When I was looking at the posts I have put up regarding food, I realized that I had never written about one of my most favorite and often made dishes: Summer Squash Gratin. This is an impressive looking and delicious dish; it takes a little time, but it is not at all difficult.

Here are a couple of pictures from the internet:

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 small leeks (1/2 pound), white and tender green parts thinly sliced into rounds
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 3 medium zucchini, cut lengthwise into 1/8-inch-thick slices, preferably
  on a mandoline
• 3 medium yellow summer squash, cut lengthwise into 1/8-inch-thick slices, preferably on a mandoline
• Kosher salt
• Pepper
• 1 cup finely shredded Gruyère (about 2 ounces)
• 1 plum tomato, very thinly sliced crosswise
• Flaky sea salt and crusty bread, for serving

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 425°.
• In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of oil over moderately high heat. Add the leeks and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the wine and cook until evaporated, about 2 minutes. Spread in a 9-inch round baking dish
• Meanwhile, on 2 large baking sheets, spread the zucchini and yellow squash and brush with the remaining 3 tablespoons of oil; season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with the cheese and let sit until slightly softened, about 5 minutes.
• Tightly roll 1 piece of zucchini and set it on the leeks in the center of the dish. Working
  outward from that center slice, continue rolling and coiling additional pieces of zucchini and yellow squash until you reach the edge of the baking dish. Season the tomato slices with salt and pepper, then tuck in intervals between the zucchini and squash. Scrape any cheese off of the baking sheets and sprinkle on top.
• Bake for 30 minutes, until the zucchini and squash are tender and browned in spots. Sprinkle with sea salt. Let cool slightly, then
  serve with crusty bread.
• Source: http://www.foodandwine.com

I find that using a springform pan makes it much easier to cut wedges for serving.

I usually ask for a yellow cake with chocolate icing for my birthday. For a variety of reasons, that didn’t happen last month: somehow I ended up with a Bavarian Cream Cake instead.

Most bakeries don’t do a yellow cake. Occasionally I was able to get a slice at Ralphs when I was in Palm Desert. Today, I finally got to Smith’s (Nevada’s Kroger brand) and at last found this:

Definitely not a nice layer cake, but apparently the best I’m going to be able to do.

Someone wanted to know what the interior of the bundt cake looked like. Here it is:

These are the last two slices left. Soon to be none!

This showed up at my door:

It’s a chocolate-chip, chocolate cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes. They’re especially known for their cream-cheese frosting. I can attest that it is really good. Good thing the cake freezes well; I can look forward to many more pieces in the new year!

I generally don’t promote products or services, but I’m making an exception because I’ve been so happy with Cook Unity.

I just haven’t felt much like cooking the last few months. When I do fix something, I usually make enough for 4 meals or so. Then I either eat it all week or freeze it, which doesn’t always work that well. And I just don’t want to clean the skillet and/or pots after I’ve cooked. Also, I’ve been going out a lot, mostly as a way of getting out of the house and into the world.

I’ve seen all the ads for services that will delivery ingredients and recipes to your door, but that doesn’t solve my current unwillingness to wash up. Then I started seeing ads for a meal service called Cook Unity.

According to their website, Cook Unity is a community of more than 70 independent chefs cooking in New York, LA, Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Seattle, and Miami. Cook Unity provides the kitchens and all the logistics, and the chefs come in and cook the meals. Then, once a week, meals arrive at my door that are fresh (not frozen) in compostable, recyclable, or reusable packaging, with expiration dates, heating instructions, and nutrition information

I just finished ordering my meals for next week:

• Farro, Beets & Greens Salad with Roasted Chicken by Chef Dustin Taylor
• Dijon Braised Pork Shoulder with Glazed Apples by Chef Andres Mendez
• Greek Grilled Chicken Salad by Chef Dustin Taylor
• Sweet & Spicy Chicken by Chef Brandon Kida

Almost every meal I’ve had has been absolutely delicious. Some I wouldn’t order again but that is just because I didn’t like some of the ingredients. I’ve been trying a lot of flavors I wouldn’t cook with on my own, like the beets in one of the above meals.

