Thursday, April 30, 2009

Wurstkuche

vegetarian chipotle sausage and belgian fries
jalapeno and mango sausage with caramelized onions and spicy peppers

Nancy told me about this place a few days ago and generally when Nancy recommends something, I tend to agree.  I really liked this place.  The ambiance.  The cucumber soda they had, though I did not order it.  The selection of dipping sauces that came with the belgian fries.  And as always when I try something new, the first thing I thought about was that I couldn't wait to take Saeyoung.  

Wurstkuche serves exclusively sausages and belgian fries.  Nancy and I hypothesized that they make their sausages in-house, though we were inconclusive.  If they did, that would be great.  The sausages range anywhere between the common bratwurst to alligator sausages.  Janice ordered the chicken apple and spices.  Jeff ordered the smoked alligator and pork, which was described as dense (in a positive sense).  I ordered the mango and jalapeno, which went great with the perfectly caramelized onions and spicy peppers.  Nancy ordered the vegetarian chipotle.  Actually, I was pretty impressed with their vegetarian options.    Everything was delicious.  We also ordered the twice fried belgian fries with curry ketchup, chipotle aioli, and buttermilk ranch.  They also had a white truffle oil glaze option, which I plan on getting next time I go there, which I hope is very soon.  

Next time I will have some beer.  Next time I will order two sausages.  Next time I will get the white truffle oil.  Next time I will take Saeyoung.  

Afterwards we walked around the Little Tokyo shopping center and I bought a single mango.  I like my friends, I really do.  

Wurstkuche
800 E 3rd St
Los Angeles, CA 90013
213.687.4444
http://www.wurstkucherestaurant.com/

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Maple Sour Cream Muffins With Walnut Topping




Sour cream in muffins does something amazing.  
Ingredients

For batter:
1 cup sour cream
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup maple syrup
3 tablespoons of honey
1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1/4 cup butter
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of nutmeg

for topping:
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon of cinnamon


preheat oven to 350
1. In a large mixing bowl beat butter 
2. add maple syrup and honey and beat until well combined
3. add eggs one at a time
4. add sour cream and vanilla extract
5. mix dry ingredients together
6. incorporate dry ingredients into wet ingredients in portions
7. put into cupcake/muffin tins (makes about 20 cupcakes sized muffins and about 12 muffins)
8. make the dry topping by mixing all the ingredients together until crumbly
9. top the batter with the dry topping until you can't see the batter underneath it, that is, top them generously.  there will probably be some more dry topping leftover but set aside because when the muffins start to rise and expand you may need to add more.
10. bake in the over for 20 minutes

Monday, April 27, 2009

Roasted Beet Soup






Over the weekend I bought some beets at the farmers market.  I've been told that beets are an acquired taste but I just don't understand.  What is there to not like about beets??  They're amazing!  I roasted some beets in olive oil and thyme and made it into a soup.  The color of roasted beets is phenomenal.  They let off this bright pink juice that is very sweet.  It stained my fingers and I kind of liked the way it looked.  I also had some of the beets with just a bit of lemon-lavender goat cheese and that made me very happy.  

Ingredients
2 beets
5-8 sprigs of thyme
mushrooms of your choice
1/2 a onion
4 cloves of garlic
5 baby carrots
1 cup spinach
1 cup red wine
2 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup of sausage or any other ground meat
1/4 cup broccoli and cauliflower 
olive oil
salt and pepper

1. preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. scrub and trim the beets and put them in a large square of foil along with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, salt, and 4 sprigs of thyme
3. make a little pouch with the foil by drawing the corners together so that the foil is airtight
4. roast in the oven for 1 hour
5. in the meantime cook down onions and meat in olive oil
6. when the onions are slightly browned, add crushed garlic cloves, thyme, mushrooms and carrots
7. let everything brown and then add the cup of spinach until it has wilted
8. add broccoli and cauliflower
9. de-glaze with the red wine, making sure to scrape all the brown bits from the bottom of the pot
10. add chicken stock and bring the soup to a boil and then take it off the heat
11.  take the beets out of the oven and peel and then dice into cubes
12. add to soup and bring the soup back to a boil until the broth is a deep red color
13. salt and pepper to taste and serve with a spoonful of sour cream

Kyochon Chicken


chicken salad
chicken sandwich
gracie, as chicken model
kyochon chicken (half spicy/half garlic)

I think the whole Korean fried chicken thing started happening maybe 10 years ago.  I was in Seoul for the Summer and all of a sudden there were these fried chicken places everywhere, all made in the same style: fried and then coated in a spicy red pepper sauce (because red pepper sauce is in everything in korea) and served with pickled radishes.  I think kyochon was the first in an endless parade of korean chicken franchises.  In any case, now kyochon is in Los Angeles, and other parts of southern California.  

