Recipe Review: Soba Noodle Soup with Shiitake and Spinach

Here’s another childhood favorite soba dish that is incredibly simple to make. Martha Shulman’s Soba Noodle Soup with Shiitake and Spinach utilizes every cooking step towards a savory and complex broth to serve. The winning ingredients for me are the buckwheat soba noodles and plenty of scallions with maybe a few dashes of Ichimi Togarashi for a little more heat. This dish is undeniably healthy with the shiitake mushrooms, buckwheat soba, and spinach – even better is that it’s something I’ve always loved as a fast lunch or even late night comfort food.
Recipe: by Martha Rose Shulman
Yield: 4 Servings
Time: Total 1 hour 15 minutes
Ingredients:
1 ounce kombu seaweed
4 dried shiitake mushrooms
3/4 pound dried soba noodles
12 ounces spinach, stemmed and washed thoroughly, or 1 6-ounce bag baby spinach, rinsed
2 green onions, chopped
1 tablespoon sake
2 tablespoons mirin
2 to 4 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce (to taste)
1. Place the kombu and [...]

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Buttermilk Food Truck – Los Angeles, CA

Calling all fellow breakfast food lovers, those of you that consider french toast anytime of the day or night. Thanks to Gigi Pasqual and Buttermilk Boy Klippy, Buttermilk Truck brings us our favorite breakfast dishes all day and late night long. Some of my favorite items off their menu include Hawaiian Bread Cinnamon French Toast Sticks served with butter and syrup, Southwest Veggie Omelet with cornbread, Buttermilk Biscuit Breakfast Sandwiches with applewood smoked bacon and rosemary hash browns, Fried Chicken with Housemade Cinnamon Waffles. See below for more menu items and deets.
Find them participating in the Food Trucks for Haiti, Saturday Jan.23, 12-3pm, at TLofts – 11500 Tennessee Ave at Butler Ave, West LA with 20 other fellow foody trucks. Event runs from 11am-4pm. Portions of the proceeds will be donated to the Red Cross International Response Fund in relief efforts for the Haitian people.
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Market Restaurant at the Cooper Building – Downtown Los Angeles

There’s a new breakfast/lunch spot in Downtown L.A. where you can get the best molasses cookies around along with other fresh and hot items. Bret Thompson of MILK in Hollywood partnered up with Pablo Ramirez and opened up Market Restaurant at the Cooper Building in the Fashion District. The catering menu is impressive as well as a promising 30 minute delivery service. Other than their molasses cookies, some of my favorite dishes to try are the Feta-terranean Salad with romaine hearts, cucumber, tomatoes, feta cheese, black olives, pita chips, garbanzo beans and lemon vinaigrette, the Vanilla Bean Rice Pudding with fresh fruit and granola, and Turkey Burger with cheddar cheese, vine ripened tomato, green leaf lettuce, pickles and secret sauce. See below for more menu items.
Here is more info from Market Restaurant:
Chef/Partner Bret Thompson (co-founder of MILK in Hollywood) and Partner Pablo Ramirez opened Market Restaurant [...]

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Real Food Daily’s Organic Cuisine Menu Update for Jan.18-31

Here’s an update to Real Food Daily’s weekly specials for the 2nd half of January. I’m ready to find out what the forbidden black rice is all about in the Madame Wong’s Stir-fry Palace. My favorites include the Country Vegetable Miso Soup, perfect for this rainy week,Faux-stess Cupcake with gooey white filling, chocolate cake, and fudgy icing, and Peanut Butter Cookies!
Monthly Special Jan 4 – Jan 31
Hippie Love Loaf
Lentils, millet, butternut squash, carrots, onions, herbs, gravy and roasted parsnips, carrots, Brussels sprouts
WEEKLY SPECIALS Jan 18 – 31
Madame Wong’s Stir-fry Palace
Spicy, stir fried Chinese long beans, miso glazed tempeh, eggplant, onion, carrots, forbidden black rice, peanuts
Fajita Chop
Black beans, seitan fajitas, vegetables, corn, cherry tomatoes, shredded cheese, guacamole, salsa, romaine, chipotle ranch dressing, spicy tortilla strips
Week Jan 25 – 31
On the Mexican Riviera
Pecan-cornmeal crusted tempeh, coconut yams, sautéed chipotle greens, spicy black bean sauce, mango salsa
Pippi Longstockings
Chickpea polenta, corn, roasted [...]

