Cooking the perfect (looking) egg


Sometimes you get asked to food style a small commercial.  Sometimes, for said commercial, you have to make lots of eggs that will look perfect, and will also perfectly slide out of a pan.  In addition to those perfect looking eggs, you have to make perfect omelets, steaks, hamburgers, cakes, stir fry, roast chicken, pot roast, pancakes, breakfast meats, and more.

I won't bore you with all of the details of the surreal experience that my assistant and I had styling this shoot.  We absolutely learned a lot about making both good-looking and bad-looking food.  I also believe that the producers are kind, hard-working, well-meaning folks.

That said, I knew the day would be wacky from the get-go.  First, I stepped in dog poo while loading up my car with equipment (please, for the love of everyone, clean up after your dog).  Then, I got a deep paper cut on my finger.  I had a weird feeling in my stomach about the rest of the day. The shoot itself took place in a home in North Hollywood, in a small kitchen, we had over 50 set-ups, and the crew meal was from Subway.  If you work in the entertainment industry, this description of the day is all you really need to know.  For those of you not in this crazy business, I'll just add that over the course of our day, the director and director of photography never referred to us by our names.  As my assistant said, "All they had to do is learn one of our names and we both would have responded. Just say "Sonya, can you (blank)? And we both would have done it." Instead, for 10 hours we were referred to directly and indirectly as "girls."  Hey girls, we need the omelets. Girls, where is the chicken? Girls can you stop moving while we're trying to shoot this, but can you also keep moving so we have something to shoot immediately after this? It was a challenging shoot for everyone.

Moving on... the point of this post is about how to make beautiful looking eggs.  Making pretty eggs should not be confused with making delicious eggs.

If you're a nerd about food, or have a hobbyist's interest in food styling, then you should immediately go get this book by Delores Custer.  Food Styling: The Art of Preparing Food for the Camera has taught me an invaluable amount of tips and tricks that might have otherwise taken me years of trial and error to discover on my own.  Want to know what pancake batter makes the best looking pancakes? Delores will tell you (it's Aunt Jemima's Complete Buttermilk Blend).  Want to know how to give that omelet structure and lift? Delores knows (you can do it by using a hard taco shell inside, or by using a folded up damp paper towel).

Eggs are tricky suckers.  Many a culinary professional has claimed that a chef can be judged by how well they can cook an egg.  So how do you get that commercial quality look out of your sunny-side up egg?

How to Make a "Perfect Looking" Sunny-Side Up Egg:
1) Use refrigerated eggs
2) Fill a nonstick pan with enough vegetable oil to cover the white of the egg (about a 1/4-inch deep)
3) Heat the oil slowly on low until it the oil reaches 160°F. Oil that is too hot will cause the egg white to bubble. If the oil is too cold the egg will take a very long time to cook.
4) Break the egg into the pan.  You can position the yolk into the center of the white by nudging it with the shell of the egg (P.S. using the shell is a great way to get broken shell out of an egg once you've cracked it... much easier than by using a spoon or fork).
5) Using a spoon, baste the white of the egg with the oil form the pan.
6) Once all of the white is firm, remove the egg from the pan and transfer it to a sheet pan that is lined with plastic.  Or if you don't want the egg to move around, blot the bottom of the egg with paper towel before transferring it onto a plate.

I'm not sure how valuable this information is outside of learning to make food for the camera, but who knows? Maybe you can make perfect looking eggs as a decorative centerpiece for a brunch party?! These eggs can sit out and look the same all day long. Maybe this is a cool party trick that you can use to impress your friends?  Maybe this is extra information that you'd rather soon forget?

Just remember: this is one instance where you shouldn't eat with your eyes. This egg is just for looks.

Turkey Bolognese



You want to eat a healthy and easy to make version of a classic rich Italian meat sauce...
Make Turkey Bolognese!

Let's be clear: bolognese is traditionally eaten with tagiatelle or in a lasagne alla bolognese.  Bolognese is also traditionally made with beef, or beef and veal, or beef and pork, or some combination of the three.  

I read several dozen bolognese recipes, and here are the dominant ingredients across recipes:
  1. Celery, carrot, and onion finely diced and sweated
  2. Some kind of ground and browned meat
  3. Some kind of tomato element (paste/canned tomatoes)
The second most common set of ingredients appear to be:
  1. Dry Red Wine
  2. Garlic
  3. Milk
  4. Pancetta
When it comes to food, I'm not a stickler about tradition. I care about what tastes good, and I also care about what makes you feel good.  Rich dishes have a time and a place, but on a regular weekday night I don't want to be weighed down by a heavy meal. I tend to eat meat minimally or sometimes not at all; when I do eat meat, I tend to stick to lighter proteins.  

