Comfort in a Dish - Meatloaf December 28, 2007

The Girls and I got together for a midweek holiday dinner and I offered to bring dinner. I wanted to stick to something comforting and simple so decided on meatloaf, one of my favorite comfort dishes. I went with my favorite turkey meatloaf recipe adding a twist with a version of ras el hanout, a Moroccan spice blend (or as Wiki more accurately states “a popular blend of herbs and spices is used across the Middle East and North Africa”). I added chopped red bell pepper, parsley and cilantro to the meat mixture while leaving out the tomato paste, Worcestershire, and thyme. I kept the ketchup glaze on top of the meatloaf. That’s a must!

I made a vegetable stew made with chickpeas, zucchini, carrots and tomato. I also spiced this with the ras el hanout I made for the meatloaf. This stew was simple, rustic and delicious with the warm spices running through it. I think this is going to be a stew I’m going to turn too often when I need something fast and simple.

To sop up any juices couscous was in order. I would love a couscousier someday, perhaps when I get more acquainted with Moroccan cuisine. But until then I applied the quick method of pouring hot water over a bowl of couscous, sealing it with plastic wrap and letting it steam. I added chopped parsley and cilantro to it after fluffing it with a fork.

I packed everything up and off I went to the dinner house. The Girls loved it! Great company, comfort food, and a relaxing time - what holidays should really be about.

*Take a look at the beautiful dessert my friend brought to dinner!

Pollo a la Brasa Inspired Breakfast December 23, 2007

Saturday was such a nice relaxing day. I was pretty much a couch potato, falling in and out of sleep, watching tv now and then. But evening came around and I needed something to fill my yummy. Being lazy all day can be quite energy expending you know. Boy picked up a garlicky Peruvian rotisserie chicken from Pollo a la Brasa along with some sides including fries, rice, and delicious black beans. Phew we filled ourselves up good and moved onto watching a few movies.

The next morning I woke up thinking how great it would be to make hash with the leftover chicken. I love hash. Although hash can technically be made with any bunch of chopped ingredients it usually has potato. But I could not find a single potato in the whole kitchen! Hrmph. But I wasn’t too defeated. I got to work on my chicken-inspired breakfast.

Since I couldn’t make a potato-full hash, I gave up on the idea of chopping everything and instead went for a chunky slices and strips of chicken. I sauteed sliced red pepper and red onion in olive oil. Meanwhile I shredded the leftover chicken and threw them into the pan along with any chicken juice that accompanied. The marinade on the chicken was already so flavorful already I didn’t need to add anything to the pan except for some freshly ground black pepper and a pinch of salt. When those finished heating through I transferred it to a plate and cooked a big bowl of whisked eggs in there, picking up some of the juicy flavor left in the pan. I topped the fluffy eggs with slices of pepper jack and served it up with the chicken pepper saute, leftover black beans, chopped cilantro and scallion, and whole wheat toast.

I absolutely love the Peruvian green hot sauce called aji. I used plenty of that along with Valentina hot sauce. The chicken and the omelet made a damn good breakfast. Breakfast of champions.

Ludo Bites, Last Week Ever December 20, 2007

Excuse the Ludo Bites count down but I just adore the food there and the fact that you can b.y.o.b. with no corkage. The combination of excellent food and no corkage is rare. So I returned this week, the last week of the event, with a few more friends.

We started off the night by popping off the cork on a shiraz and going to work on the bread basket with Echire butter. Our large cheese plate was served up shortly after featuring these pairings:

Epoisse (Cow) - honeycomb
Mimmolette (Cow) - pink grapefruit confit
Petit Basque (Sheep) - date puree and sea salt
Morbier (Cow) - toasted hazlenut paste, licorice
Le Cornilly (Goat) - spiced Prune

The moment I saw pork belly rilette on the menu I knew I had to get it. It was a hundred time better than the pork rillette I made recently. Well Chef Ludo is a professional not to mention French. Of course it’s better! I have a lot of work to do between working up to this rillette and AOC’s rillette.

