Kimchi Redux

This is an update* to a previous post.

Substitutions/Additions

• I swapped out the tablespoon of fish sauce for another tablespoon of rice wine vinegar. I'm kind of in love with rice wine vinegar right now. Also, I felt like the original batch of kimchi was a tad too fishy (from all that fish sauce!).
• I finally located Korean red pepper**, so I decided to jumble up the hot stuff. I went with 1/4 cup of the Korean pepper and 1 tablespoon of Sriracha sauce. I'm not entirely sure which version came out hotter, though the previous version definitely had more "late" heat than this one (probably owing to the small Thai chilis. Those bastards are sneaky.)

How did it work?

I was a little worried that the first batch wasn't fermenting hard enough. I decided to wait for this one to start rocking before moving it into the fridge, even if it meant going to 3-4 days of closet-fermentation. As it turned out, the thing was ripping along at 2 days flat, so I transfered it to the fridge at that point.

I've only had a taste of this batch, but so far so good. I'm hoping to integrate the kimchi into some cooked dishes, so we'll see how that works. I'm still missing that "electric" sort of tingle that comes off of really good kimchi (like at Koreana, for instance). I'm not entirely sure how one gets the electric taste, but I'm open to suggestions (Longer fermentation? More daikon? Magic beans?).

*I swung by the Super 88 grocery store in Allston to gather some ingredients for another project (details forthcoming, I promise). I couldn't help but notice their giant, incredibly cheap heads of Napa cabbage. I also managed to find the largest daikon radish I've ever seen. Seriously.

**Another sweet find at the Super 88!

Sunchokes are delicious

The Goods:

Oven Roasted Sunchokes

1 dozen sunchokes (aka: Jerusalem artichokes)

1 garlic clove

1 small (~1") piece of fresh ginger

2 tbsp fresh fennel

olive oil

Kale/Mushrooms

1 bunch lacinto kale

1 large portabella mushroom cap

1 large shallot

1/2 cup vegetable stock

olive oil

Preheat the oven to 425 F. Wash, dry, and slice the sunchokes into quarters. Trim the skin and finely mince the ginger. Repeat for the garlic. Mince the fresh fennel. Drizzle some olive oil on a pyrex baking dish. Add the sunchokes, ginger, garlic, and fennel to the baking dish. Season with kosher salt and ground black pepper. Drizzle some more olive oil over the sunchokes. Mix the contents of the dish by hand. Bake the sunchokes at 425 for half an hour.

Place about a tablespoon of olive oil in a heavy sauté pan and set on medium-high heat. Wash and dry the mushroom cap. Slice the mushroom into 1 cm thick slices. Place the slices in the sauté pan. Let the slices cook for about 2 minutes for side on medium-high heat without disturbing*. Remove the skin from the shallot. Slice in half, then slice each half into thin slices. Turn the heat down to medium-low and add the shallots. Season with kosher salt and ground black pepper. At this point, another spritz of olive oil may be required, because the large mushroom pieces act like oil sponges in the pan. Cook until the shallots are translucent. Slice the kale bunch at roughly 3" intervals. Discard the stems at the base of the bunch. When the shallots are translucent, add the kale to the pan. Turn the heat up to medium and add the stock. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes, or until the kale has just wilted.

Serve with the mushrooms and kale over Israeli couscous, with the oven roasted sunchokes on the side.

*I probably should have used clarified butter here, but I'm all out of it. In theory, searing with olive oil is verboten because olive oil has such a low smoke point. Of course, I wasn't searing with some serious, balls-to-the-wall heat in this case and the oil did not actually smoke, but it's something to keep in mind.

Garlic soup

The Goods*:

4 cloves garlic

2 cups vegetable stock

2 large leaves lacinto kale

1 egg

3 tbsp orzo

1 tsp olive oil

grated parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Place three cloves of garlic, with the skin still on, in a small pyrex container in the oven for 15 minutes to roast. Finely mince the remaining clove of garlic. Remove the the skins from the roasted garlic and finely mince them as well.

Place the stock in a small saucepan on medium heat. When it comes to a simmer, add the garlic. Cook the garlic for five minutes in the stock. Roughly chop the kale. After five minutes, add the kale, olive oil, and orzo to the pan. Cook for 8 or so minutes, until the pasta is al dente. Break the egg in a small bowl. Add some fresh ground black pepper to the egg, ladle some stock in, and thoroughly beat the mixture. It is important to add the hot stock to temper the egg, so it does not instantly scramble when added to the soup. When the pasta has cooked, remove the pan from the heat. Slowly pour in the egg. Top with grated parmesan cheese and serve immediately.

