Albacore, Black Rice, Pomegranate Salsa January 31, 2008

I was checking out AOC’s menu to what new delicious dishes climbed onto its seasonally driven menu. I spotted albacore, black rice and pomegranate salsa. Sounded like a great combo. I had already bought some pomegranate seeds (I was feeling lazy) to make the salsa for another dish and knowing there’d be some leftovers. The albacore dish seemed like a perfect way to promote some pomegranate salsa double duty. Since I’ve made the black rice and also the pomegranate salsa before from the Sunday Suppers at Lucques cookbook putting together a mock version at home was pretty easy.

Since I haven’t had this dish before at the restaurant I wasn’t quite sure how they cooked the albacore. I just seared mine in a pan after seasoning it with chopped parsley, chile de arbol, salt and pepper. I topped the delicious black rice with sliced albacore and generously spooned over the tart and sweet pomegranate salsa. In trying to follow up on my efforts to drink more wine I paired this dish with a glass of Basa Rueda Blanco 2005. It’s made from a blend of Verdejo, Sauvignon Blanc and Viura grapes and is soo good. It’s a really enjoyable wine a great bargain at $10! The tartness of the wine worked really well with not only the pomegranate salsa but the brininess of the black rice. The wine just tastes so clean and has a good mouthfeel to it. I found myself happily drinking two glasses of this during dinner.

Lan’s Pork Ribs January 30, 2008

Way back in November I attended my friend Terence’s surprise birthday party down at his parents’ place in the O.C. There was a huge group of us and there was a even bigger spread of food courtesy of his culinarily talented mom. Everything was so delicious but I was hooked on her ribs. I ate one too many with must get her recipe running through my mind. Luckily I was able to get my hands on the recipe without any finagling.

I was surprised at how simple the recipe was - soy sauce and fish sauce as the prime seasoners. I was expecting a much more complex mix of ingredients. The ribs were grilled up and charred on the edges which completely added to its already dashing appeal. People, the unvegetarians, went crazy for this.

So I finally tried the recipe out and yes still delicious! I didn’t grill mine so the ribs came out a little differently than my initial experience with it. I missed the charring and the smokiness but I wasn’t about to clean the dirty gas-driven grill nor go fetch a heavy canister of propane. Boy and I ravished these ribs along with some green rice (brown jasmine rice cooked with cilantro-mint-scallion water) and sambal.

—

Lan’s Pork Rib Marinade

1 yellow onion
1 1/2 cup soy sauce
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup water
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp fish sauce
black pepper

Chop the onion up and then whirl everything in the blender. There’s enough marinade for about 3 rack of pork ribs.

Rice and Smothered Cabbage Soup January 29, 2008

Time was ticking for the small head of Savoy cabbage I bought at the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market. I would have loved to make a beautiful soup like Lucy did but I’ll save that until I get a bigger cabbage. I thought about a simple saute perhaps with a slice of juicy meatloaf and a dollop of stone-ground mustard but I was in no mood to make meatloaf and not really in a mood to eat meat either. Instead I turned to Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. I knew there was at least a few Savoy cabbage recipes in there. But I confess I didn’t end up following any of those either. Instead I made Rice and Smothered Cabbage Soup which diplomatically calls for “green, red, or Savoy cabbage”.

First the cabbage must be “smothered” by shredding it fine and cooking it slowly in a covered pan with olive oil and a little bit of wine vinegar. Then bring it up to boil with beef broth and add some Arborio rice and cook until rice is just done but still has a bite to it. Finish it with grated parmigiano-reggiano and butter. Doesn’t it sound and look like comfort in a bowl? It certainly was. And tasty too. I ate my bowl with a parmesan toast. A spoonful of warm cabbage rice soup and a bite of crunchy cheesy parmesan toast. That’s how my dinner went down, warm soup style.

Romesco Pork Belly Pasta January 28, 2008

So after the gougeres I still had some pork belly left. Looked like just enough to make two servings of ragu. Hot meat sauce over pasta on a cold day? Ragu seemed like a great idea. It’s not a traditional ragu though, not unintentionally. I wanted to make the og style one from Marcella’s book but since I would have to get more meats and such I thought I would freehand this one with stuffs in the fridge. So if we want to be picky, let’s just call it romesco pork belly pasta.

