Monday, August 31, 2015

Housewarming Party



It has been a month since we moved to a new place. And we probably had the most people yesterday for a housewarming party. A group of 12 for lunch and a group of 16 for dinner in one day. I knew I wouldn't be able to cook the amount of food needed for one dish on a stove. Since it is late summer, although it was rainy and stormy two days ago, we could still serve something that was not supposed to be hot. Even though I crossed the idea of using a stove out of the option, we had an oven available for cooking ahead and reheating. I brainstormed for many dishes and thought about what would make a good combination (I wanted a variety in flavour and texture) and finally these are what we came up with.


Menu
Caprese Salad Skewer, Celery Salad, Greek Pasta Salad, 
Hasselback Potatoes and Yams, Roasted Pork Tenderloin



Caprese Salad Skewers
Ingredients: cherry tomatoes, mini mozzarella, basil leaves (grown at home), balsamic glaze
Make a skewer with toothpicks. Basil can fall out if it's on either end when you are presenting them lying down like that, so basil should go in the middle. I placed them on the cake stand and drizzled balsamic glaze on top, making sure it covers every skewer. You can make the skewer ahead of time.


Celery Salad
Ingredients: celery, purple cabbage, lettuce, carrot, green onion, shrimp, cranberries
Dressing: mayonnaise, mustard, salt, pepper, olive oil


Greek Pasta Salad
Ingredients: bow-tie pasta, tomatoes, cucumber, broccoli, onion, olives, sun-dried tomato
Dressing: red pepper flakes, greek feta dressing, salt


Swedish Hasselback Potatoes and Yams
Ingredients: potatoes, yams, salt, pepper, vegetable oil, butter, paprika powder (optional: basil flakes)
Glaze: soy sauce, sugar, hot pepper paste (gochujang, 고추장), yoridang (요리당)
As you can see in the ingredient list, this is a Korean version of Hasselback Potatoes and Yams. I wanted it to be spicy and sweet at the same time so after baking in the oven for about 30 min. at 350 with salt and pepper,  I first glazed with soy sauce mixture (soy sauce, a bit of water and sugar), bake again for about 15 min., then finally glaze them with gochujang mixture (gochujang, soy sauce, sugar) just before the last reheating stage. Remove from the oven and coat one last time with yoridang and serve!


Roasted Pork Tenderloin
Ingredients: pork tenderloin, peaches, ginger and garlic sauce, paprika powder


Friday, August 28, 2015

Korean Eats // Grilled Eel on Rice (Jang Uh Dupbap)


This grilled eel is one of my favourite dishes to make. Since I use the marinated frozen eel, it is also quick and easy to make. First you take the frozen eel out of the fridge and defrost it. Put them in a pan and grill it until the sauce is sizzling. Cut them into bite size pieces and serve on a bowl of rice with finely chopped ginger and perilla leaves! I also always make extra sauce to drizzle on the rice.


Ingredients:
Frozen eel (3 packs for 5 people)
Ginger
Perilla leaves

Sauce:
Mizkan soup base
Mirin


Wednesday, August 26, 2015

New Eats // Boneless Lamb Rib



This boneless lamb rib must be the best lamb I have ever had !! Cooked by my wonderful husband, Jason Tjen, this lamb was juicy, flavourful and it was melting in my mouth... while exuding the lamb smell only slightly. I guarantee you will not go wrong with this part of the lamb. Here is how he cooked this. He marinated with Mirin, salt and pepper, added a bit more salt and pepper when he was grilling and added a little bit of beer a few minutes before he turned off the heat. It can be a bit greasy if you eat only the lamb, so I recommend you to have it with perilla leaves.We had it with Kimchi jigae (김치찌개), they went along really well too. ;)


Tuesday, August 25, 2015

House Warming Menu








2 Appetizers (Deviled eggs, Caprese salad)
Sliced potatoes with Bocconcini and Parmasan cheese
Kimchi bokeumbap (김치볶음밥) by my wonderful husband
Celery salad with purple cabbage, shrimp and cranberries
Oven Smoked Drumsticks (half regular, half spicy) with green onions



Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Korean Eats // Deep-fried Eggplant Dumpling

Deep-fried Eggplant Dumpling - Gaji Tuikim 가지튀김


Ingredients:
1 Eggplant
1 cup Ground pork
1 spoon finely chopped ginger
1 finely chopped green onion
1/2 cup finely chopped chive
1/2 spoon salt
1/4 cup Twikim garu (튀김가루)
a pinch of pepper
1/2 spoon sesame oil

Coating: 1 cup Twikim garu and water

1. Cut the eggplant so each piece looks like a castanet.
2. Stuffing: Mix together ground pork, all the finely chopped vegetables, salt, pepper, Twikim garu and sesame oil in a bowl.
3. Put the stuffing into the opening of each eggplant.
4. Make the coating with 1 cup Twikim garu and water.
5. Dip the stuffed eggplant into the coating mix.
6. Take each piece out and deep fry in a wok or in a deep fryer.


And... Fried Rice - Bokkeum Bap 볶음밥


Tuesday, August 18, 2015

New Eats // Creamless Creamy Yam Carrot Soup




Ingredients:
2 Yams
1 Carrot
1 Onion
4 Sun-dried tomatoes
3 1/2 cup Vegetable broth (Depending on the thickness you want, you can add or reduce the broth)
1/2 cup Anchovy broth (You can skip this one if you don't have it. I had some I made it for shabu shabu broth and I decided to use it as well)
1 spoon garlic
Basil (garnish)

1. Chop the vegetables.
2. Fry the onion for about 7 min. until the sweetness comes out of the onion. Add sun-dried tomatoes and fry together.
3. Add the rest of the vegetables and the broths.
4. Boil on high heat until you see water bubbles coming up and reduce to medium heat and keep boiling until yams and carrots are tender.
5. Turn off the heat. Using a hand blender, blend everything in the pot until smooth. I use this one and it works really well.

This serves 4 people.

Monday, August 17, 2015

New Eats // Smokerless Smoked Chicken


This Smoked Chicken that was baked in the oven turned out to be a big success. For the smoky flavour, I used chipotle sauce instead of liquid smoke. And I injected brine for a more juicy texture.

Here are the ingredients:
For Brine:
300g Water
25g Salt
5g Chipotle sauce

For Glaze:
100g Blackstrap Molasses
50g Chipotle sauce
25g Soy sauce

1. Cut a whole chicken into half, so you have two halves.
2. Inject about 75g brine with a syringe into each breast and thigh section.
3. Glaze and let it sit in the fridge for as long as 24 hours-48 hours. But of course you can take it out earlier if you don't have much time. I took mine out in 3 hours.
4. Take it out from the fridge and place the chicken in the oven (195°F) for 10 min.
5. Remove chicken from the oven and glaze it and put it back into the oven. Repeat this 2 more times.
6. Allow the chicken to cook for about 45min to an hour.
7. Increase the temperature to 395°F and let it roast/broil for 6-7 min.
8. Remove from oven and enjoy with salt and pepper or sauce of your choice.

Friday, August 14, 2015

New Eats // Stir-fried Lamb with Broccoli


My husband and I both love lamb. We had lamb we bought for Shabu Shabu a while ago. At first, I thought I would make Lamb Shabu since it was meant for that, but yesterday was just too hot... It went up to 30 degrees in our home. Since a hot pot would make my husband sweat endlessly, I came up with stir-frying idea- like a mushroom and broccoli dish at a Chinese restaurant, but with more of a honey-garlicky taste. My husband loved it. I was happy it turned out nicely.

