Bánh Patê Sô - Pâté Chaud (Vietnamese Meat Pies)

Bánh patê sô, or pâté chaud in French (which translates to hot pie), is a very popular Vietnamese snack. I have never encountered a French version of this dish so I assume that this is a Vietnamese recipe with French influence. I really liked eating these in Vietnam. I had a couple of these when I was in California, and Ravenous Couple's post made me want to try making them myself. The perfect occasion presented itself when it was my turn for weekly treats (Every week, 3 people are assigned to bring treats on Friday at work. We congregate at 10 am to snack and chichat.).



Bánh Patê Sô - Pâté Chaud (Vietnamese Meat Pies) - Makes 16 x 3
I made a lot of filling so had to use a lot of puff pastry. Reduce the recipe to make just enough. However, these can be easily frozen and baked at your convenience. I had originally planned to make round pies like typically found at Vietnamese food stores but it was easier (and less wasteful!) to make little square pies. Shape them as you wish!

* 1 lb. ground pork
* 150 g pâtê
* ¼ onion, diced finely
* ½ salt
* ¼ tsp pepper
* 3 packages of puff pastry, thawed (if not rolled, roll into a square)
* 1 egg, beaten

Mix the ground pork, pâtê, onion, salt and pepper until well mixed.
Form a little patty and fry it up in a pan.
Adjust seasoning to taste.
Cut puff pastry into 16 squares.
Place a tablespoon or so of filling on one of the squares.
Top with another squares.
Crimp the edges with a fork.
Brush each square with the egg wash.
(To freeze, place each square on parchment lined baking sheet and freeze until the pies are rock hard. Then move them to a plastic bag. If not, they will stick together.)
Bake at 350F on parchment lined baking sheet for 12-15 minutes or until golden.
Tada!


Mixing the ingredients at the top.


I first placed 16 pieces of meat filling, topped them with a whole puff pastry sheet and then sliced each.


I thought it gave more even square by cutting the squares first.


Before and after baking.

All my colleagues really enjoyed my Vietnamese meat pies and I still have some in the freezer whenever the craving for bánh patê sô hits me!


I love the big chunks of black pepper from the pâté.

Crêpes

Growing up in the province of Québec, where everything is influenced by French culture, I was always familiar with crêpes, the thinner cousin to the pancake. When I discovered pancakes, I didn't understand why anyone would pick the thicker version over thin and dainty crêpes, slathered with maple syrup.



Crêpes - Makes about 8-10 crêpes
From Take Home Chef - Curtis Stone.
Have them on their own for breakfast with maple syrup, add cheese and vegetables for a savoury dish or it's perfect as dessert, folded up with ice cream and drizzled with chocolate. I don't think you need a recipe per se; my sister would probably say to add ingredients until you get the "right" consistency. However, I've been using this recipe for a while and it works every time!

* 1-¼ cups whole milk
* 1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
* ½ cup heavy cream
* 2 large eggs
* 4 tsp sugar
* pinch of salt
* 1 tbsp unsalted butter

Mix milk, flour, cream eggs, sugar, and salt (the recipes calls to blend it, but I just mix it by hand).
Set aside for 30 minutes allowing the flour to absorb the liquid and the foam to dissipate.
Strain the batter through a sieve to ensure there are no clumps.
Preheat oven to 200F.
Heat a heavy 8-inch nonstick saute pan over medium-low heat.
Dab some of the butter on a paper towel and wipe the pan with it.
Pour a ladle full (or 3 tbsp) of the batter into the center of the pan and swirl to coat the bottom thinly.
Cook until the edge is light brown (and large bubbles form), about 1-½ minutes.
Loosen the edges gently with a spatula, and carefully turn the crêpe over.
Cook for another minute.
Place the crêpe on a plate and keep warm in the oven until ready to serve.
Serve with maple syrup or maple whipped cream.
Tada!



Mixing the batter, straining and cooking a crêpe!


Nothing better than a stack full of crêpes waiting for you at breakfast!

Curried Vegetables and Goat Cheese Baguette

I realize it's been a while since I've posted a recipe and this one has been a long time coming. I learned a few vegetarian recipes from my ex-rommate, aka Trapezista, including this very easy and delicious sandwich recipe. Curried vegetables combined with goat cheese make a perfect sandwich. Throw in some oven roasted fries and you have a great meal!



