I felt very continental this morning, heading out shortly after daybreak to the market to gather the best of the fruits and vegetables in my recyclable totes.
Okay - it was six-thirty, not daybreak (sunrise at 5:15; the store doesn't open until 6:00) and the local grocer rather than a farmer's market. But it's the thought that counts.
After a breakfast consisting of a cheese omelet and a croissant, it was time to chop, tear, repackage and plate a host of fresh goodness. Making a salad is a pain in the backside, if you want anything more complicated than basic lettuce and tomato. By chopping a whole mess of stuff at one go, you can pick and chose at any time exactly what your salad will hold.
While most of the effort is on behalf of my dinner companion, the basic idea is one I've used during the summer in the past: cut like a crazy person once, eat salad for the next five days.
A small pork tenderloin is thawing for tomorrow's dinner. The leftovers will be sliced up and added to the cornucopia of fixings for possible salads. Pork is the protein source in one of my favorite summer main dish salads. Enjoy!
Balsamic Pork & Berry Salad
6 cups lettuce -- torn
2 cups strawberries -- sliced
1/2 cup celery -- thinly sliced
1 tablespoon fresh chives -- snipped
8 ounces pork tenderloin
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic -- minced
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons pecans -- chopped
In large bowl toss lettuce, strawberries, celery and chives.
Trim fat from pork. Cut into 1/4" slices. Coat skillet with nonstick spray and preheat over medium heat. Cook pork until no longer pink, turning once. Remove to plate and cover to keep warm.
For dressing, add oil to skillet. Add garlic and cook 15 seconds. Stir in honey, vinegar and pepper. Cook and stir until heated through.
Put lettuce mix on plates. Add pork, drizzle on dressing and top with nuts.
I use leftover roasted pork tenderloin, almost never cooking one just to use in this salad. Heat it up a little before putting it on the salad, or heat it in the pan with the dressing.
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query pork. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query pork. Sort by date Show all posts
Saturday, June 09, 2012
Sunday, May 28, 2017
Kitchen Duty part II
I've spent so much time in the kitchen the last two days, I've actually almost forgotten what I had for dinner last night. After some thought (and putting away the rest of the box of pasta), I realized it was whole wheat spaghetti with butter and Parmesan as aside to a wonderful piece of skin-on salmon. The salmon got a bit of lemon pepper on the flesh side, then was put skin side down in a very hot pan coated with olive oil. Let it sit for five minutes until the skin is crisp, then turn it over for a few seconds. The skin should be crisp, the inside still pink (unless you are one of those people who likes your fish really well done).
It was annoying me that I couldn't remember at first what I ate.
Today, I don't have that problem.
Prep for several dishes began shortly after breakfast (toasted pieces of yesterday's English muffin bread topped with peanut butter). It always seems most efficient, when I'm doing several dishes, to do all the prep work for everything all at once (and it usually keeps me from saying to heck with it and stopping halfway through the plan). Dice an onion. Chop up the rest of the bread. Shred two different types of cheeses (really, it takes only a minute or two to shred cheese from a block, and then it has none of the cornstarch coating that keeps preshredded cheese from sticking together - and makes it gummy when it melts). Peel and slice potatoes. Boil the huge pot of water for the brine.
Once the water cooled, all sorts of good stuff was added to it, and the pork tenderloin (two smaller ones, I found when I opened the package) were put in it to soak for half a day. The linked recipe is the brine I used; if you make pork chops rather than tenderloin, a half hour is all they need. Soak too long, and the meat starts to deteriorate.
A potato gratin was meant to accompany the pork (this was all planned for dinner). Last grocery order, I bought half a dozen russets. They must have been "baking" potatoes, as each was pretty darn big. The two that were left filled up my regular size gratin dish. My standard is a variant of this dish. No leeks, but some shallots in with the cream. Not Gruyere (at least not if I have to make a special trip), but lots of Swiss. It's easy to make, especially if you have a mandolin to help slice the potatoes thinly.
The bread, if you will recall from yesterday, was made to be the basis for a new-to-me breakfast casserole. The other ingredients are sauteed pork sausage, cheddar cheese, eggs and milk.
Naturally, I didn't have any pork sausage, but I did have a pound of ground turkey, as well as a magic ingredient: Penzey's breakfast sausage seasoning. Used that with the turkey, and it was delicious. It is this recipe, though I also added sauteed onion...I had a couple of corner nibbles when it first came out of the oven (it's meant to be cut up and frozen for future breakfasts) and it is really good.
In the end, dinner was some of the potato gratin, some of the pork, green beans and a rather sizeable glass of Stag's Leap Aveta Sauvignon Blanc. There are leftovers of everything. There are two tiny lamp chops in the freezer that may be dinner tomorrow, with the potatoes. The pork can be sliced for sandwiches, or, if I do a bit of grocery shopping later for spinach and berries, my favorite salad.
tomorrow will be spent deep cleaning the kitchen. The A/C annual service is Tuesday, and part of what he has to check is attached to the furnace...which is in the closet in the kitchen. Eh, it's supposed to rain off and on all day, anyway.
My legs and feet ache from all the standing. The kitchen is so small, you sort of stand in one place and pivot, or take just one step from side to side. No chance to really stretch your legs. Must remember to take an Advil before bed so I can move in the morning.
In between things, I've been reading and sewing. I'm machine quilting a baby quilt for a coworker. The batting I'm using is wool - very soft and fluffy, but I think I underestimated the warmth factor. Good thing this baby is due in late September.
On that, I'm off to bed. Trying hard to maintain regular bed/rise times over this vacation. I did get up at the usual time this morning, but after half an hour of wandering around online, went back to bed for an hour. Don't want to do that tomorrow.
It was annoying me that I couldn't remember at first what I ate.
Today, I don't have that problem.
Prep for several dishes began shortly after breakfast (toasted pieces of yesterday's English muffin bread topped with peanut butter). It always seems most efficient, when I'm doing several dishes, to do all the prep work for everything all at once (and it usually keeps me from saying to heck with it and stopping halfway through the plan). Dice an onion. Chop up the rest of the bread. Shred two different types of cheeses (really, it takes only a minute or two to shred cheese from a block, and then it has none of the cornstarch coating that keeps preshredded cheese from sticking together - and makes it gummy when it melts). Peel and slice potatoes. Boil the huge pot of water for the brine.
Once the water cooled, all sorts of good stuff was added to it, and the pork tenderloin (two smaller ones, I found when I opened the package) were put in it to soak for half a day. The linked recipe is the brine I used; if you make pork chops rather than tenderloin, a half hour is all they need. Soak too long, and the meat starts to deteriorate.
A potato gratin was meant to accompany the pork (this was all planned for dinner). Last grocery order, I bought half a dozen russets. They must have been "baking" potatoes, as each was pretty darn big. The two that were left filled up my regular size gratin dish. My standard is a variant of this dish. No leeks, but some shallots in with the cream. Not Gruyere (at least not if I have to make a special trip), but lots of Swiss. It's easy to make, especially if you have a mandolin to help slice the potatoes thinly.
The bread, if you will recall from yesterday, was made to be the basis for a new-to-me breakfast casserole. The other ingredients are sauteed pork sausage, cheddar cheese, eggs and milk.
Naturally, I didn't have any pork sausage, but I did have a pound of ground turkey, as well as a magic ingredient: Penzey's breakfast sausage seasoning. Used that with the turkey, and it was delicious. It is this recipe, though I also added sauteed onion...I had a couple of corner nibbles when it first came out of the oven (it's meant to be cut up and frozen for future breakfasts) and it is really good.
In the end, dinner was some of the potato gratin, some of the pork, green beans and a rather sizeable glass of Stag's Leap Aveta Sauvignon Blanc. There are leftovers of everything. There are two tiny lamp chops in the freezer that may be dinner tomorrow, with the potatoes. The pork can be sliced for sandwiches, or, if I do a bit of grocery shopping later for spinach and berries, my favorite salad.
tomorrow will be spent deep cleaning the kitchen. The A/C annual service is Tuesday, and part of what he has to check is attached to the furnace...which is in the closet in the kitchen. Eh, it's supposed to rain off and on all day, anyway.
My legs and feet ache from all the standing. The kitchen is so small, you sort of stand in one place and pivot, or take just one step from side to side. No chance to really stretch your legs. Must remember to take an Advil before bed so I can move in the morning.
In between things, I've been reading and sewing. I'm machine quilting a baby quilt for a coworker. The batting I'm using is wool - very soft and fluffy, but I think I underestimated the warmth factor. Good thing this baby is due in late September.
On that, I'm off to bed. Trying hard to maintain regular bed/rise times over this vacation. I did get up at the usual time this morning, but after half an hour of wandering around online, went back to bed for an hour. Don't want to do that tomorrow.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Peri-menopausal moment #126575
Every so often, the mental fog that accompanies perimenopause yields an unexpected benefit.
In early February, I bought a couple of pork tenderloins on sale. Part of it was used immediately for Apple-Cheddar-Pork Burgers (verdict: OK, but a lot of work). The rest was divided into two one-pound pieces and thrown into the freezer, forgotten until today.
Dinner tonight? Maple-Dijon Glazed Pork Tenderloin with roasted carrots and onions.
Preheat oven to 450. Dry tenderloin thoroughly and place in roasting pan. Mix equal parts maple syrup and dijon mustard, a bit of dried or fresh thyme and salt and pepper in a small bowl. Pour/spread over tenderloin.
Chop carrots into roughly the same size sticks. Slice onion thickly, then cut rings in half. Mix veggies in bowl with a couple of tablespoons olive oil, salt and pepper. Pour around the pork in the roasting pan.
Bake uncovered about 30 - 40 minutes depending on the size of the roast, or until the internal temp of the pork reaches 160 degrees (will be ever so slightly pink). Slice pork; toss veggies with a little balsamic vinegar before serving.
Yum. I should forget things more often.
