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!

Weekly wrap up: 2/26 - 3/3

The past several weeks I have been spending what seems like every waking minute working on my prospectus. And while this leaves little time for writing blog entries (despite my New Year's Resolution to increase all types of writing activity), I did take time to cook a few times and snap some quick photos. Here are all the yummies from the last week!

Sunday Brunch for 1: Rum Raisin, Cinnamon Swirled Baked Oatmeal. Sunday morning I was really craving something slightly sweet. Because making pancakes (from scratch) for one is quite difficult, I turned this yummy looking pancake recipe into a baked oatmeal recipe! So, I soaked the raisins in rum, and added them to my standard baked oatmeal (1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup 1% milk, one egg) and then swirled in a mixture of cinnamon, raw sugar, and about a 1/2 teaspoon of water (to make it into a paste). I baked it at 350 for 20 minutes and then devoured it in 20 seconds. Oh-- I poured more milk on it before I ate it too, because I was feeling extra indulgent.

Sunday dinner: (Leftover) Fontina polenta with mushroom saute. For "vampire night" this week, I was on dinner duty. I went to my go-to source for a great meal, the December 2010 issue of Cooking Light magazine. This sounds really odd, but this magazine has given me more "winners" of recipes than most cook books I own! For a $2.95 price tag, that is not half bad. This recipe was no exception. It came together really quickly and was absolutely delicious. The leftovers weren't half bad either! I just changed a few things with the recipe-- for one, I used fontina cheese instead of fontal. Also, I used chicken stock instead of veggie, and my mushrooms were a blend of shitake and white button. Finally, I skipped the whole "put the polenta in the broiler" step and just ate it straight from the pot. And you know what? I got no complaints. 

Wednesday dinner: (sideways?) Cauliflower and Kale pasta bake and my go-to spinach salad. Wednesday I tried a recipe that I have on Pinterest. Well, I didn't so much follow the recipe as I did say "oh cauliflower and kale sound good" and made it up as I went along. I don't really know what I did here, but I know it was just okay. The star of the meal was my go-to salad. Some type of green (spinach in this case) + poppyseed dressing + a tangy cheese (gorgonzola) + a bit of bite from an onion (shallot) + some nut or seed (walnut) + dried or fresh fruit (crasin) = instant salad success! Especially when the greens are tossed in the dressing and the toppings are added later. Fool proof! 

Friday dinner for two: Kale Caesar Salad and Shrimp Scampi Rice Pilaf. Last week while working on my prospectus over at Tim's, I caught a recorded episode of Symon's Suppers (yes, my boyfriend DVR's cooking shows for me-- that is why he's wonderful!), and was inspired by the one and only Michael Symon to make a Caesar salad with kale instead of romaine. I didn't follow his recipe, but it was still super delicious. To make the dressing, I combined a grated garlic clove, the zest and juice of one lemon, an anchovy, some black pepper, parmesan cheese, and then slowly whisked in olive oil. I then tossed the kale leaves in the dressing and let it sit for close to an hour (while most salads would be ruined from sitting in dressing, the kale gets better as the acid slowly "cooks" it) and topped it with some thinly sliced shallots and tomatoes. YUM. 

Cooking dinner for Tim and I during lent is always nice because it lets me stretch my seafood legs a bit. Last Friday I made shrimp scampi rice, which is based off of a dish my mom made probably twice a month when I was growing up. It couldn't be easier, and it's sooo delicious. Basically, I melted about two TBSP of butter with another TBSP of olive oil (this was for four servings, so not much in each) and then sauteed some grated garlic, red pepper flakes, and scallions. Meanwhile I cooked up a pot of brown rice (if it was minute rice I would have just made it in the same pot as the yummy butter mixture, but it was the regular old "cook it for 30 minutes" kind instead). Just before the rice was done, I threw the shrimp in to steam up and then tossed in the yummy sauce. Last but not least, I topped it with the zest of a lemon (Tim proceeded to pick out every little piece of lemon, so next time I'll skip that step) and some more fresh scallions and finely minced parsley. So easy and delish! 

