Beef with Vegetables Hotpot - Mille-feuille Nabe

As the weather gets colder, I think of warm soup. If you think about the soup dish that you eat while you are having a hot drink, your whole body seems to get warmer. It is  a happy thought.
Mille-feuille Nabe (Beef with Vegetables Hotpot) is as pretty and delicious as I thought. The taste of this food is good, of course, but the visuals of the cooking itself are so gorgeous that they often make it for housewarming parties in Korea. So, it is one of the foods that are loved by many housewives. Furthermore, there are just vegetables and meat. No carbohydrates. Sounds Great!
Mille-feuille Nabe is a compound of French and Japanese. 'Mille-feuille' is a French word for a thousand leaves and 'Nabe' means a Japanese style hotpot. In other words, it can be said to be a fusion food.

Asian at Home
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuKPhjx8rM4

***

Gambas al Ajillo - Spanish Garlic Shrimp

Gambas al ajillo (garlic shrimp) is a popular Spanish dish found principally in the south and center of Spain. I found Gambas al ajillo on a television program that I happened to see. It looks good and tastes good. Furthermore, it's very easy to cook. It is just right for me. I don't like complicated recipes. 
Ingredients are very simple... Shrimps, garlic, olive oil and some herbs. Of course, I used chopped green onions instead of herbs. 

Food from Spain
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYLqUG7Yw-Q

***

Shakshuka

It can be said that Shakshuka is Middle Eastern Bibimbap. Because, it's a dish made with various vegetables and meat, but the main base is tomato.
This classic Israeli breakfast, a dish of Libyan origin, can be served as a main course for any meal of the day. This is basically an egg-based dish with tomato sauce, but I sliced fresh tomatoes instead of tomato sauce and added some tomato sauce to taste. I wanted to make it more healthy.
People usually eat it with feta cheese, olives, meat and various types of herbs, but I made it today by using the ingredients from my refrigerator. So, the remaining leftover bacon and parmesan cheese were selected. Great!
I served it as a brunch for my husband.
It is easy to make and delicious, I am going to make it often. 

Ingredients
1 Tb                     olive oil
1                          onion (chopped)
2 t                        minced garlic
3                          fresh tomatoes (chopped)
1/2 t                      cumin
1/2 t                      crushed pepper
1/2 t                      paprika 
1 Tb                      tomato paste
4                           eggs
2 strips                  bacon (chopped)
salt, pepper and dried parsley to taste

Directions
Heat a frying pan and add some oil and put chopped onion and minced garlic in and stir fry.
Add chopped tomatoes with salt, pepper, crushed pepper and paprika.
Cover and boil down over low heat until the sauce is reduced to half.
Cook the bacon in another pan while the tomatoes are cooking.
Break each egg into the tomato sauce and cook them sunny side up.
Sprinkle with bacon and dried parsley.
Serve it with bread.


***

Almond Flour Pancakes

I am trying to reduce carbohydrates these days. It's very stressful. So, I used almond flour. Almonds have a lot of protein and are low in carbohydrates. 
I am trying to refrain from using regular flour. Almond flour is a good alternative.
I used grass fed butter. It is important to eat good fats!
We have to eat some complex carbohydrates and good fats, because they are needed in our bodies!

Ingredients
1 c                         almond flour
1/2 t                       baking soda
1/2 t                       salt
1/2 c                       milk
2                             eggs
oil

Directions
Add all ingredients into a bowl and mix.
After preheating the frying pan over low heat lightly coat it with oil. Pour batter to form pancakes of whatever size you like.
Cook first side until bubbles form on top, then flip and cook other side until golden brown.
Serve immediately with butter and maple syrup.

These pancakes have a light texture and a great, slightly nutty taste!


***

Czech Vanilla Wafer Cake

My friend, Sona, made a Czech vanilla wafer cake for me. It was very delicious and had a polka dot pattern. So adorable!
I wanted to make it, but I couldn't find Czech wafers anywhere.Of course, I can use Nilla Wafers, but they are too sweet. So, I was thinking about using ladyfingers, but ladyfingers are rectangular, not round. I wanted my cake to look like Sona's cake, but I couldn't find Czech wafers. When Sona found out she asked her sisters to send me wafers from the Czech Republic. 
Look at this! Wafers from the Czech Republic!


Ingredients:
2 packages of vanilla wafers
1 quart heavy whipping cream
16 oz sour creamPowdered sugar Fruit-canned mandarin oranges, canned apricots, etc. in light syrup (at least 2-3 cups)
Nonstick leak-proof springform pan, round, 9 inch (the one with a mechanism for side opening)
Note: I usually cover the bottom and sides of the pan with a large piece of foil.

