Mango Quinoa Salad

Even though it’s June in Los Angeles, it doesn’t quite feel like summer yet. The days have been gloomy and chilly still. But just because the weather doesn’t cooperate, it doesn’t mean you can’t get yourself in the mood with some light summery food! I love fruit and any salads that incorporate it in some way. I’ve been making this Mango Quinoa Salad for the last decade but have never taken the time to write down the recipe. It’s light and refreshing. If you want, you can add protein to it. It’s best eaten fresh. If you have leftovers, it can dry out a little bit overnight and might require you to add a splash more lemon juice, EVOO, and sesame oil the next day to liven it up.

MANGO QUINOA SALAD (serves 3-4 as a side)

·       2 cups cooked quinoa

·       1 cup of cubed mango

·       ¼ cup diced red onion

·       ¼ cup diced Campari tomatoes

·       ½ cup diced cucumber

·       ¼ cup chopped cilantro

·       Extra Virgin Olive oil

·       ½ tsp salt

·       2-3 tsp sesame oil

·       1 lemon juiced

INSTRUCTIONS:

Mix and serve!

Mushroom Marsala

Whenever I’ve had Chicken Marsala out at restaurants, it’s usually not that good. It’s always too creamy. They never use enough mushrooms and that is my favorite part of the dish! I decided to make the dish myself minus the chicken, so basically a Mushroom Marsala. I served mine over spaghetti but I think it would be really good over mashed potatoes too. Try the recipe and let me know what you think! If you want to make it vegan, skip the butter, use coconut milk instead of cream, and substitute the chicken broth with vegetable broth.

Mushroom Marsala (serves 2-3)

 Ingredients

·       1 lb of cremini mushrooms, thickly sliced

·       3 cloves of garlic, minced

·       ½ sweet yellow onion diced

·       ⅓ cup of heavy cream (½ cup if you prefer it on the creamier side)

·       1 cup Marsala wine 

·       1¼ cup chicken broth

·       1 tsp salt

·       pepper to taste

·       1 tbsp freshly chopped rosemary

·       1 - 1½ tbsp flour

·       1 tbsp butter

·       1 tbsp olive oil

Directions: Heat olive oil. Sauté onions until brown. Add butter and then mushrooms and ½ tsp salt. Add garlic and rosemary. Let mushrooms cook for a few minutes. Add ½ cup Marsala wine and 1 cup chicken broth. Add 1 tbsp flour. Stir. Let sauce reduce. Pour in another ½ cup of Marsala wine and ¼ cup of chicken broth. Let sauce continue to reduce. It might seem too liquidy, but once you add pasta or let it cool, it will thicken. Then add ⅓ cup of heavy cream. Sprinkle in remaining ½ tsp salt. Cook for a few minutes longer. Taste the sauce. Adjust w additional salt if necessary. Toss in pasta. Add freshly ground black pepper to taste. Sprinkle with chopped parsley. Alternatively, you can eat with rice or serve over mashed potatoes.

Year of the Tiger

Chinese / Lunar New Year is tomorrow! I celebrated with my friends by going out for Peking Duck at Ji Rong in San Gabriel Valley. This dish from Beijing is characterized by its crispy, thin skin, served with spring onion, cucumber, and plum sauce, wrapped in a warm, soft, thin pancake like a tortilla. It was so delish and such a special treat! Peking duck is a specialized dish and is not often found at most Chinese restaurants. Ji Rong had been on my list for years and I was so happy I finally got to try it for New Years.

When I was younger and used to live in Boston, Chinese New Year was such a fun celebration with my family, cousins, and uncles. So much food was made. We prayed to our ancesters. The adults gave us red envelopes with money. I miss celebrating with my family. It has been so long. If it weren’t for the rise of Omicron Covid cases, I would have flown home. I don’t think I have ever gotten to celebrate Chinese New Year with my family as an adult?

