I was picking up a few things at the local Trader Joe’s when I saw a package of “Bool Kogi”, apparently TJ’s version of “bulgogi”, and on a whim, threw it in my cart.  Lisa asked how we were going to eat it, and I thought, bibimbap!  We had most of everything we needed on hand (I had also grabbed a bag of baby greens), and this Korean dish is one of my favorites, so it was a no-brainer.  This would obviously be better if you made the bulgogi yourself, but using the TJ shortcut saved a bunch of time (the meat cooks in about 7 minutes) and was certainly good enough to get the job done.

Bibimbap
Beef Bulgogi (“Bool Kogi”, in TJ parlance), grilled and sliced thin
Brown Rice, cooked
soy sauce
sesame oil
canola oil
sesame seeds
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch of spinach, or one bag of baby spinach/kale/chard
1 carrot, julienned
1 zucchini, julienned
5 shiitake mushrooms, sliced thin
2 eggs
kimchi
Gochujang sauce

Place the spinach/greens in boiling water until wilted, a minute or so. Drain, rinse with cold water, and squeeze dry in paper towels. Add a teaspoon of soy sauce, a pinch of salt, the garlic, and stir. Drizzle with sesame oil and a few sesame seeds; set aside.
Saute the carrot in a pan over high heat for just 30 seconds or so, set aside.
Sprinkle salt on the zucchini, then saute the zucchini in a pan over high heat until translucent and set aside.
Saute the mushrooms over medium high heat with 1 teaspoon of canola oil. Add two teaspoons of soy sauce, a teaspoon of sugar, and stir for a couple of minutes until glazed. Drizzle with sesame oil and set aside.
Prepare two eggs, sunny-side up. (Here’s one method).

Assemble!
In each bowl, put a base layer of rice.
Arrange each of the toppings (meat, vegetables) separately to your liking, with the fried egg in the center.
To serve, stir it all up, get that yolk in there, and dig in!

Serve with gochujang and sesame oil.

We’re really starting to get into this slow cooker thing. How great is it to come home to food that’s ready to eat? Though, oops — this recipe does have the extra step of making a sauce using the reduced cooking liquid, so it’s not as one-and-done as others. The following is adapted from Slow Cooker Revolution, has the perfect blend of vinegar, smoke, sweet, and moist pork. We served the pork on a Macrina brioche bun. Dee. Lish.

[donotprint]
Chris says:

Wow, this is great! I can’t believe I’ve never made this at home. This is way better than some of the pulled pork sandwiches I’ve had at restaurants.

Lisa says:

You know what I think of it; I was sneaking bites before you even finished the sauce.

Chris says:

Patience, my dear.

Lisa says:

Patience is for suckas. I was hungry.

Chris says:

You have to admit, though, it was worth waiting for the finished product… the cider vinegar, the sweet from the brown sugar, and you really get that nice smokey flavor from the ham hock, and, well, the liquid smoke.

Lisa says:

Obviously it was worth it! I’m just saying. That pork would have disappeared whether or not it was finished.

[/donotprint]

North Carolina Pulled Pork Sandwiches
3 tbsp brown sugar, divided
2 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tbsp ground cumin
salt and pepper
1 2.5-lb boneless pork butt, trimmed and halved
1 large smoked ham hock, rinsed
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup cider vinegar
3/8 cup (6 tbsp) ketchup
3/4 tsp liquid smoke

Combine 1.5 tablespoons brown sugar, paprika, chili powder, cumin, 1 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 tablespoon pepper in bowl. Using a fork, prick the pork all over. Rub the brown sugar mixture over the pork, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 8 to 24 hours.
Place ham hock in slow cooker. Unwrap the pork and place on top of the ham hock. Pour broth over pork, cover, and cook until pork is tender, 9 to 11 hours on low or 5 to 7 hours on high.
Transfer pork and ham hock to a large bowl, let cool slightly, then shred into bite-size pieces discarding skin, bones, and excess fat; cover to keep warm. Let braising liquid settle for 5 minutes, then remove fat from surface using large spoon.
Strain liquid into medium saucepan and simmer until thickened and measures 1/2 cup, 20 to 30 minutes. Whisk in vinegar, ketchup, liquid smoke, and remaining 1.5 tablespoons sugar and bring to simmer. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Toss shredded pork with 3/4 cups sauce; add more sauce as needed to keep meat moist.
Serve on buns with pickle chips and extra sauce.

