Who’s going to the 26th Annual JazzReggae Festival this year? If you don’t have a ticket, you still have time to grab one! What does jazz and reggae have to do with this food blog. Obviously, no festival is complete without local vendors hawking their edible wares. That is where the focus of this event, at least for us, comes into play. That doesn’t mean the sounds of The Roots, Thundercat, Selah Sue and Booker T. Jones won’t be enjoyed. But they will be enjoyed while walking through the field dotted with more than 25 vendors. The offerings include bites from Kobbler King, Pampas Grill, Nu Nu Orleans, Delrose Jamaican, Rastaco, Natraliart and more.

Another cool aspect of the festival is its commitment to green and sustainable practices. Who knows if the weather will cooperate, but let’s cross our fingers, shall we? Hop on two wheels and ride your bike to the UCLA campus. Bike valet will be available. Or you can get a ride one of the many MTA bus lines or the Santa Monica Big Blue Line to arrive in mass transit-style. There will also be refillable water bottles, recoiling and composting of course and the collection of vendors’ oil to turn into biofuel. These are big efforts to applaud and celebrate when thousands of Angelenos are expected to convene in one place.

Be sure to get your tickets on the JazzReggae Festival website, or stop by Amoeba Records, Natraliart and Headlines Records. You can also follow them on Twitter and stalk updates on their Facebook page. Doors open on both days at 11:00 am. Get there early, and save room for the eats!

Last week, I attended an event hosted and sponsored by the folks behind the Got Milk? campaign. A morning cooking class with a bunch of bloggers and baking enthusiasts would be led by the pastry chef behind Bittersweet Treats, Danielle Keene, and Blooming Gelatin Arts owner, Michelle Quilas. With summer literally knocking at our doors, this class would present a few of the most perfect milk-based desserts for your family, friends or large parties. It would be a girls only kind of day, plus Amir was occupied with a long work day, so I traveled over the hill to the Eatz cooking school for a few hours of instruction.

It was only 11:00 am when I arrived, but just as I walked in the door and spied the table of sweets to my immediate left, I knew a sugar high was on the way. Bloggers spilled through the door, one by one–Susan, Nicole, Ericka, Monique, Catalina, Samantha, Marsha, Rachel and Amy–and we crowded around the rectangular table in the middle of the room. Danielle Keene, the pastry chef and ex-contestant of Top Chef Desserts, led us through two quick demonstrations.

The first was her recipe for a Chocolate Pudding  Tart with Swiss Meringue. The buttery, crumbly crust pair with rich, creamy pudding and torched meringue joined forces like the A-Team. It was a knock out. Next up, a sweet and fresh Mint Chip Ice Cream with fresh mint in the base–absolutely no mint extract. That is one of the key tips to making a better than ever mint ice cream. The other tip? Make sure you temper the chocolate, chill it, then break it up into pieces before stirring into the thickened ice cream. That will keep it from freezing into hard chunks.

After a quick clean up, we moved into a quick lesson on gelatin food art. This was a subject completely new to me, and I think I am still astounded, even days later. Michelle Quilas is the co-owner of a company that creates colorful edible art with milky gelatin. There are no crazy ingredients, and the only special equipment you need is a syringe. Maybe that makes you a little nervous, but once you start sticking, it feels like second nature. At least in this respect. A plain, sweetened gelatin base serves as the canvas, if you will, and from there, you poke, prod and shape to create flowers with colored milk-based gelatin. We all made our own flowers after marveling at Michelle’s ability to make four flowers within seconds before our eyes.

At the end of the lesson, there was a prize drawing with the grand prize being an ice cream maker. No winners here, but those who walked out with gifts were quite lucky. On top of our gelatin flowers and chocolate pudding tarts, we also filled to-go boxes with desserts created by Danielle and Michelle. Everyone also received a gift box, including a popsicle maker, gelatin, ice cream scoop and more. There were too many photos to post here, but click here to check out the entire album on Facebook!

We are constantly raving about Southern California’s weather. It’s hard not to when most of the year is spent basking under the sun. That’s what makes eating outside so enjoyable, whether you’re al fresco at a restaurant or standing over your grill. Either way, you need to wrap up the meal with a cool dessert. Danielle Keene partnered with Got Milk? to show you a few of her favorite desserts for all of those summer days, and her recipes will be on the company’s website. Michelle Quilas’ gelatin desserts are unique presentation pieces that will no doubt be the talking point of your party. She has joined forces with the California Milk Processor Board and the Hispanic sector of the Got Milk? campaign–Toma Leche–to share her recipes as well, which are available online. We’ve made ice cream galore since last year and shared a handful of the recipes with you. They’re all right in line with the weather that approaches, and we’ll have even more as the days go by. In the spirit of sharing, here is one of the great desserts Danielle prepared for us. I grabbed one and spooned it up right on the spot!

What are your favorite milk-based summer desserts?

Lavender Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with Berry Caramel Sauce – Serves 8 (Recipe by Danielle Keene for Got Milk?)
Panna Cotta
1 vanilla bean, split
2 1/4 teaspoon dried lavender
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup milk
3 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup crème fraiche
1 tablespoons powdered gelatin

In a saucepan over medium heat, bring vanilla bean, lavender, sugar, 1/2 cup milk and 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream to a simmer. Cover, remove from heat and set aside to steep for 30 minutes. In a separate bowl, mix gelatin powder in remaining 1/2 cup milk to hydrate. Reheat vanilla mixture and pour over gelatin mixture. Whisk until combined and gelatin is dissolved. Whisk in crème fraiche and strain. Cool to room temperature.

