Raspberry Pavlova

I'm not too into sweets and would almost always prefer ending a meal with a cheese plate with the last sips of my wine than get a dessert. What can I say? I am a savory gal.

But pavlovas, that's another story. Now here's a dessert I can definitely have lots of in one sitting. Pavlova is basically a meringue base with whipped cream topped with fresh fruit. In this case, beautiful apricot-hued raspberries tumbled upon a pile of freshly whipped cream upon a light meringue base that just melts in your mouth. There is no frickin way that can't be good.

I like the cool milkiness of the freshly whipped cream sans sugar, the sweet juiciness of the berries and the crunchy light meringue. I've tried strawberries but I am partial to raspberries for this dessert. Everyone I've made pavlova for absolutely loves it. Including me. :)

Roasted Cauliflower with Curry & Paprika; Israeli Couscous with Currants, Golden Raisans & Pinenuts

Roasted cauliflower with spices is so easy to make and so affordable. You get a great bang for your buck with this flavorful dish. First you cut off the florets, toss it with olive oil, cumin, coriander, curry, paprika, and a teeny bit of black pepper. The roasted it with wedges of onion and little knobs of butter. I like it when the floret edges get really and carmelized and charred. The above picture does not show such carmelized edges - waahh. Broiling for a few minutes could have worked that out though.

To go with the roasted cauliflower I made Israeli couscous. I sauteed some shallots and then added water to this. Brought it up to a boil, added the couscous, and cooked it covered until the water had been absorbed. Alternatively, you can cook the couscous in more water then drain it. To the cooked couscous I added dried currants, raisans, parsley, black pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil. The sweetness from the currants and raisans in the couscous paired up well with the spiced cauliflower. I really enjoyed the texture of the Israeli couscous, so much more than Moroccan couscous which is the only couscous I knew until I made this one.



Marilyn's dessert: Papaya Lime Soup Shooter

A catered menu for www.writingpad.com

Burrata & Tomato Salad; Fresh Shell Pasta with Pancetta, Corn & Brown Butter Salsa Verde; Profiterol with Vanilla Ice Cream & Chocolate Sauce

The yellow one is Lemon Boy, the darker one is Purple Cherokee, and the green one is Green Zebra. Aren't they just darling?! I hit up the Saturday farmer's market over in Santa Monica this weekend, in preparation for a lunch I was preparing for my friend H for her birthday. Then I hit up Bay Cities and went crazy. I do that sometimes. Go crazy buying all sorts of stuff I need and may need. Did that last week at Mitsuwa too. What's wrong with me?! I've gone food shopping crazy!



I got some wonderful wonderful burrata at Bay Cities. The skin on this creamy mozzarella was super thin and the flesh creamy and milky. What better way to enjoy it then a simple salad with beautiful tomatoes and fragrant basil straight from the market? I drizzled the salad with a Spanish olive oil, sprinkled some fleur de sel, and ground black pepper. Nothing else, and it was truly delicious.



I also picked up some corn and chanterelle mushrooms at the farmer's market and fresh shell pasta at Bay Cities. I sauteed some pancetta, onion and garlic. Then added thyme, chanterelles, and a pinch of saffron. Deglazed with a bit of white wine then added the cut corn. Meanwhile I cooked the pasta in a pot of well salted water. Then tossed all together along with brown butter salsa verde, and shaved over some Pecorino Romano.

The dish I originally had in mind was fresh pasta with pancetta, pea, saffron and pecorino. And the leftover salsa verde was to be employed in the burrata tomato salad. But instead I kept the salad simple with a drizzle of the olive oil and decided to make brown butter salsa verde (a la Lucques) to finish the pasta. Brown butter is, well, browned butter. The salsa verde is made of parsley, mint, anchovies and capers. Now add those two together and you got yourself some herb infused nutty brown butter.

But in my little spontaneous turn of the recipe I believed I faltered a bit. The pasta definitely could do without the saffron since there was a lot of herb flavor going on. I would have used less butter or oil in order to control the total amount of fat in the dish. When I added the brown butter salsa verde, it was a bit too buttery. Perhaps more chanterelles would have been nice but those things are expensive and also I was out of money. Okay, enough analysis!

