Recipe: Cheesy Chicken and Rice Bake

I've been meaning to make this for months! This is a pantry meal though which means it's perfect for days when you having nothing fresh to eat in your fridge and end up pulling out a can of beans, cook some rice, and voila. The recipe is flexible for subs and add-ins; I had no cheese so mine is sans cheese and I added in some taco seasoning for some extra flavor.

Cheesy Chicken and Rice
Adapted from How Sweet Eats
Serves 4-6

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
4 cups cooked brown rice
3/4 cup frozen corn
15 ounces black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup plain greek yogurt
1 cup low-fat cheddar cheese (optional)
4 ounces can green chilis
½ cup salsa
1 tbsp taco seasoning
salt & pepper to taste

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a large bowl, combine chicken, rice, corn, black beans, greek yogurt, chilis, and salsa.
Season with salt and pepper.
Transfer to an oven-safe dish and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until heated through.

Stranded: Golden Gate Bridge

I haven't been driving my scooter to work for the past few days because of the rain. I took the bus one morning and ended up stranded at the Golden Gate Bridge. Although I was late to work, walking in the wet morning crisp air felt so pure.

Cookbooks on Cookbooks

I hope it never ends. This is my happy place.

Le Soleil

After a nice Sunday hike/walk at Lands End, we walked to the Inner Richmond for dinner. We stopped for tea at some point and continued on our way until we reached Le Soleil. We didn't really have a place to go in mind so we were open to trying a new restaurant. Le Soleil seems like a French inspired Vietnamese restaurant and not being very familiar with Vietnamese food in general, our server was kind enough to explain and recommend dishes. Obviously I enjoyed all the coconut milk in nearly every dish.

We started with the crepe and the server explained to wrap the crepe in the lettuce and dip it into the sauce. This was probably my favorite dish of the night! We also shared the curry short rib, which was super rich and came with a side of garlic bread. The shaken beef was pretty good too and came with a side of brown rice. Overall the food was solid but not really worth going out of my way to come back.

Chicken & Shrimp Turmeric Crepe with mung bean, bean sprouts filling, & coconut milk with fresh vegetables

Curry Short Rib with braised boneless short ribs in yellow curry with potatoes, carrots, & lime leaf; garlic bread

Luc Lac "Shaken Beef": wok tossed flank steak with lemon pepper dipping sauce and brown rice

Recipe: Italian Meatballs

Promptly after returning from NYC, I made meatballs! Never really have been a meatball fan, I even surprised myself. I was inspired by The Meatball Shop and Simply Recipe's Italian Meatballs recipe. I chose to use panko breadcrumbs and roasted the meatballs instead of cooking them on the skillet. I also strayed with a different marinara sauce. Start cooking the marinara sauce first so that it'll simmer while the meatballs are prepared.



Marinara Sauce
Adapted from The New York Times
Serves ~4

Ingredients
1 28-ounce can peeled plum tomatoes
1 cup water
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
garlic cloves, minced
pinch crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp kosher salt
¼ tsp dried oregano

Instructions
In a large skillet over medium heat, heat the oil. When it is hot, add garlic.
As soon as garlic is sizzling (do not let it brown), add the tomatoes and water.
Add red pepper flakes, oregano, and salt. Stir.
Crush the tomatoes lightly with the back of a spoon as they cook, and stir occasionally.
Simmer very gently for 45 minutes until sauce thickens and oil on surface is a deep orange.


