Thanksgiving Sides: 101. Also, don't trust a celebrity chef.

And then it was the day after the first feast of Thanksgiving 2013. And I rested. EPF is running around being all kinds of productive - apparently the collection of people inspired him to think about what he'd like to be improved around the house. Me? I'm sitting still. 

Round One of Thanksgiving 2013 went quite well last night - good times with some friends and some family (and a special shout of appreciation to James for providing the photography for this entry!). I had some recipe successes, and some recipe failures, and some random snafus along the way. As promised, here's the story, with all recipes listed in a clump at the bottom (with links to original posts where applicable). 

The turkey, of course, was great. It was surprisingly huge (19lbs!) but that's okay - EPF is a big fan of smoked turkey. (Bonus preview: I'm working on some guest blogger events, and he'll be one of them - he makes mean mashed potatoes, without overcomplicating them - and he also can smoke a turkey like a boss.)

My Super Stuffing returned, and this year I actually stuck to the recipe - well, sort of. In the past I've used pre-dried/cubed bread, croutons really - but they're marketed as stuffing starter so OBVIOUSLY it's different. Anyway, this year I got actual sourdough - and you know, the slight extra tang really made a difference, so I vote for that always. Also, the recipe calls for onion, and I did that the first time but per a tiny note I seem to have used shallots last year. I like them better. So that's what I did this year, and I don't know that it makes a massive difference but I still like them better. I had batted around tweaking the recipe - adding some nuts, or some loose sausage, or something - but in the end couldn't bring myself to mess with perfection. When you've nailed something and it's a crucial part of a holiday, it's a pretty bad idea to mess with it - and I did enough of that, as you will read. 

I needed something green on the table, and green bean casserole has been vetoed in this house so I opted for fresh green beans. Those of you that are 55-year olds like me all have the November Good Housekeeping laying around the house somewhere, and in there you saw a story on Ina Garten, and her recipe for Green Bean Gremolata. You maybe thought to yourself "huh, that sounds good - fresh and bright and interesting but uncomplicated. I'll try it." Well, don't. Or if you do at least change a couple things. If I had THOUGHT about it, I would have realized that huge amounts of parsley are gross and so is raw garlic. But I didn't. I'll say this: fresh green beans are still good, and the rest of the topping is good. Just skip the nasty bits.

Also, funny story: these green beans were supposed to be steamed in the steamer pot, but we had an unfortunate incident wherein the steamer pot nearly went up in flames and as of this typing remains on the balcony, de-stinking. So, the beans were microwaved, and they were still nice and crisp and hot. Improv and recovery will get you through the holidays. And the recipe actually called for blanching, which is boiling and then ice-bathing, but that is just too many bowls and complications so that wasn't going to happen anyway. Come on, Ina. 

We skipped yams this year and did roasted acorn squash, which - the way I prepare it - tastes pretty much the same but looks prettier.

 Unless you are a six year old boy, that is. Then, well, it looks like squash and that's yucky. But if you're a one and a half year old boy, then it's so delicious the only reasonable thing to do - after pulling out as much as you can with your little fingers - is pick up the rind and mash it right into your face. So I guess the moral of the story there is know your audience. 

I've got a pretty easy and tasty homemade cranberry sauce - I made it last year and it was good, but a little too tart, so I overruled the recipe's recommendation for entire chunks of rind. Much better result this year. I needed a little less than half an orange's worth of zest for my pumpkin pie (next up) so used the rest of the orange here.

Remember that Good Housekeeping I mentioned? Well, Ina also has a pumpkin pie recipe. I fussed and fiddled with that too -- and the truth is, it's more a pumpkin custard pie. But if you normally find pumpkin pie a little too dense (and, uh, you aren't too worried about your cholesterol), then this might be the pie for you. I also attempted to decorate with leftover crust bits. This is trickier than one might think, as I couldn't put it on till a good ways through the baking due to the pie being liquidy. This led to not-fully cooked crust atop the pie, and it had already been in the oven too long so more baking was out. My next thought was EPF's culinary torch, purchased specifically for creme brulee. That, however, is somewhere in a box in the garage, and may not be seen for quite some time. So I ended up toasting the dough to completion with a barbecue lighter. Let me be clear: I do not recommend this as a strategy. It's just one of those things that sometimes has to happen at the holidays. You know? Oh! And Ina neglects to inform you that you're going to need pie weights, which I don't have, and I didn't have dried beans laying around, so scavenged various things together - rice, lentils, some barley - and put them on parchment. It worked, but caused some anxiety. 

