Gastronomy Blog by Cathy Chaplin

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20 Mar 2012

Noodle Guy – Alhambra

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Friday night called for something warm and comforting for dinner. It’s been one of the mildest winters in recent memory, but temps hovered in the fifties this evening and storms were rolling in from points north. After assessing the possibilities in and around the neighborhood, The Astronomer and I decided that a short drive to Alhambra for Vietnamese beef noodle soup was the order of the day.

Noodle Guy, not to be confused with Noodle King two doors down or Noodle Boy in nearby Rosemead, serves Vietnam’s greatest hits. From broken rice to spring rolls, there’s enough variety here to fill a thick, spiral-bound booklet. However, glancing around the dining room, it seemed that most everyone was burying their faces into a big bowl of pho.

Taking a cue from my fellow Noodle Guy-goers, I ordered a bowl of pho bo dac biet. Beneath the heap of chopped cilantro and sliced onions was a bed of rice noodles and a delectable collection of meaty odds and ends including flank, brisket, tendon, and tripe.

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17 Mar 2012

Chego – Los Angeles (Palms)

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Back in mid-February, I was invited to speak on a panel about food trucks at UCLA. I wasn’t sure if I’d have much to contribute to the dialogue, but couldn’t refuse once I heard the line up. Joining in the discussion were Chef Roy Choi (founder of Kogi), Erik Cho and Brooke Howell (founders of Frysmith), and Natasha Case and Freya Estreller (founders of Cool Haus). Moderating the talk was none other than wordsmith extraordinaire, Jonathan Gold. I had to say yes.

As anticipated, the evening’s conversation was more about the business of trucking than the business of blogging, so I sat back and listened while my fellow panelists discussed their experiences. The highlight of it all was Chef Choi’s anecdotes about the genesis of Kogi and his passion for Los Angeles. I walked away from the talk craving his brand of bold Korean food with a distinctly L.A. soul. And thus, the “Roy Choi Restaurant Tour” was born.

After the tremendous success of Kogi, Chef followed it up with a rice bowl venture called Chego, which roughly translates to “the best.” The concept was inspired in part by the rice-bowl-hawking tenants who previously occupied the restaurant’s space, as well as the Chinese oven that they left behind. When Chef saw the metal box in the kitchen, he knew it would be perfect for cooking all manner of proteins slow and low.

The Astronomer and I dined here on a Saturday night along with our friends Nastassia and Reed. The line for grub stretched into the parking lot when we arrived, but it didn’t take too long to get through. We perused the menu upon making our way to the front and were pleased to find that everything from “Beginning” to “Middle” to “End” was priced under $10.

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Recipe

14 Mar 2012

Salted Cookies ‘n Cream Cookies

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A week before last winter’s Eat My Blog charity bake sale, I received a package from my cousin Timmy and his girlfriend Jessica who live in San Francisco. Inside was a plastic freezer bag filled with several dozen cookies baked by the thoughtful duo. The cookies looked like regular chocolate chips at first glance, but upon further inspection I found that crushed Oreo cookies were used in place of semi-sweet morsels. A most brilliant substitution.

Timmy and Jessica were hoping to contribute to the Eat My Blog spread, but unfortunately, they mailed the goodies a week too soon due to a date mix up. Rather than sell slightly stale cookies to our crowd, I made a donation in their names and ate the entire box by myself. It was a delicious and fair trade off.

I’ve been thinking a lot about Timmy and Jessica’s genius cookie-within-a-cookie creation since I polished off the final one months ago: brainstorming how to tweak it, refine it, and make it my own. These Salted Cookies ‘n Cream Cookies are the result of far too many hours spent dreaming up ways to punctuate simple cookie dough with sandwich cookies.

While Timmy and Jessica employed Toll House’s popular recipe for their mother dough, I decided to use Jacques Torres “Perfect” Chocolate Chip Cookie batter for the base of mine. Aging the dough for 36-hours might seem like an unnecessary step, but it helps the cookies to brown more evenly and imparts intense toffee notes.

I really liked how Timmy and Jessica crammed large Oreo chunks into their cookie, so I kept that element the same. And to top it all off, each cookie was sprinkled with gray sea salt, because sweet and salty always trumps plain ‘ol sweet in my world.

After thinking and rethinking this recipe for months, I was supremely happy with the results. The cookies struck a delightful balance between sweet and salty, crunchy and creamy. It’s an instant favorite in the Astro-Gastro household.

8 1/2 ounces (2 cups minus 2 tablespoons) cake flour
8 1/2 ounces (1 2/3 cups) bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
10 ounces (1 1/4 cups) light brown sugar
8 ounces (1 cup plus 2 tablespoons) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
13 ounces Oreo cookies (33 cookies)
Sea salt

Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

Using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Press plastic wrap against the dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. The dough can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator one hour prior to baking to allow it to soften some. Once the dough has come to room temperature (cooler is perfectly fine, just as long as the dough is malleable), incorporate the Oreo cookies using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. To distribute large cookie chunks throughout the batter, mix for 5 seconds. If you prefer smaller chunks, mix for 10 to 15 seconds.

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