Pork Week!

Something happened last Wednesday that changed me forever. Well, maybe just for the next 6 days. I had a pigpiphany, if you will, and you're here, so I know you will.

Many people commented on my last post, most of them expressing joy over pig candy and a salad that is more than half bacon and eggs. It is my duty, however, to give you all a warning: pig candy is a gateway drug. Use it with caution, or you might just find yourself on a week-long pork binge, selling out your friends and loved ones for a tiny bit of cracklin. And be very careful about doing this around your children. Although, if bacon grease is a drug, they may be onto something here. Mmm, brains.

I'm going back to turkey tonight for Taco Tuesday, and only one of BoW's famous margaritas will make the shaking stop. Maybe I'll get a ham sandwich for lunch, just to tide me over. With my luck, they'll probably pick M Cafe today.

Thursday night was a quiet night at home. We had a couple of sausages in the freezer and thought we'd grill them up and serve with steamed broccoli. Simple, tasty, healthy, right? Normally, we would get chicken sausages for this kind of meal, but since it was leftovers, we had a couple of those and a couple of pork Italian sausages. And so it began. I didn't even think of it at the time. In fact, it was only Sunday when I noticed how quietly and innocuously the pig had inserted itself into our lives.

Friday, we decided to do our anti VD night out. I knew Count Reeshard was planning on going to Fioretto on Saturday, so I would get the report if they did something special, but this way BoW and I could enjoy a relatively quiet dinner and save the fireworks for Saturday at home. I finally photographed the elusive Rossa.

BoW had the Mozarella, which was fresh and delicious.

We had a nice bottle of the Morellino di Scansano and were more than satisfied with our main courses, to say the least. Here is the Scottadito, with a thick and acerbic olive sauce that harmonized perfectly with the meatiness of the lamb and the slightly thin yet creamy gravy of the goat cheese risotto. This was a perfect example the Tuscan ideal of simple, balanced combination. None of the elements was as good as it was when eaten with both of the others.

The Pici is a standard menu option, and Chef's fresh pasta never disappoints. Sausage ragout fills my pork requirement for the day. Every time you have spaghetti and meat sauce in a restaurant in this country, this is what you wish you were having.

At this point, I'm going to skip ahead to Sunday. I know that if I show you what I did on Saturday right now, you won't go on. You'll at the very least have to stop for a moment to yourself, and when you come back, the last segment will seem like a tagged-on ending to a modern high-concept comedy.

Sunday, I had to work, so BoW was left to do some typical Sunday chores and whip up some of her awesome pizza. I've spoken pie here before, and I will say that hers is as good as any I've mentioned. First was the red pie, seen here in enticing before and after photos, with tomato sauce, fresh cheese, basil, mushroom, and salami.

Second was the white pie with cheese, artichoke, and prosciutto. 

Finally, Monday (day 6) arrived, and thanks be to Ceasar Chavez, I had the day off. Sadly, BoW had to go in, so while I had time to make a nice meal, the day was not quite as decadent as our normal Sunday. This leisure allowed time for my fertile imagination to come up with a way to get some pork into what is normally a vegetarian pasta dish. Rendering prosciutto pieces in the toaster oven to use as garnish? Dare I?

Apparently, yes.

Fresh fettucini from WFM, lots of garlic, artichoke, hearts of palm, fresh parsley. This is what Mussolini sympathizers were eating in Argentina in the 50s while they waited for their steaks to grill.

Okay, I need a break. I apologize to those of you in the RSS crowd for the tease, but rest assured, I will be back later in the afternoon with further salty, smoky, fatty goodness.

Sweet Lou

First, an apology. I promised a report on grilled tofu featuring my standard Cardini's-based marinade. Well, the grill never really got hot enough due to gas pressure issues related to temperature and disuse. The result was limp tofu that never really got any kind of char. It wasn't bad to eat, but certainly nothing to photograph or write into the abyss of the internet about.

Instead, I bring you a report on one of my favorite restaurants in LA, Lou. An unpretentious little spot in a strip mall at the wrong end of Vine street, Lou is exactly the kind of place that makes me love this town. Where else would you find a tube hi-fi, chalkboard menu, biodynamic wines, and the love for pork that only a secular Jew can have all in the same building as a laudromat? Plus, Natalie Portman was there.

I was the last to arrive, and when I did, I found BoW, ML, and Count Reeshard at one of the better tables already enjoying some vin, some olives, and some pig candy. Yes, I said pig candy. I didn't get pictures at this point, but as you can see from the links, several other people who generally do a better job of that have already gushed about the stuff. It's even better than Sloppy Joe on a Krispy Kreme.

I then ordered a nice light, yeasty biodynamic wine and insisted we get some smoked fish. It was only halfway through this plate that I remembered my faithful readers, I will admit, but I'll tell you what we got from nearest to farthest. House cured albacore on toast. Chicken of the sea my ass. House smoked trout, a consistent staple of the Lou menu, dilled. Bacalao mousse on toast (not pictured because it was soooooo good and we tore right into it). House smoked salmon (clearly not some pale Atlantic crap, either) with fennel and onion slaw. Horseradish crème fraîche, capers, pickled red onions.

