Panko Pork Fried Rice

Panko Pork Fried Rice with broccoli and baby bok choy.

.42lb of pork
1c broccoli
2 heads baby bok chow
panko mix
2 eggs
miso paste
oil
old rice
1T soy sauce
3 garlic gloves

Mix 1 egg in a small bowl. Dip pork in egg then the panko mix. Set aside.
Dice the garlic.
Wash the veggies then cut up into bite size pieces.
Boil water then add broccoli. Boil for 4mins. Remove and rinse under cold water.

Pre heat pan, then oil. Add in panko pork. When 1 side is brown turn over. Then keep tossing to cook the pork. Remove ontp a plate with paper towel to soak up oil.

Add more oil to pan. Add in rice. Add in garlic, veggies. Mix up and close lid over it for a couple of minutes. Remove lid, and keep mixing. Create opening in center, add egg. Mix egg but don't scramble. Before it's cooked all the way, combine with everything else. Add 1T of soy sauce. Mix well. Serve on warm plate, sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Add panko pork to plate. Either spread miso paste on pork or add as a side to dip.

Orange County Restaurant Week

February 28th - March 6th 2010
Check it out here.
AnQi is on the list, if their garlic noodles are the same as their Crustacean restaurant, it'd be a good one to try out.

Good morning breakfast

Simple yet so flavorful. 1 fried egg cooked with garlic. Sprinkle with basil and salt after it's done. Add in some fresh fruit. The yolk is also still runny.

Voilà!

Curry Curry Curry

Curry with Beef and Baby Bak Choy with Rice.
Tonight's curry is the House brand, medium-hot. Comes in a packet to boil 3-5 mins. Some veggies are in the packet as well. Serves 2.

2 garlic cloves
3 heads of baby bok choy
3/4lb stir fry beef
grapeseed oil
rice
1 pkg of curry

Cut up the garlic and baby bok choy, remove ends.
Quick cook the rice in the rice steamer. Boil some water in a sauce pan.
Pre heat a pan (12"), then add a little oil. Add meat after oil is warmed up.
It's thinly sliced so just cook each side for a couple of minutes. Remove from pan to a plate.
Water should be boiling, add the curry package in.
Add a little more oil to pan. Increase heat. Add garlic and bok choy. Keep mixing. The bok choy will shrink down and garlic start to turn color. Lower heat, add meat back and mix up.
Warm up a plate, add rice then beef/garlic/bok choy. Pour over 1/2 of the pkg of curry. Sprinkle some sesame seeds on top.

Penne Mediterranean

Penne Mediterranean

Recipe found here. Video recipe is here.

I was cooking for 2 so I cut all ingredients in 1/2 from their recipe. I used broccoli in place of mushrooms and didn't add chili.

salt for boiled water & chicken
2 cloves garlic
1 cup broccoli
1/2 tbsp Italian flat-leaf parsley
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, packed
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast
1/8 cup dry white wine
1 cup chicken stock
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
freshly ground pepper
1.5c of penne pasta
1/2 cup feta cheese (4 ounces)
extra-virgin olive oil to drizzle over

Prep:
Cut up the garlic into small pieces
Cut up the broccoli into smaller pieces, boil to soften for 4mins
Cut up the parsley into small pieces
Cut the tomatoes in half if desired
Cut up the chicken into bite size pieces

Boil water, add salt, start pasta
The $2 box of organic penne I bought from Henry's was going to take 12mins to cook.

Pre heat pan, add olive oil, add chicken when oil is ready.
Cook for a couple of minutes and flip over. After a couple more minutes, remove chicken.
Add in btoccoli, cook for a couple minutes. Increate heat and add the tomatoes and garlic.
After 30s, add the wine to deglaze. After reduced, add the chicken stock. As it simmers down to 1/3 the size, the pasta should be ready. Add the chicken back in to finish cooking. Add the pasta. Mix up. Add the parsley and feta cheese. Mix then serve. Drizzle a little olive oil and add pepper if desired.

