Korean Noodle Soup

So this is my attempt at making everyday korean food. I think the soup is called "janchi guksu", but I'm going to be referring to it as Korean noodle soup. I decided to make this because the broth is light and there's a good mix of carbs, vegetables, and protein. The broth is lighter than I would like it so if I make this again, I would add some kimchi juice or more flavorings, but then I don't think it would be called janchi guksu anymore. I'm used to my food being hearty and often heavily spiced that I feel I sometimes don't appreciate lighter foods as much as everyone else does.

I encourage you to try this if you have a chance. There's just something about warm noodle soup that makes my day and maybe it could make yours =D

The recipe I used can be food at Eating and Living. It's a Korean-American mom's food blog and it's pretty amazing. I love many of her recipes. I followed the original recipe as closely as I could.

I'm told the broth is a very standard Korean broth.

Ingredients of the broth:

10-12 medium to large dried anchovies

2 3" dried kelp

1/2 onion

3 garlic cloves

2 1/2 of scallion (white part)

Water to fill your pot =)

Add all the ingredients into the pot and bring the pot to a bowl. Once it's boiling, reduce the heat to medium and let the broth boil for 10 minutes, uncovered. After the 10 minutes, remove the anchovies and kelp and add soy sauce and salt and pepper to taste. Let the pot boil for another 15 minutes, again over medium heat. At this point, you can remove all of the vegetables from the broth. Keep the broth warm over low heat while everything else is cooking.

I'm pretty sure you can add any toppings you want. Here I cut up 1 large carrot and 1 large zucchini into matchstick sizes.

Sautee the carrots for approximate 3 minutes over high heat. Add salt and pepper to taste. Once done, set aside the carrots and sauté the zucchini for 2-3 minutes, adding salt and pepper to taste. (Note: for the zucchini, the original recipe called for sprinkling it with some salt and squeezing out the excess water after 5 minutes before sautéing it. I did this previously and it does have a better result than just sautéing the zucchini so if you have time, I suggest doing that.)

As additional toppings, I lightly sauteed some kimchi, to bring out its flavor, to add to the soup. I also scrambled some eggs and then sliced it into thin pieces because I had no beef on hand. If you do have beef, slice the beef into thin pieces and marinate in a bowl with 1 teaspoon soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic and some black pepper. The beef doesn't need to marinate for long. Once you finish cutting the vegetables, the beef is ready to be sauteed. This is a great addition to the soup and I highly recommend adding it if you have time.

Cook whatever noodles you like for the soup. The original recipe called for somyeon noodles, but I often use buckwheat soba noodles. I'm not sure what noodles I used in the picture below. As always, with Asian noodles, you want to wash it well in cold water to stop the cooking and to wash out the starch. Not doing this might leave you with very sticky noodles. I separate mine into portions before leaving it to drain so that I can easily serve it once everything is ready.

Time to plate the food! Place the noodles in a serving bowl. Add a little bit of each topping, zucchini, carrots, egg, and kimchi. Add broth and serve! You can add some chopped scallions for a more professional finish.

As always, let me know if you have any questions and if you do make it, please let me know how it turned out!! Enjoy.

Crepes

Easy, fast and indulgent. Why go out for fancy crepes when you can make it at home in probably the same amount of time it takes for you to get to the restaurant? This is my go to crepes recipe. It's easy and you can add just about any filling your heart desires. I can't ask for much more. I happened to be making a banana foster type filling the day I made these crepes and so the recipe follows that.

Ingredients:

Crepes:

2 eggs

2 tablespoon butter, melted

3 tablespoon sugar (omit if making savory crepes)

1 cup flour

1 1/3 cup milk ( I use 2%)

Banana filling:

2 bananas

~ 2 tablespoon sugar ( I used brown, but white works as well)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Mix the eggs, sugar and butter.


2. While whisking, slowly add flour. Incorporate as much flour as you can. If the paste is too thick, you can start adding a little bit of the milk. I find I can add all of my flour into the mixture. Once all of the flour has been added, you'll have a very thick paste.


