We are straying from our typical “we can cook that” post to highlight a special dinner we enjoyed for our anniversary. We didn’t think any of you would mind too much, and really, like we could ever say we could cook a dish by Thomas Keller? Please. There really aren’t words to describe how unique and delicious the whole experience was. We’ve eaten at only one other three star Michelin restaurant (Arzak in Spain) and both experiences were fabulous but completely different. Thomas Keller’s Yountville, CA, restaurant is all about the natural, pure flavors of the food. Each dish is purposely small, aiming to excite and satisfy your taste buds yet leave you wanting just a little bit more. The French Laundry is considered to be the best restaurant in the world by many. With the attention to detail not only in the food, but in the decor and service, we certainly won’t argue with the title.

Two menus are offered daily – Chef’s Tasting Menu and Tasting of Vegetables. No single ingredient is repeated throughout the meal. We both decided to go with the chef’s tasting menu, which includes nine courses with a few options to choose from on several of the courses. Below, when you see two pictures listed under a course, one was ordered by Amanda and the other by Romeo. The entire meal lasted four hours and not once were our eyes, noses or taste buds bored, tired or underwhelmed.

We’ve posted pictures of the dishes in the order they were served. We tried to capture the amount of detail given to presentation and how each plate was a work of art. If we could share with you the flavors and smells through a blog post, we would! The pictures speak for themselves but please feel free to leave any comments or questions for us and we will do our best to answer them.

Foodie love,
Romeo and Amanda

But first, a few pictures of us sitting at the table and getting excited.

Fresh flowers adorned just about every surface of the restaurant, from the dining tables to huge bouquets in the bathrooms.

In case you need a reminder on what you are about to experience.

You can dress Romeo in a suit and take him to a fancy restaurant, but you can’t take away the fun. Here, he’s practicing being a foodie snob.

Since we had a six hour drive back to Los Angeles after we ate, we skipped the wine pairings and opted for two half bottles instead, one white and one red according to the course we were on. They were both superb.

The French Laundry – Chef’s Tasting Menu, April 22, 2012

We started with several amuse bouche and complimentary glasses of champagne.

Gougères

Salmon Tartare Cornets with Sweet Red Onion Crème Fraîche

This shows you how tiny the little cone was. Don’t you just love the attention given to folding the origami napkin?

Hen Egg Custard with a Ragout of Périgord Truffles

We both managed to eat the custard without breaking the shell.

Amanda loved the pattern of the china. Of course Chef Keller designed his own!

FIRST COURSE

“Oysters and “Pears”
“Sabayan” of Pearl Topioca with Island Creek Oysters and White Sturgeon Caviar

Because it would be a crime against etiquette to eat oysters and cavier with a silver spoon. One must use a spoon made of pearl.

SECOND COURSE

Salad of Hawaiian Hearts of Palm
English Cucumber, Baby Bokchoy, Toasted Nori, Chili and Yuzu-Soy Vinaigrette

Moulard Duck “Foie Gras En Terrine”
Field Rhubarb, Silverado Trail Strawberries, Celery Branch, Pecans and Aged Balsamic
*We felt very lucky to have the chance to visit the restaurant before the foie gras ban goes into effect in California this summer.

Three types of salt were served with the foie gras. The pink was from France, gray from the Philippines and white from Montana. We thought the salt deserved its own mention, even though we don’t quite remember the fancy names.

We were tucked into a small room just off the main dining area. There were two other couples in the room with us and we all quickly became friends. Laughing and talking with them enriched the visit for everyone. Good food is meant to be shared and experienced with others. One of the ladies even let Amanda sample the gnocci from the tastings of vegetables menu.

THIRD COURSE

Columbia River Sturgeon “Confit A La Minute”
Hobb’s Bacon, Conch, Razor Clams, Young Fennel, Navel Orange and Nicoise Olive Pureé
*This dish was originally ordered by Romeo, but was promptly traded because Amanda liked it better than the soft shell crab. One of our favorite courses of the meal.

“Veal Oscar”
Soft Shell Crab, Ris de Veau, Green Asparagus, Tomato Compote and Frisée

FOURTH COURSE

“Beets and Leeks”
Maine Lobster “Pouchee au Beurre Doux,” King RIchard Leeks, “Pommes Maxim’s” and Red Beet Essence

FIFTH COURSE

Ravioli De “Cuisse De Poularde”
Morel Mushrooms, English Peas, Romaine Lettuce, Petite Radish and “Vin Jaune Mousseline”

SIXTH COURSE

Elysian Fields Farm Lamb Rib-Eye
Ribettes, Eggplant, Nantes Carrots, “Naan,” Ricotta and Cilantro Shoots

SEVENTH COURSE

“Acapella”
Sultana Raisin Chutney, Celtuce, Cashews and Garden Mache

EIGHTH COURSE

White Verjus Sorbet
Toasted Oats and Red Grapes

NINTH COURSE

“Marjolaine”
Praline Mousse, “Dacquoise,” and Roasted Banana Sorbet

Meyer Lemon “Parfait”
Oregon Huckleberries, Sicilian Pistachios and Poppy Seed Ice Cream

Another little off the menu treat was this small papaya cake.

MIGNARDISES

Assorted Caramels

“Coffee & Donuts”
Cappuccino semifreddo (mousse) and french donuts.

Chocolate Covered Macadamia Nuts

Happy Anniversary to us. We are pretty sure the only way to ever top this dining extravaganza would be to revisit The French Laundry. It truly is an experience all its own. Maybe in five more years, our pocket book will have recovered enough to venture north to Napa Valley for a repeat.

Sadly, we weren’t able to finish our desserts. This must happen often because they offered to wrap the caramels and nuts and presented us with this lovely bag which also included a tiny tin of shortbread cookies.

We were also given a copy of the day’s menu in a envelope and were told we could take the wooden clothes pins home with us as well.

Lastly, across the street from The French Laundry is their very own garden. It’s not often you have the opportunity to stroll through a garden where the food you eat at a restaurant came from.

We visited Azeen’s Afghani Restaurant Saturday @ 6:30 pm
Dish we will try to cook – Mantu, $16.50

Restaurant Visit
With all the driving to the east side (anything east of the 405) we do for our blog, one would think we have little diversity on the west side. While that isn’t necessarily true, we have enjoyed our travels around the greater Los Angeles area to sample ethic cuisines we aren’t as familiar with. For this post, we found ourselves at Azeen’s Afghani Restaurant, a little place tucked away on a side street in Old Town Pasadena. Being unfamiliar with Afghani cuisine, we enjoyed learning about the region’s rich diversity stemming from long being a trade route between Central Asia and India. Arian Taheri, co-owner with her husband Abdul, came to our table several times and was very welcoming and generous with sharing the history of the land and cuisine.

Bulanee (turnover filled with leek, scallions and herbs) $6.50, was enjoyed as our appetizer followed by mantu (steamed dumplings with chopped lamb and onions, topped with yogurt, sautéed mixed vegetables) $16.50 and the combination kabob (one skewer each of lamb and chicken, marinated in herbs and fine spices, charbroiled on a skewer and served with pallow, a fragrant rice browned by the seasonings as the rice is heated) $19.90, for our entrees.

Bulanee reminded us of a samosa, only larger. Wonton wrapper is used as the pastry shell, which is stuffed and then deep-fried. The large, square bulanee is cut in half and served with a jalapeno chutney and mint yogurt. This was a wonderful way to baby step into this unknown cuisine. If it’s fried, then we know we’ll enjoy it! The kabobs are similar to those in Persian cuisine, but we learned what sets the Afghani kabobs apart is their process of marinating the meat in yogurt, salt, pepper, and garlic. This lent a different spice profile to the kabobs than we are use to, but greatly enjoyed. However, it is the mantu dumplings that became our favorite dish of the night. When presented, it looks like a large plate of ravioli with some mixed vegetables on top. From the first bite, you realize this isn’t an Italian dish. The dumplings are made from wonton wrappers and are filled with a ground lamb mixture and steamed for several hours until they are so tender they practically melt. The veggies on top are a mixture of corn, peas, green beans, and carrots in a thin tomato sauce. A yogurt sauce is also spread about the dish. Eight dumplings came on the plate and we struggled to eat more than half. When you come to Azeen’s, come with an empty stomach.

