Monday, January 31, 2011

Recipe: Potato Carrot Yellow Curry

Though I love my meat, I can always go for a super tasty vegetarian dish. I made this simple and delicious curry over the weekend and posted it on my Facebook. My friend, Xyla, saw it and requested the recipe. I don't really have a recipe (as usual) but here's how you do it. Remember you can always add more or less of the flavors you like and especially the chili to get the amount of spice you like.


Curry might seem like an exotic dish to many people, but it's super simple. It's a Pan-Asian stew like dish popular in India, Thailand and Japan among other countries. There are many variations of curry and it's hard to put a thumb on what makes a curry. There are curry leaves used for spice as well as many forms of curry pastes and powders in many wonderful colors. This curry I'm making is more of a Thai variation of yellow curry.

You probably have everything you need except for a few ingredients that you can find at your local supermarket or speciality Asian market. You will need a can of coconut milk and yellow curry powder. Other unique spices you can add are turmeric and coriander.

Ingredients:

1 White Onion
3-4 Medium Size Carrots
6 medium size Red Potatoes (any potatoes will work)
3-4 cloves of garlic
1-2 Thai bird chilies (you can use any type of pepper, jalapeño works fine too)
1 can coconut milk (look by Asian food, Thai brand, low fat is cool too)
3 tbsp Yellow Curry Powder
2 tbsp Tomato Paste
1 cup stock (vegetable or chicken)
1 tsp paprika
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
squeeze of lemon or lime
add more salt to taste

Optional Ingredients, if you want to add some more twists:

1 Tomato cut into wedges
Add some Mushrooms
1 tsp Turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp cumin


Directions:

Over medium heat, add butter and olive oil in med sauce pan until butter in melted. Add onions chopped in large pieces. I usually cut onion in half first, then cut into sixths. Saute onions until translucent. Add garlic and cook for about a minute, until you can smell it. Add carrot, potatoes chopped in large 1 inch pieces. Also add chilies. Saute for about 4-5 minutes. Add stock and stir tomato paste until dissolved. Add coconut milk and bring to a simmer. Stir in curry, salt, pepper, paprika and any other spices. Add squeeze of lime. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 35-45 minutes until potatoes are tender.

Enjoy alone or serve over rice. Trader Joe's also sells a great naan bread you can find in the frozen food section. You heat for a minute in the oven. It's great to sop up the curry.


Saturday, January 22, 2011

Cuts like a Knife


Check out this great knife holder that was in my friend's kitchen in San Francisco.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Kids and Cocktails at Casita del Campo!

If you have kids and wanna get them tipsy bring them to Casita del Campo in Silverlake. This kitschy pink mexican restaurant recently ran this ad in the local neighborhood paper the "Los Feliz Ledger". I am very surprised the designer of this ad, nor the editor of the paper picked up on this hilarious read.

Funny ad for Casita del Campo
The ad reads:

Kid's Menu
Happy Hour Special 3pm-7pm Everyday
$2.00 Off Cocktails
$1.00 Off Beer & Wine
$2.00 Off Appetizers

Oh, to be a kid again...

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Recipe: Mandarin Ginger Roasted Beets

Mandarin Ginger Roasted Beets

I grew up eating beets but they were usually pickled. One day after seeing them at the farmers' market regularly, I decided to buy some and make a beet dish. Here is the recipe for Mandarin Ginger Roasted Beets I created:

MANDARIN GINGER ROASTED BEETS
Recipe by Larimie Garcia for GrowlerEats.com

Ingredients:

3 Medium Beets, Washed, Peeled and Cut into quarters/sixths
½ Red Onion, Chopped into small pieces
1 Mandarin Orange (can substitute any type of orange or tangerine)
1 Tsp Ginger, Fresh is preffered. Chopped very fine.
1 Tsp Butter, Softened
½ Tsp Chile Powder
2 Tbsp. Brown Sugar
1-2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
Salt, to taste
Fresh Cracked Pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Set Mandarin Orange aside.

2. Wash, peel, chop Beets into quarters/sixths depending on how large your beets are. Dice Onion into small pieces. Chop Fresh Ginger very fine. Mix with remaining ingredients in large bowl.

3. Add zest of 1/2 madarin orange. Now peel orange and squeeze all the juice out of the flesh and add remaining flesh to bowl. Mix in.

4. Put all ingredients in small, shallow roasting pan.

5. Cook at 350 for 40-60 min. Stirring and basting beets in juice every 10-15 minutes.

Served as vegetarian course or side dish with beef, duck or pork.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Christmas from Japan

My friend just returned from Japan yesterday. He brought me a wonderful Christmas gift. Of course, it's for cooking and very designer. The best part is I can use it with my whisky. There was a silicon orb and small box in a stamped muslin bag. They both are for making drinks cold.

