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Restaurant Review: Cube

What’s a girl to do when her boyfriend gives her a gift certificate to Cube? Well, have a ladies’ night, of course! “Wait,” you say, “what about taking the boyfriend to dinner?” Well, the very nice gift-certificate-giving boyfriend doesn’t even live here (he’s out in Denver) and insisted she take her friends (insert “AWWWWWWWWWWWWW” here). That’s my kind of friend’s boyfriend, let me tell you. Especially if said girlfriend invites ME, which she did!

I’d been wanting to try Cube since the feedback on the place seems mostly positive. I also liked that they had a large selection of cheese and charge $0 corkage since they do not serve wine. The three of us went armed with our wine for a 7:00 PM reservation on a Friday night. You have to make reservations since there are only a few tables inside and out in the deli-like space. We opted for an inside table since the traffic on La Brea can get pretty loud. The Cube staff mark your reserved table with a little sign that has your name and the number of your party on it- a cute and personal touch, I thought.

Amuse…….

We sat down and our friendly waitress gave us a small amuse of Myrtlewood cheese, served with pistachios and dried apricots. I’ve rarely met a cheese I didn’t like, and this was no different. The three of us didn’t even have to consult each other on what appetizer we would share- the minute we saw the Black Truffle Pizza, our inner voices started talking to each other and demanding we order it. We each decided on different pasta dishes as our main course, uncorked the first of (number that shall remain a secret) bottles of wine and caught up on work, relationships, food, the meaning of life, which soy milk tastes the best and whatever else girls talk about.

Will you marry me?

Ah, Black Truffle Pizza. You sauntered over to our table like the Darth Vader of Pies in your black and cheesy glory. What on earth is there NOT to LOVE about a crisp crust covered with black truffles and topped with oozing, melted cheese? Who needs money when this Sphere of Delight exists in the world (well, I mean I could always use more money but ya know…)? The earthy aroma of truffles wafted through my nose as I took a bite and, dear readers, it was every bit as good as you can possibly imagine. Washed down with wine, it was the perfect way to start (or continue, or end) a meal. I’ll be having many more outings with this pizza, I can assure you.

My friend T’s potato gnocchi w/ roasted garlic pesto was very garlicky and VERY good. Some people may find the roasted garlic overpowering, but after awhile it became quite addictive, actually. The gnocchi were perfect- chewy and toothsome but tender at the same time. I kept reaching over and nabbing the little nuggets (sorry T!).

Gnocchi

K decided on the lobster ravioli w/ zucchini saffron cream sauce. It was a beautiful dish- bright yellow from the saffron. K was very happy, and I liked it as well, although I must warn you- it isn’t for the saffron-faint-at-heart. The herb permeates the entire dish and makes for a lovely sensory experience.

Lobster ravioli

I decided to get the special of duck ragu, but instead of getting it on the gnocchi, I asked to have it on pappardelle instead. The pasta was fine, but I found the ragu a bit disappointing….it was very tomatoey but the flavor was lacking the depth and richness that a slow-cooking ragu usually has. It tasted good…….I guess I was expecting something with a bit more substance. I’m guessing that the thinner ragu would have actually made the perfect accompaniment to the gnocchi, so it serves me right since I decided to tweak my order and not follow what the chef had chosen. Lesson learned!

Pappardelle with duck ragu…

We decided to forego sweets and opted for an assortment of cheeses to finish the meal. We had a manchego, a white cheddar and a goat recommended by the waitress. We all agreed that the goat was our favorite.

Dessert!

Overall, I highly recommend Cube- the food is great, the service is stellar and the $0 corkage seals the deal on any place for me, really. The cozy deli-cafe/like interior is the perfect place to have some wine and catch up with girlfriends.

Leftovers marked so there’s no mixup!

Cube
615 N. La Brea Ave
Los Angeles, CA
323-939-1148

Teriyaki Salmon Bowl

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. This whole Anna Nicole debacle has been eating up all of my energy (I work in media) so I haven’t had any time to post! I’ve actually been cooking a good deal since we had a house guest for awhile, but I haven’t been so good at taking photos.