3. Slowly add the milk. Whisk the milk in ass you're adding it to incorporate it. This helps reduce the amount of lumps you will have. If you still had some left over flour, add it slowly in between adding the milk. The batter should be lump free and very thin once everything has been whisked together.

4. To make the crepes, I used a regular, non-stick pan. I sprayed some oil on it. Once the pan is heated, add just enough batter to make about a 4 inch circle, I used about a 1/4 cup of batter for each crepe. Take the pan and twirl the batter around so that it's spread out in a thin circle.

5. Once the edges are set, flip the crepe. I use a spatula to get under the crepe and flip it over. Cooking the second side takes seconds, literally about 15 seconds. During this time you can either add your filling or just flip the crepe out onto a plate and add the filling then.




6. Spray the pan again and repeat.

7. To make the banana filling, peel and slice the banana.

8. Melt 2 tablespoon of butter in a saucepan under low heat.

9.Once butter has slightly turned brown, add bananas. When bananas become squishy (technical term, I know), add sugar. Once sugar is incorporated, smash the banana with a wooden spoon until the pieces are small. Add the vanilla extract and some water if you feel that the filling is too thick.

I find that if I use riper bananas, the consistency is perfect, but if I use under-ripe ones, I have to add about a tablespoon or so of sugar. As always, taste it as you're going to make sure it's perfect for you!


Enjoy the final product. On the left side of the plate is just a plain crepe with no filling. I usually spread some nutella or honey on the plain crepes. Enjoy it however your heart desires =)

Cream Scones

One of my absolute favorite breakfast food is scones, especially warm scones. There's just something about warm scones and coffee that leave me satisfied and ready in the morning. I've been having trouble making scones because many of the traditional recipes use butter. In these recipes, the butter has to be "cut" into the flour in order for the final product to be flaky and buttery. I can never seem to do this correctly and so my attempts have come out dense. Trust me, dense scones are something that you do not want to start your day with.

Finally, I came across this cream scones recipe that uses heavy cream instead of butter. The number of ingredients is extremely minimal, you have to only mix in the cream and the scones come out flaky and moist. What more could anyone ask for? Even if you are not a baker, these are a must try! The recipe is extremely easy and straightforward ( I know I say this a lot, but I'm serious!!). Please try it when you get a chance. You won't regret it. I adapted this recipe from a different blog. You can find the original recipe here.

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour
1/8 cup sugar
1/2 Tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup heavy cream
1 Tablespoon melted butter
1 Tablespoon sugar

That's it!!!

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.

3. Pour in the cream and stir with a fork just until combined. DO NOT over mix.
4. Transfer dough to another surface and gently knead with your hand a few times. If you don't feel comfortable kneading the dough, just fold in in half, spread it out again and then fold the dough in half a few times. If you are not working on a non-stick surface, spread a little flour on the surface you're working on. Don't add too much flour - you don't want to dry your dough. Your dough should be very soft.

5. Pat the dough into a circle. Cut it into four equal pieces.

6. Brush the scones with melted butter and sprinkle them with sugar.

7. Bake for 15-20 minutes. It's done when you press on the top and it springs back at you. The scones should be a little golden brown on top.

Enjoy it with jam, butter, whipped cream, or whatever you like. These buttery, moist, flakey scones will go with anything. I made some berry compote for the scones.*

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*The berry compote is another quick and easy recipe.

While the scones are in the oven, I placed some frozen berries in a saucepan, about half a cup. Heat up the berries until soft. Smash the berries into small pieces with a wooden spoon and add about a tablespoon (or more if you like it sweeter) of sugar.

This is what it looks like plated =)

Scallop Ceviche

This is my first attempt at making ceviche. It always looked so amazing when Alton Brown makes it so I wanted to give it a try. It also helps that Ben really really really wanted to eat it and bought all the ingredients (in the off chance I might make it). Of course, since I had the ingredients in the fridge, I thought I should give it a try. The recipe is not hard so don't let the word ceviche scare you like it did me. Give it a try =)

Most of you know I don't usually measure when I cook, but since the proper amount of citrus is needed to cook the scallop, here is a breakdown of what I use, followed by the recipe. The recipe is adapted from epicurious.

