Trends 2016 and Korean Food

I usually discuss trends for the new year at this point of the year but have found very little in the way of trends in my magazines. I did read in my ‘Saveur’ magazine, Jan/Feb issue, that we should stop saying FOODIE! It is a goofy word say some and we perhaps don’t need a catchall word for people who appreciate a great meal and what goes into it. Perhaps we can just focus on the pleasures of eating, cooking, and drinking and leave labels where they belong.

Perhaps we should make resolutions instead of discussing trends. I for one would like to have more dinner parties, but never seem to take the time. I would like to cook more adventurous food, and try really weird ingredients Again it takes time to seek these items out. I would like to eat healthier (and most of us want this) but it takes an effort to find the grass-fed beef, free-range eggs, and good local produce. My husband is always saying, “It is better to pay for the good healthy food than pills.” He is right on.

So in the spirit of a new year let us all do better with our eating habits. To begin the year I have some recipes for Korean food that my daughter cooked for us this past weekend. It is my first step in being more adventuresome! These are relatively easy dishes using some interesting ingredients and these dishes are healthy for you. Give them a try.

Bok Choy seasoned with soybean paste

Cheonggyeongchae doenjang-muchim

This is a simple and authentic Korean side dish made with Bok choy. Bok choy is easily available at many grocery stores and you can also substitute Napa cabbage or sweet potato stems instead.

When the Boy choy is blanched and then seasoned with this seasoning mix, it is soft, juicy and a little crispy, and takes on a sweet, salty, pungent flavor. Delicious!

Ingredients

1 pound Bok choy

1 garlic clove, minced

1 green onion, minced

2 tablespoons doenjang (fermented soybean paste)

2 teaspoons gochujang (hot pepper paste)

A pinch of sugar

2 teaspoon sesame oil

2 teaspoons sesame seeds

Cut off the ends of each bunch of Bok choy and separate the leaves from the stalks. Cut into bite size pieces.

Bring a large pot of water into a boil. Blanch the Bok choy for about 1 or 2 minutes until the white stems soften.

Strain and rinse in cold water to remove any dirt and stop them from cooking. Strain.

Combine garlic, green onion, doenjang, gochujang, sugar, and sesame oil in a bowl and mix it with a wooden spoon.

Squeeze out the Bok choy to remove excess water and add to the bowl. Mix it well by hand.

Sprinkle with crispy sesame seeds and serve immediately as a side dish with rice. You can refrigerate it up to 2 days.

 

Spicy Cucumber side dish

Oi-muchim

This is another Korean side dish using an English cucumber and a few spices and can be made in a few minutes. Many Koreans have their own version of this “seasoned cucumber dish.” Mix this just before serving and you will find this a refreshing side dish for a summertime barbecue also.

Ingredients

Serves 4

1 English cucumber (or 2 to 3 Kirby cucumbers), washed

¼ cup thinly sliced onion

1 green onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 teaspoons hot pepper flakes

2 teaspoons sesame oil

2 teaspoons sesame seeds

1 teaspoon sugar (optional)

Cut the cucumber lengthwise in half and cut diagonally into these slices.

Put the cucumber into a large bowl. Add the onion, green onion, garlic, soy sauce, hot pepper flakes, sesame oil, sesame seeds, and sugar.

Mix it well with a spoon until the sugar is well dissolved.

 

Eggplant side dish

Gaji-namul

This a delicious, simple everyday Korean side dish. It is meant to be eaten with other side dishes and rice.

If you are a vegetarian, replace the fish sauce with soy sauce.

Ingredients

Serves 4

1 pound Korean eggplants (3-4 eggplants), caps removed and washed

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 green onions, chopped

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon fish sauce

1 teaspoon hot pepper flakes

2 teaspoons sesame oil

1 tablespoon sesame seeds, crushed

Prep your streamer by adding 2 cups of water to it. Set heat to medium-high for it to boil. It should take about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, cut eggplants crosswise into 2 ½ inch pieces. Cut the thicker pieces in half lengthwise.

When the water starts boiling, put the eggplants on the steamer rack and cover. Steam for 5 minutes over medium high heat.

Remove from the heat. Take out the steamed eggplant and transfer to a cutting board. Let cool for 5 to 10 minutes until you can easily handle them.

Tear each piece into bite size pieces.

Make seasoning mixture:

Combine garlic, green onion, soy sauce, fish sauce, hot pepper flakes, sesame oil in a mixing bowl.

Mix well with a wooden spoon.

Put it together and serve:

Add the steamed eggplant to the bowl and mix well by hand or with the wooden spoon.

Sprinkle with the crushed sesame seeds and serve with rice.