Italian Meatballs
Inspired by Simply Recipes
Serves ~6 (makes 24 1½-inch meatballs)

Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
1/3 cup milk
1½ ounces panko bread crumbs
1/8 cup ricotta cheese
1/8 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 egg
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp black pepper
½ dried oregano
1½ garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp olive oil

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
Heat the milk in a small pot until steamy.
Turn off the heat and soak the panko crumbs until it partially dissolves. Mash until it becomes a paste. Turn it out onto a plate to let it cool.
In a large bowl, combine the beef, ricotta cheese, grated parmesan, eggs, salt, oregano, black pepper, garlic cloves, and the panko-milk mixture.
Mix it well with hands until it barely combines. Don't overwork the mixture or it will become tough.
Wet your hands and form the meatballs.
Set each one on a baking sheet and roast in oven for ~20 minutes.
Once all the meatballs are firm and fully cooked, remove from the oven and drain the excess grease from the pan.
Arrange meatballs in sauce, turning each one over in the sauce to coat. Cover the pot and simmer gently. Serve with sauce and pasta, crusty bread, or atop salad greens.

New York City Part 4

Last full day in NYC!

I made it my mission to try all that I came to try. First stop, Chobani SoHo. My obsession with Chobani lives on. We shared the Hummus + Za'atar with pita chips and Mango + Avocado with tortilla chips. I really liked the hummus + za'atar and want to make it at home because it seems simple enough. I also had a fangirl moment when the CEO walked in and my sister thought I was crazy for knowing his name slash even recognizing him.

Hummus + Za'atar with pita chips

Mango + Avocado with tortilla chips

I came to NYC with a crucial goal: to try the Momofuku Pork Buns. I heart the ones from Ippudo so I had to compare. I went to Momofuku Noodle Bar, sat at the bar, and enjoyed an order of pork buns. Maybe I had too high expectations but the pork buns from Ippudo are better!

Momofuku Pork Buns: pork belly, hoisin, cucumber, scallions

My sister had to go to work so I spent the day walking around the city. I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and also spent a few hours at Kitchen Arts & Lectures, a foodie cookbook sanctuary. Comparable to Omnivore Books on Food in San Francisco but less fancy. They had a huge selection of cookbooks and books on food and while I wanted to get new cookbooks, I had to control myself.

For dinner my sister met me at Momofuku Ko! It only seats 12 people a night so making reservations at this restaurants is ridiculous, where seats are booked literally within milliseconds. So we were super excited to get two spots and it was by far the best dining experience I've had. No photographs are allowed inside the restaurant so I'm guessing there were around 13 courses. And there's no advance menu so customers don't know what they'll get that night. I could have looked up some dishes but I really wanted to relish in the surprise. The menu was definitely seafood heavy so good thing I like fish! My favorites of the night were the dumplings in a delicious broth, soft-cooked egg over onion soubise with caviar & potato chips, the homemade potato bread with smoked butter (soooo good), and the shaved foie gras with lychee, riesling jelly, & pine nut brittle. The foie gras was a crazy melt-in-your-mouth experience.

New York City Part 3

Day 3 was jam-packed with activities.

First, we met up with a friend at La Colombe Torrefaction for coffee and pastries. Note: the sun! We shared a few pastries between us and I don't know what kind of bun mine was but it was delicious.

For lunch we met up with another friend at The Meatball Shop, which I'm not pretty obsessed with. It has solid food and I loved that the menu comes with a dry-erase marker so you can customize your order by choosing the base, the meatballs, and the sauce. I went with the spicy pork meatballs over polenta and it came out with a slice of focaccia bread. My sister got the spicy pork meatballs over risotto and added a fried egg on top.

I've never been to the MoMA before so my sister and I went to check it out. I really liked the Ten Thousand Waves screening and of course, had to take a picture next to a Mondrian print.

For dinner we headed to Lam Zhou Handmade Noodle in Chinatown for their Beef Soup Noodles and boiled dumplings. It was by far the cheapest meal of the trip and pretty hole-in-the-wall. It was pretty amusing to hear the noodles being made in the back, where all of a sudden I would hear really loud slapping sounds. 

New York City Part 2

We kicked off my second day in NYC with bagels at Russ & Daughters. I was SO excited to go there because one, I've been on a bagel kick lately, and two, it's been on my food bucket list, and three, this. Although, who knew bagel sandwiches could be so $$. But so worth it and despite all the amazing food I had in NYC, I still crave the bagel sandwiches at Russ & Daughters. My sister and I both ordered different sandwiches and shared half and half.

