Recipes By Eric Kim
206 recipes found
Tangy Tzatziki
Inspired by the tzatziki served at Sto Kastro, a Greek restaurant in Germersheim, Germany, this thicker, fluffier iteration of the sauce lets the pairing of cucumber and yogurt shine. The main technique here is to really squeeze the liquid out of both the cucumbers and the yogurt, which results in tzatziki that’s both creamy and almost fluffy. A second trick, from the cookbook author Suzy Karadsheh, is to use distilled white vinegar instead of lemon juice. The vinegar’s straightforward acidity delivers the best of the cucumber and yogurt. This cool, creamy mix tastes fantastic when spread on warm pita bread and crackers or used as a dip for chips and fresh crunchy vegetables.
S’mores Brownies
These fudgy s’mores bars have three layers: crispy graham cracker bottoms, satisfyingly chewy brownie centers and toasted marshmallow tops. They couldn’t be simpler to make and taste best chilled, straight out of the refrigerator, but campfire nostalgists will love them at room temperature, or microwaved for 10 seconds for gooey centers. Be sure to use a metal baking pan since the timing for the toasted marshmallows requires the brownie base to bake quickly and evenly.
Spaghetti Napolitan
Spaghetti Napolitan should be thought of as a yaki (“fried”) noodle dish more than an Italian-style pasta. This smart, effortlessly delicious version comes from ketchup lover Chiaki Ohara of Davelle, a Japanese café on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Frying the ketchupy noodles and vegetables over high heat, in a generous amount of oil, results in a deeply satisfying sauce, so don’t be afraid of a little fire (or oil, for that matter). This is Japan’s yoshoku (“Western-style”) interpretation of Italian tomato spaghetti, a dish that’s hard to get right, but Ms. Ohara’s Napolitan ratios are quietly precise and genius. If you can relish it, the soft fried egg on top adds so much.
Spicy Cucumber Noodle Salad With Clams
Based on the classic Korean banquet dish, golbaengi muchim (sea snail or whelk salad), this refreshing noodle salad makes use of lovely canned clams in place of the snails. When paired with chile, lemon and umami, the seafood in this recipe recalls shrimp cocktail at the Grand Central Oyster Bar and eating local conch in the Bahamas. In other words, it’s a party. The key to this recipe is using the liquid from the canned clams to both season and thin out the dressing so it can really coat the luscious, bouncy noodles. If you have fresh herbs like perilla or mint lying around, use them here with great abandon.
Dak Bulgogi (Korean BBQ Chicken)
One great joy of bulgogi, marinated grilled beef that translates to “fire meat,” is that you can prepare it in advance and, when you’re ready to eat, have dinner on the table in under 10 minutes. This stovetop chicken variation, dak bulgogi, provides the same workday convenience and savory-sweet flavors, thanks to soju, an alcohol which tenderizes the meat, and maple syrup, which caramelizes beautifully without burning. Apple juice extends those ingredients and allows room for the subtle umami — known in Korean as gamchil mat — from garlic, ginger and scallions to gently season the chicken. Don’t skip the salt, pepper and lemon at the end; they complete this deliciously brisk dish.
Jalapeño Grilled Chicken Breasts
These might be the juiciest chicken breasts you’ll ever cook. The fresh, peppery, neon-green brine — imbued with fresh onion, jalapeños, garlic and sake — results in irresistibly succulent meat with the clearest, most straightforward pepper taste. Bolstered by the barbecue’s fire taste, this grilled chicken is great alongside freshly steamed jasmine rice and your favorite hot sauce. If you don’t have an outdoor grill, an indoor grill pan works well; just be sure to ventilate your space well by turning on the hood vent and leaving a nearby window or door open. If you’re cooking this on an indoor grill pan, feel free to cover any empty spaces with thickly sliced onion and extra jalapeños: This prevents the pan from scorching and also gives you a free vegetable side dish.
Crusty Dinner Rolls
These hearty, lightly fermented rolls, made fresh every Tuesday to Saturday at Eulalie restaurant in New York City, are a joy to bake, and surprisingly easy. The chef Chip Smith starts the dough at 10 a.m. and bakes them by 5 p.m. to serve at dinner. All you need are a few brief moments of active work, plus time for the dough to rise three times for soft interiors — aided by the addition of cake flour — and a wonderful crust that blisters like a good baguette.
Hangover Kimchi Soup
Garlicky, gingery and full of bright flavors, this panacea will heal you from within. The amount of spice is up to you, but know that a little red chile lends immeasurable flavor in addition to heat. If your ginger root is especially young and tender, consider peeling then cutting it into fine 1-inch matchsticks to eat in the soup for an even deeper, punchier warmth. White beans offer protein in this brothy meal, which becomes even heartier with the addition of white rice or noodles. (You can also sop it up with a slice of cornbread.) Reheat this nourishing soup throughout the week, adding more broth and various crisper-drawer vegetables you need to use up, like cabbage, kale, arugula, watercress and bean sprouts. Quick-cooking proteins like shrimp and tofu taste great in place of the beans, too.
