DIY: Almond-lemon almost tart

I finally baked something that came out right. Everyone at the office liked it so I gave my self a pat on the back :p

It's an "almost tart" because it resembles one, but contains no flour. That's all egg...but it's not mushy or too eggy either. It's sweet and light. Too easy to mess up!

Directions found here~ Or just look at the copy and paste job below:



Recipe: Pan-Baked Lemon-Almond Tart Time: About 20 minutes

4 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

Pinch of salt

1/2 cup ground almonds

1/2 cup cream

1/2 cup sliced almonds, more for garnish

1 lemon, zest and juice

2 tablespoons butter

Powdered sugar, for garnish.

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. In a bowl, combine eggs, sugar, salt, ground almonds, cream, sliced almonds, lemon zest and juice.

2. Melt butter in an 8-inch ovenproof skillet over low heat; when foam has subsided, add almond mixture to pan, tilting pan to distribute batter evenly. Continue to cook tart on stovetop until edges just begin to set, then put pan in oven and finish cooking, about 10 to 15 minutes more.

3. When tart is done, put it in broiler for about a minute or until just golden on top. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and sliced almonds. Serve.

Yield: 4 servings.

DIY: I think I feel like Korean

된장국! (Dwenjang-guk)

The staple soup for all Koreans. I've never cooked it, but there's no reason to delay the inevitable. All Koreans above the age of 25 must know how to cook it...It's the law

You can go plain jane (like mine above) or go crazy with it. It's what you make of it...most of the time. I used napa cabbage, green chili, tofu and those stringy mushrooms.

The stock is flavored with dried anchovies and obviously brown soy paste. To add a bit of spice, you can stir in some pepper paste or use kimchi instead of that boring unfermented stuff.

But there's 1 more ingredient I forgot to mention. Flour. Everyday, multi-purpose flour. It's my semi-educated guesss that it helps thicken the soup. No one likes a watery soy bean soup that's for sure~ :p

Bodega: Spanish Sizzle? Or Down in a Fizzle

"I had hope. My God. I live on it. Anyway, you ended up disappointing me more than, um- more than any of the other silly..."

Plainly put the Bodega was a real let down. I really had high hopes considering Bodega ran with the reputation of being one of the few Spanish places in Korea. So much potential, but executed poorly.

You enter a Spanish restaurant expecting a lot of warmth

and color. On the contrary, it was dead and dull. It looked

like the management wasn't quite sure whether to build an

up-scale restaurant or a classic bar.

A look at the menu. Nothing special going on here.

A typical dinner including a glass of wine, appetizer,

entree and desert can cost around $50.00

Not bad, but considering the cost of living here it could

be considered expensive.

Complimentary tapas thanks to our sheer foreignness perhaps.

The consensus? Good. Nothing more and nothing less. A clean

beginning to the meal. Someone did mention that it was not very

authentic.

Salmon salad. Looked great...just wish I could say the same

about the taste. Really bland.

Both the lamb and sirloin were delicious. Nicely seasoned and juicy. The only problem was that they were both terribly undercooked. Do Koreans not understand the difference between medium and rare? Inexcusable considering there were a total of 4 tables during dinner service.

An over cooked salmon steak with an overpowering olive

flavor. None of my friends enjoyed it.

Soup de jour: Onion Soup. Buttery, buttery, buttery....why

don't you just give me a stick of butter with some onions.

We ordered 1 of each desert, hehehe. In a clockwise direction:

Flan, rice pudding, Santiago cake and chocolate mousse. The

chocolate was rich and creamy. Everything else was average.

I love how in a country that works primarily with rice, it was

the worst out of the 4.

A laptop sat 5 feet from me that was hooked up to a big screen

playing Spanish music videos.

Really? -_-;

Verdict: Poopy

Besides the carne entrees (which were undercooked) the

food was nothing to be heralded about. On top of that the wait

staff were totally inattentive and clearly inexperienced. It took

one server 5 tries to lift and place a soup mug.

DIY: Fast and Furious

I only have limited time at work to prepare lunch so I like to have a few quick recipes memorized. These require minimal prep time and very few ingredients. On top of that they don't require you to sacrifice flavor.