*My random wandering on the NY Times website brought me to this recipe a few days ago. I thought that it might be better to start from stock instead of water (spoiler alert: It was). Also, I went with more garlic, because one can never get enough garlic.

Fun with kale and quinoa

The Goods:

1 large bunch green kale

1/2 dozen medium crimini mushrooms

1 chicken sausage link (~ 1/3 lb)

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 cup quinoa

1 tbsp clarified butter

Marsala Morels

1 dozen fresh morels*

1 small shallot

1 handful fresh parsley

1 tsp butter

1 generous splash Marsala wine

Trim the ends of the stems from the morels. Place them in a bowl of warm water to wash the dirt from the mushrooms. Repeat as necessary until the water runs clear**. Finely mince the shallot, then the parsley. Place the tsp of butter in a heavy sauté pan and set to medium heat. Add the shallots and cook for two minutes, or until translucent. Add the parsley and deglaze the pan with the Marsala wine. Allow some of the alcohol to cook off, about a minute or two, then add the morels***. Cook the mushrooms for three to four minutes, or until they're soft. Place in a small bowl and set aside.

Combine the quinoa and 2 cups of water in a small saucepan. Add a spritz of olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and set to high heat to boil. When the mixture comes to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for ~20 minutes, or until all of the water is absorbed.

Spritz some olive oil in a heavy sauté pan and set on medium-high heat. Remove the sausage from its casing and add to the pan. Cook until the meat is mostly browned. Remove the meat from the pan and set to the side. Wash, dry, and thinly slice the crimini's. Tear the kale from the stems into bite sizes leafy pieces. Place the clarified butter in the sausage pan and heat to medium. Add the mushrooms and cook until they have browned. Place the sausage back in the pan, along with the kale, lemon juice, and 1/2 cup water. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, covered, until the kale just wilts. Toss the quinoa and morels together with the kale mixture. Serve immediately.

*I've been on the lookout for morels since I saw a version of this preparation in Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc, which, is a beautiful cookbook. I was skeptical when Keller, he of French Laundry and Bouchon fame, announced in the introduction that this book was meant to be a down-home collection of simpler recipes (it turns out they're a wee bit more complex than "easy," but definitely not rocket science. ANYWAY, I finally spotted fresh morels at WF, but could only commit to a handful because I had no idea if I'd enjoy them and they are not cheap.

**I would recommend erring on the side of caution here. Usually when I see something like this, I tend to think that one thorough wash is good enough. Unfortunately, some of the morels were still a bit sandy. They're actually kind of hollow, so I can see dirt building up on the side. So yeah, wash 'em good.

***This would seem to contradict all of my mushroom cookery experience that says to sear mushrooms. But, when the prophet Keller says they're best cooked gently in butter, I tend to abide.

Shallot and raclette cheeseburgers

The Goods*:

1 lb 85% lean ground beef**

2 Iggy's brand brioche buns

1 tsp clarified butter

1 shallot

1 handful fresh parsley

1 generous pour Marsala wine

6 1" x 3" slices Raclette cheese***

In a heavy sauté pan, heat the clarified butter on medium-high heat. Trim the ends from the shallot, slice it length-wise, and remove the skin. Thinly slice each shallot half. Finely mince the handful of fresh parsley. When the butter is hot, cook the shallots for a few minutes. They should cook beyond translucence into a brown color, but not burn. When the shallots are cooked, add the minced parsley. Deglaze the pan with the wine. Remove from the heat, place in a small bowl, and refrigerate covered in plastic wrap.

When the shallots are fully chilled, combine them with the ground beef in a large bowl. Season generously with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. Incorporate the shallots into the ground beef with your hands; try not to over work the meat. Shape the meat into two patties, roughly 3/4" to 1" thick.

Set one portion of the grill to medium-high heat and the other portion to medium heat. Place the patties on medium high heat. Cook without moving for three minutes. Turn the patties 90 degrees (to achieve that brilliant grill mark cross-hatching), and cook without touching for three additional minutes. Flip the patties and transfer to the medium heat zone. Cook for five minutes. Slice the rolls in half and place them on the top rack over the medium heat zone to toast. Turn the patties 90 degrees. Place three slices of Raclette on each patty and cook for five more minutes. Remove the buns and patties from the grill. Allow the meat to rest for at least 10 minutes.

One may assemble the burger with any condiments/accessories one desires. I spread a thin layer of dijon mustard on the lower patty, added the burger, then stacked a few slices of yellow onion and some spring greens. Serve with roasted red potatoes and a green salad.

*It feels good to be cooking again. Last week/weekend were highly disruptive to the natural cooking rhythm (read: drunken). The combination of warm weather and my roomate's lovely gas grill sent visions of charred meats dancing in my head. Sorry, there will be pictures next time. I promise.

