June 30, 2009

Poached Pear Clafoutis

Filed under: baked goods, clafoutis, home cooking, poaching, tarts — saehee @ 8:17 pm

so precious that i had to drive with the clafoutis on my lap


baked clafoutis!

arrangement

slicing the poached pears


poaching the pears



rolling the dough


making pate sucree the night before


I recently splurged on Michel Roux’s book “Pastry”, which I’ve been happily devouring for the last two days.  French pastry is so charming!  So here is my first attempt at both making a pate sucree dough and a poached pear clafoutis.  I made two: one for my mother’s office staff and one for my aunt who recently hurt her back and obviously nothing heals the body quite like copious amounts of butter and sugar.  
The results of a beginner’s attempt: Clearly my pate sucree tart could afford to be more delicate but let’s just say I was going for the “rustic” look.  Yeah.  The clafoutis was very light, airy, a lovely custard-y flavor.  This took a lot of work though, and I’m working on 4 hours of sleep because of it.  Delivering the clafoutis made me really anxious.  I kept imagining them flying around in my car and breaking apart, and me–terribly deflated.  But I couldn’t cover them to keep them in place on their plates because then the pretty fluff of the egg batter would collapse.  So I drove with the clafoutis very lovingly in my lap.  I felt very protective.  

Golden Beets, a trilogy

Filed under: beets, home cooking, preserves, tarts — saehee @ 12:57 am











You should know, this is the mileage I got from two beets.  Sam found golden beets at the farmers market last week and was generous enough to share some with me. Thank you Sam!
I’ve been wanting golden beets ever since Spring rolled around, mostly because I’ve been wanting to to layer the colors of red and golden beets–I mean, can you think of a more fantastically colored vegetable?  
Here is what I did with Sam’s golden beets:
1. Beet, Goat Cheese, Caramelized Onion Tart
Ingredients:
1 medium sized golden beet (or half of one enormous one)
1 medium red beet
8 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 yellow onion
1 1/2 tablespoons of butter
1 sheet of puff pastry
3 tablespoons of goat cheese
4 garlic cloves
olive oil
kosher salt
pepper
1) preheat oven to 425
2) in foil pouches, roast the beets with olive oil, slightly smashed garlic cloves, salt and pepper.  make sure to have separate pouches for the red and golden beets so the colors don’t bleed
3) roast the beets for about a hour and 15 minutes or until fork tender
4) meanwhile caramelize onions by slicing them lengthwise and slowly sauteing them in the butter (try to move them minimally so that they caramelize and keep the heat low so they do not burn)
5) defrost a puff pastry sheet and cover with the caramelized onions and thyme
6) slice the roasted beets into rounds of equal thickness and layer on top of onions in a pattern
7) top with the garlic cloves that were roasted with the beets
8) crumble goat cheese on tart
9) in a 400 degree oven, bake the tart for twenty minutes
2. Golden Beet, Roasted Garlic, Mandarin Orange Salad
ingredients:
1 cup roasted and sliced beets
5 cloves of roasted garlic
1/4 cup mandarin oranges
a handful of toasted pine nuts
1/2 lemon
5 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
5 tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon whole grain or dijon mustard
1. roast beets as indicated in the tart recipe and slice in wedges
2. roast garlic in a foil pouch with 1 tablespoon of olive oil for about 45 minutes or golden brown
3. toss the beets, toasted pine nuts, roasted garlic, and mandarin oranges together
4. in a separate bowl, whisk the olive oil, red wine vinegar, mustard, lemon juice and orange juice together
5. dress the beets and top with mint or cilantro
3. Pickled Golden Beets
ingredients:
1 beet
1 teaspoons whole mustard seed
1 cup white distilled vinegar
1/2 cup honey
two bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
2 garlic cloves
2 sprigs of thyme
1. boil the beet for 45 minutes, peel, and slice in rounds of equal thickness
2. in a saucepan bring the vinegar and honey to a boil
3. process a canning jar by putting in the oven for 10 minutes at 225 degrees
4. put the sliced beets, spices, and thyme in the processed jar
5. pour in the vinegar/honey mixture carefully into the jar. do not overfill
6. immediately close the lid tightly
7. leave for about two weeks before eating

Sometimes We Are The Kind Of Family That Barbecues

Filed under: barbecue, family, home cooking — saehee @ 12:37 am

roasted vegetables and portobello mushrooms for those of us who did not want doc’s 2 pound burger patties

the assembly line

despite have an excellent grill, doc prefers this thing

doc doing doc things


ridiculous.  that’s about the amount of red meat i eat in a year

balsamic glazed red onion relish


caramelized yellow onions

I think we’re not really the kind of family that barbecues.  I think Doc would like us to be.  But once in a while a barbecue can be quite fun.  The weather was perfect for this sort of thing and there were kids in the pool and we were all communally preparing food–it felt very all american.  It felt like fourth of july.  The food was good. The clean up afterwards and general exhaustion afterwards was not. 

