Spicy Orange Braised Short Ribs

Orange juice adds a lovely sweetness to these spicy orange braised short ribs. Slow cooking intensifies the flavors and the ribs melt in your mouth.

Despite their "golden riches" symbolism in Chinese culture, I didn’t think that oranges featured in many otherwise Chinese-inspired savory dishes. I certainly don’t remember any from the many years we lived in Malaysia and Singapore where Chinese restaurants abound.

But I was wrong! A simple search reveals, that as usual *deep sigh* everyone from Serious Eats to Kroger. com, for goodness’ sake, has an orange braised beef short rib recipe online. It’s hard to be original in this world. That said, I’m here to tell you, orange juice and zest are great additions and that’s probably why they are popular. 

Spicy Orange Braised Short Ribs

Short ribs are such a succulent cut but they do release a lot of fat when slow cooked till tender. If you want to discard most of the fat, cook this ahead of the day you’d like to serve it. You will have time to chill it overnight and remove most of the fat that rises to the top and hardens. My method below includes that step. 

Ingredients

3 lbs 5 oz or 1.5kg short ribs

1 tablespoon five-spice powder

Fine sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

1/2 cup or 120ml soy sauce

2 cups or 480ml fresh orange juice

1 celery stick, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 thumbs fresh ginger, peeled and minced

2 red chili peppers, minced

2 tablespoons salted black beans, rinsed

1 orange

1 star anise

1 bay leaf

To serve: small handful cilantro, chopped plus more for garnish, if desired

Method

Using a sharp knife, cut off the zest of the orange in strips, as whole as possible, but thin, no white pith. Peel and chop the onion and garlic. Peel and slice the ginger. Remove the stems and cut the red chili peppers into two halves and chop the celery stick. 

Tuck the spare ribs in a Dutch oven that has a tightly fitting lid and sprinkle them with the five-spice powder, fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. 

Add in the sesame oil, soy sauce then orange juice. 

Tuck the chili peppers, ginger, garlic, salted black beans, star anise and bay leaf on and amongst the ribs. 

Top with the chopped onions and celery. 

Put the pot on the stovetop over medium heat and bring to a low boil. Cover with tightly fitting lid and lower the heat to simmer. Cook for about four hours., checking occasionally to make sure it isn’t drying out. 

My LeCreuset Dutch oven really seals well and I don’t have to add water, but I know that not all pots are that great.  Add a little water, if needed from time to time.

If you have planned ahead as I mentioned above, pour the cooking liquid into a heatproof bowl. Pick out all the bones that have separated from the meat in the pot and discard them. 

Add the meat into the cooking liquid and chill overnight. The next day, carefully remove the solidified fat and discard. 

Rewarm the short ribs and stir in the small handful of cilantro.

I recommend serving the ribs with mashed potatoes or rice because of all the lovely gravy. Garnish with extra cilantro, if desired.

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 15th edition of the 2024 Alphabet Challenge, brought to you by the letter O. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the O recipes below:

• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Firecracker Oatmeal Peanut Butter Blossoms
• Culinary Cam: How to Shuck Oysters and a Few Serving Ideas 
• Palatable Pastime: Olive Cream Cheese Bites
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Orange Chili Pulled Pork 
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Oreo Mousse Cake
• Magical Ingredients: Oreo Paratha
• A Messy Kitchen: Ozark Pudding
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Roasted Onion and Asiago Miche
• Food Lust People Love: Spicy Orange Braised Short Ribs
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Whole Orange Cake

Here are my posts for the alphabet challenge, thus far:
A: Anchovy Deviled Eggs
B: Spicy Braised Ginger Pork Belly
C: Cecilie's Favorite Coleslaw
D: Cajun Chicken Eggplant Dressing
E: Everything Pizza Tartin
F: Baked Chicken and Feta Meatballs
G: Grape Juice Jigglers
H: Crispy Bacon-wrapped Chicken Hearts
I: Raspberry Rhubarb Ice Cream
J: Java Dry Spice Mix Chops 

K. Korean Barbecue-style Meatballs 

L. Easy Lamb and Fresh Tomato Curry 

M. Fresh Mint Sauce 

N. Miso Butter Noodles 

O. Spicy Orange Braised Short Ribs - this post!

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Korean Barbecue-style Meatballs

These tasty Korean barbecue-style meatballs are made with both pork and beef, seasoned with garlic, ginger, brown sugar, soy and gochujang paste. Roasted in a hot oven, they caramelize beautifully! 

Serve these delightful sweet and savory bites simply with forks or toothpicks as an appetizer or with rice and/or vegetables as a main course. I like to drizzle the rice with kecap manis – sweet soy sauce – or just more regular soy sauce. Either way, the meatballs are wonderful and bursting with flavor.

