Korean Chili Paste Spicy Chicken (매운닭구이 Mae-un Dak Gui): Learning to Measure

For JEL who forced me to figure it out on my own

I am not by nature, one who measures carefully when cooking Korean food. I add and taste and adjust as I go along, so when I began posting Korean recipes, my cooking style suddenly had to change. In order to teach others I've had to learn how to measure before I dump and to have a notebook by my side as I adjust and add and add a bit more until I get the right proportions of all my ingredients. Therefore, when someone makes something for me, I get really excited hoping that they will have the exact proportions of what they did ready for me. Unfortunately, most of my friends, when they cook Korean food, also do not measure and are constantly telling me, "You know, a little bit of this, a little bit of that" which simply doesn't help me. Recently at a dinner that friend JEL had at her house, she made this bbq spicy chicken thigh and I LOVED IT. Immediately I said, "I need the recipe to post on my blog" and she looked at me and said, "You know, it's a little bit of soy with twice as much of the chili pepper paste..." and her voice faded off as she thought about all the things that she had mixed into it WITH OUT measuring.

But I loved it so much I set out to make it and I attempted it twice. The first time, although good, did not capture the sharpness and the richness of flavors I was looking for, but the second time I did. It is similar to the one that JEL did, but not exactly the same. (as it will never be since the ingredients were not measured.) This does taste best on the bbq grill, but if you cannot grill outside, then use a roasting pan and broil it in your oven.

On a completely different note, these taste great in the Korean Tacos.

Korean Chili Paste Spicy Chicken (매운닭구이: Mae-un Dak Gui)
Requires marination of at least 8 hours, overnight is better.
Serves 6-8

2-3 lbs boneless, skinless thighs
1/4 cup Korean chili pepper paste (gochujahng)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons water
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons mirin (or sake if you can't find mirin)
1/2 cup onion, pureed (done in a mini prep chopper is perfect)
3 tablespoons ginger
2 tablespoons garlic

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients EXCEPT chicken together. Make sure that the sugar is well incorporatd in the marinade. Wearing gloves (disposable kitchen gloves are perfect for this), use your hand and mix all the chicken into the marinade. Make sure each chicken piece is thoroughly coated and well mixed with the marinade. Try and get the marinade into all the nooks and crannies of your chicken thigh. Cover and marinate for at least 8 hours or overnight.

Heat bbq. The chicken cooks better over lower heat than higher heat as the higher sugar content of the marinade lends itself to burning. Cook for about 7-9 minutes per side over lower heat.

Enjoy!

Printable recipe

Spicy chicken ready to be eaten. (I am a poet and don't know it.)

Pasta with Sausage, Cream and your choice of Alcohol Sauce: Tastes so good!

I think there are many food bloggers and cooks out there who would agree with me and say that oftentimes we don't think what we are cooking tastes that amazing. Don't get me wrong, I cook things that I know taste good and kids and family all react very favorably to the things that I've made, but oftentimes, by the time I get around to eating something, I'm tired of the smells and just not interested in what is in front of me. I smell it as I'm cooking and I sort of get "saturated" with the flavors and don't have enough desire to eat it with the same relish that others who are eating the food do.

But every once in a while, I'll eat something I make and I'll say, "Man - I'm a good cook." It doesn't happen often, but when it does I find the emotion deeply satisfying. It is as if I am experiencing the food first hand, as if I didn't cook it and I get to appreciate all the levels of flavors and ingredients that have gone into the dish. It's not often that it happens, but when it does it's pretty exciting to me. This is one of those dishes that pleasantly surprised me into saying to myself, "You did a great job with this one."

I essentially cleaned out my refrigerator today - which was my goal. I had a few things that I wanted to use up - some Italian link sausages, some cream, some basil, and an open bottle of red wine that was no longer really fit for consumption. I thought of my original Pasta with Vodka Cream Sauce and adding sausages just seemed like a good idea. It was far yummier than I had expected and easy to throw together. I served it with some spinach sauteed in garlic (my go to vegetable dish).

Pasta with Sausage, Cream and Your Choice of Alcohol
Salt
One 35-ounce can Italian plum tomatoes with their liquid (or a can of crushed tomatoes)
1 pound penne (or your choice of pasta - not the long kind)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion finely chopped
10 cloves garlic, peeled, and sliced thinly
1/2 lb sausage
Crushed hot red pepper (omit if you have kids eating it)
1/4 cup vodka (or your choice of alcohol - today I used red wine)
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 to 3 tablespoons chopped basil
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more for passing if you like

Preparation

Bring 6 quarts of salted water to a boil in an 8-quart pot over high heat.

Puree the canned tomatoes. A handblender works well, as does a food processor or a regular blender. Do not over puree and make "airy" as it will turn the tomatoes pink.

