Remember all that pork from a few days ago… Tonight was Bo Ssam night.
I finished the pork with a sugar and vinegar rub, broiled to crisp (well, it got charred again), made a scallion-ginger-cilantro-serrano condiment (riff on my usual, not the Momofuku recipe which doesn’t blister the aromatics), and approximated the ssam sauce with what I had on hand (sichuan doubanjiang and miso instead of gochujang, plus a few other things).
The pork was delicious, but the scallion sauce was the hit f the night - gone in the blink of an eye (which I expected, but I was short on scallions even after lobbing off all the garden ones).
Meal rounded out by saucy mushrooms, steamed broccoli, and brown rice.
Yesterday was my wife’s birthday so I cooked to her menu. Seared scallops (no picture) and confit byaldi aka ratatouille. I’m not a fan of either scallops or eggplant but she’s my wife and I love her.
I take some liberties with Thomas Keller’s recipe. Ssshh - don’t tell him. I use a very thin layer of red potato slices (mandolin) at the bottom and I don’t puree the pepper sauce. Mandolin for eggplant and squash, tomatoes hand cut. This one was not the most beautiful and I’m still experimenting with adjustments to bake with convection. My wife likes it though and that is the important part. Apologies for not wiping the edge - I was busy with scallops.
Dinner last night; leftover rotisserie chicken, thus chicken tacos, with Hatch chiles, and condiments. My plate is pictured - lettuce avocado & salsa beneath the cheese. That counts as salad, right?
Ok, tonight was just me and didn’t feel like going to pick something up so into the fridge I went. Some leftover angel hair tossed in butter, olive oil, shallots, garlic, parsley with toasted pignoli nuts. Some fresh Parmesan sprinkled atop. Rather good fridge clean out meal!
I made brined, roasted chicken wings (baking powder in the brine to enhance skin crispiness, 425°F convection for 40 min.) and kale salad with the last of the green goddess dressing. DH made a summery salad in vinaigrette. Peanut butter cookies with mini chocolate chips that the toddler and I mixed this morning and baked after dinner for dessert.
Maangchi’s Dwaejigogi bokkeum (spicy stir-fried pork) tonight with a pork shoulder steak instead of pork belly because it’s what I had. Super easy/quick/extremely delicious. Marinated all day tho the recipe didn’t call for it. We made lettuce wraps with the pork and homemade kimchi. Satisfying and homey.
