• 1 bottle dry white wine (I used Trader Joe’s Sauvignon Blanc)
• 4 whole canned plum tomatoes
• 1 ½ cups half-and-half
• 1 cup heavy cream
• (Recipe asks for 3 lbs mussles) 1.5lb clams
• 6 tablespoons (¾ stick) unsalted butter
• 2 yellow onions
• 1 large leek
• 2 carrots
• 3-5 cloves of garlic (of course I used around 5-6)
• ½ teaspoon saffron
• salt and fresh ground pepper
• fresh dill

The night I decided to make this, Whole Foods never received their shipment of mussles. Seriously. So, desperate, I decided to get large clams to substitute. I love clam broth and it should make a good base for a bisque, right? Well it did. (Phew!)

Needless to say, clean the clams (I usually scrub them and leave them out in some water until they spit out all of gunk/sand stuck in them. You might see some of the spit – kinda fun!). First, the recipe calls to boil 1.5 cups of water and 1 cup wine. Whenever I make clams or mussels, I just steam them with a splash of wine and/or beer. In the future, I would use a little less water. That’s just me. Clean leeks (and discard tough green leaves) and chop the tender white area, mince the onions and garlic, chop the carrots. When the water/wine boils, add the clams/mussels and cook over medium for a few minutes. To avoid over cooking, I would listen for some of them to pop/open. Don’t cook for over 5 minutes. Take the mussles out and when they are cool enough to handle, separate the mussles from the shells (in my case, clams!). Discard anything that didn’t open. Reserve the cooking liquid on the side. (Strain it with cheese cloth to separate from any sand.)

Chop the butter up and heat up a pot. Melt the butter and add the onions, leeks, carrots, garlic, and saffron. Sauté for 5 minutes on high medium heat, and then cook covered for 20 minutes on low heat. I cooked them until the carrots started to tender just a bit (which definitely took some time). After that, add the tomatoes and cover for a few minutes.

Add 2 cups of the reserved cooking liquid (clam/mussle broth) and the rest of the bottle of wine (you weren’t drinking it were you??!?!). Bring the mixture to a boil on high heat, then lower the flame and simmer until the carrots are tender. Once the carrots are tender, add the half and half, cream, and mussles/clams. Heat the mixture and stir until steaming (not boiling). Finely chop a handful of some dill and mix in. Add some salt and pepper to taste.

This takes a little time, but is REALLY EASY to make. You can’t really make a mistake. I mean, it’s going to taste good… look at the butter, half and half, and cream. It’s just butter, cream, broth, and vegetables. And my very talented friend Genevieve (great cook) showed me how to steam mussels and clams years ago and it’s really the easiest thing in the world. The most labor intensive part is just the cleaning. (Which is just quickly scrubbing the buggers and emptying the bowl it sits in for 30 or so minutes)

This was lovely with some nice crusty bread. (And open another bottle of some dry wine!)

• 2 1-pound red-skinned sweet potatoes (yams), rinsed, patted dry, pierced all over with fork. (The forking is actually harder than a regular potato)

• 1 12-ounce container fresh ricotta cheese, drained in sieve for 2 hours – although I just used several paper towels lining a sieve to drain the ricotta faster.

• 1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese (I used Romano cheese and Parnesan)

• 2 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar

• 2 teaspoons plus 2 tablespoons salt

• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg (I used all ready grounded nutmeg)

• 2 3/4 cups (about) all purpose flour (As I will specify below, I used around less than 2 cups of flour over all. Around 1 and … 2/3 cups. The less flour you put in, the less dense the whole thing will be. However, how much flour you need to put will depend on your water content – of the yams and ricotta – so I would be careful to fully drain the ricotta)

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

• 6 tablespoons chopped fresh sage plus whole leaves for garnish

Microwave the yams on high heat for around 5 minutes. If parts of it are not soft enough, microwave for more time. Be careful handling a hot potato. Scrape the insides and mash. Add Parmesan cheese, brown sugar, 2 teaspoons salt, nutmeg and ricotta and blend in.