Chicken with Polenta and Asparagus

Chicken with Polenta, Asparagus and red wine sauce.

1lb of chicken tenders
12 asparagus stalks
3/4c polenta
1/4c milk or cream
salt
pepper
shallot
2 garlic cloves
2.5TB butter
3c water
1c red wine
1TB finely grated parmesan (I didn't add)

Boil 3 cups of water in sauce pan. Once boiling, add salt. Slowly pour in polenta. Stir away, lower heat to medium. Stir for 2 minutes. Set to low, cover. Stir 1 minute every 10 minutes. Cook for 45mins total. Add in 1.5TB butter, milk, (cheese if you want), stir and remove from heat. Add in fresh rosemary and stir. Dash a little salt on top after serving if desired.

Cut up asparagus into 1inch pieces. Boil in salted water for 4mins. Sprain water out and pour cold water over asparagus to stop cooking.

Cut up the garlic and shallot and set aside.

Pat dry chicken. Add salt/pepper.
Pre heat pan. Add grapeseed oil. After oil is warmed, add chicken. Cook ~4mins per side. Remove from heat and tent it. Add in 1TB butter, then the shallots. After a few minutes, add garlic. After a minute, turn heat to high and pour in wine to deglaze. Scoop up the sucs. Add in the asparagus. Reduce wine until it's almost gone. Lower heat to low. Add in chicken to warm a little more. Serve and enjoy. Serves 2-3.

Birthday Cake from Porto's Bakery

Porto's Bakery is a famous Cuban bakery in Glendale. We celebrated my father's birthday tonight (don't ask about the lunch). Looks like a difficult cake to make, with all the airy layers of white chocolate on top.

No Knead Bread

The recipe I used is here. A quicker version is here.

3 cups bread flour (I used King Arthur Bread Flour)
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast (1 packet)
3/4 tablespoon kosher salt (or 1 teaspoon table salt)
1 1/2 cups warm water

Before it rests for 12 hours.


In the dutch oven ready to bake


After baking




We have winner. My son loves it :)

Ez Potsickers

These are frozen Japanese pot stickers (veg/chicken). They can be fried/boild/steamed/nuked. I went with boiling.



Some sesame seeds sprinkled over. The sauce is miso and lemon mixed and heated in a sauce pan. Very little is needed when dipping the potstickers.

Pop Pop Pop

Rather then nuking the packaged kettle corn, I poured into a 12" pan with lid at medium heat.
As it starts to pop, shake the pan so the popcorn doesn't burn. Not too many unpopped kernels compared to nuking.

Ôpera Café

As we visited San Diego today, we dropped by Ôpera Café. It's right off the 805 at the 805/5 split. I found it by reading someone's else's blog that happened to talk about their macarons.
It's very good! I think it's run/owned by two french men. They were very nice to everyone. There website is here.

I had the Steak and Brie Cheese sandwich:
Open Face Sandwich with Steak, Caramelized Onions and Brie Cheese on Foccacia
Bread, served with Seasonal Mix Greens with Shallot and Dijon Vinaigrette.


Eva had the Grilled Chicken and Basil Pesto sandwich:
Roasted Peppers Topped with Fontina Cheese, Basil Pesto on Ciabatta Bread,
served with Seasonal Mix Greens with Shallot and Dijon Vinaigrette.

And a half order of Spicy Salmon Salad:
Seasonal Mix Greens with Tomatoes, Carrots, Cucumber, Asparagus
and Honey Lime Vinaigrette



We ordered a box of 12 macarons to go, $11.95, a great deal!
I took the pictures sitting on the sand at Pacific Beach.

Coconut-Braised Beef Redux

As seen here. This time I made it at night but to eat the next day. A whole day of soaking in juices. The carrots were thrown as I had it cool down in an ice bath before placing in the fridge. Sea salt was sprinkled on before eating.

