Still undecided what to make for Valentines? We all know the fastest way to someone’s heart is through the stomach (I made Hong a bowl of Mi Quang and now look at us). So if you’re still searching, try something exotic but oh so simple: lamb meatballs.   Last year on our vacation eating trip to NYC, one of our favorite restaurants was The Meatball Shop. It was casual, comforting (especially against the blistering February chill), and delicious. But let’s face it, everyone loves meatballs.  It’s hearty, still healthy, and cute!

The Meatball Shop was the brainchild of childhood friends chef Dan Holzman and partner Micheal Chernow. We met the affable chef Holzman here in LA at the 2011 Los Angeles Food and Wine Festival and got a chance to tell him how much we enjoyed his meatballs and his restaurant.  Like a choose your own adventure, diners can customize the meatball, its sauce, and accompaniments.

Our favorite was the lamb meatballs.  Lamb is a sexy cut of meat and this is one of the easiest ways to prepare it. The raisins and walnuts in this recipe gives this ball a subtly sweet and earthiness that really works well with the lamb.

Lamb Meatballs

Yield: 2 dozen 1.5 inch balls

Prep Time: 20 min

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

Meatballs

2 tbs olive oil

2 lbs ground lamb
3 large eggs
1 cup dark raisins, chopped
1/2 cup walnut halves, chopped
1/2 fresh mint, chopped
1/2 cup fresh parsley chopped
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 ts salt
1 ts fresh ground pepper

Classic Tomato Sauce
1/4 cup olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
1 bay leaf
1 ts chopped fresh oregano or 1/2 ts dried
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 ts salt or to taste
2 tbs tomato paste
2 28oz cans whole plum tomatoes, chopped w/ their liquid

Directions:

Meatballs

Preheat oven to 450. Drizzle olive oil into a baking dish and spread evenly. Set aside.

Combined all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix by hand until thoroughly incorporated.

Pack the meat firmly and roll the mixture into round 1 1/2 inch balls. Place the balls onto the baking dish and line snugly in even rolls vertically and horizontally in a grid, touching one another.

Roast for 20 minutes, or until the meatballs are firm and cooked through. The temperature should be 165 if you want to check with meat thermometer.

Allow the meatballs to cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Classic Tomato Sauce

Heat the oil over the medium heat and add onions, bay leaf, garlic and salt, stirring until soft and translucent about 10 mins. Add tomato paste and continue to cook for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and stir constantly until sauce begins to boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 1 hour, stirring every 5 minutes to prevent burning. Season to salt. Remove bay leaf before serving.

From The Meatball Shop CookbookThe Meatball Shop

Recently Dan Holzman and Michael Chernow published their first cookbook, proclaiming their love of meatballs and sharing all they learned and created. We’ve made beef, lamb and pork meatballs from the book and they all turn out great.  It’s a beautifully photographed book with easy to follow recipes, from balls, to sauces, to sides. The generous folks at The Meatball Shop are giving away one book to a lucky reader!

buy it!

You can purchase The Meatball Shop from Amazon

win it!

Leave a comment telling us what is your favorite type of meatball!  The mandatory entries must be done otherwise the bonus entries will not count.

bonus entries!

1. Subscribe to our blog and leave a blog comment saying you’ve subscribed (1 entry)

2. “Like” The Ravenous Couple on Facebook and leave a blog comment with your first name and last initial (1 entry)

3. “Like” The Meatball Shop on Facebook and leave a blog comment here with your first name and last initial. (1 entry)

4. Follow both The Ravenous Couple and The Meatball Shop on Twitter and leave a blog comment after tweeting (1 entry) :
Win a copy of The Meatball Shop cookbook from @ravenouscouple and @MEATBALLERS! http://www.theravenouscouple.com/?p=2510

US entries only. Contests ends on midnight Saturday 2/18. A winner will be chosen at random.