4 generous servings

Here’s a healthy and toddler-friendly meal (little tofu cubes for little hands!) inspired by a recipe in Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Every Day. Baked, marinated tofu, along with crispy kale and toasted coconut sit atop a bed of warm farro. If you liked the kale chips recipe you’ll probably be all over this. I really didn’t measure the marinade ingredients, so taste as you go until you get to a flavor balance you like.

[donotprint]
Chris says:

Well, the kiddo likes it…

Lisa says:

Yeah, he’s inhaling! It’s about time you started posting again, by the way. How many times have we made this?

Chris says:

First time!

Lisa says:

Okay, *I’ve* made this at least three times before, Buster Brown.

Chris says:

But never with the tofu.

Lisa says:

Sigh… really? Okay, yeah, never with the tofu. Which was my idea anyway.

Chris says:

I’m not taking credit for it — even though I want to… yumma.

Lisa says:

I’m taking credit for getting seconds.

[/donotprint]

Toasted Coconut and Kale Salad with Baked Tofu
1 16-oz package extra-firm tofu
1/4 cup soy sauce/liquid aminos
1/8 cup rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp lime juice
1 tsp sugar
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 bunch kale, stems and stalks removed, chopped
1 cup unsweetened large-flake coconut
2 cups cooked farro

Preheat the oven to 400°F.
To prepare the tofu marinade, in a small bowl mix the soy sauce (or liquid aminos), rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, lime juice, and sugar; whisk until incorporated. Cut the tofu into bite-sized cubes, place in a shallow baking dish, and cover with the marinade, ideally for an hour or longer.
When ready, line a shallow baking pan with parchment paper and, using a slotted spoon, transfer the tofu to the pan. Reserve the marinade.
Bake the tofu for 30-40 minutes or until desired firmness, flipping the tofu once to brown evenly.
While the tofu is baking, to prepare the kale and coconut, whisk the olive oil with 3 tbsp of the reserved marinade in a small bowl. Put the kale and coconut in a large bowl and toss well with about two-thirds of the olive oil mixture.
Spread the kale evenly across two baking sheets. Bake in the oven for the last 12 or so minutes with the tofu, until the coconut is deeply golden brown, tossing once or twice along the way. If the kale mixture on the top baking sheet begins to get too browned, move it to the lower rack.
Remove from the oven and transfer the kale mixture to a medium bowl to taste. If it needs a bit more dressing, add some and toss. Place the farro on a serving platter and top with the tossed kale and tofu. Serve warm.

3-4 Servings

Food blog perk time! I was recently asked by New West Knifeworks if I’d be interested in trying out one of their knives from the new Fusionwood v2.0 series, and I jumped at the opportunity. (Who doesn’t love free, high-quality, Made in the USA knives?)

They are currently running a contest via their Facebook page where you can enter to win FOUR of these new knives. Did you get that? FREE. KNIVES.

I was given the new paring knife to try out, and the first thing I noticed was that it was very comfortable to hold in my hand. It has a nice weight, a razor-sharp blade, and worked perfectly for pretty much the only thing I use a paring knife for: eating an apple. The apple was no match for the combination of this new knife in my hands and my hungry appetite: Mission Accomplished! With its heft and ease of use, I may actually have to look for more opportunities to use this paring knife!

Thanks again to New West Knifeworks for sending out this super-cool looking, very useful knife. It’ll definitely replace my old supermarket-bought paring knife, and it’s great to know that the materials are from the USA, as is the assembly and workmanship. Ah, patriotism!

As you’ve probably noticed, the blog posts here on We Heart Food have slowed considerably over the past two years, and there’s a very straightforward — and adorable — reason for that: our son takes up a lot of time! We still try newer recipes on a somewhat regular basis, but trying to find the time to photograph and style the food before we sit down to eat has been a little bit of a challenge. One thing we’re trying out in an effort to cut down the evening kitchen time is the slow cooker! The positive is that we come home to finished dinners; the negative is that slow-cooker food isn’t the most photogenic. Here’s one notable exception, a birthday surprise that I made for Lisa — Nutella bread pudding! This recipe comes from Slow Cooker Revolution.
[donotprint]
Lisa says:

You jerk!

