Another sandwich to envy..

I showed you my amazingly delicious lunch sandwich on Monday. Now I present to you my equally if not far more amazing breakfast sandwich.

Whenever I go out to my favorite brunch places, I invariably order the fried egg sandwich.* I think it's the French-influence-on-Vietnamese-cuisine influence on me. I grew up eating fried egg with soy sauce and a slice of french bread for breakfast. Something about the savory taste, the runny yolk, the fresh bread...nothing is quite as satisfyingly long-lasting in the breakfast department.

I finally had the brilliant idea of making my own fried egg sandwich the other day. We bought some fresh sourdough bread and I fried turkey bacon and then fried my egg in the bacon grease (highly recommended!), toasted the bread with pepperjack cheese, layered it with pesto and mixed greens, and viola! An instant feast was born.

Served with a big mug of Nick's Intelligentsia coffee :) It's definitely my new favorite breakfast. I love it!


In case you're interested, here's a link to How-To Basics on Frying Eggs. It was a total dumb-blonde-in-the-kitchen moment when I realized I may have never fried an egg before. I panicked and had to google it :-P

I have yet another amazing breakfast item to share with you: Baked Oatmeal. I LOVE oatmeal for breakfast and I think I ate my weight in it at Yale where there was always two barrels waiting for you in the dining hall every morning. I confess I haven't eaten it often since...it takes time to make it and the result is never nearly as hearty, thick, and gooey as the Yale version. I use steelcuts, I add butter, maple syrup, whole milk, etc. and somehow the creaminess is still lackluster. This recipe doesn't necessarily make up for that directly but indirectly, it's an even better version of oatmeal. You prepare a tray once, have it ready for the rest of the week's breakfasts, and it's crispy instead of just mushy!

This is delicious and filling. I used blueberries and strawberries but you can use any type of fruit you want! I can't wait to try apple cinnamon, pear honey, etc. etc. :D

*My favorite fried egg sandwich is from Huckleberry, one of my two favorite restaurants in LA. I get it on their soft, thick, freshly made multigrain bread instead of the country french (really hard and crispy).

Guess what? More food!

Sometimes I wonder if I should branch out and blog about more than just food. But I quickly think: why should I? Food is my passion and many people's passion. Plus, if I shared all my other passions with you, I think you'd come to find that I'm too schizophrenic and intense to handle. It is my husband's job to deal with that :)

I have some more fantastic dishes to share with you, as promised! The first is a delicious salmon dish. Nick and I have been splurging on at least one "fish" dinner a dish. It's a splurge because it's pricey to pay for wild-caught fish but definitely worth the money. It tastes so much more fresh and less fishy.

This is another recipe from one of my favorite food websites: thekitchn.com. I chose it because it uses lime  (Well, it uses lemon but I used lime) and cilantro in vinaigrette form, dressed over the salmon. Nick and I love such flavors (predominant in Mexican and Vietnamese cuisines, which are probably our favorite cuisines along with Italian for me). It's also served over a bed of couscous, my new favorite grain to eat because it's so freakin' fast to prepare! No more waiting 45 minutes for the long-grain rice to cook (though I will always love rice because I'm asian, doh)!

Salmon with Couscous and Cilantro Vinaigrette was really healthy and tasty. A+!! I can't say anything bad about it and won't take 20 minutes to say everything good about it because I kind of want to finish this post and keep drinking my grapefruit vodka drink.

The second dish is another pasta dish with a simple tomato sauce! I don't think I will ever grow tired of eating pasta. Nick is pretty hard to please when it comes to pasta though, so I always make an effort to mix it up in terms of the sauce and the pasta shape (but he still claims they're all the same somehow! What?! Bowtie pasta with tomato-garlic sauce is NOT the same as penne with pesto sauce!).

The following ended up tasting very similar to the arrabiata sauce I made last week but Nick and I both loved it. I love making sauces from scratch just because it feels so accomplished. To be honest, I don't think they taste that much better than the Trader Joe's sauces I've bought before, but they're not that hard either. Just buy some canned tomatoes, throw in some spices like garlic, basil, and salt, and you're pretty much set.

Finally, I'll end with a sandwich that I love to make for my lunch. I used to dislike sandwiches because my experience with them was limited to limp sandwich bread, American cheese, and a slice of boring ham. I never even ate that, I just saw kids' lunches at school that had those ugly sandwiches in them and wanted to run. But now I've discovered the world of chicken pesto sandwiches and Italian cold cut sandwiches and I am in love.