Ingredients:
1/4 purple cabbage
1 onion
2 cup broccoli
1/4 zuccini
2 mushrooms
1 spoon garlic
dill (garnish)
sesame seeds (garnish)

For the sauce:
3 spoon soy sauce
3 spoon oyster sauce
2 spoon yoridang (요리당)
0.5 spoon sugar
1 spoon corn starch (whisk in a little bit of cold water before putting into the pan to avoid it from getting clumpy)

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Korean Eats // Stir-fried Spicy Baby Octopus

Nakji Bokkeum 낙지볶음 (Stir-fried Spicy Baby Octopus)

Ingredients:
2 Nakji (Baby Octopus)
1/4 cabbage
1 portobello mushroom
1/2 zuccini
1/4 carrot
1 onion
2 perila leaves (garnish)
sesame seeds (garnish)

For the sauce:
3 spoon red pepper paste
2 spoon red pepper flakes
2 spoon soy sauce
2 spoon sugar
1 spoon Mirin
1 spoon Yoridang
2 spoon sesame oil
1 spoon garlic
1 spoon corn starch






Brunch // Poached eggs and salad

Same as yesterday minus the potatoes. On a different plate... ;)


Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Korean Eats // Ja Jang Rice Ball with Roasted Pork

Ja Jang Rice Ball with Roasted Pork
Ja Jang sauce, pork roasted with garlic, pickled radish, green onion, sesame oil and raspberry balsamic sauce...
We had it with Kimchi-Jjigae..!!!






Brunch // Shredded Potato and Ham

Sometimes, if you think too much about the visual presentation and plating of the dish, you may be inclined to cut down on the portion of the dish or forget about daily nutritions we need. However, I refuse to cut down on the portion for the sake of how it looks. Without compromising the portion, I made breakfast today with poached eggs, butter toasted bread, salad, shredded potatoes and ham.
Today is my third day of making my own poached eggs. The first time I made poached eggs, I did it as I was told- putting salt and vinegar in the boiling water. It is meant to solidify the eggs but I found out it is not really necessary to put those things in. The second time I made it, I swirled the water around before sliding in my eggs. The water got a bit cloudy and messy as the egg white that has not yet set was swirling around along with the swirling water. The result was not bad. And today, I didn't do any of the things that I did in the previous days. I just waited for 4 minutes after putting in the eggs. No swirling, no salt and vinegar. And voila, it is just as perfectly poached as it should be. :) 



Monday, August 10, 2015

Korean Eats // Bibim Noodles

Bibim Noodles is one of the popular summer dishes in Korea. Bibimbop is more popular and well-known internationally but the noodle version is also one of my favorites. You can put as much veggies as you like for the noodles but I like to keep it simple and have sauteed kimchi and fresh cucumber with it. This time I added some lightly pickled radishes and hot pepper from our little garden. 

Ingredients:
Somen noodles (about the size of a loonie / 1 person)
1 cup of Kimchi
Half a cup of shredded Cucumber
1 Radish thinly sliced

For the sauce:
2 spoons Hot pepper paste
4 spoons Soy sauce
1 spoon Vinegar
1.5 spoon Sugar
0.8 spoon Sesame oil


Inspiration // Books for Plating

Alinea by Grant Achatz




Bentley: Contemporary Cuisine by Brent Savage



Eleven Madison Park: The Cookbook by Daniel Humm




Essential Cuisine by Michel Bras




Le Cinq by Chef Eric Briffard, Chihiro Masui, Richard Haughton



Le Livre Blanc by Anne-Sophie Pic


Mugaritz: A Natural Science of Cooking by Andoni Luis Aduriz




Noma: Time and Place in Nordic Cuisine by Rene Redzepi



The Big Fat Duck Cookbook by Heston Blumenthal




Brunch // Steak Benedict

Some of our left-over food were reborn for today's breakfast. Breakfast has been a big deal in my family when I grew up. My mom sometimes wouldn't let me go to school until I had my breakfast. Usually, in my mom's generation and in Korean culture, the breakfast consists of at least three or four things: a bowl of rice, a bowl of soup, kimchi and/or various side dishes. My mom's breakfast even included steak or beef sometimes since she believed in having breakfast like a king would help us get through the day without being tired. So today, I decided to put more effort in our breakfast. After going to many well-known brunch eateries in Vancouver, I thought why not try to replicate what I have seen and tasted if I liked those brunches so much. So here are the ingredients that I found in the fridge and how they created a great breakfast today.

Ingredients: 
A piece of steak
Glazed potatoes
Chickpeas
Spring mix
Tomato
Mushroom
Dill
Eggs
Raisin bread
Garlic hummus
Olive oil, salt and pepper