GIA'S RECIPE BOX

Time: 10 mins active, 30 mins cook

Ingredients

1 tablespoon oil

1 onion (thinly sliced)

3 cloves garlic (sliced)

8 ounces pork belly or shoulder (225g, thinly sliced)

1 pound kimchi (450g, with juices, chopped)

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons sugar

1 tablespoon Korean chili flakes

1 tablespoon gochujang (Korean red pepper paste)

3 cups chicken stock (700 ml, can substitute fish or beef stock)

8 oz. firm tofu (225g, cut into 1/4-inch thick slices)

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 scallion (chopped)

Instructions

In a large pot, heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the onion, garlic, and pork belly, and cook for about 5 minutes, until the pork is lightly browned and the onions start to soften.

Add the kimchi and fry for 2 minutes. Then add the salt, sugar, chili flakes, gochujang, and broth. Stir until combined. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook for 10 minutes.

Time: 15 min active, 1 hr cooking Servings: 4

Ingredients

12 ounces lean, skin-on pork belly (340g)

2 tablespoons oil

1 tablespoon rock sugar (rock sugar is preferred or you can use granulated sugar)

3 tablespoons Shaoxing wine

1 tablespoon soy sauce

½ tablespoon dark soy sauce

2 cups water

Instructions

Start by cutting your pork belly into 3/4-inch thick pieces.

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Blanch the pork belly pieces for a couple minutes. This gets rid of impurities and starts the cooking process. Take the pork out of the pot, rinse, and set aside.

Over low heat, add the oil and sugar to your wok. Melt the sugar slightly and add the pork. Raise the heat to medium and cook until the pork is lightly browned.

Turn the heat back down to low and add shaoxing cooking wine, regular soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and water.

NOTE: It’s very important to the color and flavor of this dish that you have both kinds of soy sauce! Just head to your local Asian market, buy a bottle of each, and it will last you a year!

Cover and simmer for about 45 minutes to 1 hour until pork is fork tender. Every 5-10 minutes, stir to prevent burning and add more water if it gets too dry.

YIELD Makes 6 first-course servings

ACTIVE TIME 50 min

TOTAL TIME 50 min

INGREDIENTS

For polenta

For mushrooms

For serving

4 1/2 cups water

1 cup coarse stone-ground white grits (preferably organic)

1/4 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 lb assorted fresh exotic mushrooms such as porcini, oyster, chanterelle, lobster, and hedgehog

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 garlic clove, smashed

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 cup water

3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1/2 cup mascarpone

2 tablespoons finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

PREPARATION

Make polenta:

Bring water to a simmer in a 3- to 4-quart heavy saucepan. Add grits in a slow stream, whisking until incorporated. Simmer, stirring occasionally with a long-handled whisk or wooden spoon, until liquid is absorbed and polenta is thick and soft, about 30 minutes. (Grits will have a loose, risotto-like consistency.) Remove from heat and stir in cream, cheese, salt, and pepper. Keep warm, covered.

Sauté mushrooms while polenta simmers:

If using porcini, halve if large, then slice lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. If using oysters, trim spongy base if necessary and slice caps into 1/2-inch-wide strips. If using chanterelles, leave small mushrooms whole, halve if medium, and quarter if large. If using lobsters, cut into 1/2-inch pieces. If using hedgehogs, trim base of stems and halve caps if large.

Heat oil in a 10-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then sauté mushrooms, garlic, salt, and pepper, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are golden and any liquid they give off is evaporated, 6 to 8 minutes.

Add water, butter, lemon juice, and parsley and heat, swirling skillet, until butter melts and liquid forms a sauce.

To serve:

Top each serving of polenta with mushrooms and mascarpone. Serve immediately (polenta stiffens as it cools), sprinkled with Parmigiano-Reggiano.

ONE POT OLIVE MILL PASTA

Time: 45 minutes

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

4 tablespoons butter

2 medium-small onions, minced

1/4 pound fingerling potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/4-inch thick

5 1/2 cups, approximately, vegetable or light chicken stock

14 ounces artisanal strozzapreti pasta (or something small and with texture, like penne)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 medium-size ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded, juiced and diced, or 2/3 cup diced sun-dried tomatoes, not oil-cured, covered with boiling water and drained

1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed

8 branches fresh basil or arugula, leaves removed and slivered, stems lightly crushed

1 bunch scallions, trimmed, slant-cut in 1-inch pieces

3 ounces freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, about 1 cup.

1. Heat 1/4 cup oil in a 10-inch sauté pan. Add butter. When it melts, add onions and potatoes. Cook, stirring gently, over medium heat until they begin to turn golden.

2. In a small saucepan, bring stock to a slow simmer.

3. Add pasta to sauté pan, and stir gently. Lightly season with salt and pepper, and add tomatoes, garlic and basil or arugula stems. Add 1 1/2 cups stock. Cook, stirring gently, until nearly all stock has evaporated. Add scallions and another cup of stock, and cook, stirring, adding additional stock from time to time, so there is always some liquid in the pan, until pasta is al dente, about 18 minutes. Remove garlic and herb stems.

4. Fold in cheese and all but 1 tablespoon remaining oil. Add slivered herbs. Season with additional salt and pepper if needed. Transfer to warm soup plates, taking care that the ingredients are well distributed. Drizzle remaining oil over each and serve.