a large knife on its flat side to smash the cucumber until cracked then slice into bite sized pieces (see photo). Place the smashed cucumber in a strainer over a bowl and mix in 1/2 Tbsp of salt. Let the cucumber sit for 30 minutes to allow excess water to be released. After 30 mins, discard the released cucumber water and place the cucumber in a mixing bowl.
Add the sliced cherry tomatoes, minced garlic, black vinegar, and sugar to the cucumbers. Mix everything together and let it marinate for another 30 minutes.
Make the eggs: While the cucumber and tomatoes are marinating, crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk. Mix in green onions and a pinch of salt. Heat a pan on MED HIGH heat and add in enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Let the pan get hot (it’ll be ready when the oil is shimmering and just starting to smoke) then add a drop of egg. The oil is hot enough if the egg drop puffs up right away. Add in the rest of the egg mixture carefully and the edges should start to puff within a few seconds. Once the edges are slightly browned, use a spatula to gently move the egg around to cook evenly. You want big chunks of scrambled eggs that’s slightly crispy on the edges but still soft and moist (see photo). This should take less than 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and scoop the egg into the bowl with the marinating cucumber and tomatoes.
Add white pepper, a drizzle of sesame oil, and a few spoonfuls of chilli crisp. Mix everything around, taste and adjust salt or sugar to taste. You should have a tangy, sweet, and salty dish. Serve immediately on a wide bottom dish so the liquid pools outwards.

March 5, 2024

AbbyLeave a comment

Damn Good Short Rib Ragu (in an Instant Pot)

Date Published: Feb 27th, 2024 | Last Updated: Feb 27th, 2024
Author: Abby |Category: mains
Serves: 4-6 | Prep time: 20 mins | Cook time: 1 hour 30 mins

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After making my first ever short ribs dish through this insanely good recipe, I’ve become hooked! Short ribs was never a cut of meat I’ve worked with before and it often requires extremely long cooking times to break down the connective tissue, but praise the Instant Pot! It cuts down cooking times from 3 hours to just 1 hour and it produced extremely soft fall-off-the-bone results. If you’re unfamiliar with short ribs, you can check out my other short rib recipe for a bit of background information, including the differences between the cuts of short ribs.

This recipe is originally from Giada. I’ve altered it for Instant Pot cooking methods to cut down on cooking times and still produce identical results.

Unlike the classic braised short rib with red wine sauce, this meat is shredded then served in a slightly more subtle tomato-base sauce with a touch of Dijon mustard and a cup of red wine (rather than half the bottle). The rich meaty sauce is tossed through your choice of any style of pasta and served with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese. The deliciously flavourful sauce with the soft shredded meats is balanced out by the pasta, making this the perfect pasta dish to make to impress. You’ll be amazed by how much flavour you can get from so few ingredients!

Happy cooking!

Ingredients you’ll need:

1.8kg (4 lbs) beef short ribs, English cut (Cross cut/Korean cut is fine too but it will take longer to sear and it’ll be annoying to remove all the little round bones at the end)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
5 Roma tomatoes, cut into eighths
1 cup red wine – any will do, even the cheap stuff! I use cabernet sauvignon
3 Tbsps Dijon mustard
2 cups beef broth
4-6 portions of pasta – any kind you like
Parmesan cheese for sprinkling when serving

Directions:

Sprinkle salt and pepper over the short ribs.

Turn your instant pot on to the SAUTÉ setting on HIGH heat. Add a drizzle of oil and sear the short ribs in batches, making sure you brown every side. Set aside the seared ribs.

Tip: Watch out for the oil splattering! A splatter guard will work wonders here and extra long tongs or extra long chopsticks will be even better to avoid getting hot oil on your hands when you turn the ribs to sear each side.

Turn the heat down to MED and add in the onion and garlic. Sauté for 2 minutes until fragrant, making sure you scrape up any browned bits from the beef on the bottom and sides of the pot (the precious brown bits give us extra flavour and the moisture from the onions will help soften it from the bottom of the pot).

Add in the tomatoes, red wine, Dijon mustard, and beef stock. Mix everything together and simmer for 3 minutes for the alcohol to cook out.

Add back in the seared ribs (from step 2) and submerge them in the liquid. Cancel the instant pot sauté setting and put on the lid. Set the instant pot to PRESSURE COOK and HIGH for 1:00 hour with 10 minutes of natural release.

When the timer has finished, turn off the instant pot and open it. You should have a very tender fall-off-the-bone short rib! Very carefully, remove all of the meat and bones into a separate bowl. Discard all the bones and use two forks to shred the meat. Cover the meat to keep warm and set aside.

