pad thai

You guys, I've become a little bit addicted... to sriracha. It's just so tasty and adds a kick to any dish... I seriously can't stop using it (as I write this with a mouth full of sriracha'ed pad Thai... crying a little bit because I used too much). Ever since my cooking class in Thailand, I've been dying to make some of the dishes... mainly, the pad thai. Finally, I bit the bullet and bought all of the ingredients to recreate this memorable feast. 

Ingredients

Rice noodles (pre-soak in hot water until soft and cooked), chicken breast (optional), vegetable oil, brown sugar, soy sauce, 1/2 tablespoon red curry paste, two eggs, garlic, 1 tablespoon tamarind paste, bean sprouts, green onion, soy sauce, chopped peanuts, sriracha, cilantro

First, soften noodles in a bowl of hot water until soft. Then heat oil over low heat and add diced garlic, mushrooms, bean sprouts and chicken. Once chicken is cooked, cut into bite size pieces and crack the eggs right into the pan, stirring rapidly until they become scrambled. Add cooked rice noodles, soy sauce to taste, a pinch of brown sugar, half a teaspoon of red curry paste and one tablespoon tamarind paste to the cooked ingredients. Add green onions and more soy sauce if necessary. Top with chopped peanuts, cilantro and the appropriate amount of sriarcha and serve. 

{Especially delicious with this avocado cilantro salad. Nom. Nom. Nom.}

(not weiner) schnitzel

Recently, my family found this fantastic recipe and we decided to try it ourselves. Needless to say, it was the perfect chicken dish, combining both zesty and peppery flavors. Plus, it was quick. Winner winner chicken dinner!

Ingredients

4 boneless chicken breasts, 1/2 cup flour, 1 cup plain panko breadcrumbs, 

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, 2 eggs, salt and pepper, 

olive oil, fresh lemon juice (about 4 teaspoons), 

3 cups arugula and 1/2 of a small red onion, thinly sliced

First, cut chicken breasts in half (vertically) and open. Cover with plastic wrap and pound out the chicken until thin. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Place flour in a dish; panko and parmesan in a second dish; and eggs (beaten) in a third dish. Dredge chicken in flour, dip in egg wash and dredge in panko mixture. Cook cutlets in olive oil on the stove, two minutes each side. Continue until all chicken breasts have been breaded and fried. Place in a pan and keep in the oven. 

In a small bowl, whisk one tablespoon olive oil with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Add this dressing mixture to a bed of arugula and the thinly sliced red onions. Arrange chicken and top with arugula mixture.

For an extra kick, add a bit of lemon juice to the egg wash to bring out the lemon in the salad topping. 

{Seriously one of the best chicken recipes ever... try it out and let me know how it turns out!}

inspired by locals: juan from MIHO gastrotruck

all photos courtesy of MIHO gastrotruck

Last week, I was privileged to meet with Juan Miron, co-founder of MIHO Gastrotruck [my favorite place to eat...ever]. Besides making the best food [again...ever], it was a particularly special meeting because Juan is essentially my idol and role model, a local celebrity, if you will. I was probably more excited to talk with him than if I ever in a million years had the chance to chat with Johnny Depp...or someone like that. I have been a ridiculously huge fan of MIHO for years and despite Juan's growing business with several new projects in the works, he happily agreed to meet me for a beer [Societe The Apprentice] and we chatted food and business for a good hour and a half. Best. Day. Ever.

How did MIHO Gastrotruck begin?

My wife [Farra] and I met in college at explored our passion for farm-to-table food. We would host underground beer dinners as a creative outlet.We charged people just to break even but it would include four courses and beer pairings and was more more like a six hour party where people would come hangout out and sample cheese and meat boards and 10 or so beers and special kegs. We presented it like a pop up restaurant in the living and dining room of a house with white linen silverware and glassware. Kevin [co-owner] and I met in 2008 working at The Linkery and when we told him about the dinners, he was in.

[Umm... can I do that? Who's with me?]

You mentioned that you worked at Starbucks for a while. How did you decide to up and leave a stable job with benefits in order to follow your dream for MIHO?
I left Starbucks and just decided to go and work with no bar tender experience, I just moved up. It was fun to be in the night life, getting to taste beer, wine and good food. It was nice meeting people and then going out with them until 2 or 3 a.m. and not waking til 10 a.m. I didn’t worry about it. I just hoped something would work out.

What were the biggest challenges you faced when starting your business?
Money. We took out a personal loan. It was a big risk, but it was fun. We worked for three months, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at my house on a business plan and then worked at The Linkery at night to raise capital We used to say whenever we launched a truck and it's super sunny and we don’t feel like cooking…we'll just go to the beach and not cook!

How has MIHO evolved over the years?

The menu used to change every two weeks but it was cost restrictive and challenging. The menu has always been inspired by international street food sourced from local farms.

What were the original menu items?

A harissa burger [grass fed beef, caramelized onion, bib leaf lettuce, harissa aioli and a bun] as well as chicken banh mi, tofu banh mi, cochinita bebil, Yucatan slowly grazed tacos, which we're bringing back during anniversary week, salad and fries.

Currently, what is your long-term goal for MIHO?
Our biggest goal is to tap into traditional catering without the truck. We get a lot of truck catering and we really want to establish MIHO as a food entity and not just a food truck.

[MIHO will most definitely be catering my wedding. Nom.]

Your truck is pretty, your food is always presented beautifully and all MIHO-related stuff just looks so....good! What is your secret?

Kevin and I are both into fashion,music and design and we wanted to incorporate that into our product. We didn't see ourselves slinging food off of a truck but creating a "MIHO Experience..." like you're listening to music, you have eye candy, you get to know the staff and most importantly you get there a break from everyday life.