Thus, turkey came to play a role in this classic Italian meat sauce. Instead of tagiatelle, I had whole wheat spaghetti on hand.  I would have preferred to use spaghetti squash in lieu of the noodles, but the store was out.  Regardless, this is a great meat sauce that you could put on almost any starch or vegetable.  Frankly, if you're an obsessive tomato sauce eater like myself, you might just want to eat it straight out of the pot.

One note about this dish, the longer you cook the sauce, the better it will taste. It will taste even better the next day.  I was short on time, but simmering the sauce for a full hour worked well... 2-3 hours total would have been even better.

Turkey Bolognese
Serves 4-6

Ingredients
olive oil
1 large carrot, diced fine
1 large onion, diced fine
3 celery ribs, diced fine
1 large shallot, diced fine
3 cloves of garlic, minced fine
4 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 lb. ground turkey meat (organic, mix of dark and white)*
1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika (optional)
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flake, plus more to serve alongside the pasta
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 bay leaf
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes, San Marzano*
2 cups low sodium organic chicken broth
1 cup red wine, Bordeaux*
kosher salt
freshly ground pepper
Flat leaf italian parsley, roughly chopped
1 lb. whole wheat spaghetti (or any pasta you fancy)

Directions
Prep all of your ingredients for the sauce.  Start by finely dicing your carrot, onion and celery.  You can also do this by mincing them in a food processor. Mince your garlic.  Take the leaves off of the stems of thyme.  Open your bottle of wine, the can of crushed tomatoes, and the tomato paste.

Add a few tablespoons of olive oil to a large pot or Dutch oven.  Add your carrot, onion and celery mixture to the pot, and sweat them over medium heat for 10 minutes.  Add the shallot and garlic, and continue to sweat the vegetables for 6-8 minutes longer until they are softened and just beginning to brown.  Transfer the vegetable mixture to a bowl and set aside.

To the same pot, add your ground turkey.  Add a tablespoon of kosher salt to the meat, as well as as 2 teaspoons of freshly ground pepper.  Break the meat apart with a wooden spoon (you don't want big clumps of meat) and cook the ground turkey until it is browned. Add the vegetables back to the pot.  Add the thyme, paprika, chili flakes and bay leaf to the mixture.  Next, add the tomato paste, and thoroughly mix the paste into the mixture so that everything is coated.  Add the crushed tomatoes, chicken stock, and red wine to the pot. Season with a teaspoon of kosher salt (you can add more later).  Bring the mixture up to a simmer.  Partially cover the pot with a lid, and simmer the sauce for at least 1 hour, or up to 3 hours.  Every 20 minutes or so, check to make sure the sauce is gently simmering and stir it.  If the sauce looks dry, add more chicken stock. If you taste the sauce and want more flavor, you can also add a little extra red wine. As the sauce cooks, it will thicken and deepen in flavor.

For a more traditional bolognese (but not kosher), heat up a cup of whole milk in a separate saucepan. Add the warm milk to the sauce for the last 20-30 minutes of the sauces' cooking time. You can also start this dish by browning pancetta in the beginning, taking the browned pancetta out of the pan and reserving it, sweating the vegetables in the oil from the pancetta, and adding the browned pancetta to the sauce when you add the crushed tomatoes and liquids.

After an hour, check your sauce for seasoning.  Add more salt or pepper as needed.  
Your sauce should be thick, meaty, and incredibly yummy.

When your sauce is ready, let it simmer just a little longer while you prepare your pasta.  Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Cook your pasta al dente, according to the instructions on the box. Drain the pasta and return it to the pot it was cooked in.

Add big spoonfuls of sauce to the pasta in the pot.  Add enough so that the pasta is generously coated with the bolognese.  Plate your pasta, and garnish with a little extra sauce and some roughly chopped flat leaf parsley.

You will have leftover sauce, which you will be extremely happy about. It will keep in the fridge for a few days.  Alternatively, you can freeze it and use it in future belly-warming meals.

Notes on ingredients:
- You can also sub turkey meat with 6 oz. veal + 6 oz. beef, or all beef, or all chicken, or whatever your heart desires
- The quality of the canned tomatoes you use is wildly important to the outcome of the sauce.  I highly recommend using a San Marzano tomato (comes in different brands). I like Cento
- Make sure your wine is drinkable; it doesn't have to be expensive, but it does have to taste good

Roasted Romanesco with Green Garlic


Romanesco is a uniquely fractal looking vegetable that appears to be a futuristic cross between a broccoli and a cauliflower.  Its taste is similar in flavor and texture to cauliflower, but it comes in a brilliant green hue.

I love all vegetables in a myriad of preparations, but above all else I love my vegetables perfectly and simply roasted with little more than olive oil, salt, and freshly ground pepper. If you are feeling adventurous, you can sprinkle fresh herbs or a ground spice on top of your vegetables.  My favorites are rosemary, Garam Masala, or smoked paprika (separately, not all together).