With an electric mixer, whisk remaining 1 ½ cups of heavy cream to soft peaks. Gently fold in vanilla bean mixture in two parts. Pour into small greased ramekins and chill for 6 hours or overnight. Unmold and serve with blueberry caramel and fresh fruit.

Berry Caramel
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 3/4 cup fresh berries (in season), pureed
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

In a saucepan over high heat, combine sugar and water. Boil until mixture is an amber color. Add berry puree and butter. Whisk until dissolved. Strain and serve over panna cotta.

Make sure you check out all of the pictures from the event here!

Click HERE for the printable recipe.

This event was hosted and sponsored by Got Milk and RL Public Relations. All opinions are our own.

A few weeks ago, the Los Angeles Times presented the Festival of Books, a free, public extravaganza that brought together publishers, authors, booksellers, cultural organizations, and story enthusiasts in general for a fun-filled weekend with one goal in mind: to celebrate all-things books. Going annually since 1996, the Festival of Books has become the biggest and most popular book festival around the country, attracting more than 100,000 readers each year. With all these folks congregated together–this year the festivities took place on the campus of the University of Southern California–one shouldn’t be surprised by the comprehensive schedule of events offered to these thousands of book lovers. I, however, was blown away by the variety and amount of events happening all over USC’s campus for the weekend, which included various author events, storytelling, musical acts, book signings, poetry readings, even cooking demonstrations. As much as Chrystal and I love to read, needless to say we were most interested in the cooking stage. As luck would have it, we were offered a press pass for the festival and even invited to interview one of the festivals’ stars, Season 6 Top Chef and restaurant owner Michael Voltaggio.

Culinary expert, food writer and TV personality Gail Simmons begins her very own cooking demo.

By now, my adoration for Top Chef should be clear to everyone. In fact, this past December we were given the opportunity to interview Top Chef contestant, Tiffany Derry from Season 7. So, just imagine my gleeful exclamations when I heard we’ll get to interview another person from the show, and this time an actual Top Chef! Chef Voltaggio was at the event to do a cooking demo, be on a discussion panel, and stay for a book signing of his latest collaborative effort with his brother, their joint cookbook called “Volt ink.” After his book signing, he graciously met me back stage. We sat down for a few minutes where we chatted about his new restaurant venture in LA, some of his favorite things in the kitchen, and the emergence of the pressure cooker. I’m still bouncing up and down with excitement. Check out our interview below…

I wanted to hear about your new restaurant ink. It’s been on my list to check out for a while now. What can we expect?

Really, the basis of the restaurant and the reason for it…I’ve always been a fine dining chef, and I wanted to take the idea of fine dining and make it more accessible for people. I find that the demographic of diners is changing a lot, and when first started cooking in restaurants that I worked in the people that would come in were very fortunate people, and it wasn’t necessarily a group that I could relate to. I wanted to make my restaurant one that they could get into and have the same experience. So we eliminated some of the steps of service. I don’t want to say we dumbed anything down at all or lessened it, but we definitely cut things out that would drive cost so that people could come in and just get what they paid for and eat.

Awesome! And ink.sack is next door? Or really close to it, right?

Three downs down.

Is it a different menu there?

ink.sack is just sandwiches. So the idea of that is little sandwiches. They’re 4 inches each, eat two or three of them. They come in a black bag where we write your name on them like you’re going to school and stuff like that. It’s just a sandwich shop. There are no seats. Everything’s to go. And it’s just a fun project that we did.

Cool, cool, cool. How would you describe your cooking philosophy or culinary style?

Ingredients and flavor first, technique second. I would call it “modern American” with a lot of global influences. I guess, that’s a loose term that a lot of people use but it’s what we do. A lot of the dishes that we use or make are ones that can be rooted back to something else. So for instance, we have a poutine on the menu, but it’s classically potatoes, oxtail gravy, and cheddar cheese curds. We use chickpea French fries, lamb neck gravy, and yogurt curds. So, a lot of the food has got some history to it or has some lineage that got us to the dish.

Speaking of ingredients, do you have a handful of ingredients that you tend to gravitate towards all the time or that are on your list of favorites to use over and over?

There’s a lot of salt and olive oil. We finish a lot of food with finishing salts and different types of salt. Olive oil, I found lately that finishing a dish with a few drops of olive oil can really bring it to life and freshen it up. Vinegar and really acidic things. I love salty, acidic, sour, dryer type flavors. So a lot of that stuff are things I tend to gravitate towards. Farmer’s Market ingredients too, fruits and things that are in season, I think are important as well.

On my food blog, we do a lot of recipes. We’re just home cooks. The last thing I would ask is if there’s an utensil in your kitchen that you can’t live without?

Obviously, all the modern stuff that we use like the circulators and all that kind of stuff. Things we always have on us are tweezers, and little mini offset palette knives, and spoons and things like that that are extensions of our hands that we use to put things together with. I love little interesting tools though, you know, anything from – I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a pickle slicer, but it’s a little hand tool that you use to cut cornichons into little slices, but you can also use it to cut noodles and things like that as well. It’s like 4 little or 5 little blades stuck together on a tool. I mean, there’s a lot of things. I love gadgets. I’ll go to kitchen stores and buy gadgets that I don’t need…

Right, there always seems be a new single-purpose gadget.

Yeah. And pressure cooking is probably the one that I’m focusing a lot on now, using the pressure cooker. It’s something that I think people are going to start using more.

Note: Some comments have been edited for clarity and length.