Snacking out of the way, we moved on to proper courses. I had a simple green salad of Boston and red lettuce in the kind of light vinaigrette that I make at home. BoW was a little more adventurous in her salad choice, opting for the frisée with bacon and poached egg. Decadent? Yes indeed. If you haven't had a salad like this before, do so now. It's easy to do yourself and very impressive in presentation, as you can see here.

If that's too schmancy for you, The Count ordered the mac. A lot of places in town insist on truffling it or adding extras. At Lou, it's done simply. The upgrades are in the ingredients: perfectly al dente elbows, rich béchamel, truly funky aged Red Hook cheddar. It's just the right consistency. ML commented that she wanted to take it out in the back alley and make it pregnant.

By this time, I had moved on to a dry, spicy Côte du Rhône, and I was as happy as the former candy was when it was a corporeal corporopiliac. (Yes, I'm very proud of that.) We still had main courses coming! Reeshard and I both opted for the chorizo, a dish that has been on the menu as long as I've been dining with Lou. The black lentils are perfectly prepared, soft without being mushy. They provide the perfect foundation for the subtly spiced pork links and the richness of the yolk. 

Our lady friends opted for the duck, which was my other choice anyway. BoW was kind enough to share. The accompaniment on this plate would have been remarkable under different circumstances. Everything was just-so in seasoning and preparation. Of course, the duck juice spilling out over the plate wasn't hurting anything. The bird itself was as good as any duck breast I've ever had. Period. The meat was moist and flavorful, the skin crisp, and the fat and succulent and delightfully melty as if it were pork belly. At this point, we were all ready to take that dish outside and give it octuplets.

ML made the call on dessert, and sadly, she was disappointed. This wasn't for lack of execution. As far as pot de crème is concerned, you could find no fault with this one, unless, like her, you didn't like orange and chocolate. For the rest of us, the creamy texture, light infusion of citrus, and finishing crunch of pistachio provided the perfect end to the meal.

Lou has never disappointed, and I find it a great place to meet a couple of friends. My thanks to our companions for the evening for their great company during a wonderful meal and especially to Reeshard for backup on the photos.

Great Job!

Rather than make excuses for why I haven't been photographing my food and posting, you get a random, scattered posting today. Kind of like a series of shorts that may or may not have a unifying theme or an appearance from John C. Reilly.

Sketch 1, Delivery:

Lots of takeout and delivery lately. We're lucky to have some good choices in our neighborhood: Szechuan, better-than-utility Thai, Pho, Macrobiotic, Square pie, Israeli Italian cooked by Mexicans, and even Nepalese. Occasionally, the timing works out and BoW can stop by Fioretto on the way home and pick up some pie as well. Chef David does not have a wood oven, but he manages to get a pretty spectacular crust out of the electric one he has.

There's just enough protein in that dough to make it rise nicely at the crust, but fine enough grains of flour that it gets beautifully crisp and flaky.

The ingredients are of the quality we have come to expect from him. That cheese is so wonderful, and the salt from the ham and olives is nicely balanced by the acidity of the sauce and the artichoke. I like pie.

Sketch 2, The Marinade of Yesterday for Tomorrow: 

I'm looking forward to a visit from Sky Walker next week. No, not this one, or this one, but the percussionist from the band I played in in college. That and the scourge, er, blessing of social networking have gotten me thinking about old friends. Specifically, I've been thinking of DB, an old roommate that had done some cooking in professional kitchens in Louisville and San Francisco before returning to school. While he lived with us, we had a dinner program. He cooked dinner 4 nights a week for all of us that lived in the house plus a couple of our friends that lived in the neighborhood. We bought the groceries, and he got a break on his rent. It was fun, and we all ate better that year than probably any other year we were in school.

DB was the guy you'd see standing in front of the open fridge doing a hit of wasabi straight out of the tube while he was cooking. Most of the food was New American, but at the time, I just knew it was good. He introduced me to anchovy paste and got us growing herbs (for cooking!) in the back yard. The thing that has stayed with me this entire time, though, was his use of Cardini's dressing. Every week, he would buy a bottle and use half of it on our Monday salad. Then, every other day that week, he would add vinegar, oil, lemon, whatever, to what was left in the bottle and dress the salad with that. By Thursday, there was more DB than Cardini's in that bottle, and it was delicious. 

Since then, it has been in my pantry constantly. These days, I dress salads with a lighter vinaigrette like my mom always made (vinegar, oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, maybe a green herb), but I use Cardini's for marinade all the time. Here, you see it as a base for my grilled tofu marinade. 

Cardini's, soy, worcestershire sauce, sriracha. I'll finish with a squeeze of citrus right before grilling. That's tomorrow's dinner, so I'll follow up with you.

