instinctively flock like the salmon of capistrano

for those of you who didn't know, i'm korean american. (like for instance maybe vadim - i believe he thinks all asians are chinese. j/k!;) now, i'm the first to admit that i'm about as twinkie as they come (yellow on the outside, white on the inside, in case you were wondering). ...although in the last few years i've become good friends with LOTS of asian people that sometimes i look around at dinners and parties and think to myself that my parents would probably cry with happiness if they could see me now (that, or they would demand to know who the *fudge* i was and what had i done with their daughter?!).

i'm sure a lot of it has to do with having moved to northern california from nyc (the west coast is the only place i've been in the US where people aren't surprised i speak english fluently without an "asian" accent), but it still makes me laugh every now and then. (ok, always.)

anyway, even though i'm (now *mostly*) twinkie, this doesn't mean i don't love love love korean food. in fact, i grew up eating korean food pretty much every night for dinner (sometimes my mom would make random american dishes like burgers or corned beef... ok, so corned beef is an irish dish, but you get what i mean - it wasn't korean) and it's one of the only ways you can get me to eat heaps of vegetables. i'm not sure what it is, but with any other cuisine, i have to really make an effort to eat veggies; with korean food, i'll happily wolf down all the vegetable side dishes (banchan) i can get my grubby paw armed with chopsticks on. yum yum yum.

so remember how i told you a couple weeks ago about that fish stand called shogun fish at the saturday sf farmers' market? well i peek my head in now to see what they've got on tap. this past weekend, i saw some really nice wild alaskan salmon fillets and decided to incorporate them into this week's dinner menu.

i used a variation on the traditional korean galbi marinade (and observed in all "field tests" conducted by yours truly to be universally loved by the whitey folk i know) . the nice thing about fish in general is it doesn't take that long to, well, marinate, so it makes for a very easy and quick meal - perfect for a weeknight. this particular recipe takes about 45 minutes from prep to table, 30 minutes of which are for letting the fish just sit there so it can soak up the marinade.

my suggestion is to serve the salmon with creamy wasabi mashed potatoes and spicy stir-fried chinese long beans (yeah, you know what i'm talkin' about). of course, you can choose whatever you like... but, hello, WHY? this way is so deeeelish, you won't have to FISH for compliments from your guests because they'll be having a WHALE of a time! (get it? "FISH" and "WHALE"... because we're talking about SALMON?! hahahah-- *sigh* never mind...)


Korean-Style Broiled Salmon

1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tbsps rice vinegar
2 tbsps brown sugar
2 tbsps fresh orange juice
1 tbsp Korean red pepper paste
1 large garlic clove, minced
2 tsps toasted sesame oil
2 scallions, chopped

4 6 oz fresh salmon fillets
2 tbsps olive oil

Whisk first 8 ingredients in a small bowl until sugar dissolves. Place salmon fillets in a Ziploc bag and pour marinade over; marinate fish for half hour (or up to 1 hour).

Preheat broiler. Remove fillets from marinade, reserving marinade. Heat olive oil in a large, ovenproof skillet on high heat. Place salmon fillets skin side down and cook fish for 2 minutes, or until skin is browned. Spoon a little of the marinade over the fillets (discard marinade), and then place skillet in oven. Broil for about 5 minutes (inside will still be cool), or until cooked to desired doneness (is that a word?). Serves 4.

a bolt from the blue

blueberries are here! well, so they've actually been available at the sf farmers' market for the last few weeks, but i didn't pick any up for myself (or anyone else for that matter) until this past saturday.

last week's breakfast muffins worked out so well that i decided to make another batch for this week as well - but blueberry instead of carrot. there's a booth along the outside of the sf farmers' market called triple delight blueberries that i've seen for the last few weeks. i decided this was as good a place as any to buy the all-important ingredient to my precious blueberry muffins. i mean, really, how can you go wrong getting blueberries from a farm that feels it can name its prized crop "triple delight"? either they were delusional or spot on... and either situation would provide solid entertainment (although one in a sort of sad way).

i took them home and, er, conducted a couple quality-control tests. ok, maybe several tests... ok, ok, maybe it was so many "tests" that it was a good thing i bought an extra pack of them as insurance... against, ahem well, MYSELF. [*embarrassed pause*] anyway, it turns out that this particular farm's harvest lasts for only about a month and a half, so it's a good thing i stopped by this weekend to get my blueberries on. and actually, i haven't seen blueberries at other stands (raspberries and strawberries, yes. blueberries, no), so if you happen to know if there are any to be found elsewhere at the sf farmers' market on saturdays, let me know!

below is a blueberry muffin recipe i found on epicurious. i used dark brown sugar instead of the light brown in the recipe (and less than called for), which i think gave them a nice caramel-y / butterscotch-y taste - two of my favorite flavs - added some vanilla, and used a lot more blueberries.

these particular muffins were super easy to make - i think i mixed these up and had them in the oven in about 10 minutes. for reals! i wouldn't lie to you about that. they took a lot less time to bake up than the recipe would have you believe - yet another example for why you should always check on the progress of whatever you're baking. recipe reflects the changes i made and the time i ended up baking them. enjoy!

Blueberry Muffins

3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled (I prefer Straus Family Creamery)
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 medium egg (I use pastured eggs from Marin Sun Farms)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
10 oz blueberries

Preheat oven to 400°F. Place paper liners in a 12-cup muffin tin. In a small bowl, whisk first 5 ingredients until combined well. In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until just combined and then gently fold in blueberries.

Divide batter evenly among muffin cups; bake until golden brown and a wooden pick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool muffins in tin for 5 minutes, then remove and cool completely on rack.