Thursday Night Slump

I know that Wednesday is 'hump day', but sometimes Thursday is the bigger hurdle for me. I've made it this far and Friday is right around the corner. Come dinner time on Thursday I just want something quick and easy. I'm tired of doing dishes, so if I can minimize that too I'm all the more thrilled.

I regularly pick up a roasted deli chicken at my local supermarket. I like the chickens because they can be really versatile and can certainly aid in getting dinner done quickly. You can shred the chicken for pasta or enchiladas, you can keep the breasts or leg quarters whole for quick dinner solutions, or sometimes I save the bones to make chicken soup or chicken broth. 

Tonight I reheated one of the leg quarters, cooked up some quinoa, and sauteed some spinach and mushrooms. All-in-all it took me about 30 minutes and it was a really delicious dinner.

To reheat the chicken I put the leg quarter in my cast iron skillet and put them in the oven while it was heating up to 350 degrees. That way the chicken could warm up slowly and retain it's juices. In total the cook time was about 15 mins between the time it took for my oven to heat up and a few extra minutes just to make sure it's warm throughout. I did leave the skin on the chicken, again- it helps retain the moisture and keeps the flavor locked in.

If you haven't tried quinoa yet, you might want to check it out. Its a whole grain with a protein boost. It's also super easy to cook and it doesn't take very long. The typical cooking formula I've seen is a 2:1 ratio. That is 2 parts liquid to 1 part quinoa. So for example, if you were cooking 1 cup of quinoa, you would use 2 cups of water. Quinoa will expand slightly when it cooks, but not a whole lot so when cooking for friends figure about 1/4 to 1/2 a cup per person.

Once the chicken comes out of the oven, move it to your plate to give a chance to cool off just a little. While the pan is still hot turn your stove to medium or medium high and add some sliced mushrooms and diced shallots. Don't forget the salt and pepper and maybe a little olive oil. Just be sure that the mushrooms aren't crowded in the pan or they won't brown properly.

Toss in some spinach and let it wilt from the heat. I did splash in just a little chicken broth to loosen the delicious brown bits and help finish off the spinach. Put it all on a plate and enjoy!

Happy Thursday!

Pho Sho'

I love Pho. It's that simple. Pho, for me, is a cross between the warmth of mom's homemade soup and and the exotic flavors of far flung places. I  could eat Pho everyday in the winter and most days in the summer. The richly flavored broth paired with soft noodles, spicy peppers, basil, cilantro, and tender meat is, in my eyes, one of the most perfect meals. I unabashedly slurp my way to the bottom of the bowl and ultimately end with a smile of pure satisfaction.

Now, there are a lot of great Pho places here in Portland. You can easily find a local joint serving pipping hot Pho in almost every neighborhood. In North Portland there is Pho Jasmine which is a little hole in the wall kind of place. There is Pho Van on Hawthorne. And there is Jade Bistro in Sellwood, which is just plain amazing. All of these places will deliver on the promise of delicious Pho, but there are just sometimes that I don't want to leave the house. Imagine my delight when hidden within this month's Bon Appetit issue about Christmas cookies there is a quickie Pho recipe.
I had to try it.

Here is the link to the recipe: Bon Appetit Faux Pho

The beauty of this recipe is that it uses store bought beef broth and ramen noodles to speed up the process. What is great is that given enough time, you can develop the deep flavors of the Pho houses without the days of stewing.

Start with 1/2 of a small onion and garlic in a warm pot with some vegetable oil on medium-high.  You build flavor in steps- sauteing the onions and garlic, add the broth and water, boil the anise and cinnamon, soften the mushrooms, and let it all steep for a little before adding the beef.

 

In the meantime, use ramen noodles- yes, the ramen noodles you get 10 for $1 at the store. You just boil the noodles and throw out the flavor packet. You'll have enough flavor building in your broth.

Once the noodles are ready, put a spoonful in a bowl along with your favorite Pho garnishes. I favor cilantro, basil, and jalapenos, but use what makes you happy.