Instructions:
Filling:In a large bowl, pour the heavy whipping cream and whip it with an electric hand mixer until fluffy and really thick. Add sour cream gradually and mix well with a wooden spoon. Taste it to suit your taste buds – I usually use between 12 to 16 oz of sour cream. Add a little powdered sugar to make it slightly sweet. Remember that the wafers and fruit are sweet enough. Cake:In a round cake form, put a layer of vanilla wafers over the entire bottom of the pan, pour a few drops of fruit juice on vanilla wafers (2-3 table spoons), then place narrow pieces of fruit in the holes among the vanilla wafers, spread a layer of cream filling on top and then continue repeating wafers, fruit and filling layers (usually 2-3 times is possible). The last layer visible on the top should be vanilla wafers. Cover and refrigerate for at least 12 hours – the best is over night/24 hours. Enjoy! 

***

Korean Style Wings - Chicken Wing Boiled in Spiced Soy Sauce

I like chicken wings boiled in spiced soy sauce.  But I couldn't find a simple recipe.  

I have tried to make it several times, but the recipes were time consuming and complicated. Not easy recipes. For example, I had to make a special soy sauce (This is a boiled sauce with apple, pear, lemon, garlic, ginger, onion, scallion, peperonchino, cooking wine, rice wine and soy sauce) or a special ginger sauce (ginger with rice wine). Both of these sauces had to be boiled for an hour. The sauces are had to be made in advance. That's too much of a hassle!

Even if I don't use a special sauce, this recipe is so amazing! It is a very good dish that is made in a short amount of time.

Ingredient

2 lb                chicken wings

1/2 c              cooking wine

1 c                 water

1/2 c              soy sauce

1/2 c              sugar

1/2 Tb            minced ginger

3 tops            scallion 

dried peperonchino and pepper to taste

Directions

In a big wok, put cleaned chicken wings, water, soy sauce, sugar and cooking wine.

Add ginger and scallion.

Bring to boil, then simmer at a low heat.

Add peperonchino to taste and boil until the sauce is evaporated. 

How about Korean style chicken wings for dinner?

***

Avocado Bibimbap

We've been having a few days reaching into 85, even 95℉ here in VA.  Phew!  So I try not to cook too much.  Very hot!  But this dish is super fast and easy to make and will take less than 15 minutes to put together. Sounds great!

I made a special summer bibimbap like the picture.  Bibimbap  has always been one of the most popular Korean dishes. Traditionally, it  is made with fried egg, cooked vegetables, bulgogi(beef) and steamed rice.  However this version  substitutes sliced avocado for the beef.

Ingredients

1 bowl                  steamed rice

1/2                          avocado

1                              egg

1 T                          coconut oil

(seasoning soy sauce)

1 T                        soy sauce

1 t                         wasabi

1 t                         water

Directions
Slice avocado and fry egg with coconut oil.
Mix seasoning soy sauce ingredients.
Fill a bowl with rice and top with fried egg and sliced avocado.
Serve with seasoning sauce.
If you like sprinkle with nori.


***

Stir-fried Korean Chili Peppers and Pork

I made a bell pepper japchae. Japchae is a Korean dish made by stir-frying sweet potato noodles with thinly sliced carrot, onion, spinach, mushrooms and beef. But I used just a few things like bell pepper, pork and onion. Simple!  
Japchae has a chewy, sweet and salty taste. Bell pepper adds crunch and sweetness.  They are also rich in iron, calcium and vitamin A and C.

Ingredients
2/3 lb                      pork  
3                             bell pepper (red 1, green 2) 
1                             onion
1 inch                      fresh ginger

Spicy chili oil
1/2 C                      vegetable oil
3 T                         Korean dried red pepper powder
2 T                         minced garlic
2                            green onions

1 T                          oyster sauce
1 t                           soy sauce
1T                           Korean cooking wine
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Thinly slice the pork. 

Seed and thinly slice the bell peppers. Thinly slice the onion. 
Finely mince ginger.
Marinate sliced pork in soy sauce, Korean cooking wine and minced ginger for 20-30 minutes.
Make the spicy chili oil:  Simmer green onions, garlic, Korean chili powder in the oil for 10 minutes. Cool and set aside.
Put the pork in the pan  with 2 T spicy chili oil and stir-fry. Add sliced onions and bell peppers with the oyster sauce. Quickly stir fry so vegetables retain their crunch.
Season the dish with salt and pepper.

***

Arugula Apple Salad

I made a simple arugula salad with olive oil and vinegar. I used 'Ah Love Oil and Vinegar' - Tuscan Herb Olive Oil and Peach White Vinegar. These are produced in oak barrels for more than 12 years. So, the taste is ultra rich and fresh!
I wanted something fresh, so I added sliced Fuji apples.
It was a good balance of bitterness + lovely sweetness + nice sour taste = Very good match!!