Liquid left over after the meat and bones have been removed

Make the sauce: Once all the meat and bones have been removed, you should only have vegetables left in the liquid. Skim off any excess oil that may be floating on top. Use a stick blender to blend the liquid until smooth (you can also pour it into a blender if you don’t have a stick blender) then pour it into a saucepan or wide based pan. Turn the heat to MED and simmer for 15-20 mins to reduce the sauce until you get a thickened syrupy consistency. This will take a while because there will be a decent amount of liquid to cook down since the instant pot does not evaporate any liquid as it cooks. Once the sauce has thickened, add the shredded meat (from step 6) into the sauce and stir through until warmed. Turn off the heat.

Make the pasta: While the sauce is reducing, make the pasta according to instructions. Strain when finished and set aside.

To serve: Divide the pasta into serving bowls and spoon the sauce with meat over top. Add a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese overtop before serving. Done!

Summarized Recipe:

Damn Good Short Rib Ragu (in an Instant Pot)

Date Published: Feb 27th, 2024 | Last Updated: Feb 27th, 2024
Author: Abby |Category: mains
Serves: 4-6 | Prep time: 20 mins | Cook time: 1 hour 30 mins

Ingredients:

1.8kg (4 lbs) beef short ribs, English cut (Cross cut/Korean cut is fine too but it will take longer to sear and it’ll be annoying to remove all the little round bones at the end)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
5 Roma tomatoes, cut into eighths
1 cup red wine – any will do, even the cheap stuff! I use cabernet sauvignon
3 Tbsps Dijon mustard
2 cups beef broth
4-6 portions of pasta – any kind you like
Parmesan cheese for sprinkling when serving

Directions:

Sprinkle salt and pepper over the short ribs.
Turn your instant pot on to the SAUTÉ setting on HIGH heat. Add a drizzle of oil and sear the short ribs in batches, making sure you brown every side. Set aside the seared ribs.
- Tip: Watch out for the oil splattering! A splatter guard will work wonders here and extra long tongs or extra long chopsticks will be even better to avoid getting hot oil on your hands when you turn the ribs to sear each side.
Turn the heat down to MED and add in the onion and garlic. Sauté for 2 minutes until fragrant, making sure you scrape up any browned bits from the beef on the bottom and sides of the pot (the precious brown bits give us extra flavour and the moisture from the onions will help soften it from the bottom of the pot).
Add in the tomatoes, red wine, Dijon mustard, and beef stock. Mix everything together and simmer for 3 minutes for the alcohol to cook out.
Add back in the seared ribs (from step 2) and submerge them in the liquid. Cancel the instant pot sauté setting and put on the lid. Set the instant pot to PRESSURE COOK and HIGH for 1:00 hour with 10 minutes of natural release.
When the timer has finished, turn off the instant pot and open it. You should have a very tender fall-off-the-bone short rib! Very carefully, remove all of the meat and bones into a separate bowl. Discard all the bones and use two forks to shred the meat. Cover the meat to keep warm and set aside.
Make the sauce: Once all the meat and bones have been removed, you should only have vegetables left in the liquid. Skim off any excess oil that may be floating on top. Use a stick blender to blend the liquid until smooth (you can also pour it into a blender if you don’t have a stick blender) then pour it into a saucepan or wide based pan. Turn the heat to MED and simmer for 15-20 mins to reduce the sauce until you get a thickened syrupy consistency. This will take a while because there will be a decent amount of liquid to cook down since the instant pot does not evaporate any liquid as it cooks. Once the sauce has thickened, add the shredded meat (from step 6) into the sauce and stir through until warmed. Turn off the heat.
Make the pasta: While the sauce is reducing, make the pasta according to instructions. Strain when finished and set aside.
To serve: Divide the pasta into serving bowls and spoon the sauce with meat over top. Add a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese overtop before serving. Done!

February 27, 2024

AbbyLeave a comment

Luxurious Beef Short Ribs with Red Wine Sauce (in an Instant Pot)

Date Published: Feb 26th, 2024 | Last Updated: Feb 26th, 2024
Author: Abby |Category: mains
Serves: 4-5 | Prep time: 20 mins | Cook time: 2 hours

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Bookmark this, it’s time to impress everyone. These beef short ribs are fall-off-the-bone, melt-in-your mouth soft and it’s paired with a luxurious rich syrupy red wine sauce that is to die for. Try it yourself, you won’t regret it!

