When we think pork, we generally don’t also think about pork pairing well with cheese (unless of course we’re thinking about a cheese plate, in which case there better be some prosciutto on there, alongside a soft and creamy goat cheese and maybe a bit of sharp cheddar.) But when the pork is thinly pounded and the cheese is salty/nutty grated Parmesan that forms a crispy outer coating when the pork is cooked in a skillet, pork and cheese go together pretty well after all. We found this pork recipe in one of our most-used Cook’s Illustrated magazines, “30 Minute Suppers” (Fall 2011), and like how easy and quick the dish is to make with simple ingredients: pork, flour, eggs, Parmesan cheese, panko, vegetable or canola oil and salt & pepper. While not necessary, a lemon/butter or white wine pan sauce might take the pork to a whole new level (but could also take longer than 30 minutes to cook, with greater degree of difficulty if you’re not particularly gifted at making sauces.) This basic version is perfect for a busy weeknight, and when garnished with lemon wedges, fancy enough on its own to not need no stinkin’ sauces.
Category: Recipes
Avocado and Edamame Salad
If you’re not familiar with edamame, the name refers to young (as in still-green) soybeans commonly served as an appetizer (boiled and salted in their pods) in sushi restaurants. You can also find bags of shelled, frozen edamame in most grocery stores these days. Although the health benefits of soybeans are not without controversy (similar to many other foods, about which “experts” offer vastly different opposing opinions), we’re in the pro-soy camp and think edamame makes a great addition to salads. According to WebMD, a half cup of shelled edamame has as much fiber as four slices of whole wheat bread, as much iron as a four-ounce chicken breast and nearly as much protein as two eggs (each of these foods have, of course, been criticized nutritionally as well. Can’t we all just get along?) We’ve made edamame salad before, and appreciate how its mild, slightly nutty flavor pairs well with contrasting flavors from other salad components. When we found this recipe, we knew the edamame would complement the bitter radish and buttery avocado and figured the bright flavors of the ginger/garlic/lime dressing would bring all the salad ingredients together. We adapted the recipe by adding sesame oil and chili garlic sauce for more Asian flavor and red pepper flakes for extra spice. The second time we made this salad, we happened to have spinach and arugula on hand, so we chopped up the greens and added them for yet another taste layer and additional texture. We liked the addition of the greens so much that we will include them when we make this salad in the future. And we’ll definitely make it again, despite what the soybean critics say (we’re culinary rebels like that.)
Pasta w/ Chicken, Spinach & Cherry Tomatoes in Feta Sauce (w/ leftover chicken)
Summer is a good time to cook with leftovers. When the weather is hot and the days are long and activity-filled, it’s nice to have a dinner that is quick and easy to prepare with a protein that has already been cooked. If we grill steak during the summer, we often grill an extra one or make sure they are big enough that we will have plenty left over for steak salad. A pork tenderloin easily creates two separate meals — the first one maybe grilled and served with pico de gallo; and for the second meal we might make pork fried rice. We also love to cook a whole chicken (either roasting it or grilling it, beer-can-style) on the weekend, then transform the leftovers into any number of second dishes, from casserole to salad to pasta. When we recently had some leftover chicken, we consulted one of our go-to quick and easy cookbooks (they have an entire chapter called “Starting with Leftovers”), “The Best 30-Minute Recipe” for a new way to transform cooked chicken. We added kalamata olives to further enhance the Mediterranean flavors from the fresh oregano, feta cheese sauce and tomatoes, and liked how combining the chicken, pasta and spinach made for a single-bowl, square-meal dinner. And with minimal effort involved (cutting up the chicken, blending the sauce ingredients and boiling the pasta), it’s an ideal way to end a hot and lazy summer day.
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Brown Rice Salad
We’re always on the hunt for interesting new side dishes. Of course, we’d usually rather have fries, roasted potatoes, mac-n-cheese or some other deliciously starchy carbs, but maybe an occasional, more healthy side can be delicious too. We were intrigued by the article and recipes in the most recent issue of Cook’s Illustrated’s magazine discussing “Really Good Brown Rice Salads,” not only because of the versatility of the salads, but also with the suggested method of boiling the rice in an abundance of water, in order to get a more evenly cooked end result. The first rice salad we tried was indeed “really good:” brown rice with jalapenos, tomatoes, green onions, cilantro and avocado, lightly tossed in a dressing made with olive oil, honey, garlic, lime zest and juice, cumin and salt & pepper. After trying (and loving) this Tex-Mex(ish) version of brown rice salad, we’ve successfully experimented with several other flavor combinations, including a Greek/Mediterranean style, and what we call an “Island” version that paired really well with grilled jerk chicken. We look forward to trying the other recipes suggested by Cook’s Illustrated (one with asparagus, goat cheese and lemon, and the other with fennel, mushrooms and walnuts), as well as coming up with other flavor variations. Plain old brown rice suddenly got a lot more interesting.
