Dinner Party


After mulling it over for the last couple of months, I finally had a proper dinner party this past weekend. My only regret is that I didn't have one sooner! Every aspect was great- the prep work and cooking leading up to it was thoroughly enjoyable, the party was immensely fun, and the happy looks on the guests faces were truly rewarding. The fact that I now have some tasty leftovers in my fridge is just the icing on the cake.

Getting the table ready......

J being out of town for a month has resulted in my not cooking much, so that was the final motivation I needed to get off my butt and throw a party. I have many coworkers with whom I'd like to socialize more and thought a dinner party would be a nice way to spend some quality time with my friends. With a vegetarian in the bunch, meat and seafood were out which posed a welcomed challenge. I sifted through my gigantic cookbook collection, looked at endless old issues of Gourmet, Bon Appetite and Food & Wine but came back to the one cookbook that has never let me down. Yep- you guessed it- Sunday Suppers at Lucques. Yes, I know...food bloggers the world over have gushed over Goin's popular book but there is a good reason why. The flavor combinations don't just work- they shine. The steps are explained in a clear and concise manner and you see WHY certain techniques are used. The results are delicious, in large part due to the fact that the recipes are categorized by season so you know the ingredients you are using are the best at that time of year (for example, you won't find any tomato recipes in the Winter Menu section!).

I told you I am a big nerd......

After trips to both the Pasadena and South Pasadena Farmer's Markets, I was ready to start cooking. For hors 'd oeuvres, I decided on Endive Cups with Goat Cheese, Orange Segments, Candied Pecans and Balsamic Glaze. It's something I've been making for awhile now, and seeing the cara cara oranges at the market sealed the deal. I also picked up two perfectly white heads of cauliflower for a Pureed Roasted Cauliflower Soup I'd planned as a started. For the main course, I opted for the Wild Mushroom Tart with Gruyere, Young Onions and Herb Salad and the Baby Roasted Beets with Horseradish Crème Fraiche as a side. I also added an old staple of mine- a simple salad of puy lentils, red onions, parsley and a light vinaigrette to finish up the dish. Of course, what's a dinner party without a sweet ending? I once again pulled from the Lucques book and decided on the Hazelnut Brown Butter Cake with Sautéed Pears. I mean- I've never met a brown butter cake I didn't like...in fact, I've never met a brown butter ANYTHING I didn't like....and it all felt so wintery.

Endive cups with Goat Cheese, Orange Segments, Candied Pecans and Balsamic Glaze

I started the day before so that I could actually enjoy hanging out with my guests on the night of the party. Another great thing about the Lucques book is that it tells you everything you can do in advance for each recipe. On Saturday, I roasted the beets, made the horseradish crème fraiche, the vinaigrette, the cake and the lentils....and had a blast. Maybe "blast" isn't the right word for it....but it's times like those that I think of how much I love to cook. I know this sounds cheesy, but as I was peeling the beautiful, deep purple/maroon beets, I was thinking about how you hardly ever see a color in all its glory like that- bleeding all over your fingers, as bright and gorgeous as can be. As I'm thinking this, my nose picks up the heady scent of toasted hazelnuts and brown butter wafting from the oven and think of how nothing could possibly smell better. Cooking gives you all kinds of wonderful, sensory experiences. I can't think of a better way to spend a cold Saturday than to putter around the kitchen, peeling this, baking that.....so yes, you can label me a Big Nerd but I truly enjoyed every minute.

Soup for starters........

The next day was spent doing some final prep and cleaning the house. At around 7:00 pm, my guests arrived and we uncorked what would be the first of six (hey- there were six of us, after all....well, M is pregnant and didn't have any but still....) bottles of wine. After munching on the endive cups, we moved to the dining table and began with the soup course. The combination of roasted cauliflower, roasted garlic, sautéed white onions, thyme and vegetable stock all pureed together was a hit- although it was my first time making the soup (I sort of just made it up) but I'm a huge roasted cauliflower fan so I wasn't rolling the dice too much. After we cleared away the bowls, it was time for the main course.

Before and after....Wild Mushroom Tart with Gruyere, Young Onions and Herb Salad

How did it all turn out? Well, you can't go wrong with roasted baby beets- they're just beautiful to look at, sweet and wonderfully tender. The horseradish crème fraiche was a nice compliment to the sweetness. The lentils were good as well. But the real star was Goin's mushroom tart. Wow. I suppose anything that starts with puff pastry can't be bad, but it really knocked my socks off. Underneath the gorgeous mushrooms lies a thin layer of gruyere, and underneath that is a layer of fresh, whole milk ricotta mixed with an egg and crème fraiche. Bake it all in the oven, toss some fresh tarragon, chives and parsley on top and drizzle with some truffled olive oil (my added touch since my boss gave me a nice bottle from Italy last year) and you get, well, a slice of heaven. I'll definitely have to make this again.

