Filling, Satisfying and Versatile

Last night I made a super-sized batch of my Bazaar Couscous! A fragrant and delicious melange of awesome. I make this with chicken, but it can very easily be made without, to accommodate vegetarians. There is chicken, which has been seasoned with my house blended Baharat Seasoning. Then we have red onions, red & green bell peppers, carrots, golden raisins, dried cherries, tomatoes, pistachios, pine nuts, parsley and Charnushka seeds. A final stir with some Zatar seasoning and you're good to go! Delicious! Fragrant. Savory with sweet. Filling.


Woo hoo, leftovers!

Stuffing

Last night was a night of "use up what's in the freezer/fridge." I had some chicken in the freezer. Stale bread in the cupboard. Carrots in the fridge and a bag of potatoes that were starting to sprout. I decided to make a quick stuffing of the bread-cut in the cubes and tossed in the oven to crisp up. Once crunchy, I mixed with some broth, sauted shallots, butter and herbs. This was stuffed into a split open chicken breast which I then seared in a little butter until browned, then into a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. I basted with a little bit of white wine I was drinking. I tossed some carrots in a little butter and roasted for about 20 minutes as well. And mashed potatoes! Right at the end, I used tossed some shallots in the pan the chicken was seared in and made a quick pan sauce with some more wine and broth. Spoon over the chicken and potatoes. Yum. I felt like I was going to die I was so stuffed!

Cozy Braised Chicken

The other night the Fabulous Becca & Mia from Red Letter Days in San Diego rolled into town on a cross country drive. As I continue to lobby the creation of Red Letter Days East Coast, I thought I'd try seducing the ladies with some braised chicken and plenty of sparkling wine!

It might take some time, but I'm pretty sure it worked!

Start with the recipe here.

Braised Chicken with Shallots, Fennel and Bacon

Get some of your ingredients ready. Fennel. Shallots. Carrots. Bacon.


Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper. Sear until the skin is crispy in the reserved bacon fat! Don't worry, the chicken doesn't cook through, just get the skin crisp and some of the fat is rendered out.


Pour out the fat from the pan, reserving one to two tablespoons. Start sauting the vegetables.


Carrots, Fennel, Shallots with an herb blend of thyme, sage, rosemary and parsley.


Snuggle the chicken into the vegetables and add some dry white wine and chicken broth, bring to a simmer, cover and place in the oven for an hour.


Remove the chicken from the braising liquid and scoop the veggies out to the side. Boil the liquid until it's reduced down to about one to two cups. Stir in a tablespoon or two of butter. In the last minute or two of simmering, add the bacon. Pour over the chicken.


Serve steaming hot.

Chinese Style BBQ Pork

Last night was a very tasty dinner that required a little advanced planning. This pork roast requires 24 hours of marinading for the best flavor. I would be interesting in trying to let the pork marinade for 48 hours. There was some good flavor going on, but I'm wondering if longer is better in this instance.

I served the pork with my carrot/cilantro salad.

For the salad, I started with the recipe located here as inspiration. I used the vegetable peeler to make ribbons from the carrots. The cilantro was very tender, so I didn't chop it, just torn it apart. (mistake!) The dressing was lime juice, rice vinegar and olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper. I didn't have any sesame seeds or sesame oil; which I wanted to use for an additional layer of flavor and texture. The salad was good, except the cilantro really was over powering! Next time, no matter how rustic and easy I'm trying to make something with cilantro, I will chop it.

The pork was really easy. Mix, pour, marinate, roast, rest, slice, serve. And you can do most of the work the night before. Don't be tempted to add an additional star anise pod, you'll see in the recipe, it's flavor is strong and aromatic, which is good, but like the cilantro in the salad, can be over powering. Use just one! Next time I make this, I might consider brush with some reserved marinade/sauce, then placing under the broiler for a minute prior to serving, to get the outer layer extra caramelized and crunchy!

Leftovers of this pork would be divine in stir-fried rice!

Chinese Barbecued Pork
Adapted from: 5 Second Rule

3-4 lb pork loin roast, cut into 2 large pieces
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1 TB dry sherry
1 tsp 5-spice powder
2 scallions, smashed
2 stems cilantro, smashed
1 pod star anise

Mix sugar, soy sauce, sherry and 5-spice.

