Morkovcha, a Korean carrot salad

Thanks to the YouTube channel "My Name is Andong", I am making this Korean carrot salad because I have all the ingredients in stock. If you want to learn about why this salad exists everywhere else except in Korea, watch the video. This recipe comes from the Korean cookbook, "Korean Cooking Favorites" by Hyegyoung K. Ford.

1 lb carrot
1 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp white vinegar
1/2 tbsp Korean chili flakes (gochugaru), or 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper + 1 tsp paprika
3 tbsp oil
1 tbsp minced garlic

Instructions 

Peel the carrots and cut them into thin strips using a mandolin, vegetable slicer, or a sharp knife. Put the julienned carrots in a mixing bowl, sprinkle with salt, and let them sit for 10 minutes to wilt.

Mix in the sugar, vinegar, and gochugaru (Korean chili flakes). If gochugaru is unavailable, use a combination of cayenne pepper and paprika. Toss everything together well.

In a small pot, heat the oil over medium-low heat and sauté the garlic until it becomes aromatic, ensuring it doesn’t burn. Pour the hot garlic oil over the carrots and mix thoroughly.

The salad can be served immediately or chilled in the fridge for 2 hours to enhance the flavors. For storage, this carrot salad can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Baked Eggplant

Either type of eggplant can be used: the aubergine (big fat eggplant, usually sold by itself) or the Chinese eggplant (long slender eggplant, usually sold by the pound).

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Ingredients
1 medium aubergine eggplant or 3 Chinese eggplants, sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
water
aged balsamic vinegar
sesame oil or toasted sesame oil

Directions

Wash and remove stem(s) from eggplant.

Slice eggplant into half inch strips or cubes. Toss with olive oil. Place eggplant in baking dish.

Add about a half inch or less of water to the baking dish. This is so that the bottom and edges of the eggplant don't burn.

Bake for 45 minutes.

Toss baked eggplant with balsamic vinegar and sesame oil. Serve as you would a vegetable side dish.

Pork & Vegetable Soup

Cycling through really old meat from the freezer. This ground pork package was from 2021 and so were the canned beans. What makes it really tasty is the addition of aged balsamic vinegar before serving. This is a two-technique process, using a pressure cooker for the first part, and the slow cooker for the second.

Pressure Cooker Ingredients:

1 lb ground pork (was frozen; but you can use fresh)

sea salt & fresh ground black pepper, to taste

1 c water

Pressure Cooker Directions:

Add ingredients to pressure cooker. Cook 5 mins on high. Quick release.

Slow Cooker Ingredients:

One 14.5 oz can organic diced tomatoes

One 15 oz can great Northern beans

1 tsp dried oregano

3 Yukon gold potatoes, diced

2 organic carrots, sliced thick

6 cups of water

2 tbsp Better than Buillion Beef

Slow Cooker Directions:

Cook on Low for 8 hours

I did this recipe as an overnight recipe and had it for breakfast the next day. Per bowl, I added 1-2 tsp aged balsamic vinegar before serving. Though, this is not necessary.

Cold Oven Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Found this recipe on Reddit and the batter was enough to make 12 cupcake-sized pound cakes and one loaf for a work potluck. The cupcake-sized pound cakes got overbaked, and were of a hockey puck consistency, so didn't get anyone to eat them. Was able to slice up the loaf, and had a few takers for that. Not sure why it wasn't as popular of a homemade dessert; but the three-layer cake someone else made was more appealing.

Flour measuring method: scoop with a spoon into measuring cup and level

Substitution for cake flour

1 cup cake flour = 1 cup all purpose flour minus 2 tbsp flour plus 2 tbsp cornstarch

Ingredients

1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter (8 T. each)
8 oz. cream cheese
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
3 cups cake flour
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Instructions

Start with ingredients at room temperature. Butter and flour a loaf 9x5x3 loaf pan and set aside. I have a silicone loaf pan and just lightly grease the inside with unsalted butter.

Using a stand mixer, combine cream cheese, butter, sugar, and vanilla extract until light in color and fluffy. Then, add a whole egg, one at a time and mix to incorporate each egg before adding the next.

Pour batter evenly into a loaf pan or into silicone muffin cups.

Do not preheat oven. Start the bake in a cold oven.

Bake pound cake for 1.5 hours at 325 F, if using an angel food cake tube pan. Let the cake cool in the pan for 20 minutes before removing from the pan.

Bake for 70 minutes at 325 F, if using a loaf pan. Let cool for 10 minutes in the pan on a rack before unmoulding.

Bake for 25 minutes at 350 F, if using making cupcake/muffin tin.

Sun-dried tomato and castelvatrano olive relish

It would appear that I have no mayonnaise in stock. However, I have a lot of green olives and sun-dried tomatoes. Aside from eating this with crackers, it can also be used as a spread on sandwich bread.

Ingredients

200 g sun-dried tomatoes

700 g castelvatrano olive, pitted

125 g red wine (cabernet, merlot, or malbec)

1 fresh garlic clove, minced

olive oil, for consistency

Pulse together in a food processor until desired consistency.