B-B-Q!

I am usually out of town for most holidays, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, July 4th, etc, etc. but this weekend I decided to stay in LA and bbq. We all know Memorial day are for gatherings, parties, gearing up for summer vacation, and of course barbeques. Let’s give a big yeee-haaaa, for the last one again!
My fam and friends had a party this weekend and it was tribute to BBQ-ing without a grill. Long story short, we could not purchase and assemble a grill in time and I was left with produce from the farmer’s market, free range chicken, and wild caught shrimp. My intent was to grill all of this, even the pizza! Instead I served this: roasted corn on the cob with red chili butter and parmesan, herb chicken with dill cucumber sauce, mango pineapple salsa, whole roasted garlic, Baja style shrimp, a pizza of zucchini, portabellas, summer squash, and Persian mint, and the latest experiment, tostones. Another new ingredient, French Sorrel I happily found at the market and incorporated into a salad with spinach and edible flowers. Supposedly this herb also has great medicinal functionality. The leaf tastes exactly like a lemon. http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/s/sorcom64.html


Tostones are flattened fried green plantains, usually fried twice and are a common side dish in the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. Ingredients are simple but procedures are quite confusing in recipes. I managed to figure it out after a few rounds of cursing and tossing pieces to my friend’s dogs. My reward and victory dance when all was mastered: September by Earth Wind and Fire (Coming soon, a link to the music, so you all can visualize!)

These are pretty and can make for a good conversation piece. Please enjoy the step by step pictures and recipe. The dipping sauce today: Sour Cream.

3 to 4 Plantains, green (un-ripe)
1 ½ cup Olive or Canola Oil
As needed Salt
As needed Sour Cream

1. Cut ends from each plantain and cut a lengthwise slit through skin. Peel skin off slowly and carefully.
2. Cut plantains crosswise into 1-inch-thick pieces.
3. Heat oil in a sauté pan or skillet over medium heat or until just hot enough to sizzle when a plantain piece is added.
4. Sauté plantains in batches until tender and just golden, 2 to 3 minutes on each side.
5. Transfer plantains to paper towels to drain.
6. With a wooden flat spoon or spatula, flatten plantains to ¼” thick (about 2 - 3” in diameter), salt as needed.
7. Using the sauté pan/skillet again, add more oil and fry over medium heat for 3 minutes or until crispy and golden.

the CHALLENGE

I was given a task to kick start the weekend off right. One of my clients calls and says,

“Help please, can you come over and cook tomorrow night! I bought these ingredients and have 10-12 people coming over, can you come up with a something fun???”

Her email verbatim:
Subject: FOOD I HAVE

HEY TAMMY! THANKS SO MUCH FOR HAVING A GO AT THIS!!

6-7 adults (2 vegetarians) and 5 kids

I have 6 big pieces of bass I was planning to cut in half but whatever you want to do. Fresh veggies: 3 heads of cauliflower, 10 tomatoes, container baby heirloom tomatoes, 2 green onions, 4 heads of endive, 2 large tubs of organic salad, 3 stalks of romaine lettuce, mushrooms, canned baby corn, bag of carrots, mixed wild rice, red onions, tofu, and red peppers.Fruit: Small watermelon, 8 donut peaches, 8 nectarines, two bags of cherries, two bags of grapes...Let me know what else you want, it was so warm today I was wishing for a cold soup like gazpacho or something...

I felt like an ‘Iron Chef’ but with more options. It was much fun, definetly better than sliced bread, and almost comparable to getting tickets to Justin Timberlake! I told her to buy a few additional ingredients and my theme turned out, Asian-esque. They loved it and even the kids ate it. Sorry no pictures only because I was going crazy in the kitchen. Here goes my menu:

Chilled Cucumber and Avocado Soup
Organic Greens, Endive, Tear-Drop Heirloom tomatoes, Snow Peas, crispy wonton w/Sweet Chili Garlic dressing
Roasted Cauliflower and Broccoli with Sesame oil, toasted seeds
Grilled Ginger Tofu Stir Fry with Mushrooms, Carrots, Baby Corn
Grilled Chilean Sea bass with Tomato, Caper, Mint Relish
Fried Wild Rice with Edamame, Red Onion
Warm Peaches with honey fused Yogurt, Cherries, Grapes, Watermelon