However, this is not to say that it wasn't delicious. H happily filled herself up with the pasta as did the rest of us. The corn was sweet, fresh, and cooked just enough to keep intact some of the pleasant crunch. And the Bay Cities' fresh pasta is so delicious. Do try it. It'll do well even with just a grind of black pepper, a shave of pecorino, and a drizzle of good olive oil.



I even decided to make the dessert. You guys know I only make dessert once in a while but since this menu was pretty simple I decided to put in some time in the dessert department. So profiterols with Ben & Jerry's Vanilla Ice Cream and chocolate sauce. I followed the Barefoot Contessa recipe for the profiterols and they came out delicious. The dough is sticky and messy to clean from the food processor but the recipe is super easy. I was happy with the results. I think we all were!

*Happy birthday H! Glad you enjoyed your lunch. :)

Quickeasy Meal - Flatbread Pizza

As I demonstrated to myself before that flatbread is indeed an easy meal waiting to be fixed, I thought the last piece of lavash would well received (in my mouth that is) as a quickie dinner. A flatbread pizza sounded like something that was easy, fast & not too messy of a recipe for a weeknight tv dinner.

I topped the lavash with some semi-carmelized brown onion, thyme, anchovy pieces, goat cheese and s&p. Baked it off. Easy as that!

The results were delicious - the crispy lavash with the sweet onion, salty anchovy, and tangy goat cheese. I did sprinkle an one too many sprinkle of the salt and it was a bit salty especially with the anchovy. Next time more chops to the anchovy and less sprinkles of the salt. Am I forgiven? I may even add a smear of ricotta to the base. Mmmm.



La Chouffe's Dobbelen IPA Tripel accompanied this easy meal. It's Belgian, it's a tripel, but not too much of them hops as the name might suggest. However, it was still a delicious beverage to imbibe, well-balanced and not as heavy as the "Tripel" made me think.

I think flatbread pizzas may become a recurring dish on this blog. It's a perfect entertaining dish. Hmm, time for a party?

Back Up

My computer is back up! Yay! At least for the time being. I have no idea how it goes from not recognizing the hard drive one day to turning back on another day. Anyhow, until it breaks again I will be posting. A delicious lunch at Yai, Writing Pad menu, birthday lunch... to be posted soon!

Technological Difficulties

My computer crashed the other day so postings may be delayed. The previous post was the last bit of the uploaded pics. Maybe I'll post without pics until the comp gets fixed/replaced. I feel self-conscious writing without the photos though! Because then I'll really have to pay attention to what I'm writing instead of cheating with the pics. :) I hope you understand and I hope I make sense sans pics.

Sanamluang

My brother alerted me to the delicious pad kee mow at Sanamluang a few years ago. At first bite I was addicted. The food here is fast, cheap and delicious. Perfect for a drop-by dinner before an activity, such as watching The Pirates of the Carribean.

So we drove down Hollywood Blvd. Of course when we got there the parking situation was ridiculous, the parking lot being extremely small and this being LA. But no biggie, we parked a block down. I figured I could count the short walk as exercise. My friend H said no. But how about round trip? That could equal out a quarter-mile I said. She laughed, I think in agreement.



We started with their eggrolls, which I find to be delicious minus the celery slices. These eggrolls are a good size, so pleasingly crunchy and steaming hot inside. Good thing H and I are good friends, because double dipping is essential to finishing each eggroll. I guess you could dip the ends, avoiding double dipping, but it doesn't soak up much of the sauce the exposed side does.



The we got the shrimp salad. This came piled high with cilantro and I could see all the marinating juice at the bottom of the plate ready to be slopped up by shrimp, leaves and all. The shrimp were a bit small but moist and cooked perfectly. The marinade was pungent, not too spicy, fragrant with lemongrass, fish sauce and cilantro. This one was tad sweeter than the one I used to have a Palms Thai. I haven't been to Palms Thai in years. Maybe it's time for comparison dining!