Chris says:

Not quite the reaction I expected, but… thank you?

Lisa says:

You know I’m going to eat way too much of this thing — it smells awesome!

Chris says:

It’s your birthday, you’re allowed to overeat!

Lisa says:

I’m eating it right now… oh.. my.. god.

Chris says:

So?

Lisa says:

Jerk.

[/donotprint]
Nutella Bread Pudding
Vegetable oil spray
1 14 oz loaf challah bread, cut into 1‑inch cubes
1/2 cup chocolate chips
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups whole milk
9 large egg yolks
1 cup Nutella
3/4 cup plus 1 tbsp granulated sugar
4 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp light brown sugar

Line slow cooker with aluminum foil collar, then line with foil sling and coat with vegetable oil spray. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 225 degrees. Spread bread over rimmed baking sheet and bake, shaking pan occasionally, until dry and crisp, about 40 minutes. Let bread cool slightly, then transfer to very large bowl.
Mix chocolate chips into dried bread; transfer to prepared slow cooker. Whisk cream, milk, egg yolks, Nutella, 3/4 cup granulated sugar, vanilla, and salt together in bowl, then pour mixture evenly over bread. Press gently on bread to submerge.
Mix remaining tablespoon granulated sugar with brown sugar then sprinkle over top of casserole. Cover and cook until center is set, about 4 hours on low. Let cool for 30 minutes before serving.

Eat until you can’t eat any more, then repeat the next day.

Then bring to a Halloween Party.

8-10 Servings

Hands down, this is the easiest recipe on this site, with the fewest ingredients: one. I stumbled upon this recipe for banana ice cream on the same day I noticed a few sad bananas sitting in the kitchen, and it seemed too crazy-majickal to pass up. Freeze bananas, blend bananas. That’s pretty much it. It turns into “ice cream”. Really. The texture is awesome — not icy, not dry: creamy goodness without any cream. The original suggests blending until the consistency is like soft-serve ice cream, but I stopped blending sooner, as soon as the bananas formed a solid mass and jumped above the blades. If you have some over-ripe bananas in the kitchen and you’re not in the mood for banana bread, I highly recommend this treat.

Lisa:

What? It worked? No way!

Chris:

How crazy is this? It looks and feels just like ice cream!

Lisa:

If you don’t like the taste of bananas, though…

Chris:

Yeah, it’s banana-y. But if you don’t like that taste, I’d hope you wouldn’t prepare a recipe where that was the only ingredient.

Lisa:

Next time you should totally add in a little peanut butter or something.

Chris:

Honey might be good, too — yeah, let’s do it.

Lisa:

Wahoo! Also, I just realized you made it through this entire conversation without making any banana puns.

Chris:

Yeah, I didn’t see the a-peel.

Banana Ice Cream
2 over-ripe bananas
Optional: honey or peanut butter

Peel the bananas and cut into small pieces. Freeze for a few hours. Stick in a food processor and pulse until crumbly, scraping down the sides as needed.
At some point the bananas will turn from crumbles to a solid mass and rise above the blades (similar to making dough in a blender) — you’re done! Scoop into a bowl and enjoy!

It’s that time of year that some wait on pins-and-needles for… hatch chile season!  The roasters are out in full force at several grocery stores in the area, and with a freezer full of chiles, I wanted to find a recipe off the beaten “green chile stew”/”green chile enchiladas” path.  This recipe is adapted from Real Women Eat Chiles and has quite the eye-appealing presentation. Tilapia, catfish, or any other firm-fleshed whitefish is baked in a corn husk with freshly-cut corn, hatch chiles, green onions, and lime. Simple and delicious.

[donotprint]
Chris says:

I promise not to make any corny puns in this recipe review. 

Lisa says:

I’m pretty sure that counts as one, so too late. 

Chris says:

Ah, crap. Oh well — so I was describing this dish to someone and he said it almost “sounds like a tamale”, which is exactly what it’s called in the book. 

Lisa says:

“Sounds like a tamale” is a strange name for this recipe.. 

