LA "off the beaten path" day 3

Yes, ice-cream in the winter? only in LA!!! Made right in front of you with some of your favorite ingredients, as you get to choose them! It is call "IcePan" making its debut on Santa Monica Blvd.!

Where else!!!!!

The pan is large, flat with about 2 inches edge all around and seating on a-35 freezer counter plate. To choose flavors from: Chocolate - to Green Tea and passing by Mango - Coffee and others and combination of it the harder thing you have to do before enjoying a Very large scoop of ice cream. I had a triple mango and you get to choose your liquid base like: yogurt, milk, cream soy!

Add some fruits like mango, strawberry banana are just a few! I mean large scoop because

of the size of the pan and technique use they can only make it one size, not so bad as I ate the whole scoop!

This picture is mine being made!!!!!

How about this picture? chocolate and more chocolate finish with caramel!!!!!

Then we sat outside in the sun "people watching" in hope I would catch a "star"! Get it?

LA "off the beaten path" day 2

Polka anyone? One can't dance there, but certainly the food dances in your mouth!!!!!

This is a place that you might find in Poland or closer like Chicago. No! It is in the "Valley" as they say in LA and part of a little shopping plaza where Eagle Rock blends into Glendale. We were eager to go and glad we made reservations ahead of time.

Very small place, cozy, old european style decor and romantic ambience. You might have to wait outside on one of the benches. Lucky it is LA, not here in Wisconsin, but wish we had places like these closer to home!

We started with a variety of Pierogi and truly delicious, my favorite being the sauerkraut . It happens that a patron next table was visiting from Poland and she had just heard about it and was trill that she could take her friends to experience true Polish foods and she did not miss telling everyone who wanted to hear how authentic it was! Next we had the stuffed cabbage "Golabki , Kielbasa Polish sausage , Pieczen, pork roast and Kotlet Schabowy, pork loin. The portions are VERY generous don't be shy to take some home.

It was our children find and they had experienced before and I certainly will make another visit on my next trip out there.

LA "off the beaten path" day 1

There is that person in me that always wants to find those off the beaten path restaurants. So while visiting our children 2 weeks ago I did just that. The fortunate part is that our boys are foodies and love to eat and most of all explore. So every day we would venture in different directions, and that is easy to do in LA!!!

As soon as I got there we decide the flavors we want to experience and off course top of the list was Port Royal in Santa Monica. As soon as you approach the restaurant, located in the loft building area that house many studios, your eyes catch the brightly painted stucco building, a welcoming site and no pretenses. Zoe is right there greeting you with wide open harms and best of all her smile. Soon your attention is directed to the aromas, close your eyes, listen to the music and yes you are in Jamaica or at least just for now. It is my second time there and the first time we talked about how could we get fresh goat meat to her from Wisconsin where we have lot of goat cheese makers always looking for venues for their animals.

As you could guess, yes I had her goat meat stew, and spicy yes, but agreeably they can make as hot or as mild as you wish. This time around I had the citrus fish delicious and Oh I have to mention the large helping of plantains, Oh yum! She has acquire quiet a following just like our sons who loves to bring the "heat on" just a notch each time!

She loves to present us with her red velvet cake, as she is the baker !!!!! very good and each slice is enough for 2 or more!!!!

Spring Lamb

A familiar expression to all of us! It appears on menus, we read about it, we hear it and yet we do not quiet understand. Yes, lambs are born in the springs for the most part and some are born in the fall. Spring lamb is an animal that is not older than 8 months and no younger than 6 months.

So lambs that we are eating, at this time of the year, were born either in the spring, butcher at 6 or 8 months, then the meat kept frozen like we do, as we buy 1 or 2 lambs a year direct from the farm, or fresh meat is from lambs born in the fall and butcher in the spring for various holidays coming up.

The meat is one of easiest red meat to digest, very nutritional, lean, despite what we hear about it. It is a young animal, so it is tender, the fat is mostly around the outside, easy to cook with a very sweet flavors.

Now, we have to get over the fact that lamb had, still does for some people, a reputation of being very strong. That came from the time when our older generation(s) who spent time in Europe experienced eating older animal, called . Because of the war(s) they were kept around until adult, for their wool was used to make blankets and uniforms for the war, consequently the mouton, is what they were served. But today it is very rare to find it on the market.

