The first three months of the year have been a total whirlwind. Since the last time I checked in, I’ve spent two weeks in Hong Kong, a week and a half in Singapore, and a few days in Thailand. And in the brief in between times back in the US, I left home again for weekend trips to Austin, Nashville, and Montreal. So despite the snowy remnants of the last few March Nor’easters, I’m relishing a few quiet weeks at home. I’m planning the garden and reading and cooking and just generally doing the small things that make me happiest. And it means I have the chance to blog for the first time since January!

Generally, I quite like the food in Asia. Particularly so in Hong Kong and Singapore, where you can find pretty much any type of food you want. It helps that Hong Kongers and Singaporeans are obsessed with food so everything meets a minimum standard of good. But after two weeks on the road, lots of Chinese and Thai and room-service gets heavy. When I hit that point, I turn to Vietnamese for brightness and fresh vegetables. Compared to the cuisines of neighboring countries, Vietnamese food is light and refreshing. Lots of mint, basil, cilantro, and pickled vegetables bring a greenness that I really crave when traveling.

One of my go-to orders is bún, a rice noodle salad with several options for customization. I like it best with grilled lemongrass beef and a mass of pickled carrots. After my last trip I attempted making it at home, and it was surprisingly easy to make a convincing replica of my favorite restaurant versions. I love the slightly floral sweetness that the lemongrass lends to the beef, and the contrast the hot beef provides to the cool noodles and vegetables. Bún is good pretty much any time of year, but it’s particularly refreshing when the weather is hot and swampy. So, why make it in March? Brightness. I realize we’re pretty far from days that qualify as “hot,” but I’m so, so ready to eat bright-tasting things in March. This fits the bill perfectly!

Bún Bò Xào – Vietnamese Rice Noodle Salad with Lemongrass Beef

A quick and refreshing Vietnamese rice noodle salad named Bún Bò Xào. Stir-fried lemongrass beef, pickled carrots, and sweet-salty nuoc cham sauce bring tons of flavor to this bright dinner.

Adapted from Vietnamese Home Cooking.

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 4

Ingredients

For the Lemongrass Beef:

• 2 stalks fresh lemongrass
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1 TBS sugar
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 TBS soy sauce
• 1 TBS sesame oil
• 2 TBS canola oil
• 1 lb thinly sliced flank steak

For the pickled carrots:

• 2 large carrots, peeled
• 1/3 cup distilled white vinegar
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 whole star anise

For the nuoc cham:

• 1/4 cup fish sauce
• 3 TBS sugar
• 1/3 cup warm water
• 3 TBS white vinegar
• 1 Thai chile, stemmed and finely minced
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and finely minced

For the bowls and assembly:

• 10 oz. dried rice vermicelli noodles
• 1 TBS canola oil
• One bunch of fresh mint, leaves picked off and washed
• 1/2 cup chopped peanuts, toasted in a dry pan for 3–4 minutes

Instructions

1. To make the beef marinade: Remove and discard the outer layer of each piece of lemongrass. Trim about 3-inches of the dry, stick-like part of the lemongrass from the top so that you are left with the plumper, white interior. Slice this interior into small coins, and then finely chop those coins until evenly minced. Place minced lemongrass in a medium bowl. Peel and mince the garlic and add to the bowl with the lemongrass. Add the sugar, salt, soy sauce, sesame oil and canola oil to the bowl and stir to combine. Add the sliced flank steak and stir to coat with the marinade. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
2. To make the pickled carrots: Use a julienne peeler to shred the carrots into long, noodle-like strips. If you don’t have a julienne peeler, carefully chop the carrots into long, thin match-sticks. Place the carrots in a heatproof bowl. Add the vinegar, sugar, water, and star anise to a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Simmer just for 30 seconds, then pour the hot liquid over the carrots. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use, at least an hour. Discard the star anise before serving.
3. To make the nuoc cham: Place all of the ingredients in a medium bowl. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Taste and adjust seasoning if desired.
4. To finish and assemble the bowls: Cook the rice noodles according to the package directions. Drain and rinse.
5. Just before serving, cook the beef. Heat the canola oil in a large, heavy-bottomed frying pan over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add the marinated beef to the pan in batches (each batch of beef should easily fit in the pan in a single layer). Cook the beef for 1-2 minutes on each side, until deeply caramelized on the outside but just tender in the center. Remove to a plate and continue until you have cooked all the beef.
6. To serve, fill each bowl halfway with rice noodles. Top with a quarter of the pickled carrots, several pieces of the cooked beef, a small handful of fresh mint leaves, and 2 tablespoons of chopped peanuts. Serve the bowls with the nuoc cham sauce on the side, so that each person can dress their bowl according to taste.

Notes

If you pickle the carrots at the same time that you marinate the beef, this will only take about 20 minutes to finish up before serving.

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It has taken me so long to write about the time we spent in Hong Kong last winter. I’m not entirely sure why. Perhaps because we were there for long enough to feel like it wasn’t a trip, so there’s no clear narrative, but not long enough to make it feel routine. I’m not sure how best to structure our stories and experiences to share with you, but at the end, it’s probably best to just start writing.

We had a wonderful time in Hong Kong, and I’d go back in a heartbeat. Hong Kong is this vibrant, slightly chaotic, proud, country full of contrasts. It is at times loud and bustling and wonderfully modern and at times ancient and mystical and steeped in tradition. Pristine luxury shopping malls smelling of expensive perfume bump up against Buddhist temples filled with incense smoke. Michelin stars are awarded to French tasting menus and hole-in-the-wall dim sum joints. You can spend $30 on a cocktail or $2 for a bowl of noodles, and both will be delicious. The iconic skyscrapers packed together in Central fade suddenly and without warning into green mountains, blanketed with hiking trails.

A friend who visited several months after we’d left told me afterwards “I wasn’t expecting it to be so Chinese.” And he’s right. The international image of Hong Kong is of a massive, modern, high-tech city, full of expats and expensive clothes and big business. And it is that, in parts, but it’s also old, and pungent, and a little run-down, and very traditional. The international glitz is fun, but for us, the real draw was outside of the glamorous neighborhoods: the hole-in-the-wall dumpling restaurants and the sleepy seaside island towns. In five weeks we barely scratched the surface – for a small country there’s a lot to explore.

Hong Kong is a food-lover’s dream travel destination. Everything is good, and you can find pretty much anything, for a price. There’s an amazing hipster coffee scene (if you’re willing to spend $7 on a latte), 61 Michelin-starred restaurants (more than London and Chicago and Madrid), wet markets where you can buy any meat or seafood you can think of, and incredible local Cantonese cuisine. I tried things I never thought I would – abalone and shark fin and literal birds’ nests – and had some of the most memorable meals of my life.

When we got back from Asia I wrote down all the recipes I wanted to eventually share here – noodles and dumplings and soups. The other night I was reading through that list and when I got to “Shanghai Noodles with Pork, Mushrooms, and Cabbage” I had the most visceral food memory. Those noodles – fat as a pencil and utterly slurpable and chewy and coated in an addictive, salty-sweet brown sauce – were unbelievable. I struggled to recreate them at home – that sauce! Those fat noodles! – but after several rounds of trial-and-error I finally have a reasonable approximation.

The first recipe I tried wasn’t saucy enough and the second was far too salty. I ended up ditching the pork because it wasn’t adding anything, and experimenting with my own sauce. Ideally I would use thick fresh egg noodles but I couldn’t find any, so I made do with fresh udon. Now that I know how to make them, these are actually very easy. Once you have the sauce ingredients, you could whip them up on a weeknight with no problem.

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Shanghai Noodles with Mushrooms and Cabbage

Thick, eggy Shanghai Noodles covered in a slurpable, sweet-salty sauce and stir-fried with mushrooms and cabbage. Inspired by an extended trip to Hong Kong.

Adapted loosely from The Daring Gourmet, with sauce inspiration from BBC Good Food. 

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 4-6

Ingredients

• 4 TBS dark soy sauce (don’t substitute regular soy sauce!)
• 2 TBS peanut butter
• 2 TBS honey
• 1 TBS sugar
• 2 TBS rice wine vinegar
• 1 tsp hot sauce
• 2 TBS plus 2 tsp sesame oil, divided
• 1 TBS fish sauce
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 1 TBS canola oil
• 2 portobello mushroom cups, cleaned and cut into 1/4 inch thick slices
• 1/2 lb shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, caps cut into thin slices
• sea salt
• 5 cups shredded napa cabbage
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 3/4 lb. thick fresh egg noodles or fresh udon noodles
• 2 fresh scallions, chopped, for garnish

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, combine dark soy sauce, peanut butter, honey, sugar, rice wine vinegar, hot sauce, 2 teaspoons of the sesame oil and the fish sauce. Whisk until very smooth.
2. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the chicken stock and the cornstarch until smooth. Set aside.
3. Heat half of the remaining sesame oil and half of the canola oil in a wok over medium-high heat. Add the sliced mushrooms and sprinkle with sea salt. Cook until golden brown on both sides and tender, about 5-6 minutes, stirring often. Transfer the cooked mushrooms to a plate. Add the remaining sesame oil and canola oil to the walk along with the shredded cabbage and the minced garlic. Cook quickly, just until wilted, stirring frequently.
4. Add the sauce and the noodles to the pan with the cabbage. Use tongs to coat the noodles in the sauce, then add the chicken stock with the cornstarch. Continuously toss the noodles in the sauce until the sauce is glossy and thickly coats the noodles. Add the mushrooms back to the pan and toss a few more times, then remove from the heat. Serve immediately, topped with chopped scallions.

