Short Ribs with Soy Sauce, Honey, Cinnamon, Star Anise and Ginger

I am on an endless quest to simplify dinner and an even more endless quest to try to eat dinner as a family (occasionally). These two things come together when Ryan and I feel like eating scrambled eggs with a glass of milk and peeled apples at 6 pm. So like, never.

Anything that I can cook in a slow cooker, however, at least gets me closer – especially when the first line is “combine all ingredients in the slow cooker.” Last week I went for Mark Bittman’s Short Ribs with Chinese Flavors that has you do just that.

 “http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017176-short-ribs-with-chinese-flavors

Don’t skimp on the star anise. It’s worth it. I also took his advice and cooled the sauce, dumped the few inches of solid fat from the top, and reheated. Voila…healthy short ribs! ;)

Lion’s Head Meatballs

I’m back. It’s been over a year since I updated this blog. Life got crazy. But recently my boss told me I seemed stressed out, and I was taking that out on others. Eek. That is not me! My takeaway from that conversation was that I need to make sure I’m taking care of myself – reading, writing, running, etc. – and not constantly buried in work or late nights out with friends.

I actually have been cooking a lot – although the pictures from my circa 1987 phone are nothing to get excited about. I recently purchased the Lucky Peach 101 Easy Asian Recipes cookbook and I love it.  My favorite recipe so far is for Lion’s Head Meatballs. 

Mix 1 lb of ground pork with 1 cup chopped scallions, 2T soy sauce, 1T sugar, 1T Shaoxing wine, 1T minced garlic, 1T minced ginger, 1t salt and ½ t sesame oil. Add 1 large egg and 2T cornstarch. Roll the meat into eight 2 –inch balls.

Heat 1 T neutral oil in a Dutch oven and sear each meatball – about 2 minutes per side. Remove from pan and line the pan with 1lb bok choy. Arrange the meatballs in a single layer on top and add 2 cups of chicken broth. Cover and set over medium heat. Simmer about 20-30 minutes until greens are tender and meat is cooked through. Serve with rice noodles.