 

 

Benne

I bought my seed last summer in Tucson at Native Seeds. Planted them mid-summer. They are drought tolerant and went on to do well. Harvest is a bit difficult as the seed will disperse from the ripe pods if you do not get them at the right time.

Sesame, sesamum indicum, appears wild in Africa and India. It is one of the oldest seed crops, highly tolerant of drought, and has one of the highest oil contents with a rich nutty flavor. The largest producer in 2013 was Myanmar; the largest exporter was India and the largest importer was Japan.

Sesame seed arrived in colonial America, especially the Southeast coast, in the 17^th century with the slave trade. Charleston made them their own and the city is still known for its benne wafers.

Sean Brock, the noted Charleston chef, in his Heritage cookbook tells us that Benne, a Mende word for sesamum indicum, was a subsistence crop in the early Carolinas and bears little relation to the sesame seeds that come on your fast food burger (McDonald’s imports 75% of Mexico’s crop.). One can eat the young leaves, use the unripe seed pods like okra, use the seeds whole or pressed to make oil, and the leftover mash would make its way into a pot of collard greens as a rich oleo in a land too warm for cheap butter.

You can low-temperature boil the seed in water to get the oil as the Africans did or use a screw press to get the oil. It was a useful oil in the South until 1880 when David Wesson refined the stink out of cotton seed, a waste product, to produce a cheap virtually tasteless lipid and ‘Wesson Oil’ supplanted the Benne oil.

When Carolina Gold Rice Foundation undertook the revival of planting systems of the Carolina low country rice plantations in 2003 they secured landrace benne seed. This is much more flavorful than most of the sesame produced today. The Native Seeds of Tucson got their seed from Anson Mills of South Carolina.

You can buy your benne seeds from Anson Mills, www.ansonmills.com or order some seed from Native Seeds, www.nativeseeds.org. I am going to try using the young greens in soup or pot greens next year and maybe as Sean Brock suggests tempura fry the young seed pods.

 

But let’s start with the seeds for that Charleston party treat, benne wafers. This would be nice to go along with drinks for New Year’s Day. I am using benne seeds since I have a lot now but you can always substitute sesame seeds.

From ‘Southern Living’ March 2013

Savory Benne Wafers

Makes 6 dozen

¼ cup plus 2 tsp. benne seeds

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt

¼ teaspoon ground red pepper

¾ cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

¼ cup ice-cold water

Preheat the oven to 325°. Cook benne seeds in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Stirring often, 6-7 minutes or until fragrant. (Seeds will be the color of pecans). Transfer to a plate. Cool completely (about 20 minutes).

Process flour, next 2 ingredients, and 1 Tbsp. seeds in a food processor 30 seconds or until seeds are finely ground. (Seeds should be the same consistency as the flour). Add butter, and pulse 5 or 6 times or until mixture resembles small peas and is crumbly. Add half of ice-cold water, 1 Tbsp. at a time, and pulse 2 or 3 times or just until combined. Add 1 Tbsp. benne seeds and remaining water, process 10-15 seconds or until dough forms a ball and pulls away from sides of bowl.

Place dough on a lightly floured surface. Shape into 1 ½-inch-thick flat disk, cut into 4 wedges.

Dust top of 1 dough wedge with flour, roll dough to 1/16-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Sprinkle with 2 tsp. benne seeds, roll gently to press the seeds into the dough. Cut dough with a 2-inch round cutter. Place wafers ½ inch apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Repeat procedure with remaining dough wedges and benne seeds.

Bake at 325° for 23-25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely on baking sheets or wire racks (about 20 minutes). Store in an airtight container up to three days.

We always need something green for New Year’s Day so why not add some benne seeds to your collards? This dish has an unexpected flavor because of the toasty flavor of the benne seeds and the bitterness of the vegetable. You can use hot-pepper vinegar instead of the cider vinegar and chili oil.

From Williams-Sonoma New American Cooking Series, ‘The South’ by Roy Overton (Time Life Books, 2000).

Collard Greens with Benne Seeds and Chili Oil

Serves 6

2 lb. collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens or broccoli rabe---tough stems and wilted leaves discarded

2 Tbs. Olive oil

6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

2 dried hot chilies, broken in half crosswise

¼ cup benne seeds

1 Tbs. chopped fresh rosemary

2 Tbs. honey

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

2 Tbs. cider vinegar

1 Tbs. hot chili oil

Cut the greens into 1-inch pieces. Bring a large saucepan three-fourths full with lightly salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the greens and stir to immerse completely in the water. Return to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and cook until crisp-tender, about 10 minutes. Drain the greens and place under cold running water to stop the cooking. Transfer to a large kitchen towel, wrap well and squeeze out as much excess water as possible.