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I always tell myself I’m not going to order Indian food when I get home from an international flight, but I’m pretty much never right. Typically, it’s a Friday, and I’ve been on a plane all day, zoning out on movie after movie. We land, I go through customs, pick up my luggage, get in a taxi. It all feels like a bit of a time warp, difficult to remember how long you’ve been in between places. In between away and home. When I walk through my front door, into my warm house, I’m always so happy to be there.

When I get home, I check the fridge, thinking that I’m going to find some magical answer to my post-flight comfort food craving. But after being in transit for 12+ hours, mustering the energy to cook is just not realistic. So I cave and order malai kofta and naan and butter chicken (because it always takes two entrees to meet the delivery minimum) and $40 later I’m sitting on the couch, tucking in to the most delicious, creamy, comforting Indian food. It’s not the healthiest or most budget-conscious habit, but it’s a hard one to break.

The last time I did this, a few weeks back, I found myself wondering: what if I had my favorite Indian food in the freezer, waiting for me? That might solve the problem. Even at my most disoriented, I can usually manage to simmer rice. So I resolved to learn how to cook malai kofta and stash some away before my next trip.

Malai kofta is one of my favorite take-out orders. If you’re unfamiliar, they’re sort of a vegetable meatball served in a thick, tomato-based curry sauce. I’ve ordered them for years without ever really knowing what’s in them. When I made them myself, it became quite obvious why they’re one of my favorite foods – they’re basically fried potato and cheese balls served in a spicy tomato cream sauce. It’s probably not possible to get more of my favorite foods into one dish.

I have a little experience cooking Indian food but not very much, and it can be hard to get the same richness and balance of flavors as restaurant-quality takeout. These, however, were a very close approximation of my favorite malai kofta (and better than some of the ones I’ve had from inferior Indian restaurants). They’re still not particularly healthy – they are made of fried cheese and potatoes – but they are much more economical to prepare. And so good. Seriously, even if you don’t make these at home, promise me you’ll order them the next time you get takeout.

My plan to make this and stash it in the freezer for my next homecoming was good in theory. In practice, Trevor and I ate two thirds of this the first night. We couldn’t bring ourselves to freeze what was left, either – the idea of eating the leftovers for lunch the next day was too tempting. At least now I know how to make them. And since it’s not that difficult to scale up, next time I’ll make a double batch so that at least a little bit makes it into the freezer.

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Malai Kofta

Malai Kofta – a favorite vegetarian Indian takeout dish. Potato, paneer, and vegetables are rolled into kofta and fried, then served in a rich tomato-cream masala sauce. 

Recipe adapted from Spice up the Curry, Padhu’s Kitchen, and Veg Recipes of India.

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 4
• Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

For the kofta:

• 3 medium red-skinned potatoes, peeled and quartered
• 8 oz. paneer cheese, grated or finely crumbled
• 1/3 c. frozen peas
• 1/4 c. grated carrot
• 2 TBS raisins
• 3 TBS finely chopped cashews
• 1 Thai green chile, chopped finely
• 3 TBS cornflour, plus more for rolling
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• canola oil, for frying

For the masala sauce:

• 2 TBS canola oil, divided
• 1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and pressed or pounded into a paste
• 2-inches fresh ginger, peeled and pounded into a paste
• 2 cups. crushed tomatoes
• 12 cashews
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp red chili powder
• 3/4 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 TBS butter
• 2 cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 2–3 cardamom pods
• 1/2 tsp caraway seeds
• 1/4 cup heavy cream

Instructions

For the kofta:

1. Place the potatoes in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and boil until potatoes are very tender, about 15-20 minutes. Drain potatoes.
2. Add potatoes, grated paneer, peas, grated carrot, raisins, cashews, and chopped chile to a bowl. Mash the potatoes with a fork, then mix everything together thoroughly. Use your hands if it’s easier.
3. Stir in the 3 TBS of cornflour, sea salt, ground cumin, and ground coriander. Mix until evenly combined.
4. Roll mixture into golf-ball sized balls, pressing together gently with your hands. Pour the extra cornflour into a bowl and roll the balls through the cornflour so there is a light coating on the outside.
5. Pour enough canola oil into a high-sided frying pan to reach 1/4 inch up the sides. Heat over medium heat until a piece of potato mixture dropped into the oil sizzles on contact. Add two or three of the potato balls to the oil and fry until golden brown all over, using tongs to carefully turn the balls as each side cooks. When they are done, use tongs to transfer them to a plate lined with a paper towel.

For the masala sauce:

1. Heat 1 TBS of the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and saute, stirring frequently, until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger paste and saute until fragrant, another 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, salt, cashews, and all the ground spices. Bring to a simmer and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Then remove from the heat.
2. Transfer the sauce to a blender (let cool first if your blender can’t process hot liquids). Add 1/2 cup of water to the sauce and blend on high until a very smooth sauce is formed. Set aside.
3. Rinse or wipe the frying pan out. Heat the remaining 1 TBS of oil and 1 TBS of butter in the pan until the butter has melted. Add the cloves, bay leaf, cardamom pods, and caraway seeds. Fry for 60-90 seconds, then add the blended sauce to the pan. Cook, stirring frequently, until the oil begins to pool on the top of the sauce, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the heavy cream. Add the kofta to the sauce, and serve over basmati rice.

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Tokyo was a whirlwind. First of all, its huge. It’s not the kind of city you can see in a few days, or even a week. Add to that the cultural barrier and Tokyo seemed almost impenetrable to me, much more so than the other places we visited in Japan. So during the three days we spent there, I felt like I just barely dipped my toe in to the water.

We did experience some if it. We saw the bright neon lights of Akihabara Electric Town, which was complete sensory overload – the electric, futuristic Tokyo of the movies. At the Tsukiji Fish Market, we watched the vendors portion the enormous tuna into slabs and peered into tanks of squid and scallops. Outside the market, Trevor ate the biggest oyster I’ve ever seen. We ate sushi of the highest quality, the only non-Japanese people sitting at the counter, pointing and arigato our only forms of communication. We spent hours in the train station, eating porky tonkotsu ramen and shopping in anime stores, a whole store for each character. In Ginza, we explored department stores with whole floors dedicated to high-end foods, sampling what we could afford. A friend living in Tokyo took us out for fresh bonito and sake. We went to a park where the rapeseed was blooming, rendering the whole field a gentle, glowing yellow.

And we went to an izakaya for dinner, one of our most memorable nights. If you ever go to Tokyo, find your way to an izakaya. Located under elevated train tracks and down alleyways, these smoke-filled, hole-in-the-wall taverns are an experience. Filled with rowdy Japanese businessmen still in their suits, sometimes they are little more than a collection of plastic crates and an open grill protected by heavy plastic sheeting. But the food they turn out – skewers of grilled yakitori, platters of light and airy tempura, bowls of udon noodles – is sublime.

Recently, hoping to warm up a cold wintry night, we partnered with La Crema to attempt to replicate our izakaya experience at home. On our menu: tsukune with egg yolk, miso-marinated pork skewers, and seasonal vegetable tempura with mushrooms, brussels sprouts, and sweet potato. We broke out the indoor grill pan, cracked a few bottles of La Crema Monterey Pinot Gris and Sonoma Coast Chardonnay, and settled in for a night of cooking, drinking, and noshing.

Tsukune, my favorite yakitori dish, is a lightly seasoned, grilled chicken meatball served with a salty sweet tare sauce and a raw egg yolk. The Miso Pork Skewers are an easy dish – a simple marinade, some pork tenderloin, and a few minutes on the grill are all you need. Tempura is a bit trickier to master, but well worth it for the crispy, golden brown vegetables that are a staple of Japanese-American restaurants. All together, they make a fine meal: a bite of tsukune, a few pieces of tempura sweet potato, a sip of crisp Pinot Gris. It’s a great way to warm up a January night at home while reminiscing about past travels.

All of the recipes can be found on the La Crema blog (Tsukune, Miso Pork Skewers, and Winter Vegetable Tempura). And if you’re looking for dessert, might I suggest these Matcha Cream Puffs? I’ve got more matcha desserts in the works, but these are a good starting point.

More from Japan:
Japan Travelogue Part One: Kyoto; Matcha Cream Puffs
Japan Travelogue Part Two: Ise; Ginger Chicken Miso Ramen

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by La Crema. All opinions are honest and my own.

