Caramelized Onion, Mushroom, & Gruyere Puff Pastry Bites

A couple years ago, I ordered a mushroom-stuffed puff pastry at a French restaurant as an appetizer and I remember loving it. But then again, I love anything with mushrooms. Since then, I had been wanting to experiment with puff pastry sheets. It’s not something I’ve ever used before. The result of my experimentation were these delicious little bites! These bites work well as an appetizer because they are easy to pick up and munch on as finger food. The puff pastry is soft and flakey. The mushroom mix is light and flavorful and the cheese is goey. If you are a mushroom lover like me, you need to try this recipe. It’s easy to make and it’s so good. Next time, I might try making a puff pastry turnover since that might be a litte heartier.

CARAMELIZED ONION, MUSHROOM, & GRUYERE PUFF PASTRY BITES (makes 18 small rounds)

Ingredients:

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp ground black pepper

½ tsp thyme

1 clove of garlic, diced

1 tbsp butter

¼ cup of white wine

1 tbsp olive oil

1 egg, whisked (for the egg wash)

2 puff pastry sheets

1 small sweet yellow onion, diced

8 oz cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced

3.5 oz shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced

5-6 slices of gruyere cheese or shredded gruyere/swiss cheese blend

chopped parsley for garnish

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Meanwhile, cut puff pastry into little rounds using a cutter. I didn’t have one available so I just used a small sauce bowl that is 2¾ inches in diameter and cut around that. If you prefer, you can cut your puff pastry sheets into squares, which would be even quicker. Set aside.

Add 1 tbsp olive oil into a medium frying pan. Saute diced onions over medium heat until caramelized. Add 1 tbsp butter and let melt. Toss in garlic and mushrooms. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and thyme. Cook until the mushrooms have shrunken. Pour in wine and let reduce.

On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, arrange puff pastry rounds. Brush with egg wash. Add a spoonful of the sauteed mushroom and onions onto each round, leaving space around the edges. Bake for about 14 minutes in the oven at 400 degrees.

Pull out baking sheet tray from the oven. Add small slices of gruyere cheese on top of each round. Return to oven and bake for about 4-5 more minutes.

Garnish with chopped parsley. And that’s it! Easy peasy and delish!

Inspirational Foreplay

For the last month and a half, I have been feeling a little uninspired to test out new recipes. I ordered a lot of take-out and have only made simple dishes just so that I could quickly put something healthy in my belly. I wasn’t really excited about food. I know when I’ve hit a cooking rut because I stop staying up late in bed researching recipes, making lists of dishes I want to try, and drooling over food pics on Instagram.

One night I was bored and finally decided to reorganize my pot and pan cupboard. This sparked my desire to replace some of my dinky cookware. I finally purchased a Le Creuset Cerise Braiser that I had been eyeing for over 4 months. Next, I invested in a nicer wooden cutting board from Amazon and a Lodge cast iron skillet.

Then I started organizing my dishware and glassware cupboards and ended up getting rid of most of my plastic plates and cups. If you’re wondering why I have plastic plates and cups, it’s because they are pool-safe and my apartment building has a rooftop pool. Also, I’m super clumsy and I break everything. My old neighbor used to say that when something breaks, it takes the place of something bad that was about to happen and I would like to believe that. I have 1 drinking glass and 2 plates left from a set a 4. My cupboards were a mess and mismatched. During the process of organizing my kitchen, I somehow found myself at World Market 4 times last week. I got some new bowls, plates, a cooking utensil holder, a salt cellar, and measuring tools. I trekked out to the valley to Home Goods and got an 8-quart stock pot, which is essential for me because my favorite thing to make is soup and I fill my smaller pots to the rim when I cook. I also ordered a smaller 2-quart pot and some new kitchen towels from Bed and Bath.

And then it happened. I finally felt inspired! Sometimes retail therapy really does work (not a replacement for real mental therapy though). I call this process Inspirational Foreplay. Not the retail therapy specifically but doing anything that helps get you excited to do the thing that you really need to do. In my case, it was reorganizing my kitchen and buying new supplies that got me in the mood to cook again. Sometimes you just need to work up the energy for the task at hand, in the same way you need to stretch or warm up before a tough work-out session or whet your appetite before a big meal. That is Inspirational Foreplay! In the last week alone, I’ve made Coconut Turmeric Chicken Soup, Pan-Seared Seabass, Braised Red Wine Short Ribs Over Potato Mash with Roasted Carrots and Brussel Sprouts, Linguini-Fini with Lump Crab and Chili, and Red Wine Garlic Butter Mushrooms. I’ll be posting recipes soon.

This process of Inspirational Foreplay for my cooking reminds me of when I was 24 years old and I was breaking up with my college boyfriend of 6 years, whom I had lived with for 3 of those years. I remember telling my therapist that I felt like I was stuck in a rut and I needed to change some things in my life. One of those changes was getting out of the relationship and the other was switching careers from wealth management to fashion. I confessed to my therapist that I was scared I wouldn’t follow through with the break-up even though I strongly believed it needed to happen. It’s hard to break someone’s heart even when you know it’s the right thing to do. It’s also scary to venture back out there on your own after your life was so heavily intertwined with someone else’s. Living together made things even more complicated. I mean, what do you do? Crash at your friend’s place immediately until you find a new place? Put a deposit on the first apartment you find? Divvy up all your furniture? My therapist suggested that in order to prepare me for the break-up and assure myself that I will move forward with my decision, I should start doing things that would be required for the transition. For example, I needed to buy a new laptop and a new camera because I shared them with my boyfriend at the time and didn’t have my own. I needed to buy new bed sheets because I didn’t want to keep the old sheets I used with him. I followed her advice and eventually moved out of the apartment that I shared with him, a month and a half after our official break-up. It was amicable. I didn’t rush out. I took the time that I needed to honor the relationship, adjust to our new reality, find a new home, and say goodbye to our life together.