Despite having gorged ourselves on pasta at 2 am the night before, grace and I completed the weekend of fattiness with fried chicken.  I attempted to be healthy with the chicken salad but quickly realized that to get anything besides the fried chicken at kyochon is kind of pointless.  Okay, lesson learned.

Kyochon Chicken
3833 W 6th st
Los Angeles, CA
(213) 739-9292

Saturday, April 25, 2009

UCI Farmers Market

I have a question: Is it farmer's market (possessive) or farmers market (plural)?  
Strawberries are everywhere.  Asparagus is everywhere.  Beets are everywhere.

I bought:
strawberries, beets, lemon-lavender goat cheese, purple potatoes, asparagus, fill, mint, and blood oranges

I plan on making:
a beet tart with goat cheese and caramelized onions
mint with strawberries and blood oranges
asparagus with dill mustard
roasted dill purple potatoes

Break Of Dawn

gracie pooh
nancy
eggs benedict with pesto
french toast
egg white omelette with mushrooms, ham, and tomatoes
butternut squash soup

There's something immensely comforting about seeing nancy and grace, and in particular, nancy and grace at the same time.  We've been friends since 2nd grade (approx.) and it's kind of strange and wonderful to see  all this change between the three of us in a way that we can't even sum up and probably aren't even interested in summing up.  We don't even bother with nostalgia because nostalgia implies that something was lost.  And nothing was lost. 

This morning I happened to be in Laguna Hills and we all met for breakfast at Break Of Dawn, a Vietnamese-American breakfast place.  They have traditional breakfast foods (the things we ordered) but they also had things like oxtail and shrimp rolls, all of which seemed very appetizing, just perhaps not at 8:30 in the morning.  I want to take Saeyoung here.

Also, Break of Dawn is an unfortunate name.  I don't like it.  Too....too much.

Break Of Dawn
24351 Avenida De La Carlota 
Laguna Hills, Ca 92653
(949) 587-9418

Flourless Chocolate Cake

maybe not the most appetizing photo but, in fact, very tasty



This cake is very rich and silken in texture, almost custardy, dense and moist.  It may not be for everyone because it's a tad jiggly but it's quite good with some vanilla ice cream.

Ingredients:
10 oz semisweet chocolate chopped
7 oz of butter
1 cup sugar
5 eggs

1. preheat oven to 350
2. beat the eggs and the sugar and set aside
3. melt chocolate and butter in a double broiler 
4. whisk in chocolate mixture into the sugar/egg mixture
5. grease a nine inch spring-form cake pan and then coat with cocoa powder
6. pour batter into cake pan
7. place the cake pan in a roasting pan and fill the roasting pan about half way with water
8. cover tightly with foil and bake in oven for 1 hour and 30 minutes
9. it will be very jiggly out of the oven but will harden up once you let it cool

Lanny Pants

lan et marvin
a telling of the future
garlic toast/salad
tomato sauce for pasta
I'm glad Lan Pham moved to Los Angeles, very glad indeed.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Teuscher "Toy-sher"




My friend and I got into a heated debate about the pronunciation of Teuscher Chocolates while passing by the little store on Newbury Street. We stopped in for an Easter Chocolate sale! 

Here's what we found: 






I especially love those little animal-shaped chocolates. I tried a nougat egg which was quite tasty. It left sticky gunk all over my teeth, just the way nougat should be! 

The speciality is their champagne truffles. I plan on bringing home a box for my sister! 

Mmmm.... Chocolate! 

http://www.teuscher.com/

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Mutated Junk Food

















First of all, I'll never be able to keep up with my sister's post because I simply don't have a kitchen. 

At first I let this defeat me and stopped trying to contribute to this joint blog. Then it struck me: I just have to think outside the box! 

