My friend Brian taught me this recipe. Well, actually, funny story. It’s more truthful to say that my friend Brian was making this recipe, and luckily I came for dinner early because he was about to royally screw it up. Although this recipe is really easy, you do have to separate the eggs and whip the whites, then yolks, to soft peak. He didn’t really get what that was all about so he was just planning to dump them all in there a little stirred up. Crisis averted, dusty hand mixer pulled from back of cabinet, teamwork prevailed!

This soup has a very interesting, almost mousse-like texture. It is really rich tasting, lemony, and frothy. A definite hit that’s one of my go-to recipes. The chicken flavor reeeeeally does it for me but you could go vegetarian with a mushroom or vegetable broth.

Avgolemono
this amount will serve 6-8, depending on what else you’re going to serve with it.

Ingredients:

• 8 cups chicken broth (best quality you can find, or homemade ideally*)
• 1 cup orzo  or rice
• 4 eggs, separated
• juice of 3 lemons
• salt to taste
• chopped mint or cilantro for garnish

Method:

• Heat the broth until it boils, then add the orzo or rice and simmer until tender, about 20 min.
• Meanwhile, whip the egg whites until they hold medium peaks.
• While beating continuously add the yolks and then the lemon juice.
• Temper the egg mixture by adding 2 cups of the hot chicken broth in a slow, constant stream while continuing to beat so that you do not curdle the eggs.
• Add the tempered egg mixture back into the remaining broth and combine. Taste and add salt if needed.
• Garnish with mint or cilantro.
• You can make it ahead, but heat it up slowly over low heat so the eggs don’t cook too much.

* Here is a link to a recipe for homemade chicken stock. But don’t get me wrong. I never make chicken stock because I am LAZY. Occasionally I buy fancy stock from a fancy store but also I am CHEAP so that’s not my norm. For those of you who make stock, GOOD JOB. You are better than me and I bow to you. For those of you who are lazy and cheap, here is my secret to success: I like Pacific organic chicken stock (from Whole Foods, NOT reduced sodium, iww) with a couple of those semi-weird liquid concentrated chicken stock packet thingies (also from Whole Foods, or Trader Joes).

I have been really busy so I haven’t been cooking that much lately, but I did make this last week and then ate the leftovers for several days after that. This is a really simple, foolproof recipe that is elegant and delicious. My aunt Sherrie, the “queen of chicken” (since she basically only makes chicken) got this recipe from someone and was kind enough to share it with the whole family! I served it with a wild rice blend but you could also serve it with mashed potatoes or buttered noodles. It’s also easy because it’s like chicken+salad all in one dish so you only need a starch to go with it- I think you could even get away with just throwing down a loaf of crusty bread to sop up the sauce- and then you are totally going the super simple route.

Leeks are grown in soil so they tend to have dirt all throughout so it’s really important to make sure they are clean through and through. You want to cut off the root end and throw that away, then slice them thinly (a couple millimeters? My intrinsic metric system is not that well-developed, but that sounds right. 1/8 of an inch or less.) You can slice the white part and the light green parts but you shouldn’t use the dark green parts because they are kind of tough. (In a restaurant you would save the dark green parts and use them to flavor a stock, or you might julienne them and fry them to use as a garnish. At home, I tend to throw them away. I mean, compost them. You should compost them unless stock-making is in your near future.) To get the leeks clean, put the sliced leeks into a bowl of cold water and break up the little rings with your fingers. Agitate them in the water then put them in a strainer and run more water over them. Leave them in the strainer to air dry until you need to use them.

Also apropos of nothing really, I recently learned how to say leeks in Spanish – they are called “poros.” I don’t think of leeks as being particularly a staple of Mexican food, but, good to learn!

Chicken with Leeks
This will make plenty for 8 people.