Stir the penne into the boiling water. Bring the water back to a boil, stirring frequently. Cook the pasta, semi-covered, stirring occasionally, until done, 8 to 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced garlic and onion to the hot oil. Cook, shaking the skillet, until the garlic is lightly browned, about 1 minute. Add sausages and cook until sausages are fully cooked. Lower the work bowl with the tomatoes close to the skillet and carefully — they will splatter — slide the tomatoes into the pan. Bring to a boil, season lightly with salt and generously with crushed red pepper, and boil 2 minutes. Pour in the vodka (or your alcohol), lower the heat so the sauce is at a lively simmer, and simmer until the pasta is ready.

Just before the pasta is done, pour in the cream. If the skillet is large enough to accommodate the sauce and pasta, fish the pasta out of the boiling water with a large wire skimmer and drop it directly into the sauce in the skillet. If not, drain the pasta, return it to the pot, and pour in the sauce. Bring the sauce and pasta to a boil, stirring to coat the pasta with sauce. Check the seasoning, adding salt and red pepper if necessary. Sprinkle the basil over the pasta and boil until the sauce is reduced enough to cling to the pasta.

Remove the pot from the heat, sprinkle 3/4 cup of the cheese over the pasta, and toss to mix. Serve immediately, passing additional cheese if you like.

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Ginger Garlic Chicken Porridge (닭죽): How to make lemonade out of lemons

I don't really mean to write about lemons and lemonade. I want to write about rice and the way you can transform rice into something else, much like making lemonade out of lemons.

Due to the nature of husband's job (odd hours), I always have to keep a my rice cooker full of fresh rice. But I don't like husband or family to eat rice that is too old as it just doesn't taste as good, so I generally try and turn off the cooker and take out the rice if it has been sitting in there for 24 hours. Sometimes this means I have a LOT of rice leftover, and what do I do with it? I cool it and freeze it in ziploc bags so I have rice for the future. What sort of future can frozen rice have? You'd be very surprised at how WONDERFUL previously frozen, defrosted rice is in making fried rice, kimchee fried rice, or ome-rice. The other thing it can become is a beautiful, silky, comforting porridge (jook 죽). You can actually make it sort of a "leftover delight" but I try and make it really delicious by restraining the number of ingredients I want to put in, and instead really focusing on the rice and a few simple additions. Our family favorite is chicken, ginger, garlic with the rice and then topped with some scallions. It's wonderfully comforting, but also easy to make and completely delicious. Served with some green beans, bok choy, garlic broccoli, soy stewed beef and/or kimchee, and you have a complete meal.

Ginger Garlic Chicken Porridge (닭죽)
Serves 3-4

2 cups cooked rice (If it is frozen, defrost the rice)
4 cups water
2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger (or more if you like)
2 tablespoons of chopped garlic (or more if you like)
1-2 cups of shredded cooked chicken (my rotisserie chicken from Costco often ends up in the porridge.)
1/4 chopped green onions (for the top)
Salt and pepper to taste

1. In a large heavy pot, add the rice and water. (You'll notice my rice is a mix of brown and white)

2. Using a wooden spoon break up the rice so that the rice is fully submerged in the water. Turn on the heat to medium. Add ginger, garlic, and cooked chicken.

3. Leave the pot uncovered and bring to a boil, and then reduce heat as to maintain a simmer. Stir occasionally to make sure the rice is not stuck to the bottom. If you are not careful and too eager and try and get it to boiling too quickly, you WILL make the rice water overflow and it is a HUGE mess.

4. Allow to cook and simmer for about 25 minutes, and the rice has "melted" and lost some of it's shape...it will be silky looking and slightly translucent. Season with salt and pepper.

5. Serve with chopped green onions on top.

Printable recipe

Delicious and ready to be eaten up.

Braised Tofu and Fish Cake Sidedish (두부 어묵 간장조림) : The struggle with packed lunches

Daughter #2 is not a picky eater, but she knows exactly what tastes good and what she likes. She is very much her father's daughter when it comes to food - for Daughter really just likes Korean food, like her father. Packing her camp lunch for her has become a bit of a chore because she invariably asks for things like Korean soup and rice for lunch, or something that needs to stay warm to taste good but she refuses a sandwich. She's allowed me to pack her one twice, and both times it came back uneaten, save one bite. Recently she and I came to the agreement that she would take what I could pack her for lunch, if she could choose one dish for her dinner meal and she agreed. I'm packing her as close to what she can eat (plain brown/white mix steamed with roasted seaweed) and she has been eating it.

Today, when asked, she specifically wanted this tofu/tempura dish (something I haven't made for her in a while) and because I had the ingredients, I agreed. It is really so easy that I got lucky this time. (Last week it was Macaroni and Cheese she asked for and it was a lot more complicated than this!)