Then finally we waited for the pad kee mow, the dish I was raving about. Then came pad prik king. Question marks floated over my head. A communication flop had deprived me of my pad kee mow!! Nooooo! The waitress looked a little peeved about the mistake although the mistake is certainly in her ears. This problem was quickly rectified within less than 10 minutes and a hot plate of pad kee mow came to our table. Ground beef, aromatic basil, ground chili, and soft pillowy rice noodles - what more can I ask for? It's awfully delicious. Period.

Full of so much good food, I nearly got food coma. I hung on by a thread and we headed off to the theater after my exercise walk back to the car. Unfortunately it was a box breaking weekend for the PoTC and we couldn't get tickets. Instead I went to Boy's to watch tv and so sweetly gave him the leftover pad kee mow. Then I ate all of it. Hehe.

Sadly, I think Sanamluang and Palms Thai are the only two Thai restaurants I've been to in Thai Town. Fortunately Santos from The Scent of Green Bananas reviewed a few delicious options on her LA Blog. I warn you, the photos on her blog will make you drool!

5170 Hollywood Blvd
323.660.8006

Roast Lamb & Chorizo Wrap with Feta & Lemon-Cumin Yogurt

Boy and I have been proscrastinating this season so far about getting concert tickets and all. But last minute we decided to goto the Belle & Sebastian show at the Hollywood Bowl. We had been wishy washy about going, so ticket buying had been pushed all around last month until we pretty much forgot about the concert. But then spontanaeity hit and lucky us, the Hollywood Bowl site still showed many areas with available seats.

Then the next obvious question for me is: what do we eat?? I mulled over the ingredients in my fridge... what did I have? lavash, mixed spring greens, feta, yogurt. And lucky me, I had frozen leftover roasted lamb with chorizo stuffing from a dinner few weeks ago. I defrosted a slice in the microwave and sliced it very thin. Piled up the sliced lamb along with the chorizo stuffing on the lavash. Scattered sliced scallion and greek feta on top of that. Sprinkled on a handful of lettuce and beautiful wrap it became. And in the process used up all the bits and scraps in my fridge. I liiike.



I packed a bottle of pinot noir, Boy grabbed a few bottles of Franzikaner Hefe Weisse and off we went heading towards the Hollywood hills. We were even lucky enough to find a parking spot a few blocks away.

Finally we got to the box office. Tickets were sold out!!! Arg! Their website totally lied. I hate lying websites. The only seats available now were obstructed for over $40. Are you kidding me? Forget that bullshit. Good thing I had something delicious with me or else a bowl employee would have had to taken a fall for the lying website.

Instead I concentrated on the wrap. Boy looked around a little bit for tickets but I had already decided that I wanted to sit down and eat at that point. Actually I was pretty excited about the wrap - the lamb was so moist and flavorful, and the thought of creamy whole milk yogurt tinged with cumin and lemon juice over the moist lamb made me park the ticket situation far back in my mind.

So we sat, while concert goers continued to pass us. Bastards! No, it's not their fault the site lied... Bastards! We got a few glances at our wraps from passerbys (I would like to think jealous ones). The wrap was indeed delicious and numerous people carrying in CPK should have been jealous. And then traded their tickets for the lamb wraps!

This wrap should be sold in a shack. A drive by shack perhaps. Of course one that serves cold beer. Duh.

Gluttony on the 4th of July

My blog (and I) got a one-liner in LA Weekly's article about Writing Pad which I cater for. I guess this means I better update my blog!

I did cook over the 4th of July weekend although I don't have the photos to prove it... Suzanne Goin's Pork Burgers to be exact. And when I say pork, I mean pork. Diced bacon and mexican chorizo mixed with ground pork. The chorizo gives a kick of spice and deep flavor to the mixture while the bits of bacon run through the patty waiting for heat to hit and melt into blissful pork fat in the patty. Heavenly, I tell ya.

It's important to avoid overmixing the meat mixture or else the patty will come out tough. Toughness=very very bad, whether in burgers, meatloaf, or anything. So I usually do the minimum mixing possible, except this time my minimal methods could have used an extra toss or two. A few delicious bits of the burger fell through the grill. Read delicious as the charred grilled bits on the edge where the crunch of the thinner edge will make harmony with the juicy interior. I think a few teardrops from my face also fell through the grill.