Korean Barbecue-style Meatballs

The meatball mixture can be made ahead, covered and refrigerated for three hours or even overnight. You can use all beef for the mixture but make sure it is at least 80 lean/20 percent fat so you don’t end up with dry meatballs. I prefer the mix of beef and pork. This recipe is adapted from one in New York Times Cooking. cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019763-korean-barbecue-style-meatballs

Ingredients

8 oz or 225g ground beef 

8 oz or 225g ground pork 

4 whole green onions/scallions

2 in or 5cm knob fresh ginger, peeled

5 cloves garlic 

1/2 cup or 38g panko 

2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

2 tablespoons gochujang paste

2 tablespoons, firmly packed, dark brown sugar

2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

A few generous grinds of black pepper

Optional to garnish: chopped cilantro or parsley leaves

Method

Heat your oven to 425° or 218°C. Use a small food processor to mince the ginger, garlic and the white parts of your green onions. Chop the green part of the green onions with a sharp knife.

In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients, including the minced items and the chopped green onion.  

Use your hands or a firm spatula to gently mix it all together till homogeneous.

At this point of any meatball or patty recipe, I always recommend you cook just a little of the mixture to see if it needs more salt. This pan is my tiny one for frying a single egg so you can see how little I cooked. Add more salt, if needed. 

Use a spoon or small cookie dough scoop to divide the meat mixture on to a baking pan lined with foil or a silicone liner. With damp hands, shape the meat into balls. As you can see from the baked photo. I made 27 bite-sized balls.

Bake until golden and cooked through, about 10-12 minutes. Broil for a further 2-3 minutes if you’d like them darker brown. The pan looks like the juices burned but I am here to tell you that once it cooled, we were scraping that off with our bare fingers and eating it! So good! 

Serve warm, sprinkled with a little chopped cilantro or parsley, if desired.

If you are going the rice route, pop the meatballs on top with a little extra soy or sweet soy sauce. 

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 11th edition of the 2024 Alphabet Challenge, brought to you by the letter K. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the K recipes below:

• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Kwasnica (Polish Sauerkraut and Pork Soup) 
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Key Lime Pie Cocktails 
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Khamang Kakdi 
• Sneha’s Recipe: Kala Chana Batata Chaat 
• Culinary Cam: Purple Napa Kimchi 
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice Kalamata, Mozzarella, & Tomato Couscous Salad 
• Blogghetti: Key Lime Mousse Tarts 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Kung Pao Chicken 
• Food Lust People Love: Korean Barbecue-Style Meatballs 

Here are my posts for the alphabet challenge, thus far:
A: Anchovy Deviled Eggs
B: Spicy Braised Ginger Pork Belly
C: Cecilie's Favorite Coleslaw
D: Cajun Chicken Eggplant Dressing
E: Everything Pizza Tartin
F: Baked Chicken and Feta Meatballs
G: Grape Juice Jigglers
H: Crispy Bacon-wrapped Chicken Hearts
I: Raspberry Rhubarb Ice Cream
J: Java Dry Spice Mix Chops 

K. Korean Barbecue-style Meatballs - this post!

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Hatch Chili Pepper Meatloaf

This hatch chili pepper meatloaf is flavorful and tender. It’s a meaty well-seasoned main course, made with both ground turkey and beef. So easy too!

When it’s Hatch chili pepper season (generally August and September in Hatch, New Mexico, depending on the weather) I buy lots of those great peppers, roast them in the oven, peel and freeze so we can enjoy their flavor all year round. 

I use them in lots of dishes, like my Creamy Hatch Chili Pepper Spinach Chicken (where you can see my roast and peel method) and even pimento cheese. As you’ll see in the pimento cheese recipe, if you don’t have Hatch peppers in your freezer, they can also be purchased in cans. 

It’s Sunday FunDay and we are celebrating Elvis Presley’s birthday by sharing recipes to honor him! Had he lived this long, Elvis would be 88 today. Everyone knows about the iconic sandwich he loved, but did you know that his actual favorite dish is meatloaf? 

Or so said Elvis impersonator, Mark Hussman in an interview with the Chicago Tribune many years ago: "Elvis ate a lot of Southern food, he loved steak, and he loved meatloaf. His favorite food was meatloaf. He ate it every day for month one year."  

That sounds a bit much but his former wife Priscilla Presley once confirmed that at one point, Elvis wanted his Sunday Meatloaf for every evening meal for six months straight! 

According to yet another source, once a week, Elvis would request meatloaf on the menu, a recipe subsequently printed in the Presley Family Cookbook. I did find that one online and considered making it but while my Hatch Chili Pepper Meatloaf is not the original Presley family recipe, I like to think Elvis would approve. My own family certainly did! 

