Zucchini Chilaquiles August 12, 2009

I recently made The Paupered Chef’s guajillo salsa which was delicious with tortilla chips, radish quarters and cucumber slices. But then dilemma hit – leftover salsa and chips. What to do? Chilaquiles popped into my head. I’ve never made this before but I knew with the liquid and fried tortilla parts of the recipe already taken care of it would be such an easy peasy meal.

For more nutritionally inclined results I added zucchini which turned out to be a great decision. I sauteed thinly sliced zucchini and red onion in olive oil which I seasoned with salt and pepper.

When partly cooked through I added the guajillo salsa and a lil bit of water since my salsa was pretty thick. I swooshed this around for a sec then added the tortilla chips and swooshed around until the sauce and chips were well incorporated. I scattered over shredded jack cheese and chopped scallion over the top and put the lid on to make everything melty. I don’t know if my method was legit but it was so very quick, super easy and delicious. A satisfying breakfast that even my parents loved.

Bottega Louie August 11, 2009

Drinks, Bread & Butter, Fried Calamari, Portobello Fries

I hit up Bottega Louie for the first time recently. It has a reputation for having delicious food at reasonable prices. My friend and I both started off with a little drink – Moet & Chandon Brut Imperial for her and Hollis Pinot Noir for me. At this point I gave the place bonus points for offering Hollis Pinot Noir, a quite delicious wine, by the glass.  There are only four red wines available by the glass though, which is okay I guess. My wine came in a cute little carafe. I’m not sure if the volume of wine was more than the usual though. We were served some fluffy baguette and butter to start off which I gobbled up.

Aioli for Portobello Fries

Upon the hostess’s recommendation we orded the portabello fries which came with an delicious aioli with herbs and what not. The portobello fries were just okay though, not quite crispy as the title “fries” would have you imagine and even a bit soggy inside.  I think we might have just gotten a so-so batch because I’ve read reviews saying the fries were so delicious and crispy. However, we still ate a bunch of these because we were hungry.  We also tried the fried calamari which was decent. It came with a tomato dipping sauce but I really enjoyed it with the aioli. I made it do double duty.  The most delicious item of the night was the tomato bruschetta which of course I forgot to take a picture of. The tomato basil mixture was garlicky and juicy and set upon a piece of grilled fluffy baguette slice. Whoa. This was the bomb and probably the best tomato bruschetta I’ve ever had. The garlic and the fluffy bread did it for me.

Chicken Parmesan

The portions of the small plates weren’t really that small and when we got our entrees we knew we were in trouble. They are ginormathon! Um why didn’t the staff warn us when we were ordering three small  plates and two huge entrees for just the two of us? I was really looking forward to my Chicken Parmesan but it was just ok. The chicken wasn’t that juicy.

Lasagne Bolognese

When my friend’s lasagne came out we nearly fell off our chair. The portions are enough for like four people and piled high like sky scraper. This was pretty delicious but scary looking.

Chocolate Souffle, Creme Anglaise

We ended the dinner with a chocolate souffle to share. It came with creme anglaise which our served poured into the souffle for us. This was not too sweet which I liked and finishing the dinner with a warm souffle was nice. So the food in general at Bottega Louie was decent but not great. The only dish I really liked and would have again from this trip would be the tomato bruschetta. But our tab was $110 including tax and tip and that’s pretty cheap. So for the price I think the food meets its goal. It would be a good place to go out for a group dinner or a casual dinner. The good news is they have plenty of other items on the menu I can try. Hopefully I’ll find better ones next time.  Anyone try the pizzas here?

Bottega Louie
700 S. Grand Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90017
(213) 802-1470

Heirloom Tomato with Goat Cheese, Pistachio, Cilantro August 7, 2009

You know I be hitting up heirloom tomatoes again this season. Hell yeah! Summer is always a happy time for me because of heirloom tomatoes. While I eat most of it just straight up with salt sometimes I can put down a proper salad and do the tomatoes justice. I sliced the tomatoes and fanned it out on a plate and seasoned it with salt. I crumbled over some tangy goat cheese and scattered over some raw pistachio, cilantro and jalapeno for a lil kick. I squeezed lime juice over the whole deal and a drizzled extra virgin olive oil to finish along with freshly cracked black pepper. Deliciousness!

Check out some of my old heirloom tomato salads HERE.

Raw Purple Asparagus & Cannellini Salad with Mint July 20, 2009

When I laid my eyes on the beautiful hued purple asparagus I knew I had to make something with it. As the weather got warmer I had salad increasingly more on my mind. I sliced the thick purple asparagus stalks thinly on a bias and tossed it with cannellini beans, sweet onion, mint chiffonade, lemon juice and olive oil. How simple is that for a summery dinner? The beans provide enough oomph that the salad can serve as a entree perhaps with a tear of crusty bread to accompany it. Purple asparagus are sweeter than green ones and having it raw retained a juicy refreshing crunch that complemented the creamy beans. Everyone who’s had this salad has loved it so far including me.