Mix in flour, about 1/2 cup at a time, until soft dough forms. It will be sticky, but as long as it doesn’t fall apart. Stop when the dough is light, sticky, but sticks together. try not to handle the dough too much as that will make the Gnocchi tougher. (And you really want them light as air) I mixed in less than 2 cups of flour. Don’t forget that you will be flouring them to handle, also.

Place the dough on a floured surface and cut the dough into (recommended by epicurious) 6 equal pieces. I rolled them out into a rope with 1 inch in diameter, and cut the pieces into half an inch pieces. Press the fork gently into each piece to indent and slightly flatten, and put them on a baking sheet. (I lined a large plate with parchment paper, sprinkled them with flour, and layered these babies to freeze until the next day.

To cook them, add water to a big pot, add salt (around 2 tablespoons) and bring to a boil. My main advice to you is work in small batches. I worked in two large batches and i couldn’t take them out in time so they softened quite a bit in the frying pan. The night before, I experimented with a small batch to taste, and it came out PERFECT. (See below.) Although it takes more time, work in small batches and drain the water from the dumplings before pan frying.

When you do boil the gnocchi, don’t leave them in there for the recommended 5-6 minutes. I would pull them out as soon as they start to float. (Especially if you didn’t put in the full amount of flour – my gnocchis were LIGHT AS AIR, but it was easier to cook them into mush)

Brown butter in a heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook until butter solids are brown and have toasty aroma, swirling pan occasionally, about 3-5 minutes. Add chopped sage (mixture will bubble up). Toss around the pan for couple of seconds before turning off heat. At this stage you can season this sauce with salt and pepper, generously, but I really didn’t need to do anything at all.

Work in small batches again, diving the sauce up and pouring little by little into the frying pan for each of the batches, sauteing the gnocchi in the sauce. They should get slightly crispy. It’s also recommended that if you do want them more crispier on the outside, coat them in flour very quickly before sauteing.

Divide the gnocchi and the sauce up and serve with a garnish of Parmesan and sage.

I don’t know if I am a David Chang fan, per se, but there is no question that he is a controversial figure in the cooking scene. I hate drawing lines, like, “I dislike the fact that he cusses so much,” or “I think he is over-rated, and I am going to avoid super-exposed ‘it’ celebrity chefs.” No, I wanted to go to Momofuku Ko, and I finally got to taste the $175 3 hour lunch course. I am still dying to try to Ssam Bar Pork Butt, the family style dish for $200, which is only available for reservations for 6 or more people. I tried Momofuku Noodle bar 3 years ago and, frankly, I disliked the ramen. The ramen is salty, not porky enough, and not greasy enough with the “umami” of “koku.” It’s all about the “Koku,” with me and ramen. Don’t try to do a pork ramen without doing it Tonkotsu style. Bitch, please… I’m from Kyushuu. Still, Hitachino beer and the pork belly buns at Noodle Bar almost made up for it all. I thought, he doesn’t know ramen, but it still didn’t keep me from wanting to try the Ko. To add insult to injury, THE GUY FUCKING HATES CUPCAKES! WHAT IS UP WITH THAT? How can you wage a war against something so deliciously perfect? We obviously CANNOT be BFFs. Sorry, David. So, I will admit, though, that on the other hand I really admired his fresh outlook. He also reminded me of what my father was trying to do, as a chef, with his cooking. He also kind of reminds me of the way my dad looked, and not because all Asian people look the same. ; ) (Ok, I might as well admit it right here, I might have a bit of a Daddy Complex with David Chang – except he is decades still younger than my dad.) Hrm. Ok, this is where I will stop being creepy. Sorry David!

