Published by mel on September 5, 2008 in entree and recipe.
The idea for this sandwich started out as a vague thought about Vietnamese-style tacos. Why Vietnamese-style tacos you ask? Well, I’m not sure. I was thinking that taco toppings are like Vietnamese-style salads with generous amounts of fresh herbs, cabbage, onions and hot peppers.
So, I tried it. I marinated some pork tenderloins with shoyu, honey and ginger. I made a slaw from mango, cucumber, serrano peppers, mint, cilantro, green onions and lime juice. (Napa cabbage would be great here, but I didn’t have any.) Then I stacked everything on a corn tortilla. Hmmm, interesting, but ultimately the corn flavor of the tortillas didn’t complement the Asian flavors.
Not to be deterred, I tried again with ciabatta rolls. Much better this time! The sweet and spicy slaw was perfect on the pork and the ciabatta roll didn’t compete with the other flavors. I love a good sandwich for dinner, and I think this one might be making another appearance soon.
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Published by mel on May 30, 2008 in entree and recipe.
Nothing says comfort food like a big bowl of slurpy noodles. Surprisingly, I don’t miss living in New York as much as I thought I would. I’ve adjusted well to the tropical weather and the beach across the street from my home. And the flip flops. But one of the things I really miss is the delicious and plentiful Asian food. It’s sorely lacking here in Miami, so I’ve taken to making much more of it at home than I ever did in New York.
Lately, the craving has been for a big bowl of Udon noodles with pork, dumplings, fish cakes (they’re delicious - I swear!), shrimp tempura and a poached egg. A bit weird since it’s full-blown summer here and that’s definitely a winter meal. But I craved it nonetheless. And it’s nowhere to be found. (If anyone has a recommendation, please please please leave a comment!)
Where was I? Oh yeah - so I made some Udon soup to calm the craving. It’s not really authentic, and doesn’t have the shrimp tempura or the fish cakes, but it’s still a big comfy bowl of noodle soup. And it’s delicious!
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Published by mel on May 21, 2008 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
I love french fries. When my parents took me to France as a teen (with an unfortunate curly-fro), I saw a french fry sandwich. A french fry sandwich? Yep. Fries stuffed into a baguette and smeared with mayo. It was a beautiful sandwich. Very healthy.
Anyway, I’m always looking for ways to make fries at home that are healthy and tasty. Not just regular tasty, but the addictive, can’t-stop-eating-them tasty of a real french fry. Last night I made a batch of sweet potato fries spiked with smoked paprika, lime zest and a ton of freshly ground pepper. Usually the sweet potato is far too sweet for me, but the citrus and spices cut the sweetness nicely. They were definitely addictive.
Sweet potatoes are also “good carbs” with a low glycemic index and a high nutritional content, so i don’t even feel that bad about eating my entire portion and half of Tom’s. Not one bit.
I served these alongside an espresso-rubbed pork tenderloin, which was bold and a bit spicy. A simple weekday meal.
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Published by mel on April 11, 2008 in entree and recipe.
Earlier this week I posted a dish inspired by fall. Not very timely, though I hear it’s still snowing in some parts. In an effort to be more season-appropriate, I made a spring soup with a light broth, mini meatballs and fresh asparagus.
For the meatballs, I ground the pork myself from some cutlets. I also threw some turkey bacon in the food processor for that smoky depth and rounded it all out with fennel seeds and crushed red pepper. I’d never ground my own meat before, and honestly, it was a cinch. Just place everything in the food processor and run it for a minute or two. It’s a lot fluffier (for lack of a better word) than the compacted stuff you get at the butcher counter, and I bet freshly ground beef is the key to the perfect burger.
Anyway, nothing says spring like crisp asparagus. Washed and sliced, it went in at the last minute along with some lemon juice. The soup was somehow light and hearty at the same time. All it needed was a nice heap of freshly grated Parmesan cheese and a big spoon.
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Published by mel on March 20, 2008 in entree and recipe.
