Hallie Norvet

Roasted Kimchi and Vegetable Soup

Colder weather calls for something warm, hearty.. and spicy! That's when I got the idea to make this colorful and satisfying Roasted Kimchi and Vegetable Soup. If you didn't know, kimchi is made by fermenting napa or savoy cabbage with lots of salt, vinegar and chiles. It is used a side dish or accompaniment in many Korean dishes. After frequenting many Korean restaurants in Korea town last year I picked up that kimchi is not only delicious when eaten in it's raw natural form, but grilled or roasted. The flavor in this soup is remininscent of that, and other Korean flavors. I like to top mine off with a few extra pickled veggies, an 8-minute egg and a cold beer.

Serves: 4-5

Prep Time: 20 Minutes

Cook Time: 2.5 Hours

By: Chef Hallie Norvet

*Tip: You can use your own kimchi for this recipe, or use a high-quality jarred version from your local Korean market.

Ingredients:

2 Cups Tightly Packed Kimchi, Drained, Juice Reserved for Later Use

2 Tablespoons Sesame Oil

1 Medium Brown Onion, Chopped

2 Tablespoons Fresh Ginger Chopped

5 Cloves Garlic, Chopped

2 Stalks Celery, Chopped

1 Carrot, Peeled and Chopped Into Coins

1 Small Zucchini, Quartered and Chopped

1 Tablespoon Sugar, Brown or White Granulated

1 teaspoon Fish Sauce

1 Tablespoon Doengjang, Korean Bean Paste, if you cannot find this it's no problem but it adds to the depth of the soup

1 Tablespoon Gochujang, Korean Red Chile Paste, If you cannot find this 1/2 Tablespoon Sambal Olek Garlic Chile will work

3 Tablespoons Low Sodium Soy Sauce

1 Quart Vegetable Broth

1 Tablespoon Butter

Garnish:

Fresh Scallions

Fresh or Lightly Pickled Vegetables Such As: Julienne Carrot, Daikon Radish, Cucumber quick pickled with an equal part dissolved sugar, salt, rice wine vinegar. Add cilantro, chile sauce (sambal olek) to make spicier

Radish

Cilantro

8-Minute Egg: Boil a pot of water. Gently drop a whole shelled egg into the water. Remove after 7 to 8 minutes and shock in ice cold water bath. Remove egg when chilled, and gently peel. Bring to room temperature, halve and serve with soup.

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Gently spray large baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Evenly distribute drained kimchi onto tray. Place tray of kimchi onto upper 1/3 rack of oven. Roast for 15-20 minutes until "cooked." Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Heat a large stock pot over medium-high heat for 30 seconds. Add sesame oil to pot and add chopped onions, garlic and ginger. Move heat to medium and cook onions until soft and translucent. Add in roasted Kimchi to pot and stir to combine. Add second batch of ingredients to pot: celery, carrot, zucchini, sugar, fish sauce, Doengjang and Gochujang. Stir until all ingredients are combined and cooking in pot. Add soy sauce and stir until all ingredients are coated. Add vegetable stock and kimchi juice to pot and stir until incorporated. Bring soup to boil, then reduce heat to a low simmer. Simmer covered for 1.5 hours.

Remove lid and simmer for 15 minutes on medium boil. Taste soup, and season if needed. Add in butter to finish soup. If it needs more salt add a teaspoon of soy sauce. If it needs less salt, add a 1/2 cup water or vegetable broth. I like to finish mine with a lot of fresh cracked black pepper. This dish is wonderful when served along side a big bowl of white rice. Sometimes you need that plain component to really make the flavors sing.

Top with garnishes of your choosing and an egg or two. So satisfying! Enjoy!

By Chef Hallie Norvet | Los Angeles

In Los Angeles, we have a LOT of food trucks, there is one to satisfy any craving. The most notorious of all being the Kogi Truck. Kogi's cuisine is Mexican/Korean fusion much like population of Los Angeles. They specialize in dishes like, Korean Shortrib Tacos, Kimchi Quesadillas, The Infamous Blue Moon Mulita and Pacman Burger.. You must try any (or all) of these if you are ever in L.A. Which brings me to my recipe: Korean Braised Shortribs. I was craving Kogi but havent had time to catch the truck lately so I made my own shortribs for tacos. Here is my variation of their famous shortribs.

Servings: 6

Prep Time: 20 Minutes

Cook Time: 4.5 Hours

Recipe By: Chef Hallie Norvet

Ingredients:

Salt and Pepper

3 Tablespoons Sesame Oil

3-4 Pounds Bone-in Beef Short Ribs

1 Medium Yellow Onion, Peeled and Chopped

10 Cloves of Garlic, Chopped

2 oz. Fresh Ginger, Sliced

3 Tablespoons Korean Gochujang Paste

1 Tabelspoon Sambal Olek or Garlic Chile Paste

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

1/2 Cup Reduced Sodium Soy Sauce

1/4 Cup Rice WIne Vinegar

1 Quart Beef Stock

1/3 Cup Cilantro Whole (Stems and All)

Directions:

Remove your short ribs from the refrigerator, separate, pat dry with a paper towel and season with salt and pepper.

