Pot Roast with Korean Flavors - Sponsored Post

I received a box of various globally inspired sauces and seasonings from Serious Foodie and have enjoyed using most of the products. The Moroccan Grill Spice Rub sits close at hand on my kitchen island so I can use it to toss on whatever I feel needs a little oomph--like the tuna salad I made for lunch the other day. I've also added it to chili, sprinkled it on roasted vegetables, and added it to a frittata. It's almost time to procure a replacement jar!

Serious Foodie makes several other products with the word "grill" in the name. We Minxes don't really grill much at all--maybe once or twice a year--so I had to be a little more creative with their offerings. I felt that the Korean Lemon Garlic sauce might work really well in pot roast, even if lemon is not a typical beef flavoring. I had to check it out anyway, and I didn't disappoint myself. 

I don't typically marinate meats before cooking, but I felt that if I was already disobeying the "grill" mandate, I couldn't also avoid the word "marinade" on the label. So I dumped the bottle into a zip top bag and added a chuck roast. The next day, I removed the meat from the sauce and browned it on all sides, careful not to burn the sugary residue from the marinade. Then the marinade went into the pan along with the typical carrots, potatoes, and onions. I upped the Korean flavor profile by adding a lot of garlic and some fresh ginger, and garnished the dish with scallions and sesame seeds. A drizzle of toasted sesame oil would not have been out of place, but I didn't think of it at the time. IMHO, it turned out pretty darn well. The dish tasted like traditional pot roast, but with an Asian twist. I'd definitely make it again, and I might add a few glugs of gochujang (Korean chile paste) or some gochugaru (Korean chile flakes) to add a spicy element to the dish.

Do let me know if you try it.

Pot Roast with Korean Flavors

A 2.5 to 3-pound chuck roast

1 10oz bottle Serious Foodie Korean Lemon Garlic Grill Sauce and Marinade

1 tablespoon neutral cooking oil (canola, vegetable)

1 beef bouillon cube

2 large yellow onions, quartered

1 2-inch knob of fresh ginger, peeled and cut into small dice

4-6 large cloves of garlic

8 ounces of button or cremini mushrooms, wiped clean and halved or quartered if large

2 good handsful of baby carrots

4-6 medium yellow or red potatoes, peeled, halved or quartered if large

Corn starch (optional)

Chopped scallions

Toasted sesame seeds

Place the roast in a zip top bag. Add the entire bottle of Serious Foodie Korean Lemon Garlic Grill Sauce and Marinade. Seal bag and refrigerate 6 - 10 hours or overnight. Fill the empty sauce bottle with water and refrigerate.

When ready to cook, remove roast from bag (reserve marinade), and pat dry. Heat the tablespoon of oil in a large wide skillet or dutch oven with lid. Sear the roast on both sides over medium-high heat until golden, being careful not to burn it (due to the high sugar content of the marinade). Once both sides of the roast have been seared, add the leftover marinade from the bag to the pan. Shake the marinade bottle of water to make sure you have all of the sauce residue and pour that into the pan. Add another bottle of water, the bouillon cube, onion, ginger, and garlic. Bring sauce to a boil and turn down to a simmer. Cover pan and simmer for 90 minutes, then add the mushrooms, carrots, and potatoes. Simmer another 60-90 minutes until the beef is fall-apart tender. 

If the sauce seems too thin, you can turn up the heat, take off the lid, and evaporate some of it. Or you can mix a few teaspoons of cornstarch in warm water until it forms a slurry and drizzle that in. Bring to a boil to activate its thickening action.

On each plate, serve some of the beef, carrots, potato, mushroom, and onion. Garnish with scallions and toasted sesame seeds. 

Serves 8. 

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Sobo Cafe

SoBo Cafe is my new favorite restaurant. Owner Anna Leventis hosted a signing for Baltimore Chef's Table a while back and it was a great success. Not only did we sell out of the book, mostly to SoBo's regular clientele, but we also had a terrific meal. Can't beat that combo!

I can't drink (on anticoagulants--hopefully a temporary situation) so I asked for a mocktail, any flavor. I was rewarded with a virgin strawberry mojito, full of berry and mint flavors, and did not even miss the rum. (Hey, I'm high on life anyway.) Mr Minx and our dining companion MinxBro made do with brewskis.

When I spotted the beet salad with frisee and pistachios on the menu, I knew it had to be mine. Yes, I am boring and always order the beet salad, but I like beets! I also like pistachios. The beets, both red and yellow, were tender and sweet, and worked nicely with the acidy dressing on the bitter greens.

As much as I enjoyed the salad, I wished I had ordered one of the two soups. MinxBro went for the chilled tomatillo soup. Seasoned with a hint of smoky chipotle and garnished with caramelized tomato and lots of cilantro, it was lovely. Rather than being gazpacho-like, the soup was made with a creamy substance (yogurt or cream) which gave it a nice body and smoothness.

Mr Minx chose the corn bisque with saffron butter and chives. Served piping hot, the soup tasted of pure corn and sweet butter. (When my brother and I were kids, we liked nothing more than to devour an entire box of Green Giant frozen niblets in butter sauce.) This soup was creamy and rich without feeling too decadent. Despite the saffron.

MinxBro couldn't resist the SoBo Burger, made with Creekstone Farms beef, applewood smoked bacon, roasted tomatoes, lettuce, cheddar, and house-made mayo on a house-made roll. I forgot to mention the bread we were served (and devoured) while waiting for our appetizers. Like the hamburger roll, it was made in house and it was. So. Good. Crusty without being painful, with a tender and flavorful crumb, I wanted to ask for more, but didn't want to be a pig (the slices were generously-sized).

The burger was pretty perfect, juicy and moist and cooked to the requested medium. Loved the salad and roasted fingerlings on the side instead of the usual boring fries.

Mr Minx and I were both eyeing the Korean chicken fried steak. Korean fried chicken is a thing, so why not Korean chicken fried steak? It was served with kimchi collard greens, soy-garlic mashed potatoes, and a puddle of ssamjang gravy. I don't know why more places don't borrow flavors from Korea. It's not like they're particularly difficult--sugar, soy, garlic, sesame, chiles. The collards were tender and pretty spicy, but the heat was tempered by the ample serving of potatoes.

All of the servings were pretty ample, actually, and quite reasonably priced. I ended up ordering the roasted monkfish, because I hadn't had monkfish in eons. (Yes, I am that old.) The portion was huge, 8 ounces easily, on a mound of vinegary panzanella (bread salad) enhanced with lots of crisp corn kernels and a swath of arugula pesto. There were also some lardons of pancetta. Maybe the fish didn't need all of those things, but I enjoyed the combination and had no trouble polishing it off.

Dessert was tempting, but we passed and instead took our place at the front table to sign autographs. Within a short amount of time, all of SoBo's stock of Baltimore Chef's Table was gone, and we hit the road happy, with full bellies.

A shame the restaurant isn't in our neighborhood; we'd definitely become regulars.





Posted on Minxeats.com.