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I had originally meant this recipe to be for my book review of Simply Ramen, a lovely new(ish) book with a great mixture of traditional and non-traditional ramen recipes by Amy of Easy Peasy Japanesey. But then I opened a bottle of sake to steam the chicken, and poured a few glasses, and Trevor and I sat down to these steaming bowls of ramen, and I couldn’t stop thinking about our time in Ise. So instead of a book review this post is the much overdo second part to our Japan travelogue, dedicated to our time in Ise, and a true review of Amy’s book will come later. (Warning: this is a long post, so if you’re just here for a delicious ramen recipe, skip to the end!)

After our magical introduction to Japan in Kyoto, we wandered a bit off the beaten track, to the Ise peninsula, a coastal area about 2 hours southeast of Kyoto. Ise is the home of the Grand Shrine complex Jingū, one of Shinto’s holiest and most visited sites. Trevor had learned about the shrine and its architecture in college and it was at the top of his list for things to see in Japan. There were plenty of other visitors in Ise, but I would guess that 99% of them were Japanese, pilgrims coming to visit the shrines. English speakers became harder to find and we became more of a curiosity.

When I think about Ise, I think about sake, and blonde wood rooms, and strangely deserted beach resorts, and 500 year old sacred Cypress trees, and our ever-smiling pink-pajamaed Ryokan room attendant. I think about getting caught in a rainstorm in the middle of a frustrating and misguided walk from one shrine to the next, somehow finding ourselves in an Italian restaurant in one of those travel moments where everything feels like it’s going wrong, only to emerge to find the sun shining and realize that we were only 10 minutes from where we wanted to be. I think about sitting in the small basement-level restaurant in our hotel, using Google Translate to attempt an interpretation of the Japanese-only menu, and somehow successfully ordering two bowls of ramen. And I think about sitting alone, naked, in a steaming, outdoor Ryokan bath late at night, with icy cold winter winds whipping around the trees and the sound of the ocean pounding below.

Oishiya Ryokan

Our three days in Ise had two major components – a stay at a traditional Japanese inn called a ryokan and a visit to the grand shrines. A ryokan is more of an experience than just a place to stay – it has a whole set of traditions around it, and is widely considered a “must-do” while in Japan. We chose a mid-range ryokan called Oishiya right next to the Wedded Rocks (or Meoto Iwa). When you arrive, your room attendant greets you and takes you to your room, typically a spare, furniture-free room with a tatami mat floor and paper-screen walls. You are given a yakuta to change into, and then your room attendant returns to serve you tea. Our room attendant (I wish I could remember her name!) was such a lovely, smiling woman. She had a little note card with all of the English phrases she needed to say tied to her waist, and she giggled a lot and just made us feel so cared for, which is a big part of the ryokan experience. And then after that you… just relax. You’re not really supposed to do much other than visit the baths and wait for dinner.

Dinner is served in your room, in a series of tiny, elaborately-plated dishes – ours included raw spiny lobsters that we cooked ourselves in boiling miso, fried fugu (blowfish) that I was too nervous to try, and two bottles of sake, which left us red-faced and giggly, sitting on the floor in our matching yakutas. I really enjoyed the dinner – it was so different and strangely intimate, a cross between a romantic dinner out and dining in, with an added element of discovery as I’d never tried most of the foods we ate that night. After dinner, our attendant pushed the table to the side and pulled out our futons, fluffing the comforters and pillows and practically tucking us in… and then we slept. Soundly.

Ise Grand Shrine

The grand shrines, the reason most people visit this part of Japan, were the center of our full day in Ise. For me, the shrines themselves weren’t the most interesting part of the visit – you actually can’t even see most of the shrine, as only the imperial family and a few select priests are allowed to enter the gates. What I found most fascinating was watching all of the other visitors, who clearly felt a certain reverence being there, and feeling myself to be part of a pilgrimage. It was also a lovely, sunny day, and the shrines are surrounded by forests with ancient trees and a wide and winding river, so I enjoyed the walking as much as anything. Outside the inner shrine, Ise Naiku, there is a small, traditional town called Oharai-machi, which includes a pedestrian street filled with food vendors and shops. It is more a recreation of a traditional shrine town than a contemporary one, but walking down the main drag, sampling fried oysters and local beers and window shopping, was a highlight of the visit for me. We even managed some non-verbal conversation with a group of young Japanese men we were sitting next to who didn’t like their beer and wanted to share it with us. (Key words – “oishii?” “ie oishii” “arigato!”)

Ise Travel Tips

From a practical standpoint, visiting Ise was the most complicated (and frustrating) part of our trip. Getting there required advanced train navigation (JR passes, probably the most popular way to get around Japan for foreigners, only work on Japan Railways lines, which thinned out considerably on the Ise peninsula), we switched between two hotels (perhaps a misguided decision, but we weren’t sure two nights at a Ryokan was worth it for us), and communication became difficult. But looking back, it also provided some of the most memorable and unique experiences. If you’re also headed there, a few tips:

• Bring lots of cash with you. We had a really tough time finding a place to get cash out during our visit to the shrines (if all else fails, try the post office) and we ended up wasting  a very frustrating hour looking for it.
• Plan out your train routes and schedules beforehand (we had a JR pass and took the Shinkansen Hikari from Kyoto to Nagoya, then took the JR Rapid Mie line from Nagoya to Iseshi. You do have to pay a small supplement while riding the JR Rapid Mie line, which the conductor collects in cash when you cross into the non-JR part of the track).
• If you’re not staying close to the shrine itself, take the Kintetsu line to Isuzugawa instead of Iseshi/Ujiyamada. While Iseshi/Ujiyamada are the main access points for the outer shrine, it’s an hour long walk or a fairly expensive (500Yen) bus ride to the inner shrine, and the queues for the bus can be really long. Isuzugawa, however, is only a 20 minute walk from the inner shrine (which is the one that most people really come to see, as well as where the fun, touristy villages of Oharaimachi and Yokocho Okage are).
• Take advantage of tourist incentives if they are being offered! Our ryokan had us take a 5 minute survey in exchange for 20,000 yen in “coupons” that could be used throughout the peninsula. I was incredibly skeptical at first but we ended up being able to use the coupons to pay for all sorts of things – they covered one of our nights at the hotel and I bought myself a pair of pearl earrings. So, that was an unexpected perk.
• Here’s a helpful English guide for spending a long weekend in the area.

Miso Ramen

This is the third ramen recipe I’m posting here, and this one, far and away, is the closest to the real deal. The miso base is made by blending together aromatic vegetables, ground pork, a healthy amount of bacon fat, and two kinds of miso paste (the real stuff, not the minute miso that comes in a bottle). The base is simple to make, and once you have it, you have the key to practically instant ramen bliss. A few spoonfuls of the intensely flavored miso base stirred into good chicken broth makes a cloudy, salty, deeply savory ramen soup. Beyond the noodles (essential), you can top it with pretty much whatever you want. For this version, I’ve topped it with Amy’s ginger-and-sake steamed chicken (delicious on its own, as well), a few sauteed shiitake mushrooms, and a soft-boiled egg. It’s one of the most satisfying things I’ve eaten in the past few months. Luckily, having a tupperware full of the miso base stashed away in the freezer means I can experiment with toppings to my heart’s content for the rest of the fall.

More from Japan:
Japan Travelogue Part One: Kyoto; Matcha Cream Puffs

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Ginger Chicken Miso Ramen

Recipe adapted from Simply Ramen. Serves 2.

• 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, thinly sliced on the diagonal
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 TBS freshly grated ginger
• 1/4 cup sake
• 1 TBS olive oil
• 8 shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and caps thinly sliced
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 4 TBS miso ramen base, or more to taste
• 2 soft-boiled eggs, peeled and cut in half
• 2 servings ramen noodles, fresh or frozen, cooked according to package directions and then rinsed in cold water

1. To make the chicken, season the sliced breast all over with salt and pepper. Add the sake, grated ginger, and chicken to a small non-stick skillet. Cover with a lid and bring sake to a simmer over medium-low heat. Simmer until chicken is fully cooked and you can no longer see any pink, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat, let chicken cool, and shred into bite-sized pieces.
2. To prepare the mushrooms, heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced mushroom caps and cook undisturbed for 3 minutes, then flip to the other side and cook another 2-3 minutes. Mushrooms should be golden brown and crispy. Set aside.
3. Place the chicken broth and miso base in a pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Stir to fully incorporate the miso into the broth. Simmer for 5 minutes. Divide the cooked and rinsed ramen noodles between two bowls, then pour the hot broth over the noodles. Top each bowl with chicken, mushrooms, and a soft-boiled egg. Serve immediately.

Miso Ramen Base

Recipe adapted slightly from Simply Ramen. Makes enough for 12 servings.