Chris says:

Okay, *now* who’s being silly? Yeah, you. No, it’s called “Tamale-style catfish”. 

Lisa says:

Ah, because of the wrapping with the husk and steaming and such. 

Chris says:

Yes! Anyway, I think the presentation of this dish is pretty cool. 

Lisa says:

Agreed — but don’t let that detract from the delicousness. I love the corn and hatch chile combo on top, and the fish is perfectly cooked. 

Chris says:

More than just a kernel of truth there — no dryness. That corn husk seemed to keep all the moisture in. 

Lisa says:

You were just waiting to make a corn pun, weren’t you? 

Chris says:

Or a corn pone — yum! 

[/donotprint]

Tilapia with Fresh Corn and Hatch Chiles
2 ears of fresh corn
1/4 cup hatch chiles (more or less, depending on your desired heat level)
1/4 cup green onions
1/2 lime
2 tilapia fillets
ancho chile powder, to garnish

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Carefully peel back the husk from each corn cob. You will use it for baking the fish.
Cut the ear of corn off the stem just above the end of the cob, leaving the husk intact. Set the husk aside. Cut the corn off the cob and combine with green chiles, green onions and the juice of a quarter of a lime.

Rinse the fish and pat dry. Place one fillet inside each of the corn husks. Top each with one-half of the corn mixture and close the husks over the fish, overlapping slightly.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until the fish flakes easily. Cut the remaining lime lengthwise into 2 wedges. Serve the fish in the husk with a lime wedge on top.

2 Servings

I love when Lisa gets on a “I’m gonna bake treats” kick. This week she spotted this recipe @101 Cookbooks for a tasty coffee cake with an interesting twist — it includes fresh rosemary and thyme, which happen to be the two plants we’ve actually managed to keep alive in our garden. Perfect!

[donotprint]
Chris says:

Whoa, what’s up stoner?

Lisa says:

Excuse me?

Chris says:

It smells like you’re baking space cakes or something in here.

Lisa says:

Nice try — but not quite. Different herbs — rosemary and thyme.

Chris says:

In coffee cake? What the?

Lisa says:

I know, interesting, right? But you have to taste this.

Chris says:

Omigod this is awesome. It doesn’t really come across super-herby, but I definitely smell it. Why is the inside so yellow?

Lisa says:

Hmmm, not sure… the lemon zest? Don’t you love the crumble on top? So addictive!

Chris says:

Are you sure this is just rosemary and thyme? This coffee cake totally gives me the munchies.

Lisa says:

Believe what you want — just save some for me!

[/donotprint]

Maple Blueberry Coffee Cake
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3 tbsp rolled oats
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp fine grain sea salt
1/4 tsp fresh lemon thyme, chopped
1/4 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup maple syrup, room temperature
1 large egg, room temperature
zest of one lemon
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 1/3 cups fresh blueberries

Topping:
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut 1/4-inch cubes
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp fresh lemon thyme
1/4 tsp fresh rosemary
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees, rack in the middle. Butter a 1-pound loaf pan, and line with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, thyme, and rosemary. Set aside. In a separate large bowl beat the butter with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Drizzle in the maple syrup and beat until well incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as you go. Beat in the egg, lemon zest, and vanilla extract, scraping the sides again. Add half of the flour, stir, and just a splash of the buttermilk. Stir again, then add the rest of the flour and stir in the remainder of the buttermilk, until everything just comes together and then very gently fold in one cup of the blueberries. Scrape the batter evenly into the prepared pan and set aside.

To make the streusel topping, place the flour, butter, brown sugar, rosemary, thyme and pecans in a food processor and pulse until the topping is just past sandy/crumbly, yet still moist looking. Crumble 2/3 of it over the cake batter, sprinkle the remaining 1/3 cup blueberries on top of that, and then add the last of the crumble. Delicately pat in place with your fingers.

Place the coffee cake in the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes or until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool for five minutes and then remove it from the pan to cool on a rack.

We had banana leaves left over from the Steamed Salmon recipe, and I happened to stumble across this tasty-looking pork dish a couple of days before a PEPS potluck, so it was a no-brainer to make it our contribution.  I’m still partial to the Carnitas that we’ve made a few times previously, but this recipe is easier, and actually tasted better the next day as leftovers.

