Great Plates: Kimshuka and Tartines Galore

We love farm-to-table freshness from dawn to dusk. Four seasons a year. Day in and day out. Our wonderful recipe creator, chef and food stylist Veda Sankaran, channeled our “buy fresh, buy local” passion into a collection of farm-driven recipes perfect for harvest season. Let’s get out there and savor the next two months of farmers’ markets and farmstands.

Kimshuka fuses North African shakshuka with East Asian spices and oils. This blending of cultures makes for a lively breakfast dish, or an adventuresome entrée. Try it with fresh eggs from Kern Family Farm. kernfarms84.com

Golden Milk-Poached Pear Tartine combines earthy turmeric and sunny Dillner Family Farm pears with memorable results. dillnerfamilyfarms.com

Sparks will fly when you try Veda’s South Indian Heirloom Tomato and Pimento Cheese Tartine, a meeting point of fresh, juicy, cheesy, and aromatic. The tomatoes are from Dream Thyme Farm. @dreamthymefarm

Chop up all your edible greens and make a light and healthy Winter Green Gremolata and Garlic Lemon Ricotta Tartine. Go organic with your greens at Cherry Valley Organics. cherryvalleyorganics.com

Kimshuka

Anchovy kombu packets, as well as most of the other ingredients for this recipe, can be purchased at any Korean grocery store. For Pittsburgh natives, Sambok in the Strip, as well as New Young’s Oriental Grocery Store in Squirrel Hill, are good options.

For the broth:

4 ½ cups water
1 anchovy kombu packet

For the chili oil:

2 tbsp rice bran oil or other neutral oil
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp gochugaru
2 tbsp gochujang

For the Kimshuka

1 tbsp rice bran oil
½ cup finely chopped onion
4 scallions thinly sliced, white and green parts divided
2 tsp garlic, finely chopped
½ cup pork belly or bacon, diced
2 cups kimchi, roughly chopped and juices reserved for later
1 tbsp Korean soy sauce
4 large shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated and thinly sliced
Sprinkle of ajinomoto or MSG (optional)
1 bunch enoki mushrooms, ends cut off
Salt and black pepper
Sesame oil, to taste
Sesame seeds, for garnish

First, boil the water for the broth and add the anchovy kombu packet. Boil for about 3 minutes, then remove and discard the packet. Strain the broth and set aside.

Pour boiling water over the dried shiitake mushroom caps and let sit for 10 minutes.

To make the chili oil, heat the rice bran and sesame oils on medium heat until it reaches around 350 degrees. Be careful the oil doesn’t get too hot as that can burn the spices. Once the oil is hot enough, pour it over the gochugaru and gochujang. Stir and set aside to use later.

Heat a large deep skillet and add a tablespoon of rice bran oil. Once the oil is hot, place in the chopped onions, white parts of the scallions, garlic, and a sprinkle of salt. Sauté for two minutes or until onions begin to get lightly golden.

Add in the diced pork belly or bacon and cook for a minute, until it begins to cook through. At that stage, stir in the kimchi, soy sauce, and half the finely chopped green parts of the scallions.

After another minute, add in the gochugaru-gochujang spice paste with the oil and within a minute, pour in the broth so that the spice paste doesn’t burn. Stir to mix everything, add in the sliced shiitake mushrooms along with a sprinkle or two of the ajinomoto and simmer together. Pour a little of the kimchi juice in at this time.

After about 10 minutes, taste and adjust salt and spice accordingly and place in the enoki mushrooms and simmer for another 5 minutes. Once all the flavors combine, sprinkle some black pepper and pour a little sesame oil on top. Then break your eggs over the kimshuka, cover, and cook on medium heat until eggs are poached. Garnish with chopped scallions and sesame seeds and serve with some grilled bread.