Roasted vegetables are made even more perfect when the vegetables are exceptional to begin with.
The other day, my friend Liz brought me some wonderful home grown veggies:
Cabbage, Romanesco, Green Garlic

These guys were delicate, small, and gorgeous. I roasted the romanesco with the green garlic, and I saved the cabbage for a potato and leek soup that I made a few days later.


The green garlic was subtle, and satisfyingly caramelized and sweet.  The Romanesco was tender and mild.  This is a great side for any meal, but I ate it drizzled with some lemon tahini sauce as the main part of my lunch that day.

This dish is as simple as can be, but I've added a recipe for you anyway.  This recipe works with almost any type of vegetable you would like to roast.  The key things to do are: use a hot oven, make sure your vegetables are all cut to the same size, evenly coat them with oil, and flip them halfway through the cooking process.  Enjoy!

Roasted Romanesco with Green Garlic

Ingredients
1 head Romanesco (or Cauliflower)
1 small bunch green garlic (or you could try 3 or 4 cloves of whole garlic)
Olive oil
Kosher or flake salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions
Preheat the oven to 425°F.

Prepare the Romanesco by cutting it into large florets or into evenly-sized slices.  Keep the pieces of Romanesco the same size so that they all cook in the same amount of time. Roughly chop the green garlic.

Place the garlic and Romanesco on a sheet pan.  Drizzle with olive oil (about 2 tablespoons).  Toss lightly with your hands, make sure each piece is evenly coated in oil.  If the vegetables do not look slightly shiny with oil, add more until they are fully coated. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the veggies.

Roast in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the Romanesco is tender and caramelized on the outside. The cooking time will depend on your oven and the vegetable itself.  After 10 minutes, check the veg, and once it has started to brown on one side, take the pan out of the oven and flip each piece over. Place the sheet pan back in the oven so that the other side gets browned as well. The second side will brown more quickly than the first.

For a boost of flavor, you can squeeze fresh lemon juice over the veg at the last minute. 






Banana Bread



You have leftover bananas...
Make banana bread, of course!

 Friends and the readers of this blog know how much I love to make loaf breads.  Pumpkin is my go-to, but occasionally I have a pile of overripe bananas laying about, and naturally my mind goes to making banana bread out of them.

I have made countless banana bread recipes over the years, and this recipe is a combination of various tricks and tips I have discovered.   I've added some different ingredients this time around, including: coconut sugar, chia seeds, and a little bourbon.

And I always rely on a technique I picked up from a recipe by Tyler Florence.  He takes half of his bananas, and whips them up with sugar until they are nice and fluffy. Then he adds the other bananas (mashed) to the batter.  This way, you have all that moisture and banana flavor, but you still get delicious little chunks of fruit.  If you can't stand chunks of banana in your banana bread, then just mash your bananas super well before adding them to the batter.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with this recipe. It has huge banana flavor without being too sweet, and it is also incredibly moist.  I might add butter next time, I might use some brown sugar instead of coconut sugar, I might add one less egg, I might add cinnamon or clove (see notes at the bottom of the recipe). There's tons of room to play around. This is a very forgiving recipe.

Enjoy!

Super Moist Banana Bread with Chia Seeds
Makes 1 9x5 loaf

 Ingredients
1 3/4 all purpose flour*
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3 large eggs*
1 cup coconut sugar*
1/4 cup granulated sugar*
5 super ripe bananas, 4 for the batter, 1 for garnish
3/4 cup vegetable or safflower oil*
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon bourbon (optional)
1 tablespoon chia seeds (optional)*


Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9 x 5 loaf pan (I used coconut oil spray or you could just grease it with butter).

Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

Roughly mash 2 of the bananas in a bowl, and set aside.  I like to keep these bananas super chunky, if you don't like banana chunks, mash these guys really well.

With an electric mixer fitted with a whisk, or with a stand mixer, whip 2 of the bananas with both sugars.  Whip for 3 minutes, until you have a fluffy light banana cream.  Coconut sugar makes this a little less fluffy than regular granulated sugar.  If you don't feel like whipping, just use a whisk to thoroughly combine the sugar and bananas.

Add the oil, eggs, vanilla and bourbon to the sugar mixture and mix well with a whisk.

Mix in the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. Be careful not to over mix.  Blend until the flour is just incorporated.

Fold in the mashed bananas and chia seeds.

Pour the batter into the greased loaf pan.  Garnish the top of the loaf with thin slices of banana. Next time I'd probably just scatter a few slices.  When it baked, the sides came out just slightly funny looking, but still delicious.



Bake the banana bread for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a cake tester (or skewer) comes out clean when you test the center.

Cool the bread in the pan for 10 minutes, and then remove the loaf from the pan and let it cool on a wire rack.

Slice it up and serve!


