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.

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My department has recently moved to work-from-home Fridays. I’m still figuring out how to be as productive from my apartment, which isn’t really set up as a workspace (no desk, no chairs with backs, no computer monitor), as I am at work, but in general it’s a nice perk. My lunch break  in particular is a whole new experience – I can get out for a quick run, shower, and make myself a homemade lunch all in the space of an hour or so. It completely re-energizes my day. Although it can be tempting to dig into leftover rigatoni bolognese or penne alla vodka at my lunch break, I’ve been trying to come up with creative salads instead. I’ve been experimenting with this Brussels Sprout Caesar Salad over the past few Friday lunch breaks, and I think I’ve finally figured out how I like it best.

The first trick to this salad is that the brussels sprouts should be cooked over high heat so that they’re charred in places but still retain some color and crunch, and not be cooked down to a point of total limpness. A little bit of preserved lemon chopped up and stirred into the sprouts as they cook does wonders to brighten up the overall flavor. For heartiness, I’ve tried both chicken and sauteed shiitake mushrooms, and the mushrooms are the much better choice – especially thickly sliced and sauteed until golden brown in butter. Roasted chickpeas coated in smoked paprika add crunch and a bit of depth, a protein-rich alternative to croutons. Then of course you have the dressing, which should be homemade and extra tangy – unless of course you’re forgoing dressing in favor of an olive-oil fried egg, yolk broken and stirred into the warm salad. The final touch is a few shards of pecorino cheese. These days it’s my perfect salad, and I imagine I’ll continue enjoying it until spring is really upon us and I can move onto lighter, brighter foods. Until then, it makes eating my vegetables a pleasure.

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Brussels Sprout Caesar Salad

Serves 2.

• 1 1/2 c. cooked chickpeas
• 4 TBS olive oil, divided
• 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
• sea salt
• pepper
• 20 – 30 brussels sprouts
• 1 wedge of preserved meyer lemon, finely chopped
• 1/2 TBS butter
• 10-15 large shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, thickly sliced
• pecorino cheese
• homemade Caesar dressing

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Toss the chickpeas with 2 TBS of the olive oil, the smoked paprika, and sea salt and pepper. Spread on a baking sheet and roast, stirring once or twice, until crispy, about 20 minutes. Set aside
2. Trim the ends and the outer leaves from the brussels sprouts and discard. Thinly slice the brussels sprouts. Heat the remaining 2 TBS of olive oil over medium-high heat in a large frying pan, then add the brussels sprouts and stir to coat with the oil. Add the preserved lemon to the pan, and season the sprouts with salt and pepper. Saute the brussels sprouts, stirring frequently, until bright green and charred in places, but still slightly crunchy, about 6-8 minutes. Remove from the pan into a large bowl.
3. Melt the butter in the same frying pan you used to cook the brussels sprouts, over medium heat. Add the sliced shiitake mushrooms and saute, stirring occasionally, until golden brown on both sides, about 8-10 minutes. Add to the bowl with the brussels sprouts and toss to mix.
4. Serve the salad warm, tossed with shaved pecorino cheese, the roasted chickpeas, and homemade Caesar dressing.

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Guys, so far the first 8 days of 2014 have been a huge success, health-wise. I’m not going to get too excited, since 8 days is a really short period of time to maintain motivation in the grand scheme of things, but still, it’s nice to remember how rewarding taking care of yourself can feel. I’ve done two solid treadmill sessions, two strength training sessions, spent an afternoon rock climbing (and made it to the top of the wall for the first time!), and gone to a great ballet class. I downloaded the Moves app to try and trick myself into walking more every day, and dragged the dusty scale out from under the bed. We stocked the fridge up with veggies and have been noshing on green smoothies, homemade minestrone, big roasted beet salads, and this carrot and tahini soup (which I had forgotten is really, really delicious). And tonight, as soon as I publish this post, I’m getting out of bed and doing one of those killer Nike Training Club butt workouts. I swear. Getting out of bed is a realistic aspiration. I’m going to do it. I know everyone’s on the straight and narrow right now, but let’s see if we can make it last!