Golden Milk Poached Pear Tartine

1 qt apple cider
1 ½ tsp chaat masala, divided*
4 tbsp brown sugar, divided
3 Bartlett pears, very thinly sliced
5 oz goat cheese
A few tbsp heavy cream
¾ tsp Spicewalla Golden Milk spice blend*
Honey, to taste
Dense sweet bread such as Boston brown bread
Mint leaves, for garnish

In a large shallow skillet, pour enough cider to cover the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle in half the chaat masala and brown sugar and stir. Once the cider begins to bubble, turn heat to medium- low and place in the thinly sliced pears so that they don’t overlap.

Simmer until the pears soften. This will take 2-3 minutes. You can flip the pears over to evenly poach them. Once they are tender, yet still retain their form, remove and set aside.

Add more cider and spices if necessary, before adding the next batch. Repeat until all the pears are poached.

To make the golden milk spread, cream together the goat cheese with enough heavy cream to get a spreadable consistency, the golden milk spice mix, and honey. Adjust the honey to your desired level of sweetness.

To assemble, spread the golden milk goat cheese on a slice of bread and top with rolls of poached pears. Garnish with chopped mint leaves.

*The chaat masala I used, as well as the golden milk spice blend are from www.spicewallabrand.com. You can find chaat masala at any Indian market, but if you cannot get the Spicewalla Golden Milk, substitute with a mixture of turmeric, a little cinnamon, and a tiny amount of nutmeg.

South Indian Heirloom Tomato & Pimento Cheese Tartine

The Indian ingredients for this recipe can be found at any Indian market. Rajbhog in Cranberry or Patel Brothers in Monroeville are two options in the Pittsburgh area.

2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 serrano green chili, finely chopped
25 curry leaves, thinly sliced
A few shakes of asafoetida (hing powder)
3 large garlic cloves, crushed
1 medium red onion, sliced thinly into half moons
1/8-¼ tsp salt
1 tsp dark brown sugar
1/4 tsp tamarind paste
Pimento cheese
Slice of good bread
3 heirloom tomatoes, sliced
Curry powder

Heat a pan and add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

Once the oil is heated, add the mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds slow down popping, add the green chilies and the curry leaves.

Then add a few pinches of asafoetida, the crushed garlic, and onions. Sprinkle a little salt, and cook on medium heat until onions soften and start changing color.

Then sprinkle the brown sugar and add the tamarind paste. Cook on low heat until the onions caramelize. Set aside.

To assemble, spread pimento cheese on a hearty slice of bread, place a thin layer of the onion- curry-leaf mixture over the cheese, then top with the sliced heirloom tomatoes and finish with a sprinkle of curry powder.

Winter Greens Gremolata & Garlic Lemon Ricotta Tartine

1 bunch dinosaur kale
1 large bunch beet greens (approximately 5 beets)
2 large garlic cloves
2 anchovy fillets (preferably in hot oil)
¼ cup walnuts, coarsely crushed
½ lime, juice and zest
⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt
Cracked black pepper
3 ¾ cup full-fat ricotta
½ lemon, juice and zest
2-3 garlic cloves, finely minced
Salt and pepper, to taste
Heat a large pot of water. While waiting for the water to boil, wash and cut the stems off the greens. If the ribs of the kale are thick, make sure to slice off the thick parts when trimming it.

Prepare an ice bath. Drop the beet greens into the boiling water for 2 minutes. Then transfer to the ice bath, remove, squeeze out as much of the water as you can and roughly chop. Bring the water back to a boil and repeat the steps with the dinosaur kale.

Chop the garlic. Then place the anchovy fillets on top of the garlic and use a pestle to smash the two together.

Add the chopped greens, the smashed garlic anchovy, the walnuts, lime juice and zest, olive oil, salt, and black pepper into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until everything is coarsely chopped. Adjust seasonings as needed.

Stir together the ricotta, lemon juice and zest, minced garlic, and salt and pepper.

To assemble the tartine, spread the ricotta mixture on a piece of hearty bread and then top with the Winter Greens Gremolata.

Recipes by Veda Sankaran / Photography by Dave Bryce / Styling by Keith Recker / Bread by Crustworthy / Textile by Kendra Russo / Ceramics by Frank DeFabo and Billy Ritter / With Support from Buy Fresh, Buy Local of Western Pennsylvania and PA Preferred