Came home from a night of drinks at the Wythe Hotel rooftop bar and threw together a pair of chicken sandwiches for Nicole and myself.
We probably should have just shared one.
To kick off Memorial Day weekend, our friend Joanna hosted an awesome Game of Thrones barbecue that was full of cleverly themed dishes like Nightshade punch, Theon’s Dick Sausage, Moongate Pies, and Battle of Blackwater cupcakes.
I made some dragon wings that were coated in a sauce of several ingredients that we’ve just had kicking around in our regrigerator and freezer. The result was something pleasantly spicy, sour, sweet, and just slightly numbing.
I started by making a simple syrup with chicken stock, palm sugar, cane sugar, ginger, sour orange juice, and peel. Then I infused some old duck confit fat with sichuan peppercorns and used that to saute some some mulato peppers, fresh habaneros, and pickled mustard root. The two were blended together and then brushed on the chicken wings after they were confited and grilled.
I added just a dash of fish sauce because the glaze was already pretty well seasoned, probably from the confit fat and the mustard root?
I’d love to be able to whip up this sauce every time I’m grilling chicken, but it’s a collection of ingredients that aren’t so easy to come by. That duck fat was perfumed with star anise and fennel seed, as well as a few dozen duck thighs from our SE Asian supper club two years ago. The chili peppers, sichuan peppercorns, and sour orange aren’t exactly common grocery aisle items, and the pickled mustard root is pretty much exclusively available in an asian grocer.
It was fairly easy to throw together. I doubt I’ll be able to do it again any time soon… *sigh
Lately we’ve been obsessed with toasting cooked rice in a cast iron with a bit of sesame oil. Once it’s crispy we add whatever vegetables are on hand, a sunny side up egg, and a mixture of gochujang (Korean fermented chili paste) and vinegar. It makes an awesome chewy and spicy homemade version of Dolsot Bibimbap which is good for snacks, lunch, dinner, or even breakfast.
Recipes for bibimbap (literally translated from the Korean as “mixed rice”) can be found all over the internet; for the video we used Nick Kindelsparger’s recipe from Serious Eats. His version isn’t done in a dolsot (stone pot), so it doesn’t produce that crunchy layer of rice, which is, in our opinion, the best part. Since we don’t own a dolsot and have no plans for finding space for one of those heavy guys, we used a cast iron skillet. We highly recommend throwing some rice in any kind of heavy-bottomed pan with sesame oil the next time you cook. It takes 10-15 minutes on medium heat for the rice to get deliciously crispy but is well worth the wait.
Paul and our friend Jae Song got crazy in the kitchen a few days ago making this V-Day themed dish: beet juice pasta filled with goat milk ricotta and some toasty artichoke hearts to top it off. Here’s a little vid that shows what went down. Special thanks to Jae for shooting and for all his help. Happy Valentine’s Day!