And finally, the Toll House cookies. These were a success with both of the aforementioned boys, so I imagine will be with your home as well. I changed nothing about the recipe since my last posting. They remain delicious. Thanks, Grandmom. 

And that, my friends, is the story of Thanksgiving round 1. While I had a great time hosting, cooking, etc, I look forward to round 2 - when I will come bearing stuffing, and that is all. 

(Recipes after the jump)

Menu? I gotcha menu right here (turkey excepted)

It's Saturday. Do you know where your Thanksgiving shopping list is? 

Sorry, sorry, didn't mean to scare you. It's all going to be okay. I'm here! With a menu! And it's not hard! I'm not going to cover the main dish - the turkey - because EPF is in charge of that. He smokes it. (Not in the way that is now legal here in Washington....like over woodchips) but for sides, I've got your back. We're having Thanksgiving, part 1, tonight - so you'll have all the recipes and reviews you need tomorrow, in plenty of time to shop and cook. It's going to be great. Some of these I've written about previously, so they're linked.

Your menu (pick and choose what you want):

Turkey (like I say, I'm no help here. Sorry.)

Gravy (I cheat and buy it. Want to trick people? Ask at the butcher counter - they might be able to guide you to a good imitation of homemade.)

The Best Stuffing Ever

Green beans (not the mushroom casserole - gremolata)

Roasted acorn squash

Homemade cranberry sauce (you have the canned gel too, if you want. We do both.)

Mashed potatoes

Pumpkin pie, with decor 

Toll house cookies

Plus, a bonus Brussels sprouts recipe - we're not having it for Thanksgiving but I just made it and it's great, so it's an option.

All pretty simple, although it's a lot so scheduling is key. But you can do this! 

More tomorrow...

Project Update: Week Three

In case my flurry of posts over the last 24 hours didn't give it away, the project had some snafus towards the end of last week, and I got a little discombobulated. It was mostly a success, although Thursday's leftover night moved to Friday due to pre-Trick-or-treating snacks getting out of hand and precluding dinner. Then the eggplant parmesan got bumped further to Sunday, because Dungeness crabs have started coming in fresh for the season so that happened Saturday night (yum). But in the end it worked out.

This week is off to a bumpy start as well. Monday night crept up at found me standing in the kitchen at quarter past five, trying to figure out what protein I could scramble together to create a meal -- and the end result with leftover eggplant parm, whole wheat pasta (sausage for EPF), and a tomato/avocado salad. All delicious but I felt like I had kind of copped out, between the leftovers and the lack of planning. Here's the rest of the week, I hope:

• Tuesday: pan seared sole and zucchini (the sole is very fast-cooking, as is the zucchini, so works for a late night dinner as Tuesdays are.)
• Wednesday: lamb loin and sauteed rainbow chard (The lamb was buried in the freezer and needed cooking. We didn't have a lot of luck last time we tried a loin, as opposed to chops, but maybe this time will be better. The rainbow chard is this week's challenge vegetable! It's kind of a stretch for me as I have a really hard time with greens - I have burned kale chips, and never successfully simmered down spinach in a pan. But I have high hopes nonetheless!)
• Thursday: pork tenderloin & acorn squash. (This was the semi-challenge vegetable last week - I just halved it, dumped in some butter, brown sugar and sea salt, and roasted it, a la this recipe, only with a little less brown sugar. It was delicious, so much so that EPF asked for it again, and it's still in the farmers markets. I haven't made a tenderloin in a while but I used to make a mean one, so we'll see if I still can.)
• Friday: we have houseguests, so will likely have dinner out. 

Three nights, one tricky meat and one challenge vegetable. Here we go!

No Strings Attached

In my ongoing full immersion into autumn and all things cozy and homey, it was inevitable that I was going to want pot roast at some point. I haven't had pot roast in a long, long time - we had it when I was younger but not much since then, and I've never made it. So clearly it had to happen. While I was open to doing it the old school way - big chuck roast, crock pot, Lipton's soup mix, etc - we were rapidly running out of room in our fridge, and minimizing leftovers was key. Meanwhile, somewhere along the line I had clipped a recipe I'd been meaning to try -- "individual" pot roasts. A little more effort than the traditional, sure, but SO GOOD. Kind of a hybrid of pot roast and boeuf bourguignon - not quite as complicated though. The meat was tender, not at all stringy, and flavorful, and it has been officially placed in EPF's top five dishes. Try it - it's worth the extra effort. It does take a little time, so probably more of a weekend than a weekday dish, but it reheats well.

