Han Oak Galbijjim

Han Oak Galbijjim

New York Times

This is a home cook’s take on the short-rib stew the chef Peter Cho serves at Han Oak, the beautiful homestyle Korean restaurant in Portland, Ore., that he runs with his wife, Sun Young Park. It is fragrant and sweet, with deep caramelized flavors that come in part from roasting the meat and vegetables separately before combining them in the braising liquid. Cho fries rice cakes before adding them to the stew, but you can just slide them in plain, if you prefer. Either way, the addition of greens at the end gives the dish an exciting brightness, a zip that many galbijjims lack.

Ingredients

3          pounds mixed root vegetables, such as carrots, parsnips, onions and sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces

5          tablespoons neutral oil, like canola or vegetable oil

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

4          pounds bone-in short ribs, cut by a butcher into 2-inch pieces

2          medium-size Asian pears, peeled, cored and diced

1          large red onion, peeled and diced

12        cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped

2          tablespoons roughly chopped ginger

3          cups chicken stock

1          12-ounce can Coca-Cola

¼         cup honey

½         cup soy sauce

¼         cup rice-wine vinegar

2          tablespoons gochugaru (Korean chile flakes), or to taste

4          cups roughly chopped kale, optional

1          pound Korean rice cakes, optional

1          tablespoon toasted sesame oil

3          scallions, trimmed and both white and green parts thinly sliced

3          radishes, trimmed and thinly sliced

Sesame seeds, to taste

Preparation

1.   Heat oven to 425. Toss the root vegetables in a large bowl with 2 tablespoons of oil, and season with an aggressive amount of salt and pepper. Turn the vegetables onto a sheet pan. Put the short ribs in the same bowl, and toss with 1 tablespoon of oil and a lot of salt and pepper, then put the ribs on another sheet pan, bone sides down. Place both pans in the oven and roast, turning the pans once or twice, until the vegetables are soft and caramelized and the ribs are well browned, approximately 40 minutes. Set the pans aside until ready to use.

2.   While the vegetables and ribs cook, place a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat, and swirl into it the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil. When it shimmers, add the pears, onion, garlic and ginger and cook, stirring occasionally, until they are softened and browning, approximately 15 minutes.

3.   Turn heat to high, add the stock, Coca-Cola, honey, soy sauce, rice-wine vinegar and gochugaru, and bring the mixture to a lively simmer. Cook until pears are tender, approximately 20 minutes. Transfer to a blender or food processor, and purée the sauce until smooth, then return it to the pot.

4.   Add the cooked short ribs and whatever fat has rendered from them to the pot, cover it and cook over medium-low heat for approximately 90 minutes, or until very tender.

5.   When the meat can be flaked from the bone, add the roasted vegetables to the pot, along with the rice cakes. Cook until the vegetables are hot and the rice cakes (if using) are sticky, then add the greens, and stir them around until they have just started to turn tender.

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6.   Drizzle with the sesame oil, top with the scallions, radishes and sesame seeds to taste. Serve immediately.

Pork with Cauliflower Gratin with Leeks and White Cheddar

We started with a new dish for us: Cauliflower Gratin with Leeks and White Cheddar. This dish is a winner! I want to make it again. What a great way to prepare Cauliflower!

We have made Sweet and Salty Grilled Pork With Citrus and Herbs many times. It is a favorite of ours. It reminds us of the Vietnamese food we had in Honor. the recipe can be found on our blog of: October 12, 2018. Click the date to get the recipe.

Cauliflower Gratin with Leeks and White Cheddar

New York Times

A sort of cheaters' gratin, this cauliflower cooked with leeks and cream doesn’t require blanching or a béchamel, making it a low maintenance, deeply comforting side dish. To skirt the blanching, the cauliflower and cream is covered in foil to give the vegetables a chance to get tender without drying out. The foil then comes off so the top can brown and the cream can reduce, creating a thick, velvety sauce. If your heart desires a crunchier texture, add a scattering of bread crumbs tossed in olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper when the aluminum foil comes off.

Ingredients

1      small-ish head cauliflower (about 2 pounds), green leaves removed

Olive oil, for drizzling

1      small leek, white and light green part only, very thinly sliced

Kosher salt and black pepper

¾     cup heavy cream

6      ounces sharp white Cheddar, grated (about 1 1/2 cups)

Preparation

1.   Heat oven to 425 degrees. Slice cauliflower head lengthwise into 1/2-inch thick slices, including the core and leaves. (Some smaller bits will fall away: That’s fine. You’ll use them as well.)

