Resurrection

I have been cooking, but not as much. I haven't been blogging at all.

But, I made something very cool, and wanted to post about it. I made an almost healthy version of a Spanish tortilla. For the uninitiated, the spanish tortilla is in the omelette/ savory egg custard dish family, but unlike an omelette, quiche or fritatta, the Spanish tortilla does not have cheese. It usually has potatoes, and sometimes has peppers and chorizo. I have seen one version in a local Spanish restaurant with cheese melted over the top, but that is unusual, and there is no cheese in the actual tortilla.

I just wish I had used a 10 inch skillet instead of a 12 inch. I don't have a nice 10 inch nonstick skillet. I love my new 12 inch one, but the tortilla came out a little thinner than I would have liked. It was still very good. The kids loved it.

I loosely followed this recipe, but instead of using potatoes, I used cauliflower. It was incredibly good. Cauliflower are even the right color to substitute potatoes, and the texture and flavor worked out perfectly.

Another week down

This week was rough. I worked seven days straight. Five more to go before I get a day off. Even though I got out at noon today, I was pretty exhausted. After a nap, I decided I wanted to cook for the week even though I worked all weekend. I made artichokes with melted butter and tortellini with peas and bacon in cream sauce for tonight's dinner. Tomorrow we will be having sausage and swiss chard lasagna. I also roasted a chicken with a lemon in it for Wednesday.

I am really liking having the dinners made during the week. I decided I needed to make smaller dinners, though. The 11 x 9 casseroles are way too much for the kids and me. Although the kids and I were fine eating shepherd's pie for three days, I still ended up having some left over.

I divided the lasagna into three loaf pans (which is how I used to make lasagna for two way back in the day). I froze two and put one in the fridge for tomorrow. I plan to make some of the same casseroles again - the kids liked the shepherd's pie and the chicken lemon artichoke pasta a lot. But, I will be most likely dividing those into smaller pans, too.

Even though I was tired today, it is so much better the whole week to have dinners made. And,I just don't like driving through or eating out at cheap places, and we can't really afford it. I also don't like most premade foods.

Yawn. Alarm set. Time for bed.

Substitution nightmare

I decided to make Moo Shu pork for some reason tonight. I had a weird assortment of pantry and fridge items, and figured I could pull it off. I sort of followed this recipe for Moo Shu Pork, and was going to follow this recipe for a gluten free hoisin sauce, which was already pushing it.

Well, we just started rolling out the pancakes when I figured out I didn't have any soy sauce.

None. Not a packet, even. I am almost ashamed to admit this: I used Worcestershire sauce. I swear. I am hanging my head in shame. I went through the trouble of making Moo Shu from scratch with pancakes from scratch, fresh scallions from my yard, and I didn't have any soy sauce.

Actually, it wasn't half bad. Z had a whole one, S had a whole one (he had already eaten pizza), Picky ate FOUR, I had three. Picky has never had Moo Shu, and he loved it. I hate to think what he'll say when he eats some made with real hoisin sauce and real soy suace.

Superbowl / Beatles Rock Band party menu planning!

I am menu planning for my Beatles Rock Band (Super Bowl) party. On the online invite, I called it "Football in the Front, Rock Band in the Rear". I am going to be playing rock band, but the cuisine is going to be New Orleans themed.

Here is what is on the menu:

Beignets and French Press coffee with chicory. I just got a new French press. Picky broke the four cup one, so I replaced it with a twelve cup one. Love. I am drinking more coffee lately.

Shrimp and chorizo tapas, but I am going to use Andouille sausage instead of chorizo.

Crab cake appetizers. These are from a box (gasp! no, really) My mom left them in my freezer when she came to another dinner party at my house, and I was nervous I wouldn't have enough to serve. I didn't use them then, and my mom swears they're delicious.

Dirty rice, based on a recipe from Cook's Country. I add extra pork, and am going to use pepperdew peppers in it instead of bell peppers. I am also going to use pepperdews (my new obsession) in vegetarian red beans and rice.

White salad and a broccoli cole slaw with homemade dressing

Pulled pork sammiches. I think I am going to add the liquid smoke I am buying for the vegetarian red beans and rice. I have never used it before, but I have heard good things about it.

And, last but not least, I wanted to make some chicken wings. I was racking my brain for a chicken recipe to fit the New Orleans theme, but I couldn't. Then, duh, it hit me! I will be altering this Bourbon style chicken recipe for wings.

I can't wait!!

Farmer's market deliciousness

I am making tomato pie with beautiful fresh tomatoes. I stuck to the recipe pretty closely, except for putting in three times the bacon. Uh, yeah, I went there. I made it before and it was scrumptious, but there is a reason why our adopted family name is the baconderfers.

