A follow up, which is totally unlike its preceding post

I don't normally just repost somebody else's blogging - seems lazy and vaguely cheaty - but this seemed important. I was talking previously about how we're all in the winter funk - how food is not fresh and cooking is not fun and we are generally cold, grumpy, and uninspired (maybe I'm projecting a bit). I gave you a warm and somewhat wintery meal. Today, in my perusal of favorite blogs, I swung by Smitten Kitchen...and saw that Deb was feeling pretty much the same as I - but had a very different approach. I now want fresh fruity drinks, and you should too. Read, drink, and enjoy.

Blood Orange Margaritas



picture via Smitten Kitchen

We all need a little kick right about now

So. Here we are, most of the way through February. (Yes, really. That happened.) You are back in the crazed day-to-day with no warm and fuzzy holidays in sight, it's still cold and gross out for most of you, and spring break, for those few of you that can actually still do that, is way too far off. The early winter appeal of cooking great grand meals for cozy nights has faded entirely, and it's still too early for most fresh and interesting produce to inspire. You want dinner, and quickly, but still something interesting, and probably something frugal. Turns out, this exists - and it mostly uses things you're likely to have on hand, and if not can be substituted to a certain extent.

I'm a fan of this pork cutlet recipe - it's easy, it's fast (honestly, 30 minutes start to finish - and more like 15 if you take shortcuts) and it's got a little kick to keep it from being too boring, and you can easier adjust the amount of kick for your particular audience. I like to practically crust the cutlets in pepper when I sear them and not skimp on the red pepper in the sauce, but that's just what works for me.

Generally, the ingredient amounts - at least in my experience - are really just suggestions. I don't think I've measured anything any of the times I've made this, probably because it's a recipe for 4 and I've only made this for 1 so far - at least before tonight, when I cooked up a whole batch of 6 cutlets, which once again is not precisely what the recipe calls for. So yes, very adjustable!

Bonus: the recipe calls for wine, so if you're going to open a bottle anyway...

Spicy Italian Pork Cutlets
(adapted from Allrecipes)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, divided
• 4 boneless pork chops, pounded to 1/4 inch thick [*I've never actually pounded - first time the cutlets were already pretty thin, the second time I just sliced them off a loin I had defrosted. Also worth noting that my cutlets tend to be small, so I allow two per serving.*]
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced [*shortcut option: garlic paste works fine although maybe isn't as interesting a presentation at the end*]
• 1 large tomato, diced [*another shortcut - I tend to make this with canned diced. A bit more sodium but much faster and you get more flavorful juice in the recipe*]
• 1/3 cup chicken broth [*roughly*]
• 1/4 cup dry white wine [*again, roughly - whatever looks good to your eye. Also, I stand by the rule of not cooking with cheap junk wine - you're going to have to do something with the rest of the bottle, so use something you'll drink, or pull a Martha Stewart and freeze leftover cubes for...I don't really know what. I feel like frozen wine would just complicate a recipe, particularly one like this. But whatever floats your boat.*]
• 3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley [*I always forget this. It's still good.*]
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat roughly 2 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat - just drizzle some in - you're not deep-frying, so adjust for the number of cutlets you're making. Season the pork chops with salt and pepper, and sear very quickly on both sides - it'll finish cooking later, so don't overdo it here. Probably a good idea to have a splatter screen handy, too. Remove from the pan, and set aside.
2. Heat the remaining olive oil in the skillet over medium-high heat, and saute the garlic about 30 seconds - probably less if you're using paste. Mix in the tomato, chicken broth, wine, parsley, and red pepper flakes. Cook and stir until thickened, about 2 minutes.
3. Return the pork chops to the skillet, and continue cooking 5 to 10 minutes, to an internal temperature of 145 degrees F (63 degrees C). Serve pork with the tomato and broth mixture from the skillet. [*it's worth noting that when I first printed this recipe the safety guidelines for pork hadn't been changed yet, so it said 160 degrees - but the exact same cooking time. Either way I found this to be too long - it was 4 minutes at most in my case. There's room for error since it's in liquid so won't get TOO tough, but keep any eye on it - it's going to be an individual judgement call, since getting a meat thermometer into a thin cutlet is easier said than done. It also is affected, obviously, by how long you sear it earlier in the recipe, so be quick about that.*]

The original recipe suggests putting this with buttered noodles - I put it over a pile of whole wheat couscous from Trader Joe's, which soaked up the extra broth nicely, and was probably healthier - plus, if you start it at the same time as you first begin this recipe, it's done at about the same time with minimal effort required. All it really needs is a decent-sized salad along side and you're set.

Gumbo makes it better

Happy Mardi Gras! For those of you who don't know, I used to live in New Orleans, and miss it early and often. Living elsewhere is a bummer, especially during Mardi Gras and JazzFest, mostly because there's no question that you are missing out on amazingness, but particularly because it's not even like the festivity isn't as good - there's just nothing doin'. As they say, "Everywhere else, it's just Tuesday." And that is by far the worst part - fighting the overwhelming urge to run around shaking people and saying "don't you know what today is? It's MARDI GRAS." Of course, as my friend Erin noted on her blog, this often leads to the annoying process of explaining that TV/tourist Mardi Gras and actual Mardi Gras have next to nothing in common. 

