Monday Bites - Gelatomania, Annecy

Why is that in cold places, people are mad for ice cream?

And why is it, that only in Annecy have I seen SO MANY ice cream places in such close

proximity to each other.......

having to compete for ice-cream avid crowds by making their glaces, their gelato, their frozen custards........

Soooooo distinctive, sooooo visually appealing

so luscious and enticing......

So artistic, like Italian deco edifices

studded with jewel-like but entirely natural drool-inducing embellishments......?

Why?  To compete with this place, maybe?  Le Glacier des Alpes.

How do I know?  Cause this was the only place with a line this long.  And I've read the Yelp reviews.  It's not OFTEN that French people get this excited about something.  Am I wrong?

For this, I HAD to resurrect "Monday Bites".  Have you bought your train ticket to Annecy yet?  (Me, uh huh, I have made some plans.)

Monday Bites: Honey & Co., London

Charming, sweet, personable.

The Honey and Co. crew trained up with Ottolenghi

Its menu is slightly refined impeccable renditions of Middle Eastern classics.

And it's very very popular these days.  Booking recommended.

(for Ottolenghi posts, click here)

How was the weekend?  Everybody O.K.?  I do hope so!

Monday Bites: B for Balthazar, London

Why should it be that a Brasserie style restaurant and Bakery

designed and run by an Irishman-in-New-York, which may be the ultimate in BRANCHE

over there

be the very hottest new thing (since Baked Bread) in Blighty in a neighborhood (Covent Garden) of endless variations already on the  French Bistro theme.  

Churning and Chock-a-Block (for it's Chocolate Bread too - only on Sat. a.m.)

It is attracting the Boozers, the Bounders, the Babes and the Bankers...

Bizarre, but it works!  (and because it's good!?)  Balthazar, London

(the coconut cake totally worked for me!)

Monday Bites - Lina Stores, London

Hello everybody, how was the Weekend?

I'm resurrecting "Monday Bites" to share this lovely place on Brewer St.  Lina Stores.

Just above tourist-packed Picadilly

where you will find the sweetest atmosphere, impeccably fresh goodies, the nicest people behind

the counter.  And "THE BEST ICED COFFEE IN LONDON!" It's true.

Are you hungry yet?  Yeah, me too!

Monday Bites - Nice Nosh!

I'm not cooking this Christmas......

but apparently that doesn't mean that I leave off one of my very favorite Christmas traditions:

leafing through old magazines and excavating those recipes that I always dreamed of trying and never got round to.  OK, I know, caviar and toast doesn't strictly qualify as a "recipe".  But it's still a yummy idea is it not?  

Who knew years ago that a Christmas tamale recipe would come in very handy once I'd landed in L.A., as this is a very traditional Christmas specialty in this part of the world.  

But let me be honest.  It's nice to consider festive main courses for the occasion but the really true excitement for me of the season has got to be the Christmas world of DESSERT.

Truffles seem to have been supplanted in the popular American imagination by macarons, but really, what is nicer, and easier, for a Christmas buffet or cocktail party than these?  It's a little like making mudcakes, isn't it - you can get your hands dirty and have a little snow dance under shakings of cocoa powder....... DON'T buy those stale, torpid, slightly greasy things in boxes that announce their ubiquity at the ends of all the supermaket aisles!!!!!!!  There is NOTHING like fresh (cream) truffles.  Don't hold back.  Yes. Do try this at home with your children.   It's something you will never forget.

Christmas pie or Christmas cake?  My mother always favored cherries jubilee, but if I am at home in the States, it will always be cake for me.  (In England, without fail, it's Christmas pudding.  I adore it with a generous slathering of brandy butter!)  There's no doubt that some kind of white cake blends in beautifully with all your Christmas decorations.  And will look drop-dead festive.