Haute Cakes With A Clan of Murrays (a sprinkling of chos)

Filed under: Uncategorized — saehee @ 12:22 am

kristina, daniel, brian

doc, doc’s mother, kelly (doc’s sister), and mom

something with potatoes

blueberry cornmeal pancakes

the best egg salad in the world

oatmeal with brown sugar and mixed fruit
A favorite, for many reasons. There is much to love here. I’ve never had anything that didn’t taste cozy at Haute Cakes. I had their blueberry cormeal pancakes for the first time and they were amazing–just the right amount of grit.
Saeyoung had the best egg salad sandwich i have ever tasted. It had olive tapenade and anchovies. Wonderful.
Also, I had a nice conversation with Dr. Murray’s mother about the books she was reading. That was pleasant.
Haute Cakes
1807 Westcliff Dr
Newport, CA 92660
949.642.4114

June 27, 2009

242 Cafe Sushi

Filed under: laguna beach, orange county, sushi — saehee @ 11:42 pm

my favorite people



salmon and tuna sashimi with lotus root



sushi soup

swiss chard on a roll

45 minute wait. okay.
Today was unexpected. I was at a writer’s retreat when I got a series of texts from my sister considering a nice dinner with just my mom, my sister, and me. Maybe this was impractical–to drive to Orange County unexpectedly but nothing seemed as comfortable and lovely as having dinner with them, just them.
We went to 242 Cafe Sushi in Laguna Beach, which is one of our favorite sushi places. I can say with a good amount of confidence that I couldn’t live without Japanese food, it’s just a life not worth living in my opinion. Authentic, 242 Cafe Sushi is not, but the quality of their fish is excellent and where else can you get your roll wrapped in Swiss chard? They don’t serve soy sauce because all of their sushi comes with its own specifically complementary sauce. I believe the owner was the former sous chef for Nobu, but I could be wrong about this.
It’s a very small restaurant, just a sushi bar and 3 tables. They only have one server. We had to wait 45 minutes to get in, which was a little excruciating because I was beginning to have hunger pains but in the end, everything was worth it. My favorite of the evening was the sashimi with lotus roots and garlic chips. Lotus root is amazing. I want to put lotus root in everything. I think it would be great in sandwiches (note to self).
242 Cafe Sushi
242 N coast highway
Laguna Beach, Ca 92651
949.494.2444

The Many Iterations of Nancy Cake

Filed under: baked goods, cake, fruit, home cooking — saehee @ 11:37 pm



blue (berry) nancy cake


ew! it looks like there are bugs in my cake, very organized bugs!
It’s official, Nancy Cake is my go-to recipe.  It’s pretty fool proof and you can add any fruit to it. 

Apparently I Am The Muffin Man

Filed under: baked goods, home cooking, low fat, muffins — saehee @ 11:07 pm







Dr. Murray’s mother is visiting us from San Francisco.  I’m supposed to call her “Gaga”…I don’t think I can do this.  I will just call her Dr. Murray’s mother.  Well, Dr. Murray’s mother is a wonderfully sweet lady.  Recently she’s had a few health problems and now she cannot eat things with high fat content.  Very unfortunate.  
For her arrival I made some low-fat sugar free muffins.  And when I say “some”, what I mean is  a ton.  I think I made nearly 50 muffins, which is ridiculous and I don’t even know why I did that.  Clearly an 88 pound elderly woman is not going to eat 50 muffins.  
I think low fat sugar free muffins are exciting.  It’s like a competition with myself to see how much fat I can remove from a muffins while maintaining moisture and taste.  
I made a chocolate banana muffin, which I was actually pretty pleased with, except I didn’t fill up the muffin tins enough and they sort of ended up being mini muffins.
I also made blueberry oatmeal muffins.  I’ve made these before.  Here is the recipe. 
This is the recipe for the Low Fat Sugar Free Chocolate Banana Muffins (approx. 75 calories per muffin):
Ingredients:
7 ounces sugar free chocolate
1/2 cup applesauce, unsweetened
1/2 cup plain non fat yogurt
3 bananas
1 cup splenda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup egg beaters 
1. preheat oven to 350
2. in a double broiler melt the chocolate and then add 1/4 cup of applesauce to the melted chocolate and whisk 
3. peel the bananas and sprinkle them with the cinnamon and smash, not too finely because you want there to be chunks of banana in the muffins
4. in a medium mixing bowl combine the egg beaters, remaining applesauce, and yogurt
5. in a separate bowl sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder
6. make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the yogurt applesauce mixture, blend until just combined
7. fold in the melted chocolate
8. gently fold in the smashed bananas
9. fill up approximately 12 lined muffin tins with the batter (about 3/4 full)
10. let bake for about 15 minuted and then insert a banana chip into the center of each muffin
11. continue to bake for another 10 to 15 minutes 
note* low fat muffins take longer to bake and so the common clean toothpick method is actually not a reliable method of determining whether your muffin is done.  You may have to sacrifice a muffin and split one open to verify that it is completely cooked through.  

