Cooking Experiments the Sequel

So today, I decided to make a more conventional, equally delicious, experimental meal. Instead of going all out with veal, and beat chips I made some easier food, and made more of it, so my "focus group" wasn't starving. This time I prepared a main meal of salmon with a dessert of 100% organic dark chocolate ice cream. I grilled the salmon on the barbecue, and while it cooked I baked some white asparagus with oregano powder, olive oil, salt and pepper. At the same time, I candied some persimmon slices, pickled some white zucchini and made zucchini latkes. I also made a vinegar and thyme-infused butter sauce. It was incredibly potent. So I plated this all nicely and served it with a dry white wine. (I'm not one for the fruity stuff). It was delicious, except I didn't have any of the salmon (it was apparently good too). For dessert, I served the chocolate ice-cream with apricot halves, filled with chopped persimmon and ginger and a smidgen of cayenne pepper, and some store-bought eggnog, garnished with freshly grated nutmeg. All in all, it was a satisfying meal, and a great way to begin the holiday ritual of overeating. Happy Holidays to all you Foodies!

wolvesmouth Invite

I got the invite to the wolvesmouth diner this Friday! To be accepted to one of the most exclusive, most amazing things ever is....awesome! I have no idea what to wear, or who to bring but it is still very, very cool. I am so excited to go....if I was going. Unfortunately, I don't have a ride, so I will need to go next time. But I just wanted to share with you readers my immense joy and over reaction to an email. Hooray for me!

And yes, expect some photos and videos When I go, because I will.

Take Two

My continued obsession with wolvesmouth has led me to MORE cooking experiments, as well as signing up on the wolvesden email list. So excited! (Yes, you can count on me to post about it once I go). As I was saying in my previous post, I wanted to try and recreate the dish I made last night, but fancier. Thus my "subject group" was once again stuffed with delicious veal treat.

This time, I wisely seared the veal chunks before marinating them in their own juices. This lets the veal retain its tenderness and juiciness. Once seared, I transferred the veal to another pan which was already filled with olive oil, white wine vinegar, lemon juice, garlic and some lovely chenin blanc. I put a lid over the sauce pan and let them cook while I mixed the sauce.

The sauce is composed of lemon juice and cream. Tada! You just whip the two together into a nice foam and it looks very fancy shmancy when you plate the dish.

For plating the veal, I went for simplicity. A bed of rice, topped with four veal chunks, covered in lemony-cream-foam, with a teensy basil garnish. It was much lighter, said my non vegetarian test subjects, then the previous evenings dish and decidedly more tender. Success! Wish I had the pics to prove it, but I can assure you that It, with a capital I, looked amazing.

New Era Part Two: The Meal

So as I posted last night, I plan to spend more of my precious time improving this blog, as well as my own cooking. I proposed a meal, which ended up slightly differently from what I'd planned, but I did make it! Due to the fact that my inspired stage lacks formal measuring while cooking, its a more by-feel process, I do not have an actual recipe. I plan to remake this meal, slightly differently, slightly fancier and I will post my results when I do.

Meal: Veal cubes on a bed of grapefruit zested, cream polenta with sesame, lime beet-chips with a vanilla, basil sauce.

Fresh, organic, yellow beet

 Slicin' the beets. Make sure they aren't too thick or two thin, you want them to cook nice and evenly.

Veal "Stew" from Bristol Farms

I would have preferred to get my meat from Lindy and Grundy, but with limited time I couldn't.

Veal, beets, lime juice, chia seeds, cayenne pepper

I let the veal and beets soak together in the lime juice, so that of their flavors would become more pronounced.

Extra Virgin olive oil, sesame seeds

While i could have used sesame oil, I'm a sucker for olive oil and its cheaper.

Lime soaked beets, sesame seeds, olive oil

While the seeds cook, they release some oil. The combination of that and the lime juice leads to some great tasting chips.

Final product

Dessert: Slow-baked pear with cranberry syrup and vanilla, clove, sake, ice-cream

Trader Joe's cranberry juice

Since I didn't use formal measurements, how much juice, how much butter, how much vanilla extract is unknown. Just put in what feels good.

Final product

A New Era

So I've been super lax in the update of this blog, but today that's going to change. Hopefully. I just read an article in the New Yorker about Wolvesmouth and I was inspired to make something inconceivable! The Wolf is my guide now, he is so creative and imaginative, not only in his cooking but in his life style! Tonight I want to follow his lead.

So I'm starting this post at 4:27 tonight and I hope to be done by 7. My grand plan is to make a miniature dish to serve tonight to my focus group, and have it be something unusual but pleasing to the pallet. My fridge is...relatively barren; I have day old rice, basil, homemade polenta, thanksgiving non-whipped cream, limes from the yard, sprouting potatoes, cranberry juice and a cabinet of every spice conceivable. Huh, I actually do have some stuff. Well I'm going to pop out for a tidbit of meat and some sour plums or green strawberries; they just seem to be calling me rite now. I am planning to have the final dish be some animal organ on a bed of lime zested polenta, with a basil, potato sprout, cream puree and either carmeled plums with cranberry syrup or green strawberries in boiled saffron cream for dessert. We shall see. Wish me luck!

Falling Whistles

Falling Whistles is an organization that was created to help children abused through war in the Congo. My friend has been helping the organization by organizing fundraisers, selling whistles and spreading the story. There is so much that you can do for a child by buying one whistle. Please look into this, you may save someone's life.

Falling Whistles | A Campaign for peace in Congo

Lindy and Grundy

I don't eat meat myself, but if I did, it would come from Lindy and Grundy, 
the high end butcher shop on 801 N. Fairfax Avenue.
The owners, couple Amelia Posada and Erika Nakamura, purchases livestock 
from only the finest of organic,independent, free range farms to bring you the 
highest quality meat in LA. From steaks to whole ducks, from venison to
drumsticks, the meat here is fantastic, says everyone I've asked at the shop,
including a man named Damon. "The steaks are expensive, I could buy one for
much less at Trader Joe's. But Trader Joe's steaks are not as good as these,
not even close. This is the best steak I've eve had," said Damon. This 
sentiment is shared amongst customers, though the meat is pricey, and not 
an every day dinner staple, it is beyond compare. You'd be hard pressed
to find meat thats this tender, this juicy, this delectable, anywhere. 

http://lindyandgrundy.com/index.htm 

No Encore for Take a Bao

When you go out with friends, you want food that captures your attention and taste but is subtle enough that your focus on it doesn't undermine your conversation. When we arrived at Take a Bao, the service was slow getting us to our table ordering our food, and then delivering said food. A lot of waiting and sipping sodas. My friends ordered some beef bowls and I ordered the vegetarian soup, fries and popcorn tofu for the table. Though we ordered very different dishes, they all tasted the same. There was no flavor variation from meal to meal, and they were all insanely spicy! My soup was the most mild so I didn't develop the same ball of fire in my stomach that my friends did. We were so focused on stomaching this uncomfort food that our conversations were short, strained and about how we wished we had gone somewhere else. I have closed my curtain on Take a Bao.