Avocado Shrimp Toast

Happy Summer! Hello WORLD! Michael and I have been a bit off the grid for a bit, hence the no posts since February, Michael is head chef at a new fabulous restaurant, I have been doing some work with a gallery in the Santa Fe Art Colony, showing my paintings. All in all, it has been pretty busy, but a wonderful time!

That being said, we have put together a simple yet delicious dish inspired by summer and my recent trip with my family to Puerto Vallarta (Michael couldn’t make it because he is el jefe and needed). We have made avocado shrimp toast. This is such a simple dish, yet very complex in flavor, and is great for brunch or even just a snack.

Ingredients:

½ Lb. peeled and deveined shrimp (about medium size)
Sourdough baguette
Cilantro
3 avocadoes
1 lemon
1 lime
2 Tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoons kosher salt plus some pinches

Start by preheating oven to 400 degrees and slicing bread a ¼ to ½ inch thick, depends on your preference. Put bread on sheet tray and in the oven when the oven reaches temp. Toast bread about 12 minutes, flipping half way. Since all ovens are not created equal, just keep an eye out on toast burnage.

I like to buy my shrimp peeled and deveined to save the time, but check to make sure it is completely deveined because I know it's childish but it's just guhross if they are not completely cleaned. Heat oil and juice of a lemon inn a skillet on medium high heat, until it starts to slightly brown….SUPER CRUCIAL, don’t let oil burn, just let it slightly brown. Place shrimp in skillet, season with a teaspoon of salt, and cook about 3 minutes each side, or until shrimp turns pink. Remove from heat.

To assemble this glorious masterpiece get all of your ingredients ready; have your bread out, open your avocado up, pick some rinsed cilantro, slice your shrimp down the middle length wise, and roll and then slice your lime.  The reason you roll the lime is to open up the juiciness inside!

Start with your toast, then layer slices of avocado, and the pinch some salt on top. Next lay 3-4 shrimp slice on top, squeeze some lime on top, sprinkle some chili flakes, and lastly top with some cilantro!

Enjoy!!!

Korean- Italian Chili!

Super bowl is right around the corner, it finally drizzled for 2 seconds, and there was a chili cook-off! Do we need more reasons for a delicious chili? Not just chili, but a Korean Italian chili? I will say no more!!!

*PS Kochucara is a wonderful  Korean powdered chili, and Gochujang is an equally wonderful Korean chili paste!

Ingredients: serves 10

5 lbs ground beef
3 lbs ground pork
5 large spicy Italian sausages
3 yellow onions
1 ½ bunches scallions
5 cloves garlic
1 cup Hoisin
¾ cup Gochujang
1/3 cup Kochucara
2 cups orange juice
2 cups tomato sauce
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
3 cans kidney beans
4 Tablespoons olive oil
4 jalapenos
2 Serrano chilies
¼ cup red wine

To start it all off create your mise en place by cubing the yellow onions, slicing the scallions, macerating the garlic, and dicing the peppers (be careful to not touch your face and wash hands after touching pepper!) Also set aside two large sauce pans, and one spaghetti pot.

In a large bowl take sausage out of the casings, and mix together with ground pork, ground beef, garlic, and scallions.

In both sauce pan heat equal amounts of olive oil. When oil is heated sauté equal amounts of yellow onion in each until becoming translucent.  Add the meat mix and mash it up into smaller pieces. Let cook about 15 minutes, turning over to let cook all the way through.

Transfer to spaghetti pot. Add the rest of the ingredients and let cook for about 1 hour on medium low heat, stirring every 15 minutes so that the bottom doesn’t burn.

While it cooks over the hour test the flavor, it will change over time. You may want to add more spice, or cool it out with more orange juice. Be the master of your own chili!

Spicy Sweet Infused Vodka Cocktail with a Chili Salt Rim!

Happy Labor Day!

August was an extremely busy month, there were bachelor parties, bachelorette parties, bridal showers, and yesterday a wedding! Two of our closest friends Dan Perozzi and Danté Cox married yesterday in a beautiful ceremony in Malibu among close friends. Everyone chipped in to make this a gorgeous wedding; our contribution was to make jams as wedding party favors!

To relax after a jam packed month of stuff, and to celebrate Labor Day and embrace the dwindling last days of summer; we have for you a tasty jalapeño, red bell pepper, and strawberry cocktail with a chili salt rim. It is perfect to wake up your pallet and bring a bit of the heat which we all love about summer.  