That all being said… I loved this book. It’s a cookbook and autobiographical hybrid, that’s fresh, sincere, and filled with momofuku recipes. Seriously. I mean, put aside the fact of whether you can do it as well as the restaurant types… you like his ramen broth? (uh…) You can make it with this book. You want to make his signature frozen foie gras dish from Ko? YOU CAN WITH THIS BOOK! For reals:

You need a scale for this recipe, but I’m thinking that if you’re going to shell out the cash for a lobe of foie gras, that isn’t a problem–and you definitely don’t want to fuck it up.

But, seriously, I really have no idea why anyone would try to make a torchon of foie gras at home. I could write a million words about doing it–Thomas Keller’s got a longer recipe than we do in his French laundry cookbook–but cleaning foie gras is ineffable. Track down a torchon from a specialty foods shop, freeze it, and then go to town. But for those who won’t be deterred by common sense, here’s our recipe…

There are many accessible recipes. Then, there are things like the above, where I appreciate his frankness. It’s ballsy to put the recipe of all his signature dishes in this book. I suppose if you are known enough, it’s pretty hard to see a shaved frozen foie gras with riesling gelee and not think, David F-ing Chang. I mean, if another restaurant “steals,” the recipe, well… it’s obviously lame.

So, getting back to the recipe at hand, Ryan and I decided to make Spicy Pork Sausage & Rice Cakes, Roasted Rice Cakes (Dok Boki), and (poached) Cherry Tomato Salad w/ Soft Tofu & Shiso. Ryan was in charge of the first dish, while I concentrated on the second (vegetarian dish) and the last dish.

I will feature what I did for the Dok Boki and Cherry Tomato Salad.

“Korean Red Dragon Sauce”

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 ssamjang
• 2 tablespoons soysauce
• 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar (which I didn’t have, so I used cider vinegar)
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil

This makes way TOO much sauce for the dok boki alone. However, this can be kept and added to other things. After using the above recipe, I would honestly cut the sugar to 1/3 of a cup or less. This is just my preference.

Bring the water and sugar to a boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Add the ssamjang, making sure it is dissolved. Then add the rest of the ingredients to taste.

• 1/4 cup mirin
• I can vegetable broth reduced to 1/4 cup (leave boiling)
• 1/2 cup Korean Dragon Sauce
• 1/4 cup slow roasted onions (until very tender)
• 2 tablespoon grapeseed oil
• 1 package rice sticks
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• 1/2 cup sliced scallions

Combine mirin and vegetable broth in saucepan large enough to accomodate the rice cakes. On high heat, wait 2-3 minutes until thickened. Add the red dragon sauce and turn the heat down to medium, and reduce the sauce to a glossy consistency, 6 to 7 minutes. Stir in the slow roasted onions.

“In a cast-iron skillet,” heat pan under medium high heat until hot. Add the oil to the pan, and right before it smokes, add the rice cakes. Once they sizzle, you can drop the heat down to a medium. Sear the rice cakes on each side for a few minutes until lightly golden.

Bring the sauce back to a boil and mix the rice cakes in. Evenly coat and serve with sesame seeds and scallions on top.

Cherry Tomato Salad

• 1-2 packages of cherry tomatos OR a bag of mixed cherry tomatos (I believe the more colorful the better – it would be beautiful)
• 1/4 sherry vinegar (I used cider vinegar)
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• olive oil (the recipe calls for 1/2 cup grapeseed oil)
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• silken tofu
• shiso leaves (I couldn’t find it in Portland, so I used Taiwanese Basil instead… it was really interesting)

So, after Sarah’s party, I was all about the cooked tomatoes. When I found this recipe, I was excited about poaching tomatoes! Seperate around 15-20% of the tomatoes for use later. The rest, draw a small “X” at the end of the tomato. This is going to make peeling the tomato after poaching, easy. Just lightly break the skin of the tomato with the “X” with a paring knife. Boil some water with salt, and poach the tomatoes in there for 20-30 seconds. Drain the tomatoes and run some cold water over them, and peel. Cut the poached and raw cherry tomatoes in half.