Ingredients
1/2       apple
1 C       arugula
1 T       olive oil - tuscan herb
1 T       vinegar - peach white
salt, pepper and dried minced onion to taste

Directions
Wash apple and arugula and slice Fuji apple as in the picture.
Mix olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper well.
Sprinkle salad dressing on the arugula and arrange the sliced apple.
Sprinkle with dried minced onion.


***

Spicy Italian Sausage Pasta

Sometimes I bookmark good recipes from food websites, such as Food Network, All Recipes.com and individual blogs. I often visit a blog written by a transplanted Korean who now lives in Washington, DC. She posts a lot of fun things about her U.S. life. One of the best  things are her lunch box ideas. She packs two lunch boxes every weekday. One is for her husband and the other is for her. Furthermore, her recipes are very easy and simple. Sometimes she introduces good grocery stores and shows her list of shopping items with their prices. It's very helpful!

This pasta recipe is from her blog. After she tried spicy Italian sausage pasta at a restaurant, she made it herself. She often packs it for their lunches. I often need lunch box ideas and it's a good tip for me!

Ingredients     
(I changed a little from her recipe.)
1 lb                hot Italian sausage from Giant
3/4 lb              pasta noodle
1 bottle           basil tomato sauce from Trader Joe's
2 C                 sliced mushroom
2 C                 sliced onion
1 T                 minced garlic
2 T                 chopped jalapeno
1 C                 grated parmesan cheese
olive oil, salt, pepper and chopped basil to taste

Directions
Parboil sausage in boiling water for 5-6 minutes and slice into bite size pieces.
Boil the noodles according to the box directions.
Stir-fry minced garlic in a hot pan with olive oil and add sliced onions.
When the onions turn brown, add sausage, mushrooms, salt and pepper.
Stir-fry everything until ingredients are almost 90% cooked. Then reduce heat, add cooked pasta noodles with tomato sauce and mix them well.
Sprinkle parmesan cheese and chopped basil on the pasta before serving.

http://blog.naver.com/zghyojin/220720363760

***

Rice Paper Dumplings

I made Korean dumplings a few days ago and I had extra filling, but I needed some more dumpling wraps. I thought I needed to go to the grocery store, but I didn't feel like going out. So I came up with a good idea - use rice paper! 
Rice paper was in my pantry for a long time, so I needed a good recipe for using them. 
I took it out of the pantry and dip the rice paper in warm water - rice paper is delicate and only needs a quick dip in warm water to soften. 
Do not soak. If your rice paper is too wet, it will be very difficult to roll. 
And rotated rice paper in the bowl of water or quickly immersed it in the bowl for about 4-5 seconds.
When the rice paper is soft, placed on a clean board and put dumpling filling mixture in the center of the rice paper round and then folded the ends in and roll up firmly to enclose the filling. 
Repeated with remaining rice paper rounds and filling.
Heat a pan with vegetable oil and fried them.
That's all!

***

Sesame Leaves Pesto Pasta - Perilla Pesto

Pesto; one of those sauces that is a must in summertime, anytime. It is one of the easiest ways to use up spare herbs, greens and to play around with different nuts.
Also, it's quick to throw together. A great way for using big bunches of herbs or greens languishing in the fridge, and practically impossible to screw up. So there is no excuse not to give homemade pesto a go.

This year I planted a few plants in pots to grow on my deck. Sesame leaf is one of them.

It is easy to grow and can become large quickly and out of control.

Actually, my garden has been growing like crazy - sesame leaves have grown a lot. So, I picked them and made pesto with the sesame leaves.
Have you ever made pesto with herbs other than basil?
Sesame leaf(perilla) is an herb in the mint family used in several Asian dishes. So I used it.
How to make it? It's very similar to basil pesto. I just used sesame leaves instead of basil and I added some more nuts and  Parmesan cheese to taste. That's it! 

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/basil-pesto-recipe2.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=960thehxn1Y (Learn more, view video; 키미kimi)


***

Whole Chicken Soup - Chicken Baeksuk

South Korea has been overcome by a new trend recently - the cooking frenzy. Cooking is the big thing right now; it's in dramas, variety shows, everyday life - everywhere. So I enjoy watching Korean cooking shows.  One of them is 'House Cook Master Baek.'
Master Baek teaches celebrities how to make easy homemade meals on the TV show and the show always says "You can cook, too!"
Even though master Baek is not a professional chef, he has been studying and is the CEO of 26 restaurant franchises with 169 branches across the country.  So he is good at cooking.
It is an intimate cooking show because he makes cooking easy.
For example, he uses paper cups and a normal spoon instead of measuring cups & spoons, because the are easy to find and buy.  Normally, the paper cup and spoon size are about the same as measuring cups and spoons in Korea.
And sometimes he uses coffee filter paper instead of cloth for a steamer. It's a good tip for a beginner.

