1421 recipes. Page 17 of 60
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Eight minutes in a hot oven is all this dish gets, just long enough for the mozzarella to melt and stretch over tomato-coated gnocchi. Because of that short bake, the gnocchi come out of the water the moment they float. Extra time in the pot would leave them soft and swollen after baking. Half the basil goes into the sauce and half on top after baking.
Doenjang, Korean fermented soybean paste, carries this cucumber side dish, with only half a tablespoon of chili flakes, and it tastes gentler than the red, spicy oi-muchim. The cucumbers are cut fairly thick and salted only briefly to stay cold, juicy and crisp under a thin coat of paste.
Thin slices of potato soak up garlic-scented cream during a long, gentle bake at 170 degrees until they are almost melting, while the Gruyere on top turns golden. The layers need a short rest to set before cutting, as they slide apart when sliced straight from the oven.
The seasoning is in the meat rather than the coating: boneless thighs marinate in soy sauce, mirin, ginger juice, and garlic. A thin dusting of potato starch and a second fry keep the crust crisp even after it cools.
In this Chungcheong-style method the smelt are packed around the pan with every head pointing to the center, and as they fry they fuse into one crisp disc. The oil is poured off only after the disc has set firm, and the gochujang glaze is brushed on thinly, so the underside keeps its crunch. It goes to the table in the pan, scattered with green and red chilies.
Tofu is mashed into the pot as it simmers and breaks down into the sauce, thickening this gangdoenjang, a reduced soybean-paste sauce for rice, without any starch. Zucchini, onion and shiitake are diced small, no bigger than 1 cm. Doenjang varies in saltiness, and the way to adjust is to mix more or less of the finished sauce into the rice.
The sheet fish cakes (eomuk) start with 20 seconds in boiling water to rinse off their surface oil. Skip it and a stale, oily taste lingers after the stir-fry is done. Once the fish cake joins the onion and carrot, it is all over in about three minutes.
The shrimp is chopped coarsely, not ground, so you bite into firm pieces of it in the soft pork filling. Steamed, the wrappers turn translucent and show the pink shrimp through; pan-fried, only the bottoms go golden and crisp. Chopped cheongyang chili in vinegar soy sauce makes a spicy dip.
Coarse chili flakes stand in for gochujang, so the wings bake into a rough, spicy crust with the flakes stuck right into the skin. For more heat, swap part of the flakes for hotter cheongyang chili powder.
Saffron soaks first in a few spoonfuls of warm fish stock until it turns deep gold, then joins the rest of the stock; that is where the color of the stew is set. The seafood goes in by stages: firm white fish, then the softer pieces and shrimp, and mussels last. In the end, the freshness of the fish decides how it tastes.
In early spring, February to April, when wild chives are around, a handful goes on top of this clam and gochujang stew. Their sharp scent takes the edge off any fishiness from the clams.
Braised a long time with bone-in chicken, the radish turns brown from all the chicken stock and chili sauce it takes in. The potatoes crumble at the edges and thicken the sauce.
Aralia shoots, the spring buds Koreans call durup, go into this pickle raw so the stems keep their snap and their woody, slightly bitter aroma. The brine leans on soy sauce rather than vinegar, since too much acid would bury that fragrance. Garlic and hot green chili leave a sharp finish, and a brief 20-second blanch is an option for anyone who finds the bitterness strong. Kept submerged and chilled, it lasts about 2 weeks and suits rice or a lettuce wrap with grilled meat.
Thick-sliced shiitake simmer in anchovy-kelp stock with doenjang, layering the mushroom aroma over the paste's mellow, fermented depth before the broth is poured over plump udon. Onion adds quiet sweetness that keeps the salt in check, and a pinch of gochugaru leaves a faint warmth at the finish. Compared with a Japanese dashi-based udon broth, this one is earthier and heavier, closer to a hearty Korean stew.
There is no extra cooking oil: garlic and anchovies cook in the olive oil from the tuna can, spiked with chili oil, and that fat already carries the taste of tuna and heat. Capers, black olives and anchovies bring the briny, salty edge of a puttanesca, while the tuna flesh is added late and left in big flakes you can actually bite into.
Sliced paper-thin on the bias, about 0.1cm, the cucumber takes on the dressing quickly and turns tender while keeping its crunch. Vinegar brightens the cucumber's cool, watery freshness, and the chili heat follows quietly behind. It shows up constantly on Korean summer tables, on its own with rice or piled onto naengmyeon and bibimbap. It is mixed close to mealtime, since after about 30 minutes the cucumber starts weeping water and goes limp.
Slow cooking in duck fat turns the legs tender enough to pull apart with a fork, and a final sear in a pan brings the skin back to a crackling crisp. The 12-hour salt cure in the fridge means starting the day before. Rinse and dry the legs thoroughly after curing, since water left in the folds makes the hot fat spit. Although confit began as a preservation method, this home version is not meant for long storage: refrigerate leftovers and use them within 3-4 days.
The sauce is peanut butter melted into beef shank broth: nutty, smooth, and very mildly seasoned on its own. That is why Filipinos traditionally serve it with bagoong, a salty fermented shrimp paste, to spoon on to taste.
The sauce never goes near the stove: soy sauce, chili flakes, chopped scallion, garlic, and sesame oil are stirred together and spooned straight over thick slices of tofu fresh from the pan. Only the scallion softens a little in the heat coming off the tofu. Every household mixes it differently, some easing off the chili flakes, others adding a fresh hot chili.
Gondre, a mild wild thistle green from the mountains of Gangwon Province, cooks right on top of the rice, so the rice itself stays plain with a soft, grassy aroma. The seasoning comes at the table: soy sauce mixed with green onion, garlic, chili flakes, and sesame oil brings salt and heat against the gentle greens. Fresh gondre is most fragrant in spring, but properly soaked dried gondre gives nearly the same result year round.
A single cheongyang chili, a hot Korean green pepper, goes into this soy-glazed fish cake. The fish cake is cut into long, thin strips and browned over high heat before any sauce goes near it, and the soy seasoning then goes on so briefly that almost none is left in the pan.
Garae-tteok and Vienna sausages alternate on the skewer and brown first; the gochujang glaze only goes on over low heat for the last minute or so. If you are wary of the heat, hold back some glaze, taste, and add more only if you want it.
The kabocha spends 2 minutes in the microwave before it goes into the pan. That head start lets the center turn tender before the soy and corn syrup glaze has a chance to burn. The skin stays on.
After the soup soy sauce goes in, the broth is tasted before anything more is added. The clams release salty liquor as they open, which often seasons the pot well enough, and more soy sauce goes in only if it falls short. The chives are added just before the heat is turned off and cook for a minute.