• 1 carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1/2 medium onion, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 apple, cored, peeled, and roughly chopped
• 1 celery stalk, cut into large pieces
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1/2 cup bacon fat
• 1 TBS sesame oil
• 1 1/2 cups ground pork
• 1 tsp fresh ground ginger
• 1 tsp sriracha
• 2 TBS soy sauce
• 1 TBS apple cider vinegar
• 1 TBS tahini
• 3/4 cup white miso (such as Shiro miso)
• 3/4 cup red miso (such as Akamiso miso)

1. Add the carrot, onion, apple, celery, and garlic to a food processor and process until evenly and very finely chopped. Add the bacon fat and the sesame oil to a large skillet and melt over medium heat, then add the finely chopped vegetables. Saute until veggies are tender, about 6-8 minutes.
2. Add the ground pork the the skillet with the veggies and use the back of a wooden spoon to break it into small pieces. Saute until pork is fully cooked, about 8-10 minutes. Add the ginger, sriracha, soy sauce and vinegar to the pork and veggies and stir to incorporate fully.
3. Transfer the cooked veggie and pork mixture back to the food processor and process until it is finely ground, almost a paste. You want the miso base to be as paste-like as possible so that it incorporates evenly into the soup. Scrape the paste into a bowl. Add the miso pastes and the tahini and stir until fully incorporated.
4. Refrigerate the miso base for up to a week or freeze for up to a month.

The post Japan Part 2: Ise Travelogue // Ginger Chicken Miso Ramen appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

I’ve been working with La Crema for a while now, and we recently seem to have found a groove in a series of internationally-themed dinners to pair with their Chardonnays, Pinot Gris, and Pinot Noirs. In July we did an al fresco Italian seafood feast, for Labor Day we had a Greek-American cook-out, and now, as the weather turns colder, we’re looking to the other side of the world to find the inspiration for this Korean-inspired dinner. I say Korean-inspired because, well, I’m not Korean, and I’ve never even been to Korea, and I don’t want to call these recipes something they are not. Because they are definitely not traditional, authentically-prepared Korean recipes, the kind of recipe that gets passed down from generation to generation and takes a lifetime to learn. What they are are a collection of delicious recipes that attempt to incorporate some of the influences and flavors of Korean cooking into the way I cook and eat at home.

With that disclaimer out of the way, let’s get to the food! The appetizer here is Vegetarian Lentil and Mushroom Mandu, Korea’s stuffed dumpling. Trevor walked in the door just as I was frying these up. “You’re just in time,” I told him, and he grabbed one (one of the ugly ones that I would let him eat before photos) straight from the frying pan. He bit into one and sort of grunted appreciatively before I said “they’re vegetarian.” At which point he looked at me with a mixture of anger and confusion, so upset because he didn’t even notice they were vegetarian. (Also when we eat vegetarian food without me telling him in advance he feels like I’m tricking him.) Because lentils and mushrooms and cabbage can taste as good as ground pork when wrapped up in a dumpling and fried. Not that I have anything against pork, I just love being able to create vegetarian food that’s as satisfying as meat. You can find the Mandu recipe here on the La Crema blog.

For the main event, we have two dishes – a simple Cabbage and Kimchi Salad with Sesame-Miso Dressing, and an Autumn Bibimbap. The salad is all about the super flavorful and creamy dressing – a mixture of tahini, miso, honey, ginger, and rice vinegar. It’s the kind of dressing that makes eating raw cabbage slightly addictive instead of slightly awful. The addition of kimchi – a funky, tangy, spicy fermented cabbage dish that’s ubiquitous at any Korean meal – brings an unexpected heat and excitement to an otherwise sweet and mild salad. The bibimbap, which is inspired by the book Bowl: Vegetarian Recipes for Ramen, Pho, Bibimbap, Dumplings, and other One-Dish Meals, includes a few seasonal variations on a classic bibimbap: gochujang-roasted brussels sprouts and tamari-roasted portobello mushrooms. Mixed with the more traditional toppings of bulgogi-marinated beef, pickled cucumbers, and a fried egg, it makes a comforting, delicious fall dinner, especially served with a glass of La Crema Monterey Pinot Gris. The bright minerality of the wine is a good counterpoint to the spicy gochujang and rich egg in the bibimbap and the funky heat of the kimchi in the salad. (Find the bibimbap recipe here and the cabbage and kimchi salad recipe here!)

And for dessert, we have Red Bean Paste Filled Sesame Cookies, which are arguably more inspired by our time in Hong Kong and Japan than Korea but the flavors seemed to be loosely aligned with Korean desserts. I knew what I wanted these cookies to taste and look like, but I wasn’t quite sure how to get there. Incessant googling of variations on “crispy sesame cookies stuffed with red bean paste” didn’t reveal anything, so I had to experiment on my own. I started with the vague idea that these cookies should have the texture of shortbread, crumbly and buttery, with a distinct sesame flavor from a generous amount of tahini. And I knew I wanted them to be sizable, big enough that you could fill them amply with sweet red bean paste. I’m pretty happy with the way they turned out – and they were super easy to make. They’re not perfect perfect, but I’ll come back with an updated recipe if I end up tinkering with them any more.

Stay tuned, because I’m really excited about what La Crema and I have cooked up for Thanksgiving! Think chipotle, passionfruit, mole sauce… it’s going to be all kinds of delicious.

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by La Crema. All opinions are honest and my own.

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Red Bean Paste Filled Sesame Cookies

A Katie at the Kitchen Door original recipe. Makes 8 large cookies.

• 1 stick salted butter, room temperature
• 1/4 c. tahini paste
• 1/2 c. powdered sugar
• 1 c. cake flour
• 1/2 c. sweetened red bean paste, store bought or homemade, chilled
• 2 tsp sesame seeds

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, beat room temperature butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the tahini paste until it is evenly combined with the butter. Sift the powdered sugar into the butter-tahini mixture and beat until evenly combined. Stir in the cake flour and beat until a smooth dough is formed. Dough should stick together in a ball when you make one with your hands. If the dough is too difficult to work with, chill for about 30 minutes before continuing.
3. To form the cookies, take ~1 TBS of dough and use a cupped hand to form a half sphere with a hollow center. Fill the center of the cookie with 1 tsp of the chilled red bean paste, then carefully close the tops of the cookie dough over the top of the red bean paste. Roll into a ball and then flatten slightly to make a thick, disc-shaped cookie. Use a fork to gently press hash-marks into the top of the cookie and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Repeat until you have used all of the dough. Bake cookies until golden brown and just beginning to crack, about 20-25 minutes. Let cool slightly and serve warm.

The post Korean-Inspired Dinner: Red Bean Paste Filled Sesame Cookies appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

The Book: It’s been ages since I’ve done a cookbook review – my last one was way back in August! That’s partly because my cookbook shelves are not just full, but crammed, so last fall I forced myself to take a break from ordering and requesting cookbooks. But when I got back from Asia all that restraint flew out the window – one of the first things I did after getting home was order 4 Japanese and Vietnamese cookbooks, and now I have a sizable stack of books awaiting review sitting next to my desk. I guess it’s time to clean out those cookbook shelves and make room for the new!

Bowl: Vegetarian Recipes for Ramen, Phô, Bibimbap, Dumplings, and Other One-Dish Meals, successfully capitalizes on the intersection of two trends: the rage for “bowl food” and the rising popularity of authentic Asian cuisine in Western cultures. The book covers a lot of cultural ground, ranging from ramen and phô, bibimbap and even polenta, but is fundamentally organized by grain type, starting with wheat (ramen, soba), moving through rice (phô, bibimbap), and then onto other grains and dumplings. The flavors and techniques showcased here are not exactly classic – I’m sure many ramen chefs would cringe to see brussels sprouts and kabocha squash included in a ramen recipe – but they are modern, refreshing, and clever twists on traditional Asian dishes. There were a few flavor combinations that were a bit too far fetched for me (soba, kimchi, and pickled apple?), but far more that sounded absolutely delicious. I particularly love the seasonal variations, like summer ramen with corn, basil, and cherry tomatoes as toppings, or the winter bibimbap with gochujang-roasted sweet potatoes and kale. The dumpling chapter was also intriguing, and even includes an overview of the 5 kinds of dumpling folding styles, which is exactly the type of new-to-me information I love to find in the middle of a cookbook. And although the dishes themselves are a little irreverent, there are some good tips and historical tidbits included – now I know to rinse my ramen noodles post cooking to remove the excess starch and up the “slurp factor,” and that phô is traditionally served for breakfast.

The Food: I have to admit, I was skeptical about how satisfying a vegetarian ramen broth would be. I loved the idea of a light, vegetarian bowl of ramen, but I couldn’t imagine the soup without the salty, golden yellow broth I’d come to revere during our time in Asia. I considered making one of the broth-free recipes for this review, like the leek and mushroom shumai dumplings, but decided that I couldn’t give a fair review of a vegetarian ramen book without making, well, vegetarian ramen. I would put it to the test – could a handful of dried mushrooms, asparagus stems, sheets of seaweed, and a spoonful of miso make a satisfying soup?