A new friend invited me over for an early evening of wine and cheese. There would only be three of us in attendance, so there was no need to make a lot of food. Just enough to satisfy the bellies of three girls. Amir and I would be cooking the next day, and I was in charge of doing the shop for our Ethnic Exploration this month. Time was tight, and I knew that I wouldn’t have the opportunity to tack on a busy shop, prep and cook type of appetizer for a party as well. As I walked up and down the aisles, I racked my brain to recall all of the easy appetizers I have wanted to make for so long. What I settled on wasn’t the first thing that came to mind, but it was the first one that seemed like the best choice–pinwheels! They only require a few ingredients, and they can be made in just minutes. When you’re short on time, this is just the appetizer to keep in your back pocket.

It’s difficult to call this recipe a recipe. It’s mostly premade ingredients, and it really does take just a few minutes to prepare. But at the end of the night, with only three pinwheels left on the plate, and a number of compliments on their flavor, I figured it was worth sharing anyways. The next day, when Amir came over to cook arepas (you’ll see those soon enough), he was more than enamored with the extra dip leftover from the day before. These were a winner. Of course, pinwheels are as fancy or laid back as you make them. There are numerous versions that can be made, but they can be as simple as a delicious jam slathered between the dough. You could easily make these your own by swapping out the ingredients with your favorite fillings, herbs and spices. That is the pure beauty of a no fuss recipe.

Sweet and Spicy Pepper Pinwheels with Cream Cheese Dip – Makes 16
Pinwheels
1 can premade crescent dough
1/2 cup jarred sweet and spicy pepper relish or your favorite chunky spread, chutney, relish, etc.
Paprika
Nonstick cooking spray
Flour

1. Dust a clean surface with flour and open the can of crescent dough. Lay each piece of dough flat and press the perforated diagonal split together to create four even pieces approximately 6″ x 4″.

2. Evenly divide the pepper relish, or your favorite spread, between each piece of dough, placing the relish evenly down the middle lengthwise. Fold the two shortest edges of each rectangle in about 1/4″, then fold the two longest ends over to enclose the filling. Lightly press the top layer down to keep it closed. Chill each dough roll in the freezer for 15 minutes.

3. Spray a baking sheet or oven-safe pan with cooking spray. Remove the dough from the freezer, and cut each roll into four pieces. Place on the baking sheet, cut side up. Dust with paprika and bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for a few minutes before serving with cream cheese dip.

Dip
4 ounces plain Greek yogurt
4 ounces vegetable cream cheese, room temperature
2 tablespoons milk or cream
Zest of 1 small lemon
Fine sea salt, to taste

Using an electric mixer, beat the first four ingredients together until smooth. Season to taste with salt. Chill until ready to eat.

Click HERE for the printable recipe.

There are some ingredients that keep so well in your freezer. Flours, polenta, homemade cookie dough rolled into individual balls and ready for the baking. Nuts too. If you are someone who packs away bags of raw nuts–we’re not talking about Planters here–then you know what it means to have protein-packed snacks on hand at any time. The unfortunate thing is that nuts can spoil, so as the temperature starts to rise, keep your nuts in the freezer. Their natural oils will prevent them from actually freezing, and you’ll be able to toast, chop and grind away without worrying about potentially rancid ingredients. Just don’t forget they’re in there. Then, when you feel like baking up a sweet treat, you can make these walnut bars.

It happens to everybody, right? You put something in the perfect place because it makes sense, because it is the right thing to do. Two prized bags of monstrous walnuts were tossed in the freezer a few weeks ago, and when the time came to do some baking, hands poked along pantry shelves and cabinets searching for the nuts. Where were they? After minutes of sheer confusion, a trip to the freezer for flour revealed those pesky, runaway walnuts. They were where they should have been, where they were supposed to be. The only thing missing was memory.

Once out of the freezer, it only takes a few minutes of room temperature rest to bring your nuts to ready-to-go status. Now, these bars have all the characteristics of a nutty dessert that you may love. Brown sugar adds depth and moisture, the mixture of coconut, oats and whole wheat flour add a hint of sweet heartiness, and the mixture of warm spices adds a homey essence that might remind you of December in May. These were perfect for an impromptu get together with friends complete with dinner, cocktails and favorite television shows. Some people had more than two. One person–she will remain nameless–took half the pan home. The walnut bars speak for themselves.

Spiced Walnut Bars – Makes 16-20
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 teaspoon maple extract
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup sweetened grated coconut
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/3 cup chopped cranberries, optional
Nonstick spray

1. Lightly spray an 8″ x 8″ baking dish along the bottom and sides with nonstick spray. Line with parchment paper to create handles on all four sides. Spray the paper long the bottom and sides.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy and light, approximately 3 minutes. Add the egg, maple syrup and maple extract, mixing until smooth. Set aside.

2. Pour the oats and coconut into the bowl of a food processor. Blend until you reach a fairly fine powder. Add the whole wheat flour, baking powder, allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt, and pulse until combined.

3. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Pour the walnuts and cranberries, if using, into the bowl, and mix everything until incorporated. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, and side into an oven preheated to 350 degrees. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until browned along the edges and cooked through the center.

4. Remove the pan from the oven and cool for 10-15 minutes. If the paper isn’t too hot, carefully lift the square out of the pan and cool on top of a cooling rack. Once cool, cut into bars and serve.

Click HERE for the printable recipe.

When I was a kid, one of my favorite snacks were frozen pierogi. I would slide down the frozen food aisle, pop open the glass door and grab a bag of Mrs. T’s frozen potato dumplings. At that time, I had no idea that pierogis were traditional Polish delicacies or even that what I was eating had a true connection to another culture different than mine. I just knew that the creamy potatoes in a half moon of soft dough tasted good with applesauce and sour cream. Fast forward 20 years, and I’ve just had pierogis again following a long break from my childhood favorites. Amir and I decided to explore the making of pierogis for this month’s Ethnic Exploration. There may have been one small snafu, but after a second go ’round, we got it just right.