2.   Drizzle some olive oil onto the bottom of a 2-quart baking dish. (An oval, square or rectangular dish will all work.) Layer about a third of the cauliflower along the bottom, and about a third of the leeks. Season with salt and pepper, and repeat until all of the cauliflower and leeks are used. (Don’t worry about perfectly layering them.) Season with salt and pepper and drizzle cream over. Scatter cheese on top, and season again with salt and pepper. Lightly cover with foil and place in the oven.

3.   Bake until cauliflower is nearly tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove foil and continue to bake until cream has thickened and reduced nearly completely and the top is golden brown and crisp, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool slightly before eating.

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Pork and Green Beans

We liked this dish Stir-Fried Green Beans With Pork and Chiles. It is a Chinese style dish that is easy to make and quite good! You can find the recipe on our blog of: November 9, 2019. Click the date to get the recipe.

Goan Shrimp

Goan Shrimp is a go to dinner for us. We make it several times per year. It has a kick, but you can temper it to your taste. We serve it over Basmati Rice. If you haven't ever made this and you like shrimp and Indian spices, this is for you! You can find the recipe for the Goan Shrimp on our blog of: August 9, 2008. Click the date to get the recipe.

Maple Glazed Salmon

We saw this recipe for Miso and Maple Make a Good Match with Salmon in the New York Times and decided to make it. We liked it. We will make it again. We started with Focaccia that we purchased at Proof Bakery. The hundred dollar bill is a paper napkin we purchased as a lark at a neighborhood store. We also served a delicious Moroccan Butternut Squash And Tomato Soup. You can find the recipe for the soup on our blog of: November 5, 2011. Click the date to get the recipe.

Miso and Maple Make a Good Match with Salmon

New York Times

This sheet-pan supper of salmon with green beans is salty, sweet and earthy.

For a weeknight salmon that’s impressive enough for entertaining, look no further. Salty miso paste and sweet maple syrup are the backbone of this simple, flavor-packed marinade, which is about as involved as this uncomplicated recipe gets. Here, the fish soaks up the sauce as the oven gets hot, and the snappy green beans roast in the same amount of time as the fillets. Start some rice when you walk in the door and you’ll have dinner on the table in under a half hour.

Ingredients

4       (6-ounce) skin-on salmon fillets, about 1-inch thick

 Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

4       teaspoons maple syrup

1       tablespoon white or brown miso

1       tablespoon rice wine vinegar

2       teaspoons soy sauce

1       garlic clove, grated

1       pound green beans, trimmed

2       tablespoons olive oil

Pinch of red-pepper flakes(optional)

¼      teaspoon toasted sesame oil(optional)

¼      cup roughly chopped cilantro, both leaves and tender stems

4       lime wedges, for serving

Flaky sea salt, for serving (optional)

Cooked white rice, for serving (optional)

Preparation

1.   Heat oven to 400 degrees and line a sheet pan with parchment paper or foil. Season the salmon fillets well with salt and pepper, and place them on a plate or in a large shallow bowl.

2.   In a small bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, miso, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce and garlic. Pour the mixture on top of the salmon and gently massage the marinade all over the fish. Let marinate while the oven comes to temperature.

3.   Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, toss together the green beans with the olive oil, red-pepper flakes and sesame oil (if using) and season generously with salt and pepper. Lay the salmon fillets on the sheet pan skin side down and spread the green beans out surrounding the fillets.

4.   Arrange the salmon skin side down on the sheet pan and bake until the salmon is opaque and the green beans are cooked through, about 12 minutes. Right before serving, scatter with cilantro and a good squeeze of lime. Season with flaky sea salt and serve with rice, if desired.

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Best Roast Chicken Ever

File this under "I will always regret the things I didn't do". L'Ami Louis is a famous Paris Bistro that is famous for their Roast Chicken. Every time we have been in Paris I have wanted to eat there. But for one reason or another we never have dined there. I promise myself on our next trip to Paris we will finally eat there. Meanwhile, here is a great recipe for the chicken, but I am sure it won't be the same, however it will be a hell of a lot cheaper, for L'Ami Louis is fabulously expensive!