I did, however, remember to take them a few nights ago. I had purchased a nice looking slab of salmon from my newly yuppied-out Vons the other day. I normally am not crazy about the seafood from my local Vons since we never had a fish monger and most of the packaged stuff looked brown and old….yuck. After a facelift, my neighborhood Vons now carries all kinds of stuff- oyster mushrooms, mini cauliflower, whole duck and yes- we now have a fish monger. The salmon was from Chile and looked mighty fine, so I picked it up and took it home (well, I mean I paid for it, of course!).

Asparagus

Recently I can’t get enough Japanese food, so I decided to make a teriyaki salmon bowl. I was inspired by a post I saw on this blog, and wanted to make a big ol bowl of goodness. After making a batch of my dad’s famous teriyaki sauce (7 parts each of soy sauce, mirin & sake + 1 part sugar and sliced garlic) I marinated the salmon (which I had cut into cubes) for about 30 minutes. 5 minutes in the broiler and they were done.

Salmon swimming in marinade….

To build my bowl, I started with farro, then added soybeans, sautéed asparagus, sautéed onions and the salmon. I reduced the marinade until it got thick, drizzled it over everything and finished it all off with sesame seeds and sliced green onions.

Ready for broiler….

I must say- that Chilean salmon was awesome- buttery, rich and not fishy like the salmon of Vons’ past. It picked up the teriyaki sauce so well and was a great accompaniment to the farro. The salmon bowl reminded me of some bowls that we’d get at a little Hawaiian joint in Shibuya- except they would always top everything with a fried egg and French fried onions. Maybe I should do that next time…..

Dad’s Teriyaki Marinade
I know this sounds simple, but how many times have you had all too sticky and sickly sweet teriyaki?? This is perfect every time, and is great on ANYTHING. We’ve had it on fish, steak, chicken (especially thighs) and I’m sure it’d be a great marinade for veggies too.

7 parts soy sauce (not low salt)
7 parts mirin
7 parts sake
1 part sugar
thinly sliced garlic

Put everything into a sauce pan and heat until the sugar dissolves and you can smell the garlic. Take off of the stove and let it seep for at least 20 minutes.

If you want to thicken this as a sauce, simply put the marinade in a pot and heat over medium-high heat until it reduces to the desired consistency.

Slather over everything and enjoy!

Potluck Time!

Got together with friends for a pre-Oscar viewing party of sorts. A good time was had by all, and the food was incredible!!! There was no rhyme or reason to the food theme- everyone just brought lots of good eats and it was a great way to consume all different kinds of food. Thanks to everyone- it was fun!

Now- I’ll just let the (embarrassingly blurry) photos speak for themselves……

Yummy fried squid….

Noodles w/ shrimp and char sui pork

Grilled peel ‘em shrimp

Grilled shrimp skewers with thai curry sauce…..

Beef w/ chimichurri sauce

Boca negra with coconut flakes

Wild mushroom & guyrere tart

Asparagus dynamite

Crisp wontons with pulled pork, blue cheese & pickled red onion

Luscious lamb……..

Somen salad

Crostini w/ roasted eggplant spread and parmesan

Rainbow of Pocky

My piggy plate!

Although I failed to take photos , there were even more offerings- KFC hot wings (who DOESN’T love the Colonel!!??), a sweet and toothsome mochi custard and, the show stopper- peanut butter and jellyfish sandwiches which were actually really good. Whoda thunk it? Maybe it’ll start showing up in restaurants eh?

Valentines Day: Opus Restaurant

After hearing lots of fantastic comments about the tasting menus at Opus, J and I decided that we would spend our Valentines evening there. Now before you go on about how V-day is just a commercial holiday made up by chocolatiers and fragrance companies to make you spend your money- please keep in mind that J is almost ALWAYS on tour in February and Valentines Day is usually spent apart. More importantly, any excuse to eat a good meal out works for us, ha. I suppose that’s the real reason!

I want to keep this short and sweet since I’ll let the photos speak for themselves. In a nutshell- we both thought Opus was good- there were a couple of things that we fell in love with, and a couple of things we weren’t crazy about. There are probably many reasons that have nothing to do with the food for why we felt this way, the main one being that we rarely do tasting menus so we don’t really have much to compare it to. Other than omakase at sushi, I can’t remember the last time we had a tasting menu, actually. So that’s my official disclaimer- I’m not an expert on tasting menus! We both were disappointed with the wine pairings- it was Euro-heavy which is not a problem, but most of the wines lacked body and didn’t do a lot for the food. Ironically, a chardonnay (we’re not big fans of chardonnay) paired with the John Dory ended up being one of our favorites. The service was warm and attentive, and our waitress was genuinely enthusiastic about the food, which is always nice. There was no menu of the tasting so unfortunately, you’ll have to rely on the power (or lack thereof) of my descriptions as I do not recall the exact names of all of the dishes.

