There are certain recipes you know you just have to try the very first time you hear of them.  You know the ones, don’t you?  It’s that certain something that sticks in your memory once you’ve seen or heard of it.  It won’t leave you alone until you can recreate it or find somewhere that sells it so that you can see what all the hype was about.  You do have those days, don’t you? Don’t You?

For me, Spam Musubi was one of those recipes. Ever since I saw it on some TV show I was watching, I’ve longed to try it for myself, but have put it off.  Then I saw Anthony Bourdain sing it’s praises on an episode of No Reservations and I wanted it even more, but I resisted.  It was my next-door neighbor’s Hawaiian best friend that finally talked me into tying it, and I’ve never been more glad that I set out to make something in my life.

Most American’s regard Spam with the same sort of distaste that is reserved for things such as offal, but the Hawaiians not only love the stuff, they’ve elevated it to a new level.  Spam Musubi has all the subtle flavor combinations you would expect from an Asian dish, but uses the most humble ingredients.  In one bite you’ve go sweet, sour, savory, salty and starchy, all in different intensities with each bite.

You gotta try this!

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Popularity: 3% [?]

The year’s focus on eating healthier continues right along with a renewed focus on fusion cooking, my favorite means of taking flavors and textures to new heights.  Our weather has been unseasonably warm and the market had the most beautiful baby bok choy, so I had to find something that would go well with it and salmon just seemed to fit the bill.  Add some pan fried noodles and not only do you have yourself a wonderfully healthy and filling meal, but one you can feel good about eating.  no compromises here!

The inspiration for the salmon came from an episode of Gordon Ramsay’s F-Word, but only loosely, as I couldn’t remember exactly what he’d done to his salmon, just that he’d used soy to glaze the fish, which sounded wonderful.  The rest of the dish was whipped up on a whim with ingredients I had on hand, but the combination was perfect for a firly warm evening and a lovely meal with my wife.

The recipe may sound complicated, but in actuality it doesn’t get much simpler than this.  There are only three primary ingredients and a few accompaniments that can be found at nearly any supermarket in the Asian section, so even if all you have access to is a BigScaryMegaMart, you should be able to get everything needed for this recipe in a single trip and for just a few dollars.  It really is worth it, trust me.

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I couldn’t exactly throw up a recipe on Independence Day without that dish being grilled, now could I?  So here you have it, my prerequisite grilled Fourth of July dish and my entry for the fourth Frugal Fridays Food Event, Korean-Style Short Ribs.

Korean style ribs are also called flanken style ribs, and are cut in thin strips across the bone rather than along the bone as in your “Standard American” beef rib. I’ve been itchin’ to cook something with these ribs since the first time I saw them, but it wasn’t until this week that I finally grabbed a package and gave it a go. Let me tell you folks, I’m extremely glad that I did!

The Marinade recipe is adapted from one I found on epicurious, with modifications to suit my tastes and the amount of ribs I was using. (Their recipe called for 5 pounds of ribs and I was feeding 2 people, so I halved everything.)

If you’re wondering why there are only four ribs in this photo, it has nothing to do with portioning. The carnage at the scene of the grill was something any horror film director would have been proud of.  The ribs never stood a chance.  I almost feel sorry for them, or I would have if I hadn’t fallen fairly quickly into a food induced coma.

I can’t recommend this marinade highly enough. The ribs were moist, packed with flavor and succulent beyond belief. The slight char (seen above) that was caused by a hot-spot flare up on the grill only served to make the few ribs that got singed even better than they were before…  I swear, I HAVE to make these again…  Often.

Now, as for how this qualifies as Frugal Fridays material..  A quick breakdown goes like this …

Most ingredients were left over portions from other FF meals. Total cost… $0.00 for this round. The ribs totalled in at $4.50.  The rice we had on the side, maybe 40 cents, including the green onions. So in reality, I could have fed close to eight people for just a dollar or two more and one more inexpensive side dish, all for well under $10.00.

Now go make these ribs…  Right now…  Yes, YOU!  Go.  You’ll thank me for it.

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What do you do with a lonely little piece of leftover chuck roast? You can always make a barbecue beef sammich, or just nibble it to death as a snack, but why not give it a bit of pride in its demise and turn it into something completely different and absolutely fabulous!…

But what would that be?

In this case, the inspiration came from my sister, who sent me a wonderful birthday gift, including plum sauce, sea salt, black bean garlic sauce, a couple sea salt grinders, the cutest outfit for Mr. seat of his Diaper, and a jar of oriental barbecue sauce.

A quick look in the crisper showed half of a bag of Italian salad greens, some arugula, shredded carrots, and my course was set. That lonely lil’ piece of leftover roast beef had a new destiny, and it was going Asian.

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Popularity: 1% [?]