Caramelized Beef Ramen with Roasted Miso Squash

How was your Halloween?!

I hope you got into as much face-painted, monster-mashing, candy corn-eating, jello-shooting debauchery as we did. 

Our Halloween festivities started on Saturday night with a get-together at a friend’s house where we drank jello shots out of huge syringes, boogied down with Napoleon dynamite and a slutty nun, ate my annual spinach “throw-up” dip out coming out of a pumpkin’s mouth, and clowned around until the wee hours…solid party as you can tell. 

On Sunday when all we were craving was comfort food, we cooked up a huge batch of this homemade ramen complete with melt-in-your-mouth caramelized beef and miso/curry crusted, acorn squash roasted to perfection. I mean Come-onnnn. Could there be a more perfect Sunday meal? I don’t think so. 

I seriously dream of one day meandering my way through ramen shops in Japan and slurping my way through the country – but until then making it at home can be just as delicious and satisfying.  This is definitely not a weeknight meal – You want the meat to cook long and slow, so you don’t want to rush it! However leftovers for the rest of the week? I’m down with that! 

Last night, for actual Halloween, we heated up bowls of this leftover ramen, popped open a bottle of wine, and watched Young Frankenstein. It was the most perfect mellow Halloween night. You really know you’re an adult when a bowl of ramen is more delicious then a bowl of Halloween candy 😜

Caramelized Beef Ramen with Roasted Miso Squash
 

Ingredients
SOUP
– 2-3 pound beef chuck roast
– 6 cups beef broth, plus more if needed (we use Better Than Bouillon) 
– 1/2 cup + 2-4 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce <–Use low sodium
– 1/4 cup + 2-4 tablespoons rice vinegar
– 3 tablespoons red curry paste
– 3 tablespoons fish sauce optional
– 1 tablespoon fresh ginger
– 1 tablespoon sambal oelek chili paste, or to taste
– The juice of 1 lime
– 1 tablespoon Chinese five spice (you can buy this or make your own at home!)
– Black pepper to taste
– 2 tablespoons sesame oil
– 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon brown sugar
– 2 cups wild mushrooms left whole/sliced depending on size – or any other mushroom sliced
– 4 packs Ramen noodles seasoning packets discarded
– 4 soft boiled or fried eggs for serving
– sliced jalapenos, cilantro + green onions, for serving

MISO/CURRY ROASTED ACORN SQUASH
– 1 medium squash seeded + diced, acorn, butternut, or kuri squash are our faves
– 2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
– 1 tablespoon curry powder
– 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
– 1 tablespoon miso paste
– 1 tablespoon brown sugar
– Pepper to taste

What to do

1. Add the beef to a crockpot. Pour the beef broth, 1/2 cup soy sauce (adjust depending on your taste), 1/4 cup rice vinegar and fish sauce over the beef. Add the red curry paste, ginger, sambal oelek, juice of 1 lime, Chinese five spice powder, black pepper and 1 tablespoon brown sugar. Cover the crockpot and cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high for 4-6 hours (I recommend going low and slow).

2. About 40 minutes before you are ready to eat, roast the squash. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

3. In a small bowl mix together the melted coconut oil, curry powder, cayenne powder, miso, brown sugar and a good pinch of pepper. Add the cubed squash to a baking sheet and pour the curry/miso mixture over the squash. Toss well. Bake for 30 minutes or so, tossing a couple of times during cooking. You want the squash to be lightly browned and crisp.

4. Meanwhile, remove the beef from the crockpot and add the mushrooms. Cover the crockpot and crank the heat up to high. Lightly shred the beef with two forks or your hands.

5. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sesame oil. Once hot, add enough beef to cover the surface of your skillet, do not over crowd. Sprinkle a little brown sugar over the beef, add 2 tablespoons soy sauce and 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, toss. Allow the beef to caramelize, about 2 minutes. Stir and continue caramelizing, about 3-5 minutes total. Remove the beef from the skillet, repeat with the remaining beef. 

6. Add the Ramen noodles to the crockpot and allow them to cook 5 minutes. Once the noodles are cooked, stir in only half of the beef. Ladle the soup into bowls. Top with extra caramelized beef, miso roasted squash and an egg. Season the egg with salt and pepper, Add the jalapeños, green onions and cilantro if desired. 

Happy slurping!