Spicy cold kimchi noodles and smashed cucumbers

Spicy cold kimchi noodles with smashed cucumbers

     Here's another recipe that I discovered in the process of trying to clear out my pantry.  I figured something cold and refreshing would be really good on a hot summer night.

Spicy cold kimchi noodles

Spicy Cold Kimchi noodles (modified from https://mykoreankitchen.com/spicy-cold-kimchi-noodles/)

Ingredients:

1 package of bean thread noodles (8 ounces)

1/2 cup kimchi, pulsed in the food processor

1 English cucumber, chilled, rinsed, and cut into large matchstick size pieces

1 hard boiled egg, halved 

Bibim Sauce (Mix these in a bowl)

2 Tbsp gochujang (Korean chili paste)

1 Tbsp rice vinegar

1 Tbsp honey

1 Tbsp cane sugar

1 Tbsp sesame oil

1 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Procedure: 

1) Boil water and cover the bean noodles.  Let soak for ten minutes.  Drain the noodles and cool down under cold running water for about 1 minute. Stir the noodles with some tongs or your hand while it’s under the water. Drain the noodles well.

2) Put together the noodles, cut up kimchi, and bibim sauce in a large mixing bowl and mix well.  Serve it in a bowl. Place the cucumber and egg halves on top of the noodles and enjoy!

     This was a lovely and relatively quick recipe.  It was nice and refreshing on a hot evening.

Smashed cucumbers

     I was thinking that some kind of Asian pickles would be good to have as a cool relief after the spicy kimchi noodles.  After looking at various sources (including a very frustrating look for an Asian Pickle cookbook that I just came across and subsequently lost again!), I came across this recipe for smashed cucumbers.  I had first seen it on an America's Test Kitchen YouTube video and had always been curious to try it.  So, tonight was the night.

Smashed cucumbers (modified from https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/smashed-cucumbers and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Oj4DagwRQI)

Ingredients:

2 English cucumbers

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

4 teaspoons rice vinegar

1 teaspoon garlic, minced to paste (I used 2 cloves of minced garlic)

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon sesame seeds, toasted

Procedure:

1. Trim and discard ends from cucumbers. Cut each cucumber crosswise into three equal lengths. Place pieces in large zipper-lock bag and seal bag. Using a small skillet or a rolling pin, firmly but gently smash cucumbers until flattened and split lengthwise into 3 to 4 spears each. Tear spears into rough 1- to 1 1/2-inch pieces and transfer to colander set in large bowl. Toss cucumbers with salt and let stand for at least 15 minutes or up to 30 minutes.

2. While cucumbers sit, whisk vinegar and garlic together in small bowl; let stand for at least 5 minutes or up to 15 minutes.

3. Whisk soy sauce, oil, and sugar into vinegar mixture until sugar has dissolved. Transfer cucumbers to medium bowl and discard any extracted liquid. Add dressing and sesame seeds to cucumbers and toss to combine. Serve immediately.

     This was very fun to make and used a lot of the same ingredients as the kimchi noodles, so they complimented each other nicely.  I really liked the salty crisp garlicky taste of the cucumbers and kind of wish I had made more.  The original recipe calls for Chinese Black Vinegar, but since I didn't have any and was trying to use up what was in my pantry, I used rice vinegar instead.  Yum yum yum!

Miso marinated salmon, garlic noodles, and Instant Pot broccoli

Tonight's dinner: Miso-marinated salmon, garlic noodles, and broccoli cooked in the Instant Pot

     In the process of spring cleaning, and in the process of trying to clear out/consolidate my cabinets/fridge/freezer to clear up space for a new housemate, I've realized that I have far too much food in my pantry.  So I'm doing a self-imposed challenge to try to clear out my pantry.  It's taken longer than I would have thought (and unfortunately, my pantry isn't exactly Weight Watchers friendly), but I've been having fun challenging myself coming up with new recipes.  I have allowed myself to buy fresh produce/some other small groceries to go along with the meals (so I wouldn't be eating nothing but pasta or grains all month!), but we've still saved a lot on groceries.  Tonight's meal helped to clear out old miso we've had in our fridge, rice noodles in our pantry, a random lemon I had, about half of the salmon I had in the freezer, and some of the butter I have seemed to have stockpiled.  The broccoli was purchased specifically for this meal.

Miso-marinated salmon (modified from https://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/miso-marinated-salmon)

How can you say no to such deliciousness?