Today I still enjoy a very good mutton stew and if you were to go to Scotland, Ireland, MiddleEast, they still enjoy mutton best! Definitely Lamb is very much part of different cuisines around the world. But here we enjoy spring lamb. We are very fortunate to have many producers, that not only raise lamb for meat but, for the most part, cheese making!

Grilled Lamb Chops: Serves 4

Ingredients

8 Lamb chops *

4 Tb Olive oil

1 T Fresh ground black pepper

Procedure

Oil and Preheat the grill very hot

Brush each lamb chops with olive il on both side

Coat each lamb chops generously wit fresh ground pepper (6 turn of the grinder on each sides for each chop)

* If using frozen meat, just partially defrost t cook.

Place the lamb chops on the grill and DO NOT MOVE them until you see pearls of juice appears on the surface, about 3 minutes. Turn over and do the same.

Just before serving turn once more in the different direction to give some marking and serve immediately. Now, that is for rare to medium rare doneness. If you prefer more done, (which I do not suggest) like medium well, just keep it on the grill after the second turn for another 3 minutes. Off course this also will depend a lot on the thickness of the chops. Here I am talking about 1 inch thick chops. Also the chops you see on the picture are loin chops on the top and sirloin at the bottom!

It is also very traditional, with some, to serve lamb with mint jelly

We really enjoy lamb the next day cold and serve it with chutney, so I always cook extra.

When cooking lamb some of the best flavors to use:

Olive oil or butter

Fresh or dried thyme

Garlic

Rosemary

Basil

Pesto

Spicier rubs like:

Garam Masala

Harissa

Combination of Asian spices or create some of your own

Belgium endives

Growing up in Brittany France on the farm our winter salad consisted only of Belgium endive. They were the only thing in season from our garden!

What are they? Known as French endive or witloof (their belgian name) they are a leafy, white, creamy, vegetable in the shape of a cylinder of tight leaves, in the family of the chicory. In the summer time out in the garden they grows very tall dark green leaves that are VERY BITTER and not used. In the fall those leaves are cut, roots are dug up and brought inside, either in the barn or root cellar to protect them from very cold weather, then cover by at least 1 foot of good light mixture of soil, mulch and hay, not allowing any light to reach the roots. This process is forcing a second growth under ground. That second growth would sprout into what we know as "The endive"!

To choose then at the store, make sure they are in their original box with the cover on and the tips are not green or very little. The sign of green means they have been expose to light and develop a more bitter flavors.

To store: place in a brown bag in the bottom of the refrigerator not allowing any light to reach them.

Beside salad they are many uses for them. The leaf can be use to hold salmon mousse, salad (s), for an hors-d'oeuvre per example. Very often, specially once they get bitter we would cook them as a side dish.

Here is a delicious salad that I have just made the other day:

Crispy cheese nuggets

Ingredients:

Crispy cheese nuggets (makes about 18 small)

1 Lb mix grated cheese* or just cheddar or parmesan

Preheat oven at 375

Place 1 Tb more or less of grated cheese on parchment paper lined sheet pan or line with spilt - just do bout 5 or 6 at the time.

Bake for about 10 minutes

Remove with spatula and place on rolling pin to shape into a tile (see picture) or place on a cake rack for flat ones

Let cool and store in airtight container *

Great to pass around as an hors-d'oeuvre or with any of your favorite salad

NOTE: I always have a bag of mix grated cheese in the freezer. That is the result of left over stub of assorted cheeses left from a dinner party or just forgotten in the cheese draw and a little too dry. I process them all through the grater of the food processor and place in a ziplock bag! And voila!!!!!

*After baking the crisp I gather the bit and pieces of the broken ones to use in the following salad!!!!

Endive Salad

Ingredients for 6

3 Endives coarsely cut

1 C of crushed Crispy Cheese nuggets

2 tsp Dijon style mustard

2 T Balsamic vinegar

5 T Olive oil

Fresh ground pepper (12 turn of the grinder!)

Procedure

In a salad bowl cream together the mustard and balsamic vinegar, slowly add the olive oil, while whisking vigorously, (this does give you a very creamy dressing), season with fresh ground pepper.

Place cut endive in a salad bowl - Sprinkle with the crushed crispy cheese nugget.