Rice Spirals with a chance of Meatballs

Tonight's dish was DeBoles Rice Spirals with Mama Cocco's Basil and Garlic sauce. I made little meatballs from ground beef and stuffed with fresh garlic pieces. The meat was seasoned with salt and pepper. A side of asparagus as the veggie side.

Pre-heat the oven to 450F. Lightly mix the asparagus in olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Once oven is at 450F, bake for 10mins. After 10mins, flip them over and bake for another 10mins.


I added two garlic cloves as the meatballs cooked. 1/2 jar of sauce was poured in the pan. The boiled pasta went in to mix it all up. I added fresh basil on top. Serves 3.


Here's the final dish, fresh rosemary and pepper were added as the finishing touches

Light Meal

They sell butter lettuce with the root attached. 1 head is enought for 2. After washing and putting thru the salad spinner, I cut it up into more manageable pieces. Some fruits and carrots were added in. A little ginger dressing added later.


Served with a side of sweet potato fries

Chocolate Espresso Soufflé

For dessert tonight, Chocolate Espresso Soufflé! Since V-day came on Chinese New Years, which meant no cooking on New Years, I saved this for tonight. The recipe is here.

I picked up two Revol (6oz) ramekins at Sur La Table for $7/ea. Made in France, no cheap China stuff.


I used Ghirardelli's 72% (Baking) Chocolate. They come in small round chips to easily melt down.
I used some ground up espresso beans (Jones Coffee).

Batter and ramekins


Batter in ramekins


Into the oven for 15 minutes @ pre-heated 400F


Out of the oven, puffed up


Add some fresh fruit, powdered sugar, a little syrup


Close up


The results are in....we have a winner :)

It's not a high calorie dessert unless you decide to pour chocolate syrup into the Soufflé and top off with vanilla ice cream and/or whipped cream.

Pork Fried Rice

Pork Fried Rice along with garlic, green onions, and broccoli. I went to Henry's Market today, I like the fancy plastic bag dispenser for the veggies/fruits.

1 pkg of pork cut for stir fry (.77lb)
2 garlic cloves
Broccoli florets (handful)
1 green onion
1T soy sauce
salt
pepper
oil
leftover rice
1 egg (room temp)

Dice up the garlic. Dice up the green onion. Cut stems off the broccoli, cut heads in 1/2 or more to make smaller pieces.
Pat the pork dry with paper towels, season with salt & pepper.
Pre-heat a pan (I used a 12"). Heat the oil.

Add in the pork, cooking each side ~3 minutes.
Remove pork to a plate. Add in garlic, sauté for around 1 min.
Remove garlic. Add in broccoli stems. Cook for a few minutes and add the heads in.
Cook for a couple of more minutes. Remove broccoli from pan. If needed, add more oil.
Add in the leftover rice, break up any lumps. Keep stirring loosely. Add in a little broth to free the pork sucs. Mix the sucs with the rice, create a clearing into the center of the pan. Add a little oil. Add egg to the center, almost scrambling it. Before it's done cooking, mix with the rice. Add the green onions and the rest of the waiting ingredients and soy sauce. Lower heat, toss/mix for a few minutes.

Le Creuset 3.5-Qt. Wide Oval Dutch Oven $129.95

Le Creuset 3.5-Qt. Wide Oval Dutch Oven is on sale for $129.95 at Williams Sonoma. $190 at amazon.




If you haev a LC outlet near by, their sales info is here.

Happy Chinese New Year !

Happy Chinese New Year! The year of the Tiger.

Incense


Some of the food


Candies


Oranges


Other good luck items

French Toast

Add egg to a bowl plate, mix it, add a dash of nutmeg, soak in some thick cut bread.

Add butter, syrup, and powdered sugar on top:

Yelpmailed

Seems unreal but I could see this happening. I always read the reviews on yelp with a grain of salt. I've never seen anyone wearing a yelp shirt, that'd be pretty lame.
Read here.

