mary eats

Over the years, what I’ve learned about Thanksgiving dinner is, that my interest lies in leftovers. Rather than get crafty with indigenous grain stuffing or made from scratch pumpkin soup served in a hallowed out pumpkin, I far more look forward to the sum of leftovers begging to be played with in the following days. Not because I don’t want to shower my family and friends with delectable treats from my kitchen, no- I just know that two makers on the rocks and several glasses of wine in, my soft focus vision and bleeding heart will be aimed at the company I’m in, not what is on my plate.

But the day after Thanksgiving, sober- with the exception of a good luck egg nog, that is when my creative turkey juices flow and perverse thoughts of food slip into my head. The things you can do to a turkey! This year, in addition making a pretty run of the mill stock,- oh, let me tell you this, that if you live in 550 square feet and you have stock on the stove it is absolutely, without a doubt, impossible to nap, as every time you just start to fall asleep, a waft of turkey goodness fills you nostrils and sends a rumble to your belly. What sent me into the food coma in the first place, were my Thanksgiving spring rolls, as pictured below. That is one complete turkey dinner neatly wrapped in spring roll, deep fried, and served with gravy dipping sauce.

Part inspired by Food and Wine’s Leftover Challenge to Momofuku chef David Chang, and some deep fried pumpkin pie wontons I made a few years ago.

The recipe?

1 package Spring Roll wrappers

1 egg, beaten

All the leftovers you have: Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, and cranberry sauce

Canola oil.

Place enough canola oil in a large deep frying pan so that you have a good inch or so, and heat over medium heat. While the oil is coming to temperature, assemble spring rolls.

Place one wrapper in front of you, rotated so that one of the four corners points at you. Place a small amount of the mashed potatoes in the center of the wrapper in a log shape. Build upon that with the stuffing, turkey, and whatever else, careful not to stuff them too full or to get too close to the edge.

Fold the bottom corner of the spring roll up over the filling and roll over away from you once. Fold the two sides in over the bundle. Using your finger, brush the egg mixture over along the top edge, and roll the bundle forward to seal. Repeat with remaining wrappers and leftovers.

For great step by step instructions for how to roll spring rolls click here, or for video instruction, here.

Place two or three spring rolls in the frying pan and cook until golden. Watch for hot spots. If the rolls begin to brown too quickly, carefully, with tongs, lift rolls from the oil and set aside until oil cools down. Don’t crowd the pan as that will cause the oil temperature to drop. Fry up all the rolls and drain either on a plate lined with paper towels or a cooling rack set inside a baking sheet.

On to the dipping sauce! Slowly reheat the gravy, adding a bit more stock or seasonings as you see fit.

Other leftover ideas? I did wrestle up a thanksgiving omelet, filled with turkey and cranberry sauce. Yours?

Last night I attended a food bloggers event here in Seattle, something I don’t often do because a, I haven’t been blogging (you noticed, didn’t you), and b, I still think it odd to sit in a room full of people who I might or might not follow on twitter, who I might have read some odd personal bit of information about on their blog, and vica versa, and NOT SAY HI, or have them say hi to me, like I’ve known them for years. Let’s be honest, It’s weird. Like online dating, but wooing with food and a touch of look look away.

The absolutely adorable Keren Brown (you have to hear this girl laugh, it will send an honest grin across your face- Keren I’m being sincere!!) hosted food celebrity, Jaden of SteamyKitchen.com- THE resource for Asian Recipes. All us food bloggers were asked to bring our signature dish to be judged by Jaden. I brought along not a signature dish, but a signature style of dish, the grain salad, something I’ve been consuming a lot of over the summer and well into fall.

As a single lady in the city, I’m a fan of a dish that is going to offer more than just a wild night of culinary esctasy. I want something that is going to last me a bit, sustain me. The brilliance of grain salads is that they lend themselves beautifully to leftover reincarnations. No wham-bam-thank-you-mam here.

• You can throw them into a tortilla, or rice paper, with some greens, pickles and various condiments for a lunch time wrap/spring roll
• Add an egg, form into patties, dredge in flour and pan fry. Serve with a lusty sauce (ghetto aioli- vegenaise with mashed garlic and sea salt is my personal favorite)
• Boil some bow tie pasta and toss with the grain salad, along with a handful of baby spinach or arugula.
• Fill and shape egg roll wrappers into samosas, deep fry and serve with an tangy accompaniment, ie spring roll dipping sauce, dijon mustard mixed with a bit of maple syrup, or… ahem- ghetto aioli.

Below is my current go-to and my offering at the food bloggers meet up. Make a big batch and keep in the fridge for up to four days, single lady or not.

Red Quinoa, Cilantro and Carrot Salad, with Red Onion, Avocado and Toasted Almonds
Makes 4 servings, takes an hour.