The bread basket had thin slices of a cheese bread which was very good, a walnut/hazelnut bread that was ok and a pile of extremely greasy, deep-fried pita chips, which seemed out of place in the basket and the restaurant!

Here is what we had:

Amuse of fennel seed “pudding” with, I believe, some sort of sweet potato custard and topped with seeds. This savory pudding was actually quite sweet- in the way that a vidalia is sweet- and I enjoyed this immensely. J, on the other hand, found the sweetness a bit much. Although I’m not a fennel fan, the flavor wasn’t overpowering and the combination with the crunchy seeds made for a very pleasant texture.

First course of hamachi sashimi topped with blood orange “caviar,” cucumber “caviar” and served alongside a fried fish of some sort (sorry!) served with a red pepper sauce. We both loved this dish- the hamachi was fresh and fatty, but our favorite was the small nugget of fried fish with the roasted red pepper sauce. We wanted more!

“Mini-course” of egg cream with yolk in the shell. My first bite of this consisted entirely of thick, sweet/sour white cream….slightly sweet…almost like the filling of a cheesecake. J and I both thought “???” but once I dug in deeper and combined the cream with some of the softly cooked yolk, it changed the entire experience- it was delicious. Since the yolk is buried deep beneath the white cream, it might help to have the waitress suggest mixing the two or at least digging in to get the combination for maximum effect.

Second course of avocado mousse with creme fraiche, caviar and crumbled pistachio brittle. This dish was ok, but the avocado tasted too “green”- we felt that that the avocados used may not have been at their prime yet. I think after the creaminess of the egg mini course which preceded this, the texture was too similar and we wanted something a bit more…toothsome. I thought the sweet, crumbled brittle (it wasn’t called brittle but I can’t recall the exact name!) was a nice compliment to the briny caviar.

Third course of creamy asparagus soup with a lobster ravioli. We both loved this and it was a nice change of pace to get something warm and comforting. The soup smelled and tasted of fresh asparagus- very pure to the main ingredient- and the single, large ravioli in the middle contained just lobster- no “filler”- and it went so well with the soup. Lick-the-bowl good!

Fourth course of pan-seared John Dory on a bed of sauteed celery with tarragon. This was just ok. I actually liked the sauteed celery with tarragon very much. Who thought that celery could make such a subtle and lovely side dish? The fish was fine but nothing to write home about.

MY Fifth course of braised shortrib with cubes of potatoes, golden beets, green beans and crispy fried sweetbreads. This was rich…..uber rich. There was a strong hint of cinnamon and/or clove spice in this, which I wasn’t a huge fan of. The meat was tender, but combined with the nuggets of deep fried sweetbreads, ended up being too heavy for me, personally. The spice in the braising liquid didn’t suit my taste.

J’s Fifth course of sesame-crusted aji (spanish mackeral) was the stand-out winner of the entire evening. We both LOVED it. First of all, it’s nice to see mackeral on a menu….unless you’re at a sushi joint, it doesn’t appear often. I know how tricky it is to cook such an oily fish but there was no overwhelming fishiness and every bite was tender, juicy and extremely flavorful. The sauce drizzled around the fish was sweet but it complimented the nutty sesame and the fish so well. Truly unique and delicious.

Sixth course of chocolate for two- chocolate brownie topped with chocolate ice cream, chocolate stuffed strawberry, spice truffle, chocolate truffle all served with a vanilla crème anglaise. This was very good- the brownie and ice cream was not too sweet and the truffles were appropriately rich. By this point, we were both full but we finished every last morsel anyway.

Overall, it was a good experience. I think, next time we go, we will try the a la carte items- everything coming out of the kitchen looked great. The tasting menu (even at the elevated Valentine’s Day price of $80 + $45 w/ wine pairing) is still one of the best bargains in town so if you’re itching to try one, Opus is a great place to start.

To check out a decidedly different yet completely original and fun Valentine’s Day outing, go here to read about D & J’s very special evening!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!