We are great lovers of coconut cake in our family, but this one could just be peppermint.  And I like the idea of a very very pale pink frosted cake with a white inside.  If I were to make such a pink and white cake I would have to pass on the peppermint and do something plainer, or with nuts in it like a German hazelnut torte with a whipped cream frosting, or a repeat of the Pierre Herme derived recipe from last Christmas' cupcakes:  (raspberry, lychee and rosewater flavors, that I posted about here). 

I really truly think that Christmas flavors should be special.  And not something that you might readily eat at any other time of the year.

Now, strictly speaking, I'm not really an ice-cream and cake girl.  I hate actually, the way the ice cream tastes so cold and overpowers the cake flavor, but then so quickly melts, and then makes the cake soggy and gets all soupy and sticky with crumbs floating in it.  Arrrrrrgggggghhhhhhh.  Really, what a mess.  SO NOT special and festive to me.

Instead, I much prefer a Baked Alaska.  We used to make this at a restaurant I worked in.  It's an old school idea, but one that's really quite easy to pull off (especially if you're not afraid of handling a blow torch.)  And it's always exciting to bring one of these into a crowded room of people, whether or not you've set the center alight.  The ice cream and the cake stay at mostly the same temperature and because of the insulating meringue coating, soften nicely for eating but stay firm enough to hold their consistency but separateness.  i.e., no ice cream in your cake, and no cake in your ice cream!

These are something I never would have thought twice about on the East Coast, but now in L.A. with lovely fresh dates available (I'm almost certain, even at this time of year) these would be light and lovely and easy to make to serve with espresso.

(Photos mostly vintage Martha Stewart, then British Homes and Gardens

 and Marie Claire Maison.)

Finally, pate de fruits.  Who doesn't love tangy acidic delicate fruit flavors that will still melt on your tongue in the middle of a cold and dark festive season.  With brilliant sunny colors?  I can't think of anything better.  It's a lovely alternative to the "too-much-is-never-enough" ethos of Christmas partakings.  

Do you get really inspired by Christmas cooking and try always new things, or do you go with very traditional recipes that go back in your family?   Do you have a signature recipe that everybody always asks for?  After all the cooking, do you feel like eating?

What does Christmas mean to you?  Is it all about the food?  The family gatherings?  The presents and the kids?  The Christmas lights?  Or a big old rest at the end of the year?

Monday Bites - Pumpkin Pie

Do you like pie?  OK.  I have to admit.  I've made FIVE pumpkin pies in the last two weeks.  Most of one is still in my frig.  I did not eat much of the first three that went to Thanksgiving dinner at someone else's house.  And apparently "abstaining" and being polite did not agree with me, as I hankered for MORE PIE for five more days before breaking down and breaking out the rolling pin.

I don't usually like pumpkin pie.  I used to always prefer apple pie at Thanksgiving, or chocolate cream pie, or custard pie.  But this year, I was asked to make pumpkin pie - and as I was making it under fairly challenging conditions in Hawaii - no rolling pin, no electric mixer, extreme humidity, I swore it was still going to come out......VERY RIGHT!  (And it did, whew!)  My secret weapon?  Dark rum, fresh ginger and allspice.  And keeping the crust in the frig for three days before rolling it out.  Did you know that a longer "rest" for pie dough is almost as good as for bread?  It improves gluten development somehow.  That is good.  If you eat gluten.  (The rest of the recipe comes from the side of a can of pumpkin).

I guess this pie was good.  Because I had to have more.  And I AM having more as I write this.

Is it bad form to enjoy your own cooking too much?  Do you have a recipe that you almost feel guilty about enjoying terribly?  Would you make a big recipe of something - just for yourself - and not bother to share it with anybody else?  The good news for me this week is that Mr. Paradis is not remotely interested in pumpkin pie.  And everybody else I know is PIE-D OUT!  And saving themselves for Christmas goodies.

So here I sit.  Eating pie.  With reckless abandon.  Am I a terrible person?  Or do I just REALLY KNOW HOW TO LIVE!!!!!!????????  Tell me it's the latter.  And I will try not to think about bathing suits.  

