Dominique's Chicken

I had to find out what the big deal was on Dominique's Roasted Chicken. The article I read about this intimate restaurant in Redondo Beach pointed out that they often run out of the special chicken.  What can be so special with chicken?  I hardly order chicken when I go out; it usually is the cheapest item on the menu and is often plain tasting.

This was our second trip to Dominique's. I came back to try the also famous Lobster Bisque which they didn't have this particular evening. Oh well, another reason to go back. Instead, we all decided on the organic salad for just $1.00 if ordered with an entree. Two of us had the chicken and the other ordered the Lamb which we've had before and was just delicious. The chicken arrived and we all gasped as we didn't expect it to be a large portion. It was half a chicken and it came with what looked like a pound of  garlic french fries. It was the crispiest chicken skin we've ever had and the meat was juicy, tender and plain delicious.  Dominique came by to check on us and asked if we would like some "Au Jus", to which Cindy and I said "Yes, please". That made the chicken even more delicious if you can imagine...plus I had him spoon some over on my french fries.....I would never have my fries and chicken again without the "Au Jus"! This wonderful chicken dish was $ 13.95 and was really enough for 2 meals!

It was time for dessert. I wanted to try other desserts aside from the Floating Island we've had and loved.  We got 3 desserts to share: the Panna Cotta with Berry Compote, Dark Chocolate Mousse and the Passion Fruit Creme Brulee. Sandi and I thought the Passion Fruit Creme Brulee was the best; after sending it back to burn the top a bit more. (That's a big factor in making a good creme brulee). The passion fruit flavor made it different from other creme brulees. It gave it it's own personality.
The Chocolate Mousse was dark enough and sure to please chocolate mousse lovers.  The Panna Cotta with the Berry Compote was  Cindy's favorite. It was very light as it jiggled like jello with the nice compote. Another reason to go back is to try the last dessert I haven't had...the Caramelized Lemon Tart.

Dominique's Kitchen is located at  522 S. Pacific Coast Hwy., in Redondo Beach, CA.
To Chef Dominique:  I say "a la prochaine".

Spaghetti Pie

I got this recipe from a magazine a zillion years ago but I have since altered it to my taste.  It is very simple and the finished product is impressive enough.
The recipe calls for the following:

6 oz. spaghetti

2 Tbsp. butter
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 well beaten eggs
1 cup cottage cheese ( I prefer large curd)
1 lb.lean ground beef
½ cup chopped onion
8 oz. (1/2 bottle of your favorite spaghetti sauce)
1 cup of baby frozen peas
1 tsp.sugar
1 tsp.crushed dried oregano
½ tsp.garlic salt
1 cup shredded sharp cheese (I use more than a cup; sometimes add parmesan to it)

Cook the spaghetti according to package (make sure it's al dente), drain. Stir butter into hot spaghetti. Stir in parmesan cheese and eggs.  Form spaghetti mixture into a “Crust”

in a buttered 10 inch pie plate.

Spread the cottage cheese over the spaghetti“crust”.

 

 

In a skillet, sauté onions in a bit of olive oil, then brown the meat and add the peas. Drain off any excess fat or liquid. Stir in sauce, sugar, oregano & garlic salt; heat through. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Pour the meat mixture into the spaghetti crust. Bake uncovered in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.  Sprinkle the cheese all over the top and bake approximately 5 minutes, or till cheese is melted.

 

 

 

 

I served this with a salad. Very simple and yet satisfying.

 

 

For dessert, we had Blueberry Bread Pudding made by my friend, Sandi.  She didn't have enough blueberries to make a sauce, so I melted some of my salted caramel sauce and poured it over.  I must say that the pudding was loaded with blueberries, and the top was crunchy with loads of pecans, brown sugar and butter but you couldn't see any of these when I drowned the slice with the caramel sauce.

 

Needless to say, we all enjoyed Sandi's Healthy Blueberry Bread Pudding. 

Prune Scones

Prunes are no longer just for constipation! Who would have known prunes are just as good as figs.  Put them in a scone and not just any scone but scones from L'Amande Bakery....you've got another masterpiece.

The scones are nice and crusty outside and when you pull them apart you see the prunes that are chewy and with a little bit of butter, it is just divine. I had mine with coffee and a strong hard cheese (Queso de Bola) which is aged Edam from Holland that is very salty. You can't get better than that...well, not true....since they have other scones that I love as well like the Tropical which is Mango-Pineapple and the Fig scone; not to mention the Lemon Lavander with Lemon Curd.