In a large fry pan with deep sides over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Add the garlic, chilies, benne seeds and rosemary and cook, stirring, until the benne seeds begin to lightly brown, about 1 minute. Stir in the greens and honey. Sauté, stirring occasionally, until the greens are well coated with the other ingredients and heated through, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Transfer the greens to a large bowl and drizzle with the vinegar and chili oil just before serving.

 

Happy New Year!

 

Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are king in Louisiana. As of 2013, Louisiana was the fourth largest sweet potato producing state with 8,000 acres and 2.5 billion pounds of product. North Carolina is right up there in the top four.  And Alabama and Mississippi and Georgia are also big producers. We think of using sweet potatoes during the holidays but they are good year round. They are harvested here in the fall so are readily available this time of year.

They are native to Central and South America but were taken back to Europe by Columbus and then around the world. They need a long hot growing season so they have made themselves at home here in the South. George Washington Carver at Tuskegee produced more than 118 different products from the sweet potato.

I am reading more about eating the greens as well. We failed to find slips for planting this year but will make an effort next year and try how we might use the greens.

I had to cook for a farewell luncheon for our deacon the other week and decided I would do something with sweet potatoes. I really don’t like them except in a savory dish but the picture of this cake in ‘Southern Living’ just made me want to cook it. Pretty pictures do that you know? The cake was a hit, and I also gave some to my neighbors who had recently gotten in a stray calf for us. This would be great for Christmas morning or as a dessert after that Christmas meal.

I put mine in a pretty dish and it looked lovely!

 

Taken from November, 2015 ‘Southern Living’

Sweet Potato Bundt Cake with Marmalade Ribbon

Makes 12 servings

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened

¼ cup sugar

¾ cup orange marmalade, divided

3 large eggs, divided

1 (16-ounce) can candied yams, drained, syrup reserved

¼ cup vegetable oil

1 (15.25-ounce) box yellow cake mix (I used Betty Crocker Super Moist Yellow Cake mix)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon cloves

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 12-cup Bundt pan with baking spray.

In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar with a mixer at medium speed until fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add ½ cup marmalade and 1 egg, and beat until combined. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mash yams until smooth. Add oil, cake mix, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ½ cup reserved syrup, and remaining 2 eggs; beat with a mixer at medium speed for 2 minutes. Place half of the cake batter in prepared pan, spreading it evenly. Spoon marmalade filling on top, staying away from the edges of the pan. Spoon remaining cake batter over marmalade.

Bake until a wooden pick inserted near center comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Let cake cool in pan for 30 minutes before inverting onto a cake place. Let cool completely.

In a small bowl, microwave butter until melted. Stir in vanilla, remaining ¼ cup marmalade, and confectioners’ sugar. Stir in 3 teaspoons of reserved syrup. Spread glaze over cake.

 

Pompano Duarte

It is time to get my Christmas dinner organized. My daughter is coming to visit and that is a treat since she has not been around for many years for Christmas. She is a good cook and promises to cook some good Chinese or Thai food for me,

I will be doing the Christmas day dinner and decided to prepare the meal I had at Arnaud’s a few weeks ago. So many people go out for Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve meals these days especially in New Orleans where there are so many good restaurants. My meal at Arnaud’s began with a Sazerac, then some pommes soufflé. Next came the Oysters Arnaud, which is a selection of 5 different toppings over oysters and all delicious. The main course was Pompano Duarte which was pompano sautéed with garlic, tomatoes and shrimp. Delicious! I got out my Arnaud’s cookbook and found the recipe and decided that would be my main course for Christmas. I am just not doing ham or turkey this year but something more elegant. This recipe is easy to do and your family will be truly delighted if you make this your main for Christmas dinner.

I could not find pompano this time of year but used wild caught black drum and it was fabulous. Any white mild fish would be fine.

Taken from Arnaud’s Restaurant Cookbook

Pompano Duarte

Serves 6

¼ cup clarified butter (you can buy this or make your own)

6 small, skinless pompano or other white fish fillet, about 6 ounces each

¾ cup Garlic butter (recipe follows)

1 pound tiny shrimp, 31/30 count, peeled and deveined

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh oregano

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh basil

Pinch of red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon coarsely cracked black pepper

½ cup canned peeled and diced tomatoes, drained

1 cup Beurre Blanc Sauce, warm (recipe follows)

Garlic Butter

Yield: 1-1/2 cups

1-1/2 cups (12 ounces, 3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

6 cloves garlic, finely chopped

¼ cup Herbsaint liqueur or Pernod

1 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Kosher sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Beurre Blanc Sauce

Yield: About 1 cup

1/3 cup dry white wine

1/3 cup heavy cream

1 large shallot, very finely chopped

¾ cup (6 ounces, 1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, cut into ½ -inch cubes and softened

½ teaspoon Kosher or sea salt

1/8 teaspoon white pepper, preferably freshly ground

2 tablespoons snipped fresh chives

Preheat the oven to low heat and place six dinner plates inside to warm. Assemble the Garlic Butter, herbs and spices, tomatoes and Beurre Blanc near the stove.