Last month, we shared Korean dumplings, mandu, and now we have another dumpling of sorts–the Polish pierogi. Unknown to us, mostly because we do not speak a lick of Polish, pierogi is the plural form of this word. Now, after doing research, that does make sense. You will rarely see anyone talking about piergoi in the singular format (pieróg for all of you language lovers out there), and why would they? Pierogi are like Pringles, in theory that is. Once you eat one, you’ll probably want another. And another. Almost every culture has a dumpling, or at least a dish that consists of stuffed and cooked dough, within the walls of their culinary offerings. Pierogi are just that. They are boiled and pan fried or baked circles of dough stuffed with meat, cheese, fruit or vegetables. The most common version that many Americans are used to goes by the term pierogi ruskie . They are the cheese and potato-filled delicacies that are readily available in your freezer section and most likely at your neighborhood Polish restaurant.

Here's the first batch of pierogi. They look a bit like empanadas, don't they? No bueno.

Frying up slices of thick-cut bacon! Make sure you save the grease.

This is why you saved that grease. It's time to cook the onions.

Maybe you immediately think the name pierogi ruskie refers to the Russians, and they should be credited for the creation of the pierogi? Unfortunately, that would be wrong. The name is a reminder of the original region that went by the name of Ruthenia, which years ago comprised areas of Ukraine. Due to Poland’s history of being a nation conquered by many and also serving as a new land for new settlers, there is the possibility of various streams of influence from the Russians to the Rusyns and the Lithuanians to the Ukranians. Everybody wants to be the first to claim ownership of a popular dish that finds so many similarities between culture lines. Unfortunately, that is difficult to do with pierogi. What we can say is that they have almost become synonymous with the country of Poland, and they are one of Poland’s national dishes. To top it all off, there is a patron saint for pierogi–St. Hyacinth. Legend has it that he used to offer pierogi to the poor and starving. If you learn how to say ”Swiety Jacek z pierogami!”–it roughly translates to “Holy smokes”–people may even think you’re a native.

Here is the start of the potato filling. You can see the bits of cooked onion in there.

So here we are, playing around with our own pierogi. Our first unleavened dough attempt was not the best. Most traditional recipes call for a dough made simply of flour, eggs, salt and water. Our version was a bit dry, and something about it just did not mesh with our desire to eat delicious pierogi. With a scrunched up and perplexed face, I watched Amir try to knead the crumbly mixture into a ball with no luck. Back to the drawing board. After consulting with our Twitter friends, Joanne of Eats Well with Others said she used a great recipe from Chef Michael Symon. It incorporated sour cream and butter into the dough, which obviously creates something much more pliable and soft. Though slightly sticky and demanding of a very well-floured rolling surface, it proved to be a better option in the long run.

Pierogi, pierogi, lined up in a row. They still look like empanadas, but...they're not.

Now the fillings for pierogi run the gamut, as we said before. Anything you love to eat can be mixed and match to form your favorite stuffing, and yes, that includes fruits, jams and other sweets. Savory pierogi feel like the beginnings of a hearty dinner, so we went in that direction with two versions. The first is the traditional pierogi ruskie with potatoes, onions and our modern day substitute for fresh cheese curds–cottage cheese. Nutmeg and caraway are popular spices in Polish food, and they both blend well with potatoes. They were tossed into the recipe’s dough for extra flavor. The alternate version started as the potato and onion mixture with a handful of cheddar cheese thrown in towards the end. The dough we used for these pierogi was seasoned with paprika for both color, aroma and flavor. Here’s another tip that pertains to the dough’s texture and the boiling process. Once the pierogi have been formed, we put them in the freezer for a quick chill before popping them in the hot water. They were easier to handle, and cold butter helps the dough stay in better formation. Of course, you could pop them, covered, into your fridge and boil after a few hours or the next day. You could also boil them, pat dry, cover, pop them into the fridge and pan fry after a few hours or the next day. Do what works best for you.

Time for a pierogi bath.

A bit wrinkly, here are the freshly boil pierogi.

It’s possible that the final dish just looks like a plate of dough shapes, but that would be the simple explanation. What’s really going on is a plate of soft yet crisped, potato-filled, cheesey, spiced dough shapes fried in butter and bacon fat, then topped with caramelized onions, bacon, scallions and sour cream. That is the delicious explanation. You could reduce the calories in this recipe by using nonstick spray or olive oil, eliminating the bacon and using Greek yogurt as a topping. We decided to go the complete Polish way, and for this day only, there was no other way.

Pierogi Ruskie (Cheese Curd and Potato Pierogi) – Approximately 4 dozen (Dough inspired by Michael Symon)
Dough
1 egg
3/4 cup sour cream
4 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons minced scallions
2 cups flour, plus more for rolling the dough
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon caraway seeds

Filling
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large yellow onion, diced
2 large russet potatoes, peeled, cut into large chunks and boiled
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more if necessary
1 cup crumbled farmer’s cheese or well drained cottage cheese
Vegetable oil, optional
Toppings, optional (ie. sour cream or creme fraiche, scallions, applesauce, etc.)

1. For the dough, beat the egg, sour cream, butter and scallions in an electric mixer until well combined. Stir in the flour, salt, nutmeg and caraway seeds until incorporated, but do not over mix. Split the dough into two pieces, and wrap each one in wax paper. Chill for two hours.