Heat your beef in the broth and then ladle everything over the noodles and in less than an hour you have a bowl of instant happiness.

I can tell this is going to be one of my 'go-to' recipes for the remainder of the winter. The beauty is that it makes enough for 2 big bowls or 4 small bowls. In my case I packed the broth with the peppers, cilantro, and basil and wrapped the noodles in plastic wrap so I can take them to work tomorrow for lunch.

Light and sunny

When it's hot outside you don't want to heat up the house by cooking too much.

One of my new favorite recipes is this lemon, parsley, and caper vinaigrette from the back of one of the jars of capers I bought. It's dead easy- fresh lemon juice, chopped parsley, a spoonful of capers, olive oil, and salt & pepper.

Once the vinaigrette is ready, toss it with some beautiful tomatoes and set it aside.

While all of that is marinating, heat up your skillet to cook the salmon. I tend to prefer my salmon about medium or even a little medium-rare. Cook a little longer if you prefer yours more well done.

I seasoned the salmon simply with salt and pepper before putting it in the pan.

While the fish is cooking prepare your bowl and dress the lettuce with the vinaigrette. Once it's ready to go, flake out the salmon and add it to your salad.

It's a great dish for a hot summer day. The lemony vinaigrette and fatty salmon are just that little punch the tomatoes and lettuce need. Give it a try!

Party of One

Sometimes, cooking for a party of one can be harder than cooking for a big dinner party. I find that it takes more thought to scale back a dish to make just one good plate.

But just because you are eating by yourself doesn't mean that you dinner shouldn't be any more delicious. Treat yourself!

I was home alone on a Saturday night and decided to make myself dinner worthy of any of the restaurants that I might have chosen to visit. Since it was just me I tried to keep it simple and keep all the cooking confined to one pan- a cast iron skillet in this case.You don't need a cast iron skillet to do this but it is helpful to have a pan that can go from the stove into the oven.


Bone-in pork chop, roasted fingerling potatoes and cherry tomatoes with sauteed spinach.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 

I started with a beautiful bone-in pork chop from Whole Foods. I seasoned it with salt, pepper, and paprika. Before you season the chop, put your pan on the stove to heat it up. You need the pan to be hot in order to get a good sear on the meat. Once you get the chop seasoned up, drop it in the pan and sear on each side for about 3 mins per side.

Seared pork chop

Once you've turned the chop over the second time, add some fingerling potatoes and cherry tomatoes to the pan. I like fingerling potatoes for dishes like this because they are smaller than even regular red potatoes so that makes them great for quick meals. They also tend to have a different texture and more subtle taste then other potatoes.

Let all of this cook together in the pan for another 3-4 minutes.


Once the oven is ready put the whole pan in the oven and cook for another 5-8 minutes depending on how well done you prefer your pork.


After the time rings, take the pan out of the oven and remove the pork chop, potatoes, and tomatoes to a plate. That will give the pork chop time to rest before you cut into it. Beware that the tomatoes can be very hot so give them a little bit of time to call off before biting into them.

While the pan is still hot from the oven, add about 1 cup of uncooked spinach to the pan.

The spinach will wilt quickly in the heat of the pan. Once it's at a texture you like, plate everything up.

In may case I piled the spinach on top of the potatoes and tomatoes then shaved a little parmigiano. I like the slightly salty, slightly nutty flavor of the parmigiano- it ads a great flavor to the roasted veggies.

Serve with a crisp white wine or a mild pinot and dinner is served!

Bon Appetit

Summer has finally arrived in PDX! Warm, sunny days are tempered by cool nights. It's the perfect time to take advantage of the seasonal fruits and veggies.

One of my favorite food magazines is Bon Appetit.  They've updated the magazine over the years and I find the recipes to be aspirational, yet achievable.  We've been paging through the last 2 issues a lot and I finally decided to give some of the flavors a go.

