Tomatillo pork stew
Three day weekend. Time to cook. This one is another from Gourmet Today, which I've been using more and more recently.
There's no avoiding it -- the prep here is a pain in the butt. Peeling tomatillos will never be anything but a pain in the butt. Same goes for squeezing oranges. That said, none of it's real complicated. Just make sure you brown the hell out of the pork -- it's worth waiting the extra minute or two to get those suckers crisp, assuming you have decent ventilation in the kitchen. (We don't, but a box fan pointed at the fire escape usually does the trick.)Ingredients
2 lb boneless pork shoulder cut into 1 1/2" cubes
1/4 cup vegetable oil
8 large cloves garlic
1 bottle of dark beer (Smuttynose Old Dog Brown Ale, oh yes)
1 1/2 cups fresh orange juice (about 5 oranges' worth)
1 lb tomatillos, husked, rinsed in warm water, and quartered
1 28oz can whole tomatoes drained and chopped, juice reserved
2 large onions, chopped
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
2 jalapenos, chopped with seeds
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
How to
Season the pork liberally with salt and pepper. In a heavy-bottomed pan, heat the vegetable oil until almost smoking. Add the garlic and stir for two minutes or so. Then add the pork in batches and brown on all sides. Don't crowd the pork; if you don't give each piece of pork some space to breath, the liquid let off from the pork will build up and nothing will brown as planned. Remove each batch in turn.
Meanwhile, in a large pot combine the beer, orange juice, tomatillos and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Simmer over low heat until the tomatillos are soft, roughly 20 minutes.
When all the pork has browned, pour off most of the oil and use what remains to soften the onions over medium heat, 8 minutes or so. When the onions are golden and soft, add the tomatillo mixture, pork, cilantro, jalapenos, and some salt and pepper and cook. Scrape the brown bits off the bottom of the pan -- there's flavor hiding down there.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer partially covered, stirring occasionally until meat is tender, about 2 hours. Add black beans and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, for another 10 minutes. Serve with white rice and sour cream and limes.
Rosemary mashed potatoes
I promise you'll love this recipe and that you can't screw it up. Peel some potatoes, throw 'em in a pot, smash 'em together will butter and herbs. Don't skimp on the herbs, and pick something that pairs well with whatever you're eating.
Ingredients
2 lbs Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
4-6 sprigs of rosemary
4 tbsb butter, cut into chunks
1 cup or so of milk
How to
Add the potatoes and whole garlic to a large pot of cold water and bring to a boil. Cook until the potatoes are fork tender but don't break apart.
Meanwhile, is a small saucepan melt the butter and milk along with the rosemary or other herbs. Scald the milk but don't let it boil. The idea is to mix the milk and butter together and infuse the liquid with the herbs.
When the potatoes are cooked, drain in a colander and return to the pot. Pour in the milk, butter and herbs and mash everything together with a wooden spoon or vegetable masher. If the mixture looks too solid, add some more milk and/or butter. Add salt and pepper to taste. Feel free to serve the potatoes with the sprigs of rosemary intact or remove them beforehand.
Shaved fennel, radish and grapefruit salad
This is a recipe from Gourmet. Not sure I've ever been disappointed with a Gourmet salad, especially from the Gourmet Today cookbook.
I took a shortcut here because I didn't have fennel seeds but wish I hadn't. The dressing was a little flat and could've used...something. Maybe not fennel oil exclusively; a pinch of chili flakes would've done the trick. In any event, no shortcuts on this one.
Vinegar roast chicken
Here's another riff on one of my go-to formulas: Brown chicken. Add some liquid. Bake till done. Reduce the sauce. The sauce, in this case, is a combination of chicken stock (or water) and balsamic vinegar. After a half hour in the oven the vinegar becomes sweet and mellow.