2. For the filling, heat 3 tablespoons of butter in a large pan over a medium high flame. Add half of the diced onions and cook until soft and translucent, approximately 5 minutes. Add the potatoes, mashing them as they cook to create a smooth mixture. Stir in the salt and cheese, cook for another 5 minutes, then remove from heat. Cool completely.

3. Cook the bacon in a pan over medium high heat until it browns and crisps, approximately 7-9 minutes. Reduce the heat if necessary to prevent burning. Scoop out the cooked bacon and allow it to cool on a paper towel-lined plate. Save the bacon grease in the pan.

4. Once the dough has chilled, roll it out on a floured surface to about 1/8″ thick. The dough may be sticky, so flour the rolling pin if necessary. Cut out 3″ circles with a floured glass or biscuit cutter. Dollop about 1 tablespoon of the filling in to the center, then fold over one edge of dough to create a half moon shape. Crimp the round edge of the dough closed with a fork. Turn over and repeat the crimping on the opposite side to make sure it is closed. Lay the pierog on a sheet of wax paper and repeat with the remaining dough and filling. Once done, chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or pop into the freezer for about 5 minutes.

5. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. You can add a bit of vegetable oil, if desired, to keep them from sticking to each other. Drop the pierogi into the water in small batches allowing them to cook and float to the surface, approximately 2-3 minutes. Remove the pierogi from the pan with a slotted spoon and lay on a baking sheet lined with wax paper. (At this point, the pierogi can be cooled completely, placed in an airtight container on layers of wax paper and cooked in small batches when desired.)

6. Reheat the reserved bacon fat over medium flame, and add the last tablespoon of butter. Add the remaining diced onion once the pan is hot and cook until they have softened and begin to caramelize, approximately 7-9 minutes. Stir as necessary to prevent burning. Move the onions to the outside edge of the pan, and fry the pierogi 4-5 at a time, on both sides, for 1-2 minutes or until browned and crisp. Serve hot with the onions, cooked bacon and additional toppings, as desired.

Cheddar and Paprika Pierogi – Approximately 4 dozen (Dough inspired by Michael Symon)
Dough
1 egg
3/4 cup sour cream
4 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons minced scallions
2 cups flour, plus more for rolling the dough
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Filling
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large yellow onion, diced
2 large russet potatoes, peeled, cut into large chunks and boiled
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more if necessary
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 pound bacon, sliced into 1/2″ strips
Vegetable oil, optional
Toppings, optional (ie. sour cream or creme fraiche, scallions, applesauce, etc.)

1. For the dough, beat the egg, sour cream, butter and scallions in an electric mixer until well combined. Stir in the flour, salt, paprika and black pepper until incorporated, but do not over mix. Split the dough into two pieces, and wrap each one in wax paper. Chill for two hours.

2. For the filling, heat 3 tablespoons of butter in a large pan over a medium high flame. Add half of the diced onions and cook until soft and translucent, approximately 5 minutes. Add the potatoes, mashing them as they cook to create a smooth mixture. Stir in the salt and cheese, cook for another 5 minutes, then remove from heat. Cool completely.

3. Cook the bacon in a pan over medium high heat until it browns and crisps, approximately 7-9 minutes. Reduce the heat if necessary to prevent burning. Scoop out the cooked bacon and allow it to cool on a paper towel-lined plate. Save the bacon grease in the pan.

4. Once the dough has chilled, roll it out on a floured surface to about 1/8″ thick. The dough may be sticky, so flour the rolling pin if necessary. Cut out 3″ circles with a floured glass or biscuit cutter. Dollop about 1 tablespoon of the filling in to the center, then fold over one edge of dough to create a half moon shape. Crimp the round edge of the dough closed with a fork. Turn over and repeat the crimping on the opposite side to make sure it is closed. Lay the pierog on a sheet of wax paper and repeat with the remaining dough and filling. Once done, chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or pop into the freezer for about 5 minutes.

5. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. You can add a bit of vegetable oil, if desired, to keep them from sticking to each other. Drop the pierogi into the water in small batches allowing them to cook and float to the surface, approximately 2-3 minutes. Remove the pierogi from the pan with a slotted spoon and lay on a baking sheet lined with wax paper. (At this point, the pierogi can be cooled completely, placed in an airtight container on layers of wax paper and cooked in small batches when desired.)

6. Reheat the reserved bacon fat over medium flame, and add the last tablespoon of butter. Add the remaining diced onion once the pan is hot and cook until they have softened and begin to caramelize, approximately 7-9 minutes. Stir as necessary to prevent burning. Move the onions to the outside edge of the pan, and fry the pierogi 4-5 at a time, on both sides, for 1-2 minutes or until browned and crisp. Serve hot with the onions, cooked bacon and additional toppings, as desired.

Click HERE for printable recipes.

This has been a week of fish tacos! Are you sick of it? Hopefully not yet. Here are two more fish tacos to send you into the Cinco de Mayo weekend. Make sure the cerveza is cold, and slice up the limes. We know just how you should spend the weekend, and maybe it will include Alaska Seafood. Over the last few months, we have created fish taco recipes that have become part of Alaska Seafood’s fish taco promotion. As we wrap up the promotion, here are the final two recipes we’ll share with you that will hopefully find their way on your plates.

Social media have proven to be helpful in so many ways. A question went out to our followers about the type of taco combinations they would like to see, and we received a few great suggestions. Grilled squid and fruit, crab and mango, shrimp and orange marmalade, shrimp and a dill and vinegar-based coleslaw, scallops with salsa verde, white fish with avocado sauce. The list goes on and on. When it comes to the wide world of seafood, you have so many ways to go, but limited our focus to species found in Alaska–Sockeye Salmon and Spot Prawn.

