Monday, August 30, 2010

Anise Pork with Figs and Apples

Anise Pork with Figs and Apples, served with Jasmine rice and stir-fried green beans

The pork recipe can be found here.

I found the Anise seeds where they sell the Mexican spices at Vons.
Next time I'll sear it then bake it to finish.


Thursday, August 26, 2010

Meatball Pasta

Meatball Pasta using ground beef and garlic. Barilla's wheat pasta and garlic sauce.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Chicken and Lemon Soy Broccoli

Stir fried Chicken and Lemon Soy Broccoli, and roasted red potato wedges.



The recipe for the broccoli is here.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Pork Chops

Pork Chops with red wine pan sauce, Roasted Red Potato Slices, and Stir fried spinach and garlic.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Marinaded Chicken

Marinaded Chicken with Jasmine rice and boiled Broccoli. Tonight's mystery marinade was a mixture of: honey, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and Michiu. I minced up the garlic and ginger in the mortar & pestle, then mixed with the rest. The marinade and chicken were placed in a ziplock bag and marinaded away for over an hour. The chicken was finished with green onions and sesame seeds after resting in a tent for ~6 mins. Very juicy!

Le Creuset

Le Creuset is synonymous with the Dutch Oven. Their higher end products are made France. Sadly their lower end items are made in China. Most of the stoneware products are made in Thailand. At the Carlsbad outlet, I picked up a Le Creuset 10-Ounce Mortar and Pestle in Caribbean color.
I put it to good use tonight making a marinade for tonight's dinner.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Turkey Penne

Turkey Penne with Tomato & Basil Sauce, and boiled carrots.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Madras Curry

Madras Curry with Pork Tenderloin, Onions, Garlic, and Bok Choy.

I bought a jar of Madras Curry Powder at HK2 today. For some reason I thought it said Masalas.
3TB of powder rubbed into the pork. Add a little salt. 1 yellow onion sliced up. 3 cloves of garlic. 2TB butter is added to a warm 12" pan. The onions, garlic tossed in. As it browns, add in pork. Cook for a few minutes then add 4 cups of water. Simmer until it reduces to a nice gravy, which takes a long time! Add 1 cup of coconut milk(or 2C milk(. Reduce more then serve with rice.
It's pretty good, but very spicy hot!

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Miso Glazed Steak

Miso Glazed Steak with Jasmine rice and veggies

The miso glaze recipe is here. I deviated a little as I usually do. I used garlic instead of ginger and Taiwanese cooking wine instead of mirin. It came out good, even though the sirloin I bought from Vons wasn't as good as expected. I deglazed with a little red wine and cooked the carrots and bok choy in the sucs. Served on a warm plate with sesame seeds added as the last touch.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Bottega Louie Breaks My Heart

We hit up Bottega Louie for lunch today. The wait wasn't too bad, 20 minutes. We scored a parking spot right outside, it even had an hour paid. I'm not sure why it's an hour max, who can finish lunch in under an hour in a popular place?!?! $4/hr, it would've been less hassle to pay $5 in the parking lot. It all starts off well, but as we sat there waiting for food, even the bread took forever to come by. So after waiting for the food after finishing down the bread which with their butter is yummy, our food finally arrives. My plate is not warm nor hot. A big no no for serving warm food on. The fries were mostly barely warm or cold. That didn't bother me as I was focused on the kobe burger. Despite ordering the burger medium, it came out basically well done. Luckily it was still moist and good. My cousin Gwen had ordered the quiche. That came cold. The waitress took it back and told her they're making her a new one. When it came back, it was warm but it was the same quiche! How did she know? Well it still had the fork mark from checking it earlier, total fail. Eva ordered the club sandwich. Sadly, service wasn't so good this time and the cooks messing up orders is a big bleh....we didn't bother to order pastries despite how good they looked.

Kobe Burger with cold and over salted fries:


Club Sandwich:


Cupcakes


Macarons


Goodies




Friday, August 6, 2010

VIP Chinese Restaurant

Tucked into a Korean plaza off Fullerton & Colima, lives VIP Chinese Restaurant. The decor feels very retro, bringing back flashbacks of 80's Chinese restaurants. Even the waiter outfits fit the feel. The only modernness is the flat screen TV's all around. The portions are huge, hence why the prices may feel high, like $9.99 for Chicken & Broc, but it's really enough for 2+ people. They hand make the noodles there, which is a good thing. Being in a Korean plaza, the menu is in Chinese, English, and Korean. They even serve some kim chi items to munch on. Long live the 80's!

They're known for their green onion sesame bread, like a pizza:


Yelp review here.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Chicken Penne Pasta

Chicken Penne Pasta with Tomato & Basil sauce. Yes, I used bok choy as the veggies. Some garlic was cooked along with the chicken meat.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Marinaded Chicken

Marinade sauce

2 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. lemon juice
3 cloves garlic, crushed

Mix together, place in Ziplock with 1 chicken breast. I marinaded almost a day.

Roll in flour, then egg, then panko. I fried for 4 mins on each side, then baked for 15mins at 350F. 1 diced clove of garlic and 1 cut up carrot were added to the pan for a couple minutes to soften up. I deglazed with a little red wine. Added in washed/rinsed spinach. Cook for several minutes until spinach is wilts. Servce with rice on warm plate.