Bastardized Kimchi

Kimchi is a wonderful condiment, flavoring, and seasoning. It's a Korean food staple. There are hundreds of different types of Kimchi. Some are strong in flavor, some are mild, some are spicy, super spicy, white and red.  In it's essence it's fermented vegetable, fruit or fungi. The range is endless, and Kimchi is highly regional and even subregional. Recipes can be honored and correspondingly guarded family treasures.  This recipe is not one of those. Below you will find a completely bastardized version of Kimchi. It will make some purists cringe in it's sacrilegious preparations. It uses supermarket ingredients. Guess what, it turned out delicious.  It's a play on the Yangbaechu Kimchi recipe found at Korean Baspang, but not.  It ended up being Bastardized Kimchi, if you make it try it on a hot dog, hamburger (veggie burger), or in a soup. Seriously, try it.

Step 1: Step One Veggies

Buy a 2 pound or so head of green cabbage. Remove the core and cut it in to 2" pieces. Place the pieces in a bowl. Salt with 1/4 cup of non-ionized table or sea salt. Mix together and and let it wilt for 2-3 hours. After every hour pour off the liquid and mix the cabbage with your hands.

Fifteen minutes before the final hour slice up 1 cup dikon radish.  If you can't find this at your grocer, then  skip it. You can substitute carrots, and/or add carrots in addition to this radish. Cut the radish in to 1 1/2" strips, about the size of short shoestring small french fries.  Then grate 2 tablespoons of ginger. Using a ginger grater like the one below makes this task go amazingly fast. 

Next mince or smash and chop 5, or as many as you want cloves of garlic.  Rinse the cabbage in a colander  and then using a salad spinner, spin the cabbage dry and return the cabbage to a large bowl.   Mix the cabbage with the above ingredients and let them sit.

Step Two: Bastard Paste 

Well Kimchi is traditionally made with a Korean chili pepper paste made from chili pepper flakes called gochugaru.  There is no substitute for this paste. However, Bastard Paste pictured here isn't a bad approximation. The traditional paste is made from letting gochugaru bloom in water for a period of time.  The flakes and the water make a paste. Without this paste, choices are slim. Some use cayenne pepper flakes or powder. The results is a less red and super spicy, or even a too spicy, Kimchi.  The challenge in this bastardized preparation was how to keep the pepper taste without the killer heat.  

The challenge birthed bastard paste. A 3:1 + 1/16 mixture of paprika, red pepper flakes (Cayenne) and spicy spanish pimenton. Yes, it seems strange to have spanish pimenton and not gochugaru, blame the TV Show Made in Spain.   It's basically a smoked spicy paprika, and a little goes a long way. For this preparation mix 3 tablespoons of regular paprika, 1 tablespoon of red chili pepper flakes and 1/16 teaspoon of spicy spanish pimenton.  Mix them together and add 1/2 cup of water and wait 30 minutes for the sauce to bloom. 

Step Three: Non-Fish sauce Fishy Sauce

A lot of Kimchi recipes contain dried shrimp. The common substitute is fish sauce. Fish sauce was on hand, but the desire was to make this so vegetarians and vegans could try it.   How to make a salty rich fish-like sauce.  The solution was soy sauce and  dried seaweed.  Using 1/3 cup of soy sauce add 1 table spoon of dried seaweed. Let it bloom for 20-30 mins.  Press the mixture through a strainer over a bowl, and reserve.   The soy sauce will  be fragrant; it should smell fishy. 

Step Four: Combining and Jarring

 Mix the Bastard Paste and seaweed soy sauce into the cabbage mixture. Gloves are recommended, or a large spoon. Let the mixture rest for about 20-30 minutes. After that time jar the mixture and place it at room temperature for 3-5 days, depending on the level of fermentation sought. After three days open the lid to release the pressure and then reseal, this is to avoid jars breaking due to the pressure.  

After the room temperature fermentation, place jars in the refrigerator and enjoy.

