Kimchi Queso
Eric Silverstein’s dishes from his Austin restaurant are the fun we need right now.
Ingredients
- 4½ tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2¼ tablespoons flour
- 2 cups milk
- 1 pound Velveeta cheese, cut into 1-inch cubes, or American cheese (cheddar blend is fine), shredded
- ½ cup pureed, plus ½ cup whole Napa kimchi
- ⅓ teaspoon white pepper
- ½ teaspoon kochukaru flakes
- ⅓ cup cilantro, chopped
- ⅓ cup green onions, chopped
- ⅓ teaspoon kosher salt to taste
- ⅓ cup cotija cheese, for garnish
- Tortilla chips, for serving
Directions
- In a medium-size pot, melt the butter over low heat. Once the butter has melted, add the flour to make a roux.
- Cook the roux for another 4–5 minutes until you start to smell a nutty aroma. The roux will start to turn a slight off-white. Turn the heat up to medium and whisk the milk into the roux. Simmer the mixture until the milk thickens. This should take about 5 minutes. Constantly stir the mixture to ensure you do not scald the milk.
- Add the cheese and simmer the mixture until the cheese melts and is fully incorporated.
- Once the cheese is fully melted, whisk in the pureed kimchi, white pepper, kochukaru flakes, cilantro, green onions, and salt.
- Garnish the queso with cotija cheese and the whole kimchi as well as any extra cilantro, and serve it with your favorite tortilla chips. If you have leftover queso, you can always cook some macaroni shells and toss them in the queso that you’ve heated up. You’ll have kimchi mac and cheese in no time. Top the mac and cheese with some fried shallots or panko for crunch.