My friend Tash and I have an affinity for veloutes. The texture is so refined, creamy and smooth. Unless I’ve had these veloutes I don’t think I could have imagined soup this smooth and velvety. First off we tried the Celery roots veloute, black truffle, parmesan. I’m not a fan of celery or celeriac but this soup balance the flavors really well. The creaminess and butteriness of the veloute muted awfully strong flavor of celery and its root that I usually despise.

Next up we had the White rice veloute, egg mollet, white truffle. This soup’s been on the menu for a while and rightly so because it’s pretty amazing. Once again that spectacularly smooth texture but this time upgraded with a plump boiled egg, cooked perfectly so whites are just done but yolks are just so slightly runny, and a light shaving of white truffle. I think there was a drizzle of olive oil too although it doesn’t look as green. I don’t think it’s truffle oil because why the hell would anyone add truffle oil to a dish with expensive ass white truffles?

I love scallops so I couldn’t pass up on the Sauteed scallop, curried yogurt, spinach dish. I loved this dish. The combination of the curry and yogurt was great and I always love scallops. This was an easy pleaser, nothing much to dispute. Simple flavors put together in a palate pleasing way. A bowl of this, crusty bread and a glass of white would make a great comfort food dinner.

Next up was Short ribs, potato-pear dauphinois gratin, blue cheese sabayon. I heart short ribs in every shape and form. This was super tender and juicy. Shortrib is a cut that’s super flavorful to start off with so I appreciated the simple pairing with blue cheese sabayon (it’s green though probably from an herb) and the potato gratin. What can one have against potato gratin? It’s just tasty and simple. This one is layered with pear though. A clever match I thought with the butteriness in the dish.

Lastly we had Monkfish scampi, red cabbage, red beets and blood orange. The monkfish “fritters” as I called them were so tender and juicy. The batter was light, not overshadowing the mild flavor of the fish. This was the most tender monkfish I’ve ever had. It was a good match with the braised red cabbage and mustard. I skipped on the beets - not my favorite thing in the world.

We were too full to get dessert but dinner was very enjoyable. Tomorrow is the last Ludo Bites ever! Wish I made one last reservations for the chef’s tasting menu.. Anyone would be kind as to add me to their reservation?

Here is my friend Han Nah sitting next to our friendly neighboring diners. Behind them are Ludo’s paintings on the walls. How the hell does he find time to make art?! They are for sale if you are interested.

Pizza Party December 19, 2007

I’ve attempted pizza a few times before although most results were not quite successful. It was Boy’s birthday over the weekend and I thought homemade pizzas might make a fun and casual dinner. My only successful pizza had been the last time when I made Squash Blossom, Burrata & Tomato Pizza. I crossed my fingers hoping that the pizzas would turn out alright and got to work.

First one up was Pizza Bianca. I made a garlic confit puree for the base sauce then topped it with mozzarella, ricotta, tomato, thyme, basil, parmesan, red onion salt and black pepper. I was trying to go for Abbot’s Pizza Bianca sort of flavor. It didn’t quite get there but I enjoyed this one a lot. Simple classic flavors.

This next one is not so classic - Kimchi & Pork Belly Pizza. This one turned out stellar although some people were scared to try it. I made the base sauce by sweating diced onion, then adding a generous portion of gochujang and some water. I simmered this until the sauce thickened a bit. It ended up looking like tomato sauce. For the toppings, I brined pork belly with ginger, peppercorns, chile de arbol, salt and pinch of sugar overnight. Next day after hurriedly trying to dry out the pork belly I cut them into lardons and sauteed them in olive oil until browned. For the kimchi part I thinly sliced baechu kimchi (napa cabbage) and lightly rinsed it with water to wash off some of the seasonings. I sauteed this in butter and added freshly ground pepper.