Late Dinners

Last week, I was in a deeply autumnal mood. This meant hearty things, autumn-colored food, and at least one use of the slow cooker and/or dutch oven. This slow cooker thing is new to me - I haven't owned a full size one previously, but EPF came with one - so I'm making the most of it. As I was flailing about for ideas I remembered that on Facebook recently my friend Johnny had shared his split pea soup recipe, and as it fit all the criteria, I gave it a whirl. EPF was pretty fond of it - I was too, although I wasn't sure going in. I haven't had split pea in a very, very long time so couldn't even remember what it was actually supposed to taste like, making this a experiment on many levels. It worked out deliciously, though. I may play with the variety of meat in my next batch - the andouille gave it a great kick, so I'd leave most of it, but we've been getting this amazing smoky bacon from the awesome new butcher in our neighborhood - maybe a few slices of that in place of one of the andouille links, to see what that flavor does.

Grumpy but grateful

Apparently there's this thing going on with Facebook this month...you're supposed to put something you're grateful for every day. Seems like a lovely exercise, but I don't think other people really care what I'm grateful for. And really, 30 days is a lot. Some days I'm just GRUMPY. I understand that's the point - to focus on what you're blessed with in life - but, I mean, grumpy. 

That said, I think often of how lucky I am to have a kitchen, and a good one - and a well-stocked one. I regularly volunteer at my local food bank, and am constantly reminded that I have nothing about which to complain. There's one client who has started coming since I began volunteering. When he first came he would take the full amount we offered him. After about a month, he started taking less, saying he didn't have access to an entire fridge anymore. Then not too long after that he wasn't able to take any food that would need refrigeration, and the past few weeks I haven't seen him at all. He reminds me very much of a guy I was friends with in college, and I can't help but worry about him. Things are tough for a lot of people, and the food bank keeps getting busier. With the SNAP cuts that just kicked in, it will only get worse over the next few months - busy to begin with, between the cold and the holidays. Friends, if you have some time or some financial ability, consider calling up your local food pantry to see what they need most. It's a tough time out there and we're lucky to have what we have. 

Anyway. That's my bit for this morning. Recipe updates, coming up shortly. 

"We rise by lifting others."

-Robert Ingersoll

Adulthood is tricky and other obvious things

The sky is blue! 

This may seem like a given to you...but it's not so normal this time of year out here. So, I celebrate. This day last year, Hurricane Sandy whacked into the Northeast, leaving many friends and loved ones in a bad spot. Here in Seattle we got a bit of a gift out of it - my aunt and uncle ended up extending their visit with us as they couldn't get a flight home. Not so fun for them but we loved having them, and that's what I'll choose to focus on - I've spent enough time on various blogs climbing upon my government-response-after-disasters soapbox. And this is a happy place! With food! 

In honor of the region of my roots, this week's menu...well, it has nothing to do with Sandy. Unless you consider some seafood. It does, however, include a recipe from my friend Johnny from New Jersey, so we'll count that. Unfortunately I do not have a new produce adventure to report on: a late night Saturday led to missing the Farmer's Market Sunday, so no new acquisitions. I still have last week's emergency acorn squash, though, so am carrying that through with a promise to do better next week. I'm sticking with the goal of menu planning, though, so here's this week's menu. 

• Monday: pan-seared local salmon & acorn squash. We stocked up on sockeye when it was coming in fresh over the summer, so this is a "reach into the freezer for a fast entree", and the aforementioned semi-new produce. 
• Tuesday: Johnny's slow cooker split pea soup & homemade corn bread. Johnny is a guy with a busy and stressful job, and the recipe he shared seems easy and well-suited for that kind of life. EPF teaches Tuesday nights and I'll be out voluworking (why didn't spellcheck catch what seems like a clearly made up word combining volunteering and working?) all afternoon, so this seems like something that will be just right for a late dinner. The cornbread is something I haven't made in a long time - and never the recipe I'm eyeing - but seemed like it would go well with this. 
• Wednesday: Individual Pot Roasts. Another new recipe, this is a dutch oven thing - love me some one-pot cooking. 
• Thursday: Leftover night! Assuming the weather cooperates we'll be trick or treating with our friends and their sweet little boy, so leftovers will be quick and easy - and we're going to run out of plastic containers if we don't clean out the fridge soon anyway.
• Friday: Baked Eggplant Parmesan. I'm trying a new recipe that calls this "healthy" and "easy". We'll see if it is either. 

