Hello and welcome to the first Famous Fridays post of 2021! Today we celebrate the truly wonderful Dinner Uncomplicated: Fixing A Delicious Meal Every Night of the Week by Claire Tansey and this amazingly sensational and easy recipe for Sticky Korean Beef. Boy, is it good to be back!

First off, I owe all of you loyal year-in, year-out readers a huge apology! It’s been more than six months (seven to be exact) since my last Famous Fridays post!! Sorry!! It’s just with the pandemic and my lack of access to a library and my semi-self imposed cookbook-buying moratorium (if you saw the collection and the much smaller quarters we now reside in, you’d understand), I really haven’t been exposed to a lot of new cookbooks but have instead concentrated on the recipes in my binders that I’ve collected over the years. It’s been fun but I’ve really missed sharing the FF posts with you.

Now that 2021 is finally here and it seems like there’s light at the end of the tunnel, I’m throwing caution to the wind—buying some books and making use of the contact-free pick-up at my local library, so expect to see Famous Fridays posts as a more regular thing.

And just one more thing before we get to Dinner Uncomplicated—If you’re new around these pages, let me explain exactly what Famous Fridays is—I’ve always loved cookbooks, both cooking from them and reading them (I know, nerd time) so I thought it would be amazing to pick a weekly new or long beloved chef/cookbook author and feature one of their special recipes on Fridays as a way to kind of launch us into the weekend. It’s really helped me expand my culinary chops and I hope it will for you too!

Whew, enough talk, now let’s focus on just why you are definitely going to want to add this cookbook to your collection. First off, there are over 90 family-friendly, unfussy, delicious new recipes all designed to take the stress out of dinnertime cooking!! Hooray!!

Second, those recipes are divided into super helpful categories, like 15 minute and 45 minute dishes, make-ahead meals, even easy side dishes etc so that you can get dinner on the table in whatever way works best for you and your particular circumstances.

Third. nearly every recipe is accompanied by gorgeous glossy photos that make you feel like you want to run right into the kitchen and start cooking!

And last, but certainly not least, those recipes are incredibly delicious! Every single one I’ve tried and served has been a slam dunk! How does Sesame Ramen Salad with Chicken and Celery, Cheesy Dutch Baby or Caramelized Onion Pasta with Sausage sound? And how about Glazed Ginger Chicken Meatballs, Turkey Chile Verde or Buttery Brown Sugar Salmon? You’re totally drooling, right?!! It was so hard to choose just one dish to feature but in the end the fact that I served this Sticky Korean Beef 3 times in 2 weeks and was met with groans of pleasure each time, convinced me that I had found a winner!

I think you’ll find that it’s a win for you too!

Everything comes together in one skillet and there’s so much flavor and texture. The ground beef gets irresistibly crispy and flavorful with a wonderful brown sugar/soy sauce!

And the cabbage adds so much crunch and color too—the original recipe called for napa, but I accidentally bought savoy instead and we all loved it so much that way, so I’m sticking with that change but I know it would be great with the napa cabbage too.

If you put up a pot of rice when you start the whole thing, you are guaranteed to have a stand out meal ready to go in just about 20 minutes! You’re welcome!

All right my friends, hope you get a chance to make this addictive dish soon—I promise you’ll love it! Have a wonderful and safe weekend and I’ll be back next week with more food and fun!!xoxo

Dinner Uncomplicated’s Sticky Korean Beef-Famous Fridays

Makes 4 servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes; Cook Time: 15-20 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

• 1 tablespoon canola oil

• About 1 pound ground beef (I used an 80/20 mix)

• 2 garlic cloves, minced

• 2-3 shakes red pepper flakes

• 2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed

• ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce

• 1 head of napa cabbage, core removed and thinly sliced

• 2-3 scallions, chopped

The Recipe

1. If you have a cast iron pan use that, otherwise sub in a large heavyweight pan and place over high heat. Add the sesame and canola oil and let those get really hot and shimmery-looking. Then, add the beef and use a large spoon to flatten it into a single layer. Let it cook for at least 5 minutes without stirring, until the edges get dark brown and crispy—if you stir too soon, you won’t get that wonderful caramelization going.

2. Now add the garlic and red pepper flakes and stir, breaking up the meat into small clumps and cook for another few minutes, until it’s cooked through. Sprinkle the brown sugar over the meat and then add the soy sauce. Stir well for a minute or so and then add the cabbage. Use tongs to toss it around until it starts to wilt and soften, about 3 minutes. Sprinkle on the scallions and serve immediately, preferably with rice.

Enjoy!

Note: Recipe adapted from Dinner Uncomplicated by Claire Tansey. I subbed in savoy for the napa cabbage, cut the ginger and increased the soy sauce.