Botanica Bakery Blows my Mind

Every once in a while a store-bought cookie comes along that is so yummy that I must eat an entire bag.  Tate's Chocolate Chip is one such cookie. Botanica Bakery's Fennel Pollen is another. WTF? You are probably saying. Fennel Pollen has no place in a cookie. Well, that is true unless you are Sondra Wells, the Chief Indulgence Officer of said company.  She decided to do a genius, girly mash-up between herbs and butter, between spices and sugar.



Woah!!! Weird!!! And yet so delicious. I tried all flavors (below), and the Fennel Pollen was my #1. Following close behind was Cardamom and then Cinnamon Basil. They go together really well! I am telling you it's weird but wonderful!



But the goodness doesn't stop at the w&w flavor combos. There are also only like 5 ingredients in each cookie. Yes, two are butter and sugar but guess what? They are organic! And, 5 ingredients?? That's holy awesomeness right there. They are like homemade but you didn't have to get the kitchen messy. Get these today - The Dish wholly endorses them.

Kara's Kitchen Adventure with Culinista Kate

Since I started working with The Dish’s Dish about seven months ago I’ve wanted to experience the service firsthand. And this past weekend it finally happened. I was SO excited. As my boyfriend Joe and I are far from picky eaters, I pretty much gave Culinista Kate free reign to create a seasonal menu based on what inspired her at the market. She did not disappoint.



Kate got down to business from the minute she arrived at my house. I could tell right away that she was a total pro and at ease while I hung around -- asking tons of questions, snapping tons of photos. I had a blast and all of the dishes were so delicious and light. Thanks Kate! ;)

The Menu

• Tomato Salad with Corn Vin


• Swordfish Tomato Skewers


• Farro Kalamata Salad


• Roasted Cauliflower with Caper Vin


• Chicken Green Chili


• Pulled Turkey Salad with Roasted Shallots and Currants served on a bed of spinach (my personal fave!)


• Strawberry Rhubarb Crostada


• Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies (these were honestly gone in two days)

Lemon Poppy Pancakes

Taylor loves pancakes so on his birthday, I made him some. I found the recipe from Naturally Ella via Foodgawker.



Mix dry ingredients.



Add to wet.



Mix up batter. Heat and butter a pan.



Add pancakes to hot pan. Num num num num num....



Flip onto a plate in a stack.



Top with jam. Call it a birthday.

When more peeps RSP than you planned

get these chairs!

Cooking with Matcha

A few weeks ago, I met the one-woman power house behind Matcha Source, a website for all kinds of excellent information about matcha as well as a full-service matcha source (tehehe). The matcha lady handed me a book called New Tastes in Green Tea. Though I was scared at first, she encouraged me that cooking with matcha would have great outcome - both in terms of taste and with the added health benefits of the powder.

I skimmed through until I found something that perked my interest. The croquettes! It's hard to go wrong when you fry something. All that labor of rolling things into balls is offset by the fact that, if you don't burn them, it'll all taste great.

I boiled some potatoes and sauteed onions and peas.  The recipe called for meat as well, but I skipped it.



Then I added the matcha powder to the vegetables. Strange! But I kinda liked the feeling.



I then added the mixture to my boiled, drained, and fork-mashed taters. I had to really work things through with the  fork to smooth it all out.



I kept thinking back to my matcha friend. Her skin and hair were so good; something to do with the matcha I am sure. I hopped over to her site for a minute while I was cooking to get pumped. I suggest visiting it if you're cooking with matcha!

Back at the range, it was time for me to heat some oil, set up my dipping bowls for frying, and get to forming croquettes.



I wasn't in the mood to deep fry so I pan-fried, making sure to roll the croquettes around every few minutes.



I set up a plate with a paper towel on it to drain the buggers off et voila! Matcha croquettes.

