Wine & Food Harmony

 

The household occasionally/always has in-between wine on hand. The kind that's too old to drink, too precious to dump (i.e. any wine that fits into category one). This recipe combines that recurring difficulty with other basic pantry standards (lentils, dijon, old hard vegetables). I'm a firm believer in adapting what you've got and making it work! You will love these lentils-- and you will also love them leftover, for breakfast, reheated, with an egg unceremoniously cradled in and soft poached on top. Lentil joy :)

(adapted from http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/lentils-with-wineglazed-vegetables-recipe.html )

 

Old Wine Lentils

1 1/2 cups lentils
s & p
olive oil 
garlic, chopped
hard veg: carrot, celery & onion, chopped up small (other options: turnip, sweet potato, FENNEL! fennel's phenomenal.)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2/3 cup old red wine
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons butter
to serve: chopped tarragon, micro greens or arugula, crumbled goat cheese or a dollop of creme fraiche [I've never tried any of this but it sounds great :)]

1. Put the lentils in a saucepan with 3 cups water and some salt. Boil then turn down and let the lentils get tender (1/2 hour-ish).
2. Heat the oil. Add your hard veg with salt, and brown for about 10 minutes. 
3. Add garlic and tomato paste, cook for 1 minute, then add your old wine. 
4. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer, covered, until the liquid is syrupy and the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. 
5. Stir in the mustard and add the cooked lentils along with their broth. 
6. Simmer until the sauce is mostly reduced, then stir in the butter. Done.

 

Enjoy your lentils, and enjoy them again for leftover lunch, and enjoy them again for breakfast. Reheat lentils with extra water and poach an egg right in there for super satisfaction.

Meat Lovers Kimchi Jiggae

*** Yang Household Favorite ***

With my inaugural post, I'd like to contribute the wondrous meat lovers kimchi stew, as re-invented by Myung and me. Less liquid, more meat! Traditionally, kimchi stew is mostly kimchi, some meat, maybe some mushrooms and/or tofu, and maybe some extra garlic, onion, pepper powder...covered with water and boiled until it all comes together. Everything is seasoned to taste, and everything is adaptable to what you have in your kitchen. We tired of fishing through the broth to find the 'fun' bits and dumping the liquid after consumption. Why bother? Thus, this version was born:

Ingredients:

The essentials ~

• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil 
• 1 lb Kimchi, cut into bite size pieces (the older and funkier, the better) 

• 3/4 lb Pork belly, cut into bite size pieces (pork shoulder works well here too)

• Kimchi brine and/or water
• 1 package firm tofu (140 g here in Korea - 1/4 to 1/2 lb is ok), drained and cut into cubes

• cooked white rice
• kim/nori/seasoned seaweed laver

The add-ins ~

• Mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 yellow onion, sliced
• 1-4 cloves garlic
• 1+ teaspoon Korean pepper powder (Gochugaru)
• 1+ teaspoon sugar

Directions:

Start by heating your oil in a Dutch oven or large stock pot. 

Add kimchi and cook until starting to caramelize (appx 5 mins)

Add pork and cook another 5-10 mins, stirring occasionally.

Pour brine and/or water (depends on availability of brine and your spice threshold) until it almost covers the kimchi and pork. 

Bring to a boil and cover with lid, leaving an opening for steam. Reduce heat to medium-low. This will help to cook pork through but not make it too soupy. You can cook it like this for 20 mins, checking and stirring occasionally.

At this point, give it a taste. If you want more kick, add gochugaru. If it tastes too sour, add sugar. If it seems like garlic or onions or mushrooms would add some nice flair, chuck that in too! The more, the merrier. You really can't fuck this up. When you feel things taste pretty good...

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2. Place tofu on top of stew and gently nudge it into all of the kimchi greatness, trying not to break tofu. Basically it can just steam and absorb some of the stew for a couple minutes.

You could add sliced scallions for color and a final "voila" but it's not really necessary. 

What you will need is a bowl of white rice, some nori (salty seaweed paper) and to crack a beer. Enjoy!