Antthony - HSN

Another Antthony video Greg and I shot last month.

Coq Au Vin

Since buying our dutch oven, we've been on a mission to cook dishes that involve its use. Last week we tried a combination/simplified version of Julia Child and Jacques Pepin's Beef Bourguignoin which turned out great (may be because we finished it with the left over wine). We didn't use tomato paste which is Child's special touch nor did we incorporate a Beurre Manie that Pepin and pretty much anyone French would've done. Starting simple was definitely our goal considering this was our first attempt on tackling this dish. On Saturday we made Coq Au Vin, another red wine dish but with "Coq" (chicken,  well technically rooster) in stead of Beouf. This time we dedicated to the recipe whole-heartedly. You can check out the recipe we used below from The Official Hungry. I would change the cooking time a bit. Their's instructed to cook it a bit longer with the lid off for browning which turned out to be more blackening. Delicious nonetheless, just not as visually appealing as we would've liked in the end.

I love, love, love how the dutch oven browns the chicken!

As you can see, we changed up the wine from its traditional Burgundy to a Bordeaux. Definitely complemented the dish well, most especially as a drink. In the closing words of Martha Stewart, "It's a Good Thing". 

Ingredients:


Extra virgin olive oil

Butter, room temperature

¼ lb pancetta, diced

3-4 lbs chicken thighs

Salt, to taste

Black pepper, to taste

2 carrots, cut diagonally into 1-inch pieces

1 yellow onion, sliced

6 cloves garlic, smashed 

½ lb mushrooms, quartered

1/2 bottle dry red wine 

1 cup chicken stock

1 bunch fresh thyme
1-2 tbsp flour 

Fresh parsley, chopped



Directions:
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Heat the 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of butter in a large Dutch oven. Add the bacon and cook over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove the bacon to a plate with a slotted spoon.

Meanwhile, lay the chicken out on paper towels and pat dry. Liberally season the chicken on both sides with salt and pepper. In the Dutch oven, brown the chicken in batches in a single layer until the skin is crispy and golden brown. Remove the chicken to the plate with the bacon and continue to brown until all the chicken is done. Set aside.

Add the carrots and onions to the pan and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes or until the onions are lightly browned. Add the garlic and mushrooms and cook for 1 minute. Add the wine to deglaze all the crispy brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Then add the chicken stock, thyme, bacon, chicken, and any juices that collected on the plate into the pot. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a simmer. Cover the pot with a lid and place in the oven for 45 minutes - 1 hour.

Make a Beurre Manie by mashing 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of flour together to form a paste. Remove the chicken from the pot. Place the Dutch oven over medium heat and stir the Beurre Manie into the stew. Bring the stew to a simmer and cook for another 5 minutes. If you would like a thicker consistency, add another tablespoon of butter and flour. Taste and season if necessary.

To finish the dish, add the vegetables and sauce to the chicken on the platter and garnish with freshly chopped parsley.

We also picked up a dragon fruit from the market. I've never tried it before. Amado recalls it tasting like kiwi but it's a bit on the milky side. The flavor is very mild and hard to pin point. Not really sure if theres a difference between the purple ones compared to the one (white) I bought.

Black and White Film

Here's the second set of film I processed with TheDarkRoom.com last week. I'm really happy with their service so far. The whole process took about 1 week and the price isn't bad compared to the other ones I've found online. These are a mix of Ilford XP2 Super 400 and Kodak Pro BW400CN. I prefer the Kodak because of the shadow details and its sharp imagery.

These were taken at El Segundo's Movie at the Park. We were mainly there for the food (duh!) but it's pointless to take photos of them with black and white film.

I love that you can see so much detail in Juku's face. Typically hard to see due to her dark black coat and shading from her bangs.

And Kami's too. She's so dramatic with her emotional expression. 

The next 10 or so were shot with the Ilford and you can see the difference.

I chatted with this lady for a bit after she caught the fish. I guess no one really hassles you about fishing on the shoreline at 7am.

Took this one of Amado during our daily walk. He said it's profile worthy since he looks slim.

The Rottweiler that we always say "hi" to on our way to the strand.

Some photos from the Arboretum.

and The Grove...

On the road for a Malaya Project shoot in Rancho Cucamonga.

Stopped by my cousin's, Marissa, for her birthday bbq. Thanks for not wasting my film. You actually took a decent one of me and Amado and I still have backyard envy!

Color Film

So here we have a photo dump post. I divided them into two sets so it doesn't slow down browsers and annoy people. Obviously with film, you have to finish the entire roll before being able to process it so there's a combination of different events in this set.

These ones were taken in San Pedro when my cousin Mick decided to have a little get together. Hanging out at White Rocks reminded me of my Uncle Mike. We always went for long drives. Most of the time, we didn't really have a set destination and we didn't care. I'm bad with directions so I learned to navigate through Anaheim, Buena Park, San Pedro and Wilmington by using food places for landmarks. I definitely learned that from him which probably is where my passion for food came from. The other part, from Amado (for obvious reasons).

By the way, bomb soft serve ice cream truck! I'm willing to track this guy down on a weekend if I have to. That's how much of an ice cream junkie I am. I've told Amado that when we finally buy a house, I only have two requests. A soft serve ice cream machine in our kitchen and a Korean BBQ style table/grill in our backyard.

Here's one from Marley Mae's shoot and with Sully feeding the ducks at the park.

My cousin Suzanne and her family pay a visit in our home area of Manhattan Beach all the way from Canada. It's been almost 15 years since we last saw each other. It was great seeing them. The kids were just super excited to be able to enjoy SoCal's beach scene despite the overcast which definitely did not put a damper on their Sunday Funday. I recall one of the girls exclaiming aloud "This is the BEST DAY ever!" Definitely put a smile on all our faces. And major props to Amado for getting them a pretty-in-pink, patriotic beach towel. Pretty expensive but well worth the happiness and smiles attained from that day. (NOTE: Manhattan Beach does not have a souvenir shop.) 

Kevin's Birthday. Pat, sorry, I thought I got one of you standing next to him.

Juku sunbathing. This is her usual spot from 10am-12pm if I'm at home. Our little Pink Belly. So ripe.

From a shoot Greg and I worked on in DTLA. Miracles happened during this shoot. Greg and I managed to put together a pretty awesome video despite the conditions we had to work with.

Homemade Spinach Pasta

Ryan and Holly gave us a pasta maker 2 years ago for Christmas. While this was the first time Amado and I got around to using it, Holly and I made some before using hers so I'm a bit familiar with the process. This time around, I just let Amado enjoy preparing the pasta while I took some shots and occasionally held the dough for him. You can check out some short clips we did on Amado's Instagram, here and here.

For the Homemade Spinach Pasta recipe, you can head on over to Macheesmo.com. I really like his recipes and he's very detailed with his process.