We had a fun opportunity and pleasure of hosting a ‘baby sprinkle’ for my dear sister and brother in law as they await the arrival of their second baby. Baby Sprinkles are smaller than Baby Showers and celebrate the birth of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and so on of babies.  We wanted to welcome the newest member of the family and ‘sprinkle’ my sister and brother in law with love, fun, laughter, and of course good food!   I’m so thankful to be selected for Foodbuzz 24×24 which sponsored the event and wanted to share with you all the fun, festivities, and of course menu of our baby sprinkle.  Since  the gender of the baby is to be a surprise, we decided to go with a green and yellow rubber ducky party theme.  I made this simple, yet elegant diaper cake as the main centerpiece.

We are lucky ducks living in Los Angeles with 75 degree weather in January so we had the party in our backyard.  Rubber ducks floating in a pond of water and blue crystals served as table centerpieces. Now to the fun part…the menu!  Here are some of the courses from the menu.  Our main course was sous vide flank steak tacos topped with salsa, guacamole, grilled green onions, jalepenos, and starfruit.

As a refreshing side dish, we had green papaya salad with Vietnamese beef jerky and a soy vinaigrette.

For refreshments, we had fresh rosemary and meyer lemonade with all the ingredients from our own garden.  We even made these adorable duck inserts for the straws.

For our dessert spread, we had a green and yellow desert station with assorted green and yellow candy. I also made these onesies bunting to decorate the table.

Our talented cousin made these adorable, delicious, and moist lemon cupcakes with a vanilla buttercream frosting. She also made the duck toppers with white chocolate—simply amazing!

I’ve been on a macaron tear lately and made a variety of yellow and green macarons. From left to right, they are pear macarons with meyer lemon curd, meyer lemon macarons with meyer lemon curd, and finally pistachio macarons with a meyer lemon zested chocolate ganache. We painted the top of the macarons to add a lil’ pizazz!

What’s a party without some pops? We bought rice krispie treats and served them in pop form. The cake was a chocolate banana cake from Portos Bakery because every celebration needs a cake.

Finally, as party favors for the guests, we had an instant photobooth for guests to play around in the tub with rubber duckies!   My cute little niece is having merry time!

Can’t wait to meet our new addition to the fam bam.  Congrats again to my sister and brother in law and thank you to Foodbuzz for selecting us for 24×24  this month!

Does your pantry look like this? Ours was a recurring nightmare. No matter how many times we tried to clean the pantry, it would rear its messy, disorganized face again like a bad garden weed. Our pantry troubles began in our small apartment and followed us into our new home. We had bags of noodles, spices, flour, all intermingled. Some were in the original packaging while others wrapped in plastic grocery bags. We used our memory to remember what we had, instead of any organized method of inventory. Commonly we’ll buy new bags of spices because we couldn’t find the old bag. At last count, we had four bags of sesame seeds-two of them were partially used.

Before the Lunar New Year, Tết, it’s traditional to clean and organize your house. This new year, we resolved to clean and organize our pantry. We had to find something that would be versatile, easy to use, long lasting, and space saving. So the first time we tried Oxo Pop containers, we knew we had to get more. Check out how we solved our pantry nightmares:

In the past, inevitably, our pantry would go from order to disorder very quickly after a reorganization, but now, three weeks with the Oxo pop containers, everything has it’s place our pantry hasn’t disintergrated into a disorganized morass like before. We love it! Our pantry nightmares has been Oxo-fied!

The nice folks at Oxo have been generous to let us try out the Oxo pop along with their other organization tools and they’re giving away a set of Oxo Pop containers and other organizing products worth $100 total to one lucky reader!

To Win

Show us what you plan to Oxo-fy! Post a photo of your pantry on our Facebook page wall and the photo with the most likes will win! So get all your friends to vote on your photo. Contest ends Friday 1/27 at midnight pacific time.  Good luck!

Spicy, fiery red, and murky, the appearance of bún bò Huế is almost the antithesis of it’s better known Vietnamese soup counterpart, phở bò, which is valued for it’s clarity and pure clean flavors. Although both have beef as it’s main ingredient, it would be a gross injustice to call a spicy version of pho.  It’s an entirely different animal altogether with flavors stewed from the marrows of both beef and pork bones along with stalks of bruised lemongrass. The clear broth is then infused with a spicy and wonderous medley of red annato oil,  crushed chile peppers, more lemongrass, along with a generous dollop of pungent minced fish paste.  If you’re not already salivating by now, you should be.  Ladled over thick rice noodles, common toppings include sliced beef shank, ham hock, cooked pork blood, pork patties called chả Huế,  and finally plenty of fresh herbs.  Hungry yet?

