madbaker | Two recipes: Resolution and Request

Vaguely Korean-Style Peppers and Beef

1 lb beef ribs, marinated in:
1 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup sake
fresh ginger, peeled and julienned
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 T sugar
3 T sesame oil

Grill beef and bone.

1 T sesame oil
3 hot peppers, coarsely sliced (remove seeds if you're a spice wimp)
3 T sesame salt (sesame seeds browned, ground, and mixed with a small amount of salt)
1/4 cup beef stock
1 t sugar

Heat a wok, add oil; saute peppers for 1 minute. Add beef and sesame salt, cook for 1 minute more. Add stock and sugar, cook until liquid has evaporated and peppers are tender.

Comments: I was too tired to go through the hassle of grilling the beef, so I used stir-fry boneless strips of meat. That changed the flavor to something more like a stir-fry; the dry-cooking and marrow from bones would be good in this dish. Oh well, some other time when I'm feeling more ambitious perhaps. As I made it, it was still pretty good.

Tarte Tatin

pie dough:
3/4 cup white flour
1/2 stick butter
3 T cold water

Cut the butter into the flour until pea-sized. Gradually stir in water, working as little as possible to keep the gluten under control; dough should form a ball.

6 Granny Smith -type apples
3/4 cup sugar
1 T flour
1.5 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
2 tsp lemon juice

Roll the dough into a 1/8" thick circle and fit into a 9" fluted tart pan. Press the overhang against the edge of the pan so that it forms a small ledge protruding over the inside. Cut off excess dough and decorate the edge using a knife or other - presentation is important for this pie. Chill for 30 minutes or more to relax the dough.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Cover the bottom of the tart shell with foil or parchment (King Arthur Flour sells rounds that are useful that way) and fill with pie weights. Or beans if that's what you have. Bake for 20-25 minutes; crust should be golden. Cool on a rack and remove the pie weights (duh). Lower oven to 375.

Peel and core the apples; cut each in half and each half into 12 pieces. Put apples in a large bowl and toss with sugar, fluor, cinnamon, and breadcrumbs. Add a squeeze of lemon juice. Spread on a jelly roll pan and bake for 15-20 minutes, until the apples are soft enough to mash. Scrape into a bowl and mash (not too finely - leave some bumps for contrast). Add more lemon juice if needed, then cool for 15 minutes.

Spoon apple puree into a tart shell and smooth the top to just below the shell rim. Prepare the topping:

2-3 more Granny Smith apples
1 T lemon juice
2 T unsalted butter, melted
1.5 tsp sugar
powdered sugar for dusting

Peel, core, and quarter the apples; slice to 1/8 or 1/4" thick pieces. Throw them into the lemon juice to prevent browning; these need to be nice attractive slices. Working carefully from the edge, arrange the apples in an overlapping circle on the puree. The points should just touch the shell, but the apples will shrink so pack the circle well. Lay on another circle overlapping the first by about 1/8". Brush the apples with the melted butter and sprinkle the sugar over the top.

Bake the tart for 25-30 minutes; the apples should be edged in black and glazed. If the apples aren't fully baked but the crust is browning quickly, cover with a foil tent for a few minutes longer.

Cool and dust with powdered sugar before serving; this is best served slightly warm.
This was the recipe snubbed by my cow-orkers last year. We'll see what happens with the homemade pecan pie on Friday.

What I'm (re)reading: Dan Simmons, Fall of Hyperion