KITCHY EATS

Diddy Riese Cookies

If you go to UCLA or my old high school, you have eaten so many of these cookies you can't look at another one until you graduate.  I know this, because for every meeting, dance, play, event, pop quiz, whatever someone would bring a Diddy-dozen to celebrate or soften the blow of yet another consecutive 7 out of 10 on those damn geometry pop quizzes.  The reasons why the Westwood area is flooded with these delicious cookies are simple: they're conveniently close, crazy delicious, and mind-bendingly cheap.  $3.75 for a dozen full sized cookies.  No wonder the school handed these out like late slips.  If you're new to the Diddy Riese world, here are some helpful tips:

1.  Never go at 10 pm.  There will be a line out of the door and perhaps wrapping around the block.  I'm not kidding or overstating this at all.  All of UCLA congregates at Diddy Riese at that time because it's after they've had their dinner and procrastinated all afternoon, and just before they'll need a sugar rush to push them through late night paper writing.  Or they're high.  One of the two.

2. Smuggle them.  I always grab a half dozen of these cookies and hide them in my purse when I go to one of the huge Westwood theaters (the Bruin or the Fox, where they have all of the premieres).  Mostly because Diddy Riese is 50 feet away from either one.  And also because I get thrills out of the lamest stuff, like smuggling cookies into the movie theater. 

3. Get an ice cream sandwich. I love scraping the black-brown moist cookie off of my fingers from those ice cream sandwiches you get out of a vending machine, but the Diddy Riese ice cream sandwich takes that visceral joy and brings it to a whole new level.  Two still warm cookies of your choice with whatever Dreyer's ice cream you like.  You could make a meta ice cream sandwich with cookie dough or cookies and cream in the middle.  Just a thought.  Incidentally, because the ice cream sandwich is fresh and not stamped together in a factory, it can take on the shape of a baseball.  So grab a lot of napkins and sit down to enjoy this treat.  You can spend an afternoon wrestling one of those things. Oh but they're soooo good.

4.  Try the candy cookie.  Yeah, I know, my first inclination was chocolate chip too, but their candy cookies are the best.  The candies are like molten capsules that explode chocolate in your mouth when you bite down.  My other favorite is the white chocolate macadamia nut and the cinnamon sugar, but it's candy cookie all the way.

Candy Cookie

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookie

Cinnamon Sugar Cookie

KITCHY TV

On todays episode of Kitchy TV, my cousin Erica and I prepare Vietnamese inspired shrimp and tofu summer rolls for an Oscar party.


Summer Rolls from Claire Thomas on Vimeo.

Some photos of the finished product...

SAN SIMON CHEESE AND CHORIZO PICANTE TWO WAYS

Smoke is a very sexy spice, imbuing food with the suggestion and memory of smoldering wood. It can be sweet, it can be overpowering, it can be subtle.  And in the cases of San Simon cheese and Chorizo, it can be perfect.  

San Simon cheese is a Spanish cow's milk cheese which is molded into a pear shape and lightly smoked.  The flavor is similar to scamorza, Italian smoke mozzarella, wherein it is buttery, nutty, and smokey.  


Unlike San Simon, which gains most of its flavor from being smoked, Chorizo gains its flavor and vibrant color from smoked paprika.  The spice prickles your tongue and lingers in your throat, making it positively addictive.  Every time I pass by the little horse-shoe shaped sausage I have to cut of a piece and savor it.

So it is no surprise that these two smokey treats can be delicious when applied to just about anything.  I decided to make a day of it, and enjoyed both with my breakfast and lunch (it's not dinner time yet). Enjoy!

Best Breakfast: Sunny Side Up Eggs with Chorizo, San Simon, and Scallions

This delicious breakfast was suggested by Rafael from the Cheese Store of Beverly Hills, who helped me select the fantastic San Simon and Chorizo.  Thanks Rafael!

Ingredients:

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon chopped chorizo picante

1 tablespoon grated San Simon cheese (or scamorza)

2 teaspoons thinly sliced scallions

Fresh Groud Pepper

Drizzle of olive oil or nonstick spray

Heat a small pan over medium heat.  Drizzle lightly with olive oil or spray with nonstick spray.  Add the chorizo and let it render for a few minutes (like 2 or 3).  Crack both eggs over the chorizo, sprinkle with fresh ground pepper and the cheese.  Cover pan for one minute.  Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the egg white is opaque.  Garnish with scallions and enjoy!

