La Rana

Ceviche

Torri and Saeyoung

Carne Asada Nachos

Saeyoung's college friend Torri, is visiting all the way from Boston and because she was born and raised beyond the burrito belt in a land called Maine where Mexican food is Taco Bell, we thought it only appropriate to take her out for Mexican food that is somewhat less corrupted. 

  

La Rana is a tiny Mexican restaurant within walking distance of our house and while I can't speak to its authenticity (how does one gauge this?) I can say that I think the food is well priced and pretty great.  Their corn tortillas as especially good, and this is saying a lot because I'm usually all for Team Flour Tortilla.  

We ordered the carne asada nachos because a table near us ordered them and they just looked ridiculous.  And they were ridiculous, in a good way that is.  Pretty much everything you could want on nachos was there, including the pickled carrots that i'm so fond of.  

Saeyoung ordered fish tacos which were good and I appreciated the lack of that disgusting tartar sauce that usually gets slapped on fish tacos.

  I ordered ceviche, which could have used a little more lime juice.  {{ speaking of lime juice, today I saw Nancy and she had burned her lip from eating a lime!  I will never underestimate the power of limes again!  I wanted to call her Little Merced }} It was lacking something.

Torri ordered, and struggled, with the chicken burrito.  I didn't taste it, but it looked pretty good.  I think, maybe, it's hard to mess up a chicken burrito. 

La Rana

27001 Moulton Pkwy #a104

Aliso Viejo, CA 92656

949.643.2899

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I had two occasions to make chocolate chip cookies this weekend.  My cousin Whun was graduating from college and I wanted to make him a small present of cookies and a party for the Calarts MFA 2 graduates.  The thing about chocolate chip cookies is this: there are a million variations and generally they all have their merits but I've picked up these few tricks that make for a pretty fool-proof cookie:

1. chill the batter overnight-this prevents the batter from spreading and flattening in the oven

2. use bread flour instead of all-purpose flour-this makes for a chewier cookie

3. melt the butter rather than creaming it-i don't really know what purpose this serves, except that the cookies turn out well when I do this

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

So I found this recipe from Martha Stewart's latest issue of Living.  I should know by now, her recipes are very unreliable.  The taste was good but the texture was a bit cake-y.  If I want a cake texture, I will bake a cake. If I bake a cookie, I want a something slightly crispy on the outside.  But, they looked adorable.  If you make these, I suggest greasing the parchment paper because the sugar from the strawberries will caramelize and make it difficult to peel them off in one piece.

Strawberry Hazelnut Salad

This is my new favorite Summer salad.  I anticipate that I will be eating this for many lunches.  

Ingredients:

1 cup strawberries, thickly sliced

1/2 cup salad greens

handful of chopped hazelnuts

2 tablespoons of goat cheese or feta cheese

dressing:

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon of honey

1. toast the hazelnuts.  be careful, nuts burn quickly.  they are done when just fragrant.

2. slice strawberries and toss with green and dressing

3. top with hazelnuts and goat cheese

i modified the recipe from here

Lemon Glazed Madeleines (oh!)

cooling the glaze

lemon glaze

I find these thrilling.  I'm not even exaggerating.  I'm thrilled.  The signature of a successful madeleine is the raised hump on the back of the cookie.  When I saw that my madeleines were developing this hump, I jumped a little.  Madeleines are Saeyoung's favorite and I wanted to make them for her.  She said they were the best she's ever had! What a lovely compliment!

Here's the secret to developing the hump: you have to freeze the pan and chill the batter for several hours.

I learned this from David Lebovitz, who has yet to fail me.

Ingredients:

3 room temperature eggs

2/3 cups sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

zest of one lemon

9 tablespoon of unsalted butter

lemon glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons of lemon

2 tablespoons of water

1. butter the madeleine mold and powder with flour

2. stick the mold in the freezer

3. melt the butter in a microwave safe bowl for 30 seconds and let it cool to room temperature

4. mix the sugar, eggs, and salt together for 5 minutes or until the color is pale yellow and slightly thickened

5. add flour and baking powder in small increments

6. add the zest to the butter and incorporate the butter into the batter

7. cover and chill batter for at least one hour, more if you have the time

8. spoon the batter into the mold. the batter will be thick and unspreadable. do not spread, the batter will melt into the molds in the oven

9. bake in a 425 preheated oven for 8 to 9 minutes.  the hump should develop at the 6 minute mark

10. immediately remove the cookies from the mold

11. make the glaze by slowly heating up the sugar, lemon and water until the sugar is fully melted

12. dip the madeleines in the glaze, making sure to cover both sides and cool

Mentatsu Ramen

wantanmen

omelet rice

hiyashi chuka

tenshin han

This is the thing about good ramen: it's salty, incredibly salty.  The morning after I eat ramen, my eyes get terribly swollen and I spend the day looking like a frog.  If you see me looking like a frog, it's because I ate ramen the night before.  My family loves Mentatsu Ramen in Costa Mesa because while maintaining the requisite saltiness, it isn't overwhelming.  Additionally, their rice dishes are excellent.  Omelet rice is stir fried in ketchup and then covered with a thing crepe-like egg.  I grew up eating omelet rice and only recently discovered that rice stir-fried in ketchup seems repulsive to people.  Further, my mother always stir-fried it with spam.  All I can say to that is that you can't knock it until you've tried.  It's the definition of comfort food.  

Mentatsu

688 Baker St #7

Costa Mesa, CA 92626

714.979.2755

Vietnamese Chicken Rice

caramelizing onions

the ever-important sauce

saeyoung as taste-tester

One of my family's favorite dishes is Vietnamese chicken rice, which we fondly call Tina's rice since we got the recipe from Tina, one of my mom's former employees.  There are several components but the recipe is relatively simple and lasts for days. The most important part of the sauce and can be adjusted to fit everyone's personal tastes.  Also very important is cooking the rice in real chicken stock, not the store bought kind.  The difference is kind of amazing.  I think it has something to do with the natural fat in homemade chicken stock.

Ingredients:

1 cup finely chopped cilantro

1 onion (sliced and caramelized)

3 cups good quality jasmine rice cooked in homemade chicken stock

2 cup shredded chicken

for sauce:

3-4 red peppers chopped very finely

4 lemons juiced

1/4 cup fish sauce

5 tablespoons sugar

 (all these measurements can be adjusted)

1/4 cup hot water

1. boil chicken in water until the chicken is just cooked through and remove the chicken broth from heat.  Do Not Throw Away The Broth.

2. remove chicken from boiling water and when the chicken is cool enough to handle shred the chicken

3. return the chicken bones to the broth and bring the broth back into a boil with 2 teaspoons of salt

4. remove the chicken broth from the stove and let it reach room temperature

5. wash the jasmine rice and then cook the rice in chicken broth

for sauce:

1. chop the peppers finely and put in a bowl

2. add hot water and set aside for 5 minutes.  the water must be hot in order to bring out the red color from the peppers

3. add sugar and let it melt into the sauce

4. add fish sauces and lemon juice

5. add more of any of the ingredients according to your preference

assembly:

1. layer ingredients in this order: rice, chicken, caramelized onions, and cilantro

2. toss with sauce and serve