I know, I know its summer….but…

When I woke up yesterday to move the car for alternate side parking, I decided to go get a much needed haircut.  After the haircut I visited my favorite store: The Natural and roamed the aisles trying to plan dinner.  It was cooler that morning than it had been and at the butcher counter the boneless pork loin roasts were calling my name.  Logic said that it wasn’t going to be 90º today so it might not be a bad day to roast some meat and have the leftovers for a few meals.  Along with my new best friend, the tied boneless pork loin, I grabbed some sweet potatoes and some broccoli crowns and shallots.  No exact plan in mind, but I figured it would come together at home utilizing pantry items.

Once home, I was still less than inspired, so I turned to Mastercook, the recipe storage program I use for my business and searched for Roast Loin of Pork.  I got a gazillion recipes for everything pork and roasted.  Narrowed the search and it was a much more manageable list.

Read several interesting recipes and eliminated them as most would require a return trip to the store to procure at least one missing major ingredient.  Then I stumbled on one from The Too Hot Tamales,  AKA Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken from the Food Network TV show of the same name.  The recipe is from 1997 and is below for your perusal.  It requires the pork to be marinated for 8 hours or overnight.  So I instantly scrap the plan for that nights dinner and go "freezer-diving" for some scraps and ended up with 5 Sea Scallops and 1 boneless chicken breast.  I broiled these with lemon butter shallots and a healthy sprinkle of Hungarian Paprika.  Found a small amount of tri-colored Israeli Couscous and made Succotash with Yellow & Shoepeg Corn, Edamame, Onion, Red Pepper, Dill and fresh tomatoes, not a bad slap-dash meal.

So for the Pork I prepped the marinade while cooking dinner. Here’s my twists on the recipe:

*I’m not a big fan of reserving marinades that meat has spent some time in to use for a sauce.  Sometimes I’ll make extra marinade and put it aside before adding the meat to the balance.  Other times I figure out a sauce later.

*The only beer in the house was some old Pumpkin Ale I had purchased to make Pumpkin Chili with and to enjoy while eating that Pumpkin Chili.  So it was anything but new, but I figured since it’s a marinade and possibly a sauce it’ll be cooked enough to not worry about its flatness!
 
*I had a jar of basic organic Dijon Mustard, next time I’ll use something a bit more exciting, even if its only country style.

*I browned the roast in my cast iron frying pan and transferred it to my 12” All Clad skillet for roasting in the oven and I added some water during the cooking time to keep the pan drippings from burning.

* When it was done I pulled the meat out to a sheet pan covered it with a foil tent and put the All Clad Skillet on the stove.  Heated it up and added chopped Shallots. Then I added 1 tablespoon of Mustard, a pinch of Herbes de Provence and reduced the liquid to a nice sauce, which I mounted with butter to finish.  After the usual 10 minute wait I sliced the roast and napped the slices with the sauce making sure that we had a substantial amount of the shallots.
 
*We enjoyed it with Roasted Broccoli with Garlic and Dried Chili Flakes and Lemon and Simple Baked Sweet Potatoes.  Delish!
                     
* Exported from MasterCook *

                    Roasted Pork Loin With Beer Sauce

Recipe By     :Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken
Serving Size  : 6     Preparation Time :0:00
Categories    : Main Dish                       Pork
  Amount  Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
--------  ------------  --------------------------------
  2        tablespoons  Butter
  1              large  Red onion -- thinly sliced
  2                     Garlic cloves -- minced
  1           teaspoon  Ground cumin
     1/2      teaspoon  Ground cinnamon
     1/4      teaspoon  Ground allspice
  2            bottles  Beer - (12 oz ea), not dark
     1/2           cup  Dijon mustard
     1/4           cup  Honey
  3 1/2         pounds  Boneless pork loin, tied
  2        tablespoons  Vegetable oil
                        Salt -- to taste
                        Freshly-ground black pepper -- to taste
  1         tablespoon  Butter -- room temperature
  1         tablespoon  All-purpose flour
   Melt 2 tablespoons butter in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add onion and sauté until tender and golden brown, about 15 minutes.  Add garlic, cumin, cinnamon and allspice and stir 1 minute.  Add beer, mustard and honey and bring to boil (sauce will foam).  Remove from heat.  Puree in batches in blender until smooth.  Cool to room temperature.  Pour into baking dish.  Add pork loin; turn to coat.  Cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight, turning occasionally.
   Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
   Remove pork from marinade; pat dry.  Reserve marinade.  Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat.  Season pork with salt and pepper.  Add to skillet and brown on all sides.  Transfer to baking sheet with rim.  Roast in oven for 3/4 to 1 hour or until thermometer inserted into thickest part registers 155 degrees.  Transfer pork to work surface; reserve any pan juices.
   Combine pan juices and marinade in saucepan.  Bring to boil.  Reduce heat to simmer.  Mix butter and flour in small bowl until smooth paste forms.  Add to sauce and simmer until sauce thickens.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Cut pork into slices.  Pour sauce over.
   This recipe yields 6 servings.
   Recipe Source:
TOO HOT TAMALES  with Susan Feigner and Mary Sue Milliken
From the TV FOOD NETWORK - (Show # TH-1E07 broadcast 10-27-1997)
Downloaded from their Web-Site  -  http://www.foodtv.com
  Formatted for MasterCook by Joe Comiskey, aka MR MAD  -  jpmd44a@prodigy.com   -or-   MAD-SQUAD@prodigy.net
     10-27-1997
                                    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Enjoy, we sure did!!

