Recipe Time #6: Simple "Kobe Beef" Noodles . . .

My dad, who has some connections with the local butchers, managed to secure some Kobe beef. Now I am not sure if he meant American Kobe-style beef or, much less likely but plausible, the real deal from Japan. Nonetheless, when I visited him this week, I scored an ounce and a half of the finely marbled meat.

The amount seemed a bit small to be worth searing, so I opted instead to make the meat stretch a little by incorporating it in a pasta soup with what I had on hand.
- scallions, 1 stalk chopped
- 6-8 cremini mushrooms, stemmed and quartered
- a handful of baby spinach leaves
- 3/4 cup whole wheat rotini pasta
- 16 oz. Trader Joe's soy-ginger broth, with a pinch of ground ginger and a few cracks of peppercorn for extra flavor
- 6 oz. water, to compensate for broth reducing in the heat
- of course, the beef -- which I chopped to make the sizes consistent (of course, any good cubes/slices of well-marbled meat would work here too.)
Preparation was a snap, boil the broth & water, throw pasta in and reduce to simmer - stirring occasionally. 8 minutes later I tossed in the veggies, and 4 minutes later I tossed in the beef for a 15-second simmering before serving it up in my bowl. How did it taste? Great -- it's definitely better than the best prime-grade shabu shabu beef I've had up until now, texture reminds me of a land-variant of the otoro sashimi, very buttery but with a little firmness and beefiness. The broth and veggies quickly saturated the meaty flavors, so it was definitely good to the very last drop.

But I am not sure if it is "OMG Heavenly!!" enough for the price it commands (Beverly Hill's Cut sells a 6 oz. portion for $120)--doesn't seem so in a brothy soup, but maybe it a more naked preparation it might be.