Pumpkin Risotto

This was a quick and tasty meal I made using some leftover pumpkin. I mostly followed a recipe I found from Ramsay here: pumpkin risotto.

Heston's Bolognese and Italian Week!

Heston Blumenthal's Bolognese Recipe

Italian week started off with a bang! Dave slaved over the oven for hours as he patiently and lovingly coxed every last ounce of flavor from the myriad ingredients that went into this dish. And the result? Perfection, absolute perfection! Hands down the best bolognese I've ever had the pleasure of scarfing down. 

These are just a small sampling of the multitude of steps this recipe required. I got the better end of the deal as I got to eat it but not go through the trouble of cooking it.



Two kinds of meat were featured to enhance the umami flavor of the bolognese. We purchased a massive pork shoulder that Dave deftly butchered and sauteed along with the beef mince. I can't sing the praises highly enough of buying meat in bulk. During a good sale you can get a ton of good beef or pork for a fraction of the cost of the pre-cut stuff. The extra work is totally worth it. Plus I got to save the skin and fat to make cracklings! It's win-win! 

Our ingenuity was tested when it came time to purchase muslin to make the bouquet garni. We couldn't find it anywhere. We were disheartened until we spotted the metal tea strainer you see in the onions above. Problem solved!

The best part of this meal is that it keeps remarkably well and can be scaled up so easily. Dave made a batch to last the whole week and we had a delicious meal every night.

Korean Cabbage Soup

What culinary experience week would be complete without a nice soup? I stuck with a vegetable that I've always loved and am quite familiar with - cabbage! But not just any cabbage, no a beautiful napa cabbage! 
Unfortunately I didn't think to take any pictures of this pretty cabbage but I did get a few snaps of the soy bean paste that added a hearty slow cooked taste to the soup in literally seconds.

Baechu Gook

As you can see it looks like a gummy paste and comes in an adorable little storage container. On the front is a small picture of the soy bean paste bricks traditionally hung up and allowed to dry and ferment over the course of months. I don't think this particular paste has had that kind of love and affection bestowed upon it but it will do just nicely for this recipe. 


If I had it to do all over again, I would've been a bit less liberal with the beef stock powder. It's potent stuff! Just a tiny bit goes a long way so make sure you don't add more than the recipe calls for. 


Unfortunately, the beautiful napa cabbage that I spoke so highly of before cooking turned into a soggy looking mess after it cooked. My way of solving that problem was to take an immersion blender to it and blend the life out of it. Having done away with all the chewing that may have been involved had I not blended it to death, it went down rather easily and quickly and it was gone within two days. I call that success! 

Korean Fried Chicken

                                                                                                                                                  

Korean Fried Chicken

Cool Spicy Korean Cucumber Salad-Oi Muchim

We're a few weeks out from Korean week but we've neglected our posts and are now hastily trying to make amends for our slothful ways. Luckily for our loyal readers, all two of you, and especially for us, we've not stopped cooking and eating.

Above are the lovely ingredients we used to make the savory batter for our Korean Fried Chicken. We chose to go with wings because they're easy to cook, they're fun to eat and they're easy on the budget. What could be better! Also using the wok to fry the wings made everything, including clean up, run much more smoothly.

The Korean chili paste added that perfect extra kick that took something as simple as fried chicken from ho hum to yum yum. Usually I stay as far away from spicy food as possible, but this was delicious and not over the top. This chili paste will definitely show up in dishes well after Korean week is over. You can see the tiny bits of minced garlic and ginger that went into the sauce. It was well worth the effort and we made quick work of tucking in.

As a nice side dish we quickly made up some Korean cucumber salad. My folks provided the fresh cucumber from their back garden and I swear there's nothing more refreshing in the summer time than a cool cuke. Although I think this dish would've turned out better if I'd used thin little slices of English cucumber, we found it was the perfect accompaniment to the fried wings all the same. All in all we were quiet pleased with how it all turned out. 

잘 먹었습니다

 Bom Apetite!

H-Mart and Kimchi

Imagine our delight when we came across H-Mart, a chain of Korean grocery stores. In fact we were so delighted that it served as part of the impetus for starting our weekly forays into international cuisine. We managed to pick up some really interesting stuff including Korean chili paste, soybean paste, powdered beef broth and most importantly kimchi! Because everything was so reasonably priced, it was hard to resist picking up a few kitchen essentials as well. We were on the look out for a rolling pin and pestle and mortar and came across some we just couldn't leave behind. 

Luckily for us H-Mart isn't strictly Korean and stocks loads of Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese and even Mexican ingredients. With the store only a few blocks away, we're sure to become regulars there in no time!