Poulet Roti L’Ami Louis

L’Ami Louis’s Roast Chicken

Bistro Cooking

Patrica Wells

If the dozens of bistro dishes I have sampled again and again over aII the years, it is the roast chicken at L’Ami Louis that remains at the top of my list. What is so delightful is that this is such an over-whelming simple dish to prepare. The secret is to rub the chicken with goose or other poultry fat before roasting it. The chicken is roasted in a hot oven, then melted butter and water are blended with the rich cooking juices. The firm, fresh, pungent watercress leaves serve as a great foil.

1       whole roasting chicken (3 to 4 pounds), well rinsed and patted dry, at room temperature

1       tablespoon poultry fat, or substitute butter

Salt

4       tablespoons unsalted butter

1.  Preheat the oven to 425 Degrees

2.  Place the liver, gizzard, heart, and neck inside the cavity of the
chicken. Truss with household string. Place the chicken in a roasting pan just large enough to hold it. Rub the chicken all over with the poultry fat. Season with salt.

3.  Place the roasting pan in the center of the oven. Roast, basting every 10 minutes or so to ensure even browning without drying out, until the juices run clear when the thigh is pierced with a fork, about 1-1/2 hours for a 4-pound chicken.

4.  Remove the chicken from the oven. Pour any juices from die chicken cavity into the roasting pan. Allow the chicken to rest for 10 minutes before carving.

5.  Meanwhile, add the butterand 3 tablespoons of water to the roasting pan, and deglaze the pan over high heat, scraping up any caramelized bits of skin that stick to the pan. Cook until the liquid is reduced to a syrup, 2 to 3 minutes.

6.  Carve the chicken and place the pieces on a warmed platter. Pour the sauce over the chicken. Arrange the watercress around the chicken pieces. Serve immediately.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

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Pot Roast

We made a Pot Roast following a recipe from the New York Times. I love the texture of the meat, so tender from it long slow cooking. You can get the recipe from our blog of: March 15, 2016. Click the date to get the recipe. 

Those aren't Mashed Potatoes. It is a delicious Cauliflower Puree, it is a great change from Mashed Potatoes and goes excellent with the Pot Roast.

Cauliflower Purée

Epicurious

Mashed potatoes really serve primarily as a silky, textural vehicle for butter, cream, and salt, in my view. Cauliflower does an excellent job as well — and considering all the other carb sources on your table today, there's no harm in a whipped white dish that contains few of them.

Steaming works better than boiling for this purée because boiling leaches flavor out of the cauliflower. You can get a big pot with a steamer insert anywhere for about $20.00. But go ahead and boil if you need to; just use less liquid to thin the purée. (The cauliflower will have absorbed a lot of water in boiling.)

There's no law that says you can't purée other quick-cooking vegetables as well; imagine whirled peas, as the Phish fans used to exhort on their Volvo bumpers. The bright green color looks fantastic on a plate.

Ingredients

1       head cauliflower, 2 to 2 1/2 pounds

3       tablespoons unsalted butter

1       teaspoon kosher salt

¼      teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

Pull the leaves off the cauliflower and cut out the core in a kind of cone-shaped section. Then pull the florets off the head with your fingers, using a knife when you need to. Break or cut the florets into smaller, regular pieces (about 1 1/2 inch) and put them in the steamer insert. Bring about 1 inch of water to a boil in the steamer pot, add the insert, cover, and cook for about 15 minutes, or until you can poke a paring knife into the stems and you can feel that there's still a little texture there. (Tooth, it's called.) Stir the cauliflower well a few times while it's steaming so that it cooks evenly.

Dump about half of the cauliflower into a food processor. Measure out 3/4 cup of the steaming liquid, and pour in about 1/4 cup; purée until smooth. Now dump the rest of the cauliflower on top, add about 1/3 of the remaining liquid, and purée again. You'll need to stop and scrape and stir the purée a few times; add more liquid as you need to, but with the understanding that you really want to add as little liquid as you can get away with. With the motor running, process in the butter, salt, and pepper through the feed tube. Taste for seasoning and serve hot. (You can reheat over low heat in the same pan if you're not eating immediately.)

Cook's Note:

Cauliflower is an excellent canvas for other flavors. I like things spicy and I love mustard, so I sometimes add a tablespoon of Colman's, the amazing English mustard powder, to this purée;. You might also add curry powder, grated Parmigiano, crumbled blue cheese, or a chopped fresh herb.