In early February, I bought a couple of pork tenderloins on sale. Part of it was used immediately for Apple-Cheddar-Pork Burgers (verdict: OK, but a lot of work). The rest was divided into two one-pound pieces and thrown into the freezer, forgotten until today.
Dinner tonight? Maple-Dijon Glazed Pork Tenderloin with roasted carrots and onions.
Preheat oven to 450. Dry tenderloin thoroughly and place in roasting pan. Mix equal parts maple syrup and dijon mustard, a bit of dried or fresh thyme and salt and pepper in a small bowl. Pour/spread over tenderloin.
Chop carrots into roughly the same size sticks. Slice onion thickly, then cut rings in half. Mix veggies in bowl with a couple of tablespoons olive oil, salt and pepper. Pour around the pork in the roasting pan.
Bake uncovered about 30 - 40 minutes depending on the size of the roast, or until the internal temp of the pork reaches 160 degrees (will be ever so slightly pink). Slice pork; toss veggies with a little balsamic vinegar before serving.
Yum. I should forget things more often.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
This little piggy had...pork chops
However, I had the foresight to take a pork chop out of the freezer and throw it in the refrigerator to thaw this morning. Here's how to get dinner on the table in a little under forty-five minutes:
Take out toaster oven and put it on the counter. Test 9 x 9 pan to be sure it fits (it's ceramic and has built in handles). Turn oven on to 375 to preheat. Spray pan with nonstick spray.
Season pork chop with salt and pepper; place in a corner of the pan. Chop a couple of carrots and a potato into roughly the same size pieces (1 1/2" dice). Toss with olive oil to coat and add a hearty shake of Arizona Dreaming spice mix from Penzeys. Place in pan with pork chop; put the pan in the toaster oven.
Get ipod from purse and plug it into the dock; chose something peppy. Wander upstairs, change into workout clothes and sit on the bed, waiting for the heat to turn off so the room will return to a non-saunalike temperature. Climb on elliptical and start
Wander back downstairs into the kitchen. Use a fork to test a carrot to see if it is done. Remember (too late) that said carrot is hot. It's ready.
Put everything on a plate and chow down.
The carrots and potatoes should have a nice crispness to the outside, but be softish on the inside. Check the chop to be sure it is cooked to whatever the current "safe" temperature for pork is this week (I kid; the new correct temperature is 145 degrees, revised from 160 by the FDA back in March 2011).
The unfortunate side effect of this uber-efficient dinner making is that I now have plenty of time tonight to go balance the checkbook, which is long overdue. I'll say this much, though - pork chops will be on the next grocery list for sure.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Dinner is served
After taking the summer off from entertaining, I've managed to schedule three events in eight days, one of which involves transporting the food to someplace else for consumption. When it rains, it pours.
Not being a complete moron, I've forgone my usual practice of trying out new recipes on unsuspecting guests. The first two events feature tried-and-true dishes: jambalaya and a chicken-cheddar-rice casserole.
The third event, however, does indeed feature a new to me recipe. Two, actually, if you consider the two different sauces as discrete recipes. The dish? Pulled pork for sandwiches, with both an Eastern North Carolina sauce and a Western South Carolina concoction.
Peapod, bless their little hearts, has had pork shoulder, also known as pork butt, on sale for the past month or so. It falls well within my "huge, but cheap cuts of meat to feed a crowd" entertaining scheme and budget. It also gives me a chance to try my hand at barbecue, southern style.
Most of the recipes I've seen call for rubbing the meat with a variety of things, then letting it dry marinade in the refrigerator for a lengthy time before slow roasting. To sauce or not to sauce, and whether that sauce is tomato, vinegar or maple syrup based depends on region and personal preference.
So I spent a while tonight massaging spices into huge chunks of pig. The things I do for my friends...
The rub mix could have been doubled; it didn't cover every inch of the two roasts. But the pulled pork is all going in sauce, so if the meat isn't quite as flavorful as it would be with more rub, it won't be a disaster.
The pork is actually for two weeks from today; it will be frozen, then thawed and sauced on game day. This particular dish is meant for a Packers-Vikings game lunch. One can only hope the performance of our home team doesn't cause us to lose our appetites.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Other people must do this too - I hope
A little spring cleaning is going on at the studio of quiltbabe, prompted by the need to store in the pantry* some of the groceries that were too good a deal to pass up this week.
Consolidating and sorting the dry supplies - adding the new rice to the little bit left in the tupperware container of old, opening the graham crackers and putting them in an airtight container, putting a couple of cans of this and that in the cupboard near the stove, and the rest in the stack for the pantry - went well enough. It was when I started pulling things out of the pantry to rearrange them I ran across something odd.
Why did I buy a full pound of kosher salt?
Apparently it was purchased a while ago, and for a specific purpose. Or so I assume, since I can't for the life of me remember what that may have been. A craft project? Unlikely.
I can only conclude I had a new brine recipe to try, and planned to use the salt for that. Naturally, I have no idea where that recipe may be. If any of you have any good brines, please pass them along. In the meantime, here is one of my favorites. I've done it with pork chops, but it really gets raves from guests when I use it for a pork tenderloin. Increase the soaking time to about 4 - 8 hours, depending on the size of the tenderloin. Bake as you usually would, until a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees.
Maple Brined Pork Chops
Four servings
2 cups boiling water
2 TBS kosher salt
1 cup unsweetened apple juice
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon maple extract
1/4 tsp allspice
4 5-ounce pork chops
Stir the boiling water and salt together until the salt is dissolved. Refrigerate until cold.
Put pork chops in a baking dish just large enough to hold them in a single layer. Mix all other ingredients into the salt water mixture and pour over the chops.
Refrigerate at least 4 hours, turning chops occasionally.
Remove chops from brine and dry on paper towel. Discard brine. Cook chops in skillet with a little bit of vegetable oil until golden brown on each side, and instant read thermometer reads 160 in the center.
*For those who are not old enough to know what one is, or have not lived in a house old enough to have it, a real pantry is a little walk-in closet type of room with cupboards rising up from the floor to a counter, and shelves up above. It's used for the storage of dry/canned food, dishes, extra plastic containers, papertowel rolls, miscellaneous kitchen hand tools and infrequently used utensils, small power tools, the mops, ironing board, stepstool, WD-40, plant food and almost anything else your heart desires. Mine has a window over the counter at the back - a perfect place to cool pies if I ever made any. I've never lived in a house without one, and never care to. The little closets with a few shelves that modern builders are wont to call "pantry" just don't do it for me.
Consolidating and sorting the dry supplies - adding the new rice to the little bit left in the tupperware container of old, opening the graham crackers and putting them in an airtight container, putting a couple of cans of this and that in the cupboard near the stove, and the rest in the stack for the pantry - went well enough. It was when I started pulling things out of the pantry to rearrange them I ran across something odd.
Why did I buy a full pound of kosher salt?
Apparently it was purchased a while ago, and for a specific purpose. Or so I assume, since I can't for the life of me remember what that may have been. A craft project? Unlikely.
I can only conclude I had a new brine recipe to try, and planned to use the salt for that. Naturally, I have no idea where that recipe may be. If any of you have any good brines, please pass them along. In the meantime, here is one of my favorites. I've done it with pork chops, but it really gets raves from guests when I use it for a pork tenderloin. Increase the soaking time to about 4 - 8 hours, depending on the size of the tenderloin. Bake as you usually would, until a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees.
Maple Brined Pork Chops
Four servings
2 cups boiling water
2 TBS kosher salt
1 cup unsweetened apple juice
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon maple extract
1/4 tsp allspice
4 5-ounce pork chops
Stir the boiling water and salt together until the salt is dissolved. Refrigerate until cold.
Put pork chops in a baking dish just large enough to hold them in a single layer. Mix all other ingredients into the salt water mixture and pour over the chops.
Refrigerate at least 4 hours, turning chops occasionally.
Remove chops from brine and dry on paper towel. Discard brine. Cook chops in skillet with a little bit of vegetable oil until golden brown on each side, and instant read thermometer reads 160 in the center.
*For those who are not old enough to know what one is, or have not lived in a house old enough to have it, a real pantry is a little walk-in closet type of room with cupboards rising up from the floor to a counter, and shelves up above. It's used for the storage of dry/canned food, dishes, extra plastic containers, papertowel rolls, miscellaneous kitchen hand tools and infrequently used utensils, small power tools, the mops, ironing board, stepstool, WD-40, plant food and almost anything else your heart desires. Mine has a window over the counter at the back - a perfect place to cool pies if I ever made any. I've never lived in a house without one, and never care to. The little closets with a few shelves that modern builders are wont to call "pantry" just don't do it for me.
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Culinary matters
Feast or famine around here. I'd a couple packages of chicken breast and one of bone-in thighs in the refrigerator for several days, when in a moment of idiocy, I also took out a fairly large pork shoulder to thaw.
I needed the freezer room.
Anyway, what to do...this afternoon, all the breasts were oven poached (in a large pot with water to cover, bring to a boil stovetop then cover, toss in a 350 degree oven for fifteen minutes or so, depending on how big they are), then chopped up and frozen (yeah, taking out the pork made a lot of room). The idea is to have it on hand for those casseroles that use cooked chicken, or soups that use the same.
The thighs were cooked via my favorite method, courtesy of Jacques Pepin. It's a wonderfully lazy method, too, after some prep work on the chicken, as you pretty much put them skin side down in the pan and let them go. One for lunch today, the rest for work lunches.
Not quite done...the pork was thawed, so it was time to deal with the dry rub. It's meant for barbeque, and needs to dry marinate for at least a day. The last time I made this, I had two, and doubling the rub quantity barely covered the two pieces of meat. This time, I've a huge quantity of the rub left over. I knew it was too much about halfway through measuring everything out; when I dealt with the meat, I was very, very careful to avoid contaminating the bowl of spices. So now I've a premixed rub the next time the urge to have southern style pork comes upon me.
