Dinner

Salted Maple Sweet Potato Anna + JQ Dickinson Salt Giveaway

0 · Nov 24, 2014 · 29 Comments

I think that Thanksgiving is the holiday I missed the most while I was living overseas. It’s my favorite holiday, at least in terms of food. My family takes Thanksgiving pretty seriously, and with a crowd of 15-20 (mostly Korean), it’s a big production to make sure we have everything ready by the time dinner rolls around. This year I attempted to bring a bit more order to this meal by starting a Google doc to share with my parents and brother, but unfortunately my parents don’t really use gmail and dishes haven’t been firmly decided upon, despite being a few days away from the big day.

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Miso Brown Butter Grits

4 · Nov 16, 2014 · 4 Comments

When I attended Fire, Flour and Fork a few weekends ago, I discovered many new food products in their tasting tent. One of my favorite things in that tent was grits from Woodson’s Mill. These are not your instant grits sold in packets in the grocery store. These are stone-ground grits made from the best local corn they can find. Based in Lowesville, Virginia, Woodson’s Mill is a historic business, a working mill since 1794! Their grits are minimally processed and all natural with no preservatives (you have to keep them in the fridge or freezer to keep them fresh longer). They’re freshly ground and you can tell when you taste them. They cook up in 15 minutes and are the creamiest, tastiest, corniest grits I’ve ever had. I was so surprised when they said they added just a touch of butter and cheese to the giant crockpot of grits they were serving us out of. They were so flavorful without any special add ins.

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Kimchi Fried Cauliflower Rice

22 · Nov 13, 2014 · 8 Comments

A few weeks ago I tried cauliflower fried rice for the first time. I was a bit skeptical at first; cauliflower is no real substitute for rice. I grew up on rice, eating it often in my Korean home with a stew, vegetable sides and kimchi- always kimchi. And while this certainly isn’t comparable to actual rice, it is a nice stand alone dish featuring cauliflower. In Korea we throw some cold, leftover rice into a pan with some oil, old kimchi, chili paste and either scramble an egg into it or put an egg on top. It’s a fast and easy way to use up leftovers. I decided to merge these two ideas together to make a Korean variation on a trendy dish.

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Pumpkin Soup with Black Sesame Seeds

0 · Nov 6, 2014 · 7 Comments

When I first envisioned this soup it had black sesame paste perfectly swirled on the surface, festive and perfectly dressed for Halloween. Of course once you start cooking and putting ingredients together in a pot things don’t always go as you imagined. Sesame paste is a thick, unwieldy thing. Numerous attempts to dilute it with water, oil and coconut milk lead to a milky gray goop- a very unappetizing looking mixture that still tasted and smelled great. Regardless, I think this soup turned out well and I am satisfied instead with the intensely dark speckles of sesame throughout the dish.

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Buckwheat Crêpes with Mushrooms, Brie and Thyme

0 · Sep 14, 2014 · 4 Comments

In the past few days the weather has cooled considerably and I’ve need a light jacket in the mornings and evenings when outside. Fall has arrived! Despite having an unseasonably cool summer here in the DC area I’ve eagerly anticipated the first signs of fall. Fall is my favorite season both here and in Korea. Cooler weather, a more relaxed pace of life, my favorite dishes and the leaves changing are all reasons I love fall. In Korea it was a short sigh of relief after the long and stifling monsoon season filled with unbearable humidity and unrelenting rain and a gentle period before the long winter with cutting Siberian gusts coming off the Han River.

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Korean Style Skirt Steak + First Blogiversary

0 · Aug 11, 2014 · 10 Comments

Today marks the first anniversary of the start of Ginger and Toasted Sesame. My very first post was published on August 11, 2013. It seems that this past year has flown by so quickly and it’s difficult to remember the place I was in last year. I had moved back home after living in Seoul, Korea for five years and I was dealing with reverse culture shock, a painful and prolonged break up, unemployment and a general sense of feeling utterly lost and directionless.

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Grilled Ramps Tart

1 · May 12, 2014 · 7 Comments

I feel a bit silly writing about these alliums when every single blog seems to be exploding with their excitement over the appearance of ramps at their local farmers market or Whole Foods. There are so many beautiful recipes out there featuring these signals of spring. I wish there were more than a few weeks in the ramp season so that I could try more preparations of these delicious wild plants with their unique flavor that can be described as a blend of onion and garlic. Unfortunately, like most things this season, they are fleeting (it’s suppose to go up to 90 degrees this week and it snowed last month- spring, where did you go?).

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Butternut Squash Gratin with Sage and Shallots

0 · Dec 15, 2013 · 8 Comments

The weekend before Thanksgiving, I went to a local farmers market with my dad. I had lured him into going there with me by buying our family some delicious buffalo sausages from a local Virginia farm on my previous visit for dinner. He’s a huge fan of buffalo meat and he wanted to check out all that they had to offer. This lead to a bit of a buffalo meat shopping spree, which involved the purchase of various cuts to use in soups, stews and braises. We will even attempt to smoke a buffalo brisket for Christmas this year. Besides the delicious meat we procured, we browsed the various produce vendors and stumbled across an almost freakishly large squash. It was labeled as a type of heirloom pumpkin but it looked just like a butternut squash. It’s neck was at least four times longer than an average butternut squash, and it curved into a hook-like loop. When we had it weighed at the time of purchase, it was nearly 9 pounds! Before I cut it up for the gratin dish, my brother wore it around his neck like a yoke and walked about the kitchen. I regret that I didn’t take a photograph of it, because it was truly a marvel.

