Stewed Tomato and Orzo

I've been having a mild case of the sniffles and sneezes lately. I don't want to get sick. I. WILL. NOT. GET. SICK!!! I'm take every precaution in making sure that I'm well enough before my trip. That's the worst thing that could happen. *crossing fingers* So I've got juice and tea and fruits and veggies and...and...soups and...stews in mind for the next couple weeks. I'm not leaving anything to chance. Allergies beware I ain't giving in without a fight! :)

Anyway...I actually wanted tomato soup, but ended up making this. A tomato stew, of sorts...with diced tomatoes, chopped carrots, orzo, ans some veggie stock. Simple and easy and tomato-y goodness. Have I mentioned that I love tomatoes?

Serves 2

Stewed Tomato and Orzo

1 12oz can vegetable stock
1 12 oz can diced tomato
1 large garlic clove
1 large carrot - peeled and rough chopped
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 c uncooked orzo
pepper to taste.

In a pot, sauce the garlic in the olive oil for 30 seconds. Then add the tomato sauce and stock. Bring the whole thing to a slight boil, then lower the heat and let it simmer. Stir occasionally. Add the carrots and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes until the carrots had become tender. 10 minutes before serving add the orzo. Again stirring occasionally so that the orzo will not stick to the pot. Season with pepper to taste.  The orzo will absorb some of the sauce.

El Charro

Margaritas are usually on order for Cinco de Mayo, but I was driving and ya know...I was thinking responsibly. *wink wink* So my other alternative was to have myself some really tasty authentic tacos. Let's see it was about close to 4pm. The freeways were probably clogged and well that didn't sit well with me. As much as I love driving sitting in LA traffic ain't no sunshine. So rather than head south towards Downtown Los Angeles, I headed north to the city of Montrose, it is west of La Canada Flintridge.

 El Charro. The city Montrose really isn't your typical place to find good Mexican food, but I can assure you...it's good stuff. They've been in the area since 1955. And if you've been in business that long, you know you're doing something right. My mom had suggested this place after I mentioned craving for tacos on Cinco de Mayo. It would be fitting that she be my meal companion for this trip. The place isn't too big and not too small. It has booth seating or regular table seating as well as cantina (bar) for those wanting a little cerveza. Luckily it wasn't crowded as it was in the middle of the afternoon when we decided to get some chow.

 Upon seating we were brought some water the the waiter and some in-house tortilla chips along with some salsa. We ended up ordering a second basket.

 My mom orders the fish taco meal. That thing looked huge! With a side to tartar sauce, shredded cabbage on top and a couple wedges of lemon. There were two homemade torillas underneath that hill of cabbage.

I order the carne asada combo meal. Left to right - Two carne asada tacos, pico de gallo, rice with an olive garnish and bead with melted cheese. The beef for the carne asada were nice cubed chunks with shredded cheese on top. These weren't small sized like some places either.

Look at that delicious taco. I ate both of them right up with some of the beans and salsa. These are some good tacos I've had in a long while. I do want to go back and try their tostadas and enchiladas.


El Charro
Mexican Restaurant and Cantina
3741 North Verdugo Rd
Montrose, CA 91020
818.249.2405

Proscadopple

Huh? Proscadopple. Don't you know? Prosciutto, Avocado and pineapple. It took me a while to combine them, but there you go. hahaha... Yet, there I go again with combining words. But this is just a regular ol' sandwich. I like to think of it as a cousin of the BLT. Sort of.

Made a little sauce spread to go along with it. A simple thousand island like concoction of ketchup, mayo, relish and paprika. Cook up the prosciutto like bacon. Toast up some bread, spread the sauce, place the prosciutto on top followed by some pineapple slices and avocado. Simple easy the saltiness of the prosciutti balances well with the pineapple.

Oh...Happy Cinco de Mayo.

Makes 2 sandwiches

Proscadopple (Prosciutto, Avocado, Pineapple)

4 slices of bread
4-6 slices prosciutto
1 small avocado - sliced
2 round slices of pineapple - drained of juice
 cheese

Spread
1 Tbsp Mayo
1 Tbsp Ketchup
1 tsp sweet pickled relish
1/2 tsp paprika

Mix the ingredients of the spread in a small bowl and set aside.

In a skillet, cook the prosciutto until browned and slightly crisp. Place on a paper towel to drain of any oil.

Toast the bread. Then generous helping of the spread on each of the slices.  Divide the prosciutto among the two sandwiches. Top with the avocado and pineapple and the top slice of bread.

Lavash Breakfast Pizza

 
Well, I didn't have this at breakfast. More like breakfast at dinner. Have I mentioned that I haven't always been a breakfast person? In fact, I'm not much of a morning person. I'm very nocturnal. Not sure why, but that's how I've been for most of my life. I guess I like the quiet solitude that accompanies doing work at night.

I had one more lavash bread. Let's I took a little field trip Whole Foods and found some ready prosciutto. Nice and thinly sliced. I haven't used prosciutto on B + B yet, so why not. It's Italian dry-cured ham. A little saltier than the American ham, yet so good. I love my pork! Anyway...so Lavash plus prosciutto plus...let me see...cheese...tomato sauce...Oh, oh...and EGG! It can't be breakfast with an egg or two. Yes.

Spread the sauce, followed by the cheese (parmesan and cheddar). Make a little border with the prosciutto to hold in the the eggs that i cracked in the middle. Bake it up like a regular pizza and voila...lavash breakfast pizza.