*Notes
-Could sub AP flour with some whole wheat flour 
-Eggs could be reduced down to 2
-Coconut sugar can be replaced with 1 cup granulated sugar - I like the flavor of the coconut sugar, but I don't think it's essential. It is now available at lot's of grocery stores, including Trader Joe's
-1/4 cup granulated sugar could be substituted with light brown sugar for a more molasses flavor, especially if you skip the coconut sugar
-3/4 cup oil could be substituted with 3/4 cup of unsalted butter, melted
- I love chia seeds in baked goods, usually they add a nice texture.  They were barely detectable in this, but they may have contributed to the overall moisture.  You could definitely skip this ingredient.





Get Well Chicken Soup



You're under the weather...
Make chicken soup!

Jewish law mandates that chicken soup is the cure-all for cold and flu season afflictions.  My mother always passionately advises, "It's a natural antibiotic!"  Whether its medicinal effects are psychosomatic or scientifically proven, this soup has healing properties. If you're feeling perfectly fine, it's also just a great dish on a cold winter day.

When I was growing up,  every Friday night my mom made her hearty chicken noodle soup.  On every Jewish holiday, my grandmother made her elegant and crystal clear chicken broth with large floating matzoh balls, garnished with fresh dill. My soup is influenced by both of their recipes, but just as they deviated from each other, I too have come up with my own methodology. You can make chicken soup a thousand different ways, and this is my simple, hard-to-mess-up recipe.

Get Well Chicken Soup
Serves 4-6

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large carrot, medium dice
1 large yellow onion, medium dice
2 medium celery stalks, medium dice
2 large cloves of garlic, finely minced
kosher salt
freshly ground pepper
1 bay leaf
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1/2 large organic chicken, cut up into parts (I actually used one large breast (BONE-IN), a leg, and two thighs... you could even use a whole chicken, just add more of the other stuff)
2 quarts water
1 bouillon cube (optional)
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped (imperative)
Juice of one lemon (crucial)
1 box quinoa shells (or use regular pasta shells, or any shape you fancy)

Directions:
Prepare all of your ingredients for the soup.  Dice the vegetables, and season the raw chicken with 2 teaspoons of salt, and 2 teaspoons of pepper.

On medium heat, add the olive oil to a large pot or Dutch oven.  Add the diced carrot, onion and celery to the pot, and allow the vegetables to sweat and soften, about 10 minutes.  Add the minced garlic to the vegetables and cook the mixture for 2 more minutes.  Add 1 teaspoon of salt, freshly ground black pepper, bay leaf, and fresh thyme to the softened vegetables.

Add the seasoned chicken parts to the pot.  Add 2 quarts of water, or add enough water to cover the chicken and vegetables by 2 inches.

Bring the soup to a low boil, turn down the heat and simmer the soup for 1 hour or until the chicken is thoroughly cooked through and the flavors have melded together. While the soup is simmering, check on it every so often and skim the top of extra fat with a spoon.  You can add a bouillon cube while the soup simmers if you want more chicken and spice flavor, but this is very optional.  If you do add a bouillon cube, just make sure not to add too much salt.

While the soup is cooking, prepare the pasta in a separate pot according to the instructions on the box.  I like to keep my shells separate from the soup so that they don't get mushy.

Taste the soup, and add salt and pepper as needed.  Once the soup is cooked and seasoned to your liking, turn off the heat.  Using tongs or a slotted spoon, remove the cooked chicken from the pot and transfer to a cutting board.  Remove the meat from the bone, and cut the meat into bite-sized cubes. Add the cubed chicken, the freshly chopped dill and parsley, and the juice of one lemon to the pot. The fresh herbs and lemon add brightness and flavor to the dish. If the soup has cooled too much, bring it back to a low simmer.

To serve, add  the cooked shells to a large soup bowl.  Ladle the piping hot soup onto the shells, sprinkle with any extra dill or parsley, and serve!






Fancy Egg Salad


You have a lot of eggs to use up...
Make egg salad!

Last year, I had the great opportunity of working as a recipe tester on The Lemonade Cookbook. Lemonade is an awesome chain of restaurants in Los Angeles. The cookbook is full of delicious recipes for salads, sandwiches, braises, desserts, and lemonades.

I learned a lot of interesting tricks and ideas while testing the recipes for the book.  One thing that I have permanently adopted is Lemonade's technique for making egg salad. For their egg salad, you separate the yolks from the whites, make a sauce with the yolks, chop up the whites, and fold the whites into the sauce.  Making it this way makes the salad a beautiful yellow golden color. The texture is also smoother, and less clumpy than regular egg salad.

This recipe uses their technique, with slightly different ingredients. I love lemon, but if you don't like lemon, omit it (Lemonade adds pickle juice instead).  The yellow mustard enhances the yellow color of the dish, but if you don't like the flavor of mustard just skip it.  If you omit lemon or mustard, add more mayo.  This egg salad can be made a 100 different ways.