**I'm a firm believer that one needs some fat in the meat to retain some moisture in the finished burger. After seeing Alton's show about hamburgers and reading the Keller treatise on beef patties, I really wanted to have the butcher grind me a choice blend of sirloin, chuck, etc. Sadly, my local WF butcher informed me that they can only do that for orders of 5 lbs or more. This makes sense, I mean, they're dealing with industrial-style meat grinders. I suppose its time to invest in the KitchenAid meat grinder attachment...

***Raclette is amazing. I've found that fancy and/or delicious cheese that I discover never seem to have very good melting properties. Enter Raclette. The one down-side is that the cheese is too soft to cut very thinly, so I got by with three rectangular slices per burger.

Dumpling dipping sauce

The Goods*:

1 tbsp soy sauce**

1 tsp rice wine vinegar

1/2 tsp finely chopped ginger (about 1/2 inch fresh ginger)

1 clove garlic

1/4 tsp toasted sesame oil

Peel and finely chop the ginger. Remove the skin from the garlic clove and finely mince it. Combine the ingredients in a small bowl and whisk.

*TJ's has a lovely selection of various Asian dumplings in their excellent freezer section. This is a dipping sauce made to go with the Chinese Chicken Pot Stickers. I try to make the trek to TJ's once every few months to stock up on non-perishable deliciousness and, by the way, not a whole lot else, because damn, their produce selection is weak.

**All soy sauces are not created equal (obviously). Try to go for one that does NOT have "hydrolyzed soy protein" as an ingredient. These sauces are made by chemically treating the soy protein, thus bypassing the time consuming natural fermentation process (HT: Alton Brown).

Dal + rice

The Goods*:

1 cup orange dal

1 cup jasmine rice

6 cups water

1 large shallot

1 1" piece fresh ginger

5 cloves garlic

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp ground cardamom

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds

6-8 dried thai chilis

2 black cardamom pods

1/2 tbsp butter

Peel and thinly slice the shallot. Peel and finely dice the ginger. Place a few spritzes of olive oil in large stock pot on medium-low heat. Smash the garlic cloves with the back of a knife to remove the skin. Place the smashed garlic, cumin, coriander, chili powder, cardamom powder, turmeric, fenugreek seeds, and dried chilis in a mortar. Grind the spices together with the garlic until a fragrant paste develops.

Add the shallots to the pot. Sweat the shallots for approximately 5 minutes, then add the ginger. Cook for a few minutes longer, then add the spice mixture and black cardamom pods. Cook for another few minutes, then add the butter. I've found that the dal benefit from a little extra fat. I also use the butter here as a fake-ish sort of deglaze to pull some of the spices off the bottom of the pot before adding the dal. Add the dal, rice, and water. Turn the heat up to medium high until a boil develops, then reduce the heat to low. Simmer with the lid on the pot for 30-40 minutes, or until all of the water is absorbed. These proportions produce an epic amount of dal and rice. I think I'll probably get three or so lunches out of this batch!

*I've been a big fan of dal for some time. Not only is it simple to cook, but was my first foray into Indian cooking at home. This recipe (HT: Jill) hooks dal up with rice. It is a marriage made in heaven. This post is a synthesis of my normal dal recipe and the linked recipe. Enjoy!

Lacquerfish

The Goods*:

2 1/3 lb frozen, boneless salmon fillets

Brine

2 kg (2 liters) water

100 grams kosher salt

1 lemon

1 sprig rosemary

6 cloves garlic

1 handful fresh parsley

1 tbsp dijon mustard

1 tsp peppercorns

Lacquer

1 cup sake

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp dijon mustard

2 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1/2 tsp sugar

Prepare the brine by adding the water, warm from the tap, to a large container. Add the salt. Strip the rosemary leaves from the sprig. Zest the lemon. Place half of the zest in the brine; set aside the remaining zest. Slice the lemon and add the slices to the brine. Add the remaining ingredients to the brine and mix thoroughly. Place the frozen salmon fillets in the brine and use a small plate to keep them submerged. Brine for four to five hours.

Remove the salmon from the brine and rinse under cold water. Pat dry with a paper towel and set aside. Set the oven's broiler on high. Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil. Add a few spritzes of oil to the foil to keep the fish from sticking.

Prepare the lacquer by adding the sake to a non-stick skillet on medium high heat. Add the remaining lacquer ingredients and the remaining lemon zest to the skillet. Cook until the consistency of the liquid resembles a syrup.

Place the salmon fillets on the foil-lined sheet pan. Drizzle the lacquer evenly over each fillet. Broil on high for six minutes. Remove from the oven and serve immediately.

Fish brine!

