Cutting Crew

This past weekend we had the first ever meeting of the cookie club (giggle).

What is the Cookie Club you ask? The Cookie Club is a safe space where real men gather together to share fresh baked cookies with their friends. Who can bake cookies for the cookie club you ask? Real men. Who cannot bake cookies for the cookie club you ask? Woman (or fake men).

Now that you have read the above, you should give yourself a moment to allow your testicles to distend (if you have testicles, if you don't the wait will be for naught).

But that was on Sunday night. There were myriad events prior to this happening, most of which involved either enjoying the weather or complaining about the weather.

Cathy and I also made terrariums of various sizes.



the figure on your right is supposed to be Cathy. She would totally wear that outfit. The overstuffed class cup terrarium is supposed to be me. Cathy thinks I am fat with a bottom full of pebbles.

Back to the club. It was 90+ degrees outside, so it felt strange to finally be having this party. The entire idea came about when Dan:



and I got to talking at another non-cookie, drinking and whoring party about baking. As we got to talking about baking cookies, all the ladies around us wanted in on what was going on. So we excluded them.

Cathy made fun of the concept for months as Dan and I talked about doing it, but never actually set a date. When we finally got down to it and set a date and time, Cathy still let on like she wasn't into the whole idea. Gimme a break. When the day came along, I caught her making her own little sign for the event:





If you look closely, Cathy's deep racism against Asian's is evident. Also against cookies.

All in all, cookie club was a hit. I made pretty lame oatmeal sesame chocolate drops that went over like my father in a sushi restaurant.



AFP made a fantastic macaroon that stole the show. Here he is, king for a day:



We also grilled up some eats and made a pasta salad with the herbs growing on our porch. All in all a good day.

Update:

I know, I know. I need to update this thing again. I will try to get a new post up this weekend. In the meantime, enjoy my sisters mock Express-blog.

http://kohn-klipperexpress.blogspot.com/

And the results are in....

So first nights Seder is well behind us now.

It seems the old man liked the kugels as much as everyone else. I think he was tricked into the first bite, but the second and third were made on his own. I was speechless for a good minute. I have never seen him willingly eat a dish that he hadn't first tried prior to age 8. Ever. He was probably just trying to get back at me for distributing topless pictures of him on the internet. As I have stated in the past, I have no control over how sexy is perceived on the web.

Everyone did remind me that for all of my bitching about brown food, I did little to augment the color pallet last night.

As an example:

The brisket:



A close up of the fully-cooked kugel:



You be the judge.

Tonight, Cathy is making kale and winning one for the green team.

Here is a picture of my father consuming the kugel and one of him giving an enthusiastic thumbs up to strange-foods. Thanks pop.





Look at that mug!

The full Potato-Kimchi Kugel (as I stated, the root of this recipe is from food & wine)

Ingredients

1. 2 cups vegetable oil
2. 4 large shallots, thinly sliced
3. 5 pounds Russet potatoes, peeled and coarsely shredded (by hand if you're a real man)
   
4. 1 large yellow onion, coarsely grated
5. 1/3 cup potato starch
6. 1 teaspoon kosher salt
7. 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
8. 5 large eggs, beaten
9. 2 large egg yolks, beaten
10. 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
11. 1 cup boiling water
12. 4-5 cups kimchi (I used a fresh-made batch, the older the kimchi, the stronger the flavor, so use your discretion.
13. 2 8/12 x 10 inch baking dishes
    

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 450°. In a medium saucepan, heat 1 cup vegetable oil until shimmering. Add the shallots and cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, until golden and crisp, about 6 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the shallots to a plate. Reserve the shallot oil.
2. Working in batches, squeeze out as much of the liquid as possible from the shredded potatoes and transfer them to a large bowl as you go.
   