3/4 cup red quinoa, rinsed and drained
1 1/2 cup chicken stock, vegetable stock or water* if using water add a good pinch of salt for flavor.
1 bunch carrots (about 5), peeled and sliced on the diagonal into rounds, and sliced in half again (half moons)
1/2 red onion, julienned, soaked in a bowl of cold water for 15 minutes* soaking the onions in cold water helps to take some of the heartburn bite out of them!
1/2 cup cilantro leaves, washed and dried
1/2 cup almonds, toasted and chopped
1 avocado, peeled, pitted and diced

Dressing
Juice and zest of 1 lime (about 1 1/2 tablespoons)
Agave nectar or Honey to taste (at least a teaspoon)
1/2 a jalapeno, veins and seeds removed, small diced
1 1-inch piece ginger, peeled, and near minced
A big dash of fish sauce- if that’s the type of thing you keep in your cupboard.
1 1/2 tablespoons canola or grapeseed oil
Kosher Salt

1. Place quinoa in a medium sauce pan and add chicken stock. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, cover with a lid and cook for 15 minutes. Remove lid and if too soupy (the quinoa should look like cooked rice, no liquid floating about), drain in a fine mesh strainer and return to pot. Fluff with a fork, replace the lid and let sit off the heat for 15 minutes. Transfer quinoa to a baking sheet, spread out the grains and allow to cool to room temperature.

2. While the quinoa is cooling, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add carrots and faster than it takes to update your status on facebook, drain and rinse with could water (about 2 minutes). Transfer carrots to a large bowl. Add the onion, cilantro, nuts, and avocado.

3. In a another large bowl, mix the lime juice with the avage nectar, jalapeno, ginger, and fish sauce to combine. While whisking, slowly add the oil in a pencil thick stream. Continue whisking until the dressing is emulsified. Add a wee pinch of salt and taste. What do you think? Is it good? Does it need more agave? More lime? More salt? Adjust the seasonings by adding just a touch at a time. At this point I like to pour out about half that dressing and reserve it in a separate bowl, you can always add more later.

4. Add the carrot onion mixture to the bowl with the dressing, and using tongs, toss to evenly coat the veggies. Add in the cooled quinoa and toss to combine. Taste again. What do you think? Does it need more dressing? Yeah? Well go on! Add a little more, tasting after every addition. How about the salt? Good? No? Add a bit more. Need more heat? chop up the rest of that jalapeno that will likely end up in a sad coat of plastic wrap in the back corner of your produce drawer and throw it in. Continue tasting and adjusting until you’re satisfied.

Serve the salad in a large shallow bowl, garnished with a few more cilantro leaves or chopped almonds, or dish up onto individual plates, or, if like me, you live alone, eat right out of the mixing bowl.

Delicious, right? Well here are some tips to keeping that salad fresh over the next few days. Add the highly perishable items (the avocado, the nuts) as you go. These will keep fine in the fridge, however the moisture will soften those nuts right up. Same goes for the dressing. You can easily toss all the salad ingredients and keep that dressing on the side, only adding as you go.

Ssam -Korean for “to wrap”, is an ideal summer dinner; light, quick to make, and of course the opportunity to play with your food. The idea is that you wrap something, traditionally rice, garlic, and ssamjang in lettuce, fold the leafy green over into a nice little bundle and eat.

Versions of the dish are endless, you can use just about any small slices of meat, think slab bacon, thinly sliced steak, chicken tenders. Raw fish: salmon, tuna, or lightly sauteed shrimp.  Vegetables: crunchy jicima, roasted sweet potato and parsnips, cucumber or shredded red cabbage. Wrap with green leaf lettuce, butter leaf or sesame leaf. If you don’t dig ssamjang, try ssam with hoisin or harissa, sirracha or mango chutney even.

Ultimately, this could be a brilliant use of leftovers and condiments housing just a couple tablespoons of product. Pull it all out of the fridge, make some rice, wash lettuce, and viola, dinner.

After last night’s dinner of construct your own spring rolls (there is a theme here), I had a craving for more hoisin sauce. In an effort to tone down ssamjang’s punchy pungency, I decided to combine hoisin and ssamjang. The result? Delicious.  All the flavor notes were hit, sweet from the hoisin, the spicy, salty, and sour from the ssamjang.

Flat Iron Ssam

1 cup short grain sticky rice
1 Flat iron steak, trimmed of silver skin (flank steak works too)
Kosher salt and pepper
1 TBSP canola oil
1 head green leaf lettuce
3 cloves garlic
1/3 cup ssamjang
2 TBSP hoisin Sauce
teriyaki or bulgogi or Asian BBQ sauce optional*

1. Cook rice in a rice cooker or on the stove.

2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Season steak with salt and pepper on each side and cut in half (I only do this because me frying pan is too small to accomodate the steak whole. If yours is big enough or if you are grilling your steak, then by all means, don’t cut it). Heat a sauté pan with 1 TBSP canola oil until pan until shimmering. Place steak halves in pan and sear until nice and brown on each side (about 2-3 minutes per side). Immediately transfer pan into preheated oven and cook until an internal temperature of 140 degrees is reached. About 10 minutes, sometimes more, sometimes less. Remove steaks from the pan and let sit on the cutting board to rest at least 5 minutes.

3. Separate lettuce, wash leaves, and tear off the bottom crunchy bit. Arrange leaves around a large platter.

4. Peel and slice garlic cloves uber thin. Place in a small serving dish and set on platter.

5. In a small ramekin mix together the ssamjang and the hoisin, adjusting by adding more of either until a desired taste is reached.

