As many were, I was shocked and disappointed to hear the last month’s announcement of the demise of Gourmet Magazine. I am still baffled. The obvious production cost that it requires, and the consumer’s tendency to lean toward things that are more approachable and earthy in the financial decline are well understood. But the decision to drop Gourmet over so many others, I don’t completely comprehend. And I find myself playing Newhouse in my head. Why not model after New York Times Magazine, and just reduce its dimensions to save printing costs, or better yet, reduce it to pocket size like Teen Vogue or Jalouse? Publish it bi-monthly, or quarterly, even. Or you know.. drop the less beautiful, less inspiring one. But it’s all futile. And the otheone is just fine, I’m sure.
I just hope that the immensely talented people who made Gourmet such beautiful publication are being pulled left and right by others to continue the legacy (hopefully by Jon Stewart’s new magazine!).
I am holding on dearly to the few copies of Gourmet that I have left, 2 of which being the thanksgiving issue from last year, and this year: the final issue. Both last year and this year, I was less than impressed with the cover featuring a picture of a giant turkey roast, but that’s just the cover. So in honor of the deceased grandmother of a food mag, our Thanksgiving menu this year will be inspired by the Gourmet Thanksgiving Issues.
The image on top, one of my favorite page of Gourmet ever, is from last year’s issue. Just so you know, our Thanksgiving table will look absolutely nothing like that.
It’ll probably look more like last year’s dinner, which was pretty clumsily put together, but it makes me imagine cartoon heart bubbles coming out of my head when I see these pictures-
I asked all my friends to bring a dish to make things easier for myself. But finding a main Thanksgiving dish for a couple of vegans is always a bit of a predicament. Having decided a long ago that we’ve been in this game for too long for tofurkey, I have yet to create a main dish that I was truly satisfied with. So this year, I am sticking with something familiar.
Shepherd’s pie. On the left is poblano potato gratin from last year’s issue, and on the right, shepherd’s pie from this year. Last year I made mashed parsnips and celery roots in lieu of the traditional mashed potatoes. I’m thinking about incorporating that, making it a bit more gratin-like, into the shepherd’s pie formula.
Matt, being a Southerner, needs to have some kind of collard greens, and this crazy thing from last years issue looks pretty perfect, so we will try to mimic. And of course there will be dessert, which will look a lot less nice than the picture above. I’ll try, but don’t expect too much, guys. Okay?
I am sad to announce that the kimchi from last month is almost gone. Good news is that it has fermented just enough to be perfect for a nice bowl of soup. Keeping in mind of the last kimchi stew I had, I added carrots and onions for the sweetness, but kept it more traditional, with a lot of spice, and kimchi flavor which yielded a deeply satisfying result.
I really don’t cook for just myself very often. I eat well when I am alone, but when I don’t have others to feed, making sure that I consume all the nutrients that I need and that it’s satisfying in the basic level is the extent of my meal. Even when I am alone while I am cooking, the end result is usually shared. Recently I was admiring a friend of mine who makes elaborate, imaginative meals even when she is just cooking for herself. This day, I think I felt what inspires her to put the extra little effort. Kimchi stew has been my favorite food since I was a child, and I really only make it for me. Because, I am sorry, Korean restaurants of New York, but I always find something wrong and off about your kimchi stew. This was a great afternoon for cooking, away from staring at the screen in my studio, in my light drenched kitchen. The stew was perfect in a sullen day when I had very little appetite but was hungry for something warm.
Later that day when I spoke to my mom on the phone, I told her about the kimchi stew that I made. I was particularly proud of this one, with my use of mushrooms and the carrot. She was surprised by the addition of carrots, so I explained to her that I did it in order to add sweetness without using sugar. And then she said to me in shock, “who puts sugar in kimchi stew?!”
I guess I’ve been living outside of Korea for so long that I forgot how things are supposed to be.
“Your momma’s so dumb, someone told her that it was chilly out side, and she went out with a bowl and a spoon in her hand!”
…….
Okay, sorry.
I have been trying to use the canned and dried food that I’ve been storing for the armageddon. Here’s the chili that I’ve “winged” yet again, using chickpeas, red beans, and bulgur as majors. I looked at 101 Cookbooks for tips, but just worked it what I had. I’ve been putting lot of carrots in everything, because I am afraid that my vision is getting worse by day. I have no idea if that will help anything at all, but I figure it doesn’t hurt to try. (If by any chance you are reading this and happen to be a doctor, or a nutritionist, please let me know if my efforts are futile, and if so, what I should do instead. Thank you.)