Round Ice Cube maker and Whisky Stones from Japan
The orb is for making spherical ice cubes. The top has a small hole in it you fill with water. When you get it out of the freezer, it easily splits in half to give you a round ice cube. The small box contained eight small square stones, sometimes called whisky stones. You freeze the dark soapstone and use them in your drinks. They keep your drinks ice cold with out watering them down.

The Hakushu Single Malt Whisky from Japan


Later we enjoyed some whisky from Japan from The Hakushu Distillery. I got to use the round ice cube!

Round Ice Cube lonely and waiting for some whisky to keep him company.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Recipe: Salsa Fresca for one

Salsa Fresca makes a great topping for tacos, great for dipping chips
and goes good on eggs for breakfast too.

Making fresh salsa is easy. This salsa fresca is more of a pico de gallo. There's no real recipe, just basic ingredients mixed to your liking. I was making taquitos but needed something fresh to compliment the deep fried crunch. I made this salsa in less than 10 minutes.

Salsa Fresca

Servings: This is a good way to make it for one or two people for a meal or appetizer without having a surplus of salsa leftover.

Ingredients:

1 Tomato - Chopped 1/4 - 1/2 inch
1/4 White Onion - Chopped 1/4 - 1/2 inch  (Red Onion can also be used)
1/2 Jalapeño - Finely Diced  (Use more of less depending on how spicy you like it)
2 Tbsp Cilantro - Chopped
1/2 Lime
1 Tsp. Olive Oil
Salt to taste

Mix Tomato, Onion, Jalapeño, Cilantro in bowl. Drizzle with Olive Oil. A a little squeeze of lime (or lemon). Salt to taste. Toss and refrigerate for at least half and hour so flavors can blend.

Enjoy with mexican food or on your eggs at breakfast.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Color: Pink

Dragon Fruit, Silvelake Farmers' Market

The color of the Dragonfruit is rich and vivid. The flesh inside is a blend of bright pink, fuchsia and megenta peppered with black speckles. The skin has a pink tone that turns a yellow-green at the edge of it's scales. This Dragonfruit is from the Farmers' Market in Silverlake, Los Angeles, California.

Raw Cane Juice being made at Farmers' Market



Watch Raw Sugar Cane Juice be made at Farmers' Market in Silverlake, Los Angeles.

Deal of the Day: Half off at Boraan Thai, Beverly Hills


Get $20 for $40 Worth of Authentic Thai Fare and Drinks at Boraan in Beverly Hills from our friends at Groupon.

CLICK HERE TO GET HALF-OFF BORAAN THAI. This deal is for today only.

Boraan Thai is located at 9036 Burton Way Beverly Hills, California 90211.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Art & Food: Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer"

Peter Gabriel gets his fruits and vegetables in the 80's classic, "Sledgehammer".
One of my favorite videos of all time is Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer". This innovative video always inspired me as child to want to make music videos. The stop motion animation is incredible. I love the cotton candy hair, the banana that peels when it goes in and out his ear and of course the dancing chickens!

Deal of the Day: 30% at Village Bakery

Blueberry, poppy-seed bread from Village Bakery

Get 30% off a Village Bakery. If you live in Atwater Village, Los Feliz, or Glendale, check this deal out courtesy of Blackboard Eats.

GET 30% VILLAGE BAKERY COUPON HERE - Today Only! Limited number of coupons available.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Get Piggy With It

Oink!

Ground pork never looked so good. Spotted by my cousin at Savemart butcher's counter in Oakdale, California.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Mas Malo - New Location in Downtown LA

Now my hair stylist won't have to come to Silver Lake for taco night, I can join him downtown. The hip local Silver Lake neighborhood hot spot, Malo, opens their second restaurant downtown this Friday, Mas Malo.

I can't wait to check out this new location. I like their current location with the indoor patio, bar and dining area. The outside of the building is really great with this bold, graphic, black and white zig zag design. They have quite a good logo too. A cute flying goat.

Ground beef pickle taco
Malo is a mexican-inspired "taqueria". It's well know for it's Monday Night $1 Taco Nights which we love to go to for a good local deal. I love that Potato-Chipotle-Cheddar Taco. Oh and the ground beef pickle taco. It's like a cheeseburger and taco at once. They have some tasty side dishes too. The elote (mexican style corn on the cob) and mushrooms are a good bet. Make sure to try the burnt habanero crema salsa - it's a taste sensation.