Fancy Egg Salad
Serves 4

Ingredients
6 large eggs
3 tablespoons yellow mustard
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
1/3 cup mayo (Best Foods/Hellmann's)
1 tablespoon capers, drained and chopped
1/2 a small shallot, minced fine 
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped fine (you could use chives or green onions here instead)
Pinch of salt 
Freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions
Put your eggs in a medium sized pot, and fill the pot with enough water to just cover the tops of the eggs.  Bring the water to a boil.  Turn the heat off and cover the pot with a lid.  Leave the eggs in the hot water for 15 minutes.  While the eggs are cooking, prepare an ice bath in a large bowl (ice + water). After 15 minutes, place the eggs into the ice bath.  This will stop the eggs from cooking longer, and it will make them easier to peel.  

While the eggs are cooling, prepare the ingredients for the salad.  Mince the shallot, parsley, and capers and reserve.  

Once the eggs have cooled a bit, peel them.  Carefully, cut the eggs in half.  Remove the egg yolks and place them in a bowl.  Roughly chop the egg whites and reserve.

To the egg yolks add the mustards, mayo, capers, shallot, lemon juice, parsley, and salt and pepper to taste.  Using a fork or a whisk, mix all of the ingredients until they are combined and fairly smooth. If you're super fancy, use a food processor. By hand, my yolk mixture wasn't perfectly smooth, but that didn't matter much to me.
With a spatula, gently fold the egg whites into the yolk mixture.  

Voila! You have super yummy, beautiful-looking egg salad. Put it on a sandwich, serve it with good crackers (I love Mary's), or just eat it as is!








Just put the f*@&ing turkey in the oven



You're hosting Thanksgiving and you're nervous about the turkey...
Watch this video!

This is my favorite instructional video of all time, and Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year.

Like Aunt Marie, I don't do brines, or dry rubs, or any of that stuff. Unlike Marie, I don't use butter (although butter is great, go ahead). Instead, I salt the turkey inside and out, and then I stuff it with a bunch of herbs, onions, garlic, apples, and lemon. I scatter those same aromatics around the bird. I rub the outside of the turkey with olive oil. I add some white wine to the pan. I cover the whole pan in foil. For two thirds of the cooking time, I keep it wrapped in foil.  I un-foil the turkey for the last third of the cooking time in order to let the skin brown. The turkey comes out perfectly moist every time, even the breast! It won't be as brown as if you have it uncovered the entire time, but it also won't end up dry and gross.

Roasting Turkey is super easy. Don't sweat it. Just put it in the f*cking oven.


Savory Cheese and Herb Bread


You want to bake bread without the hassle of yeast...
Make a savory cheese quick bread!

This recipe comes from Dorie Greenspan's incredible cookbook,  Around My French Table.  If you're into French food, and you do not want super complicated obnoxious recipes, Dorie's book is a must-have.  As a bonus, it's exceptionally beautiful to look at.  My father gave it to me as a gift when it first came out in 2010, and since then I have made recipes from the book many many times.  When I first read the book, I was working as a personal chef.  I ended up making a version of her mushroom soup at work, and it quickly became one of the family's favorite dishes.

Until recently, I had never tried this savory cheese and chive bread.  I love making quick breads: pumpkin, apple, pear and chocolate chunk, banana, zucchini, and on and on.  If there is a thing you can put into a batter made of eggs, flour and oil, and then if that batter can be put into a loaf pan, I'll make it. The recipes are so easy, and they are so delicious, that I always feel like I am cheating on "real" baking.  
You can really taste the egg in this bread, and next time I might add more variety of herbs and a different combination of cheeses, but all in all it is a fun recipe to have on hand.  Guests are always impressed with homemade bread, and you do not have to tell anyone how simple it is to make this recipe.*

*I have only made slight alterations to the original recipe

Savory Cheese and Chive Bread
Makes 1 loaf

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
3 large eggs, at room temp
1/3 cup whole milk, at room temp
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil or vegetable oil
1 generous cup coarsely grated Cheddar (you can use Gruyere, Comte, Swiss, or anything you fancy...I used extra sharp white cheddar)
2 ounces cheese cut into very small cubes - use any of the cheeses listed above
1/2 cup minced fresh chives or other herbs (or thinly sliced scallions if you want onion flavor)
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, rough chop


Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F or 175 degrees C.  Generously butter a loaf pan (8 x 4 x 2 3/4)

Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and pepper together in a large bowl.

Put the eggs in a medium bowl and whisk for 1 minute, until they are foamy and blended.


Whisk in the milk and olive oil.

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and, using a sturdy rubber spatula or a wooden spoon, gently mix until the dough comes together.  Be careful not to over-mix the dough, or it will become tough.  Also, do not worry if the dough is not mixed thoroughly, just mix it enough that the dry ingredients are moistened by the wet ingredients.  Stir in the cheese, both grated and cubed, and the herbs.  Pour the dough into a buttered pan, and you can even the top with the back of your spoon or spatula.


Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until the bread is golden and a knife or wooden skewer comes out clean when you stick it into the center.  Place the pan on a cooling rack for 3 minutes, then run a knife around the edges of the pan.  Turn the loaf over onto the rack, invert and cool right side up.

Slice and serve!


Fanny Cradock Cooks



How great is this set? The pace of the show? The lack of editing? The food styling?

Fanny Cradock is quite a culinary character.  She may have sabotaged her career in what is referred to as the Gwen Troak scandal.  Short story: Fanny misadvised Gwen (a contestant winner) on the menu that she was serving to a bunch of British VIPS. She insisted that Gwen change her dessert, and Fanny's dessert ended up being a failure.  In the televised event, Fanny grimaced and made nauseated faces upon hearing Gwen's ideas for her menu (you can see for yourself here at 51 seconds in). The public was very displeased with Fanny's bad behavior.  If the same thing had happened today, I'm sure the incident would have significantly advanced Fanny's career as a celebrity chef guest judge on any number of shows.

Anyhow... I love cooking shows, and I love sassy ladies.  I love that Fanny wears a ball gown when she cooks. I love how she bosses her assistant around and calls her "my darling." I love how clumsily she assembles her dishes. I love her kooky eyebrows, and I love that the name Fanny Cradock sounds absurd, and it wasn't even the woman's real name.

I love the way that food has changed, too. What would adventurous cooking look like today, and how silly will it seem in 50 years?

Roasted Carrots with Dates and Ginger


You have carrots just lying around in your vegetable bin...
Roast them with dates!

A couple of my friends have gotten into the Paleo diet in the last few years.  I have never tried it, but I appreciate that these friends have found the diet to be an effective way to lose weight/eat less processed food/feel better/learn to cook.  As an observer, while skeptical of most diets, I like that Paleo inspires new recipes and ways of eating (especially the plant-based recipes!).

A while back, one of these friends mentioned that he had tried and loved a Paleo recipe for roasted carrots and dates.  This friend has excellent taste in food, so I knew that his rave was meant to be taken seriously.  I made a mental note of the roasted carrot and date idea, and forgot about it for a few months.

The other day, I was at Cookbook in Echo Park, and I saw these beautiful dates:
They're from Bautista Family Organic Date Ranch, and after trying them, I can humbly suggest that they might be the Porsches of the date world.  They have a buttery, sweet, molasses-like taste with a perfectly creamy texture.  

So I had these dates... then I realized I had a ton of carrots in my vegetable drawer. I really don't eat carrots that often. Also, I'm generally not a huge fan of roasted carrot or glazed carrot dishes.  But the stars aligned ingredient-wise, and I was tempted to finally try the recipe.

I looked online, but I couldn't find the recipe my friend had described to me. I could've just asked him for it, but it's always more fun to try to figure something out on your own, right?

I'm pretty happy with the results. I think I'll be cleaning out my veggie drawer carrot surplus more often. 

Roasted Carrots with Dates, Ginger and Cumin
Serves 4

2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
6-7 or 5 cups medium sized carrots, chopped into 1-inch wide chunks cut on the diagnol
5-6 medium sized dates, pitted and roughly chopped
1 inch ginger root, finely diced (use a teaspoon of ginger powder if you don't have fresh ginger)
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon cardamom (I'm obsessed, this is optional)
salt and pepper to taste
chopped cilantro or flat leaf parsley to garnish (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit/ 205 degrees Celsius (hey South African friends!)

In  a small pot or sauce pan, melt the coconut oil. Allow the oil to cool slightly

In a medium bowl, add the carrots, chopped date, and finely diced ginger root. Make sure your carrots are all chopped into roughly the same size so that they cook evenly. Pour the melted and cooled coconut oil over the carrot mixture and toss until everything is thoroughly coated (if your carrots are cold, the oil will solidify, but that's not a big deal).  Sprinkle the cumin, cardamom, salt, and pepper over the mix.  Toss the carrots and dates one more time.

On a lined baking sheet, spread out the carrot mixture.  Make sure the carrots are evenly spread out so that they brown on the tray, if they're all huddled together they'll steam. Bake in the oven for 7-8 minutes, take them out and stir the carrots about, and then place them back in the oven for 7-8 more minutes or until the carrots are nicely browned (browning times will depend on your carrots and your oven... just check on them every 6 minutes or so).

Garnish with chopped cilantro if you feel like a strong herby flavor to cut through the roasted sweetness. Flat leaf parsley is milder. You can skip both entirely if you're not down with fresh herbs.

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This is for T.  I knew it was possible, but never accepted the possibility. 
We are bad dancers with no regrets. Love you, and miss you so much already.


Tim's Kitchen Tips



You need a good laugh...
Watch the best cooking show ever!

