Winner Winner Pork Chop Dinner

Sunday at the store, they were having a sale on what I will call  "big daddy" pork chops, and I decided I needed them to make for dinner. However, I planned poorly -- since the chops were so thick, they really should have cooked for a long time at a low temperature to ensure that they were super juicy while still being cooked all the way. Spoiler alert, I cooked them really quickly on the stove top and they were a bit dry. Oh well, it was still a lovely meal.

Pork Chops:
- two "big daddy" chops (they were close to an inch thick)
- 1 cup buttermilk
- salt & pepper
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
- oil for cooking
- chicken stock

First, combine the buttermilk and seasonings and then cover the pork chops with it. In theory, the tang of the buttermilk should help to tenderize the meat and ensure a juicy delicious chop.... like I said, in theory. Then, if you want to undo all of the tenderizing you just did, you should cook it in a hot pan on the stove top like me! I heated just a bit of canola oil in a skillet, and seared the chops on both sides, then I poured on some chicken stock and let them "braise" for a few minutes to finish cooking. Had I done this for longer on a lower temp, or had the pork chops been bone-in, this might have actually worked. As it stands, I think the flavors were perfect, but it was definitely a bit dry.

Mashed Potatoes and Carrots with Basil and Feta:
In an attempt to use up as many near expired or overripe items in my fridge and pantry as possible, I created a very colorful and eclectic side dish for this meal. It ended up being kind of fabulous, and I think I'm going to do the potato/carrot mash up again. Not only is it a pretty color, but I think it requires less salt, butter, or cheese than normal mashed potatoes because of the sweetness and depth of flavor that the carrots offer.

- 4 red potatoes (skin on)
- 3 carrots
- salt & pepper
- goats' milk feta (my new favorite thing, oh man)
- 1 TBSP butta
- a handful of fresh basil leaves, rougly chopped, or torn.

Boil potatoes and carrots in salted water until softened. Drain, and put butter in the hot pan, add taters and carrots back in and start smashing adding milk as necessary. Then fold in  feta and basil and.


***this side is vegetarian and gluten free! 


You may recognize my "Go to salad" with shallots, nuts (pecans this time), cheese (gorgonzola), and fruit (fresh blackberries! YES!) in the photo.

Roasted Carrots with Feta and Mint

I hardly did any cooking this week somehow, but on Tuesday evening for vampire night, it was my turn for salad. I went outside the box a bit with my definition of salad, and made Michael Symon's roasted carrots with mint and feta.

I followed the recipe pretty much exactly, but I allowed the carrots to completely cool and served it as a room temperature salad. Also, I used some all goats' milk feta-- I think it might be one of my new favorite cheeses! The dish was pretty fantastic, and accompanied Mandy's greek chicken gyros perfectly!

The sweetness of the honey, the tang of the vinegar, and the savory cumin really made the carrots pop. They would have been great alone, but with the feta and mint , this dish was fabulous!  The only negative is that while roasting the carrots, my pan got basically destroyed-- no matter how much scrubbing I do, I cannot get the burned cumin honey off. I guess it was worth it? If I did this again, I think I would omit the honey from the initial roasting phase, and actually, I might parboil the carrots and try to finish them on the grill instead of in a hot oven.

Tim is going to be planting a lot of carrots in his deck garden this summer, so I can't wait to try this again with some home grown beauties!

St. Paddy's Day 2012

Timmy and I just realized that this was our FIFTH St. Patrick's Day together. Wow. It was definitely our most laid back holiday, in that I spent a lot of the day working, and I had half a beer total, all day, but it was still pretty great. For the third year in a row, Tim cooked for me, and he really hit his stride this year.

Timmy prepping the carrots

Chef Timmy was in charge of the corned beef that he made in the crock pot with some delicious carrots and cabbage. And, to make something extra special, we also had butter potatoes! Yummm.

The beef, carrots, and cabbage hot out of the pan (hence the dreamy fuzziness from the steam)

 I was in charge of everything else, so I made Kale chips as a snack. I was surprised at how much Tim liked them, and I can't wait to make them again for us. They are possibly the easiest snack in the world to make--- take kale leaves, rip into bite sized pieces, toss with 1 tsp olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and bake on a sheet for 20-30 minutes at 300. (I really love them with seasoning blends from Penzey's like Turkish seasoning, or Mural of Flavor as well.)

I also made a Vegan Guinness Cake with a chocolate whiskey glaze. Because we ate so much corned beef, I only ate about three bites of the whole cake, but it was pretty darn tasty! Since the cake was vegan, it was nice to have the little extra something that the Guinness offered.

Also, just like last year, I baked Irish Soda Bread. It was extra delicious piled high with corned beef and cabbage. I also ate it the next morning toasted with butter and honey. I love how the sweetness of the raisins is counteracted by the savory caraway seeds, and this bread is the perfect texture. Plus it is so easy and requires no kneading or rising time, and it is pretty darn gorgeous.