This recipe is basically an infused vodka recipe, which we then used to make a cocktail!

Ingredients:

Infused vodka:

1 liter vodka

1 large red bell pepper

1 medium jalapeño

2 cups strawberries

Cocktail:

1 lime

2 oz. vodka

2 oz. sparkling water

1 Tbsp. kosher salt

1 Tbsp. chili powder

 

Allow at least 2 days to infuse the vodka, the longer you infuse the more depth of flavor you will achieve.

In a container pour our vodka, diced bell pepper, diced strawberry, and diced and de-seeded jalapeño. (Save the vodka bottle to later put infused vodka back in).

Keep the mix in a cool dark place, and stir at least three times a day.

Once you feel that you have adequately infused your vodka, take all the fruit and vegetables out, and pour back into the vodka bottle and re-label!

Assembling the cocktail is the easy part. On a plate mix salt and cayenne, and using back of spoon crush up some of the salt into finer pieces. Cut lime into quarters, and taking one quarter rim the glass. Next rim the glass with salt cayenne mix.

If you have a martini shaker use it, if not I am sure you can find a way to mix the drink together! Mix
2 oz of your vodka with 2 oz fizzy water, and pour into cocktail glass, squeeze a lime quarter in, and bam….drink it!

Have a blast! Drink safely!

Rainy Day Chipotle Chorizo and Beef Chili!!

Today was a weird weather day in Los Angeles, it is actually pretty cold! This morning we had hail, the last time I remember that happening I was 6 years old, I was living in Pacific Palisades, and my dogs refused to go outside. Right after the downpour of the year I would say, the sun came out and reminded us that seasons don’t quite exist here, only to confuse me when I go outside to still smell rain and not be able to feel my ears and nose because I wasn’t prepared for cold weather. I will stop complaining right now, because this weather is a walk in the park compared to the crazy storm Nemo that is raging through the Northern East Coast.

So whether you are faring through cold weather in Los Angeles, or shoveling through snow on the East Coast this rainy day chili will warm your cold little souls out there! We created a superb slow cooker beef and chorizo chili, with some extra goodies; a little cinnamon sweetness, a little chipotle kick, and a nice crunch of corn. Enjoy!

*Whenever we use tomato sauce, chopped tomatoes, peeled tomatoes etc…We only use the brand Pomi. It comes in a paper container, and is delicious. Tomatoes should never come out of a can; they retain a metal flavor which takes a long time to cook out!

* Keep garlic salt, oregano, and garlic salt on hand, because depending on how long you want to cook your chili you may want to add more of these three ingredients to achieve your perfect flavor.

Ingredients: serves 10 cook time 3-4 hours
2.5 lbs ground beef
2 lbs chorizo
1 yellow onion
½ small can of chipotle peppers
2 cups fresh or frozen corn
4 oz tomato paste
12 oz Pomi chopped tomato
1 large can kidney beans
1 large can pinto beans
1 large can white or cannellini beans
¼ cup chopped fresh oregano
½ teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoon cumin
1 Tablespoon garlic salt
2 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon paprika
2 Tablespoons olive oil
Sour cream
Grated cheddar cheese

 

To make your life easier measure out all of your spices ahead of time, take oregano off the stems and chop, dice the onion, and slice up your chipotle peppers.

In a large sauté pan heat your olive oil and then sweat your onions until they start to soften. Next add the ground beef, and the chorizo (remove casings), and break up using a wooden spoon. While the meat starts to sear add your oregano, onion powder, black pepper, paprika, salt, and cumin, by sprinkling it all over the meat. We do this because we want the meat to cook and absorb the entire flavor. When you feel that your meat has seared all the way, add the chopped chipotle with half of the sauce it sits in and the tomato paste, and stir.

Transfer the meat mix into a slow cooker (if you don’t have one use a crock pot). Add your beans, the Pomi, garlic salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg into the mix. Cook on low with the timer set at 3-4 hours, whatever your timeline is. Towards the end, you can even have it at warm until it is ready to eat.

30 minutes before you decide to serve the chili add the corn, this way it will retain a wonderful crunch. Once you are done serve with a dollop of sour cream and cheddar cheese! Boom! That is tasty!!!