Braised Tofu and Fish Cake Banchan (두부 어묵 간장조림)
1 package of firm tofu
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 6 oz package of fish cake (tempura/odeng/uhmuk) - Japanese ones are generally very nice, and I tend to buy ones that are more expensive as they have higher fish content

1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup scallions
2 tablespoons sesame oil
5 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds (if you can, Japanese roasted sesame is very good)
1 teaspoon (or less) Korean chili powder, or crushed red pepper

1. Slice tofu. Cut down the center and slice each of the two pieces into 8 slices, 16 pieces total.

2. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil, over medium high heat in a large frying pan. Carefully add slices of tofu (watch out! It splatters) and fry for about 3 minutes per side, or until golden brown. Remove and place it on a plate. Repeat until all the tofu is cooked.

3. Slice fish cake (tempura) into nice even pieces. Since fishcake comes in a number of different shape and forms, simply try and make the pieces even and neat. In a bowl, mix together soy sauce, water, sesame oil, scallion, chili powder, garlic, sesame seeds. Get everything together and ready to layer.


4. In a heavy saucepan, drizzle a spoonful of the sauce on the bottom. Then add a layer of tofu. Drizzle some sauce on top.


5. Add a layer of fishcake on top of the tofu and sauce. Add another layer of sauce on top of the fishcake. Continue layer and adding sauce until you have used up all the tofu and fishcake. Any remaining sauce can simply be poured on top of the tofu fishcake layers.


6. Cover and cook over medium high heat for 15 minutes. Serve

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Cucumber Cilantro Salad: I'm like my dad.

For my mom who makes this and for my dad who loves cilantro and who taught me to like it.

My father is from a province in Korea called Kaesong (개성). It is just north of the 38th parallel and there are spots in South Korea where you can just see pieces of it. He has not been able to go back since leaving during the Korean war, and I think it is his hope that someday in the immediate future he can go back and see where he was born. Along with an intense love of his birthplace, my father still loves the style of cooking of that province. Kaesong food is incredibly refined and is considered one of the great culinary provinces of Korea. My paternal grandmother was a master of this food and heavily influenced my mother's cooking and consequently influenced the palates of brothers and me. While young, my grandmother lived with us and cooked all these wonderful special things for us and we enjoyed her food immensely. But this post isn't about Kaesong food, because although I love it, many of the foods are far too time consuming for me to cook, and I am forced to live only with the memories of my grandmother's amazing food.

While I was young however, there was always this plate of green leaves that would appear at the table that was eaten by my father, enjoyed by him. I even remember one day, there was a visitor at our house, a friend of my father, who was curious about the green leaves and asked my mother and father what it was. My mother responded, "It is go-soo (고수)." He wanted to try it so he took a leaf, dipped it into some spicy chili sauce, and popped it into his mouth. His facial expression after he began chewing it was something of sheer disgust and amazement that something that tasted so bad was actually in his mouth. My mom started laughing and handed him a napkin and told him to spit it out and he must not have liked it one bit, because he didn't hesitate and spit it out. Meanwhile, my father sat beside his guest, dipping the leaves into the sauce and chewing it with such clear relish. The leaf? Cilantro. The Korean word for it? Go soo (고수). Cilantro, or its very very close cousin of it, exists in Korean cooking, and people are often rather surprised by the fact. I'm not sure if this is a traditional Kaesong type salad, but it's one that my mom made while we were growing up and it is just yummy and delicious. I used it in my Korean tacos as one of the toppings but it goes with so much more than that. Try it with:
Bulgogi
Korean Marinade Flank steak
Ginger Soy Chicken
Mochi Beef

Cucumber Cilantro Salad
2 cups chopped cucumber (I used the Persian cucumbers but an English/hothouse/kirby cucumber with the seeds removed would be just fine)
1 cup roughly chopped cilantro (do not be afraid to use some of the stem for this - the stem is YUMMY)

Dressing
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon Korean chili powder (gochu gahloo) or crushed chili pepper flakes
1 tablespoon roasted sesame seeds

In a small bowl whisk the ingredients for the dressing together. In another bowl place cucumber and cilantro. Pour dressing over and toss gently to coat.

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Ginger Cabbage Slaw: How to stay cool when it's hot.

