As promised, here is another of our favorite uses of leftover pork, Asian style. We adapted the recipe from “The Best 30-Minute Recipe” cookbook (which we can’t recommend highly enough), but the dish is pretty flexible in terms of both ingredients and sauce. This version is what we prefer, but you can always put your own spin on it, which is one of the many reasons we like this recipe. We also appreciate that it’s a quick, easy and delicious use of leftovers.
Category: Main Courses
Pasta alla Carbonara
This is our second attempt at this pasta dish, which was originally inspired by the Rigatoni Alla Carbonara we had at Tra Vigne on our trip to Napa earlier this summer. The pasta at Tra Vigne was one of the best meals of the trip, and we were excited to try to recreate it at home. According to Tra Vigne’s menu, their rigatoni includes guanciale bacon, onion, eggs, cracked pepper and Parmesan. Sounds easy enough. So we made a special trip to Central Market to get the guanciale (Italian bacon made from the pig’s jowls or cheeks), researched some recipes and whipped up our first batch of Pasta alla Carbonara. We used all the same carbonara ingredients as Tra Vigne and expected ours to taste at least similar to theirs, even if it didn’t turn out quite as delicious. But ours wasn’t even close. While the pasta at Tra Vigne had a rich and hearty bacon flavor, ours had a slightly gamey taste unlike any bacon we’ve had. Carbonara Fail. Since at first we did not succeed, we tried again — this time using pancetta instead of guanciale, and the result was much more successful. Still not as good as the rigatoni at Tra Vigne, but our second batch was way better than the first — rich and creamy with nice bacon flavor. Continue reading “Pasta alla Carbonara”
London Broil
For some people, including Dan, cooking a meal for someone can be a way to show love and affection, celebrate an achievement, or commemorate an important occasion. For the Conrad family and many others, August 29 is a signifigant date that does not go unnoticed. Three years ago today, Dan’s dad Tom passed away after a too-brief but valiant battle against a brain tumor. It is a date upon which we struggle against the sadness and missing by instead focusing on the happy memories, joyful times and favorite moments. One of Tom’s greatest joys was food — in a simple, meat & potatoes way, nothing too unusual or exotic. Dan loves cooking for family and does so just about every time he goes home to Altoona. During one visit years ago, as Dan was cooking dinner, his dad came in the kitchen to watch and keep Dan company. While observing, Tom cautioned “not too spicy!” just as Dan was seasoning the chicken soup — with salt and pepper. Although he didn’t have the most adventurous palate, Tom would have eaten just about anything Dan cooked and would have raved about it — such was Tom’s way of showing unwavering support to those he loved, no matter their endeavor. One of Tom’s true favorite meals that Dan cooks is London Broil, which involves a simple marinade used to spice up (but not too much!) an inexpensive cut of beef and turn it into something special. And it’s our way to claim this day and honor a great man who enjoyed nothing more than a delicious steak dinner. Except maybe a turkey dinner. Or dinner at Lena’s. Or a sleeve of Oreo cookies… Continue reading “London Broil”
Banh Mi Sandwiches (with leftover pork)
Pork is a versatile protein when it comes to leftovers, especially in Asian dishes. We have used leftover pork for stir fry, moo-shoo pork, and pork fried rice (post coming soon!), just to name a few. This sandwich recipe is yet another good use of leftover pork, with an Asian flair. I was inspired to try making Banh Mi sandwiches at home after having one from a little soup & sandwich shop in Brooklyn while visiting Dan’s brother, his lovely wife and adorable son earlier this year. Although not authentically Vietnamese, the sandwich was delicious and didn’t seem like it would be all that difficult to make, especially using pork that had already been cooked. There are a lot of Banh Mi recipes out there, but it seems like a common thread among most of them is pickled carrot and daikon (a type of radish.) The remaining sandwich components vary and should depend on what you have on hand and your taste preferences. The pickled veggies sound a little strange, but their sweet/sour flavor balances really well with salty pork, fresh lettuce and spicy jalapeno. We’ll definitely make this sandwich again.
