The Rolniks very kindly gave me a book on Provencal cooking for Christmas this year. I was immediately excited about the recipe for a basic fougasse dough. Yeasted breads are fascinating to me. Amazing how dough grows and expands and doubles in size given the right temperature and a certain amount of time.
I don’t think I like bread machines. They seem like the kind of gadget that we’ll look back on in 50 years and laugh about as completely ridiculous and unnecessary, kind of like the fat jiggling work out belts that jostle the excess weight off of while the lazy person is stationary and doing something equally stupid like eating a donut (actually, I love donuts). These things exist right? Am I making this up?
And besides, isn’t it thrilling to check on dough every 30 minutes, see it grow up and out and press up against its bowl? Kneading can be fun, but mostly just makes my arms feel gelatinous. Maybe if I feel like I need exercise, I will knead bread instead.
For my first fougasse attempt I made 2 olive loaves and 2 fig loaves. Not a terrible first attempt but definitely could use some refining. My bread felt suspiciously dense. I suspect that bread making is something that takes practice. And I’m excited for the practice. I can feel a new hobby starting to form. Baking bread made me feel warm and happy and gave my hands something to do. I immediately went out and bought Jim Lahey’s “My Bread”, which I’ve heard so much about. Currently two boules are yeasting in their 9th hour.
Prosciutto wrapped ling cod
Petite Hangar Steak
Pasta With Mushrooms & Cream
Grilled Swordfish With Bacon Lentils
Apple Celery Salad
Pumpkin Empanadas
Duck Liver Pate
Blue Cheese Stuffed Dates
Cauliflower Soup
Molten Lava Cake
Caramel Bread Pudding
Warm Citrus Crepes
Sparkling Wine Cheese Pairings
Caviar
Sparkling Wine Tasting
Poppy’s Famous Crab Mold
Poppy with his famous crab mold
Ceviche
Gol Nachos
Fish Tacos
For the Winter break my family went up to Sonoma where we had a parade of wine tasting and ate until we felt round and like sleepy bears. Really, I don’t think an hour passed when we weren’t eating something. We visited with Dr. Murray’s family and they were enormously welcoming and generous. Also, Dr. Murray treated us to a beautiful lunch at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone. A relaxing, and as usual, gluttonous holiday.
For Christmas dessert I tried to marry my mother’s favorite ingredient (banana) with my aunt’s favorite ingredient (coconut). This was slightly tricky because my mom hates coconut so the coconut flavor needed to be mild. I’m maybe proud of myself, just a little bit. I managed to improvise with the ingredients that we already had and made a banana chocolate cake with a coconut milk glaze.
Merry Christmas!
cheese, crackers, jamon, cured roe
ham
caesar salad
orecchiette with beef ragu
mint marinated lamb chops
You might think that all this sugar would make me bounce off walls but no, apparently there is a point when too much sugar just makes me catatonic and feel like even a glass of water might be last straw before my body wilts from a terrible case of overeating.
I think brunch is possibly the greatest thing ever invented.
I also love my mother’s office holiday parties. It’s always a brunch event and usually Saeyoung is home and this year was especially wonderful because Nancy Romero accompanied us. See below:
I went to go see a food related art show with Marcus the other night. I wish I had taken more pictures. I’m not sure why I didn’t. Fallen Fruit was there. Some mischievous person opened up one of the Fallen Fruit vodka infusions. Also, Marcus made psychically powered toast.
Pad Kee Mow
Crispy Spring Rolls
Green Papaya Salad
Predictably the first thing we did upon Saeyoung’s arrival was eat. She arrived at 11 pm so our choices were fairly limited. We ended up going to one of the late night Thai restaurants near my apartment. Satisfying but I’m still loyal to Jitlada. Maybe the food was a little spicier than we expected.
Red Corner Asia
5267 Hollywood Blvd
LA, 90027
Saeyoung is home for Winter break! It’s become tradition to greet her at the airport with a batch of cookies and this time I made apple carrot shortbread since she loves carrot desserts and shortbread. This shortbread is more tender than most others of its kind and the apple is more of a moisture agent than flavoring.
recipe adapted from “good tempered food”
ingredients
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup grated carrots (2 oz)
1/6 cup grated apple (1 oz)
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
zest of one orange
1 tablespoon of milk
1. sift together dry ingredients and set aside
2. cream butter and sugar
3. stir in grated carrot, grate apple, orange zest
4. mix in flour mixture
5. divide dough into two round disks and wrap in plastic wrap
6. refrigerate for at least 1 hour
7. in the meantime preheat oven to 350
8. roll out dough until about 1/2 inch thick
9. use a cookie cutter to make desired shape
10. brush the top of each cookie with a dab of milk
11. bake for 10 minutes
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins are for boring people. Orange, on the other hand….
Ingredients
zest of one orange
1/2 tsp pure orange extract
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
3/4 cup sour cream
3/4 cup non fat plain yogurt
2 eggs
3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
10 tablespoons butter ( 1 1/4 stick)
1. preheat oven to 375
2. line 24 cupcake tins
3. sift dry ingredients together
4. cream butter and sugar
5. add eggs one at a time
6. add zest and orange extract and poppy seeds
7. whisk together sour cream and yogurt
8. in 3 alternating additions add the sour cream/yogurt and flour mixtures
9. put an ice cream scoop amount into each cup and bake for about 20-25 minutes
Amazing how long a month can feel.
Dear dear Nancy is finally back from Thailand and I feel like a small lifetime has happened while she was away. Nancy rode elephants and ate mangosteen and jackfruit while biking across southeast asia. I, too, had memorable adventures, though no elephants were involved. We went to Honda-Ya today to catch up and generally enjoy each other’s company. We ate many delicious things. Noted: all their dishes are made for parties of odd numbers. We kept having to split the last piece of each dish.
But really it was just wonderful to see Nancy.
A month is a long time Romero.