Ingredients:

• about 4 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts, trimmed
• 1-2 cloves garlic, chopped finely
• 2 shallots, chopped finely
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 cup white wine
• 2 cups sliced leeks
• 1 cup heavy cream (can use less if you like a lighter sauce or think that’s too fattening)
• 5 T dijon mustard
• 1 bag of prewashed baby spinach leaves (hence the ease of the recipe- you can, of course, just use regular spinach and wash it yourself but I am lazy)
• salt and pepper

Method:

• Cut each chicken breast into a couple of pieces, so they are about 2-3 inches by 1-2 inches (doesn’t really matter, you just want them to be manageable and basically the same size as each other.) Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Heat the oil in a big saucepan over medium high heat. (I like to use a non-non-stick pan- ie, a “sticky” pan like stainless steel- for maximum brown saucy bit creation.) Add the chicken, garlic, and shallots and cook, stirring, until the chicken is browned.
• Add the wine and lower the heat to about medium low. Cover the pot and cook for 20 minutes.
• After 20 minutes, open the pot and add the leeks. Simmer 5 minutes.
• Mix the cream and the mustard together with a whisk or by shaking them in a jar together. Add to the pan and cook for about 2 minutes until it looks and tastes tasty and saucy. Taste and add salt and pepper if needed.
• Put the spinach in a big flat bowl and put the chicken and sauce on top. Serve immediately.

Note: if you have leftovers, the best way to enjoy this dish the next day is to just put the chicken and the spinach and everything in a frying pan together- it doesn’t need any oil or anything- and cook it up. You will now have a similar dish but with cooked spinach. MMMM!

This recipe has an interesting and meaningful provenance. When I used to teach cooking to high school students in New York, we had a competition in which the students had to create and execute their own original recipes. I was a judge for the competition, and when I tasted thie dish, I remember being blown away by their creativity and ability to invent something so original and delicious. Needless to say they won the competition, and I won a copy of the recipe!

If you’re having trouble grasping the concept, think crab cakes but made with saucy shredded chicken and diced green apples. Their winning version was served over green apple risotto, but I served the cakes over mashed potatoes, with acorn squash on the side. I suppose you could use bottled bbq sauce to save time and effort, but the sauce with this recipe is divine and not that hard or time-consuming to make, so I recommend putting in the extra effort. In fact, I recommend you make a double recipe of the bbq sauce and save some for later!

Barbeque Chicken Cakes
This makes enough for 6 people- 2 cakes per person.

Ingredients:

• Honey BBQ Sauce (recipe below)
• 1 whole chicken breast, boneless and skinless, cut into big chunks
• 2 chicken thighs, skinned and boned
• 2 Tblsp butter
• 1 medium onion, diced finely
• 1 granny smith spple, peeled and diced finely
• 4 eggs
• flour for thickening and dredging
• panko bread crumbs for coating
• salt and fresh ground pepper
• oil for searing

Method:

• Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat about 1 Tblsp vegetable oil in a saute pan over high heat and brown chicken on both sides.
• Add about half of the bbq sauce (1 to 1 1/2 cups) and turn the heat down. Cook with the pan loosely covered and cook until the chicken shreds easily with a fork,  around 20 minutes. Remove to a bowl and shred chicken, using 2 forks.
• Heat 2 T butter in a saute pan and saute onions and apples over medium low heat until soft. Add to chicken.
• Add a bit more bbq sauce to the chicken, enough to moisten. Make sure to reserve about 3/4 cup of the sauce for garnish.
• Add 2 eggs to the chicken mix. Add flour 1 Tblsp at a time and mix in until mixture holds together, but doesn’t become pasty. Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Heat a couple Tblsp. oil in a saute pan. Meanwhile, prepare a small plate with a small pile of flour, and another with bread crumbs. Beat remaining 2 eggs together.
• Form chicken mixture into patties. Dredge in flour, then eggs, then panko on both sides. (If the patties start to fall apart smoosh them together.)
• Saute on both sides until browned. Feel free to remove to a cookie sheet and keep warm in a low temp oven while finishing the sauteing.
• Warm the reserved bbq sauce, and drizzle over top of cakes with a spoon.

Honey BBQ Sauce
One recipe will make enough for one recipe of BBQ chicken cakes, about 3 cups total.