Where does "MIHO" come from? I always thought it was a reference to "my son" [hijo] in Spanish.
You're sort of right, but it's mostly a fusion of me and Kevin's last names [MIron/HO]

So where do foodies like you go out for dinner?

I love El Take It Easy, their fried oysters with peach oil sauce and fried ham or their fish tacos with kimchi and chevre OR their carnitas tacos. Plus they have amazing cocktails. They get credit they deserve. They're putting out Baja cuisine, which makes sense with the TJ and Ensenada influences here. I also like Starlite's brunch, Jayne's Gastropub, Farmhouse Café and Gabardine [Chef Chad White is amazing].

What about food trucks? Who does a good job?
Neither of us have ever eaten at another food truck in San Diego!

"We're not out for making money…. but we want to watch people enjoying the product and inspiration." 

Juan Miron 

Co-Owner of MIHO Gastrotruck

{Stay tuned for MIHO Gastrotruck's anniversary the week of June 18 for special menu items
and new and exciting project announcements!}

mac n' cheese muffin cups

A while back, I found a recipe for mac n' cheese muffin cups so obviously I tried it out...immediately. I have been trying to perfect these little bundles of cheesy joy for a while now and I THINK I've finally discovered the key: asiago cheese. Though it shouldn't be the main ingredient of your mac, even adding just a tad of asiago really binds the other cheeses together (in my case I used mozzarella, a shredded jack/cheddar mix and quality parmesan). Nom.

Ingredients: 

various cheeses, milk, elbow macaroni, 

butter & breadcrumbs.

First, boil macaroni until cooked al dente and strain. Turn heat down and add macaroni back to pot. Add cheeses of your choice [I recommend incorporating asiago], 1/4 cup of milk and a tablespoon of butter. Mix on low heat until macaroni is coated in melted cheese. Spoon macaroni and cheese into muffin tin. Top with panko and broil until top is browns.

{Don't forget to grease the muffin pan!}

fig + goat cheese pizza

A couple weeks ago, I went to my cousin Molly's house in Pasadena to stay for a night with her, her husband Schuyler, their two adorable kids [most likely the only children that aren't in India that I'll ever love] and my other cousin Clare. Here's the thing about my cousin Molly. She's essentially what every young woman strives to be: she's a successful marketing consultant for Nestle, she has impeccable taste in home decor, children's clothes and her own clothes, she's married to most girls' dream guy and she is a FABULOUS chef. Though she rarely has time for herself, Molly made homemade pizza for dinner, complete with homemade crust. Though I'm usually skeptical of sweet-ish pizzas, I could not get enough of her fig, goat cheese, prosciutto and mozzarella cheese pizza. It was absolutely perfect.

Since the visit, I had been dying to recreate the recipe and on Friday, I took the plunge and invited over Lori, Chris and Vanessa as my guinea pigs. Needless to say, it was essentially a disaster and they were great sports.

Since god forbid I read the recipe in advance, I didn't exactly realize that I needed to make the pizza dough two or more hours ahead of time [I know I know I know, some foodie I am] and realized about 10 minutes before everyone was coming over that there was no way I could pull it off. So I rushed to Fresh & Easy to pick up their pre-made dough and alas, they were sold out. In a slight panic, I sped down University Ave. to try and make it to Trader Joe's before they closed when I had a brilliant beyond brilliant idea: URBN.

Now, URBN pizza and I have a very special bond. I eat and/or drink there around three times a week and I have made friends with almost all of the bartenders. So in my frenzied state, I stopped my car essentially in the middle of University Ave. with my hazards on and made a slightly crazy phone call to URBN, begging for pizza dough. Turns out, URBN is even better than I thought and they sold me two pizza dough balls [!!!]... saving the day, yet again.

nom to say the least and topped with thyme

Ingredients: pizza dough, fig dalmatia, goat cheese,

mozzarella cheese, prosciutto, onions, 

flour & olive oil

First, lightly coat a cookie sheet with olive oil. Roll out pizza dough using flour and stretch out to cover the cookie sheet. Layer fig dalmatia, prosciutto, goat cheese and mozzarella cheese. Cook on 375 degrees  until dough is cooked and cheese lightly browns.

In the end, the night was not a total fiasco [minus I forgot to grease the pan and the pizza stuck pretty badly] and I learned a lot; for example that it's pretty hard to grocery shop and then cook a full meal after a work day and it's always a good idea to read the recipe [at least] a night before. But everyone had a full and happy stomach and those are pretty much the only goals I have when hosting a dinner party.

{Did I mention I had some pretty great beer too? Happy Almost Monday!}

indigo grill

In honor of Amanda's birthday, we decided to go to Indigo Grill in Little Italy. The place was fabulous. The cuisine is southwestern/American and everything we ordered was a feast.

lovely decor

mussels

SPINCH CHICKEN SALAD THE BEST THING EVER

one more time

grilled romaine salad

rev love

beautiful lisa

I ordered the spinach salad. usually, as you may have noticed, I don't usually order salads as a main course when I go out to eat [who wants to be the girl who only eats salad? lame]. Plus, to me, salads are less about the lettuce/spinach/greens and more about the treats you get on top. Oftentimes, the treats are limited which give salads a bad name. But this one sounded TOO good. It was a heaping helping of spinach with strawberries, nuts, roasted pepitas tossed with caramelized orange pasilla dressing. THEN there were a couple of corn fritters, a pile of spaghetti squash, chicken and toasted garlic chips on top.

{i'll never judge salads again. yum dood.}