June 25, 2009

Fig and Brown Sugar Toast

Filed under: appetizers, fruit, home cooking — saehee @ 4:08 pm




Figs are amazing.  They seem like a very biblical fruit.  Yesterday my uncle came over and my mom wanted me to throw something together to serve him.  We had figs, which were from costco and not the best figs I have ever tasted, but still, they are figs and figs are impressive somehow.  I topped sliced baguette with a heaping teaspoon of goat cheese, put a sliced fig on top and then sprinkled about 1/4 of a teaspoon of brown sugar over the open flesh side of the fig.  Once they were in the toaster the brown sugar started to melt and bubble and it was very pretty.  Ideally I would have had a brulee torch and would have caramelized the brown sugar on top, but no such luck.  Still, a very satisfying and lovely thing to serve to guests and more importantly, it took like five minutes.  

Peach Brown Butter Cobbler

Filed under: baked goods, fruit, home cooking — saehee @ 1:16 am





Peachy keen!
Adapted from here, 
only i switched the nectarines for peaches

June 23, 2009

Park Dae Gam

Filed under: friends, korean, koreatown, los angeles — saehee @ 12:01 am

soon dubu (silken tofu stew)

ggo joo jang ji geh (red pepper stew)

pa jun (green onion pancake)
Sam and I went out for Korean food today.  Well, wait, first let me tell you a story.  The first time I introduced friends to Korean food it was in first grade and I brought some roasted seaweed to school.  For whatever reason we were treating the whole experience like we were sneaking contraband and decided to eat in the girl’s bathroom, which is gross in retrospect, but that’s besides the point.  We were in the large stall and my two friends took a piece each.  One of my friends made an awful face, like she had just tasted death or something.  The other friend threw up.  It was not pleasant and I felt simultaneously annoyed, insulted, and guilty.  
So here is the point, I am grateful for friends who do not throw up when trying new things.  Because, truly, that piece of roasted seaweed was really tasty and that throwing up was more psychological than anything, I’m sure.  Or maybe this is a big assumption but still, she only took a bite and the throwing up was a bit dramatic.  And I’m not even sure why, but I feel really great when my friends like Korean food.  This does not make any sense to me and I don’t know why I should take any sort of ownership of Korean cuisine in general and maybe I’m even a little embarrassed that I’m pleased when people are pleased with Korean food.  
Once I went to BCD Tofu with Nancy and she was really amused by the raw egg that she got to crack into her soup.  I hadn’t really considered the egg as anything special before then but it made me really happy that Nancy found it so great.  
Okay, so back to the beginning.  Sam and I went to Park Dae Gam.  She ordered the soon dubu.   I don’t think I’ve ever tried their soon dubu but it looked pretty good.  The egg came pre-cracked and I think Sam was a little startled to discover a “liquid inside of a liquid”, which I thought was a great way of wording it.  I ordered the ggoh joo jang ji geh, which is probably one of the easiest Korean dishes to make.  Park Dae Gam puts rice cake in theirs, which is exciting.  
We also ordered a pa jun, sans the shrimp.  It was $17, which is confusing because the ingredients are green onions, flour, and eggs.  It was good though, and it was a very large portion.  I suppose I could be upset about the $17 but really, all my money goes to food anyhow and I’m more likely to be upset about paying $5 for parking than any amount of money for good food.  As far as I’m concerned, money for food is money well spent.  
All in all, a very lovely evening.  
Park Dae Gam
955 S Vermont Ave
Los Angeles, 90006
213.380.1717
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