Ingredients:

• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 jalapeno, seeds removed, chopped finely
• 1 Tblsp vegetable oil
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/4 cup coarse-grain mustard
• 2 Tblsp rice vinegar
• 1 tsp Tabasco
• 3 Tblsp firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 Tblsp curry powder
• 1 1/2 tsp paprika (not smoked)
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Method:

• Heat vegetable oil in sauce pan over medium heat. Cook onion and jalapeno until soft.
• Add all remaining ingredients.
• Turn down heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes. When you stir make sure to scrape the bottom so all of the brown caramelize-y bits get mixed in.

Let’s say you’re hanging out in the 310, the 213, or even the 90210. Last night, you ate at Cobras and Matadors, then had a pretty hardcore night of drinking at the Golden Gopher or perhaps SkyBar (fancypants!) You wake up late the next day and need a serious hangover brunch. One choice. Has to be Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles in Hollywood.

Fried chicken and waffles you say? I know, it sounds strange, but somehow it works. The syrup they serve is magical- it’s like honey on a biscuit, but syrup on a waffle. Go figure! Also it’s the only place I think I have EVER been that actually has Bartles and Jaymes Wine Coolers on the menu. Yes! It’s absolutely an LA institution.

Note: There are other branches, but the Hollywood one is the “touristy” (white?) one. The food is the same at all of them, but the crazy, cramped, funky vibe is more present at Roscoe’s in Hollywood as well, since it’s the original. But if you happen to be in Watts, by all means, hit up another branch.

We had some friends visiting from Scotland, and they wanted advice on where to go as they embarked on a SoCal roadtrip. Thinking about LA I was reminded about how dearly I love Versailles Cuban Restaurant. There’s some complicated history about why it’s called Versailles that involves the name of a sauce or something but I can’t remember, because admittedly that’s an odd name for a Cuban spot… but they have fantastic food that is really inexpensive. It’s so much better than that other Versailles. You know, the one in France with the palace and the gilding and whatnot. Because gilding does not hold a candle to pork and plantains and it never will.

But I digress… anyway, I think the lechon asado (roast pork) is ridiculously good, even though most people rave about the famous Versailles garlic chicken. You can’t go wrong! Don’t expect a fancy atmosphere, just a big ol’ plate of comida deliciosa.

So next time you’re in LA- don’t miss your chance to hit Versailles, for some Cuban food that actually makes me wish the historical migration patterns had funneled a few more Havanans up to SF so I wouldn’t have to go all the way to NY, LA, or Miami for Cuban food this tasty!

Find more info at their website. There are like 4 or 5 of them now, so wherever you are in the big sprawl, there should be one nearby!

I was thinking about one of my favorite old white-trash recipes, which involves coating chicken pieces in mayonnaise and cornflakes and baking them in the oven. I decided there must be a more sophisticated way to make a dish like this, so I swapped out the cornflakes for pecans and made a tangy yogurt-based coating to stand in for the mayo. I also sauteed the chicken in olive oil instead of baking it, although I would suspect that you could just as easily throw it in the oven.

Not only did it taste a heckuva lot better than the original, it seemed a slightly more balanced nutritionally, and yeah, a lot less white trashy. I served it over a bed of kale wilted with a little garlic and cayenne in homage to its down-home roots.

Pecan-Crusted Chicken

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, 6 to 8 oz. each
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 1/2 cups plain yogurt
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2 cups pecans, finely chopped
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• olive oil for sautéing

Method:

• Use a mallet to pound chicken breasts into a uniform 1/2 inch thickness. Cut each breast into 2 or 3 pieces for manageability.
• Combine lemon juice, yogurt, mustard, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a bowl and set aside. Put chicken pieces in mixture and let sit for about 10 minutes.
• Combine pecans, crumbs, and 1 teaspoon salt in a bowl and set aside.
• Heat about 1 tablespoon olive oil in a sauté pan over medium high heat. Wipe excess yogurt off chicken and dredge in pecan mixture. When oil is hot, add chicken pieces to pan and cook about 3-4 minutes on each side until golden brown on the outside and cooked through. You may need to do it in batches, in which case you should wipe the pan out between batches and add a bit more oil.
• Serve immediately.