The dinner plate........

The lovely dinner guests!

We retired once again to the living room to start a rousing game of Scrabble. Unfortunately, my team lost but after that much wine, who cares?! We definitely needed something to soak up the vine so dessert was served. Another winner here- the brown butter cake was amazing, and soaked in the caramelized pear juices, it was divine. The cake takes a bit of a light hand to make, but the end result is truly worth it. The pears, on the other hand, are absolutely simple and can be made in advance (thanks Yoony- for answering my questions on that one!). You simply heat some butter and vanilla seeds (plus the pod) in a pan, add the pears and let them sauté until they're golden brown. It would be perfect over a big bowl of vanilla ice cream....or even on its own. Another keeper.

Scrabble begins......

Before and after....Hazelnut Brown Butter Cake with Sautéed Pears

To end the night, I stole an idea from one of my favorite restaurants- Grace. J and I had Valentine's Day dinner there one year, and they presented us with a "Morning After" box- filled with mini versions of various Grace pastries to be enjoyed the next morning. I thought it was so clever to have the guest extend the dining experience until the next morning like that, so I made some lemon raspberry muffins and put two of them, plus a mini pack of Kona coffee, into little bags and gave them out as the guests left to go home.

There's got to be a morning after....(I couldn't resist!)

All in all, it was a wonderful evening. I am hoping that I'll be able to host more dinner parties in the future...it'd been a long time and I guess I forgot how much I enjoyed them. There's something so satisfying about rolling up your sleeves and diving into the cooking process- I want to make sure I keep it up! It's so easy to get lazy about cooking sometimes....but then you remember why you fell in love with it in the first place and you make a resolution to do it more often. I definitely will!

Thanks to all of my friends that came, and here's to more dinner parties in the future!



Sunday Suppers at Lucques, Dinner parties

Food Gift For A Friend

I love having friends who are really into cooking and food. There's something nice about being able to tell someone that the toro at Z Sushi changed your life without having them look at you like you're nuts. We food lovers understand the impact that a great meal or a beautiful glass of wine can have on our lives, so it's always nice to have like-minded people around to talk food to.

Have you ever seen a lovelier cheddar?

D is one of those people, and we work together. He's the one who took me for a lovely Lucques lunch, and we've vowed to treat ourselves to at least one gourmet lunch a month in the coming year. Today is his birthday, so I wanted to create something yummy. After all, he got me an autographed copy of the new Bon Appetite cookbook for Christmas!!!

Grated in all its glory....

Although I thought to make something out of the cookbook, another idea hit me. My parents gave me a one pound chunk of the best cheddar cheese I have ever tasted - Hook's 10-year Cheddar- for Christmas. Although I'd love nothing more than to consume the entire brick by myself (J is out of town for a month), my metabolism would probably stop dead in its tracks and I'd be calling Jenny Craig. I remembered a post I read about cheddar crisps recently and couldn't wait to try my hand at the little crackers.

Oh NOW you're all nice and neat!

I have to say one thing- thank goodness for Cuisinart! I grated 12 ounces of the cheese in a nanosecond, thanks to the grater attachment (no, I don't work for them!). The rest of the ingredients were simply tossed in with the mountain of cheese, blended together, then thrown onto wax paper to be rolled into neat logs. This is the part where I had some trouble since the dough was very sticky and soft. I made two logs (one with cracked black pepper, the other plain) and put them into the freezer.

Looks like butta.....


While waiting for the rolls to harden, I started on what I thought would make a nice accompaniment to the sharp flavor of the crackers. You now know of my love for onions, and I felt that a sweet onion jam would work well with cheddar. I simply sliced six large sweet onions (thanks again, Cuisinart!) and started on the long, slow process of caramelizing them. After adding about a tablespoon of sugar, I just let them do their thing in a bit of butter and olive oil. The entire house smelled amazing! After about 2 hours, the onions had cooked down to a deep, golden brown and I finished it off with a splash of good balsamic and some thyme leaves. After a few pulses in the food processor, the chunky jam was done.

Fluffly, sliced onions........

Beginning stages of browning.....