Teaching 'Losers'

At work, we have the ‘Biggest Loser’ challenge and yes, it is a take off, of the TV show, promoting weight loss in a healthy and fit way. Obviously our company can not provide trainers or cameras to make sure people are losing weight in a positive manner (no fad diets, cabbage soup diet, grapefruit diet, weight loss drugs, etc), so our department decided to help by giving friendly tips and advice. My co-worker Gabel who has a Masters in Food Science, gives lectures on measuring body mass index, effects of mass calorie consumption, how to cut these amounts of calories down, and interpreting those blasted nutrition labels! My contributions are cooking classes while my other co-worker, Amy calculates the calories of the meal, while giving tidbits of the menu, such the team effort! The idea is provide people with the confidence of picking out fresh vegetables, fruit, grains, and lean meat while using a wide range of cooking techniques and flavors to prepare a nice meal. I forgot to mention we all work at a major frozen food company, ironic indeed.

For the first class, I found myself in front of 30 colleagues walking through searing chicken, the ins and outs of the supergrain, ‘Quinoa’, white vs. wheat (bread and rice) and the greats of seasonal produce at the local farmer’s market. In my second class, I encouraged discovering new cuisines/flavors, the benefits of pork ('the other' white meat), and discussed 5 exciting cooking techniques (braising, roasting, sauteing, stewing, poaching)!

On the menu, this last time.... grilled peaches…ahhh, peaches, you say, yes, that’s what my students said. Come on, let’s try to look at the old conventional peach differently, I said in class! It’s versatile and wants to be different, no more cobblers or eaten plain! I marinated my peaches in a butter simple syrup, then grilled it, adding another dimension of caramelization. BTW, simple syrup is a ratio of 1 to 1 water to sugar, my rendition of butter is for extra fat….oh, I mean flavor. Topped with ice cream, WOWsers! If you’d like to see my recipes for class, drop me a comment and I’ll be happy to share via email.

FYI, here’s what’s in and fresh for Spring at your local supermarket:

English Peas, Fava Beans, Morel Mushrooms, Asparagus, Radishes, Cauliflower, New Potatoes, Strawberries, Rhubarb, Artichokes, Ramps, Green Garlic (pictured), Blackberries, Vidalia onions

T-shirts

I am a big collector. My top 5 for right now. I am open to gifts:)

1. I “HEART” SoPas
2. Alguien me adora en Salamanca
3. American Girl Chicago
4. Virginia is for Lovers
5. I am Asian-American, hear me roar…. (just kidding about this one)

GUEST BLOG #2

9 girls, 4 flights up, 4 trips to the Fairway, 18 bottles of wine, 1 nostalgic slideshow, 5 dishes, years of friendship and lots of laughter!!!

Welcome to SET and Meg’s guest blog account of Tammy’s gourmet rooftop spectacle in honor of her cousin and our dear friend Hien.

SET: Luckily, Hien had not consumed more than two drinks before climbing four flights of very unpredictable stairs, blindfolded. Also luckily, none of the savory, satisfying pizzette (rounds of fresh baked dough smeared with baked brie, English peas, and caramelized onions) cascaded to the floor on their way to or from the oven. Did you see any spills, Meg?

MEG: No, dude, but I just learned that pizzette is the plural of pizzetta by trying to spellcheck you. Nice to have someone who studied in Florence as a blogging partner. In fact, I thought Gerlyn and Kierstin did an expert job of helping prep Tammy’s gourmet fare (and were pretty damn cool to offer the use of their most excellent Upper West Side apartment). I am amazed that Tammy Tu from back in the day has learned how to turn supermarket items into art. By far the most amazing dish of the evening IMHO was the “milk-fed” veal with those trumpet looking greens. What about you SET??