Scalloped Tomatoes
With summer and tomato season in full swing, in addition to the upcoming July 4th holiday, may we suggest and highly recommend this easy, unusual and impressively delicious side dish. It incorporates some of the best summertime flavors — tomatoes, basil and garlic — and will go well with all different kinds of grilled proteins, including steak, chicken and shrimp. I was initially skeptical that this dish would amount to not much more than a mushy mess of cooked tomatoes, soggy bread and wilted basil, but we had garden tomatoes to use and Ina Garten’s recipe was inspired by her “dear friend” and “cooking inspiration” Sarah Chase, which was inspiration enough for us. The finished dish did not disappoint. The flavor reminds me of a fried mozzarella cheese stick dipped in marinara sauce, but a de-constructed, lighter and way more healthy version.
Broccoli Rabe w/ Garlic & Romano
We’ve had this leafy vegetable (also known as “rapini”) before, first with pasta and another time with pasta and sausage. The version with (turkey!) sausage is probably our favorite way to eat broccoli rabe, but we were intrigued to try it on its own as a side dish. Although I’m not typically a fan of cooked greens (sauteed spinach and I will never be friends, but Dan could eat it every week), rapini is a pretty hearty green that holds up well when cooked, without becoming mushy. We found this recipe incorporating garlic and pecorino romano cheese to complement the slightly bitter flavor of the broccoli rabe, and we adapted the cooking method by using a combination of saute and steam, similar to the way we cook broccolini (but even though we cook them the same way, don’t be fooled — broccoli rabe is more closely related to the turnip than broccoli.) We also added some red pepper flakes for a little kick and finished the dish with lemon juice to brighten the flavors. Dan loved the rapini cooked this way, and I can honestly say that I liked it well enough to add it to our (obviously limited) rotation of cooked vegetable side dishes. How’s that for a ringing endorsement?
Slow-Cooker Pulled Pork
Barbecue is a quintessential summer meal. From pulled pork to brisket to ribs, cooking meat low and slow practically defines lazy summer days. While unquestionably worth it, one doesn’t always have the time, inclination or equipment required for some of the more hard-core barbecue recipes (Kansas City-style ribs, for example, can take up to 20 hours to prepare — at least the recipe we used took that long.) Enter the slow-cooker and this recipe. The meat still takes a while to cook (6-8 hours), but needs less tending (just pat it down with the dry rub, place it in the slow-cooker with some onions, add the vinegar sauce, set the cooker on low and let it cook.) Barbecue doesn’t get much easier, and although it won’t have the signature smoke ring and flavor from pulled pork cooked in a smoker, the tender and tangy end result belies the simple preparation and cooking method. Perfect for a truly lazy summer day.
Italian Soba Noodle Salad
As everyone does, we try to make the most of our weekends — attempting to find the perfect balance between to-do lists and errands versus “lamping” (Dan and his brothers’ term for sitting around, doing nothing — as a lamp does) and having fun. Sometimes you just don’t have enough time to hit up both Home Depot and Bed, Bath & Beyond on a Saturday. For us, enjoying a lazy Saturday morning while still managing to feel productive usually involves planning our menu for the following week while watching HGTV or cooking shows. (Dan occasionally sneaks in a Star Wars or superhero movie as well, especially if we’ve already seen whatever home improvement or cooking show happens to be on at the time.) One of our favorite Saturday cooking shows is “Easy Chinese,” which features Chef Ching-He Huang touring local markets and restaurants in the Bay Area (sometimes other places too) for the best fresh ingredients and (mostly Asian) dishes, which she then makes her own by showing viewers how to easily recreate her versions at home. This Italian soba noodle salad is one of the easiest we’ve ever seen her make. When we made it, we didn’t even consult the full recipe — we just cooked it from the notes I jotted down during the show. We made a couple of changes, but that’s another thing that is great about the recipe — you can adapt the ingredients to suit your taste preferences. And with its fusion of Italian (sun dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, olive oil and arugula) and Asian (soba noodles, sesame oil, mirin, rice vinegar, soy and shiitake mushrooms), this salad is as delicious as it is easy.
Pork and Black Bean Stew
My mom found this recipe in her local newspaper and shared it with us. It’s one that she has been cooking for her and my dad for many years, from the version that she cut out of the paper. Although we found the recipe online, I love that she also scanned her newspaper version into an email and sent it to me as well, just to make sure the versions were the same (they are), particularly because the print version includes her notes (an underlined notation of “good” and a reminder to use brown rice instead of white.) The dishes we post here are ones we consider “keepers,” in that we will definitely make them again. With its cooked-all-day, but ready-in-less-than-an-hour flavor, this healthy and hearty stew is no exception. Because we use this blog as a virtual recipe box to preserve and catalogue our “keeper” recipes, we usually throw away printed recipes once we’ve written them up here. But sometimes it’s nice to hang on to a physical piece of paper with a recipe printed in old-school newspaper format, especially when it has your mom’s handwriting on it.
Little Italy Relish
We found this recipe in one of our most-used grilling cookbooks, Weber’s “Real Grilling,” as an accompaniment to their recipe for grilled flatiron steaks. It’s a simple and delicious way to dress up a steak, particularly if you’re a fan of olives. Come to think of it, this relish might also work well as a topping for tilapia or some other flaky white fish, or even as a condiment for a hot dog, similar to the Chicago dog. Certainly, each of these proteins are good on their own, but adding the fresh Mediterranean flavors of the relish can be a welcome change. And since the relish is made with roasted red bell pepper, tomato, olives, celery and parsley, it has enough non-starch and non-meat components to qualify as a vegetable side dish in our book, thereby completing the meal.
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