Looking down from above, several plates and platters filled with artfully arranged, colorful food sit on a white tabletop.

2021-11-03 | New Roads Magazine

Holiday Dining with a Twist

Chef Ji Hye Kim offers up a delectably fresh take on holiday fare to keep you and your family coming back for more.

Few things bring friends and families together like sharing a meal around the holidays. While cooking for a crowd can seem daunting, you don’t have to stick to tried-and-tested recipes this year.

For some fresh inspiration, we asked Ji Hye Kim, chef and managing partner of the restaurant Miss Kim in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to serve up her own unique take on holiday meals. And we loaned her a 2021 Chevy Trailblazer RS for a week to find out how it could help her procure the freshest local ingredients (read the story here). The result is these beautiful, flavorful, yet simple recipes that you can use to wow your guests this year.

Rest assured, though: These are recipes any home cook can tackle. “I wanted to make something that’s pretty and interesting, but still approachable,” Kim says. “Because if you’re trying to cook for 12 people for a big meal, you don’t want to try something super complicated.”

Chef Ji Hye Kim smiles as she stands at a long wooden table at her restaurant. On the table in front of her are a cutting board and cleaver along with a variety of fresh vegetables.

Crispy Roasted Pork Belly

At the heart of this feast is a crispy roasted pork belly. “The soft pork fat and crunchy pork skin are really interesting texturally,” says Kim. And you can leave it to cook in the oven while completing other dishes, taking the stress off while you prep. “It pretty much cooks itself.”

4 lbs skin-on pork belly
1 TBS kosher salt
1 tsp cane sugar

Cooking liquid:
2 cups water
5–6 dried shiitake mushrooms
5–6 dried whole chili peppers
1 TBS soy sauce
1 tsp cane sugar
1 inch knob of ginger, sliced
6 cloves garlic, minced

1 TBS freshly chopped herbs for garnish

1. A day ahead of cooking, score the pork belly from the skin side using a sharp knife. Take care to score through the skin and most of the fat layers, but not cut through the meat. Scores should be about 1/4-inch apart. Using a kitchen towel or paper towel, pat the skin dry. Let stand uncovered in the refrigerator overnight.

2. Take the scored pork belly out the next day. Let stand at room temperature for an hour, uncovered. Pat the skin side dry again.

3. Preheat oven to 450F.

4. Make the cooking liquid by adding all the ingredients together and whisking until the sugar is dissolved.

5. Sprinkle 1 TBS of kosher salt on top of the pork belly, making sure some salt gets into the crevices of the scored skin.

6. In a roasting pan, place the scored and salted pork belly in the middle, skin side up. Gently pour the cooking liquid into the pan. Only use enough liquid to cover the meat layers and not the skin, taking care not to wet the skin.

7. Roast in the oven uncovered for about 30 minutes.

8. After 30 minutes, check the pork belly. The top should be browning and the cooking liquid reduced. Add another cup of water if the cooking liquid is almost gone. Reduce the oven temperature to 275 and cook for an additional 90 minutes, until the internal temperature of pork hits 165F or above and the meat is tender but not mushy. The skin should be getting crispy.

9. Take the roasting pan out of the oven. Increase the oven temperature to 450F or change to broil. Sprinkle 1 tsp of cane sugar on top of the skin.

10. Place the roasting pan back into the oven and cook under high heat until the skin is bubbling up and crispy, about 1–2 minutes. Keep an eye on the pork, as the skin will caramelize fast and burn if you leave it in there too long.

11. Take the pork belly roast out of the oven. Let it sit for about 5 minutes, then plate the roast on a platter. Spoon some reduced cooking liquid around the pork roast, but not on top. If there is not a lot of cooking liquid left, you can add a bit of water to loosen it up from the pan once the pork is removed. Garnish with your favorite herbs.

12. Serve the pork belly by slicing thin slices by the grooves of scored and now crispy skin. Enjoy with some soy butter rice and vegetables!

Scroll/swipe for recipe instructions >>

CHEF’S NOTE: This dish is indeed inspired by a Danish Christmas roast. Pork belly is a popular cut in Korea as well as in China, so the cooking liquid and flavors come from that background. I love skin-on pork belly, but sometimes the texture can be too chewy and the flavor too rich, and the Danish way of scoring the skin to get it crispy I thought was genius and incorporated that technique here.

Radish and Apple Salad

A white soup tureen filled with salad greens that are topped with apples and radishes with an orange-colored sauce. Fresh herbs garnish the top.