In between I've been cleaning up after myself, washing the pots and pans from lunch, doing some additional cleaning. Except for the fact I'm not hungry, I could see ordering out for dinner. Plumb tired.
In between all the kitchen stuff (and because the kitchen has no natural light source and the day, while nasty windy-cold, was at least sunny), I hung out in the studio. The sweatshirt jacket I was working on, the sunflowers shown here, will be finished either tonight or tomorrow. I'm hand sewing the binding down (there's a lot of it), with only the buttons to put on after that. The plan is to give it to Pam this Saturday at our craft day, and I'd like the time to wash and fluff it before then.
So went the day. Time for stupid videos, then Once Upon a Time. Not so thrilled with the Wicked Witch of the West showing up there...actually,I just plain don't like the actress, Rebecca Mader from Lost.
I think I've earned a restful night.
I needed the freezer room.
Anyway, what to do...this afternoon, all the breasts were oven poached (in a large pot with water to cover, bring to a boil stovetop then cover, toss in a 350 degree oven for fifteen minutes or so, depending on how big they are), then chopped up and frozen (yeah, taking out the pork made a lot of room). The idea is to have it on hand for those casseroles that use cooked chicken, or soups that use the same.
The thighs were cooked via my favorite method, courtesy of Jacques Pepin. It's a wonderfully lazy method, too, after some prep work on the chicken, as you pretty much put them skin side down in the pan and let them go. One for lunch today, the rest for work lunches.
Not quite done...the pork was thawed, so it was time to deal with the dry rub. It's meant for barbeque, and needs to dry marinate for at least a day. The last time I made this, I had two, and doubling the rub quantity barely covered the two pieces of meat. This time, I've a huge quantity of the rub left over. I knew it was too much about halfway through measuring everything out; when I dealt with the meat, I was very, very careful to avoid contaminating the bowl of spices. So now I've a premixed rub the next time the urge to have southern style pork comes upon me.
In between I've been cleaning up after myself, washing the pots and pans from lunch, doing some additional cleaning. Except for the fact I'm not hungry, I could see ordering out for dinner. Plumb tired.
In between all the kitchen stuff (and because the kitchen has no natural light source and the day, while nasty windy-cold, was at least sunny), I hung out in the studio. The sweatshirt jacket I was working on, the sunflowers shown here, will be finished either tonight or tomorrow. I'm hand sewing the binding down (there's a lot of it), with only the buttons to put on after that. The plan is to give it to Pam this Saturday at our craft day, and I'd like the time to wash and fluff it before then.
So went the day. Time for stupid videos, then Once Upon a Time. Not so thrilled with the Wicked Witch of the West showing up there...actually,I just plain don't like the actress, Rebecca Mader from Lost.
I think I've earned a restful night.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Company
Tomorrow after church, the lovely Mrs. The Chad (formerly known as Holly) and her handsome husband, The Chad, are coming over for Sunday lunch. They were flesh and blood friends long before they were blog buddies, and are both delightful people (I could easily be either of their mothers, but we're not going there tonight).
It has been a while since I've had anyone to dinner other than my best friend, who is a "dust buddy" - the friend you can have over who willpretend to not notice the accumulation of dust on level surfaces and under the kitchen island, nor comment on the stack of fabric for a quilt which has been in the same spot in the living room since the last time she visited. The kitchen and bath are spotless; the living and dining rooms still need dusting.
A good portion of the food prep work for tomorrow has been done - dry ingredients for the cake measured into a bag and mixed, coffee set up to brew, onions and celery chopped, the brine for the pork roast chilling.
That would be the pork roast I forgot to take out of the freezer until noon...
The menu? Pork loin roast brined with apple juice, maple syrup and allspice, mashed potatoes (Instant. Sue me.), pork gravy, scalloped tomatoes (new recipe) and green beans. Chocolate cake for dessert. I think Holly is bringing rolls, and/or another dessert or veggie. All fairly simple and plain, but yummy. We certainly will have enough food.
In order to eat close to noon, I'm using the delay bake feature on the oven. While I've used it before, I've been home throughout the process, checking that the oven did come on at the time for which it was set. Tomorrow, I'll be out of the house early; I need to be very, very careful when programming the timers, or lunch may end up becoming dinner.
Better get to the dusting and checking to see what I've forgotten...y'all are welcome to stop in and join us if you are in the neihborshood, though since the roast is only about three and a half pounds, it will be first come, first served.
It has been a while since I've had anyone to dinner other than my best friend, who is a "dust buddy" - the friend you can have over who will
A good portion of the food prep work for tomorrow has been done - dry ingredients for the cake measured into a bag and mixed, coffee set up to brew, onions and celery chopped, the brine for the pork roast chilling.
That would be the pork roast I forgot to take out of the freezer until noon...
The menu? Pork loin roast brined with apple juice, maple syrup and allspice, mashed potatoes (Instant. Sue me.), pork gravy, scalloped tomatoes (new recipe) and green beans. Chocolate cake for dessert. I think Holly is bringing rolls, and/or another dessert or veggie. All fairly simple and plain, but yummy. We certainly will have enough food.
In order to eat close to noon, I'm using the delay bake feature on the oven. While I've used it before, I've been home throughout the process, checking that the oven did come on at the time for which it was set. Tomorrow, I'll be out of the house early; I need to be very, very careful when programming the timers, or lunch may end up becoming dinner.
Better get to the dusting and checking to see what I've forgotten...y'all are welcome to stop in and join us if you are in the neihborshood, though since the roast is only about three and a half pounds, it will be first come, first served.
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Time distortion
How can a day seem to stretch out forever, yet actually run short on time? I seem to be stuck in that situation today.
It started with being on the media team for church. We put the actual slides together on Sunday morning (not my preference, but I'm trying to go with the flow here...). The first service starts at nine, so band, tech team and various others start their "thing" by eight. I generally go out for coffee and breakfast beforehand, so you can see how the day starts fairly early.
(Though not quite as early as on a weekday - I actually sleep an extra half hour on Sunday mornings - woo hoo!)
By the time the second service wrapped up (that service generally lets out between 12:15 - 12:30) and I did some chatting with friends, it was getting on to one o'clock. Pick up a sub for lunch. Eat lunch, read a bit.
Realize there are some green peppers that need to be cut up, as well as lunches to be planned. Start working on that. The same basic plan from last week holds for this week, though instead of putting tuna salad on a green salad, the tuna is mixed with salsa and rolled in a tortilla (why yes, the tuna and tortilla are packed separately - I hate leaky, limp food). There's still a green salad as a side, plus all the usual suspects (apple and pretzels to round out lunch, yogurt and cereal for one snack, string cheese and crackers for another). Three days of lunches are packed and ready to go.
Gah. Eating fresh and healthy takes time and planning.
Then on to making dinner...two small pork tenderloins are roasting, filling the house with the scent of piggy goodness. Potatoes are slowly frying on the stovetop (too tired to do anything creative with them at the moment). Green beans or carrots to round it out. There should be enough leftovers for dinner Monday and Tuesday, plus a pork sandwich for Thursday's lunch.
All of a sudden it's six o'clock - just enough time to eat dinner, clean up a bit and settle in for Once Upon a Time. After that, it's lights out.
You know you envy my exciting life.
Actually, I'm glad for a quiet weekend. This coming week is a bit frenetic, by my standards. Tuesday night I've the block-of-the-month quilt class. Wednesday I'm catching up with a friend over dinner. Friday the Crazy Canasta Chicks are meeting, at a Chick's new condo that is a solid half hour away from home. Saturday is our annual homeowners' association meeting.
(This is one time I'm thankful this particular condo grouping skews old. Ordinarily, I'd complain about the meeting being at 1 p.m. and breaking up what looks to be a sunny, warm day. Given I'll be out carousing the night before (or at least getting beat at cards whilst laughing a lot), I'm happy to be able to sleep in without fearing I'll miss the meeting.)
Just checked the pork - right on temperature, so out it came to rest for a few minutes. The only thing that could smell better than this does right now is if it had been done on the grill outside, giving it a little bit of that charcoal flavor.
Maybe next weekend...
It started with being on the media team for church. We put the actual slides together on Sunday morning (not my preference, but I'm trying to go with the flow here...). The first service starts at nine, so band, tech team and various others start their "thing" by eight. I generally go out for coffee and breakfast beforehand, so you can see how the day starts fairly early.
(Though not quite as early as on a weekday - I actually sleep an extra half hour on Sunday mornings - woo hoo!)
By the time the second service wrapped up (that service generally lets out between 12:15 - 12:30) and I did some chatting with friends, it was getting on to one o'clock. Pick up a sub for lunch. Eat lunch, read a bit.
Realize there are some green peppers that need to be cut up, as well as lunches to be planned. Start working on that. The same basic plan from last week holds for this week, though instead of putting tuna salad on a green salad, the tuna is mixed with salsa and rolled in a tortilla (why yes, the tuna and tortilla are packed separately - I hate leaky, limp food). There's still a green salad as a side, plus all the usual suspects (apple and pretzels to round out lunch, yogurt and cereal for one snack, string cheese and crackers for another). Three days of lunches are packed and ready to go.
Gah. Eating fresh and healthy takes time and planning.
Then on to making dinner...two small pork tenderloins are roasting, filling the house with the scent of piggy goodness. Potatoes are slowly frying on the stovetop (too tired to do anything creative with them at the moment). Green beans or carrots to round it out. There should be enough leftovers for dinner Monday and Tuesday, plus a pork sandwich for Thursday's lunch.
All of a sudden it's six o'clock - just enough time to eat dinner, clean up a bit and settle in for Once Upon a Time. After that, it's lights out.
You know you envy my exciting life.