The salmon tacos are a slight diversion from the usual. First of all, it’s not chunk pieces of seafood in a shell. We decided to cook the salmon and mix it with ingredients to create something similar to tuna salad. It has a mix of creamy crunch with a mix of spices used to season the fish. Secondly, salmon salad deserved a different serving method, so we decided to go with taco shells. They are homemade of course, and if you’ve never done it, give it a try. Flour tortillas are the best choice as they can be molded without the fear of experiencing a tear. You can make them in abundance and store the shells in airtight containers for a couple of days before using them. We made shells that are a great size for individual salads, but if you wanted to make appetizers, you could cut the tortillas to fit mini muffin tins. The key to shaping these is just using any oven-safe dish, ramekin, muffin tin, etc. that will create the shape you want. Or, you can get all fancy, and invest in taco shell makers of all shapes and sizes. At the end of the day, they’re just another gadget that may end up at the back of your kitchen equipment cabinet.

The salmon salad tacos are our entry in the Best Grilled Fish Taco category. To be honest, these tacos were made at my apartment, and Amir is the only one with a grill. But you know what I have? A grill pan! And it works just as well to give you those beautiful lines down the surface of the protein that you want with a standard gas or charcoal grill. I say we worked within the confines of our circumstances on this one.

The shrimp tacos were inspired by a friend’s suggestion. She said one of her favorite dishes to make was coconut shrimp with her own green Tabasco and orange marmalade sauce. That set off a few ticks in the brain. In an effort to avoid frying and keep the recipe healthy, the prawns were dipped in egg white before rolling them in the dry coating. They were then baked. Here’s the smallest secret that won’t be included in the recipe. Because both tacos were made on the same day, these shrimp were baked on the same grill pan that was used to cook the fish. Call it genius, or call it lazy. No matter what you call it, the remnants of spiced oil that remained in the pan did add an extra edge of flavor.

This second set of tacos find themselves in the Best Fish Taco Recipe category. The shrimp are sweet, delicate and very plump. The addition of sweet coconut, nutty almond meal and crunchy panko crumbs add another level of sweet flavor and texture to the meat. Baking the shrimp rather than frying them allows them to slowly rise to a level of prime intensity while keeping the recipe on the healthier side. When it comes to the topping, the sauce’s sleepy hint of spice is accentuated by the bright orange zest, orange juice and of course the silky apricot preserves. Mayonnaise and sour cream give the sauce a heft that makes you feel like you’re eating naughty. Lettuce and avocado are the two characters who add crisp bite and buttery essence, respectively, to the taco. How can you go wrong?

Living in Southern California has afforded us the opportunity to experience what would have normally been a strange combination in our eyes before moving here. Fish on a taco was an odd thing…before we actually had one. We’ve made our way through various Alaska seafood–King crab, Sockeye salmon, spot prawns, and cod. Our recipes have been written, so that you can hopefully recreate them with Alaska Seafood or your next best choice. Our five recipe entries have put us in the running to win a trip to Alaska sponsored by Alaska Seafood. Send us good vibes!

Grilled Salmon Salad Tacos with Mango Pico de Gallo – Serves 2
Tacos
4 small flour tortillas
Non-stick cooking spray
1/2 pound salmon, skin on
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon mustard powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon chipotle powder
1/8 teaspoon ground oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/3 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more for seasoning
Vegetable oil
1 medium shallot, halved
1 medium celery stalk, finely diced
2 tablespoons sour cream
Lettuce leaves

Pico de Gallo
1 medium mango, peeled and diced
2 vine tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 scallion, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh chopped cilantro
Zest of 1/2 small lime
1/4 teaspoon fresh lime juice

1. To make the tortilla shells, lay four small bowls or ramekins, upside down, on a large baking sheet. Spray the rounded outside of the bowls well with cooking spray. Set aside.

2. Wrap the flour tortillas in lightly dampened paper towels and microwave until they just begin to soften, approximately 20-30 seconds. Do this in 5-10 second increments. Once warm, quickly lay them on top of the bowls, pressing the edges down to help them stick. Spray the tortillas again.

3. Slide the baking sheet into an oven preheated to 350 degrees. Bake for 20-25 minutes, rotating halfway through, until the shells brown evenly. Remove from the oven and cool for 5-10 minutes. Carefully lift the shells off the bowls and set on a cooling rack to cool completely.

4. As the shells cool, mix the paprika, mustard powder, garlic powder, chipotle powder, oregano, cumin and salt together until well incorporated. Using all of the spice mix, coat the entire fish, not including the skin side. Press the spice mix into the fish to help it adhere.

5. Coat the grill pan with vegetable oil and set over a medium high flame. Once the pan has heated, place the fish, skin side up, into the middle of the pan. Cook for 5 minutes without moving the fish. Flip over and cook for another 2 minutes. Remove from the pan, or continue cooking to your preferred level of doneness.

6. While the fish cools, finely dice one of the shallot halves. Place the diced shallot and celery into a bowl with the sour cream. Flake the fish away from the salmon skin and add the meat to the bowl. Mix well.

7. For the pico de gallo, mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl. Season to taste with salt.

8. Layer lettuce in the bottom of each taco shell, then add a scoop of the salmon salad. Top with a bit of the mango pico de gallo and serve.

