s h i n s h i n e

Food 360 Program in Dekalb Market

  

By chance, an opportunity came to me earlier this summer.  I took a position as the lead culinary instructor for the Food 360 Program, which is a 3-week culinary job training program to the food industry for young adults.  As you can imagine, an introduction to any industry in 3 weeks is challenging, so we keep it intensive yet fun.  The best part about this program may be its location.

Dekalb Market in Brooklyn is a collection of artsy stores and food stalls housed in salvaged shipping containers.  On one end of the market, there is a farm composed of small lots managed by local organizations.  Next to the farm is Food 360 with three big containers connected together and used as a classroom and a kitchen.  

We have the luxury of using much of our ingredients from the farm.  Tomatoes with free-style shapes and colors have beautiful marbling inside.  Purple shiso grows like weed along with mint, which will teach you the definition of 'minty-fresh' with one bite of a tiny leaf.  Purple bell peppers still catch my attention every time I see it.  

On the days with no class, I am often there to organize and prepare for the next classes.  For lunch, I pick the vegetables and herbs in different colors, tear them with my hands, and mix them with the leftover rice and ssamjang (쌈장 - seasoned soy paste) I bring from home.  Every bite is savored.  There is a new meaning in 'lunch in the office.' 

The August round of the program ended with the opening reception of a local artist's pottery installation.  A simple spread of hors d'oeuvres, including seasonal gazpacho, roasted tomato jam and onion jam on herb flat bread, Dekalb spring rolls with spicy peach sauce, and ginger panna cotta, was catered by the Food 360 students.  (The spring rolls with spicy peach sauce, which has gochujang (고추장 - Korean red pepper paste) in it, was created by the students, and it was so good that I shamelessly borrowed the recipe and taught this dish at my demo class at Whole Foods.) 

Yuri of emogayo uses the ashes from a Brooklyn pizzeria as the glaze for all her ceramics.  On the opening day, she laid out her work in different spots in the farm.  They looked like they belonged to the spot right next to the melons and sun flowers, almost as if they'd been there from the beginning.  

The students also looked excited.  It was a culminating experience to practice what they had learned for the past 3 weeks.  Receiving compliments on their food from strangers was a well-deserved reward.  I saw a new found confidence in them.

As the evening light set in, the farm, people, pottery and food together created almost a surreal scene of calm and harmony.

I hear the market will go away at the end of September.  The market will turn into a big box shopping store, I hear.  The program will be on halt for a while, too.  Of course, this only makes sense.  The fact that this valuable site in downtown Brooklyn with subway stops all around has been allowed as a collection of stores in shipping containers and a community farm is more of a mystery.

Still, there is a feeling of sadness.  "You don't know what oregano looks like? Wait 30 seconds!" I run outside and pick a sprig of oregano to show the students.  We pick cherry tomatoes in varying colors and put them in the middle of the table to munch on during our afternoon class.  Leave the basil and mint in the water for a while, and their flavors are steeped even in cold water.  What luxury!

Luckily, I can still live out one more month of this extravagant life style.  My plan was to load all the pictures at the end of September, but I was just too excited to keep the pictures for myself until then.  I had fun creating this album and watching it one too many times.  I hope it makes you smile, too.

By the way, the emogayu installation is on for another weekend.  If you're staying in the city this weekend, go check it out!

 

우연하게도, 필연같은 기회가 여름에 갑자기 왔습니다. Food 360 라는 직업 트레이닝 프로그램을 두달간 맡아 음식업계에 관심있는 젊은이들에게 요리의 기본을 가르치는 일을 하게 되었습니다.  사회복지기관을 통해 소개받은 저소득층 젊은이들은 3주동안 강도 높지만 재미난 트레이닝을 받습니다.  이 프로그램의 매력은 단연 이곳의 위치에 있습니다.  

브루클린에 있는 디캘브 마켓 (Dekalb Market)은 오래된 선적 컨테이너들로 이루어져 있습니다.  동네 음식점들과 예술가, 디자이너들이 선적 컨테이너를 상점으로 꾸미고 장사를 하는 곳입니다.  마켓의 한켠에는 동네 텃밭이 있습니다.  여러 단체에서 조금씩 나눠 채소와 허브를 키웁니다. 그리고 그 텃밭 옆으로 Food360 컨테이너가 있습니다.  그래도 학교니까 꽤 큰 컨테이너 셋으로 연결된 교실과 키친이 있습니다 .   

이른 아침에 도착해 '안녕, 가지씨,' '안녕, 라벤더씨,' 하고 인사합니다. 유난히 더웠던 여름이라 아침부터 공기가 퍽퍽한데도, 귀엽고 사랑스러운 마음이 앞섭니다. 이런 기분 참 오랜만입니다.