One of the tasty, healthy things we’ve been eating is this salad, which contains several of my favorite ingredients, namely bacon, avocado, and brussels sprouts. I’m not the best at putting together inspiring salads – put me in front of a salad bar and I get kind of overwhelmed and end up with a bunch of weird things that don’t really go together, finished off by a healthy sprinkling of bacon bits, no matter what the other ingredients are. However, I’ve recently discovered that pretty much any green salad is drastically improved by including a warm, craveable element: crispy spiced chickpeas, shredded rotisserie chicken, salty chunks of pancetta, or whole roasted brussels sprouts. So when I saw a recipe for spinach and bacon salad with avocado dressing in Diane and Todd’s new cookbook, and then saw a recipe for bacon-roasted brussels sprouts immediately after, my mind started turning, and a salad that I could actually look forward to eating was born. I like that this salad is fairly simple but still feels like a complete meal – it’s much more put-together than a boring bowl of dressed greens, but doesn’t have 20 separate components to be prepped in order for it to taste good, like a Cobb salad does. It’s also seasonal, filling, and… it has bacon. What’s not to love?

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Roasted Brussels Sprout and Bacon Salad with Avocado Vinaigrette

Inspired by Bountiful. Serves 2.

• 1 lb. fresh Brussels sprouts
• 4 TBS olive oil, divided
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 4 strips bacon
• 1 avocado
• 1 1/2 tsp champagne vinegar
• 1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 4 large handfuls of fresh baby spinach

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Cut the white end off the base of each brussels sprout, remove the outer leaves, and then slice in half lengthwise. Toss the halved brussels sprouts with 2 TBS of olive oil, sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Spread on a roasting pan and roast for 25-30 minutes or until tender with crispy golden-brown spots, flipping with a spatula after the first 15 minutes.
2. While the brussels sprouts are cooking, cook the bacon until crispy, drain on paper towels, and then roughly chop.
3. Cut the avocado in half, remove the pit, and scoop out the flesh. Place half of the avocado in a mason jar and mash up with a fork. Add the remaining 2 TBS of olive oil, the vinegar, and the lemon juice to the jar, close the jar, and shake vigorously to mix up the dressing. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cut the remaining half an avocado into rough chunks.
4. Divide the spinach between two bowls. Top each with some avocado pieces, crumbled bacon, and a generous helping of warm brussels sprouts. Spoon some of the avocado vinaigrette over each salad and toss to coat. Serve immediately

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One of the most buzz-worthy cookbooks released so far this spring is Vegetable Literacy, Deborah Madison’s information-packed ode to cooking with vegetables. Since I’m already planning for the gardening season ahead and dreaming of what to do with all of our fresh, home-grown vegetables, I was thrilled to receive a copy to augment my daydreaming.

This book is wholly centered around the plant kingdom. The chapters are organized by plant family, e.g. the knotweed family – sorrel, rhubarb, and buckwheat, or the nightshade family – potatoes, eggplants, peppers, and tomatoes. Within each chapter, each vegetable is given a lengthy introduction that mixes history, culture, biology, and even linguistics into a tale of the vegetable that is guaranteed to teach you something. (I’m still utterly fascinated by what I learned about Belgian endives – they grow on these massive roots, but in the dark!) Then the narrative moves on to discuss the best varieties (which reminds me of Tender), using the whole plant, kitchen wisdom, good flavor companions (which reminds me of The Flavor Bible), and how-tos (how to roast peppers, how to freeze garden-fresh swiss chard), before presenting us with the recipes that showcase that vegetable.