Sketch 3, Beaver Bounce: 

After a lot of meat over the last couple of meals, BoW and decided to get some of the Baja California shrimp we saw at the market, some fresh garlic, and some of the sweet pea tendrils that the Asian veggie vendors have been carrying the last year or so to make a little linguini for dinner. The pea tendrils are just that: the vegetative portion of pea plants, harvested before they bud. They're kinda like young spinach, but a lot sweeter. They are great stir-fried as well.

Anyway, whenever I get shrimp, I always boil down the shells with some white wine and garlic to use in the sauce. Cheesecloth is a must.

I quickly seared the shrimp in olive oil and garlic, then pulled them out, deglazed with a little of the shrimp broth, and quickly braised the tendrils. The pasta went back in to combine with the sauce, and I  served with the shrimp on top and parmesan to garnish, of course. 

It's a pretty quick meal. Shelling the shrimp and making the broth takes a little longer than boiling water for pasta. I'd say the whole thing takes less than 40 minutes. Serve with the same Pinot Grigio as is in the sauce. Easy white wine and shrimp.

Lamburger

This weekend was an unexpected weekend. By that, I mean I actually had two days off after expecting to have to work Sunday.

So, while you may expect to see pictures and a review of Gyenari, Culver City's new upscale Korean BBQ, what you get is lamburger.

For the record, Gyenari turned out to be better in most ways than the DayGlo lounge look would seem to belie. We had BBQ, and while it was no K-town, and Venice's Wharo (beware the auto-play music) has more variety on its BBQ menu, it was pretty good. It's hard to go wrong with grilling up your own marinated beef, spicy chicken, and sliced pork belly. The banchan was somewhat pedestrian, but serviceable, seeming fresh and probably palatable to the movie-going audience they would expect on a Saturday evening. The japchae was actually quite good, and the drinks were tasty, if not terribly strong. We will go back primarily to try the bibimbap, which is served dolsot, and we love us some crispy rice.

Sunday, we went to the Mar Vista market as usual. Breakfast was empanadas from Empanada Factory, a Venice institution that now has a location on Robertson in Beverlywood. They were good, but I'm still sticking with Empanada's Place. Granted, I have only had them right at the restaurant, and the Factory's pies are better there, too, but Empanada's is closer to home (at least the one on Venice is), has a huge variety, and they have a tango website that is also posted in Russian.

Anyway, after BBQ, we were done with beef for the weekend, and I've been eating a lot of fish at work, so we grabbed some of the early spring sugar snap peas, and resolved to get a pork tenderloin at WFM. I've been burned this way before, and there was no tenderloin again this weekend, either. Not wanting to bother with slower-cooking cuts, pork was out. Surprisingly, chicken and turkey have become pretty pricey lately, and to our surprise, ground lamb (on special) was really inexpensive. As I looked at it, I remembered that I had some buns in the freezer from our last burger go-round, and I had just turned to BoW to suggest it when she began to ask me how I felt about lamb burgers. Believe what you want about the secrets to a successful marriage: much like Bonaparte's army, it marches on its stomach.

I seasoned the meat with garlic, salt, pepper, worcestershire sauce, and fresh rosemary from outside the back door. We got some really amazing stilton, which I crumbled and sandwiched between patties to make inside-out double doubles. Grilled buns, ketchup, mustard, pickles, and arugula. That's how we like them. If you were there, you'd be welcome to put anything on them you wanted. Father's Office can eatmee. 

Serve with Aussie Shiraz, and watch highlights of the TDU or perhaps some Flight of the Conchords. Good on Allan Davis for showing the young guys how it's done.

Xanthantastic!

One of my coworkers is Japanese. At least her mom is, and she grew up there, so that's Japanese enough for me. As you can imagine, I am constantly bugging her about food. So, when she went home for the New Year holiday, she took pictures of her meals for me. Her relatives laughed, but for me, that slideshow when she got back was better than all the porn on all the internets in all the universe. It's not like she went to Michelin-starred establishments either. Lots of home cooking and real-deal meals with friends and family. 

Of course, she also brought back goodies to share with the entire crew.

Mostly sweet, some salty, all packaged in brightly colored, easy-rip plastic. The big fun of the pile, though, was the make-it-yourself candy sushi kit.

As you can see, the instructions were, shall we say, inscrutable, so it was good I had my friend to help.

There was a little packet of powder for each ingredient and a big block of black chewing gum to roll out into sheets of "nori". It was like Wylie Dufresne designed a chemistry set for kids.

According to the instructions, we measured out water into the mixing tray and added the mysterious powders, the most fun of which had to be making the "ikura", a technique with which we are both familiar thanks to Top Chef.

From there, it was easy to assemble. Probably easier than real sushi with sticky rice. Unfortunately, I got involved with some work thing and had to let ML finish, but the results were worth it. If I had done the assembly, they might have looked as bad as they tasted!