Savory

Purple Sweet Potato Ricotta Gnocchi

17 · Feb 27, 2015 · 24 Comments

One of the pleasures of dating someone who loves eating as much as you do is that there are no restrictions to what they’re willing to try. This is especially helpful when you cook and spend a lot of time in the kitchen experimenting. Your partner is a willing taste tester for all your new inventions. They’ll volunteer to go to the store when you realize that there is hardly a quarter cup of milk left in the carton in the midst of recipe development (thanks, sweetie!). Or they understand the importance of spotting ramps or purple sweet potatoes at the farmers market because you’ve been mentioning them constantly for weeks (sorry, sweetie!). When you love food, the only thing that makes food even better, more enjoyable, is a companion to share that love with….

Egg in a Grilled Cheese Basket + Happy Friday

2 · Feb 13, 2015 · 16 Comments

Today is Friday the 13th and the day before Valentine’s day. I’m not the biggest fan of this holiday but I do like a reason to do something extra special for someone I love. On the morning of the 14th I’ll be making this egg-in-a-grilled-cheese-basket for my boyfriend, with a special addition of fresh Mexican style chorizo. Why? Because dark chocolate is my food love and chorizo is his. If we are out together at a restaurant and there’s something with chorizo on the menu I know that’s what he’ll order. 95% of the time that’s the case. So here is my special Valentine’s day brunch dedicated to my chorizo obsessed, runny yolk loving boyfriend. <3…

Beet and Fennel Soup with Beet Green Pesto

0 · Jan 7, 2015 · 7 Comments

The past few days I’ve been at my boyfriend’s apartment in Hoboken, NJ. I originally came up with my friends to celebrate New Year’s Eve and to hang out in New York but since I had a few days between jobs (yes, a big change for 2015!) I decided to stay longer to hang out a few more days. Yesterday as I made this soup a good amount of snow fell and blanketed the town and the skyline of Manhattan was blurred, the Empire State Building a shadow in the sky.

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Brussels Sprout and Pomegranate Salad

1 · Dec 11, 2014 · 10 Comments

I think this is the third salad I’ve ever posted on my blog. I tend to write salad recipes in times of desperation- break up, impending dinner party, and now overeating for the holidays. The problem is getting a little serious. During November I participated in five tastings in order to choose a caterer for our building’s holiday party. Yes, I had to try all the variations of whoopie pie that third caterer made. I also needed a third helping of truffle mac and cheese. It’s all a part of the job, I told myself.

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Beer and Bratwurst Bake

18 · Nov 30, 2014 · Leave a Comment

A few months ago I took a weekend trip to Rappahannock County to visit Waterpenny Farm, where I was a member of their summer CSA. It was the weekend of the county’s annual farm tour. After I visited Waterpenny, I headed over to Heritage Hollow Farm Store. I first learned of this store through Instagram when I stumbled across owner Molly Peterson‘s account. Molly is not only part of the husband/wife team that owns and operates Heritage Hollow but she’s also a professional photographer. Her stunning pictures of the animals they raise and the beautiful Shenandoah mountains that surround the farm feature prominently in her feed.

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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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Squid Jerky and Gochujang Sauce

11 · Oct 28, 2014 · 4 Comments

Okay, I know the title of this post will really terrify a lot of people in the US. Squid jerky? I must have lost it right? But please, give squid jerky with gochujang sauce a chance! Also, I thought the subject of this post would be ‘spooky’ enough to qualify as a Halloween post. I mean, look at the photos below. Creepy, shriveled up body trailed by tentacles with suckers on them.

I’m not doing a good job of selling this snack to you, am I?

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Tomatillo and Avocado Salsa

0 · Oct 22, 2014 · 6 Comments

Last weekend I stopped by my parents’ house and took a quick walk through their garden. Despite it being cold and rainy, the herbs were still green and I spotted a few tomatoes still on the vine. I was suddenly reminded that my dad had asked me to pick all the tomatillos that had ripened, heavy in their husks, the plants bowing towards the ground. There were about a dozen in varying sizes, still bright green in the gray and wet day. It was funny they were growing in our North American/Korean hybrid garden since no one in my family recognized what they even were.