For all those suffering in the heat

When it is hot, NO ONE wants to cook really. Just thinking of the hot stove, the hot food, the hot - EVERYTHING is just exhausting and enough to make one break out in a hot sweat. When I first got married, I had the opportunity to live in Hong Kong, and I remember just DYING in the heat. I cooked in the TINIEST of kitchens - one where I literally could stand in one spot in the center of the kitchen and reach the sink, the stove and oven, and the refrigerator without moving my feet. This kitchen had one small window, no air-conditioning, and a door to separate you from the rest of the house (and the air-conditioning.) 6 months out of the year it was pretty awful and 3 months of the year it was almost unbearable. I would walk in, start cooking, walk out fully drenched in sweat and would have to lie on the marble floor of the bathroom to cool down. But I was a newlywed and had it in my mind that my job, my duty, my calling, was to prepare delicious dinners for my husband and me and I did it, in that sweltering, hot, miserbly muggy, miniscule kitchen day after day. (I wish I had a picture of it somewhere.)

I wish I had created this cabbage slaw back then - if only to cook one less thing on the stove and to have the crisp, refreshing coolness of this salad while lying on the marble bathroom floor. The combination sounds sooo cool and refreshing. (bathroom floor and cabbage slaw) I had originally come up with this idea for the Korean tacos, but it is so great that I thought it deserved its own post and own different menu ideas. It pairs excellently with:
Bulgogi
Korean Marinade Flank steak
Ginger Soy Chicken
Ginger Garlic Honey Wings
Mochi Beef
Ginger Garlic Chicken with Honey Drizzle
Ultimate BBQ Ribs

You only need to add your rice on the side and you're all set for your meal.

Ginger Cabbage Slaw

6 cups of cabbage, shredded. (about 1/2 a head of a good sized cabbage)
1/2 cup of red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup of scallions chopped

Dressing
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
Pepper to taste

Whisk ingredients of dressing all together. Place the cabbage, onions and scallions in a bowl. 15 minutes before serving, pour dressing over salad and toss.\

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Blueberry Banana Muffins - Egg Free, Dairy Free

For CY who can't eat eggs, and JY who tries hard to feed him right.

I have a lot of sympathy for moms who have to deal with the daily struggle of their own child's food related allergies. Son has given me a lot to think about because of his numerous allergies. I cannot take Son anywhere out to eat, and I must always think of his food before we leave the house. Vacations and other outings are constantly measured against what I can feed him, what he can eat, and how far we are from refrigeration and a kitchen. Unfortunately my son still can't eat muffins because of his wheat allergy but many other kids are able to as long as you eliminate egg and/or dairy. I decided to come up with this recipe after Son's friend CY discovered that he liked banana muffins, after his mom took the time to make them egg free. (Banana Muffins - Egg and Dairy Free)

These are moist, slightly tangy with the addition of blueberries, and again that very special texture which comes from using no eggs.

** Preparation tips
Bananas taste the best in baked goods when they are the worst looking for eating; black, mushy, squishy make for GREAT baked goods. If you can't bake when your banana is looking its worst, freeze it in a ziploc bag. When you are ready to bake, place it in the fridge to defrost over night and in the morning it will be defrosted and perfect.

If your child eats only part of a banana, cut off the eaten bit and stick the other portion into the fridge. You will save banana and as a bonus get some baking goods.

Measure out all dry ingredients the night before - sugar in one larger bowl, and the rest of the dry ingredients in a smaller bowl. Have your butter cut and measured in a bowl, ready to melt and your egg all ready to go. Paper liners in the muffin pan already all set up.

Blueberry Banana Muffins
Makes 12

1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons oil (you can substitute 3/4 of a stick or 6 tablespoons of butter)
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2/3 cups sugar
3 large ripe bananas
1 cup fresh blueberries, or frozen unthawed

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake/muffin pan with liners. In a medium bowl, measure out and mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder cinnamon and salt. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, mash and squish bananas and sugar together. Add vanilla, oil and water. Mix well.

3. Add blueberries to the dry mixture. Toss until blueberries are well coated with flour mixture. Add dry blueberry mixture to the wet mixture. Use a VERY light hand to mix at this point. The more mixing you do the tougher the muffin so try not to over mix. You want everything well mixed together but not over mixed.

4. Divide batter equally in liners. Bake until golden brown, about 22-30 minutes.

5. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan. Then enjoy.

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Braised Tofu (두부찜): Vegetarians can braise too!

While starting Daughters on solid foods, I made the conscious decision to feed them vegetarian. I was heavily influenced by the book Super Baby Food and it made me want to really focus on other sources of non-animal protein - legumes and soy. Due to Son's allergies however, I have been unable to do this for him, although it would have been my first choice. For Daughters however, it has made them tremendous eaters - from enjoying all sorts of non-animal based proteins like soy and legumes and great consumers of dark green vegetables and fruit. One of the key staples in their diet from the very early stages was tofu. As babies, they just enjoyed boiled tofu plain, or cold tofu plain mixed with vegetables and rice and a series of variations on a tofu theme. But as they grew older, they wanted something with more flavor and more complex, and so I turned to this dish that my mother used to make me when I was little. (I am also an extreme tofu lover.)