Kimchi is the quintessential Korean dish and as such, it would be sacrilege to miss out on it this week. For those who like me have never had kimchi, it consists of spiced Napa cabbage seasoned with fish sauce and fermented for 3 days. As a girl who can eat her way through a pig from snout to tail, my first taste still required a bit of courage. However I'm glad I finally mustered up the cajones to step up to the plate and try a bite. I was pleasantly surprised. My better half was miles ahead of me as always and dove in as soon as the lid was taken off. Dave loved kimchi from the first bite and I'm sure it'll be a prominent feature in posts in the very near future. I can't wait! 

Pancake Tuesday...with a twist!

Korean Pancake - Pa Jeonpa 

This is the first in a series of weekly country specific recipes. We are spending the first week solely cooking recipes from Korea. We've never cooked Korean before.

This recipe differs from the original in the link in several ways. The vegetables and shrimp were sautéed in a wok, and seasoned with salt and pepper, before they were added to the pancake batter. Some of the carrot was julienned rather than just grated to keep some crunch. 

This recipe looked quick and easy to throw together with odds and ends from the fridge. This turned out to be the case. It was as simple as mixing flour and water and adding the vegetables for a nice savory pancake. The pancake was surprisingly filling and I found that I could just about eat one as a meal!

Hmm...Hash!

Recipe Reader Inspiration!

This delicious recipe was actually a product of needing to "clean out" the fridge and pantry. As often happens with me and potatoes, I end up with five or so ratty ones at the bottom of the bag that I feel gross about using because they've been sitting around for so long. As I was craving McDonald's(r) style hash browns, I searched through the ole Reader in hopes of finding a hash brown recipe I might have starred for a rainy day. Luckily I hadn't and instead came across this gem. Hash! I'd never tried making it before but cutting everything into tiny little cubes definitely appealed to my OCD side. I rarely keep a stock of pancetta but there's always chorizo around and I think it served as a great replacement. Without further ado...Handy Hash!

Handy* Hash

5 medium sized red skinned potatoes
1 medium yellow onion
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 green bell pepper
1 small bunch of asparagus
cherry tomatoes
2 eggs
chorizo
small pat of butter (this is not
what is in the picture)
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
finely chopped parsley



1. Cube everything into about 1/4 inch pieces except the eggs.
2. In a large fry pan, saute the cubed chorizo with a tiny bit of olive oil. When slightly browned remove from pan leaving behind the rendered fats and oils.
3. Add the cubed taters to the pan and leave them be for 6-8 mins until they start to look browned on one side.
4. Add the cubed onion and try not to get any tears in the potatoes.
5. Once the onions are translucent and the potatoes have started to look acceptably delicious, add the pat of butter and the chopped up veggies and garlic.
6. Add the chorizo and chopped parsley last of all.
7. Fry up the 2 eggs (make sure to season them).
8. Give everything one last good stir and add the two fried eggs on top.
9. Enjoy!

*No PeepShow references please.

This turned out surprisingly well and was absolutely delicious. I'm sure it could've been better if I'd had a cast iron skillet like the original recipe suggests, but I enjoyed it none the less. It will definitely become a go to recipe.

Bom apetite!

Comfy Carbonara

Recipe Reader Inspiration!

I've been making my own version of Carbonara for a few months now. It's the kind of meal that I can make in 20 minutes after a long day at work and still be proud of. I've found that the quality of the tasting experience with this one is directly proportional to the quality of the ingredients. There isn't a whole lot to it so there aren't a lot of places to hide below par components. As will be the case with most recipes I'll be posting, I alter them to fit whatever ingredients are on hand. I treat them more like guidelines than recipes.

Comfy Carbonara

small bunch of asparagus (snapped)
chorizo
sweet cherry tomatoes
3 eggs
small pat of butter
1/4 package thick spaghetti
1/2 cup of grated aged mozzarella
splash of whole milk
parsley*
salt and pepper to taste

1. Boil pasta until al dente in plenty of water seasoned with olive oil and salt. Drain and set aside.
2. Before the pasta is done, saute the chorizo in a small bit of butter using a medium saute pan. Let the chorizo render for a few minutes.
3. Drop the small bunch of asparagus in boiling water for 10-15 seconds to intensify color and soften it a little bit. (This time varies depending on the thickness of the asparagus.) Chop them up into bite sized pieces.
4. Add the pasta to the chorizo in the saute pan. Add the three eggs and a splash of milk. Stir like mad. It should feel like you're making runny scrambled eggs.
3. When the pasta is properly coated and the eggs are just starting to set, add the asparagus and the cherry tomatoes.
4. When almost ready to serve, throw in the cheese and incorporate.
5. Enjoy with some extra grated cheese if so desired.



*I forgot the parsley this time but it's definitely worth remembering.

Bom apetite!

Things to do

1. Print recipes
2. Study "Cooking with dog"
3. Optimise ingredient usage

Should we aim for one or two recipe posts per week?