Kumquat Walnut Pasta

We love this pasta, not to mention it is delicious even cold the next day! We have made pasta as healthy as it can be. We have taken a mix of fresh and light flavors which are so refreshing, with some classic flavors of a simple Italian pasta. We have taken a whole wheat pasta and done it up right!

So enjoy our walnut kumquat pasta tonight!

Ingredients: serves 4

1 box whole wheat pasta
½ cup raw walnuts
4 large cloves garlic
3 Tablespoons olive oil
6 kumquats
4 tangerines
4 leaves of arugula
1/4 cup plus more salt
Pepper

Thai Panang Curry

This recipe was absolutely new for Mikey and I, we absolutely love Thai food, but have never dared cook it. I think it is partially because it seems like something that would be very intimidating, there are special ingredients, and I don’t want to burn my mouth out with spice. I won’t lie the first try of this dish was so spicy I could smell it and my eyes would tear up (don’t worry it has been adjusted). However, none of these things are true. If you find the right stuff, pay attention to the recipe, it is actually quite simple to make a wonderful panang curry. Not to mention that it will open up a whole other world. To purchase our kaffir lime leaves and curry paste we went to a wonder market called Simpang Asia on National near
Overland in Los Angeles, and we are officially obsessed!

Panang curry is probably my favorite of the Thai curries out there; it is incredibly fragrant and a bit milder than other curries. It is unlike most curry dishes because it is not soupy, it is rich and the sauce really sticks to the meat. The flavor of kaffir lime, coconut, and the curry paste are really fresh, and bring a bright pop to your palate; things that we tend to crave in the spring. So try this recipe out, serve it with rice or on its own, you can even substitute the beef with chicken or firm tofu.

Ingredients: serves 6

*if you want to make rice, I suggest brown rice!
2 ½ Tablespoons   red curry paste
8 kaffir lime leaves
1 large red bell pepper
1 large yellow onion
½ cup bamboo shoots
6 sprigs basil
2 teaspoon fish sauce
4 teaspoons tamarind paste
2 ½ 12 or 14 oz can unsweetened coconut milk
2 lbs filet mignon tips
1 Tablespoon grated ginger

Start by setting your mise en place up. Cut all of your meat into thin strips, thinly slice your onion, and cut your red bell pepper into 2 inch long and ¼ inch wide strips. Your bamboo shoots should be in little strips if not, cut them that way. Heat a rather wide sauté pan, with a little pam in it, and brown your meat on both sides, but don’t cook all the way through. Set aside, draining the meat from the liquid.

In the same pan, heat ½ of a can of coconut milk, the kaffir lime leaves, and curry paste on medium high heat. Cook and whisk until the mixture thickens. Add remaining coconut milk, onion, and basil. Bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes. Reduce temperature and simmer for 10 minutes, constantly stirring until everything thicken and is fragrant.

Add the meat, bell pepper, bamboo, tamarind paste, fish sauce, and grated ginger. Stir and cook until the meat is cooked through. Serve alone or over rice.

Meyer Lemon Cake with Coconut Frosting!

Happy Easter everyone!!! While Mikey was cooking brunch at the Sunny Spot, I spent the day baking! I will shortly be dyeing some late night eggs with my mother, and forcing my father to watch the millionth episode of Doctor Who. Easter is a moveable feast, not falling on a linked date on the calendar. Easter is the celebration of Christ resurrecting from death. It is at the end of lent, and falls after Good Friday, commemorating the crucifixion of Christ.

This Holy Day is remembered and celebrated through classic traditions through families sharing meals and attending church service, and through non-religious traditions such as fabulous mimosas, Easter baskets full of candy, we dye Easter eggs, eat peeps, and take kids to look at the Easter bunny.

I have always felt that Easter is the true beginning of Spring and I wanted to build a cake that captured the essence of spring, something light, fun, pretty, and not to mention delicious! Two flavors I love and feel that represent the Spring, and would be wonderful together, are Meyer lemon and coconut. This is why I have created a Meyer lemon layer cake iced with coconut frosting and coconut flakes.

*If you want your baking to be super duper accurate use a scale which you can set to zero to measure out equal parts for baking.

