We've Moved!

Hello faithful followers! 

Big news from Metropolitan Mélange - we've gone through a rebranding. We have has so much fun with this blog over the years, but since we began posting our recipes from NYC in 2012, a lot of things have changed. We've moved from New York to LA, to San Diego, gotten married, and (we think) improved our cooking and -Philippe's- photography skills. Based on all this change, we think it's time to update the blog to better represent what we're all about.

So what's next? All The Eats. We've moved our blog over to Wordpress HERE and think it's looking pretty awesome so far. We will sign our current followers up to get our new email updates, so if you see a confirmation from us in your inbox please accept! Otherwise you can sign up easily on your own from our new site so you don't miss any new posts. Moving forward, we won't be making any new updates to this Blogspot page.

If you're feeling social, you can also check us out on our new Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest pages. Yep, we've got them all.

Thanks again for all your support! We look forward to many tasty adventures ahead.

Love,
Philippe and Julia

Easy Gazpacho with Goat Cheese Croutons; Tomato Crostini with Whipped Feta; Avocado and Grapefruit Salad

When Philippe picks the menu, he tends to set him self up for a lot of work and Julia's 27th birthday dinner was no exception. This post is a "little" late, but Philippe finally found the time to write it one Sunday afternoon while working in Suzhou, China.  Apologies to everyone reading this in December, as we know it's not very relevant.

Given the summer heat wave in LA back in June and the 90+ temps in our apartment, turning on the stove or oven seemed like a non-starter. The result was a menu that required minimal cooking but a healthy amount of prep work and use of the food processor. 

Starting the birthday girl off with a chilled drink, Philippe served a variation of Kir Royale, prosecco poured over Chambord raspberry liqueur and fresh raspberries. For the first course of dinner, he made a fresh, chilled gazpacho with goat cheese toasts. This particular recipe had a bit of kick to it thanks to the red pepper flakes and we'll definitely make it again in the summer.

For the second course, Philippe served toasted baguette topped with whipped feta, a cherry tomato and shallot mix, julienned basil, and toasted pine nuts. The whipped feta was made in the food processor with garlic, lemon juice, and cream cheese and was very flavorful, making this our favorite dish of the meal.

For a final course, Philippe served an avocado grapefruit salad with a lemon-mustard vinagrette. The unusual pairing of avocado and grapefruit go together very nicely and was very light and refreshing.

Dessert was a selection from Magnolia Bakery; a cup cake, banana pudding, and a chocolate chunk blondie. There were only crumbs left by the time we picked the camera up, so no pictures.

Recipes:
Easy Gazpacho & Goat Cheese Croutons Recipe
Tomato Crostini with Whipped Feta Recipe
Avocado and Grapefruit Salad Recipe

Burrito Bowls with BBQ Beans & Grilled Peach Salsa

Here's another vegan recipe from our Thug Kitchen book that we adapted a bit to leave out the tortillas and make burrito bowls. Full disclosure - this is not a quick weeknight dinner, as it requires making 3 recipes: spanish rice, BBQ beans, and grilled peach salsa. However, it does go great with mojitos or margaritas and is worth the effort on the weekend. It also makes a ton of food if you're interested in eating burritos for days (or freezing extras for later).

We're a little behind on our posts and this was made over the summer (hence the peaches). But the rice and beans would still be great on their own or with another type of salsa as well. 

Shoutout to Aunt Julie who gave us this huge, amazing food processor as a wedding gift. All 3 recipes required using one, and we even did a little extra credit, making another hot tomato salsa in addition to the peach salsa used in this recipe. We never could never have accomplished all this without our new machine!

Mojitos because, summer

Everything goes in the food processor!

Making spanish rice requires blending the sauce, then pouring it over the rice and baking it in the oven before mixing in peas and corn.

Grilled peaches for salsa

homemade salsa

BBQ beans

The final product - very filling and full of flavor

Shakshuka

During Julia's bachelorette party in Washington, D.C. back in May, Claire and Matan invited the whole crew over to their home for brunch. Part of the amazing spread of breakfast food included Shakshuka and Julia had been dying to make it ever since. There is nothing quite more comforting and satisfying than eggs in a spicy tomato sauce with feta cheese and pita. We also fully support eating this for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Although many recipes call for bell peppers, we usually try to avoid those for Philippe. This recipe from Smitten Kitchen does not include them - just lots of jalapenos instead.

Chopping the onions, jalepenos and garlic to start the sauce

Getting saucy

Our timing wasn't perfect for all of the eggs - be careful not to overcook them!

Can't leave out the toasted pita bread. We get ours from the fresh bread section of our supermarket - those packaged ones tend to have sneaky ingredients.

Happy Brunching!

Recipe from The Smitten Kitchen Blog: Shakshuka

Chicken Tarragon Fricassee with Rice and Roasted Brussels Sprouts

One of the very first birthday dinners Philippe ever cooked for Julia was his mom's recipe for chicken tarragon. We were in college at the time, staying in dorms over the summer and essentially working with a single cooking knife and pan (that we might have stolen from the communal kitchen). Julia fell in love with this dish, and it's always been a favorite of Philippe's so when we found a recipe in Julia Child's book, we had to make it again - this time with a slightly better equipped kitchen.

Although this isn't going to score healthy points considering the amount of butter, cream, and egg yolks going on in there, it is truly delicious.

We decided to add some brussels sprouts and brown rice on the side to redeem ourselves.

This is the "can I eat now?" face.

We used the recipe directly from Julia Child's "The Art of French Cooking (Vol. 1)," but here's something similar:

Tarragon Chicken Fricassee