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I've got a couple of frozen chicken thighs on hand, stock, carrots, potatoes, onion, celery, spices. Soup sounds good. 
I love the mix of sweet / spicy / savory flavors. Thanks for adding the links. Saving for a meal item.
I can get DH to go into town and get that roast for me pretty soon.
This is one of my favorite dishes and I can smell it already.
Cover with water or beef broth and add five spice powder, fresh ginger, sherry, soy sauce, garlic and (if you fortunate to be able to get it) star anise. Sometimes I put some mushrooms in as well.
Then I cook low and slow until it is falling apart (2 - 3 hours). You generally have to add more water during cooking.
There will be lots of fat, so I often turn it off after it's almost ready, let it cool a bit, then degrease.
Potatoes and carrots go in for the last 30 minutes or so.
Sometimes I thicken the broth for more of a gravy, but sometimes I don't.
Can serve on noodles or just by itself.
Good hot or cold the next day as well.
Cheap eats that are spectacular, imo.
I've never been a big fan of skirt steak. If i'm going to eat steak, I'm going for something really special with very small portions, like filet.
$14/pound is ridiculous. DH brought home a steak last week that was almost that much and pretty much inedible. Such a disappointment.
There are a few tricks I use.
1. Cook it over incredible heat. So hot you should get a sunburn working near it.
2. 2 1/2 minutes per side. Then rest under a bowl for 5 minutes.
3. Sauce. A good sauce helps.
4. Slice it at a steep angle to prevent it from being stringy.
Below is a skirt steak, served over sautéed spinach with a white wine red pepper sauce, served with roasted potatoes and a spicy avocado/tomato salad.
Good mix. And good leftovers, hot or cold.
(asides) I'd trade out the potato for daikon here in town. It's pretty available. And have you gone through five spice culinary disasters? Such a great spice mix but it really needs a light hand. Not my strong suit.
Agree that five spice needs a very light hand, but man is it great stuff when used properly.
some kind of salad .
Last edited Tue Mar 5, 2013, 01:30 PM - Edit history (1)
I think I'll try this next time. I'm making another white wine pork stew tonight, pieced together from a few recipes I found online. Basically, I browned up the stew meat and set it aside. Then took 2T butter and sauteed a small onion, two chopped celery stalks, and about a clove of chopped garlic, and set aside. Put in about a 1/2 cup of white wine, a cup of chicken broth, and a can of diced tomatoes, and scrapped off the brown bits. Then I mixed another 1/2 cup of chicken broth with about 2T of flour, added it to the liquid; added all the rest of the cooked foods plus a few small potatoes, two cut-up carrots and the last of the parsnips from last summer's garden. Sprinkled in some Herbs de Provence and added a bay leaf, brought it all to a boil; covered it and brought it down to a simmer. It's still cooking and smells divine! I'll simmer it for an hour and see what it tastes like, might go an hour and a half. But I'm hungry, so it might get short-changed. 
It was soupy when I checked it after an hour, so I simmered it another 15 uncovered. I love it when my improvisations come out well.
I'd love to go to those lavender fields. I'm a photographer so that really is a dream of mine.
I'm making the sauce with tomatoes I roasted.
Salad, simple, just tossed with balsamic and my fave organic olive oil.
Cabernet sauvignon.
Cher
Will serve with Yukon gold potatoes and asparagus. This may be dittoed quite a few times in the next few times. We went to Costco over the weekend and the big bags of produce take two people a while to work through.
i'll have to give it a try.
welcome to du