At serving time toss gently to mix

NOTE : my other suggestions are: sliced apple or pears, toasted slivered almonds or pecans

Roasting

Snowing so hard again! That we can not get out, so this is what's good for dinner by the fireplace!


This time of the year? Definitely my favorite cooking technique is roasting, as the aromas are so pleasant, pungent and the flavors brings comfort to this endless cold season!

This is where I rely on 2 frozen items and here I use both to make one of my family's all time favorite dish from our stored potatoes !

- One, is that wonderful bag of roasted garlic done at the peak of their season (August-September). Once roasted, I placed the bulbs in a ziplock bag in the freezer and pull out what I need, a 1/2 hour before I plan to use it. Here I am using a whole bulb, about 8 cloves, of hard neck german purple garlic.

- Two, is the bag of peeled shallots, peeled only not roasted, done as well in the peak of their season. The reason I do this, is that it does facilitate their uses in the winter and a good way to store them, especially if you do not have a root cellar or cold storage.

Oh! Right away, the vessel you see in the picture below, is called a "tagine" Moroccan style of cooking. But I assure you that you can use any heavy straight sides pan with a cover. Make sure you are cooking at a very low heat, covered at all times.

Potatoes from our garden!

From Left to Right:

Kennebec (russet type)

Northland Red

Yukon Gold

Peruvian Blue

French Fingerling

Potato Fondant :

- 2 Lbs Yukon, or assorted potatoes like the variety in the picture above.

- 2 Tbs each of olive oil and unsalted butter

- 1 Head (8 to 10 cloves) roasted garlic

- 6 whole shallots, cut in 1/2

- Fresh ground pepper

- 1 tsp coarse sea salt (optional)

Procedure:

Cut the potatoes in the same size, and the cooking time will depend on the size-

Place in a pan where they fit snuggly without too much space between the top of the potatoes and the top of the pan (If that is a problem see "Note")

Drizzle with olive oil, add the butter cut into very small pieces

Press the garlic clove out of the outer skin and add them to the pan with the shallots

Generously add the fresh ground black pepper (30 turns to the grinder! Or more!!)

Toss it all gently.

Place cover on and cook on medium low heat for about 10 minutes then lower the heat to your lowest setting and cook until potatoes are tender, about another 15 minutes.

The flavor of the potato really shines as there is no liquid allowing the flavor to leach out!

Just before serving sprinkle with coarse sea salt and that is optional.

This technique is like roasting, just as it was done before oven showed up, and still one of my favorite ways to prepare newly harvested or well stored potatoes. Can also be done with root vegetables or mixture of.

Great to serve with a spinach salad and grilled lamb chops

Note: If you do not have a pan small enough to fit your potatoes snuggly here what you can do:

Place all the ingredients, ready to cook, in any straight sides pan with a cover.

Cut a piece of parchment paper the size of the inside of the pan

Place the paper on top of the ingredients

Place pan cover back on and proceed as mentioned above!

What the paper does is minimize the space between ingredients and top of the pan, as now you have lower the top against the ingredients

Bon Appetit

Monique

Spices and how to use them!

Pictured:

Top: Saigon cinnamon bark

Right: Garam masala - Red Thai curry

Left : Saffron - Capers

Center: Turmeric root powder

The definition of spices: spices are: seeds, bark, flower buds, stems, roots of culinary plants - verse herbs are: the leaf and flower part of the plants. A close example is: Cilantro is the leaf and coriander is the seed of the Cilantro plant as we know it. But off course sometime, too often may I say, they get interchange and it becomes confusing!

At this time of the year I really rely on them for 2 reasons: first they are very aromatic and second very colorful. I imagine myself as an artist with many color to choose from and excited about the combinations I can work with. Whenever I am cooking with spices I discover endless possibilities and experience the freedom to experiment. It is one of the reason we like so many of the Asian, Middle Eastern flavors. As far as what to use with what, it is really a wide open field!

The first rule is they should be ground as close as possible to the moment you ill be using them, especially cinnamon, nutmeg and pepper(s).

- A combination of spices is always best, just using one can be overwhelming.Some example of familiar mix spices are: curry, garam masala. Combining different spices allows you to create assorted aromatic flavors.

This is how I cook with spices and teach how to use them in my cooking classes:

I eat with my nose as I catch the aroma and create, then smell with my brain!!!!!

Bon Appetit

Monique