Serves 4

Time  6 hours prep, 12 minutes cooking, 6 hours total

Notes: "Miso-glazed salmon promises firm, flavorful fish with a glazed, lacquer-like exterior but takes 3 days to prepare. We wanted to make a dish that pulled back on the traditional approach (and shortened the process) but still achieved the depth of sweet-savory flavor that this dish is known for. And instead of a firm, chewy interior, we wanted fish that was silky and moist, contrasting with the texture of the crust. By reducing the marinade time to between 6 and 24 hours, we found a window that allows you to achieve such a goal. A marinade composed of miso, sugar, mirin, and sake allows for flavor penetration, moisture retention, and better browning by drying the fish’s surface. Broiling the fish at a distance from the heating element allows for the fish to caramelize and cook evenly at the same time.

 Note that the fish needs to marinate for at least 6 or up to 24 hours before cooking. Use center-cut salmon fillets of similar thickness. We find that the best way to ensure uniformity is to buy a large center-cut fillet (1 1/2 to 2 pounds if serving 4) and cut it into 4 equal pieces.Yellow, red, or brown miso paste can be used instead of white."

Ingredients:

1/2 cup brown miso paste

1/4 cup sugar

6 tablespoons mirin

4 (6- to 8-ounce) skin-on salmon fillets

Lemon wedges

Procedure:

1) Whisk miso, sugar, and mirin together in medium bowl until sugar and miso are dissolved (mixture will be thick). Dip each fillet into miso mixture to evenly coat all flesh sides. Place fish skin side down in baking dish and pour any remaining miso mixture over fillets. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or up to 24 hours.

2) Adjust oven rack 8 inches from broiler element and heat broiler. Place wire rack in rimmed baking sheet and cover with aluminum foil. Using your fingers, scrape miso mixture from fillets (do not rinse) and place fish skin side down on foil, leaving 1 inch between fillets.

3) Broil salmon until deeply browned and centers of fillets register 125 degrees, 8 to 12 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through cooking and shielding edges of fillets with foil if necessary. Transfer to platter and serve with lemon wedges.

     As those of you who read my blog regularly know, I don't oftentimes cook slabs of meat.  So, I am especially proud to say that these came out deliciously!  A huge thank you to The Tech Interactive volunteer Penny for sharing the recipe with me originally.  Since this was a use up my pantry meal, I used twice the amount of mirin in the marinade than the original recipe called for as I didn't have 3 T of sake.  It worked like a charm!  I liked the umami taste of the miso combined with the slight acidity from the lemon.  The salmon were still moist, but cooked all the way through.  All in all, a very delicious dish and one I would make again.

Garlic noodles (based off of recipe from https://deliciouslyorganic.net/garlic-noodles/)

Not my best picture as I took it after I had already plated most of it for dinner, but you get the gist

Ingredients: 

Leftover rice noodles (I had about 2/3 of a package left)

5 tablespoons unsalted butter

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce 

2 tablespoons soy sauce 

1 tablespoon cane sugar 

1 tablespoon water

Procedure:

1) Bring water to boil in a large pot over high heat. Leave rice noodles in water for 10 minutes to soften.  Drain noodles and set aside.

2) In the same pot, melt 5 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Stir in the garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes until the garlic is fragrant. Stir in fish sauce, soy sauce, cane sugar and 1 tablespoon water. Stir until sugar dissolves. Add noodles and toss until coated. Serve immediately.

     Again in the interest of using up what was in my pantry, I used soy sauce in place of the tamari sauce that the recipe originally called for.  It also called to top with sesame seeds if desired, but I completely forgot about that part even though I have sesame seeds to use up (D'oh!).  The recipe came out well, but was a little different from what I was hoping for.  I think I would use something a little thicker like spaghetti or even udon noodles and maybe not use so much fish sauce.  Still, it went well with the salmon.

Instant Pot broccoli

Broccoli with our dinner

Ingredients: 

Broccoli (duh!)

Water, 1 cup

Procedure:

1) Cut broccoli florets into medium sized pieces.  Cut the tough outer skin from the broccoli stem and cut it into medium pieces (thanks, Linnea, for the tip about how to eat broccoli stem!).

2) Put a trivet in your Instant Pot and pour in the water.  Put the broccoli on top of the trivet.

3) Pressure cook for zero minutes and quick release.

     This has become our new favorite way to cook broccoli.  The broccoli is cooked, but not too cooked and is quite yummy to eat! 

      All in all, this was a yummy dinner and, other than having to first defrost the salmon overnight and then marinate it for most of the day, it was pretty easy to put together.  I love trying new meals and am always happy when they come out well!