And that's the plan! Last week, while a success in terms of planning, was also kind of a tip toe into this plan, with only two nights of real cooking - only one of which was "new". This week is a little more ambitious, although not hugely. Hopefully these will all turns out to be as not-enormously-complicated as I hope. 

Results to follow, friends...

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, 
and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth 
seeking the successive autumns."

-George Eliot

Planning is for Adults

Tonight begins Project: Meg Cooks Like a Grown-up. The menu: slow cooker carnitas & delicata squash. The inadvertant theme: "quick" is in the...mind of the time-challenged. While both of these things involved minimal effort - and one was in a Crock-Pot, the modern originator of "the machine cooks it for you" - they both involved forethought and quite a lot of time. The Crock-Pot obviously does, although the assembly is about 10-15 minutes, tops. But if you're like me and can barely get out the door in time what with the clothing putting on and the coffee making and the whatnot, well, then, make it on a weekend. Being of the non-working variety, this was a Monday attempt for me. The delicata is also not very labor intensive, but does take about 30 minutes and needs tending, so can't really be put in and then left alone for 30 minutes. But once it's in, you can do the prep for the carnitas toppings and shred the meat, so it works out.

First up, carnitas. I might be the only person out there who hasn't made carnitas yet, so this seemed like a good thing to get in the repertoire. I mostly followed one recipe...but tweaked it based on another and then added a random fridge leftover. So, the end result is below (which shortcuts noted where possible), and aside from a deliciously fragrant house it was also super tasty. Not overwhelming but just snappy enough to perk up the evening. We did feel it needed a little kick, so the hot sauce was employed - but that can be optional. We added chopped avocado, a little sour cream and some flour tortillas, and it was creamy and tangy deliciousness. (The avocado was of course hard as a rock...October in the PacNW isn't exactly their time. It spent the afternoon snuggling with an apple in the Paper Bag Hotel, and the results were workable.) The original recipe suggested toppings of diced green chiles and carmelized onions. Neither of us is really into fiery hot food, so I scratched the chiles, and I wasn't feeling onions today but may try them out another time. 

Getting back in the groove

It's time to wake this thing back up. It's time for cold (permanently foggy) days and fireplaces. It's time to refocus from the depressing cesspool of our country's "government" to food, family, friends, festivities. It's Time To Cook.

It was a summer of minimal cooking - life was busy, EPF and I moved, and, well, it was summer, when a lack of both a/c and a grill means lots of salads and sushi. What with my patio garden doing really truly terribly, my domestic inspiration level was low, low, looooow. But now that we're sharing a home and eating together, there is some actual planning that needs to happen for us to eat like normal people (read: not takeout every night, which we could easily slip into with the wealth of options in this neighborhood). So: while I'm without garden for now (of the outdoor plants, only the rosemary and now-struggling sage made the move - the others went to the Garden Intake Shelter, aka my next door neighbors' patio), I do need menu planning motivation and this blog is going to be it! Because I said so! And so it is! (Do I sound fired up yet? I'm still working on the coffee.)

This week I'm also embarking on a new low-grade project: each week I'm attempting a new, ideally seasonal, produce that I haven't messed with previously (or at least don't do on a regular basis). I feel like incorporating fresh produce outside of the summer is challenging, but I know it can be done, so will now shame myself into doing so. This week, squash. I acquired delicata and acorn at the farmer's market yesterday, and am starting with delicata since I've never made it. (Acorn I have made, so it's in case of crisis - this is the first week, after all)

The week's plan:

• Monday: Slow cooker carnitas & roasted delicata squash. This is a double experiment as I've never made carnitas either, but nothing in the slow cooker is that complex - so how hard can it be? I'm combining a couple recipes - we'll see how it goes.
• Tuesday: Roast chicken thighs with carrot-fennel soup (yay for carrot and fennel season!)
• Wednesday: (nothing: we have dinner plans, so a nicely timed break)
• Thursday: Roast chicken a la EPF. Somehow I have reached the distinguished age of...uh...over 28 without mastering the art of roast chicken (intact, that is - I can handle pieces - see Tuesday). I can make one, but it won't be amazing. EPF, on the other hand, creates a masterpiece, so he is in charge of this one. If the acorn squash is still around, it may go with this. TBD.
• Friday: Leftover red sauce & pasta. It's Friday, people. C'mon. 

Lots of white meat, but then again we've been eating a lot of lamb and bacon lately so it's probably a good thing to err away from the highest possible cholesterol levels for a bit, no?