I also made Rob's Famous Coleslaw from the same Sunday Suppers at Lucques menu with the pork burgers. Being optimistic about people's usual bbq appetite I chose the biggest red cabbage at the market bin. There is more than 1/2 of the batch still left in Boy's fridge. Poor Boy. He is doomed to eat this as he knows I hate waste. I did provide some useful recipes though - how about grilled shrimp po'boy topped with the delicious cole slaw?

For dessert I made Rebecca Charles' Blackberry Nectarine Crisp posted by The Wednesday Chef. Well I didn't make this exact recipe because I lost the printed recipe. So I had to wing it. I forgot a lot of stuff, including proportions of dry ingredients and butter for the crisp part and cinnamon. I was frigteningly off now that I check the recipe. But it was delicious layered with Ben & Jerry's vanilla ice cream in between spoonfuls of the fruity rustic dessert according to my tasters.

It was hot and humid this 4th but I was full of delicious food and beer and in good company - exactly what a summer weekend should be.

Duck Confit with Black Rice, Mizuna & Savory Cherry Compote

My last spring Lucques menu! Yes I know it's summer now but I just had to get one more in there. Duck confit has been on my list of dishes to make for a very long time now. It sounds hard though, doesn't it? Confit. Yip, sounds very hard. The Lucques recipe pairs duck confit with a savory cherry compote. How could I resist?

Upon reading the recipe and trying to get a mental to-do, I realized duck confit is so easy to make! Why had I put it off for so long? Never having tasted it was one but just fear of messing up this southwest France meat preservation method was the other. But this recipe is definitely a keeper, especially with the savory fruit compote.

A meat confit (usually geese, duck or pork) is when a meat is salted and cooked in its own fat in low heat. When the meat has finished cooking it can be stored up to a few months covered it its own fat which acts as a seal. Stuff like tomato confit and tuna confit will require the use of olive oil instead of animal fat.

In the same Lucques menu there is also a starter of white asparagus, ramps and morels with polenta. The use of cherries for the duck confit is a spring highlight but the starter would really emphasize the seasonality of this menu. So check!, added that to grocery list also.

The duck and cherries were easy to find but white asparagus, ramps and morels were nowhere to be seen. In fact, most of the farmer's market vendors I asked about ramps didn't even know what they were. Wish I rememebered that it was also called "wild leeks" so they could at least tell me where I might be able to find it or if it was already gone for the season.

Even before I went shopping I was pretty sure white asparagus would be out of my reach. But morels? I was optimistic since they are still being served at AOC. But nope, the mushroom vendor said morels were already out. Spring 2006 has been pretty much non-existent so I guess my expectations were a little bit too high, especially a few days into an already pretty hot summer.

Arg. So what's a girl to do? I mean, this is supposed to be a spring menu right?Well, I had to suck it up and just do my best. Here is what I served...



I started the meal with an impromptu salad with romaine hearts, crispy Neuske's bacon, goat cheese, and pea shoots with a simple dijon vinaigrette. For a salad that was put together last minute with stuff in the fridge it was pretty good, refreshing and pretty at the same time. I think a little more bacon wouldn't have hurt. But when does having more bacon ever hurt? God, I love bacon.



Next up was the revised polenta dish. I made a super soft polenta but rebelling against the instructions in the cookbook. I swear the total amount of time in the recipe was over 2 hours or something! I'm not that crazy. I made mine in 20 minutes and and it was completely delicious. Topped it with a more humble grouping of vegetables and mushroom with green asparagus, spring onion and cremini mushrooms. Still springy I believe. If I had a readily useable grill I would have added grilled leeks. The polenta was super fluffy, light and perfect with the vegetables and mushroom.



Then finally, duck confit. My goodness, my whole house smelled like deliciousness! Especially with some black rice and savory cherry compote simmering away on the stove. The recipe instructs to take the duck legs out of the oil when it's done and fire it away for 10 minutes or so in a very hot oven to make the skin crispy. Brilliant!

The duck leg meat was so tender, falling off with just a gentle pressure of the fork. I was gnawing on the bone to get every little bit of carmelized skin off. The briny black rice was a nice complement to the rich flavor of the duck and the sweet and savory cherry compote brought everything together. Just imagine that - briny, , nutty, sweet, savory, earthy. Crispy, tender, creamy. Brilliant!