I realize that for most people, Februrary 14th is Valentine’s Day. To me, its Mom’s birthday (and Valentine’s Day too!)….so HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Thanks for sparerib Hawaiian, chicken noodle soup, babaloa, shimesaba, chicken kiev, chicken liver salad and that awesome mocha cake with buttercream frosting…and of course all of the non-food-related things you’ve done for me!

Omedetou! Thanks for everything;)

-A

Trattoria Tre Venezie, Pasadena

I suppose it’s partly my fault for over anticipating my long-awaited maiden voyage to the much lauded over Tre Venezie. Shoot- just as recently as last week, a very well respected LA food journo touted the tiny Pasadena trattoria as one of Los Angeles’ finest Italian eateries. Accolades of that sort are nothing new to Tre Venezie, and I’ve read on numerous sites and heard from many people that THIS was THE place to get some of the finest Italian cooking this side of, well, Italy.

Another mistake on my part may have been that I saved a trip to Tre Venezie for a special occasion- a birthday dinner for me, my sister (we’re twins) and my mom, whose birthday is Valentine’s Day. Maybe I should have taken it as a sign that poor J got sick the day before and had to bow out of the celebration. He insisted that we still make a go at it, so my family and I kept our 6:30 reservations last Saturday night and eagerly walked into savor what we expected to be one of the most memorable Italian meals we’d have this year.

We walked in and I immediately noticed that the sweet, attentive hostess was the same woman who so attentively waits on us when we dine at Bistro K. That was certainly a good sign! We were seated at our lovely table in the very cozy space and started going over the menu. We were already aware that Tre Venezie specializes in the cooking of the Northeastern regions of Italy so we weren’t going in expecting lasagna. We ordered a bottle of wine and decided to share three appetizers to start- the grilled Santa Barbara spot prawns (a special), the polenta cakes topped with baccalao (salt cod) and a carrot and orange salad.

Upon further review of the menu, my mom decided on another special as her main course- an orange ravioli filled with sea bass topped with a nettle sauce. My father and sister both wanted the papperdelle made with farro grains topped with braised rabbit. Although that sounded like something that I’d LOVE, I didn’t want to get the same thing and opted for a wheat pasta served with braised onions and anchovies. After all, I love onions more than anything and I’ve always been a huge fan of the little fishies. We noshed on our cardamom-laced bread and waited on the appetizers.

The carrot salad turned out to be a nice mix of crunchy, shredded carrots and orange wedges tossed in a light white dressing. Although it was certainly refreshing in it’s simplicity, it wasn’t otherworldly. The baccalao on top of the polenta was way too pulverized for my tasted…..I usually like a bit of the texture of the actual cod to be present. The biggest disappointment, however, were the prawns- not in the flavor- if anything, it was one of the better things we ate that night. It would have been nice to get more than an eight of an ounce per person. Sure, it was our choice to share the appetizer but for $18, I was amazed that anyone would have the gall to serve up two prawns that were nowhere near jumbo. That’s $9 a prawn, my friends. And it wasn’t dressed with anything but a tiny side salad of shredded vegetables.

The papperdelle with braised rabbit ended up being the only real winner of our meal. The sheets of pasta were paper thin but cooked perfectly al dente and the rabbit was tender and flavorful- albeit chopped into very small cubes that made your teeth ache to bite into something more substantial. My mom’s ravioli suffered from the same problem as the baccalao- the sea bass filling was pureed into such a smooth paste that it could have been made from any seafood and wouldn’t have made a difference. My anchovy/onion pasta was so salty and fishy that it was inedible- when I mentioned to the waiter that I assumed the dish would be made with fresh anchovies, he said that it was…even though the entire dish tasted exactly like jarred or canned anchovies. I wondered why on earth anyone, if they really did have access to fresh anchovies, would take the fresh fishies and make them into a paste anyway…? I think readers of Tuna Toast know of my well-documented love of salt, but this pasta was so ridiculously fishy and salty that I actually sent it back.

We had some wine left after finishing our meal, so my father asked for the cheese plate. By the time it arrived at our table some 20 minutes later, the wine was gone and we were left to stare at a small plate holding four, thin slices of cheese and a slab of fig compote. Each slice of cheese must have been less that 1/4 of an ounce- and one of the cheese was….smoked. Now, I don’t have anything personally against smoked cheese but to serve one on a cheese plate is ridiculous and it completely clashed with the sweet fig compote. None of the other cheese could muster much flavor either, and at $16, we all agreed that the whole thing was a joke.

