Potato and Egg Tartlets

So these are good. Really, really good. I completely cheated on the recipe from seven spoons with a shortcut on the potatoes, so I bet the actual recipe is even better. I simply couldn't wait any longer for these beautiful little tarts to be in my belly.




Potato and Egg Tartlets
Inspired by seven spoons

Ingredients:
1.5 tablespoons butter
2 medium potatoes
6 large eggs
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
1.5 tablespoon minced fresh flat leaf parsley
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 medium shallot, minced
2 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tbps heavy cream
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 450ºF.

Slice the potatoes very thinly. As thin as you can get them. The original recipe suggests that you use a mandoline or the blade of a food processor. I have neither of these things. Therefore, I know it's at least feasible with a knife, though probably much more of a pain in the ass.


Melt the tablespoon of butter in a large pan. Saute the potato slices with salt and pepper until the potatoes are just soft enough to be pliable, and transfer off the heat. While the potatoes are cooking, combine the herbs and Parmesan cheese in a small bowl. Set the mixture aside.


Using six small tart pans or ring moulds about 4" wide, arrange the potato slices in a concentric and overlapping circle to line the pans, beginning from the outside in to the center. Most of the bottom should be filled up, but small cracks are fine since the egg will seep through just a little bit and hold the whole tart together.

In a small sauté pan, melt the remaining butter and saute the shallot and garlic over low heat until translucent, about 10 minutes. Divide the shallot mixture evenly amongst the tart pans.

Carefully crack one egg into each pan. Sprinkle the herb and cheese mixture over each, and spoon a little bit of cream on top. Season well with salt and pepper.



Place tarts on a baking sheet and put in the oven for 12-15 minutes, until the whites are cooked and just set. They'll continue to cook a little more even after they've been taken out of the oven, so this should be taken into account when considering how done you like your eggs.

Allow the eggs to sit for a minute. Use the tip of a butter knife to loosen the tart and slide out onto plates. Delicious sprinkled a little bit of Tabasco for those who like it hot. Serve up immediately with some toast and mimosas for a light and lovely brunch.

Ghetto Asian Noodle Soup

Ingredients:
10-12 large shrimp, tail-off
beansprouts or any other veggies on hand
a big handful of soba noodles
2 stems of scallions, chopped
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup ketchup
2 tbsp rice vinegar
a dash of sesame oil
1/2 tsp fish sauce
4-5 cups water


Bring a large pot of water to a boil; simultaneous heat the 4-5 cups of water to a boil in a small pot, and then reduce to medium heat.

Add the soy sauce, ketchup, vinegar, and fish sauce into the small pot and stir thoroughly. Let simmer.

Cook the noodles in the large pot - soba noodles should only take a few minutes - and add the shrimp and veggies to the soup base. Transfer cooked noodles over, and season to desired taste. Add in a dash of sesame oil and the scallions at the very end.

Don't skip the ketchup, even if it sounds bizarre. Well, it is bizarre, but it makes a bizarrely awesome soup, like the kind that they serve at cheap Chinese restaurants made almost entirely of ketchup and cabbage.

Sweet Chili Shrimp

Ingredients:
1/2 pound frozen shrimp
1 pound squash & zucchini, cut into pieces
a handful of mini sweet peppers, sliced
3 large cloves of garlic, chopped
1 stem of scallions, sliced
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup water
2-3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp black vinegar
2 tsp chili garlic sauce or sriracha
a splash of fish sauce
a couple tsp of oil
a tbsp of cornstarch and a little water

Thaw the shrimp under cold running water.

Heat the oil up in a large pan and add in the garlic and white part of the scallion. After a couple minutes, add in the the squash and bell peppers and saute until soft (a few minutes).


Add in all the various sauces with the sugar and water, and cook for another minute. Add the shrimp in with the remaining green part of the scallions, and cook until the shrimp are perfectly pink.

Make a slurry by stirring the cornstarch into a small amount of water; while stirring the dish, add the slurry in slowly and wait for the sauce to thicken. Adjust the sauce to taste, and serve up with some steamed sticky rice and a little more chili sauce. Quick and dericious.