Actually, I'm glad for a quiet weekend. This coming week is a bit frenetic, by my standards. Tuesday night I've the block-of-the-month quilt class. Wednesday I'm catching up with a friend over dinner. Friday the Crazy Canasta Chicks are meeting, at a Chick's new condo that is a solid half hour away from home. Saturday is our annual homeowners' association meeting.
(This is one time I'm thankful this particular condo grouping skews old. Ordinarily, I'd complain about the meeting being at 1 p.m. and breaking up what looks to be a sunny, warm day. Given I'll be out carousing the night before (or at least getting beat at cards whilst laughing a lot), I'm happy to be able to sleep in without fearing I'll miss the meeting.)
Just checked the pork - right on temperature, so out it came to rest for a few minutes. The only thing that could smell better than this does right now is if it had been done on the grill outside, giving it a little bit of that charcoal flavor.
Maybe next weekend...
Saturday, October 01, 2016
31 Days of ... Something
As much as I'd like to play along with October's "31 Days..." blogging meme, I'm not organized nor thoughtful enough to think of an over-arching theme. How about I try to post every day, or nearly every day, and stick to one subject in each post? That alone should be challenging enough for me.
Today is all about the food. It's October 1st, time to pull out all the fall food recipes. I just submitted a grocery order that spills over with squash, late season tomatoes, several types of apples and sweet potatoes. The pantry already has plenty of maple syrup, brown sugar, pie spices and other goodies to transform the raw ingredients into autumn-flavored goodness.
In November, I'll be hosting another Dinner for Twelve Strangers. There are three, maybe four new dishes vying for a place on the menu.
The first is a maple-pecan sweet potato made hasselback style. Partially bake the potatoes, then slice hasselback style. The "stuffing" for the slices is a mix of maple syrup, pecans, butter, vanilla and cinnamon. Put them back in the oven to finish cooking. I'm planning to try it out as a side dish for dinner one night this week. The only possible drawback to these is having to make individual potatoes for each diner; generally, with a crowd, it's easier to do a casserole-type side dish.
Which leads us to the second contender: honey glazed apple and sweet potato casserole. Par bake the potatoes. Skin them and slice into 1/2" slices. Core some apples and slice crosswise into 1/2" slices. Shingle them alternately in a pretty baking dish. Melt butter and honey, add cinnamon and vanilla. Pour over the potatoes and apples. Bake. Much the same basic flavor as the first dish, but easier preparation.
Third up is a squash dish, a spaghetti and mushroom tetrazzini. Think of a basic like turkey tetrazinni, but substitute spaghetti squash for the noodles, and mushrooms for the turkey. There's a bit of apple juice in the sauce, giving a little more fall flavor. Lots of mozzarella and parmesan, with tomatoes layered over the top to finish.
The protein, I think, will be maple-brined pork tenderloin. The brine is the same as at the link, you simply substitute tenderloin for chops and let them marinate longer. This is a personal favorite of mine, juicy and flavorful, without being overwhelmingly maple-ish. Whether or not I can do pork will depend on which students are assigned to me; many international students participate in these dinners, and there is a chance one may have a cultural bias against pork. If so, I may drop a chuck roast in the crock pot.
So that is day one - Food. Now you will have to excuse me; I've been up for several hours and have yet to have breakfast.
Today is all about the food. It's October 1st, time to pull out all the fall food recipes. I just submitted a grocery order that spills over with squash, late season tomatoes, several types of apples and sweet potatoes. The pantry already has plenty of maple syrup, brown sugar, pie spices and other goodies to transform the raw ingredients into autumn-flavored goodness.
In November, I'll be hosting another Dinner for Twelve Strangers. There are three, maybe four new dishes vying for a place on the menu.
The first is a maple-pecan sweet potato made hasselback style. Partially bake the potatoes, then slice hasselback style. The "stuffing" for the slices is a mix of maple syrup, pecans, butter, vanilla and cinnamon. Put them back in the oven to finish cooking. I'm planning to try it out as a side dish for dinner one night this week. The only possible drawback to these is having to make individual potatoes for each diner; generally, with a crowd, it's easier to do a casserole-type side dish.
Which leads us to the second contender: honey glazed apple and sweet potato casserole. Par bake the potatoes. Skin them and slice into 1/2" slices. Core some apples and slice crosswise into 1/2" slices. Shingle them alternately in a pretty baking dish. Melt butter and honey, add cinnamon and vanilla. Pour over the potatoes and apples. Bake. Much the same basic flavor as the first dish, but easier preparation.
Third up is a squash dish, a spaghetti and mushroom tetrazzini. Think of a basic like turkey tetrazinni, but substitute spaghetti squash for the noodles, and mushrooms for the turkey. There's a bit of apple juice in the sauce, giving a little more fall flavor. Lots of mozzarella and parmesan, with tomatoes layered over the top to finish.
The protein, I think, will be maple-brined pork tenderloin. The brine is the same as at the link, you simply substitute tenderloin for chops and let them marinate longer. This is a personal favorite of mine, juicy and flavorful, without being overwhelmingly maple-ish. Whether or not I can do pork will depend on which students are assigned to me; many international students participate in these dinners, and there is a chance one may have a cultural bias against pork. If so, I may drop a chuck roast in the crock pot.
So that is day one - Food. Now you will have to excuse me; I've been up for several hours and have yet to have breakfast.
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
Because it's been almost two weeks
Somewhere during that two weeks there was a presidential election. Personally, I'm happy with the results, and cautiously optimistic that real change will happen. Then again, that would imply some measure of cooperation from the Democrats.
That.ain't.gonna.happen.
In local news, I am on vacation the three workdays there are next week. Two full days are scheduled with necessary things; I've moved on to trying plan some fun. I've yet to visit the local Hobby Lobby. There is an arts and antique vendor mall half an hour out of the city I'd like to visit. A friend and I already have a craft day scheduled for one afternoon.
That, however, may be dependent on the weather. This Friday, our amazing stretch of above average November weather is coming to an abrupt and pneumonia-inducing end. Temps are supposed to drop twenty degrees between one day and the next - and stay dropped. The weather people are already making noise about a "storm" of some sort or other arriving somewhere between Thanksgiving and the following Saturday. At this point, they are not saying snow, but it is early days.
Time to wash the winter coat.
One of the vacation projects is to "eat the freezer". Actually, the contents of the freezer. I have a bad habit of picking something up after work rather than coming home to cook. While I do cook quite a bit on the weekend - including things to reheat for dinner during the upcoming week - not cooking during the week means the freezer eventually gets rather full.
The chicken breast and containers of soup (the three Italian beef/barley I just put in, plus the two of chili I unexpectedly found Sunday) will stay. Everything else is fair game. I plan to make the small pork tenderloin on Thanksgiving. I need some ideas on what to do with ground turkey (a pound or so), half a pound of ground pork, Italian sausage (other than the obvious things), a little bit (maybe one or two links) of Andouille, half a pound of lamb stew meat, a small cube steak and a lone pork chop or two. I know there is more...catfish and a couple of small steaks.
Truly, it doesn't get like this very often.
Also on the list is clearing out the pantry, taking a bag or two of cans and pasta to the local police station for their food drive. If I have the ambition, I'll bake a couple of coffee cakes to take to the officers, plus a batch of "cookies" for the K-9s. With the chimney sweep and carpet cleaning on Monday, it will be a good day to hang out in the kitchen.
Quilt guild tonight, with the speaker I've looked forward to since June. It's also the last night to hand in money and registrations for our Christmas party; I think I'd rather not spend the money. It's fairly expensive ($40 - 50 depending on your choice of entrée), and that doesn't include the buy-your-own drinks. Eh. I don't have my checkbook with me, but if I change my mind before I leave work today, we have an ATM in the building lobby.
Besides, since this guild seems to do everything based on "old people" time, I'd still be home by eight that night. And that includes a half hour drive time home from the restaurant.
Still on the fence about this guild, can you tell? The nickel and diming...I just realized I forgot to grab my nametag, which will cost me a quarter. Sheesh. Or maybe fifty cents? If they don't mind some pennies, I have about fifty cents in my desk drawer.
I'd better get to it. I have things I need to get done by Friday, yet every time I turn around someone wants something else, and it's an "emergency".
That.ain't.gonna.happen.
In local news, I am on vacation the three workdays there are next week. Two full days are scheduled with necessary things; I've moved on to trying plan some fun. I've yet to visit the local Hobby Lobby. There is an arts and antique vendor mall half an hour out of the city I'd like to visit. A friend and I already have a craft day scheduled for one afternoon.
That, however, may be dependent on the weather. This Friday, our amazing stretch of above average November weather is coming to an abrupt and pneumonia-inducing end. Temps are supposed to drop twenty degrees between one day and the next - and stay dropped. The weather people are already making noise about a "storm" of some sort or other arriving somewhere between Thanksgiving and the following Saturday. At this point, they are not saying snow, but it is early days.
Time to wash the winter coat.
One of the vacation projects is to "eat the freezer". Actually, the contents of the freezer. I have a bad habit of picking something up after work rather than coming home to cook. While I do cook quite a bit on the weekend - including things to reheat for dinner during the upcoming week - not cooking during the week means the freezer eventually gets rather full.
The chicken breast and containers of soup (the three Italian beef/barley I just put in, plus the two of chili I unexpectedly found Sunday) will stay. Everything else is fair game. I plan to make the small pork tenderloin on Thanksgiving. I need some ideas on what to do with ground turkey (a pound or so), half a pound of ground pork, Italian sausage (other than the obvious things), a little bit (maybe one or two links) of Andouille, half a pound of lamb stew meat, a small cube steak and a lone pork chop or two. I know there is more...catfish and a couple of small steaks.
Truly, it doesn't get like this very often.
Also on the list is clearing out the pantry, taking a bag or two of cans and pasta to the local police station for their food drive. If I have the ambition, I'll bake a couple of coffee cakes to take to the officers, plus a batch of "cookies" for the K-9s. With the chimney sweep and carpet cleaning on Monday, it will be a good day to hang out in the kitchen.