As you can see, my experience at Tre Venezie was not in line with the endless raves that I’ve read elsewhere. I suppose I should give it another go, but at those prices, it’s difficult to give them another chance. I think readers of this blog know that I have no problem spending money on a good meal- in fact, we probably spend TOO much money on food so money isn’t the main issue. It’s forking over a kidney for food that is truly mediocre. I’m sure I’ll get a lot of detractors here…..and I will admit that maybe I misordered. I’d love to hear feedback from people who truly love this restaurant since I’m blown away by how much I didn’t like it. Normally I’d understand why someone may not like a place that was over hyped (like a Koi or Cut or other high profile restaurant). However, Tre Venezie is a neighborhood place that is as far from a flashy, celebrity-hangout as any restaurant could ever be and any hype surrounding the place has been created by the quality of the food. So enlighten me, dear reader(s). Please tell me what I am missing.

Chicken and Beef…………

No no, I didn’t make a meal out of both chicken and beef. I just thought I’d post about a couple of things I made last week. Since most of the photos didn’t turn out well, I’ll combine my roasted chicken and beef carpaccio posts into one.

I made a roast chicken for the first time this year, following the fool-proof Zuni Cafe Roasted Chicken recipe. It is so simple, but comes out perfect every time. I love making roast chicken because it is much cheaper to buy an entire chicken than to buy it all cut up, de-boned and skinned and it makes lots of great leftovers. If you haven’t ventured into the wonderful world of roasting a whole bird, by all means try this recipe. Not only will you have a fabulous dinner, but your entire house will be permeated with the smell of sage, rosemary, thyme and lovely roasted poultry.

Cracklin’ brown skin with herbs peeking through……..

Speaking of leftovers, the chicken was used to make this hunking plate of yummy enchiladas the next day.

Can’t say much for the blurry photography but it tasted good!

We had good friends of ours for dinner last Saturday and I wanted to try my hand at one of my favorite restaurant dishes- beef carpaccio. We had gotten six gorgeous filet mignons delivered to us as a gift, so I had plenty of beef. I used Giada De Laurentiis’ method- rubbing a frozen filet all over with a generous amount of salt and pepper, searing the frozen chunk on all sides, putting it back in the freezer and then slicing it as thinly as possible while still frozen. The minute each slice hits the plate, it starts to thaw, and in a few minutes, you have beef carpaccio! Although the slices could have been cleaner, I was generally pleased with the outcome and the flavor was perfect. I plated it with a mound of arugula that I had tossed with some lemon juice and fruity olive oil, then drizzled the meat with a bit of homemade basil oil and topped it with capers and shaved parmesan. It ended up being the most popular dish at the dinner! Since I have five, fat filets still in the freezer, I think I will be making it again soon.

I know some people are squeamish about raw meat, but if you’re a fan of carpaccio, the technique of freezing, seasoning/searing, freezing and cutting works great.

On a slightly related note (it involves a roast chicken): If you need a good laugh, check out another one of Adam’s hilarious posts.

I Want Some Dim Sum: LA Food Bloggers Get Together…..

After missing several LA Food Blogging events, I finally met my fellow City of Angels food fans last Saturday. D of eat, drink & be merry and J of Oishii Eats organized the outing which took place at 10:30 AM at Hop Li in Arcadia. I was so excited as A) I hadn’t met any of the food bloggers in person and B) I hadn’t been to dim sum since my only outing in Yokohama Chinatown years ago. I never met a dumpling I didn’t like, so I knew my tummy would be happy, plus I told D about my love of turnip cakes and he promised that I would get my fill. Bring on the dim sum and good company!

Now you’d think, that with this many food bloggers getting together, it would be photography central with cameras clicking left and right. Not so. I was the only dork who took a few photos but then forgot to take any more since I was having such a great time! Of course I didn’t take photos of the actual bloggers since we’re all so great at keeping our identities a secret- check out stellar examples of headless and faceless photos here, here, here and here. What’s better than great food with a bunch of people who truly have a passion for it? I was lucky and honored to meet the friendly personalities (and significant others) behind Colleen Cuisine, Pirikara/MikeHatesEverything, Rameniac, Best of LA, Daily Gluttony, Deep End Dining and la.foodblogging (in addition to eat, drink & be merry and Oishii Eats, of course!).

