Vietnamese Pork Noodle Bowl

Quarantine cooking has brought home the real need to use everything up in your fridge before heading out to a market for new supplies. That being said, there is some good food being passed around the Internet these days and this is one of the noodle bowls that I saw recently.

Two Words ...

Chinese Noodles

Pork (or Chicken) and Pumpkin (or Butternut) with Soy and Star Anise

This is a Diana Henry recipe ... and you KNOW how I feel about her! So just take a moment to really look at the photo above and as you do, I want you to imagine the smell of this dish doing a finish in the oven ... a kind of braise in that juice tucked down below the butternut squash and the pork fillets. Do you see the star anise? The red chile bits? The bits of ginger root? The colors alone are enough to recommend this dish, but the sauce flavors really sell it.

IHCC - A Riff on Jacques Pepin's Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

This is the first major meal that I have cooked this week. Really. You see, life's been crazy busy of late.

Smothered Pork Chops with Mustard and Thyme Butter

Normally, at this time of year, I'm perking up and looking for the first asparagus at the market and poking around the edge of the grey cottage's foundation for the first crocus spears, hoping for their happy golden and purple splashes of color against the brown of earth and crust of melting snowy patches. Ahem ... someone please give a whisper in Mother Nature's ear! It's snowing ... again. The joke is old, Mother dear.

Instead of flinging open windows to bring in a Spring-ish breeze, I'm poking more logs on the fire and contemplating what bit of warm Winter-ish comfort food I can concoct for dinner that will use the oven. Diana Henry's Mustard and Thyme Pork Chop Bake sounds good ... and the smells are fantastic.

Oh, Nigel - Rib Ragout with Pappardelle

Mmmm! See all those little bits of carrot and mushroom? They're swimming in a nice sauce with leeks and celery too. They're soaking into those wide pasta noodles and keeping those baby back ribs all moist and delicious.

Lyonnaise Pork Chops

... thick pork chops, mustard onion slather, crispy bread crumb topping, easy dinner ...

IHCC - Bangers and Mash Nigel's Way

Made a typically Brit meal with Nigel Slater last evening ... well, sort of. Certainly a plate of bangers and mash is typical pub fare in the UK. Nigel gives it a bit of a spin, though. I was intrigued! So, it was carrot mash and bangers browned and baked with a lemon honey mustard glaze. Added a chunk of pumpernickel bread on the side and a good glass of wine (no beer for me, but perhaps for SB!) and we had a tasty 'stick to the ribs' supper!

Tortière

When I was a young kid, I loved poking around the kitchen when my Mom was cooking. She had a real routine and a corner of the kitchen counter that was her work space, so I would often grab a chair and drag it over in front of the sink, climb up and watch her do her thing. Pie crusts were always one thing that intrigued me and sometimes Mom would sing a little ditty called 'Billy Boy'.

That song and the bit about making a cherry pie I credit with my urge to perfect pie crust technique. Of course, I've gone far beyond cherry pies over the years. In fact, next week, I will mark thirty-four years with my charming Billy, otherwise known as Silent Bob. So, in honor of tying the knot, I made us a lovely little Tortière for our dinner this evening.

Dinner With The Recipe Club

A little light reading with cookies included ...

Gooey Pork, Slippery Greens and Mushrooms ...

This is the weather for cozy suppers - ones that are full of heat and spice and that warm you to the cockles of your heart. Now, normally I think of cozy comfort food as something in a bowl with steam rising up and around my face, enveloping me in a heady scent. Yeah. Total comfort and a sauna besides. A total sensory experience that calls back far off memories of home and hearth.

Almost Instant Gratification ... Pork Saltimbocca

For all the meat eaters in the crowd, I have THE simplest and most delicious dish ... pork saltimbocca  ... total minimalist fashion. Easy, easy, easy! Crack a bottle of nice red ... something from Montepulciano D'Abruzzo is nice. Make a nice plate of fresh greens and add slivers of purple onion, beautiful black olives, grated Asiago cheese, and a handful of nice herbed croutons. Fix this saltimbocca and enjoy ...

Fruited Pork Loin Roll - Easy Entertaining

This is a simple and very tasty meat dish that I always have a hankering for when the autumn season rolls around ... it must be the colors of this dish - golds and browns plus the greens and oranges of accompanying fall vegetables. They have cued my brain to make this for dinner. Do you have certain dishes that you positively must make once the air crisps up and the trees start to turn? Or the first snow flies? Or the snowbanks melt and the breezes soften and springs seems eminent? Or summer's sun is blazing and the humidity is climbing? Seasonal favorites ... you gotta go with the urge because it's then that that certain dish tastes the best! Really! I truly believe this to be true!

A Tailgate Supper - Slow Cooker Pulled Pork and Creamy Cole Slaw

Fall's here in the Monadnock region of New Hampshire! No more knocking on the door with a tentative crisp day or a showy bright blue fall sky. Labor Day has come and gone and now it's back to busy school days, harvesting the final garden produce and beginning the buttoning up of things for the coming (say this word in a whisper!) winter. Soon we'll be raking leaves, planting spring bulbs, cleaning out the greenhouse and stacking the planters and hanging baskets for the season, cleaning out the gutters, stacking the wood up closer to the house,and enjoying the occasional high school football game. Busy days, indeed!

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

The crock pot that I bought several months ago has gotten incredible use over the winter, and now Spring is back and busy times come with yard and garden work. I haven't gone and put that slow cooker away for the summer, though! It will be kept just as busy as during the wintertime!  Case in point, today's dinner and tomorrow's leftovers ... pulled pork.

IHCC -Greetings Ottolenghi ! Thanks for Sunday Night Supper!

Ottolenghi's Sweet and Spicy Beef and Pork Pie

Two weeks ago, what started out as a search for some good Indian recipes turned into the introduction to a new blogging group that concentrates their cooking efforts on researching and cooking one particular chef's work for an extended period of time. The I Heart Cooking Club was finishing up a period of time in which they had concentrated on Madhur Jaffrey's cooking and announced that they would be moving on to the work of Yotam Ottolenghi.

HMM! There has been quite a bit of chatter on-line about Ottolenghi over the last year. Between talk of his restaurants, his interesting take on fresh vegetables and use of spices in new and interesting ways, the cook book called Plenty, and his latest cookbook called  Jerusalem , I was intrigued to see just what all the excitement was about. I went here and after giving it some thought, I decided to join up.

Maple Season! Maple Glazed Spareribs and Winter Slaw

 

... maple glazed spare ribs with winter slaw ...

 

Carnitas - Alice Waters & A Random Recipe Story

This is a lunch or supper recipe that can really satisfy your urge for a hit of authentic Mexican cooking, but I will warn you that it takes time to make it right. The recipe comes from Alice Waters' book The Art of Simple Food , a book that sits on Sprout Sara's cookbook shelf. My on-line friend, Dom chose to have us mix up the concept of random recipes a bit this month and call a fellow foodie to ask them to provide the randomness. Clever boy, that Dom!

The Butcher's Sauce - Random Recipes

 

 

an ode to orange ... 

 

What's at 'the back of  beyond' in your cupboard  (or freezer, in my case) ? This month's Random Recipe challenge was to reach into the back of your pantry and bring out a box, can, bag, packet, what ever! Next, go to a cookbook and find a recipe that uses that 'forgotten' ingredient. Well, that's clever, Dom!

Pork Chops with Plums and Chinese Spices

 

 

 

Last evening, I made the most delicious pork chop sear that I have ever made ... period. Peace.