Quilt guild tonight, with the speaker I've looked forward to since June. It's also the last night to hand in money and registrations for our Christmas party; I think I'd rather not spend the money. It's fairly expensive ($40 - 50 depending on your choice of entrée), and that doesn't include the buy-your-own drinks. Eh. I don't have my checkbook with me, but if I change my mind before I leave work today, we have an ATM in the building lobby.
Besides, since this guild seems to do everything based on "old people" time, I'd still be home by eight that night. And that includes a half hour drive time home from the restaurant.
Still on the fence about this guild, can you tell? The nickel and diming...I just realized I forgot to grab my nametag, which will cost me a quarter. Sheesh. Or maybe fifty cents? If they don't mind some pennies, I have about fifty cents in my desk drawer.
I'd better get to it. I have things I need to get done by Friday, yet every time I turn around someone wants something else, and it's an "emergency".
Saturday, September 06, 2008
Not to be trifled with
Sorry - couldn't resist a bad joke. After the international student meet-and-greet last night I went grocery shopping (pecans?! $8.19 per pound on sale?!) and was simply too tired to start the prep for today's feast. Not that much could be done that far in advance; baking the cake for the trifle was the only thing I would have done. I will say this - even if it tastes like crap, it sure is pretty to look at.
Basic recipe - layer in order:
Yellow cake cut into small squares (Used 1/2 of a 9 x 13" cake - could make two 9" layers and use only one)
Drizzle of caramel flavored ice cream topping
Pecans (how many depends on how big a second mortgage you qualify for)
Vanilla pudding (add a 1/2 tsp of apple pie filling to the pudding when you make it)
Canned apple pie filling (never said this was nutritious)
Cool whip to cover
Repeat the layers; finish with an additional drizzle of caramel and some pecans. Refrigerate until ready to eat.
Easy(ier) than pie.
The pork is happily sitting in the maple brine. It doesn't add much salt to the meat, but certainly keeps it from drying out when cooking. This particular recipe includes maple syrup and apple juice in the brine - the pork tastes incredible, and you can cut it with a fork.
Now to finish cleaning. All that's left is a light vacuuming - couldn't really do that before nine (Landlord/landlord's daughter tend to sleep later than me. Then again, so does most of the civilized world). I'm meeting my friend at 12:30, so there's plenty of time.
Now to figure out what to do with the leftover cake...
Friday, June 27, 2014
Friday fluff, fogged in edition
Yet another foggy morning. The big fireworks show that was rescheduled to last night due to fog on the original performance night has been rescheduled again - to next week Tuesday.
The fog making machine is supposed to finally clear out for good over this weekend, as temps climb into the eighties. The humidity isn't going down much, unfortunately. Cold and damp versus hot and muggy; of the two combinations, I prefer the former.
Stopped at the local high end grocer to pick up the pork shoulder I forgot to order, along with several bottles of wine. You can't really put on a vineyard themed murder mystery without wine, can you? Sad to say, I'm not really feeling the mystery vibe, at least not yet. I've tried to make the lunch as easy as possible, which it really is (the pork is crock pot cooked, the coleslaw can be made Saturday and the salad is 95% bagged - guests are bringing filler). The cleaning will get done. I'm just not quite into role-playing mode yet.
I'm happy to say I've resisted all urges to peak in the character booklets or run off the accompanying DVD. Well, I did peak at the first page of my own character's booklet, to find out the name of her winery. The plan is to make sleeves to cover the actual labels on the wine bottle, using the name of the character's vineyard. Let's just say what little I read makes me think this is going to be a doozy of a game.
After work I need to stop at the fabric store to pick up a photo I've had framed. It's a black and white print of a farm, taken by a friend (who is one of the mystery participants). I've had it framed, though it won't be hung by Sunday. There are two, maybe three places I could put it, though one location involves moving two other things, and a second means bringing down the big ladder in order to reach the spot above the mantel that will need the hook. Too much trouble with the cooking and cleaning.
On a practical basis, does the Supreme Court slapping the POTUS's wrist on those non-recess appointments mean those people are un-appointed, or is this just a symbolic thing? If they remain in place, the damage they are causing just continues.
Monday afternoon I have the annual eye exam. Quite aside from the joy of being blind for hours after the dilation (and after almost two weeks of fog and gloom, Monday will be sunny), I need to wear my glasses rather than contacts for at least 24 hours before the appointment. I just don't see as well with the glasses. Not having any (clear) peripheral vision is annoying. The weight bugs me (strong prescriptions, even with the lightest possible lens material, weight a lot). The slightly fuzzy vision gives me a headache.
It still needs to be done; I've been squinting for several weeks. I've been doing too much of my reading on backlit screens instead of in real books or on the grey scale Kindle.
That's about it here. Have a great weekend!
The fog making machine is supposed to finally clear out for good over this weekend, as temps climb into the eighties. The humidity isn't going down much, unfortunately. Cold and damp versus hot and muggy; of the two combinations, I prefer the former.
Stopped at the local high end grocer to pick up the pork shoulder I forgot to order, along with several bottles of wine. You can't really put on a vineyard themed murder mystery without wine, can you? Sad to say, I'm not really feeling the mystery vibe, at least not yet. I've tried to make the lunch as easy as possible, which it really is (the pork is crock pot cooked, the coleslaw can be made Saturday and the salad is 95% bagged - guests are bringing filler). The cleaning will get done. I'm just not quite into role-playing mode yet.
I'm happy to say I've resisted all urges to peak in the character booklets or run off the accompanying DVD. Well, I did peak at the first page of my own character's booklet, to find out the name of her winery. The plan is to make sleeves to cover the actual labels on the wine bottle, using the name of the character's vineyard. Let's just say what little I read makes me think this is going to be a doozy of a game.
After work I need to stop at the fabric store to pick up a photo I've had framed. It's a black and white print of a farm, taken by a friend (who is one of the mystery participants). I've had it framed, though it won't be hung by Sunday. There are two, maybe three places I could put it, though one location involves moving two other things, and a second means bringing down the big ladder in order to reach the spot above the mantel that will need the hook. Too much trouble with the cooking and cleaning.
On a practical basis, does the Supreme Court slapping the POTUS's wrist on those non-recess appointments mean those people are un-appointed, or is this just a symbolic thing? If they remain in place, the damage they are causing just continues.
Monday afternoon I have the annual eye exam. Quite aside from the joy of being blind for hours after the dilation (and after almost two weeks of fog and gloom, Monday will be sunny), I need to wear my glasses rather than contacts for at least 24 hours before the appointment. I just don't see as well with the glasses. Not having any (clear) peripheral vision is annoying. The weight bugs me (strong prescriptions, even with the lightest possible lens material, weight a lot). The slightly fuzzy vision gives me a headache.
It still needs to be done; I've been squinting for several weeks. I've been doing too much of my reading on backlit screens instead of in real books or on the grey scale Kindle.
That's about it here. Have a great weekend!
Friday, December 26, 2014
The day after
Quiet holiday, which suits me just fine. Reading, sewing, cooking, eating.
That chicken recipe I mentioned in the last post? Oh my gosh, is it good. I'll admit, when I slid the pan into the oven - the twelve inch cast iron pan with the foil-covered chicken, topped with an eight inch cast iron pan, and, for good measure, the enamel-over-cast-iron lid to the french oven for extra weight - I wondered if it would really work.
Silly me. Dark, crispy but not dry skin. Moist, flavorful meat. I'll make this again in a heartbeat.
Though next time, I'm not going to mess around with spatchcocking a whole chicken. This would work equally as well - with considerably less work - with bone-in parts.
Potatoes baked in the oven with the chicken, to be joined by steamed green beans and carrots. A glass of chardonnay and cheddar for afters.
Leftovers of all for the weekend.
The sewing?
Working on the embroidery portions of the t-shirt quilt. this eventually will be the center of the quilt. Each t-shirt was also embroidered with the location of the various family holidays, along with the year if it wasn't already on the shirt. As of today, those are all done and I've started assembling the top into component rows. The pieced sections of the quilt are primarily blues, with some whites and a bit of grey for variety. Each t-shirt section has a tiny narrow flange of orange around it (classic blue jeans have orange stitching - the idea is that the backdrop to the shirts reminds you of jeans), thus the colors for this embroidery.
Quiet day today, too. Sewing, watching the first Hobbit movie while the pork I'd rubbed and thrown in the refrigerator to marinate Wednesday night slow roasted in the crock pot. Took it out about half an hour ago; it was difficult to get it out of the pot as it was falling to pieces. One of tomorrow's jobs is to do a quick rearranging of the freezer so I can parcel the pork out and freeze it for lunches, dinners and nibbling.
Honestly, while my"fun" list for this couple weeks has some running around on it, being home is very soothing. I'm making progress on the quilt, doing some organizing, reading, napping and generally enjoying the slower pace. There are still lots of things I need to do, but the important stuff is mostly done, leaving me time to do the homey fun stuff - sewing, spending an afternoon going through the pile of quilt magazines, sorting through the linen closet for donations, ditto for the bedroom closet. A quieter pace, a much quieter mind.
It's been unseasonably warm this past week; next week,however, it will be unseasonably cold, with highs south of twenty degrees for most of the week. I'm pretty sure I can arrange it so I don't have to leave the house at all that week...and that will be a good thing.
That chicken recipe I mentioned in the last post? Oh my gosh, is it good. I'll admit, when I slid the pan into the oven - the twelve inch cast iron pan with the foil-covered chicken, topped with an eight inch cast iron pan, and, for good measure, the enamel-over-cast-iron lid to the french oven for extra weight - I wondered if it would really work.
Silly me. Dark, crispy but not dry skin. Moist, flavorful meat. I'll make this again in a heartbeat.
Though next time, I'm not going to mess around with spatchcocking a whole chicken. This would work equally as well - with considerably less work - with bone-in parts.