On tonight's menu: Mojo Marinated Bone-In Pork Chops, Yellow Rice, Black Beans, Grilled Cotija with Watermelon and Basil- Mint Oil, and a Lime and Blackberry Italian Meringue Pie

Most of these are Bon Appetit recipes and you can find them on the website or by clicking on the links above. 

Let's get started- first thing was to make the Mojo marinade because the recipe suggest that the pork should marinade for 3-8 hours before cooking. So we assembled our ingredients: 3 jalepenos, 10 cloves of garlic (yes, 10), fresh OJ, fresh lemon juice, lime juice, olive oil, salt, oregano, and I added a little pineapple sage from our garden.

Ingredients for the Mojo marinade- 10 cloves of garlic, 3 lemons, 3 jalapenos, fresh oregano, and fresh pineapple sage

Turning lemons into juice

10 cloves of garlic finely chopped

If the jalapenos are too hot, remove the seed and ribs

Once all of the ingreidents are chopped up, add them to a bowl with the oj, lemon juice, lime juice, and oil and whisk together. 

Put about half of the marinade in flat dish with the pork, cover, and chill. Save the rest for additional sauce after the pork is cooked. Sometimes I also pour left over marinade like this into ice cube trays and freeze it. That way when you want it again, all you have do is defrost. Marinade: done.

 Next up, the lime curd for the Lime and Blackberry Italian Meringue Pie. I've never made a lime curd let alone a pie like this so it was a total experiment for me. More lime juice, 6 eggs, sugar, butter, and simmering water, how hard could this be? Start with a big pot and some water. Get that up to a slow boil or fast simmer. In the meantime, mix the lime juice, 3 whole eggs, 3 egg yolks, and sugar together. What they don't tell you in the recipe is to save the egg whites from the 3 egg yolks because you'll need them for the meringue. So as you separate the eggs, keep that in mind and put the whites aside for later. Put the bowl over the hot water and start whisking. Make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water and investing in an ove-glove or good hot might isn't a bad idea either here. Steam will find a way out from underneath the bowl and it can burn you. It will take just about the full 15 mins they call out in the recipe for the curd to come together so be patient. You don't have to whisk the whole time, but don't go too far away. 

Lime curd over the hot water, whisking away

 Let the curd chill. In the meantime, get the gelatin started. The recipe only tells you to put 2 TBSP of gelatin into a bowl of water and let it sit. To be more specific, follow the package directions for the gelatin to get an idea of how much water and how long it will take for the gelatin to form. Add that to the curd and chill again.

Chilled curd

The rest of the process was pretty easy. I think I could have whipped my meringue a little more to get stiffer peaks, but this is how we learn. 

Mine didn't turn out exactly like this, but you get the idea

As all of this was going on, Dan (my bf and personal sommelier ) started in on the basil-mint oil for the grilled watermelon salad. More garlic, fresh basil, fresh mint, and oil. Rather than grill the watermelon and tomatoes we seared them in a hot cast iron skillet (you really need to own one of these). 

Seared watermelon slices

All of that going on and I still found time to make black beans for the rice. I don't mind using canned beans for my black beans because frankly, I rarely have time to soak beans overnight before cooking. At any rate, I start my beans with a few ingredients in the pan- bacon, onions, roasted garlic, Mexican Oregano, salt, pepper, adobochon, and sazon. Adobochon and sazon are spices you may be able to find in your Hispanic foods aisle at the grocery store. They add that little something extra to the mix. Put all of your ingredients into the pan you want to cook the beans in and get them simmering. Let the bacon render it's fat and saute the veggies. 

Before you add the beans, deglaze the pan with a little balsamic vinegar. Add the beans, bring to simmer, reduce the heat and let them sit. You may need to add a little water depending on how long you leave the beans to cook, but for the most part you can just let them go. 

We served a Spanish Rose with this meal and it was a great compliment. 

Once everything is ready- feast! Enjoy the bounty of the summer because before we know it, it will be winter again and we'll be longing for these flavors.