Here is how it went down, quick and simple. I chopped up the pork belly lardons into little pieces. I opted for the better texture of hand chopping than blitzing it in the ol’ processor. I sweated some mirepoix with garlic and thyme to which I then added the chopped pork belly (finally using it all up!) and sauteed it together. I deglazed the pan with red wine (an open bottle on the kitchen table) . Then went in a few scoops of creme fraiche (which was crying out to be used from back of the fridge), chopped san marzano tomatoes with its juice, and romesco (the special guest ingredient). I simmered the whole lot until my kitchen smelled edible and I was uber hungry. Once the pasta (perciatelle which perfect for a meat sauce, imo) was done I tossed it with the sauce and added a sprinkling of chopped parsley.

After what seemed like an eternal simmering I tasted the ragu. The romesco and tomato had melded together to provide a great base for the pork belly. The red wine added a robustness to the whole sauce. I did add this with a heavy hand if I recall. It was delicious. A cold day remedy.

Romesco Pork Belly Gougeres January 27, 2008

It’s a daily challenge trying to make good use of all the stuff in my fridge, freezer, and pantry in an orderly manner and also in a manner that will reduce waste. Sometimes I end up keeping things forever. Especially if it’s the freezer. Even frozen things don’t last forever though. So I try to keep a mental notes of things I need to use up in the order of how perishable or how old they are.

So the pork belly lardons leftover from the pizza party which had been cast into the freezer after the event has been on my mind. I had no clue what to do with them. But while I was doing my usual web perusing for food ideas I came across some meat stuffed gougeres. I was diggin this idea. You know my love for the pork and romesco combination. Why not again for a gougere? Since the pork belly lardons were already cooked this would be easy peasy. All I had to do was make the romesco and gougere. Once those were made I heated up the pork belly lardons and tossed it in the romesco. I cut off the tops of the gougeres leaving it attached on one end and stuffed it with the romesco pork belly and garnished it with a mache leaf. Keeping in with the Spanish flavor I used manchego for the gougeres. Trust me, these are way better than they look.

I have some hardcore weakness for straight-out-the-oven gougeres. I popped about eight of them in my mouth in ten minutes. Wow keep these away from me. So in order to save myself there was only one thing I could do. Share them! I took them to work and these were great straight out of the toaster oven. The crustiness of the manchego gougeres and the smoky meatiness of the romesco pork belly made this mid-morning snack time a bit more special than the usual tea and fruit bit.

Spiced Kumquat Pastry January 26, 2008

Even after the cheese pairing with the delicious roncal I still had a few spoonfuls of spiced kumquat compote left. Not to mention a little bit of roncal. I wanted one last hurrah with the compotes and try to make some good of it. It would have to be something easy and fast. I had puff pastry in the freezer thank goodness. If it were not for that the compote would have most likely made its way into the bin.

I cut the puff pastry up into smaller pieces, egg washed it, sprinkled it with grated roncal, a spoonful of the compote, and cracked pepper for a lil spice. The exact same flavors for the cheese pairing except different because of the warm, flaky puff pastry. You can’t go wrong with hot, buttery puff pastry straight from the oven. What a nice treat to have right after work when hunger pains start kicking in. I had Boy pick a plate of these up for the Boys music session. What took like only 15 minutes to make with barely any work at all (since most of the work had been done previously) made a few of us a very happy snackers. Don’t deny the potential of your leftovers! They come in handy. For good snacking at least.

Roncal, Spiced Kumquat Compote, Cracked Pepper January 25, 2008

After the delicious meal of duck confit I was left with surplus spiced kumquat compote. I searched around for ideas and came across this recipe which pairs its compote with aged cheese and cracked pepper. It sounded like a perfect way to use up my leftovers without getting a whole bunch of new groceries. I opted for an aged sheep’s milk cheese because I love the tanginess of it and thought it would be really good with the spiciness of the savory compote. I hit up the Whole Foods cheese section and picked up a wedge of roncal which is an aged sheep’s milk cheese from Spain. With a sprinkle of cracked pepper on top the roncal and spiced kumquat compote made a nice pairing veering on the savory side, just the way I like it.

