Spiced Chorizo Sausage with Figs

Recipe from gourmetfoodplaza.com

Notes

This dish features an intriguing blend of spicy, sweet and sour flavors.

Ingredients

  • 4 chorizo sausages (1 lb) cut into 1 inch pieces
  • 8-10 dried figs, halved
  • 1 small onion, halved and thinly sliced
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • ½ cup red wine
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • ½ cup red wine vinegar
  • 1 stick cinnamon
  • pinch ground cloves

Directions

  1. Heat the oil in a skillet and lightly brown the chorizo.
  2. Add remaining ingredients and gently simmer 30 minutes.

Note: This dish can be made in advance and preheated just before serving

Spicy Potatoes, Scallion Salad and Korean Fruit Soup

Gamja Jorim – Spicy Potatoes
Discovering Korean Cuisine: Recipes from the Best Korean Restaurants in Los Angeles – Allisa Park

½ pound bintje potatoes (or yukon gold potatoes), cleaned and unpeeled
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons corn syrup
1 tablespoon olive oil
¼ teaspoon red pepper powder
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 scallion, roots trimmed, finely chopped

Put soy sauce, water, corn syrup, olive oil, potatoes and scallions in a saucepan over high heat and cover with a lid. When the mixture starts to boil, turn down the heat to medium and continue to cook until the potatoes are almost cooked (about 3-4 minutes; poke the potatoes with a fork to test – they should be just a little stiff). Add the red pepper powder, black pepper, and garlic on top (do not stir; just leave them on top of the potatoes). When the potatoes are fully cooked, turn off the heat and mix everything together. Serve as a side dish.

Pa-Muchim – Scallion Salad
Discovering Korean Cuisine: Recipes from the Best Korean Restaurants in Los Angeles – Allisa Park

5 scallions
1 teaspoon red pepper powder
⅛ teaspoon minced garlic
¼ teaspoon soy sauce
¼ teaspoon granulated sugar
½ teaspoon Asian sesame oil

Wash each scallion and pat dry with a paper towel. Trim both ends of each scallion, then cut into 3-inch pieces and then finely cut again lengthwise (scallions are very slippery, so use caution while cutting). Put the scallions in a bowl and add red pepper powder, garlic, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, and sesame seeds, and toss to mix. Transfer to a serving plate.

Korean Fruit Soup
CLBB Kayla

This fruit soup is a gorgeous feast of colors, fragrance, and flavors. The fruit is laced with essences of aromatic herbs, spices, and nuts. It should he prepared several hours ahead, or even the day before.

½ cup honey
1 ounce ginger, peeled and grated
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 cups grapefruit juice
2 tablespoons ch’ongju (rice wine) or vermouth
1 apple, peeled, cored, quartered,
and cut into 1/2-inch dice
1 Korean or Asian pear, peeled, cored,
quartered, and cut into 1/2-inch dice
15 seedless grapes
1 peach, peeled, pitted, and cut into 1/2-inch dice
1 cup diced seeded watermelon
1 cup strawberries, halved
1 orange, peeled and sectioned
1 tablespoon pine nuts
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 sprigs mint leaves, for garnish

To make the soup base, in a large non-reactive bowl, combine 3 cups of water with the honey, ginger, lemon juice, grapefruit juice, and ch’ongju. Stir, blending well. In a punch bowl, add the apple, pear, grapes, peach, watermelon, strawberries, and orange and toss lightly to mix. Add the soup and stir lightly with a wooden spoon. Wrap the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate to chill.

Just before serving, sprinkle the pine nuts and cinnamon over the soup. Garnish with the mint leaves. Serve at the center of the table or in individual bowls.

Perfect Potato Salad

Perfect Potato Salad
Jamie Oliver, Jamie at Home (Hyperion 2008)[from notes of the show by CLBB PamN]

small new potatoes
boiling salted water
1 lemon, zest and juice
salt and pepper
3 pinches capers, (nice-sized pinches)
extra-virgin olive oil
(use 3 times as much oil as you have lemon juice)
splash of vinegar
smoked salmon (the dry type)
horseradish, grated fresh or bottled
fresh dill
creme fraiche
or yogurt or fromage frais
½ lemon, juiced

Bring the salted water to a boil and add the potatoes. (JO puts small new potatoes in already boiling water rather than putting them in cold water and then heating the water.)

Meanwhile, make the potato dressing. In a bowl, grate in the lemon zest with a microplane and squeeze in the juice. Add salt and pepper, 3 nice pinches of brined capers, and whisk in 3 times as much oil as you have lemon juice. When the potatoes are done, drain them and add, hot, to the dressing bowl. Fold them into the dressing so they are well coated. JO tasted and added a splash of vinegar to bring up the sharpness.

On a platter, arrange the slices of smoked salmon in casual waves to cover the plate.

The potatoes will have cooled down by this point, so chop some fresh dill and toss it throughout the dressed potatoes. (If you added the dill earlier, while the potatoes are hot, it would wilt and taste cooked.) Spoon the potatoes in the center of the platter of salmon.

In a small bowl, place some creme fraiche. Squeeze in the juice of half a lemon (or so), grate in some horseradish, and add a bit of salt. Mix well (it should be fairly loose). Drop it in splodges around the platter. Drizzle a little extra-virgin olive oil over all and sprinkle on some freshly chopped dill.

Serve with bread for lunch.