*I've had food-related lacquer on my mind since I saw Soy Lacquered Pork Belly on the menu at Ken Oringer's Clio. As it turns out, Ming Tsai, of all people, has Chef Oringer's recipe on his own personal (Tsai's) website. This is an adaptation of that recipe along with a few random others.

Rosemary pork tenderloin with gremolata

The Goods*:

1 lb pork tenderloin

Gremolata

1 tbsp chopped parsley

2 tsp lemon zest

1 tsp chopped garlic

Brine

2 liters (2 kg) water

100 grams kosher salt

10 cloves garlic

2 rosemary stems

1 large handful fresh parsley

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp peppercorns

2 bay leaves

Add the brine water (warm from the tap) to a large container. Add the salt. Stir until the salt dissolves. Crush each clove of garlic with the back of a knife to remove the skin. Roughly tear the parsley and add it to the brine. Trim the rosemary leaves from the stalk; add to the brine. Add the remaining brine ingredients and brine the pork for a while**.

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Remove the pork from the brine and rinse under cold water. Trim any fat or silver skin; pat the pork dry with a paper towel. Heat some sunflower oil in an oven-proof heavy skillet on medium-high heat***. When the oil is hot, add the tenderloin to the pan. Sear until all sides are browned, about 3-4 minutes total. Place the pan in the oven and bake for 18 minutes at 400 F. When the meat is done, remove from the oven and place on a plate. Cover with aluminum foil. Allow the meat to rest for at least ten minutes.

Prepare the gremolata by finely chopping a tablespoon of parsley. The zest of one medium-sized lemon should provide two teaspoons. Chop one clove of garlic (one large clove of garlic should provide one teaspoon). Mix the parsley, lemon zest, and garlic in a small bowl. When the pork has finished resting, slice it to the desired thickness. Serve with the gremolata over the pork slices, with roasted potatoes, and an arugula salad.

*Pork, pork, pork, pork! I'm obsessed with the pork tenderloin. After that delicious tenderloin from Stillman's, I was tempted by the loin once more in Trader Joe's. Joe's sells them for ~$5 per pound, making for a lovely inexpensive dinner. The gremolata part comes courtesy of Ruhlman. Though, to be fair, I read about gremolata with braised beef short ribs in Keller's Ad Hoc.

**I only brined for 3 hours because I did not have the foresight to brine overnight. Brining overnight is best, though if that is not possible, one should brine for as one can.

***I was reminded of the "high" portion of that heat. I had my stupid electric stove on 5 (out of 10) and realized I was not getting good color during the searing. So yeah, keep the heat high-ish.

Lemon, rosemary, and bacon-y kale with orzo

The Goods:

1 bunch Lacinato kale

2 strips thick-cut bacon

4 tsp lemon juice

4 sprigs fresh rosemary

2 star anise pods

1/2 dozen crimini mushrooms

1/2 medium onion

1 cup orzo*

1/2 cup white wine

1/4 cup gruyere cheese

3 liters water

100 grams kosher salt, plus more for tasting

Thinly slice the bacon strips. Place the bacon in a heavy sauté pan on medium heat. As the bacon begins to brown, turn down the heat. The goal is to cook the bacon and render off as much fat as possible. Remove the cooked bacon from the pan and set aside. Leave the bacon fat in the pan.

Add the water and kosher salt to a large pot. Roughly chop two of the rosemary sprigs. Add the chopped rosemary springs, the anise pods, and two tsp of lemon juice to the pot. Set the pot to boil on high heat. Wash the kale. Tear the kale leaves into bite size pieces. Discard the stems. Prepare an ice bath by adding a dozen ice cubes to a large bowl of cold tap water. Blanch the kale by boiling for 2 minutes and then transferring immediately to the cold water bath. Drain the kale from the water bath in a colander. Take care to remove the stray ice cubes, anise pods, and large rosemary sprigs. Set aside.

Set a medium saucepan, three-quarters full of water, to boil on high heat. Slice the mushrooms and finely dice the onion. Place the sauté pan with the bacon fat on medium heat. Cook the mushrooms for a few minutes, until they brown. Add the onions, season with salt and pepper, and reduce the heat to low. Cook until the onions are translucent. Strip the leafy portion from remaining two rosemary sprigs and finely chop. When the onions are cooked, add the rosemary. Then, deglaze with the white wine and lemon juice. Add the blanched kale to the pan and cook on low until the liquid has reduced by a half.

Grate the gruyere using a box grater. Cook the orzo according to the box directions. Combined the cooked, drained orzo with the bacon and the contents of the sauté pan. Top with the grated cheese and serve.

Bacon makes everything better.

*I think the dish would be slightly more balanced with 3/4 cup orzo instead of a full cup. I always forget how much orzo expand after cooking.