Monday Bites - Proof: The Best Food in L.A. is Made by Koreans

Yang Soon (Father's Office, Lukshon), Roy Choi (Kogi Truck), Jason Kim (Forage) and now, 

Na Young Ma of Proof in Atwater Village - have gone where NOONE has gone before.  And L.A. and the world are better for it!  These chefs have taken concepts that have floated around for light years in our ever-expanding universe and constructed close to perfect realities with them right here in the galaxy that is Los Angeles.  Though many have copied, none have so far matched (I can only speak for L.A.), the excellence of these ventures and their impeccably delicious products.  Freshness, Beauty, Quality Ingredients, Accessible Low Key Vibe, Showing-Up-in-the-Right-Neighborhood (MINE!) at the right time..............changing the way that food will taste in L.A.  for years to come........

The Paradis family are late-comers to Proof, it opened in 2010 in a little neighborhood on the other side of the L.A. river from our own.  I had been ruminating for some time about the lack of excellent bakery products on our East-side of town, and how one such sort of bakery would make our little world P-E-R-F-E-C-T.  Somehow I missed the opening memo about Proof.  Just as well, I could get into some serious trouble there.  Just as well also, that I am not much of a morning person, because they sell out of their impeccably fresh products fairly well before 4 p.m. when they close.  

Shall I just say that their pain au chocolat and croissant could well be the best in town, eclipsing Bottega Louie's.  Who now needs the Bread Bar over near Beverly Hills (and by extension Maison Kayser in Paris!  Really, uh YES!?) because Proof's Financiers really are THE BUSINESS!  And the little loaves that they make their sandwiches on might as well be potato chips, they are so more-ish with their oil-crisped crust and sprinkle of salty crystals.   We buy as many loaves ALONE as we do sandwiches.  If we happen to achieve an armload on a Saturday afternoon it is guaranteed that they will not survive the fifteen minute drive back up our hill and home.  They are THAT GOOD!  (Marie's/Policastro bread that we consumed religiously for so many years in Hoboken: "Who ARE you? and, Sorry but, We Never REALLY CARED!!!!!!)

......now that we live nearly next-door to Proof's little salty sticks!"

Monday Bites - Hot Chocolate

OK.  I want to consume this RIGHT NOW.

via Inspired by Tamar

Although I have to add that I am as in love with the dainty little cup with its blue pattern as I am with that foamy chocolate dusted stuff on top.

I will be shortly commencing my Thanksgiving preparations.  What about you?  What are your plans?  Cooking at your house or already on your way somewhere?

For those who don't have a Thanksgiving in your late November week - Christmas is right around the corner!  Oh dear, time to get on with those shopping lists!

Monday Bites - Bouillabaisse

The recipe comes from Julia Child, (Pgs. 50 - 53 of her Volume One of Mastering the Art of French Cooking).  I usually make this for company, but Saturday in L.A. was so awfully gloomy, and I was suffering a bit from one of those little disappointments that come along in a life.  Mr. Paradis was feeling like he was coming down with a cold and the usual medications or hot toddy's were out of the question because he has a small "procedure" coming up.  So the only thing certain to pick us both up, was going to be a successful flurry around a Saturday night kitchen.  I don't know about you, but there are alot of things in life that you cannot control AT ALL, but going into a kitchen, with just the bare minimum - a generally empty frig and just the contents of your pantry to fall back on - and whipping up something truly soul satisfying is one of the great blessings in life.  For both you, and the people you are cooking for.

So far, noone has pushed their soup plates away in rejection.  In fact, a fairly competitive cook in my family, after her first taste of this bouillabaisse, slumped back in her chair her spoon still raised above her plate, sighed, and said:  "This......... is WONderful!"  

And then there's my friend Walter, who, every time I talk to him, lobbys for: FISH SOUP! FISH SOUP!

Here's a link to another website's version, the proportions are very close to the one's I used on Saturday, which only made enough for two people.  Julia's recipe in the book is double what you see on the link.  For company I think you need to at least double Julia's recipe.