Yumm, I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

But now I must say goodbye to spring and jump in head-in into the summer menus. So many different dishes caught my eye already while I was browsing through the book. I'll be more on top of things this time though. No slacking off and procrastinating until the last month of summer! Lest I wish to face the doom of unavailable produce again.

Croissant Bread Pudding

A while back I saw a recipe for almond croissants on Chocolate & Zucchini. Up to this point I had never even imagined that almond croissant was something that was done at home or that could be. It looked so delicious and just the thought of the warm aroma of almond croissants wafting through the kitchen got me all excited.

Armed with 6 croissants from Maison du Pain I finally gave the recipe a go. I dipped the croissants in a light sugar syrup, sliced it in half, and filled it with the almond cream made with almonds, butter, egg & sugar. Placed the top back on, spread a little bit on top and sprinkled sliced almonds over it. Popped it into the oven.

Out came out smelling delicious. But looking a little bit flat. Uh oh, I peeked under on of the croissant halves - the almond cream didn't set! Yikes, I don't know what the hell happenened but inside the croissant was watery and soggy. :/

I still ate one though. Well ate around the sogginess at least. (Maison du Pain croissants are delicious by the way). The almond croissants were supposed to be part of a gift for a friend but no way these were leaving my house. Instead I turned them into bread pudding and they got all puffy and pretty. The day was saved.

Chilled Cucumber Soup; Smoked Trout on Pumpernickel with Creme Fraiche & Herbs

I love cucumbers! I like it simple, cut into spears and dipped into spicy gochujang as a snack or a refreshing side. Marinated in gochujang, sesame oil, scallions and garlic for a spicy zingy crunch. Or tossed in creme fraiche with herbs, preserved lemon and spices.

This time I took a more smoother route, making Chilled Cucumber Soup (Emeril) to be served in little glasses for sipping in between nibbles of Smoked Trout on Pumpernickel. The chilled soup was refreshingly herby with green onion, cilantro, mint, dill. And it had a nice kick of heat from the jalapeno which was nicely balanced by yogurt and sour cream.



I based this smoked trout composition on a similar dish I had at AOC not too long ago. I just took the main ingredients, smoked trout and pumpernickel, and added my own grouping of herbs. So cilantro, parsley, chives, dill, and then slivers of red onion soaked in lemon juice to break it down a little bit. Then dollops of creme fraiche. A simple and delicious complement to the chilled cucumber soup.

A catered menu for www.writingpad.com

Roasted Leg of Lamb with Chorizo Stuffing & Romesco Potatoes; Vanilla Semifreddo with Rhubarb Compote

Oh my god it's summer! Yesterday, June 21, was the summer solstice and also my deadline to cook as many of the spring Lucques menus as I possibly can. Unrealistically, I wanted to make an entire menu every week. Well I lagged, panicked when I was running out of time, then completely ignored my other cookbooks and started cooking finally about a month ago.

Let's see... so far I've made the watercress soup with gentlemen's relish toast (delicious!), endive salad with cured olives & meyer lemon cream (delicious!), an adapted saffron risotto with peas & pea shoots (delicious!), grilled skirt steak with black olive aioli and artichoke-potato hash (delicious!), fava bean puree with oil-cured olives & feta (delicious!), hawaiian snapper with green rice & cucumbers in creme fraiche (delicious!). And for my last official spring menu of spring, Roasted Leg of Lamb with Chorizo Stuffing & Romesco Potatoes (delicious!). Okay, so that doesn't add up to twelve fabulous menus but they were all delicious! I think I'll tack on another spring menu this week just to go out with a bang. And so I don't feel bad but being a bad goal executor.

But let's discuss the meal at hand. I marinated a butterflied leg of lamb with rosemary, garlic and parsley for about 4 hours, instead of overnight 'cause I midread the instructions and also because I was lazy. Meanwhile I got making the chorizo stuffing and romesco potatoes.

