Kosher-Style Pork Cracklins

On Sunday, Amy, Shayla and I made a few chicken dishes. My favorite for taste was Chicken with Mustard Cream on Watercress from Epicurious. Since it was so quick and easy, I made it again for Jay. Instead of watercress, I just used spinach. I didn't quite pound the chicken thin enough and "medium" on my stove is not the same temperature as on Amy's stove. So even though I increased the heat, I still had to cook the chicken a little extra. It still turned out perfect. Jay liked the mustard sauce. He pointed to the wall in the dining room with his bike on it and said something like "What's that?" as he pretended to lick the plate.

Amy's flog entry for the dish

Jay has a new grill, so I have been trying to find opportunities to use it. I found a yummy sounding recipe in Cook's Illustrated that I wanted to try for making medium-well to well-done burgers. The point of the recipe was that you can cook your meat well and have a tasty, juicy burger in the end. Well, it worked! I don't think there's anything in the recipe that we would have changed. We used hamburger meat from HEB that was free with a coupon. We had sharp cheddar cheese melted on top and used Pepperidge Farm Premium Bakery Rolls (the whole wheat version) for buns.

We had a little friend over for the evening, so I thought hamburgers would be more kid friendly than the other recipes I'd been planning for the week. We also baked some frozen french fries in the oven that were leftover from my birthday party. Everything was so yummy!! (Jay even raved about the burgers to his coworkers the next day!)

Sara couldn't wait to work with the raw meat.

Sara helped me mix up the meat with the other ingredients.

Jay was our backyard chef, and did an excellent job with the burgers!

Sara found some cute potholders given to us by Jay's parents.

• Well-Done Burgers Done Well (Cook's Illustrated #81, August 2006, p. 20-21)
  

This recipe has been on my "to cook" list for awhile. It's the first recipe that I've ever entered into TheRecipeManager. I got this recipe from the Pillsbury Bake-Off competition when Amy's cooking friend Anna won the grand prize!

Austinite Anna Ginsberg is $1 million richer this morning, as the winner of the 42nd Pillsbury Bake-Off. Her original recipe for Baked Chicken and Spinach Stuffing beat out 98 other finalists from all over the country for the grand prize announced today, which will be awarded as a $50,000 a year annuity for 20 years.

I've been paying attention to what during preparation really makes a difference in the end. For example, I'm not sure all the time devoted to blanching and toasting the almonds really paid off, and a lot of times I work too hard to cut things perfectly. The recipe said "breaking up waffle pieces slightly" which I took to mean try to cut up with my spatula. I gave up after a bit, and in the end, the pieces that weren't "broken up" were easier to get with my fork than those that were. So I guess I took that line a little too literally. I got confused on the total amount the chicken was supposed to be baked, but it turned out well putting the spinach in and cooking it an additional time. We just waited til the chicken hit the right temperature and then declared it ready.

I was really impressed that the sauce stayed on top of the chicken! I had expected it all to slide off. You could definitely tell there was maple syrup in it by the smell which was kind of funny, but it wasn't an overwhelming taste. I thought this was great! Even better than the chicken was the stuffing. Wow we could have eaten a lot more of that!! It was especially nice having the recipe made for two.

This was a weird sight, so I had to photograph it.

• Million Dollar Baked Chicken and Spinach Stuffing

Jay and I perused the Summer Grilling issue of Cook's Illustrated again because we just love using the grill! We found a recipe for grilling pork tenderloin along with two wet rubs and one dry rub. We decided on the Orange-Garlic Wet Rub. This was my first time grilling pork tenderloin, so I was a little worried that it might be too dry. The recipe called for an hour of brining the pork in the fridge, so I did that while preparing the wet rub. The timing worked out well, and the recipe was pretty simple.

The grilling instructions weren't quite as clear as they usually are, but it said to grill on four sides. Well, with our cuts, we only found it possible to grill on two sides. I had visions of dry meat, charred black on two sides. As Jay grilled the meat, I prepared some asparagus to be grilled. As the meat cooled, he grilled the asparagus, and did an even better job grilling it than last time!