This lovely concoction is made from Trader Joe's ciabatta bread, arugula, Pink Lady apples, gouda slices, and salami and prosciutto. I also added Dijon Mustard, Olive oil, cracked peppercorn, and pesto from Trader Joe's. Yes, you can shoot me now for enjoying such an amazing lunch meal everyday at work.

TheKitchn.com Covers Two of our Favorite Gadgets!

Someday Oprah will interview me because I will be a famous chef/restauranteur/traveling food journalist/baker. She'll ask me what my favorite kitchen gadgets are. These are not my essentials (essentials would probably be my smoothie maker which doubles as a food processor, a saucepan, and my baking trays) but we end up using them just as much as we do the essentials. These are the fun and fabulous kitchen items and the best part is they're affordable! 

The Bialetti

This is the classic Italian coffee maker which makes espresso and espresso-flavored (and strength) coffee. We use high-quality beans (when we ran out of Italian espresso we bought some Intelligentsia) and Nick makes some of the best coffee we've ever had right in our kitchen. Probably 99% of all Italian households have one (that is not a statistic that should be quoted).

Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker

This was my favorite off-the-registry gift! I use it for grapefruit sorbet when we want a healthy dessert, and have used it for cookies and cream gelato during a dinner party. I can't wait to try thekitchn.com's Coffee Ice Cream recipe this week (using the bialetti for the coffee, of course!) and some frozen yogurt as soon as possible. It is a wonderful dessert to concoct for guests because surprisingly few people own one (even though they're quite affordable! $40!) and homemade ice cream tastes infinitely better than store bought :) The combination of flavors is endless


More recipes coming soon (as in later tonight!)

The Best (Homemade) Burger and Chicken Enchiladas

I have a list of recipes that make the dinner round every other week or so. These include classics like pizza, pasta, stir fries, curries, etc....the simple dishes that just don't get old because you can vary them so much. One I haven't mentioned is the burger. Now, it seems silly to make homemade burgers when LA may be the reigning city of burger hotspots (my favorite by far is Umami!). But homemade burger are soooo much better. They taste healthier and cleaner but still have all the bulk and flavor of a restaurant burger.


Usually, I use Trader Joe's Chile-Lime Chicken burger patties (they're delicious and a healthy alternative to beef patties) but this time I saw some Kobe Beef patties in their freezer section. It came in the same size box but when I came home, instead of holding four patties (like the chicken one) it had TWO THICK SLABS OF RED MEAT.

This meat was fabulous. Juicy, tasty (I didnt need to flavor it with more than salt and pepper) and ridiculously gourmet. It tasted more gourmet than those Umami burgers I praise incandescently.

I *always* serve burgers with red bell peppers and onions sliced thinly and sautéed in abundant olive oil and salt and pepper. The cheese varies depending on which 5 cheeses I decided to buy from Trader Joes that week (pepperjack for this week!) and the bun is usually the Honey Whole Wheat from TJ's. However, in addition to these brand new kobe patties, I also noticed new pretzel buns (!!!). That combined with the kobe beef made our regular burger night so much more memorable.

I also recently made the best chicken enchiladas we've had to date using a slow-cooker recipe from Martha Stewart. The recipe is actually for tacos but I rolled these with shredded smoked gouda cheese (just to be different) in flour tortillas and topped with Trader Joe's amazing enchilada sauce+their red tomatillo salsa and topped again with more cheese. I put them in the oven at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes and we had about 18 huge, juicy, and delicious enchiladas. The chicken was the star of the show and it's usually....not. It is usually just shredded roast chicken but in this case, it was so flavorful and tender!

Oh, you can see I tossed diced green chilies in there as well (from Trader Joe's, duh!)

I need to step up my baking game! I am semi-glad that I've transitioned from being completely obsessed with baking to gratifyingly enthralled with real food dishes, but I miss all my sweets! Truthfully, I always have something sweet in the house but lately it's just been brownies or, as is the case now, Zingerman's. I am desperately searching for new "classic" cookie or bar recipes so let me know if you have a favorite. Those are just the ones that we tend to favor (over cake, cupcake, or fancier desserts).

I have much more to share so check back soon! And do me a favor  and spread the word about this blog : ) I have an itch to garner more attention for the blog/myself. Is that too honest? Oops.

