Friday, June 12, 2009

Korean Comfort Food

Last night I was home alone, cooking for one and didn't really feel like putting a lot of time into cooking a huge dinner. I wanted something quick and easy, but I'd also been craving some Korean food since I haven't been to my parents' place in a few weeks. Then I realized that I STILL hadn't gotten around to actually trying Sujaebi by myself at home. Perfect!

Growing up, comfort food didn't mean chicken pot pie, mac 'n' cheese or any of the other things that might immediately come to mind. It meant sujaebi, a ridiculously easy potato broth soup with hand-pulled dumplings. The broth makes it seem like a light dish but really it's full of starchy, salty dumplings and yummy potato chunks.

There are a number of variations of this dish, with different combinations of vegetables, kimchi, spicy sauce and seafood. But I didn't like any of those things as a kid, so my mom made my sujaebi with the most basic ingredients. And it's still the way I eat it. So simple but delicious.

Note: Though I tend to follow very specific recipes and instructions when I cook, the Korean dishes in my mental recipe file are the exception. My mom has never used a recipe as far as I know so I've also never tried to write them down. But even if I had, this dish is so easy that it really doesn't matter. The only thing is that the scale of the recipe can really vary. The measurements below make about two bowls of sujaebi.


Mom's Sujaebi

Dumpling dough
1 cup flour
salt
1 egg
oil
water

1. Measure out the flour into a small mixing bowl. Add some salt and a bit of oil (really you can use as little or as much as you want - I'm not really even sure what it's for).
2. Make a well and add the egg and some water. This is where the measurement is really sketchy. I usually just add a small amount and add as I stir...
3. Stir with a wooden spoon or your fingers until a sticky dough forms. Knead in the bowl for a couple of minutes, adding more water or flour as necessary until you have a fairly tacky but firm dough. Wrap with saran wrap and put in the fridge while you make the broth.

Sujaebi
Water
Salt
Anchovy Powder*
1/2 a Potato (I used Yukon Gold)

*I think you can find Anchovy powder at Asian supermarkets. To me, this is an essential ingredient that defines the flavour of the dish, but I'm sure you could use your own flavourings and spices to your preference

1. Put some water in a pot. I think I used about 3 cups. Salt and turn on the heat to high.
2. Cut up the potatoes into 1/4 inch-ish slices, cutting up the larger chunks into halves or quarters. It doesn't really matter as long as the slices are somewhat even. Add to the water in the pot.
3. Boil until potatoes are still just a bit firm, but starting to soften.
4. Add Sujaebi dumplings. This is probably the hardest part. I always had issues with pulling the dough, and it's only over time I've gotten better at creating the flat, thin dumplings that are ideal for Sujaebi.
  • Take the dough ball out of the fridge - divide in half (it's usually easier to work with a smaller ball)
  • Holding the ball in one hand, pull out a bit and flatten so it's pretty thin
  • Pull the flattened bit off the ball, and use your other hand to stretch it out some more so that it's kind of like a thick potato chip in shape - drop into the boiling broth
  • Repeat until both dough balls are in the broth

5. Give the Sujaebi a stir so that all the dumplings are wet. Add more salt and anchovy powder to taste. Continue lightly boiling for about 2 minutes, until the dumplings are cooked through.