Bacon Mints! January 24, 2008

My friend Ellen got me this as part of my xmas gift. Sounds scary huh? I smelled it once (through the wrapper mind you) and never will I need to smell it again or taste it for that matter. I’ll take back my belief that bacon makes everything better. But the can is cute, no?

Anyways, now that I got your attention… I wanted to take this post to say thanks to you readers that take a few minutes out of your day to read my humble blog. Writing was never my forte in school and I’m horribly averse to anything technical including photography and computers. But I enjoy cooking and food above anything else I hope that comes through. If I couldn’t share my kitchen activities with you all I would probably be bored and lonely.

I want to get to know you a little. Tell me something please! Here’s a bit about me…

Where?
Los Angeles. I was born in South Korea and moved to Southern California when I was 7. Been around here since.

Dinner tonight?
Mushroom lettuce wrap (busut ssam). I wanted to eat something healthy today. I sauteed sliced king oyster mushrooms in olive oil and ate it wrapped in butter lettuce with scallion salad, chili paste marinated cucumbers, ssamjang (fermented soy bean sauce), and a little bit of mixed grain rice.

Work?
I work in the financial industry. I can’t say it’s as much fun as cooking.

New year’s goals?
Drink more beer and wine. Learn more about beer and wine I mean.

**By the way I use Canon Power Shot S50 for all my pics in case you were curious.

Duck Confit, Spiced Kumquat Compote, Brown Rice with Kale & Walnuts January 22, 2008

I had picked up a basket of kumquats at the Santa Monica farmer’s market one weekend and didn’t really know what to do with it. It’s yummy to eat it raw but not so much that I can pop the whole basket in my mouth. So I thought and thought. A savory fruit sauce for duck confit! Yes, a big ol’ pan of duck confit came about because of a little basket of kumquats.

Once again I turned to Suzanne Goin’s duck confit recipe from the Sunday Suppers at Lucques cookbook. I marinated the duck legs overnight with sliced onion, sliced orange, star anise, peppercorn, bay leaves, chile de arbol, and thyme. The next day I scraped off the seasoning into a baking dish, salted and laid the duck legs on top, covered it with warm duck fat, and baked it off at 325 degrees for few hours. After the duck was done cooking I finished it by roasting it shortly in a 400 degree oven. This results in a super crispy browned skin - the best part! Besides the falling off the bone tender duck meat that is.

The kumquats got the same treatment as Goin’s savory cherry compote minus the port - thyme, bay leaves, chiles de arbol, star anise, cinnamon stick, peppercorns, fresh orange juice, sugar, and a little bit of water. I simmered this down until it thickened up and the kumquats cooked down. It smelled spicy and savory, reminding me of the time I was making the savory cherry compote in my kitchen.

For the base of the dish I made sauteed brown rice with kale and toasted walnuts. This paired really well with the earthy duck confit and the spiced kumquat compote. Something about the combination of the walnuts and kumquats made goodness in my mouth. The brown rice was hearty and had a really good bite to it. I added some kale to the dish cuz I gotta have some greens.

For the next round perhaps a duck confit salad with fresh kumquats, toasted walnuts, and arugula? Maybe duck confit with celeriac remoulade like Alice Waters likes it? Duck confit parmentier? Possibilities are endess. Good thing I have six legs stored away in the freezer.

Halibut Cheek with Couscous & Meyer Lemon Relish January 16, 2008

I didn’t want the leftover meyer lemon relish to goto waste so I went to Whole Foods to look for another seafood to pair with it. Halibut cheeks quickly caught my eyes. I’ve never had halibut cheeks before but I know fish cheeks are supposed to be tender. Perfect match! I seasoned the cheeks with salt, pepper, and paprika, then sauteed it a few minutes on each side. I served the tender halibut cheeks over whole wheat couscous and the tangy bright meyer lemon fresh.