Hot Dish

I met Molly Yeh in Sept 2010 at the Vendy Awards. She was the winner of a month long free schnitzel from the Schnitzel & Things truck. Back then I was taking photos for the owners. The owners had asked Molly to help them at the Vendy and that was how we met and have been friends since then.

It's been awesome seeing Molly's journey. 6 years doesn't seem that long but so much has changed. OMG!

Anyways, go buy her book. I have already made this hot dish 3 times in the last 4 weeks. It's SO GOOD. It's like getting a super awesome warm hug when it's super freezing outside.

3/4 cup peas, fresh or frozen

1 1/2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken thigh, cut into 1/2 to 3/4 inch pieces

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

Black pepper

18 ounces frozen Tater Tots

Ketchup, for serving (optional)

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 large onion, finely chopped

3 carrots, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

Kosher salt

6 tablespoons flour

3 cups whole milk

Enough chicken broth base to make 3 cups broth

Preheat the oven to 400 F

In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium high heat.

Add the onion and carrots and a pinch of salt and cook, stirring until soft, about 10 minutes.

Stir in the flour so that it gets evenly distributed.

Add 1 1/2 cups of the milk, stirring constantly until thickened. Repeat with the remaining 1 1/2 cups milk.

Stir in the chicken broth base, peas, chicken, thyme, and a few turns of pepper and simmer, stirring often, until the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink, 10 to 15 minutes.

Taste the mixture and adjust seasonings if desired.

Transfer the mixture to an 11x8 inch baking dish (or other 3-quart ovenproof dish) and cover the bitch with Tater Tots.

Arrange them snugly and neatly.

Bake until the tots are golden brown.

Begin checking for doneness at 30 minutes.

Let cool slightly and serve with ketchup, if desired.

Behind-The-Scenes At Black Seed Bagels

Every morning at 5am, the oven at Black Seed Bagels is already on. When I arrived on a Friday morning at 5:30am, Dianna Daoheung was already tending to the oven, setting things up, sweeping, getting the place ready to open at 7am. Most of the crew rolled in around 6am. Waking up at 4am that morning, I was thinking to myself.....WHY?! Why did I decide to wake up this early in the morning to go photograph at a bagel shop? But I really wanted to see what actually happens before the shop opens at 7am. I wanted to experience, even though it was just that one day. And I wanted for you to see as well. Bagels and croissants and pastas and pulled pork sandwiches don't magically appear. There are hours and hours of work that go into making it. Bakers are up at 3 in the morning to get that delicious bagel ready for you at 7am. Working on this project really made me appreciate the work that goes into running restaurants and the people that are running the restaurants.

Behind-The-Scenes At Margot's Pizza

After taking a bit of time off, Adam Kuban stepped back into EMILY for his bar pie pizza pop-up, Margot's Pizza. I went and spent a good few hours in the kitchen with Adam, Emily, and Matt as they prep for the pop-up.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving 2014 was mostly sitting around, eating turkey, watching tv, hanging out, and taking the dogs out for walks/running around on a field in Virginia.