A tale of two curries

So, although Jake attempted to impose a "no new food" moratorium after seeing the mountain of St. Patrick's Day leftovers in our fridge, I got around that "regulation" by making a recipe I knew he would love: tofu tikka masala.

But, this post is called a tale of TWO curries, not just one. So, yes. I made a tofu tikka masla AND a chana masala. I adapted two web recipes here and here and followed one main caveat: if I don't have it, it doesn't go in.

Jake's curry

Emma's curry

Somehow, mine ended up a little too spicy, so I made a quick yogurt sauce with the sweet curry powder from Penzeys mixed with smoked paprika.

I also didn't have any garam masala on hand, so mixed my own a bit haphazardly. I also didn't have any fresh ginger, so relied heavily on my powdered. Pro tip: measure your yogurt for the tikka masala. Mine just got plopped in until it appeared to be the right color, but then tasted heavily of yogurt. I jazzed it up with about a teaspoon each of cumin, coriander, tumeric and sweet curry powder.

Both were super delicious, but kind of needed a veggie aspect. I think next time I'll try to attempt a spinach or palak paneer type side dish. But, both curries were not a terrible first try.

Happy St. Paddy's 2011

Strange as it may be, St. Patrick's day is one of my favorite holidays of the year. Not personally being of Irish descent myself, I consider myself to be close enough, as both sides of my family have Irish in them.

The last few years, I've gone all out trying to perfect my corned beef and cabbage dinner recipe. The last two years, I have simmered the beef until they're nearly done, then baked to finish with a brown sugar and Guinness or brown sugar and whiskey glaze.

St. Paddy's 2010

St. Paddy's 2009

So, this year I decided to up the ante a little and cure my own corned beef. I found a method for this on ruhlman.com last year, about two days into the leftovers of 2010's feast. I decided that this year, I would try attempt this process.


I now live very near to a Penzeys Spices store, which is both awesome and terrible. Every time I stop by, it's at least a $20 trip -- just for spices. Again. Awesome and terrible. I stopped there to pick up pickling spice (it smells amazing)

Ruhlman's recipe explains that the pink curing salt isn't 100% necessary, but I didn't want to skip any steps at all. In the spirit of buying local, I decided to try and get this stuff nearby, but found my neighborhood butchers were out of it. I ordered a few packets of this stuff online:

I started with three briskets, and put my kimchi bucket to good use to hold the meat and the brine.

I followed the recipe for the brine on Ruhlman's site exactly, put it out on the back porch to cool, then filled my kimchi/corning bucket up to the brim. These little guys went into the fridge for 4 days (1 day shy of Ruhlman's recommendation).

On Friday, the day before our St. Paddy's day party, I freaked out, worried we wouldn't have enough corned beef or cabbage. So I ran to the store and bought three more corned beef briskets to simmer.

I followed your basic simmer and wait recipe for both the home-corned and store bought briskets, and dumped a bottle of Guinness into each pot. The same pots of water-turned-stock and Guinness were used for the cabbage (of which I had also freaked out and purchased way too many...)

But eating my corned beef and cabbage dinner was too damn exciting, and I forgot to take a photo of the whole thing. However, as usual, dear friend Wendy comes through again with a wonderful photo of the meal:

The big win from this year's St. Patrick's day dinner was finally nailing down the recipe for a brown sugar and Guinness glaze. I made a big pot using 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, 3 Guinness extra stouts, and 1/4 cup corn starch slurry. The corn starch is the key to helping to make the reduction silky rather than just sticky.

Here it is drizzled over my Monday morning corned beef hash:

Kitchen sink pasta

This past weekend I finally got to see my brother play hockey at his home rink at the Academy, in Colorado Springs. Unluckily, our flight got delayed by four hours coming home. I really needed to go grocery shopping, so by the time I was headed for home, I was hungry and unwilling to cook. Sadly for me, it was about 9 p.m. on a Sunday. Nothing was open (which we learned the hard way... driving from place to place).

So, a quick peek at the pantry staples turned up a few things I was pleasantly surprised to find and threw together to make the following dinner.

When I saw my pasta (I found this in a bag in the back of my cupboard.... my pasta supply dangerously low), I felt like I was living out Adam Robert's recent "Weary Traveler's Spaghetti" post. I dressed the pasta with a little oil and some chili flakes.