1 handful salad greens
1 apple (like Fuji, Mutsu, or Honeycrisp)
2 scallions
1 bunch radishes in season (I love purple and green daikon)

Dressing:
1 1/3 TBS soy sauce
1 TBS sugar
1 1/2 TBS Korean chili flakes
1/2 TBS sesame seeds
1 tsp sesame oil
1 TBS vinegar (sherry vinegar, rice vinegar, apple vinegar all work well here)

Optional: microgreens for garnish

1. Wash the salad greens well. Gently spin dry or let drain over a strainer for about 10 minutes.

2. Wash the apple. Slice it in 1/4-inch wedges or half-moons.

3. Cut scallions into 2-inch slivers. Submerge into water for 5 minutes, take out, gently spin dry or let drain over a strainer for about 10 minutes.

4. Wash radishes and peel them. Using a sharp knife or a mandoline, slice them into thin half-moons, about 1/8th of an inch thick.

5. In a large mixing bowl, mix soy sauce, sugar, chili flakes, sesame seeds, sesame oil, and vinegar to make the dressing.

6. Add the salad greens, scallions, radishes, and apples into the bowl with the dressing, and gently toss to dress them. Garnish with microgreens if you are using. Serve immediately.

Scroll/swipe for recipe instructions >>

Miso Butter Winter Squash

1 fall/winter squash, like butternut squash or kabocha squash
2 TBS cooking oil (like canola, or even olive oil)

1 fall/winter squash, like butternut squash or kabocha squash
2 TBS cooking oil (like canola, or even olive oil)

Pinch ground black pepper
1/3 cup shiro miso (white miso)
2/3 cup unsalted butter
2 TBS freshly chopped herbs

Pinch ground black pepper
1/3 cup shiro miso (white miso)
2/3 cup unsalted butter
2 TBS freshly chopped herbs

1. Preheat the oven to 450F.

2. Peel the squash, cut in half lengthwise and seed. Slice the squash into half-inch-thick slices.

3. Toss the squash well with cooking oil and a generous pinch of black pepper.

4. Place the squash evenly spaced out on a cooking sheet pan lined with parchment paper.

5. Roast in the oven for about 10–12 minutes, until the squash is cooked through, but not super soft.

6. While the squash is cooking, make miso butter: Microwave the unsalted butter for about 30 seconds or so, until butter is halfway melted. You can also melt the butter over the stove top. Put the miso in the half-melted butter. Stir vigorously with a whisk or use a stick blender to mix well, until miso and butter are well combined into a smooth sauce.

7. Take the squash out of the oven and let cool for 3–5 minutes until the squash is warm, but not hot.

8. Place the squash onto a platter, taking care not to have the squash pieces too tight on top of each other, but piled high.

9. Using a spoon, drizzle miso butter sauce over the squash. Garnish with your favorite chopped herbs. I like chives, chive flowers, scallions, or cilantro, but any freshly chopped green herbs will do.

Scroll/swipe for recipe instructions >>

CHEF’S NOTE: Use delicata squash if you can find some. The skin is more delicate than other winter squash, and you can skip peeling the skin off and just slice and seed them. As always, use local vegetables in season. This simple but delicious butter sauce goes well with a lot of vegetables like roasted asparagus, radishes, or summer zucchini, too.

Soy Butter Rice

A white bowl seen from above filled with rice that is tinted a yellow-beige color and sprinkled with small black and brown seeds.

For the rice:
2 cups short grain rice
2 1/3 cups water
Pinch salt

For soy butter rice:
2 pints cooked short grain rice (or any of your favorite cooked grains)
2 oz melted butter
1 TBS soy sauce
1 pinch sesame seeds, plus more for garnish

Cook the rice:
If you’re using an electric rice cooker, then you’d just have to put the rice, water, and salt into the pot and hit the “cook” or “cook rice” button and let the machine do its thing. If you’re using a pot over stove top, follow these steps:

1. In a bowl, soak the rice in water for 30 minutes. Drain after 30 minutes.

2. In a medium pot (choose one that will hold about double the amount of water and rice, and one that has a lid), add the soaked rice, 2 cups of water, and a pinch of salt.

3. Put the pot on the stove over high heat with a lid on. Bring to boil, about 4–5 minutes.

4. Once it boils, remove the lid to stir once, and reduce heat to simmer. Cover with a lid and let cook for 12–14 minutes.