 This is a long story mostly un-related to food or cooking, so if you want to skip it, the short story is that I am obsessed with Tim and Eric's cooking web series. I've seen it dozens of times and it still cracks me up. I aspire to make a show of this caliber one day. Enjoy!
...

My dear friend Lauren (co-founder of the internationally acclaimed Sober and Lonely Institute of Contemporary Arts) turned me on to Tim and Eric.  Lauren is a self-described Tim and Eric superfan. Lauren was born and raised in South Africa, and currently resides in Johannesburg.    She has spent the majority of her twenties traveling around the world attending various artist residencies.  Since the spring of 2012, Lauren has visited Los Angeles 3 times. Once, she came here on a special "birthright Los Angeles" trip organized by an artist, who also happens to be one of my best-friends.  The second two times, she came here as part of two different highly prestigious artist residencies.  The girl is a baller!

Jon (the aforementioned artist who organized Lauren's first trip to the States) decided to surprise Lauren one evening by having me take her to a movie screening where he knew that Eric, of Tim and Eric, would be giving an introduction to the film.  Ok, before we go on let me just say this about Jon: Jon loves to orchestrate crazy plans and surprises, those plans are often complicated and irritating, but once enacted they end up proving to be vaguely magical (for lack of a better word).

Jon couldn't make it to the screening for whatever reason, so as to ensure that Lauren would receive his surprise, he guilt-tripped me into taking her to see the obscure artist documentary.  Neither of us were in the mood to see a movie that night, but Jon had convinced Lauren to go, and I knew that seeing Eric would make Lauren's year.

We arrived at the Downtown Independent theater, picked up our tickets, and took our seats.  Lauren had no idea who she was about to see. When Eric came out on stage to introduce the film, the look on Lauren's face was priceless.  I would have gone to the screening every week for a year just to see someone that happy.  I'm pretty sure she simultaneously squealed and gasped. She was ecstatic!

The movie is called Convento, and it was directed by Jarred Alterman.  The movie was super good and totally fascinating.  After the screening, Eric introduced Jarred onto the stage for a Q&A.  As Jarred took the stage, I sat there thinking: "I know this guy from somewhere." I couldn't pay attention to what was being said, as I kept trying to figure out where I knew Jarred from.  Was he an actor? Had I read about him somewhere? Did I meet him through a friend? After about 5 minutes, it hit me.

Jarred had worked on a documentary project with my brother when my brother was in grad school, and I was still in college.  Jarred and my brother travelled around the country interviewing alumni from their university. Their project took them to Seattle, where I was home visiting my mother.  My brother and Jarred ended up crashing at my mom's house one night, and we all hung out and got along like gangbusters.

After the screening, I went up to Jarred and said, "I know this is weird, and you probably don't remember, but I'm Yuli's sister, and I think you stayed at my mom's place many years ago."  At first Jarred looked baffled, and in an instant, the memory of that experience hit him. Loudly, he said: "WE ATE SALMON PIZZA!!" That was true.  Everyone around us laughed because salmon pizza is funny and kind of gross sounding, and it's even funnier when someone is yelling about it animatedly. The coincidence of seeing each other again at his screening felt meaningful at the time.

After the Q&A, folks were mingling around the bar. Lauren and I got a drink, and soon we found Eric standing beside us.  Despite her shy nature, Lauren manned up and introduced herself to Eric. Eric had been friends with Jarred since high school, which is why he was the MC of the event.  We talked about our connections to Jarred, and about Lauren and South Africa.  Eric was totally nice and gracious. Photos were taken.

These are all small things, but the night still looms large in our personal history.

Because of Lauren, I've become a big fan of Tim and Eric... but I hope you don't try the recipe above, unless you are trying it to make those awesome gloppy sound effects.

    Eric Wareheim with Lauren! 7/27/2012

Cooking Club Recap

Last night was another installment of cooking club! One Sunday a month, a group of awesome ladies gather to eat and drink delicious things in a relaxed atmosphere.  One of the things I love most about our cooking club is how diverse our members' backgrounds are.  We come from different fields ranging from medicine, to entertainment, to politics, to education, to architecture, and more. Of course, we all share a love of food.

As you can see in the video that Courtney made, last night we were testing Thanksgiving recipes. Courtney is a producer at Tastemade, a food and lifestyle network on Youtube.  Tastemade does amazing things for food on the internet. One of the coolest things they've done is to create an app that was used to make the video above. The app blew my mind! Courtney took a few 10-15 second videos with sound, she shot some close-ups of the food and the apartment, and then the app helped her easily edit the clips into a professional-looking final product.  There are even filters you can apply, and each one is named after a different kind of spice.  The app is called Tastemade, it's free, and I can't wait to start using it.

Back to the recap... there was so much great food, and Liz was an incredible hostess.  You'll see glimpses of her beautiful apartment both in the video and some of the photos below.