That may sound like a lot of information for every vegetable – and it is! Vegetable Literacy doesn’t follow the current trend of having pretty pictures with every recipe (although when there are pictures, they’re lovely, just not the focus), or having fun graphics and sidebars – this cookbook is all about the words. Even visually it’s about the words – there are entire two-page spreads that are simply four columns of text. But it’s well written, highly informative, and horizon broadening – it’s easy to read and easy to learn from.  The recipes themselves are creative and unabashedly healthy, and would provide any avid home-gardener with years worth of dishes to try using their home produce in. I already can’t wait for my peas to come up so I can try the Peas with Baked Ricotta and Bread Crumbs, and I’m intrigued by combinations such as Corn Cookies with Almonds and Raisins, and Tomato and Cilantro Soup with Black Quinoa. There’s plenty of new ideas to hold my attention as a cook.

Coming back from a weekend of traveling and indulging with my girlfriends, I needed something fresh and simple to help re-balance my system. There were plenty of choices of fresh, delicious meals in Vegetable Literacy, but March is actually a tough season for local vegetables in New England – root vegetables are tired and everyone’s minds are on spring, but the first homegrown peas are still months away. So I went for a year-round staple, kale, and settled on this Soba Noodle Salad with raw kale, raw brussels sprouts, and a sesame-soy dressing. I liked that the noodles made the dish filling but the veggies remained uncooked, keeping as much of their nutrition as possible. It was easy to make and tasty, and I can definitely see adding a little bit of this or that (shredded carrot? raw red peppers?) as the seasons change.

The bottom line: Vegetable Literacy is a well-written and highly informative cookbook that offers both healthy, veggie-focused recipes and a wealth of information on the history, culture, and biology of the plants we find on our plates. Truly, it straddles the line between cookbook and encyclopedia. I’d recommend this book to anyone with an interest in gardening or vegetarian cooking, as it will likely expand your horizons on both topics.

Disclaimer: I was sent a review copy of Vegetable Literacy by Ten Speed Press, but I was not otherwise compensated for writing this review and all opinions are my own.

Soba Noodles with Kale, Slivered Brussels Sprouts and Sesame Dressing

Adapted slightly from Vegetable Literacy. Serves 3-4.

• 8 oz. soba noodles
• 8 tsp sesame oil, divided
• 1 bunch Tuscan kale OR one 5-oz box baby kale
• sea salt
• 8 Brussels sprouts
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 TBS brown rice wine vinegar
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 TBS sesame seeds, toasted in a dry skillet until golden
• 2 pinches red chile flakes
• handful of slivered chives or scallions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, then cook the soba noodles according to package directions. Drain, then toss with 3 tsp of the sesame oil.
2. While the noodles are cooking, prepare the veggies. Wash and dry the kale. If using large, Tuscan kale, remove the leaves from the stems, then, working in batches, stack the leaves, roll them up tightly, and slice into thin ribbons. Place the ribbons in a large bowl. If using baby kale, simply put the clean dry leaves into the bowl. Add 2 tsp of the sesame oil and 1/4 tsp sea salt, then massage with your hands until the leaves have started to shrink and glisten.
3. Remove the outer leaves from the Brussels sprouts, cut off the bottom stem, then slice them as thinly as possible, using a mandoline (carefully!) if you have one. Cut the slices into slivers, then toss with the kale.
4. Pound the garlic into a paste with 1/8 tsp salt in a mortar and pestle. Whisk in the rice vinegar, then the remaining 3 tsp sesame oil, then the soy sauce, until you have a smooth dressing. Pour over the kale and Brussels sprouts and toss to coat. Toss with the cooked noodles, sesame seeds, and red chile flakes. Finish with chives or scallions, and serve at room temperature or chilled.

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The big day is almost here! I’m headed home for the holiday (and bringing this cake and this salad with me), but I wanted to say a quick hello first and share with you this yummy little recipe I’ve put together for Greatist. When you all come out of your turkey and mashed potato comas, give this hash a try. It’s got brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, roasted chestnuts, chorizo, and goat cheese – in other words, health and flavor. The perfect thing to ease you back into normal eating habits without depriving you of deliciousness. Just please don’t forget a sunny-side up egg to top it off – the runny yolk oozing into the warm hash lifts this dish from good to great. You can find the full recipe here.

Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving!

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