Tomato Basil Soup

Remember those days when I used to take at least a single photo of everything I attempted in the kitchen? And ate foods besides bagelwiches and breakfast burritos? Me neither.


A single out-of-season recipe to represent the entire fall season.



Tomato Basil Soup




Tomato Basil Soup

Ingredients:
1/2 large onion, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
pat of butter
3-4 medium tomatoes, petite diced
1/4 cup chopped basil
1 can Campbell's condensed tomato soup
2.5 cups chicken stock
splash of red wine (optional)
1 cup water
salt & pepper




Heat the butter over medium low and slowly saute the onions with the garlic until translucent and slightly caramelized. When the onions are ready, add in the chopped tomatoes and cook for an additional minute.

Add in the tomato soup with the chicken stock, water, and wine.

Let simmer for 20-30 minutes if you're paddling around the kitchen doing other things. Let simmer for "a bit" if you desperately want that soup now. At this point, you can puree in a food processor (and add in a little cream) for a creamy, smooth soup, but I like chunky.


Add in the chopped basil (I had sweet purple basil from the farmer's market and it worked lovely as well), and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve up with some crusty bread or toasted croutons.




Mmm, mmm... good.

An Eastern Ballad

"I speak of love that comes to mind;
The moon is faithful, although blind;
She moves in thought she cannot speak.
Perfect care has made her bleak.

I never dreamed the sea so deep,
The earth so dark; so long my sleep,
I have become another child.
I wake to see the world go wild."

...Ginsberg

Summer Squash and Zucchini Ragout

Can we just take a moment to drink in how adorable these are?

Baby summer squash from my first trip to the Mar Vista's Farmer's Market.

Summer Squash and Zucchini Ragout

Ingredients
Sauce:
4 cloves
8 peppercorns
8 coriander seeds
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
1 cinnamon stick
5 cilantro sprigs, chopped
5 mint leaves, chopped
6 basil leaves, chopped
1 Jalapeno pepper

[Note: I didn't have all of these spices on hand... most of them in fact. I threw in extra peppercorns, some allspice, double the mint, and a little extra cilantro, and it still came out delicious. So I'm sure the actual recipe is really delicious.]


Vegetables:
1/2 onion thinly sliced
1.25 lb summer squash
1 can of yellow corn
2 tomatoes peeled, seeded, and chopped
1 tbsp peanut oil
salt
2 tbsp cilantro leaves, chopped


Pour the cream and milk into a small pot and put over low heat.

Bruise the hard spices with a pestle. Combine with the cinnamon, herbs, and half the jalapeno, and add them into the cream mixture. Slowly bring to a boil, then turn off the heat and let steep while you cut the vegetables.


Heat the oil in a wide skillet and add the onion. Saute briskly for a minute or so. (I used baby summer squash, which needs very little cooking, so I didn't add the squash until the onion was almost done, about 5 minutes.)

Add the summer squash, corn, and the remaining jalapeno (chopped) and season with salt. Continue to saute over fairly high heat for about 2 minutes.


Pour the steeped cream sauce directly into the pan through a strainer. Add the tomato in and simmer for several minutes. Simmer until the sauce has reduced and thickened. Season to taste with salt and serve garnished with chopped cilantro.


So maybe ragout isn't the prettiest dish. It's still bomb diggity. And that's good enough for me.

You look lonely

...Maybe I'll come back and play.

It's Been A Long Time

I shouldn't have left you
without a dope beat
to step to.



Dear Blog,

I haven't completely forgotten about you, I promise.
I've just been studying for the Series 7, 63, and working on this:



T-shirt design for the ongoing Threadless competition.
Photoshop is like a drug. It's an addiction and it's turning my brain into mush.

Våffeldagen: Day o' Waffles

International Waffle Day (March 25) originated in Sweden where it is called Våffeldagen. It occurs nine months to the day before Christmas - the day the Archangel Gabriel told the Virgin Mary that she was pregnant. As the holiday progressed, it also began to commemorate the first day of spring. Waffles come into play because on March 25th the women of Sweden would set aside their winter tasks like chopping wood and knitting, and began their spring tasks... the most notable of which was preparing waffles.