I ended up loving the soup. Sure, the broth on its own wasn’t the same as a really perfect chicken broth, but the combination of the noodles, the raw and grassy asparagus, the sweet, crunchy peas, the bright lemon and ginger, the creamy egg, and the charred, bitter but sweet shallots was almost perfect. I went back for seconds and felt nourished and satisfied and happy. The recipe does require dirtying a number of different pots and pans to make all the components, but despite that, it wasn’t very time consuming to pull together.

Recipe Shortlist: Autumn Ramen with Brussels Sprouts, Roasted Mushrooms, and Chili Broth; Vegetairan Curry Laksa; Fennel Pho; Spring Bibimbap with Kimchi, Swiss Chard, and Avocado; Sprouted Lentil Bowl; Edamame Dumplings; Leek and Mushroom Shumai; Chickpea Potstickers

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Disclosure: I received a review copy of Bowl: Vegetarian Recipes for Ramen, Phô, Bibimbap, Dumplings, and Other One-Dish Meals from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, but I was not otherwise compensated and all thought and opinions are my own.

Vegetarian Spring Ramen

Recipe adapted slightly from Bowl: Vegetarian Recipes for Ramen, Phô, Bibimbap, Dumplings, and Other One-Dish Meals. Serves 4.

• 8 oz. asparagus
• 4 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed
• 9 cups water
• Four 2-inch squares of kombu
• 2 TBS minute miso
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 4 large eggs
• 4 oz. sugar snap peas, trimmed of strings
• 2 TBS canola oil
• 3 shallots, peeled and sliced into thin rings
• 12 oz. fresh or frozen ramen noodles
• 4 pinches of freshly grated lemon zest
• 4 tsp freshly grated ginger pulp

1. To make the broth: thoroughly rinse the asparagus, then snap off the tough ends by bending each piece of asparagus in the middle and letting it snap at the natural point. Place the tough ends of the asparagus, the dried mushrooms, garlic, and water in a pot, and bring to a boil. Cover and keep at a low boil for 20-30 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the kombu, and let stand, covered, for 30 minutes. Strain the broth into a clean bowl, discarding the solids. Stir the miso into the hot broth, then taste and adjust seasoning with additional miso or salt as needed.
2. To prepare the ramen toppings: bring a large pot of salted water to a gentle boil. Use a slotted spoon to carefully lower the eggs into the boiling water. Boil the eggs for exactly 7 minutes, then immediately use a slotted spoon to transfer the eggs to an ice bath. Soak in the ice bath until cool, then carefully peel.
3. Add the snap peas to the boiling water you used for the eggs and blanch them until bright green, about 2 minutes, then use a slotted spoon to transfer them to an ice bath. Keep the water at a gentle boil. Use a vegetable peeler to peel the raw asparagus into long, thin strips (like flat noodles), and set aside. Then add the canola oil to a frying pan and heat over medium heat, add the shallots (test one shallot first – it should sizzle as soon as it hits the oil) and saute, stirring frequently, until the shallots are dark brown, about 3 minutes. Remove the shallots to a paper towel-lined plate and salt generously. Set aside.
4. To assemble the ramen: bring the vegetable broth back to a gentle simmer. Add the ramen noodles to the boiling water and cook according to package directions, usually about 2 minutes for fresh noodles. When noodles are tender, use a slotted spoon or skimmer to remove the noodles from the pot and rinse in cold water to remove the excess starch, then quickly dunk them back in the hot water just to reheat them. Add a pinch each of the lemon zest and ginger pulp to each of your serving bowls, then cover with a few ladlefuls of the hot broth and add a serving of noodles. Top each bowl with a handful of the asparagus “noodles,” a few blanched snap peas, a soft-boiled egg, and a spoonful of the fried shallots. Serve immediately.

The post Book Club: Bowl Vegetarian Recipes for Ramen // Spring Ramen appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Our trip to Japan this February was one of the best trips I’ve ever been on. I wasn’t expecting it – it was more Trevor’s pick than mine, and despite my best intentions, I really hadn’t planned much other than our accommodations and transportation before we got on the plane from Hong Kong. I think my limited expectations contributed to how much I enjoyed the trip, but even without that, Japan is just a magical place. Despite the language barrier, which is very real, it’s an easy place to travel – safe, friendly, and orderly. If you know and follow the rules and schedules, travel is easy and pleasant. On top of that, Trevor and I were in a very happy place. After a year of hectic travel schedules and stressful jobs, spending 4 weeks together in Hong Kong felt like the exact reminder I needed about how much I love simply spending time with him. Taking that feeling into vacation made the trip that much better.

We flew into Tokyo on a red-eye from Hong Kong. Rather than drag our suitcases through a crowded city, waiting for our hotel room to be available while struggling to keep our eyes open, we chose simply to hop on the Shinkansen from Narita and head straight for Kyoto. It was the right choice – I can’t imagine a better introduction to Japan than beautiful Kyoto. Kyoto is both provincial and timeless, sprawling yet accessible, and filled with so much history and beauty and culture.

We took our time exploring Kyoto, only doing as much as we felt like each day. The morning that we visited Fushimi Inari to see the famous orange torii gates turned into late afternoon when we decided to follow a wooded path through the forest rather than return down the mountain with the crowds. That path led to a moss-covered stone garden, a secret bamboo grove, a farm with grapefruit-laden trees, a blossoming plum tree, and a neighborhood of high-end but very traditional homes, tucked away on a quiet side street. Nishiki market was another treasure – we could have spent the better part of a day trying everything it had to offer. As it was, we tasted our way through tako tamago (baby octopus stuffed with a quail egg), freshly made matcha mochi, okonomiyaki, a variety of battered and fried vegetables, and an incredible glass of unpasteurized sake, called namasake. The brilliant gold facade of Kinkakuji Temple was worth the 45 minute walk to get there, despite the swarms of other people who were walking by with us. And in the late afternoon one day, we snuck into Nijo Castle just minutes before closing time, and by walking just a little bit slower than the group in front of us, we found ourselves walking down the airy wooden halls alone, listening to the chirping of the nightingale floors under our feet and imagining what it would have been like to sit in the center of the painted rooms.

One morning, perhaps my favorite morning of the trip, we spent wandering through Arashiyama. The bamboo forest was the initial draw, but ultimately I found it underwhelming. Yes, the bamboo groves are as lovely as the photos look, but they don’t have the immensity or the depth I was expecting – after a few short minutes, we had walked through all of them. But the rest of the Arashiyama area was so worth the visit. There’s a beautiful, wide, pale-green river, dozens of restaurants in traditional wooden buildings with views of the river, a few bustling streets lined with shops, and a perfectly hipster coffee place that fully satisfied my desire to do the “Japanese coffeeshop thing” that Instagram so dearly loves. The weather was fickle and frosty, with brief and furious snow flurries followed by gentle sunshine all morning. We climbed to the top of one of the hills to see the monkeys, and loved it so much we spent an hour watching them play, looking out over the city, and feeding them bananas. When we were thoroughly chilled, we ducked inside a casual restaurant for steaming bowls of katsu donburi, just as the snow picked up outside. It was the sort of day that leaves a lasting impression, where you know just how lovely the memory will be before the day is even over.

Choosing restaurants in Kyoto was one of the more daunting things we experienced. We were staying in a quiet neighborhood a little outside of the main tourist areas (in a little boutique hotel called Villa Aneyakoji, which I recommend without any reservation whatsoever – it was perfect), and we walked by tons of lovely, intimate-looking restaurants, emanating a warm yellow glow from inside traditional wooden buildings. But all the signs and menus were only in Japanese, and with very limited ability to communicate, or even read the prices, we weren’t comfortable enough to go in, although we desperately wanted to. So we primarily ended up at the places with loud English menus – the sort of restaurant I typically try to avoid when traveling (with the notable exception of the meal we had at Tiger Gyoza Hall, which was excellent and felt like a lucky find). One night, after an acceptable but not extraordinary dinner at a conveyor-belt sushi place (worth going once just for the experience), we were wandering home rather late, hoping that the matcha cream puff place we had wandered by in the mall would still be open. Everything in the mall was decidedly closed, but we kept wandering and found ourselves outside of the Lipton Tea House, with pristine pastries beckoning from the window. After a little gesturing to the proprietress, we walked out with a box containing one enormous cream puff and one thick slice of matcha and chocolate cake, to be enjoyed 20 minutes later in our yakutas from the comfort of our room. (An illustration of Japanese hospitality: we asked for a fork at reception when we walked into our hotel, and 3 minutes later someone knocked on our door carrying a tray with plates, hot towels, and tiny gold forks for our dessert. This is now what I expect when I ask for a fork anywhere in the world).

