Hellobee

This is a meal I make all the time in the summer.  It is easy to customize with what you have in your fridge, and it is very forgiving.  It incorporates a lot of Asian-inspired flavors, but is made with American staples. In fact, there’s one very, very American ingredient (no judgement please).  Can you guess what it is?

Ground beef, 1 pound
2 limes
Rice wine vinegar, 2/3 cup
White sugar, two tablespoons
Brown sugar, three tablespoons
Ketchup, 1/2 cup
Grated carrot, 1 cup
Garlic, 2-3 cloves, minced.
Vermicelli rice noodles, 1/2 package
One head of romaine or another crunchy lettuce
Fish sauce
Cilantro, one half a bunch
Thai basil, 1/2 cup (or more if your basil plant is especially prolific this time of the year)
Scallions, for garnish

Directions:

Chop one half a cup of cilantro, and one half a cup of scallions (roughly half a bunch of each).

Roughly chop one head of romaine lettuce and put it in a mixing bowl.

Get the pickled carrots going.  Into a bowl, pour a third a cup of rice wine vinegar, two tablespoons of white sugar, the juice of half a lime, and a few splashes of fish sauce. Into the brine, add a cup of grated carrots, and half of the cilantro mixture.  Toss this around occasionally while you work on the other steps.  Taste for sweetness.

Add the remainder of the cilantro to the lettuce.  Splash a few drops of rice wine vinegar over the mixture, and give it a stir. If you have room in the fridge, put the lettuce mix in there to chill.

Now to make the sauce for the beef. To be honest, I eyeball this.  You want the sauce to be thick enough to coat the beef. Here’s my approximation: In a bowl, mix a third a cup of rice wine vinegar and three tablespoons of brown sugar.  Add a half a cup of ketchup, a few splashes of fish sauce, and the juice from the other half of the lime.  I know, I know— ketchup? But go with me.  In the absence of fun, authentic ingredients (which I’d have to drive for miles and miles to obtain), ketchup works well to give the sauce body and does not compete with the sugar and vinegar.  Taste, and if you need more bite, add more fish sauce or vinegar. Or add some hot sauce if you wish.

Meanwhile, cook your rice noodles. I usually do this by heating a kettle of boiling water, and pouring it over the dry noodles in a bowl.  For three people, we used one half of a regular package of rice noodles.  I actually made too much a few weeks ago, and froze what I had left over. I thawed them out the same way I would cook them, by pouring hot water over the top and draining once they were tender.

Saute your beef and garlic together.  Season with salt and pepper as you fry the meat.

Once the beef is done, add the cooked rice noodles and briefly cook them together.  If you prefer your noodles plain, you can skip this step.  If you leave them plain, I would suggest cooling the noodles down by putting them in cold water after they are done cooking.

Finally, take the beef mixture off of the heat, and pour the sauce over it.  Add the Thai basil (honestly you could use another variety if you needed to do so.  Sweet basil is better than no basil). I suggest adding the sauce and the basil off the heat because cooking can take some of the freshness out of these flavors.

Time to plate it up!  Put your lettuce in the bowl, then top with the noddle and beef mixture.  Then add the carrot garnish, and pour the rest of the carrot brine onto the whole salad.

Garnish with chopped scallions, and a few lime slices.

Optional garnishes: matchstick cucumber, chopped peanuts.

This is a great meal for hot days!  It does use a lot of bowls, but you only have to use one oven eye!

What is your go-to summertime dinner?