Crispy Chicken With Lime Butter
You don’t need a thermometer to know when these chicken thighs are done. You just need your ears. In this recipe, chicken thighs are slow seared using a technique from the chef Paul Bertolli called “bottom-up cooking” where the chicken cooks almost entirely on the skin side over moderate heat, resulting in shatteringly crisp skin. The gentle sputtering sound that signals the release of moisture from the chicken hitting the hot fat in the pan stops when the meat is fully cooked and the skin crisp and evenly browned. A quick pan sauce of chicken stock, lime juice and maple syrup, made glossy with a few pats of butter, completes this dish.
Cauliflower Alfredo Pasta
Good cheese, good vegetables, good pasta. What more could you need? These quick creamy noodles rely on one thing: a stellar homemade Alfredo sauce. Butter, cream and cheese get you there, anchored by the musky aroma of nutmeg. Adding cauliflower to the boiling pasta in the last few minutes of cooking results in a lighter, glossier final sauce. Serve with an arugula salad, dressed simply with lemon juice, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, extra-virgin olive oil and more grated cheese.
Pasta With Green Bean Ragù
This spoonable pasta, the result of smart home cooking, is a dance of sorts between two pots: Fresh green beans boil with the pasta in one pot to season the water with their gentle vegetal umami, while the quick sausage ragù simmers in another. That green-bean broth gets incorporated into the final dish, a rich, melting mix of Italian sausage, fennel seeds and crushed red pepper. A squeeze of lemon and a generous grating of Parmesan bring it all together.
Chicken à la King
This regal midcentury favorite of tender poached chicken draped in a creamy sherry sauce is due for a revival. Think of chicken potpie filling without the crust, or the kind of banquet poultry served at weddings. Many hotel chefs in the 19th century, including George Greenwald of the Brighton Beach Hotel, claim to have invented chicken à la king, which has as many variations as there are cooks. This particular iteration of the retro dish comes from Craig Claiborne, adapted from a column he wrote for The New York Times in 1969. For the full effect, serve the comforting chicken with toast triangles, as they still do at nostalgic restaurants like Musso & Frank Grill in Los Angeles and Cecchi’s in New York City, or enjoy with rice, noodles or biscuits, whatever makes you happy. This dish reheats beautifully in the microwave or over low heat on the stove.
Jjajangmyeon (Black Bean Noodles)
Smothered in a supersavory gravy studded with pork belly, these chewy wheat noodles are South Korea’s cultural equivalent to delivery pizza in the United States. Traditionally a takeout food, this variant of China’s zha jiang mian was created in Incheon, South Korea, by Chinese migrant workers around the turn of the 20th century. Over the years, the dish has become sweeter and richer with pork to match Korean palates. A flavorful broth results in the most flavorful jjajang sauce, which is simmered slowly here to develop the deep comfort of onion and cabbage that scaffolds umami sweetness over the fragrant pork belly. Traditionally, powdered starch thickens the sauce, but here, grated potato achieves the same effect with less gloopiness.
Sizzled Bratwurst With Mashed Potatoes
Spiced and savory German sausages, bratwurst are a juicy secret weapon for busy workdays. When served at home, they can be pan-fried or grilled and served with mashed potatoes, warmed sauerkraut and hot German mustard, all of which balance the richness of the fatty sausages. The simple bratwurst technique in this recipe is pulled straight from German home cooking: simmer the sausages in water to plump them up first before letting that water evaporate, then sear the outsides in the bratwurst’s own rendered fat. Bratwurst are also a popular street or festival food in Germany, in which case they might be served with bread rolls called brötchen or semmel. Wash this hearty and nourishing (but surprisingly not too heavy) dish down with a cold German lager, pilsner or wheat beer such as Hefeweizen.
Marry Me Salmon
A take on Marry Me Chicken, this dish is the weeknight fish you cook for your future life partner. Perfectly seared salmon bathed in a creamy sun-dried tomato gravy is anchored by the familiar one-two punch of dried oregano and crushed red pepper. By cooking the fish mostly on the skin side, then gently poaching the flesh side in sauce, you get shattering skin yielding to plush salmon. Bottled clam juice, readily available at the grocery store, gives the creamy red sauce a seafood taste. Serve with crusty, fluffy Italian bread or your favorite pasta tossed with a dribble of oil from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes.
Kimchi Napjak Mandu (Flat Dumplings)
Kimchi lovers can rejoice in these fun-to-make (and eat!) dumplings. With less filling than other Korean-style dumplings, these fry up flat and eat more like jeon, the category of pan-fried fritters or pancakes that are the star of Korean party food, especially during holidays like Seollal, the Korean New Year. A final flourish of gochugaru, sea salt and scallions tops the mandu, reflecting how these are typically served on the streets of Daegu, the southeastern city in South Korea known for this style of flat dumpling. Though napjak mandu are traditionally shaped like half moons, the use of square wonton wrappers folded into triangles results in more surface area, and in turn, more crunch.