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Toasted Wheatberry and Arugula Salad with Champagne Vinaigrette

1 · Oct 28, 2013 · 5 Comments

toasted wheat berry and arugula sale- Ginger & Toasted Sesame

It’s been a few weeks since I posted anything and in my last post I complained about the unseasonably hot weather. After that we had a week of dreary, rainy weather and ever since it’s been very, very cold. I love colder weather so I’m fully embracing the change in seasons by eating… salad! I know it seems a bit odd to crave salad in this kind of weather, but you need to understand that when you live for an extended amount of time overseas, there are certain things that you develop insatiable cravings for. And for me, it was arugula and goat cheese. I saw arugula in restaurants and maybe once in a while in a grocery store, but it wasn’t easy to find. I remember coming back to the States and being completely overwhelmed by all the salad green choices in the grocery store. It’s something you really take for granted until you can’t have it anymore. As for goat cheese, I would get it gifted to me whenever anyone visited me from the US (along with an assortment of all sorts of delicious cheese that is hard to find in Korea or very expensive there).

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Spaghetti Squash and Kale Casserole

0 · Oct 7, 2013 · 9 Comments

Spaghetti squash and kale casserole- Ginger and Toasted Sesame

I was really excited about it becoming cooler last weekend but the weather suddenly became incredibly hot for October, peaking in the upper 80s. Today as I prepared this casserole, between the sautéing and the broiler on high I was sweating profusely and wiping my brow between photo set ups. Although fall hasn’t really arrived yet it doesn’t mean that one can’t enjoy some fall produce. Perhaps I can will autumn to start by eating a lot of squash…

This dish has been on regular rotation at dinner time because it’s simple to make and delicious. The creamy ricotta and sour cream combined together make it seem rich but it’s balanced out by the healthy strands of spaghetti squash and the sautéd kale. A crust of salty pecorino romano lends nice flavor and texture to finish the dish.

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Bulgogi and Quick Pickled Kimchi

8 · Sep 29, 2013 · 5 Comments

I got a lovely email from a reader in the Philippines telling me about a kind of recipe contest for Ingredient Matcher, a new cooking app that is launching this fall. It sounded really interesting and right up my alley. They are putting together an ecookbook featuring national dishes from all the countries in the world. I submitted an email of interest to whip up a dish representing Korea. The dish they chose to represent Korea was bulgogi with kimchi. At first, I was a bit overwhelmed by the challenge of creating a kimchi recipe. Kimchi is something that usually takes days to ferment. This recipe uses a short cut method of pouring very hot, salted water to quickly pickle the cabbage leaves. It’s a fresher kimchi that has no hint of sourness. If you’ve been put off by the pungent aroma of kimchi I’d suggest this recipe as an introduction into the big, wide world of kimchi!

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Veggie Whip

1 · Sep 6, 2013 · 7 Comments

Veggie Whip-8

When I lived in Richmond, Virginia I frequented a bar just a few blocks from my apartment where my roommate and best friend worked. I spent many nights there with friends having drinks and listening to live music. I was really sad to hear it left its old space while I was overseas and moved to a new location. I visited the new version of it but sadly it just wasn’t the same. One of my favorite ideas on the menu was something called a Veggie Whip. It was the vegetarian version of the Whip McCord, which featured a potato pancake with sauerkraut and different kinds of meat. The Veggie Whip featured diced vegetables and sometimes it could be a bit hit or miss but I loved the concept.

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Bison Empanadas

1 · Aug 27, 2013 · 2 Comments

Bison Empanadas

The first cookbook I ever got was from the library of Mrs. Garabelli, my best friend Victoria’s mom. Some of the first dishes I attempted to make came out of that cookbook, and it kind of sparked my love of learning about food and developing recipes. In high school, I would often stop by the Garabelli house where one could always find some sort of delicious meal cooking on the stove. I learned a lot about Uruguayan cuisine from eating with the Garabellis, and some recipes and techniques from a great teacher (Mrs. Garabelli was even on a cooking show back in Uruguay!).

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Kimchi Stew with Tuna and Ramen Noodles

11 · Aug 22, 2013 · 6 Comments

Ah, kimchi: spicy, sour and very fermented. I know a lot of people are put off by the stinky smell that comes from a jar of kimchi, but it’s so essential to a Korean meal. Pictured above you can see the image of what people around the world think of when they hear the word kimchi but I like to use to word kimchi as a verb. You can practically kimchi any vegetable and there are so many different ways to kimchi something. It can be red and spicy, but it can also be white and red pepper-less (my favorite of which is a white napa cabbage kimchi which is amazing with some roasted duck). I know of many expats that disliked kimchi when they first arrived but over time it grew on them. I think with Korean food this happens a lot. The more you eat it, the more you become addicted to it.

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Stuffed Poblano Peppers With Black Beans, Grilled Corn and Cheese

3 · Aug 21, 2013 · 4 Comments

I loved stuffed vegetables of any kind, which is usually a benefit to my health but I must say that my guilty pleasure when it comes to vegetables is anything stuffed AND fried. Whenever I’m in a Mexican restaurant my eye goes immediately to a chile relleno- a pepper stuffed with meat and cheese, covered in batter and deep fried. While my taste buds dance I know that inevitably I will suffer later… I will spare you the details, but deep fried, cheese stuffed peppers are not my tummy’s best friend. So I thought of a way to make a healthier version of this dish without sacrificing flavor.

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