Saturday night dinner: Pantry Pasta (aka black squid ink fettucine with artichoke hearts, sundried tomato, spinach, and parmesan). Sometimes I just don't feel like grocery shopping. This is rare, since any food market is basically my heaven. But, Saturday was one of those "I can't bare putting on shoes, let alone real pants" kinds of evenings, so I had to go shopping in my pantry instead! I had half a package of black fettucine left from Valentine's day, so I put on a pot of boiling water, and meanwhile made a quick sauce of chopped canned artichoke hearts, the last couple sundried tomatoes out of a package, and half a bag of spinach (along with garlic, EVOO, red pepper, parm, and that sort of stuff). Tossed it all together and YUM. Not the worst pantry pasta I've ever had. 

So, that's what I cooked last week! I'm hoping for some equally delicious meals this week! Maybe some even inspired by the spring weather we will be having??

4th of July Cook Out

My sister Alison and her husband TJ were visiting over the 4th of July (yes, I am aware that the 4th of July was over five weeks ago) from Atlanta. We had a great weekend hanging out in Iowa City at jazz fest, and heading around town for wine tastings, fossil searching, and window shopping in the Amana Colonies. On the 4th, I made a big dinner for Alison, TJ, Tim, and my Dad who came up from the Quad Cities. I failed to take photos of the food, but it was pretty tasty!

Pork Tenderloin 2 ways-

For both of these, I grilled them on medium for about 40 minutes, turning throughout. Then, I let them rest under a loose foil tent for ten minutes. This is the most important step when it comes to having juicy pork!

1. Cajun -- I just mixed cajun spices and dried parsley and put the dry rub on the meat right before grilling.
2. Orange and fennel -- I put 2 TBSP of olive oil, the zest and juice of an orange, 1 TBSP of honey, a tsp of whole fennel seeds, a tsp of ground fennel, and a roughly chopped sprig of tarragon into a big zip lock and threw the pork in with it. After a quick "massage", I let it rest in the fridge for several hours to let the marinade really soak in.

Warm Acini di Pepe and Corn Salad  -- see previous entry for recipe.

Strawberry Goat Cheese Spinach Salad: 
Spinach + strawberries + goat cheese + pecan + red onion + poppyseed dressing. YUM!

Easy Grilled Potatoes:
These are a summer staple. I simply slice red or yukon gold potatoes thinly (using a food processor is a snap) and combine with sliced onions or minced garlic, a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Then, I take a large piece of aluminum foil, spray the bottom with Pam, and put the taters right on. I seal up the packet and throw it on the grill for 20-25 minutes. The potatoes on the bottom char, but the ones on the top just steam, and when you toss it all together it's perfection! The garlic and onions just melt into it. I make these at least once a week using different combinations of herbs and seasonings and I have never had a bad batch.


Seared Greens with Golden Raisins:
Oh man, I don't even remember what I did here... But it involved sauteing an onion in some olive oil, and then searing the greens and pouring vinegar and raisins in right at the last second. It was good. 

Shrimp, Scallop, and Veggie Kabobs with Mint Pesto

I'm tired of blogging. I need to stop procrastinating and just write about things when they are fresh in my mind! But, it's too late for that now. Last Wednesday I made some kabobs on the grill and they were pretty tasty.

I made shrimp, bay scallop, cherry tomato, and one with red onions and green peppers. I marinated the shrimp and scallops in a mint pesto (mint leaves, parsley leaves, almonds, water, olive oil, and garlic-- in food processor) which was surprisingly good. I would make it again-- especially on a lamb burger or something!

I served the Kabobs with a spinach and arugula salad with edamame, pecans, and goat cheese. It was kind of a weird combination, but all I had on hand. The dressing was balsamic vinegar mixed with some of the mint pesto. I saved the extra to drizzle on the Kabobs.

I have nothing else to say about this and feel like I sound like a robot. So.... I'm going to be done now.

Steak, Salad, and Sauce (I love alliteration)

I am actually up to date on blogging! It's a miracle! This is a meal I made just two days ago for Wednesday night date night with Tim. It wasn't the best meal ever, but I am pretty much obsessed with the poblano yogurt now.