6. Transfer cooked rice to a serving vessel and place on platter with a serving spoon.

7. Cut the meat ¼ inch thick on the diagonal for thin slices. Place in a bowl with all the yummy juices that have escaped and place on serving platter.

8. Set table with platter, small individual plates, and chop sticks for everyone

Chef’s Notes.
Other condiments that can work if you don’t have ssamjang, are mixing together gochu jang and doenjang, or using a chunky dark miso, or use hoisin and sriracha, or harissa whatever your tastes are.

If you want to further flavor your meet, before transferring pan to oven, pour enough teriyaki, bulgogi, or Asian BBQ sauce over the meat to cover. Turn once while cooking.

To eat ssam, place one leaf of lettuce on your plate, top with a golf ball size of rice. Flatten it out a bit to make a nice surface for which to place a couple slices of meat. Top with a spoonful of ssamjang or other sauce and one or two slices of garlic. Wrap up into a nice little package, less burrito like and more envelope style. Open up and enjoy!

In the week after Thanksgiving every news outlet from NPR to MSN goes through the recipe cards, giving their respective audience dozens of ideas for what to do with mounting leftovers, stacked neatly in the fridge.

The gobbler is a classic, but there are alternative takes, an American southwestern turkey with chipotle sauce. Then there are the standard pot pies, potato croquettes, and casseroles. Exotic takes included a diced turkey and mango cury on rice, and the list goes on.

Our take kept us in America with deep fried pumpkin cheesecake bites and thanksgiving enchiladas.

Putting together the enchiladas was a no brainer. Lay the tortilla flat, fill it up like a burrito with a slather of mashed potatoes, a serving of turkey. A spoonful or two of stuffing, and a pinch of green beans. Wrap it up and place in a glass baking dish. Cover the whole thing with leftover gravy, bake for 30-40 minutes and voila.

The cheesecake I needed a little help with.

I knew I wanted to wrap them in eggroll wrappers, but then what?

How bout a coating of cinnamon sugar and cinnamon?

Perfecto!

What did you do with your leftovers?

The subtle crispness in the air, the ability to sleep at night, a jacket for the morning commute, yes, it is fall.

Finally temperatures have cooled in Seoul. This means I am no longer camping out at Starbucks in front of monolithic air conditioners, bowing down to a false idol. My clothing is no longer regulated to a uniform of breathable jersey t-shirts and skirts (thank you American Appeal). No. I am now free to wear my skinny jeans, oxford shirts, and if I dare, boots. Gasp.

In Seattle I eagerly awaited fall like a child waiting for her birthday. A bounty of winter squashes, dark greens and the return of asparagus were my presents. I couldn’t wait to pull out my trusty orange Le Creuset Dutch oven, stained with years of use, and start a stew or polenta.

With the exception of the pine mushroom, a mushroom that grows at the base of pine trees absorbing a unique pine flavor, fall isn’t specially marked by the return of produce or seasonal dishes. Folks go about like they had before with a few less bowls of Naeng Myeong and a couple less patbingsus.

For me, however, fall is still special, because I can finally turn on the freekin’ stove and make coffee without sweating! Kev and I have started buzzing about the kitchen again, discourse has returned to food related themes.

One of our first fall dishes was a vegetable and ddok sauté. Crisp tender veggies, slightly browned, and toothsome ddok (rice cakes), captured the essence of fall noshing. Comfortable and familiar like putting on a favorite oversized wool sweater. Charmingly rustic, the mix warmed the belly and whetted the appetite for a season of hearty eats.

Ddok and Veggie Stir Fry
Serves two.

2 cups ddok (Korean rice cakes, logs cut on the diagonal found in the refrigerated section at the supermarket)
2 potatoes, quartered
1 Melon, sliced
Handful kale, de-stemmed and chopped
1 carrot, cut to bite sized pieces
2 T soy sauce
1 T garlic
2 leeks, finely chopped
2 T sugar
1 T sesame oil
1 tsp gochu flakes

Prepare all veg, steam the potato quarters 7 minutes to soften

In a bowl, mix the soy sauce, garlic, leeks, sugar, sesame oil, and gochu. This is your flavor base. You can always adjust the taste later.

Wait to cook the ddok until you are absolutely ready to use it, or it will turn hard. To cook the ddok, bring about 4 cups of water to a boil in a saucepan. Add the ddok and let cook 3 minutes. You want the ddok to start getting soft, but not too soft, much like you would when cooking pasta. Ddok is great for absorbing flavors, and you want it to suck up the sauce, not the water.

Heat a large skillet and add a tbsp of oil. Add the ddok, potatoes, melon, carrots, and kale. Stir occasionally, for 5 minutes. Aim for a small golden crust on the veg and ddok. Add the sauce and simmer for 5 minutes. Here I like to give the mixture one stir at the beginning to coat, but then leave it alone for the next 5. If you can resist the urge to tamper, you will be rewarded with a sauce reduction, stickily adhered to the mixture. Delicious.

Serve over rice, preferably brown, because as you can see there is no protein in this dish.