A Game of Sardines

Salt Sit

During my search for the perfect fusion tapas 

made with Korean ingredients,

I realized I needed Spanish cured sardines.

Pear Vinegar Bath

I used this recipe from The Spanish Hipster:

http://www.spanishhipster.com/2011/04/cured-sardines-recipe/

but made a few changes.

I let them cure for 6 hours

(because I needed to go to work)

Experimented with lime juice 

(because I was out of lemon)

Used Korean Pear Vinegar

(because I don't like imports)

Oil Bed

The result was just delightful

and perfect for my toasts.

Perfection with fresh cheese.

 

NOTE: You might not want to let them sit in the salt for six hours if you are planning to eat them on their own.  I like the longer salt bed because they last longer and are great with other plane ingredients.

Tapas The Morning To Ya

So begins the big adventure.

Melding together

Spanish Tapas

and

Korean Side Dishes

The first thing I needed to do 

was pick three flavors  that worked together

from each country.

These make the pallet 

for painting the recipes.

This required making lots of little toasts.

The first try.  Tastes great, but not even close to what I'm going for.

 

Total bust.  Too much soy.  Too much olive.  Too Soggy.

FLAVORS

The first toasts, 

although delicious,

were not well balanced flavor wise.

They were too "Korean".

After a few more tires I found the perfect balance.

From Spain I chose:

Lemon

Olive

Paprika

From Korea I chose:

Soy Sauce

Spicy Peppers

Fermentation

This was ugly as heck, but a lot more delicious and sent me down the right path.

TEXTURE

After that I needed to refine my textures.

"What?" you ask "Textures?"

Yes, believe it or not texture

is as a key part of fusion cuisine.

I consider it equally important to taste.

Spanish food has a lovely 

balance of crunch and smoothness 

that's critical for it to "taste" Spanish.

At first my toasts just didn't have it.

 

The perfect crunch was found in:

Toasting the bread

Making goat and soy cheese.

Using lotus root

This was where I started really picking up speed.

INGREDIENTS

Finally, I had to decided what was going in things.

The two cuisines have a great deal in common,

but I still needed to narrow it down.

So this is what 

I'll be making the tapas out of.

CROSSOVER INGREDIENTS

Chicken eggs

Quail eggs

Sardines

Eggplant

Peppers

Potato

Squid

Shrimp

Mushrooms

UNIQUE INGREDIENTS

Lotus Root

Olives

Olive Oil

Kimchi

Korean fruit wines

In the end I knew just what I needed to take it to the next level.

 WHAT'S NEXT?

After this I need to work on 

marinating my own lotus root.  

The stuff from the market is just too strong.  

It needs to be less intense.

It needs to float inside the recipe, 

not stand out on top.

Cheesed Off

Goat Cheese

So, we have two traditionally made cheeses 

ready for their close-up.

Both cheeses were made 

in the same traditional Korean pot 

using the same lemon, herb and salt.

One is made with soy milk.

One is made with goat's milk.

Which will be preferred?

Well, it's hard to say.

Once they were on the tapas

It was impossible to tell which was which.

My Research Here:
http://littlehouseinthesuburbs.com/2009/02/quick-homemade-cheese.html 

In the end, all I use of my cheese is:
Milk
Lemon
Herbs
Salt 
What you need to know is that the more lemon and vinegar you use the more tart or tangy it gets.  You can easily adjust the acidity to your taste.  Don't be afraid to change and modify things. 

In fact, I shortcut just about everything.  There is very little you have to do other than not boil the crap out of your milk.
Now get your butt in the kitchen and have an adventure.  

Soy Cheese

Holy Tahini Batman

Ready for the oven.

 Tahini, if you can find it,

is terribly expensive in Korea.

So, it seemed the right time to make my own.

As I have mentioned,

I'm interested in sustainable recipes.

So I adjust everything 

for affordable local ingredients.

There is nothing more affordable 

 - and available in Korea -

than sesame seeds. 

Thankfully, 

I know just where to turn for help

www.dedemed.com/.

You might make a little bit of a mess.

You can count on Dede for 

excellent videos recipes and advice.

It's good, old Mediterranean home cooking.

Which is what I am always looking for,

food that tastes like my family.

I used a small bullet mixer that you can find for 30,000w.  It took longer but it worked just fine.

Note, it's going to be dark when you mix it unless you add enough water and oil. Don't panic.

 Of course, you don't really know if it's good

until you put it in something.

So I made baba ganoush.

This is Korea 

so we have to make adjustments.

1) You roast it at 200 Celsius

2) You will have to use Japanese eggplant. 

3) You will want to use at least 4 small eggplants. 

4) You might have to use lemon from a bottle.

I buy mine at the market.  They are super affordable.

My little babies looking good.  I roasted them a bit too long.

The magic.

The result was easy to make perfection.

You don't have to live without in Korea,

and you don't have to have it shipped in.

Everything I used 

was from the local market.

You can make healthy, delicious, authentic

Mediterranean food with local ingredients.

So stop bitch'n and get in the kitch'n. 

Here is the fantastic Dede 

showing you how it's done.

www.dedemed.com

If You Build It They Will Come

It's Christmas.

There has to be cookies.

Supplies: Boxes, Tinfoil, Tiny Nails, Metal Rack

Electric Meat Thermometer

Size to fit over range.

Insert items to bake.

Have neighbors over for delicious goodness.