Place a very large skillet (or cook in batches) over high heat and add the clarified butter. Season the fillets with salt and pepper, and sauté, without crowding, 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until golden (total cooking time will depend on the thickness of the fillets).

Transfer the fish to a platter and keep warm in the oven, loosely covered with aluminum foil, while you make the sauce. Add the Garlic Butter to the same pan used for cooking the fish and place over medium heat. Add the shrimp and cook until they turn pink, about 2 minutes. Spoon off the excess butter from the pan and add the chopped herbs, red pepper flakes, black pepper and tomatoes. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally, and stir in the Beurre Blanc Sauce. Spoon the sauce and shrimp over the fish and serve immediately, providing the hot plates at the table.

Garlic Butter

In a food processor or an electric mixer, mix the butter until smooth. Add the chopped garlic and process until smooth, then add the Herbsaint, chopped parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix until completely smooth and all the liqueur has been absorbed; this may take 3 to 5 minutes in a stand mixer, but will take less time in a food processor. Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary.

Beurre Blanc Sauce

In a small saucepan, combine the wine, cream and shallot and place over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low. Simmer gently until reduced to about 2 tablespoons, watching carefully, about 10 minutes. Set aside for up to one hour before finishing the sauce, if desired, or finish immediately.

Place the pan over low heat to warm through, if necessary. As soon as it is steaming, add all the butter at once and swirl the pan or whisk the sauce continuously until the butter has been thoroughly absorbed and the sauce is smooth. Remove from the heat immediately, and stir in the pepper and chives. Use within 10 minutes or keep warm, covered, in the top of a double boiler over hot but not simmering water for up to one hour, stirring occasionally.

 

 

Willa Jeans and John Besh

John Besh has a new restaurant called Willa Jean’s. The name sounds Southern doesn’t it and the food is somewhat Southern but with some twists and turns. The Besh restaurant group now has twelve restaurants! And Besh’s nonprofit organization works to protect and preserve the culinary heritage of New Orleans. Besh opened his first restaurant, August, in 2001, leading the way to a restaurant revival in New Orleans. He won the coveted James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef, Southeast in 2006. He has three cookbooks and a new one (which I just bought) called Besh Big Easy, 101 home cooked New Orleans recipes. This cookbook is a paperback and according to Besh, he wants you to take it into the kitchen and use it and not just look at the pictures.

Getting back to Willa Jean, we were impressed with the menu and the staff. It is located at 611 O’Keefe Ave, in the CBD of New Orleans. It is described as a retro-chic café offering Southern menus, baked goods, coffee, tea and cocktails. It is open from 7am-9pm. It was hard to know what to order since it all looked so good, but we had crab and corn fritters for our starter and I think that was the highlight of the meal. We ordered two tartines: one of smoked salmon, fresh cheese, capers, fine herbs, red onion on pumpernickel, (delicious) and another one with mushrooms and fried egg on white bread (not as good as the salmon). I ordered a grilled meatloaf sandwich with tomato jam and crispy onions on an onion roll. Delicious also! We shared a kale Caesar salad with cauliflower and parmesan. YUM! And since the place bills itself also as a bakery, we bought baked goods for breakfast the next morning.

So get over to Willa Jean’s as soon as possible. In the new John Besh cookbook I found the recipe for the corn and crab fritters. These fritters were served with a crab boil aioli but you could use any sauce of your choice to dip these fritters in, but I created an aioli for you to use. John Besh said it is a marriage of hushpuppies to crab cakes! How can you go wrong with that?

Crab and Corn Fritters

Serves 10-12

Canola oil, for frying

8 tablespoons butter

1 cup corn kernels (from about 2 ears)

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup sour cream

3 green onions, chopped

1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced

1 pound crabmeat

1 cup stone ground cornmeal

½ cup flour

1 ½ tablespoons baking powder

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons salt

½ teaspoon ground pepper

Heat about 3 inches oil in a small saucepan to 350°. Melt the butter and pour into a mixing bowl. Stir in the corn, eggs, sour cream, green onions, and jalapeño. Fold in the crabmeat.