This chili became our meal for a good part of last week, and as they say, it did get better everyday, and each time I found something to add. It was a little sad when I found myself scraping the bottom of the pot toward the last day of its existence.
Speaking of chili, I’d like to finally dedicate a short moment of my time in honor of Ben Ali, the owner of Ben’s Chili Bowl in Washington DC who passed away last month. His chili were some of my first ever, and the best. Having spent my early teen years as a young vegan going to punk rock shows in DC, Ben’s Chili Bowl was the only place to grab warm, vegan friendly grubs after thrashing around the capital late at night. Here’s to you, Mr. Ali.
Food Recap from AR and JS Wedding
Pre-course salad at Ben and Jacks.
The bride and the groom were thoughtful enough to ask the chef to prepare a pasta dish for us vegan/flexigans at the rehearsal dinner but I couldn’t look at another picture of it. I guess there’s a reason why people specialize in things. Some chef’s stick to meat. There are chef’s for vegetables as well. However, the pies were divine.
The wedding day. Les hors d’oevres were awesome. In honor of my purple bridesmaid’s dress, I got a cosmo, and also something called the ‘balled room punch’ which tasted like miami retirement or spring break. Fine enough for me.
And the main event, the wedding cake-
It was made by the pastry chef at Jean Georges, supposedly. I always had mixed feelings about “show piece” cakes, and pastry chefs who think of themselves as sculptors. Normally, I would like my food to be touched as little as possible by hands, and would like to be served right after it’s made, unless the food can benefit from fermenting, or sitting. Also, I kind of care more about the way the food tastes than the way it looks. But then again, this was really my first piece of fancy cake by a famous chef. And it did look pretty amazing, at least enough for me to put my doubts, and my semi-vegan integrity aside.
And at last, we were served a piece. Look at those layers. It always amazes me. I kind of wished that the fondant was made of marzipan, or something better tasting and more substantial, but over all, I was impressed.
I got to sit with my manly man and my favorite girl. Our young new friend made frequent visits to our table. That triflin’ little girl kept tryina steal my man! I had to regulate at one point! But then she goes and does cute things like, raising the glass and suddenly yelling “CHEERS EVERYONE!” on top of her tiny lungs.
First course, butternut squash soup.
This salad was the highlight in my opinion. Spinach with fried sea weed (I think?)
Again, ever so considerate, my dear lovely friend arranged for us to get pasta.
This thing was crazy, I don’t even know what it was. I think it was a tartlette aux pommes with ice cream on top, topped with a apple chip, and dusted with confectioner’s sugar, and caramel sauce?
Just when we thought it was over, madeleines for coffee. I couldn’t have any more at this point.
떡볶이 (tukbokgi). Or ddukbokki. (Or whatever. I really hate writing out Korean words in Roman alphabet.. sorry. But it’s so easy for you to learn.) The yellow pancake looking thing is my new favorite dish: butternut squash pancakes. I learned in from Maangchi’s video, and added some scallions, garlic, and ground black pepper to adjust to my taste.
The initial reaction I received from the ladies in the picture can be roughly translated to something in between , “I’ve never had 떡볶이 like this before.” and, “what the hell kind of a 떡볶이 is this?!”
For those unfamiliar, it’s not normally that colorful of a dish. It’s just orange-ish red, with way less veggies. It should look more like this:
This is the more proper version we made on our previous full-moon 떡볶이 get together, with the ramen, oden, and the whole thing. I get the relaxed, warm feeling just looking at the pictures from that night. In fact, I am convinced that one will find very few Korean people who cannot feel that warm, nostalgic sentiment when talking about this dish. It’s the ultimate after school snack, and it’s probably the meal that many people had during their first time ever dining out “only with friends” experience. Thinking back, I feel a little guilty for perhaps ruining the essence of 떡볶이 by making massive changes for my fellow aficionadas. But I think the real spirit of it is being chatty and overeating together, and we got that part down for sure.
