14 Jun 2011
by scolgin
in Recipes, Sensational Salads
Tags: anchovy, balsamic vinegar, capers, green pepper, Italy, recipe, salad
People have found all sorts of creative uses for green bell pepper across an array of pan-cultural preparations. You’ll find large chunks of it dominating entrees in cheap Chinese restaurants; lengthy slivers in pasta primavera at Olive Garden and Buca di Beppo; long-simmered squares floating in albondigas soup at your favorite Mexican dive. Among the world’s varied peppers, ranging from the tiny fiery pequins of Mexico to big sweet Hungarian peppers to vibrantly hot thai chilies, green peppers are not my favorite.
From this...
But even the most pedestrian vegetables can have their moment to shine. And so I humbly present the green bell pepper, re-introduced and all dressed up for its ascension to glory. More
10 Jun 2011
by scolgin
in Cooking Tips, Recipes
Tags: cabbage, fermentation, kim chee, kimchi, Korea, Korean food
I eat a lot of kim chee. I usually have a jar in the fridge, and I find it makes a nice snack. Plus, it’s a Super Food — packed with antioxidants and other unquantifiable health-improving properties. During the avian flu outbreak in Asia, it’s said that Korea derived a good deal of protection from eating kim chee. My wife, on the other hand, is not so fond of it. “What is that awful smell?” she says whenever she comes into the kitchen after I’ve snacked.
My kim chee
When I stumbled on a kim chee article in an old issue my favorite cooking magazine, I took that as a sign it was time to try making it on my own. More
07 Jun 2011
by scolgin
in Recipes, Video, World's Best Sandwiches
Tags: aioli, best burger, burger, chorizo, contest, fennel, L.A. Times, Manchego, pimenton
I like entering contests of skill. I won a big Le Creuset dutch oven recently in a contest where I had to write a semi-autobiographical essay about my childhood memories and how Le Creuset fit warmly into them. (There must’ve been one somewhere in my childhood, right? Anyway…) A recent item caught my eye in the Los Angeles Times food section: Best Burger Contest.
My entry in the Best Burger Contest — the Chorizo burger with Manchego, caramelized fennel and spicy sweet pimenton aioli
My go-to burger is sort of a knock-off of the now-famous burger from my old neighborhood dive bar, Father’s Office: thick medium-rare burgers, blue cheese, caramelized onions, bacon and arugula. I figured two thirds of the recipes submitted to the contest were going to be some variation on that theme, so I decided to enter the Burger Lab (my kitchen) and get to work on coming up with something utterly original, and unbeatably delicious. More
03 Jun 2011
by scolgin
in Recipes, Video
Tags: arroz a banda, barbecue, bomba, clams, crab, fideus, grill, paella, pimenton, rabbit, rice, saffron, snails, squid ink, Sur la Table, Valencia
There are a few things you must know about paella:
• It originates from the region of Valencia in Spain, and traditional versions were made in the field by hunters and contained not seafood but rabbit and snails.
• The pan is called a paella, and the dish is named for the pan. While you can cook a reasonable paella without the pan, it won’t have the same theater (see the video below). Besides, it’ll only set you back around $20 for a 15″ pan from Spain. (www.surlatable.com)
• Paellas were traditionally cooked outdoors over an open fire. This is still the best way to cook paella. Although you can achieve just as good an effect on the barbecue. When our kitchen was being remodeled, I cooked outdoor on the barbecue for two months. We ate a lot of paella. More
31 May 2011
by scolgin
in Markets & Stores, Observations
Tags: Giant Robot, japanese, Little Osaka, Marukai, Nijiya, Safe & Save, Sawtelle, uni
It’s always sad for me to write about the ghosts of places I loved, in decline or disappearing. (Favorite restaurants of the past, Dar Maghreb and Anisette, for example.) Such is today’s ghost story, my fingers tapping glumly at the keyboard…
Last days at the Safe & Save
I stopped awhile back by one of my favorite markets, the Safe & Save on Sawtelle. On a stretch of “Little Osaka” that’s becoming somewhat trendy with izakayas and Giant Robots, it was — along with Satsuma Imports and Hashimoto bonsai nursery — one of the last vestiges of the Old Sawtelle. More
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