Well with all great food and restaurants .Does anybody cook at home in LA ?. Throw me some inspired recipes you have come up with from living there . I know you have them .
I cook all the time. I cook mainly Cantonese-style dishes. Here is simple one:
Deboned chicken breast (no skin)
Rice wine
Double brewed soy sauce
Garlic powder
Salt
(I don’t have measurements for each because I sort of use dead reckoning in much of my cooking)
- Slice the chicken breast thinly. These cuts will go perpendicular to the long length of the meat.
- Marinate is some rice wine, soy sauce, and garlic powder.
- Get a heavy skillet and make it very hot. Don’t use anything that’s teflon coated or otherwise cannot take high heat.
- Pour in some oil with a high smoke point.
- Put the chicken in. Do not cover. Do not move it.
- After a minute or two (depending on how hot your stove gets), flip the chicken. Cook until done. Both sides should have some browning.
- Remove chicken.
- Deglaze the pan with broth or some water.
- Turn off the heat. Add a little salt to the sauce.
- Return the chicken briefly into the pan to mix it all together.
- Remove the contents and serve with rice and veggies.
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We cook 4+ nights a week, and usually eat at my in-laws another.
Obviously, great farmers’ market bounty year-round, and good availability of specialty ingredients, but other than that, I don’t think we cook any differently than we would anywhere else.
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I do at least two meals every day, usually three. On weekdays I usually make breakfast and lunch just for me and dinner for the two of us – I’m retired and Mrs. O isn’t – but on weekends the breakfast is usually late enough that lunch if any is a snack. But unless we go out (which is not that often) I’m cooking dinner every night.
The big “secret” about LA is how diverse and rich the grocery scene is here. Beside the usual Kroger and Safeway affiliates, there’s of course Trader Joe’s (including the very first one right here in Pasadena) and Whole Foods, then Latino markets, Middle Eastern markets and Armenian markets within a few minutes’ drive of my house, and all the various kinds of Asian ones a bit further away in the San Gabriel Valley. There are also four weekly certified Farmer’s Markets near at hand, one each on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. This Midwestern boy, after learning to cook Southern in Nashville, has been trying too many new (to him) kinds of fruits, vegetables and other ingredients to begin to write about. In the process I’ve learned a lot more about how to think about food, how to take some vegetable (for instance) I’ve been cooking for years and reconsider its role in a meal, especially as I’m now the only carnivore in the house (cats don’t count!). Tofu, which used to be those tasteless cubes in my won ton soup, is now a main ingredient, usually marinated in fish sauce and Sriracha. And my asparagus steamer, the one I thought was the coolest “gourmet cooking” item on the planet, now is used just to hydrate the stalks before I cut them to 3" lengths and stir-fry them.
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Trim the bottom ends of a bundled bunch of asparagus and stand it in a few inches of water about 15-30 minutes before you cook them (old florist’s trick).
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Chop the asparagus into 3" or so lengths. Put into a large enough bowl with a few tablespoons of good hot-frying oil, like grapeseed, and a good bit of salt and toss thoroughly to coat while your wok (or whatever) gets good and hot.
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Dump asparagus and oil into the wok, stir-fry for perhaps three minutes. Pick a lower-stem piece out with tongs and bite to check for doneness. If it’s firm but tender, you’re done. You are also probably done steaming or boiling this ever again …
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That’s what I like to hear . You have such a diversity of markets you can choose from . I would love that . Thanks for the recipe Nash .
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I always batch cook at the beginning of the week. This week’s menu was veggie bibimbap with banchan. I didn’t make the cabbage kimchi and the natto, but the rest is mine.
I totally agree with you guys that we are spoiled for choice with the various farmers markets and diverse grocery stores. You can’t beat it!
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I cook. I don’t really eat most of it, but I like the zen of it. Here’s some braised lamb shanks I made into a ragu.
The recipe is from the Mozza cookbook. There’s no online link to the recipe, which is kind of complex, but it’s a fun book; I picked it up at the library.
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Avocado Toast, A Traditional California Recipe
- Toast some bread or an English muffin or a bagel*.
- Slice avocado in half, remove the seed.
- Using a fork, swish the avocado directly in its skin.
- Squeeze in some lime juice, sprinkle with salt, mash some more.
- Scoop avocado onto toast.
- Eat.
Optional: dash of hot sauce, to taste.
- If toast is not available, Saltines are a fine substitute, as are Triscuits.
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That’s where I’m envious of the bounty you have. Living at Tahoe, with its short growing season, even “local” is trucked in. And forget fresh “ethnic” ingredients.
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I do count my blessings, kid!
I have to say, though, that we made our Nashville trip in June this year, and while I’m no fonder of sticky heat than I was before I did hope to see both fresh GOOD tomatoes and the fresh field peas they seem to have only in the South. Well, we lucked out – had all the tomato sandwiches we wanted, and brought a pound or so of fresh Creamers (a small pale tan pea with little green baby ones mixed in) home in a Ziplock with a chiller bag in the checked luggage. So you can’t really get everything anywhere …
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Drool. I love both tomatoes and peas. And I love to shell peas. Good memory.
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My variation on avocado toast is Asian-influenced. I put a layer of avocado on the toasted bread with a very light sprinkling of salt and pepper. Then, there’s drizzles of sesame oil, soy sauce, followed by shichimi togarashi (Japanese spice blend) or furikake (sesame/seaweed dry condiment), some sesame seeds if I haven’t used furikake, and kizami nori (seaweed shreds). It’s also great topped with kaiware (daikon sprouts). Been meaning to try it with salmon roe too; I think it’d give it a nice, salty contrast.
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This sounds like a super breakfast - the first part. Thanks.
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It’s one of my go-to breakfasts. It’s really satisfying.
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Interesting. I love furikake, I have different four kinds right now. Never
thought of putting it on avocado.
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[quote=“Bookwich, post:8, topic:2321”]
I cook. I don’t really eat most of it, but I like the zen of it.
[/quote]Me too.
Your shanks look great. I used to do something similar with short ribs. I’d slow cook them and set a few aside for ragu.
I’m doing that! I think I have everything but the kaiware.
I sometimes have reheated rice with soy sauce, sesame oil and furikake with a raw or poached egg. I had avocado toast recently for breakfast.
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My hack of @MaladyNelson’s Asian Avocado Toast.
Toast, thin spread of cream cheese & gochujang fermented chili paste (hubby likes spice), avocado, salmon furikake, chopped baby kale, drizzle of sesame oil, tamari & rice wine vinegar, topped with egg and a little salt & pepper.
Delicious!
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