Grilled Sirloin Steak and Red Onion Slices 
I put a dry rub on the steaks of cayenne, chili powder, minced garlic dried parsley, fresh cilantro, lime zest, cumin, S&P. It was very tasty, but the steaks were a bit tough. The onions just had canola oil, salt, and pepper and I grilled them for about five minutes. The thicker slices should have gone for a minute or two more but overall they were great!

Poblano Yogurt Sauce

• poblano pepper
• 2/3 cup plain Greek yogurt
• garlic powder (better if it was fresh and also roasted but oh well)
• sea salt

Fiesta-Green Goddess Salad

• spinach and arugula leaves 
• avocado, diced
• cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 cup frozen corn kernels (thawed or cooked or whatever)
• cilantro
• juice from half a lime
• 1/4 crumbled feta cheese
• 1 TBSP poblano yogurt dip

Everyone (I assume) has heard of Green Goddess salad. It's a delicious blended yogurt-y, green-y salad dressing over a delicious bed of greens and fresh veggies. After taking a bite of my poblano yogurt sauce, I realized that if I thinned it down just a bit (with the juice of a lime), it would make a fantastic salad dressing very similar to a green-goddess dressing. But, keeping with my spicy "fiesta" theme, my other toppings all somewhat resemble Mexican food (except the feta of course, but just go with me).

As with all salads, I toss the greens with the dressing first so each leaf is coated and I don't use too much dressing (yay low calorie), then I throw on half of the toppings, toss once or twice, and then put the rest of the toppings on before serving.

Quote of the night: "Is this Arugula?" -Tim  This may not seem like a big deal to anyone else, but I am just so proud that my "picky eater" boyfriend can now successfully identify arugula. He's turning into a regular foodie!!

Warm Red Cabbage Salad

*** a week overdue, and out of order. 
What does one do with an entire head of red cabbage? One googles "red cabbage recipes" and finds a zillion different slaws and salads... and then one chooses the recipe that most resembles the contents of one's fridge.

Okay, I need to stop. Anyway, I had most of a giant head of cabbage left after last night's fish tacos and I am really against wasting food, so I decided to make something resembling this recipe from 101 cookbooks this evening for dinner.

Warm Red Cabbage Salad

• Most of a head of red cabbage; quartered, cored, and thinly sliced
• 1/2 white onion, finely diced (also leftover from fish taco night)
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup great northern beans from a can; drained and rinsed (this was a last minute addition because I used the rest of the can earlier this week for a quick tuna salad lunch)
• 1/4 cup golden raisins
• 1/4 cup chopped almonds
• 1 TBSP olive oil
• S&P
• fresh rosemary and parsley
• 1 TBSP balsamic vinegar
• 1 oz chevre goat cheese, crumbled

Saute onion in oil and season with S&P. After a few minutes, throw in the garlic, raisins, almonds, beans, and fresh herbs (keeping some for garnish) and continue to saute. Add more S&P as necessary. As onions are becoming tender, put cabbage on top. Slowly and carefully toss cabbage with toppings. Cook about five minutes until cabbage seems to lose some of its edge, but so long it turns flimsy. Drizzle with balsamic and toss in serving dish. Garnish with herbs and goat cheese.

This salad was better than expected in flavor; however, it was quite difficult to eat. The cabbage was difficult to get with my fork. If I ever find myself with a large abundance of this veggie again, I would chop it into very small pieces, or even shred it so I could avoid this annoying situation. I might go for the balsamic/onion/rosemary/raisin/chevre flavor combo again though, because yum!

Spring is for grilling

Man, I am behind on blogging! But re-living these dishes I prepared a week or more ago is making my mouth water. Especially this one. For one thing, I love any meal where I don't have pots and pans to wash afterward; for another, I love any meal I can share with my honey, especially when he likes it!

So, this Wednesday night dinner-off-the-grill was perfect in every sense. I should say, having nice steak is not super common for me, and mid-week steak is even more rare. But after my taste of filet mignon for one a few weeks ago, I just had to go back for more. Plus, we were celebrating Tim being done with a big presentation at work (perfect excuse to indulge, right?)

On the menu-- grilled filet mignon with rosemary, grilled potatoes with sweet onion, and grilled romaine salad.