Silly? Perhaps. But 1.) It's a WAFFLE HOLIDAY and 2.) it's really very fun to say.
How can one resist?


...Also, my mom bought a waffle-maker on black friday and demanded that I make her waffles for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That was a while ago.



Buttermilk Waffles with Maple-Glazed Bananas

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
2 eggs, separated
1/2 stick of butter, melted and cooled
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Canola oil for the waffle pan

2 tbsp butter
2 large bananas, cut into thick slices
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tbsp rum

[Note: If you don't have buttermilk on hand, you can substitute by mixing 1.25 cups of milk at room temperature with 2 tablespoons white vinegar. Let sit for 10 minutes. Also, remember these banana slices need to be quite thick, since they sort of... melt when you cook them.]

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.

In a large bowl, fully combine the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix together the buttermilk and the egg yolks. Stir in butter and vanilla.

Brush the waffle iron lightly with oil and preheat it. Stir the wet into the dry ingredients. Beat the egg whites until they hold soft peaks. Stir them gently into the batter.

Spread a ladle or so of batter onto the waffle iron and bake until the waffle is done (approximately 3 to 5 minutes). Serve immediately or keep warm in the oven.

While the waffles are baking (?), heat up the 2 tablespoons of butter in a large pan. Add in the rum and let cook for a minute. Lay the banana slices flat across the bottom of the pan, and cook on each side for a minute. Remove bananas from pan. Add the maple syrup to the pan and continue heating the sauce until it thickens a little (couple of minutes). Pour on top of waffles and bananas. (I also added in some fresh banana slices).

Top with some freshly whipped cream and serve.

Makes 4-6 servings.

The Photographic Dictionary

kinetic ki⋅net⋅ic [ki-net-ik]
-- adjective
1. pertaining to motion.
2. caused by motion.
3. characterized by movement: Running and dancing are kinetic activities.

I love, love, love this idea.

The Photographic Dictionary is an elfin, but I hope rapidly expanding, dictionary that collects beautiful photographs taken by artists around the world and draws delicate parallels between the realms of words and imagery. Every image is assigned to a single word and definition. The nuances of personal experience in the photographs recreate new significance and beauty for a collection of words both common and forgotten.

The Dictionary is a massive collaborative effort, and they welcome new submissions. It's an exercise in recognizing our processes of meaning creation and appreciating the imprint of individual experience on how we come to understand signifiers.

My two favorite things. Words and photography.

Gravity.



Nap.



Birthday.


Ambiance.

Bratwurst With Sautéed Cabbage & Apples

Bratwurst Served With Sautéed Cabbage & Apples
(Original, fancier recipe found on Seven Spoons)

Ingredients:
1 small head of cabbage, thinly shredded
1 Gala apple, thinly sliced
2 shallots, minced
1/2 a small yellow onion, chopped
2 slices of bacon or Canadian bacon, chopped
1 or 2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp white vinegar
1 tsp of oil (if you use Canadian bacon. Do without for the fatty kind.)
2 tsp sugar
1/3 cup of water
salt & pepper to taste
Brats.

Heat the oil in a heavy pan over medium heat. Cook the bacon until crisp, drain, and set aside. Add the shallots and onion to the pan and cook until the onions have softened (a couple of minutes). Add in the apple and continue to cook for a few more minutes, stirring frequently. The apples should pick up some color and the onions should be translucent at this point.

Add in vinegar and sugar, and wait until sugar is dissolved.

Throw the cabbage in, and add the water. Stir until thoroughly combined with the onions, apples, and vinegar. Continue cooking until most of the liquid is evaporated and the cabbage is soft without being... mushy. Add the bacon back in and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve up quick with a couple of grilled brats and a good Hefeweizen.
(and be warned, bratwurst takes forever to cook. Start grilling before you do anything else.)