The Cookbook Collection is Swelling!

19 New Cookbooks!

I keep saying it's hard to keep up with my desire for more recipes, but seems I've really overloaded this season!  Count them!  Nineteen, yes 19 new books, plus two on backorder!!


First, lots of new books came out this fall that I really wanted. Second, the Good Cook Book Club had some awesome deals and of course I got some as gifts!


So I'm vowing to review each one here or at least comment on a recipe or two that I make from these new tomes! 


Here's the official list:


THE ILLUSTRATED COOK'S BOOK OF INGREDIENTS
COOKS ILLUSTRATED 2010
FOOD & WINE ANNUAL COOKBOOK 2010
FAMILY MEAL by Tyler Florence
BAREFOOT CONTESSA HOW EASY IS THAT? by Ina Garten
EATING WELL 500 CALORIE DINNERS
FEZ TRADITIONAL MOROCCAN COOKING by Z. Guinaudeau
MORE FAST FOOD MY WAY by Jacques Pepin
FALLING OFF THE BONE by Jean Anderson
CHEWY GOOEY CRISPY CRUNCHY MELT IN YOUR MOUTH COOKIES by Alice Medrich
LOOK + COOK by Rachael Ray
COOK THIS NOT THAT by David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding
BON APPETIT DESSERTS by Barbara Fairchild
NIGELLA KITCHEN by Nigella Lawson
AVEC ERIC by Eric Ripert
COOK WITH JAMIE by Jamie Oliver
THE ESSENTIAL NEW YORK TIMES COOKBOOK by Amanda Hesser
JAMES BEARD'S AMERICAN COOKERY by James Beard


The two on back order are:


AROUND MY FRENCH TABLE by Dorie Greenspan
HEART OF THE ARTICHOKE AND OTHER KITCHEN JOURNEYS by David Tanis


A few quick notes:


Food & Wine and Cooks Illustrated are annuals from the magazines and will be good reading for technique and recipe development.
Avec Eric follows the TV program which I have enjoyed watching, looking forward to reading and cooking from this book.
Cook with Jamie is my first Jamie Oliver book and I've already enjoyed reading through it, now on to making some of his recipes.
James Beard's, NY Times, Book of Ingredients are more reference books, but I'm sure I'll find some interesting recipes to cook.
Nigella, Barefoot Contessa, Rachael Ray, Cook This, Family Meal, More Fast Food, Falling off the bone, all will have very Client Friendly recipes and will get lots of use for sure!
Desserts and Cookie books will be perused and used more by the baker in the family but I'm sure I'll point to some great recipes in them!
Have finished reading 500 Calorie Dinners, and will be installing these recipes into our personal repertoire along with an exercise regimen!
And finally, FEZ was a gift along with lots of spices from Morocco, it includes instructions on how to use Camel meat in place of mutton, beef or lamb!


Check back often for more pearls of wisdom and comments on recipes and overall reviews of the books. However, don't hold your breath till you hear about any Camel being used! 

BOOK REVIEW: Michael Symon’s Live to Cook

This book was acquired with a GC that I got for Christmas. I first became familiar with Michael Symon when I watched him defeat John Besh for the title of Iron Chef on The Next Iron Chef Season 1. His infectious laugh made me think his food might not be so serious and yet it was all I could do to keep from running to the kitchen to duplicate his efforts.

