Supermarche chef-owner Lee Hyung-jun has come a long way from his French fine dining roots.

It was 2007, Lee recalled, when he helmed a French fine dining spot in Seoul’s Hannam-dong before moving on to another upscale French restaurant in 2011.

Lee then stepped away from fine dining to launch a deli-style eatery called Epicerie Collage in 2014 before taking this concept a step further with Supermarche in 2019.

“Supermarche is like its name, which means ‘supermarket’ in French,” Lee, 39, explained in an email interview. “Supermarche is a cafeteria and European food select shop.”

Meanwhile, Lee transitioned Epicerie Collage into a bistro-cafe and is currently helming Grand Amour, a French restaurant with live performances, as well as Grand Collage, a cafe-restaurant.

Now, Lee is looking to go even bigger by moving into the HMR -- home meal replacement -- market.

“I am very interested in HMR,” said Lee. “We are currently working on food from Supermarche that one can easily cook and eat at home. Customers will be able to receive early morning deliveries via an Internet platform in August.”

Here, Lee shares some simplified versions of dishes from Supermarche, Grand Collage and Epicerie Collage for those practicing social distancing by cooking and eating at home or packing office lunches.


 
Supermarche’s tuna boiled egg sandwich

Lee was inspired by Italian snack sandwiches called tramezzini when developing this sandwich for Supermarche.

“I enjoyed eating tramezzino at a cafe in Venice and was impressed by the way the sandwiches were displayed with their various fillings,” Lee said.

For his take on tramezzino, Lee went with a combination of tuna, boiled egg and the Belgian sauce andalouse.

“Andalouse pairs very well with butter lettuce but if you don’t have that you can substitute it with romaine lettuce,” said Lee. “Andalouse is a famous Belgian sauce that is often eaten with fries and chicken.”

Sauce andalouse ingredients:

30 grams chopped garlic
10 grams lemon juice
260 grams mayonnaise
60 grams tomato paste
1.2 grams chopped chili peppers
1.5 grams lemon zest
15 grams chopped parsley
15 grams paprika powder
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Sandwich ingredients:

Bread
Butter lettuce or romaine lettuce
Olive Oil
Canned Tuna
Mayonnaise
Boiled egg(s)

Directions:

1) Combine all sauce ingredients together and mix.

2) For every five spoons of canned tuna, mix with one teaspoon of mayonnaise.

3) Slice hard-boiled egg(s).

4) Heat pan with olive oil and slightly saute butter or romaine lettuce.

5) Top bread with sauteed lettuce, tuna and egg slices, and drizzle with sauce andalouse. Top with second slice of bread to create a sandwich.

Supermarche’s Waldorf salad

Chef Lee puts a spin on this famous New York City salad, originally crafted with apples, celery and mayo, by making his with a yogurt and sesame sauce.

“You can use whatever fruit you like,” he added. “I recommend using kumquats right now.”

Sauce ingredients (serves 4):

7 spoons of Greek yogurt
3 spoons of sesame seeds
1 spoon of lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon of chopped garlic
A pinch of cumin powder (optional)

Directions:

1) Mix sauce ingredients together.

2) Prepare salad ingredients and mix with sauce.

Grand Collage’s salmon steak with miso sauce

When developing this dish, Lee focused on creating a dish using French techniques that would go well with rice.

Sauce ingredients:

5 spoons of chopped shallots or onion
2 spoons of lemon juice
7 spoons of champagne vinegar
10 spoons of sweet cooking rice wine
2 spoons of miso
100 grams of butter
2 spoons cooking oil
1 spoon butter

Directions:

1) Put all sauce ingredients except butter in a small saucepan and simmer at low heat until it is reduced to 2/3 the original amount. Turn heat off and add cold butter a little bit at a time and stir.

2) Heat pan with cooking oil and butter and cook salmon on one side on medium heat for five minutes. Flip over and cook for two minutes and turn off heat. Let salmon rest for one minute.

3) Serve salmon with sauce and, if desired, with rice.

Epicerie Collage’s labneh

Chef Lee wanted to share a quick way to make labneh, strained yogurt, which he recommends eating as a topping for bread or as a salad dressing if one does not have the time or ingredients to make a separate dressing.

Ingredients:

500 grams Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon salt
Cheesecloth

Directions:

Mix yogurt and salt thoroughly. Put yogurt mixture into cheesecloth and place in a dish so the whey can drain out and leave in a cool place for a day, then strain out liquid and use.

By Jean Oh (oh_jean@heraldcorp.com)