Worldly Recipes: Bibimbap

I fell in love with bibimbap on my first night in Seoul, Korea.  My first meal right off the plane was in a mall restaurant, where we had Shabu Shabu for the table and there was a build your own bibimbap bar. I loved how customizable the dish was while still being absolutely delicious no matter the toppings.  This dish consists of rice, meat (if you want it), vegetables, and any other topping that might enhance it.  I make this recipe at least once a month for my boyfriend and myself and it never gets old.  I will say that you will probably dirty ALL of your sauté pans making this dish, but I promise it will be worth it.  It makes two healthy servings with enough for a leftover lunch.

Let’s start with the wine that I drank while I made this delicious dish, Bollicini Prosecco.  Now pour yourself a glass of wine and get cooking!Bollicini Prosecco.jpg

Ingredients:

Marinade:

  • ½ Cup Soy Sauce
  • 2 Tsp Brown Sugar
  • 1 Tsp Sesame Seeds
  • 2 Cloves of Garlic, Chopped
  • 1 Tsp Fresh Ginger, Chopped
  • 2 Stalks of Green Onions, Sliced
  • 1 LB of Beef Short Rib, Sliced
  • 2 Cups Jasmine Rice
  • 4 Cups Water
  • 1 tsp saltBibimbap Short Rib
  1. Whisk marinade ingredients together and add in sliced short rib. Make sure the meat is fully coated with the marinade, cover dish and place in refrigerator while you finish your mis en place.  Start cooking rice, adding salt to water.

Ingredients:

Accouterments:

  • 1 Cup Red Pepper, Slice Thin
  • 1 Cup Mixed Mushrooms, Sliced
  • 2 Cups Spinach
  • 1 Clove Garlic
  • ½ Cup Yellow Onion, Chopped
  • 3 Tbsp Olive Oil
  • 1 Tbsp Sesame Oil
  • ½ Cup Bean Sprouts
  • 1 Large Egg
  • Salt and PepperBibimbap Ingredients

Garnish:

  • ½ Cup Green Onions, Sliced
  • Sriracha
  • Kimchee

Directions:

  1. Cut your vegetables: Slice the mushrooms, if they aren’t already (mine were) and chop the onions, these will be cooked together. Chop your garlic, this will be cooked with the spinach.  Slice your red peppers.
  2. Once the water for your rice is boiling, start cooking your meat in the marinade in a stir fry pan.
  3. Heat sesame oil in a sauté pan, once hot, sweat onions in pan before adding mushrooms and salt and pepper.
  4. Heat olive oil in another sauté pan, and throw in garlic. If you’re like me, this is the extent of your burners’ capacity, but don’t worry, we’ll make it work.  Add in spinach, salt and pepper and stir.
  5. Once mushroom and spinach dishes are thoroughly cooked, remove them from the stove and cover to keep warm.
    Stove Top Bibimbap
  6. If you have two more sauté pans, now is the time to use them. If not, place cooked vegetables in separate bowls, and cover with saran wrap.
  7. Sauté red peppers in olive oil and set aside
  8. Heat olive oil for your eggs (I only do this step for Michael, because I don’t eat eggs), once oil is hot, start egg. I usually cook it over easy but it’s up to you.  Season with salt and pepper.
  9. Start plating while the egg cooks. Scoop rice into bowls, and place each vegetable, the meat and the bean sprouts separately around the center.
  10. Top your bibimbap with the egg, place it in the center of the dish, and garnish with green onions, kimchee and sriracha to taste.

     

    And voila! Enjoy your Korean Bibimbap!

Have you had bibimbap before? What do you top yours with?  

Worldly Recipes: Lasagna

Welcome to Worldly Recipes, a new segment of RebeccaWanderlusting where I explore my love for cooking!  I’ve always loved working with food, and since I have a degree in Culinary Arts, technically I know what I’m doing.  However, sometimes my ideas in the kitchen fall flat as a pancakes (just like the pineapple upside down cake I made for my sister’s birthday!)  Since we’ve moved into this new apartment (back in April, 2015), I’ve been cooking more and more, so I decided to share some of my favorite dishes here!  I can combine my adventures out in the world with my adventures, or misadventures, in the kitchen.  The first recipe I want to share is my take on Lasagna, a dish created in Naples, Italy.  I didn’t really have a recipe to go on, so I kind of made it up as I went along.  But that’s part of the fun of cooking, right?  Right!  The lasagna turned out really well and made some delicious left overs!  Full disclosure, I made far too many lasagna noodles and a huge mess, but overall, everything went great!  So without further ado, here is my lasagna recipe:

  • Lasagna Noodles – I used Prince brand, the kind you boil, not the kind you can just bake. I made the whole box, which turned out to be too much.  I only used nine noodles in total for a 13”x9” dish
  • 1 large can of tomato sauce (29oz)
  • 1 can of diced tomatoes (14oz)
  • ½ a green pepper, diced medium
  • 1 small onion, diced medium
  • 6oz white Mushrooms, chopped
  • 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
  • Two cups of spinach
  • 1lb of ground turkey
  • Grated Parmesan Cheese to taste – I used Mama Francesca’s
  • 16oz shredded Mozzarella Cheese
  • 9oz Goat Cheese – I used La Bonne Vie brand
  • ½ cup of red wine – I used Menage a Trois Red Blend
  • Oregano to taste
  • Dash’s Garlic and herb to taste
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • 2 tbsp Olive Oil

Once you have all your ingredients, here’s what you do with them:

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit
  2. Put on a large pot of water to boil for the noodles, add a dash of salt to the water
  3. Pour yourself a glass of wine because you deserve it (not the ½ cup in the recipe, you’ll need that later)
  4. Medium chop the onion, mushrooms, and green pepper
  5. Finely chop the garlic
  6. In a large sauce pan, sweat the onion, green pepper and garlic in olive oil for five minutes, or until the onions are translucent
  7. Add the can of diced tomatoes and the mushrooms and let the mix simmer for a couple minutes
  8. Add the tomato sauce into the mix and set to low heat
  9. Season with salt, pepper, and oregano
  10. Add ½ cup of wine into the sauce and stir well
  11. Cook the ground turkey in a little bit of olive oil
  12. Season the turkey with Mrs. Dash’s seasoning, Oregano, and salt and pepper
  13. Once the water for the noodles is boiling, add in nine lasagna noodles
  14. Drain the grease from the turkey meat, if there is any
  15. Once the noodles are cooked, lay them out on a sheet pan with tin foil on it so they don’t stick together
  16. Put a layer of your sauce on the bottom of a 13×9” pan
  17. Cover with a layer of lasagna noodles
  18. Add turkey, spinach, and goat cheese (use a fork or your hands to separate the goat cheese)
  19. Then sprinkle a generous amount of mozzarella cheese and a dry parmesan cheese to taste
  20. Cover with another layer of sauce and noodles
  21. Add one more layer of turkey, spinach, the cheeses, and sauce
  22. Add the last layer of noodles, and cover with sauce
  23. Sprinkle the rest of the mozzarella on top and more Parmesan to taste
  24. Cook the lasagna for 25 minutes, or until the center is nice and piping hot

And voila! A delicious dinner for six… or two with leftover for the next few days.

Plated Lasagna
I hope you’ll forgive my first attempt at recipe sharing.  I made it through the whole cooking process and then realized I didn’t take any pictures, so the next one will have a ton, I promise.  If you are able to try this recipe, please let me know how it goes!