If you’re from Huế , you’ll just call it bún bò, but anywhere else in the world, you’ll call it bún bò Huế.  We just call it pure goodness.   You can make this goodness in your own home and it’s not that hard to do.   The  two main steps are making the broth and seasoning spice. Although the entire process might take about 4-6 hours (sometimes we simmer the broth overnight), the amount of time active cooking is minimal as you’ll see in the video.

Since we always make a huge pot (32 qt) of bún bò Huế, friday or saturday evenings are favorite times undertake this ritual so we can invite friends and family to enjoy over the weekend. Also, a little work goes a long way. The spice mix used to flavor the broth can be kept refrigerated for months to satisfy a bún bò Huế craving any time. To save time, we use a pre-package mix and supplement it with our own spices. Use this recipe as a guide, if you’re using a much smaller pot adjust your ingredients accordingly for smaller portions.

Bun Bo Hue Recipe

Yield: Serves at least 15 large bowls

Ingredients:

broth:
32 qt pot
6 lb pork bones
6 lb beef bones
3 lb beef shank
14 qt water
1-2 lbs sliced ham hocks
1/4 cup salt
1/4 cup sugar
3 tbs fine shrimp paste

10-12 stalks of lemongrass, using only the white and green ends, bruise and tie together in bunches
1/4 whole pineapple (fresh if possible)
1 yellow onion, peeled

spice mix:
3/4 cup oil (grapeseed or olive oil)
3 tbs annatto seeds
1 packet of bún bò Huế seasoning
2 tbs minced garlic
2 tbs minced shallot
1/4 cup minced lemongrass
2-3 tbs chile pepper flakes (adjust according to your taste)
3 tbs fine shrimp paste

accompaniments:
bun bo hue noodles, cooked al dente according to directions and drained
precooked pork blood
cha hue or cha lua
sliced cabbage
sliced banana blossom (see this post on how to prepare)
rau ram
bean sprouts
fine shrimp paste

Directions:

clean the bones: In large stock pot, add the pork and beef bones and enough water to cover. Bring to boil and immediately dump out the water and bones in a clean sink, wash the pot and then rinse the bones, placing them back into the pot.

broth: Add bones, water, beef shank, pork hock, lemongrass, pineapple, onion, shrimp paste, salt, and sugar and bring to boil. With a fine mesh strainer occasionally remove any gunk that rises to the top. Then reduce the heat to lowest setting to simmer. The pork hocks should take about 45 min-1 hr to cook--when the skin is tender, remove and set aside. The 3lbs of beef shank takes roughly 3 hrs to cook. To see if the beef shank is cooked, poke a chopstick into the center, it should slide in with minimal pressure. If there is no blood oozing out, then it's done. Remove and place in water bath to avoid discoloration and set aside until ready to slice.

After removing the hocks and shank, continue to simmer the broth under low heat partially covered for at least another 1 hour (roughly minimum of 4 hours total--but you can simmer longer and overnight even) to get all the sweetness from the marrow bones. At this point, you can remove the bones, pineapple, etc. and strain the broth if you like. Otherwise, you can leave the bones in and scoop around it. Season broth to taste with additional shrimp paste and or salt/sugar.

spice mix: Steep the annatto seed in hot oil until it becomes amber red, and remove from heat and strain and discard seeds. In large saute pan on medium, heat the anatto oil, add garlic, minced lemongrass, minced shallots, and seasoning packet. Saute a few minutes until the mixture becomes fragrant. Remove from heat and mix in fine shrimp paste. Allow to cool and transfer to storage container. This lasts for months.

accompaniments: Slice beef shank thinly, cube pork blood, slice the cha. Prepare the noodles, shred the cabbage and banana blossom, rau ram, etc.

putting it all together: Add the spice mix to the broth according to your level of desired spiciness. You can now season the entire large pot with the spice mix according to your taste, or do what we do, season only the amount of broth you're going to serve and adjusting the level of spiciness to your guest's tastes. Ladle over prepared bowls of noodles and enjoy.