Turkey Tetrazzini (with leftover turkey)
Now that we have a delicious new way to cook turkey breast and plan to cook turkey a lot more often, we need some good recipes for turkey leftovers. In the past, we’ve tried to think outside the box when it comes to turkey leftovers — turkey paella and turkey enchiladas, for example — but this time we decided to do something a little more on the classic side. Turkey Tetrazzini is a classic American dish, but one that neither of us had ever made or eaten. We found a great recipe for tetrazzini in (go figure) “The Best American Classics” cookbook by the editors of Cook’s Illustrated Magazine. We love the folks at America’s Test Kitchen because they exhaustively test all their recipes to come up with the best possible versions — something we thought would be key to successfully preparing a dish without having any clue how it was supposed to taste. Turns out that it’s supposed to taste really delicious with surprisingly complex flavors for what basically amounts to a noodle casserole. A noodle casserole that we will crave with every future turkey breast we cook.
Smoked Turkey Breast
When Dan purchased his smoker for one of the Charcutepalooza challenges, my first thought was that it would be yet another cooking gadget that he would use a couple of times before getting bored with it. Happily, I could not have been more wrong. He uses the smoker a lot, for such smoked delights as ribs, game hen and tri-tip. He also occasionally uses the smoker as a charcoal grill, for that old-school grill flavor. What I had originally thought was bought on a whim has turned out to be a very worthwhile purchase that has allowed Dan to expand his grilling repertoire. It doesn’t hurt that the smoker is incredibly easy to use and has achieved near-perfect results each time we’ve used it. If you grill often, enjoy smoky flavor and have the room and budget for it, the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker is a great investment that we definitely recommend (in a non-sponsored way.) Continue reading “Smoked Turkey Breast”
Grilled Branzini
We are big fans of Michael Ruhlman and regularly read his food blog, which is where Dan discovered that “branzini” is a really easy and tasty fish to grill. We’re always trying to work new fish recipes into our weekly menu routine, but it can be difficult because I’m not a big fan. But we are mindful of the health benefits of eating fish on a regular basis, so we continue searching for good fish dishes — especially ones that don’t involve breading or heavy sauces that cancel out the beneficial aspects. We have some old favorites (here and here), but this grilled branzini may be the most healthy — and still delicious — we have tried to date. It is also ridiculously easy.
Black Bean Soup
On our 34th (and counting) consecutive day of temperatures above 100 degrees, what sounds better than a big bowl of hot soup? It is counterintuitive, but this soup actually does sound good to me right now, even as hot as it is outside these days. Also counterintuitive? Wanting to beat the record of 42 consecutive days, even while complaining how ridiculously hot it is. It’s so hot that I don’t have the energy to make any “how hot is it” jokes. But it’s not too hot for this particular soup, which is lighter than you would expect, with southwest flavors and a creamy texture. We found the recipe in Cook’s Illustrated’s book “The Best 30-Minute Recipe” — making it even more appealing to cook on a hot summer night because the recipe is quick and means less time slaving over a hot stove or grill. Have I mentioned that it’s hot here? Continue reading “Black Bean Soup”
Mushroom Lasagne
Ina Garten does it again. Hers might be the most-used cookbooks we own — just about all of them have multiple pages tagged with recipes we have tried and enjoyed. And her books are the ones I often go to when I feel like we’re in a cooking rut, which is how I found her recipe for mushroom lasagne. Traditional lasagne with red sauce, italian sausage and ricotta cheese is one of Dan’s specialties, and we have it all the time. So I thought it would be interesting to try a completely different lasagne — with mushrooms instead of meat and cream sauce instead of tomato. The result is somehow rich yet light at the same time, hearty and delicious.
Breakfast Pizza
We love pizza of all kinds — whether it’s delivery, healthy(ish) homemade, or a pie with unusual toppings. Dan has recently been experimenting with baking bread, which means we often end up with dough remnants perfect for homemade pizza. One weekend we decided to put the leftover dough to good use by having it for breakfast. Turns out that thin pizza crust topped with cheesy scrambled eggs, bacon and cream gravy is a really nice way to start the day.