All Batterberry, all the time

June 12

What’s the plural for Batterberry? If it were a type of berry, obviously it would be Batterberries, but Michael and Ariane Batterberry are people. Indeed, they are probably the prince and princess of the New York food writing world. The archduke and archduchess at the very least. They founded Food & Wine magazine many years ago, and then founded Food Arts, where Michael is still editor-in-chief. They are gracious, warm-hearted, charming people who despite their long stint on the dining scene seem still to approach each meal with an open mind and curiosity.
I don’t see the Batterberrys all that often, but this week I dined with them, twice.
The first dinner was on Tuesday, at Sandro's, the Upper East Side Italian restaurant of Sandro Fioriti. He was celebrating the 25th anniversary of his arrival in New York.
You don't hear much about Sandro these days, but he is very much loved and appreciated by New York’s gastroscenti, for his full-figured jocularity almost as much as for his food.
It was before my time, but I’m told that Sandro introduced Roman cuisine to New York when he landed here in 1984 and opened his first restaurant, with the help of Tony May, the father, or maybe the uncle, of Italian fine dining in New York.
Since then Sandro has moved around a lot. He is famously as peripatetic as John Tesar, perhaps even more so, donning a toque, imbuing a restaurant with aromatic Roman goodness and then mysteriously doffing his toque and vanishing into the night, or to the Hamptons, or St. Martin.
He has stayed at his current restaurant for nearly two years, since he opened it in autumn of 2007.
A-List people came to the celebratory dinner, including former New York Magazine critic Gael Greene, former New York Times restaurant critic Mimi Sheraton, and the Batterberrys.
Tony May came, too. Incidentally, his new restaurant, SD-26, the Madison Square Park incarnaton of his recently shuttered flagship, San Domenico NY, is scheduled to open on September 9.
Sandro's food is still old-school Roman — fried artichokes, a light spring vegetable stew, batter-fried cuttlefish that reminded me of how pedestrian most calamari is by comparison, hunks of roasted veal in ragù.
Then the next night, I was at the James Beard house, eating the savory food of Ben Pollinger and the desserts of Jansen Chan of Oceana.
Oceana, too, is leaving its current location on E. 54th — the lease expires next month. It’s moving to the McGraw Hill Building (49th St., between Sixth and Seventh avenues, right near Del Frisco's), where it, too, is planning to open in September. The Beard House dinner was intended as a preview of what they were planning on doing at the new restaurant, which will be a bit more laid back than the current Oceana.
At Sandro's the Batterberrys and I had talked about Ben and what a fine chap he is, but for some reason I still hadn’t expected to see them at the Beard House last night. In fact, I hadn't expected to see anyone that night that I’d seen the night before, so (this is quite embarrassing), I wore the same necktie two days in a row.
What can I say? It’s my Sovereign Beck “bloom” tie, and it’s really very sharp.
Back when business attire was required in NRN’s offices, just a few months ago, I never would have worn the same tie two days in a row. I wouldn’t have worn the same tie twice in the same week. But now that our dress code has changed and I don’t wear ties that often, I have become lax.
Anyway, if the Batterberrys noticed I was wearing the same tie (different shirt, of course, I mean, come on) they didn’t say anything. They wouldn’t say anything, of course, because they’re not bad-natured jerks.
I had a good chat with Jim Poris, another Food Arts editor, who sat to my left (he scooted down when the Batterberries arrived so they could sit down more easily) and talked a bit with Nick Livanos, who owns Oceana (and Molyvos and Abboccato and a number of places in the suburbs) and was seated to my right. I made Nick laugh with my conversation with two Italians at the table, one from Florence and one from Milan. I told the Florentine what I think of Florence, which is that I understand why so many famous sculptors come from there, because Florentines are so beautiful that you want to sculpt them. I told her about one of the most flattering moments in my life: I was in Florence, strolling along the Arno River in clothing I had just bought, and some guy walked up to me and asked me directions, as though I actually looked like a local.
I loved that. Too bad I had to tell him “No Parlo Italiano.”
I told the Florentine with whom I was dining at the Beard House that I was Jewish and that I always thought that Jews looked like Italians’ ugly cousins.
That’s when Nick laughed.

What I ate and drank at the Beard House:

hors d'oeuvre:

Razor Clams with Citrus and Yuzu
House-Salted Cod Tempura
Smoked Trout with Cherry Raita
Monkfish and Shiitake Spring Rolls
Lucien Albrecht Crémant d’Alsace Blanc de Blancs Brut NV

Dinner:

Fluke sashimi with rhubarb and cucumber (the rhubarb and cucumber were a broth with just a whisper of tarragon in it)
Raymond Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2007

Braised Widow’s Hole oysters with chanterelles and ramps
Alois Lageder Pinot Bianco 2007

Wild Alaskan coho salmon burgers (served with potato chips tossed in fines herbes, something I’d never seen before)
Cloudline Pinot Noir 2007

Whole-roasted wild striped bass stuffed with arugula, olive, tomato, and Swiss chard
Joseph Drouhin Véro Pinot Noir 2006

Lychee and raspberry salad with buttermilk sorbet
Paolo Saracco Moscato d’Asti NV DOCG

A plate of doughnuts (which Ariane declared were the best doughnuts ever, ever).