Till the next new fruit scones......

L'Amande Bakery is located at 2553 Pacific Coast Hwy. in Torrance, California.

Bizou Grill dineLA

I wanted to take advantage of the last day of dineLA week last night; so Sandi and I had planned to go to Bizou Grill at 2450 Colorado Ave #1050 in Santa Monica, California. My husband Otto decided to join us. While we were driving on the freeway towards Santa Monica, my brother Gary called and since his office was close by, he thought he would give us the pleasure of his company.

The dineLA menu for dinner was a real bargain. For $25 you got a 3 course meal.
For starters, you had a choice of their very good Lobster Bisque, Onion Soup, Stuffed Mushrooms w/ Endive, or Pear Salad.  Gary ordered the Lobster Bisque, Sandi had the pear salad and Otto and I had the mushrooms with an incredible sauce. I have had the mushrooms before and loved it. Sandi's salad was o.k and Gary's lobster bisque was very good.

For our entrees, Otto and Sandi had the Steak, Shrimp and Scallop with Baked Potato. The consensus was it lacked flavor even with the sauce that came with it.  Gary and I were the winners of the evening. We had the Lobster with the Squid Pasta. That had a lot of flavor and was very good. 

There were 3 selections for dessert, if I remember correctly.  Tiramisu, Flourless Chocolate Cake and the 3 Flavor Sorbet.  Gary and Otto had the Tiramisu which was delicious; light as ever.  Sandi and I had the trio of sorbet: mango, raspberry and lemon.  The lemon was quite tart but the sweet mango and the raspberry soon took over the tartness; hence, perfect harmony.

The selections for the prefix could have been better but I must tell you there are a lot of exciting and delicious dishes in the menu.  We have been at Bizou many times in the past and there's always something for everyone.  The best thing are the prices. They are inexpensive; for $1.00, you can have their house salad or soup of the day, with your entree.  Their corkage fee is $2.00.  Where else can you find a deal this good?

Bazaar dineLA

We wanted to take advantage of yet another great restaurant during dineLA week. There were 5 of us women.  My nephew's wife, Deepa was in town so she met us there.  It was her birthday yesterday and she didn't want anyone to know including me. This was a red flag; it just means "make a big deal."

The menu was overwhelming. Too many choices which is a good thing so it took some time to study it. The prefix menu was $45 which of course excluded beverages, tax and gratuity. We were to pick one small starter, 3 other plates (baby mini entrees) and a dessert.

We would have ordered wisely if the menu stated how many pieces in a plate. Some had 5, some just 2 ; so we were very disorganized. The only thing the server brought to our attention was that we would have too many Croquetas de Pollo since 3 or us ordered the same thing, and there were 5 pieces in one order.

For our starters we shared what we all ordered except for Sandi since she ordered the  California Cone which is just one cone. Well, she probably did not want to share her starter.  It was a beautiful "singular sensation"...a cone with pureed avocado and tomato pulp on top.  She said it was o.k., nothing to write home about. That's what happens when you don't like to share. 

They brought out the Philly Cheesesteak which was described as: Air bread, cheddar, Wagyu beef. We all (except for Deepa, the vegetarian) thought this was the best thing. I have had it before and it amazed me once again. Air bread really describes the very light crunchy shell with an empty filling, so it seemed, then a you all of a sudden were chewing on the beef and cheese. For vegetarians, there is a make-believe Philly Cheesesteak called Hilly Cheesesteak which is the same thing but instead of the Wagyu beef, you get the royal trumpet mushroom.

The Ottoman Carrot Fritters came next; with apricots and pistachio sauce.  These looked like fried cheese balls but they were healthy carrots with fruit and a nut sauce. It was very good.  Deepa ordered the Papas Canarias which were salty potatoes with mojo verde for dipping sauce. I have had this before and loved it.  Crunchy outside, these little tender potatoes were soft inside.  Luckily, I was sitting next to her and she finally offered me and the others to try it.  As I took one, I told everyone that we were just to try one as this was to be her main dish.  I have to confess that when someone else was talking to her, I was able to take a few more.