클래스에서 쓰는 재료들은 상당부분 이 텃밭에서 거두어 씁니다.  자기 멋대로 울퉁불퉁 생긴 토마토를 잘라보면 마블링이 끝내주고요, 보라색 시소가 (일본식 깻잎) 씩씩하게 자라고, 옆에 민트는 한잎만 따먹어도 화~한 느낌.  보라색 파프리카는 아직도 신기합니다.

수업이 없는 날은 이것저것 정리하는 날입니다. 점심시간이 되면 고추며 바질이며 깔맞춤한 이파리들을 따서 툭, 툭 손으로 찢습니다. 집에서 가져간 쌈장과 찬밥에 막 비빕니다. 한숟갈 한숟갈 들어갈때마다 우와~맛있다~하는 소리가 절로 나옵니다. 뉴욕에서 느끼는 색다른 사치입니다. 직장에서의 점심시간이 새로운 의미로 다가옵니다. 

(흠흠, 그러고 보니 요즘 미국 전역에서 West Nile 바이러스라고 모기가 여러사람 심각하게 괴롭히나보던데, 땡볕에 각종 벌레가 아니더라도 밭에 그렇게 오래있을 일은 아닌데 말이죠...)

8월에 진행된 프로그램은 지역 도자기 예술가의 전시회의 오프닝 리셉션을 케이터링 하는것으로 마무리 되었습니다.  유리씨는 모든 작품에 브루클린 피자집에서 생기는 재로 만든 유약을 쓴다고 합니다.  오프닝에 유리씨가 직접 텃밭 여기저기에 자신의 아이들 같은 도자기를 놓습니다.  원래부터 그렇게 멜론 옆에, 해바라기 옆에 있었던 것처럼 자연스럽습니다.  Food360 학생들은 자신들이 열심히 만들어 내어논 음식에 대해 '대중'들에게서 호평을 받아 많이 들떴습니다.  새로운 자신감도 보이고요.  해가 저물어가며, 마켓의 텃밭과, 사람들과, 도자기와, 음식이 함께 어우러졌습니다. 

9월 말이면 마켓은 문을 닫는 답니다.  그래서 이 프로그램도 당분간 중단입니다. 마켓이 문을 닫고, 땅을 다시 다지고, 커다란 쇼핑센터가 들어선다는군요.  그렇죠, 요 몇년간 브루클린 땅값도 맨하탄 못지않게 올랐는데, 교통이 편한 이런 중심지에, 이렇게 텃밭에서 노닥거릴 땅이 아직 있다는게 신기한거죠.  머리를 따로 굴리지 않아도 이성적인 답은 벌써 나와있습니다.

그런데요...마음이 슬퍼요, 이런거 따위, 뭔 상관이야, 라고 하기엔.  '오레가노가 어떻게 생긴지 모른다고? 30초만 기다려!' 하고 뛰어나가 오레가노 잎을 따옵니다. 오후에 입이 심심하니까 갖가지 색의 방울 토마토를 한웅큼 따서 그릇에 담아놓습니다. 책상위에 놓아두면 오후 수업중 하나, 둘, 야금야금 잘도 없어집니다. 민트 잎을 물 주전자에 띄워 잠시 놔두면 찬물에도 민트 향이 퍼집니다. 이런 호사가 있을까요.

이런 호사, 아직 한달 남았습니다. 사진첩은 9월 말까지 찍은 사진을 엮어 올리려는 계획이었지만 급한 성격에 그렇게 못 기다리겠습니다. 저는 이 사진첩을 만들면서 즐거웠고, 볼때마다 즐겁습니다. 보시는 모든 분들에게도 즐겁고 편안한 마음이 깃들길 바라며 오늘은 이만 총총.

참, 도자기 전시는 이번주말까지 계속 됩니다. 뉴욕 근처 계시면 동네 마실 나오듯 한번 둘러보고 가세요. (http://www.emogayu.com)

My Class at Whole Foods in Tribeca NYC Tomorrow! (8/30)

I really don't mean it to be a surprise class, but it seems that way.  I will get better at 'advanced' notices...

I am going back to Whole Foods in Tribeca for a late summer demo class tomorrow evening. Come and learn to make these healthful dishes to last you through the remaining hot days.  To start with, we'll roll the spring rolls with colorful summer vegetables and get tips on how to easily handle the fickle rice paper.  The sweet, tangy spicy dipping sauce is perfect for our summer rolls.  

Next up is chilled cream pasta - It is possible to have a pasta dish with a sauce that's luscious, creamy and chilled!  As we wrap up the class and bring our body back to balance from cold dishes, we'll sip on our own mix of calming, refreshing herb tea.  Follow simple, but essential steps to extract pleasant herbal flavor without drawing out its grassy taste.