Lamb Osso Buco

Osso Bucco is an Italian dish where cross cut veal shanks are braised in wine, broth and vegetables. This version substitutes the veal for lamb, however the basic preparation is the same. Some differences include using red wine with lamb vs white wine with veal, and the use of beef  and not veal stock.  The end result is marvelous. Osso Bucco is sophisticated enough for formal dinners, yet accessible enough for family dinners. Advanced planning is required, the cooking time is roughly 2 to 8 hours depending on the cooking method employed.

Step One: The Lamb

If you have access to a butcher or supermarket that carries lamb shank then you're in luck, and should ask for lamb shank to be cut for Osso Buco.  The pieces should be roughly an inch to an inch and a half thick. The pieces should be of similar size.  Lamb shank is smaller than veal shank, so two pieces will typically be needed for one serving.

Unfortunately, the near by supermarkets don't carry lamb shank and the local Halal butcher was closed for the day. The good news is the new Costco nearby does carry lamb and veal shank already sliced for Osso Buco preparation.   Purchase two pounds of sliced lamb shank, or purchase two one pound packages.

On a cutting board trim excess fat as needed and season with salt and pepper, roughly 1 teaspoon of pepper and a half teaspoon of salt.

Step Two:  Browning the Lamb

Heath two tablespoons of oil in a large skillet (if planning to use a slow cooker), or dutch oven.  Dredge the lamb in flour and tap to remove excess flour.  Brown the lamb for 3 minutes over medium-high heat. Turn them once and brown that side for 3 minutes.  The lamb peices should be a golden brown.  If using a slow cooker for this preparation remove the lamb pieces and place them in a single layer in the slow cooker. 

Step Three: Assembly and Cooking

Dice 1 cup of onion, 3/4th cups of carrots and celery and set aside.  Drain one can of whole pealed tomatoes and dice them.  Add the onions, carrots, celery, tomatoes, 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme, 2 cups of beef stock, and 1 cup of red wine to the dutch oven or slow cooker. Lid the dutch oven, or slow cooker. When using a dutch oven for this preparation preheat the oven to 300 degrees and cook for 2 hours.  When using a slow cooker set it to the low setting and cook for 8 hours.  The meat should be tender such that it is almost falling off of the bone. The dish is traditionally served with risotto. Place two pieces of the lamb on the risotto and spoon some veggies and sauce over the lamb pieces. 

Slow Cooker Jerk Chicken

Jerk Chicken is a colloquial Caribbean favorite. Jerk Chicken is essentially a grilled, braised or stewed spiced chicken.   There are multiple variations of the spice mixture, but mace, nutmeg, cinnamon, thyme, salt, chilies, and allspice are common.  Jerk Chicken like chili, gumbo and potato salad has many authoritative recipes asserting to be authentic. What was found to be common among the variations was a savory, deep flavored aromatic chicken dish.   What's been presented here is a basic recipe that can be successfully employed by home cooks.

  Step 1: The Chicken

Purchase a 3 to 4 pound cut up chicken. Cut the breasts in half to allow for even cooking. Remove the skin from all pieces. Place the chicken on a cutting board, or in a big container.  

Step 2: The Jerk

This is where the variation and, often the fear comes in.  The choices of spices can be overwhelming. McCormick makes a pre-maid Jerk Seasoning which is very good.  For the more adventurous a basic Jerk seasoning ensemble for four pounds of chicken would be  1/2 teaspoons of salt, 1 tablespoon of allspice, 2 teaspoons of sugar, a teaspoon of thyme or poultry seasoning,  a teaspoon of black pepper,  a teaspoon of cinnamon, a teaspoon of nutmeg,  a half teaspoon  of marjoram, and the amount of red pepper flakes deemed necessary.  Using your hands rub the chicken with the spice mixture.   Refrigerate it for 2 hours at a minimum and overnight at a maximum.  The more chicken you use the longer you should give the rub to work its magic.