Hatch Chili Pepper Meatloaf 

This meatloaf is one of my favorite dishes with the Hatch chili peppers. They add a lovely fresh and slightly smoky flavor to the meat. If you aren’t a fan of spicy, by all means substitute green pepper. 

Ingredients

4 slices sandwich bread or 2 hamburger buns

1/2 cup or 120ml milk

1 small onion

2 eggs

1 1/3 lbs or 600g ground beef

1 lb or 450g ground turkey

2 roasted peeled Hatch chili peppers

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup or 80ml ketchup

2 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard powder (like Colman’s)

Method

Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C.

Rip the bread into rough pieces and, in a small bowl, pour the milk over it, pushing the pieces down into the milk. Soak until all the milk is absorbed.

Put the onion in the food processor and process till chopped finely.

Add the hatch chili peppers and process again briefly.

Mash the soggy bread with a fork and then add to a large bowl with all of the other ingredients. 

Mix well.

Tip the lot into a loaf pan lined with foil. (The foil is not essential, especially if your pan is nonstick, but it does make clean up so much easier.)

Bake for about an hour or until the meatloaf is browned nicely and internal temperature reaches 155°F or 68°C. The temperature will continue to rise, reaching a safe temp of 165°F or 74°C for the ground turkey. Cover with foil for 10 minutes before slicing to serve. 

I suggest serving this juicy meatloaf alongside some rich mashed potatoes, gravy and the vegetable of your choice.

Enjoy!

As I mentioned above, it’s Sunday FunDay and we are honoring Elvis today! Check out the links below. Many thanks to our host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. 

• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Brown Sugar Glazed Salmon 
• Karen's Kitchen Stories: Buffalo Chicken Baked Mac and Cheese 
• Food Lust People Love: Hatch Chili Pepper Meatloaf
• Culinary Cam: Oysters Rockefeller 
• Palatable Pastime: Pineapple Poke Cake 
• Sneha's Recipe: Pork Chops In Homemade Recheado Masala 
• Amy's Cooking Adventures: "The Elvis" Peanut Butter, Bacon, & Banana Sandwich

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Roasted Tomato Vinaigrette Steak Salad

This roasted tomato vinaigrette steak salad sees the vinaigrette do double duty, first as a marinade for the rump steak and then as dressing for the salad itself. 

One year, on a holiday to Florida, we were invited to a family member’s house for a barbecue. It had been a crazy day where things got behind schedule so I didn’t have time to prepare anything to take along to put on the grill. But I had a plan. 

Most marinades are essentially something acidic, like lemon juice or vinegar, with seasonings and some oil. Just like my favorite vinaigrettes. 

En route, we pulled over at a grocery store and I ran in to buy three things: a box of gallon Ziploc bags, some chicken pieces and a bottle of Italian dressing. My husband popped the trunk and helped me open the packages. 

All the chicken went into one of the gallon bags, along with the salad dressing. After one good shake and a little massaging, we slammed the trunk and were on our way again, chicken marinating in a cooler. By the time we had arrived and the grilling started, the chicken was perfect. 

A good vinaigrette is still one of my favorite ways to marinate meat. 

Roasted Tomato Vinaigrette Steak Salad

The marinade/vinaigrette ingredients make about 1 1/4 cups or 295ml so you’ll probably have some left over but it will keep nicely for several days in the refrigerator. Spoon it over sliced avocado or toss it with your favorite greens. 

Ingredients

For the marinade /vinaigrette: 

1 large ripe tomato, cut into six wedges (about 280g)

2 tablespoons bacon fat or olive oil

1/4 cup or 60ml red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon honey

1/2 cup or 120ml extra-virgin olive oil

Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the salad:

12 oz or 340g rump steak

5 oz or 140g cherry-sized mozzarella balls (Ciliegine) 

5 oz or 140g grape tomatoes

Mixed salad greens

To make the marinade/vinaigrette, preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C. 

Toss the tomato wedges with the bacon fat or oil in a pan and sprinkle them with salt and pepper. 

Roast in the preheated oven until the tomatoes are slightly scorched and browned all over, about 15-20 minutes. 

In a blender, puree the tomato with the vinegar and honey. With the machine running, gradually add the olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Refrigerate in a clean jar until ready to use. 

To prepare and cook the rump steak, put the chilled steak in a Ziploc bag and pour in a 1/2 cup or 120ml of the roasted tomato marinade/vinaigrette, making sure to press the air out of the bag so the steak is covered. Leave to marinate for an hour or two in the refrigerator. This can even be done the day before. 

Cook the steak over a charcoal grill or in a grill pan to your desired doneness. This will vary depending on the thickness of your steak but shouldn’t take more than a few minutes on each side, if you still want some pink inside. 

Remove the rump steak from the heat and allow to rest for 10 minutes before slicing thinly.  

