Leek Bacon Comte Tart January 18, 2010

I made this tart one cold winter day. I was actually sick during that time and had lost my sense of smell and taste. How unfortunate! How I longed for the aroma of sizzling bacon and leeks cooking in butter. If I woke up tomorrow minus my ability to taste I think I might be thrown into turmoil, stripped of life meaning. Ok, drama over. Well thank goodness my sickness was only temporary. The day after I made the tart I was fully able to taste again. Hooray. Leeks are such a tasty ingredient. It’s perfect just as a side dish sweated in some butter. Or in this case matched up with the ever loved bacon, nutty comte and homemade rough puff pastry, complements of the Zuni Cafe cookbook, a book which I am loving more with each turn of the page.

Merguez Hash January 5, 2010

It’s no surprise that leftovers often make the most scrumptious plate of food. Delicious and economical. I had merguez leftover from making corndogs. There were few old potatoes lying around and I knew hash was meant to be. A delicious combination of merguez, onion, potato, and harisa, finished with a squeeze of lemon and chopped parsley. This made the best work lunch ever. Gobbled it up way quick. Are you a lover of hash as I am?

Holiday Dinner December 30, 2009

The rampant holiday eating and cooking continued the day after Christmas. My brother is in town so we decided to host a dinner together. Leaning towards a more fun and casual meal I came up with this menu:

no knead bread, preserved lemon butter
roasted walnuts in the shell
chestnuts in warm sage oil, prosciutto
sweetbread nuggets, honey mustard
roasted cauliflower, coriander, paprika, anchovies
merguez corndogs
warm peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, whipped cream

I delegated some of the duties to my brother including the (almost) no-knead bread which came out beautifully brown and crusty and with a nice chewy moist crumb. I also had him make the preserved lemon butter from the Artichokes to Za’atar cookbook. I was addicted this creamy butter studded with preserved lemon, shallots, parsley and thyme.

Once when I had dinner at Julie’s she served whole roasted walnuts in the shell with nutcrackers for the guests to work for their own morsels. This was a revelation to me. It was fun, the walnuts were delicious and it brought about a feeling of comfort for some reason. So I served these at our dinner and picked up a few nutcrackers at Surfas for only $2.50 a pop. Guests cracked away at the warm, freshly roasted nut meat.

I also served chestnuts in warm sage oil with prosciutto from the Zuni Cafe cookbook. The chestnuts were such a pain to deal with as expected but the combination with the sage oil and salty prosciutto made a great starter.

I was nervous and excited to make my first sweetbreads at home. I decided to deep fry them as little nuggets and served them as finger food. The contrast between the tender meat and the crunchy crust was lovely. I served these with honey mustard although there was a lot of cross-dipping with ketchup and herbed yogurt which accompanied the corndogs.

Yup I made corndogs but with homemade merguez sausage. I seasoned lamb shoulder with homemade harisa, fennel seeds, oregano, cayenne, smoked paprika, black pepper and garlic.

I made half-sized links and roasted them in the oven, dipped them in a cornbread batter and fried them up. I looooove corndogs but rarely eat it. Unfortunately places to get corndogs are few and far in Los Angeles, not counting Hot Dogs on a Stick. The only place that pops into my mind is Hankook Market on Western where they also make those fish shaped and red bean stuffed pastries. Anyways, the sausage was delicious and flavorful battered in cornbread batter. The batter needs work though. How do I make it thicker and crunchier?

I also served a side of roasted cauliflower. Had to get some vegetables in there. I seasoned it lightly with coriander and smoked paprika. My bro insisted we add some anchovies and I’m glad we did because it benefited from the salty savoriness.

I ended the meal with freshly baked peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I made and formed the individual cookie dough rounds the night before. When dinner had slowed down I popped them into the oven and whipped up some heavy cream. The cookies really brought a great end to the meal. Warm, straight from the oven and dipped into cool unsweetened whipped cream with a touch of creme fraiche. Like cookies and milk, but better.

The final end to the meal was a plate of the sweetest juiciest satsumas from the farmer’s market. All around a fun and great meal full of holiday cheers.

A Holiday Brunch December 28, 2009

It’s the holidays! Delicious food, drinks and of course time with family and good friends warm the chilly hours. To celebrate I hosted a brunch for a few of my good friends. I kept the menu short but made everything from scratch.