After filling ourselves with such an abundance of flavorful foods, we had planned to skip dessert. However, Arian was gracious enough to share their firnee dessert with us, on the house. Sometimes it pays to travel with a camera and journal. Interestingly enough, the firnee (a light pudding with almonds and pistachios. Served chilled) seems to be a cousin to the mahalabieh we cooked from Marouch. While both dishes are a rice pudding, Azeen’s firnee had much more of a pudding consistency than the firmer, shaped mahalabieh. Both used rose water and pistachios, however the Afghani version excludes raisins.

One of the reasons we love LA so much is its diversity of cultures and cuisines. While we have a million sushi and pizza joints, there are only a rare, few Afghani restaurants and Azeen’s serves as a much needed, authentic representation of the flavors from the region. We highly recommend you all taking the drive over to Old Town Pasadena and stopping in to experience this wonderful, culturally rich restaurant and cuisine.

Shopping
(prices reflect the cost of the package, not the portion we used.) The rest of the ingredients we already had in the kitchen.

Whole Foods
Ground lamb, 1lb. $6.54
Carrots, 1 lb. $1.29
Peas $1.43
Green Beans $2.13
Corn $.98
Yogurt $4.99
Tomato Paste $.77
Crushed Tomatoes $1.25
Onion $.83
Garlic $.79

Nijiya Market
Wonton Wrappers $2.39

Recipe
Below is our take on Afghani mantu. While we have no idea exactly how they prepare theirs, we looked around online for recipes then combined that knowledge with the flavors we tasted in the original dish and went from there.

Makes 4 servings.

Lamb Mantu

Dumplings
1 TBSP vegetable oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
1lb ground lamb
2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
Wonton wrappers
¼ cup water

Heat oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until soft, about 1-2 minutes. Add meat, followed by salt and pepper and mix. Cook until meat is partially cooked, but still slightly pink (if meat gets a little dry, add water and cook until liquid evaporates). Once meat is partially cooked remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

Lay out one egg roll wrapper. Add ½ TBSP of meat in center of wrapper. Rub outer edges of wrapper with water. Fold over first 2 opposite sides followed by other 2 sides to enclose dumplings. Repeat steps until all dumplings are made. Press edges to seal. Heat steamer with water. Once steamer is ready, add dumplings and steam for a couple of hours, or until dumplings are tender.

Yogurt Sauce
2 cups plain yogurt, room temperature
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ TBSP Olive oil

Mix yogurt, garlic, and oil together until oil and garlic are fully incorporated with the yogurt.

Vegetables
1 carrot, cut into
½ cup peas
½ cup corn, kernels only
½ cup green beans, cut 1 1/2” long

Steam vegetables until soft, yet still retaining crunch, about 5 minutes.

Red Sauce
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can crushed tomatoes
2 tsp tomato paste
1 TBSP olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until soft, about 1-2 minutes. Add crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, salt, and pepper. Turn heat down to medium-low and cook for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Transfer sauce to a blender and blend until smooth.

Combine stemmed vegetables with the red sauce and stir.

Plating
On a large, round plate arrange 8 dumplings. Place a scoop of yogurt in between each dumpling then cover with vegetable, red sauce mixture.

Rating- We give our dish 3.5 out of 5 stars.
We gave this recipe a go, but we didn’t live up to the standards of Azeen’s. We came close, but had a few structural inconsistencies. First, our wrapper seemed to have steamed until it was about to fall apart, yet it still did not become quite as tender as theirs. Second, we couldn’t quite figure out what yogurt they used on the plate. As you can tell from the side-by-side pictures, Azeen’s yogurt was almost runny while our yogurt was too stiff. We used a Greek yogurt and tried to let it come up to room temperature, but it still didn’t integrate onto the plate the same as theirs did.

Our flavor profile was pretty close, so if you aren’t able to get to Pasadena we think this recipe will give you a good representation of Afghan cuisine, however, we of course encourage you to try the original at Azeen’s Afghani Restaurant if at all possible.

How would you rate our recipe? We look forward to hearing feedback from you guys. Feel free to email us if you have any questions on the recipe.

Restaurant Visit
Aiming to enjoy lunch at Marouch, we ended up enjoying a very late lunch due to underestimating just how long it took to get to Hollywood from the west side. Surprisingly, we weren’t even the only table there at that time in the afternoon and the food made the drive seem well worth it. Marouch has been the mainstay Lebanese-Armenian restaurant in Los Angeles practically since we’ve both been alive and the husband-wife team of owners/chef is still active in the restaurant and kitchen. The husband, Serge was extremely friendly and once he heard we were visiting for our food blog he informed us on the history of the restaurant and the food. It was sweet to see hear how much praise he has for his wife, Chef Sossy Brady, who makes many of the dishes herself and, rightfully so, won’t even share some of the recipes.

As usual, we decided to try a sampling of many of their dishes to truly get a feel for the food and the place. We started with the baba ghanouge (dip made of smoked eggplant seasoned with garlic, lemon juice and sesame seed paste) $7.99, followed by the yogurt kabob (generous cut, seasoned and charbroiled beef topped with yogurt sauce and pine nuts) $15.99, and shawarma combination (beef, chicken and gyros) $15.99 for our entrees. For dessert, we were hoping to order the asha-al-saraya but were informed they were out of it for the day. So, we opted for the mahalabieh (rice pudding topped with pistachios and rose water) $6.99).

The baba ghanouge was probably the best we’ve ever eaten. Serge mentioned that it is a secret recipe of Chef Sossy and she will only use one particular type of eggplant for the dish. Whatever it is she does to create the dip, we hope she keeps it up. We were equally charmed by both our entrées. The yogurt kabob is a house specialty and comes with your choice of beef, chicken or lamb. One unique quality of the dish was that the beef was served two ways – ground with spices and chunks of sirloin. It was impossible to decide which method we enjoyed more. At first, we skipped using the pita bread to scoop up the beef and yogurt, assuming it was nothing special. Boy, were we wrong. Serge made sure we tried the dish as intended to be eaten. Our taste buds were blown away by the delicate yet rich, garlic flavor of the pita, which only served to enhance the spices of the meat and creaminess of the yogurt even more. Since we had opted for the combination plate of shawarma, we had our choice of meats with the lamb being our favorite. A tahini sauce was served as a side to the lamb, with a garlic sauce accompanying the chicken. All three meats were full of flavors and tender enough to cut with a fork. Rice also accompanied both dishes.

For dessert, we ended up ordering a dish that we were the most ignorant about. Which made the experience even more intriguing. Serge said we couldn’t go wrong with the mahalabieh and we’re always up for trying something that we don’t even know how to pronounce. The presentation of the pudding alone is enough to make you want to dig in. Sitting delicately in the middle of a small, round plate is an unassuming mold of white pudding. However, emerald green pistachios, almond slivers and golden raisins dot the surface and surrounding plate. It’s the clear rose water pooled on the plate that really gives the entire dish its flavor. We didn’t have much room left in our stomachs for dessert, but we somehow managed to finish the whole thing. The rice pudding was silky smooth and all the flavors combined to create a sweet yet mild dessert.

Marouch will soon be celebrating its 30-year anniversary and we hope to be enjoying their flavors for 30 more years to come. Even if you aren’t in the area, or get freaked out about eating at restaurants tucked away in a strip of storefronts, make it a point to visit Marouch for either lunch or dinner. According to Jonathan Gold, “year after year, Marouch becomes nothing but better.”

Shopping
(prices reflect the cost of the package, not the portion we used.) The rest of the ingredients we already had in the kitchen.

Whole Foods
Whole Milk $1.99
Slivered Almonds $2.49
Golden Raisins $4.49
Pistachios $5.99
White Rice Flour $2.99

Tehran Market
Orange Blossom Water $2.39
Rose Water $2.39

Recipe
Below is our take on Lebanese-Armenian Mahalabieh. While we have no idea exactly how they prepare theirs, we looked around online for recipes then combined that knowledge with the flavors we tasted in the original dish and went from there.