Thankfully, D and Daily Gluttony speak Cantonese so they took care of the ordering. Plate after plate of deliciousness were placed from the carts onto our table and we started to dig in. First off- I have to apologize that I do not know the actual NAMES of most of the dishes we ate, but they were all yummy. We had crispy egg rolls filled with mushrooms, sticky mochi balls stuffed with a ground meat mixture, my beloved turnip cakes, rice noodle rolls filled with shrimp and others filled with meat, Chinese doughnuts also wrapped in rice noodle sheets, juicy pork shumai, shrimp dumplings, braised tripe, beef short ribs, steamed beef meatballs, green peppers stuffed with fish paste, black sesame and anko puddings and sweet egg custard tarts. I’m sure I’m missing some other dishes but they came so fast and all tasted so good that I couldn’t keep track.

After everyone had their fill, we spent the next hour or so going around and socializing with each other. It’s a rare and wonderful thing to meet a group of such genuine, friendly people and J and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We talked food, careers and travel (I was happy to hear that a few of the bloggers had lived in Japan) and took turns fussing over Deep End Dining’s adorable daughters. Such a perfect way to spend a Saturday morning!

So thanks, LA food bloggers, for welcoming J and I into your group and introducing us to some mouth-watering dim sum. When D told us that the final cost per person was $9.99, we couldn’t believe it. Talk about bang for your buck! We hope there are many more gatherings in the future!

Oh- speaking of D…..don’t forget to tune in tonight to Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations for the Los Angeles episode which features the king of eat, drink & be merry himself!!! Way to represent the LA food blogging community D!!! Travel Channel, 10:00 PM.

I Feel The Need, The Need for……..Parsley…??

You know how it goes. One day, you’re reading a cooking magazine or watching Food TV and then the craving hits you- you MUST MUST MUST eat (fill in the blank) now! Trust me, it happens to me on a weekly basis….that longing for Mexican food after seeing a Rick Bayless show…….the uncontrollable urge for onion rings when you get a whiff of them walking past a fast food joint, when you read food blogs….it happens to the best of us. It happened to me just the other day actually. My name is Anne, and I’m a food craver. There, I said it.

The very strange thing is actually the food (if you can even call it that) I suddenly got a craving for. Although we’ve all certainly had our salad cravings after the holidays, this was a first for me. As I sat at my desk, minding my own business, I got to thinking about how I just needed parsley. Yep- that green stuff that gets regulated to the side of a plate to make everything else look more appealing. Mind you- it wasn’t Garnish King curly parsley that I wanted- I wanted its Italian cousin, the Flat Leaf. Now before you jump to conclusions, there is no little tokyoastrogirl on the way (my 6 cups of sake last night should prove that!). I supposed I may have seen a photo of tabbouleh somewhere, but those are the flavors I craved- lemon, parsley, olive oil and something nutty.

Luckily, I had all of the ingredients I needed to whip together this crave buster. I had recently purchased a bag of farro from the Cheese Store of Silverlake, and was waiting for the perfect opportunity to bust it out. It was quite simple- soak and boil the farro, drain it, then mix it with over a cup of chopped parsley, a squeeze of lemon juice and a nice drizzle of good olive oil. Toss in a handful of diced red onion, a pinch of salt and a sprinkling of pepper and it was done, ready to defeat my craving.

I tossed some shrimp with a mixture of cumin, madras curry powder, garlic powder and turmeric and baked for 5 minutes to accompany my farro salad. The slightly chewy farro was delicious- especially mixed in with my beloved parsley. The minute the greens hit my tongue, I was satisfied. I have to say, it was nice to have a craving for something so healthy for a change!

Farro salad

2 cups farro
juice of one lemon
1/4 cup good, fruity olive oil
1 small red onion, diced
1 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
salt & pepper to taste

Soak farro for 20 minutes, drain. Cover with water by about 2 inches and bring to a boil- cook for about 15 minutes, but check for a texture that you like- I like mine to stay slightly chewy. Drain, mix immediately with red onion, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Let cool before adding parsley, mix well and enjoy.

Holla! (aka Challah)

Nothing gets me in the mood for baking better than a drizzly, grey day, and Saturday turned out to be one of those lovely gloomy days. Living in Los Angeles, where the sun shines 90% of the year, I embrace rainy days, especially on a weekend. It’s no fun spending all day in the kitchen next to a hot oven when it’s 85 degrees out, so I was happy to wake up to a cold, drab day. Yay!