5. Turn the heat off but do not remove the lid. Let it rest with no heat for about 10 minutes.

6. Stir and serve.

7. Save any leftover rice in a container in the fridge. Rice also freezes very well.

Make soy butter rice:
1. Get the warm rice from the rice cooker or microwave cold cooked rice until hot.

2. Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix well with a spoon.

3. Garnish with sesame seeds and serve in a bowl.

Scroll/swipe for recipe instructions >>

Roasted Cabbage with Nuts and Seeds

An earthenware platter filled with roasted red cabbage and garnished with fresh herbs.

1/2 head green cabbage
1/2 head red cabbage

4 TBS neutral cooking oil like canola (or you can use olive oil or coconut oil, if you’d like)
1 TBS salt
Pinch ground black pepper

1 tsp sesame seeds
1 tsp perilla seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin
1 TBS cashews, roughly chopped (or any nuts you prefer, or just skip nuts!)

1 TBS chopped herbs like chives, scallion, or cilantro

1. Preheat the oven to 450F. If you have a convection option, use that, but if not, it will still be tasty.

2. Slice each head of cabbage in half. Take half of each cabbage and slice wedges off, making sure to include a sliver of the core. The core will hold the cabbage leaves together.

3. Line a cooking sheet pan with parchment paper. Drizzle half of the oil evenly on the parchment paper. Sprinkle half of the salt and pepper evenly.

4. Lay down the wedges of cabbage evenly on the oiled and salt-and-peppered sheet pan in one layer. Take care to have the wedges face the same way and not overlap onto each other. Separate the most tightly wound leaves a little bit with your fingers. Drizzle the rest of the oil, sprinkle with the rest of salt and pepper.

5. Place the sheet pan in the preheated oven. Roast for about 5 minutes.

6. In a small mixing bowl, combine the sesame seeds, perilla seeds, cumin, coriander seeds, and any nuts you are using. Mix well with a spoon.

7. After 5 minutes, take the sheet pan out. Sprinkle the mix of seeds and cumin evenly over the cabbage wedges. Place the sheet pan back into the oven and roast for another 5 minutes, until the edges are a caramel brown color and the cabbage is cooked but not mushy.

8. Let cool until the roasted cabbage is still warm but no longer steaming.

9. Using a long spatula, lay down the wedges of green cabbage on a platter, facing the same direction. Lay down the wedges of red cabbage on top. Sprinkle with chopped herbs of your choice and serve warm or at room temperature.

Scroll/swipe for recipe instructions >>

Smashed Potatoes

3 lbs redskin potatoes
1 TBS kosher salt

3 lbs redskin potatoes
1 TBS kosher salt

Spice mix:
1 TBS Korean chili flakes
1 TBS kosher salt
1 TBS cane sugar
1 tsp ground black pepper

2–3 TBS cooking oil

Spice mix:
1 TBS Korean chili flakes
1 TBS kosher salt
1 TBS cane sugar
1 tsp ground black pepper

2–3 TBS cooking oil

1. Boil potatoes: Put the potatoes and 1 TBS salt in a large pot and cover with water. Boil uncovered over high heat until potatoes are tender, about 25 minutes. Drain and let cool.

2. Preheat the oven to 450F.

3. Combine the Korean chili flakes, remaining 1 TBS kosher salt, cane sugar, and ground black pepper in a small bowl and stir until well mixed.

4. When the potatoes are cooled enough to handle, using the palm of your hand, smash them so that the skin is cracked and the potatoes are flatter, but are still more or less whole chunks.

5. In a large mixing bowl, add the smashed potatoes, cooking oil, and however much of the spice mix you’d like. If you’re not sure how much to add, start with 1 TBS of the mix. You can always add more later.

6. On a parchment paper–lined cooking sheet pan, place the smashed and spiced potatoes in one even layer, taking care to have them spaced out and not on top of each other.

7. Roast in the oven for about 10 minutes until the edges of the smashed potatoes are brown and crispy.

8. Serve on a platter or in a large bowl piled high and hot.

Scroll/swipe for recipe instructions >>

CHEF’S NOTE: This is a simple potato dish you can really make your own by using your favorite spice mix along with some salt, sugar, and even a touch of black pepper. For example, barbeque dry rub smashed potatoes, or Sichuan peppercorn and chili flake smashed potatoes. Play with it and enjoy!

STORY: JAKE HOLMES / PHOTOGRAPHY: EE BERGER / VIDEO: LUNAR NORTH

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