Explore Asian Ingredients
6:30PM - 8:00PM

Demo Class Menu

Summer Rolls with Spicy Peach Sauce
Chilled Cream Pasta
Lemongrass Tea 

You can follow the link here to sign up for the class.

Hope to see you there! 

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KOREAN WORDS
복숭아     (bok soong ah)    peach
자두        (ja doo)               plum 

Rice Nests with Anchovies

After all these years, I still over-estimate how efficient I can be.  But then, I still over-eat and regret, over-drink and regret...although the frequency of it, I'd like to believe, has decreased.  I'm not really counting though.

So a week or so two weeks after I thought I'd get this post up, I'm finally sitting down to put this together. 

Here...I used my myeolchi bokkeum (멸치 볶음 - anchovy stir-fry), or simply anchovy banchan, to pretty things up.  The green bits that tiny achovies are sitting on are tangy seaweed banchan cut up to small pieces.  So the rice nests really represent the ocean with seaweed and fish, you know?...Am I the only one who thinks this is clever and funny?...  

...Anyway, the point is that the rice nest base is a versatile means to carry many small bits of everyday humble banchan.  For those who need to see what they are eating, this could work better than the more common rice balls with stuffings inside (주먹밥 - ju meok bap). These don't travel as well, but if you have a party at home, it could be another way to show off the effort you put into making banchan, instead of having 'those little dishes' lumped into one big nameless group.  Of course, if you have fancier edibles to put on these rice nests, I'm sure you can fly with your own imagination. 

 

Make your rice as you usually do - In the pictures above, the rice I made is a mix of sweet brown rice (찹쌀 현미 - chap ssal hyeon mi) and white rice (3:1 ratio by volume), plus corn kernels.  Just in case you're wondering about the color and unidentifiable specs.  

Season the rice by mixing 1 t toasted sesame oil, 2 t rice vinegar, and a pinch of black pepper to 2 cups of cooked rice (which makes about 15 mini rice nests) while it's still steaming hot.  Depending on what you're putting on top of rice, you might also want to season with salt at this time.  Because the anchovies are pretty salty, I didn't add salt to rice.  Taste and adjust seasoning.  Let the rice cool a little so that it's easier to handle.

Line the mini muffin pan with plastic wrap, leaving enough extra in all sides.  As you fill the pan with rice, it will pull more of the plastic wrap.  Fill with rice then cover with another layer of plastic wrap.  With your fingers, press down the rice to tightly shape it with a dent in the middle.  Uncover the top layer of plastic wrap and gently remove the rice nests from the muffin pan.  With the help of the bottom layer plastic wrap and oil mixed in the rice, this part should be easy.  Just be gentle with them.

Garnish the rice nests with banchan or anything else your imagination brings.  

Serve at room temperature.

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KOREAN WORDS
과식    (gwa shik)    overeating
과음    (gwa eum)    overdrinking

Anchovy Banchan (멸치 볶음)

Here is another simple banchan (반찬 - side dish).  As simple as this is, there seems to be many versions of it.  I hope I got the simplest of them all - but, of course, with room for upgrades if you're up for it.

This is one of the most common, basic banchan served with rice.  It is very much encouraged and endorsed by all Korean moms since anchovies are an excellent source of calcium.  Another common version is to make this banchan with nuts (walnuts, peanuts) to make it a super-powered banchan for kids. 

In my recipe, the key to anchovies (멸치 - myeol chi) stir-fry (볶음 - bok geum) is the beginning.  Take time to toast them over low heat until the color turns golden brown.  This step will help get rid of excessive fishy smell, if any, and gets the anchovies ready to be crispy (but not quite yet).  This only takes 10-15 minutes depending on how low the heat is, but regardless, don't leave the kitchen while you're making this.  

You may be aware that Koreans use all sizes of dried anchovies - the ones you should make this banchan with should be fairly small, as in 1 inch in length or shorter.  Another way to determine if it's good to make banchan is if you can dissect the bones and parts with your fingers without using a microscope or a twizzer. If you can, then it's too big for banchan.  If this description grosses you out, let's stick to the 1-inch-length rule of thumb.

For your information, bigger ones, the ones you can remove bones and what not with your fingers, are mostly used to make quick stock, along with dried kelp (다시마 - da shi ma) and often with dried shitake (표고 버섯 - pyo go beo seot).  Anchovies add that oceany, refreshing flavor base in many noodle soups and stews without unpleasant fishy-ness.  But it should not be left in stock for too long as they start giving off bitter taste.

Oh, and the bigger anchovies make a simple accompaniment for soju.  A humble man's crudité, if you will, not in the usual vegetables-and-dips kind, but I happen to agree they're pretty good just dipped in plain gochujang (고추장 - Korean red pepper paste).  And with soju. 