I came across this recipe through a Reddit cooking thread that asked people what their go-to dish was when they want to impress dinner guests and this one from RecipeTinEats was one of the top responses. I couldn’t wait to make it but due to our busy work schedule and sourcing the ingredients (mainly the short rib), it wasn’t until a week later that I finally got to try out the recipe. This dish was definitely worth it wait – it came out DELICIOUS! I actually had a lot of leftovers due to the giant Costco size package of short ribs I got so I shared it with our coworkers and they all unanimously agreed that it was damn good. This is a dish worth showing off – seriously.

What are beef short ribs?

Image source: https://www.rodnikkel.com/content/saddle-tree-blog-from-shop-and-desk/the-serratus-ventralis-muscle/

I had never cooked with beef short rib before and didn’t even really know what it was. Is it different than a regular beef rib? Why is it ‘short’? Did they just trim down a regular rib? Why is it more expensive? What’s so special about it?

Being a veterinarian, I had to look up anatomical images of a cow just to figure out where the short ribs even came from to have it all make sense in my head. According to Wikipedia, the serratus ventralis muscle defines the area from where the short ribs come from. This muscle is thickest between the 2nd to 5th rib and is the preferred area to cut because the muscle here is much thicker. Outside of this area the serratus ventralis becomes too thin to create a true ‘short rib’. So a beef short rib is from specific area of the ribs that is meatier – which probably explains why its more expensive (if there are any butchers reading this, please correct me if I’m wrong!). I highlighted an anatomical diagram and included it in this post in case anyone else was as interested as me – ignore the fact that it’s an equine model 🤫.

English Cut vs. Cross-cut/Korean Cut?

There are two main ways a short rib is cut:

English cut – where the meat is cut along the bone and you end up with long pieces of rib bone and chunks of meat.
Cross cut or Korean-style cut where the ribs are cut across the bone and you end up with small circular bones and thin cuts of meat. This is popular in Korean short rib dishes – in fact, I couldn’t even find any non-Korean style dishes that used short ribs in this style of cut.

(Here is a helpful video from a butcher to help you visualize it better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA4FwE7QbrE)

In this recipe, we want the English cut so we can get big chunks of meat when serving. Living in South Brooklyn, we have a severe deficiency of a good butcher around our area and we had to go to THREE bodega grocery stores just to find English cut short ribs. Side story: the first time I made this recipe I found a huge pack of short ribs at Costco for a decent price and was so excited to make it. Nowhere on the package did it list what style it was cut and the way that it was packaged made it impossible to tell, so I just assumed it was the English cut since there is also a severe deficiency in Asian-style grocers in the area – what are the chances that this “Kansas City Steak Company” meat would be a Korean cut? 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️ I woke up at 7am that morning to start prepping and cooking so everything would be cooked and ready by lunch time (the original recipe has a 3 hour cook time with a dutch oven – more on that below). I opened the big hefty bag of meat that I had been staring at for the past 3 days and I was so disheartened to find that it was the wrong cut of short ribs 😭. I triple checked the packaging in the garbage to see if I was the one that made the mistake, but indeed there was no label at all to identify the cut of meat, other than “sliced”. I had a mini temper tantrum not knowing whether I should abort mission after literally dreaming about short ribs for so many days or to continue on and hope for the best. All this at 7am while Toby happily slept in – he doesn’t know how close I was to waking him up to rage. Not wanting to waste $40 of meat and also definitely not wanting to venture out this early in the morning in the middle of winter to find more short ribs, I continued on. The flavours turned out just fine, but the steps involved were a lot lengthier and it was definitely super annoying to pick out every single cross-cut bone. I have included a photo of the offending meat package so no one else makes the same mistake that I did at Costco. /rant

What if I can’t find English cut and only Cross cut/Korean-style cut?

If you cannot find English cut short ribs and you can only find the Korean-style cut, you can still proceed with this recipe as written and the flavours will still be the same, but there will be some adjustments:

If your rib slices are long, you may have to use scissors to cut them in half before you sear them so it fits in the pot better.
It will take much longer to sear all the meat because you’ll be dealing with more pieces rather than bigger chunks of meat, so plan accordingly.
When you have an English cut, you have the option of serving the dish with or without the bone based on preference of presentation. If you use a Korean cut, you must remove all of the bone prior to serving or else there will be small round bones throughout your dish which is unpleasant. Removing every piece of bone is time-consuming and a bit annoying, so be prepared for this.
After you remove all the bone, the beef will look a bit ugly and stringy from the extra connective tissue around each bone so I’d recommend you break it all up and shred the meat before serving. Although the flavour of the dish will be the same, you won’t get big chunks of meat but rather shredded meat – it’s still delicious nonetheless, but the texture is a little different.