Anyway...I digress. This year, there was a little extra New Orleans attention in the form of the Super Bowl, so I seized the moment and EPB and I, having zero interest in either team playing, had a little NOLA-themed Super Bowl gathering. The main purpose was to have a lot of food. Obviously. I gave some thought to making a king cake, but people who haven't been previously exposed to king cake and/or Mardi Gras sometimes don't respond as well as one would hope, as I learned during an unfortunate encounter with a colleague in 2011. So: no king cake. Instead, I decided to swap out the traditional chili for gumbo. I couldn't find a recipe I liked, so I combined a couple and tweaked it into my own. It's not totally by-the-rules traditional, so I expect some actual New Orleanians will be distressed, but it's also not an all-day project and it disappeared pretty quickly, so I think I was not the only one pleased with the end result. It's adjustable, as all good recipes should be. Unfortunately no photos accompany this, but I'll add some next time. Notes: I did a fish-free version of this, for two reasons - we already had quite a bit of seafood on the menu, and with a lot of little kids coming I didn't know if there were allergies, etc. I think a shrimp version would be tastier and plan to do that next time. Also, this is one of those recipes where you really ought to do the chopping, measuring, etc before you do anything - your own little meez, as Anthony Bourdain calls it. There's no time to chop them without burning the roux or otherwise causing chaos unless you happen to have your very own prep chef doing it for you, and then what are you doing reading blog recipes anyway? 

Superdome Gumbo

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 4 celery stalks, coarsely chopped
• 2 medium onions, coarsely chopped
• 2 green bell peppers, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano, crumbled
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper 
• 32-40 ounces of liquid: chicken stock, canned clam juice, etc, depending on which main ingredients you're using. I think 40 is too thin and 32 is just barely enough - if you plan on simmering it for a long time, 40 is probably the way to go.
• 1 28-ounce can plum tomatoes, drained, chopped
• 1 pound smoked andouille, halved lengthwise, sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 1/2 pound okra, trimmed, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices (frozen works too if you can't find fresh)

• Roughly 2 lbs of shrimp uncooked, peeled and cleaned shrimp; or cooked meats like chicken if going seafood-free. [*note from your blogger: In this case for convenience I got a rotisserie chicken and picked the meat.*]
• Long-grain rice 

Heat the oil in a heavy large Dutch oven over high heat until almost smoking. Add flour and stir until dark red-brown, about 8 minutes. [*note from your blogger: a little research suggested that you can do it that way or you can do medium-to-medium-high heat and cook it more slowly - which is what I did, and it was fine and less odorific in the kitchen. I read a direction from a highly recognized New Orleans chef, one who has a Louisiana country inspiration in much of his food, saying that he was raised with the lesson that a good roux should take as long as drinking two bottles of beer. I think that's a touch too long, but then my roux was a caramel color and I was okay with that, so if you want dark dark, maybe tipsy is the way to go. Of CRUCIAL importance, though: you must keep stirring. A whisk is best, and if you're fancy you can use a whisk designed specifically for roux. I can see it being helpful. Keep stirring, and do not look away - it is very easy to burn and ruin it. Put on some music, like the livestream of WWOZ, and settle in with your whisk.*] 

Immediately add celery, onions and bell peppers. Cook 5 minutes, stirring and scraping bottom of pan often (switch to a wooden spoon for this part - much easier). Mix in bay leaves, salt, oregano and cayenne. Add your liquids, canned tomatoes and sausage. 

• Option A, with shrimp & fresh okra: Boil 15 minutes. [This is a good time to get going on the rice, by the way - it'll be done around the same time.] Add okra, reduce heat and simmer until okra is tender, about 15 minutes. Add shrimp to gumbo and simmer until just cooked through, about 3 minutes. 
• Option B, with precooked chicken and frozen okra: Bring the liquids to a boil, and add the chicken. Being pre-cooked it can be a little dry, so this both softened it back up and added some extra flavor to the gumbo. After roughly 15 minutes, add the okra while it's still boiling, since it's frozen. Then reduce it to a simmer, and simmer it, honestly, for as long as you want until it's the consistency you want. Should be at least 15 minutes, but if it looks too thin you can keep it going. 

That's it! Takes a while with all the stirring and simmering, but it's not super complicated. Various recipes also suggest that you can make this the day before and bring it back up to a simmer before serving. If you do this with the shrimp version, don't add the shrimp until the day of so they don't overcook. 

To serve, put a mound of rice in each bowl and ladle the gumbo over it. Set out your Tabasco, your Crystal, your Tony's - and enjoy!

“What is New Orleans? New Orleans is Creole gumbo, filé gumbo, cowan gumbo, chicken gumbo, smoked sausage gumbo, hot sausage gumbo, onion gumbo.”

– Kermit Ruffins, New Orleans vocalist and trumpeter