Curried Vegetables and Goat Cheese Baguette
It barely takes any effort. You just need a nice crusty baguette and goat cheese in hand.

* zucchini, sliced lengthwise
* red pepper, quartered
* curry powder
* mayo
* goat cheese
* baguette, cut into 6" sections

For the vegetables
Sauté zucchini and red pepper with curry powder, to taste, until cooked.

For the curried mayo
Mix mayo and curry powder and set aside.


Cooking the vegetables and making curried mayo.

Assembling the sandwich
Slice baguette lengthwise, but not right through.
Spread one half of the bread with goat cheese.
Bake in the oven at 350F for 5-7 minutes, until the goat cheese softens and gets gooey.
Spread the other half of the bread with curried mayo.
Place a few pieces of the pepper and zucchini in the baguette.
Serve the baguette with more curried mayo.
Tada!


Goat cheese and curried mayo make everything good!


Bake potato wedges with olive oil, rosemary, chili flakes and salt for 20 minutes.


Delicious and pretty healthy!

New Capital Seafood Restaurant (Alhambra, CA)

140 W Valley Blvd
San Gabriel, CA 91776

626.288.1899

My last post on my trip to California is also the reason for my trip: Cathy's and Vern's wedding! It was my honour to be one of the bridesmaids on their very special day. I won't post pictures of the couple because their photographer will have way better pictures than mine. I will just include the food pictures!


Greystone Mansion.

The ceremony took place at the very picturesque gardens at Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills. After the touching ceremony (I loved that they said their own vows and their choice of song when Cathy walked up the aisle - The Beatles' Let it Be), cocktail hour included champagne and pastries from a Cuban bakery. I was able to score a mango mousse and a guava strudel. Yum!


Pastries at cocktail hour.

After cocktails, we headed to the reception in style in a limousine hummer! That's right! It was pretty amazing to see the driver make turns. At a point, he even considered U-turning but I was quite relieved when he changed his mind. It was a fun drive. We got to rock to Weezer!


Our stylish ride. It wouldn't be a Los Angeles drive without hitting some traffic!

When we arrived at the restaurant, we rode the elevator to the fourth floor. The restaurant was packed with diners enjoying their Chinese food. They barely looked up when we walked by.


New Capital floor.

Ok, so at this point, I have to admit that I was super excited to have dinner. There is nothing I enjoy better than a Chinese wedding feast! Food just keeps on coming, usually family style; although since we sat at a VIP table (the head table), our plates were served individually. Also, Cathy made me happy by telling me that there would be no shark fin soup. It's a traditional soup at wedding that showcases one's wealth, but if you've ever seen sharks being thrown back into the ocean after having their fins cut off, you'd never want to eat it either! And supposedly, it doesn't even taste any good. No more gruesomeness nor animal rights' rants, let's move on to the food!!!


Cathy cleverly divided the dishes by vegeterian, sea and land.

For starters, there was a barbecue meat platter. While I enjoyed the meat, my favourite was the jelly fish. I just love the crunchy texture and the flavour of sesame oil. We were also served a hot and sour soup. You can never go wrong with hot and sour soup in my book!


Barbecue Meat Platter and Hot & Sour Soup.

Next, we were served French-style beef and Schezuan-style sauteed prawns with broccoli. Both the beef and prawns were great and well seasoned. I especially like the heat of the spices in the prawn dish.


French-style beef and Schezuan-style prawns.

Next up, we were served Peking duck. Now, as a half-Chinese, it's embarrassing to admit that I've never had Peking duck served at a restaurant, with pancakes, scallion and Hoisin sauce. I guess my family always bought our duck to go and ate it with rice. So it was nice to experience Peking duck in a new way. The pancake topped with duck made for a perfect little fatty package! M, one of the groomsmen who sat next to me, declared that this was his favourite dish of the night!

Peking duck.

The sea dishes were served together, the steamed black cod in a small bowl on a plate with the lobster with ginger and scallions. Both tasted great, as expected from a seafood restaurant. The vegetarian dishes consisted of braised haricots verts and fried rice. This was the second time on my trip that I had green beans at a Chinese restaurant. I don't usually order green beans at Chinese restaurants, but I really enjoyed them. The fried rice was good but I was honestly too full to eat anymore... until dessert that is.