Gukbap (Beef and Bean Sprout Soup With Rice)
Gukbap means “soup rice”: a rich category of Korean dishes where a scoop of steamed white rice is served inside a warming bowl of brothy soup. This variation of a classic Korean gukbap from Jeonju, South Korea, leads with beef and radish, bolstered by a hearty handful of kongnamul, or bean sprouts, which lend both protein and aroma. Many soups can be gukbap, so long as you serve it with the rice. The key to a good gukbap is the homemade broth, threaded with quiet umami: the kind of flavor you can’t get from a box.
Tobiko Pasta
When you’re craving the dynamic flavors of sushi and the warmth of creamy pasta, this speedy meal hits the spot. It stars tobiko, the delightfully briny and slightly sweet flying fish roe that often coats the outside of a California roll. Other roes such as ikura (from salmon or trout) and masago (from capelin) work well too. They all lend rich seafood flavor with zero effort, not to mention fun pops of texture. The only thing you have to cook is the spaghetti, which gets tossed with cream cheese, Cheddar and pasta water to become a lovely sauce. Creamy but light, the sauce gains dimension from the tried-and-true combination of soy sauce and the horseradish bite of wasabi paste, which mellows out once combined with the hot pasta. Enjoy with your favorite sparkling wine or sake.
Olive-Oil Mashed Potatoes With Bay Leaves
These simple but profoundly delicious mashed potatoes, from the chef Nick Anderer of Anton’s in Manhattan’s West Village, highlight the power of fresh bay leaves and their woodsy bouquet. Milky, peppery and umami-accented, these spuds achieve the perfect balance of starch, liquid and fat, and are special enough for a holiday dinner but easy enough for Sunday supper. Mr. Anderer uses a gentle folding motion to distribute the milk, fat and cheese so that, in his words, “every bit of potato is moistened and seasoned.” Feel free to halve the amounts if you’re not cooking this for a holiday crowd, and yes, they can be made ahead of time (see Tip).
Hot Honey Baked Sweet Potatoes
Goat cheese and honey are a tried-and-true dream flavor pairing, but goat-cheese whipped cream and hot honey turn simple baked sweet potatoes into a veritable party. The combination of rosemary and nuts atop these plush orange babies is reminiscent of bar nuts.
Caramelized Kimchi Baked Potatoes
In this otherwise classic baked potato, kimchi is stepping in for bacon. It’s cooked down in a hot pan with butter and sesame oil to mellow its sharp, tangy edges while concentrating its salty savoriness. A pinch of sugar, though optional, helps the kimchi caramelize. Piled high on a fluffy baked potato, the umami-rich kimchi tastes fabulous with melted extra-sharp Cheddar and cooling sour cream. With such simple ingredients, it helps to really pile them on for maximum flavor impact.
Aglio e Olio Baked Potatoes
The classic Italian combination of aglio e olio (garlic and oil) finds a melodic expression in these Parmesan-festooned baked potatoes. Underneath the fluffy mounds of cheese is garlicky mayonnaise, which, when stirred into a hot pillowy spud, brings a comforting reminder of potato salad. In this recipe, it’s the little things that make a big flavor impact: Use fresh parsley or chives, crushed red pepper that smells fruity and looks jewel-bright, black peppercorns that you’ve toasted and cracked yourself (if you have the patience) and a flavorful extra-virgin olive oil that’s bold, bright or peppery. As in the simple but impactful pasta dish aglio e olio, these baked potatoes pack the biggest punch when each piece plays its part.
Junior’s Cheesecake
In 1950, the year Junior’s opened on Flatbush Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn, founder Harry Rosen spent months with the Danish-born baker Eigel Petersen developing what would become one of the most well-known New York-style cheesecakes in the country. This recipe puts the cake in cheesecake: A soft, thin bedding of ethereal sponge cake, flavored with a whisper of lemon extract, supports the light but dense, dreamily smooth cream cheese layer. Alan Rosen, Harry Rosen’s grandson and now the owner, shared the restaurant’s recipe, which has been adapted here for home ovens. Though Junior’s cheesecakes are classically blonde, sometimes light golden, this one gains a deeper hue on top, which is not only okay but delicious, Mr. Rosen said.
Lemon-Turmeric Crinkle Cookies
Delivering warmth from turmeric and brightness from lemon zest, these golden crinkled cookies feel (and look) like sunbeams breaking through clouds. Imagine powdered doughnuts run through with Fruit Loops cereal milk on a Saturday morning. In fact, these soft, crisp-edged cookies are lovely for breakfast, but don’t restrict their bright, sunny disposition to a specific time of day: Pair them with a glass of milk or cup of herbal tea, whether as an afternoon pick-me-up or a not-too-sweet finish to any meal.