Dabin -- Korean cuisine in the 'burbs

D and I had a little date tonight! We chose Dabin Restaurant in Lexington, MA, a proverbial "Japanese & Korean" restaurant. The restaurant is clearly owned and operated by Korean people, but like many other Korean restaurants in the area, they have to market the restaurant as Japanese as well in order to attract clientele. Being in an area with people who are not familiar with Korean food, the only way these restaurants will survive is if they are also Japanese restaurants. Sad, but true. It's website also markets itself as a "fine dining experience" which I will dispute. But, I think these marketing strategies are necessary given the relatively affluent residents of Lexington, MA.

For those of you who have been to Korean restaurants, you know that the pan-chan (side dishes) should follow a few basic rules:
1. There should be quite a variety of pickled vegetables, including kimchi.
2. There should be at least 5 different types of pan-chan.
3. The restaurant staff should replenish any empty dishes of pan-chan promptly and without question.


Unfortunately, Dabin did not seem to follow these three simple rules. They brought only three pan-chan, none of which would constitute kimchi (the romaine lettuce in a spicy-vinegar sauce does not constitute kimchi). Once we finished the pan-chan, they merely took the empty dishes away, and did not bring freshly replenished pan-chan back to the table. I was disappointed on many levels.

However, the entrees themselves were quite good! I ordered the soon doo boo jigae (my favorite dish, see my previous post about making my own at home). D ordered the dolsot bibimbap (in the hot stone bowl). We also ordered two rolls of maki (salmon avocado and spicy tuna).


The sushi came out first. It was pretty standard, and relatively satisfying. Nothing too fancy, but certainly not as disappointing as that experience in Nashua, NH!


I found my soon doo boo jigae to be quite satisfying. Although it did not arrive bubbling, as it should, it was tasty and spicy. There were large pieces of a variety of seafood, including scallops, squid, fish cake, and a large clam. There were also vegetables strewn about, including scallions and zucchini. This is one of the better soon doo boo jigaes I have had in the entire Boston area, which says a lot! I will definitely come back for this dish alone.


D's dolsot bibim bap came out sizzling, as it should. They cooked the egg properly, with the yolk runny and bright yellow. The best part, of course, were the pieces of almost-burnt rice at the bottom... crunchy, almost sweet, these pieces added a welcomed texture to the dish. The only complaint he had was that the quantity of beef in the dish was minimal. Definitely not enough meat for a growing boy like D!


As for prices, I think it was overpriced!! Perhaps it's because this is a "fine-dining experience," but this does not justify charging too much for food that is quite basic. Both the soon doo boo jigae and the dolsot bibim bap were $15.95 each. Sure, it's not expensive for a date night, but in my opinion, overpriced for basic Korean food.

Overall, we were pleased with the experience. Besides the pan-chan issue, and the prices, we enjoyed the food and will likely come back again. I recommend Dabin if you're out in the 'burbs looking for Korean food!

Lunch at L'Espalier

Photo credit: www.lespalier.com

My dear friend, K, was so kind to take me to lunch at L'Espalier. Let's just say K is a regular there, and they welcomed him back by name. K has always spoken highly of L'Espalier -- the food, the service, the ambiance. Of course, L'Espalier's reputation speaks for itself as the ultimate fine dining establishment in Boston. It recently moved to it's much larger and more modern location at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, from it's much smaller, more traditional, brownstone location across the street.

The decor is warm, soothing, modern, clean, and very welcoming. The restaurant consists of several dining rooms, and we were seated by the window in the "corner room" overlooking Boylston Street.

Photo credit: www.lespalier.com

Now, the food... it's challenging to put in words the sheer joy and pleasure I receive from consuming truly exquisitely prepared food. We both indulged in the six-course Winter Degustation. (I wish I could have brought my camera in, but it was not the appropriate setting).

First, we had a Skip's Island Creek oyster with Meyer lemon sorbet and North American caviar. It was cold and refreshing, with the briny sweetness of salt water. A top notch oyster, prepared simply to maintain the freshness of the oyster itself.

Next, we had duck pastrami with frisee, some other greens which I cannot recall, and grapefruit. This was the perfect juxtaposition of sweet and salty. The pastrami was delightfully smooth and salty, which was complemented nicely with the segments of pink grapefruit.

Third, we had the lobster BLT -- lobster salad with tomato relish, smoked bacon, and avocado butter. It was served with paper thin potato chips seasoned with paprika. This was simply divine! It was rich and buttery, the lobster cooked to perfection without the slightest hint of being rubbery or overcooked. The chips were the ideal accompaniment, without too much grease or seasoning.