Makes 3 desserts.

Mahalabieh

Pudding
2 cups whole milk
1/4 cup rice flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 TBSP orange blossom water
One handful pistachios, roasted and chopped
One handful slivered almonds
One handful golden raisins

Hardware: Jumbo muffin pan (holds 6 molds)

Add milk, rice flour, cornstarch and sugar to a medium pot. Mix together until rice flour and cornstarch have dissolved. Turn on heat to medium-high and constantly whisk. Once mixture begins boiling, lower heat to low and cook for an additional minute, or until mixture has thickened. Once thickened, remove from heat and add orange blossom water. Transfer mixture to muffin pan. Place in refrigerator and allow to cool for 3 hours, or up to overnight.

Syrup
2 TBSP water
1 TBSP rose water
2 TBSP sugar
1 TBSP honey

Bring water to a boil. Add sugar, rosewater and honey and whisk until sugar has completely dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

Plating
Remove pudding from mold by placing dish on top of pan and then flipping pan and plate over. Place one pudding mold on the center of 8″ dish. Top with pistachios, followed by golden raisins and a few almond slivers. Drizzle syrup around pudding and finish with more almonds and raisins around the dish.

Rating- We give our dish 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Having never made rice pudding before, we were a little nervous to attempt this recipe. The ingredients seemed so easy that we knew there had to be a trick we were missing. Surprisingly though, it really wasn’t too bad. We hit two of the main criteria we look for when rating ourselves – flavor and appearance. The one thing that seems to get us quite often is texture. It barely eluded us this time around, but since we want to be honest, it seems theirs was somewhat smoother. Our syrup also had a thicker consistency to it even though the sweet flavor of the honey with the rose water was spot on.

We certainly recommend keeping this recipe for when you want to really impress your dinner guest with dessert without having to spend all day baking. The plating alone entices your eyes while the exotic flavor of rose water will capture your taste buds. And if you really want to impress someone, take them for dinner at Marouch.

How would you rate our recipe? We look forward to hearing feedback from you guys. If you love Armenian food as much as we do, be sure to let us know your favorite restaurant for the cuisine. Feel free to email us if you have any questions on the recipe and don’t forget to vote for next week’s restaurant!

We visited Alpine Village Restaurant Saturday @ 1:30 pm
Dish we will try to cook – Jaegerschnitzel, $10.95

Restaurant Visit
Never have we laughed so much while visiting a restaurant for the blog. And we weren’t even sure why we kept laughing. We chalked it up to the novelty of Alpine Village Restaurant and the 1950s music we were treated to while eating. If you’ve not visited the village before, it sits just off the 110 freeway in Torrance and is comprised of several white, kitschy façade buildings hosting such businesses as a dental office and traffic school, a small chapel, a German market and store, restaurant and swap meet area. Since we visited late on a Saturday afternoon, we didn’t get to see the German village in its full splendor but we did get to listen to a wonderful German lad playing an accordion outside the market area and see the tail end of the crowd from the swap meet.

The restaurant at Alpine Village doesn’t seem to have a proper name, other than a sign that reads “restaurant.” Which, we guess, is enough to tell someone all they need to know. The size and design of the interior does the rest. Upon walking in, we realized just how large the restaurant is. There are several small rooms for private parties and one large room for the everyday diners. In the middle of the restaurant is a themed Alpine Village stage and, as expected, a impressive bar runs along one entire wall of the building dispensing 15 varieties of beer on tap. Many tables had guest seated, but overall the crowd was pretty quiet during the afternoon and surprisingly, we weren’t the youngest people in attendance.

We aren’t ones to take it light for most meals, and when eating German cuisine for lunch, it is simply impossible. Thus, we dove right in, ordering their sausage trio with brier mustard (a tasting of Alpine Village’s famous sausages – polish bratwurst, buffalo chicken and Hungarian bratwurst- skewered, grilled and served with our house-made brier mustard dipping sauce) $4.95 for an appetizer. We followed this with the jaegerschnitzel (sautéed pork cutlet topped with a mushroom cream reduction. Served with roasted garlic mash and braised red cabbage) $10.95, and beef goulash (beef chuck braised in red wine with paprika, caraway seed and other spices. Served over buttered spaetzle noodles and sautéed seasonal vegetables) $9.95. And if you’re going for gluttonous, why hold back. We further stuffed our bellies with the apple strudel a-la-mode (classic German apple strudel served with vanilla ice cream and a bourbon-caramel sauce) $4.95, for dessert.

The sausage trio was served with 3 pieces of each variety of sausage, on 3 different skewers. Easy to eat and full of juiciness, this was a great way to start the meal, with the polish bratwurst being our favorite. Neither of us are fans of mustard, but were both surprised to enjoy Alpine Village’s brier mustard. The sauce was more sweet than mustard-y,if that is a word. Each entrée came with either a cup of soup or a small salad, so needless to say we were pretty full before even starting the meal. We channeled our inner German ancestors (well, one of us as German ancestors, the other just pretended) and managed to eat about half of each entrée. The jaegerschnitzel was thinly cut, tender pork topped with mushrooms and sauce. Cranberries lent a tart flavor to the red cabbage that was both an interesting and welcomed addition. Of the two, this plate seemed the least rich of flavors. Eating the beef goulash felt like eating spaghetti with beef sauce, yet with a German twist. Normally, noodles are very uniform in width and length. Spaetzle noodles, on the other hand, seem to be a random grouping of egg noodles that are in all different widths and lengths. Some were almost round while others were a few inches long and very organic in shape. Maybe we were given the bottom of the pot of noodles, but the rustic experience was very playful and they were delicious. The side of sautéed vegetables almost fooled us into thinking we were sort of eating healthy. But, there was enough butter and salt on the veggies to counteract any nutritional value received.

Our hearty expectations of German food were not only met, but exceeded by Alpine Village Restaurant. We enjoyed our visit, yet know that we missed out on probably an over-the-top experience by not visiting at night to listen to the live performances and can only imagine the mayhem that place exudes during Oktoberfest (chosen by USA Today as one of the best Oktoberfests in the world). In fact, we may just have to drive back down to Torrance in October to truly see the restaurant in full swing. If you go, be sure to arrive hungry and thirsty!

Shopping
(prices reflect the cost of the package, not the portion we used.) The rest of the ingredients we already had in the kitchen.

Whole Foods
Whipping Cream $3.99
Organic Pork Chop $7.92
Mushrooms $2.99
Cabbage, 1 head $4.44
Garlic $1.82
Parsley $1.49
Russet Potatoes, 3 lbs. $3.87
Shallots, .22lb $1.10

Recipe
Below is our take on German jaegerschnitzel. While we have no idea exactly how they prepare theirs, we looked around online for recipes then combined that knowledge with the flavors we tasted in the original dish and went from there.

Makes 2 servings.

Jaegerschnitzel

Braised Red Cabbage
1/2 head medium red cabbage, cored and sliced
3/4 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
1/3 cup red wine
3 TBSP red wine vinegar
1 tsp olive oil
1 TBSP brown sugar

Heat olive oil over medium heat in a skillet. Add brown sugar, mix and cook until sugar is completely melted, about 2-3 minutes. Add vinegar and cranberries. Cover and cook until cranberries pop their skin, about 5 minutes. Next, add cabbage and cook until cabbage is slightly wilted, about 5 minutes. Add wine, salt and pepper, turn heat to low and stir occasionally. Cook for about 20 minutes, or until cabbage is tender.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes
1 head garlic
1 TBSP olive oil
2 lbs russet potatoes, peeled and quartered
4 TBSP butter
3/4 cup heavy cream
salt and white pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut off very top of garlic head. Place garlic in foil and drizzle with olive oil. Wrap foil tightly and place in oven (you may want to place foil on top of baking sheet or glass dish so olive oil doesn’t drip to bottom of oven). Roast for 45 minutes, or until garlic is completely tender. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly. Remove garlic from skin and mash. Boil potatoes in a pot of salted water until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and place potatoes in a large bowl. Add garlic and mash. Add cream, softened butter, salt and white pepper and mash until smooth.