With the water from the pasta, I blanched a couple handfuls of spinach:

And defrosted a some frozen shrimp from Trader Joe's:

I also found a half jar of pasta sauce in my fridge. The shrimp and sauce were lucky finds. I probably would have used diced tomatoes out of a can otherwise.

All of that, paired with some leftover Italian pesto bread I found in the freezer made for a perfect late night dinner after a long, and fairly crappy, day.

So, no... this didn't turn out to be an "everything but the kitchen sink" dinner. It's actually something I would probably make again. I tried to throw chop up some zucchini to toss in, but after a long weekend and then some, it was feeling a little squishy and funky. Fresh vegetables are NOT a pantry staple when you haven't grocery shopped in a couple weeks.

Teppan Edo Japanese dinner re-creation: steak, shrimp and udon

During my last night at Disney World, we ate in Japan in Epcot, at the restaurant Teppan Edo. It was fun to watch the chef put together a meal for 8 people on the giant grill (above) but it was also a great excuse to try and re-create it at home the other night.

The main portions of the dish were easy to recreate, since I got to watch it being cooked. Zucchini and onion chopped and grilled, then mixed with udon noodles and a little soy sauce. Steak cooked to medium and grilled shrimp, served with white rice and a series of dipping sauces: white, ginger and mustard.

That's where it got a little interesting in the home kitchen. The white, I made a simple bechamel with cornstarch. It was creamy and complimented the shrimp nicely.

The ginger sauce also had kind of a peanutty creaminess to it, so I used peanut butter as the base for the second sauce.

The mustard sauce went a little awry. I had almost no idea what was in the one they served us at Teppan Edo, so I was sort of shooting in the dark. I don't think I came close to it, but it ended up tasting pretty good anyway.

Recipe: Japanese dipping sauces

White (for seafood):
Melt 3 TBS butter, then whisk in 1 TBS cornstarch. Brown slightly, then pour in 1 c of whole milk or half and half. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Whisk until thickened slightly. Set aside.


Ginger (for everything):
In a small saucepan over low heat, whisk together 3 TBS peanut butter, 1 TBS hot water, 1 TBS soy sauce, 1 TBS rice vinegar (or wine vinegar). Mix in 2 TBS freshly shredded ginger, 2 cloves minced garlic, and 1 tsp red chili flakes. Set aside


Mustard (for beef/pork):
In a small saucepan, mix together 3 TBS Korean soybean paste (doengjang), 1 TBS hot water, 1 tsp corn starch, 1 tsp garlic, 1 tsp dry mustard, 1 TBS stone ground mustard, 1 TBS hot and spicy mustard, 1 tsp lemon or lime juice.

For 2 servings:
Chop 2 zucchini, 1 medium sized onion. Saute together until fork tender. Season with pepper, sesame oil and soy sauce, then toss with cooked udon noodles. (sliced, cooked mushrooms can also be added)

Grill steak or pork, and shrimp. Serve with white rice and the dipping sauces.

Gnocchi + carbonara sauce

Post-Disney there wasn't a ton of food in the house, so this dinner came about as sort of a pantry/fridge dump.

This is also only the second time I've used gnocchi, and I severely under-salted the water. I also forgot to set aside 1 cup of "pasta" water before draining the gnocchi for the sauce. *sigh*

Anyway, I went with a garlicky "pseudo" carbonara sauce, spinach, tomatoes, bacon and artichoke hearts. Turned out pretty well for an on the fly meal, and it's made up of mostly staples, so give it a try for your next last-minute dinner.

Garlicky Gnocchi Carbonara
1 lb gnocchi (I used the ones from Trader Joes)
1 package frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed of excess liquid
3 to 6 cloves of garlic, minced
1 package frozen artichoke hearts (you could also use canned - drain & rinse them)
1 small can diced tomatoes, rinsed and drained
4-6 slices of bacon or pancetta, chopped
1/3 c white wine (if you have it on hand, you can sub 1/4 c olive oil)
1/2 to 1 tsp red chili flakes
2 eggs + 1 egg yolk
3/4 c grated Parmesan cheese
lots of freshly cracked pepper


* Bring a pot of well salted water to a boil, and cook gnocchi one minute less than directed on the package. They will continue cooking a little in the sauce.