Just one more reason to hate "three-two" beer

I live in Oklahoma. ::slight shudder:: Yeah, yeah....it's not that bad. Actually, I'll even confess to enjoying it here. However, Oklahoma's liquor laws cause me some serious angst.

When we first arrived in Oklahoma my husband's work friends cued us in. Here you cannot buy alcohol on Sundays or after 9pm on any day, all beer sold in liquor stores is room temperature, you cannot buy liquor or wine anywhere but a liquor store, beer in grocery stores is no more than 3.2% ABV (your standard domestics run between 4.2% and 5.0% ABV), and most everything served in a restaurant, sporting event, etc. is "three-two". You can, however, find imports (at room temperature) that contain their proper alcohol content (typically 4.8%-5.6% ABV) in liquor stores. Call me a Yankee, Yupee, whatever...but I want to be drinking the
real deal when I choose to partake.

My better half would get embarrassed when I narrowed my beverage selection at a restaurant by asking, "What's NOT 'three-two'?" It'll be a long life with that attitude, baby. Give credit where credit is due - I haven't made the 45-minute commute to Arkansas for the real stuff. Yet.


But the dietitian in me got to thinking...there's gotta be something good about this "three-two" stuff (one source actually reported 70% of alcohol-related deaths being attributed to the consumption of three-two beer!). Anyways, I deduced that because there's alcohol missing, this beer must be lower in calories compared to its domestic brothers and sisters made right. Logical, si?

Wrong.

For the record, my bachelor's is in "FOOD Science and Human Nutrition", not "Food and Beverage Science and Human Nutrition". Luckily, too. The latter wouldn't sound as impressive on a resume. (Although, my undeclared minor was certainly beverage-related
coughcough). Anyways...

What makes a light beer lighter is not the (large) reduction in alcohol content, but rather the carbohydrate content. While my logical side thinks, "But how many more carbs can you take out of a Miller Lite containing a mere 3.2 grams of carbohydrates in a 12-ounce serving?". No wonder Bud Light wins my vote. It comes in at 6.6 grams of carbs per serving, doubling its archrival Miller Lite. Dammit! At least
Bud Light has drinkability. Moving on...

A standard 12-ounce bottle contains 355 ml. If a domestic beer serving is typically 15 ml of "alcohol" (1/2 ounce), a "three-two"beer has 11.4 ml of "alcohol" (juuussst shy of 2/5ths ounce). Not a huge difference despite it's "three-two" contents. If you don't believe me, Google "milliliter".

At least we're not the only deprived ones -- Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, and Utah are in this with us. In all seriousness, true source of all my angst surrounding this issue revolves around the fact that until Oklahoma liquor laws change, there will be no Trader Joe's in our new home state.
Sigh.

Gotta jet - off to Arkansas.





vacation pictures!

Most of the vacation pictures are up on my flickr account now. Facebook has some, but I have to go to my in-laws to finish uploading those sometime. Here is the link for my flickr account. www.flickr.com/photos/godsflower enjoy!

Pork and Leek Sausages and Mash with Red Onion Gravy Recipe

Sausages and mash is a very common dinner in the United Kingdom. The problem is that, unfortunately, the quality of the sausages more often than not leaves a lot to be desired. Usually, they are made with bits of the animal carcass which people would never otherwise eat, as well as a whole host of artificial chemicals and preservatives.

The sausages which I am using in the preparation of this recipe are of very high quality and high meat content, made with free range, organic pork and leeks and, although more expensive than the supermarket budget sausages described above, were priced at a level which should be well within the budget of the vast majority of people.

