Sig-O Cooks Dinner!

The sig-o has been working on weeks to perfect this recipe. He decided to surprise me with it for one of our date nights. Let me tell you, it was muy impresivo. For someone who's never had pork chops, I think he nailed it! I know what you're thinking, "You've never had pork chops?" Yeah, well, did I mention I was vegetarian for six years, and before that, I was a steak and fish kind of gal. Now that we're all over the shock, back to the pork chops. They were delicious. They were so flavorful, delicious, and juicy. His side dishes weren't too shabby either. The brocolli was just right. They were tender, slightly crisp, not too soggy, and not completely raw. That's hard to do, my friends. The pasta was great. As a recent graduate from college, he has become a master of al dente pasta and tomato sauce.
For dessert, my wonderful sig-o ran out to the store to pick up a tub of vanilla bean ice cream, while I stayed behind and finished my dinner (I'm a very slow eater).

Brown Butter Raspberry Tart

When I think of pie crusts, the first thought that comes into my mind is how difficult they are to handle. They are sticky no matter how much flour I use and they never roll so nicely around a rolling pin like on the FoodNetwork. Actually, those days ended a few months ago when I found the perfect recipe that has just the right consistency and bakes beautifully .
Even though I am now at a level where I can handle pie crusts and I believe I have found the perfect recipe, my countless arduous experiences still leave a negative imprint in my memories. It's gotten so bad to the point where, even though I love to bake pies, I only bake them during the holidays, when I can make large batches of pie crust dough at once, and make several pies at the same time.When I came across this brown butter raspberry tart recipe, I was tempted to try it, but my immediate thought and reflexes caused me to cringe at the thought of making the crust. Once again, I had bulk berries, so I took a deep breath and decided to suck it up and give it a go. I am so glad I did. The crust was so unbelievely simple and gave me no trouble at all. After the crust, which was a no brainer, the rest was a cake walk. This recipe was so remarkably easy that I made it twice! Now that's a no brainer.


Brown Butter Raspaberry Tart adpated from epicurious.com

Crust:

7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
Pinch of salt

Filling:
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, diced
2 6-ounce containers fresh raspberries

Directions

For the crust:
1. Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 375°F.

2. Using rubber spatula or fork, mix melted butter, sugar, and vanilla in medium bowl.

3. Add flour and salt and stir until incorporated.

4. Transfer the dough to 9-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom. Using fingertips, press dough evenly onto sides and bottom of pan.

5. Bake crust until golden, about 18 minutes (crust will puff slightly while baking). Transfer crust to rack and cool in pan. Maintain oven temperature.

For filling:
1. Whisk sugar, eggs, and salt in medium bowl to blend.

2. Add flour and vanilla; whisk until smooth.

3. Cook butter in heavy small saucepan over medium heat until deep nutty brown (do not burn), stirring often, about 6 minutes. Immediately pour browned butter into glass measuring cup.

4. Gradually whisk browned butter into sugar-egg mixture; whisk until well blended.

5. Arrange raspberries, pointed side up and close together in concentric circles, in bottom of cooled crust. '

6. Carefully pour browned butter mixture evenly over berries.

7. Place tart on rimmed baking sheet. Bake tart until filling is puffed and golden and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes.

8. Cool tart completely in pan on rack.

9. Remove tart pan sides. Place tart on platter. Cut into wedges and serve.

Summer Fruit Salad

With all the baking that I do, I get more than my fair share of sugar and flour into my body. Considering that my exercise regime consists of walking to and from my car while running errands, and walking around the lab at work, I probably have excess sugar lingering around in my body.
As said in a previous post, it has been really difficult to bake these days because of the summer heat. The recent heat wave in LA didn't help either. The thought of heating up the house with the oven and countering the central air conditioner just didn't seem sound.
No worries, though; with the end of summer looming and fall and winter approaching (my favorite times of the year to bake), I will be baking again in no time!
I decided to make something healthy and heat friendly for a change. Upon a recent trip to Costco, I purchased my favorite bulk fruits and decided to make a fruit salad. Fruit salads are refreshing, nutritious, and contain plenty of natural sugars to satisfy my sweet tooth. Best of all, they are completely versatile!

There will be no recipe for this post because I don't know who's allergic to what and because you should use your favorite fruits anyway. Just chop, toss and enjoy!

31st Month Anniversary and Counting

Earlier this month, the sig-o and I celebrated our 31st month anniversary. When I tell people about our monthly anniversaries, the usual reaction is, "You still celebrate monthly anniversaries?". Well, yes, sort of. We usually acknowledge, but not necessarily celebrate, to be exact. It all depends on our schedule for that particular week whether we celebrate or not.
For this month's anniversary, the stars aligned. We got off work at around the same time, we weren't completely swamped, and we had a gift certificate to dine from a list of restaurants! Can you ask for anything more?
To make it more convenient for me, the sig-o drove from Brea to me in LA and we decided to pick a restaurant in Glendale. We chose Damon's Steak House, which turned out to be the perfect choice. It was local, not too fancy where it is uncomfortable, and it was delicious!
Since I became a non-vegetarian, I have been reluctant to consuming beef. I have no trouble with any other animal, but beef just didn't appeal. Well, since we were at a steak house, I decided to give it a go. I opted on the prime rib, medium rare (brave, no? The medium rare was recommended by the sig-o). Ironically, the carnivore who loves the finest cuts of beef that I was sitting next to wanted to order fish! The grilled salmon filet, if I remember correctly. That sounded equally as yummy so we decided to go with our choices and split the plates.
I'm an appetizer kind of girl...hello potato skins. The meals came with soup and salad. For the salad, the waitress recommended the house french dressing, tossed at our table. Everything was delicious and filling, but unfortunately, we did not have room for dessert.
It was the perfect evening for an anniversary, filled with good conversation, good eats, and good company.