Pork
4 pork cutlets, 1/4 in. thick
2 TBSP olive oil
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Season pork with garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Next, add oil to skillet and heat over medium-high heat. Place pork on skillet and cook for about 5 minutes. Flip pork and cook an additional 5 minutes, or until browned on the outside and slightly pink on the inside. Remove from skillet and set skillet aside for mushroom cream reduction.

Mushroom Cream Reduction
1/2 lb white mushrooms, quartered
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 shallot, finely minced
1 TBSP butter
salt to taste

Using skillet from pork, drain excess fat until about 1tsp remains. Heat over medium-low. Add shallot and cook until translucent. Add butter and cook until melted. Next, turn heat up and add mushrooms and salt. Cook mushrooms until soft. Once mushrooms have browned, add white wine and use wooden spoon to deglaze pan. Add chicken stock, turn down heat back to medium-low and cook until liquid is reduced by two thirds. Once reduced slowly add in cream. Mix, then let simmer until sauce is rich.

Plating
Place one serving of red cabbage on a plate. Create a tower of garlic mash beside the cabbage (we used a pastry bag with a 1M tip). Next, place two cutlets of pork side-by-side, half lying on the plate and half leaning up on the mash and cabbage. Spoon a generous portion of sauce and mushrooms onto the pork and finish by sprinkling chopped parsley over plate. Serve and enjoy.

Rating- We give our dish 4.5 out of 5 stars.
We gave ourselves a pat on the back this week. Usually, the sauces are always the hardest part of us but we seemed to have replicated Alpine Village’s pretty spot on. The two parts of the dish that we felt were slightly off were the flavor of the cabbage and a few of the spices on the pork. Our cabbage wasn’t as sweet as theirs, which we liked better. But if you prefer a sweeter side, this could easily be remedied by using more sugar with the cranberries. Next, you can see flakes of pepper on our pork, yet on theirs you weren’t able to visibly see the black specks. The flavor is about the same, but the visual presentation doesn’t match up. Alpine Village Restaurant also used slightly larger pieces of pork in their dish.

The sauce is truly what takes this plate from a simple pork chop and mashed potatoes to a cohesive grown-up dish. White wine and cream seem to create magic together and have left us with happy stomachs twice now. This recipe is relatively easy, if a little time consuming to make all three components but will definitely be enjoyed by you and your guests.

How would you rate our recipe? We look forward to hearing feedback from you guys. Have any of you visited Alpine Village during Oktoberfest? Feel free to email us if you have any questions on the recipe and don’t forget to vote for next week’s restaurant!

We visited Vincenti Ristorante Thursday @ 9:00 pm
Dish we will try to cook – Roasted Filet of John Dory, $40

Restaurant Visit
Brentwood is an area known for its Italian restaurants, with Vincenti Ristorante held as one of the finest in the neighborhood. Located on San Vicente at Montana, the building is completely unassuming from the outside. We visited very late on a Thursday evening, so the businesses inhabiting the other buildings along the stretch were quiet. Upon walking in though, we realized we had found the heart of the neighborhood hub. Most of the patrons were dressed in business attire yet the atmosphere was jovial and intimate. We did happen to notice actress Lauren Hutton dining at a table in the corner with a group of friends, always a bonus to have a celebrity sighting at dinner.

Vincenti offers two menus of Northern Italian cuisine. One menu is a Chef’s Tasting fixed menu of $70 and the second menu is a la carte. We were able to order the Robiola Con Fichi Freschi e aceto Balsamico (sheep & cow’s milk cheese with fresh figs and balsamic vinegar) $16, from the tasting menu as a starter. Off the regular menu, we decided on the Filetto Di San Pietro Arrostito con Tortino di Patate, Fragiolini, Pesto E Salsa Di Pomodorino (roasted filet of John Dory with potato tortino, green beans, pesto and cherry tomato sauce) $40, and the Gnocchetti Patate con Vongole, Zucchini, Fiori de Zucca E Pesto (house made potato gnocchetti with clams, zucchini, zucchini flowers and pesto) $22. Vincenti also has a lengthy wine list but we opted to go without since Romeo was having his wisdom teeth removed the next morning. We used needing to eat out for the blog as a reason for him to have one really nice, good meal before he could only eat mashed potatoes for a week.

While nibbling on the cheese, fig and balsamic vinegar plate, we took the opportunity to watch our fellow patrons. Most of the tables were of parties of four or more, and skewed to the older side. One wall of the kitchen is floor-to-ceiling glass, which gives most seats an excellent view of Chef Nicola Mastronardi preparing the dishes. There is also a wood fire oven located in a corner of the dining space, surrounded by a small bar style eating area. According to a note on the menu, on Monday nights they offer pizza. The wait staff was extremely friendly and made us feel welcomed.

It only took one bite from either of the main dishes for us to realize just why Vincenti’s is known as one of, if not, the best Italian restaurants of Los Angeles. We split both dishes between us and had a very hard time deciding which we enjoyed more. In fact, we couldn’t decide because they were both so different from the other but exquisite in their respective genres. The gnocchi was so light and fluffy that it simply melted in our mouths. Neither of us are very big fans of gnocchi in general due to them typically being served as a very dense meal. But this was quite the opposite. The pesto sauce was bold but still allowed the flavors of the zucchini and zucchini flowers to come through. The surprise factor of the dish was the use of red chili flakes, not normally seen with a pesto sauce, but added a bit of zing to the plate. If you are in the mood for seafood, the John Dory will satisfy the craving. The filet, topped with a thick dollop of pesto, rested on a bed of green beans and a creamy potato cake. A delicate tomato sauce with a sprig of basil finished off the creation. The John Dory seemed to have a light coating to it with a rich, creamy, almost buttery flavor but it was the potato cake that seemed to be the most intriguing by lending a salty, parmesan flavor that balanced with and enhanced the fish.

After discovering Tavern in Brentwood and now Vincenti Ristorante just down the street, the area is soon turning into one of our favorite neighborhoods for dinner. And it doesn’t hurt that Jonathan Gold proclaimed Vincenti Ristorante his favorite Italian Restaurant in Los Angeles. Vincenti is excellent for an upscale dinner date or can be enjoyed on a smaller budget by ordering only from the pasta dishes or visiting on their Monday pizza nights. No matter when you go or what you order, we feel confident in insisting that you’ll love it. We know we did.

Shopping
(prices reflect the cost of the package, not the portion we used.) The rest of the ingredients we already had in the kitchen.

Whole Foods
Basil $1.50
Parsley $1.49
Cherry Tomatoes $4.99
Yukon Gold Potatoes, 32 oz $3.99

Santa Monica Seafood
John Dory, whole fish $11.99/lb $41.73

Recipe
Below is our take on Vincenti’s roasted filet of John Dory. While we have no idea exactly how they prepare theirs, we looked around online for recipes then combined that knowledge with the flavors we tasted in the original dish and went from there.

Makes 2 servings.

Filetto Di San Pietro Anostito

Pesto
2 cups packed basil leaves
2 large cloves garlic
1/3 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup parmigiano reggiano
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Using a food processor, pulse the basil. Next, add the pine nuts and pulse a few more times. Add the garlic and pulse until garlic is combined. With the food processor on, slowly add the olive oil in a constant stream. Add the grated cheese and pulse until everything is combined. Add a salt and pepper to taste.

Potato Tortino
5 medium-sized golden potatoes (such as Yukon), peeled
1/2 cup parmigiano reggiano, grated
2TBSP butter
1TBSP olive oil
1TBSP butter (for frying)
1/2tsp nutmeg
salt to taste

Hardware: 3 3/4″ metal ring

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Slice potatoes in half and dump in boiling water. Once cooked through, strain potatoes, then mash in a bowl. Combine potatoes with parmigiano reggiano, butter and nutmeg. Form potato mixture to hamburger-size patties and cut and shape using a 3 3/4″ ring (each patty should be 3/4″ thick). Next, heat a pan over medium heat and add olive oil and butter. Add a potato patty to the pan and cook until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes. With a spatula, flip patty on other side and cook until other side is golden brown.