* In a skillet, fry the bacon to your liking (not too crisp), then lower heat and add garlic, red chili flakes and artichoke hearts

* When the artichokes are softened, pour in the wine (if using) and scrape any brownings off the bottom of the pan. Mix in the tomatoes and spinach.

* In a separate bowl, beat the eggs then temper with 1/2 c of the gnocchi water. Mix in the cheese.

* Remove the skillet from heat, and mix the gnocchi with the wine and bacon sauce. Pour the egg and cheese mixture on top, and combine. Top with lots of freshly cracked pepper, and parsley if you have it.

Dreaming? of my last meal in Disney World at Teppan Edo in "Japan"

Recent cooking adventures: barbecue ribs, beer brats, homemade calzones, and penne carbonara

Just because I've been a bit neglectful of the blog doesn't mean I haven't been continuing to cook!

Take a peek at a few things I've been up to lately - beer brats last weekend, then a major cooking marathon of side-by-side barbecue ribs and homemade calzones, then last night's creamy carbonara:



Carbonara is one of the first dishes I learned how to make when I started cooking for myself sophomore year of college. I had never even heard of it, but read an article about Rachel Ray, and how it was a special meal for she and her husband. I loved how it was nicknamed "coal miner's pasta," and I decided to make it myself.

The worst screw up I have ever had cooking this dish was making the mistake of drinking some of the wine while cooking, then laying down on the couch while the bacon and garlic browned. Lesson learned: never walk away from the stove for a quick lie down. Especially not while you are an overworked college student.

I recently had a pasta special at the little cafe next door to my office that was called carbonara but was a really creamy sauce, almost as thick as alfredo.

I decided to try to incorporate a little of that creaminess into my dish this weekend.

Penne carbonara recipe:
(adapted from Rachel Ray)

1 lb pasta (I like rigatoni for this, you can use regular spaghetti. I used penne this weekend), cooked to just before al dente in salted water. Reserve 1 c of the pasta cooking water.
1/3 lb pancetta or about 8 slices of bacon
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 tsp red chili flakes
1/2 c white wine, like pinot grigio
2 whole eggs + 2 egg yolks, beaten
1/2 c heavy cream or half&half
3/4 c shredded or grated Parmesan cheese (can use a mix of Italian cheese)
handful of chopped parsley
black pepper

Fry bacon until not quite crisp. Remove from pan and chop roughly. Drain the fat from the pan. Reserve entirely if you have uses for it, otherwise keep just 1 TBS

Heat 1 TBS bacon fat over low heat, return bacon to the pan and stir in the garlic and red chili flakes. Saute about 2 mins (do not burn the garlic), then stir in the wine. Increase the heat and allow alcohol to evaporate. The liquid will reduce by about half. Turn off the heat.

In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs and yolks, then slowly stir in about 1/3 c of the pasta water to temper the eggs. Mix in the half&half (if using) and the cheese.

Slowly stir in the egg mixture into the pan sauce, then quickly toss in the pasta. Season liberally with freshly cracked black pepper and parsley.

And, if someone has a good way of reheating carbonara that *doesn't* cause the egg in the sauce to scramble, please let me know.

Dreaming? of my next Disney trip, in just one week!

Pitas, hummus, and falafel dinner - almost like New York

Sunday dinner (clockwise from the pitas): pitas, parmesan couscous salad, hummus (smaller red bowl) w/ paprika garnish, tzaiziki, tahini and falafel.

This was the first time I had ever worked with dried chickpeas, but found it to be just as easy as everyone else has said. I covered them with boiling water and kept them on low heat for a couple of hours. Had I planned far enough in advance, I could have used cold water and just left them over night.

I used half the chick peas to make hummus, which I made using homemade tahini for the first time. About halfway through, I found a full and unopened can of tahini in my fridge, but found I like the homemade version so much better. It's richer and nuttier and less oily. The food processor really was my kitchen workhorse for this meal - and because all of the flavors were blended together, I didn't bother to wash between making the tahini, hummus and falafel mixes. Here's the hummus spread on some bagel pieces:

Next, I rolled my pita dough and let them rise. They're so cute and fluffy.