The basics of the dish: you take firm tofu, slice it, pan fry it (which changes the texture), and then braise it in a soy, sesame, water, garlic liquid. What you end up with is a rich flavored, wonderfully textured slice of tofu -and incidentally, Daughter #1 can eat more than 1/2 of a traditional pack of tofu prepared this way, all on her own! It is relatively fast, and since you are braising tofu and not beef or chicken, the braising part is actually finished in less than 15 minutes.

Braised Tofu (두부찜)

1 pack of firm tofu, cut in half lengthwise, and then sliced into 1/2 inch slices
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (I use canola or safflower)
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1 tablespoon chopped garlic (about 3 cloves)
1/2 teaspoon red chili powder (gochugahloo - less or more depending on your spice tolerance.)
1 teaspoon crushed toasted sesame seed

In a heavy fry pan, heat over medium heat and add oil. Carefully add tofu slices (it can splatter so watch out!) and do not overcrowd the pan. Carefully fry tofu until it is crisp and golden brown on one side, and then flip it over to cook the other side. About 2-3 minutes per side. When they are golden, remove them from the fry pan and put on a plate. Continue until all the tofu is cooked. (This photograph is not the BEST representation of my fried tofu, but I was dealing with a sick child when I took this, so I "overcooked" some...you want golden brown not crunchy brown)

In a medium sized pot, add soy sauce, water, sesame oil, green onions, chopped garlic and chili powder. Give a quick mix. Carefully lay tofu slices into the pot.
Continue until you have added all the tofu. I try and place the tofu in a circular fashion. Do NOT worry that the braising liquid is not covering the tofu - during the cooking process it will eventually cover all of it. (Tofu releases some liquid and boiling causes the tofu to get covered.)

Place the pot over medium heat. Cover. Cook for 15 minutes over medium heat.

Serve hot!

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Soy Braised Ginger Chicken 닭찜: Not typical summer fare

Yes I know, a braised dish in the summer seems counter intuitive. It requires time on the stove, heat, and it is served hot. So why, a braised dish? Because in actuality, a braised dish works in the summer because you don't have to sit over a hot stove because the stove does the cooking for you and you don't have to stick around watching it or stirring it. You serve this with rice and a crisp salad, you've hit a home run with your family.

My preference for chicken in this dish is actually thigh and drumstick and NOT breast. I also like it to be bone in, skin OFF, which basically means you're going to have to skin it yourself, because not many places offer bone in skin off. Skinning chicken is not one of the more fun jobs of cooking, but it isn't too difficult if you just get into it. What I mean by that is that you cannot try and skin chicken parts with two fingers - you need your entire hand. My solution to the squeamishness about handling chicken is to wear some disposable gloves and just grab the chicken and rip skin off in swift, quick movement, using my entire hand. Admittedly I do have to use the knife a bit on the drumsticks but the thighs are actually really easy to eliminate skin. So if you are looking for the EASIEST to skin, use bone-in thighs.

Why bone? Bones help cook the meat, and they also add an additional richness of flavor to the braising liquid. You are welcome to make this with boneless skinless chicken thighs and it will still taste good, but the bone adds a little bit of something special...it also helps keep the chicken from completely falling apart.

My LEAST favorite part of the chicken for this is the breast - it gets dry, stringy and tough and since there isn't any skin - it's just not that delicious. There are better dishes for cooking straight breast meat but this isn't one of them. (I will be posting a soy reduction glazed chicken dish which is GREAT with breast meat in the near future.) If you HAVE to use white meat, I'm not responsible.

Soy Braised Ginger Chicken (닭찜)

3 lbs of bone in, skin off chicken

1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup sake
1/4 cup sesame oil
2 tablespoons garlic
2 inches of ginger root, peeled, and sliced about 1/4 inch thick (this will be used to flavor the braising liquid so chopping it to death is not necessary)
1 tablespoon crushed sesame seed
Pepper to taste

2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 2 inch chunks
1 carrot, cut into 1 inch chunks
1 onion cut into 2 inch chunks

In a large pot, add soy sauce, water, sugar, sake, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, and sesame seed. Over low heat, slowly stir the braising liquid until all the sugar has melted and bring the mixture to a low simmer. Once the braising liquid is simmering, add all the chicken pieces all at once. Mix all the pieces with the braising liquid and then COVER and reduce the heat to medium low. You want to do is maintain a steady low simmer. (a few bubbles rising to the surface but not a raging inferno of bubbles) Cook at a simmer for 30 minutes.