Ingredients:
1 pound of scallops (either sea or bay scallops)
1 cup of cherry tomatoes, chopped
1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced (use more or less depending on how spicy you like it)
3/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 stalks of scallions, diced
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
1 cup orange juice
salt to taste

1. You can use either Bay or Sea scallops, whatever is fresher that day. We bought sea scallops. Each scallop was thick so I sliced the scallop in half and then quartered the half (just make smaller pieces).


2. Chop the cilantro, scallions, jalapeno pepper and cherry tomatoes. Add it to the citrus and mix.



3. Add the citrus and herbs mixture to the scallops. Add salt to taste and mix.


4. Wrap the dish in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before eating. Remember to store the ceviche in nonreactive bowl ( a bowl that won't react to the acid).


5. Taste the scallops to make sure it's to your liking and serve! Add fresh cilantro for garnish. Enjoy!

Asian Inspired Baked Fish

A dish that's healthy, flavorful and easy to make. What more could you want in an entree? The recipe is extremely easy.

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Clean the fish and make two diagonal slices on the largest part of the fish.


2. Make the sauce to put on the fish from 2 parts soy sauce, 1 part rice vinegar, 1 part sesame oil and a little dash of salt. You can make the sauce proportional to how big your fish is. Next, chop some garlic, scallions and ginger to put on the fish for even more flavor.


3. I like to line my pan with aluminum foil so the clean up is easy. Place the fish on the foil and pour on the sauce. Add the garlic scallion and ginger to both sides. Remember to put some in the belly of the fish.


4. I steamed the fish first so tented the fish in aluminum foil and baked it for 20 minutes (sorry there's no picture of the tented fish). Final product =)


5. Make some rice to eat with the fish. I always like to have vegetables with dinner so I stir fried some green beans. As always - add sriracha.

Toasted White Bean and Kale

So this is my attempt at a healthy, nutritious, protein dense lunch. The original recipe can be found here. It's basically white beans toasted with some garlic and shallots and whatever greens you like.

I really like the texture and taste of kale. If you haven't tried kale yet, I definitely recommend it. It's cheap, nutritious, and adds a beautiful green color to whatever dish you're cooking. I've used kale in stir fry and it works well there too! I've seen recipes for raw kale salad, but haven't gotten around to trying that yet.

So no more talking - let's get to the recipe =)


First, drain the white beans and toast it on a pan until golden brown. You can use dried beans too, but that was too much time for me.


Chop up some garlic and shallots. I like garlic and tend to add more to my dish. Add as little or as much as you like =)


Add a tablespoon of butter and let it melt. Add the garlic and shallots to the pan.


Wash and cut the kale into strips. I find the stalk too rubbery and hard so I tend to just cut the kale off the stalk and use the leaves. After stripping the leaves off the stalk, wash and cut into strips. It might seem like a lot of kale now, but it reduces quite a lot in volume once it's been cooked. I bought one bunch of kale from Stop&Shop and used the whole thing.


Add the kale to the pan once the garlic and shallots have browned. I know it might seem like a lot of kale now, but trust me, it will decrease in volume.


Cook the kale until it's wilted down (see how much kale there is now?). Add the juice of half a lemon and salt and pepper to taste.


I like adding fresh shavings of parmesan at the end. Now it's all ready to be eaten for lunch =)

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

I adapted this muffin recipe from Allrecipes.com. I modified the original recipe a little bit. The recipe I used is below. The muffins were delicious. They were moist and just sweet enough ( I don't like muffins being too sweet). I would add more bananas next time because I like a stronger banana flavor. Overall, my sweet tooth was definitely satisfied.

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup French Vanilla yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
3/4 cup semisweet or milk chocolate chips


In a large bow., combine the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt).In another bowl combine the egg, butter, yogurt and vanilla.


Stir dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and combine just until moistened. Add the mashed bananas and chocolate chips.


Fill paper-lined muffin cups and bake @ 350 degrees F for 22-25 minutes.




I baked the leftover batter in my greased ramekin.



The final product =)