Next, while reading Michael Ruhlman’s book Soul of a Chef, I really enjoyed his insight into Symon’s restaurant Lola. He portrayed a hard working, mid-western chef with high standards that understands the balance between eating local and seasonal and producing dishes that appeal to his audience in Cleveland, Ohio. The message was that he cooks from his soul.

Symon’s book takes up where Ruhlman’s story of Lola leaves off, he brings you into his life and points out the influences that brought him to where he is, at the point of writing this book.

His narratives entertain and educate at the same time and then there’s the recipes and the bonus of the Symon Says tidbits.

While he believes a dish should be started and finished in one pan he refers to his style as “heritage” cooking. Based on the foods of his family, he has been influenced by Greek-Italian-Eastern European and American recipes.

He writes pages on Fresh Sausages, Vinaigrettes, Confit, Braising, Roasting & Grilling, etc. giving his take on technique. And, he gives us pages on Humility, The Power of Cookbooks and Family explaining his connection to the world.

This book is a cover to cover read; more cookbooks are going in this “novel” direction these days. Michael mixes it up with personal revelations, descriptive techniques and specific tried and true recipes.

It is written with Michael Ruhlman and you definitely feel his guidance and style in the narrative…never a bad thing!

I highly recommend this book and of course have many dog eared pages for recipes I’ll be trying out!

Three New (to me) recipes

I cooked today for a client where I make 3 entrees for two weeks worth of meals. So when Nana asked me what we were making today I realized I'd chosen 3 new recipes. One, the Meatballs, is a similar dish to things I've made in the past but was just a bit twisted.  So, thinking about the blog, I asked her to bring her camera and shoot pics of the new dishes.  All she needs is an excuse to carry her camera!  And who knows how long I'll be able to enjoy having her as sous chef/photographer, someday she'll get a new job and be unavailable for weekday cookdates!

The three dishes were: Roasted Pork Tenderloin w/Eggplant Relish; Thai Turkey Meatballs in Spicy Peanut Sauce and Chicken Breast Marbella.  The chicken dish is a modernized version of a famous recipe from The Silver Palate Cookbook by Julee Rosso & Sheila Lukins.  The original recipe uses a whole chicken cut into pieces, the updated version is from Eating Well Magazine and uses boneless, skinless chicken breasts.

All three turned out very well.  The Meatballs in the Spicy Peanut Sauce are too hot for Nana and the bit of heat in the Eggplant Relish for the Pork Tenderloin wasn't her favorite either.  But the Chicken Marbella received a favorable review. The clients prefer lots of heat, in fact their fridge is better stocked with a variety of hot sauces than most grocery stores!

Side dishes included Honey Ginger Baby Carrots; Scallion Rice and Roasted Cauliflower, Chick Peas and Olives.  No pics of the sides, as we get more accustomed to taking pics we'll be more mindful, especially since they were very colorful today!

Roasted Pork Tenderloin w/Eggplant Relish

Thai Turkey Meatballs in Spicy Peanut Sauce

Chicken Breasts Marbella

Another good day of cooking!  I always feel so lucky to be getting paid to fulfill my own personal passion: cooking for others!

Mother's Day Cooking Project

So it was decided that Nana would pick out a recipe from her favorite TV chef: Ina Garten and we'd cook it together.  She chose Loin of Pork with Fennel from Barefoot Contessa at Home.  We decided to have it with Mashed Potatoes and Celery Root and Green Beans with Toasted Almonds and Lemon.  We also baked a Meyer Lemon Cake w/Cream Cheese Frosting.

We went shopping at the Natural in Forest Hills, which was so busy with Flowers for Mom's Day! We bought a 2 1/2 lb. Boneless Loin of Pork and I butterflied it, stuffed it with the fennel, onions, breadcrumb mixture and then retied the roast.  While it roasted we tackled the truly ugly celery root aka celeriac or celery knob.  (See the picture below) We also prepped the potatoes and green beans and made a gravy with onions, toasted and ground fennel seed, white wine and chicken broth, lightly thickened and reduced.

Celery Root:

The table for two:

The finished dinner plate:

The Meyer Lemon Cake:

And the plated slice:

It was a delicious meal and a great day cooking together!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY NANA AND ALL THE MOM'S NEAR AND FAR!