Instant Pot (pressure cooker) vs Dutch Oven – not much difference other than time!

The original recipe (and most short rib recipes on the internet) calls for a dutch oven that slowly cooks the short ribs in the oven for 3 HOURS. I did this. I even bought a dutch oven just for this recipe – well, I was eventually going to get one anyway, but this recipe pulled the trigger for me to get it now 😛. When I first made this recipe, I had a large amount of short rib from Costco (albeit in the wrong cut – see rant above) so I decided to double the recipe. However, when it came time to cook it all, I realized that not all of it fit into my 5 1/4qt dutch oven and there was no way I was going to make it in two batches and commit another 3 hours to making this (totalling 6 hours of cooking time), so I decided to put half of it in my Instant Pot and cook it at the same time.

The original recipe from RecipeTinEats raves about the dutch oven method as her preferred way of making this due to the flavour from the extra caramelization of the sauce and beef. Since I was doing half dutch oven and half Instant Pot, I figured that even if the Instant Pot version wasn’t as good at least I wouldn’t be cooking until late into the evening and I’d still have the oven ribs to enjoy. The Instant Pot version only took 1 hour cook time and was the first to finish. Because it was pressure cooked with the lid on, all the liquid had remained and I ended up having to reduce the sauce down a LOT to get the right consistency – it took about 15-20 minutes, whereas it should usually take 5-10mins. The resulting sauce and meat was REALLY GOOD (and even with the wrong cut of meat!). I couldn’t believe how rich the flavours were and how tender the meat was! It was incredible. The timer went off again and this time the dutch oven method was ready – I was excited. There was a lot less liquid so the sauce came together much faster but the texture and colour of the meat was the same (see the comparison photos below).

I did a blind taste test with Toby of the Instant Pot meat and sauce vs the dutch oven meat and sauce. He couldn’t tell the difference (and neither could I) – he actually thought maybe the Instant Pot version was a little better by a hair, which made me really happy because although I love my beautiful new dutch oven, I would much prefer waiting 1 hour for something to cook rather than 3 hours for the same results. Although you have a longer sauce reduction time with the Instant Pot, the overall time commitment is still less. Instant Pot wins!

*Note: when I did this cooking trial, I did it with the wrong cut of meat – Korean style cut rather than the English cut. In this trial, the flavours of the meat turned out exactly the same and the sauces were also similar as well which is why my Instant Pot is my go-to for this dish. I haven’t tried the dutch oven method with the English cut so I can’t speak for any differences in meat that it may have. To me, the sauce is the focus and the small differences in textures of the meat is secondary, so if you’ve done it both ways with the English cut, I’d love to know if you find a big difference!

Happy cooking!

Ingredients you’ll need:

1.5 – 2kg beef short ribs, English cut (~ roughly 4-5 large pieces, try to get ones with more meat on them)
Kosher salt & pepper
1 large yellow onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 medium carrots, diced
4 sticks of celery, diced
2 Tbsps tomato paste
2 cups (500ml) beef stock
2 cups (500ml) red wine – any will do, even the cheap stuff! I use cabernet sauvignon.
2 sprigs of fresh thyme (or 1/4 tsp of dried thyme)
2 bay leaves
Your choice of side to serve with the short ribs: ie. mashed potatoes, sautéed green beans, salad…etc.

Directions:

Sprinkle salt and pepper over the short ribs.

Turn your instant pot on to the SAUTÉ setting on HIGH heat. Add a drizzle of oil and sear the short ribs in batches, making sure you brown every side. Set aside the seared ribs.

Make sure you scrape up all the brown bits on the bottom!

Add in the carrots and celery. Continue to cook until the carrots have softened (7-9 minutes).

Add in the tomato paste and stir through, then the beef stock, red wine, thyme, and bay leaves. Mix everything together and simmer for 3 minutes for the alcohol to cook out.

While the instant pot is cooking, you can prepare any sides to go with the short ribs. I’d recommend a carb like mashed potatoes to pair with the rich short ribs sauce and an easy veg like green beans or a salad.

When the timer has finished, turn off the instant pot and open it. You should have a very tender fall-off-the-bone short rib! Very carefully, remove all of the ribs into a separate bowl, trying to keep the meat and bones intact for serving. Cover the ribs to keep warm and set aside.