I devoured that cream puff – it was light and rich and flavorful and perfect – and somehow it became my primary food memory from Kyoto, despite not being particularly Japanese. So I’ve made cream puffs for you here – big ones, with perfectly puffed and eggy shells and a matcha-infused cream. I went light on the matcha, because it’s a strongly savory flavor (and because it costs an arm and a leg here), but if you know you love the flavor of matcha feel free to increase it. And although I didn’t end up using these component recipes, Zen Can Cook deserves a shoutout here, if only for the inspiration his beautiful photos provided.

More from Japan:
Japan Travelogue Part Two: Ise Peninsula; Ginger Chicken Miso Ramen

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Matcha Cream Puffs

Pate a choux recipe adapted from Food Network. Makes about 20 large cream puffs.

For the pastry cream:

• 1/2 c. sugar
• 4 TBS cornstarch
• 2 whole eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 c. whole milk
• pinch of salt
• 1 TBS matcha tea powder
• 3 TBS butter, cut into thin slices
• 1 c. heavy cream

For the puffs:

• 1 c. water
• 1 stick salted butter
• pinch salt
• 1 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 c. flour
• 4 whole eggs

1. To make the pastry cream, whisk together the sugar and cornstarch in a large, heatproof bowl until evenly combined. Add the eggs and egg yolk to the sugar and whisk until the mixture is thick and pale yellow. Set aside.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine the milk and the salt and heat over medium temperature. Bring just to a simmer (milk should be steaming and starting to bubble around the edges but not boiling) then remove from the heat. Sift the matcha powder into the milk through a fine-mesh sieve, whisking to combine. Slowly pour the hot milk into the egg mixture, whisking the eggs vigorously as you do so, to temper the eggs. Transfer the custard back to the saucepan and return to medium-low heat, whisking the custard the whole time to prevent lumps and scrambling the eggs. Cook the custard, still whisking, until it has thickened, about 3-4 minutes, then pour into a clean bowl. Stir in the butter piece by piece, waiting until each piece has melted before adding the next. Let custard cool slightly, then cover with plastic wrap, pressing plastic wrap against surface of the custard, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.
3. To make the cream puffs, preheat the oven to 425°F. Combine the water, butter, salt, and sugar in a medium saucepan. Bring just to a boil, then remove from the heat and add the flour all at once, stirring vigorously to incorporate. Stir until the flour is fully incorporated, then return the pot to the heat and cook for 60-90 seconds, beating hard the whole time, until the water has evaporated from the dough to the point that the dough leaves a thin film on the bottom of the pot. Remove from the heat and transfer the dough to a bowl.
4. Beat the eggs into the dough one at a time, thoroughly mixing between additions. When you have added the last egg, the dough should be smooth and shiny, and drip slowly from the spoon when lifted out of the bowl. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Use a tablespoon to scoop rounds of dough onto the parchment paper, leaving at least 2 inches between them. Use your finger to flatten any points as they will burn. Alternatively, you can spoon the dough into a pastry bag fitted with a large tip and pipe rounds onto the baking trays, but I found this more difficult than simply scooping them. Bake the cream puffs for 15 minutes at 425°F, then reduce the heat to 375°F and bake for another 20 minutes, until puffed up and lightly browned all over. Remove from the oven and let cool on a cooling rack.
5. To assemble and serve the cream puffs, beat the heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add 1/3 of the whipped cream to the pastry cream and use a spatula to gently fold into the cream until mixture is even. Repeat twice more with the remaining whipped cream – the resulting whipped pastry cream should be light and airy but still hold it’s shape. Cut the puffs apart horizontally with a serrated knife and place a large spoonful of the cream on top of the bottom half, then replace the top half of the puff on top of the pastry cream. Only fill as many cream puffs as you will be serving immediately.

The post Japan Part 1: Kyoto Travelogue // Matcha Cream Puffs appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

A few weeks ago I told you about the pork belly we made for our collaboration with La Crema Wines this summer, which is taking us through all the delicious porky things that pair well with La Crema’s Pinot Noir. We used the first half of the pork belly in a super-indulgent appetizer of Red Wine Caramelized Pork Belly slices, which was delicious, but now we want to share the real reason we made pork belly – to make bánh mì sandwiches.

A classic bánh mì has five important elements—a single-serving Vietnamese baguette, a pork-based filling, pickled carrots and daikon, fresh vegetables and herbs (most typically thinly-sliced cucumbers and cilantro),  and a spicy/fatty combination of condiments, such as chili sauce and mayo. The pork can take a variety of forms, but my favorite versions include chunks of sweet-and-sour caramelized pork belly, so that’s what we went for.

Lately, I can’t seem to get enough pickles. Pickles and mustard. Before you ask – no, I’m not pregnant. I just seem to have developed a taste for all things sharp and salty, all the better if they’re a little bit spicy, too. Capers are another one, although I mostly blame the Latin American tendency to put them on everything for that. And these bánh mì pickles, well – they’re just about as craveable as anything. Since we made these sandwiches a few weeks ago I’ve ordered bánh mì for lunch from a few different places, but nothing has hit the spot quite like the homemade version did, and I’m crediting the pickles. I guess that just means we’ll have to make this recipe again sooner rather than later – this time, with bigger batches of everything for more leftovers!

For full instructions and the recipe for Pork Belly Bánh Mì Sandwiches, head over to the La Crema Blog!

More Pork and Pinot posts…

• Prosciutto, Mozzarella, and Sage Pesto Stuffed Pork Tenderloin
• Red Wine Caramelized Pork Belly

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This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of La Crema. The opinions and text are all mine.

The post La Crema Pork and Pinot #3: Pork Belly Banh Mi Sandwiches appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Another post brought to you from on the road, although this time it’s not exactly planned. Trevor and I spent the last 5 days on vacation in the USVI, for some much needed sun and unplugged time. I’m pretty sure it was not particularly high on Trevor’s all-time-best vacation list, given that he’s been battling a sinus/ear infection pretty much since we landed on the island, but it was still great to be outside and soak in the views, even if we took it a little slower than we might have otherwise. However, since we were supposed to fly back into Boston Monday night and Blizzard Juno (man, I really hate that they name snowstorms now) had other ideas, we are now on an unplanned, extended layover in Miami. It’s a little bit of a pricey layover… but things could be a lot worse. A) We aren’t stuck in Boston pining for a missed vacation and B) we’re on a beach while everyone at home is just listening to the wind howl and watching the snow pile up.

So I’m still mostly in vacation mode, but I am starting to think ahead to what needs to be taken care of when I get home, and what’s coming up in the next couple of weeks. And one of those things is the big game this weekend. I’m not really much of a sports fan, but over the past 5 or 6 years, I’ve watched my baby brother turn my parents into diehard Patriots fans, to the point where I’ll show up in the house on game day to find everyone dressed in jerseys and cheering loudly for individual players. It’s a bit incongruous with my memories of growing up – my dad always loved soccer, but baseball, football, and basketball were things we played outside, not watched on TV. I’m OK with it, though, because if there’s one thing I can appreciate about watching football, it’s the food that comes with it. Nachos, chili, wings, guacamole, and pizza – it’s like junk food heaven. Of course when my family is cooking, junk food tends to be not that junky – homemade pizza and chili with cornbread are a far cry from the greasy fryolator food we associate with huge crowds and stadiums.

These wings are another example of classic stadium finger food given a healthier and more refined twist. Marinated in an exciting, Korean-inspired sauce, then baked instead of fried, they’re a bit more gourmet than buffalo wings but equally delicious. The sauce is primarily a mixture of gochujang – a spicy Korean red pepper paste – and pomegranate molasses, which adds tang and depth of flavor in addition to sticky sweetness. A few other strong flavors: fresh ginger, honey, and umeboshi plum vinegar round out the intense sauce for a balanced, spicy-sweet chicken wing. Tossing the sticky wings in toasted sesame seeds and chopped cashews after baking gives them a bit more crunch, and adds another element of flavor. While beer is the obvious choice for football-watching, it’s not the only one. I’m personally much more of a wine-lover, and these wings go just as well (if not better) with a glass of light red as with a cold beer. If you’re also a wine-lover, the La Crema Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir is a great pairing for these. The pomegranate notes in both the wine and the wing sauce will complement one another, and the Pinot Noir’s relatively light body makes it a good choice for serving with spicy food.

Find the recipe for these wings over on the La Crema blog!

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by La Crema. All opinions are honest and my own.

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The post La Crema Game Day: Korean Gochujang Wings appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Hello from JFK’s terminal B! I am on my way home from Bogota, where I spent most of last week for work. It was the first of several trips I’ll take there this year, and while I didn’t have much free time to explore, I did get to explore the food. And it’s good – hearty stews of chicken, rice, and plaintain; lime and coconut shakes that taste like key lime pie in a glass; and big bowls of beans, beef, corn, and chorizo. Plus a little bit of avocado on top of almost everything for good measure. Despite the difficulties of exercising at 8,600 feet, I struggled through a few workouts just so I could keep indulging.