I Feel Awesome!

I have to say that the multitude of dishes I have to share with you in the next couple days is AMAZING. I am always trying out new dishes and they almost always turn out incredible, but something about the recent string of delicious recipes makes me think it must be ME. I am an amazing chef.

Actually, as true as that may be, I think I'm also just surrounded by easy-to-please and loving friends and family. My sisters were in town this weekend and loved everything I made for the brunch party. They're sweethearts :)

Brunch was truly delicious. As I've mentioned before, I always try to make not-so-carb-centric brunches, even though I'm plenty happy with those. I could eat french toast, muffins, pancakes, and scones all day (and oftentimes I do). Last time I made brunch, we had muffins, breakfast pizza, and peanut butter pancakes, an attempt to include protein and other sources of calories. This time, I made homemade cinnamon rolls, a Mexican breakfast casserole, and apple gouda cookies. Gourmet much? Decidedly so.

 

I have wanted to make homemade cinnamon rolls for FOREVER. I literally have 15 cinnamon roll recipes saved in my inbox, from Ina Garten's to Martha Stewart's to TheKitchn's version of this heavenly breakfast dessert.  I ended up using this "quick cinnamon rolls" recipe because most require yeast and time for the dough to rise and I was making these in the 40 minutes I had between the end of church and the start of brunch.  Plus, they're from the Moosewood Collections which is an amazing cookbook of vegetarian dishes. I trusted this recipe blindly. 

These cinnamon rolls were the BEST I'VE EVER HAD. I LOVED them. I don't think I will try another recipe unless I *have* to or out of simple curiosity. This dough, thanks to the heavy cream, was not like any other cinnamon roll I've had. Usually, they're light and fluffy. This was thick, dense, biscuit-y yet uber moist. Perfection. The filling was also perfect, the icing delicious....these did not last long once they were out of the oven. CLASSIC.

This Mexican Breakfast Casserole was a true winner. I knew it the second my pint-sized, 85-lb younger sister went for seconds (each piece was the size pictured above). It was tasty, hearty and filling yet healthy and light, and ridiculously easy to eat. You just finish it without even realizing it! This casserole is layers of flour tortilla and egg mix which includes eggs, milk, seasonings, bell peppers, onions, green chilies, corn, and pepperjack cheese! We topped with hot sauce and salsa for a beautiful brunch dish. 

I didn't even mention that the best part about it was the slowcooker did all the work! YAY!

I've been wanting to make these Apple Gouda cookies for just about as long as I've wanted to make cinnamon rolls. They definitely seem refined and more adult, so I was waiting for the right crowd/occasion. Since we started with such a sugary appetizer (cinnamon rolls) I wanted to end the meal with something more temperate in taste. These cookies were so interesting to make...imagine me making a cookie that doesn't have sugar, uses olive oil instead of butter, and involves shredding cheese. But I knew in my heart of hearts, it would turn out great because these flavors just intuitively go together. 

The oatmeal, the raisins, the gouda, the apple chunks...it all coalesced just like the rest of brunch did. We spent hours sitting and talking with the doors wide open, drinking amazing iced coffees made by Nick, and then napping. :) Can't ask for much more!

Eating Italian Continues

I guess after our weeklong dedication to Vietnamese cuisine, we subconciously decided to move to our next favorite country: Italy (actually, the two flip flop a lot, but they're definitely in the top two or share the #1 spot).

In addition to last week's pizza and orecchiette arrabbiata, we had a double dinner date with my gorgeous and chef-ie friend, Dayna, who gets all the credit for this uniquely flavored and plenty flavorful pasta dish. I've never had a pumpkin-based pasta sauce before, nor have I ever been really inclined to eat pumpkin in any way, but this was really fantastic! This is why I love eating other people's food...they cook dishes like Pasta with Pumpkin and Sausage that I would never think to make!

 I also made a mushroom risotto upon Nick's request. He loves risotto dishes, and I'm so happy because they are filling and hearty and I love them too! I can't wait to make an asparagus risotto (among other asparagus dishes now that one of our favorite vegetables is in season again) but this porcini mushroom risotto with truffle oil drizzled on top has my stomach feeling pretty smug and happy on the risotto front for at least a week :)

Truffle oil makes everything amazing. I highly recommend investing in a little bottle. Cook some potatoes with it, put some on your omelette...you will be amazing at what a couple drops of it will do to your dish!