John Dory
2 filets of John Dory, skin removed
2TBSP butter
2TBSP olive oil (plus additional to coat fish)
Salt and pepper to taste

Oil, salt and pepper fish. Heat 2 TBSP butter and 2TBSP oil in a pan over medium heat. Add fish to pan and cook for 3 minutes, continually basting on top. Flip fish over, cook and baste for an additional 3 minutes, or until fish is flaky and cooked through.

Green Beans
About 14 Green beans, trimmed
1TBSP butter
Salt to taste

Have a bowl of iced water ready. boil a pot of water, then blanche green beans for 1 minute. Remove green beans and immediately transfer to iced water to stop the cooking process. Once the beans have cooled, heat a butter in a pan over medium heat. Add green beans and cook, mixing around until beans are cooked, yet crispy, about 4 minutes. Add salt to taste.

Cherry Tomatoes
About 8 cherry tomatoes
2TBSP parsley, finely chopped
1TBSP olive oil
1/3 cup water
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat a pan over medium high heat. Add oil. Next, add tomatoes and salt and pepper. Cook tomatoes and occasionally stir about 5 minutes until tomatoes begin to break down. Add water, stir and cook until water mixes with tomato juices, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Finish with finely chopped parsley.

Plating
Place one potato cake in the center of a round, white plate. Cover the cake with a serving of green beans and then place a portion of the John Dory on top of the green beans. Top the tower with a scoop of the tomato sauce followed by a few sprigs of basil. Garnish plate with a little extra tomato sauce and a sprinkle of finely chopped herbs around the edge.

Rating- We give our dish 3 out of 5 stars.
The rating, this time, simply came down to technique. Buying the quality ingredients and prepping them was the simple part. The hard part came down to the cooking – namely the potato tortino and John Dory.

First off, the texture of our tortino doesn’t hold up to Vincenti’s. Even with frying both sides to a golden brown, our tortino seemed pretty much like eating mashed potatoes. Using a trick from baking cookies, we even tried refrigerating the tortino hoping it would help it stay more dense during the browning process, but to no avail. The only thing we can come up with is that they must strain almost all the water out of their potatoes before forming the circular shape, thus being able to make the tortino more compact.

Second, was cooking of the John Dory. While ours certainly tasted wonderful and very similar to the original, we were unable to exactly duplicate the browning on the filet itself. Adding butter to the oil, while in the pan, helped us achieve a bit more of the correct color, but not quite. We would love to know how Vincenti Ristorante pan roasted their fish to achieve the perfect browning.

How would you rate our recipe? We look forward to hearing feedback from you guys. Any one have a special way of roasting fish to a golden brown perfection? What’s your favorite Italian restaurant? Feel free to email us if you have any questions on the recipe and don’t forget to vote for next week’s restaurant!

Restaurant Visit
Bonjour! And that is pretty much the only amount of French we remember from high school. Mr. Leach would not be very happy with us. But he would be happy about the dinner we enjoyed at Monsieur Marcel. Having lived in Los Angeles for years, and eaten at the Farmers Market countless of times, we were shocked that we had never discovered this unassuming Parisian café tucked into the southeast corner. With outdoor dining on scattered tables of different, brightly colored tablecloths and a well-aged man playing various songs (Humorously, not all French. We caught the tune of It’s A Small World in the mix.) on his accordion, if you close your eyes, you almost feel like your dining along the Seine.

Choosing which dish to order off the menu is like deciding which city in France to visit first. We sipped our glasses of wine and enjoyed the breads and olives before finally deciding to attempt to recreate a classic French dish that would make Julia Child proud. Therefore, we chose the baked brie (in puff pastry stuffed with apricot marmalade, spiced walnut and gorgonzola cheese) $9.99, from the amuse brouches and the duck prosciutto (French duck breast cured and dried) $7.95, from the tapas section to start with. Then, we ordered the coq au vin (marinated chicken with mushrooms, pearl onions and carrots in a burgundy sauce, served with potato gratin) $15.49 and boeuf bourguignon (boneless short ribs with carrots, pearl onions, mushrooms, fingerling potatoes in a red wine sauce) $15.49 from their viands plates for our main course.

So how is it that the French are all so skinny? Our meal was wonderful, but we’re pretty sure it wouldn’t qualify as a low-fat, low-cal dinner. The baked brie and duck prosciutto were both very subtle, mild dishes. With the golden breading on the outside of the baked brie, we didn’t even use the accompanying toast, but simply dug in with our forks. Between both starters, and, okay the wine as well, we were a little full when the main courses were served. But in true American fashion, we found a way to still eat all of our food. Both plates looked so simple and unfussy yet the flavors were deep and bold. The boeuf bourguignon was hearty with a subtle sour note and very rich texture yet maybe slightly tough. We also thought the potatoes were a hair overdone. The sauce was darker in color compared to the sauce in the coq au vin and also had a hint of mustard flavoring. On the other hand, the coq au vin sauce had a slight orange tint and was much sweeter in flavor. The chicken skin was deep brown, but the breast meat was rather dry. The leg and thigh held up to the cooking method and retained their moisture. Both dishes used pearl onions and carrot slices to round out the flavors with a nice cooked-by-mom-with-love feeling. One of the biggest highlights to the coq au vin was the side helping of potato gratin. Those could have been a meal all by themselves. Thin sliced russet potatoes, smooth, creamy gruyére and a healthy amount of clove were all hidden below a cheesy, crunchy layer of cheese on top. Did we love them? Oui, oui!

Sadly, we left absolutely no room for dessert. Which only means that we will soon need to return to our new favorite Parisian café next time we are at The Grove. We noticed the table beside us was sharing one of the fondue selections, which we also really want to try out. The menu is so varied, that you could eat there once a day for a month and probably never have the same dish twice. Just like a trip to France, there is always something new, something wonderful, and of course, something tasty to enjoy! But for now, we need to channel our inner Julia Child and figure out how to cook coq au vin.

Shopping
(prices reflect the cost of the package, not the portion we used.) The rest of the ingredients we already had in the kitchen.

Whole Foods
Chicken Stock $3.99
Whole Chicken $17.81
Carrots $.97
Baby Mushrooms $3.99
Pinot Noir $3.99
Salt Pork $2.74
Pearl Onions $2.99

Recipe
Below is our take on the classic coq au vin. While we have no idea exactly how they prepare theirs, we looked around online for recipes then combined that knowledge with the flavors we tasted in the original dish and went from there.

Makes 2 servings.

Coq Au Vin

1 chicken, quartered, then separated into serving pieces
30 pearl onions, blanched and peeled, tips removed
3 large cloves garlic, minced
6 ounces salt pork
3 cups burgundy wine
2 cups chicken stock
8 ounces quartered button mushrooms
2 carrots, cut diagonally ¼” thick
2 TPSP unsalted butter, cubed
Flat leaf parsley
Micro greens
8 sprigs thyme
1 Bay leaf
Salt and pepper to taste

In a saucepan, place salt pork. Add water until pork is completely covered. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes to remove saltiness. Remove pork and allow to cool. Cube pork into 1/4“ pieces.

Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, sauté pork bits until golden brown. Remove pork and set aside, leaving remaining grease. Add chicken, salt and pepper and brown for about 5 minutes on each side. Discard any excess fat. Add garlic and sauté until just cooked through, about 2-3 minutes. Add chicken, onions and pork back in, then add wine, chicken stock, carrots, thyme and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then turn heat off. Allow Dutch oven to cool and refrigerate overnight to marinate.

Once marinated, bring Dutch oven to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Once done, remove chicken, carrots and onions. Strain sauce to remove thyme and bay leaf. Add sauce back to the Dutch oven, add mushrooms and heat on high until sauce is reduced by 1/3. Once reduced, lower heat, add butter and stir. Place chicken, onions and carrots back in and reheat.

Plating
In a large bowl, place in the center one thigh and leg with a strip of breast meat. Spoon a serving of the carrot, onion and juice mixture around the base of the bowl. Top with micro-greens.