Frosty Papaya Milk

Every time I mention that I'm hungry, one of my parents offers me a banana. And I always say no. I'm not sure exactly what the rationale is behind offering the banana, but the refusal is always simply because I don't like them. They're thick and dry, and leave your mouth feeling like it's covered in a coat of wax. It's like eating paste. Except... I love everything else banana. Banana cream pie, banana popsicles, banana ice cream, banana fosters, fried bananas, banana cupcakes, banana nut bread... banana looks like a made-up word. Banananana.

Anyway, the point of that was, I feel the same way about papayas.

Papayayaya.



Frosty Papaya Milk

Ingredients:
1 perfectly ripe papaya, scooped and sliced
3 cups of milk
2 cups of ice
1 tbsp of honey

Blend and enjoy on a spring day.

Broccoli Soup with Lemon-Chive Cream

Found an OG version of this recipe on Food&Wine, and then a way more awesome version on Orangette a couple weeks ago. Which means it was fate, and I'm not one to say no to the Moirae. This soup and I were meant to be.


Ingredients:

For the soup:
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp olive oil
2 medium leeks, white and tender green parts only, thinly sliced
1 small yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 ½ pounds of broccoli, trimmed and coarsely chopped
1 quart of chicken or veggie stock, plus 1 cup of water
1 rind (about 2 inches square) from a piece of Parmesan cheese
salt to taste


For the sour cream:
1 cup sour cream
2 scallions, white and pale green parts only, thinly sliced
¼ cup minced chives
1 tsp grated lemon zest
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
½ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
½ tsp kosher salt
¼ tsp pressed or minced garlic


In a small stockpot, warm the butter and oil over medium heat. Add the leeks and onion and cook until soft or the onions are translucent (approximately 10 minutes). Stir occasionally. Add in the garlic and cook for an additional minute.

Add in the broccoli, stock, water, Parmesan rind, and stir. Season with salt to taste. Bring the mixture to a boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer until the broccoli is tender (approximately 20 minutes).

While the broccoli is making itself nice and tender, prepare the cream. In a small bowl, stir together all of the above listed ingredients. Taste and adjust as necessary. Cover and place back in the fridge until ready to serve.

To finish the soup, remove the Parmesan rind. Using a blender and working in small batches, purée until very smooth. (A blender should never be more than one-third full of steaming hot liquids. For reasons that should be clear, or will become immediately clear after your soup jumps up 10 inches after you hit that little "on" switch, and you wonder if you were born this stupid or if college had something to do with it.)

Return the soup to the pot, and stir in a few dollops of the cream mixture. Taste for seasoning, and adjust as necessary (I also stirred in a little heavy cream). If needed, warm the soup over low heat.

Serve the soup with a spoonful or two of the remaining cream on top. Serves 6-8.

Chocolate Sugar Cookies

Chocolate Sugar Cookies
found on Smitten Kitchen
From Retro Desserts

Ingredients:
1.25 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1.5 cups sugar (the cookies end up pretty sweet, so maybe a little bit less)
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1.25 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg

Preheat to 375 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Using either a food processor or an electric mixer, thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Keeping the mixer on at low speed, cream in the butter, and then the egg. Continue processing or mixing until dough comes together.

Take two rounded teaspoons of batter at a time and place on baking sheet approximately 2 inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.

I burnt my second batch a little (look, it's hard to tell, the cookies are brown already), but I actually preferred them a little overdone. They're less sweet and more Oreo-like.

Chewy Tortilla Chips & Guacamole

Have you ever considered chewy tortilla chips? I recently went with a friend to try out a restaurant called Malo (not malo at all) in Silverlake. Besides boasting a tequila bar with 150 tequilas and spicy cucumber martinis, they've got a whole set of really delicious (okay, one was delicious, the others were really delicious-sounding) salsas and, more importantly, chewy tortilla chips. I knew immediately that I was going to love these. It's like those fresh homemade tortilla chips that they serve at real Mexican restaurants, only this wasn't a real Mexican restaurant and these chips were so much more than chips. They were piping hot and salty, crunchy in parts and chewy in others, and the perfect balance to a cool and spicy seasonal salsa. The food was quite good, but frankly, I didn't have much time for it.
More chips, please.