Today, the show showed how to cook Korean chicken soup - Chicken Baeksuk.
Generally, many Korean people eat invigorating foods such as Samgyetang and Chicken Baeksuk to boost up energy and to ward off summer heat and stay healthy.
Baeksuk is sometimes mistaken as Samgyetang, because they are made in a similar way. However, they differ in the size of the chicken and placement of ingredients. In Samgyetang, the vegetables and rice are placed inside a small chicken. On the other hand, backsuk uses a bigger chicken, and rice is added after the vegetables and chicken are taken out of the pot.

Ingredients
1                whole chicken (I used drumstick and thigh each 1 lb)
1/2             onion
1 bunch     green onions
1/4 C          korean chile pepper powder
1 T             minced garlic
1 T             korean mustard
2 T             soy sauce
1 T             vinegar
1/2 T          sliced ginger
salt, sugar, pepper to taste

Directions
Start by washing the ingredients
Place chicken, onion, 2 green onions and sliced ginger in the pot, cover with water and boil for 30 minutes.
Remove chicken from boiling chicken soup and tear it into pieces.
Mix hot pepper powder with 1/4 cup chicken soup. (1:1)
Make sauce - mix hot pepper powder paste, minced garlic, 1 chopped green onion, Korean mustard, soy sauce, sugar and vinegar.
Parboil remaining green onions in the chicken soup and add the chicken.
Serve Baeksuk with sauce.

http://m.post.naver.com/viewer/postView.nhn?volumeNo=4809164&memberNo=19357942&vType=VERTICAL

***

Eggs Benedict

I  sometimes enjoyed cafe menu at my home. 
Today, I tried the hollandaise and poached eggs for the 1st time ever ... it was absolutely wonderful. 

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/17205/eggs-benedict/

Butter Cookies

Baking butter cookies is my specialty, so I baked them for my friends.

They smelled so good baking in the oven.

Hope they really like them.

http://yhj95sm.blogspot.com/2014/01/butter-cookies-earl-grey-tea-cookies.html

***

Tofu with Natto

Do you know what natto is?
Natto is originally from Japan. It is a traditional food that is made of fermented soybeans and is rich in vegetable protein.
Soy beans are steam cooked and then fermented with a healthy bacteria known as Bacillus subtilis. The fermentation process yields a food that is high in nutrition and protein.
Also, natto may look strange and have a peculiar smell, but it is extremely good for you and it is known for its stickiness. It is the polyglutamic acid produced when the soybeans ferment that makes natto so sticky. Polyglutamic acid also helps the body absorb calcium and it is the richest food source of vitamin K2. 

I bought natto at the Korean mart (It is easy to find in the frozen food section) and it  came  with seasoning sauce (sweet soy sauce + mustard sauce).
First, spread baby arugula on the plate, then the tofu, top with the natto and drizzle with the natto seasoning. You may also drizzle with sesame oil if you like. That's it!
It's a simple and easy appetizer!

***

Lentil Soup - 2

I am addicted to lentil soup, so I am trying to search for good lentil soup recipes these days.
Today, I made my second lentil soup - actually I made my first  lentil soup last week - It tasted good , too!

Recipe from Food Network
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/lentil-soup-recipe.html

Simple Pizza

I like a simple pizza. Why? I don't need to make pizza dough.  
Actually, I failed trying to make pizza dough several times. 
One time, the dough didn't rise and another time, I had a hard time rolling out the dough. 
So, I just used a tortilla - It's a good idea!
Furthermore, I cut down my intake of flour a little. Great!

Ingredients 
2-3                    tortillas (small)
10                     cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1/4 lb                chicken  (your favorite part)
1/4                    onion, sliced
1 t                     dried basil or oregano
1 T                    olive oil
1 t                     garlic powder
1 C                    mozzarella cheese
fresh basil to taste
salt and pepper, to taste

Garlic cream sauce
Roux
1 T                     minced garlic
1/2 C                  milk or cream

How to make a Roux
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/white-roux-recipe.html

Stir fry sliced onions and set aside.
Cut cleaned chicken into bite size and marinate in the olive oil, dried herbs, garlic powder and salt for 30 minutes.
Stir fry chicken with marinade until golden brown.
Make garlic cream sauce - To the roux add milk or cream and the minced garlic and reduce slightly.
On the tortilla  spread homemade garlic cream sauce, use as much as you like.
Top with sliced cherry tomatoes, stir fried onions, seasoned chicken and mozzarella cheese.
Put on some fresh basil.
Bake for 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

***