Challah Grilled Cheese with San Simon and Chorizo, with Tomato Pisto Soup

To pair with the intense smokiness and spice of a San Simon and Chorizo grilled-cheese I made a roasted tomato pisto soup, with sweetness from bell peppers, onions, and roasted garlic balancing the entire dish out.  I hate when tomato soups taste like a watered down bowl of marinara sauce, but with its Spanish influence of flavors this tomato soup is comforting with its great depth of flavor.  Plus it's super easy to make.  Enjoy!

For the soup:

Ingredients:

3 large heirloom tomatoes, quartered with tops removed (meaning the part with small leaves attached to the main fruit)

1 red onion, quartered

2 small japanese eggplants

2 bell peppers, skin, pith, and seeds removed, and quartered.

1 head of garlic

1 14 oz can of chicken broth

2 tablespoons of chorizo picante, chopped

Salt

Pepper

2 teaspoons of chopped Thyme leaves

Olive Oil

Pre heat the oven to 400 F.  Place the tomatoes, onion, and eggplants on an edged baking sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil and salt.  Peel the entire head of garlic and place the cloves, save one, in a sheet of aluminum foil.  drizzle with olive oil and salt and wrap into a ball.  Add the ball to the baking sheet and place in the oven for 30 minutes, or until everything if soft and juicy and the onions are slightly caramelized.

Meanwhile, peel the bell peppers by charring them over an open flame then placing them in an ice water bath until cooled.  The skin should peel right off.

Once the vegetables are done roasting, remove from the oven.  Leave the ball of garlic in the oven for an extra 10 minutes.  Using a spoon, scoop out the flesh of the eggplant and place in a blender.  Remove the outer skin of the onion and place the rest in the blender.  Remove the skin of the tomatoes (they should fall right off) and place the tomato flesh and juice in the blender.  Add the bell pepper, roasted garlic, chopped thyme, and about a teaspoon of fresh ground pepper and salt.  Blend until soupy (meaning, not pureed like baby food, but not too chunky).  

Add the mixture to a pot.  Add the can of chicken stock and stir over medium heat.  Meanwhile, render the fat from the chorizo in a separate pan and add just the fat/juices to the soup, reserving the chorizo bits.  You can eat these yourself or use them for garnish.

Allow the soup to simmer for at least 30 minutes, to thicken.  Mince the clove of raw garlic and add to the soup.  Taste and adjust salt and pepper.  The soup is quite sweet, so a good deal of salt will be needed.  The longer the soup simmers, the deeper the flavors will become, so feel free to make ahead and simmer away.  Enjoy!

For the Grilled Cheese:

1/4 cup grated San Simon cheese (or scamorza)

4 thin slices of chorizo, halved

2 slices of Challah bread (or any egg bread)

1/2 tablespoon butter

The Challah bread is rich and slightly sweet, balancing out the smokey cheese and meat perfectly.

On one slice of bread arrange half of the cheese, the chorizo slices, and then the rest of the cheese on top.  Take the other slice of bread and press down. In a small pan, melt the butter over medium-low heat.  Once the pan is heated and the butter is completely melted, put the sandwich into the pan.  Cook until the bottom is browned and the cheese is starting to get gooey.  Flip, and cook until the other side is brown and the cheese is completely melted.  Slice in half and enjoy!

CUCUMBER MINT LEMONADE

Co-ed cocktails are tricky.  They can't be too red or pink, otherwise people will assume you're having a lonely marathon of Sex and the City episodes, or the slightly more depressing marathon of 90210 reruns that play on lifetime.  I only say this from experience.  You can't make a huge batch of vodka tonics, because though they are delicious they aren't too festive.  They're also not cocktails, they're highballs.  So when an event like a mixed Oscar party rolls around, what's a girl to do? I stick with the easy "what do I like drinking? "route.  It's usually a good place to start.