1. Steak
While I brought my steaks up to room temperature, I gave them a very simple marinade. I just coated them with olive oil, sea salt and cracked black pepper, and a few bruised sprigs of rosemary. I just wanted them to have the aroma of rosemary.  The grilling was very easy. The grill was pre-heated to Med-High, and I had them on the grill for 8 minutes, turning after four. Once I took them off the grill, I let them rest for 5 minutes or more under a foil tent. Before covering them, I put a pat of butter and a sprig of rosemary on each-- not only did this add more flavor, but when the foil was removed, they looked absolutely gorgeous!
They were perfectly medium, tender, and delicious. Next time I'd grill for about a minute less to get a little more pink inside, but they were very close to perfect.

2. Potatoes
I thinly sliced up 4 B-sized taters and half a sweet Spanish onion in my food processor. I tossed this whole thing with a tablespoon of olive oil and a few shakes of salt and pepper. Then, I wrapped the whole thing up in a foil packet and grilled them for about 30 minutes. This is a fantastic (and my go-to) way to cook potatoes on the grill. The ones on the bottom get crusty and crisp and add so much color and texture to the group. The sweetness of the onions starting to caramelize oozes through the packet and makes everything aromatic and delicious. Plus, there are so many variations available-- switching out onions for garlic, adding herbs, using butter instead of oil, etc. It's always great.

3. Salad
I have always wanted to grill salad, but have always been scared to try. It was surprisingly easy! I just took one washed and dried romaine heart, sliced it in half vertically, and brushed it with olive oil (and salt and pepper). I grilled it cut side down for about 90 seconds, and then plated it grilled side up. I actually grilled it in the same spot that the steaks were so it was extra flavorful. I dressed the romaine with fresh lemon juice and a teeny bit more olive oil (which had been soaking with a bunch of super sweet grape tomatoes). I sprinkled some parmesan on at the end.
I loved the salad, but Tim was skeptical of cooked lettuce. He loved the tomatoes at least!

This was definitely one of the best Wednesdays I've had in awhile. Everything here will be repeated, for sure!

My go-to salad

I pride myself on making salads that people like to eat.... even people who don't like salad! I have a few go-to salads that I tweak here and there, but they are definite crowd pleasers.

Tonight was no different.

Ingredients I used/ use:
- Arrugula (I mostly use baby spinach, and sometimes sub in baby mixed greens as well)
- dried cranberries (I swap out pretty much any fruit: apple, pear, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, nectarines, and pomegranate seeds have been in there)
- walnuts (pecans, almonds)
- shallots (or a few pieces of red onion)
- gorgonzola (or crumbed blue cheese, or even goat cheese depending on the fruit I use)
- poppyseed dressing

My "secret" is to toss whatever greens I am using in the dressing first. I don't use much dressing-- maybe only half or a third of what a serving size is. If the salad is tossed well, every leaf is coated with flavor and you don't need gobs of dressing (which is where all of the calories live in a salad). After it is tossed well, I add in 1/2 to 3/4 of the "toppings" and then toss again just once or twice. Then, the rest go on top so it looks pretty.

This salad-- no matter what combination of ingredients-- is great. It's a mix of sweet and spicy and tangy and sharp and mild flavors. It's great!

Fennel Apple Slaw

Last summer, my friends Lisa, Mandy, and I had a weekly True Blood supper club where we would get together to watch some vampire amazingness and try out new recipes. Every week we would rotate who would bring the salad, entree, and dessert. One week, Lisa brought an amazing fennel apple slaw that I have been making every few weeks since.

It is incredibly easy to make and the light crisp flavors of the apple mixed with the rich licorice of the fennel and salty parmesan are just incredible!

Serves four as a side salad (or two with lunch the next day).
1 bulb fennel chopped (it doesn't matter the way you chop as long as you make the pieces the same size and shape as the apple)
1 apple chopped-- I've used granny smith or golden delicious.
Juice from one lemon
2 TBSP olive oil
large handful of italian parsley-- roughly chopped
quarter cup of parmesan (shredded or shaved)
Salt and pepper to taste


Even Tim liked this when I served it with the mac and cheese-- I consider that a feat!