Cooks Notes: If you're making this in the evening, after removing the shank and hock, you can leave the pot on the lowest heat setting to simmer the bones over night. But please use caution and never do this if your pot is too small and broth is close to brim!

Just a few notes on the beef shank and the noodles. The shank is a tough cut because of abundant tendon and sinew, but that’s precisely why it’s good. We like the meat of the shank soft but tendon still chewy so we cook our 3 lb tendon roughly 3 hours. It’s not often found in regular markets so get this at your Asian market.  The rice noodles for bún bò Huế is also much thicker, just smaller than your banh canh or udon noodles. It should be cooked al dante, firm and just slightly chewy and not mushy soft.  Recently our favorite pot to cook noodles for soups and pasta is the Bialetti 5 qt pasta pot.   We love the functionality: it’s nonstick interior, heat resistant handles, and lock lid strainer. But it’s also gorgeous and it has a vaunted spot on our stove next to our cherry red le creuset for everyday use such as making canh. We’re happy to say that the nice folks at Bialetti will be giving away a 5 qt pasta pot to a lucky reader in favorite color (also comes in tourquoise and purple!) To enter:

Mandatory Entry

Leave a comment telling us your favorite Vietnamese noodle soup. The mandatory entry must be done otherwise the bonus entries will not count.

Bonus Entries

1. Subscribe to our blog and leave a blog comment here saying you’ve subscribed (1 entry)

2. “Like” The Ravenous Couple on Facebook and leave a blog comment here with your first name and last initial (1 entry)

3. “Like” Bialetti on Facebook and leave a blog comment here with your first name and last initial. (1 entry)

4. Follow The Ravenous Couple on Twitter and leave a blog comment here after tweeting (1 entry) : I just entered to win a #bialetti pasta pot from @ravenouscouple! Enter here: http://www.theravenouscouple.com/?p=1589

5. In addition to following us on Twitter, you can tweet every day with above comment from #4.  Leave a link to your tweet in a blog comment here (1 entry per day)

US addresses only. Contest ends Sunday 1/1 at midnight! Winners will be selected randomly and notified by email. Thank you everyone for entering, the winner is Tudo!

Disclosure: We were provided the pot to test, but the opinions are our own.

Before starting each meal, the Vietnamese will say “moi”  (adding kinh makes it more respectful) to each other, inviting friends and family to enjoy the meal.  So enjoy our bún bò Huế recipe, and..

This is our contribution to the final Delicious Vietnam, hosted by Anh of Food Lovers Journey. It’s been a great two year run, check out all the previous posts for a great collection of Vietnamese recipes from around the globe!

Due to popular demand, we’ve printed Heo Yeah’s T’s just in time for the holidays and they’re ready to ship to your pork lovin’ friends and family. Shirts are printed on 100% cotton fashion fit t’s  and come in S-XL but in very limited quantities so don’t miss out (1/3 have already been reserved by pre-order!) Also, buy with confidence using paypal.

A portion of the proceeds will benefit Senhoa, a nonprofit dedicated to helping victims of human trafficking in Southeast Asia.

Visit the Ravenous Couple Store today and get one for yourself and some for your friends and family. Thanks for the support!

Goodbye honeymoon bliss, hello stark reality. Following 12 days of carefree honeymooning Spain where everyday was an culinary adventure, the first thing we craved after a grueling trans-Atlantic and cross country flight back to Los Angeles was something homey,  simple, and soupy.  We expected a warmer welcome, but was greeted with cold, heavy rain, and even hail upon our return.   To top it off, we were both feeling a bit under the weather so a therapeutic and comforting bowl of cháo (rice porridge or congee) was the first thing we made as soon as the jetlag wore off.

There are many different versions of cháo, but the most common are cháo gà (chicken), cháo lòng (pig offal/innards), and cháo cá (fish). Just as there are many varieties, there are just as many ways to make cháo. Some make a plan plain thick bland porridge and then add different types of broth and toppings. We present a very traditional southern way of making cháo cá, made famous in the Mekong delta region, known for its abudance of fish and sea life and floating markets.

