A Week of Menus - Gohlee Gook Mini Lesson

I got one round of feedback, who informed me that the soup stock lesson was good, and she loved the steak which was a hit (and super easy too.) So that got me motivated to write another menu this week - I was going to let it slide, but the feedback always get me going again...

Gohlee Gook Mini Lesson
gohlee gook..is a GREAT base for dduk gook and shigumchee (spinach) deunjahng gook. If you use the gohlee gook as the base, you have a far more rich flavorful soup for either the dukkgook or the shigumchee gook - and it stands very well on it's own of course. for those with kids, it is a VERY good source of calcium IF you boil it to the point of cloudiness and opaqueness...this means the calcium and gelatin from the bone and cartilage itself has melted into the broth - good nutrition here. This recipe requires time more than anything else and a patient hand....so here we go.

Get yourself a pack of gohlee (oxtail)- I find the chinese supermarket always has a nice selection. My tendency is to go for lots of medium sized pieces vs. huge chunky pieces. For those who are tempted to go to Costco and get their oxtail there -DO NOT. It sucks...

Okay - soak the gohlee in cold water...drain the blood as we did for your beef in beef stock. A good 45 minutes is what it can take but sometimes I soak it and forget it and get to it an hour later. still fine.
Now - put the drained and rinsed gohlee in pot and put JUST enough water to cover all the gohlee. Then put it on the stove and get it to a good rolling boil - and let it boil for about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and DUMP IT ALL OUT....save the gohlee of course, but dump out all that liquid. It will be brownish, foamy and blech. Get rid of it, rinse your pot and rinse the gohlee and put it back in your pot. Now fill the pot with fresh water, add 7 cloves of garlic and a peeled onion. Now begins the easy part - get it to a boil and maintain a simmer. Now - this is the part that takes a while - you keep boiling and boiling and boiling - I like mine to get about a good 6 hours on the stove - and then I get a lovely pale milky yellowish broth...your liquid will evaporate and reduce - so what do you do? you add BOILING WATER....I just get my teapot, fill it with water and get it to a boil and add it in. NEVER NEVER NEVER add cold water - because you're basically starting from scratch and my cooking ancestors tell me that for some reason, you do NOT do this. If you get about to the 3 hour mark, you'll need to add hot water.

oh - and a trick - you can usually get MORE broth than you think you can from a good set of oxtails. AFter you get some milk broth, get a container that you intend to freeze in and scoop out the broth. Cool and set aside ready to freeze. Add MORE boiling water to your pot and bring to a boil and get more liquid out. You can usually get two or three rounds this way...

after a good 6-7 hours, you should have a super rich milk broth - happy boiling!

Menu #1 - Rotisserie chicken (costco), bagged salad mix (costco) and Balsamic Couscous...
Rotisserie chicken from Costco is very very good in a pinch (and it's cheaper than making your own roast chicken in most cases) and the bagged Parisian Salad Mix I mentioned in my other menu is also a good accompaniment. This couscous recipe is super easy but SUPER good...

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/TOMATO-BASIL-AND-COUSCOUS-SALAD-607

Menu #2 - Salmon Agrodolce, Steamed Broccoli with butter and salt, and Apricot Green Onion Cous Cous.

our super easy salmon recipe - from prior weeks - Sung calls the balsamic reduction "liquid gold" and at one point, I saw him lift the fry pan and try to lick the rest of the sauce off before I screamed in horror...very tasty as many of you know from trying.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/SALMON-WITH-AGRODOLCE-SAUCE-241986

Steamed broccoli - how many of you are microwave steamers? I am a huge one - love it. I wash my broccoli crowns, cut up the florets in smaller pieces, stick it in a dish with a tiny bit of water on the bottom, cover it tightly with saran wrap and steam it in the microwave - my microwave is super strong so it's done in 2 minutes, but most people usually take 3. Take it out, CAREFULLY uncover (that steam will get you) and then just add some butter and salt on top.

Apricot Couscous - this is sort of my own psycho invention after looking at about 20 recipes and not finding one that I EXACTLY wanted to do.

1 Box of Couscous
8 - 10 dried apricots, chopped into small pieces
1 bunch of green onions sliced
olive oil
cinnamon (optional - if you like the morrocanish flavorings add)
salt
Pepper =

I prepare my couscous in a bowl - I dump in the cous cous, apricots, salt and boiling water according to the proportions on the box. Cover and let it sit for about 5 minutes. Uncover and then fluff with a fork. Then I add the choped green onions, cinnamon and olive oil to taste. (sorry - no proportions - just my own haphazzard guessing.) very yummy with the salmon.

Menu #3 Kalbi ggim and Korean Spinach Nameul and soup (gohlee gook would be nice here.)
This is what our family is eating tomorrow - but I don't know if people consider kalbi ggim an easy enough dish. It is a bit time consuming but the technique itself is not that difficult...if people are interested in a mini lesson in this, I will be happy to write it down for next week. Please just let me know if you want the mini lesson. I also think spinach nameul is easy and yummy - although it does take 4 dishes to prepare - one to wash dirty dirty spinach, one to cook, one to mix and one to serve...what a pain. Let me know if people want nameul lesson as well.

Menu #4 Sausage and Chicken kebabs - salad

I made this recipe and was super excited about it. The actual finished product was not as spectacular as I would have hoped (having sung in the background trying to knock out pieces of charred baguette from our daughters' mouths with the cry that it would give them cancer was not appealing either.) The recipe asks that you skewer sausage, chicken breasts and baguette slices onto skewers and then grill them. Unfortunately for us, the baguettes burned far to quickly and the sausage and chicken took longer to cook. So we had burnt toast. I think the combination, however was really delicious - I would just grlll the bread separately on the grill similar to crostini and drizzle them with olive oil and sprinkle with salt when they are done.

The recipe also calls for a Caesar salad - I used the Costco Parisian Salad mix (if you can't tell we use this a lot in a pinch) and it was equally delicious. I do think with the Caesar, however, it would be fantastic but since I'm restricted on dairy, I don't dare indulge.

Recipe is here - modify as you see fit - but do toast your baguette slices separately.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_37142,00.html

Happy cooking all!