Kimchi Mac n’ Cheese

The idea of any kind of pickled cabbage tasting good with a milk derivative–yeah, I sound like I should be locked up for even suggesting it, right? But contrary to popular belief, kimchi and cheese are agreeable bedfellows in a crazy variety of dishes.

When James and I lived in Denver, a [sadly, now closed] Korean restaurant in Aurora offered a ‘kimchi and cheese dolsot bibimbap’ on the menu. I had always been intrigued by the listing, but couldn’t bring myself to order it until my sister-in-law tried it on a lark one evening. (She and I have an almost masochistic streak regarding weird flavor combinations.) It was absolutely delicious–the creaminess of the cheese carried the tangy, spicy flavor of the kimchi very well. And despite the odd texture combination of crunchy (kimchi), creamy (cheese) and mushy (medium-grain rice), I was a fan.

Apparently this ‘match made in heaven’ wasn’t a secret; Kogi BBQ came into prominence in LA a year after I tried the bibimbap and a kimchi quesadilla was a featured item. I decided to try making the recipe Roy Choi provided to Gourmet soon afterward and found myself addicted to the kimchi + cheese combination. I’ve subsequently made kimchi quesadillas for potlucks, snacks and late-night cravings.

When you look at that eventual progression of foods, kimchi mac n’ cheese doesn’t seem like such an oddity now, does it? Well… it’s okay, I understand that it’s still a crazy idea. It was born out of a “I want kimchi quesadillas, but don’t have tortillas or cheese… but I DO have this instant mac n’ cheese box…” whim. And after I discovered it was indeed delicious, I whipped up this recipe on the fly.

So what does it taste like? Rich, sharp cheddar cheese sauce with flecks of crunchy, tangy kimchi with a slow burn of heat, all carried atop the al dente consistency of shell pasta. I like to top it with smoked paprika, which gives a hint of smokiness to the cheese and compliments the slightly caramelized kimchi cabbage. If you’d prefer even more spice, you can mix in cayenne pepper to taste at the end–but I find that less spice is more when balancing the flavors together.

Give the recipe a whirl and let me know what you think! It’s so crazy that you just might like it too. Be careful though–if you like it a lot more than you think, you might start dreaming up crazy ways to put kimchi in everything! (Not that I’m speaking from experience of course…)