You can use any type of firm white flesh fish, however the traditional fish used in the Mekong is cá lóc, the snakehead fish.  We prefer using a whole fish (we used stripe bass. Also if you have frozen shrimp shells saved, use those too) to make stock, however fish filets are acceptable as well.   The easy way would be to cut the fish into bite size pieces and add that to the porridge to cook, however the traditional way of making fish stock and sauteeing the flesh in garlic makes for a deeper and more soulful flavor and totally worth the extra effort.

This is our entry to Delicious Vietnam a blogging event to celebrate Vietnamese cuisine. This month’s event is hosted by the lovely couple, Ginger and Scotch at the eponymous blog Ginger and Scotch. Visit their blog for the complete round up!

Chao Ca Vietnamese Fish Porridge

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients:

1 cup jasmine long grain rice, rinsed and drained
1.5 liters or 6 cups of water
1.5 lb whole firm white fish such as snapper, stripe bass, cod, gutted and cleaned
1.5 ts kosher salt
2 large knob of peeled ginger divided: 1 sliced in chunks and crushed, the remainder thinly julienned
3 shallots (2 whole and 1 sliced thin)
3 cloves of minced garlic
1 medium onion peeled and quartered
2 tbs olive oil
quality fish sauce (such as Red Boat)

1/2 cup chopped green onion and cilatro
fried shallots
fresh cracked pepper
bean sprouts (optional)

Directions:

Wash rice, drain in strainer or small holed collander, and set aside to dry.

In stock pot, bring to boil the whole fish, crushed ginger, whole shallots, onions along with 1.5 ts of salt. Boil about 5-8 minutes, or until the flesh is cooked. Carefully remove the fish and allow to cool. Reduce heat to medium low.

Meanwhile, in nonstick pan with heat on low, heat the olive oil and thinly sliced shallots along with the rice until its color becomes opaque and just slightly browned. Add the browned rice and shallots to the broth and continue to cook under medium heat, stirring occasionally.

Peel away the flesh of the fish and return the head, bones, and tail to the stock. Break up the flesh in chunks and season with a few dashes of fish sauce and pepper. Heat up another 1 tablespoon olive oil in same nonstick pan used to brown the rice and add minced garlic. When fragrant, quickly saute the fish chunks for a few minutes and season to taste.

By now, the rice should bloom and look like porridge. We enjoy a thick but not too thick porridge. You can add more water to thin it out if you like. Remove the remainder of the fish as well as ginger, onions, and shallots. Return the sauteed fish to the porridge and season to taste with salt or fish sauce.

Serve in soup bowls and garnish with green onions/cilantro, fried shallots, julienned ginger, and fresh cracked pepper. Top with fresh bean sprouts and enjoy!

Update: Preorder your Heo Yeah T’s now! Very limited quantities are available. Visit our new online store and pay securely with paypal!

In Vietnam, my grandma, mom, and aunts butchered and sold pork at the market.  They raised as well as purchased heo (pig) from farms to sell at Cho Nhat Tao in district 10 of Saigon.  My dad tells stories of how he would have to stand guard and shoo away the piggies whenever I had to use the bathroom as they roamed around in the yard.  In fact, one of my uncles started a pig farm when he first came to America in 1975 since that’s all he knew.  Pigs have been a vital part of our family are such a vital part of Vietnamese cuisine, we’ve come up with a design to honor every part of it.

The Vietnamese have been using every part of the pig long before nose to tail eating has become vogue. Here we list the most common dishes for each section of the pig. Thịt nạc vai (pork shoulder/butt) are the cuts we like for thit nuong and nem nuong. Thịt ba chỉ (pork belly) is great for thit kho, roasted pork belly heo quay, or just pan fried, the sườn (ribs) are great for sườn xào chua ngọt, the loin and tenderloin is great for making giò sống and chả lụa. The má (cheek), mỏ (snout), tai (ears) and lưỡi (tongue) are all used for headcheese. The ham end can be used to make chà bông (pork floss) and the bắp chân (hock) is a favorite component in bún bò Huế.