You want a slightly thickened syrupy consistency

Make the sauce: Place a strainer over a bowl and strain out the vegetables from the liquid. Use a spoon or ladle to squeeze out as much liquid as you can from the vegetables. Discard the vegetables. Pour the strained liquid into a saucepan or wide based pan and simmer on MED heat for 15-20 mins until you get a thickened syrupy-consistency. This will take a while because there will be a decent amount of liquid to cook down since the instant pot does not evaporate any liquid as it cooks. Drizzle the sauce over the short rib to serve.

To serve: Place 1-2 pieces of short rib (depending on how large your pieces are) on a plate with or without the bone and add a drizzle of the sauce overtop. Serve with your desired side dishes. Enjoy!

Summarized Recipe:

Luxurious Beef Short Ribs with Red Wine Sauce (in an Instant Pot)

Date Published: Feb 26th, 2024 | Last Updated: Feb 26th, 2024
Author: Abby |Category: mains
Serves: 4-5 | Prep time: 20 mins | Cook time: 2 hours

Ingredients:

1.5 – 2kg beef short ribs, English cut (~ roughly 4-5 large pieces, try to get ones with more meat on them)
Kosher salt & pepper
1 large yellow onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 medium carrots, diced
4 sticks of celery, diced
2 Tbsps tomato paste
2 cups (500ml) beef stock
2 cups (500ml) red wine – any will do, even the cheap stuff! I use cabernet sauvignon
2 sprigs of fresh thyme (or 1/4 tsp of dried thyme)
2 bay leaves
Your choice of side to serve with the short ribs: ie. mashed potatoes, sautéed green beans, salad…etc.

Directions:

Sprinkle salt and pepper over the short ribs.
Turn your instant pot on to the SAUTÉ setting on HIGH heat. Add a drizzle of oil and sear the short ribs in batches, making sure you brown every side. Set aside the seared ribs.
- Tip: Watch out for the oil splattering! A splatter guard will work wonders here and extra long tongs or extra long chopsticks will be even better to avoid getting hot oil on your hands when you turn the ribs to sear each side.
Turn the heat down to MED and add in the onion and garlic. Sauté for 2 minutes until fragrant, making sure you scrape up any browned bits from the beef on the bottom and sides of the pot (the precious brown bits give us extra flavour and the moisture from the onions will help soften it from the bottom of the pot).
Add in the carrots and celery. Continue to cook until the carrots have softened (7-9 minutes).
Add in the tomato paste and stir through, then the beef stock, red wine, thyme, and bay leaves. Mix everything together and simmer for 3 minutes for the alcohol to cook out.
Add back in the seared ribs (from step 2) and submerge them in the liquid. Cancel the instant pot sauté setting and put on the lid. Set the instant pot to PRESSURE COOK and HIGH for 1:00 hour with 10 minutes of natural release.
While the instant pot is cooking, you can prepare any sides to go with the short ribs. I’d recommend a carb like mashed potatoes to pair with the rich short ribs sauce and an easy veg like green beans.
When the timer has finished, turn off the instant pot and open it. You should have a very tender fall-off-the-bone short rib! Very carefully, remove all of the ribs into a separate bowl, trying to keep the meat and bones intact for serving. Cover the ribs to keep warm and set aside.
Make the sauce: Place a strainer over a bowl and strain out the vegetables from the liquid. Use a spoon or ladle to squeeze out as much liquid as you can from the vegetables. Discard the vegetables. Pour the strained liquid into a saucepan or wide based pan and simmer on MED heat for 15-20 mins until you get a thickened syrupy-consistency. This will take a while because there will be a decent amount of liquid to cook down since the instant pot does not evaporate any liquid as it cooks. Drizzle the sauce over the short rib to serve.
To serve: Place 1-2 pieces of short rib (depending on how large your pieces are) on a plate with or without the bone and add a drizzle of the sauce overtop. Serve with your desired side dishes. Enjoy!

February 26, 2024February 28, 2024

Abby1 Comment

Spicy Asian Tuna Salad

Date Published: July 4th, 2020 | Last Updated: July 4th, 2020
Author: Abby |Category: sides/salads, <15mins
Serves: 4 | Prep time: 10mins | Cook time: 5mins

Jump to recipe | Watch the video

Last weekend Toby’s dad took us deep sea tuna fishing with a fishing charter in Portland, Vic. My fishing experience is fairly limited but thankfully the charter set up all the rods for us, so all we had to do was wait until a tuna caught on and we take turns reeling them in. Luckily mine didn’t put up too much of a fight but Toby’s gave him a good workout. There was a limit of two tuna per person. We drove around for hours and caught some here and there, but alas we were two fish short of our max. We were on the boat for roughly 6 hours total. We took 4 fish home in total, ranging from 10-15kg (good thing Toby’s parents have a big freezer back on the farm). We youtube’d how to fillet a tuna and we filleted one tuna that night and have been eating it ever since. I’ve been scrambling to find some good tuna recipes and came upon some asian-inspired ones and played around with them. This recipe is the result of it! (I also used up some tuna in the salmon chowder recipe and subbed out the fish type – turned out delicious!)