I ordered the Super Heebster: whitefish & baked salmon salad with horseradish dill cream cheese and wasabi flying fish roe on a wheat everything bagel. My sister got the Daughters' Delight: gaspe nova and wild alaskan salmon roe with cream cheese on an everything bagel. The Daughters' Delight was pretty salty while the Super Heebster had a sweetness to it. I liked them both!

Super Heebster: whitefish & baked salmon salad with horseradish dill cream cheese and wasabi flying fish roe

I really wanted to go to Smorgasburg, the indoor Brooklyn Flea Food Market, so we took the train across the Brooklyn Bridge and explored Williamsburg and the Waterfront Promenade before heading to Smorgasburg. The waterfront had a fantastic view of the NYC skyline. And Smorgasburg was fun because I spotted a blogger vendor.

After wandering all day, we went to The NoMad for dinner! I made reservations 28 days in advance because I knew I couldn't go to NYC without eating at Daniel Humm's restaurant. I've become smitten with Daniel Humm and Will Guidara ever since I heard them speak in San Francisco. They just embody New York to me and so I was super excited to eat at The NoMad. The restaurant is located inside the hotel and the ambiance of the dining room was large and open yet cozy and romantic.

The star dish of the night was the roasted chicken, which was stuffed with foie gras. It was my first time having foie gras and I was super excited since it's something I can't get in San Francisco. I thought it was also somewhat amusing that the waiter brings out the whole-roasted chicken to the table and shows it to us before taking it back into the kitchen and plating it.

Tagliatelle with king crab, meyer lemon & black pepper

Whole-Roasted Chicken: stuffed with foie gras, black truffle, brioche

Milk & Honey: shortbread, brittle & ice cream

New York City Part 1

I returned this week from a 4-night trip to New York City to visit my older sister. It's been over a year since the last time I was in New York so I'm so glad I went. It was a food filled trip for sure. And darn, was it cold. I was bundled up in so many layers the whole time and it hurt to be outside. The weather cleared up a little bit over the few days but it definitely made me thankful for California weather.

A few hours after I arrived to my sister's apartment, we walked just a short distance to grab ramen at Minca for dinner. We sat at the bar and watched the chefs at work. I thought it was pretty cool that you can choose the type of noodle and broth you'd like. We both ordered the Spicy Miso Ramen in pork broth and on a cold night, it was perfect.

Minca: Spicy Miso Ramen

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day?

Eiji Part 1

This might be my favorite Japanese restaurant in the city! I've been really digging the simplicity and refinement of all things Japanese lately and I just want to buy all new kitchen and dinnerware that embodies Japanese minimalism. We made a reservation for 5:30 pm thinking it'd be crowded but nope, it was pretty empty and so mellow. I hope this place doesn't get hyped up because it was SO nice not to have to wait an hour in line for food as per usual.

I like to try new foods at restaurants so we ordered off the specials board. We started off with the Oboro tofu which is made-to-order hot and comes out with a tray of six different toppings. We then got Eggplant with Walnut Miso, Uni (my favorite!), Bottleneck Clam Nigiri, and the Chef's Choice Sushi. The eggplant was my favorite of the night. It came out steaming hot and was so so so good. I made a mental note in my head to definitely cook it at home.

Finally we ended the meal by sharing the Strawberry Mochi because it's homemade and I just had to try it. The mochi was wrapped around a fresh strawberry and a thin layer of red bean paste. It wasn't super sweet so totally up my alley. Definitely will be coming back to Eiji!

Oboro Tofu

Strawberry Mochi

Galentine's Day!

I don't watch Parks and Recreation so I kind of missed the reference to Galentine's Day but I'm so happy to have participated none the less! My friend hosted a lovely brunch at her apartment, complete with pink heart decor. I am so thankful to have such girl friends in my life and to get to know new friends. Lots of mimosas and coffee cake were had and I helped my friend cook the potato frittata and lemon ricotta waffles. I'll put the recipes up in separate posts after I try my hand at them myself because both dishes were delicious! The coffee cake was pretty amazing too.