As part of the Foodbuzz tastemakers program we were given the opportunity to try Walgreens Photocenter to make photo gifts. They have a huge variety of photo gifts available but we decided to go with some t-shirts. It couldn’t have been easier as there’s a Walgreens a few blocks from our house and it was as simple as uploading the photo and ordering it. We also could have easily done it online as well. Because of Foodbuzz and Walgreen’s generosity, we made one extra t-shirt and giving away a Pork the Vietnamese way t-shirt to a lucky reader!

Simply tell us your best pig or pork related stories in the comments…it could be how you rolled in the mud with a pig at a pig farm or how you impressed your spouse with their favorite pork dish…be creative and anything related to pork but  please keep it rated PG (for pig) and we’ll chose a winner by Monday Oct 24th.

Ready to win one?   Heo yeah!

It was so hard to simply choose one winner, but the winning entry is Roe with comment number #33 “When I was about 4 years old, my mom took me back to Vietnam, just me and her visiting the family. We were staying at my ong noi’s house and he had a pig in the backyard!!! As a 4-year-old from America, my eyes widened and my hands promptly went on my hips. I stomped around the kitchen pointing at the pig yelling, “pigs don’t belong here!! pigs can’t live with us!! he has to go to the farm!!” Well, my relatives and ong noi didn’t speak English and looked at me confused, but I wouldn’t stop. Needless to say, 2 days later, Mr. Pig was out of the house, relocated to my uncles, and I got crowned Ms. Dang Da (sp). from then on, if I wanted something, they knew I’d usually get it, or face the wrath of my stomping little feet and hearty lungs.”

Be on the lookout, we may have these printed in limited quantities for purchase.

By all accounts, the first annual Los Angeles Food and Wine Festival at LA Live was a smashing success. If we judge food festivals based on how stuffed we were, then this one takes the cake as we came starving and left belts loosen and stomachs completely satiated.  But of course what makes a food festival a success is more than that and that’s where the folks putting on the Los Angeles Food and Wine Festival have the right formula—top chefs, great variety, and flawless execution. It’s no suprise that they’re the same folks that put on the wildly successful Pebble Beach Food and Wine Festival that we had such a wonderful time two years ago.  Spanning 4 days and over 70 different events it’s almost mind numbing to choose one over another.  But if you had to choose one, the grand tasting events are the place to be.  With over 30 chefs and just as many wineries it’s always a treat to see what the chefs come up with.

Our favorite bite of the day was Wolfgang Puck’s raw seafood stew (above) of uni, clams, hamachi, and succulent amaebi prawns and it’s delectably fried head in a hot tomato broth.  Simply spectacular.

Another favorite was Drago Centro‘s fresh agnolotti pasta with shaved truffles from the man himself, Celestino Drago.  Anything with freshly shaven tuffles will be a hit, but the agnolotti alone was on point.

Taking his meatballs all the way from New York City was Daniel Holzman, chef of The Meatball Shop.  After a meal from The Meatball Shop last year, we enjoyed it so much we made several versions his meatballs  at home to much success.  To our delight, he will be coming out with a cookbook soon!

Of course what’s a food festival with some liquid nitrogen? Stephan Richter of Top Chef fame and  Stephan’s at LA Farm indulged our fancies with a red wine lollipop.  Fancy that, wine on a stick!

The Los Angeles Food and Wine Festival has an air of elegance and exclusivity.  No expense was spared as everything from knorks, fancy port-a-potties, personalized chef’s coats, and modern lounge areas were quite impressive.  While pricey, the quality of  dishes and ingredients and free flow of wine and booze and top talent certainly makes it worthwhile.  It’s a welcomed and fabulous addition to the Los Angeles food scene, and one we will look forward to yearly.

Kim loves custard desserts so after our soy panna cotta experience, she wanted to make something more rich, so a classic creme brulee it was! A classic creme brulee is smooth, creamy, and decadent so we opted not to fussy it up too much.  However, we had a windfall of dragon fruit  from Kim’s aunt’s garden which made for the perfect light and tropical fruit topping to contrast the richness of the creme brulee.

