I think the best part of cooking is figuring out how to use ingredients in different and untraditional ways to make new, delicious meals. I think there is nothing more important than following and preserving tradition, but sometimes it can get boring, and trust me, I can’t live my life eating the same thing over and over. I like change and innovation. It’s what keeps me interested in cooking.

The sweet, spicy smokiness of gochujang adds an amazing new dimension to a typical tomato cream pasta. Caramelizing the gochujang first in a little oil with onions and garlic, then adding crushed tomatoes and heavy cream to simmer down into a rich sauce. A touch of herbs and cheese at the end brings everything together.

Rigatoni was my choice of pasta since the sauce was the star of the dish. The hole in rigatoni allows me to have a satisfying amount of sauce in each bite, and it makes me further appreciate the small decisions that make huge differences in cooking.