I diced the tofu, after slightly draining and patting dry. The recipe itself calls to mold the tofu… uh eh. The idea of this dish is the serve the tomatoes with (with two types of texture and flavors) in a soy vinegarette over tofu, where the tofu takes on the precise qualities of a mozzarella. I was skeptical of the tofu mozzarella transubstantiation, and was looking to get mozzarella for this recipe instead. In the end, I went with the tofu and was surprised at the creamy texture it showed. I am usually accustomed to the silky slippery nature of tofu.

Mix the rest of the ingredients to taste. I think I added a bit more vinegar and sesame oil in the end, but do it to your liking. Drizzle some olive oil on top and pour tomatoes on top of the tofu generously with a matching generous glaze of the vinegarette. The variation of the cooked and uncooked tomatoes is great.

It was a little labor intensive, but the results were well worth it. Sprinkle some shiso on top, and you’re done. This accompanies hot dishes well… which characterizes Ryan’s dish perfectly. It asked for nearly 2 cups of dried red chile peppers, among other spicy ingredients. I think he toned it down a notch, but it still burned hot and strong. LOOK AT HOW MANY CHILE PEPPERS I GOT IN MY PLATE! I really liked the heartiness of the ground pork, but Ryan seemed to think that pork belly would go nicer.

Also, on a more general note, he thinks the cookbook isn’t descriptive enough to follow. I didn’t find this to be the case, yet. Still, this book is awfully chatty with tons of tangents. I kind of like it. I think he needs strict instructions, and instead the methods seem like an oral dictation, and not scientifically noted.

Prompted by @sarahcarter on twitter, I made Richard Olney’s Garlic Soup recipe found on 101 Cookbooks.

• 12+ chopped garlic
• handful of dried bay leaves
• couple of shakes of the dried sage (yeah… real scientific here)
• 3-4 sprigs of thyme
• teaspoon of sea salt to start
• 1 whole egg + 2 yolks
• 1/4 cup grated pecorino romano (I didn’t have parmesan)
• some crumbled havarti cheese (and also some to nibble on)
• freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 cup of olive oil

I had most of the ingredients and felt like something creamy and warm. And I always love garlic. The crazy thing is, this recipe calls for around 12 cloves of garlic. I just used the left over garlic we had + a whole head of garlic. Around 12 cloves, if not more. I didn’t have sage leaves on hand, so I put in some dried sage powder I had. Otherwise, I had dried up bay leaves, thyme that I threw in, and was set. (I had no bread on hand, which sucked)

Boil 4 cups of water in pot, then bay leaf, sage, thyme, garlic, and salt and let simmer for 40 minutes. While this is happening the whole apartment will smell like garlic and thyme, and it will be heaven. Also, when I tasted this broth, I thought it was kind of subtle and delicious on its own. I definitely incorporated this into the Japanese curry dish later on this week. (I usually like to add a bit of chicken stock to my roux for Japanese curry, but instead I used this broth in a vegetarian version I made for Ryan’s sister)

Whisk egg and additional yolk in a bowl, adding the grated cheese in. Keep whisking until creamy. Slowly whisk in the olive oil. Then, ladle a spoonful of the garlic broth into this mixture and whisk. Put the broth in small increments since you don’t want to “cook” the eggs. This step is mainly to acclimate the egg mixture to the high temperature without separating.

I put couple of ladle-fuls into the egg mixture to just be safe. The recipe itself just calls for one. You be the judge. Then, pour the egg mixture into the broth and whisk it continuously over low heat until the mixture thickens. What I experienced and Sarah told me later, it takes quite a while for the soup to thicken. I was whisking for a good 10+ minutes until I just took it off the heat and served. It did thicken at that point, but I wanted it to be thicker. Also, at this point, I added the additional crumbled havarti cheese.