So the point is, I went home and of course tried to recreate these the next day. And found, to my surprise, that homemade tortilla chips are every bit as easy as one would guess. This is rarely my experience in cooking adventures and misadventures.

Ingredients for Chewy Chips:
10-12 white corn tortillas
2 cups of oil
salt and cumin for seasoning
a twist of lime

Cut a stack of tortillas into 8 wedges round. In a large heavy saucepan, heat about 1 inch of vegetable oil over medium high. You can check whether or not the oil is hot enough by dipping a piece of the tortilla in the pan: it's ready when the oil begins to bubble around the tortilla. Be careful to keep an eye on your oil and make sure you get to it before it gets to you. Once it begins to pop... you lose, and it hurts.

Add the tortilla wedges in the oil in batches without overcrowding them. Cook until desired crunchiness (or chewiness) and drain on paper towel. Add seasoning, and serve while hot with a cool side of salsa or guacamole [recipe to follow].


Ingredients for Guacamole:
2 avocados, peeled and pitted
1 large roma tomato, seeded and diced
2 tsp cilantro, chopped
1/2 a small white onion, chopped
1 tsp of lemon or lime juice (fresh is best, but the the stuff that comes in those weird squeeze bottles that are supposed to look like a lemon and a lime, respectively, works just fine too)
salt and pepper to taste

Mash the avocados in a bowl with a fork until a little before desired chunkiness (Adding the other ingredients and the lime juice smooths it other a little more). Add everything else in and season to taste. Try not to eat the whole bowl.

Chocolate & Toffee Chip Cookies

Be warned: I am not an avid chocolate lover. I know, it's embarrassing, but I feel like it's only fair to immediately admit this for your consideration. What I really love is the chewiness of the cookie when it's fresh and warm, and the perfect crunchiness of the cookie with those toffee chips the day after. They're thin and buttery and remind me of Brussels cookies, which I adore. So... that said, adjust chocolate to cookie ratio accordingly.


(adapted from allrecipes after a Google of "fat, chewy cookies")

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup toffee bits

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla and the egg until the mixture is light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended.

Stir in the chocolate chips and toffee bits by hand using a wooden spoon. Gather balls of cookie dough sized about 2 tablespoons and slightly flatten them before pressing them one at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets.

Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Shrimp-Stuffed Baby Portobellos

I love stuffed mushrooms, but I never order them in restaurants because, well, five is simply not enough and when you're out in public, you have to play nice and share. The thought of eating only one stuffed mushroom makes me immensely sad. But LOOK, if you make them yourself, you can eat twenty of them, drink a bottle of wine, and then roll straight into bed. It's a win-win...winwinwin situation. Granted, you'll feel like a sack of melty potatoes for the rest of the evening, but it's a pleasurable pain and perfect for a special occasion.
Like a Wednesday.

Shrimp-Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms
Bon Appetit

1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
3 large garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
6 ounces cooked bay shrimp [chopped shrimp works just great as well]
2/3 cup fresh breadcrumbs from French bread
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup mayonnaise
24 baby portobello mushrooms, stems & gills removed

(Breadcrumbs can be made easily by cutting the crust off a few slices of slightly stale or aired-out bread and popping them in the food processor. I thought I could be clever and shorten the process by grating the bread on a cheese grater. This, I promise you, is most definitely not easier or quicker.)

Heat the oil in heavy skillet over medium-high heat.

Add in the onion, basil, garlic, and rosemary. Sauté until onion softens (approximately 5 minutes), and transfer to medium-sized bowl.

Mix in the shrimp, breadcrumbs, cheese, and mayonnaise. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Arrange the mushrooms, top down, on lighoiled baking sheet. Mound shrimp filling in mushrooms, pressing filling to compact slightly. Bake mushrooms until tender and filling begins to brown, about 35 minutes. Serve hot. (Not a problem because they're so delicious you'll want to eat them all before you even get them onto a plate.)

[These can be made 6 hours ahead of time, just cover and refrigerate until ready to bake. MAGIC.]