The cheese logs were now ready to slice and bake. They were very easy to manage now, and I got lots of crackers out of just half the batch (the rest will be saved for this weekend!). After 10 minutes in the oven, the crisps came out golden on the edges and smelling of salty cheese. For the sake of quality control, I tried one (well, maybe more than one) and WOW. When Molly said to use a cheddar that you really like, she was right. The crisps were as good as the cheese. They were, quite honestly, some of the best crackers I had ever tasted. The black pepper ones were even better! Combined with the sweet onion jam, they would make the perfect compliment to a slightly sweet wine, which I also added to the gift.

Freshly baked crackers

I think I'll have to put these crackers into regular rotation in my kitchen. Next time, I will probably chill the dough a bit before trying to form them into logs. The onion jam is something I'll have to make more of as well- I think it would be fantastic with some good ham and gruyere on a sandwich, or even stuffed in a pork chop. I'll include the "recipe" here although I'm sure you could make a batch using any herbs you like, or even a splash of red wine.

Sweet Onion Jam
(makes about 1 1/2 cups)

6 large Vidalia, Maui or other sweet onion
2 TBS butter
1 TBS olive oil
1 TBS brown sugar
2 tsp chopped fresh thyme leaves
Splash of balsamic vinegar

Thinly slice the onions. Set aside.

In a large, stainless sauce pan (don't use Teflon- you won't get good caramelization), heat the butter and olive oil until melted. Add the onions, add the sugar and sauté on medium-low heat until they turn a nice golden brown. Add a splash of balsamic (it will sizzle) and stir well, finish with thyme leaves. Pulse in a food processor a couple of times until you get desired consistency. Spread on anything, enjoy!

Happy Birthday D!!!!!!!!!!!

The Best Restaurant in Los Angeles: Bistro K, South Pasadena


Alright alright- now before you all get into a tizzy with your own opinions on what the best restaurant in LA is, let me explain. Of course I haven't been to EVERY restaurant in our large city. I'm sure that many of you think the tasting menu at Spago or Urasawa are generally thought of as the best cuisine LA has to offer. This may be true as I have sampled neither. However, I just have to say that Bistro K puts out amazingly creative, delicious, artfully prepared and absolutely delicious food at astoundingly reasonable prices. The fact that you must bring your own wine (they don't have a license) and get charged nothing for corkage is an added bonus. It's unusual to find such consistently innovative, playful and scrumptious food at a tiny, local place like Bistro K. There's no Hollywood starlet getting drunk in the bar (there IS no bar), no agent-types ordering fat free mineral water and not a single valet in sight. It's just a teeny, blink-and-you'll-miss-it space attached to the South Pasadena Playhouse. Whoda thunk that this hole in the wall cranks out some of LA's finest cuisine? Now, on to the food!

Let's get this party started........

Bistro K has two seatings if you want to sit inside- the first starts at 5:30 or 6:00 pm but you must be done by 8:00 pm when the second seating starts. Outdoor seating has no restrictions but, even with heat lamps, the patio can be quite cold in the winter. J and I opted to go at 6:00 pm, with a bottle of Bollinger in hand. After we were seated, our waitress carefully explained that there was a five course tasting menu available, as well as an eight course, although there probably wouldn't be enough time for the latter. There were so many delightful sounding things on the regular menu that we chose to order a la carte.

After we placed our order, we were given the "bread basket" of three crostini served with a creamy tarragon goat cheese spread. This hasn't changed since we started going to Bistro K a couple of years ago and something we really enjoy. It went perfectly with the champagne as well.



J started with the Bistro K salad. Talk about simple perfection. Loads of the freshest, highest quality produced simply dressed with a very light vinaigrette. Watercress, arugula, butter lettuce and Belgium endive piled onto a plate- could anything look more appetizing? Each leaf burst with flavor and we knew that we'd never want an average salad again. Yup- a salad without whistles and bells got me THIS excited. It was as if everything was picked from the garden and plated within the last ten minutes.

Beautiful, fresh salad....

After we polished off the greens, J's appetizer of Scrambled Egg, Vodka Cream Scented with Jasmine, Topped with American Sevruga came to the table, the black caviar glittering in the soft candlelight like tiny beads of onyx. (ok, are you laughing now? I think I'll stop trying to wax poetic from now on). Let's just say it looked beautiful, and tasted even better. Creamy soft scrambled eggs placed back into its shell and topped with salty caviar....talk about a match made in heaven for a glass of bubbly. My Sweet Potatoes Puree Millefeuille Layered with Smoked Haddock From Scotland and a Splash of Green Tea Sabayon gave the caviar a serious run for its money in both the looks and taste department. The combo of the salty smoked fish and the smooth, sweet puree was seriously addictive. I think I have to order it again on my next visit since I've been thinking about it ever since.