Assembled with just mozzarella cheese and baked off on a pizza stone, the pie that came out was so savory and delicious. The combination of pork and kimchi as always is stellar. The kimchi’s usual sharp flavor was muted by the rinsing and once cooked it was carmelized and sweetened just like in kimchi fried rice. I was a skeptic before but I’ve convinced myself and a few others that kimchi pizza made with some thoughtfulness can be a great thing.

For the third and last variety I made Wild Boar Sausage, Apple & Shallot Pizza. I forgot to take an after picture so the not so appealing picture above will have to do. I’ve been eyeing that sausage among the other gourmet sausages in Surfas’s cooler section. I paired it with granny smith apples, thyme, and sliced shallots along with tomato sauce. Pork and apples are a traditional pairing so I thought this twist might be interesting on a pizza. Plus the wild boar sausage was excellent. I think I first had it at Rosamunde in SF washed down with some delicious beer next door at Toronado.

Anyhow, I think pizza was enjoyed by all. Boy’s favorite was the kimchi pizza!

Ludo Bites, Again December 14, 2007

Cherry tomato aigre-doux, rigatoncini pasta, poached lobster in tamarind butter

I went back Ludo Bites a few times since my post but haven’t written about any new subsequent dishes. And there are new dishes or little edits every week! My initial plan was to go eat there every week but unfortunately this did not come to fruition. But next week is the last week of Ludo Bites and a small panic set in. It’s been over a month since I ate there and I wanted to come back and see what was going on.

The usual serving of delicious food was still intact. With the quite chilly weather these days the large bar tables inside were moved closer together making room for a few small tables making the internal space more intimate than usual. We started with the customary basket of Bread Bar bread. Their bread blows me away. A perfect crust with ever so soft insides. Spread generously with Echire butter and consumed with glasses of French sparkling wine (the name escapes me) it quelled our hunger until our mains arrived.

Since it was just me and my friend Han Nah we didn’t go crazy ordering too many dishes. Instead we stuck with what really made our mouths water. First off that would be the butter poached lobster pasta dish pictured above. A combination of the sweet and sour from the tomatoes and tamarind, the goodness of butter, and meltingly tender lobster made us a pair of quite happy girls. I’m completely scared to cook lobster but having this butter poached version may motivate to bring that spiny scary looking thing home for once.

Beef Tenderloin, herbs sabayon, aligot potato puree

For our second course we went with the bacon-wrapped tenderloin. When it first came out I was wondering what all the stuff was on top of the steak. I took a sumptuous bite of the bits , the juicy tenderloin, and one of my favorite things in the whole wide world, bacon. The topping was a bit sweet and savory with a very soft texture. I couldn’t figure it out so I asked the server. They turned out to be chestnuts that had been braised in red wine. I love the combinations of ingredients that come out of this kitchen. This was one tasty steak dish. And the potato puree? To die for. Besides the cheese, creme fraiche, cream and butter that fattens it up, right before serving the potato puree is cooked in a pan to concentrate the flavor and also reduce some of the moisture. The results are awesome. I’ll have to try their method at home sometime.

Of course we couldn’t pass up an opportunity to eat some yummy cheese plus a housemade condiment. This time we tried the Roaring Forties Blue with the date puree and sea salt. It was a great combination. The date puree provides a sweet counterpart to the pungent blue cheese, rethinking the common honey to blue cheese pairing. I’m not sure how the dates are prepared but looks like it’s been pounded out to a thick paste and seasoned with sea salt. Perhaps another future experiment.

Vanilla panna cotta, caramel, caviar

For dessert we got the vanilla panna cotta with caramel sauce and caviar. This is just one of those brilliant ideas. Everyone loves sweet and salty, especially salty caramel these days. Except this time caviar takes the place of salt by lending its mildly briny saltiness. Innovative and delicious. I actually forgot to take picture of this before we ate it but I dug up an old photo I took. The only difference was that this time around the caramel surrounded the base of the panna cotta for a prettier presentation imo.