The pork tenderloins were unbelievably juicy. Next time I'll need to place them on a cutting board with grooves to collect all the juices! It was really really yummy, too!

• How to Grill Pork Tenderloin (Cook's Illustrated, Summer 2006, p.36)
• Orange-Garlic Wet Rub (Cook's Illustrated, Summer 2006, p.37)
• Grilled Asparagus (Cook's Illustrated, Summer 2006, p.42)

I was inspired by the April fine Cooking article on steamed and perfectly sauced steamed veggies to steam artichoke. I am visiting my Grandmother, and we realized we didn't have anything for steaming artichokes, so we tossed the idea. But while I was at Whole Foods, I found a $2 metal steamer for artichokes right by the artichokes, so I figured why not? But then I didn't have the sauce recipe at the store. Luckily the steamer came with two recipes, so I picked one and bought all those ingredients. It was a mix of garbanzo beans, parsley, green onion, lemon juice and garlic.

Steaming the artichoke was pretty fun. I didn't realize the water would turn green!! We used the dip more as a spread. It turned out okay, but Grandma liked adding just a touch of salt because the flavor of the dip was pretty strong. I'll probably steam vegetables more because it was so fun and easy, but I probably won't be making that dip again. It was just okay.

I was intending to make grilled pork tenderloin with orange-garlic rub, because that's so good. But I couldn't get the gas grill to work. We think it's because it's out of gas. So instead, I just broiled the pork tenderloin. It turned out okay, but it wasn't fabulous, like when it's grilled, or when I instead use the honey mustard recipe for broiled pork tenderloin. Oh well! We had my uncle over for dinner, too.

• Artichoke Bean Dip recipe from the Whole Foods artichoke steamer
• Orange-Garlic Wet Rub (Cook's Illustrated, Summer 2006, p.37)

This was the first holiday dinner I've ever cooked! It was really the only special Christmas-y thing we did all day, other than some gift opening and phone calling.

I bought the boneless turkey breast at Whole Foods. I just love buying meat at Whole Foods! They wrap it up so nice and will prepare it in whichever way your heart desires. The stuffing wasn't too hard to make other than getting the skins off the toasted hazelnuts. I got to use the food processor, which means less chopping for me! It was strange to wrap the breast in bacon and fry it. It smelled so good, I ended up frying an extra piece of bacon for me to eat while the turkey roasted in the oven.

I would definitely make this again for a special dinner for 2-4 people. The hazelnuts in the stuffing added so much to it. I wasn't too impressed with the Marsala glaze, but I think I'm just not too fond of Marsala wine.

As a side dish, we tried making some roasted butternut squash. Oh that was sooo good! Even though it added a lot of time to the meal preparation, the turkey was still warm when the squash was finally done. The squash was delicious!!! I think Jay liked it so much, not only did he cook the other half of the squash later, he bought another butternut squash for us to eat soon.

Two lessons learned:

This dish turned out looking beautiful and tasting even better! The beef was incredibly (you guessed it...) tender. Very very easy to make. The recipe calls for a whole beef tenderloin (about 6 pounds), and I decided we'd do this with about half. My local HEB didn't carry anything close, so we tried Whole Foods. They only had sliced beef tenderloin at the counter, but were more than happy to slice up a whole (or a half!) for me. It was fun and amazing to watch. I think I picked the end that was slightly thinner, and I think he cut half, although it may have been less. It came up as 1.8 pounds and I okayed it while marveling at the price. ($30 per pound! Woah. Thank goodness it wasn't 3 pounds!) The butcher trimmed the meat well so I didn't have to figure out what the "chain" was or trim any other excess fat.

The Red Wine Sauce that accompanied this recipe turned out delicious! (...the second try.) I was supposed to reduce it to a cup total. I ended up reducing it to 1/8th of a cup at the most. Part of the problem was I tried using a coffee filter to strain the shallots and thyme out of the sauce. I think it just absorbed a lot of it and didn't strain anything. A regular strainer worked fine. (Because the thyme was still attached to the stem. duh!) I was so displeased with its taste and appearance. With the sauce being so much effort and the beef being so special (if only by price at that point), I decided to try it again. This time, I turned the temperature down, too, so it didn't reduce so quickly. Ahh... this time I hit 1 perfect cup exactly! Plus it tasted quite a bit better. While the sauce was good, I think the meat held up just fine on its own, too. (This is me saying I'm not sure it was worth all the effort!)