I think my food coma lasted about three days, but it was definitely worth it. Happy St. Paddy's to all!

the whole spread

My adorable "Kiss me I'm Iowish" tee. :)

Dinner with the parents

my very full tiny grill

Last Wednesday night, my parents drove up for dinner. Since my mother is the best cook I know, and the person who taught me everything I know (thanks, Mom), I am always really nervous when serving her a meal. Impressing her is totally thrilling! So, I opted for my old stand-by: pork tenderloin on the grill. After deciding on the main course, I figured I may as well make the whole meal on the grill. Lately I have been intrigued by grilling things that typically are not found on a grill and this inspired me to pick my two side dishes-- carrots and fennel. I also made a salad (not pictured) of arugula, pistachio, and baby heirloom tomatoes.

1. Grilled pork tenderloin
I put a dry rub on the pork and let it marinate for about an hour. The dry rub consisted of fennel seed (both whole and ground), dried parsley, a dash of cayenne, the zest of one orange, a bit of salt, and a healthy amount of cracked black pepper. I threw the tenderloin on the grill (Medium-ish heat) for 40 minutes, turning twice. I let the pork sit ten minutes (under a foil tent) before slicing. THIS IS THE MOST CRITICAL STEP! Pork can very easily dry out, so it is very important to let it sit and hold in all of its juices and flavor. The pork was GREAT. The outside was crusty with just a little kick; the inside was tender and juicy. There were not any leftovers, so that would seem to be a success!

2. Grilled carrots
I peeled a pound of carrots and rubbed them with olive oil. After some research, I decided to grill them for 20 minutes, turning every 5 minutes. The last time I turned them, I covered them with a glaze of OJ, butter, and brown sugar. After removing the carrots from the grill, you can add a bit more of the glaze (I did), sprinkle with some salt, and garnish with parsley (the recipe I saw online recommended fresh thyme which would have been fantastic!) The flavor of the carrots was incredible, but they were not evenly cooked. If I were to do this again, I would flash boil (or even microwave) the carrots first and grill them just for a few minutes. 


3. Grilled fennel
I adore fennel. This should be well known by now. I try to eat it whenever possible, and constantly try to trick Tim into sharing my passion for it!
The idea of grilled fennel was just fantastic to me. I personally think it was better in theory than in application, but everyone else enjoyed it well enough. Basically, you quarter the fennel while keeping the core still in tact so the quarters are held together. Toss with olive oil, grill for about 12 minutes, and then when you remove it, cut the cores out and drizzle with lemon juice and salt and garnished with parsley. The fennel looked great, and the flavor was good, but like the carrots, I felt that the pieces were just not very evenly cooked. I will have to try again and perfect my strategy!

St. Patrick's Day Extravaganza -- photos

Apple Shortbread Pie

My beautiful Irish Soda Bread

heaven?

A little fun

The Irish chef busy at work

a perfect partnership

The aftermath of a roast leg of lamb

Peas and onions roasted in pan drippings from the lamb

Timmy's piece de resistance, the Corned Beef!

so many carrots

Sunday evening I had a pot luck to go to for prospective students in my program. Out of laziness and forgetfulness I made nothing. I pathetically stopped at the grocery store on the way to grab baby carrots and hummus and pita chips. Well, it turns out nobody likes carrots because I came home with the entire 2 lb bag.

Since I'm going on vacay tomorrow (jealous?) I needed to clean out my fridge and these darn carrots were just staring me in the face. So I decided it was a night for carrot soup.

I've never met a bowl of soup (homemade I mean) that I didn't like, and I have tried a bunch of carrot soups over the years. Some broth-y, some creamy, some chunky. Based on the other ingredients I had on hand (shallots, beef stock, and 2% milk) I decided to make a sweet and rich carrot bisque (well, I don't know if it was really a bisque but it was creamy and thick and smooth and whatever).

Here's how I did it:
First, I finely chopped two shallots and caramelized them in a skillet with 1 TBSP butter. Once they were done, I added a big glug of sherry to de-glaze the pan and then I scraped it all into a big soup pot and added around 1.5 pounds of baby carrots. I didn't even bother to chop them. Usually I prefer real carrots, but obviously I had these on hand. After about 5 minutes, I dumped in most of a big container of beef stock (it was in my fridge from last wednesday's dinner) and some spices-- nutmeg, which I add to apparently everything lately, and coriander for kicks.

Once the carrots were soft, I blended it until smooth and poured it back in the pot and turned it on verrrrry low. Then I added some milk (maybe 3/4 cup?) and a teeny bit more beef stock until it was a better consistency. Right before serving, I sprinkled on some parsley. I wish it was fresh, but I didn't have any so it was dried. Still added just a nice bit of bitter to counterbalance the sweetness of the rest. Also, this could totally use vegetable broth/stock instead of beef if you want to make it vegetarian (hence vegetarian label) and I think it would even be better-- especially if it was mushroom broth or something... and, if you're vegan you could do without the milk too. It's creamy enough!

I thought the soup was good. It wasn't the best... and I think that sweet carrots are better left whole. I guess I realized I like my soups to be salty? Anyway, it was decent but I don't think I'd want to make it exactly the same way again. Also, I couldn't bring myself to eat the leftovers today so that wasn't good. Tim didn't really love it either, which is disappointing since he loves carrots. Mostly I think he was weirded out that this pale and fluffy soup tasted like carrots. Silly.