This recipe has asian-inspired flavours. Some ingredients aren’t very traditionally asian (like the cranberries and raw carrots), but they have their role to play and I promise the overall flavour packs a punch! You end up with a mildly spicy, kinda sweet, crunchy, sesame tuna salad in the end. This recipe is easy and comes together quickly! You can watch the video below to guide you through the recipe.

Happy cooking!

Ingredients you’ll need:

Dressing:
- 4 Tbsp mayonnaise
- 1 Tbsp sesame oil
- 2 tsp light soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp asian chilli paste or sambal (I like to use the Lao Gan Ma crispy chilli oil (drained), but any chilli paste should do – you may want to adjust the proportions if your chilli sauce is very spicy). You can even use sriracha.
- 1 1/2 tsp honey
- 1/2 Tbsp ginger, grated

200g cooked or canned tuna, flaked and drained well
- You can use canned tuna, but for my purposes I was trying to use up the tuna fillets from our fishing trip so I quickly cooked the tuna in the oven at 180˚C for 10mins and flaked it for this recipe.
1/3 cup dried cranberries
3 Tbsp green onions, chopped (~2 stalks)
1/3 cup carrots, chopped finely
2 tsp sesame seeds
1/2 tsp chilli powder
2 Tbsp lemon juice

I was quite conservative with the spice level in this recipe – just spicy enough to leave your mouth with a slight tingle. You can choose to omit the chili powder altogether if you’re not into spicy or even double it if you’re a spice fiend. The spiciness of your chili paste will also determine how spicy your tuna salad is.

Directions:

In a bowl, mix together the dressing ingredients: mayonnaise, sesame oil, light soy sauce, asian chilli oil, honey, ginger. Set aside.

In a bigger bowl, mix together the rest of the ingredients: tuna, cranberries, green onion, carrots, sesame seeds, chili powder and lemon juice. Once combined, add in the dressing and mix until incorporated. Serve!

You can serve this as a snack or appetizer or side dish. My favourite way to serve this is in some lettuce leaves as wraps. The crisp and freshness of the lettuce cuts through the heaviness of the salad. You can also have it with crackers or spread in a tortilla to make a burrito or even between some bread to make an easy tuna salad with a punch. I also like to serve it with lemon wedges for extra zing!

Watch the Video Tutorial!

Summarized Recipe:

Spicy Asian Tuna Salad

Date Published: July 4th, 2020 | Last Updated: July 4th, 2020
Author: Abby |Category: sides/salads, <15mins
Serves: 4 | Prep time: 10mins | Cook time: 5mins

Ingredients:

Dressing:
- 4 Tbsp mayonnaise
- 1 Tbsp sesame oil
- 2 tsp light soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp asian chilli oil (I like to use the Lao Gan Ma crispy chilli oil (drained), but any chilli oil/sauce should do – you may want to adjust the proportions if your chilli sauce is very spicy)
- 1 1/2 tsp honey
- 1/2 Tbsp ginger, grated

1 1/2 cups (200g) cooked/canned tuna, flaked and drained
1/3 cup dried cranberries
3 Tbsp green onions, chopped (~2 stalks)
1/3 cup carrots, chopped finely
2 tsp sesame seeds
1/2 tsp chilli powder
2 Tbsp lemon juice

Directions:

In a bowl, mix together the dressing ingredients: mayonnaise, sesame oil, light soy sauce, asian chilli oil, honey, ginger. Set aside.
In a bigger bowl, mix together the rest of the ingredients: tuna, cranberries, green onion, carrots, sesame seeds, chili powder and lemon juice. Once combined, add in the dressing and mix until incorporated. Serve!

Notes:

You can serve this as a snack or appetizer or side dish.
My favourite way to serve this is in some lettuce leaves as wraps. You can also have it with crackers or spread in a tortilla to make a burrito or even between some bread to make an easy tuna salad with a punch.

July 4, 2020September 6, 2020

Abby3 Comments