I tried a recipe for lemon and thyme mashed potatoes from epicurious. With all the thyme flavoring the beef, I didn't taste it much in the potatoes. They were good mashed potatoes, but I think garlic mashed potatoes would have gone better with the tenderloin.

• Slow-Roasted Beef Tenderloin with Thyme, Red Wine Sauce (Fine Cooking's Weekend Cooking 2007, p. 70)
• Mashed Potatoes with Thyme-Lemon Butter (epicurious)

This recipe was fantastic! I need to create a category of winner/definitely-will-repeat recipes, because this was it. This was very easy, but not so quick. Peeling, deveining, drying shrimp takes awhile, plus once you get things cooking, you can't multi-task.

This was my first time cooking shrimp, unless you count my experiences at the Melting Pot! It was also my first time buying shrimp which means I should have educated myself before leaving for the store. I knew shrimp came in different sizes, but I didn't understand the numbering system. Thankfully Jay was with me to help out! We didn't find what we needed at HEB, so we continued our shopping at Whole Foods. I bought a pound, and asked if they could peel and devein them for me. The guy looked at me like I was a little nuts, but said he would. "It'll be at least 10 minutes." We continued our shopping a little guilt-ridden, but I justified the request with the fact that I have at times paid $$$$ for their food! We returned to the counter and he was still peeling shrimp. Boy did I feel a little rotten. Then the guy turns around, places the shrimp on the counter and another shopper runs off with our shrimp! "Half pound of shrimp" Oh! He was working on someone else's. Ours had just been waiting for us. Phew.

Lessons Learned

• Check the web or (my new online subscription!! at) cooksillustrated.com before going shopping if it's something new. Had I gone straight to the recipe, I could have clicked on "shrimp" and found an article bursting with advice on how to buy good shrimp.
  
• If you don't stay with your cart, it's likely to run away from you.
  
• The blade of the food processor should rest firmly in place. It worked, but had it been correctly placed, I think my bread crumbs would have turned out a even better.
  
• Chaperone-free rice was a perfect side dish for this. The fancy asparagus recipe I wanted to try required too much attention.
  
• People bottle clam juice???
  

The sauce was delicious, the shrimp flavorful, and the bread crumb topping gave the dish an excellent texture.

• Garlicky Shrimp with Bread Crumbs (Cook's Illustrated, March & April 2007, p. 21)
• Chaperone-free steamed white rice
• Kendall-Jackson Chardonnay

Amy's always saying that roasted chicken makes great leftovers. She's right! She posted a Rosemary Chicken Salad recipe earlier, so it seemed like a perfect lunch. The recipe is originally from Cooking Light, but I like her measurements so much better. The dijon and nuts in this recipe really make it a winner.

Jay invited me to ride with him and I said "sure". This was early in the day, by the time he got home, I was dragging and really did not want to ride. "How about I cook dinner?" So while Jay rode on the trainer, I went to the store. Then another store since not only was I out of gnocchi, but so was the store! Dinner was ready about 2 minutes before Jay got off the bike. Perfect!

One thing I like about this recipe is that it uses a lot of ingredients you're likely to already have at home. I'd definitely make this again, and next time, I will remember the Parmigiano cheese!

• Pan-Fried Gnocchi with Bacon, Onions and Peas (Fine Cooking, May 2007, p.84a)

Amy said this would be good, and she was right. I don't have much to say about this, except that it was terribly easy to make. I like that the only fresh ingredients you need to buy is the meat and limes. Also, you can prepare it a few hours ahead of time, perfect for preparing before a workout and then cooking and eating it right after. The only thing to watch in this recipe is the drippy sauce. If you're not careful you will drip it all over the grill, countertops, cutting boards, floor, etc.

While it does have coconut milk in it, the recipe calls for light coconut milk, so it doesn't have nearly the same amount of saturated fats.

The sauce was super yummy. But then, so was the pork, with or without the extra sauce added after grilling. This also made excellent leftovers.