J's scrambled egg with caviar

My smoked haddock with sweet potato puree.....

For my main course, I couldn't resist ordering the Braised Beef Cheeks in Beer, Pumpkin Spätzle, Oven Braised Rutabaga and Turnips. I have a rule- when beef cheeks appear on a menu, I must order it. Cheeks are some of the tastiest of animal or fish parts, and this was no different. The meat was tender and falling apart, its juices coating the toothsome spatzle......and I thought to myself, "Pinch me, I think I'm dreaming."

Beloved beef cheeks with special spätzle

J's Slow cooked kid goat served in a crispy flour tortilla, Garlic and Shallot Confit Nage with Fresh Cilantro, Green onion Gratin with Chard and Asiago Cheese was equally delicious. Think Gourmet Burrito. The toasted flour tortillas were stuffed with only the tender and flavorful goat- no filler- and served with a braised green onion topped with a light sprinkling of cheese. All of the flavors combined so well, and was so reminiscent of the classic meat/tortilla/grilled green onion dishes you find at many Mexican restaurants, only better. Another dish we'll have to order again before the menu changes.

Kid goat never tasted so good........

Although we barely had room for dessert, J ordered the pear tartin. I have to say....this was the only disappointment as the pear was not as tender as we would have liked. The flavors were there, but it was difficult to slice through the fruit since it was undercooked in the middle.

The so-so dessert

Overall, the Bistro K dining experience is something that every food lover should experience. The quality is unbeatable and you'll always get something that you've probably never had elsewhere. The service is top notch and you get the feeling that the small staff truly believe in and admire the chef- the pride in their faces is obvious. It may not be the most glamorous of spaces or in a hot, trendy neighborhood, but Bistro K, to me, is the best restaurant in Los Angeles right now.


BISTRO K
1000 Fremont Avenue
South Pasadena, Ca 91030
626 799 5052

Akemashite Omedetou! (Happy New Year!)


The picture on the left signals leaving the old year; the one on the right signals walking into a new one.


I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year's celebration. I can hardly believe it's 2007 already.....in some ways, it makes me feel old but I suppose having that perspective isn't a positive way to start a new year, so I'll stop. I certainly hope that 2007 will be filled with as many happy times as 2006 was. I'm very lucky to have such a wonderful family, good health all around, a job that I truly love, fantastic coworkers, fabulous food and this blog on which to share it all with you!






J and I celebrated New Year's Eve with friends and lots of champagne. The next day, we went over to my parents for a Japanese New Year's meal. It isn't exactly osechi ryori since it does have quite a few raw items, but it's tradition in our family and we look forward to it every year. My mom always makes a nice big batch of her famous shimesaba (which is J's favorite food), and it just gives us a chance to enjoy lots of different Japanese items.

We arrived to quite a spread- there was hamachi (yellow tail), chu toro (fatty tuna)sake (salmon), ika (squid), the aforementioned saba (mackerel) and hirame (halibut) sashimi; renkon no kimpira (sautéed lotus root), kobu maki (bundles of sweet, marinated seaweed), kuro mame with chestnuts (sweet black beans), tazukuri (small dried sardines), kamaboko (fish cake) and chawanmushi (savory egg custard). We could hardly wait to dig into all of the beautiful goodies!

Hamachi and ika

This year, my mom included a new dish- deep fried yuzu filled with crab salad. She got the recipe out of an old Japanese cookbook, and it was one of the most interesting dishes I have ever seen. After hollowing out yuzu fruit, she filled them with a crab salad, put the yuzu "lid" back on and then deep fried the entire thing. After draining, she sliced each of the two yuzu in half, drizzled each with some thickened dashi (stock) and served. It was so delicious, with the aroma or the yuzu permeating the salad. What a great idea!

Yuzu being deep fried....

The fried yuzu.......

Split and doused with dashi sauce...

We ate and ate until we could hardly eat another bite, and it was all so delightful. Your mouth never tires of any one thing since you're eating so many different flavors and textures. I'd eat like this every day if I had the time to make so many dishes!











I know there are lots of photos in this post, but it was just so beautifully done that I had to share. Thanks Mom, for a delicious meal!



And to all of you, dear readers, HAPPY NEW YEAR!


Here's to a delicious 2007!!!