I imagine that you could add more cheese if you’d like after the fact, but the mixtures can vary slightly. I think as long as you have the ratio of the yolk/egg to the water. I also cheated and added some milk in the last minute, just a splash to make it a little creamy and milder. I also added a shit ton of salt, because I’m an ass. I failed. Still, it was pretty delicious.

This hit the spot, because it’s been FREEZING here. I think the night that I made this, Ryan was working late on his document or lecture recital or something. I was cranky and needed some way to get my mind off work. You know, nothing happened, but at the end of the work day, you just need to grab a can of beer and exert your energy into something creative or productive. Cooking is great, because you feel creative, you are doing some manual, and in the end you have something you can eat. Always a plus in my book. I think later this evening Ryan came home, then Kevin came over, and then we topped off the night with some Tacos from the bodega.

The soup was a nice starter.

I was really excited and couldn’t wait to make it… however, given the nature of the task at hand, I didn’t want to multitask making cheese and preparing dinner. This is why I waited until the weekend when the cheese can have my undivided attention.

The instructions on the leener’s site was pretty darn good. For additional reference, I used A Good Appetite’s entry, also. I have a few side notes to add… mostly so people don’t make the same mistake I did.

Overall the cheese making was a success. I was actually a little nervous, because I was cutting the recipe down to 1/4, since I was making it with a fourth of a gallon. I didn’t want to start off with such a large batch. Also, I don’t have gigantic pots. However, cutting the rennet tablet into 1/8th proved to be simple. However measuring 1/16th of something when I only have measuring spoons up until 1/8th proved to be a little bit of guess work.

I measured out everything ahead of time and dissolved the lipase, rennet, and calcium chloride into around two teaspoons of distilled (or boiled) water.

• 4 cups of 2% organic pasturized store bought milk
• 1/2 teaspoon of citric acid
• 1/16 teaspoon of lipase dissolved in 2 teaspoons of boiled water
• 1/8 teaspoon of calcium chloride dissolved in 2 teaspoons of boiled water
• 1/8 rennet tablet dissolved in 1 tablespoon of boiled water
• 1/8 teaspoon of flaked salt

I stirred in the calcium chloride, lipase, and citric acid, while heating. What I found troubling, was that the milk heated up in no time. This might be because I was using only 1/4 of the milk described. It took less than 5 minutes to heat under medium. If you are making cheese in small batches, I would use low flame, while stirring constantly. Also, before putting the rennet in at 88 degrees, I would turn the heat off, stir it in, then start the flame up again on low heat.

Once I put the rennet in, it heated up to 105 in a matter of seconds. Seriously. (I had a digital meat thermometer, I kept an eye on the cooking temperature.) I would try to slow this down a little bit, next time. The cheese by then curdled like the above photo, and I left the mixture covered for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, I drained the mixture (while squeezing with a slotted spoon), and for good measure, I strained the whey. I dumped the curds in a microwavable silicon bowl and heated on high for 60 seconds as directed. The cheese was super soft and tender. I squeezed the whey out and at this point I could have kneaded the salt in. However, stupid me microwaved it again for 10 seconds and started kneading. This made the cheese super tough after a while. “When am I suppose to pull this sucker?” I thought. So I went back to the blog and I realized that initially it was all ready sticking to the spoon when I first microwaved it. Please, don’t over microwave it.

However, I salvaged it by adding some whey and re-microwaving for 30 seconds. This softened the mixture and I just took out without without stretching, since I wanted it soft. Then I served on multigrain loaf drizzled with olive oil, topped with mozzarella and tomatoes, with some more olive oil and a pinch of salt on top.

It passed the taste test and Ryan loved it. I would post a picture of the final product before eating, but… Ryan ate it all before I was able to finish this picture post. (mumble mumble) It was quite easy, quick, and delicious. Seriously, the whole thing took under an hour. Next time, I am going to make it out of whole milk (I will try half a gallon, next time) and marinade these suckers in olive oil with herbs.