Check the pot after 30 minutes. Stir the chicken. Add potatoes, carrots and onions, and stir carefully making sure the vegetables are well submerged into the braising liquid. Cover. Continue to cook for another 20 minutes, or until all the vegetables are tender. Serve with rice and don't be shy about taking the braising liquid and pouring it over your rice.

Printable recipe

Delicious with plain rice...

Blackberry Pie Bars

For TR who picked and gave me the blackberries in the first place

I recently read this funny blog post entitled, "10 Things You Should Know About Food Bloggers" which completely cracked me up. The writer at Not Quite Nigella wrote describing 10 idiosyncrasies of bloggers and I think I fit 9 out of the 10 items. The item that caught my eye was #6 "If you ever want to give a gift, give food." The author waxed eloquent about receiving a roast rib of pork as a gift - I personally love anything food related as a present. I've gotten several "just because" presents of cookbooks, recipe binder dividers, a waffle iron, a serving dish, and this time, blackberries.

Friend TR called me on her cell phone saying, "I'm going to my parents' place to pick blackberries from their yard. Do you want some?" My ears perked up because we are talking fully ripened blackberries; how often does someone offer you that? I said, "Yes. I want. I want to make Blackberry Pie Bars" a recipe I had seen and was intrigued by. The bars must have sounded pretty good to TR, because she immediately responded, "How many baskets you need?" and I responded with "Six" and she didn't even flinch. It happened to be on one of the hotter days but she picked away and brought me six beautiful baskets of blackberries. I, in return, made a HUGE pan of these blackberry bars and divided them among 4 different families. (TR's family got a huge boxful.)

These bars are not really what you expect when you hear "pie" but are really sort of a bar cookie with a custardy filling that just bursts alive with the blackberries. They are truly yummy though, and as TR and I discovered, are particularly delicious as a breakfast treat with a cup of coffee. (Uh, yes, you can have pie for breakfast.)

I made a huge full sheet pan of the bars and it was divided to four different households and it was clearly MORE than enough. I've halved the recipe so that it will fit comfortably and deliciously into a 9X13 standard pan. They are simple to make so I hope that you can find a nice friend to give you some blackberries, or at least you can pick some up fairly easily.

As a footnote, I had an opportunity to make these with BLUEBERRIES, and I thought them more delicious than the original blackberries.

Blackberry Pie Bars (adapted from Joy the Baker)

Crust and topping
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup cold butter, cut into cubes
zest of one lemon
pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 350. On a work surface (I used a cutting board), mix together the lemon zest and sugar. Using the back of a spoon or your fingers, rub the lemon zest with the sugar, thereby releasing oils from the lemon.

2. In the bowl of your mixer, dump in the flour, lemon sugar mixture, cold butter, and salt. Beat with paddle attachment until the mixture resembles crumbs. If you do not have a stand mixer, with a hand mixer beat on low until the mixture resembles crumbs



3. Set aside 3/4 cup of the mixture for the topping. Pour the remainder into a GREASED or parchment lined 9X13 pan and use your fingertips to press the crumbs into the pan. The crumbs will gradually come together.

4. Bake the dough for 10-12 minutes (at 350) or until the crust is lightly golden. Make sure you get to the golden crust because it really adds a wonderful texture to the bar. Allow crust to cool for 10 minutes while assembling the filling.

Filling and Assembly
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup all purpose flour
3 cups fresh blackberries (if using frozen, thaw and drain first)

1. Whisk together eggs, sugar, sour cream and flour in a large bowl. Add blackberries.

2. Pour blackberries over the golden baked crust and spread evenly. (This may require some proper distribution of the berries as they tend to congregate in one area.)

3. Sprinkle the remaining dough on top. Bake for 50-60 minutes at 350, until the pie bar is golden brown. Allow to cool at least 1 1/2 hours before cutting.

Printable recipe

Garlic Ginger Honey Wings: Made to order

For JM and JM, the twins, for their birthday

Why wings? Why not wings? What makes wings so wonderful is the high crispy skin to meat ratio - there is just more crispy skin to succulent meat, which means you want to eat more of the skin, enjoying the succulent crispy bits. Once in a while, this isn't a bad thing.

So when friend EM asked me, "I need a good chicken wing recipe because the twins eat them without a fuss. But, I don't want them to be deep fried" I promised her a recipe.

I really designed these to be made by EM, because she expressed that she wanted to be able to make something quickly because she liked to take the kids outside before dinner. I offer two styles of cooking - one is a quicker one on higher heat, and another is a slower one on lower heat. I have to say that the slower cooking method was more delicious to me, because the skin was more crispy and the meat more tender. Either way, they are super easy and delicious. (You can omit the salt and pepper final touch, but it really makes the skin all the more delicious.)