Our good friend L recently had a birthday, and we had plans to go to dinner with him and his lovely wife, R, that night. I was plotting the night before about what sweet goodies I could bake L for his birthday present…..cookies, cheesecake, brownies…..perhaps a pear tart? I was digging through my baking books with glee when I decided to ask J what he thought was best. That’s when my sugarplum fairy world came crashing down……J said that dreaded sentence: L doesn’t like sweets. Oh great. There goes my plan to serve him up some of the best cookies this side of…..the L.A. River. I didn’t really want to do the cheddar crackers again since I had just made them, so I wracked my brain trying to think of something savory. Flour tortillas? Naw……since L is Mexican, he probably had many relatives whose homemade tortillas would blow my gringo ones out of the water. A vat of my famous Bolognese? That seemed like the ticket until I realized that his wife doesn’t eat meat….so poor L would be eatin’ Bolognese every night for a week, alone. I never realized how much harder it is to think of a savory food gift since it’s so easy to bake a batch of cupcakes or pack up a bunch of scones in a nice package.

I finally decided to make bread….although I must admit I was a bit nervous. Sure, I had made bread before but I’ve certainly had my failures….like the time I used old yeast and my dough didn’t rise a single centimeter. It was a risky move to put all of the afternoon into making my Bread Present, considering we were going to see the birthday boy that same night. I flipped through my well-worn copy of Baking With Julia and chose challah. Had I ever made this staple of Jewish bakeries before? Nope. Did it matter? I didn’t even really stop to think since I saw that I only had about 6 hours before L and R were set to arrive. And in bread baking time, my dear readers, that’s nothin! I rolled up my sleeves and got to work.

Thankfully, I had picked up a few packets of yeast on a recent shopping excursion so I knew that part was taken care of. I was sad to see that I didn’t have any bread flour, but since the recipe said I could use unbleached all purpose, I figured I’d be ok. I started by pouring warm water over the yeast until it foamed madly….I LOVE the smell of foamy yeast! After starting the mixture of that and flour in my mixer, I took the ball of dough out and kneaded it by hand for a good ten minutes. Talk about a workout! It is actually quite relaxing to knead bread by hand, and I think I was a bit inspired by Cynthia’s recent post on the joys of kneading bread. There’s been so much talk about a no-knead bread on many food blogs, and hey- I ain’t knockin’ it- but there is a therapeutic quality to grabbing and pushing around all that dough. You can actually feel it evolving from a sticky mass into something smooth and elastic. It’s not a bad way to tone your arms and middle either!

Punched down dough……..

After the first rise, I “punched the dough down” which is a part I’ve always enjoyed. You can hear the “pfffffffff” of the air coming out of the dough- you’re actually redistributing the air all over the blob. When the second rise was completed, I took half of the dough and divided it up into three ropes. Now comes the fun part! Although I hadn’t braided hair in YEARS, it’s sort of like riding a bike….a very squishy bike. I started in the middle as the book instructed and pretty soon, I had a fat, doughy braid. After taking the second half of the dough and creating another loaf, I covered both with towels and let them rise for another 30 minutes.

While I waited for those babies to rise, I made the egg wash with 1 egg, 1 egg yolk and a tablespoon of cold cream. I strained the mixture through a tea strainer to get the globs out, then brushed the now-puffy loaves with the yellow glaze. I decided to put sesame seeds on one and leave the other plain. They both went into a hot oven for 20 minutes, at which point I pulled them out and re-glazed the parts of the loaves that had swelled and exposed more of the internal dough. This was a step I had never read about before but made total sense. After another 20 minutes or so back in the oven, the challah was done! Holla!

Shiny loaves of challah in a row……

Sliced and ready for my tummy…..

Both loaves turned out super shiny and smelling wonderful. I decided to give the sesame one to L since the plain one had cooked a bit too much and was a bit too brown on the bottom. L appreciated the bread, and I was happy to have found a savory food gift that I’ll definitely be making again. The best part? J and I enjoyed a breakfast of challah toast and scrambled eggs the next morning. The slightly dense and eggy bread was fantastic with just a smear of butter.

Breakfast!

I’m looking forward to more rainy day bread baking if the weather cooperates!

Bread baking, Challah