The chorizo stuffing uses mexican chorizo, the crumbly soft kind rather than the harder cured Spanish variety. I don't know why but Whole Foods does not carry mexican chorizo. What's up with that. So I went over the Hungtington Meats in the Farmer's Market (yay!) they had some really great looking ones. I processed some ciabatta to make the required fresh breadcrumbs and toasted it before tossing with some sauteed onion mix and cooked chorizo. The stuffing had such a great punch of spice to it from the well seasoned chorizo, I loved it!



For the romesco potatoes, 1.5lbs of yukon golds were covered and roasted in the oven with some garlic and thyme. And then crumbled by hand when cooled, crisped up in a saute pan with more thyme, the roasted garlic cloves, then tossed gently with generous amounts of the delicious Catalan sauce of tomato, pepper, bread and nuts. Just thinking about this meal is making my mouth water at 9:30 in the morning.

The leg of lamb roasted in the oven for about 1.25 hours and delicious aroma filled the kitchen. The instructions stated the internal temperature to be about 120 degrees when the meat was done. I poked my brand new thermometer into the middle of the meat but its arrow was pointing to way over 120 degrees! Maybe it was all the residual heat, I don't know, but it retardedly made me all paranoid that I overcooked the lamb even though I followed the instructions like a good little girl.

But the lamb was perfect! Moist and pink on the inside and filled in the middle with the spicy chorizo stuffing. Then whie the meat was resting I heated up the remaining chorizo stuffing in the oven. As time consuming as these Lucques recipes are the results have been phenomenal. The chorizo stuffing is definitely one of my favorites bits in the book.



An herb salad parsley, mint and cured olives dressed with a drizzle of olive oil and a sqeeze of lemon accompanied the above hearty dishes for a nice salty and herby bite.



I also made vanilla semifreddo with rhubarb compote, also from the same menu. Semifreddo is an Italian dessert which means semi-frozen. It was pretty simple, which was a yay for my tired feet. I beat some cream to stiff peaks. Then beat egg yolks with sugar and vanilla. Then beat egg whites to stiff peaks. (In thoroughly cleaned bowl of course). Then folded those things together and froze it in a plastic wrap lined pan. The rhubarb compote was as simple too. Just make syrup, add half of rhubard and cook until "jammy", then add the other half and cook until tender. Strain and reduce the liquid until glossy. Then chill.

If I had just made the endive salad again I would have finished an entire menu!! :D But my tired feet and dry hands may have objected. It was a lot of work but when I took that first bite, I knew it was all worth it. Yes, it was that good.

Asparagus & Romesco Crostini; Warm Arugula Salad with Balsamic, Parmesan & Pinenuts

I am like a crostini peddler, aren't I? But it's a perfect form of appetizer! I had to switch it up and make something new though for this particular class because LA Weekly's La Vida writer, Linda Immediato, was coming to check out the class. Yikes!

I made an crostini with roasted asparagus topped with romesco and gruyere then broiled for just a moment to achieve that browned cheese melty ooey goodness. There is something that just makes me so giddy and happy when I see cheese bubbling, getting crispy and brown in just the few right spots.



I also made a warm arugula salad with bacon, red onion and balsamic vinegar. This recipe was adapted from Jamie Oliver's in one of his cookbooks. Dude there is bacon in it and then it's topped with parmigiano reggiano and toasted pinenuts. How can it not be good? I have some pancetta lying around in my fridge. I think a warm salad is in order.



Marilyn's dessert: Mini Mile High Strawberry Pies

A catered menu for www.writingpad.com

Mac & Cheese... Pepper Jack, Pecorino & Parmesan

Aren't these a beauty? I got them at Surfas, my favorite place in the whole wide world. I go there all the time anyways but it's especially a treat if I'm having a bad day. It cheers me up to go down every aisle and check meticulously for any new products they have in stock or if something jumps out at me that I previously overlooked. Hey, buying a pack of Nueske's bacon to look pretty in my fridge is better than looking down an empty pint of Ben & Jerry's right?



Anyhow, I thought mac & cheese for Boy and I for a Friday evening would be perfectly comforting and relaxing, which is definitely in order at the end of a work week. Plus I got to use up all the cheese that had been sitting around my fridge which included pepper jack, pecorino and parmesan. The pepper jack actually got kind of moldy but I just cut those parts off and still used it. I have never made a proper mac & cheese before and my version definitely wasn't proper at all. First off the base, the white sauce, was too watery. Too little roux (flour and butter cooked together over heat) and too much milk! But it's mac & cheese, how can you make it wrong unless you overcook the pasta?