Garlic Ginger Honey Wings
Serves 6

3 lbs of chicken wings (you can either use drumettes or wings)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger powder
1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup honey
3 tablespoons vinegar (I use rice vinegar)

Salt and pepper to finish

Mix together olive oil, garlic powder, ginger powder, onion powder and salt. Mix well. Add chicken wings and rub spice mixture all over the wings making sure to coat everything thoroughly.

Slow cooking method (1 hour start to finish)
Preheat oven to 350. Line your baking pan with foil (for easier cleanup). Lay chicken wings/drumettes in a single layer on the pan. Place in oven and bake for 45 minutes.

While chicken is baking, mix together honey and vinegar. Watch chicken carefully after 45 minutes. (These took a full 55 minutes in my oven, but I know my oven runs colder than other ovens.) When the wings are golden and crispy, take the wings out, and drizzle honey vinegar mixture over each wing. Put the wings back in the oven for an additional 5 minutes, or until the honey caramelizes on top. Remove from oven and sprinkle salt and pepper on top. Serve.

Fast cooking method
Preheat oven to 500. Line your baking pan with foil (for easier cleanup). Lay chicken wings/drumettes in a single layer on the pan. Place in oven and bake for 25 minutes. Check to see that chicken is golden brown and crispy.

While chicken is baking, mix together honey and vinegar. Watch chicken carefully after 25 minutes. (These took a full 30 minutes in my oven, but I know my oven runs colder than other ovens.) When the wings are golden and crispy, take the wings out, and drizzle honey vinegar mixture over each wing. Put the wings back in the oven for an additional 2-3 minutes, or until the honey caramelizes on top. Remove from the oven and and sprinkle salt and pepper on top. Serve.

Printable recipe

Delicious chicken wings, fresh from the oven, sprinkled with sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Summer Corn Chowder: Summer in a spoonful

When I was pregnant with Daughter #2, we were living in Korea, which was literally my pregnancy hell - only because I hated Korean food. The SINGLE thing I craved more than anything was CORN ON THE COB the summer of my pregnancy, but it was difficult because I couldn't get it in Seoul. Korean corn is different from the corn in the US, and I remember being tortured by the corn in Korea. I would go to the supermarket, ask the vegetable man if it was the same as US corn, and he always assured me it would be like US corn and I would take it home, steam it and be utterly disappointed. Korean corn is much chewier, tougher and lacking in that corn sweetness we take for granted here in the US. It's just a different species of corn and nowhere close to what I wanted while pregnant.

But I got lucky, as husband remembered that the ubiquitous ribs chain "Tony Roma's" had corn on the cob, US style. Further luckier for me, the restaurant was in husband's work building and so he promised to bring me corn and ribs home one day after I had been especially unlucky stomach wise. I eagerly awaited his arrival back home as I just could taste the corn on the cob. I remember his walking through the door, and my literally flying to him so I could grab the corn. It was a SINGLE corn on the cob (as it counted for a full side at Tony Roma's) and I remember staring at it and saying, "This is it? Couldn't you have gotten more?" Husband responded, "One of those corn on the cobs is 2500 won" (about $2.50 at the time). I started at that lone corn on the cob and began chewing it, and thinking that one corn on the cob wasn't going to be nearly enough. I just started eating it and gnawed the whole thing clean, and didn't even think to offer husband a bite. At one point I looked over at him staring at me and he said, "That good?" I just mumbled something unintelligible as my mouth was full of corn.

But I swore that day, that when I moved back to the US, I would eat my fill of corn and never have that insatiable feeling as I had that day. And recently, I woke up thinking that I wanted to make some corn soup - something with a full rich corn flavor, but not too heavy as it is summer. This is what I came up with - my version of a corn chowder. I did not have fresh corn on the cob, and as I am on the quest to clean out and eat up everything in my fridge, I decided to use some organic corn kernels I had in the freezer. It would probably taste even more delicious with the fresh corn off of the cob, but as I am not allowed to chop too much or attempt too many knife maneuvers, this version was pretty good. You will taste all the sweetness of the corn, the fatty crispness from bacon and the smooth creamy texture from pureed corn. (and no cream!)

Summer Corn Chowder with Bacon and Cilantro
serves 6

4 slices of thick bacon, roughly chopped
1 carrot, roughly chopped
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 jalapeno, stem removed
2 lbs of corn kernels (frozen or fresh of the cob - about 5 cups)
1 1/2 quarts chicken stock
1 potato, peeled and diced (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup milk
Cayenne pepper (for heat if you want it a bit spicier)
chopped cilantro for garnish

In a large COLD pot, add bacon and slowly raise heat to cook the bacon. Cook until the fat is rendered and the bacon is crispy and golden. Remove BACON from pot, draining a plate covered with a paper towel, but leave the rendered fat behind. Quickly add onions, carrots, and garlic and cook until onions are translucent. Add jalapeno and HALF of the corn. Saute for an additional 3 minutes. Add all the chicken stock. Bring to a simmer until all the veggies are tender, about 15 minutes.