I am making garlic scapes on the side. They are so cool. I woke up dreaming about them this morning, and they were actually at the farmer's market! They are only there for a limited time each year. I must have felt their call.

I will be back with pictures.

A little twist with a peel

Ha, wow. My puns are as bad as my photography.

We had some orange marmalade that was a little tart for us to handle on toast. I have a dinner I call the 3 P's dinner (I can't believe I have never posted it here) that involves pork (usually country ribs), pineapples (usually fresh precut but canned will work in a pinch, and you may certainly choose to wrestle a whole one), and peppers (usually fresh sweet mini peppers but yellow and orange bell peppers work beautifully.)

Anyway, I am trying a twist on that recipe tonight.

I browned salt and peppered country ribs in a big pan with a few glugs of olive oil. I added chopped onions, and peppers. In a pot, a put I about a cup of pineapple juice (left over from the inauguration party) and most of a jar of orange marmalade with lovely slivers of orange peel. I added a scant half a cup of sugar. That reduced at a lively simmer into a syrup while the pork browned.

I poured the syrup on the pork after the pork browned on all sides. I added a bunch of minced garlic and chopped fresh basil.

Wish me luck. I may post reviews and pics.

ETA



It was a tasty, huge success. The schmutz of onions, peppers, garlic, basil and onion peel was scrumptious.

And as for the review, S suggested I take an "after" photo:

So, it was a fantastic party

I had such a great time, and the food was so good and went so fast, I didn't have time to post bad photos of the food. I have been pretty swamped with school and family since then.

I will try to pop in and psot new recipes soon. We had a delicious lo mein today with julienned onions, baby corn, leftover steak and pork, ginger, garlic, mushrooms, soy sauce, mirin, sesame seeds, and noodles. Mmmmmm. I also have a huge pot of broth going. It's chock full of goodies: celery tops, onion with skin, a cheese rind, garlic cloves, peppercorns, bay leaves, carrots, and half a leftover chicken and a chicken base. Yum.

Seasonal eating

Sometimes, even in South Florida suburban living, you can eat with the seasons. I received a lovely, loaded New Year's ham bone from my mother in law. Neither Picky nor S will eat any beans. So, I went off in search for a ham bone recipe sans beans.

I found this recipe for Somma Borscht aka Weed Soup.

Of course, summer for Russian Mennonites is winter for Floridians! So, for this seasonal recipe, I have a seasonal bone and what is growing in my garden.

I am changing the recipe a bit (but of course!) I have dill (in the recipe) growing in my garden, but the main bitter green I have is arugula. So, I am subbing arugula for the sorrel in the recipe, which I have in abundance. I usually grow French sorrel in my garden, but not this year. I am not sure if that is the same species of sorrel in the recipe. I also decided to add some chicken broth to boost the broth flavor.

I will post pics and reviews soon!

I have two words for this recipe. Yuh and ummmmm. It was a big hit.



We had it with crusty grainy bread chunks and sour cream. Except for Picky, who doesn't do sour cream. Unless it's in paprikash.

Z's birthday meal

So, on the morning of his birthday, Z asked for macaroni and cheese and bacon. I had to add peas, because I am like that. Picky asked three times if Z asked for the peas. I almost threw peas at him.

It turned out really yummy, and it was actually quite popular. So was the ice cream cake!

Since we've been back

I made a great spread on the spot when my sister in law and her friend came over with their kids to swim in our pool. I love cooking informal food for a group like this. So much less pressure than dinner, to me.

I made some delicious mojo chicken wing drummettes and sliced mild Italian chicken sausage on my new panini grill pan. (Thanks MIL! It worked great. Works well for bacon, too! Now I just have to make paninis...) We also had shrimp skewers, mostly for S, who has been asking for them.

Dessert was also for S. Mango shortcakes, with homemade vanilla whipped cream. I followed the Cook's Ill Best Recipe recipe for strawberry shortcake. But, Z is allergic to strawberries (which he feels the need to tell me every time we eat) and S loves mangoes. I picked up four beautiful mangoes from Robert is Here farmer's market on the way back from the Keys, and they were taunting me. They turned out so good, even Picky, who normally doesn't like fruity desserts, scarfed his down.

I actually think this is a good photo. Am I crazy? Am I improving? Look back at the photos of the frittata and the boar...not bad, right? (Ignore the biscuits and gravy and the cheesecake...)

Father's Day dinner was good, but suspiciously similar to last year's. Ribs, peppers, shells and white sauce (instead of mac and cheese), chocolate brownies.