Here’s what I’ve had so far:

• Chicken in Mole Poblano with Rice & Corn and Glazed Brussels Sprouts by Jose Garces
• Sabzi Rubbed Chicken over Pearl Couscous Risotto with Crispy Shallots & Brussel Sprouts by Einat Admony
• Pork Tenderloin with Caramelized Onions & Gorgonzola Sweet Potato Gratin by Chris Ratel
• Soy-marinated Pulled Pork with Spinach and Bean Sprouts by Esther Choi
• Chicken Tikka Masala with Basmati Rice by Andres Mendez
• Rigatoni in Vodka Sauce with Herbed Ricotta by Dustin Taylor
• Mediterranean Grilled Shrimp Grain Bowl with Avocado Green Goddess Dressing by Chris Ratel
• Crispy Pork Cutlet & Vegetable Fried Rice with Spicy Soy Vinegar Sauce by Nora Nolasco (This one was freaking delicious! I don’t know how it managed to be so juicy and yet so crispy)
• Caramelized Mushroom Quesadilla with Salsa Chipotle & Crema by Akhtar Nawab
• Middle Eastern Marinated Chicken Shawarma with Pickled Cabbage & Couscous by Einat Admony
• Braised Pork & Sweet Potato Stew with Cilantro Lime Rice by Dustin Taylor (This is the only one that was a total miss for me. It was a soup, not a stew, and just not that great)
• Stewed Moroccan Lamb Meatballs with Brown Rice and Herb-Yogurt Sauce by Dustin Taylor (Excellent)
• Andouille & Kielbasa Smoked Sausages with Mashed Potatoes & Cornbread by Dustin Taylor (Really good, I’ve already ordered it again)
• Belgian Chicken with Rice Pilaf & Creamed Kale by Ludo Lefebvre
• Pepperoni Naan Pizza with Hot Honey Drizzle by John DeLucie (Fabulous pizza! Another reorder)
• Grilled Chicken with Carrot Thyme Purée and Sautéed Mushrooms by Andres Mendez
• Japanese Chicken Curry with Kabocha Squash & Fresh Chives by Brando Kida
• Plant-Based Massaman Curry with Brown Rice and Peanuts by Anne Thornton

Each order has a minimum of 4 meals. You generally order every week but can skip weeks at any time. Without any discounts, the meals probably cost about $15 each including tax and delivery. Cheaper than what a decent meal would cost me if I went out.

If this sounds at all interesting to you, here’s a link you can use to get discounts for yourself and for me! If you have any questions about my experience with the service, feel free to ask me in the comments.

https://www.cookunity.com/landing-referral?referral_code=katko46632

Since moving to the other side of Henderson, I have been trying out a number of new restaurants and cuisines. There is a lot of good food here without having to venture anywhere near the Strip.

One cuisine I am not very familiar with is Japanese. Just a couple of blocks away from me is a nice-looking place called “Osaka” and after looking at their website, I decided to broaden my palate and give it a try.

According to their website:

Osaka was the first Japanese restaurant in Las Vegas when it opened in 1967. Now with two locations, West Sahara and Henderson, it has become a hometown favorite and withstood the test of time. It is currently operated by the second generation of the Nakanishi family.

Osaka Japanese Bistro in Las Vegas was voted by Japan’s largest weekly magazine, the Asahi Shukan, one of the 50 best Japanese Restaurants. Of all the Japanese restaurants around the world, Osaka was the only one outside of Japan given this honor. Osaka has also been selected twenty times by the readers of the Las Vegas Review Journal newspaper to receive the “Best of Las Vegas” restaurant award.

Osaka has built its reputation in carrying only the finest in fresh fish and its ability to create a variety of rolls which satisfy even the most adventurous of tastes. The restaurant also boasts carrying the most variety of fish of any sushi bar in town. Currently, we are carrying exotics that are usually found only in Japan such as aoyagi (live surf clams), awabi (live abalone), sayori (halfbeak), katsuo (bonita), kanpachi (rudderfish), and Blue Fin Toro.

I figured if I was going to try Japanese food, this sounded like a good place to start. I first went to the restaurant a couple of weeks ago. This is the lunch menu; the dinner menu goes on for pages.

I was in the mood for noodles that first day and ordered the soba noodles with shrimp tempura. I also got the Lisa Lisa lunch rolls. The soba and shrimp were very good, but the Lisa Lisa was incredible.

For my second visit, I had the Tempura Udon noodles and the Japanese Lasagna lunch roll. Again, the noodles were very tasty, but the lunch roll was absolutely delicious.