Oyster Ceviche July 13, 2009

It’s a treat to be able to slurp down a few oysters when I head to my favorite farmer’s market in Santa Monica. The Carlsbad Seafood people are always there shucking up some delicious oysters. For a take home bag of a dozen it costs $10 which is not bad at all. Especially when they are ginormathon like the Catalinas above. They were larger than usual around this time, maybe a tad bit too large. With the super fresh oysters I made Eric Ripert’s oyster ceviche. The flavors were so simple but refreshing just like a ceviche should be. Lime, cilantro and onion. The touch of lemon oil was nice though and I played a heavier hand of Tabasco cuz I’m crazy like that.

Skirt Steak a la Bordelaise July 11, 2009

One day I decided to make veal stock. I purchased a 24 quart stock pot, 10 lbs of veal bones, a large chinois and got to work. I went with the French Laundry recipe involved no roasting of the bones, but an important blanching step, veal stock #1, veal stock #2, and remouillage. Oh, and lots and lots of skimming. The ever funny and entertaining Carol can tell you better than I can what the process was like.

The simmering veal stock made my apartment smell so good. Savory, meaty, comforting. I hated washing that big ass pot but the rewards were well worth it. The reward being a meal of delicious steak bordelaise. I used Bouchon’s recipe which actually did not call for bone marrow, a traditional ingredient. But sadly I could not get my hands on any so it didn’t really matter. When I bit into the juicy skirt steak with sauteed mushroom and bordelaise sauce spooned over it I was one happy girl. The sauce was deep, flavorful and so delicious. How could it not be? After all, delicious homemade veal stock reduced with red wine and paired with steak is a stellar thing. I reduced the remaining veal stock into demi-glace and froze it in one tablespoon measures. My pantry feels a bit more proper having homemade demi-glace ready to go.

Raw Butter May 29, 2009

I was not one of those first grader’s who got to make butter in their class with the nice teacher. Lucky bastards. I only found out how easy it was to make butter about a year and a half ago when I read Oishi Eats’ post about her lil students making it in class. I was like whoa, that’s so cool. Who knew making butter was so easy? When I was in first grade I was still going to elementary school in Korea and let me tell you, there was no butter making projects involved. 

butter fat

buttermilk

So I did it finally. Made my own butter. I was motivated by the chance to use Organic Pastures’ raw cream. I’ve had their da bomb raw milk before so I knew the cream would be bomb too. The thought of having homemade raw butter was very exciting. I picked up the $10 (yes $10 per pint!) bottle of raw cream and got to work at home. Butter is formed when fat globules are agitated and break allowing the liquid fat to combine together into a mass (On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee). You can agitate the cream by bottle and hand, the manual way. I used my standing mixer with the paddle attachment. I just let the machine keep rolling a moderate speed while I watched on the side doing double duty washing dishes. And to my amazement the fat and the buttermilk were starting to separate.

After the butter mass formed I drained out the buttermilk and rinsed the butter with cold water to rinse off any additional buttermilk on the surface. Then kneaded the mass a bit to squeeze out the trapped buttermilk. After that was done I folded in some fleur de sel. Of course I had to test out the butter right away. I toasted up a slice of Milton’s classic white bread and spread some of the freshly made salted raw butter. Oh my goodness, the flavor of the butter was mind-blowing. Rich, sweet, buttery. Buttery butter. It had so much flavor, not having had that pasteurization thing done. What a simple pleasure with immense satisfaction.

Fava Bean Salad with Feta, Hazelnuts, Sumac May 27, 2009

Oh fava beans. Such deliciousness but such hassle. It must be shelled and skinned. Then you get to the the richly green beans. I separate them by three size grouping – small, medium and large. I always have a little trouble with this part because some of the beans seem to be medium and large, or in between. Medium large. But if I start making subgroups it may be a slippery slope. Who knows, maybe I’ll end up cooking each bean one by one! 

Separating the beans by size helps in the cooking process so that each batch of beans will cook in about the same amount of time. This will eliminate some prospects of having beans that are way over cooked (the teeny ones) and ones that may still have a taste of starchiness (the large ones). It seems like one more step of hassle but after you’ve shelled and skinned your fava beans you probably want to take care that they cook properly. Don’t want to waste all the hassle now.

The handful of pods gave up just enough beans for one person. That’ll be me. So after all that hasslin’ and cookin’ carefully in salted boiling water I was able to make my green, summery, delicious fava bean salad with feta, hazelnuts & sumac. I dressed it with a combination of lemon juice, Champagne vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. I love contrasting flavors and textures in salad – nutty crunchy hazelnuts, bright tender fava beans, salty feta cut into little cubes. The hassle was definitely worth it. But then again I’ve only cooked fava beans once this season.

Raw Tuscan Kale Salad with Walnuts, Pecorino May 26, 2009

I kept hearing about raw kale in salads so I decided to try out for myself. I sliced up very thinly a bundle of destemmed Tuscan kale (also known as cavolo nero, dinosaur kale and Lacinato). I dressed it with lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil and added pungent salty pecorino and nutty warm toasted walnuts. This salad really surprised me. It was delicious, hearty and satisfying. Also mentally satisfying knowing that I was getting all this nutritious greens in me.

Lilacs May 20, 2009

Lilacs from Weiser Farms

A bundle of beautiful purple to make a few moms smile on Mother’s Day.