Rating- We give our dish 2.5 out of 5 stars.
We knew this one was going to be hard. Cooking the dish, in itself, wasn’t hard. But matching their flavor profiles and cooking techniques seemed to be outside of our culinary skills. Let’s start with the chicken. The moisture level was about the same yet ours seemed to have lost some of the crispy, browning to the skin during the cooking process in the wine. This left our skin more limp than desired. Now, on to the sauce. Yes, the sauce. This proved to be our downfall. We’re sure it is because of a slew of missed guesses and ingredients. But, here is what our eyes and taste buds told us. One, the color was off. Monsieur Moncel’s had a tad more orange tint to it. Maybe tomato paste would have helped? Second, the smell. In our version, the main scent was of the wine. In theirs, the main scent was that of bacon or the salt pork. (Interesting note, we had no idea salt pork was used in this classic chicken dish.) And thirdly, flavor. Our coq au vin was noticeably saltier and lacked the subtle sweetness. The missed flavor could be from several sources – we don’t know exactly what vintage of wine they used and our saltiness could have been remedied from rendering the salt pork longer.

All in all, we would feel comfortable serving our version of coq au vin to friends and family but we admit that we missed the mark in recreating the Monsieur Marcel version of coq au vin. Oh well, we guess that means it’s time for a second visit.

How would you rate our recipe? We look forward to hearing feedback from you guys. Any one have a coq au vin recipe that they love preparing? What’s your favorite French dish? Feel free to email us if you have any questions on the recipe and don’t forget to vote for next week’s restaurant!

We visited Rahel Tuesday @ 8:30 pm
Dish we will try to cook – Yeduba Wot $10.95

Restaurant Visit
One of us really likes Ethiopian cuisine. The other has only eaten it once, and ordered the fried chicken. We’ll let you guys guess at who was happiest about eating at Rahel. But in the end, we both walked away satisfied and with full bellies. On one block of Fairfax, between Olympic Blvd. and Whitworth Blvd., lies a strip of restaurants known as Little Ethiopia. Well, that and an oddly placed amazing bakery to celebrities. You probably can’t go wrong eating at any of the restaurants, but per your votes, our destination was Rahel Ethiopian Veggie Cuisine, Los Angeles’s only vegan Ethiopian restaurant. Walking in on a Tuesday evening around 8:30pm, there were customers at only two tables. We also noticed the lack of air conditioning, in which leaving the front doors open would have helped the warm, slightly stale air. For a starter, we ordered two sambussa ($2.50 each) and ordered the yeduba wot (pumpkin stew seasoned with assorted spices) $10.95 and zucchinni wot (zucchini stew seasoned with assorted spices) $9.95, for our main course. All dishes are prepared daily using only olive oil and grape seed oil. Similar to the Moroccan restaurant we visited, a waitress brought water to the table so we could wash hands before eating. Soon, we learned why this was important.

After a short wait, the sambussa arrived but they didn’t last long. A sambussa is basically a triangle shaped pastry, filled with lentils and fried until golden brown. Yet surprisingly, they weren’t oily. The shell was crispy with a light, grape seed oil flavor. The spices were very minimal, if any. We weren’t able to place a finger on a single individual spice. Served with the sambussa are a red chili sauce and a jalapeno sauce. The waitress warned us that both were very spicy. Romeo agreed, and enjoyed both sauces.

Soon after we enjoyed the sambussa, we were brought the two wot (traditional Ethiopian stew) with accompanying injera – a form of bread, tortilla, sponge that is used to eat the stew. This is when you become thankful they had you wash your hands because what they didn’t bring was silverware. Instead, a large, round plate holds one round piece of injera. The waitress scooped a bit of the zucchini stew and some of the yeduba stew onto the injera. We were then left to dig in. To eat the stew, you tear off pieces of the injera and use it to scoop up the rather large chucks of zucchini and pumpkin and place them in your mouth. If you haven’t enjoyed injera before, you’re in for a treat. As our friend Gina describes injera, it’s kind of the texture of a wet chami used to dry a car with. Let’s just say you either love Ethiopian food, or you have a strong dislike for it. Besides the distinct texture, injera is also uniquely sour. The bitterness leaves a marked flavor in your mouth, which defines Ethiopian cuisine. We believe both stews incorporated the same red chili sauce as the base, used to simmer the different vegetables respectively. One thing we didn’t expect was the spiciness of the red sauce. If you are sensitive to hot spices, we’d recommend discussing that with the waitress before hand and seeing if any stew comes in a more mild sauce or staying away from the stews all together. Not sure why, since the flavors were very similar, but we preferred the pumpkin over the zucchini. In both, we weren’t able to discern any ingredients beyond the vegetable, chili and oil. The flavors were earthy and complex, but so well blended that you couldn’t taste any individual ingredient. Researching Ethiopian cuisine on the internet was definitely going to be needed.

By the time we left Rahel, a few more tables of patrons had been sat from a range of young to old. Since no other cuisine is around, one only travels to this block of Fairfax when craving Ethiopian food. And there isn’t a better place to satisfy this craving than Rahel. Fresh food, bold flavors and a comfortable atmosphere are guaranteed. If you prefer to sample a broad range of the cuisine, Rahel offers a lunch buffet daily from 11am-3pm.

Shopping
(prices reflect the cost of the package, not the portion we used.) The rest of the ingredients we already had in the kitchen.

Whole Foods
Red Onion $.60
Jalapeno $1.10
Kabocha Squash, 3.59lb $5.35
Garlic $1.12
Ginger $.98
Yellow Onions, 2 $2.77

Merkato Market
Teff Flour $12
Awaze $2.99

Recipe
Below is our take on the traditional Ethiopian Yeduba Wot. While we have no idea exactly how they prepare theirs, we looked around online for recipes then combined that knowledge with the flavors we tasted in the original dish and went from there.

Makes 2 servings.

Yeduba Wot

1 2lb pumpkin (or kabocha squash)
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 TBSP fresh ginger, minced
1/4 cup awaze or berbere
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 cups water
Salt and black pepper to taste

Cut pumpkin in two and remove the seeds with spoon. With vegetable peeler, remove skin from outside of each half. Slice into 1” thick slices then cut into 1” cubes. In a large heavy bottom pot, add oil, onion, garlic, ginger. Cook over medium heat until translucent and oil has incorporated the flavors into the onion, about 7 minutes. Add awaze or berbere, salt and black pepper and mix. Lower heat to medium-low and cook until oil becomes thick, about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Turn heat off and allow to cool slightly. Add mixture to a blender and blend into paste. Return paste to pot and reheat over medium-low heat until paste begins to bubble. Turn heat back down to medium-low and cook for an additional 10 minutes to allow paste to thicken even further. Add water, turn heat to high and bring to a boil. Add the pumpkin, bring back to boil, then turn heat down to a simmer and cook for another 10-15 minutes, or until pumpkin becomes firm yet tender. Stir occasionally to prevent from burning.

Injera

1/2 cup teff flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup water
1 TBSP vegetable oil
Salt to taste

Sift teff, all-purpose flour and salt in a mixing bowl and mix together. Add water. Use an egg beater to mix together until forming a smooth batter. Store in refrigerator for two days, allowing batter to ferment. Oil a large nonstick pan and heat over medium-high. Add a layer of batter to pan. Cook until injera looks dry and sponge-like. Remove bread and allow to cool.

Plating
Place one injera in the middle of a large, round serving platter. Scoop a small portion of wot in a few different places on the injera. You can also serve the dish with a garnish of diced tomatoes, jalopeno and red onion. Extra stew can be served on the side in a bowl, along with a basket of additional injera.

Rating- We give our dish 3 out of 5 stars.
While the wot recipe doesn’t look too complicated, it was fairly hard to figure out exactly which spices they incorporated and how much water they used to create the consistency of their stew. Rahel used pumpkin in their dish, but being out of season, we had to settle for kabocha squach. So before we even started cooking, our flavors were going to be a little off. Luckily of us, and those of you who live in the LA area, there is a wonderful Ethiopian market directly across the street from Rahel. This allowed us to find a few of the distinct ingredients needed – teff flour and awaze. It also gave us an idea of what spices are common to the cuisine. And if you really want to go the easy way, you can also buy your injera at the market.

