Jessica's Dinner Party

Archive for the 'vegetarian' Category

Pumpkin Butter

I’d forgotten how wonderful autumn in Korea was. The sun brightens the flittering breeze as the sky is seamless with not a gloomy cloud in sight. Looking at the contents of my suitcase I expected much colder temperatures, the type where long sleeves, a scarf, and a thick sweater barely gets you by, but I am pleasantly surprised that the sweater can wait. I am also surprised how normal and comfortable I already am here. Sure, I’m still jetlagged dozing off at 8 pm as my brother only begins to open his textbooks, but I instantly felt at ease when I landed here. I guess that’s the meaning of home, when you still feel like a part of the house you grew up in, not like a visiting guest. Maybe I’m anticipating the moment when this place doesn’t feel that way anymore that I don’t realize that I haven’t gotten there yet. It’s nice. I’ve always felt like such an old soul, a grandma in a youth’s body that I welcome the idea that I still have a lot of growing up to do.

October 14 2009 | fruit and recipe and thoughts and vegetarian | 12 Comments »

Eggplant in Oyster Sauce

Eggplant, for me, is one of those foods that I can’t exactly pinpoint in my memory. I know I had it growing up because I knew what an eggplant tasted like and the texture in my mouth, however I can’t remember exact dishes, or a specific time when I had it. I think it might have been because the dish I had wasn’t spectacular but I was impressed by the natural characteristics of the vegetable. Or it may be that I was freakishly born with eggplant knowledge engrained in my head,I don’t know. But in any case I love eggplant.

Eggplant was one of the first ingredients I cooked with. For me it’s a very forgiving ingredient because I love it when it’s still firm with a nice spongy bite and also when it’s soft enough to melt in your mouth. My timing can be a little off, and I’ll still come up with something I like. When I first started to cook it was really great because I only cooked with vegetables. I’m not a vegetarian but I had this fear of cooking with meat. I was really intimidated because I didn’t think that I could even execute a mediocre dish. With meat timing is key. I wasn’t very fast in the kitchen, so I knew everything I made would be too tough and dry. Eggplant is really great because it has a sort of “meaty” substantial quality to it. It’s sturdy and chewy and a little bit stringy at the same time. It’s no real substitute for a nice piece of steak, but I think in comparison to other vegetables it does a pretty good job.

September 04 2009 | asian and korean and recipe and thoughts and vegetarian | 5 Comments »

Stir Fried Potato Side

Continuing with my love of side dishes, here is one that is good for both summer and winter. It is stir fried potatoes with onions and green peppers. Many potato dishes are heavy and unhealthy (ex. french fries, hash browns, baked potato with the works) but this one is light, nutritious, and deceptively delicious. A little salt and heat brings out the great natural flavors of this starchy vegetable. Whenever my mom set this out before dinner, my sister and I would slowly sneak a few chopsticks-ful until none of it was left when we actually sat down to eat!

I had a hankering for stir fried potatoes the other day so I went to my second best resource, this Korean cookbook, for the recipe. A red light should’ve gone off in my head when I copied down five green bell peppers, but I guess my mind was not functioning very well because I didn’t think twice about it. So, I went to the grocery store and bought two yellow potatoes and five green bell peppers. Once I started cooking, I began to feel like there were one too many green pepper slices but I just kept on cutting away. Seriously, I was like a robot, strictly following illogical directions! I blame it on the heat.

August 22 2009 | asian and korean and recipe and side dish and thoughts and vegetarian | 9 Comments »

Sweet and Spicy Cucumbers

A traditional Korean meal has a lot of side dishes. Some appear at the table all year round like kimchee, spicy fermented cabbage, while others are more seasonal. I love the site of a Korean dinner table because it is always crowded with so many plates of food. It looks like a mini food festival.

August 21 2009 | asian and korean and recipe and side dish and thoughts and vegetarian | 8 Comments »

Crudite and Dips

I love getting fresh local produce at the farmer’s market or local grocery store. The fruits and vegetable are always so beautiful, colorful, and very fragrant. It makes me feel really good that I’m eating healthy and being friendly to the environment. However, I don’t know why, but I don’t like to cook with the fresh produce. I feel guilty, as if I was tainting the pure flavors with my amateur cooking skills. I’m slowly changing my mentality, but I tend to eat a lot of my fruits and vegetables raw. I don’t think that’s a bad thing, but sometimes it can get a little boring.

So, for the picnic I decided to bring crudite and dip! It’s a mix between enjoying the fresh flavors of summer and adding a little extra flavor. As usual, since I couldn’t narrow it down to just one, I made two. I made a hummus from a recipe that I had tagged in a Food and Wine magazine and a dip called Peacamole from the popular food blog, Chocolate and Zucchini.