Spicy Bulgogi

Spicy Bulgogi

Despite it being a marinated meat that is traditionally grilled, and the grill being buried under about four feet of snow still, pan frying in the trusty man pan worked out perfectly for this particular dish

Mandu

Mandu

Our Korean themed cooking day was coming up, and I was armed with a list of Korean words that could either turn out tasty or go horribly, horribly wrong. I don’t know. I know next to nothing about Korean food because our go-to Asian cuisine for cooking at home is usually Thai.

Banchan – Korean Sesame Spinach

Banchan – Korean Sesame Spinach

Banchan is the Korean term for a variety of small dishes served as an aside with a main dish or a bowl of rice. Many times when dining at Korean restaurants, your waiter will deliver banchan to your table after you’ve ordered and while you are waiting for your food to arrive. They are always set in the middle of the table and meant to be shared. In some ways, banchan reminds me of the amuse-bouche often seen in many of the more high-end American and European restaurants.

Zucchini Refrigerator Pickles

Zucchini Refrigerator Pickles

As a half-assed gardener with a strong brown thumb, the one thing I manage to successfully grow year after year is a surplus of zucchini. Don’t ask me why – I have no clue. Perhaps it’s the winning combination of neglect and a moist, rainy climate. At any rate, each year I have more zucchini than I could ever possibly eat, and a freezer full of shredded zucchini that takes up space. One can eat only so much zucchini bread, after all.

Basic Tart Dough

Basic Tart Dough

What is a tart? No, not a saucy medieval lady with wicked wiles, though that term has been used in times past. The simplest description would be that it is a type of pie. If you really get down to it, there isn’t much distinction between a tart, a pie, a flan or a quiche when it comes to the dough end of the equation – or much of anything else for that matter.