I’ve mentioned before that I’m mildly obsessed with Sriracha. It’s not just a hot sauce of the eye-watering, nose-running variety, though it is pretty darn hot. It has a subtle garlicky flavor that adds a unique flavor to almost anything. Last night, I mixed it into apricot preserves along with some shoyu and Worcestershire sauce and made sweet and spicy glaze for pork cutlets. I let the glaze bubble and brown and the chunky pieces of caramelized apricot were deliciously addicting.
The cutlets were sweet, juicy and spicy and paired really well with the griddled cheesy polenta and simple salad of fennel and greens I made. I suspect this glaze would be just as tasty on chicken, shrimp or even lamb.
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Published by mel on March 6, 2008 in entree and recipe.
Weeknights usually mean shortcuts. For example, I love meatballs but don’t have time to make them, then brown them, then let them simmer unless it’s a lazy Sunday. So, I look for shortcuts. A few years ago, I experimented with skipping the browning stage. Browning the meatballs gives them a more meaty flavor and allows them to keep their spherical shape. I found that if you cook the meatballs in one layer on the bottom of a large pot, you’ll still get a browning effect over time. I almost prefer this method because the marinara sauce also browns slightly, adding a more complex meaty and tomato-y flavor. As for them keeping their shape, they will as long as they’re stirred only once or twice.
I also took some extra shortcuts like using store-bought marinara sauce. (Gasp! I know!) As long as it’s a good brand that uses no preservatives, you’ll be okay. I used Gia Russa brand, which is all natural and I’ve found to be consistently top-quality. To get some sausage-y flavor in there to compliment the Artichoke marinara, I used ground pork instead of ground beef and added some fennel seeds. The meatballs were tender and flavorful and the fennel seeds were there, but not overwhelming.
While weeknight meatballs still take quite some time to cook, it’s not active time. I made them in the morning while I was getting ready for work and only had to make some pasta when I got home. They were deliciously hearty and the leftovers made my co-workers jealous.
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Published by mel on February 11, 2008 in entree and recipe.
photo credit: Not me. Meutia Chaerani / Indradi Soemardjan from Wikipedia.
Tom and I had a dinner party for some friends and family on Saturday night and I did not take a single picture. I’m not really sure how that happened, except for the fact that I was completely exhausted by the time my guests arrived. In fact, my mom brought us cortaditos (Cuban coffee with a bit of evaporated milk) at my request because I didn’t think I’d make it through the festivities otherwise.
The day began before sunrise when Tom’s alarm went off and he got up to film some videos on a Carnival ship. Then there was a flurry of last-minute shopping, de-boning, marinating, cleaning and cooking and suddenly it was 7:30 and my guests had arrived. The menu looked something like this:
Hors d’oeuvres: Crispy Hominy (one day I’ll get around to posting this recipe), Pita Chips and Black Bean dip, little toasts with chorizo/cherry tomato bake and Manchego cheese
Main course: Roasted pork shoulder stuffed with guava shells, bacon and prunes, and roasted with a brown sugar/malt soda glaze. Side dish was pine nut and green onion pilaf.
Dessert: Berries with cardamom whipped cream, fancy vanilla sugar crystals and Ghiradelli toffee and dark chocolate squares
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Published by mel on January 17, 2008 in entree and recipe.
I’m kind of obsessed with breaded or “crusted” food lately. Why? Because the new kitchen has a new microwave/oven that has a “Crisp” feature. It even comes with a special “crisp”-ing pan and the way it works (I think) is that it microwaves, convects and broils at the same time. So food comes out as crispy as if it were deep fried but without any of the grease. Oh, and a pork cutlet only takes 12 minutes, shrimp only 8 minutes, etc.
I used the leanest pork I could find, and I brined it beforehand to keep it nice and juicy. In lieu of homemade breadcrumbs, which I didn’t have time to make, I used whole wheat Panko made by a brand called Ian’s, which I thought were fantastic. The meat was juicy and the breading was really crispy. I served the cutlets with a nice green salad, homemade croutons made from stale cibatta and some sauteed bok choy. Cutlet recipe below.
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