Using a hand blender, puree the soup until VERY SMOOTH. You want to get as smooth of a texture as possible. Keep pureeing until it is silky smooth. When the soup is super smooth (you test the texture in your mouth), add the remaining corn and diced potato. Simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally until the potato is cooked, about 15 minutes. Add milk if desired (or if the soup seems too thick.) Season with salt and pepper. Serve topped with bacon bits and chopped cilantro.

Printable recipe

My choice of handblender - not too expensive and completely efficient and functional

Greek Roasted Chicken with Honey Lemon Drizzle: No more chopping

Sometimes the reality of life hits you in a place you least expect it. Real life is never as straightforward as you would wish it to be, and the irony of life somehow never fails to make me laugh, because sometimes that's all you have left - laughter and a lot of it.

I noticed pain in my hands well over a year ago, after the birth of son, and just assumed it would get better, go away, or spontaneously disappear. After that didn't happen I finally decided to seek some medical advice, and got some. Something about the shape of my wrists and hands (a surprisingly bony wrist on a otherwise un-bony arm) has made me prone to a type of tendonitis that affects my hands and wrists, and causes me some level of pain. After seeing a few doctors about it, one of them has concluded that it's not the typing, or the lifting of kids that has given me this condition (which is incidentally most common in people who play TENNIS and I don't play) - it's CHOPPING. Now I know for many, chopping is the part of cooking they don't enjoy, but I enjoy it to the point of loving it. Sometimes having a pile of vegetables I have to work through just gets me excited and I whip out my favorite knife and get working on it and it satisfies me. I even have a huge wonderful food processor, but in my daily life I still chop. How does a person who loves to cook live without chopping?

The answer was given to me in a challenge by friend TR. She said, "Just cook with no chopping." I just gave her a look and said, "HOW?" and she said, "You'll figure it out. This is real life. No chopping. You can do it." So I came up with this recipe for chicken. I bought a chicken that was already cut up, and all I really had to do was mix up some stuff and rub it on there and roast it. The honey lemon drizzle was a really great touch at the end but absolutely NOT mandatory. This goes deliciously with the Greek Salad. And then I realized that God has a sense of humor - prevent me from chopping, something that I love, and make me try harder to come up with things to cook. All I can do is really laugh.

Greek Roasted Chicken

A whole chicken, cut up (or bought cut up - 4-5 lb chicken)

2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon oregano
1 1/2 teaspoon salt

Honey Lemon Drizzle
1/2 cup honey
3 tablespoons lemon juice

Preheat oven to 500.

Mix lemon juice, olive oil, oregano, garlic powder, salt together in a large bowl. Add cut chicken. Rub and cover all pieces with the mixture. I prepared this earlier in the day and stuck it in the fridge, but the flavors are strong enough that you could do this right before cooking.

Place chicken into a deep roasting pan, keeping the chicken in a single layer.

Roast for 30 minutes. While chicken is roasting, mix together honey and lemon juice.

Watch chicken carefully the last 5 minutes. When the chicken skin starts looking golden, then quickly pour a bit of the honey drizzle over the chicken pieces. Cook for an additional 5 minutes until skin is blistered and slightly glossy.

Take out from oven. Allow to rest for 10 minutes. Serve with lemon wedges if desired.

Printable recipe

My favorite knife which I will not be using as much.

Chocolate Chip Krispies Cookies: Just for fun

For TR and BFO who would rather eat a cookie than cake.

There is something truly satisfying about a great cookie. It fits perfectly in your hand; you can hold it while driving, while walking, while chasing after kids, and you can put it in your mouth. A great cookie, will tantalize all of your senses - it will look enticing, it will smell inviting, it will feel in your mouth crumbling, chewy, and luscious, it will make a beautiful crunch sound when you bite into it, and it will taste of happiness. This is why for many, a great cookie is the dessert of choice.

This is a basic recipe that I just fiddled with a bit in order to avoid using nuts, given that so many people for whom I bake are allergic to various tree nuts. My solution was simply adding some rice krispies, and that one change completely transformed these cookies from a basic chocolate chip cookie to something more interesting, with a crunch and a texture that beats out the one provided by nuts.

Chocolate Chip Krispies Cookies
makes 5 dozen

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) chocolate chip cookies
2 cups Rice Krispies (My preference is actually the brown rice version from Whole Foods)

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Mix in chocolate chips and rice krispies. (REFRIGERATE AND REST A DAY for best flavor.)

Preheat oven to 350. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 12 to 14 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Printable recipe

A pile of cookies...to share or not.