And this time cucumbers sprung to mind.  I used to infuse my own vodka with a mix of cucumbers, lemons, limes, oranges, and watermelon to mix with just soda water or enjoy straight up on a hot summer's eve.  The taste of cucumber has that lip smacking freshness that pleases every palette, boys and girls included.  And without a week available to infuse an entire batch of vodka for my cousins' Oscar party, I had to come up with a quick solution.  Luckily I stopped by one of my favorite lunch spots, Lemonade in Beverly Hills, where they serve the most delicious array of salads, sandwiches and lemonade.  I usually have the blueberry mint lemonade, but cucumber mint spoke to me and I went with that.  Wow, was it refreshing.  The perfect balance of sweet and tart with that lovely cucumber flavor.  Perfect to drink alone or mix with vodka.  So here's my variation of Lemonade's creation.  It's delicious, refreshing, and pleases every partygoer.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2-3 large hot-house cucumbers (those really long skinny ones)

3 cups of freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 bunch of mint, leaves removed (about 2 1/2 cups)

1 1/2 cup sugar dissolved into 1/4 cup water

3 cups cold water

Vodka (optional)

Directions:

Dissolve the sugar and water in a pan over moderate heat until clear and simmering on the edges.  Allow to cool completely (I just chuck it in the freezer for 15 minutes).

Peel and roughly chop the cucumbers.  Add them, the lemon juice, mint leaves, and sugar syrup in a blender and puree.  Taste and adjust the flavors to your liking, remembering that the mixture will be diluted with water.  Pour the puree through a sieve and add the water, just two cups at first.  Taste, and add the extra cup if it suits your palette. Pour into a glass with a few ice cubes, a sprig of mint and a shot of vodka for a sophisticated and dangerously refreshing cocktail.  Enjoy!

KITCHY ENDORSEMENTS

MASHTI MALONE ICE CREAM

Certain things I will eat until there is nothing left: french fries, rilletes, sugar snap peas...and ice cream.  I love vanilla as much as those unique flavors that are so au courant right now: olive oil, black sesame seed, chocolate stout.  But Mashti Malone is its own thing altogether.  The flavor profiles are unique, certainly, but all based in aromatics found in Persian cuisine.  Rosewater, saffron, cardamom, and pistachio nuts are just some of the ingredients that make their way into Mashti Malone ice cream. 

They have many different flavors available for scooping at their store, plus they can hand pack pints for you to take out.  Below are three of my favorite pints:  Saffron Rosewater with Pistachios, Herbal Snow Sorbet, and Lavender.

This ice cream is spectacular.  The saffron adds earthy spice and depth to the cream, while the rosewater mysteriously lingers in the background.  The pistachios add a lovely crunch and nuttiness.

 

The herbal snow is, as Churchill would've said, a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.  When it first lands on your palette, the flavors a subtle.   Lime and cardamon are the first flavors to hit, with floral notes coming up at the end.  The basil seeds have a slightly gelatinous texture, and crunch when bitten.  It's out there, but totally addicting and refreshing.

Lavender is a tough flavor, as it usually tastes like someone accidentally dumped your food in a bubble bath.  Not so with this lavender.  The lavender here has an earthy quality rather than a perfumey one.  It's intoxicating and delicious.

KITCHY EATS

I love visiting Pasadena.  Usually for the Rose Bowl flea market (the second Sunday of every month), which is so massive and overwhelming, you have to come with a game plan.  My sister and I set up a rendezvous point (usually the beef jerky booth) and separate, knowing that going in a pair would merely slow us down.  I always search for the same things: paper products (post cards, posters, images, books, whatever), glassware, and cool trinkets (like a vase shaped like a deer, or my Piggy Jigger).  Amanda usually heads straight for the clothes, which is in it's own separate parking lot.   Afterword we go to Old Town to window shop and grab some lunch.  

My other favorite Pasadena excursion is Huntington Gardens.  In the summer the scent of roses is thick in the air, and the rose garden is usually my first destination.  The cacti garden follows, mostly because they just look so cool and abstract. After a trip to the gardens, I celebrate the good weather with a burger and slice of the best pecan pie ever from Pie n' Burger on Lake Ave, just down the street from the gardens.

The burger is like a dressed up version of an In n' Out animal style burger: fluffy bun, delicious meat, topped with grilled onions, pickles, and thousand island dressing.  It's perfectly satiating, hitting that burger spot.  The fries are just as straightforward, crunchy on the outside, soft in the middle.  But the pecan pie.  Oh Lord that pie!  We got a slice fresh from the oven, with vanilla ice cream melting down the sides, and it was beyond the beyond.  Crunchy, sweet, nutty, caramally, gooey, oozy...all of my favorite words that end in "y."  Make sure you ask for it heated up, because it makes a difference.  So if any guys are reading this post, you have your perfect Pasadena date: a stroll around Huntington gardens, lunch at Pie n' Burger, and maybe an afternoon at the Norton Simon Museum.  Enjoy! 