In another bowl, mix together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and pepper. Stir the dry ingredients into the crabmeat mixture until well combined.

Wet your hands and form small balls of the fritter mixture. Drop, a few at a time, into the hot oil and fry for 3-4 minutes, turning until the fritters are brown on all sides. Transfer to paper towels to drain and sprinkle with salt. Serve immediately.

 

Crab Boil Aioli

Makes about 1 cup

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

3 scallions, white and light green parts only, minced

1 Tbsp. crab boil mix

1 clove garlic minced

1 cup mayonnaise

Kosher salt and pepper to taste

In a small skillet, heat the vegetable oil. Add the scallions and garlic with a pinch of salt and pepper and cook over moderately low heat for about 4 minutes.

Add the crab boil mix and the mayonnaise and mix well. Season with salt and pepper if needed. Can be stored for 3 days in the refrigerator.

 

 

Cooking Indian with Ismail Merchant

I decided I was somewhat tired of all the Thanksgiving leftovers (although they were very good) and try some good, simple Indian dishes. I always go back to Indian when I want fresh but spicy meals. I got out my old Ismail Merchant cookbook, Passionate Meals, and found what I was looking for. Even though the big name in Indian cooking is Madhur Jaffrey, Ismail Merchant does a very good job of breaking down Indian cooking into easy and workable meals.

Ismail Merchant was a producer of films, and with director James Ivory produced such great films as ‘A Room with a View’,’ Howard’s End’, and ‘The Remains of the Day’. Merchant was also a creative and inventive cook. When his first collection of recipes, Ismail Merchant’s Indian Cuisine, was published in 1986, Merchant was hailed as a “kitchen virtuoso” by the Los Angeles times, which as well as the New York Times named that book one of the ten best cookbooks of the year.

This cookbook, Passionate Meals, offers over 100 recipes that are rich with the flavors of Merchant’s native India. Merchant believed that the touchtone for all his cooking is taste; a savor that guarantees diners a sense of excitement and adventure. I go back to this cookbook over and over again. I am always amazed how he can take ordinary ingredients such as chicken, turkey, or lamb and bring it to new heights. These recipes are so good and easy. These are good for after the turkey---day one.

 

From Ismail Merchant’s Passionate Meals published in 1994.

Murgh Jeera

Chicken with Cumin

This recipe can also be used to make hors d’oeuvres. Use boneless chicken breast cut into bite-size pieces, or use winglets or drumsticks.

Serves 4-6

¼ cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons cumin seeds

1 teaspoon cumin seeds, roasted and crushed

1 chicken (about 3 pounds), skinned and cut into serving pieces

2 ½ teaspoons salt

½ teaspoon ground red pepper

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Juice of 2 lemons

¼ teaspoon turmeric

2 teaspoons garam masala

Heat the oil in a heavy pot and add both kinds of cumin seeds. Let them sizzle for a few minutes, then add the chicken, salt, red pepper, black pepper, lemon juice, turmeric, and garam masala. Stir to coat the chicken with the spices. Cover and cook over medium heat for 25-30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. This can also be cooked in a covered baking dish in the over at 350°F for about 45 minutes.

If using bite-size pieces the cooking time is only 5-10 minutes.

 

I love fried cheese and it is on many restaurant menus these days. This recipe uses paneer (which can be found in most markets) and spinach and a few spices to make a special dish. It is one of my favorite recipes.

Palak Paneer

Spinach with Cheese

Serves 6-8

1 ½ pounds of fresh spinach

Paneer (1 package of cheese about 16 ounces)

Vegetable oil for frying

6 tablespoons butter

1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped

½ teaspoon cumin seeds

2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

1-inch piece fresh ginger root, peeled and grated

¼ teaspoon ground red pepper

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

Pinch of turmeric

Wash the spinach well. Cook it in a saucepan with 1/3 cup of water for 2 or 3 minutes. When tender, drain and chop. (I use frozen and it is fine). Just thaw, drain, and chop.

Cut the paneer into 1-inch cubes. Heat 2 inches of oil to 375°F in a deep heavy pan. Fry the cubes of paneer in batches, turning over once or twice, until they ae light brown. Remove the paneer with a slotted spoon. Drain on paper towels.

In a large skillet, melt the butter with 1 tablespoon of oil over medium heat and cook the onion until just beginning to turn brown. Add the cumin seeds and garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Add the ginger, spinach, red and black pepper, salt, and turmeric, and stir well. Add the paneer and simmer, covered for 10 minutes. Serve hot.