Coq Au Vin and Butternut Squash Soup

Coq Au Vin (Chicken with wine) and Butternut Squash Soup

I'll be posted the recipe links later.

Butternut Squash Soup with nutmeg, sea salt, pepper, and thyme sprinkled on top


Coq Au Vin with side of rice

Pork Ragout

Tonight's dinner was Pork Ragout.

The recipe I based it off is here.
I didn't use any sausage and was lacking 1 can of tomatoes.

.83lb pork tenderloin
3/4 chicken broth
3/4 red wine
14oz organic dice tomatoes
1/4tsp salt
1/4tsp pepper
1c chopped white onion
1Tb fresh rosemary
8oz of organica Italian pasta

Cooked per the recipe link above.



The Australian wine I used. I bought it at Fresh & Easy

It came out well despite missing not having enough canned tomatoes. I reduced it to make up for it.

Comme Ça, Las Vegas

Comme Ça opened Dec 15th along with the The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. The hotel is sandwiched between the City Center and Bellagio. The patio has a view of the Paris hotel, ironic since it's a French restaurant? A shame it was too cold and windy, we sat inside. The walls are basically chalkboards, where yes you can draw on them near the restrooms. The service was spectacular! It's a very relaxing environment with a friendly staff and great food. I'd definitely go back and shall try the Hollywood location someday! I'll even try his new cafe in Tokyo if I get the change to visit Japan again. On to the food.....

We both ordered the set 3 course lunch meal.

The soup du jour was a butternut squash soup:


Endives salad:


Salmon:


The Chicken Diable, very spicy but not hot:


Profiteroles!


Chocolate Pot De Crème


The owner/chef of Comme Ça, David Myers and us at the patio


Part of the place mat:


Interior shots:

Brioche

This is my 2nd attempt at making brioche. I went out and bought some 5.75" tin brioche molds from Sur La Table. I bought the made in france ones rather then their cheap made in china version.

Here's the result!



The recipe is from here!

Miso Glazed Chicken

Miso Glazed Chicken with Bok Choy and rice.

2 chicken breasts (Foster Farms)
4 Bok Choys
3 garlic cloves
2 green onions

Miso Glaze
1T Miso Paste
1T Michiu
1tsp soy sauce
1tsp sesame oil
2 garlic cloves minced
Drizzle of honey

Mix all together in bowl with whisk. Add chicken and marinate for 15-30mins.

Cook rice in rice cooker.

Add chicken to pre heated pan with oil. Cook 4mins each side. Remove and cut into smaller pieces and cook until down.

In another pan, pre heat pan then oil. Add 3 cloves of garlic. Cook for one minute. Add chopped up bok choy, stir. Add a little rice vinegar and soy sauce. Cook until bok choy is softened to liking.

Add green onions and sesame seeds as garnish.

Prosciutto and Onion Frittata

Prosciutto and onion frittata

The recipe can be found at the L.A. Times website here. It's like a fancy omelet.

I followed the recipe except for the cheese. It didn't stick to the pan, was easily removed with a spatula.

In the 10" SS pan


On the plate


Sliced

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.

Meatball Pasta

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

Chicken and Lemon Soy Broccoli

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



The recipe for the broccoli is here.

Pork Chops

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

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.

Turkey Penne

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

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!

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Stir Fried Chicken with Jasmine Rice and Baby Bok Choy

Stir Fried Chicken with Jasmine Rice and Baby Bok Choy

1 large chicken breast cut into small pieces, seasoned with salt & pepper. Garlic and 1/2 yellow onion added after chicken was removed. The sauce was chicken broth reduced down, then 3T of low sodium soy sauce and 2T of rice vinegar. 1tsp of flour mixed in to thicken sauce.

Steak with Red Wine Pan Sauce

Steak with Red Wine Pan Sauce, grilled carrots, and baked red potato slices.

2 red potatoes cut into thin slices. Mix in bowl with olive oil, kosher salt, and pepper. Pre heat oven to 425F. Bake for 25-30mins. Flip over at 15mins.

The sauce was made with 2Tb butter, 1/2C red wine, 1/2 chicken broth, 1 whole diced yellow onion, and 4 cloves of diced garlic. After steak is removed and tented on warm plate, add in onions and 1TB butter. Cook for a few minutes. Add in garlic, Cook for another minute. Deglaze pan with wine, raise heat to reduce wine. Add in broth. Add in steak juices. Reduce to desired thickness. Remove from heat, mix in 1TB butter. Serve hot over warm steak.

Turkey Meatball Pasta

Turkey Meatball Pasta

Lean ground turkey with salt, pepper, and minced garlic cooked in olive oil.
I used two different pastas, one finished in 13mins , the other in 7 mins which I added in at the 6 minute mark of the first. The sauce was white wine to deglaze, and chicken broth reduced a little. Spinach was added after the wine.

Garden Cafe

Garden Cafe Rowland Heights

Filet Mignon cubes with Asparagus

A little salty but good

Panko Chicken

Panko Chicken with steamed bok choy and roasted sweet potatoes.
I ended up baking the panko chicken to finish it off after frying it. I used thigh meat which I regret and will stick to breast meat. The bok choy was steamed in the rice cooker, slightly over steamed. The sweet potatoes were mixed with olive oil, kosher salt, and pepper.

Yakitori

American Style Kobe Beef Yakitori

.60lb Beef
3 cloves garlic, diced
3Tb soy sauce (low sodium)
1Tb Michiu
1/2C water
2 Yakisoba single serving pkgs
salt
pepper
3C Chinese Broccoli cut up into small pieces
1/2 sweet onion
2 green onions (white ends)
2 cups cabbage
2Tb oil

Salt/pepper the beef.
Cook garlic for 30s to 1min. Add beef. Cook until no more red shows, remove both to a plate.
Add onions, broccoli, and cabbage. Cook for a few minutes, stirring every now and then. Cover pan as well. Remove to another plate. Add 1Tb oil, then the noodles. Add the water. Stir to free up noodles. Add soy sauce and michiu. Mix well. Add everything else, lower temp and mix well. Serve on warm plate. Garnish with rose salt and sesame seeds.

The beef ended up too fatty for my liking, but I ate it anyways. You can use regular soy sauce to make it more salty and darker.

American Style Kobe Beef


Yum!

Chicken Masala

Chicken Masala with onions, garlic, and spinach.

I cooked the garlic and 1/2 sweet onion before browning the chicken thighs. I added 1/2 the spinach after adding the water & masala mix. I added the rest after adding water 15mins later.
Chicken came out very moist.



Made previously here.