I also made a tzaiziki sauce with yogurt, cucumbers and dill to serve with the falafel.

Jake caught some awesome light photographing the pitas while they cooled. We just used the grill pan (Jake acted as grill master while I rolled each little pita)

The falafel themselves were a mixed bag. I didn't take the time to chill the mixture as suggested, so they were fairly crumbly. After frying each side for a couple of minutes to brown, I popped them into the oven on a baking sheet for another 10 minutes. The second half of the dough went into the fridge over night, and I baked them for 12 minutes on each side the next day. They held up considerably better, and I was glad not to have all the oil fried into them.

The end result was not as exciting as it had been the weekend before at Karavas Place in Greenwich Village, but still tasty when paired with a couscous and avocado salad.

Recipes:

Hummus:
2 1/2 cups soaked chickpeas
3 cloves garlic
2-3 spoonfuls of tahini (homemade optional)
3 TBS olive oil
1/4 tsp red chili flakes
pinch of salt, to taste

Blend all ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Squeeze a quarter lemon over (removing seeds) then combine again. Serve with a sprinkle of smoked paprika.


Pitas:
1 packet rapid rise yeast
1 TBS sugar
1 1/2 c warm water
(combine and leave in a warm place for up to 10 minutes until foamy and expanded)
4 c flour
2 TBS olive oil
pinch of salt

Mix yeast with flour and salt then drizzle olive oil. Knead until smooth and elasticky (I do this by hand). Invert a bowl over the dough and allow to rise for up to an hour.
Punch down, then knead briefly and shape into 12 balls. Cover with a damp tea towel or plastic wrap and allow to rise again until nearly doubled in size.
Roll balls until about six inches in diameter and thin. Grill over medium high heat until browned on both sides.
Serve warm.


Falafel
2 1/2 c of soaked chickpeas
1/2 a medium onion
3 TBS chopped cilantro
3 TBS chopped parsley
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp cumin
salt/pepper to taste
1 tsp baking powder
4 TBS flour

Combine all ingredients in food processor until coarsely chopped. Use hands to gently shape small golf-ball-sized balls, then flatten slightly.
Optional - fry on each side 3-5 minutes until browned
Transfer to a cookie sheet at bake 12-15 mins on each side at 300 F.
Serve with pitas, tahini, hummus and tzaiziki sauce.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Ok, a bit early. But I had my friends over for a big corned beef and cabbage dinner today.

St. Patrick's day is one of my favorite holidays, mostly because of the meal involved. My mom's side has done a big St. Pat's dinner the last couple of years that I've been around. Lots of fun (as is always the case with them), and a TON of food.

I only have one full-sized burner, so it involved a little creative maneuvering of pots and pans. By the end of the night, I had 4 corned beefs, 2 soda breads, 2 1/2 cabbages and about 7 lbs of potatoes.

The soda bread is my Nan's recipe, which I've written about before. In an attempt to cut down on the number of dishes, I did the bread in one bowl.

Cut up butter, sugar, salt and baking powder. Technically this is something that could be done in my food processor, but it seems more traditional to do it by hand.

Buttermilk, of course, the secret ingredient to Irish Soda Bread.

Egg wash keeps the inside moist and gives the outside a great crust.

End result? Beautiful.

Next up? the corned beef. I seasoned with kosher salt and white pepper, bay leaves then covered with water. I started one in my crock pot and one in a stock pot. The crock never got quite hot enough, so I had to finish the crocking one in the stock pot.

When the meat comes out of the boiling stock (after about two hours), score the fat side. Mix a paste of dark brown sugar and Guinness (or whiskey in a pinch) and spoon over the top of the meat. Bake covered at 375 for about 15 minutes, then uncover for another 10-15 minutes.

Flip the meat and score the other side. Spoon the remaining paste into the back side of the meat and bake uncovered at 375 until a nice glaze forms.

While the meat is baking, put the cabbage (cored and cut into quarters) and potatoes (also cut into quarters) into the same pot as the stock.

Season with salt and pepper as needed. Serve with butter and Irish soda bread.

Dreaming? of TONS of leftovers from this giant feast.

