lobugast

Oven roasted delicata squash and mushrooms, with kale dressed in tahini sauce

“Left over special” continues-

I think that I have expressed numerous times in one way or another that this Halloween weekend was unusually pleasant, but I left out the highlight.  Sunday morning after the Samhain festivities, I woke up to the smell of garlic and thyme roasting in olive oil.  It was already lunch time, and my guilt-tripping-Matt-into-cooking-for-me-after-the-master-cleanser had finally paid off.

He had oven roasted delicata squash and mushrooms, with loads of garlic and fresh thyme.  He even toasted pumpkin seeds to sprinkle!  With just the right amount of salt and pepper, it could have been the best thing he’s ever made for me.  And the kale with tahini sauce was great too.  Obviously, I was very pleased.

By the following evening, we only had just enough of the squash left for one person, and in the bottom of the baking dish was a little too much garlic and thyme infused oil to just wash away.  In an attempt to make this last as long as possible, I turned it into a pasta dish.  It was fantastic.  I do succeed at times, thanks to other people’s hard work.

Oven baked autumn squash pasta with pumpkin sauce

1/2 or more of cubed delicata squash, and mushrooms, baked in garlic, fresh thyme, and olive oil until the squash is softened
a package of fusilli (this texture rules for holding on the thick sauce) or other kinds of pasta
2 or more cloves of garlic
2 scallions, chopped
1/4 or more of a red onion, chopped
1/2 cup of soymilk
1/3 cup of pumpkin purée  (save the rest for pancakes!)
1/2 cup of bread crumbs
a handful of sun dried tomatoes, chopped
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Under cook the pasta, until it’s softened but not quite al dente.

Make the sauce by combining the pumpkin purée, soymilk, garlic and onions, and salt and pepper.

Mix the well-drained pasta, pumpkin sauce, and the sun dried tomatoes in a well-oiled baking dish.

Sprinkle the top with bread crumbs, and bake for 20 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.

Serves 4-6

Still awesome after 1 1/2 days!

I made a heaping portion of pasta for a last minute dinner party of 3, using all the vegetables I could find in the fridge.  Major players were obscene amount of garlic cloves, olive oil, sundried tomato, lots of black pepper, toasted pine nuts, and basil from the garden.

After 20 minutes of prepping, cooking, and cleaning, I covered the pan with aluminum foil and walked over to the location.

Appetizer: arugula salad with tofu with lots of ground black pepper

Main: pasta, potato salad with dill, and zucchini tian with tomato sauce

Dessert;  vanilla coconut milk ice cream with Anarchy in a Jar raspberry topping and cookie crumbs.

+ wine, smokes, kitties, and chats through out the meal with favorite people= life not so tragic.

Next morning I mixed the pasta and the zucchini tian for the lunch box.

Strangely, I haven’t thought about bulgogi since I stopped eating meat 12+ years ago. It’s probably largely due to the fact that this is so much about the quality and the texture of the meat unlike something that still tempts me after all these years like KFC chicken which is all about the crust which is not even really the part of the chicken.

I recently decided to treat bulgogi like KFC-  away from the meat.  (But of course, with a bit more respect.  Please don’t get mad Korean people)   Because bulgogi sauce is too good to be forgotten.  I had it with kimchi stew, and packed the rest for lunch the next day with leftover rice.

One big misconception about bulgogi is that it’s a type of barbecue dish.  While I am sure it’s great grilled, traditionally, it should be more like a stew, with a lot of simmering.  I made mine a little more dry than it should be which might explain whey it looks a bit dry.  I didn’t know any better.

Aside from the whole no beef part, this recipe below is pretty authentic/ basic.  Nothing crazy here.

Mushroom Bul-Seitan (a.k.a. Vegetarian Bulgogi)

1 pack (about 1 lb) of seitan- sliced

For the sauce
1/2 yellow onion-blended- blended
1/2 pear (preferably Korean)- blended
1 1/2 cup filtered water
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp chungju, soju, white wine, or mirin
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp crushed/chopped garlic
ground black pepper to taste

Combine all the ingredients for the sauce, and marinate seitan for up to 6 hours in the fridge.

When it’s ready to cook, prepare the following vegetables:

1 lb mix of different kinds of mushrooms
2 scallions- julienned thin
1 onion- julienned thin
1 or less carrot- julienned thin

In a heated pan, start cooking the marinated seitan in medium-high heat.  When about 1/2 of the liquid have simmer away, add the vegetables, and cook in high heat, for about 5 more minutes.

Serves 4-6

Left over special Pt. I

A couple of weeks ago, I made a pretty big meal for Ben’s birthday and reaped the benefits of not having to cook for the rest of the week.  Here’s the acorn squash in the day light which I packed for our lunch to take to work the following day, and the day after.

With the extra stuffing of fresh corn and leeks kept in the tupperware uncooked, I literally whipped up a simple dish of instant polenta and quick greens with field roast the following day before heading to the Guggenheim’s 50th anniversary event.