Bling in Your Cereal

When my bud Nathaniel told me he was casting Cheerio's in 18k gold, I was not surprised.  This comes from a man with a history of blinged out junk food collaborations.  Last year he had a gallery show comprised of oversized photos of Swedish fish.  But I was surprised when I woke up in the middle of the night dreaming about the beautiful O's strung from a simple chain.  I really, really want one. Nat is a candy jewelry Einstein. Sweet and Gold. What more could a lady want? Except more than one.

Sneak Peek! Bake Out!

Joy the Baker and I baked out earlier this week... could a new series and a budding friendship be on the horizon? Bounce over to her blog to check out the full story.  Here's a pretty pic she took.

Le YUM: Holy Goats!

A while back, Chef Dave at Cabrito showed me a thing or two about goat bellies.  There's laughter and grease enough to go around. Watch as we get our goat on.

Lahey tries Domino's

Jim Lahey Reviews The New Domino's Pizza from Ozersky.TV on Vimeo.

O M G a new Le Yum!

What do you get when Jill + Mexican food + Mushrooms and chilies come together??  La Palapa owners knock Jill's socks off with extreme heat when they teach her to make Setas A La Diabla! But Jill likes it spicy and savors every bite.

A Spoon for Every Bite

When I was growing up, my family went to Sante Fe every year. Then we'd drive to Telluride.  On the way, we'd stop off along the road where there was a giant teepee and listen to Joe Hayes tell stories as the sun set.  I've tried in the past to find him and his stories on the internet and in my last search, I found some videos he'd put on YouTube! A little greyer than I remember but just as good a storyteller.

Watch and learn.

The Flatbreads

My not-so-new but recently getting out-of-hand obsessionis the flatbreads at Huckleberry.  See them in the picture above? They are a little left of the center - oily bread covered in zucchini slices that've been baked into the dough.  I'm swooning left and right for them and have scheduled four lunch meetings for next week at this Santa Monica cafe just to sate my craving.  Just a few days ago, even when the selection didn't look so hot (it was something like green onion), I still couldn't resist, ordered one, and fell in love like usual. So far my favorite has been the potato, garlic, spinach version. Keep an eye open for it, but don't wait to order one - of any flavor - for another minute!

No Sleep Til Joseph Leonard

I wanted to go to Joseph Leonard almost immediately after they opened. The problem was I'd just moved to Cali.  So after several trips back to the east coast and like five attempts to get to JL, I set up my final evening so that I'd start off having a drink there and hopefully be able to sneak in some appetizers.  Sadly, the friend I was meeting was in a rush to get to Waverly Inn to meet a hot date.  We had one glass of wine and parted ways.

The rest of my evenings' plans included a meeting at Soho House around 9 followed by a rendez-vous with one of my favorite lady friends.  The night went on... meeting turned into champagne-fueled laughfest 2010... and before I knew it, my girlfriend came to tag out the fellow from my meeting.  The ladies were off to Bobo to meet some other buddies.  After some more bubbly, I felt a hole in my stomach and realized I'd been subsisting on Soho House snack mix for the last few hours - I was in that blissed out state of hungry and buzzed!  I also realized that JL was opened on the late side.  I parted ways with my pretty blonde sidekick and roped another friend from the crew into crossing Seventh Avenue with me for some grub.  We pulled up to the bar around 1am and I ordered spicy Brussels sprouts, an octopus appetizer, and that hockey puck potato pancake featured above.  In daylight, these three items may not seem like the most nature combination, but add carbonated alcohol and the wee hours of the morning to the equation... and now you see what I am talking about.  The meal was manna.  I finished everything to my friends horror/delight.

I even topped things off with a butterscotch pudding served up in a little bell jar - ask for extra cookie crumble - that my friend couldn't help but split with me.  I finally made it to Joseph Leonard and there was no putting a lid on it.

Locanda Verde - Hit Me Baby One More Time

I first visited Locanda Verde last summer after they'd just opened.  Andrew Carmellini... Robert Deniro... Karen Demasco... talk about a dream team!  Ever since that lovely day back in 09, I'd been plotting my return.  But somehow, there was just never enough time.