The cooking process was pretty straightforward and simple. We judged ourselves lower for a few reasons. One: we were missing the key pumpkin ingredient. Two: our stew sauce was too thick. And three: our stew was darker in color than Rahel’s. Other than that, we felt we were fairly close to their recipe. (insert smirk)

How would you rate our recipe? We look forward to hearing feedback from you guys. Do any of you have a favorite Ethiopian restaurant in Little Ethopia? If you often cook Ethiopian food at home, what spices and ingredients do you commonly use? Feel free to email us if you have any questions on the recipe and don’t forget to vote for next week’s restaurant!

We visited Marrakesh Saturday @ 6 pm
Dish we will try to cook – Bastilla $7.75

Restaurant Visit
It’s not often we drive to the valley for food. In fact, the last time we ate in the valley was at Applebee’s. Long story, but we were on our way to San Lois Obispo for a wedding and had a gift card to the restaurant. This second trip to the valley was a much more enjoyable experience. Having not eaten Moroccan cuisine before, we weren’t quite sure what to expect. Marrakesh was a great place for an introduction into the far eastern fare.

Having read the website before driving out we had planned to order al la carte, yet the waiter told us there is no al la carte, only family style dining. So we’re not sure why the website shows it as an option. There is also no printed menu but is given orally by the waiter which makes the process a bit confusing. Especially since most of the feasts have 3 or 4 courses with many choices for each coarse. In the end, we decided on the Traditional Feast, $29.95 a person, with the lamb kabobs, baked rabbit and grilled quail. All dinners are also served with freshly baked bread, harira (vegetable soup with lentils, tomatoes and garbanzo beans), three traditional Moroccan salads (marinated eggplant, tomatoes and cucumbers, steamed carrots with spices), bastilla (filo dough stuffed with chicken, eggs and almonds) and finally, mint tea and homemade baklava for dessert.

Before beginning the meal, a waiter helps you wash your hands at the table – per Moroccan tradition. They put a large bowl down and pour warm water on your hands, over the bowl. We were especially humored by the use of large hand towels for the napkins.

We started with the three salads all on one plate, served cold. Next came the bastilla, pronounced bas-tee-ya. We had no idea what this dish was before it being placed in front of us. But we soon found that we loved this traditional Moroccan dish. Basically, it is a pie made of phyllo dough stuffed with shredded chicken, scrambled eggs, toasted almonds and spices. Then, the dish is covered with powered sugar and sprinkled with cinnamon. The waiter instructed us to cut it open and let it cool for a minute before eating. The chicken and egg combination was surprisingly moist. And it reminded us of a savory version of a funnel cake. We were pretty full by the time the rest of the plates were served. The quail was prepared charbroiled and we found the bird fairly difficult to eat. There isn’t much meat on quail so we recommend choosing one of the other options provided. On the same plate as the quail and kabobs, was a vegetable couscous with carrots, squash, zucchini, garbanzo beans and dark raisins. The rabbit stew was served on a separate plate with a light sauce, sliced almonds, green peas and sprinkled with paprika. Harissa sauce, a hot chili sauce, was served on the side and Romeo loved it. We noticed that all the dishes were treated softly with spices, mostly left to their natural flavors. This surprised us as we would have thought the food would have been more spiced, and would have preferred a bit more. We did notice the repetition of cinnamon, carrots and almonds through out the cuisine.

After finally making it through the main course, and boxing half of it up to bring home, we were presented with warm towels to wash our hands with before being served warm mint tea and baklava. This was probably the best baklava we have ever had and not a bite was left on our plate. The tea was made with spearmint and left a delicate flavor in the mouth at the end of the meal.

Deciding what to attempt to recreate was a little tricky. Usually we only have two or three dishes to choose from, but with this meal, we had five. The rabbit was high on the list since we’ve not created a rabbit dish before but in the end we wanted to go super traditional and pick a dish that best represents Moroccan food. And that’s how we came to decide on the bastilla, that and the fact that one of Romeo’s favorite foods is funnel cake. Baking can sometimes be difficult to try to recreate, but we’re hoping since the dish is such a traditional food for the region, that we can easily research recipes and mix a few to replicate the flavors we tasted at Marrakesh.

Shopping
(prices reflect the cost of the package, not the portion we used.) The rest of the ingredients we already had in the kitchen.

Whole Foods
Phyllo Dough, one box $3.99
Chicken Breast, 2 lbs. $11.17
Chicken Stock $3.99
Cinnamon Sticks $3.50
Butter $3.90
Parsley $2.99
Eggs, 6 brown $2.59
Sliced Almonds $3.89

Recipe
Below is our take on the traditional Moroccan bastilla. While we have no idea exactly how they prepare theirs, we looked around online for recipes then combined that knowledge with the flavors we tasted in the original dish and went from there.

Makes 2 bastillas.

Bastilla

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 package phyllo dough (thawed overnight)
¼ cup parsley, chopped
1 cinnamon stick
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 tsp tumeric
1 tsp cumin
6 eggs
½ cup sliced almonds
3 TBSP unsalted butter, melted
Olive oil
Confectioners’ sugar
Ground cinnamon
Salt and pepper to taste

In a saucepan, lay chicken breasts. Add onion, garlic, cinnamon stick, tumeric, parsley and salt and pepper. Pour in chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cook for 20 minutes. Once chicken is done, set aside. Bring pot back to a boil and reduce liquid until it becomes a thick sauce. Remove cinnamon stick.

Let chicken cool slightly, then shred.

Next, heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Beat eggs, then pour in heated pan. Add ½ cup of the sauce and mix into eggs. Once eggs are fully scrambled turn off heat, add shredded chicken and mix together, adding more sauce until mixture is only slightly wet. Set aside.

Lightly coat almonds with olive oil and toss. In a pan, toast almonds. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Lightly brush melted butter on a 6 inch skillet. Cut phyllo dough to make strips 7 inches wide. Layer 1 sheet of dough across skillet with both sides of the sheet draping over the sides, then brush dough with butter. Layer another sheet crosswise and brush with butter. Repeat criss-cross layering until you have 6 layers total covering the base of the skillet.

Spread half the toasted almonds on top of phyllo dough in skillet, followed by half the chicken and half the egg mixture. Fold the draped layers of phyllo over the top of the bastilla. Brush top with melted butter. Bake at 425 F for 20 minutes, or until phyllo dough has browned. Once browned, remove from oven. Place dish over skillet and turn over to remove bastilla onto dish.

Repeat layering ingredients into the pan and baking for second bastilla.

Plating
Place bastilla, bottom side up, onto the center of a large plate. Dust with a good coating of powdered sugar. With your fingers, sprinkle cinnamon on top in a diamond pattern. For added presentation, sprinkle a little extra cinnamon around the edge of the plate.

Rating- We give our dish 4 out of 5 stars.
While we were slightly off on a few things, we think we captured the essence of the dish pretty well. The main difference was the juiciness of the chicken. We’re not sure if it is as simple as being a little over cooked, or if Marrakesh has some secret trick to keep the moistness in. Their phyllo dough also had a bit more crisp to it than ours. But honestly, by the time you sprinkle powdered sugar and cinnamon on top, the dish cant help but taste delicious. We recommend Marrakesh to any who are curious as to Moroccan flavors. Oh, and did we mention the belly dancer? Yes, you really are entertained by a belly dancer as you eat.

We made one bastilla one night and saved the ingredients to combine and bake the second bastilla the next night. Both turned out equally delicious. Not sure how well the finished dish reheats, so you may want to do the same. One bastilla is large enough to serve as an appetizer for two.

How would you rate our recipe? We look forward to hearing feedback from you guys. If you’ve been to Morocco or have tasted a bastilla before, please let us know how our recipe resembles the flavors you’ve tasted. Feel free to email us if you have any questions on the recipe and don’t forget to vote for next week’s restaurant!