Two orders of Sea Scallops came (2 on a plate) and it was just perfect for 4 of us. They were good but not exciting. The Sauteed Cauliflower "Couscous" was delicious  followed by Wild Mushroom Rice with Idiazabal cheese. We also had the Braised Wagyu Beef Cheeks; so tender it melted in your mouth. Someone ordered the Brussels Sprouts with lemon puree, apricots, grapes and lemon air. What could lemon air be? My guess is they squirt lemon in the air and what lands on the food is lemon air. How should I know? Oh, maybe that was the sudsy foam on top. I am not a fan of foam; it looks like someone washed their hands and left the suds right on top. This was not anyone's favorite. The second favorite dish on the menu was the Croquetas de Pollo; chicken and bechamel fritters.  They didn't look exciting till you had your first bite....and then a burst of bechamel sauce exploded in your mouth....

When we were almost done, I told Ana while Deepa was busy, to remind the waiter to put a candle on Deepa's dessert.  Shortly after she spoke with the server, the idiot approached Deepa and said: "Happy Birthday." Of course she was surprised and asked me how he knew and I just gave her a dumb look. Nothing like someone ruining a surprise.

Another server came to fetch us and lead us to another area to have our dessert. Different setting...we all ordered the same thing. Pan Con Chocolate which is a chocolate flan with caramelized bread, olive oil and brioche ice cream.  This is the weirdest description because you would never know it when you get the actual dessert.
It didn't taste like flan. It was more like a very good, high quality chocolate pudding, the ice cream looked like it was rolled in something chocolate, the caramelized bread was the toasted thin slice of bread. The olive oil was somewhere in there.  We all loved the dessert; chocolate lovers would rejoice. 

When they brought the dessert, they served Deepa first with a candle on her Chocolate.
We all had to sing Happy Birthday, which embarrassed her.........
Mission Accomplished. Deepa; hope you had a nice birthday.

I am happy to report that we didn't have to eat the scones since Ana brought some for us in case we didn't get full from our dinner. We all ended up having it for breakfast this morning.
Thanks to Ana; ever so thoughtful.

Penne, Shrimp & Mushrooms with Artichoke Marinara Sauce

Here's a very easy recipe I made up with ingredients I already had except for the shrimps and mushrooms.

I started out with some shallots which I sliced thinly and sauteed in butter and olive oil.
I then added a tub of  chopped mixed mushrooms. I had some rosemary and thyme; so in they went.  Before I tossed in a bag of uncooked shrimps, I poured some Mirin  (sweet rice wine) in the pan and seasoned everything with salt and pepper.

I had already cooked a box of tri-colored penne in my pasta boat, so all I had to do was dump the pasta into the pan. At that point, I wasn't sure what else I would do. I tried it and though it was good, it needed a lot more flavor, so I opened a bottle of Artichoke Parmesan Marinara and poured it all over the pasta. I allowed it to simmer for a few minutes and the end result was quite pleasing to me and my husband.

You could use any bottled pasta sauce. I like to experiment and use different kinds. World Market (Cost Plus) have a variety of Italian made sauces.

Domino's Artisan Pizza

I have not had Domino's Pizza in a decade.  With all the gourmet pizza's around, I never had a chance to crave the cheesy, tomatoeeey pizza I used to like (believe it or not).

Yesterday, we were supposed to have dinner with some relatives but they had change in plans at the last minute.  What to do.....too late to cook and I had gotten a flyer in the mail on Domino's Homemade Pan Pizza and Artisan Pizza.  Both my husband and I like thin crust; but Domino's thin crust is so thin and crispy that I don't get to enjoy the flavor of whatever is on top as it is way to crispy and snappy.

I had my husband pick one of the Artisan Pizzas. They had Chicken & Bacon Carbonara, Spinach and Feta, Italian Sausage & Italian Trio, Tuscan Salami & Roasted Veggie, and so on....... He picked the Tuscan Salami & Roasted Veggie. Instead of delivery, he opted to pick it up at our nearby Domino's.

The pizza came in a rectangular box. It was thin enough and looked like it was just enough for two.  It had a lot of salami, fresh spinach, fresh onions, roasted red peppers, banana peppers and oregano all over a garlic Parmesan sauce.  I ended up inhaling 4 1/2 pieces and Otto had 3 1/2.  We were quite surprised as it was not bad at all. Next time, I might make a salad to go with it. I am anxious to try the Chicken and Bacon Carbonara sometime soon.

In the meantime, if you have snubbed Domino's like I have, it is time to get off your high horse and give them a call.