Ingredients:
Frosting:

1 14 oz can unsweetened coconut milk
1 cup unsalted butter
2 ½ cups powdered sugar
Cake:

16 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pans
2 1/2 cups cake flour, plus more for pans, sifted
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
4 eggs
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 lemon’s zest

 

 

 

 

Star by preheating the oven to 350°. Butter and flour two 9″ cake pans, and set aside, leaving the 1 cup of butter out to soften. Get one small, medium, and large bow and put to the side.

In a medium bowl sift together your flour, baking powder, and salt, then set aside.

In a small bowl whisk together milk and vanilla in a bowl, set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar, and zest on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. On low speed, alternately add dry ingredients in 3 batches and wet ingredients in 2 batches. Increase speed to high and beat until batter is smooth, about 5 seconds.

Using your scale, pour out the batter so that it is equally divided between prepared pans, and smooth top with a rubber spatula, then drop pans lightly on a counter to get rid of any large air bubbles.

Place in oven on the same rack next to each other for about 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. Let cakes cool for 20 minutes in pans, invert onto wire racks, and let cool.

While your cakes are cooling, you are going to prepare your reduced coconut milk. It is very simple, basically you are going to take a deep sauce pan and pour out your coconut milk, and heat on a medium high heat. The milk will come to a boil, and you will need to stir it while it reduces to a desired thickness, about 25 minutes. Pour out into a bowl, and chill.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter until smooth. Add sugar, once cooled down add a 1/3 of a cup of reduced coconut milk, and blend together a delicious frosting has been created.

Now start to prepare the cakes by cutting the rounded top of the cake off and discard. Next, using a ruler, mark halfway up the cake and using a serrated knife cut through to create two layers. To create the cake put one layer of cake down, then spread frosting, top with coconut flakes, then add next cake layer and continue. Frost all the surrounding parts of the cake and cover in coconut frosting.

To add the finishing touch, top the cake with either a peep or like we used a few malt balls that look like Easter eggs. Enjoy! Happy Easter!

Passover Brisket Matzo!

 



Happy Passover! I hope that everyone is enjoying it, loving their family, and eating wonderful food! Passover originated by celebrating the liberation of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt of 3,300 years ago, and their birth as a nation under Moses; this is a holiday steeped in beautiful tradition. A huge symbol of Passover is the use of Matzo, or unleavened bread. This is so because it was said in Exodus that the Jews left Egypt in such haste, that their bread had no time to rise, thus flat unleavened bread is a reminder of this. It is also used as a reminder of what it was to be poor, and to act with humility. This is a great lesson that people of all religions should remember, to live with humility and love in our hearts.

For this dish, we are using two things that are timeless classics at any kosher family meal table, Matzo….and Brisket! Yay!! For this recipe feel free to use whatever leftovers you have or want to use or you can follow ours.

*Allow 5 hours

*You will need to use a dutch oven, or an oven safe pan that is deep set.

Ingredients: serves 8

4 sheets of matzo

1 jar roasted red pepper

Horseradish sauce

Fresh oregano

Brisket:

5 cloves garlic

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

1 first cut of beef brisket (3 1/2 to 4 pounds)

2 Meyer lemons

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

First things first, you cannot make this dish without the brisket. So start by preheating the oven to 325 degrees. Mince your garlic, and then mash into a paste by adding a pinch of coarse salt, and using the side of a knife smooshing it down over and over until it turns into a paste. Next season both sides of the brisket, rubbing salt and pepper into it, along with a quarter of the garlic paste for each side. Lastly zest and juice your two lemons.

Place your dutch oven on top the stove, add your oil, and heat on a medium high heat. Once heated, place the brisket in and brown one side (about 7 min), then flip to brown the other. Pour the lemon juice on top, and then add water (about 4 cups), until the brisket is half way submerged. Bring to a boil.

Once boiling, place lid on top, and place in oven. Braise for 1hour and 15 minutes. Flip over, smother with the rest of garlic paste, cover again, and braise 1 hour more, or until brisket separates easily with a fork. Remove lid, add lemon zest to liquid, and braise 10 minutes longer.

Once done, remove from liquid and pull apart or slice in to pieces you would like to serve on the matzo, and then place back in to liquid so that it can stay as moist as possible.

Slice the red pepper into small slivers.

To assemble break the matzo into small square pieces, layer with brisket, then slivers of red pepper, then top with a dollop of horseradish sauce, and a tiny leaf of oregano.