Potatoes baked in the oven with the chicken, to be joined by steamed green beans and carrots. A glass of chardonnay and cheddar for afters.
Leftovers of all for the weekend.
The sewing?
Quiet day today, too. Sewing, watching the first Hobbit movie while the pork I'd rubbed and thrown in the refrigerator to marinate Wednesday night slow roasted in the crock pot. Took it out about half an hour ago; it was difficult to get it out of the pot as it was falling to pieces. One of tomorrow's jobs is to do a quick rearranging of the freezer so I can parcel the pork out and freeze it for lunches, dinners and nibbling.
Honestly, while my"fun" list for this couple weeks has some running around on it, being home is very soothing. I'm making progress on the quilt, doing some organizing, reading, napping and generally enjoying the slower pace. There are still lots of things I need to do, but the important stuff is mostly done, leaving me time to do the homey fun stuff - sewing, spending an afternoon going through the pile of quilt magazines, sorting through the linen closet for donations, ditto for the bedroom closet. A quieter pace, a much quieter mind.
It's been unseasonably warm this past week; next week,however, it will be unseasonably cold, with highs south of twenty degrees for most of the week. I'm pretty sure I can arrange it so I don't have to leave the house at all that week...and that will be a good thing.
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Blue enamel pan
When my mom and her siblings were cleaning out my grandparents' home, my mother insisted on taking an old, blue enamel 9 x 13 pan, the kind that you can find at Farm & Fleet for under ten bucks.
My grandmother used to layer thinly sliced potatoes, breaded pork chops and onions in the pan. A little bit of water went into the bottom, then it was covered in foil and baked. The end result was melt-in-your-mouth chops, tender steamed potatoes and awesome onions.
Though my mom made the dish often, it never tasted right made in any other pan.
At our Christmas potluck today, my tablemates and I were discussing the fact that it's often hard to duplicate a favorite dish made by a family member, even if the recipe is written down. They always taste a bit different, due to inaccurate measurements in the recipe (how big is a "handful"?), a different pan, or simply missing the person who usually makes it.
I'd described the pan and the dish, and a coworker is also half Sicilian (her other half is Irish, while mine is German - like she said, what was the good Lord thinking?) laughed and said she'd had it growing up as well, as it's a very Sicilian dish.
That led to a conversation about anchovy bread, and sfinchuni, and other wonderful foods.
I actually have everything on hand for the pork dish. Alas, while I have a blue enamel pan (not the pan), it's sized to roast a large turkey, not four chops. Still, I can make do with a ceramic casserole dish.
But as good as it will be, it won't be quite the same.
My grandmother used to layer thinly sliced potatoes, breaded pork chops and onions in the pan. A little bit of water went into the bottom, then it was covered in foil and baked. The end result was melt-in-your-mouth chops, tender steamed potatoes and awesome onions.
Though my mom made the dish often, it never tasted right made in any other pan.
At our Christmas potluck today, my tablemates and I were discussing the fact that it's often hard to duplicate a favorite dish made by a family member, even if the recipe is written down. They always taste a bit different, due to inaccurate measurements in the recipe (how big is a "handful"?), a different pan, or simply missing the person who usually makes it.
I'd described the pan and the dish, and a coworker is also half Sicilian (her other half is Irish, while mine is German - like she said, what was the good Lord thinking?) laughed and said she'd had it growing up as well, as it's a very Sicilian dish.
That led to a conversation about anchovy bread, and sfinchuni, and other wonderful foods.
I actually have everything on hand for the pork dish. Alas, while I have a blue enamel pan (not the pan), it's sized to roast a large turkey, not four chops. Still, I can make do with a ceramic casserole dish.
But as good as it will be, it won't be quite the same.
Saturday, May 27, 2017
Kitchen Duty
I am on vacation this upcoming week - finally. To say I've been looking forward to this is an understatement. The one fear I have, though, is that I'll spend it just lazing around, not actually getting any needed chores done, nor actually having any fun.
As with other vacations, I have a "list". Haven't looked at it yet, though I know what the highlights are. One of those things is a two-part goal of 1) Cooking more of my meals, rather than grabbing some sort of takeout/fast food, and 2) Cooking through the stuff in the freezer. Notice how those two things dovetail so nicely?
When I went grocery shopping a week ago, lemons were on sale three-for-something. Since then, those poor lemons have been languishing in the refrigerator, until I remembered a lemon/chicken/orzo soup I've done before. A quick look at the ingredient list showed I was only lacking the boneless thighs and the orzo. I have plenty of bone-in thighs in the freezer, but thawing and taking them off the bone seemed like a bit too much work for the first afternoon of vacation (when I went to put the orzo away after making the soup yesterday, I discovered I did, indeed, have half a box of orzo in the cupboard...I really do need to cook more often, so I can remember what I do and don't have on hand).
While today the sun came out and the temperature hit the low seventies, it will not stay that way. The soup is actually pretty light, particularly with the lemon and rosemary flavors. Do not use chicken breast; thighs have more flavor and are much juicier.
Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup
2 T olive oil, divided
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1" chunks
salt and pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1/2 t dried thyme
5 cups chicken stock
1 cup water
2 bay leaves
3/4 cup uncooked orzo pasta
1 sprig rosemary
Juice of one lemon
2 T chopped fresh parsley
Heat 1 T oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken to the pot and cook until golden, about 2 - 3 minutes; remove from pot and set aside (chicken will not be cooked through).
Add remaining T of oil to pot. Add garlic, onion, carrots and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3 - 4 minutes. Stir in thyme until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Whisk in chicken stock, water and bay leaves and bring to a boil. Stir in orzo, rosemary and chicken; reduce heat and simmer until orzo is tender, about 1-0 - 12 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and parsley; season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.
Another thing on the vacation list is to cook some breakfast-type things for the freezer. I have the supplies to make homemade Egg Muffins; they taste almost like the fast food ones, in addition to freezing/reheating well. But the easier way to make breakfast ahead is to make a big old egg casserole, cool it, cut it into portions and freeze them. I'd uncovered a recipe I'd saved for "Sausage Muffin Egg Casserole" that sounded like the right blend of carbs, protein and fat.
However, the English muffins I have on hand are earmarked for the sandwiches. I'm not about to make a special trip to the store for more.
My extensive recipe collection came to the rescue. I've never made English muffins - too much standing over the skillet watching them cook. I have, however, made English muffin bread. It bakes in a traditonal loaf pan, and putting it together is as easy as putting together a quick bread (in other words, no kneading). The muffins form the base of the casserole, on which you put pork sausage and sauteed onion (more on the pork sausage adventure/solution another time).
As I told a friend with whom I shared this, toast a slice of the bread, top with peanut butter and/or Nutella, along with (maybe) a sliced banana, and you have an excellent breakfast.
I use a nonstick spray to coat the loaf pan, before dusting it with cornmeal like you would dust a cake pan with flour, and the finished loaf slides right out.
English Muffin Bread
1 pkg. yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons, or 7 grams)
1 Tbsp Granulated Sugar
1/2 cup Warm water
1-1/2 cup All-purpose flour
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
7/8 cup Milk, nonfat, warmed
Combine yeast, sugar and warm water; stir until dissolved.
Combine flour, salt and soda and add to yeast mixture. Add warm milk (not too hot or you'll kill the yeast). Mix well.
Cover and let rise until double in size, 1 to 1-1/2 hours.
Stir down and put in greased bread pan sprinkled with cornmeal. Sprinkle top with cornmeal. Cover and let rise 40 to 45 more minutes.
Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes, or until lightly browned on top and toothpick comes out clean. Remove from pan and cool on cooling rack. Makes 12 servings.
Not that I want to spend the entire week cooking, but...I have Italian sausage in the freezer and had a vague idea of making brioche hot dog rolls to have them on, along with homemade tomato sauce and parmesan. It's been a while since I've made brioche, so I pulled out Julia Child's The Way to Cook, and flipped to the bread section. Since I'm making sauce, I'd like to make pizza from scratch later this week, so I flipped to her section on pizza doughs. Be still my heart, she has a recipe there for an onion and anchovy pizza! I grew up begging for anchovies out of the can, and in fact, have three cans in my pantry right now. I cannot wait to try this.
Anchovies and onions...well, at least I can be pretty well assured I won't have to share.
As with other vacations, I have a "list". Haven't looked at it yet, though I know what the highlights are. One of those things is a two-part goal of 1) Cooking more of my meals, rather than grabbing some sort of takeout/fast food, and 2) Cooking through the stuff in the freezer. Notice how those two things dovetail so nicely?
When I went grocery shopping a week ago, lemons were on sale three-for-something. Since then, those poor lemons have been languishing in the refrigerator, until I remembered a lemon/chicken/orzo soup I've done before. A quick look at the ingredient list showed I was only lacking the boneless thighs and the orzo. I have plenty of bone-in thighs in the freezer, but thawing and taking them off the bone seemed like a bit too much work for the first afternoon of vacation (when I went to put the orzo away after making the soup yesterday, I discovered I did, indeed, have half a box of orzo in the cupboard...I really do need to cook more often, so I can remember what I do and don't have on hand).
While today the sun came out and the temperature hit the low seventies, it will not stay that way. The soup is actually pretty light, particularly with the lemon and rosemary flavors. Do not use chicken breast; thighs have more flavor and are much juicier.
Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup
2 T olive oil, divided
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1" chunks
salt and pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1/2 t dried thyme
5 cups chicken stock
1 cup water
2 bay leaves
3/4 cup uncooked orzo pasta
1 sprig rosemary
Juice of one lemon
2 T chopped fresh parsley
Heat 1 T oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken to the pot and cook until golden, about 2 - 3 minutes; remove from pot and set aside (chicken will not be cooked through).
Add remaining T of oil to pot. Add garlic, onion, carrots and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3 - 4 minutes. Stir in thyme until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Whisk in chicken stock, water and bay leaves and bring to a boil. Stir in orzo, rosemary and chicken; reduce heat and simmer until orzo is tender, about 1-0 - 12 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and parsley; season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.