Fourth, we had lamb with white beans, carrots, radishes, and mushrooms. I don't have details of this dish (I was too enthralled with the food to recall precisely what the components of the dish are), but I do recall how delicious it was! Neither K nor I have lamb too frequently, but we were both pleasantly surprised at how tender, moist, and non-grisly it was. The lamb was cooked just right, sliced so easily under the blade of my knife, and simply melted on my tongue. De-li-cious!

Fifth, we had a selection of three cheeses with condiments. I don't recall the exact types/names/origins of each cheese, but here's what I remember: a brie-type of cheese which was creamy, mild, and not particularly memorable; a raw goat's milk cheese from Vermont which was pungent in odor and taste, quite sour and tangy, and strong in flavor; a blue cheese from Tanzania from an animal (sheep? cow?) that feeds on seaweed, lending a subtly ocean-y flavor. The condiments were delicious on their own -- buttered crostini, some type of berry jam, and roasted pistachios. Overall, a delightful selection of cheeses!

Finally, we had our trio of desserts. I was looking forward to dessert, because the pastry chef is from Korea (my family's homeland!). We had a chocolate and macadamia brownie, a decadent chocolate torte with strawberry pearls, and a praline layered cake. All three were rich and buttery, and I couldn't get enough! What a perfect ending to a very memorable and palate-pleasing meal.

The service was great, with each member of the team being attentive and polite. Truly, it was with their help that this was more than simply a meal; it was a dining experience that will not soon be forgotten.

A big thank you to K, my friend and fellow (recently licensed) nurse, who shares the same joys and pleasures from good food, and good company. It was an experience I will savor in memory, and one I hope to repeat at some point in the future. I highly recommend L'Espalier, particularly for a special occasion. You won't regret it!!!

Kick ASS!

Cupcakes. How I love thee.

Truly, cupcakes are my weakness. Sure, I like plain old cake, too. But there's something about having my own individual baked creation in all it's crumbly frosting-y glory that makes me so delighted and giddy.

And, what could be better than cupcakes from a place called Kickass Cupcakes! Just off the center of Davis Square in Somerville, MA, this small cupcake shop is filled with any cupcake you can imagine -- anything from your basic chocolate or vanilla, to mojito cupcakes, to champagne bubbly cupcakes, to cupcakes for your cat!!


D was sweet to bring me 6 cupcakes after I took my boards. Does he know what I love or what!? Anyway, they were all moist, delicious, sweet, (mostly) memorable. I don't remember what all of them are, but here's what I do recall:

Lucky Cupcake (top middle in photo): Luscious lemon cupcake with white chocolate buttercream and candied ginger, comes with a fortune
Limited Edition Champagne Bubbly (bottom left): Vanilla cupcake with champagne soaked strawberry center and pink champagne icing
Super Chocolate (bottom middle): Chocolate brownie cupcake topped with bittersweet chocolate ganache and covered with chocolate shavings
The Mojito (bottom right): Rum-soaked cupcake with sugar cane lime frosting and fresh mint

Ok, so I don't remember the other two. But I do know they were tasty!

I highly recommend Kickass Cupcakes for fun, creative cupcakes.

However... my loyalties still lie at Party Favors in Brookline. Their cupcakes and cakes are pretty basic chocolate or vanilla. But, the cupcakes are superbly moist and the frosting is just divine. You'll have to try both and tell me what your preferences are!

Curry-licious!

Indian food is near the top of my list of favorite types of ethnic cuisine. It's warm, saucy, comforting, and always has depth and dimension. Many people have a misunderstanding about Indian food, that it's too spicy, too smelly, too unusual and weird. They couldn't be more wrong! Indian food does not have to be spicy, just incredibly full of flavor. Indian food is often quite smelly, but it's a smell I can't get enough of. Indian food is not weird, but is a cuisine that has deep roots in a culture that is rich with beauty and history.

It seems I had my own misunderstandings about making Indian food at home. I had always gone out to eat for Indian (my fave place: Kashish in Belmont Center, MA), and was under the impression that Indian food was complicated to make at home. I always thought it involved specialty ingredients that would be difficult to find. Turns out, I was wrong!

I used two recipes: chicken tikka masala (SeriousEats.com) and aloo gobi (RecipeZaar.com), with some minor modifications.

This chicken tikka masala recipe is much faster and easier than other recipes I've found. The chicken marinates for a relatively short period of time (15 minutes or so, versus overnight for some other recipes).


The "specialty" ingredients I so feared are actually just spices, which I found at my local Whole Foods. The great thing about Whole Foods is I can buy spices in bulk, which means I can buy just a couple tablespoons for less than a dollar! That way, I spend less on spices that I would likely not use frequently anyway. Also, I used non-fat plain yogurt in lieu of heavy cream to keep it on the healthier side. The only strange thing about this dish was it did NOT look like the picture on SeriousEats.com, nor did it look like any chicken tikka masala I've had in a restaurant. Mine was kind of yellowish, while most others I've had are red. I don't know where I went wrong?