Place pork in a dish or zip top bag, pour soy mixture over the pork. Add scallions, cilantro and star anise. Zip the bag shut and give everything a good solid squish around.

Place in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Turn and squish once in awhile.

Preheat oven to 350. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and parchment (the sugar will make a huge mess as it caramelizes, the foil makes clean up easy, the parchment prevents the roast from sticking and tearing the foil). Remove pork from the marinade and place in the center of the baking sheet.

Strain and reserve the marinade. Simmer reserved marinade for at least 10 minutes, watch carefully as it reduces to a thick sauce.

Roast pork for 30 minutes, basting once or twice with reserved sauce. Flip the pork, baste again, and roast for an additional 10 mintues. Until the pork caramelizes and just begins charring at the edges.

Transfer meat to cutting board and let rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving. Drizzle some additional sauce over the sliced pork.

Fun Combo!

While we continue to live without our full sized refrigerator, I have to use up what groceries we were able to save. This was a lot of fun and a delightful mean. I look forward to trying it again. The recipes came from different sources and I thought they would be great together. They were!

Roast Pork Sliders with Asian Carrot Slaw

Thinly slice your roast pork. This hunk of meat was marinated in a mixture of soy sauce, olive oil and a blend of herbs. Roast in a shallow pan for 50-60 minutes. Rest for 30 minutes or more, thinly slice.

While you're slicing the roast, take the reserved marinade and bring to a boil for five minutes. Pour over the sliced pork until ready to serve.

To top the sandwich, I made a carrot slaw. Instead of shredding carrots, this recipe had you make carrot ribbons with a vegetable peeler. Not necessary, but a fun presentation!

The carrots are simply dressed in rice wine vinegar, oil, lime juice, shallots, salt, pepper and toasted sesame seeds.

Make a full sized sandwich or "Slider" sized. I found slider buns at the store and thought it would be fun for a quick meal. Thing in...slider buns are the size regular buns used to be! Regardless...this was a lot of fun. The pork was tender, juicy and full of some mild, yet complex flavors. The carrot slaw added a light and refreshing crisp texture to the sandwich.

Next time I make this, I might punch up the heat level (personal choice) to the pork marinade and add a small bit of chopped cilantro to the carrots for some extra zinginess!

Roast Pork
(adapted from Penzey's spice catalog)
2 1/2 pound pork loin roast
2 TB "Italian" seasoning
1/2 cup olive oil
1 TB mild vinegar (white wine or rice wine vinegar)
1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
2 TB brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
1 tsp red pepper flake (optional)

Place the pork roast in a zip top bag. In a small bowl, mix the remaining ingredients until blended. Pour over the roast, seal the bag, make sure the roast is coated. Place in a bowl (to catch spills) and refrigerate over night, or up to 2 days.

Preheat oven to 350.

Drain the roast from the marinade. Place in a low baking dish (Pyrex baking dish). Add some water to just cover the bottom of the dish. Roast for 50-60 minutes, until a meat thermometer registers 150 degrees.

Remove, cover with foil and let rest for 30 minutes. The internal temperature will continue to rise to the USDA recommended temp of 160, without over cooking and drying out the roast.

Meanwhile, bring the remaining marinade to a simmer for 5 minutes. Thinly slice the roast and place back into the roasting dish. Pour the marinade over the meat. Serve immediately OR, cover and refrigerate until ready to serve, reheat prior to serving.


Asian Carrot Slaw
(adapted from Everyday Food)
1 pound carrots, peeled and shaved with a vegetable peeler
4 scallions, thinly sliced (I substituted 2 medium shallots)
2 TB rice vinegar
1 TB vegetable oil
1 TB sesame seeds, toasted
1 tsp lime zest, plus 1 TB lime juice
1 tsp chopped cilantro (optional)
Salt/Pepper

Combine all ingredients. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Carrots and Sunshine

I was preparing some carrots for dinner yesterday and the sun was shining through my kitchen window and I got a few great photos. This was a favorite. So vibrant!