• Grilled Asian Pork Tenderloin with Peanut Sauce (Fine Cooking, July 2007, p.78a)

My sister, husband and niece are part of the way through a move across the country where they will now be my neighbors!! It's very exciting and a little surreal. However with five hungry mouths, I am definitely more motivated to cook rather than allow us all to eat out so often. Nice healthy options are usually expensive, and cheaper fast food consists of awful options for kids. It's a little more challenging making sure my choice of meal is something everyone wants to eat. Also, my brother in law is fairly lactose intolerant now, so a whole lot of options are not options for him. He does say that usually he cooks dinner for the ladies of the family and then makes a separate meal for himself. So at least not every meal will have to be dairy-free. However, I bet a lot of kosher meals will come in handy for this situation! My brother in law hasn't moved in yet, so the next month's worth of meals won't need that consideration.

I flipped through the latest Fine Cooking and thought the Spaghetti alla Carbonara sounded easy, delicious and kid-friendly. Pancetta was a new ingredient to me, so I looked it up online to get an idea of what it looked like. At Whole Foods, I asked a butcher where the pancetta was. He had to ask me to repeat what I was looking for, which nearly confirmed that I was probably pronouncing it wrong. The recipe in Fine Cooking serves two, so I wanted to double it. The fine Cooks suggested that when doubling, I just cook everything in the big pot instead of using a separate 10 inch skillet. This worked nicely because a pound of spaghetti is a lot of volume! Hannah really wanted to help out a lot and see what was going on in the pot. In general I had her help with the salads. It was much easier having her place vegetables in bowls than navigate her arms and hands and fingers over and around hot items.

This recipe was well received by all, and I even ate a meal of it as leftovers the next day. Still excellent!

As I have gotten more and more serious about good photography, I am more picky about my photos. The photos of the spaghetti were pretty much what you'd expect it to look like... spaghetti that looks a little shiny and greasy with bits of what might be bacon-something. Not very exciting. The magazine photo really minimized the amount of shine off the pasta, so I will have to ask my more professional photographer friends how that is done. In the meantime, I thought it would be more fun to post a photo of my niece enjoying the spaghetti!

Lessons learned:

• Because I'm using the same pot for everything, the pasta was sitting in the strainer for awhile. When I went to put it back in the pot, it was a gigantic flying spaghetti monster, all stuck together. My sister suggested I run hot water over it in the strainer to loosen it up. Worked like a charm!
• This tasted a slight bit too peppery. Maybe it was because the pepper came out of the grinder in larger than usual pieces, or maybe it was just too much pepper overall.
• Two days later, I was at Whole Foods again and decided to pick up some spaghetti just to have available for a quick dinner. I noticed the spaghetti I had picked up was actually quite expensive! Oops. There were a lot of whole wheat, organic options, and I probably picked the most expensive choice without realizing it. I picked the less expensive option the second time around.
• I just looked it up now. I thought pancetta might be like bruschetta. I was right! It is pronounced "pan-chet-uh". Now I know!

• Spaghetti alla Carbonara (Fine Cooking 92, p. 56)
• Garden salad

Christmas dinner was held at my house. I've never hosted a large dinner at home before, and we were going to have 14 people!! I went to the trusted source, finecooking.com for menu ideas. Right on the front page were ideas for holiday dinner main dishes, side dishes, drinks, desserts. There were a number of menus to try, so I picked one and started planning. I wanted to have a great soup, and decided to make the Butternut Squash Soup with Apple and Bacon.

Because we were having 14, I decided to make two batches of soup. Unfortunately, I had to make the batches serially instead of all at the same time. Some day I will have all the right sized cookware!

There was lots of butternut squash chopping, which is what seemed to take the most time. I did make a mistake by not adding enough broth. I realized this during the second batch when I still had a can or two extra which didn't make sense. So I added the missing broth to the second batch and when batches one and two were combined, the consistency was perfect.

This soup was absolutely delicious! Something I would make over and over again. This recipe is freely available on finecooking.com.

• Butternut Squash Soup with Apple & Bacon (Fine Cooking 74 Nov. 2005, p. 67)