Another thing on the vacation list is to cook some breakfast-type things for the freezer. I have the supplies to make homemade Egg Muffins; they taste almost like the fast food ones, in addition to freezing/reheating well. But the easier way to make breakfast ahead is to make a big old egg casserole, cool it, cut it into portions and freeze them. I'd uncovered a recipe I'd saved for "Sausage Muffin Egg Casserole" that sounded like the right blend of carbs, protein and fat.
However, the English muffins I have on hand are earmarked for the sandwiches. I'm not about to make a special trip to the store for more.
My extensive recipe collection came to the rescue. I've never made English muffins - too much standing over the skillet watching them cook. I have, however, made English muffin bread. It bakes in a traditonal loaf pan, and putting it together is as easy as putting together a quick bread (in other words, no kneading). The muffins form the base of the casserole, on which you put pork sausage and sauteed onion (more on the pork sausage adventure/solution another time).
As I told a friend with whom I shared this, toast a slice of the bread, top with peanut butter and/or Nutella, along with (maybe) a sliced banana, and you have an excellent breakfast.
I use a nonstick spray to coat the loaf pan, before dusting it with cornmeal like you would dust a cake pan with flour, and the finished loaf slides right out.
English Muffin Bread
1 pkg. yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons, or 7 grams)
1 Tbsp Granulated Sugar
1/2 cup Warm water
1-1/2 cup All-purpose flour
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
7/8 cup Milk, nonfat, warmed
Combine yeast, sugar and warm water; stir until dissolved.
Combine flour, salt and soda and add to yeast mixture. Add warm milk (not too hot or you'll kill the yeast). Mix well.
Cover and let rise until double in size, 1 to 1-1/2 hours.
Stir down and put in greased bread pan sprinkled with cornmeal. Sprinkle top with cornmeal. Cover and let rise 40 to 45 more minutes.
Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes, or until lightly browned on top and toothpick comes out clean. Remove from pan and cool on cooling rack. Makes 12 servings.
Not that I want to spend the entire week cooking, but...I have Italian sausage in the freezer and had a vague idea of making brioche hot dog rolls to have them on, along with homemade tomato sauce and parmesan. It's been a while since I've made brioche, so I pulled out Julia Child's The Way to Cook, and flipped to the bread section. Since I'm making sauce, I'd like to make pizza from scratch later this week, so I flipped to her section on pizza doughs. Be still my heart, she has a recipe there for an onion and anchovy pizza! I grew up begging for anchovies out of the can, and in fact, have three cans in my pantry right now. I cannot wait to try this.
Anchovies and onions...well, at least I can be pretty well assured I won't have to share.
Sunday, March 11, 2018
Lists Day Nine: Favorite Recipes
Okay, so yes, I am a few days behind on posts. To be honest, I hit this particular prompt and my mind exploded. Just ONE recipe? One lonely recipe to serve as a stand-in for all the lovely concoctions out there?
Impossible.
I'll refer you to the "Recipes" category in the post tag listing in my sidebar. Take a walk through about ten years of recipe related posts.
But since it is getting close to grilling season (anytime the temperature is above forty degrees, Wisconsin breaks out the grills...it's going to hit fifty late this week), here is one for the grill. Note that there is a long marinade time (prepare one night before you go to bed, cook for dinner the next night) and it is fairly spicy. But oh so very good...
Jerk Chops
Serving size: 2
2 tablespoons water
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup onion -- chopped
1/2 tablespoon packed brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon green onion -- chopped
1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground thyme
1 pinch cayenne pepper
2 each pork chop (thick, boneless ones are my favorites)
Place all ingredients except chops in a blender and blend until smooth. Place pork in a resealable plastic bag and pour marinade over it. Marinate in refrigerator at least 12 hours, but not longer than 24 hours.
Preheat broiler or outside grill. Pour off marinade; broil or grill chops until fully done.
Impossible.
I'll refer you to the "Recipes" category in the post tag listing in my sidebar. Take a walk through about ten years of recipe related posts.
But since it is getting close to grilling season (anytime the temperature is above forty degrees, Wisconsin breaks out the grills...it's going to hit fifty late this week), here is one for the grill. Note that there is a long marinade time (prepare one night before you go to bed, cook for dinner the next night) and it is fairly spicy. But oh so very good...
Jerk Chops
Serving size: 2
2 tablespoons water
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup onion -- chopped
1/2 tablespoon packed brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon green onion -- chopped
1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground thyme
1 pinch cayenne pepper
2 each pork chop (thick, boneless ones are my favorites)
Place all ingredients except chops in a blender and blend until smooth. Place pork in a resealable plastic bag and pour marinade over it. Marinate in refrigerator at least 12 hours, but not longer than 24 hours.
Preheat broiler or outside grill. Pour off marinade; broil or grill chops until fully done.
Saturday, March 08, 2014
Justification for going to bed before eight on a Saturday night
Being this tired before the time thief hits is not a good thing. I can't remember the last time I was this tired.
It started Thursday night. While I went to bed early, I ended up getting up five separate times in the night with a stomach upset. Not fun. The next day didn't go much better - an 11 1/2 hour workday (not my choice; I had a list of things I needed to get done, but every ten minutes my boss was running in my office with something he wanted me to check (that was part of a request from our area VP on Monday that I thought had been dealt with), interrupting my train of thought and delaying my progress. Let's just say that if he asks me on Monday why everything I was trying to get done isn't done, it will be justified homicide).
I'd planned to go in for a bit this morning, but honestly, I'm not sure I could add one plus one without a calculator, much less put together a coherent schedule for a tax return. Besides, I had a grocery order coming between noon and two.
In spite of the fatigue, quite a bit got done around home today. The early part of the morning was spent wandering through my favorite embroidery design website looking for a "curly" alphabet that didn't look too girlish. A friend's son is making his first communion, and they do little banners that are carried in as part of the procession. He wants "curly" letters. I've found a couple of alternatives to stitch up for his approval before I put it on the banner.
Yes, one of my first embroidery jobs is for an eight year old.
Downstairs around nine for breakfast (Kashi toaster waffles and previously cooked, then frozen, now micro-warmed turkey breakfast sausage) and coffee, then a bit of kitchen cleaning. The grocery order came right at noon - the second time in a row I've been the first stop in the window. It took a bit to put everything away, and I've still got stuff to cut up. Cantaloupe was on sale, though it's only just bigger than a softball. I like to cut the bell peppers into strips right away, so all that fuss is over. Eh, I just tossed everything into the appropriate storage place and went back to cleaning.
As much as I wanted a nap, I wanted to get some stuff done more, including cleaning a portion of the living room carpet. It's old, it's off white and it's pretty much impossible to keep clean. I made the grocery delivery guy stand outside and hand the bags in to me to keep him from tracking wet over the carpet.
A small package of pork tenderloin slices was thawing for dinner. I almost skipped it, but boy, was it worth it. I've been using Michael Symon's Five in Five cookbook a bit, which are all very quick, tasty, real food recipes. The one I used tonight used the tenderloin slices to make pork saltimboca. Traditionally, it's made with veal (which I love, but who can afford it?), pounded thin and topped with sage and prosciutto. In this recipe, it's dredged in flour, then sauteed. You finish by deglazing the pan, reducing the liquid and adding a bit of butter to make a thin pan sauce.
Yes, it really only takes about five minutes, once you have all the ingredients out.
I added sauteed kale - another really quick dish - to the mix. Kale is apparently the current "it" food, chock full of all sorts of good nutrients and fiber (not so much I'll be up all night again, I hope). Chop a few cloves of garlic, take the kale off the stems and rough chop. Heat some olive oil and cook the garlic until it's soft, but not brown. Add the kale, swish it around then throw in a half cup of water and put the lid on the pan. Let it boil for 4-5 minutes, then take the lid off and let the liquid boil off. Finish with a spritz of red wine vinegar and salt and pepper.
Amazing, I got both dishes and a (microwaved) serving of brown rice all done at the same time. The clean kitchen got a bit wrecked, though.
So...I'm well fed, but even more tired than when I started the day.
And guess who has to be at church at 8 tomorrow to do graphics? I honestly don't mind being there early, but I'll work both services, so I won't be leaving until 12:30 or later.
Yep, I plan to spend tomorrow afternoon on the couch, with my eyes shut.
It started Thursday night. While I went to bed early, I ended up getting up five separate times in the night with a stomach upset. Not fun. The next day didn't go much better - an 11 1/2 hour workday (not my choice; I had a list of things I needed to get done, but every ten minutes my boss was running in my office with something he wanted me to check (that was part of a request from our area VP on Monday that I thought had been dealt with), interrupting my train of thought and delaying my progress. Let's just say that if he asks me on Monday why everything I was trying to get done isn't done, it will be justified homicide).
I'd planned to go in for a bit this morning, but honestly, I'm not sure I could add one plus one without a calculator, much less put together a coherent schedule for a tax return. Besides, I had a grocery order coming between noon and two.
In spite of the fatigue, quite a bit got done around home today. The early part of the morning was spent wandering through my favorite embroidery design website looking for a "curly" alphabet that didn't look too girlish. A friend's son is making his first communion, and they do little banners that are carried in as part of the procession. He wants "curly" letters. I've found a couple of alternatives to stitch up for his approval before I put it on the banner.
Yes, one of my first embroidery jobs is for an eight year old.
Downstairs around nine for breakfast (Kashi toaster waffles and previously cooked, then frozen, now micro-warmed turkey breakfast sausage) and coffee, then a bit of kitchen cleaning. The grocery order came right at noon - the second time in a row I've been the first stop in the window. It took a bit to put everything away, and I've still got stuff to cut up. Cantaloupe was on sale, though it's only just bigger than a softball. I like to cut the bell peppers into strips right away, so all that fuss is over. Eh, I just tossed everything into the appropriate storage place and went back to cleaning.