Mexican style corn


Be warned if you go on taco night (and many other nights) at the Silver Lake location, you will have terrible service. It happens every time. It starts with a bad attitude from the "hostess" - I use this term loosely. It continues with the server. Last time we had the experience of ordering a second round of drinks half-way thru our meal. This round consisted of three bottled Corona's. Literally 20 minutes past. After we were finally able to wave down our waitress, we asked her about our drinks because we were almost done with our meal. She replied "They're still making them". Making bottled Corona's? Wow, that's fresh! I understand they are busy, but the management should compensate and have extra staff to accommodate their clientele.


Malo Restaurant (Silver Lake)
4326 W Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90029

Opening Friday:
Mas Malo Restaurant (Downtown)
515 W. 7th Street - 1st Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90014

Monday, January 3, 2011

Art & Food: Burger Mural


Lovely hamburger character line the wall of this San Francisco Mission District alley.

Food n Fashion: Mmm... Bacon


Local growler, Jeff, rocks a MMMM...Bacon T-shirt. From pig to plate.

Leftouts: Making Beef Broth

I try to use all of my resources to their full potential - even all my leftouts. After Christmas I had some leftover prime rib bones with alot of meat and fatty tissue still attached to the bone. I decided to make a beef broth. It was fairly simple. There really is no "recipe" you can do it all to taste, say with bone, a carrot, couple green onions and couple cloves of garlic. Just reduce the ingredients accordingly and to taste. Anything goes.

From this process you will yield three products for future use: Beef Broth, Beef Tallow and Beef Meat.

1. I took a large stock pot and filled it with water (about 8 cups) and set it on high.

Use leftover prime rib bones to make beef broth. 
2. I then added:


  • Leftover Prime Rib bones with meat and fat on bone
  • 1 carrot cut into 3 pieces
  • 6 cloves of garlic
  • 4 green onions cut into thirds

  • 2 tsp thyme
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 1 tsp of salt
  • 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp fresh ground green pepper


3. Bring all ingredients to a boil. This takes about 15 minutes.

4. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for an hour and a half.

5. Add two more cups of water. Salt and pepper some more. 

Bring all ingredients to boil and reduce to simmer

6. Simmer until meat falls off the bone. About another hour. Just keep checking on it.

Remove and discard bones, carrot pieces and onion.
7. Remove from heat. Remove and discard the bones, carrot pieces and any large chunks of fat. You probably wont see much left of the garlic and onion. After they cook this long, they basically dissolve.

Strain broth from meat
8. Have a large bowl with a strainer ready. Empty and strain stockpot with remaining beef broth and beef pieces. Set aside strained meat pieces. Remove large pieces of fat and carrots in the meat mixture and reserve the meat for later use.

Set meat aside and refrigerate broth for about an hour.
9. Refrigerate bowl with broth for about an hour until it "sets". You will see a white solid layer form on top of the broth. 
White solid layer of "tallow" will form on top.



10. After solid layer forms on top of broth, remove from fridge. This solid white layer you are seeing is the fat (which when was raw was called "suet") now solidified into a "tallow". You will save this part to use later.
Gently remove top layer with fork.
Take a fork down the edge of the bowl and gently separate the solid layer from the layer below by slowly lifting it up. Do this slow and be careful to try to keep it in one piece and it will be less messy. Remove this piece and set aside on a piece of foil. 


11. Below the fat layer you will see a gelatinous brown liquid. This is your broth base. Put in airtight container and freeze for future use or use immediately to make soup.

You now have three resources from this process to use:

Broth base - use immediately or freeze for future use. Gently heat on low and add a little water until mixture returns completely to a liquid. You can use this for a base to make delicious soups.

Beef Meat - use immediately or freeze for future use. This meat is great for taquitos, tacos and pasta sauces.

Beef Tallow (Fat) - freeze this fat to use for the future. To use, gently reheat in a skillet. Use beef suet to make refried beans, fat base for gravy or to fry french fries.

Enjoy your new cooking resources!



Sunday, January 2, 2011

English Muffin

I saw this cardboard box for english muffins laying on the street as a I walked in the rain. It made me want McDonald's.

Deal of the Day: Half off at Border Grill

see more photos on Border Grill's website gallery
Border Grill in Downtown Los Angeles, is offering a special thru Groupon (one of my favorite sites). You can get $40 worth of food for only $20. Click here to get todays' Deal of the Day.

When you go to Border Grill try the Panuchos with Citrus Chicken and the Yucatan Pork roasted in banana leaf. It's oh so good.

Border Grill is located at 445 S Figueroa St. Los Angeles, California 90071.