Weekend Eats

It's hard to admit, but sometimes children's snacks inspire my weekend meals. A sparse ham sandwich has been making a daily trip in one of my little girls' snack boxes for the past few weeks. This is my grown up version.

And what is a sandwich without a good salad?

Eli and I were lucky to find arugula at the local grocery store, Sahruga.

The recipes are as follows:

Ham Sandwich

1/2 round of rye bread from Peter Pan Bakery
2 packets of sandwich ham
2 handfuls of arugula
Cheddar cheese
Dijon mustard
Mayonnaise

Slice the bread into thick pieces. Spread one side with Dijon mustard and layer thickly with ham. Lay the cheese on top and put the two sides together. Slide the sandwiches into the oven or toaster oven on a cookie sheet. If possible, press the sandwiches down with a pizza tile.

While the sandwiches are toasting, wash and dry the arugula. Once the bread is toasty on both sides, pull them out. Add arugula and mayonnaise to taste.

Makes enough for 2 hungry people.

Caprese Salad on Arugula

1 small Mozzarella ball
2 small, ripe tomatoes
2 handfuls of arugula
1/2 can of whole pitted black olives
1/2 lemon
Basil
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground pepper

Wash and dry arugula. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Squeeze the lemon over the arugula. Lay the tomato and mozzarella slices on the bed of greens. Chop the basil finely and sprinkle over the top. Add more olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Arrange the olives around the tomatoes and cheese.

Weekend Eats

When life gets tough, the tough get going. Once the work week is finished, I can put aside my tough demeanor and settle into some relaxing weekend activities. One of my favorites is eating. Below is a photo journal of the eating that's been happening at the nest recently, with some recipes to follow.

Eli's black beans and salsa, and breakfast quesadillas

Good 'ole pancakes, eggs and bacon

Shrimp alfredo and a glass of Cava

Kimchi Bokkeumbap

Still haven't purchased a rice cooker yet, but I managed to get my hands on some rice anyway. With kimchi still in the fridge, it is time for another attempt at Korean food. This time: kimchi bokkeumbap.

Kimchi bokkeumbap is just kimchi fried rice, so I didn't really need a recipe. I just kinda went with it.

Here's my version, made with the following:

1 egg
a bowlful of chopped kimchi, very sour
gochung to taste
two cups cooked rice
sesame oil
kim
chopped green onions

First, I fried my egg. The ajumas at my favorite diner do it in super hot oil sunny side up, but I am still not brave enough to leave my egg yolk jiggly on top. I did it easy over.

I put the egg aside and put the kimchi in the hot pan along with some gochung. I let it cook until the kimchi was pretty soft and then added some kimchi juice and the rice. Mixing it thoroughly, I let the rice and kimchi cook until the rice was soft.

I put the rice and kimchi on a plate, slid the egg on top, and sprinkled some kim and sesame oil on top. A bit of green onion, and it was ready to be eaten!

Next time I think I'll add some onions and some tofu, but even just like this, it was pretty delicious.

Kimchi Chigae

Eggs and bacon are delicious, but you can't eat them every day. Since moving to my own place, I haven't done much cooking during the week. After two or three days of scrounging on scraps, I decided to put something real together: kimchi chigae!

I've been living in Seoul for about two years and I'm sorry to admit that except for one failed attempt at pajong, I haven't cooked any Korean food at all. Despite my blossoming love for Korean food, I just didn't feel the need to cook it at home when it came so cheap at the diners and eateries in the neighborhood. Last week I was blessed with an entire gallon ziplock full of delicious kimchi, though, and I had to do something with it.

After thinking it over - kimchi beokkumbap came to mind - I opted for kimchi chigae as I have yet to buy a rice cooker. A quick google search led me to this beautifully photographed recipe by freelance writer and photographer Marc Matsumoto who is, by the way, also a private chef.

The  most important ingredient in kimchi chigae is, of course, kimchi. And I had the best. Homemade by a bonafied grandmother, it was sour and juicy, and packed with flavor. It also had a fair amount of ginger in it which is not always the case in your average kimchi.

I didn't tweak the recipe much except for using bacon instead of pork belly. Since my bacon is strangely lean, I put some sesame oil in the pot before throwing the meat. Once the bacon, onions and kimchi were in the pot, a heavenly smell began to rise out of my humble kitchen. This recipe is pretty killer.

Here is how my kimchi chigae looked simmering away on my stove top.

I ate enough for two people and still had two servings left. If I could have eaten more, I would have.