The sea and vegetarian dishes.

There was a total of three desserts and two choices for cake. Chinese sweet treats were served, including sesame balls and bean stuffed sweets. Sweet tofu with ginger was also served. Finally, there was passion fruit or lemon cake, custom prepared by one of Cathy's food blogger friend Sarah the Bear!


Dessert time!


The cake was colour coordinated with the yellow-themed wedding!

What a wedding feast! I wouldn't expect less from the Gastronomer. It was an amazing night with amazing food. I was so happy to be able to share my friends' special day. I went home the next day after being very well fed for a week. I'm very thankful to all my family and friends in California!

P.S. I'll link to Cathy's wedding post once it's available.
P.P.S. For another perspective on the wedding's food, Diana Takes a Bite also blogged about it!



For the previous California posts:
* Bánh Mì Chè Cali & Tea Station
* NYC Seafood Restaurant
* Nem Nướng Ninh Hòa
* Quang An Duong Herb Store & Kim Ky Noodle House
* Oomasa Restaurant
* Fish tacos at Señor Fish
* Mario Batali's Pizzeria Mozza
* Crawsfish at The Boiling Crab
* All-you-can-eat Korean BBQ at Road to Seoul
* Rehearsal Dinner at La Grande Orange Café

La Grande Orange Café (Pasadena, CA)

260 S. Raymond Avenue
Pasadena, California
626.356.4444
website

I've been slow writing posts in general, and more specifically finishing my California posts . My goal is to finish writing these posts before I leave for my next wedding vacation next week! Really, there are only two left: the rehearsal and the big day!


Doesn't this entrance look quintessentially Californian with the bright sun and palm trees?

On the night before the wedding, Cathy and Vern invited all their out-of-town guests (which totalled a whopping 75 I think!) to La Grande Orange, which The Gastronomer had previously written a post about, generously hosted by Vern's parents. To start with, I got to munch on deviled eggs while mingling with the couple's family and friends.

Deviled eggs always hit the spot!

Cathy and Vern had reserved the yard which was a perfect spot for dining! I got to sit at the head table, in the company of Cathy's and Vern's old college friends, many of whom were very fit runners!


La Grande Orange yard.

We were first served a chopped caesar salad, garnished with large shards of cheese. Can't go wrong with that!


Chopped caesar salad.

For our entrées, we were provided three choices. Luckily, I was able to snap pictures of my neighbours' dinner. Unfortunately, it had gotten dark, so my pictures are not the greatest. Cathy's college friend T's prime rib was served rare just as she requested. I like girls who eat their meat bloody! The vegetables in the vegetarian taco dish were very colourful and were served with house-made corn tortillas.


Talk about two extremes: prime rib and vegetarian tacos!

I ordered the roasted organic chicken, after Cathy excitedly informed me that it was Jidori chicken, currently all the rage in California. I even read a New York Times article that she had linked while I was still in Canada. Jidori chicken is a type of free-range chicken grown in Japan, so technically this chicken was raised in California in the Jidori fashion. I loved the simple chicken with its crispy skin. Could I detect anything in particular? I think my palette is not quite that distinguishing, but the chicken was delicious!

Jidori chicken served with spinach.

While I was stuffed to the gills, I still managed to eat olive oil cake. It was nice to finish up the meal with a dessert that was not too sweet.

Olive Oil Cake.


Cathy with her college friends, including Lucious on the left who was a fellow bridesmaid!

Finally, after a nice thank you speech, Cathy and Vern presented the wedding party with some presents. I got to go home with a box of very beautifully colourful macarons. Lucky girl I am! What a fun night and the last post will be the wedding!!


My macarons that I saved for home.



For the previous California posts:
* Bánh Mì Chè Cali & Tea Station
* NYC Seafood Restaurant
* Nem Nướng Ninh Hòa
* Quang An Duong Herb Store & Kim Ky Noodle House
* Oomasa Restaurant
* Fish tacos at Señor Fish
* Mario Batali's Pizzeria Mozza
* Crawsfish at The Boiling Crab
* All-you-can-eat Korean BBQ at Road to Seoul
* Wedding Banquet at Capital Seafood Restaurant