Drink post coming soon...after a weekend of lounging at the beach (temperature's in the mid-80s all weekend!), eating out with my sisters (Hi, Stephie and Kathlynn!), and hosting a brunch party :) Have a wonderful weekend, friends!

Happy Friday!

Even though I only had a four-day work week, it felt like a longer-than-normal five-day work week. I am more than glad to welcome this windy, cool weekend in Los Angeles. It actually feels colder than it has all winter but I look forward to multiple brunch dates (how did I manage to schedule three over the course of two days??), a double date dinner party with the coolest married couple besides us, and lots of resting in between socializing. :)

I've made this dish before but it has definitely been at least a year or so since we've last had it at home. After coming home from Santa Barbara and eating all that fish, I craved carbs. So I made Penne Arrabiata by a recent favorite author and chef Mark Bittman (surprise, surprise). Like my fellow blogger who used Fusilli instead of Penne, I substituted Orrechiette for the penne simply because it's my favorite pasta.

I lacked white wine (used a rosé instead) and tomato paste (no substitution) but this dish still turned out to be incredible satisfying.  I increased the red chili pepper flakes from 1 tsp to 1 T. Judging from Nick's sweating, I think I'll just double it next time instead of almost quadrupling it. :)

I love the "hat-shaped" pasta! We paired this with a wine from Santa Barbara and a big salad and some freshly baked Zingerman's dark chocolate cookies for a delightful dinner.


I may have posted about this about 12 dozen times before but I just felt sooo compelled to take another photo of my pizza and post about it again. By "my" pizza, I mean I buy the original pizza dough, unrefridgerated pizza sauce, organic arugula, mozzarella, and German-imported prosciutto from Trader Joe's and simply assemble it and bake it.

It's probably our favorite meal. We eat it almost every week, vary the ingredients, and have some of the best pizza I've ever had outside of Italy. Even comparable to the miraculous pizzas in Italy.

Some pizza tips for amazing pizza:

1. Let the dough rest at room temperature for 20 minutes
2. Don't roll the dough. I just stretch it with my hands, which I think allows for air pockets (that form during resting) to remain in the crust and bake into crust bubbles :)
3. Use plenty of sauce.
4. Schmear olive oil on your pan before putting the crust on it.

Bon apetit! Have a great weekend friends :)

Sometimes a Picture is NOT Worth a Thousand Words

The Vietnamese snobbery continues this week with two more star dishes from Mark Bittman's book "The Best Recipes in the World." Nick and I loved these two dishes just as much as we did the papaya salad and the "ca kho" or caramelized catfish. They're not too different in texture, taste, and content from the first two we ate, but the subtle variations are just distinct enough to warrant our great admiration and pleasure for Vietnamese cuisine.

Sadly though, neither dish was very photogenic. The first is a Mango Salad with ground turkey (in lieu of ground pork). It was brightly flavored with strong hints of lime and of course mango. We actually ate it with brown rice and it made for a very filling, spicy yet cool, and unique dinner.

I highly recommend this dish. You'll need green mangoes (and a reliable husband to mandolin slice them!), thai green chilies, fish sauce, lime, and brown sugar. That's basically it! If you're vegetarian or vegan, just use tofu or don't use anything--just have a mango salad!

The next dish is just as sad in the photogenic department, but I swear it's amazing!

Those are two swordfish steaks cooked in a fish sauce syrup. You would think that between four dishes that all rely heavily on fish sauce, we'd get tired of the main flavor, but the fish sauce really ebbs and flows in terms of its presence. Incidentally, this dish tasted more like it's secondary ingredients like tamarind sauce and lemongrass (a personal favorite!!! I love using lemongrass in dishes!! It smells so succulent!).

I will try to make more colorful and delicious looking dishes soon! I'm also working on a special post on alcoholic drinks! Nick and I are so blessed to be able to enjoy decadent meals every single night together and we've let you peek at almost every part of each meal from the salad/appetizer to the main course to the much heralded dessert but we've yet to share our favorite drinks with you! We drink alcohol every single night...yes, we are that dependent. Actually, we don't have more than a cup (well, Nick has two) of whatever it is we're drinking but we find that it is the perfect ending to a long day at work and a delicious meal. I'll shut up now and save the rest for the actual post, but stay tuned for that and the usual food adventures that comprise our daily life :)