So you can imagine my squeals of joy when my uncle and I decided to dine al fresco on one of the first warm days this year.  We started with a few blue crab crostini and washed them down with some mushrooms.  Then he went for the casarecce pasta with spicy seafood.  It was a light, yet robust combination of flavors that took us both out of Tribeca and into a seaside villa.  I went for the scallops which came with cauliflower in a citrus-y broth.  It, too, was masterful and we both cleaned our plates.

Dessert was something maple but by that time, martinis and wine has taken hold and I was more interested in dancing than anything else.  Locanda Verde was just as magical as I remembered it.  It's perfect for any occasion - from first date to dinner with your boss.  Go for lunch or dinner no matter; just go hungry and you can't go wrong.

Ramen

In case you are in a particularly ramen mood. It's pretty great. You can learn how to make ramen or just Zen out to the Japanese. Ahhh, ramen...

Go here.

Gjelina Redux

Since moving to LA, I've been to Gjelina about four times. And Taylor has been even more than I have. It's weird: In NYC, upon arrival, I was determined to try every restaurant - old and new.  But here, it's just a little different. When you find something you like, you just stick with it. I like this place so much that I even name dropped it in a recent piece I did for Angeleno Online.

So, when Taylor and I had to do an errand in Venice over the weekend, it seemed like the perfect excuse to hit up our old favorite. We sat at the bar where we were treated like celebs when given a complimentary olive tapenade and burrata starter. Wow. That salty tapenade with the creamy, stringy burrata. What an impact. This actually might be my favorite burrata in the city. I shall inquire where they source next time around.

When we ordered, we decided we had to have our very favorite dish - the cauliflower. Slowly but surely, I am investigating all the ingredients and plan to hone in on a recreation.



Dang. That cauli is good.  After a beat, the salt and pepper fries arrived and then the tuna with eggplant caponata followed suit.  The French fries were decidedly a portion for a family of six. They came with an underwhelming, runny aoili (some strange West coast version?) and a super yummy, tangy Romanesco sauce, which of course we both favorite to the mystery dip.



Somehow in the course of the evening, we actually managed to power through the majority of the pile.  I've been known as a fry pusher at times. But to order these was truly a mutual decision. And so was our most substantial dish, the big eye tuna with eggplant caponata. We died! Fat slabs of rare tuna on a mountain of chunky marinated eggplant, red peppers, and pine nuts.  A little crema sealed the deal up top.



We purposely saved ample room for dessert - as we known that Gjelina does sweet right.  And that they did with the butterscotch pudding topped with whipped cream and salted caramel. It innocently arrived in a teacup, but it was anything but - yeah... we finished it.



All in all, another golden evening at Gjelina. Sure, we had to wait 90 minutes for a table. But it was a First Friday so stores along Abbott Kinney were hopping and we wrangled excellent drinks at the Tasting Kitchen beforehand.

This is funny.

Michel Roux's Cucumber Coulis

When I got Michel Roux's book on sauces a few weeks back, I was a touch intimidated.  I mean this man is a genius! A true great. It seemed very technical. It seemed pro. It seemed to daunt me. I'd flip through and salivate but then think I don't know if I can do that. Luckily, last night, I finally got my shit together and, in the midst of breadless Passover, I made Roux's cucumber coulis and really jazzed up a matzoh dinner.

The recipe seemed easy enough - with just a handful of ingredients that I forgot to snap a photo of in their true states. But here's what things looked like as I started to blend them up with my stick blender. That's cucumber, red chile, parsley, and sage.



Yummy! Then I started streaming in some olive oil to smooth things out.



And here it is in it's finished state before I added it as that special something to dinner.



This took a total of about 90 seconds from start to finish - and it really sauced up a boring Pesach meal. Check it out.



Nova on matzoh never looked so good. I jarred the rest of it and plan on using it for the next few weeks atop some flaky white fish... in a tomato and basil salad.. and on crab cakes. Wait, is that Kosher?