Pancetta

I was invited to dinner at a work family's home in Noe Valley. What an absolutely beautiful home; I was taken aback by the gorgeous city views. The highlight of the evening was meeting Pancetta, the family's pet pig! I love how Pancetta oinks around the house. Too cute.

Tea Time

No longer just dirty water.

Otoro Sushi

It's my third time at Otoro Sushi! A big part of why I keep returning is that the restaurant actually takes reservations! I also like the ambiance because it's never too loud or too crowded but has a nice buzz to it.

It's also hard for sushi restaurants to really stand out in my opinion but Otoro has a really tasty specials board menu that I like to order off of in pursuit of something unique. This time we ordered the Hamachi Carpaccio with avocado, mango, and truffle oil. So fresh and good! I wanted to try a new roll and got the Cherry Blossom Roll, which had salmon and avocado with tuna on top. I also had a small bowl of miso ramen and sipped some sake. The only other time I had sake, it was warm sake and I thought it was disgusting. Not so bad this time.

Hamachi Carpaccio

Zuni Café

Finally got to try the legendary Zuni Café! Knowing in advance that the famous roasted chicken with warm bread salad takes an hour to cook in the oven, we made reservations for early Sunday evening. I requested a table near the kitchen because I always enjoy watching the kitchen staff prepare the food. 

We started with the (also famous) Caesar Salad, which I really wanted to try so that I can learn to make better caesar dressing. But the dressing was almost too tart so I might stick with my own recipe for now... The roasted chicken took around 40 minutes rather than the approximately one hour notice and while the chicken was delicious, the warm bread salad was the best part of the whole dish. Also, the menu says "chicken for two" but we found that it could easily fill 3-4 people. I took home leftovers and am excited to eat it again, yay.

Tasty but not sure if it's worth the hype. If you like roasted chicken, you'll obviously like Zuni's roasted chicken. So now it's my turn to try and make the chicken at home following Judy Rodger's recipe. Stay tuned.

P.S. The staff were super nice so they win on that.

Zuni Caesar Salad

Chicken for two roasted in the brick oven; warm bread salad with scallions, garlic, dandelion greens, dried currants, and pine nuts

Inspiration Point

That bay view.

B★Star Bar

My first time trying Burmese food!

I've never heard of Burmese food until I came to San Francisco and kept hearing about how great Burma Superstar is. I attempted to get in the door at Burma Superstar but over an hour wait just wasn't going to happen for me. So my friend and I walked less than two blocks down to Burma Superstar's more Asian Fusion little sister restaurant, B★Star Bar. With virtually no wait and even the option to make reservations or call ahead and put a name down, I was already a fan.

The Tea Leaf Salad was a must order and our waitress recommended the Kau Soi and Lamb Curry. The salad was amazing. I'm big on food texture and love crunch (i.e. crunchy peanut butter, granola, cereal...), and this salad was unlike anything I've ever had before. The waiter even explained the ingredients and mixed it up for us tableside.

The Kau Soi is very rich and is basically a noodle dish with coconut and chicken. I've only had lamb maybe two times before and never really liked it so I was pleasantly surprised by how tender the lamb in the Lamb Curry was. I'm also big on coconut rice so win! I also ordered a Lychee Martini but the order got lost and I got a Lychee Smoothie instead... which was good but not what I ordered. I received the martini at the end though so I got to try it. Very lychee-y...

Left so full.

Pumpkin and Kale Lasagna FAIL

I had a lot of ricotta leftover as per usual when I buy a tub and was at a loss of what to use it for. I loosely followed a recipe for this lasagna and it completely bombed. It looks tasty and pretty with all its lasagna noodle layers but I might have improvised one too many ingredients because it came out pretty bland. It's currently sitting in my fridge waiting to be eaten and I really don't want to...