The speediest of them all is probably this chicken parm I saw Jamie Oliver make on Mark Bittman's The Minimalist (YouTube "the minimalist"). I made it for lunch today...the student's were jealous :)


Lightning Fast Chicken Parm

Chicken Breast Fillet
Pepper
Thyme
Prosciutto (or very thin ham)
Grated Parmesan
Olive Oil

1. Season the fillet with pepper and thyme.
2. Cover seasoned meat with cling wrap and flatten to help cook evenly.
3. Grate fresh parmesan over the meat
4. Layer prosciutto or ham on top
5. Get a pan nice and hot with olive oil
6. Cook
7. Drizzle with some balsamic vinegar


You'll know when to flip by observing the color change from pink to white. I usually wait untill it is 2/3 of the way up. I didn't follow Jamie's instructions to a "T". Like adding lemon zest. Who cares about zest when you've got 45 minutes! Prosciutto is impossible to find in Korea so I subbed that with really thin ham. Oh, and just threw in some baby tomatoes in the oil after I took the chicken out. Tomatoes taste amazing fresh so I don't do much to them.

DIY: "Key to a Man's Heart" meal

I can only think of a few things one can eat that is heartier and more satisfying like steak and potatoes. It's simple, tastes great and really easy to make. The biggest hurdle in making this dish is cooking the steak to perfection (whatever that might be for you).

Yesterday, I cooked the perfect steak.










Let's leave presentation alone for now 'cause we want to focus on the meat!
I know I cooked it myself, but it was so good~
Juicy, full of flavor and just the right amount of pink inside.
If you got some sirloin in the fridge why don't you treat yourself to some moo meat tonight.


Steak on a Pan

1. Get your meat to room temperature.
You don't want it dead cold in the center it'll cook terribly.

2. With a rolling pin tenderize by rooolling it across the meat.
Don't bash it please.

3. Collect excess moisture by dabbing it with paper towel.

4. Season with salt and pepper on both sides of the steak.
Liberally (don't be a wuss).

5. Put pan on heat and get it good and hot.
Not scorching hot though.

6. Oil on pan

7. When pan starts to smoke, place meat in the center.

8. Cook 2 1/2 ~ 3 minutes on each side.
Time will change depending on thickness of meat.

9. When close to completion, add a nob of butter and bathe that steak in the buttery goodness.

Done.

삼청각 (Sam-cheong-Gak): Where Dead Presidents Party

Yesterday I recieved a call from my aunt.
We will keep her anonymous, so let's call her Aunt O. It's not "O" becuase she's old either...
Anyway, after promising to catch up with her for the past 6 months, I finally decided to hike my lazy ass all the way up to 혜화 (hye-wha).

It's so freakn far.

I'm not a bad newphew really, I love the ' ole gal. But what really sold me on the proposition was that my uncle from the states would join us. In other words, my meal is getting paid for *cha ching*

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To the food!
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삼청각 is located in the 삼청동 (Samdchung-dong) area.
Go to 종각 (jong-gak) station line #1 and take a short cab ride.
삼청동 is a great place for food, seriously, a lot of different cuisine.
A great date course by the way ;)

History has it that this was THE place for politicians to get down. In fact, it's been a relatively short time since us commoners have been allowed inside. It's a beautiful place to visit during warm weather seasons. When you get inside you'll notice a warm and cozy enviornment a.k.a snooze fest. It's a quiet korean eatery that's dressed like a high class restaurant. Ideally I would take foreigners interested in korean cuisine or to impress a girl. She'll be happy to know that you'll be spending at least a benji for dinner.

Sooooo....what the food like?
You know what? It's pretty good! Course meals are a mix of korean and fusion dishes that range anywhere from $40 to $120 big ones. Per person mind you, so that would be $240 for a date. Yea...my thoughts exactly...

My favorite dish was scallops served cold with sesame seed sauce. On the left is the course I ordered. You might see some of your favorites such as bulgogi and octopus stir fry.

Overall, it was a great evening. The food came out hot and in a timely manner. The service was excellent. The location is superb. My only wish is that they could have made it more authentic. Traditionally Korean food is served on a big table with appetizers, entrees and deserts all ready to go. This is called 진수성찬 or "butt load of food on table". More than anything it's the array of various dishes in all their color and glory that is the true Korean dining experience. Cute waitresses dressed in hanbok would have also been awesome.