To assemble the salad, spread your washed and dried salad greens over a large plate. Scatter the grape tomatoes and mozzarella ciliegine over the greens. Add the sliced rump steak. 

Drizzle with the dressing. Or, if you think you might have leftovers the next day, serve the salad and let everyone drizzle on the vinaigrette on his or her own portion. 

This week our Sunday FunDay group is sharing salad recipes that can be a whole meal to start the New Year off right. Adding protein like beef or cheese or both, is a great way to make a simple salad into a meal that keeps you from feeling hungry again in half an hour. Many thanks to our host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. Happy New Year to all!

• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Asian Chicken Ginger Salad.
• Sneha's Recipe: Chicken Pasta Caesar Salad
• Palatable Pastime: Crispy Shell Chicken Taco Salad 
• Karen's Kitchen Stories: Italian Chopped Salad
• Amy’s Cooking Adventures: Oriental Chicken Salad 
• Food Lust People Love: Roasted Tomato Vinaigrette Steak Salad
• Our Good Life: Spinach Salad with Creamy Hard Boiled Egg and Homemade Garlic Croutons
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Veggie Pasta Salad

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Korean-style Short Rib Noodles (Instant Pot)

Flavorful and more-ish, these Korean-style Short Rib Noodles are delicious the first day and even better as leftovers. If you are so lucky! 

Since we discovered that we can share Notes on our Apple devices a few years ago, my husband and I have several lists going all the time. The grocery shopping list and the to-do around house list get often updates. One of my favorites is a list of dishes that is called “would have again.”

If a recipe makes it on the “would have again” list, I know it’s a real keeper because dishes don’t get added that often. In fact, right now there are only seven things on there. That doesn’t mean there aren’t other dishes I make regularly, like spag bol, grilled chicken Caesar or gumbo. They just aren’t special enough to make the list. 

As you can see, the third one down is this very recipe. It’s that good. And because I use an Instant Pot, it’s pretty quick as well. 

Korean-style Short Rib Noodles (Instant Pot)

If you’d rather serve the short ribs with rice, just skip the noodle steps but I just want to say that you’ll be missing out. The sauce soaks into the noodles and makes them fabulous. I don’t think this would be the same over rice. This recipe is adapted from one on Food Network Kitchen where they use a 6-quart Instant Pot. Mine is 8-quart model. 

Ingredients

1/4 cup or 60ml soy sauce

3 tablespoons gochujang

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar (25g)

thumb-sized piece ginger, peeled and grated 

1 small apple (about 3 1/2 oz or 100g)

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

2 lbs or 900g crosscut bone-in beef short ribs (flanken style)

1 lb or 450g linguine or noodle of your choice

To garnish:

2 green onion tops - green part only - sliced thinly on the diagonal

2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

crushed red pepper 

Method

Whisk together the soy sauce, gochujang, ginger, brown sugar, garlic, sesame oil and 1/4 cup water in your Instant Pot. 

Peel and core the apple then grate it on the large holes of a box grater. Add the apple to the pot. Give everything a good stir. 

Add the short ribs to the pot and stir to coat with the sauce. 

Close the Instant Pot and make sure the valve is on Seal. Set to pressure cook for 25 minutes. 

After the pressure cook cycle is complete, follow the manufacturer's guide for quick release.  When the quick release cycle is complete carefully unlock and remove the lid. 

Skim off most of the oil and discard any bones that have fallen off of the meat. 

Cook the noodles according to package instructions, till just al dente. Drain and pour them into the Instant Pot. 

Stir well to coat the noodles. Put the lid back on the unplugged pot for five minutes. 

Stir again and serve garnished with the green onions and a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds and crushed red pepper, if desired.  

Enjoy! 

It's MultiCooker Monday so I've got a whole lot of small appliance recipes for you! Many thanks to our host and organizer, Sue of Palatable Pastime. 

• Air Fryer Bread Manchurian from Sneha's Recipe
• Chicken and Lentil Soup (Instant Pot) from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Crockpot Corned Beef with Stout & Onion Gravy from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Dr. Pepper Brisket (Instant Pot) from Palatable Pastime
• Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs from Making Miracles
• Instant Pot Vegan Bottle Gourd and Masoor Dhal Curry from Magical Ingredients
• Korean Sparerib Noodles (Instant Pot) from Food Lust People Love
• Slow Cooker Mahi Mahi Tacos from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Yorkshire Pudding Wraps (Toaster Oven) from Sid's Sea Palm Cooking

Multicooker Monday is a blogger group created by Sue of Palatable Pastime for all of us who need encouragement to make better use of our small appliances like slow cookers, Instant Pots, Air Fryers, rice cookers and sous vide machines. We get together every third Monday of the month to share our recipes. If you are a food blogger who would like to post with us, please request to join our Facebook group. 

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