As I mentioned in a few posts back, the holidays were depressing and isolating because I was sick and everyone seemed to have Omicron. I think a lot of people’s plans were ruined. So for the month of January, I committed myself to going out every weekend to get myself out of my sweatpants and out of my house. I pretty much stuck to the plan and I’m exhausted! Lol. It’s tiring being out every weekend socializing. And expensive. I think I’ve gotten so used to being a homebody that I’ve forgotten how much things cost and the energy required to be on the constant go. It has been a good distraction though and I’ve gotten to wear new clothes that had been sitting unused in my closet. It does feel nice to get dressed and put on makeup and feel pretty. But I also felt a little bit guilty. The past few months prior, I had gotten accustomed to working nonstop and all weekend—on my consulting, my food blog, my brand partnerships, and my cookbook—that it felt strange taking weekends off to have fun. It didn’t feel productive and I was so used to feeling productive.

I’m still learning how to give myself grace and to not be so hard on myself. I think a part of me feels like I don’t deserve a break yet because I haven’t achieved certain goals. But I need to give myself credit for the things I did achieve and I need to allow myself to celebrate those small wins. I also need to learn how to pivot. If certain goals aren’t working out for me, maybe I need to shift my focus onto something else. Mix things up until something sticks. I think part of the reason I felt guilty for having fun this month is because I felt a little bit lost in life in terms of what I wanted to work towards next. How can I have fun if I don’t know what I want? Do I need to know what I want all the time though? Do I always need to know the next step? I could sit on my couch, in my comfy sweatpants, and dwell on my existential crisis all day, but answers don’t just come to you because you’re waiting for them. You have to keep on moving, moving forward and sometimes around in circles, and eventually it will find you. But not on the couch. Answers don’t come to you on the couch, unfortunately. At least not in my experience.

I think I finally found it though. The answers I was looking for. Or at least pieces of it. And it would not have come to me without going out, interacting and socializing with people, and having random conversations that inspire ideas. I guess the fun was productive. The ideas would not have come to me sitting at home trying to will the answers into existence in my brain. Anyway, I know I’m being cryptic because I don’t necessarily want to spell out my personal goals publicly, but I’m sure you understand what I’m trying to say and can relate.

Happy Lunar New Year my friends! Year of the Tiger. Another chance to reset. And I think I’m feeling much more prepared and ready for it this time around than on Jan 1st. Thank goodness.

Burnt Basque Cheesecake

I’m not a huge baker, but lately I’ve been enjoying trying new dessert recipes. Maybe it was the holiday season that got me in the mood. Desserts can sometimes be challenging to get right but they are pretty simple to make. It’s always nice to have a sweet treat throughout the week that you made yourself! I’ve had a Burnt Basque Cheesecake a few times in the last year even though it’s not a common dessert you find at restaurants. I had been wanting to test it out myself for a while. Although I generally like graham cracker crusts, the burnt edges of this crust-less cheesecake is different. It’s light and sort of cake-y. I thought my version was pretty good! You can freeze it too if you don’t want to eat the entire cheesecake on your own or you can even gift it.

BURNT BASQUE CHEESECAKE (serves 6-8)

Ingredients:

·       18 oz cream cheese

·       ¾ cup sugar

·       3 eggs

·       ¾ cup of heavy cream

·       1 tsp vanilla extract

·       3 tbsp flour

·       ¼ tsp salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

You will need a 6 or 7-inch spring form pan. Line it with parchment paper with the edges sticking out above the pan.

Mix the cream cheese with the sugar. Then add eggs and mix again thoroughly. Pour in the cream and sprinkle in the salt and vanilla extract. Toss in the flour and mix again.

Pour batter into the spring form pan. Place a baking sheet underneath. Bake for about 60 minutes. Oven times may vary. Check cheesecake at the 50-55 minute mark just in case. The cheesecake should be slightly jiggly in the middle and burnt on top. My oven requires me to bake things a little longer. I actually had to broil it for a few minutes to get the burnt crust and then I accidentally sort of overburnt it a little. Thankfully, this recipes allows room for that and it turned out okay! Hopefully, your oven won’t require you to do that! Let cool for about an hour before serving and then refrigerate the leftovers.

P.S. What dessert should I try making next?