Caprese

When I lived in Rome, the food in our cafeteria was less than wonderful. With one exception-- we were given one mozzarella di buffula ball with each meal. This began my obsession with the mild soft amazing cheese -- which was also perfectly smokey (not like silly American mozzarella made with cow's milk). So, when I started seeing caprese salads on menus throughout the city, I had to try it. Let me tell you. There is nothing in the world as perfect as layers of fresh tomatoes, sweet basil, and smokey mozzarella drizzled in olive oil. NOTHING. The dish screams Italia-- in part because it literally looks like an Italian flag! But also because it incorporates the most important flavors in most Italian cooking.

Making caprese at home will never even come close to the amazingness I experience in fair Roma, but sometimes you've just got to go for second best.

Sunday, I used my leftover mozzarella pearls, some fresh basil from my windowsill, and some grape tomatoes for a little bowl of heaven. I added olive oil and coarse sea salt on top-- and because I was feeling fancy I added a teeny bit of balsamic vinegar but this is by no means required for caprese-- and if you are going for gluten free, definitely omit this part!

After finishing I almost felt like I was back on Via Trionfale heading to find some gelato.

Ciao!

Dinner a la Rachael Ray

Last night I used one of my favorite cook books for a bit of inspiration. This cook book is Rachael Ray's All-Occasion Cookbook. Ms. Ray gets a bad rap sometimes but I think her recipes are great. They aren't the most gourmet, but they are speedy, healthy, and tasty.

For our Saturday night dinner, I used three recipes:
1. "Too easy" chicken with leeks-- basically, you brown two chicken breasts in a skillet; remove them to soften some leeks; add the chicken back and pour some white wine over the whole thing and cook til done.
2. Pesto mashed potatoes-- I made my own pesto earlier in the week, but the jarred stuff works really well too. Tim actually was in charge of the potatoes. He chopped up about 2 pounds of red potatoes, boiled til soft, and then mashed with chicken stock and about 3/4 cup of fresh pesto.
3. Mixed green salad-- one heart of romaine, one head of radicchio, and one fennel bulb. Added a little balsamic and olive oil, and threw on some Parmesan shavings for good measure.

The meal was decent, but nothing to rave about. The potatoes were the best part, and I ate the leftovers for dinner tonight! The chicken wasn't done when the recipe told me it would be so we ate the meal in shifts. Scheduling a meal correctly to have everything completed at the same time is one of the hardest things about cooking. I feel like I've had 20 years of experience so having a meal-in-shifts makes me incredibly cranky. The salad was decent but would have served 20 people. I probably would have preferred a simple lemon vinaigrette to the balsamic as well.

The potatoes will definitely show up again.

Curried Chicken Salad

This morning I worked from home, which means I forgot to eat breakfast until almost 11 am. So, come 3 pm I was starving for lunch even though it was practically my dinner time (I am like a senior citizen and usually eat at five).

So, for "linner" today, I made myself some curried chicken salad using a leftover chicken breast from last night. If you know me well, you may find this odd. I don't usually eat leftover meat. In fact I have a phobia of it. There is a flavor I have termed "old chicken" (whether we're talking about chicken, beef, seafood, etc) and I avoid it like the plague. The funny thing I've figured out, though, is that "old chicken" only comes out if the meat is re-heated. So, a nice and cold chicken salad is a happy exception to my rule!

For 2-3 servings (depending if you make a sandwich, a lettuce roll up, or just eat it with a fork). 

1 leftover chicken breast-- diced up
1 celery stalk finely diced
1 small shallot finely diced
2 TBSP (or so... I didn't really measure) golden raisins (b/c that is what I had on hand).
1TBSP (again rough measurement) walnuts
1/4 cup mayo. Mine is Hellman's and it is "light".
Curry powder to taste-- I started with a heaping TBSP and then added a few more shakes.
Salt and pepper to taste-- I used zero salt and approximately two twists of coarsely ground pepper

Mix it all up and serve it however you like. Today, I plopped big spoonfuls on pieces of bibb lettuce.

This chicken salad was just what I needed today. It has a little bit of everything-- spice from the shallot and the curry, crunch from the celery and the walnuts, and sweet and chewy from the raisins. Plus, it's nice and healthy. Winner! I'm looking forward to eating the rest for lunch tomorrow.