Obscene food porn

I made biscuits and sausage gravy from scratch for breakfast today. I am going overboard with this vacation cooking thing. This is my first time cooking with shortening *shudder*, I think. I bought the "0 grams of trans fat" per serving variety by Crisco (I wanted to organic shortening by Spectrum, but forgot to buy it at the health food store, and they didn't have it at the local grocery store). I think it may be zero grams as a technicality, since there are partially hydrogenated oils in the ingredients. Anyway, the biscuits were obscenely good, and the trace trans fats may be worth it.

Crossing my fingers

I have an experiment in the oven.

I browned a pound of crumbled Italian pork sausage. I microwaved a bag of baby spinach for a few minutes, in batches, and squeezed out the liquid. (Awesome trick, might I add.) I chopped up the spinach and some white onion.

I drained the pork and wiped out my Le Crueset pan. I sauteed the onions in butter, added the spinach and some diced garlic, sauteed it lightly, then turned off the heat. I had preheated the oven to 400.

I added cottage cheese, cheddar cheese, parmesan cheese (a yummy aged American one I found - so tasty!) and four beaten eggs. Into the oven it went.

What should I name it? Spinach pork frittata pie thing?

Since I can't drink a beer...

I am cooking with beer. My brother, sister-in-law and nephew were in town this week, and I bought some fancy white beer for them. They are gone, and i like the dark stuff. Besides, I am studying. Always.

So, I am making Sweet Italian pork sausage from Whole Foods, with shredded Napa cabbage, onions, garlic, salt and pepper and a Hoegaarden. It smells divine. I am resisting adding peppers or any herbs. I usually make sausage with tons of fresh fennel tops and bottoms from the garden, but I feel like dressing it down tonight.

Parmesan ties it together

I haven't had the time to blog at all that much since starting med school. I still cook as much as I can. I rush home before evening review to try to squeeze out a hurried homemade meal. Sometimes (OK, all of last week) I forget to defrost meat for dinner. So, we had carbonara pasta, tomatoes with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, and roasted brussel sprouts (thanks Stefania!). All with freshly grated real Parmigianno-Reggiano on it. Yum yum.

Splatter

This is what happens to my kitchen when I make pulled pork. Ahhh, but it is sooooo worth it.

Picky's Father's Day Menu

Salad with fresh tomatoes and red onions and cheddar cheese and my salad dressing (Even my no veggie eatin' brother asked for seconds on salad. Seriously)

Buffalo wings made with my roasted hot sauce (Oops, forgot to buy the wings when I went to the store. We had tons of food, anyway).


Sweet mini pepper "poppers" with roasted hot sauce and cheese

Corn (Red and white sweet corn. It was delish)

Smoked BBQ baby ribs with a dry rub, homemade BBQ sauce on the side (Killer)

Mac n cheese (I used Paula Dean's recipe. Ehhhhh, too eggy)

Brownies a la mode with hot fudge and mini M n Ms (No one wanted the M n M's. I made the brownies with new Hershey's Special Dark cocoa. They were the best I have EVER had, I am serious).

Oh, yeah.

Pictures now posted!

Pizza meatloaf

S is back home after being gone for a week. I asked him to pick any dinner for me to make for him, and he picked pizza meatloaf. Appropriate, since I came up with the recipe when he was three and his own version of picky.

(Sorry about the awful picture. I can't decide whether to leave it up or take it down. As my dad would say "Well, it tastes good, but I sure wouldn't want to step in it!")

I have made this with all kinds of ground meat. Beef, pork, turkey, buffalo, and mixes of them all. Tonight I have equal parts ground chuck and pork. I have also used all sorts of vegetables. I put onions in everything, so I always have onions in my pizza meatloaf. I have used broccoli, cabbage, shredded broccoli slaw, mushrooms, various squashes, celery, whatever I have lying around.

Chopped produce, of the pizza compatible variety, about 2 cups (this time I used zucchini, yellow squash, onions, celery, and mushrooms)
3 lbs of ground meat
2 eggs
2 tablespoons diced garlic
Oregano (I use 6 drops of oregano oil, but that is an obscure ingredient. Use at least 2 T of fresh or 2 t of dried oregano)
2 tablespoons double strength tomato paste
salt and pepper to taste
3/4 cup fresh bread crumbs (C'mon, you KNOW you have stale bread. Don't be lazy!)
1 jar of spaghetti sauce
1 bag of shredded mozzarella or 1 good sized ball of the fresh
Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 375.

In a large casserole dish (I use an oval shaped pyrex dish) arrange produce.

In a large bowl, add meat, eggs, oregano, tomato paste, salt and pepper and bread crumbs. Mix just until combined. (I use my hands. If you're not into that, use a utensil of your choice, but I can't think of one that would work as well. You can be like Alton Brown and wear latex gloves....kinky!)

Heap the meat in an oval shaped loaf above produce in casserole dish, not tapering too much at the ends. Pour the jar of tomato sauce over it. Put in oven.