3. Take 3 cups of the kimchi and squeeze out any excess liquid. Chopp to peices no larger than 3/4 inch long.
   
4. Add the grated onion, potato starch, salt, black pepper and kimchi to the potato mixture. and stir well. Stir in the whole eggs, egg yolks, olive oil and boiling water, then stir in the fried shallots.
5. Starting with two 8 1/2 x 10 (or so) baking dishes, Add 2 tablespoons of the hot shallot oil to each baking dish. Carefully spread the potato mixture in the sizzling baking dishes.
6. Transfer the potato kugels to the oven and bake them for 20 minutes.
   
7. While the kugels are in the oven, heat up another cup of the oil until shimmering. Add finely chopped kimchi and fry until lightly browned and krispy. Remove from oil with slotted spoon and let cool on a paper towel. Save oil on the side.
   
8. Lower the temperature of the over to 375° and bake the kugels for 40 minutes longer, until golden and crisp on the sides. About 1/3 of the way through this time, pour two tablespoons of the kimchi oil across each kugel.
   
9. Top the fully cooked kugles with browned kimchi.
   
10. Preheat the broiler. Broil the potato kugels as close to the heat as possible for about 2 minutes, until they are browned and crisp on top. Let the potato kugels stand for 20 minutes before cutting into squares and serving. Enjoy.
    

Happy Passover! Potato & Kimchi Kugel. Eat it.

It's Pesach time. Which means spring, and family, and lambs blood splattered on the door of my DC apartment and Cathy bitching about brown food. It is true that our people tend to cook with far less spice and veggies and, well, general variety than Koreans, but I take a sense of pride in the food that we have come to define as our own. I will see your bul-go-gi with a well-cooked brisket and I can take out your mothers kimchi any day with a quality kosher dill.

Each and every Passover since I left home 10 years ago I have campaigned for a change from the usual brisket/matzoh kugel/gefilte fish staples of the Seder table. Now I love a good haroset as much as the next guy, but we have two nights of this people, can't we mix it up? Maybe a nice roasted lamb?

A few years ago, Cathy and I attempted to insert our own culinary ideas onto the table with mixed luck. One year the braised leeks sat sad and lonely next to the bitter herb. Last years ground lamb and eggplant dish fared a bit bit better, but my father still refused to taste it.

This year I decided the hell with it. I am going all out. If I am going to shlep along my crazy-ass Korean girlfriend, I might as well follow through with this half breed lifestyle of mine and start cooking like I live. And so I give you Potato & Kimchi Kugel.

I bastardized a recipe I found online for a tasty looking Potato and Fried Shallot Kugel. It was heavy with egg and oil and I hoped it would turn out creamier and moister than what we usually have.

(find the basic recipe here)
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/potato-kugel-with-fried-shallots


My biggest obstacle when it comes to trying to get my family to try new, and different food items is this man:



His idea of variety is coleslaw next to his corned beef sandwich instead of chips. He is the same man who tried honey for the first time last year (I had to beg) and who hadn't tasted turkey until he met my mother in his mid-30's. Meat and potatoes kind of guy is an understatement. His favorite meal to cook is boiled hot dogs and mashed potatoes. Really dad?

For my mothers sake (after a few sad text messages) I opted to make a version without the kim chi. That man always wins.

Here is the mound of 'taters



Here is the mound of hand shredded 'taters



Here is the 'taters with egg, seasoning, fried shallots mixed in



Here is the mound of fresh kimchi delivered that morning by Cathy's mother (we get a monthly delivery of a gallon of fresh, spicy Kimchi. You should be jealous). I pressed out much of the juice so the flavor wasn't overpowering and I chopped it up real fine.



Here are the thee kugels- w/ kim chi for passover, w/kim chi to see if it was a giant mistake, w/o kim chi for grumpy old men.



Here is the pan of kimchi being fried up for topping.



And the result (I forgot to take a final photo w/ the fried kimchi bits on top, sorry)....



This was DAMN good. No joke. Creamy and moist with a hint of kimchi spice inside and a crispy, hot, salty kimchi toping. I will let you know how the family reacted later this week.

This is the beginning of something great. Right?