The star of the meal was this gloriously tall leek, goat cheese and pancetta quiche. The custard was just perfectly set, silky and jiggly. I used Thomas Keller’s quiche recipe as a blueprint, adopting his call for a two inch tall tart that offers generous bites of luscious custard. The combination of sweet leeks, sharp creamy goat cheese and meaty pancetta was delicious.

I made pork sausage with sage and ginger from the Charcuterie book. Instead of stuffing it into casing I made patties and fried them up in a pan. The flavor was great but it came out a little tough.

I also baked brioche. It always amazes me to see yeast working its magic. It’s so cool to see dough puff up. And who can complain about the aroma of freshly baked bread, especially brioche.

I served the brioche with cranberry jam and cranberry chutney.

Delicious berries from Pudwill Farm rounded out the meal. I love Los Angeles because we can still get berries and tomatoes in the winter. Yup, no seasons here.

Ricotta Tortelli, Corn Puree, Piment d’Espelette December 18, 2009

I made this a few months back when corn was still in season and I wanted to fully exploit it in all its goodness. Besides eating it straight up or roasted I wanted to try it out in different ways. This pasta dish came about trying to feature something with corn. I thought a corn jus might work as a light sauce for a delicate pasta. I simmered the corn in a bit of water, pureed it and sieved it. It came out too chunky when put through a regular sieve and too watery when put through a chinois. The above is a mix. Perhaps just a teeny bit of water would have sufficed in the pureeing part. Hmm. Well there is a good idea somewhere in there although execution is lacking. At least the flavors were good though. I made the ricotta tortelli from scratch which was a total pain in the butt. I seasoned the plated pasta and corn puree with a sprinkling of piment d’espelette, pecorino and chives.

Mad Men Party December 9, 2009

It was my friend Terence’s birthday recently and a fabulous Mad Men party was thrown in his honor by his lady who in turn hired me to cater it. I was excited to do a retro menu and what a hit it was.

orange elderflower jello shots

Jello used to be a hit back in the days. I made a updated version which is just a fancied up jello shot with orange juice, vodka, elderflower liquer and bitters. I served them up in candy cups and strewn with edible flowers for decoration.

pigs in a snuggie

I made the Charcuterie hot dog recipe to make pig in the blankets. The casing part of my charcuterie didn’t work out because it kept breaking when I was trying to squeeze the meat mixture to make it skinnier. So I ended up forming it into little balls and baking it on a puff pastry square. We joked around and coined the resulting dish “pigs in a snuggie”. The hot dog recipe is delectable by the way. It’s made with short ribs! I served them with mustard creme fraiche.

shrimp cocktail

Shrimp cocktail was a must. I poached the shrimps in court bouillon, peeled and served it with cocktail sauce made from Trader Joe’s organic ketchup, lemon juice and horseradish.

deviled eggs

I heart eggs so much. And deviled eggs? Yumb, I can eat way too many. Garnished with paprika and chives these were a hit, as always.

goat cheese truffle, pistachio, basil

I softened up some goat cheese and mixed in chopped basil. These were made into little balls and rolled in toasted, chopped pistachio. My version of cheese balls.

pate de campagne

I also hit up the pate de campagne recipe from Charcuterie. This came out pretty good, moist and studded with the optional choices of ham and green peppercorns. The leftovers would have made great sandwiches.

pickled zucchini, gentlemen’s relish

Couldn’t serve up a charcuterie platter with out some pickles. I love Zuni Cafe’s pickled zucchini recipe and it’s been a regular on my table. To go with the delicious Breadbar breads I made gentlemen’s relish which was made with butter, anchovy, shallots, lemon juice and parsley. It’s based off an old school British anchovy-based condiment. It’s quite addicting and rightly so.

iceberg salad with valdeon, bacon, buttermilk dressing

There was basically no vegetable in the whole menu so this was my contribution for vegetable lovers. Of course it has blue cheese, bacon and buttermilk dressing. I served the salad in butter lettuce cups keeping in form with the finger foodness of the event.

Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: Easy and Quick Hor d’Oeuvres October 25, 2009

For this month’s installment of the Foodbuzz 24 event I did a spread of easy and quick hor d’oeuvres. I had some good ingredients in my pantry already so I whipped them up for a lunch with a few good friends.

