It’s been said that necessity is the mother of invention.
Nowhere is that statement truer than in the kitchen. How else could you explain the fact that humans eat (and even love) strange animal parts such as tripe, sweetbreads, foie gras, rocky mountain oysters and the like? Or that they’ve consumed horrible smelling fruit like durian?
I suppose that some of these culinary oddities might have been first consumed on a dare, but most likely these foods were first eaten by humans in order to survive. Figuring out how to make them taste great was simply a natural progression.
While I certainly am not in the dire straits of our ancestors, sometimes I find myself hungry, with little time to prepare a meal, and with a host of ingredients that don’t add up to the parts of any typical recipes.
It is at these times that I often have the most fun experimenting and creating new dishes that range from just plain awful (cornmeal and smoked salmon pancakes) to tasty/interesting (grilled scallop and jalapeno sandwiches on polenta rounds) to favorites that I add to my repertoire (see below).
The following are a couple of examples of the “hits” that I’ve come up with in the past few weeks.
Korean Rice Cakes with Kimchi, Bacon and Ramps
Whenever I find myself in Koreatown, I inevitably hit up the Korean grocery store on 32nd between 5th and 6th Avenues. It is filled with strange and interesting products that us round-eyes aren’t familiar with.
I happened to be on that block a few weeks ago and thought I’d stop by to pick up some kimchi for cooking with and just enjoying out of the jar. As it was by far the best deal, I ended up purchasing a three pound tub of the spicy pickled cabbage (which I’m still working though). I also snagged a bag of what is quickly becoming my favorite pasta substitute,
Korean rice cakes.
The next day I had a softball game in the early afternoon and needed a hearty meal to sate myself before the game. With only an hour to cook and eat, I gazed into my nearly barren refrigerator. My eyes locked on to those delicious and fun to eat rice cakes. To that I decided to add a little protein, in the form of some Niman Ranch bacon I had left over from a Bucatini Alla’ Amantriciana I had made on Friday night.
To cut through a bit of the bacon’s fattiness, I decided (taking a page out of David Chang’s book) to throw in a bit of the aforementioned kimchi, which would also serve to flavor the rice cakes. Finally, I added in some
fresh ramps, both the leaves and the firm bottoms, as my roommates were clamoring for me to get them out of the house (it seems they were causing a bit of a stench…)
I boiled about ¾ of a pound of the rice cakes while I fried three strips of bacon in a cast iron skillet. Normally, I cook bacon in an oven, but this time I wanted to catch the drippings to sauté the ramps and kimchi in.
When the bacon was properly crispy, I threw a ½ cup of Kimchi and its juices as well as 3 minced ramps into the bacon drippings. After four minutes, I tossed in the rice cakes and the bacon, which I had diced, and let the whole thing cook together for another two minutes.
What resulted was a fantastic mixture of textures, complex flavors and general yumminess. It was so good, in fact, that I made it for dinner that night as well. While I won’t be able to find ramps the rest of the year (they are highly seasonal), fresh garlic should be a fine stand-in. This dish is definitely going on the all-star list.
Jerk Mahi-Mahi Lettuce Wraps with Fresh Basil, Mint, Kimchi and Bean Sprouts
The second high quality dish I threw together over Memorial Day weekend. I had purchased some mahi mahi with the intention of making fish tacos for my roommates and I. It turned out, unfortunately, that they all had dates planned for that evening. Lazy as it sounds, I didn't feel like hitting up the grocery store to buy tortillas, jalapenos, and the like for a solo venture.
I decided to make do with what I had on hand and see what resulted.
I first rubbed the mahi mahi with jerk seasoning and sauteed it in a cast iron skillet over medium heat, for about four minutes per side. I then sliced the fish into portions small enough to fit into the lettuce wraps that I was going to use as a vessel to transport them from plate to mouth.
In addition to the jerk rubbed fish, I added bean sprouts, kimchi, fresh mint and fresh basil to the bibb lettuce leaves before consuming. The bean sprouts and kimchi added a nice crunch to the dish, while the herbs both tempered the spiciness of the jerk and kimchi and provided their own clean flavors that rounded out the dish.
The whole meal took about 15 minutes to prepare and turned out quite well. Next time I find myself with mahi mahi, I'm not so sure my first instinct will be fish tacos...
A misleading poster as no actual alcohol or Olympian meat will be served
Some of the foods you'll be able to sample
a plate of 
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