Korean Beef Short rib over Zoodles

As usual it's been a busy work season, but that really hasn't prevented me from cooking. In fact I've been doing a lot of cooking over the last few months and I have a pretty big backlog of posts to put up, just no time to post. We've been doing a lot of paleo cooking, it's had modest results on the waistline but done wonders in terms of saving money. Living in a big city it's often easier to walk down the street to grab some food than to buy a ton of groceries and prepare it yourself (especially after a long day at work). I try my best to do a lot of cooking over the weekend but there's only so much leftover I can take. First world problems, I know.

Anyways, I saw this Slow cooker Korean Grass fed short rib from Nom Nom paleo (they modded it from America's Test Kitchen), and as you know I'm a big fan of using the slow cooker so I wasn't going to pass it up.  I couldn't get grass fed beef or some of the paleo friendly sauces but I was able to gather most of it.

The recipe called for broiling the ribs to get them brown, this is a great way to brown the meat, as six pounds of beef rib is a bit unwieldy and messy to brown up in a skillet. The Test Kitchen's book suggest microwaving which also helps brown the bones, something I'll have to try next time.

The braising liquid was a sauce made of vinegar, asian pear, ginger, garlic, scallions, fish sauce, and cilantro whizzed together. They used the cilantro as garnish but I decided to put into the sauce.

Toss it all together in the slow cooker and let it go.

Nine to Eleven hours was the cooking time, I would probably go with closer to eight on low. The beef was a little *too* fall apart. The fat renders and there's a surprising amount of liquid when it's all done, so don't worry about the possibility of it drying out.

Not the prettiest of pictures but very tender and the asian pear gave the beef a slightly sweet taste. I was quite happy with the results. I served the beef rib with a helping of sauteed "zoodles" to round out my lunch box. This time the zoodles were less about the noodle effect and more of a vegetable component. I think if you wanted to go with a more "classical" side dish you could do a roasted vegetable or cauliflower mash, I was pretty happy with the zoodles though.

Slow Cooker Asian Pear Beef Ribs over Zoodles from Nom Nom Paleo
6 pounds of Beef Ribs
1 Asian pear, peeled and cored
6 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup coconut aminos
1" of garlic
2 teaspoons of fish sauce
1 tablespoon coconut vinegar
1 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
7 zucchini

Set oven to broil. Salt and pepper all sides of the beef rib and place on a foil lined baking sheet. Broil for 5-7 mins per side (depends on your broil setting) until meat is browned and fat has some crispy bits.

Place pear, garlic, coconut aminos garlic, fish sauce, coconut vinegar, chicken stock and cilantro in a blender and puree until smooth.

Place beef in a single layer in the bottom of the slow cooker and pour sauce over the ribs.

Cook on low heat for 8 hours or longer depending on your desired texture.

Spiral slice zucchini and place in a colander. Liberally sprinkle with salt and let stand for 30 mins. Shake dry.

Pan fry zucchini noodles for until soft.