Momofuku inspired ssam

Finally back to the cooking! I finally used a gift card from the end of my last internship and put it toward a big ticket item: the Momofuku cookbook. 

In truth, I've never eaten at a Momofuku restaurant. But after just an initial flip through of the book (which is full of recipes, and also the well-written back story of the chain), I think I'm going to have to make it a destination on my next NYC trip. 

I made ssam tonight - which is the feature of one of Chang's restaurants, and one of the items we made on the grill at mine and Jake's recent trip to Hee Been. Being, as previously discussed, one of the worst Korean's in the world, I couldn't actually explain the differences between bossam and ssamgyapsal - in my eyes, they are both sliced pork belly wrapped in lettuce leaves and served in doengjang or ssamjang and grilled garlic. The term "ssam," as best I know, simply returns to the "wrap" portion of the dish.

Following the direction from the Momofuku book, I prepared the sliced pork belly with salt and sugar. I gave it a few cracks of pepper for good measure.

Pork belly acts a bit like giant slices of bacon. It gets crackly and delicious when tossed on a screaming hot grill pan. The pork belly I bought came with the skin still on. I sliced it off, and threw it into the freezer with my many "for stock" odds and ends.

Most Korean restaurants serve thinly sliced raw garlic with their barbecue dishes. It can be a little intense, so it's common at table-top grilling places for people to throw the garlic on the griddle, like I did here. The garlic grills in the excess fat from the pork, and turns brown and sweet.

Ssam pork, grilled garlic, ssamjang (seasoned soybean paste) and lettuce for wrapping. Layer everything inside the lettuce and pop it into your mouth! 

Dreaming? of my future meal-to-be at one of the Momofuku restaurants. 

PS - if anyone can actually explain the difference between bossam and ssamgyapsal, PLEASE do so in the comments! I'm dying to hear the truth on this! 

Carbonara and popcorn

After that last post, I was feeling a little nostalgic about cooking, so for dinner Monday I made carbonara. 

When I moved out of the dorms after my freshman year, I had my very own kitchen for the first time. I was just getting into cooking, and suddenly I had my own little workshop. Carbonara was one of the first dishes I learned to make. I had never had it before, but read about it in an interview with Rachael Ray.

She talked about carbonara being the dish that her husband fell in love with her over. I think, at the time, I had hoped this dish could have a similar effect for me. It might or might not have, but Jake is definitely another huge reason I cook - so we can enjoy some really fun meals. (Though I strongly suspect if asked, he'd say tteok-bogi is like carbonara for us)

I still follow RR's recipe, almost exactly to a T (I add an extra egg yolk and about 1/3 c boiling water to temper the eggs), and love it every time. 

My other recent food adventure was trying to pop my own popcorn. For this, I followed Michael Ruhlman's recipe and technique.  I had mixed results - my first pan was far too large, and so didn't heat properly, and half the popcorn burned. I used a smaller pot the second time, and had beautiful, buttery salt delight in no time.

Dreaming? Of my "spring break" trip this weekend - I'm headed down to Disney World to visit a friend from high school for a long weekend! Excited to spend 2 full days outside, walking and being WARM!

Lunar New Year

Happy Year of the Tiger to all! 새해 복 많이 받으세요 


On the lunar new year, or 설날 (seollal) Koreans allegedly start the day with a big bowl of tteok guk - or rice cake soup. 


For me, it was just a good excuse to whip up this simple, tasty favorite. 

A simple broth is brought to a boil (I used about 1 1/2 c of my pho beef stock with about 1 c of water).

 

Then add sliced tteok (Korean rice cakes). I only had tteok-bogi tteok in the house, but they do make pre-sliced soup-style tteok.

The thinly sliced beef is optional, but I find it rather tasty. You can also add a small bunch of sweet potato (jap chae) noodles if you like.

Also chop up a scallion or two. Season the broth with 2 TBS soy sauce, 1 TBS sesame oil.

Pour 1 beaten egg over the boiling soup and wait 10 seconds, before drawing figure-8s through to create egg ribbons.

Garnish your soup with black pepper and thin strips of toasted seaweed (gim or laver)

Jake and I also had some great eats for Valentine's Day: 



Dreaming? of getting back into the gym this week! Had a lot of great eating in the last week, time to get back on track.