Rib-eye goodness

Tonight was thin cut rib-eye with fried onions and rice. Serves 2

.77lb of thin cut rib-eye
1/2 yellow onion
4 garlic cloves
grapeseed oil
miso paste
1/2 lemon (juice)
1/2T butter
white wine
rice
salt/pepper

Dice the onion and garlic, set aside separately. Pre heat the pan then oil.
Pat dry the rib-eye, add salt & pepper to both sides. Place into pan (12") for around 3 minutes each side or longer to cook more well. Remove from heat and tent on plate.
Add the onions in, cook for a few minutes, stirring/shaking. Add in the garlic. After a minute, add in enough white wine to deglaze. Scrap off the sucs and stri around. Put lid on top as it reduces. I reduces til most of the wine was gone.

In a small saucepan, add miso pate, butter, and lemon juice. Heat and mix until combined.

Add it all together:


Yummy!

Pork Medallions with Pan Sauce and Gratin Dauphinois

Tonight's meal was pork medallions using pork tenderloin cut into ~1/2" slices and then slightly flattened more using a pan. The potato gratin recipe I've used before, here's the recipe. The pan sauce was made using sucs, shallots, garlic, red wine, 1T butter, and chicken broth. Some baby bok choy was steamed in the rice cooker, set for 5mins.

I wanted a more cooked/baked looking gratin so I single layered the red potatos out over a pan. I added leeks on top and a glove of garlic with around 7mins left in the oven.



The medallions, gratin, bok choy covered with pan sauce

Overboard Curry Beef with Rice

Tonight was beef curry with Japanese rice. Ever wanted the super sticky rice? Just follow the instructions on the rice bag. 1.5 cups of rice to 2 cups water....sticky. Don't want it so sticky, do the 2:2 ratio. I picked up some cut up beef made for cooking with curry. I coated the beef in flour. The pan was preheated then the oil. The beef was added and cooked ~3 minutes per side. The beef was removed with lots of sucs left. 2 diced cloves of garlic tossed in. I deglazed with a little red wine. As it reduced to just a little left, some chicken broth was added in. As it reduced the beef was thrown back in and mixed together. Reduce into there's not much sauce left, the remaining will be thick and coat the beef nicely. The curry was boiling in it's package for 3-5 minutes. Sesame seeds sprinkled on top of everything.

viola!

Panko Chicken

Another yummy round of panko chicken. The miso sauce goes very well with the chicken and rice. A zesty lemony salty miso tang that goes POW into the taste buds :) The original recipe is here.

1 chicken breast
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup panko
thyme
japanese rice
carrots
grapeseed oil
2 spoons miso paste
1/2 lemon

I cut the breast into two pieces and pounded with a sauce pan to flatten. The chicken goes thru the flour, egg, panko and onto a plate as I warmed up the pan. The chicken is cooked 3 mins per side and removed onto paper towels to soak up the oil. The chicken is tented with aluminum foil and is rested as I boil the carrots and make the sauce.

2 heaping spoonful scoops of miso paste was added a saucepan over low heat. As it heated up, I squeezed in 1/2 lemon. Stir and heat until mixed together.
Thyme was sprinkled over everything.

Akasaka take-out

Akasaka is a hole in the wall Japanese restaurant near another hole in the wall place called Foo Foo Tei. Akasaka specializes in sushi and Foo Foo Tei is famous for ramen dishes. You'd never find either just driving around because it's tucked amongst warehouses and regular homes.

The yelp review can be read here.

Here's what Eva ordered:

The spicy tuna roll


Chirashi bowl

Pork Chops with Marsala and Fennel

Pork Chops with Marsala and Fennel was tonight's meal. The recipe can be found here.
It would probably be even better using pork tenderloin or chicken. I didn't have any marsala and used red wine. The sauce with the onions and fennel came out so good.

The onions & fennel cooking


The final dish


A closer view of the onions/fennel



And a side of baked sweet potato fries