"Ask not what you can do for your country. 
Ask what's for lunch."
-Orson Wells

It's that season again

The sun has been out here in Seattle for days now. Days! It's gorgeous. I'm sunburned. It's only April. I could not be happier. 

As an obvious result, I've been pretty much parked on my patio, and have been puttering and freshening up garden pots. In the process, I've discovered that while I never really checked to see if my peas from last year were perennials...it's kind of looking like maybe they are. The pot in which (I assume, can't really remember) they were planted last year suddenly has a collection of pea-looking sprouts, without me having paid the slightest bit of attention. 

there are four or five of these - peas-to-be?

 All I've done is...I don't know, till? the soil to air it out after the winter, with intent to fertilize and reuse later in the season. I didn't think I even left any of the plant behind last year. But something is growing and it's not a weed or a stray birdseed (not the current finch families are leaving much behind to begin with), so maybe I'm lucking into another crop. It's a mystery.

Meanwhile it appears I'm going to have some sort of tomato bonanza. Last year I planted 9-10 seeds and got something sad like 1 sprout, and had to purchase a start from a local farm at the farmers' market to make sure I had a crop at all. This year I planted 16 seeds, and so far I have 9 - nine! - sprouts. I'm going to have to buy more pots. The mint won't die, the thyme seems to have created a baby thyme at the side of the pot, the sage looks like winter never even happened, and even the rosemary is doing well. This is all before this week, when we've had nearly a full week of stunning weather (did I mention that I'm sunburned). This week the arugula has popped up all over the place and three new orchid buds have bloomed. The only thing not busting out is the violet hybrid I seeded in pots - which is probably fine since now I'm going to need those pots for tomatoes. I love spring. 

itty bitty tomato sprout...one of many

Sprung!

I'm typing from the inside of a sunbeam. A sunbeam! This is so exciting - not just because it's Seattle and it rains a lot. No, this is more because it's Seattle...and we're kind of far north. For a long stretch in the winter, the sun - when it happens to come out in the middle of the day to begin with - never makes it high enough in the sky to make it into the interior courtyard of my building, which my apartment faces. I know it's over there...but it never shows itself. But now! Now my patio is awash in sun, my desk is a warm and happy place, and my cat is writhing in ecstasy in a sun patch in the next room. 

There really is nothing like early spring, amirite? That first warm day: bare feet and cropped pants, iced coffee, chirping birds, picnic-planning with EPB (who is now EPFiance, so I guess he needs a new acronym). Best of all, though, there are actual!fresh!delicious! things in the produce section. Lunches are suddenly much more interesting - today's was a big fresh salad, with fresh asparagus and chickpeas (okay, those aren't "fresh", but they were good) with a lemon vinaigrette and fresh pepper. You can't get springier. It was marvelous. I used to be afraid of asparagus. If you don't know how to cook them you can rapidly slide down a complicated path of blanching AND sauteing, or roasting them to death, or other complicated disasters. No more! Thanks, Alton Brown.

Welcome, spring! 

Simple and Delicious Vinaigrette

It's a personal thing, a homemade salad dressing. I like mine on the basic side. The general rule of thumb is 1 part acid to 2 parts oil, with seasonings if you want. Add your acids first, then the salt and other seasonings - they'll dissolve better before you add the oil. Then add your oil, whisk aggressively, and you're all set. My current go-to, in the order you should combine: 1 part balsamic, 1 part lemon juice (fresh if you have it), a generous pinch of salt, a pinch of dried whole thyme (crush it as if your hands were a mortar and pestle as you add it to the container), and a generous grinding of fresh pepper. Mix. Then add two parts good extra virgin olive oil - and if you have a lightly flavored oil, like a pepper-infused one i'm enjoying right now, make it 1 part that and 1 part unflavored oil. Mix, taste, adjust as needed. 

Easiest possible way to make asparagus

Via Alton Brown, Food Network

Ingredients

1/4 cup water

1 pound fresh asparagus, 1 to 1 1/2 inches cut off the bottom [*note from your blogger: don't get too technical here, just snap them - the stalk will break where it's supposed to*]

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Pour or spritz the water onto 4 paper towels. Spread out the paper towels and lay the asparagus on top of the dampened towels. Sprinkle with the salt. Roll up the asparagus in the dampened towels. Lay the bundle, seam side down, in the microwave. Microwave on high until the asparagus is just crisp tender, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the microwave using tongs and carefully unwrap. Arrange on a serving platter and serve immediately.

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