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Apple and Cheddar Grilled Cheese

4 · Oct 19, 2014 · 8 Comments

I’m sure this is true of any area of the country that grows apples, but I feel like apple picking is an annual ritual here in Virginia that officially marks the end of warm weather. It confirms that we are in the middle of autumn and the quick slide into winter has already begun. When I was a kid, we went apple picking every year. My mom would prepare a picnic the night before, and we’d wake up early the next day and drive west towards the Blue Ridge Mountains. We’d stop at a Cracker Barrel on the way to fuel ourselves for some apple picking and it was really exciting because it was only once a year, like Christmas. We would end up at some orchard my dad read about the in the Washington Post and pick apples. I’m pretty sure I’d get bored of this after about ten minutes but it was okay because there was always warm apple cider. We’d pick enough to fill a few brown paper grocery bags and we’d hit the road again. Next, we would cruise on Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park and take in the changing leaves.

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Homemade Goat’s Milk Ricotta Cheese

9 · Sep 28, 2014 · 10 Comments

I am crazy about goat cheese. Any type of cheese made from goat’s milk is bound to make a meal complete in my mind. To be honest, some days I come home from work exhausted and all I can muster up the energy for is a cheese snack for dinner. Cheese and crackers- is there anything so basic and satisfying? Give me a side of cornichons and/or olives, too, please. Sometimes I lazily attempt to add some green in there with a sprinkling of herbs or arugula. These days I’m topping it with the last of my CSA tomatoes. 90% of the time the cheese of choice is goat cheese: chevre, gouda, cheddar, even goat’s milk brie! Let’s just say the cheese section of Trader Joe’s is my happy place.

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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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Fresh Tomato and Goat Cheese Mousse Tart + Goodbye Nabi

1 · Sep 8, 2014 · 10 Comments

The scorching hot weather of the past week seems to be the last gasp of summer. With it came what I expect to be some of the last tomatoes that will come in my weekly CSA. The tomatoes this season have been truly gorgeous and I think that having invested a share in a farm and seeing the progression week to week has really made me appreciate the seasonality of fruits and vegetables. Every time I make a meal of this produce I think of where it came from, Waterpenny Farm in Rappahannock County, Virginia and all the work and care the farmers took to bring this to my table. It makes me feel grateful and humbled.

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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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Easter Egg Salad and Easter Brunch 2014

1 · Apr 26, 2014 · 5 Comments

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Baked Eggs with Soy Sauce Mushrooms

2 · Mar 31, 2014 · 2 Comments

The first time you cook for someone can be a bit nerve wracking. You hope what you make is to their taste and that it turns out well. You don’t want to make anything too complicated as it presents more opportunities for error but you also don’t want to make anything too simple because you want to impress. The choices are endless and if you’re as indecisive as I am (if you ever dine with me, take away my menu the first time I declare I know what I want) it can be an endless cycle of choosing and doubting. Choosing what to cook for someone I have over is so hard for me! Sometimes I plan weeks in advance so that I can properly prepare and maybe even practice once or twice. I know to some people this seems ridiculous- if someone is over shouldn’t they just appreciate and at least pretend to enjoy what you make for them? Yes, maybe. But I want a guest to think on the meal later and I would like to create a memory with them- I know, so dramatic.

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Jessica’s Bensonhurst Cheese Ball

0 · Feb 28, 2014 · 9 Comments

Hello stranger! It’s been a while since you’ve seen anything on here… and I could list several excuses as to why I’ve neglected this blog but it all boils down to the fact that I’ve been very distracted and a little lazy. Since my last post (over two months ago!?) a lot has happened. I’ve moved into my own place! Yes, this 29 year old lives on her own again (they don’t call us the boomerang generation for nothing). I think 9 months at home was a sufficient amount of family bonding time after 5 years abroad. Moving has been a bit of a long, drawn out process though since the only thing I saved from my last apartment in the US was a few boxes of cookware. After going through my boxes of kitchen stuff I must say that early 20s Sonja had an impressive collection of gadgets. I found a blowtorch. Who has that in storage? Anyway, I have a few of the essentials, such as a bed and a sofa but with these depressing blank white walls, I still feel like a bit of a squatter.

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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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