As for the aloo gobi, it was easy and straightforward. However, I'd like to note that cauliflower cooks much faster than potatoes! Once the potatoes were done cooking, the cauliflower had basically cooked down to a mush. It tasted good nonetheless, but it would have looked nicer if you could actually see the cauliflower.


My apartment still smells like curry, so beware that the smell is quite potent and will take some time to dissipate. But you won't regret it!



Chicken Tikka Masala
serves 4

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts, cut into 0.5 - 1" pieces
2" piece of fresh ginger, peeled
2 cloves garlic
S&P to taste
1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped
1 lemon
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 red onion, roughly chopped
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground turmeric
3/4 cups plain nonfat yogurt, plus 1 tsp flour
2 tsp tomato paste

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, grate half the ginger, and the zest of the lemon. Then add the garlic, cilantro, 1 Tbsp of vegetable oil, half the lemon's juice, a Tbsp of yogurt, S&P. Stir, add the chicken, and set aside to marinate.
2. While the chicken is marinating, heat the remaining oil in a heavy, large skillet over LOW heat. Roughly chop the remaining giner and add it to the oil with the onion. Cook gently for 10-15 minutes until almost caramelized. Add the spices and stir well to combine. Cook for another 2-3 minutes. Season with salt, then scrape this onion/spice mixture into a bowl. Set it aside.
3. Increase the heat to medium-high and add the chicken that has been marinating. Cook until brown and cooked through. Add the onion/spice mixture back to the pan with the chicken and stir. Add the flour, then the yogurt. Stir in the tomato paste. Simmer for 10 minutes or so.


Aloo Gobi
serves a lot!

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 bunch cilantro, separated into stalk and leaves, and chopped
1 tsp chili powder
1 large head cauliflower, cut into pieces
3 large potatoes, peeled and cut into 1.5-2" pieces
1 large, or 2 small, cans of diced tomatoes
2" piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
2 tsp garam masala

Directions:
1. Heat the vegetable oil in a large pan/pot. Add the chopped onion and ground cumin. Cook until the onions become translucent.
2. Add the chopped cilantro stalks, turmeric, salt, chili powder, tomatoes (drained), ginger, and garlic. Mix thoroughly.
3. Add the potatoes and cauliflower, plus some water (maybe 1/2 cup). Stir to ensure the vegetables are covered in the curry sauce.
4. Cover, simmer for 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked (pierce them with a knife easily).
5. Add the garam masala and stir. Garnish with cilantro leaves.

Serve both with basmati rice and/or naan (Trader Joe's sells frozen naan that you heat in your oven. It's pretty good!). Enjoy your delicious creations!

Miracle of miracles

Warning: I am now officially a registered nurse. Beware.

Hide your children!

(Photo Credit: Jill Greenberg)

Grandpa, put the pedal to the metal!

Ready or not, here I come!

DIY sushi

Valentine's Day 2009. D and I decided to stay in, cook our own dinner, and save some dinero. We agreed on homemade sushi, a first for both of us. D went to the local Japanese market and picked up some maguro, salmon, eel, and lovely delicious fatty smooth toro.


Did either of us know how to make sushi? No. But how hard could it be? We had both observed sushi chefs making sushi plenty of times to know how it should be done. It can't be THAT hard, right?

Wrong!

Rolling makis is possibly one of the more frustrating tasks in the kitchen, and is not as easy as the sushi chefs make it look. D's rolls were too loose and ended up looking like half-moons. He added too much rice and didn't roll them tight enough. I, on the other hand, rolled my rolls way too tight and all the fillings came squishing out the ends. We even used the bamboo mat to roll the maki. We had good sharp knives, but there must be a special technique to slicing maki rolls because ours just got smooshed under the knife blade. As for fillings, we made some spicy tuna (chopped tuna, mayo, Sriracha chili sauce, scallions, panko bread crumbs), and used various combos of salmon, avocado, cucumber, fish egg, sesame seeds.


The nigiri wasn't too difficult to make, but the rice kept falling apart when we picked them up with chopsticks. For the nigiri, we used primarily salmon, and toro (fatty tuna).


Then, D tried making some hand rolls. Those of you familiar with sushi will know that hand rolls are supposed to be cone-shaped. As you can see, D's ended up being cylindrical with the ends pinched off. Very creative.


All in all, the sushi looked amateur, tasted OK, and we probably spent more money than we would have spent at a sushi restaurant! Not to mention the amount of time and frustration we had making the sushi. But, it was a worthwhile bonding experience nonetheless.