Baked Coconut Shrimp Tacos with Apricot Orange Sauce – Serves 2
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons sour cream
2 tablespoons apricot preserves, warm
1 tablespoon orange zest
1/2 tablespoon fresh orange juice
1/8 teaspoon hot sauce, or more to taste
1 tablespoon water
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt, divided
1/4 cup panko crumbs
1/4 cup almond meal
1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
2 egg whites, beaten until frothy
12 large shrimp, peeled and cleaned
Non-stick cooking spray
Shredded lettuce
Small flour tortillas
Quartered cherry tomatoes, optional
Chopped avocado, optional

1. Make the sauce first by mixing the mayonnaise, sour cream, apricot preserves, orange zest, orange juice, hot sauce and water until smooth. Season with half of the salt. Cover and chill.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk the panko crumbs, almond meal, coconut, cayenne powder and remaining salt until incorporated. Dip the shrimp into the beaten egg whites, then into the coconut mixture, coating both sides. Lay on a baking sheet, cast iron pan or any other oven-safe dish, then repeat with all of the shrimp.

3. Spray the shrimp with cooking spray to help them brown, then slide into an oven preheated to 350 degrees. Bake them for 13-15 minutes or until they are all bright pink.

4. Assemble the tacos. Sprinkle lettuce over the tortillas and place three shrimp in the middle. Drizzle the apricot orange sauce on top and add other toppings, as desired. Serve immediately.

Click HERE for printable recipes.

Disclaimer: In exchange for participating in this contest, Alaska Seafood provided us with an initial $25 gift certificate to a local grocer and $25 to Rubio’s Fresh Mexican Grill. No further compensation has been received for participation.

Though it is technically Monday, we imagine by the time you’re actually reading this it’ll be Tuesday! Here’s our latest Alaska Seafood fish taco contest entry. For April’s edition, we salute “Taco Tuesday,” which has become a common food fixture all over the country. As you can imagine, “Taco Tuesday” is especially popular around these parts of Los Angeles. There are a plethora of food joints near us that boast various taco specials every Tuesday, adding in their own celebrations of the fish taco. My personal favorite place for fish tacos, away from our kitchens of course, comes from a little whole-in-the-wall Mexican food chain in Long Beach called Hole Mole. Every Tuesday, you can get any taco on their menu for $1. Of course, all the tacos at Hole Mole are spectacular, but it’s their Ensenada style fish tacos that earn the crown.

I did my best to recreate their fish tacos at home. Everything was pretty straight forward–a beer battered white fish double wrapped in warm corn tortillas and topped with overflowing amounts of onions, tomatoes, shredded cabbage, and plenty of fresh cilantro. It is their crema, though, that brings the whole piece together. I used crema Mexicana, same as Hole Mole, but they definitely add some extra stuff to their version to make it more flavorful and thinner. When I pried at my last visit to the restaurant, they were unsurprisingly reluctant to tell me exactly what that ‘extra stuff’ could be. Thus, I just added some lime juice, a splash of beer, and a dash of salt to the crema. The finished taco was fantastic. Sadly, I admit, it wasn’t the same as Hole Mole’s version. I just couldn’t get the crema right. Now I think they mix their’s with mayonnaise, which gives it a richer flavor. I’ll definitely have to try that next time, but until then, these tacos absolutely won’t disappoint. Make them for yourself and friends. Then you can charge whatever you’d like!

Ensenada Style Fish Tacos – Serves 4
Crema
1/3 cup crema Mexicana, or sour cream
Juice of 1/2 lime
2 tablespoons Mexican beer
Dash of salt

Tacos
1/2 lb Alaskan cod fillets, cut into 1″ nuggets
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon ancho chili powder, plus more for dusting
12 ounces Mexican beer
1 cup shredded cabbage
1/2 cup diced tomato
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro leaves
Vegetable oil, for frying
Corn tortillas, warm
Lime slices, optional

1. Mix all the ingredients together for the crema. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Meanwhile, mix flour and all the spices together in a large mixing bowl. Toss in fish nuggets and coat evening in the flour mixture. Remove fish from the bowl and set aside.

2. Stir the beer into the flour mixture, reserving about 2 tablespoons of beer for the crema sauce. Once a thick paste forms, toss the flour-coated fish pieces into the beer batter.

3. Pour enough boil into a frying pan until it comes about 1″ up the side. Set the flame to medium high. Once hot, fry battered fish in oil until fully cooked and golden brown in color, about 3 minutes on each side.

4. Remove from oil and place on a paper towel-lined plate. Immediately sprinkle with additional salt and chili powder to taste.

5. Assemble the tacos: Place cooked fish in tortillas and top with cabbage, tomatoes, onions, crema, and cilantro. Serve immediately with lime wedges, if desired.

Disclaimer: In exchange for participating in this contest, Alaska Seafood provided us with an initial $25 gift certificate to a local grocer and $25 to Rubio’s Fresh Mexican Grill. No further compensation has been received for participation.

Click HERE for the printable recipe.

Chris and Gabe are some friends who currently live in Little Rock, Arkansas. We’re always looking for healthy interludes from our favorite sweet indulgences, so we’re glad to share with you our latest Guest Test Kitchen. Take it away guys!

“Gabe just started the Ideal Protein diet, but one of the hardest parts of no carb dieting…no hamburgers! Tons of diet plans out there thrive on low or no carb rules, but sometimes you gotta have that nice juicy burger. So our craving set us on a mission to whip up a burger worthy of a college football tailgate, but healthy enough to keep the diet police at bay. Of course, the most challenging part of the no carb puzzle to solve…the bun. Problem solved: portobello mushrooms!