So -- I've been providing the college insider look. I know that grocery shopping blog was dismal. But look at these mutated junk foods I've been collecting! 

The threesome gummy bears! The cheezit discovery was especially exciting because I feel like it gives you an inside look into how they make them! I always wondered why the edges were perforated. Yeah seriously, I did wonder. No, that's not that lame. 

Just thought I'd share!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

A Sort Of Pavlova




I'm feeling restless today and this often means I will spend a lot of time in the kitchen.  I really wanted to make a pavlova because I have these wonderful raspberries that would taste great with something light and airy, but pavlovas require cornstarch and I didn't feel like making a trip to the market.  I tried to make the pavlova sans cornstarch and it still worked out, only it didn't have that cracked, crispy shell that make pavlovas so wonderful.  Still, the exterior was nice and firm while the interior reminded me slightly of a very light marshmellow.  Topped with the tart raspberries, it made for a very satisfying dessert.

Ingredients:
3 egg whites
1 cup extra fine sugar
3 tablespoons ice cold water
1 teaspoon vinegar
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon of cornstarch (for the crispy shell, if you want it)

1. preheat over to 300 degrees
2. beat egg whites with salt until stiff peaks form
3. add water and mix for a minute longer
4. combine sugar and cornstarch and add in small increments 
5. add vinegar and mix for another minute
6. form in a circle on a greased cooking sheet and create a cavity in the center for the fruit
7. place in oven until the peaks are dark brown and the pavlova begins to crack
8. top with fruit

*note to self--next time add lemon zest

Cantaloupe Jam



I've had a cantaloupe sitting in my fruit basket for over a week now and it just kept getting overlooked.  Today I noticed it was getting a little soft and perhaps on the verge of becoming overripe.  Because it would be silly to finish a whole cantaloupe by myself just because it isn't going to last very long, I thought turning it into a jam might be nice.  I've never seen a cantaloupe jam and have never made any sort of preserve out of a melon-type fruit, but I figured that the worst case scenario would be that I'd end up with a cantaloupe soup...which probably isn't the worst thing in the world.  
Luckily, the jam turned out delicious and the color was beautiful, almost like a pumpkin (oh! pumpkin jam!) and it tasted very honeyed.  In fact, I think I'll use in place of honey with Greek yogurt for breakfast tomorrow.   I'm curious as to why we don't see melon jams around.  I found that the cantaloupe gelled very well, without any pectin.  Maybe there's some sort of natural gelatin-type substance in melons, maybe the ripeness of the melon made the amount of natural sugars perfect for making jams.  
I feel good. I feel like I prevented a cantaloupe from going to waste.  

Bún



First, a few things about Los Angeles: 
Maybe this is just the area I live in, but all the Vietnamese restaurants in my vicinity are overpriced and not that great.  Sure, they tout being organic and stuff but the pho broth is always lacking flavor and the banh mi sandwiches are always too overstuffed with unnecessary fanciness.  I had no idea Vietnamese was so hip, but of course Los Angeles would adopt Vietnamese cuisine as trendy, of course.  Still, the best Vietnamese food in Southern California is in Westminster's Little Saigon, I think.  Oh Grace, we'll have to go back to Westminster for those crunchy pork spring rolls.  

Okay, strange aside about Los Angeles' ability to ruin things with fanciness, over.  

One of my favorite Vietnamese dishes is Bún, which is a combination of vermicelli noodles with picked carrot and daikon, cilantro, nuoc cham, and often topped with a type of meat.  My personal favorite Bún meat is lemongrass chicken.  I've never tried making it but I recently bought some daikon and carrot pickles at Nijiya Market at Sawtelle and thought they'd be put to good use in some Vietnamese food.  I didn't have lemongrass chicken but I did have a frozen salmon filet, which I marinated and baked in a miso/honey/soy sauce glaze.  I baked the salmon before going to school so that I could quickly assemble my dinner when I got home and as a result, Bún was all I could think about all throughout class.  I made a simple nuoc cham out of fish sauce, water, sugar, and lime juice.  I don't think I've ever seen Bún with salmon, but I can't imagine why it isn't done because it was a combination that made a lot of sense to my mouth.  

Another aside: I love cold noodles.  Why aren't there more cold noodles in the world?  It's like eating a carb-y starchy salad.