 
I hope you can tell the difference between *before* and *after* toasting pictures!

INGREDIENTS:

2 C tiny anchovies (about 1 inch in length or shorter)
1 T toasted sesame oil (you can replace it with canola oil or other neutral-tasting oil)
1 T corn syrup
1 t+ sugar or brown sugar
1/2 t sesame seeds 
(Optional) 1t + gochujang to make it spicy
(Optional) finely chopped chives (picture above) or scallions for garnish 

DIRECTIONS:

Toast anchovies over low heat with no oil.  Once you start to hear the anchovies popping, stir with a wooden spoon for even toasting.  When anchovies turn opaque-white, golden brown from transluscent and silvery, turn off the heat but keep the pan on the stove.

Add sesame oil and sesame seeds, and stir to mix.  !!! Do not skip the oil.  Without it, you're essentially making one giant ball of 10,000 anchovies that'll be hard to break apart next time you try to eat a few.!!! 

Then mix in corn syrup and sugar.  Taste and adjust seasoning.  Add more sugar if you want it crispy.  Add more corn syrup to make it sticky.  Keep in mind that as the anchovies cool, it gets a little more stickier.

Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.

Come back later this week to see how anchovies can be presented in a different way, hopefully, a little less scary way for the uninitiated!

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KOREAN WORDS
물엿    (mul yeot)    corn syrup
설탕    (seol tang)   sugar 

Spicy Watermelon Rind Banchan (수박 무침)

Here is a simple summer banchan (반찬 - side dish) made with the watermelon rind, the part that's usually ignored and discarded.  This is a common home banchan in Korea called subak muchim (수박 무침 - lightly-seasoned watermelon).  I've made this before, but not too often.  There is something about scooping out all the red flesh out of the watermelon, filling up myself with the sweet, cooling watermelon, then getting back to work to scrape off remaining red flesh and working with the rind when I should be just cleaning up and calling it a day.  

Then as is usually the case, this obvious simplicity hit me one day that it doesn't have to feel like I'm doubling up the work.  It could be just one smooth process of removing the layers in order, from taking off the outside skin to be discarded, peeling off the rind to be reserved for a side dish, then cutting up the red flesh for immediate consumption (or refrigerate for later).

The white rind of the watermelon works like radish, crunchy and cooling with a hint of sweetness from the watermelon.  After peeling off the rind, most laborious work is done.  Cut the big chunks of the rind to slices or matchsticks and let them rest for half an hour with coarse sea salt mixed in.  You'll see the watermelon juice extracted out, making the rind tighter and crunchier.  Drain, wash off the salt completely, and squeeze out any remaining water as much as you can, then it's ready to be dressed with seasoning.  Mix with gochujang (고추장 - Korean red pepper paste) at its simplest preparation.  It makes a punchy-crunchy garnish for your summer noodle dishes as well as for your salad. 

Since the size of the watermelon and the amount of the rind that comes along with it vary, consider the below recipe as a starting guide to make your watermelon rind banchan.

Not too bad of a use for a part that's always been there but mostly ignored.

  

INGREDIENTS:
White rind from 1 watermelon (about 5 cups) --> You will end up with about 2 cups when complete.
2 T coarse sea salt 
1t ~ 1T gochujang (고추장 - Korean red pepper paste)

Optional) grated garlic, sesame oil, rice vinegar, toasted sesame seeds 

DIRECTIONS:
Cut the rind to thin strips.  

Leave the white strips of the rind mixed in coarse sea salt for about 30 minutes, until much of the watermelon juice is extracted and it's become salty enough that you'd want it as a side dish with a bowl of rice, but not too salty that it would jolt your brain.  The white strips should be soft enough that you can squeeze without breaking it.  

Rinse in cold water to wash off the remaining salt.  Repeat in new cold water 3-5 times.  Then squeeze out water as much as you can.

Start seasoning by mixing in a teaspoon of gochujang.  For those who want to taste more of a proper banchan and can spare 5 more minutes, mix in a teaspoon each of grated garlic, sesame oil and rice vinegar.  Taste and adjust seasoning.  Feel free to sprinkle sesame seeds for garnish.

Serve with rice as a side dish, add to your salad, or garnish your chilled noodle dish with this spicy watermelon rind banchan!

TIPS!

After cutting out all the rind, it may look like it's just too much.  I stil suggest you use all of it, at least for your first batch, as the volume of the rind will shink to less than half the initial volume after salting and squeezing out excess water. 

You can also use daikon or mu (무 - Korean radish) and follow this recipe.  It may lack that obvious sweetness of watermelon, but you'll still get something pretty close in crunchy bites.

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KOREAN WORDS
수박    (su bak)    watermelon
식초    (shik cho)    vinegar