But I had my own reasons for hippifying the street fast food supreme. The night before, I had went to the Lubalin exhibition opening at the Cooper Union, and afterward, conveniently ended up at Song 7.2, the soju bar/ Korean fast food place in the East Village where 75% of the food menu consists of empty carbohydrates, and the other 25%, deep-fried empty carbs. We had already planned our tukboki gathering days in advance. So that night, after devouring my plate of fried sea weed wrapped glass noodles drenched in more traditional tukboki sauce with my pumpkin soju, I realized that should respect the message from my body urging me to not repeat this two days in a row. That is how the tukboki turned out purple and orange.
The main adjustments that took place in this version is the amount of rice cake vs. vegetables (red cabbage, carrots, onions, garlic, butternut squash, and mushrooms), the sea weed broth, and the substitution of tofu shirataki noodles in place of ramyun noodles. Ramyun is generally my favorite part about home made tukboki, so this was a bit of a risky experiment. My verdict: Ramyun can never really be replaced, but shirataki noodles are acceptable, especially counting in the lack of bloated feeling afterward. But the dashima, and the 3 different kinds of mushrooms I used really made the dish.
And this made me feel a bit like a real adult. There was a time when I didn’t care what the hell was in the red sauce. I just wanted it to be spicy with just the right amount of sweet. The biggest worry I had was to not get the sauce all over my shirt. I still worry about that, but I am worried more about the consequences of my intake. I considered Coca Cola to be ultimate accompaniment, but now I opt for Chianti.
It turned it into something completely different than what tukboki should have been, but I liked it regardless. I am growing up, slowly, and it’s just fine with me.
The first time I started to have coffee with any regularity is when I visited my friend in Italy because it’s what everyone did, and I just went along with the “when in Rome (or Venice)” attitude. Naturally, my first coffee maker was a mini stove top espresso pot. After realizing that the pot, which I had picked up from a stoop sale, was boiling brown water even without any coffee grounds, I switched over to the French press at Matt’s insistence.
The problem with the French press is that I always end up making too much coffee for 1 person when I’m alone. I usually give the rest to my plants, but one day, I figured my plants had enough caffeine for the week. A normal person would just discard the rest, but why would I (a cheapskate) do that? Good quality fair trade organic snob coffee grounds are not cheap! I also had a big block of dark chocolate that I was afraid might be going stale. So then it was set. I was making a chocolate tart.
A seasoned pâtissière would probably chop the chocolate before melting, but I opted to place the whole block in a microwavable plastic bowl, sink it in a pyrex bowl full of boiling water and see what happens while I make the crust.
By the time the dough went into the fridge to ‘get chilled’, the chocolate was soft enough for me to cut into chunks with a dull knife. Most recipes for coffee+chocolate tart fillings call for instant coffee, or the actual grounds, but I wasn’t gonna do that, obviously. So after reading about a few different tarts, I came up with my weird hybrid recipe, which yielded more filling than I needed. So what was I do with the left over melted chocolate? Make cookies of course!
The tart needed time to get solidified in the fridge over night, so the cookies were an instant treat comparatively.
Here are the formulae.
Shortbread-Like Pie Crust (adapted from Bon Apétit)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 ripe banana
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
Beat butter and sugar in medium bowl until light. Beat in mashed banana. Add flour, baking powder, and salt; beat just until blended. With fingertips, press dough into an 8 inch tart pan. Refrigerate 1 hour, then freeze 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake tartlets until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Transfer to racks and cool completely.
Chocolate Coffee Tart Filling
1 1/4 cups coffee
9 ounces bittersweet chocolate (65% + cacao if marked) in a semi-melted block form, (but it should really be chopped)
1 tbsp egg replacer or corn starch
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
Bring coffee to a boil, then pour over chopped softened/melted chocolate, stir until smooth. Mix in with rest of the ingredients. Pour filling into cooled crust and refrigerate for at least 6 hours.
Next morning..
About an hour after I placed the whole thing in the fridge to cool, I took it out and laid some sliced almonds along the edge. There’s absolutely nothing healthy about this treat, so I figured, a little bit of nuttiness and protein couldn’t hurt. After coming out of the fridge, it went right in the lunch box with the pumpkin pasta.
As for the cookies…
This is the recipe that I roughly follow for chocolate chip cookies. I think it’s one of the variations of the Jacques Torres recipe. I just mixed everything right in the pot with the left over tart filling mix.
Brush with some marmalade on top, plant in some sliced almonds, and sprinkle with sea salt before putting in the oven.
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