Jessica's Dinner Party

by jessica yoon

vegetarian

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

 

  

  

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Roasted Tomato Sandwich With A Feta Twist

To enjoy the dog days of summer, I thought it would be nice to go on a picnic with some friends.  Cold drinks, food, and a nice spot in the shade seemed like a good idea.  I didn’t plan on making most of the food myself, but my secret wish came true.  I don’t go on picnics very often, so if I was confined to one dish, I think I would’ve had an even harder time picking out what I wanted to bring.  I mean, I thought about the picnic menu for days and ended up with almost two types of everything.  It probably didn’t help that I went to Whole Foods without a definite plan or grocery list.  My friend kept on telling me to get inspired by the seasonal ingredients, but I couldn’t!  I’m just not experienced enough to know what I can do with what.  Every time I get something, thinking I can make a certain dish, I end up having to run to the local deli in front of my house midway through a recipe because I don’t have fresh chives, tarragon, or heavy cream.  Well, after more than an hour I finalized what I was going to make, and bought almost everything I needed.  I did end up going to the deli once though.

  

The first sandwich I made is made with roasted tomatoes and onions with feta, black olives, and oregano.  It was inspired by Martha Stewart’s amazing Tomato Hand Pies.  I made them a couple of weeks ago for a potluck and everyone devoured them.  I wanted to make them again but didn’t really want to be bothered by the Pate Brisee again.  So I decided to make it into a sandwich!  It was really incredible.  The roasted tomatoes were sweet and savory while the soft onions really provided a depth to the flavor.  The feta, olive, and oregano topping gave the sandwich a nice greek twist.  I thought about using mozzarella instead of the feta and olive combination, but just decided to stay closer to the original recipe.  Next time, I may lay a piece of mozzarella on the bottom of the sandwich because my bread did get soggy by the time I got to the picnic.  But I think it was good, soggy bread and all.  The juices were all soaked up in the crusty soar dough slice.  If you have the time and patience, I really recommend making the hand pies, but if you want a faster and easier version, make this sandwich!

 

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