Olives, marcona almonds, and fruit

Lamp covered in colorful plastic monkeys 

Pumpkin packed with bread and cheese, based on a Dorie Greenspan recipe.

Leek Bread Pudding, based on a recipe from Ad Hoc At Home

Winter slaw adapted from the recipe in Ottolenghi's Plenty (a must-have cookbook)

Beautiful looking and tasting apple Tarte Tatin

The spread

I'm already excited for our next meeting!

Golden Beet Salad with Orange Blossom Vinaigrette (Happy Halloween!)


You want to bring a salad to a potluck...
Make golden beet salad with an orange blossom vinaigrette!

 A few weeks ago, my brother got married at the Olympic Sculpture Garden in Seattle.  For the rehearsal dinner, he and my sister-in-law rented out a small restaurant called Belle Clementine.  The meal was memorable both for its company and its food.

Belle Clementine is located in Ballard - a fun, vibrant, and historically Scandinavian-filled part of Seattle. The space itself is beautiful.  The decor is modern, minimalist and warm.  The staff is friendly, knowledgeable and passionate.  For me, the open and homey kitchen is the highlight of the restaurant. It bears no resemblance to the standard stainless steel-heavy and utilitarian kitchens that most restaurants have. Wood is prevalent, cookbooks are displayed, and the lighting is not fluorescent. When you dine in the restaurant you get the impression that you are in someone's home watching your meal be made by friends.

Chef David Sanford and his team executed an incredibly thoughtful and thoroughly delicious meal.
In each course they added subtle homages to our combined family's varied ethnic backgrounds: Russian, Turkish, and Jewish.  You can see for yourself:

Reception:  
BC marinated olives, hard cheese, quince paste aka "membrillo"

Dinner:
Yogurt flatbreads with muhammara (roasted pepper and walnut spread) - taking advantage of last of season peppers, first of season walnuts

Salad of roasted golden beets, ricotta salata, and peppercress - orange blossom vinaigrette

Pan roasted Black Cod 
Alvarez farm chickpeas, garlic, carrot, celeriac and turkish oregano
Italian chard aka "Bietole", with sumac and shoestring leeks

Dessert:
Poached pear, pineau de cherentes, mascarpone, mint


The fish was ethereal, the pears were outstanding, but the golden beet salad really stood out in my mind.  I knew I would want to try to riff on the dish when I got back to L.A.

Then, I was invited to a Halloween potluck party and thought about orange-colored foods.  This salad is good any time of year, but its bright orange color is perfect for a sophisticated and exotic holiday dish.

This is my version of David's salad. Thank you for that incredible meal. If you're in Seattle, I highly recommend you check out his place.

Golden Beet, Watercress, Hazelnut Salad - Orange Blossom Vinaigrette.
Serves 6-8
Makes 1 cup dressing

 salad:
6-7 medium sized golden beets
1 bunch of watercress (about 5 cups chopped)
2 cups arugula
1/3 cup toasted hazelnuts, chopped
1 watermelon radish (optional)

vinaigrette:
1-2 teaspoons orange blossom water (this is perfumey strong-tasting stuff... you can always add more)
1 teaspoon agave nectar or honey
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar (I like Bragg's)
3/4 cup olive oil, or grapeseed oil
kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste


DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Line a 9x13 baking dish with foil.  Rinse the beets to remove any dirt.  Place the beets (peels on) into the dish.  Cover the dish with foil; this will allow the beets to steam inside the dish.  Roast for one hour or until the beets are fork tender. Once the beets are fully cooked and cooled you can easily remove their peels.

Slice the beets. I like to cut them in half, and then again into thin half-moons.  You can cut them up however you fancy.  Place the sliced beets into a mixing bowl and set aside.

Add all of the salad dressing ingredients into a jar and shake vigorously until the vinaigrette is emulsified. Pour the vinaigrette over the beets until they are just covered with the dressing. You will have extra dressing, which you can reserve and serve on the side.  Place the beets into the fridge and allow them to marinate for at least one hour (you can keep them marinating all day).

While the beets are marinating, toast your hazelnuts. Place the nuts on a small tray and roast them at 325 degrees in a toaster oven for about 5-7 minutes, or until golden brown (you can  toast them in a regular oven, too).  Keep an eye on them as they roast; they can burn easily.  Once the hazelnuts are toasted and cooled you can rub off their skins, which can be bitter if you leave them on. Roughly chop up the hazelnuts.

To assemble the salad, add the watercress and arugula to the bottom of your serving dish.  Cut up a watermelon radish into thin slices and add them to the greens (radish is optional).  Pour the marinated beets and their juices over the greens. Sprinkle the toasted hazelnuts over the top of the salad.

Serve and enjoy!


Oh, and this guy was the real star of the party (he's named Little Dog)... HAPPY HALLOWEEN!