Porktober Continues: Rib Stickin'

While still working our way through the pork loin I bought yesterday, I thought that we would take a turn for the rib stickin', midwestern comfort food. I sliced some thin cutlets and soaked them in milk. Then I breaded them in flour and panko and fried them up in the cast iron skillet. From there, I added them on top of mashed potatoes and peas. Oh, and I made a little milk gravy too.

It really hit the spot with the wind blowing at 50 mph today, not to mention it getting dark around 4:30.

Dinner: Pork Loin over Spinach with Pancetta and Feta

Occasionally I buy a large pork loin and make pork dishes all week from it. Since it is officially the end of Porktober, I thought it was only appropriate to pay homage. The key to cooking pork loin is cooking it slow. If you cook it on too hot of heat, the juices all run out and you end up with a dry piece of meat. I cooked this on medium low in my cast iron skillet and then finished it in the oven.

After cooking the pork, I made a simple mustard sauce with the fond on the bottom of the pan. I added some whole milk, grainy dijon mustard and regular dijon mustard. I then sprinkled on pistachio nuts, which added nice flavor and texture to the dish. I sliced the pork and put it on top of sauteed spinach, which I had added to cubed pancetta. I finished the spinach with feta, which added a necessary tang.

I've got an App for that

This past Christmas I was given three (yes, three) mushroom related gifts. Black truffles, truffle salt, and grow your own crimini's. It caused me to reflect on not only who I was, but who people thought I was. It turns out, there isn't much hiding behind my love of mushrooms. I used the chanterelles two nights ago for one of the best apps I have ever made.

I split the mushrooms in half and sauteed them in butter and added a pinch of salt at the end. I then plated them with one of my favorite cheeses, Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog. I added lavender for a touch of freshness (which really elevated the dish) and dotted some of my good and thick aged balsamic. I'll be making this again soon...

Mushroom Disection: Chanterelles

I made a couple of nice Ribeyes last night in my cast iron skillet. The steaks were good as usual, but the addition of a nice big batch of chanterelles really made it taste like fall. I got a jumbo package of them yesterday and cooked them down with butter and a touch of Olive Oil and sprinkled them with salt. I was tempted to add a little more flavor, but opted against it because they looked so good.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chanterelle

I thought this was interesting: Chanterelles are usually associated with conifers, although they are often found with oaks in California and Texas. In Scotland, chanterelles grow in mixed forests of silver birch and scots pine, especially when the forest has plenty of moist, mossy undergrowth. In Fife they are common under beech. They are usually (but not always) found in the same places as wild blueberries. In Spain they associate with sweet chestnut. A walk in the woods after rain should prove fruitful from late July through the Autumn.

Dean Ween's Sunday Gravy Recipe

I have never really experienced a true Sunday gravy. I've heard a lot about them, but never made one of my own. Someday soon...

I know a couple of you are big Ween fans and thought you would enjoy this:

http://www.chocodog.com/chocodog/sauce2.htm

Dinner: Salt Cave Snapper with Quinoa Cucumber Salad

I've done a few salt cave fish in my day, but this was a first for the Yellow-Eyed Snapper. Typically I get Red Snapper or Yellow-Tail Snapper, but this was a really nice looking fish. It weighed about 2.5 pounds and was said to be caught within 36 hours before I bought it, but they didn't know specifically when.

To make the salt mixture, I use 6 pounds of salt and just add cold water to bind it so that it sticks together. I then lay the fish on top of it (after stuffing with lemon, lavender, rosemary and thyme). Finally, I pack the salt tightly over the top of the fish and bake it at 340 for 35 minutes or so. It came out as delicate as lump crab meat, but with more flavor. Pretty nice and light meal.

 As for the Quinoa salad, I made sure that it had a lot of fresh flavor. Before cooking the Quinoa, I added fresh mint, ginger, cucumber and a pinch of salt to a large bowl. I then boiled water and cooked the Quinoa (after soaking and rinsing it in cold water). It doesn't need any dressing and balances the succulent fish well.

Porgy Orgy

My default settings have been programmed to Asian. When I am going to invest the time into making a delicious dinner, I find myself thinking, "what kind of asian food am I going to make?" This week I cooked with a friend who also has an obsession with all things Asian. We made a steamed porgy (cheap Atlantic white fish) with ginger scallion sauce. This scallion ginger sauce is so good and versatile that this week I found its just as good on steamed porgy as it is on homefries. Here's the recipe.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704107204574473292205193888.html

The best part about this dish was obviously eating it. A steamed fish in a bowl of its own fish broth is best served whole and shared by the table instead of cutting it up and passing it around. It brings a whole new dimension to sharing a meal with someone. Here we served with some bok choy and snap peas cooked in a little hoison. Thanks Asia.

Goat: It's what's for dinner

I love this idea in every way. It's pretty much what we're here to do, right?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/10/magazine/10dinner-t.html?_r=1&ref=dining

Stuffed Smoked Chicken Breast

I have been smoking chicken a lot lately and I was looking to take it a step further so I came up with this lovely dish. I met a guy at the farmers market that has his own home grown cherry wood so I bought a bucket of fresh chips. It is amazing how much of a difference you can notice when you use a fresh wood rather then the store bought bagged alternative. After setting the Big Green Egg to 325 degrees of indirect heat I placed the chicken and let it hang out in the cherry smoke for 30 minutes. Earlier that morning I used some roma tomatoes, black garlic, and onion from the market and whipped up a nice organic red sauce. I wanted to make a chunky hardy sauce that packed a nice punch of heat so I added a generous amount of red pepper flake. I stuffed these breasts with a creamy goat cheese mixture that countered the heat from the pepper flake. I used some fresh French Loire Valley goat cheese and mixed it with some homemade pesto and added chunks of Gold River Orchard walnuts. After the chicken was nicely smoked I cranked up the heat to 375 degrees and finished them off with some grill marks.

What I am Known For

My brother likes to say that nothing in my recipe box is good enough to be "known for it." Its hard to say this dish is anything but a home run everytime. First discovering it at a food ghetto in North Berkeley and making it a regular lunch for the rest of college, Korean BBQ chicken has never let me down. Grill it. Carmelize it. Love it.

Marinade:

Soy Sauce - 1/2 cup

Sesame Oil - 1 tsb

Brown sugar - 2 tsb

Rice Wine Vinegar - 1 tsb

Mirin - 1 tsb

Pepper - healthy amount

Green onions - add more when you think you're done

Sesame seeds - yes please

Garlic

Ginger

Siracha - if youre not afraid of spice

Here I served it with a carrot ginger salad and white rice with Furikake. If you don't have this in your pantry, I highly recommend it. Learned about spicing up white rice like this while staying in Kaui.

Last Night's Dinner: Osso Bucco

I made a nice slow cooked Osso Bucco last night. It was the first time I have cooked with shanks, but I was really impressed with the texture of the meat after it was braised for only 2 hours. After browning the shanks and sweating the mirepoix, I added red wine and tomatoes to the chicken stock, creating a succulent braising liquid. After 2 hours of simmering I placed the shanks on top of a long cooked polenta, which I enriched with Cypress Grove Truffle Tremor cheese. Cypress grove makes Humboldt Fog, which is one of my favorite cheeses, but I hadn't tried this truffle tremor. It's pretty ridiculous. The addition of the cheese to the polenta really took the dish over the top. I added a fresh gremolata to the plate (garlic/parsley/lemon zest) which helped cut through the richness.