Archive for March, 2009

By Jessica | March 18, 2009 | Main Courses, Recipes | 3 Comments

Since I had bacon for breakfast, and two dinners: buffalo wings and beer, then ramen with pork later that night, my heart was banging and begging for some heart healthy love. So I set about creating a fat-free, sugar-free, guilt-free, and everything else bad for you-free meal for me and B. Since we recently became obsessed with the spicy green papaya salad from thai restaurants, I built a larger meal around that idea. And hot damn that shit is good. I mean, not as good as how much we need to help the US citizens of South Africa get more maps, but probably almost as good, you know, for our kids, such as, I believe. Maps.

Spicy Mango and Shrimp Salad

1/2 head of bibb lettuce, tore apart
1/2 cup of fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup of fresh basil, chopped
1 jalapeno, finely diced
1/2 inch ginger, peeled and finely diced
1/2 almost ripe mango, cut in thin, 1 inch strips
1 scallion, cut in thin, 1 inch strips
1 carrot, peeled and cut in thin, 1 inch strips
1/2 cucumber, peeled and cut in 1 inch strips
1/4 cup of salted peanuts

Shrimp:
20 medium shrimps, peeled
1 tbs of paprika
1/2 tbs of cayenne
drizzle of olive oil

Dressing:
2 parts soy sauce
2 parts rice or white vinegar
1 parts sirachi
1 part sesame oil

Serves 2 hungry heffers.

After your shreemps are peeled and washed, sprinkle with the spices and mix in the olive oil. Let sit for 20 minutes while you chop your veg and get your dressing on point.

Mix your greens, cilantro and basil together, and divide in two eatin bowls. Sprinkle the jalapeno and ginger over the greens. In pretty little piles, place mounds of the mango, scallion, carrot and cucumbers around the outer edge of the bowl over the lettuce. Don’t mix – it will look awesomer this way.

Combine the first 3 ingredients of your dressing. Slowly whisk in the oil. Feel free to play with the amounts to achieve success for your taste buds. Now pour over your prepared salad.

Heat your stove top grill pan, or skillet and place the shrimp. After a minute and a half, flip. Cook for another minute and a half. Grab and place in a delicious little pile in the center of your salad.

Sprinkle with the peanuts. Write me a note and tell me you sweat this salad.

By Jessica | March 13, 2009 | Chocolate | 1 Comment

Chocolate business is going very well, thank you. I got inspired to make some new shit. Hence, Coconut Curry with Dark Chocolate, Red Pepper with Dark Chocolate, Salt and Pepper, Spicy Pretzel, and Rosemary. And stay tuned, I got more coming.

Coconut Curry with Dark Chocolate:

Red Pepper with Dark Chocolate:

Salt and Pepper with Dark Chocolate:

Spice Pretzel:

Rosemary with Dark Chocolate:

Assorted Salty Chocolate:

Want to buy a box? Let a chick know.

By Jessica | March 12, 2009 | Other People's Recipes, Snackin, Salads and Apps | 2 Comments

Aite. And here we are with course 3 of the Big Ass Dinner Party. Check out course 1 for some sesame / salmon / noodle jam and course 2 for some korean braised beefy yum. I then served this refreshing salad third: Tangerine and Fennel over Greens.

All the recipes on Go Meat Yourself are mine unless I say otherwise. That isn’t to say that I am the first chick to braise beef in that combination of ingredients or put some goddamn sesame seeds on a piece of salmon. It means that I didn’t follow a recipe. Or rather, followed 12 recipes and took the best parts from them all and made my own shit. Anyway, this salad was taken exactly, step by step, from Bon Appetit Magazine, thee most annoying food magazine I’ve ever read. Actually, the only one I ever read? Until I tried Food and Wine. Which I’m going to order cause they shut the fuck up and put some recipes on paper. As opposed to this Bon Appetite bullshit that was trying to make me feel bad for not picking my own pig shit truffles in the county side of italy. This is brooklyn and I’m working on a budget. Fug off.

