Bibimbap, a Variation

I was inspired by Bibimbap the other night, but lacking the traditional ingredients, so I made this, my variation on the Korean dish.  I didn't have any beef, so I opted for chicken, and used the veggies I had in my fridge.

Ingredients: Rice, Chicken, Asparagus, Mushrooms, 1 Leek, Garlic
Sauce: Soy sauce, sesame oil, chili powder, salt/pepper

Chop your veggies and chicken and place the chicken in soy sauce and garlic to marinate for anywhere from thirty minutes to a few hours.  Add chili oil/any other relevant spices or sauces you may have. 

Prepare the rice.  I used white jasmine rice.  While the rice is cooking, heat some sesame oil in a skillet and add your veggies. 

Once they are well sauteed, add the chicken and it's sauce to the skillet.  Cook through and add more soy sauce/seasonings as you see fit.  When everything is cooked completely, put some rice in a bowl, add the chicken/veggies on top.  Finally crack an egg in the skillet you cooked the veggies in to fry it to your desired doneness.  Put the egg on top of the rice/veggie mixture.  To eat, mix everything together in classic bibimbap fashion or eat in portions, whatever you'd prefer.

Stuffed Pork Chops

I've become quite a fan of stuffing pork chops because I find it helps keep them tender thanks to the slight moisture from the stuffing.  I first started stuffing pork chops when I had leftover stuffing from thanksgiving, but you don't have to stuff them with just bread.  Some people like apples with their porkchops, or you could do all veggies, or maybe even rice if you wanted something else starchy.  But here's what I did this time around.

Stuffing: toasted bread cubes, leeks, mushrooms, garlic, chicken broth, oil/butter
Sauce (optional): white wine, butter, flour

Preheat your oven to 375.

I didn't have any leftover stuffing this time, so I made my own.  I took two slices of sourdough and two slices of wheat bread, chopped them into cubes, put them on a cookie sheet, drizzled with a tiny bit of olive oil, and baked for about 12 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a saute pan, I added the chopped leeks, mushrooms, and garlic to a little oil or butter.  Once softened, add the toasted bread and cook for about a minute or two.  Then add the chicken broth.  I eyeball it.  Starting with a small amount, maybe 1/4 of a cup for this quantity of bread.  You want the bread to absorb the liquid, but you don't want extra sauce sitting in the pan, and you don't want your bread to be too soggy.  It should look like this:

 

To prep the pork chops, you'll want to butterfly them.  Basically use a paring knife to cut directly in the center of the chop and make a little pocket for the stuffing.  Once butterflied, stuff the chops, and you may want to use a skewer or toothpick to help keep the stuffing in place while they cook.  If you have a skillet that can be used on the stove and in the oven, cook your chops in that, otherwise you'll have to transfer them to an oven proof roasting pan.  In said skillet with a little butter or olive oil, sear the outside of the chops.  

After about 5 minutes (depending on the thickness of your chops) turn them over and sear the other side.  After another 5 minutes transfer to the oven to cook through.  This will probably take about ten to fifteen minutes or so.  You don't want to overcook and dry out the chops, but you don't want the inside to be pink.  Though, trichinosis is actually destroyed at 145 degrees F, which corresponds to a medium rare pork chop.  Most people are afraid to eat a pink chop, but just know if your temp is hot enough, you don't have to worry about disease.  

When done, plate the chops and add a little more stuffing on top if you'd like (I served with mashed potatoes, big surprise there), and I made a quick sauce to pour over.  Deglaze your skillet with some white wine to soak up all those great pan drippings.  As the sauce cooks and thickens, you can add a tiny bit of flour if you want it to be thick and creamy, otherwise you can add a little bit of butter to have a similar, but less thickening effect.  Spoon over the chops, and enjoy!

  

Yellow Split Pea and Pumpkin Soup

 

My apologies for the blogging hiatus.  We've got quite a bit of backlog here at LND, so in no particular order here we go!

Soup.  Perfect for the winter.  I've had the last of a bag of yellow split peas for the past 2 years, and wanted to finally get rid of them, so I opted to make this soup I made with the split peas 2 years ago.  This is also great if you've got a leftover can of pumpkin in your pantry from the holidays that never quite turned into a pie.  

The most time consuming part of this soup is soaking the peas in broth.  I used vegetable, but in the past I've used chicken broth.  I emptied 2 cans of broth into a pot, and added about 3/4 cup of split peas. 