After 1 hour, take out and dump cheese on top. Cook until cheese is melted and instant read thermometer reads 160 degrees F in the center, about another 45 minutes. Enjoy!

It's great over spaghetti the next day.

What happens when I run out of time and onions

I seem to have a folder full of pictures of food, and no blog posts that I put up with them! So, without further ado, here are the highlights of a week or so of meals:


My former roommate Charity came over for a farewell visit, and she has since moved to Gainesville, boo hoo! I really enjoyed having her by my side in the kitchen again. Here is her beautiful salad with fresh fennel from the garden:

We had a favorite meal of hers that night, one I like to call the three P's: pork, pineapple and peppers. I put pork loin country ribs over chopped celery, onions, pineapple, and multi colored fresh sweet mini peppers, cut into rings, cilantro and diced garlic. I drizzle over this pineapple juice, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil or grapeseed oil. Roast in the oven at 375 or 400 for about an hour, until the pork is done. Watch out, the pineapple gets really scorching hot, and it's hard to resist digging in right away!


I made top sirloin this past week, on one of my favorite pieces of kitchen hardware - my cast iron grill pan. This sucker weighs 27 pounds, and I saw Alton Brown using an identical one on his show recently, so it must rock. Behold its glory.

Finally, I ran out of onions and celery. If you have read any of my recipes, you will see why that would cripple me. So, I decided to veer away from my usual tilapia recipe and tried adapting a recipe for Fish Meuniere with Browned Butter and Lemon. Instead of sole or flounder, I used tilapia, and instead of fresh parsley I substituted fresh garlic chives that I originally planted for my brother-in-law more than three years and two houses ago. It was fabulous, and a big hit. Even with Picky, who usually tries to order pizza every time it's fish night. At the end of this meal, he said, "This was definitely better than pizza." I was beaming.

Picky does pulled pork

I went for a job interview and to run some errands this afternoon. I took a chance before I left the house. I opened up a recipe I had written for pulled pork on the computer and left it there, and left a defrosted pork Boston butt in the fridge.

Picky and I did a quick kid switcheroo at his school at the end of basketball practice. He was busy collecting equipment, so it was basically a hand-off. (He loves sports references). He called me on his way home with the kids, and as he was trying to end the conversation, I slipped in "Hey-do-you-think-you-can-start-the-pork-for-me-
it's-all-ready-to-go-and-the-recipe-is-on-the-computer-
just-a-few-ingredients-is-that-OK-huh?" After some resistance and grousing, Picky agreed. If it was anything but the pulled pork, I think he would have said no and ordered pizza.

I told him I would let him slide on the searing step in the beginning and he didn't have to go pick onions from the garden, I would add them in later. He started going over the recipe with me and asking me amounts and I said "Just do whatever it says on the recipe, but remember this is a four pound cut, not a 12 pound pork shoulder like I wrote the recipe for."

Well, he added the full amounts for everything. Not that big a deal, since I eyeball everything and am usually pretty generous, but the poor pork was swimming in liquid when I got home and rushed to the rescue. I took the lid off and turned the pork up to high heat, and boiled off all the extra liquid. It was a tad heavy on the paprika and I totally could tell he had used a spice blend instead of the red pepper flakes (BAD Picky!) but it was scrumptious.

Here is the original recipe, by me totally from my noggin.

Pulled pork

12 lb picnic pork shoulder (only size they had!)
2 T grapeseed oil (or whatever oil ya got)
2 large yellow onions, diced
2 T paprika
1 T salt
1 t red pepper flakes
3 bay leaves
4 cups water
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 12 oz can diced tomatoes
1 T diced garlic
1/4 cup maple syrup

Remove as much of the large layer of fat that you can with a sharp knife. It should come off in one piece if you separate and remove it in a sawing motion from one end.
Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium high heat. Rinse pork shoulder and pat dry.
Put pork shoulder in hot oil, fat remainder side down. Let fat sear and sizzle for about 15 minutes. Turn the pork on one of the uncooked sides.

Add onions, paprika and salt. Make sure onions fall into the hot oil and fat. Cook until fragrant and opaque. Turn pork onto other uncooked side. Add red pepper flakes, bay leaves, water and vinegar. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to medium to medium low (enough to maintain a healthy simmer) and cover. Boil until tender, about 4 hours. Turn pork occasionally, and check for tenderness.

When meat is tender and it shreds with a fork, add can of tomatoes. Cook ½ hour longer.
Add garlic and maple syrup. Stir, and turn off heat.

Shred meat from bones with 2 forks. Eat and enjoy.

I served this with French hamburger buns, onion rings and fresh tomatoes with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. (On the side, because Picky only likes the tomatoes plain, you know.)