Ingredients
2 bone-in chicken breasts, skin on and well salted
2 shallots, minced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
Equal parts balsamic vinegar and chicken stock (or water)
How to
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
In a cast iron or stainless steel skillet, melt the butter and olive oil over medium-high heat. When the bubbles from the melted butter have subsided, brown the chicken to a deep golden color. Remove from the pan and stir in the shallots for 2-3 minutes. Stir in the garlic for another 30 seconds, replace the chicken skin side up, and pour in the balsamic and stock. When the liquid is at a boil (this should happen almost immediately), remove from the stove and put in the over for roughly 20 minutes.
When the chicken comes out of the oven it should be deep brown with a crispy skin. Remove the breasts from the pan and reduce the remaining liquid to a well-bodied sauce. Feel free to add anything you'd like to the sauce (thyme, mustard, etc.). Serve over Israeli couscous.
Crispy white beans with chard
There's a lot to like about this recipe. The one piece of advice I'd give beyond what you'll find at the link is this: Exercise patience when pan-frying the beans. Get the heat up nice and high, make sure the beans are totally drained of liquid, and then leave them alone for a while after you add them to the pan. The only way to ensure the beans get the crispy exterior you want is to allow them to sit undisturbed over high heat for several minutes at least.
Cavatelli with bacon, cream and snap peas
A guilty pleasure for a cold night.
Ingredients
1 lb. cavatelli or other tube pasta
3/4 lb snap peas, ends removed and cut diagonally into 1-inch pieces
1 garlic clove, minced
1 shallot, minced
2-3 strips thick-cut bacon, cubed
Handful of parsley, minced
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
3/4 cup light or heavy cream
Lots of pepper to taste
How to
Bring a large pot of well-salted water to boil. The pasta should come out of the water just as you're completing assembly of the sauce, so begin browning the bacon about 5 minutes before you add the pasta to the water. (Reserve a little pasta water for thinning the sauce, just in case. You probably won't need it but better safe than sorry.)
Brown the bacon in a large skillet. When the bacon has started to crisp up add the shallots and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Next add the peas; stir to coat them with fat and cook for no more than another 2-3 minutes. The peas should darken and maybe even brown in a few spots but you don't want them to lose their crunch. Stir in the garlic for 30 seconds, then the cream.
At this point the pasta should be out of the pot and into a colander.
Allow the cream to reach a simmer, then throw in half the cheese, half the parsley, and all of the pasta. Stir everything together and allow to simmer for a minute or two, or until the sauce is at an ideal consistently. Serve immediately topped with the rest of the parsley and parmesan and a few healthy turns of black pepper.
Oven roasted chicken breasts, butternut squash puree and roasted broccoli
And so we return to that simple formula: Protein + Puree + Vegetable = Dinner. It really never fails. I've already extolled the virtues of roasted broccoli here, but the other two pieces follow below.
Oven roasted boneless chicken breasts
There are a lot of boneless chicken breasts in the world, but few taste all that good. Tonight's dinner was one of those where you take the first bite and have this sinking feeling:
Why do I eat so many underwhelming pieces of chicken when it could taste like this?
I wish I had a better answer. But until I do, I'll still try to spread the gospel of the roasted boneless chicken breast.
Ingredients
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tbsp butter + 1 tbsp olive oil
A handful of flour
2 cloves garlic, skin still on
How to
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Add the flour to a shallow bowl with some salt and pepper. Apply a bit more salt and pepper to the chicken breasts and then dredge them through the flour. You want only the thinnest coating of flour.
Melt the butter and oil in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. (Why use both instead of just one or the other? The butter provides its unmistakable richness, but the olive oil will raise the smoking point and prevent the butter from burning on the stove or in the oven. Your smoke detector will thank you.) Add the garlic cloves and then the chicken breasts. Don't fiddle with them! Let the chicken breasts develop a nice brown crust, flip the over and brown on the other side, and move them to the oven. It shouldn't take more than 10-15 minutes in the oven for the chicken to be fully cooked and still moist.
(Feel free to riff on this basic recipe. Add cayenne to the flour, or thyme to the butter, or lemon juice to the skillet at it heads into the oven. It's hard to screw this up.)
Butternut squash puree
Another simple but great base.
