I got home from the gym at 8:11 and had this ready to eat, on the table at 8:43. No lie. Bibimbap is a Korean dish that’s just a big saute of vegetables, topped with a raw or fried egg. Well, the raw egg wasn’t going to happen and the hater-of-washing-dishes in me only wanted to dirty up one pan, so I opted for making little holes in the vegetable saute and baking the eggs.

Ingredients

• F.O.C.
• 1/4 t red pepper flakes
• 1/4 t coriander
• 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1 thumb-size piece of ginger, finely minced
• 1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
• 4 oz mushrooms, roughly chopped
• 1/2 hot house/english cucumber, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 6 oz spinach, roughly chopped
• 6 eggs
• chili garlic sauce or sriracha

Method

Preheat your oven to 350F.

In an oven-safe or cast iron skillet, melt your F.O.C. over medium heat. Add the red pepper flakes, coriander, garlic and ginger. Then progress down the list, adding vegetables as the previous ones start looking cooked.

Using whatever tool you used to stir around the vegetables, make little holes by pushing the vegetables out of your way, throughout the skillet, big enough so you can crack your eggs into each one. The bigger your skillet, the more room you’ll have for egg holes. Crack the eggs into the holes and if you like heat, top with a sprinkle of red pepper flakes.

Stick the skillet in the oven and bake until the eggs look about 1/2 way done. Then stick the oven on broil to get the top side of the eggs cooked to whichever way you like ‘em–over easy, medium or hard.

Serve with a few squirts of sriracha or chili garlic sauce.

I L-O-V-E skirt steak. It has a wonderful amount of marbling (read: flavor) and does really, really well charred up on the grill. So what is skirt steak? It’s the diaphragm muscle of the cow, located right next door to the flank steak. It’s usually cheaper than flank steak. If you can’t find a skirt steak, feel free to substitute flank steak or any other meat you like to grill!

The rub was inspired by my disdain for dry rubs that involve combining 200 different ingredients and then turns out tasting like–um, nothing. So here it is, 3 ingredients; the star being smoked paprika. I would like to rename this: powdered bacon.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 lbs. skirt or flank steak
• 4 T smoked paprika
• 1 t salt
• 1 t pepper

Method

Rub the ingredients on both sides of the steak. Place on a preheated grill and let cook for about 12 minutes…that’ll get you a nice medium rare.

Ingredients

• 2 mangoes, cubed
• 1 English cucumber, cubed
• 1/2 red onion, finely diced
• 2 limes, juiced
• handful of mint, chopped
• S&P

Method

Combine all ingredients. Let marinate in the fridge for a few hours or eat immediately.

I used to be a chicken thigh trimming Nazi! I would lose a ton of the edible parts trying to cut off all that visible fat and other unappetizing looking stuff. BUT–If you just cook the thighs, un-trimmed, it almost all cooks away!

BBQ Ingredients

• 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 1/3 c honey or molasses
• 1/3 c red wine vinegar
• 3 T worcestershire sauce
• 1 (not 1 can) chipolte pepper in adobo*

Method

Place the chicken thighs in a plastic zip top bag. In a blender or food processor, blend up the rest of the ingredients until smooth and pour into the plastic bag. Let marinate in the fridge up to overnight. If you don’t have time to marinate, just skip it and follow the rest of the steps below.

To cook, place chicken thighs in a pre-heated saute pan and sear on each side, about 4 minutes, or until cooked through. Don’t fidget with the chicken, let it get nice and brown and caramel-ly on each side! Brown=Flavor. Remove the thighs and pour the reserved marinade into the same pan. Boil the marinade for 3-5 minutes to thicken it and kill any raw chicken bacteria. Pour the BBQ sauce over the chicken.

Cukes and Onions Ingredients

• 1/2 English cucumber (doesn’t need peeling or seeding, here’s what you’re looking for)
• 1/2 red onion
• 2 lemons, juiced
• 3 T olive oil
• 1 T Dijon mustard
• 1/2 t sugar
• 1/2 handful mint leaves
• S & P

Method

Slice the cucumbers and onions as thinly as possible and place in a bowl. If you don’t have a hand-held mandoline, I would strongly recommend you look into purchasing one of those handy, time-saving and cheap gadgets.

Whisk together the rest of the ingredients and pour over the top of the cucumbers and onions. If you have a jar with a screw top lid you can just add the ingredients and shake the heck out of it. I think this is easier and dirties up fewer dishes!

Let the cukes and onions marinate–unless you like raw red onions. The lemon juice “cooks” the onions. They become softer and the flavor becomes less harsh with time.

{*You can find these is the Latin section at almost any grocery store. They’re not much more than $1 per can. Here’s what your’e looking for.}

This salad is very traditional, but for some reason, people seem to forget it exists. If you have some fresh herbs lying around, like oregano, basil, thyme, parsley, chives, throw them into the mix too!

Salad Ingredients

• 2 romaine heads, chopped
• 3 green onions, sliced
• 5 hard boiled eggs, chopped
• 1 avocado, chopped
• 6 slices cooked bacon, crumbled
• 2 tomatoes, chopped (or 2 handfuls of grape tomatoes)
• 1/2 English cucumber (doesn’t need peeling or seeding, here’s what you’re looking for)

Method

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Ta-da. Very easy and full of flavor.

Vinaigrette Ingredients

• 1 roasted red pepper
• 2 T mayo
• 2 glugs of olive oil
• 1/2 t garlic powder
• 2 T red wine vinegar
• S & P

Method

Combine all the ingredients into the smallest bowl of your food processor or a blender and blend until smooth.

Traditional tabouli (some spell it tabbouleh) is mainly comprised of bulgar wheat and it’s sprinkled with some tomato, onion and spices. So we’re foolin’ ya! We take the grains out completely and punch up the flavor. It’s really refreshing and goes  great with grilled, charred meats and seafood or all by itself.

Ingredients

• 1 pt. cherry or grape tomatoes
• 1 English cucumber
• 1/2 red onion
• 4 lemons, juiced and zested
• handful of mint
• 4 glugs of olive oil
• S & P

Method

Roughly chop the tomatoes, cucumber and mint and place in a large bowl. Dice the onion as small as you can and add to the bowl. Add the zest of 2 lemons and the juice of 4, along with the olive oil and some salt & pepper. Let the salad marinate for a few hours so the flavors can meld.

The longer you let this salad sit, the better it tastes.