Had some leftover bolognese from Valentine’s day so put together a lasagna tonight.
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One of the nicer things about currently living the NELA A line life is that three are several nice grocery store all within a short distance of nearby stops. Superior at Hertiage Square (the BEST casero chips!), Trader Joe’s #1 and Whole Foods at Filmore. At Highland Park we have Cookbook and Grocery Outlet. Being on a budget for the foreseeable future, I have really liked exploring Gross Out and picking up some of my favorite items for cheap. Recently I discovered they regularly carry Rosie’s Organic Chicken BISO (;D @TheCookie ) Thighs for $2.99/lb and I don’t have to buy a ton of them.
So then late last year Badmaash annouced that they were going to sell their Butter Chicken Sauce. I LOVE their butter Chicken. And from buying their pre-packaged chai as an occasional treat, I know the items they put out are super good… but also… super pricy. $6 for a tiny bottle of chai. So I could only imagine how much a big jar of butter chicken sauce was going to be…. But now I got cheap chicken…. So maybe it balances it out? Anyway…. Yes…. Girl Math to the rescue… I gotz it!
Soooooo…. It was $16. I got it at DTLA Cheese and It’s also available at Joans on Third and maybe a couple of other places (check their Insta). I took the picture when I had used about half of it already. I has enough sauce for at least 2 hefty servings.
I cut up and then cooked cut up Chicken Thigh Meat in 50/50 butter and olive oil. Just salt. Did not want to mess with the flavor of this sauce at ALL. When the chicken was well cooked, I dumped in the sauce. Then simmered it for another 20 minutes. And added a tiny bit more butter because I really wanted the chicken thighs infuse well with the sauce. Which it did.
I served it with Jasmine Rice and Sautéed Spinach. Butter chicken like this also goes AMAZING with Naan. As of late we have been buying Sangak from Super King which is nearly as good as the ones I would usually get Naan Hut.
Now the flavor of the butter chicken sauce is spot on to the restaurant. Velvety and a complex mix of spices. No dullness or bottled flavor. The only thing I would possibly add next time is a touch of heat. For two preps, the $16 was not that bad considering the current price at restaurant is $24. The second half of the jar I am going to pan fry some fish to go with. Can’t wait.
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That sounds super good
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so true! good lord, they’re incredible, so flaky. also, their queso oaxaca brand by-the-pound at the meat counter is way better than it needs to be.
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So much good stuff in one post. 
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Red lentil soup with curry powder, cumin and cinnamon. Topped with diced apples, scallions, jalapeno and olive oil
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Monkfish Armoricaine
Looked at a bunch of online recipes and thought ‘why doesn’t this have carrot and fennel?’ so finally settled on riffing on this one which had both from a neat website called My Cancale Kitchen.
Except I skipped all the fish stock making by throwing in some clam juice, a drop of fish sauce and one piece of monkfish that was mostly bone and skin. It was fine, though a really rich stock would make a difference. The two cups of white wine and flambeing the fish in cognac helped set up some depth.
Made this because I found a bag of frozen chunks of monkfish for super cheap. It’s a great stew fish, one of few I can think of that holds up well to a second day reheating.
Anyone in LA know a fish market that regularly carries whole monkfish? You don’t see it much and seems like it would be sort of a fun pain in the ass to take one apart.
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I have nice friends who bring us salts from all over the world. The challenge is that each of the salts are very different. I tried some of the salts but I don’t know how much to apply based on the dish. My everyday salt is different in terms of salinity, flavor and flakiness. What do you do with “foreign “ salt you’re not used to cooking with?
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Salads. There is nothing better than a wonderful salt sprinkled over some Tomatoes, Sliced Cucumber, Steamed Asparagus, Chunks of Avocado that is then folded into a salad.
Also, boiled eggs, especially those with the jammy center. It just makes the snack that next level.
Finally, Desserts. To top Cookies or a loaf cake glaze or even a scoop of ice cream with caramel. I got a $2.50 Pint of Godiva Caramel and Pecan Ice Cream at Grocery Outlet that I am about to sprinkle some $12 Cypriot Flake Salt on tonight.
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Quick and simple variation on chili with chicken breast, chorizo, red kidney and navy beans, onion, garlic, diced tomatoes, chili and parsley- topped with some sour cream and served with rice
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The Galleria, a Korean market in Northridge, often has whole monkfish tails. I don’t know of anyplace that carries the liver, or sells the whole fish.
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AKA The Full Monke.
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Pasta with shrimps in a sauce made with dried tomatoes, tomato paste, scallions, garlic, parsley, basil, feta, heavy cream, dry vermouth and chicken broth
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Saw this eggplant roll somewhere on YT and decided I needed to try it out. Normally like frying my eggplant rather than baking but in this context it seemed to be a good idea so off i went.
I kicked it up by cooking a lamb ragu, in 3 day stages until fully fall aparty
Then these steps went down The folks and family were impressed 
Learnings, the bottom cheese (below eggplant while baking layer dries out and gets too chewy, i’d skip that next time
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lol do you like dealing with worms? because if you don’t, highly recommend avoiding the breakdown yourself
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Dvl been thru some chett
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Looks great. We love this eggplant Parmesan recipe that also involves roasting rather than frying the eggplant.
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No thank you.
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My mom said she wanted to make “2-3 dishes” for my birthday instead of going out to eat like we normally would. She made everything except for the soondae which she bought in Buena Park.
Fish pancakes and bulgogi green onion skewers.
The pig ears are my favorite.
Veggies and spam kimbap
4 types of kimchi. The fresh bok choi and the cucumber kimchi are top notch.
Galbi jjim is classic. No cheese and actual pieces of meat on the bone.
She said the long skinny dduk are popular in Korea.
Clam odeng. Love those big pieces of seaweed.
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Happy birthday, @js76wisco!
I love that your mom spoiled you with such a great meal.
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