Anyway, another note. For those of you that don’t put fruit in your salads, I totally understand. I’m not one of those freaks that is trying to put strawberries or cranberries up with my greens or tuna or even tangine. BUTT, this combination is like snacks in bed, like tequila and lime, like tacos and me, like hollywood whores and bare vagina. What I’m saying is, try this shit. It’s good. It’s tangy. It’s meant to be.

Go here for the recipe: Tangerine and Fennel over Greens.

By Jessica | March 11, 2009 | Main Courses, Recipes, Snackin, Salads and Apps | 2 Comments

We are back with Course 2 of The Dinner Party Report. I knew you would come back. I so had you at spatula.

So, dudes. Want to make something cheap and tasty that makes your belly happy? Make this. Forserz, make. this. This beef recipe goes particularly well with the kimchi rice because the beef is kinda sweet and the rice is kinda spicy with a touch of bitter. Together, it is a symphony of tasteful beauty, all dripply with egg yolk and yum.

Course 2: Korean Braised Beef over Kimchi Rice with Fried Egg

2 lbs of beef, cut in chunks for stew
1 c flour
3 tbs veg or canola oil
3 tbs of rice vinegar

Braising Liquid:
4 scallions, sliced, separate the green from the white, reserve the green for garnish
1c soy sauce
1/4 rice vinegar
2 tbs sesame oil
2 tbs red pepper flakes
2 inches of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 tbs black pepper
1 tbs sesame seeds
3 cups of water

In a heavy cast iron pot or dutch oven, add your oil and heat. While waiting, add your flour and beef to a plastic baggie. Shake the shit out of it chris brown style. With a tong, grab each chunk, shake the excess flour and place in the hot oil. Brown. Do not over crowd your pot. Also, don’t be afraid to add more oil if it gets all used up. Just remember that if you add it, you have to make sure it gets hot before you add more meat. Brown your biff until its all browned up.

To prepare your braising liquid, add all the ingredients except for the water into a bowl and mix well. At this point, your pot should be all caked with burnt up beafy goodness. With the heat on, take your 3 tbs of vinegar and poor over this gold. Using a wooden spoon, scrape the shit out of your pot and mind the gold. These delicious flavor crystals will add mo pushing to the gooshin.

Add your braising liquid and let it heat up. Add your biff. Add water until it covers the meat. Stir. Let bring to a boil uncovered. When boiling, cover and reduce heat to as low as a flame as you can possibly dare. Let this shit cook for 2, 3, 4 hours? Till the shits falling apart on your tongue. Eat over the kimchi rice below, garnished with the reserved sliced greens of the scallion. Taste the rainbow.

Kimchi Rice with Fried Egg

For this recipe, you gots to get you some traditional kimchi. And don’t try to make mines for this. Mines is dope and delicious and my mouth is watering as I type these very words, but you need yourself some real, fermented cabbage. Go. If you are in NYC, I found some in k-town on 29th-ish and 5th ave. You can also get it at great wall super market. And I bet some trendy shit store like whole foods has it as well.

2 c of kimchi (packed well)
veg or canola oil for frying
1 inch of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
6 c cooked rice
sirachi for taste

Take your store bought kimchi and dice. Make sure to squeeze the liquid before taking out of the container because you are going to want to pour that over the rice later and don’t want it all dripping up on the board. You are looking for a good chop here.

Using a wok or a big ass frying pan, heat your oil and throw in your ginger. After 2 minutes, throw in the kimchi. After 4 minutes, fold in your rice. Make it hot. Put some hot sauce on it if you want. Pour the extra kimchi juice over it to make it moist. For the best part: fry some eggs, keep the yolk. Put it on top. Eat with the braised beef. You can also do a poached egg if you like that better.

Check Course 1 here.