SET: Think orchestra, not band. Fiddleheads, I believe those delectable greens were called. And I agree; the veal (wrapped around fresh spinach leaves) was indeed flavorful. My own favorite dish, though, was the crostini with oil, roasted avocado (way to man the grill, Meg!), and goat cheese. Not only was it really tasty, but I liked the fact that there was a command from Tammy to put one roasted cherry tomato in your mouth before taking a bite of the bread/avocado/cheese combo.

MEG: Yes, the crostini were divine. Also to be mentioned was the speck and fava beans dish. Who knew you could just eat the whole bean like that! TASTE! (as the Nguyen-Tu cousins would say). Nice job on the cheese grating for that dish, SET. By the way, perhaps Tammy’s readers would like to know how you got your nickname and more about the party’s honoree, Miss Nguyen.

SET: Well, S, E, and T are actually my initials, as you would probably know since you have been calling me that for about ten years now, and I believe you and Hien coined the term yourselves. Oh, and Miss Nguyen. You mean my sophomore-year Chemistry lab partner? Fun times, fun times. Some of our Chemistry concoctions (main ingredient: H2SO4 concentrate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfuric_acid) were as complicated as Tammy’s bluefin crab ceviche with cucumber, yogurt, Thai basil, and cornnuts. That last unexpected ingredient sealed all the unique flavors together. Speaking of crabmeat, Meg, don’t you remember frantically rushing around the Fairway (while you held Tammy’s freshly ironed white outfit delicately on one arm), searching in four different aisles for a “tin” of "jumbo lump” crabmeat? www.fairwaymarket.com

MEG: Oops, I kind of felt like Jessica Simpson with the fish of the sea thing. Who knew that Tammy didn’t mean canned Bumblebee lump crabmeat!! Clearly I am not a very good sous-chef, but was certainly honored to watch the expert at work. We will be waiting for your Top Chef appearance, Tams!

Fundraisers, Baby Showers, Bachelorette Parties

Starting out as Personal Chef, I told myself I’d never ‘cater’ a.k.a. do birthday parties, showers, pretty much functions that I had to present ‘buffet’ style. But I learned that in life, you just have to make exceptions to the rule. My first compromise consisted of cooking at a Hollywood Fundraiser with David Lieberman. You know Dave Lieberman of the Food Network?! Well, lucky for me, he just quit his show and moved over from NY. Thanks to knowing someone who knows someone, we were introduced and he happened to need a few good chefs to cook with him. Of course, I could not say no and next thing I knew there I was plating out food for David Lieberman. We cooked many dishes but one of the cool ones was using Baby Gem Lettuce fresh from the Santa Monica Farmer’s market which was each individually served. Another neat one was, Dave’s ‘Sunday Sauce’ which was just a tomato sauce with ‘leftovers’ as he called it, of pulled beef brisket, pork sausages, and meatballs. It was awesome to work with Dave and interesting to see how a Celebrity Chef does things. http://www.davecooks.net/



Next, baby shower…usually I find them quite boring, filled with women ooo-ing and awww-ing over baby clothes, endless gift opening, and so many shades of pink and blue that make you think Easter has arrived. I love doing things for good people and a friend of mine was hosting the party for her friend who also happens to be married to the lead singer of the Indie Rock band, Gomez. could not say no either, especially when she told me the theme was Cinco de Mayo and men would be invited and plenty of alcohol served! She asked me to a create a menu devoted to Mexican, easy enough for me! Vegetable and Spinach Taquitos, Potato and English Pea Flautas, Roasted Chille Rellenos with Squash, Baja Shrimp Skewers, Chicken and Cheese Chimichurri Subs, Aztec Quinoa Salad, and a Spinach Jicama Salad were served. I had a fab time cooking, meeting a few musicians, more people in the ‘industry’, and enjoying a Margarita.

http://www.gomeztheband.com/

Lastly, organizing a Bachelorette party from cross country is a tough task, especially when I wanted to cook for it. After all, I had no idea where to order food from and costs would have be crazy, especially in New York City. I was so gracious to Gerlyn who offered up her rooptop deck for the main event. I am glad I cooked, more than anything, it was a way to express my happiness for my cousin, Hien. More on this party to come…..in the meantime, please read my cousin, Michelle's take on the party! http://www.themaltesebacon.com/