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dineLA Restaurant Week is back for 2010

dineLA Restaurant Week is coming up starting Jan 24 – 29 and Jan 31 – Feb 5. Their live to eat line-up includes over 200 restaurants across Los Angeles offering up special lunch and dinner pixe fix menus ranging from $16-$44. Reservations fill up quickly so book yours right away.
Below are some of my favorite menus – Campanile (Grilled Duck Breast with fennel, lemon-thyme potatoes and crisp leeks), Susan Feniger’s Street (Susan’s Mother’s Peanut Butter and Jelly cookies), Joe’s Restaurant (Santa Barbara Black Cod with mushroom soy dashi, baby shiitake, and mezuna lettuce crispy rice) and Sugarfish by Sushi Nozawa (dinner for only $26).
To get the most out of the event, register and use your American Express card to get a $20 statement credit. See below for more details.
CAMPANILE
624 S. La Brea
Los Angeles, CA 90036-3568
323.938.1447
LUNCH $22
Choice of Appetizers:
Soup of the Day
Warm Beluga Lentil Salad – [...]

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Real Food Daily’s Organic Vegan Cuisine Menu for January

Good for you food and yummy comfort food can both be delicious and drool-worthy. Vegan and vegetarian food has come a long way but most people still think of them as tasteless boring vegetable dishes. That is so untrue and the complete opposite, especially with the abundance of choices in Los Angeles. So for 2010, I’m promising myself to remember to try out more new healthy delicious dishes. One of my favorite and very popular restaurant for this occasion is Real Food Daily. This place has done all the work for you in preparing yummy high maintenance food for vegans, vegetarians, macrobiotic dieters, organic eaters, kosher certified, low-calorie low-fat and low-sugar, and all foodies. My favorite is the Cold Soba Salad with soba noodles, julienne vegetables, cucumbers, cilantro, sesame seeds, peanuts, peanut dressing, and marinated tempeh. Check out their new menu [...]

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Recipe Review: Farro Beets Green and Feta Salad

I’ve eaten countless cookies between Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Eve. I wouldn’t ever say I’m giving up desserts, but I do feel the need to tilt my diet towards the healthier side for a bit. Just a bit. Something like a salad but more comforting. That made me think of my favorite farro salads with diced tomatoes, cucumbers, green onions, and feta. Farro is a hard wheat grain sometimes known as spelt and has a texture closer to a thick pasta al dente. It is as hearty and healthier than pasta and makes a very satisfying main dish ingredient.
Here’s Martha’s recipe for Farro Beets Green and Feta Salad. The addition of beets gives a little bit of sweetness to the mix of nutty and salty combination. I like adding diced cucumbers and sliced green onions to the mix with some squeezed lemon [...]

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Recipe Review: Risotto with Winter Squash and Collard Greens

I’m starting to feel the onset of winter and the need for cozy evening comfort food. The Haagen Dazs froyo is going on hold and I’m pulling out the hot cocoa and anything else hot to spoon.
Check out this risotto recipe from Martha Rose Shulman. It’s a classic Martha recipe that’s easily one of the simplest seasonal yummy dishes packed with Vitamin A to help beat the flu season. I’d recommend using chicken stock for a heartier flavor, definitely include the saffron and maybe even add in some left-over pulled turkey meat!
Recipe: by Martha Rose Shulman
Yield: 6 Servings
Time: Total 1 hour 45 minutes
Ingredients:
1-1/2 lbs. winter squash (butternut, banana or hubbard) peeled, seeded and cut in 1/2 inch dice (about 2 cups diced squash)
2 tblsp. extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 bunch collard greens, about 1 pound, stemmed and washed
2 quarts chicken or [...]

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Restaurant Review: The Hungry Cat – Hollywood, CA

Here’s another perfect spot for dinner after movies at Arclight Hollywood. The Hungry Cat is just across the street behind Borders, tucked away from the noisy street. The place is sleek and modern but low-key with a nice outdoor seating area perfect for a first date or catching up with good friends. Their kitchen serves up seriously fresh seafood and a menu reflecting the culinary genius of a David Lentz and Suzanne Goin partnership. I had no doubt the food would be good but was still blown away by the incredibly flavors of even the most simplest items on the menu – Heirloom tomatoes, burrata and arugula salad with grilled bread (top pic) and steamed king crab leg with grilled toast (pic below).

Here are some of items from their recent dinner menu:
oysters on the half shell $2.25/ each
little neck clams on the half shell [...]

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Recipe: Spaghetti With Bolognese Sauce

Check out this quick and easy recipe for making Spaghetti with Bolognese Sauce. By far, this is one of the simplest recipes in the world and also happens to be one of the best as well.
Ingredients:
1. 1 tablespoon olive oil
2. 2 onions, finely chopped
3. 3 carrots, finely chopped
4. 6 cloves garlic, minced
5. 1 pound ground beef
6. 1 pound ground pork
7. 1/4 cup tomato paste
8. Coarse salt and ground pepper
9. 1 cup dry white wine
10. 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes in puree
11. 1 cup milk
12. 12 ounces spaghetti
13. Finely grated Parmesan cheese, for serving
Cooking Instructions:
1. Make sauce: In a Dutch oven (or 5-quart saucepan), heat oil over high heat. Add onions, carrots, and garlic; cook, stirring, until slightly softened, about 2 minutes. Add beef and pork; cook, breaking up meat with a spoon, until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomato paste; cook 1 minute. Season generously with [...]

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