As much as I wanted a nap, I wanted to get some stuff done more, including cleaning a portion of the living room carpet. It's old, it's off white and it's pretty much impossible to keep clean. I made the grocery delivery guy stand outside and hand the bags in to me to keep him from tracking wet over the carpet.
A small package of pork tenderloin slices was thawing for dinner. I almost skipped it, but boy, was it worth it. I've been using Michael Symon's Five in Five cookbook a bit, which are all very quick, tasty, real food recipes. The one I used tonight used the tenderloin slices to make pork saltimboca. Traditionally, it's made with veal (which I love, but who can afford it?), pounded thin and topped with sage and prosciutto. In this recipe, it's dredged in flour, then sauteed. You finish by deglazing the pan, reducing the liquid and adding a bit of butter to make a thin pan sauce.
Yes, it really only takes about five minutes, once you have all the ingredients out.
I added sauteed kale - another really quick dish - to the mix. Kale is apparently the current "it" food, chock full of all sorts of good nutrients and fiber (not so much I'll be up all night again, I hope). Chop a few cloves of garlic, take the kale off the stems and rough chop. Heat some olive oil and cook the garlic until it's soft, but not brown. Add the kale, swish it around then throw in a half cup of water and put the lid on the pan. Let it boil for 4-5 minutes, then take the lid off and let the liquid boil off. Finish with a spritz of red wine vinegar and salt and pepper.
Amazing, I got both dishes and a (microwaved) serving of brown rice all done at the same time. The clean kitchen got a bit wrecked, though.
So...I'm well fed, but even more tired than when I started the day.
And guess who has to be at church at 8 tomorrow to do graphics? I honestly don't mind being there early, but I'll work both services, so I won't be leaving until 12:30 or later.
Yep, I plan to spend tomorrow afternoon on the couch, with my eyes shut.
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Day Five - Attack of the killer groceries
Alternatively, this is why you never grocery shop (or in my case, put together an on-line order) when you are hungry.
But first, a dinner picture.
Click to make bigger. Home made chicken with wild rice soup, home made (and sliced and frozen) whole wheat english muffin bread with Land o'Lakes cinnamon sugar spread and a couple of clementines. I poached the chicken breast yesterday. Cooking the wild rice today is the only thing that took any time at all; the rest of the soup comes together very quickly. Recipe here. My optional add-ins were a handful of grated carrots, a bit more onion than called for and two cans of mushrooms. After this cupful, there are still five one-cup servings left. At the moment it's all in the refrigerator. I need to figure out if there is currently room in the freezer for some of it.
The grocery order came tonight, and silly me, I rather overestimated the amount of room in my empty looking refrigerator. I managed to forget that two of the dishes I plan to make need to marinate in there - for two days, each. Sigh.
It came down to a choice tonight of either splitting a whole chicken down the backbone and making a marinade I'm unfamiliar with, or trimming a rather large pork shoulder and using up the rub mix left over from last week's contribution to the work pot luck. The pork won. It's all covered in spicy goodness, wrapped in cling wrap and awaiting its turn in the crock pot, which I think may end up being overnight the 25th to the 26th.
Meanwhile, the whole chicken...the recipe is by Sandy d'Amato, a local chef who's won a James Beard award, run several highly successful and award winning restaurants in the area and is now retired, writing a regular food column for our paper. It's not difficult, except for the fact the split chicken also needs room to marinate in the refrigerator, again for two days. That is a miscalculation on my part - I'd intended to cook it on Christmas. If I get it in the marinade by noon tomorrow, I think I can cook it for a late dinner on Christmas Day and not lose too much flavor.
I will, however, only be cooking half of the chicken, freezing the other half. The chicken they gave me is about the size of a party balloon, fat and sassy. I can only get one half of it in my largest cast iron pan, I think. Chef D'Amato must think we all have restaurant-sized pans at home, or that we buy only the tiny, expensive organic-free-range-grassfed chickens.
It should be noted that I don't generally cook like this, and certainly not this much at a time. The nice thing about vacation is the chance to do some of these things, and restock the freezer for work lunches as well as have some decent home cooked meals while I'm off.
Cooking wasn't the only thing on today's agenda. First thing this morning I had a hair appointment, including a rather substantial cut. It's gone a bit wild since my last cut about three months ago, reaching almost to the middle of my back. It just hits my shoulders now. Much healthier, quicker to dry.
Came home and picked up a bit, watched some television and took an unintentional nap. That's getting to be rather a habit.
Tomorrow morning I'm counting on people being too busy with last minute Christmas stuff to do something so mundane as pay their taxes. The bank is open until two. I'll start the morning very early at Panera, having coffee and a bagel until the bank opens. Then back home to make the marinade.
And wash more dishes.
But first, a dinner picture.
 |
| Yum. |
The grocery order came tonight, and silly me, I rather overestimated the amount of room in my empty looking refrigerator. I managed to forget that two of the dishes I plan to make need to marinate in there - for two days, each. Sigh.
It came down to a choice tonight of either splitting a whole chicken down the backbone and making a marinade I'm unfamiliar with, or trimming a rather large pork shoulder and using up the rub mix left over from last week's contribution to the work pot luck. The pork won. It's all covered in spicy goodness, wrapped in cling wrap and awaiting its turn in the crock pot, which I think may end up being overnight the 25th to the 26th.
Meanwhile, the whole chicken...the recipe is by Sandy d'Amato, a local chef who's won a James Beard award, run several highly successful and award winning restaurants in the area and is now retired, writing a regular food column for our paper. It's not difficult, except for the fact the split chicken also needs room to marinate in the refrigerator, again for two days. That is a miscalculation on my part - I'd intended to cook it on Christmas. If I get it in the marinade by noon tomorrow, I think I can cook it for a late dinner on Christmas Day and not lose too much flavor.
I will, however, only be cooking half of the chicken, freezing the other half. The chicken they gave me is about the size of a party balloon, fat and sassy. I can only get one half of it in my largest cast iron pan, I think. Chef D'Amato must think we all have restaurant-sized pans at home, or that we buy only the tiny, expensive organic-free-range-grassfed chickens.
It should be noted that I don't generally cook like this, and certainly not this much at a time. The nice thing about vacation is the chance to do some of these things, and restock the freezer for work lunches as well as have some decent home cooked meals while I'm off.
Cooking wasn't the only thing on today's agenda. First thing this morning I had a hair appointment, including a rather substantial cut. It's gone a bit wild since my last cut about three months ago, reaching almost to the middle of my back. It just hits my shoulders now. Much healthier, quicker to dry.
Came home and picked up a bit, watched some television and took an unintentional nap. That's getting to be rather a habit.
Tomorrow morning I'm counting on people being too busy with last minute Christmas stuff to do something so mundane as pay their taxes. The bank is open until two. I'll start the morning very early at Panera, having coffee and a bagel until the bank opens. Then back home to make the marinade.
And wash more dishes.
Thursday, July 16, 2015
Tradition
It is an annual tradition with no set date, celebrated only by me (at least that I know of). There are no special decorations, no themed songs, no requirement for special clothing or trips to relatives' homes.
The tradition?
The annual eating of the liverwurst sandwich.
Calves' or pigs' livers, meat (around here, generally pork), fat, bacon and spices all smashed up together into a wonderful, sliceable paste. Admittedly high in fat and sodium, a typical serving has more vitamin B12 and A than you need in a day (without turning you orange the way carrots might). Add in the 8 grams of protein and a quarter of the daily iron requirement, and it's a bit of a nutritional powerhouse.
Provided you don't eat it every day.
I'll admit it may be an acquired taste, but it's something I grew up with, a bit of a nod to my dad's German heritage, much like enjoying anchovies runs through my mom's Sicilian blood. Just goes to show that if you don't tell a kid something tastes "icky", they will try just about anything.
Onion and mustard are the usual condiments on a sandwich; I prefer mine plain. In an odd twist of fate, the bread I had on hand was Italian, rather than the more traditional rye. Still, it was a mighty fine sandwich.
Now that tradition has been observed for this year, I'm thinking that I should eat liverwurst more often, in spite of its artery-clogging properties. It's only a matter of time before the FDA bans it because of the high fat content (26% of your daily fat, but 30% of your daily saturated fat in each delicious serving). One would hope that Milwaukee, with a proud German heritage, would hold out against such a heinous act, but big government has ways of enforcing their will.
Should that ever be the case, I fully expect to run a pork product black market out of my condo. Just so you know.
The tradition?
The annual eating of the liverwurst sandwich.
Calves' or pigs' livers, meat (around here, generally pork), fat, bacon and spices all smashed up together into a wonderful, sliceable paste. Admittedly high in fat and sodium, a typical serving has more vitamin B12 and A than you need in a day (without turning you orange the way carrots might). Add in the 8 grams of protein and a quarter of the daily iron requirement, and it's a bit of a nutritional powerhouse.
Provided you don't eat it every day.
I'll admit it may be an acquired taste, but it's something I grew up with, a bit of a nod to my dad's German heritage, much like enjoying anchovies runs through my mom's Sicilian blood. Just goes to show that if you don't tell a kid something tastes "icky", they will try just about anything.
Onion and mustard are the usual condiments on a sandwich; I prefer mine plain. In an odd twist of fate, the bread I had on hand was Italian, rather than the more traditional rye. Still, it was a mighty fine sandwich.
Now that tradition has been observed for this year, I'm thinking that I should eat liverwurst more often, in spite of its artery-clogging properties. It's only a matter of time before the FDA bans it because of the high fat content (26% of your daily fat, but 30% of your daily saturated fat in each delicious serving). One would hope that Milwaukee, with a proud German heritage, would hold out against such a heinous act, but big government has ways of enforcing their will.
Should that ever be the case, I fully expect to run a pork product black market out of my condo. Just so you know.
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