As much as I enjoyed eating my way through the city, I will say that I’m looking forward to a few vegetable-driven meals this weekend to recover. I’m thinking that perhaps another batch of these Soba Noodles with Asian Pesto will be just the thing The light, bright flavors of these noodles are just right after a weekend/week of heavy eating – and getting an eyeful of color on your plate in the middle of January doesn’t hurt, either. The pesto is adapted from a favorite Ming Tsai recipe – it skips the garlic and cheese, adds jalapeno and ginger, and complements the basil with cilantro and mint. It’s a little bit sweet and a little bit spicy, and a whole lot of green. Here I’ve mixed it with soba noodles, edamame, raw carrot “noodles,” and red pepper, but other vegetables would not be out of place either. It’s a flexible recipe, just right for reminding ourselves that eating vegetables can be delicious, even in the middle of winter.

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Soba Noodles with Asian Pesto

Pesto recipe adapted from Ming Tsai. Serves 4.

• 1/3 c. canola oil
• 1 jalapeno, stem removed and pepper cut into chunks (remove seeds if you don’t like much heat)
• 1 1/4 c. salted and roasted cashews, divided
• 1 inch fresh ginger, peeled
• 1/4 c. freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1 c. fresh basil leaves
• 1 c. fresh cilantro leaves
• 1/3 c. mint leaves
• 1 TBS honey
• salt and pepper to taste
• 8 oz. soba noodles
• 1 c. frozen shelled edamame
• 2 carrots, cut into “noodles” using a julienne peeler or spiralizer
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and finely diced

1. Make the pesto: add 1 TBS of the canola oil, the jalapeno, 1 cup of the cashews, and the ginger to a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add the orange juice, basil, cilantro, mint and honey, and begin processing, slowly drizzling in the rest of the canola oil until a smooth consistency is reached. Stop the processor and season to taste with salt and pepper.
2. Cook the soba noodles according to package directions. 2 minutes before they are done, add the edamame to the boiling water. Drain and set the noodles and edamame aside. Roughly chop the remaining 1/4 cup of cashews. Toss the noodles with 1 cup of the pesto, the carrot “noodles,” the chopped cashews, and the chopped red bell pepper. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve room temperature or chilled.

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As promised, I’m balancing indulgence with healthfulness this month – since my last recipe was for a sausage-stuffed grilled cheese sandwich, this one will be much more restrained. It’s a simple lentil soup, bulked up by oven-roasted tomatoes and given warmth and depth with harissa, cumin, ginger, and saffron. A swirl of cool Greek yogurt balances out the subtle spiciness. It’s a very good recipe for these very cold days – satisfying and nourishing at the same time.

This recipe comes from one of my favorite healthy cookbooks, A Change of Appetite, by Diana Henry. It was only released last summer, but it’s already become one of 4 or 5 books that I turn to when I need inspiration for whole eating. It’s also the only cookbook I purchased as a gift for someone this year, which I think says a lot. Anyways, if you’re looking for sources of inspiration for healthy cooking, I’d highly recommend it – and if you’re curious but not sold, read more about it in my full review from a few months ago.

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Lentil and Roasted Tomato Soup with Saffron

Recipe adapted slightly from A Change of Appetite. Serves 4-6.

• 6 plum tomatoes, halved
• 2 TBS olive oil
• 1 tsp dried harissa powder
• salt and black pepper
• 2 tsp canola oil
• 1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 1 inch piece ginger root, peeled and minced
• 1 red thai chile, stem removed, finely diced
• 2 tsp whole cumin seeds
• 3/4 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
• good pinch of saffron stems
• 4 c. vegetable or chicken stock
• 1 c. red lentils
• plain Greek yogurt, for serving

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Slice the tomatoes in half lengthwise and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Whisk together the olive oil, harissa, and salt and pepper, and pour over the tomatoes. Use a spatula to flip the tomatoes and coat in the oil, ending with the tomatoes cut side up. Roast the tomatoes for 40-50 minutes, stirring once, until slightly shrunken and charred in places. Set aside the 4-6 nicest looking tomato halves for garnish.
2. In a large saucepan, heat the canola oil over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until translucent, about 5-7 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, thai chile, cumin, coriander, turmeric, and saffron and cook until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Add the stock, the lentils, and the roasted tomatoes to the pot and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the lentils have softened into a puree and the tomatoes have mostly dissolved into the soup. Taste and season to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls and serve with a spoonful of Greek yogurt and one of the reserved tomato halves.

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After a long business trip, it always takes a few days to shake off the whirl of travel and settle back into my routine. While I’m out on the road, every day is a long mix of work and exploration, and I often lose sense of the boundaries I have between my work and personal lives when I’m at home. Of course, the one piece of my life that I’m truly missing when I’m away is Trevor, and the first thing I want to do when I walk in the door (well, maybe after a shower) is to just spend time being together.

Last week I returned from a 10 day trip to Malaysia, and although it took me a bit longer than usual to get over the jet-lag and general plane-induced malaise, by Sunday I was feeling like myself again. Although some might argue that when you live together and don’t have kids, every night is date night, in my book it’s nice to set aside time that’s solely about spending time with one another. So I declared Sunday night an official date night, and we set about brainstorming recipes (because in our house, date night almost always means cooking). This particular date night was spruced up a bit by some new kitchenwares from Uncommon Goods, an ethically-minded retailer for unique and unusual gifts. Part of Uncommon Goods’ mission is to support independent artists and designers, as well as to feature American-made goods, and it’s easy to get lost browsing the resulting collection of products they’ve curated. Of course, although they carry a broad range of items, the section I’m drawn to the most is dining and entertaining, especially the wine (here) and kitchen gadget (here) collections.

When Uncommon Goods offered to send some of their products our way for us to try out, we quickly agreed. We’re constantly breaking our wine glasses, so choosing some new ones from their collection of fun designs was high on our wishlist. We ended up going for this set of stemless aerating wine glasses, in addition to this very classy wine carafe. And despite Trevor’s protests about how cheesy it was (pun intended), I couldn’t resist adding this mini fondue pot for two to our shopping list as well. New kitchenwares in hand, we set about putting them through their paces for our date night – wine was decanted, glasses were set out, and we whipped up a curried tomato and gruyere fondue, kept steaming hot in the tiny tea-light powered fondue pot. Never ones to be satisfied with something too simple, we passed on the bread and crudites for dipping and instead fried up a batch of Indian-spiced rice balls stuffed with mushrooms, carrots, chiles, and peas. The combo of the crispy rice balls and the rich and spicy cheese sauce was spot on, and we polished off the whole batch in one sitting (although I’ll admit that we may have been helped along by the generous glasses of wine we poured).

Sometimes when I’m doing a post for the blog, I get so wrapped up in getting the right shots and taking notes that I forget to enjoy what we’re doing. This was not one of those times – sitting around the tiny fondue pot, joking about cheesy rice balls, taking goofy pictures of each other, and drinking (gulp) the whole bottle of pinot, it really felt like date night, not just a photoshoot of date night. It was fun. A lot of fun. So, corny as it may sound, I genuinely want to thank Uncommon Goods, not only for supplying us with some great new products for our kitchen, but for inspiring us to get in the kitchen and create and laugh and enjoy each other’s company. Definitely hop over to their site to see if anything inspires you!

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Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Uncommon Goods, a retailer for unique and unusual gifts. All opinions are honest and my own.

Curried Tomato-Gruyere Fondue with Indian-Spiced Arancini

A Katie at the Kitchen Door original recipe. Serves 3-4 as an appetizer.

For the arancini:

• 2 c. cooked Basmati rice
• 2 TBS olive oil
• 2 tsp grated fresh garlic
• 2 tsp grated fresh ginger
• 2 jalapenos, seeded and stemmed, finely diced
• 2 small carrots, peeled and finely grated
• 10 crimini or button mushrooms, stems removed, very finely diced
• 1/3 c. frozen peas
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
• 1/8 tsp cayenne powder
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 eggs. lightly beaten
• vegetable oil for frying

1. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the grated garlic, grated ginger, and diced jalapenos and saute, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Add the carrots, mushrooms, and peas and saute, stirring frequently, until vegetables are soft, about 3-5 minutes. Add cooked rice, ground ginger, ground turmeric, and cayenne powder and stir to thoroughly combine, fully coating rice in spices. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
2. Add the beaten eggs to the rice mixture and stir to combine. Form the rice into golf ball sized balls, pressing firmly to remove any excess liquid, and set aside on a plate. Heat 1/2 an inch of vegetable oil over medium-high heat in a deep frying pan. Once the oil is hot (test it by adding a small piece of rice to the oil and seeing if it sizzles immediately), fry the rice balls in batches, about 1-2 minutes per side, then drain the rice balls on a paper-towel lined plate. Serve immediately.

For the curried tomato fondue:

• 1 TBS butter
• 2 tsp grated ginger
• 2 tsp grated garlic
• 1 c. crushed tomatoes
• 1 1/2 tsp curry powder
• 1/2 lb. gruyere cheese, roughly grated

1. Heat the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the grated ginger and grated garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and curry powder and stir to combine. Cook tomatoes, stirring frequently, for about 3 minutes, then lower heat to low and add the grated cheese. Stir the cheese into the tomatoes until completely melted and just beginning to bubble around the edges, then transfer immediately to prepared fondue pot. Keep warm in fondue pot and serve with Indian-spiced arancini, crusty bread, or other foods for dipping.