I didn't overcook the pasta but Boy didn't have any salt at his apartment except for a measly teaspoon of sea salt I left there way back in the day! It was bland but still yummy. I took the leftovers home and reseasoned it, thank god. Lots more salt, black pepper and a gentle sprinkle of cayenne. Then froze it for another day since I'm supposed to be eating extra healthy.

Well except today since I brought it for lunch!

Grilled Skirt Steak with Artichoke-Potato Hash and Black Olive Aioli

While referring back to the Sunday Suppers at Lucques cookbook I noticed a few pleasant details that previously escaped me - the title of each recipe is in lower case and color-organized by seasons. I liiiike! This particular dish's name was dressed in a springy green. :) Enough of my random musings... this grilled skirt steak dish was delicious!



Delicious with some artichoke-potato hash, black olive aioli, and a sprinkling of arugula. Delicious under the cool LA sky at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. In fact it was the perfect meal paired with Maharaja IPA to fill our tummies before watching The Philadelphia Story presented by Cinespia at, yes, the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. It was a lovely time indeed and Boy loved the dish. Oh yes, this was a little outing I planned and kept a surprise for Boy. I thought it would be fun to take turns each month planning a little outing or a little surprise for each other. So I made some food, packed up a blanket, told Boy to pack a beer and picked him up and drove over to this lovely summer event. :)

The dish itself was not hard to make although I could think of a thousand things better to do than prep artichokes. I got through it ok though - there were only 12 baby artichokes and also The History Channel's UFO show kept me entertained. Although there were only 12 baby artichokes, it felt like it took forever! And it also looked like it took forever too because a lot of the artichokes got brown spots even in the lemon water. I think less water, smaller bowl, and more lemon would be a good idea next time. Oh and faster work by my hands definitely.

The skirt steak, browned baby artichokes, crispy on the edges crumbled Yukon Gold potatoes, the aioli with smashed up oil-cured olives (I took the easy road and used mayo), and the peppery arugula leaves all came together deliciously in each bite. How can one not like hash?! Especially when it comes with all the fixins! The layering of flavors in many of Suzanne Goin's recipes prove to be just way delicious! And deliciousness makes me happy. And it makes Boy happy too.

Saffron Risotto with Peas & Pea Shoots

I had some saffron butter leftover from way back when early spring when I was cooking some English peas. It's been sitting in my fridge since then getting pretty bored. So I finally decided on a job and made Saffron Risotto. I adapted the recipe from the Sunday Suppers at Lucques cookbook using whatever amount of saffron butter I had and a mixture of leftover onion and shallots but preserving the proportion of rice to liquids.

In the book, the saffron risotto is paired with osso bucco with peas and pea shoots. In trying to keep intact my affinity for cooking ease as of late I skipped the osso bucco part and crowned the risotto itself with peas and pea shoots. You can probably tell from the color of the risotto that I could have used more saffron/saffron butter. But it was still good!



I enjoyed this rather delicious dish with a glass of Familie Bauer Gruner Veltliner which I purchased at Silverlake Wine Co a few weeks ago.

In terms of my experience with risotto, I've only had it once at a restaurant and that was merely 6 months ago back when I had an amazing meal at Chez Panisse. I've cooked it a few times prior to having it out but having a proper risotto really blew me away. The Chez Panisse risotto had such a perfect coating of starch on each grain of rice and tender but with a pleasant bite in the middle. of course mine wasn't up to that standard but it was still good eating.

I'm scared to go out and start trying other risottos now to avoid disappointment. But then again this would make for a very delicious project! :] Meanwhile I will keep practicing.

Hawaiian Snapper with Green Rice & Cucumbers in Creme Fraiche

This recipe was one of the first ones I was eyeing from the spring menus in the Sunday Suppers at Lucques cookbook. More specifically, the main attraction for me was the cucumbers in creme fraiche. The combination of ingredients mentally tasted so delicious. The refreshing - preserved lemon, shallots, mint and creme fraiche. And the savory and deep - cumin and fennel seeds.