[donotprint]
Chris says:

I love finds like this, that come out of trying to use up something we bought for a different recipe — banana leaves!

Lisa says:

I love recipes that list 20 cloves of garlic in the ingredients list.

Chris says:

That too — between the garlic, citrus, and achiote paste, the pork has a pretty distinctive flavor. I really like it, it’s different.

Lisa says:

You’re right, it’s different and it’s delicious — so what’s the deal with the ‘real’ recipe?

Chris says:

Oh, so traditionally you’re supposed to roast a whole suckling pig in a hole in the ground.

Lisa says:

(…)

Chris says:

Yeah, I thought you’d be fine with pork shoulder.

[/donotprint]

Cochinita Pibil
1 3.5-oz package of El Yucateco Achiote Red Paste
20 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
1 cup of freshly-squeezed lime juice
1/2 cup of freshly-squeezed orange juice
5-6 lbs boneless pork butt
1 package of banana leaves, defrosted

Combine the achiote paste, garlic, lime juice, and lemon juice in a blender, and puree until smooth. Cut pork into large square portions, leaving much of the fat (you can always remove any fatty pieces after it’s cooked) cover with the paste mixture, and marinate in refrigerator overnight, 12-24 hours.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Line a roasting pan with overlapping banana leaves, letting them hang over the sides. Put the pork and marinade inside, wrap the leaves over the top, then top more overlapping leaves on top to create a sealed package. You should also then line the roasting pan with foil to prevent steam from escaping.
Cook 3.5-4 hours, until pork shreds easily with a fork.
Serve in tacos with pickled onions (recipe here), guacamole, and a *very* spicy hot sauce.

8 Servings

This is seriously one of the easiest and tastiest salmon recipes we’ve ever made.  Adapted for two from the excellent Good Fish: Sustainable Seafood Recipes from the Pacific Coast by Becky Selengut (from whom I received a private cooking lesson, jealous much?), salmon fillets marinate in sake and mirin before being steamed along with mushrooms and onions.  The marinade is reduced to make an addictive, aromatic sauce.  We served the salmon with some roasted fingerling potatoes. Highly recommended!

[donotprint]
Lisa says:

I wonder if people think we just don’t cook anymore?

Chris says:

I barely do…

Lisa says:

Yeah, well I do all the time… I guess we just need to keep adding new recipes to the mix, like this one…

Chris says:

Totally! I’m so glad I picked up this book — all the recipes look fantastic.

Lisa says:

This salmon is awesome. I love the sauce on top. And hooray for mushrooms!

Chris says:

I love recipes that look fancy but are super-simple like this. I guess the hardest thing was finding the banana leaves — which smelled really good while this was steaming, by the way.

Lisa says:

Yeah and that wasn’t even that hard — hooray for HT Market!  By the way, it was total torture that the house smelled so good while I was stuck upstairs putting Cason to bed.

Chris says:

I do what I can…

[/donotprint]

Steamed Banana Leaf Salmon
1/4 cup sake
1/4 cup mirin
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger
1/2 tsp lime juice
salt
2 6-oz. sockeye salmon fillets, from the belly
banana leaves, cut into two 8.5 x 11″ pieces
1 oz shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, tops sliced thin (heaping 1/4 cup)
1/4 cup thinly sliced onion
2 tsps unsalted butter

In shallow glass dish, combine the sake, mirin, soy sauce, ginger, lime juice, and salt. Add the salmon and marinate for about 30 minutes.

Lay the banana leaves out and place half the mushrooms and onions on each. Top with a piece of salmon, reserving the marinade. Top each salmon piece with a tsp of butter. Fold the sides of the leaves over the fish and then tuck under the top and bottom to make a packet. Place the two packets into a steamer basket. In a medium saucepan over high heat, add 2 cups water; when it boils, reduce the heat to a simmer, place the steamer basket into the pan and cover. Cook for about 8 minutes per inch of thickness.

Meanwhile, add the marinade to a small saucepan over high heat and reduce until it gets syrupy, about 10-15 minutes. Remove the salmon packets from the steamer basket and let them rest for a few minutes. Check for the level of doneness you like. Open each packet and top with some of the sauce.

2 Servings