Ingredients (Serves Two)

6 free range, organic pork and leek sausages
1lb of potatoes
1 large red onion
1oz unsalted butter
1/4 pint of fresh chicken stock

Method

Add a little sunflower or vegetable oil to a non-stick frying-pan and put on as low a heat as possible. Add the sausages and cook for one hour, turning frequently. Note that sausages should never be pricked prior to cooking them as this allows all the juices and thus the flavour to escape. Cook them extremely slowly in this fashion and they will not burst.

When the sausages have been on for about half an hour, put your peeled and chopped potatoes in to a large pan of salted, boiling water and simmer for the remainder of the sausages' cooking time.

Next, peel your onion and slice it across ways to a thickness of about 1/8", so that each slice can then be separated carefully in to rings. Gently melt the butter in a non-stick pot or pan and add the onion rings. Heat on a medium heat for about five minutes, stirring regularly, until the onions begin to sweat and take on a transluscent quality. Turn down the heat and simmer gently for about fifteen minutes, stirring frequently. Then add the chicken stock and simmer for a further five to ten minutes.

It then remains only to drain and mash the potatoes with a little butter and plate up your delicious, healthy option bangers and mash.

If you are for any reason having trouble getting the quality of sausages you desire, why not make your own? You may be very surprised as to how easy it can be!

Happy Father's Day!

( I lost this geeky eyeglasses during my trip at Melbourne, Victoria, AUS)

Compound myopic astigmatism. A vision defect called near sighted in layman’s term. Sadly I was diagnosed with this defect 6 years ago. Slowly my eyesight is deteriorating. I can’t see or read signs from a far. They appear blurry to me. Since that day I have to wear eyeglasses so that I can see objects from a distance clearly. But seeing objects close to me are fine. They are vivid and clear. Wearing my eyeglasses regularly makes my eyes feel so heavy. So I’d rather wear it when needed. Sometimes people see me on the streets without my eyeglasses they perceive me as a very snobbish person. Actually I am not.

Two weeks ago my Dad finally braved himself and went on an eye surgery because he has cataract on both eyes. Thank God it was a success. I always pray that his vision will be ok so that he can still see all my dreams come true. I always have been proud of my Daddy. The man with beard and mustache is the greatest influencer of my life because I inherited his talent and his philosophies in life. So now, unconsciously I tend to be prone to men with beard and mustache. I denied that for quite some time, but now based on my observation about realities of human subconscious mind, I think I agree. The subconscious mind takes up 88% of our brain's capacity, and could be compared to a massive computer system that stores all of the information regarding our location, situation, feelings etc. It controls our Autonomic Nervous System such as our heartbeat, breathing, organs and glands - in other words all of the things we do not have to think about. The subconscious mind has no reasoning power, and cannot reject anything that it is told. Now it makes sense right?

(With my Daddy and my niece Chelsea)

For other people my Dad is a good billiard and dart player (the Efren Bata Reyes among his peers), a chain smoker, a beer drinker, a good artist, a videoke singer wannabe and now a Grand Pa. I always respected him and will always be thankful how he raised me. He sent me to a good school and he’s always there to help me since I was this little girl. Up to these days He still helps me in many ways. I know I can never pay all the things He has done for me. What I can only do is to return the favor, now that I have all the blessings in life---it’s pay back time. Now that Dad is old and He can no longer treat me to good restaurants and buy cool stuff the way he did before, it’s my turn for me to do those things for him. Actually I’ve been doing that since I started earning and I intend to continue that as long as we both live.

No matter what, I will not exchange my Daddy to anybody. He’s unique in so many ways. And one great reason why I admire my Dad so much, the way he stood up beside my Mom in spite and despite. I think that’s Love. Now I am having my silly grin writing that sentence. To wrap things up, I will be proud to have my one and only Daddy in this little life that Joanie has.

Happy Father’s Day Daddy and to all the real father in the planet! :-)


hugs,
joanie xxx