Just as I suspected - awesome! I couldn't help but keep spooning over more cucumbers over the flaky moist snapper. Plus I needed a cucumber with every bite of fish and green rice, for the refreshing crunch and the tangy creme fraiche. Mmmm.

The cucumbers slices were spooned on and below the warm snapper, causing some of the creme fraiche to melt onto the fish and rice. The sprinkling of arugula under the warm fish provided a nice bite of pepperiness, even wilting a tiny bit to my pleasure.

And the green rice, made with a herby broth with chives, cilantro, mint, and parsley, was the perfect base for the snapper and the cucumbers. No one herb took over the broth and even the fennel seeds didn't hijack the dish with its strong licorice flavors, although this may be because I didn't use fennel bulb as the recipe required. I just wanted to be safe since too much licorice would definitely ruin my dinner.

The flavors of each component of the dish balanced so well and came together to make happiness in my mouth. Yay! Warm snapper, marinated simply with parsley, black pepper and lemon zest. Crunchy, refreshing Persian cucumbers in tangy creme fraiche with refreshing mint and preserved lemon. Nutty basmati rice flavored with a medley of herbs.

The next day I took a generous portion of the leftover cucumbers in creme fraiche and made a sandwich at work with a small sprinkling of arugula. It was one of the best lunches I've had lately.

*Check out Grant's blog Well Fed for his post of this recipe. A Suzanne Goin fan too! Grant's way more diligent with his posts though with the step by step pictures and instruction. :) I am kind of lazy.

El Gran's Tacos Doblado

Drool. Doesn't that look frickin delicious?! I usually get asada tacos at El Gran but a few weeks ago I changed it up and got tacos doblado, hard-shelled taco. Would make an awesome breakfast right about now.

Linguini with Bacon, Peas & Piave; Prosciutto-wrapped Asparagus; Berry Crumble

Isn't he adorable?! That my friends E&T's dog Nicky. I house/dog-sat over the memorial day weekend and what an easy and awesome job that was. E&T stocked up their fridge with holy amounts of beer and also edible goodies including cheese, which they know I love! Seriously, how awesome is that? And Nicky is such an angel too. Can't you see the bright halo lighting his head in the photo above?



Saturday morning I woke up and I had some of the artisan flatbread and huge chunks of Saint Andre triple creme cheese for breakfast. Ahh, life is good. It was a relaxing weekend of hanging out with the dog and watching marathon-high numbers of Sex and the City dvds, much to Boy's misery.

I perused through a few of E's cookbooks including Nigella's, whose cookbooks are always a pleasure to read, being uber casual and non-fussy about food. But I spent the weekend being super lazy, eating Mexican food, Jack in the Box and more cheese. But the last day I decided to cook a little bit and leave something yummy for E&T when they got back from their trip Monday evening.

So here's what I made with a few stuff that was at their place and a few stuff I brought with me:



Linguini with Bacon, Peas and Piave...
I think I meant to make a carbonara variety but now that I look back I don't recall using an egg! This also needed more cheese but I got sick of using the vegetable peeler and couldn't find the cheese grater which was in fact right in front of my face. It was hanging right next to my head on the pan hanging rack. I think I added too much cream too. I kept adding more to the egg and cheese mixture thinking maybe a little bit more. Then it was too much. :/ But the pasta still tasted good though, but it wasn't a carbonara.

Prosciutto-wrapped Asparagus
roasted off in the oven with a few drizzles of olive oil. E&T had some asparagus lying around their crisper so I thought it would be yummy to simply roast them wrapped in some prosciutto I brought over.



And for dessert, Berry Crumble...
topped with using the fresh strawberries stocked by E&T and a little bit of their TJ frozen berry mix. I eyeballed a crumble recipe in one of Nigella's book and crossed my fingers that it would come out ok. Then I added roasted peanuts and a crumbled coconut-cashew cookie. Boy tasted the pasta and the berry crumble and he gave thumbs up.

Then Boy and I left and got gluttonous amounts of Mexican food with mountains of crema from El Gran Burrito. Leisure + Mexican food + beer=great weekend.