Also in the past, I've chopped 1/4 of a large onion and put it in the broth with the peas, but I sadly had no onion this time.  After about an hour and a half the peas will look like above...still a little crunchy but much softer than before.  At this point I added the can of pumpkin, some pepper, and thyme and cooked for another 45 minutes.

Next I spiced it up.  I added some powdered saffron, but you should throw in whatever you have/like.  No need to blend this soup since the ingredients are so mushy.  I added about 1/8 cup of cream because that's what I do, but it would taste just fine without the cream.  I feel like this would also work with squash and/or green split peas.  And if you wanted to throw some carrots in maybe?  Go wild with your winter soups!

Oysters and Pearls

Not as pretty as when they serve it at the French Laundry, but I was going for taste and maximal oysters per ramekin.

Happy New Year faithful followers!  Tonight's post has been under construction for two weeks now, but it's so complex I never felt like finishing what I started, until now.  For Christmas dinner this year I wanted to attempt the best tasting oyster dish I have ever eaten.  It is a recipe from Thomas Keller's restaurant, The French Laundry.  This dish is one of the favorites at the restaurant and is usually the first item served to patrons.  I found the recipe online a few months ago and immediately knew I would be making it for a special occasion.  I was surprised to receive The French Laundry cookbook for Christmas this year, so I followed the recipe from there, but the online version is the same basic idea.

I won't go through all the details of the recipe, since you can follow along online, but I'll share my pictures and experiences.

First let the tapioca soak in the milk for an hour.  Unfortunately, we were unable to find small pearl tapioca at any of our grocers, so we settled for instant.  I fear this may have altered the flavors/textures in some way, so again, next time we'll get the real deal.  But this is what it looked like after an hour of soaking; pretty much all the liquid was absorbed.

While the tapioca is soaking, take care of the oysters.  We opted to buy jars of fresh Eastern oysters, but next time I plan to splurge, bust out the shucking knife, and get fresh oysters still in the shell (our local grocer did not carry oysters and would have required a special order a few days in advance, hence the jars).  To get beautiful oysters, the recipe calls for trimming away the edges.  I used small kitchen scissors, saved the trimmings in a small saucepan, saved the juice, and the shapely oysters in separate bowls.  Typically the FL serves two oysters per dish.  I went for six.

Whip the cream.  Store it in the fridge.  We went for hand whipping.  It took about ten minutes.

Cook the oyster trimmings with milk and cream.  Simmer so the flavor of the oysters infuse into the milk.

Take the tapioca that was soaking, strain it and run water over it to get all the milk off.  Then cook it in the milk/cream that was steeping with the oysters.  It'll thicken.

Prepare the sabayon.  This is one part you'll need to constantly monitor.  It takes about 3 to 5 minutes.  Whisk the egg yolks and oyster juice in a double boiler (a bowl placed over a pot of simmering or boiling water).  Constantly whisking, it will eventually thicken and you'll know when it's a different consistency, like the whipped cream.

Here comes the mixing/folding.  Tapioca, sabayon, creme fraiche, pepper, whipped cream.  When properly combined, pour into the ramekins or whatever dishes you'll be using, cover, and place in the fridge until ready for use.  

Finally, prepare the sauce.  Vermouth, oyster juice, shallots, vinegar.  When the liquid is absorbed (as seen above), you can start whisking in the butter.  The FL cookbook has a page long description about this butter mixture.  It's really interesting, but I wont bore you with the details.  Basically they have this part butter liquid that if kept at the right temperature can keep food hot without continuing to cook it.  And it won't leave the meat/fish/whatever tasting like butter, but it will keep the juices in because of the fats in the butter.  It's a way they keep foods warm at the FL if they're not quite ready to be served, but they're done cooking.

Once the butter is added, you can cook the tapioca in the oven for five minutes.  Once out, add the oysters and chives to the butter to just slightly heat through (don't overcook.  i found that round two of the oysters yielded slightly shriveled and drier oysters).

No need to cook these ramekins in a water bath.  Once out of the oven, place oysters on top.  Spoon the buttery sauce over, and add a dallop of caviar.  Serve immediately.

So they were good, but nowhere near as phenomenal as at the restaurant.  Next time (yes, even after an afternoon of cooking, and a kitchen full of dirty pots, there will be a next time) I will use fresher oysters, small pearl tapioca, and use smaller ramekins/dish less tapioca into them.  The sauce was delicious, and I found that when I added more it really made the difference.  Having nice quality caviar was also a huge flavor bonus.  I highly recommend it.