A few notes:

1)  I didn't have leeks in the house so I used onions as specified and made up the leek requirement with a mix of minced scallions and shallots.  It was FINE.

2)  Julia's recipe assumed (back in the day) that you wouldn't be able to source Herbes de Provence,  but since were in a globalized world, I substituted a big pinch of it for the "thyme or basil" called for.

3)  She also assumed that we wouldn't have Pernod in the late 60's/early 70's but I DO!  So I put a capful of it into the broth just a minute or two before I added the fish.

4)  As for fish stock, I used some frozen court bouillon that I had in the frig.  (The residual vinegar in no way altered or harmed the finished broth.  You need to balance it with other stock as follows, though.)  You could also use the reserved (frozen) liquid from steamed mussels or clams.  I added a small bottle of clam juice, I've also used Knorr's fish stock cubes - any of the options ALWAYS IN ADDITION to a nice broth of roasted, boiled, shrimp or lobster shells.  I keep the shells from other meals and freeze them.  When I'm ready for a bouillabaisse I roast them for a short time either in the oven or in a covered dry pan on the top of the stove, till they start smelling smokily delicious - I roast them for a little while longer, but don't let them burn, then I add them to the stock.  Of course you have to strain or pick them out at some point before serving.  (And depending, I either use them again for another meal, or I rinse them dig them into my garden.  They make great fertilizer.)

5)  Personally, I would not serve the potatoes or pasta that Julia calls for to company.    It may be traditional for home cooking, but aside from using a little bit of potato for the rouille and thickening the broth nicely - MEH!  Not alot of value added.  That said, Mr. P. likes the potatoes!  Me, I think those starches detract from the overall experience.

6)  For the croutons that you will be serving your company to slather with rouille and sprinkle with gruyere, make sure to get a mature gruyere which is heavy, moist, maybe the tiniest bit grainy and MOST IMPORTANTLY, tastes a little smoky.  You will not regret it.  Make sure to float your crouton in the broth and drizzle a little broth over it.   Some people put the rouille straight into the soup.  

7)  And don't skip the orange peel.  You cannot imagine the flavor dimension and authenticity it adds. 

8)  If you add more tomato it tastes more like Cioppino and is less interesting.  (To me - and make sure to call it Cioppino cuz your friends will know the difference!)  For company, though less authentic, adding shrimp, clams or scallops may seem more festive.

It goes without saying that the broth is even more mind-bendingly delicious on the second day after you make it.   So maybe....prepare ahead!  (Just the broth, cook the fish on the day you serve it.)

BON APPETIT and HAPPY COOKING!

Monday Bites - Maybe Macrobiotic

A simple lunch I made myself recently.  And fancied myself a little Stella McCartney or Gwyneth Paltrow.  (Famous macrobiotics, apparently.)

I have never been, nor probably ever will be a Macrobiotic eater.  EXCLUSIVELY.

But sometimes I get a little close.  (You could too?)  They say it's very good for you.  Well, Gwyneth does.  And she's very slim!  (Which some of us find a desirable thing to be.)

I've mentioned how much I love tofu and pesto.  If you've eaten and enjoyed Pain Quotidien's tofu

salad with nori and three sauces, you might agree with me.  I mashed the pesto and tofu with the roasted baking potatoes above.  I love this combination.  

With roasted brussel sprouts and onions that basically taste like candy, it was a very satisfying meal.

I lightened it with cranberry juice, some fizzy mineral water, and a sprig of mint.  

Monday Bites - Blood, Bones and Butter

“First we eat, then we do everything else.”
― M.F.K. Fisher

Book Design: Susan Turner

I wish I could actually express to you how wonderfully compelling and beautifully written I think this book is.  If you were young and running around NYC anytime from the 80's and till now, you would recognize places, and situations, and ultimately, the line in front of the restaurant, Prune in the E. Village.  Now, if you are lucky and patient, you get a seat and a meal. 