By Jessica | March 10, 2009 | Main Courses, Recipes | No comments

B and I had a gang over for din recently and thought we would bring a little korean into their lives. As per usual, I went overboard. Instead of sticking with a simple one-pot plan so that I could be chillin with the guests, I insisted on a 3-course, cook-then-serve meal. I mean, cookin is my thing, so it’s aite, but it’s not like I don’t get a bit frazzled when workin 4 burners, especially when I need 6. But you know what? I’m a lucky ho cause just as in real life, when I freak and sweat and nerve up in the kitchen, B is always there to step in and spank me with a spatula until I’ve calmed down. So this post is dedicated to my man with the wok. Always there to whip my cream just when it’s just about to curdle.

(Why am I so carrie fucking bradshaw right now?! Please, someone, make me leave my cheating husband, matthew broderick.)

Anywho, since there is so much food to talk about, this post is coming in 3 parts. (Lucky post.)

Course 1: Sesame Encrusted Salmon over Ginger Udon Noodles

2 salmon fillets
1/4 c. sesame seeds, white, black or a mix
olive oil for fryin
udon noodles for 2
an inch of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1/4 soy sauce (adjusted for taste)
2 tbs of sesame oil (adjusted for taste)
2 stalks of scallion, sliced

Add udon to boiling water. When cooked al dente, drain and put back in the pot. Immediately add the ginger, soy and sesame oil and toss.

While the udon is cooking, slap sesame seeds onto the skin side and opposite side of the salmon. Add olive oil to a frying pan. When hot, add the fillets, skin side down first. Sear for 4 minutes. Flip over and cook until desired doneness.

Put the noodles in a bowl. Put the salmon on the noodles. Put the scallion on the salmon. Put the lime in the coconut. Drink it all up.

Course 2 and Course 3 coming soon, bitches. Love ya!

By Jessica | March 5, 2009 | Recipes, Snackin, Salads and Apps | 3 Comments

I’ve been freaking obsessed with this salad. You know how people get obsessed with things, like say, the iphone? I get that about food. Definitely not about the iphone. Mostly cause my iphone takes shite pictures, like the ones in this post.

I’ve been freaking obsessed with this salad. I don’t want to tell you where I got the original inspiration from because you are going to think that I sit outside his damn house, crying and rocking, with my iphone, waiting to see what video he is going to come up with next so that I can make it and write about it and love it all night long. All night long. So yeah. This recipe was inspired by… your moms.

This salad is great for winter cause the veg is everywhere, great for hangovers because it is so thirst quenching, and great for the wallet cause its cheap. Pair this up with anything that needs a bright, watery buddy. Open wide cause you are going to want to eat this up.

Fennel and Celery Salad with Roasted Nuts

1 bulb of fennel
1 bunch of celery
1/4 c. red wine vinegar
1/8 c. olive oil
1/4 mixed roasted, salted nuts, roughly chopped
Fresh black pepper, generously garnished.
Serves 6.

This recipe so wants to be made with a mandolin. Like I have said before, you really really want one of these. It has changed my everything. Check this. You really don’t need anything fancy. A 20 dollar job is juuuuuust fine. So. Wash your veg. Cut your fennel in half and use the stem that is still attached as your handle so you don’t cut the shit out of your fingers. Slice that mother up using the thinnest setting.

Break apart your celery into separate stalks. Cut off the bottom bits and slice slice slice.

Of course, you can use a knife for this but it’s just mo quick with the mandolin.

I like doing a 3:2 / celery:fennel ratio? Combine sliced veg in a bowl and mix. Add your vinegar, then your oil, then your black pepper. Divide into your eatin bowls and top with the nuts.

Some people add cheese to this, like bleu or parmesan, but foreal? That to me makes no kinda sense. Creamy doesn’t go with watery. Does it. (Is watery the right culinary term?) (Fuck culinary terms, yall know what I mean.)

Again. Apologies for the crap pictures. Double ugh.