Step 3: Slow Cooking

Assemble the chicken in a single layer in a slow cooker.  Cook on low for six to eight hours.  If you don't have a slow cooker, cook in the oven in a sealed dutch oven for the same amount of time for at 200 degrees F.  After 6-8 hours remove the chicken from the slow cooker or dutch oven and let it rest by placing the pieces on a sheet pan with a wire rack. If there isn't a wire rack available then simply place them on a sheet pan, or cookie sheet. The chicken will be moist, perhaps even soggy.

Step 4: Finishing

Place the cookie sheet in a 300 degree F oven for 30 - 45 minutes or until the chicken dries a little but not too much, you want it to be moist not dry. Remove it when the chicken is glossy, but still moist.  There will be a wonderful aroma. What's happening is the sugars on the outside are caramelizing to get that signature sticky gooey sweet savory goodness of Jerk Chicken. Plate it up and enjoy.







 

Easy Veggie Empanada

Empanadas are filled pastries.  You'll find them being sold as street food and at some very tony restaurants. They can range from sweet to savory, spicy or mild. Empanadas can be meat/poultry/seafood based  vegetarian, or vegan.  There is most likely a gluten-free version as well. Empanadas are in a crowded field of  filled pastries that includes everything from steamed buns, Caribbean patties, dumplings,  calzones, to even hot pockets.  People like easily portable, and often inexpensive food.  

This week we'll go through the process of making empanadas almost from scratch.

Step One:  The Dough

There are multiple recipes for making the dough for the pastries.  It's a simple dough and not unlike a pie dough, but a little denser.   It's not really time consuming, however if your making this on a week night, which was the case here, you can skip that step and buy pastries. Goya sells frozen empanada pastries. They are very good, and their use cuts the preparation time in half.  For those interested in making your own dough you can consult the web,  and various cookbooks;  the Joy of Cooking 

special Pie cookbook has an excellent recipe. 

Step Two: The Filling

An empanada can be filled with just about anything. For this preparation potatoes, bell peppers, onions and soy based chorizo was used.   Start by cubing two medium sized red potatoes.  The choice of potatoes here is important. Waxy potatoes hold up better than non-waxy ones. Regular white or russet potatoes would fall apart where as red or yukon golds will work well here.  Cube the potatoes in 1/4 inch cubes.    Place the cubes in a single layer on a microwave safe plate, use two plates if needed (the single layer is important). Cook on high for 5-10 minutes turning half way through,  the potato cubes should be almost done. While the potatoes are cooking chop one medium onion, and one green bell pepper.   

In a dry large skillet, add two teaspoons of cumin. Toast the cumin until it's fragrant.  Add 1 teaspoon of oil. When the oil is shimmering add the onion.  Once the onion is soft add the green pepper.  At this point spicy peppers can be added, if desired.

Incorporate the potatoes into the mixture, add 7 ounces of soy based chorizo meat alternative product.  Stir well and fully cook over medium high heat for roughly 10 minutes stirring often.

Step Three:  Assembly

Lay out the dough  on a floured surface. If using commercially made dough then only remove one disc at a time. Have water in a small bowl near by, you'll use this to seal the pastry.  Depending on the size of the pastry add a tablespoon or so of filling to the center of each pastry.  Dip your finger in the water (a water and egg solution can also be employed).   Wet half of the parameter of the pastry and fold the pastry over itself with the filling inside of it.   Pinch the edges of the pastry to make a sealed package, a purse if you will.   

Using a knife make a slit at the top of the pastry, this is to allow steam to escape. 

Step Four: Cooking

Place each pastry on a cookie sheet with a wire rack.  Place pastries in a 400 degree Fahrenheit oven  for 10-15 minutes until  golden.    The empanadas can also be fried in 350  degree Fahrenheit oil for roughly 5 minutes until golden. 

Enjoy!

-R. A. Mann-Thompson, All Things Eaten