Piquillo Peppers, Lemon Oil & Zest, Sherry Vinegar

Piquillo peppers are such a delicious ingredient. They are northern Spanish peppers which are hand-picked, roasted, peeled, seeded and jarred. All the work is done for you beforehand. I seasoned them with lemon oil, sherry vinegar, lemon zest and a pinch of orange-thyme salt.

Pecorino Bean Crostini, Pickled Zucchini

I’ve made bean crostinis countless times. What can I say? I love them. They are really versatile, inexpensive and of course tasty. This time I added pecorino to the bean puree and paired it with Zuni Cafe’s pickled zucchini. The tangy crunchy pickles were a nice contrast to the creamy bean puree.

Pickled Cherry Peppers, Tuna, Basil, Pinenuts

I had pickled some cherry peppers recently which were sitting in the fridge unused. They make a perfect hor d’oeuvre base once its top is cut and it’s deseeded. I stuffed them with a salad of tuna, basil and toasted pinenuts. I used imported Spanish tuna which is higher quality and more delicious than the domestic stuff. The cherry peppers had a pleasant kick of spiciness.

Crostni with Dry Rubbed Home-Cured Bacon, Crescenza Cheese

I made a simple mix of smoked paprika, brown sugar and black pepper and rubbed this over thick-cut home-cured bacon and let it marinade overnight. After baking them off in the oven I combined it with creamy Bellwether Farm’s Crescenza cheese on a crostini. Needless to say these were very popular. Even all the leftover bacon was polished off. Easy and quick hor d’oeuvres, always a pleasure to host with.

Green Bean & Sungold Tomato Salad with Mustard Seeds, Marjoram October 19, 2009

If a salad could convey summer, this salad must be it. Barely cooked green beans and sungold tomatoes tossed in a red wine vinaigrette. Seasoned and flecked with crunchy toasted mustard seeds and fresh marjoram with its intoxicating scent. A wonderful combination of flavors and texture. Juicy and crunchy, sweet and herbal, tart and nutty. Sure, it’s almost Halloween, but rest assured this being LA you probably can still make a summer’s salad to satisfy your vegetable needs.

Ricotta Gnocchi, Succotash with Bacon, Heirloom Tomato Confit October 6, 2009

I don’t think I’ve ever made the same dish twice in such a short amount of time. Four days to be exact! The initial results were great but I wanted to twik it just a tiny bit. Here’s the new and improved version. The ricotta gnocchi are smaller. The succotash has homemade bacon in it along with red pepper instead of purple pepper that was used previously. I also decreased the amount of tomato confit that was served in each bowl since it is pretty potent and I wanted the succotash to be the star. This time I finished the dish with basil instead of chives. My eaters agreed the sequel was more tasty and attractive. I really love the mouth feel of ricotta gnocchi. It has a soft chewiness that is downright pleasant. I made a whole batch and the leftovers are freezing right now, to be then bundled up and put away for a busy day. All I have to do is throw them in boiling salted water in their frozen state and cook them until they float to the top and voila the meal is practically ready.

Ricotta Gnocchi, Succotash, Heirloom Tomato Confit October 5, 2009

I came across lima beans at the farmer’s market and knew I just had to make succotash. Succotash is Narragansett for “boiled corn kernals”. Succotash differs regionally though but the common link is the combination of corn and beans, which together are supposed to create a complete protein. I was excited to cook with lima beans as I’ve never had them before.

Succotash is a delicious side dish on its own but I wanted to do my own twist on it as a whole meal. I thought ricotta gnocchi would go great with the vegetables. I was so nervous to make this since my first and only time was such a disaster. Flour and I don’t mix very well. But they turned out great! I already got another tub on ricotta for my second batch. Yay.

I also wanted to add tomatoes to the mix but not actually cooked with the other vegetables. I made an heirloom tomato confit following the Lucques recipe for its yellow tomato confit. The tomatoes are cored and cooked in a 400 degree oven with red onion, chile de arbol, garlic, water and olive oil. This produced a pan of cooked tomatoes that smelled more fragrantly delicious than I had ever imagined. I pureed this in the blender and sieved it.

Once the ricotta gnocchi was boiled I sauteed them in butter until slightly browned and then combined it with the succotash. The final plate featured the flavorful tomato confit topped with the gnocchi and succotash and minced chives. I garnished the plate with a ricotta stuffed and roasted cherry pepper. I’m going to give dish another go this week with a minor changes so expect a sequel!