Ingredients
1 medium butternut squash, halved and with seeds removed
4 cloves garlic, whole
1-2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter
Salt and pepper to taste
How to
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Rub just a small amount of olive oil on the inside and outside of the squash; you're just aiming for a light sheen to protect it. Apply salt and pepper to the inside flesh of the squash and lay flat on a baking sheet with the cloves of garlic hidden under the hollowed out bulb of each half.
Roast the squash for 45 minutes to an hour, until you can cleanly insert and remove a fork without experiencing any resistance. Scoop the flesh out of the skin and into a blender or food processor along with the roasted garlic and the butter. Puree until smooth and season with salt and pepper.
Chicken Sausage with Balsamic Mustard Brussels Sprouts and Sunchoke Puree
During the week my go-to meal is some variation of the following equation: Protein + Puree + Vegetable = Dinner. This is especially true in the winter, when a simple roasted vegetable puree can do wonders. In this case I chose salty, funky brussels sprouts to go with sunchoke puree. Chicken sausage was an easy final addition.
Sunchoke puree
Sunchokes (sometimes called Jerusalem artichokes) are extremely easy to cook but taste sophisticated and delicate. Anything with the word artichoke in it is bound to taste sophisticated, I guess. These little guys looks a bit like knobs of ginger. Try to pick sunchokes that are firm, uniform in color, and with fewer knobs to make peeling easier.
Ingredients
1 pound sunchokes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup chicken stock (or water)
Salt and pepper to taste
How to
Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Cut up the sunchokes and add them to the pan with the butter, salt and pepper. Brown them over medium-high heat for about five minutes, then add the stock or water to barely cover. Cover the saucepan and cook at a simmer for about 20 minutes or until the sunchokes are soft but not mushy. Pour the sunchokes and liquid into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.
Balsamic Mustard Brussels Sprouts
This is a recipe that add a little bit of tangy funk to the spouts. It's distinctive without being off-putting and hold ups well alongside relatively neutral flavors like that of the chicken sausage.
Ingredients
1 lb brussels sprouts, bottoms trimmed, tought outside leaves removed, and halved
3 tbsp finely chopped shallot
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 strips thick cut bacon, diced
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
How to
Brown the bacon in a large skillet with a small bit of olive oil. When the bacon starts to crisp (which should be in about 5-10 minutes), add the brussels sprouts. Toss them well to coat with fat and then let them cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Resist the urge to fuss with the sprouts -- just leave them alone and stir no more than once every few minutes. You want the sides of the sprouts to brown and that will only happen if you keeps your hands and your wooden spoon away from the pan!
When the sprouts have taken on a deeper green color and are showing some deep brown spots, add the shallots. At this point the sprouts should be firm but clearly close to being fully cooked. After a minute or two, add the garlic and stir for another 30 seconds. Finally, turn the heat to high and stir in the balsamic vinegar and mustard to completely coat the sprouts. You'l hear lots of sizzling and should take the pan off the heat when there's still a little bit of liquid left in the pan, allowing for a nice glaze-like sauce. Add water or stock a tiny bit at a time of you don't see any liquid sticking around. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve hot or at room temperature.
Rosemary meatballs with polenta
It's a special Hurricane Sandy edition of The Dinner Plate. This monster of a storm has done tons of damage -- Staten Island and the Rockaways are in very bad shape, and downtown Manhattan has been without power for almost five days now. On result of the power outage is that Squarespace employees have been hauling diesel up 17 flights of stairs to power the generators at our datacenter downtown; more details here, here, here, and many other places a google search away. The only reason this site is up right now is because of all that physical labor. Another consequence is that I've been home from work all week (with the exception of pitching in on the bucket brigade a couple times) and cooking up a storm.
Crispy Thyme Potatoes
This one is a little more work than just roughly chopping potatoes and throwing them in the oven, but oh man are the results beautiful. Finely sliced potatoes roast for at least an hour to produce a caramelized bottom layer, soft and buttery center, and crispy top.