Anyway, being inspired to move forward with a break-up and being inspired to cook are two completely different scenarios but inspiration is inspiration. Sometimes we need a little inspiration to motivate ourselves to do the not-so-fun stuff as well as the fun, creative stuff. Do things that will help you commit to your decision or goal and will propel you forward. Inspiration can come from the simplest action, gesture, or experience—a day at the beach, a hike in nature, playing music from your high school days, speaking with an old friend, meeting a new friend, a random conversation with someone, a kind encounter with a stranger, listening to a podcast, organizing your kitchen, or buying something new that will fit into your vision like the first piece of a puzzle. Be open to everything and mix things up. Hopefully, engaging in a little bit of Inspirational Foreplay will help get you aroused also :)

Back in Boston!

One of the best things about being an entrepreneur is having a flexible schedule. I can meet a friend for lunch or spend the morning hiking and then work till midnight afterwards. My working hours don’t have to be within the construct of a rigid schedule. However, there are disadvantages to this lifestyle. Projects and work load are not always consistent. While I can run errands during the work week, I do spend most of my weekends working. I have to pay for my own health insurance. I’m still working out the kinks to a steady stream of income. I must deal with the emotional highs and lows of feeling like both a success and a failure. This is best demonstrated in the below chart created by Derek Halpern. But ya know what? I wouldn’t have it any other way. I do not regret my decision.

I was able to buy a one way ticket home to Boston to spend some time testing out some recipes with my mom. While it has been nice to get out of town, it’s cold over here still. It has been raining everyday. I’ve been here for about a week so far and have already been able to test out 4 Cambodian recipes (pineapple sweet and sour soup, meatloaf, marinated beef salad, and Cambodian omelet) with my mom and make 4 new recipes of mine for her to try (vegetarian curry, vegetarian bolognese, pork carnitas tacos, and sticky toffee pudding). I still have about 4-6 more recipes to test out with her while I’m here. I should probably start thinking about when I’m going to return home to LA. Hmmm…

I got a chance to get out into the city this past Friday to try a new restaurant (Row34) in the Seaport area one night and it was delish. Sometimes you just need a break from the parents and work! I’m also going to NYC this weekend and staying for a few days afterwards to see my sister and my niece.

Here are some pics from my trip so far.

New Year, New Challenges, More Recipes

In my last post, I wrote about how in February, I challenged myself to work every single day of the month, including weekends, sticking to a strict schedule. I stuck to the promise I made to myself and survived February! How do I feel? I feel pretty damn proud of myself! I tackled some pretty tough recipes and it was a lot of work! I have no idea how my mom was able to make some of these complex dishes as a single, working mother of 3 young girls. I also don’t know how she remembers the ingredients in all of these dishes. It’s so easy to confuse similar recipes. Good thing I’m documenting everything and creating a cookbook! I hope my sisters and my cousins appreciate all of this!

Even though February has ended, I’m still committed to working everyday. I mean, I need to. I want to. And I don’t really have a stable income. I need to keep it moving. After a month of working long hours every single day and all weekend, my body was starting to feel low on fuel. I felt so drained and tired. This month, I have tried to loosen the grip a little bit and have taken more breaks to rest. It’s hard to feel inspired and productive if you’re exhausted and overworked. I have to allow myself time to re-energize.

There are a few different things I’m trying to jump start at the moment. After 12+ years in the corporate world of the fashion industry, I want something different. I want flexibility. I have different passions and want to be able to do it all. In my experience with a corporate job that is unrelated to my other passions, it is difficult to find time to do anything else. I want to see if there’s a way I can pursue consulting on a part-time basis, which means I need to look for a client and reach out to recruiters, hiring managers, and others in my network. I also want to finish this cookbook and try to get it published. This means I need a publisher and I need to send out query letters to literary agents. Plus, I don’t know anything about publishing. I definitely have a lot of research I need to do. If all that fails, then I will need to look into self publishing. I also enjoy food styling, food photography, and sharing my journey of creating this cookbook on my Instagram. I completed my first collaboration for a brand recently (photos shown above). Food styling is so much fun! I have been getting invited to media night events as a blogger also. I’d love to connect with other brands for partnerships. This means contacting brands, creating a media kit, and sending out pitch emails.

To sum it all up, I’m searching for a new client for consulting, a literary agent, and a brand partnership while I’m cooking and writing for my cookbook. On top of all that, I’m also looking for a life partner. It’s a lot, huh?! But I think I can do it all! Hoping to at least finish all of the cooking by the end of this month. I’ve been attending various types of networking events to brainstorm with others and that has been helpful. Lets go March!

If you have any advice, suggestions, or encouraging words on the above, please send them my way!

P.S. I’ve gotten sick of eating so much of my own food. I need new non-Asian recipes. Help! Something fun and easy.