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Lately we’ve been making meals where almost every ingredient has come out of our garden, and it’s incredibly satisfying. With the cooler weather, we’ve been able to turn on our oven and stovetop again, saving us from daunting tasks like eating 20 gorgeous heirloom tomatoes raw before they start to mold (a 3 day window) and finding ways to use up pumpkin without the help of a long, slow, caramelizing roast. The first meal where nearly everything was homegrown was a Mediterranean Shepherd’s Pie – we had grown the garlic, the onion, the tomatoes, the eggplant, the zucchini, and the potatoes. Really the only ingredients that we hadn’t grown or made were the cheese and the ground beef. And now, we have this gorgeous yellow curry, packed full of vegetables taken straight from the ground – we even grew the cayenne chilies that give it its kick!

This yellow curry is relatively quick, easy, and deeply nourishing. It’s made from only vegetables, spices, and water, and I was skeptical about how much flavor I’d be able to coax out of such a limited number of ingredients. No rich and creamy coconut milk? No savory chunks of lamb? But the carrot and pumpkin deliver sweetness, the tomatoes acidity, and the potatoes break down into a thick, rich sauce that soaks up all the flavor of the toasted spices. It’s a lovely curry. Of course, I can’t take much credit for it, beyond, perhaps, the addition of the tomatoes, as it’s adapted from Mangoes and Curry Leaves, my Indian cooking bible. I love Indian food and have been attempting it at home since I first started cooking,  but it wasn’t until I took a step back and took time to learn the fundamentals that I started to turn out satisfying Indian dishes. Now my repertoire is slowly building – I love these potato and pea parathas and this chickea pulao, and now I can add this adaptable vegetarian curry to the list as well.

Bangladeshi Yellow Pumpkin Curry

Adapted from Mangoes and Curry Leaves. Serves 4.

• 3 TBS vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/4 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/4 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/4 tsp fennel seeds
• 1/4 tsp fenugreek
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch dice
• 2 c. cubed (1/4 inch dice) Yukon gold potatoes
• 2 c. cubed (1/2 inch dice) pumpkin
• 1 large yellow tomato, cored and cut into 1/2 inch chunks
• large handful of green beans, trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch lengths
• 1 fresh cayenne chile, sliced into thin rings
• 1 1/2 c. water
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• juice from 1/2 fresh lime

1. Heat the vegetable oil in a wok or large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add all of the spices and bay leaves at once, and stir-fry in the hot oil until the mustard seeds start to pop and sizzle. Add the vegetables in order listed, stir-frying for 1-2 minutes between each addition. If the vegetables begin to stick to the pan as you are cooking, add a few tablespoons of water to the bottom to deglaze any sticky parts of the pan. Add the fresh cayenne chile and cook for 1-2 minutes longer.
2. Once you have added all the vegetables, pour the water into the pan and bring to a rapid simmer. Simmer until all vegetables are tender, potatoes and tomato have broken down, and the sauce is thick and spoonable. This should take about 15 minutes-20 minutes. Add the salt, sugar, and lime juice and taste for seasoning, adjusting as necessary. Remove from the heat and serve over rice.

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The Book: I want to open this review with a statement that’s much stronger than those I usually make in these posts: if you like Thai food (and who doesn’t), and you like to cook, you should buy a copy of Thailand: The Cookbook. With 500 traditional recipes, absolutely stunning photography, and the gorgeous design typical of Phaidon books, I already know it will be one of my favorite books this year, even if I mostly use it for daydreaming about the jungles and coasts of Thailand and colorful plates of Pad Thai and Papaya Salad. I wish I could let all of you flip through my copy, because I’m having a difficult time communicating how gorgeous the pictures are. They are certainly given pride of place, taking up full pages and even multi-page sections, and are drenched in rich colors that show up beautifully on the luxe matte paper. It’s mostly food photography, and an impressive portion of the 500 dishes are represented, but the landscapes and portraits are jaw-dropping. There’s not very much in the way of narrative here, but the recipe section is encyclopedic and decidedly authentic, meaning you will find, in all likelihood, hundreds of new-to-you recipes – I certainly don’t have any other cookbooks with recipes for Fried Crickets with Herbs or Spicy Dried Buffalo Skin Salad. Recipes within sections are often variations on a theme and are organized in a very logical progression, for example, moving from Spicy Vegetable and Fish Soup to Spicy-and-Sour Tilapia Soup to Spicy Eel Soup to Spicy Shrimp Soup. Given this, I’d imagine that if you cook enough different recipes from this book, you would develop a sort of intuition for Thai cooking and flavors.

One of the beauties of Thai cooking is how fast it is. Sourcing the ingredients will easily be the most time consuming part of preparing most of these recipes, with many prep and cooking times under 15 minutes total. Many of the recipes are also scaled to serve 2 or 3, which is convenient for a couple like us. There will definitely be recipes that are impossible to make outside of Thailand – I doubt I’ll be coming across banana blossoms or giant water bug eggs in my local market – but don’t let that scare you away from this book, as there’s more that’s accessible than inaccessible, especially if you have a good Asian grocery nearby, or even a well-stocked Asian Foods aisle in your Wholefoods/Kroger/Shaw’s. In short, for anyone with a love affair with Thailand and its sweet and spicy food, this book is a must buy – personally, I’m so excited to finally have an authentic Thai cooking resource in my collection.

The Food: The first recipe I tried out from Thailand: The Cookbook was Drunken Noodles with Pork, because, well, who doesn’t love drunken noodles? I was looking for a recipe for lunch that would be filling but not too heavy, quick to prepare, and for which I could find the ingredients at the small specialty butcher around the corner, as I only had about an hour before we needed to leave the house. Whipping up these noodles was dangerously easy – a handful of chilies and garlic pounded into a paste, a few thin strips of pork tenderloin, a bowl full of Chinese broccoli and mushrooms, and a quick sauce of soy sauce and sugar, stir-fried one at a time over high heat, and in 10 minutes I had a steaming bowl of sweet and spicy noodles, just as good as the ones from the takeout spot down the street. These noodles are definitely going into my “quick and craveable” dinner rotation. I’ve barely cracked the surface of this book, but after my first foray into authentic Thai cooking, I’m even more excited to delve further into these recipes.

Recipe Shortlist: Thai Pork Fried Rice with Fried Eggs; Chicken Curry Puffs; Thai-Style Hot Pot; Dragon Fruit Frappe; Spicy Strawberry Salad; Chicken and Coconut Soup; Beef Massaman Curry; Green Chicken Curry; Grilled Duck with Tamarind Sauce; Coconut Custard with Fried Shallots; Sesame and Sugar-Coated Peanuts; Jasmine Flower Flan

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Disclaimer: I received a review copy of Thailand: The Cookbook from Phaidon, but I was not otherwise compensated and all thought and opinions are my own.

Drunken Noodles with Pork

Recipe from Thailand: The Cookbook. Serves 2.

Note: There were a few items I had to substitute based on what I could find at the store – 2 serranos for the bird’s eye chilies, broccoli rabe for the Chinese broccoli, chopped red pepper for the baby corn, and baby shiitakes for the straw mushrooms. I tried to keep the substitutions very close in flavor profile to the original ingredients. I’ve included both the original ingredients and my substitutions below.

• 7 oz. flat rice noodles
• 2 TBS vegetable oil
• 3-4 cloves garlic, pounded to a paste
• 5-7 red and green bird’s eye chilies, pounded to a paste (OR substitute 2 serranos)
• 3 1/2 oz. pork tenderloin, sliced into thin strips
• 5 oz. Chinese broccoli, stems removed, leaves chopped into 1 1/2 inch pieces (OR substitute broccoli rabe)
• 7 baby corn, halved lengthwise (OR substitute 1/2 c. of chopped red bell pepper)
• 5 straw mushrooms (OR substitute 1/2 c. baby shiitakes)
• 2 TBS soy sauce
• 1 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 handful of Thai basil leaves

1. If the noodles have been kept in the fridge, wrap them in cheesecloth and steam in a steamer for 2-3 minutes until warmed through. Alternatively, heat in a microwave for 1 minute. If noodles are dry, prepare according to package directions. Set aside.
2. Heat vegetable oil in a wok over medium high heat. Add the pounded garlic and chilies and quickly stir-fry for 30 seconds, until sizzling and fragrant. Add the pork slices and stir fry for 1 minute, or until cooked through. Add the broccoli and baby corn and stir-fry for another 1-2 minutes. Add the prepared noodles, soy sauce and sugar, and stir-fry for 1-2 minutes until the noodles are soft and fully flavored. Remove from heat, stir in the basil, and serve immediately.

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