Pork belly, frisee, fruit salsa

Since I didn’t post my other dinners at Ludo Bites I thought I’d share a few photos I took a while back. The above is a braised pork belly dish with pork jus, frisee salad, and an extremely small diced salsa of various fruits. I think pineapple, mango and a few others. The pork belly is seared in butter to finish for some crispiness. I absolutely love this presentation. (kudos frankie!)

Miso soup with foie gras, fava, peas, enoki

This soup was what my miso soup was modeled after. Obviously the original version is much more luxurious! I haven’t gotten around to buying foie gras and preparing it at home. Yet. This was my second experience of having foie gras in soup. The first was an excellent lentil soup I had in Paris that had bits of foie gras all up in it. It was soo good. That meal was the first time I tried foie gras and I’m not looking back what so ever. This miso soup brought back those warm memories of my meal at Le Comptoir. There is something really comforting when a bit of foie gras melts in your mouth surrounded by savory warm soup.

Ludo Bites - a lil piece of France in LA for me. Until next week at least.

My First Homemade Indian Meal December 12, 2007

Har-Roz ki Murgh Kari (Basic Chicken Curry)

It took a while but I finally made Indian food! I am proud to say that I have made my first authentic curry. My brother got me Neelam Batra’s 1,000 Indian Recipes a few Christmases ago and I’ve been pretty bad about hitting it up. It’s hard to jump head in into a cuisine I’m not quite familiar with. Sure I snack on delicious samosas and dosas from little hole in the walls and devour vegetarian curries from Samosa House but I never cook Indian food at home. I once made a bastardized sweet potato samosa but of course that doesn’t count.

For my first curry I chose the first recipe in the “Chicken Curries” section, Basic Chicken Curry. Batra says “Perfect when served with rice or bread, and easy enough to cook every day, this traditional chicken curry is usually the first one taught to all novice Indian cooks. Once you understand the basic procedure, you can vary it as you like.” Yup that’s what I was going for - learn the basics and build a foundation.

The curry was full of flavor from the fried spices and onion and rounded out with pureed tomatoes and yogurt. The spices used were bay leaves, coriander, cinnamon, cumin, garam masala, turmeric, and cardamom. I used boneless chicken thighs although the recipe says to use “1 (2 1/2- to 3-pound) chicken, skinned and cut into serving pieces”. Yeah I took the easy road. I’m not good at cutting up a whole chicken. In fact I’ve never done it but I come to that conclusion because I’m bad at carving roast chicken.

To serve with the curry I made brown basmati rice seasoned with Sukhi’s Pulao Rice Spice Mix which consisted of cumin, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and bay leaves.

Sookhi Dhulli Masoor Dal (Dry-Cooked Red Lentils with Cumin Seeds)

I also made my first dal. Dal refers to the legume family so it’s quite a large category. To be specific I made masoor dal which are lentils. I’ve had tons of red lentil since that one day I bought them because I thought they would be great for hor d’oeuvre presentation. But since then they’ve been sitting around and I never cooked them. I looked for red lentil recipes in the book and found the Dry-Cooked Red Lentil recipe. It was super easy to make. Just fry the spices and seasonings, add dal and water, cook until water evaporates, flake, add herbs and eat! The red lentils loses its bright orange-red color a little bit but it’s not disastrous. The recipe called for tons of sliced scalilons and lime or lemon juice which really brightens up those beans.

Adrak aur Harae Pyaz ka Raita (Ginger and Scallion Raita)

For my last little dish for my Indian dinner I made Ginger Scallion Raita. I wanted it on the side in case I needed to cool my mouth down from the fiery curry. But instead the curry ended up very mild and the raita spicy because of the minced jalapeno I threw in there. I swear it was just a little bit but I guess not. In the end though everything balanced out and dinner was delicious. I have tons of reading to do from the book but I’m one foot into Indian cooking!