Now, about the chopsticks:

I have never been particularly comfortable or dexterous with chopsticks. I wouldn’t starve if they were all I had to eat with, but I’ve never seen much point in pretending that I don’t find knives, forks, and spoons a lot easier to work with.

However, since the restaurant wasn’t crowded and the waitstaff wasn’t terribly busy, I decided to take whatever amount of time I needed and eat the meals with chopsticks. The first meal wasn’t too difficult: I managed the lunch rolls fairly well and the noodles also made it to my mouth without too much trouble.

The second visit, though, was another story. I seemed to be having a much worse time with the chopsticks then I had just the week before. The lunch rolls tended to fall apart before I got them to my mouth. And the chopsticks kept crossing themselves and twisting. I felt like a total klutz.

But the real difficulty was the Tempura Udon. It came with a spoon, of course, and I could easily slurp up the broth. The noodles themselves, however, were a seemingly impossible task. They were thick, they were long, and they were incredibly slippery. They wouldn’t stay on the spoon; it was all I could do to occasionally get one to stay on the chopsticks long enough to suck in the whole noodle with broth flying everywhere as the noodle flailed about.

The manager and I had been having conversations about vacations and food and other topics whenever he was free. I had told him I wasn’t very familiar with Japanese food and that I was just thinking of working my way through the menu. About halfway through my udon, I decided to demonstrate this ignorance by asking how I was supposed to eat this dish. Just as he was about to tell me, he was called off to seat some other customers, and I continued to struggle on.

When he came back, he said:

“Yes, those noodles are very thick and extremely slippery. I usually eat mine with a fork.”

!

All my life I have been hearing people ooh and ahh about how wonderful a freshly-picked, vine-ripened tomato is. The word they use most often is “sweet”.

I always assumed I had never had one of these wonderful orbs, because I would never think of describing a tomato as “sweet”. Today, though, I was given a half-dozen, home-grown tomatoes and shared one with my tablemate. Afterwards, I asked her what she thought. “Sweet”, she replied.

Now that is the very last word I would have used for it. It tasted like tomatoes to me, slightly acidic and not any different than any other tomato I have ever eaten. And I’ve had heirloom tomatoes and grape tomatoes and cherry tomatoes and many other varieties. None have ever tasted sweet to me.

This is not to say I hate raw tomatoes like I understand some people do. I just know now that apparently, I am never going to enjoy a “sweet” tomato.

Tried a new recipe today. Quite good and I love the fact it is a full meal in a bowl. Next time I make it, I would probably experiment with putting in some cherry tomatoes or, perhaps, some nuts and raisins. It seems to make a versatile base that could go in many different directions.

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  5 garlic cloves, minced
  1 pound 85% lean ground beef
  1 cup diced yellow onions
  4 cups shredded cabbage
  1-1/2 cups basmati rice, rinsed and drained
  1-1/2 cups water or chicken broth
  3 tablespoons Shawarma Spice Mix
  1 teaspoon salt
  
• Add the oil to a large skillet. When the oil is hot, add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the ground beef and onions and cook, stirring just enough to break up the clumps, for 2 to 3 minutes (don’t worry about cooking the beef fully at this stage), Add the cabbage, rice, water, spice mix, and salt. Stir well to combine.
• Cover the skillet and cook until the rice is done.
• Stir gently to fluff the rice. Garnish with your choice of herb, if desired, and serve.

Here’s the recipe for the basic Shawarma Spice Mix

• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper, cayenne or black or whatever to taste

Here’s a recipe for an easy breakfast or brunch main course. You can cut it in half quite easily, too; just use an 8×8 dish instead.

Brunch Eggs California

2 cups fresh corn, approximately 2 ears (I used frozen corn, thawed)
2 tablespoons butter
12 eggs
1-1/2 cups sour cream
1/2 cup milk
4 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
8 ounces diced green chilies
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper

Sour cream to serve
Chopped tomatoes to serve
Guacamole to serve
Salsa Fresca to serve

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Sauté corn in butter for 5 minutes or until just tender. Set aside to cool. Beat eggs. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Add cooled corn and mix. Pour into an oiled 9 x 13-inch baking dish and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes or until firm and golden on top. Serve with sour cream, tomatoes, guacamole, and salsa.