Recipes
01/24/2010
Yesterday, many people enjoyed the mini skewers we brought for the in-store demo at Blue Apron Foods. I was often asked how to make it because it made a perfect appetizer, snack, or dish to entertain guests. They’re easy, delicious and healthy! The following are the general steps to making these kimchi-mushroom-tofu skewers:
1) Soak dried shiitake mushrooms in warm water for 30 minutes. Drain.
2) Soak in boiling water for about 5 minutes. Drain, rinse and let it soak. Leave aside.
3) Use firm tofu and cut the whole block of tofu into cubes. Lightly pan fry the cubes of tofu in olive oil until they turn to a golden color. Set aside.
4) Return to the mushrooms and be sure to thoroughly squeeze out the excess water in each mushroom (this step is important as you do not want excess water leaking out as one bites into it).
5) Cut mushrooms into bite size pieces.
6) Whisk the following ingredients together to taste: soy sauce, a little sugar, sesame oil, minced garlic, and chopped up scallions.
7) Marinade the mushrooms with your sauce. As with any marinade, you can leave it overnight if you have the time, but it’s not necessary.
In a wok or large saucepan, saute the mushrooms with olive oil until tender, a little glossy, and chewy to the bite. (You will know that it is NOT done if you eat one of the mushrooms and some water comes out in the bite.)
9) Finally, use toothpicks to hold the tofu, mushroom, and kimchi together. Serve on a plate.
Enjoy!!
01/24/2010
I love when I hear the following response… “oooh…kimchi”. I also love when someone says, “no thanks…”, then 5 minutes later, they come by and say “ok…” and the response is positive, “mmmm…that is delicious”. However, many people are not sure how to eat kimchi except just by itself, although it makes a great topping, side dish, condiment, etc.
The following is one idea and I’ll be listing some more in the following days:
Great use as a topping on a baked potato.
1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Clean and pat dry the potatoes. Brush some olive oil and salt onto the skin of the potato. Place in the oven for about an hour at 400 degrees.
2) While that’s baking, chop up the kimchi and some chorizos (any other meat or non-meat ingredient can be used). Use olive oil to saute them together (first put the chorizo in, then a few minutes later, throw the kimchi in with it) and because they both are such bold flavors, I needed nothing else. Keep warm.
3) After about an hour, take out the potatoes and cut out a long, slender pocket on the top of the potato. In it, please a slice of butter, lay a good portion of the kimchi-chorizo topping into it. Place a dollop of sour cream to sit on top and sprinkle with copped up chives. Again, the other ingredients are optional but I used a little bit of the sour cream and chives to add a bit of color (good for entertaining guests).
Enjoy!
11/23/2009
Greenpoint Food Market was a success!! Considering it was our first market, I would say it was quite successful. Please spread the word!
The funny part was that the noodles we were providing with the kimchi was a hit! Therefore, I’ve decided to post the recipe on our blog. The noodle dish is called “japchae” in Korean and it’s easy to make. And really…it’s up to you what veggies you’d like to put in and if you’d like to include a type of meat, usually beef. Another common inquiry was about what mushrooms were used in the dish. There were two kinds of mushrooms used- shiitake mushrooms and dried wood ear mushrooms.
Ingredients:
1/2lb sweet potato noodles (dangmyun)
2tbsp sesame oil
1/3 head of cabbage (red cabbage can be used as well for color)
1 small to med sized onion- thinly sliced in strips
1 carrot- julienned
3/4 large red pepper- thinly sliced
3/4 large green pepper- thinly sliced
3-4 shiitake mushrooms- stems cut, thinly sliced
5-6 dried wood ear mushrooms (cut in half, if you’d like)- soaked in cold water for about 1-2 hrs (leave aside)
2-3 cloves of garlic- minced
1/2 bunch watercress (some ingredients call for spinach, but I found spinach causes the taste of the dish to be a little too bitter. Watercress is a very tasty substitute.)
2-3 scallions cut into one-inch strips
2-3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
salt & pepper to taste
makes 4-5 servings
preparation:
1. In large saucepan, bring water to a boil then cook noodles for about 5 mins. Drain, then rinse in cold water. Set aside.
2. Now, for the vegetables- if you want more of a smoky flavor, it’s best to saute the vegetables separately, then put aside until it all comes together. Otherwise, it’s alright to saute them together.
First, heat up the sesame oil (add more sesame oil as needed along the way) in a wok or large saute pan, add carrots and onion. Saute until the onions are translucent (place onions and carrots aside on a plate). Place chopped up cabbage in the pan and stir for about 3 minutes or until they are wilted (place cooked cabbage aside). Place red and green pepper to pan and saute until they soften (place cooked pepper aside). Add shiitake mushrooms and garlic to the pan and saute for another 3-4 mins.
Finally, saute the watercress and scallions, just so the watercress is wilted.
3. In the final step, bring the vegetables together in the saute pan and mix. Add the wood ear mushrooms and stir for about a minute. Add the drained noodles, soy sauce, sugar salt and pepper to the sauté pan and stir to low heat. Adjust seasoning to taste.
4. Serve on dish and sprinkle with sesame seeds for garnish.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask. Also, I’d like to know how your japchae came out. Please share! 
