Total time:15 minutes
Servings:3 to 4 (about 5 cups)
Take a glance inside New York Times meals author Eric Kim’s kitchen and also you’ll probably discover seasoned roasted seaweed, also called gim. In his debut cookbook, “Korean American,” Kim highlights the flexibility of gim in a recipe for creamy bucatini, “a simple, perfect little black dress of a pantry dish,” he writes. Though typically marketed as a snack, Kim’s mantra is that roasted seaweed is rather more than that: “It’s a powerhouse ingredient,” he writes, calling it “one of the greatest Korean pantry items of all time.”
Over the cellphone, Kim recounts reminiscences of watching outdated women on the finish of the grocery retailer checkout line hand-roasting paper-size sheets of gim over a metallic griddle, brushing them with sesame oil after which sprinkling them with salt. He loves including it to “anything that has a comforting blandness,” he says, mentioning porridge, rice dishes and oatmeal as examples. “You need a blank canvas to really be able to appreciate the nuances of the umami in the seaweed and also the nuttiness of sesame oil.”
While not all gim is brushed with sesame oil, its nuttiness is one of many ingredient’s defining traits for Kim. That taste, alongside with salt, are what distinguish gim from Japanese nori, which is typically unseasoned. “It’s that flavor of the sesame oil and salt that makes you think of gim,” Kim says. “So there’s a reason I’m fortifying any gim dish with those two extra ingredients, because I think if you’re Korean and you grew up with gim, you kind of associate that flavor, salty and nutty, with roasted seaweed.”
This dish happened whereas Kim was experimenting in the course of the pandemic. Inspired by fettuccine Alfredo, his recipe within the ebook requires heavy cream and recent garlic to create a easy sauce to slick delightfully chewy bucatini noodles, and the addition of gim “has this umami as if you’ve added shrimp to your Alfredo,” he says. I made this already pantry-friendly recipe much more so through the use of canned evaporated milk and garlic powder to make the sauce.
Kim urges cooks to not be shy about salt when getting ready this dish: “You really need extra salt to pick up the flavors of those quiet ingredients,” he says. “I call them quiet because they’re not punching you in the face. But if you coax them out well, then it’s just a very comforting flavor to me.”
Kim credit his recipe tester, Rebecca Firkser, who urged the pinch of gochugaru, a gentle Korean pink chile flake with a touch of candy smokiness. “It’s kind of nice to have a little bit of that heat,” he says. “It’s a very rich dish.” In my first check of this recipe, I didn’t have any gochugaru available and grabbed crushed pink pepper flakes, which have a a lot louder spice profile. Though I loved it, Kim suggests Aleppo pepper as a better substitute.
Once plated, you crush the gim with your fingers and messily sprinkle it over the pasta. Says Kim, “I think there’s some beauty in the organized chaos.”
Creamy Bucatini With Roasted Seaweed
Storage: Refrigerate leftovers for as much as 5 days.
Where to Buy: Roasted seaweed and gochugaru will be discovered at Asian markets, well-stocked supermarkets or on-line.
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- Fine salt
- 8 ounces dried bucatini
- One (12-ounce) can evaporated milk
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- Freshly floor black pepper, for serving
- Flaky sea salt, for serving
- One (0.35-ounce) bundle roasted seaweed snacks, ideally sesame flavored, or extra to style
- Gochugaru, Aleppo pepper or crushed pink pepper flakes, for serving (non-obligatory)
Bring a big pot of water to a boil and salt it generously. Add the bucatini and cook dinner till pliable, 4 to five minutes. Reserve 1 cup of the starchy pasta water, then drain the bucatini and return it to the pot.
Add the milk, garlic powder and about half of the reserved pasta water to the pasta (saving the remainder of the water to skinny out the sauce later if wanted). Bring to a simmer over medium-high warmth, stirring continuously till the sauce reduces by half and slicks the bucatini, 4 to five minutes.
Stir within the sesame oil. Taste and season with extra salt if wanted (the pasta must be generously salted to enhance the seaweed’s pure salinity). If the pasta has begun to stay collectively, stir in additional of the reserved pasta water to loosen it.
Divide the pasta amongst plates and end with black pepper and flaky sea salt. Crush the roasted seaweed with your fingers over the bucatini, mud with the gochugaru, Aleppo pepper or crushed pink pepper flakes, if utilizing, and serve.
Per serving (1 1/4 cups), primarily based on 4 and utilizing 1 seaweed packet
Calories: 369; Total Fat: 13 g; Saturated Fat: 7 g; Cholesterol: 21 mg; Sodium: 248 mg; Carbohydrates: 54 g; Dietary Fiber: 2 g; Sugar: 11 g; Protein: 14 g
This evaluation is an estimate primarily based on obtainable substances and this preparation. It shouldn’t substitute for a dietitian’s or nutritionist’s recommendation.
Adapted from “Korean American” by Eric Kim (Clarkson Potter, 2022).
Tested by Aaron Hutcherson; e-mail inquiries to [email protected].
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