In a large dutch oven or stock pot, heat 2 tablespoon sesame oil over medium high heat until hot. Add short ribs one by one beef side down into the pot. Do not overcrowd the pot, or stack the short ribs, our goal here is to get a nice sear on the meat side of the rib. Cook until golden brown and remove from the pot. You can do this in two batches if your pot is not large enough to sear off all of the ribs at once.

Reduce the heat to low, in the same pot, add one more tablespoon of sesame oil as well as onion, garlic, and ginger. Saute over low heat for 2 minutes until tender. Move onion, garlic and ginger to edges of pot with a spoon. Return short ribs to the pot beef side down as you did the first time. It's okay to stack a few on top of each other this time around, or crowd the pot to get as many as you can in there since we will be braising.

Once your ribs are all added to the pot, return the heat to medium-high and add in your remaining ingredients: gochujang, garlic chile paste, brown sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, beef stock and cilantro. Bring ingredients to a boil. Once boiling reduce heat to a low simmer. Cover with heavy lid. Simmer for 4.5 hours until fork tender. Note: Check on short ribs every hour, if liquid gets lower than 1/2 inch, add 1/3 cup water or broth.

Pre-heat oven to 425. Remove short ribs from pot and place onto a baking sheet beef side up. Place onto middle rack of oven and allow to roast for 15 minutes until the utside edges are crispy and dark brown. Baste with warm cooking liquid and serve.

Serving Suggestions:

Over rice, on a hawaiian roll, over mashed potatoes, cous cous etc. I always make some lightly pickled vegetables as an accompaniment, here's a quick and easy recipe: http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1014140-shortcut-banh-mi-with-pickled-carrots-and-daikon

Roasted Kimchi and Vegetable Soup

Colder weather calls for something warm, hearty.. and spicy! That's when I got the idea to make this colorful and satisfying Roasted Kimchi and Vegetable Soup. If you didn't know, kimchi is made by fermenting napa or savoy cabbage with lots of salt, vinegar and chiles. It is used a side dish or accompaniment in many Korean dishes. After frequenting many Korean restaurants in Korea town last year I picked up that kimchi is not only delicious when eaten in it's raw natural form, but grilled or roasted. The flavor in this soup is remininscent of that, and other Korean flavors. I like to top mine off with a few extra pickled veggies, an 8-minute egg and a cold beer.

Serves: 4-5

Prep Time: 20 Minutes

Cook Time: 2.5 Hours

By: Chef Hallie Norvet

*Tip: You can use your own kimchi for this recipe, or use a high-quality jarred version from your local Korean market.

Ingredients:

2 Cups Tightly Packed Kimchi, Drained

2 Tablespoons Sesame Oil

1 Medium Brown Onion, Chopped

2 Tablespoons Fresh Ginger Chopped

5 Cloves Garlic, Chopped

2 Stalks Celery, Chopped

1 Carrot, Peeled and Chopped Into Coins

1 Small Zucchini, Quartered and Chopped

1 Tablespoon Sugar, Brown or White Granulated

1 Tablespoon Doengjang, Korean Bean Paste, if you cannot find this it's no problem but it adds to the depth of the soup

1 Tablespoon Gochujang, Korean Red Chile Paste, If you cannot find this 1/2 Tablespoon Sambal Olek Garlic Chile will work

3 Tablespoons Low Sodium Soy Sauce

1 Quart Vegetable Broth

1 Tablespoon Butter

Garnish:

Fresh Scallions

Fresh or Lightly Pickled Vegetables Such As: Julienne Carrot, Daikon Radish, Cucumber quick pickled with an equal part dissolved sugar, salt, rice wine vinegar. Add cilantro, chile sauce (sambal olek) to make spicier

Radish

Cilantro

8-Minute Egg: Boil a pot of water. Gently drop a whole shelled egg into the water. Remove after 7 to 8 minutes and shock in ice cold water bath. Remove egg when chilled, and gently peel. Bring to room temperature, halve and serve with soup.

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Gently spray large baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Evenly distribute drained kimchi onto tray. Place tray of kimchi onto upper 1/3 rack of oven. Roast for 15-20 minutes until "cooked." Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Heat a large stock pot over medium-high heat for 30 seconds. Add sesame oil to pot and add chopped onions, garlic and ginger. Move heat to medium and cook onions until soft and translucent. Add in roasted Kimchi to pot and stir to combine. Add second batch of ingredients to pot: celery, carrot, zucchini, sugar, Doengjang and Gochujang. Stir until all ingredients are combined and cooking in pot. Add soy sauce and stir until all ingredients are coated. Add vegetable stock to pot and stir until incorporated. Bring soup to boil, then reduce heat to a low simmer. Simmer covered for 1.5 hours.

Remove lid and simmer for 15 minutes on medium boil. Taste soup, and season if needed. Add in butter to finish soup. If it needs more salt add a teaspoon of soy sauce. If it needs less salt, add a 1/2 cup water or vegetable broth. I like to finish mine with a lot of fresh cracked black pepper. This dish is wonderful when served along side a big bowl of white rice. Sometimes you need that plain component to really make the flavors sing.

Top with garnishes of your choosing and an egg or two. So satisfying! Enjoy!

By Chef Hallie Norvet | Los Angeles