Using the mushroom halves as buns, we smacked the chicken patties down and then topped it with spinach leaves, dijon mustard and BAM – a burger with virtually no carbs that even the most hardcore tailgater would serve on Saturdays in the fall. We used a kitchen stove but this burger could be done on the grill as well.”

Zero Carb Chicken Burger with Portobello Buns – Serves 2
1 pound lean ground chicken
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for brushing
1 teaspoon sea salt
Ground black pepper, to taste
Dash of hot curry powder
Juice of 1/2 a lime
4 portobello mushroom caps, stems removed

1. Mix chicken in a bowl with olive oil. Some fat, if the healthy fat, is good for you and will help keep your burger moist. Add sea salt, and then season with black pepper, some hot curry powder and a squirt of lime juice.

2. Mix everything together in the bowl and form into patties. Spray a large pan with a little bit of cooking spray, and heat it over medium heat. Pan fry the patties until cooked thru and light golden brown.

3. Brush the portobello mushroom caps with some olive oil. Again, into the frying pan for just a minute to soften and get a quick char, and then move them to the oven to cook at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. You’ll see a lot of water come off of the shrooms. Just pour it off.

But Gabe and Chris, you are saying, a burger is just not the same without fries or chips! Well, let me introduce you to our new low carb friend, the jicama. While I think it comes from a cactus down in Mexico, what I know for sure is it tastes like a sweet potato but without the starch and almost no carbs. Slice it thin. Think potato chip thin. Place them on a pan in a single layer and then brush with olive oil. We then seasoned with salt and pepper but you can season as you like. Baked them at 400 degrees until golden brown. The thinner you slice them, the crispier your jicama chips will be. For tailgating, jicama chips would probably be best pre-made and then reheated on the grill.

Even on a low or no carb diet, you can still have a hamburger and chips with so few carbs you might as well not count them! Not only will your stomach will love it, but your thighs will thank you as well.

Click HERE for the printable recipe.

Thanks to Kitchen PLAY, Chrystal and I were invited to participate in the International Olive Council’s (IOC) new “Add Some Life” campaign. It’s a campaign crafted with the sole purpose of praising the all-mighty olive, and doing its part to inspire all of us to incorporate olives and olive oil into our regular diets. I was particularly excited to be a part of any campaign that champions olives, because frankly, I love those little guys. Whether green, black, stuffed, Spanish, Greek, or other, olives are already a mainstay in my diet, and olive oil is a regular item on my shopping list.

Most of my life I’ve heard all about the health wonders of olive oil—namely how it’s the “good” fat. I also know it’s great outside the body too, doing wonders for one’s skin and hair. I was pleasantly surprised, though, to learn of even more astonishing health benefits this small, delicious fruit offers. For instance, did you know that the oleic acid present in olive oil is effective in preventing many forms of cancer? I did not. According to the IOC, “eating a Mediterranean Diet could prevent up to 25% of colon, 15% of breast, and 10% of prostate, pancreas and endometrial cancers.” Not bad at all!

For me, a bowl of olives are the perfect accompaniment to any antipasti. I love them in salads as well. I like my leafy green salads to be very light on the dressing, so one of my favorite ways to bring in some more added flavor is to add a handful of olives to my salad bowl. (My mouth instantly salivates every time I pass a beautiful display of olives in any salad bar, so I have little control over them being piled into the bowl anyhow.)

And that brings us to this recipe! Here’s a dish that showcases both olives and extra virgin olive oil together. Surprisingly, the inspiration behind this dish came from an episode of No Reservations. Anthony Bourdain was being versed in the Italian tradition of “The Vigil,” a traditional Christmas Eve feast of several seafood dishes consumed in one evening. One of the dishes he tasted was an octopus salad filled with warm potatoes, olives, capers, herbs, and olive oil. I was immediately intrigued and knew that I would be recreating a version of that dish in the near future. As fate would have it, I recently spied a prepared package of cooked clams, mussels, and calamari in the fresh seafood section of my local grocery store, and thus, this recipe was born.

I used a medley of red, blue, and yellow fingerling potatoes to give the salad even more vibrant color. I also had some cherry tomatoes in the fridge and thought they would be a wonderful addition. Feel free to leave out the seafood to make this vegan friendly. This salad was so simple to put together, and the finished product was a delight to experience. Try it! Your taste buds, along with your health, will be amazed yet again by the power of the olive.

Seafood Italian Salad with Olives – Serves 4
¾ lb baby fingerling potatoes, diced
4 garlic cloves, whole and peeled
2 bay leafs
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 ½ lbs seafood medley: sliced calamari, cooked clams and mussels, shells removed
6 oz black olives, such as Kalamata, pitted and halved
½ cup cherry tomatoes, halved
2 tablespoons Italian parsley leaves, rough chopped
1 ½ tablespoon capers
1-2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper, or to taste

1. In a medium pot, boil potatoes with the garlic and bay leaves. Strain out potatoes, reserving the water, leaves, and garlic. Set aside in a large mixing bowl.

2. Return potato water to a boil, adding in red pepper. When water reaches a boil, add seafood medley, immediately turning the heat off on the stove. Let sit for 4 minutes. Strain water, discarding bay leaves and garlic, and add to potatoes.

3. Mix in all other ingredients, gently tossing them together until evenly incorporated. Serve immediately.

Click HERE for the printable recipe.

Follow Add Some Life on Twitter and Facebook for more inspiration on ways to “Build a Better Salad” with olives and olive oil.

*Disclosure: This post was sponsored by the Add Some Life as part of the Kitchen Play Sidecar series. All opinions given are my own. Some information about olive oil and olives was provided by Add Some Life.