Gourmet Crock Pot?

Who knew?
Pick up a Williams-Sonoma cookbook on slow cookers and you're suddenly a gourmet chef!

Wanna' see what I made?  Totally out of my comfort zone too.

I rarely cook (and by rarely, I mean I can make Chinese Chicken Salad) Asian, but we're such Top Chef fans here at Sweet Bee Cottage that I was inspired to try this recipe.

Are you ready?

I made.............

Asian-Style Short Ribs!

Yum!  Very different flavors, but oh so delicious and the best part was that it smelled so divine all day as it cooked.

Here's what you need to make this yourself:

4 lb. of beef short ribs (trimmed of most fat)
salt and freshly ground pepper
3/4 tsp five-spice powder
1/4 cup EACH hoisin sauce and ketchup
2 Tbl rice vinegar
2 Tbl soy sauce
1 Tbl Asian fish sauce
1 Tbl honey
1 small onion finely chopped
1 Tbl peeled and minced fresh ginger
5 cloves of garlic, smashed

Daikon Salad for garnish:  (Don't skip this - it gives such a delightful fresh crunch and flavor to the shortribs)
1 lg daikon, peeled and julienned (or shredded on box grater)
2 carrots, peeled and julienned (or shredded on box grater)
1 shallot, minced
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro or flat-leaf parsley
3 Tbl peanut oil
1 Tbl rice vinegar

Optional:
2 Tbl chopped roasted peanuts or cashews

How to make it:
1.  Preheat the broiler.  Season the ribs with the salt and pepper, five-spice powder, and place on a rack set in a rimmed baking sheet.  Broil, turning once, until nicely browned and sizzling on both sides, about 8-10 minutes on each side.

2.  In the slow cooker, stir together the hoisin sauce, ketchup, vinegar, soy sauce, fish sauce, honey, onion, ginger, and garlic.  All the ribs and turn to coat evenly with the hoisin mixture.  Stack the thicker ribs at the bottom of the slow cooker.  Cover and cook on the low setting for 6 hours.  The meat should be very tender.

3.  Remove the ribs from the slow cooker and serve.  Divide among warm shallow bowls or plates, moisten each serving with some of the braising liquid and top with a large spoonful of the Daikon salad.  Garnish with the chopped nuts and serve at once.

We had this for Sunday dinner.  Sewing Bee was over and so was Strawberry Bee (Baby Bee's BFF). 

 We all loved it!  

One of the best things about this dinner was how it reminded Worker Bee of his dad.  When Worker Bee was in high school his dad decided to take a Chinese cooking class.  All the flavors and smells from this dish prompted him to tell all kinds of stories about his dad.  (Worker Bee's dad passed away in 2004 and we miss him all the time.) 

This is the cookbook I got this recipe from and I made the cover dish!

I hope you give this a try!

Bee adventurous!

And I hope you take a moment and buzz by this post for my latest little giveaway!

Linking up to

A Bowl Full of Lemons

Could She Be Any More Organized? OH YES SHE COULD! But...

....this helps!

What is it about the start of the New Year?  I always feel this uncontrollable urge to get things organized.  Maybe it's the three weeks off and no place to go that makes me feel like I can tackle some of these big projects.  So, this is one of them....

I am a cookbook collector and I'm always trying new things, but I really want to keep my cooking and menu planning organized.  I made a database for several of my cookbooks listing the recipe name, the name of the cookbook, the page number, the dish category and what some of the main ingredients are.  Otherwise I might spend hours just looking through my cookbooks for a certain type of dish.  I'll keep the database on my computer, but I'll also print one out for additional reference.  I can sort the list by ingredients, type of dish, and its name.

I also use a weekly menu planning form and a grocery list sorted by category that I created a couple years ago.

Once school is back in session in a couple weeks I won't have time for this project but I hope it will help me cook simple and healthy meals.

I just wish the weather would stay dry for a couple days so I could get some painting done.  It's just been too damp, rainy, and foggy here.  I shouldn't complain because we really need the rain so I'll cross my fingers for some dry weekends in January and February!

So glad you popped in for a visit!