Lucy insisted on having her polenta with our kimchi, noting that any savory starch dish goes well with it.  Having savored my share of oatmeal with soy sauce and sesame oil like a Korean rice porridge in the past, I couldn’t really argue.

There’s a pretty big culinary event that I left out in October.  That is, my very first hosting of Chuseok, the Korean Thanksgiving celebration.  I tried my best to quickly come up with something comparable to the traditional menu, but of course it deviated to match my need, ability, and resources.

One of the biggest rituals for Chuseok is Charye.  Of course, we’re not sprung from the same ancestors, so we decided instead, to pay respects to the luminous beings who we have recently lost, as they have profoundly touched our lives:  MJ and Swayze.  I wish that we had something nicer than Jim Beam to offer, but we had that, and Sagatiba cachaça.  And would ever I expect to find Dalton sippin’ on a little glass of capirinha with a dainty lime wedge in Road House?  I don’t think so.  Although Bodhi, maybe..  and MJ, definitely.  Anyway..

I documented some of our process, partially because I think that my mom would get a kick out of them.  Fortunately, I think that now I am ready to take it to a more serious level next time.  This month is the American Thanksgiving, which is a bit more simple than the Korean one, and I’m quite excited for it, not only for the food and an excuse to get together with everyone, but also because of the leftovers.  Which is why I have decided to dedicate this entire week to talking about leftovers!  (Something needs to happen with all the food portraits in the hard drive…)

And below is the recipe for my favorite dish of Chuseok.

Vegetarian Taro Soup

*이건 제 방식의 채식 토란국 이니 전통적인 토란국을 찾으신다면 구글이나 네이버를 참고해 주세요 ^^

300g medium sized toran/taro (@ Korean market, ask for ‘toran’.  @ Japanese marker, ask for ‘araimo’ or ‘eddo’)
200g of a Korean/daikon radish (@ Korean market, ask for ‘mu’.  @ Japanese marker, ask for ‘daikon’)
1 yellow onion
3 large sheets of dashima/kombu (@ Korean market, ask for ‘dashima’.  @ Japanese marker, ask for ‘kombu’)
5 large shiitake mushrooms
1 or more medium size scallions
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 or more cloves of garlic, 1 sliced, and 1 chopped
a pinch or ground sesame seeds
sea salt and ground black pepper to taste

Peel the skin of taro using a knife or a potato peeler, and wash thoroughly.  Taro skin can make your hands itchy, so wear plastic gloves if your hands are sensitive.  (My hands were fine w/o gloves.)  Bigger taro should be cut in half, so that all taro pieces are the similar size.  If desired, cut each pieces in to round ball shapes.

Like all Korean soups, taro soup will be eaten with rice, which should be cooking in the cooker before starting the soup.  Save the water that was used to wash the rice before going to the cooker, and use this water to boil the taro.  This will get rid of the sliminess of the taro.  When the taro is soft but still on the firm side (not mushy) discard the water and wash taro in cold water.  Set aside.

Wash the radish, cut into quarters length wise, and slice in to 1/3 inch slices.

Put dashima/kombu, half of the scallions, onion, mushrooms, garlic, and radish slices in about 8 cups of water and bring to boil and then bring to simmer.  When the radishes are as soft as the taro, take out all solid ingredients using a strainer or a cheese cloth to filter, and keep the water simmering.

Discard the scallions and onions.  Wash the radish slices, onions, dashima/kombu, and the mushrooms in cold water. Season the radishes with chopped garlic, ground sesame seeds, and 1 tbsp of soy sauce.

Cut the boiled dashima/kombu into 1.5 inch squares, and slice the mushrooms.  Julienne the remaining 1/2 of an onion.  Put all ingredients including the cooled taro back in the broth, and bring to boil one more time.  Season with salt and ground black pepper.  Serve with chopped scallions sprinkled on top.

Serves 4-6.

Mandy and Ray’s anniversary/goodbye Greenpoint brunch on Halloween

My favorite coupled pals are leaving la petite Pologne for la piccola Italia in a few weeks.  The distance between boroughs and even neighborhoods seem to be continents away in New York, which is kind of ridiculous.  And I am completely guilty of being the typical NY person who makes every excuse in the world not to go across the bridge.  I hope their moving will inspire me to venture out more outside of North Brooklyn.

Cornmeal battered fried tomatoes, tofu scramble, and pumpkin pancakes.

Saturday also happened to be their wedding anniversary.  We all got together over brunch to celebrate, and bid farewell to their current apartment.  Everything Mandy prepared was awesome.  My contribution, in spirit of a sort of Halloween, was the pumpkin pancakes.  It worked out well with Mandy’s fruit topping.

New favorite pastry to try out later: Cinnamon rolls with puff pastry dough, chocolate, dried cherries, and crème fraîche topping.

A bit too much food, seeing a bunch of friends, a nap, and hanging with a group of people who make me proud to be with them.  All in all, Halloween was great.