We visited The Village Idiot Thursday @ 8:30 pm
Dish we will try to cook – Steak & Potato Pie $12

Restaurant Visit
While we started our second year of We Can Cook That cooking British cuisine, we’ll be honest and say that the food wasn’t one that we thought would really be very good. We all know that British food has a bad reputation. Most people think of bangers and mash or fish and chips as the most traditional dishes. On the plus side, there’s nothing quite like afternoon tea at a famous English tea room. With these preconceived notions, we entered the door at The Village Idiot expecting more of a pub than an actual restaurant, but soon discovered the establishment is more restaurant than pub. While there are a few seats around the central bar, to truly enjoy the night you need a table and a couple plates of food. To our surprise, at 8:30 on a Thursday night we had about a thirty-minute wait. The tables were booked from the moment we arrived until after we left around 10pm. While we waited, we enjoyed two glasses of wine but noted that they have 8 beers on tap and 8 additional bottled beers. There was also a list of bombers beers. The overall feel of the restaurant was a bit more San Francisco than LA, with tall ceilings and brick walls. The wall of childhood framed photos was very entertaining and lent the place that neighborhood feel.

The menu isn’t overly large but has a fair bit of variety. There are the traditional sections of soup and salad plus starters. Then it is divided into: No Face (vegetarian), Two Legs (poultry), Four Legs (beef, pork, sausage) and No Legs (fish). True British humor shines brightly with those categories. And of course, there are Sides and Desserts. Since our goal was to reproduce a traditional British dish, we choose the steak and potato pie $12, and the grilled pork sausage (caramelized onions, Yukon mash, port wine sauce) $13. We also ordered the crispy sunchokes (buttermilk gremolata) $7, for a starter.

The sunchokes were prepared as you would if using fried potatoes – cubed and fried brown. It wasn’t until the end of the bite that we tasted the differentiating sunchoke flavor. The sauce was similar to a sour cream with a hint of lemon. After a bit of a wait, service was sparse and not overly friendly, we were served our main courses. When we ordered the dishes, we thought we would prepare the grilled pork sausage since the traditional bangers and mash seemed the classic British dish. But upon tasting both dishes, we quickly changed our minds. We asked if they made their sausage in house and were told that they do not, they use Mad Mike’s sausage – disappointment number one. Not that we have anything against Mad Mike’s sausage, but it would be more authentic if they made their own. Disappointment number two was the Yukon potatoes. Maybe our British readers will set us straight, but the potatoes tasted like they were out of a box. Is this the traditional way of making “mash?” There was zero flavors, not creamy, salty, peppery, nothing. And if there were caramelized onions, we didn’t taste them. The dish was certainly eatable, but wasn’t anything you couldn’t throw together at home after a long day’s work.

Now the steak and potato pie on the other hand was simplistically deceiving. The name doesn’t sound fancy, but we both enjoyed the dish very much. On the outside was a golden, crispy crust that was easily cut with a fork to reveal almost a pot roast combination of steak, potatoes and gravy inside. On a surprising note, there was more steak than potatoes but those were pretty much the only ingredients. Nothing fussy about this pie. The sauce was a bit salty but there was also a surprising flavor of citrus, our guess was lemon, to the dish. This tangy flavor kept the pie from feeling heavy and kept the taste buds tingling. Our only complaint was the pie was only about the size of our palms; we wish it had been bigger.

While one dish was a hit and the other was a flop, we will certainly be hitting up The Village Idiot again in the future. Several tables ordered the fish and chips and we have no doubt that dish is satisfying. The crowd seemed mostly young, local professionals out for drinks after a long day of work. Keep the place in mind next time you’re craving a British pub with a bit of California flair.

Shopping
(prices reflect the cost of the package, not the portion we used.) The rest of the ingredients we already had in the kitchen.

Whole Foods
Lurpak Sweet Butter $4.39
Beef Stock, 2 boxes – 6 cups each $7.98
Beef Stew Meat $7.55
2 lb. bag of Red Potatoes $3.99
Yellow Onion $.95
Italian Salad Mix $2.99

Sur La Table
Round Cutter Set, 12 rounds $28
5 inch Pie Pans, 2 $3.90

Recipe
Below is our take on the traditional British steak and potato pie. While we have no idea exactly how they prepare theirs, we looked around online for recipes then combined that knowledge with the flavors we tasted in the original dish and went from there.

Makes 6 pies.

Steak and Potato Pie

Pie Filling-

1 1/2 lbs chuck steak, cut into 3/4” chunks
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup vegetable oil, plus 1 TBSP
1 1/2 lbs red potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2” cubes
6 cups beef stock
Zest from half a lemon
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
Salt and black pepper to taste

Pie Crust-

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup shredded beef suet
1/4 cup butter, cubed, plus butter for greasing
2/3 cup water
1 egg, beaten

Hardware-
4 1/2” cutting ring
4 1/2” pie dishes

Salt and pepper the meat. In a pot, add 1/4 cup oil over high heat. Sift in flour and stir constantly using a wooden spoon for about 5 minutes. Be sure to scrape bottom and sides of pot to prevent burning. Mix in onions and cook until soft. Remove from pot and set aside. Add remaining 1 TBSP oil to pot, turn to high and add meat, browning on each side. Return onion mixture to pot, mix, add lemon zest and stock, and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil then simmer for 1 hour. Add potatoes and simmer for an additional 15 minutes. Remove from heat. (Note: sauce should have a thick consistency. If sauce is too thin, add additional flour and simmer until sauce thickens). Allow to cool completely, then refrigerate and allow to chill for 2 hours up to overnight.

In a bowl, sift the flour. Add salt, shredded suet and butter. Add water and knead until forming a smooth dough. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and allow to chill in refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a board, roll out dough to about 1/4” thick. Cut rounds out of dough with cutting ring. Grease pie dishes with butter. Lay 1 piece of cut dough on pie dish and work dough up sides of dish, creating an inner crust. Fill dish with chilled filling. Place another piece of cut dough on top and pinch both pieces of dough together, sealing the pie. Brush beaten egg on crust. Make a 1/2” slit on top of pie. Repeat process until all pies are made. Bake pies for 40-50 minutes, or until crust is a golden brown. Once done, remove from oven and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Remove pies from pie dishes.

Plating
Place one pie on a round plate and serve with a side of mixed salad tossed with a light balsamic vinaigrette.

Rating- We give our dish 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Romeo jokes that we didn’t give ourselves a 5 because we bought prepackaged salad, but the real reason is because we feel our sauce in the pie was every so slightly off from The Village Idiots. It is super, super close to theirs but something lingers in our minds that a spice or two may be missing. The most interesting part of this recipe to us was learning what beef suete was and how it is used. I guess this is what people cooked with before Crisco? Who knew?

The pies are fairly simple to make yet look so much more exciting on a plate than simple pot roast. They also refrigerate well and are easy to reheat in a toaster oven or microwave. We hope you give this recipe a try yourself, loves. And be sure to pop in to The Village Idiot next time you find yourself on Melrose.

How would you rate our recipe? We look forward to hearing feedback from you guys. What’s your favorite British dish? Feel free to email us if you have any questions on the recipe and don’t forget to vote for next week’s restaurant!

On the post for Zengo, our friend Joey asked, “After going through all the letters, which is your favorite recipe to recreate at home considering time, cost, and of course flavor?” We ended up having to go back through all the recipes to remind ourselves what we had made. It was hard to narrow them down, especially considering time, cost and flavor but if we have to pick one, we choose Palate’s Potted Planked Smoked Trout. Making the mayonnaise was the most time consuming part of the dish. But once we figured out the trick, the rest of the ingredients came together easily and the flavors of the dish… yum. Some of our other favorites are Mo Chica’s Lomo Saltado, Rustic Canyon’s Figs, and Campanile’s Grilled Duck Breast.

Many have asked if we plan to keep the blog going now that we’ve finished the alphabet, which we reply, “of course!” So here is our next vision- we now want to travel the world’s cuisine starting with Great Britain and working our way east. One great benefit of living in LA is there is such a diversity of cuisines offered. And while we sampled many of them during the first year of the blog, there are still so many more yet to try out. We now know to expect from ourselves some great successes and some hilarious failures. But we hope you’ll continue to enjoy the journey with us. Your support, comments, suggestions and votes have truly kept us going. We thank you all more than you can image.

Foodie love,
Romeo and Amanda