ISO Fast Mid-Week Meal Recipes
We’re constantly on the lookout for quick mid-week meal recipes that are as flavorful as they are fast – to share with our customers and for ourselves. The sort of thing you’d happily eat on a day off when you actually have time to cook but actually takes less than 30 minutes from start to finish. These are pretty rare recipes. So we perked up when we saw Alexandra Beggs, senior editor at Bon Appetit, tag us in this gorgeous photo on Instagram of her “easy breezy beautiful CoverGirl short ribs. ”It turns out Alexandra made them using the following recipe by her Bon Appetit colleague Andy Baraghani. Grilled chile lemongrass short ribs with pickled daikon first appeared in the magazine's June 2018 issue and we’re reprinting it here with permission (thank you, Alexandra!). It hits all of the right notes. You’ll likely need to go shopping for a few things unless you have a well-stocked pantry. But once you have it all on hand, this is a super quick, deeply flavorful recipe you can make in very little time. First, the thin-cut short ribs sit briefly in a spicy-sweet chile paste. Then all you have to do is light the grill and a few minutes later, you can sit down to dinner. Don’t let the pickled daikon trick you into thinking this will take a while. It doesn’t. Truly. And just because these thin-cut short ribs are fast, that doesn’t mean you can’t make them even when you have plenty of time on your hands. They’d be great finger food at any party.
4 servings
If you’ve ever had kalbi at a Korean barbecue restaurant, you’ve had grilled flanken-style short ribs. For this recipe, look for them prepackaged in the meat case, or ask your butcher. We call them thin-cut short ribs. This concentrated, aromatic, spicy-sweet chile paste seasons the ribs robustly in as little as 15 minutes.
INGREDIENTS
4 red Fresno or 3 serrano chiles, halved, seeds removed
3 lemongrass stalks, bottom third only, tough outer layers removed, coarsely chopped
1 3" piece ginger, peeled, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, smashed
1 Tbsp. light brown sugar
1 tsp. toasted sesame oil
¼ cup vegetable oil, plus more for grill
5 Tbsp. seasoned rice vinegar, divided
3 lb. ¼"–½"-thick crosscut bone-in beef short ribs (flanken style)
Kosher salt
6 oz. daikon, peeled, halved lengthwise, thinly sliced crosswise
RECIPE PREPARATION
Purée chiles, lemongrass, ginger, garlic, brown sugar, sesame oil, ¼ cup vegetable oil, and 3 Tbsp. vinegar in a blender or food processor until smooth. Place ribs in a glass baking dish; season generously with salt on both sides. Pour chile paste over and turn ribs to coat. Let sit at room temperature for at least 15 minutes and up to 1 hour.
Prepare a grill for high heat; oil grate. Remove ribs from dish and grill until lightly charred and crisp around the edges, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a platter and let rest 5 minutes.
While the ribs are resting, combine daikon, a pinch of salt, and remaining 2 Tbsp. vinegar in a medium bowl and toss, massaging with your hands until slightly softened.
To serve, scatter daikon over ribs, leaving any liquid in bowl.