Coincidently we also had a brand new kitchen gadget to play with as part of the Foodbuzz Tastemakers program. The Oxo egg beater.  If you’ve ever used a regular egg beater you know that cleaning can be a pain.  So what’s so special about this one compared with your grandmother’s? Well for one, the beaters are removable for quick clean up, but if a deeper cleaning is necessary, the entire base is removable and even dishwasher safe.

We love the fact that there’s a stable bridge slightly longer than the beaters that rests in the bowl, allowing for smooth, frictionless beating to our hearts content. It’s the perfect solution for light batters, eggs, whipping cream or whenever you don’t feel like lugging out the stand mixer.

Use a melon baller to make pearls of dragon fruit and finish the dish with a dallop of tangy creme fraiche and bright mint and you’ve got a classic yet elegant dessert.

Creme Brulee with Dragon Fruit Pearls

Yield: 4 medium size ramekins

Prep Time: 20 min

Cook Time: 35-40 min

Ingredients:

1 quart heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
1/2 cup sugar + 4 tbs
6 large egg yolks
2 quarts hot water
2 dragon fruit
2 tbs confectioners sugar
creme fraiche or whipped cream
mint or basil

Directions:

In medium sauce pan on medium high, add cream and vanilla bean along with scrapings until it just begins to boil, then turn off heat and cover for about 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 325F. Bring to boil 2 qt of hot water in a tea kettle.

In mixing bowl, combine the egg yolks and 1/2 cup of sugar and beat until it is smooth and turns light yellow. Then add your cream and continuously stir. Place your baking pan in the oven and pour the hot water around the ramekins covering about 1/2 the ramekin. Then pour in the creme brulee mixture and bake until set (firm but the center jiggles when nudged), about 35-40 minutes.

Remove from the oven and cool for at least 2-3 hours.

Using a melon baller, make "pearls" of dragon fruit and chiffonade the mint/basil. When ready to serve, evenly spread a layer of sugar with the remaining 4 tablespoons (use less if desired) over the creme brulee and torch (with heavy duty hardware store torch) until golden brown. Top the creme brulee with dallop of creme fraiche, dragon fruit pearls, and mints. Sift with a fine layer of confectioners sugar and enjoy.

Alton Brown, Good Eats

Recently Los Angeles has been hit with heat waves that made us constantly hover around the AC and brought back nightmares of our short time living in the scorching desert of Phoenix, Arizona. Serious cooking was the last thing we wanted to do. Our solution to cool down? This dessert we’re calling soy milk panna cotta that takes minutes to prepare and you barely have to turn on the stove. It’s not a classic panna cotta since there is no cream or dairy, but instead soy milk is substituted. Simply dissolve some gelatin in cold soy milk, chill, and then top with your favorite syrup for a quick dessert. It’s also a riff of one of our favorite Vietnamese desserts, dau hu nuoc duong gung, or tofu with ginger sauce, which is typically served warm.

Instead, we opted for fresh summer berries in a simple red wine reduction. Again, barely any cooking involved–just simply heat red wine with some sugar until thickened and toss in the berries.

After a thorough chill, top with sauce and enjoy! A fantastic way to beat the late summer heat.

Soy Milk Panna Cotta with Red Wine Sauce

Yield: 4 medium size ramekins

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 2.5 hours

Ingredients:

2 cups sweetened soy milk
5 tbs sugar, divided
1 packet of unflavored gelatin
1 ts vanilla extract
1/2 cup red wine
fresh berries

Directions:

Divide the soy milk in half, placing half in a small sauce pan and half in a bowl. Add a packet of gelatin to the bowl and allow to sit. Heat the sauce pan gently only to dissolve 2.5 tbs of sugar. Turn off heat and add the warm soy milk to the cold soy milk along with the vanilla extract and stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved. Transfer to individual serving ramekins/bowls if desired. Allow to set in the fridge for 2 hrs.

Heat 1/2 cup of red wine with remainder of the sugar until dissolved and reduces in half. Turn off and remove from heat and toss the fresh berries to coat and cool in the fridge.

When thoroughly chilled, top soy milk panna cotta with red wine and berries and enjoy.

Win $100 American Express gift card!

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