This is pathetic

So, I just can't stand how pathetic my blog has become. ONE entry all year long? And only SEVEN last year? That's no blog...

I must admit I have a new passion--it's gardening, and it's taken over my life. I'm going to phase out (yeah, no sh*t) this blog and start another one on gardening. We'll see if I actually follow through!!!

Thanks everyone for humoring me. Hope you enjoyed FoodsnobInLA and trust me--my snobbery just got a hell of a lot worse since now I'm GROWING my own food!!!

Wish you could have a garden,
Foodsnob

Recession Session: Asparagus

How can you tell if someone's rich?

By how much asparagus is thrown away.

Yes, the tips are the best. Yes, they're beautiful and delicious, but are they necessarily more nutritious? I'm gonna venture to say no. And with that said, I think you should eat as much of the stalk as possible, even if you're too rich for it.

Instead of breaking off all the hard bottoms, try trimming off just a little bit, and then peel the rest. It doesn't take that long. You'll get more bang for your buck, and your urine will smell just as bad. And, it looks beautiful. I love roasting asparagus in a 425 degree oven with just a little olive oil until al dente. Easy, simple, healthy. Save the trimmed stalk for veggie stock. Or not (you bourgeois you.)

Wish you could have a snappy, stinky bite,
Foodsnob

That Freshly Baked Bread Smell

Here's my once every 5 months blog entry. It's not very exciting. Sorry.

I could never give up bread. No way, man. I've been trying to cut down on bread intake over the last couple years, telling myself, "OK, I'll have to MAKE it if I crave it." Of course, as we all know, bread isn't one of those in the mood foods you can whip up in 15 minutes. Try more like, 15 hours. Especially if you make a sponge. Now we're talking 2 DAYS.

So, I had one of those cravings, and since it's been hot in Los Angeles lately, I decided to heat things up another 500 degrees. If I'm gonna spend all this time making bread, might as well make 2 loaves, right?

Just try to let the bread cool down for 2 hours before you cut into it...

Wish you could have a bite,
Foodsnob

Salt Makes EVERYTHING better...

Even caramels. And chocolate. And men. Especially men...hmm I take that back. Men are salty enough.

Fleur de sel on caramels. There are so many recipes out there, just experiment. I put a little salt INTO the caramel mixture, and then some on top before cutting. Can't go wrong.

Even covered some in dark chocolate.

YUM.

Wish you could have a bite,
Foodsnob

Lovely Leeks

I've talked about burrata a lot. And I won't stop talking about it, and you can't stop me. YOU are! Hmph!

Last night I prepared the ol' burrata and prosciutto drizzled in olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt and black pepper blah blah blah, but to spruce it up I made a leeks vinaigrette. Not the fancy French vinaigrette with capers and egg and whatnot, just a little bit of red wine vinegar (because I'm out of champagne vinegar), S&P, some olive oil, and that's it.

Yum. SO EASY. Clean leeks. Boil for 10-15 minutes in salted water, and give them the shocker...I mean, shock them in ice water? Add your oil and vinegar and you've got yourself an antipasto that'll ruin your main course which you slaved over for hours and hours. Serves you right. DAMN YOU leeks over prosciutto and burrata. Damn you for being so sexy and delicious.

Wish you could have a bite,
Foodsnob

Wascaly Wabbits

I was at the poultry shop the other day and decided to make some rabbit, since I hadn't prepared it in a long time. I definitely was not in the mood for frog's legs and I didn't want to fuss with squab, so rabbit it was!

I prepared it in much the same way I would coq au vin...I seared all the rabbit, removed the meat and cooked a mirepoix with the brown bits, made a wine reduction, added some stock and slow cooked the rabbit in the oven at a very low temperature.

OK, so it's pretty fussy, probably much fussier than the squab would've been, but it was well worth it. Mmm...rabbit on a bed of creamy polenta with spinach and a nice glass of vino nobile. Can't go wrong...

Wish you could have a bite,
Foodsnob

The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

Here's a link to a New York Times article about the perfect chocolate cookie. I made this recipe, but altered a couple things...

I used almost a quarter cup LESS white sugar than they called for.

I chopped my own Valrhona 71% dark chocolate.

I melted half of the butter and didn't whip it as much. I think fluffing it (in the baking sense) makes cookies more "cake-like" so I compromised.

And presto, the perfect chocolate chip cookie. Time to go running now.

Go make yourself a bite,
Foodsnob