If you want to make sushi at home, check out Passionate Eater's posting on DIY sushi... which I wish I read before this sushi-making adventure!

Next time, we'll go OUT for sushi.

Baking as therapy

Eric on the left, Aaron on the right

[It's been a while since I posted -- my apologies to all my loyal readers! Yes, all 3 of you. I've been caught up studying for my nursing boards. How did I do, you ask? I'll let you know in 2 business days.]

I have always found being in the kitchen therapeutic on many levels. Cooking and baking involve all 5 senses. The satisfaction of enjoying a meal created by my own hands is unmatched by any other activity. This is the same for a young boy in the Washington, DC area (my hometown!) who sadly lost his twin brother to brain cancer at the age of 8.

When Eric died, Aaron was left feeling like he lost a part of himself. To grieve, he turned to the kitchen. He discovered his love for baking, and began to pour his grief and mourning into cookies. He started his own "business" with the help of his pediatrician and family, and sells the cookies for 75 cents apiece. The money he raises goes to organizations that helped the family during Eric's illness.

The story is touching, and is an inspirational tale of finding solace and healing in the kitchen. You can read the story here.

happy birthday

Today is my dad's birthday. He would have been 64 years old. I miss you, daddy.

More on food later.... (after I finish my boards).

adventures of waba and blubba in japan

why hello there. it's me gracieK
i have hacked into this blog to let you know that my sister loves food..and to spice up her blog a bit.

when she and her boyfriend, D. visited me in Japan a few years back, their trip revolved around food, food, food. It drove me a little crazy since I don't care for food so much.

anyways, christina loves food so much that my dad nicknamed her waba. that's right, waba, pronounced "wubba" since she always had some extra meat on her. I think if Christina is "waba" then D. should be called "blubba" since he is her partner in crime...but don't tell him that because he'll get mad at that nickname.

Here are some pictures from their Japan trip (seriously more than half the pictures involved food!)

selecting a beverage from one of the many vending machines on the streets of kyoto

eating crepes

unagi and tempura in kyoto

admiring the fake food display in kobe

trying out starbucks in japan

ramen in kyoto

street food!

tempura!

drooling over pastries

sushi in osaka

green tea kit kats!

note: these are just pictures from kyoto & kobe. maybe one day christina will show you all the food adventures of waba & blubba in tokyo!

Barley Risotto... with extra fiber.

Anyone who knows me, even just a little, knows that I am somewhat obsessed with my fiber intake. Just slightly. So, I basically try to adjust recipes so that the fiber content is increased. In this particular case, this is a Martha Stewart recipe for risotto, which I adjusted to my fiber-licious standards -- barley instead of rice, edamame instead of peas. And believe me, it is dense, filling, full of fiber, and quite delicious!

This first step is crucial: you MUST soak the barley for at least 4-6 hours before making this risotto. Trust me on this one! So, I measured out 1 cup of dry barley and covered it with water. I let it sit in the fridge until I was ready to cook dinner later that day.



You will find that the barley expands quite a bit, so make sure to add enough water, and leave room for that to happen in the container. Next, I chopped up a few white onions, a couple cloves of garlic, and sliced up some cremini mushrooms. I sauteed those in some olive oil in a large pan for several minutes, until the onions got translucent and the mushrooms softened.


I then drained the water off the barley, and added the barley to the pan. Then I sauteed for maybe 2 or 3 minutes.


Then, I started adding some warmed chicken broth (maybe about 6 cups total), but only about 1/2 cup at a time. This is the part where your arms will get ripped from the constant stirring.


(Yes, I don't own a ladle. Yes, I'm using a teacup.) I stirred until the 1/2 cup of chicken stock was absorbed, then added another 1/2 cup, then stirred until it absorbed, etc. This continued for about 30 minutes, until the barley expanded and became soft. Once all the chicken stock was all added, I then added some frozen edamame and frozen shrimp.



I then squeezed in the juice of about half a lemon. This adds a freshness and tartness to the dish. Ooooh, it's starting to come together....


Next, I grated in some parmagiano reggiano cheese (MY FAVE, I could take a bite right out of the wedge). This adds some necessary saltiness and creaminess.



Obviously, add salt and pepper to taste. Once I mixed in the cheese and it melted, my delicious fiberful creation was complete! I make this dish pretty regularly (haha, bowel-related pun intended!!), and I always enjoy having leftovers. As you can see, 1 cup of dry barley makes a crap ton of risotto (again, the pun! I can't help myself). If you want, you can add just a little more chicken stock to make sure it stays nice and creamy when you re-heat it in the microwave. I usually make this at the start of the week, and put the rest in individual plastic containers. That way, I have lunch/dinners ready to go for the rest of the week!