Koshary

One of my favorite pastimes is trying new restaurants. I love to try new cuisines and would love to travel all over the world one day and just eat my heart out. Until then, I will have to make due with what I have.

As you know, I started working at a new company last week. That weekend, I was invited to a party at one of the co-workers' home. It was an event for all of the co-workers and everyone was encouraged to bring a dish. I brought Pad Thai and Thai iced tea from the family restaurant. The host of the party was Russian and he had provided many Russian and Mediterranean dishes.
Another co-worker is Egyptian and he brought an Egyptian dish that his wife had made. I had never tried Egyptian food and I didn't even know what the staples to Egyptian dishes entailed. This dish, Koshary, as I would come to learn, changed everything. It was uniquely presented in a bowl with many meticulously placed layers and two of the many carbs that I would not be able to live without - pasta and rice (does it get any better than that?)!
Once I served myself a healthy helping, I was instructed to pour a grayish brown spicy liquid and mix. I thought the dish would be delicious enough without anything extra, but I had to listen to a native. So poured and mixed I did. I took the bite and was blown away! My tastebuds were delighted. It had a tomato sauce, none like I've ever tasted. It was not a marinara sauce that you put on pasta and it certainly wasn't a tomato sauce you serve on enchiladas. It was tangy and spicy, yet not overwhelming, you know what I mean? (maybe after this recipe you will). And the combination of pasta and rice was heavenly.
The Monday after, I was craving this dish. I asked my co-worker what it was called, "Koshary", he said and googling I went. I sorted through close to a dozen recipes before I chose a recipe that I felt was authentic and closest to what I had tried. I certainly found the winner. I didn't ask a native, but I thought it tasted pretty darn close to what I had had that weekend.
Koshary slightly modified and adapted from Hans at answers.yahoo.com

Note: I catered this recipe to the one I had at the party. I omitted the vermicelli noodies, fried onions and chickpeas. Though there are two sauces available, I chose the one that I thought would taste most like the one I had.

Pasta
Use the smallest "Penne" you can find for this recipe, the perfect pasta is called "Ditanlini", which is a short straight tube no longer than 1/4 inch. Boil the pasta, seive it and mix it with 1 table spoon of oil and 1/2 tsp salt.

Rice (1 1/2 cup) with Vermicelli noodles(1/4 cup)
In a pot, stir fry the Vermicelli in 1 spoon of oil until dark brown, add the washed rice, stir for two minutes. Add 2 cups of boiling water, salt and paper. put on very low heat and cover for 20 minutes.

Boiled lentils (1 cup) -can be prepared the day before and heated in the microwave before serving. Use Black or green whole lentils for this recipe. Boil the lentils in 4 cups of water, strain and season with salt and peper.

Tomato Sauce with Garlic - can be prepared the day before and heated before serving
Stir-fry 1 minced onion with two garlic cloves in a pot with one spoon of oil. When yellow, add two cans of whole tomatoes or 1 KG of fresh ripe tomatoes cut to small pieces. Add a cup of water and simmer for 15 minutes. Blend the sauce until smooth and put back on heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Salt + pepper

Fried onions - can be prepared the day before.
This is the most anoying part of making a Koshary, because of the smell that fills the house when frying the onions. You may find in a Chinese Deli ready fried onions that can serve well for this recipe. just mix 1 cup of it with 1 spoon oil, 3 spoons water and 1/2 tsp salt. microwave for 2 minutes and here you go.

If you want to be authentic (recommended) cut two large onions very small, season with 1/2 tsp of salt and mix well to separate the onion. Fry in the widest pan you have in 1/4 cup of hot oil , keep stiring until very dark brown. Almost black. Pick the now fluffy and crunchy fried onions to absorbent paper. Don't get rid of the remaining oil - see my tips

Chickpeas - the easiest part of the recipe -
buy a can of chickpeas, open it and rinse it under running water!!!!

Hot paprika Sauce - can be prepared the day before no heating needed.
heat 3 spoons of oil in a small pan, remove from heat, mix two spoons of hot Paprika , add 3 spoons of tomatoe sauce which you already prepared. serve in a small bowl on the side

Garlic Lemon Sauce - again ..prepare the day before...
Mix 3 minced garlic cloves with 1/8 cup white viniger, 1 big lemon juice, 1 tsp cumin powder and 1 tsp coriander powder.

Assembly:
From Bottom up

1 Pasta
2 Rice with Vermicelli noodles
3 Boild lentils
4 Tomato Sauce with GArlic
5 Fried onions
6 Chickpeas

Tips:
Do not use Olive oil for this recipe, it will change the taste
Use the oil you used for frying the onions to mix with the Pasta.

Serving: Scoop onto a dish and drizzle one of the sauces over the dish. Combine and enjoy.