Photo: Melissa Hamilton

If you didn't catch it from the cover above, Gabrielle Hamilton has written "the best memoir by a chef ever. Ever." according to Anthony Bourdain.

Gabrielle Hamilton was also this year given the James Beard Foundation's "Best Chef, NYC" award.

Her mother is French and taught her how to eat and taste food properly at an early age, hunting with her for mushrooms in the woods along the banks of the Delaware river, and showing her how to drink the sweet nectar from the pulled-out pistils of honeysuckle flowers.  She learned more about eating and cooking on sometimes lonely trips around Europe and Asia.  And especially, of all places, in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  She never went to cooking school, but she worked in many many restaurants, starting as a dishwasher, which trained her for the very hard and dirty life a chef's can be.

Her writing is luminous and lyrical.  (Click for excerpt.)  It's also tough and funny.  

Here are a links to a series of youtube videos; including her Barnes and Noble conversation w/ Anthony Bourdain that shares with you how witty and real she is, and where she shares what I think is such a sensible approach to food: i.e., cooking and eating only food that she loves, food that she mostly has a very personal history with, and especially her conviction that, beyond it being about the food, it's all really about LIFE.   Whether it be hers, or yours.  (And NOT so much the food's life!  Sorry food!)

Her older sister Melissa you might recognize as one half of the "Canal House" team.  More here, from the New York times.  And also about Gabrielle, also from the NYTimes.

You might think Blood, Bones and Butter is going to be a book about cooks, and kitchens, attitudes, tough talk and tasty plating.  But I'll let you in on a secret:  it's really about family.  And how some of us can't separate those two things:  the food and the family.   And how we always seem to be confusing the one for the other, or looking for the one in the other.  In spite of ourselves.

“It seems to me that our three basic needs, for food and security and love, are so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of one without the others. So it happens that when I write of hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it, and warmth and the love of it and the hunger for it… and then the warmth and richness and fine reality of hunger satisfied… and it is all one.”
― M.F.K. Fisher, The Art of Eating

Monday Bites - Eat Anything Good Over the Weekend?

 from Tahitian Vanilla

 from Nikole Herriott (styling) and Michael Graydon (photo)  at forty-sixth at grace

from mon carnet d'images

We oil poached fish for the very first time (salmon) with basil and garlic, and we made some lovely potatoes like the kind they serve at Father's Office in Culver City.  They are boiled and tossed in (more!) oil seasoned with pimenton, chilipowder, red pepper flakes and salt.  They are yummy!

But the most exciting food news this weekend was a book I picked up at the library on Saturday and couldn't get my nose out of to save my life!  More on this in next Monday's "Bites".

But what I've really been craving is cake!  Anybody have a fast simple cake suggestion?

Monday Bites - The Eveleigh, A Pleasant Place to Land

So what do you say to a hidden garden entrance steps from the Sunset Strip overhung with olive trees 

and scattered with rustic tables?

Inside, the Eveleigh is cool tones, spacious and comfortable seating.

Filtered light.  It has an old-world flavor, part New Orleans or New England tavern, part parts UK, part your favorite place in France.

If you don't get waylaid and end up spending your visit at the cooly marble topped bar enjoying an exotic sounding cocktail......

you can continue to the back of the restaurant, and end up eating well-but-simply somewhere that is neither outdoors nor in, overlooking almost all of West L.A.   The roof is made of "sailcloth", we'll describe it romantically, with cool breezes blowing through.

Unlike many other places in L.A., it is open all day long on the weekend and if you amble in

sometime after brunch and don't mind a seriously abbreviated menu, it's a lovely place to have to yourselves and catch-up with someone you really care about.  Strictly speaking, the Paradis' are not "Westside" people.  But the Eveleigh could yet become one of our very favorite places. 

Because it's not really very "Westside" either.  It's sort of something of an other world.  Should you ever alight in L.A.,  the Eveleigh would be a nice place to land.

Would I steer you wrong?