The burger, with cheese and grilled onions.







Just look at this pie!  

The carnage!

In the summer, they have fresh fruit pies too.  I can't wait to come back and try the ollallieberry (which is like a cross between a blackberry, raspberry, and dewberry)!

PEAR UPSIDE DOWN CAKE WITH LEMON-THYME SYRUP

The cusp between winter and spring can be a frustrating time for a fruit lover like myself.  Fruit imposters litter the supermarket, looking beautiful, but tasting awful.  I don't even think about looking at the tomatoes, it's too depressing.  Now is the time that I must drown my winter blues in the crumb of a syrupy, warm, gorgeous cake.  

My aunt recently brought over her lovely pineapple-upside cake.  It looks like a stained glass window, with maraschino cherries and pecans dotting the glistening surface.  And while I'll gobble up that cake faster than anything, I wanted to mix it up a little and revamp this fabulously retro cake.  So the pineapple was switched with pears, which have an earthiness that suits the cold weather outside perfectly.  And instead of melted apricot jam to paint the surface, I made a lemon-thyme syrup, which brings a liveliness to this scrumptious tea cake.  One cake is technically enough for 8, but I might make an extra to enjoy with a cold glass of milk after everyone has left.

Ingredients:

2, 8.5 ounce cans of sliced pears

1/3 cup melted butter

1/3 cup golden brown sugar

1/2 cup pear juice, reserved from can

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon double acting baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

For the syrup:

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
3 bunches of fresh thyme
1/2 cup white sugar

Directions

Pre heat oven to 350 F.

In a small pot, stir together the lemon juice, sugar, and whole bunches of thyme.  Heat the mixture on medium for about 10 minutes, until the sugar is dissolves and the liquid is clear.  Take off the heat and set aside while you prepare the cake batter.

Spray a 9 inch pie pan with non-stick spray, then pour the melted butter into the bottom of the pan.  Sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over the butter, and press down, to moisten all of the sugar.  Separate the pears from the juice, and dry them out on a paper towel.  Slice the pear slices in half, and arrange in the pan in whatever pattern you like (i did a sort of pin wheel design).  

For the batter, sift the dry ingredients and set aside.  Whip the eggs for one minute on high, until light and frothy.  Add the sugar slowly, still beating on high until the eggs are very pail and light (4 more minutes).  Add the vanilla and pear juice, beating slowly.  Add the dry ingredients, also beating on low.  Pour the batter evenly over pears in the pan, and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until golden brown and pulling away from the edges.

Once baked, immediately flip the cake out onto a platter.  Do this by placing the platter over the pan, and flipping gently.  Don't immediately remove the pan.  Let it rest for a minute or two so it can completely unstick itself.

While the cake is warm, cover the entire cake with the lemon-thyme syrup with a brush.  Let the cake sit for 30 minutes, just to let the syrup soak in.  Serve alone or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  Enjoy!

KITCHY EATS

Tokyo 7-7 is a place time forgot.  Literally.  This place has been around since lava and and those fish with legs roamed Culver City.  Evidence?  This little coffee shop is wedged between the Cardiff parking structure and the backside of Akasha.  The new Downtown Culver City sprung up around it.  Secondly, the prices are from 1977 and I don't think anyone has bothered to tell the management about the past 30 years of incremental inflation.  They serve one egg, side of bacon, side of home-fries, and toast for $2.65.  That's cheaper than eating as a senior at Denny's.  Also, wood panelling on the walls is a good indicator of being around for a long, long time.  Like syndicated episodes of the Brady Bunch.

This longevity, however, proves that some good things stick around, as the breakfast is tasty and straightforward.  I had a Royal, a Hawaiian version of an omelette (open faced and on rice) and it was savory, massive, and delicious (though I might go with the vegetable version next time, as the Cha Shu was a little dry).  They have a ton of Japanese/Hawaiian breakfast choices which sound intriguing to say the least.  The older Japanese waitresses kept our coffee cups filled and were as friendly as can be.  We ordered more food and coffee than we could eat and it cost $11 for two people.  Awesome.

The crazy breakfast prices.

Nothing like wood paneled walls.

The breakfast special.

French toast with a dusting on powdered sugar.

My Cha Shu (teriyaki pork) Royal.