Serves 2

Lavash Breakfast Pizza

1 large lavash bread
4 or 5 thin slices of prosciutto
2 eggs
1/2 c grated parmesan
1/2 c shredded cheddar
1/4 c tomato sauce

Preheat your oven to 375˚F

Lay the lavash bread on a pizza pan or ungreased baking sheet.  Spread the tomato sauce evenly around, then sprinkle both cheeses. With the prosciutto, create a border in which the egg will go into. Crack the eggs, then bake for 10-13 minutes.

Serve warm.

Stir Fry Quesdilla

Still cleaning out the pantry/fridge in some way. A little over two week until my trip to the Philippines. I'm really excited.

Istill had some that lavash bread and havarti cheese. The only thing that came to mind was a nice big quesadilla. *insert big smile here* Mmmm... I rummaged through the pantry and among the cans of tomato sauce was a can of sardines. Boneless and packed in olive oil. A small light bulb moment.

Sardine quesadilla?

There's got to be something else I can throw in there. I savenge the fridge and find some leftover frozen mixed veggies that I totally almost forgot about. Sometimes I think my freezer becomes no man's land. Or should I say land of lost foods. You end up forgetting what's in there sometimes. So I cook that up. Did a quick defrost in the microwave and stir-fry them up with some onion, oyster sauce and soy sauce. Adding the sardine in chunks. Mix it all up and place onto the lavash bread with nice slices of the havarti cheese. I used ol' Georgie once again to press it all together and melt the delicious cheesy goodness. You can omit the sardines all together, if you'd prefer a veggie quesadilla. Either way it's all good eats.

Makes 1 large or 2 small quesadilla

Stir Fry Quesadilla

1 large lavash bread or large tortilla
a few slices of havarti cheese.

1 c mixed vegetables
1 Tbsp oyster sauce
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 small sweet onion - chopped
pepper to taste
1 small can sardines in Olive oil (optional)

Heat  a little olive oil in a skillet and saute the vegetables and onion until tender. Stir in the oyster sauce and soy sauce, then season with a little pepper -- to taste. Once sauteed, add the optional sardine. Stir it in chunks. (Note you may also use the oil in the sardine to saute the vegetables a onions. Set aside.

Lay the lavash bread on a flat surface. Spread the stir-fry evenly on half and top with slices of cheese. Fold the other half of the lavash bread and press firmly.

If you have a press, heat for 3-5 minutes until the cheese has melted. You may also heat the quesadilla  in a dry clean skillet. Heat both sides for 3-5 minutes or until the cheese has melted.

Serve warm.

Jewel City Diner

I had me one of those mother-daughter shopping days at the Americana in Glendale, Ca. Actually, it was getting several items that I will be bringing with me to the Philippines later this month, but still I love spending quality time with my mom. It was also really lovely day in LA. A mild break from the crazy winds we've been having lately. There was a nice breeze, which made it nice for going to the beach or simple a day out in the park.

Jewel City Diner. Located next to Cheesecake Factory and H&M at the Americana. Most of the outdoor seating was taken, so I opted to eat inside the diner area.   But it did have that diner feel even though the inside had limited room. But you do get counter service, which was pretty neat. They had some of the usual selections. Sandwiches, burgers, hotdogs, salads, desserts.

I order the turkey burger with swiss cheese and a side of onion rings. Look at those tick battered onions rings. It was a mix of crisp with a touch of soggy as the oil it was deep fried it soaked up into the fresh fried rings. Ooo...That's one thing I haven't done on B + B yet...good ol' fashioned onion rings.

Anyway...I had these with some lemonade to wash it all down. The burger had your usual trimming of tomato and lettuce, pickles with may and mustard. Served on a wheat bun, I believe. I enjoyed it quite a bit. It wasn't the best burger I've eaten, but it was good enough to keep my hunger down for a few hours. It was just enough to fill me. Not to the point where I need a nap right after. It was the "ok now I'm full and let's keep shopping" feeling. They do offer to slice your burger in half. That's was pretty neat, in case you can't finish the whole thing. As how I always eat my burgers, I like like to go for the veggies first, then eat up the meat and bun after with maybe a load of ketchup per bite.

Jewel City Diner
Americana at Brand
629 Americana Way
Glendale, CA 91210
818.637.8998

Another Late Lunch

I did it again. I went to Porto's Bakery for the second time this week. I couldn't help it. I really can't. I love the place way WAY too much. Wouldn't you go back to a place, if you really loved the food?

A little view of the cafe area. The bests times to go are between 9-11am and 2-4pm. Those are, I think, the semi-lull hours. Though, I wouldn't really call it a lull point.

My mom orders the Feta. This has feta cheese, fresh basil, vine ripened tomatoes,  olive oil, Italian dressing, red onions on a baguette. Served with some mariquitas.  A little reminiscent of the 

This time I ordered the Cubano. (Cuban Sandwich) Slow roasted pork, ham, Swiss cheese, butter, may and mustard, pickels on Cuban bread. This is a little similar to the Medianoche sandwich my mom had a couple days ago except that the bread is different. Served with some FRESH mariquitas. I say fresh because I saw them bring out a fresh batch. Plus, you know it's a fresh batch when you see a little of that oil still slightly on the surface. Yum!!!

Just to show you how packed the place gets -- here's a pic from their bakery area. The first pic on top was from their cafe area. This is before the end of day rush hour crowd.

Multiply that by two and that's how crowded it can get during peak hours.

Porto's Bakery

Glendale Location
315 North Brand Blvd.
Glendale, CA 91203
tel. (818) 956-5996
fax (818) 956-0696