Za'atar Rubbed Pork Tenderloin

Sorry for the lack of updates as the Mesleh's have been traveling!  We love our Food & Wine magazine.  They always have great recipes and we decided to make this one in particular since it used za'atar, an arabic spice, that we already had.  Here is the recipe:

Recipe:
- 2 tbsp za'atar (or 2 tsp each of dried thyme & sesame seeds)
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 2 12 oz pork tenderloins
- 2 poblano peppers
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 1 pint grape tomatoes halved





In a medium bowl, combine the za'atar with the oil and a generous pinch of salt.  Add the pork, turn to coat and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.  Meanwhile, roast the poblano peppers directly over a gas flame or under a broiler, turning frequently, until blackened.  Peel & seed the chilies; cut into thin strips.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil from the marinade.  Add the pork and cook over high heat, turning once, until white throughout and lightly browned.  5 minutes.  Transfer pork to platter.  Add any remaining marinade oil to the skillet.  Add the onions and poblano and cook over moderately high heat, stirring, until the onion is softened, 5 minutes.  Add the tomatoes and toss.  Add 1/2 cup of water and cook until the tomatoes are just softened, 4 minutes.  Spoon the sauce over the pork and serve.

Verdict:
It was really good, easy to make and will definitely make this again.  The sauce on top was really a great compliment to the dish.  We decided to roast the poblano pepper along with some zucchini and ate some couscous with it.  Two thumbs up!


Food & Wine: March 2011

Marc's Spaghetti

Despite Marc being busy with work he surprised me with making dinner!  He made his infamous spaghetti. 

Recipe:
- 2 tbsp evoo
- 6 oz chopped La Quercia Guanciale
- 1 large onion chopped
- 2 1/2 tbsp minced garlic
- 1 tbsp chopped jardinara
- 2 28oz cans tomatoes
- 1 lb spaghetti





Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat until oil ripples but does not smoke.  Add guanciale and cook, stirring frequently, until the fat begins to render and meat is no longer pink, about 3 minutes.  Add onion and stir, coating onions with the rendered fat.  Season with salt & pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft and golden, about 10 minutes.  Add the garlic and jardinara and cook about 10 more minutes.  Add the tomotatoes, season with salt and pepper, and bring to a boil.  Lower the heat and gently simmer the sauce, stirring occasionally until it reduces and thickens slightly, the flavors blend and the fat floats to the surface, about 40 minutes.  Add to cooked spaghetti and top with parmigiana romano cheese.  

We ate the pasta with a side of jerusalem salad.

Verdict:
The pasta was so full of flavor, rich & complex.  It was so amazingly good.  He's in trouble because once you eat something this delicious, you will want it all the time!  I give it two thumbs up!

Quick Eats: Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup

It was a cold, rainy Chicago day.  We wanted an easy meal for this low key afternoon.  We decided the perfect meal would be grilled cheese & tomato soup!

To make it quick eats, we bought Trader Joe's Organic Tomato & Roasted Red Pepper Soup.  This soup is really good for when you don't want to make tomato soup from scratch.  While we were there, we picked up some multigrain bread & pepper jack cheese.

No real recipe here.  We buttered each sides of the bread, and heated them on a pan.  Added the cheese and cooked them till the cheese was nice and melted.  We heated up the soup, cut up some pickles & popped in a movie.  A perfect afternoon with quick eats!

Bim Bim Bap

I love bim bim bap!  I was excited when my regular grocery store had bean sprout this week.  I immediately knew I wanted bim bim bap.  We also had spicy pork (will be a different recipe post) in our freezer, so it would be an easy dinner option.

 Recipe:
- Bean Sprouts
- Spinach
- Garlic
- Sesame Oil
- Sesame Seeds
- Hot Pepper Paste
- Eggs
- Cucumber Kimchi





This is my make shift bim bim bap.  Obviously there are other options for veggies, but this was all we had.  Both the spinach & bean sprouts were blanched and then marinated the same way.  First make sure they are squeezed fully from water.  Then marinate them both with salt, sesame oil, garlic.

In a bowl of rice add on top,  spinach, bean sprouts and cucumber kimchi.  Cook up some meat (recipe to follow).  Add an egg (I prefer over medium).  Mix it all up with some gochujang (korean red pepper paste).   

Verdict:
If you have these veggies around, and meat already made it's a real easy, staple dinner.  Otherwise, will take work to get all the ingredients together.  So plan ahead!

5 Vegetable Miso Stew

We decided to do lent this year which means no meat on Fridays.  We decide to make a 5 vegetable miso stew from the Simply Ming One-Pot Meals.  Not to ruin the verdict, but it was awesome.


Recipe:
2 tbsp canola oil
1 bunch of scallions chopped
1 large onion minced
1 large sweet potato, diced
1 tbsp minced ginger
2 cups roma tomatoes, chopped
2 quarts vegetable stock
1 tbsp tamari sauce
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp miso
2 bunches of baby bok choy
Clear rice noodles







Heat a stockpot over medium heat, add oil.  Add scallions (just white parts), onions and potatoes.  Season with salt & pepper.  Saute until the onions have browned lightly, about 5 minutes.  Add ginger, tomatoes (with juices), stock & tamari.  Add miso & stir to dissolve.  Bring stew to a simmer, and cook until the potatoes are soft.  Add salt, pepper.

Add bok choy & simmer until soft. Add clear rice noodles. 

Verdict: 
This soup was way more delicious than I expected it to be.  The recipe above isn't exactly how it is in the cookbook.  The original recipe calls for kale, and no noodles.  Since we didn't have kale, we added baby bok choy, which was perfect.  Also, we used soy sauce instead of tamari.  The noodles were the perfect addition to the soup.  The flavors in the soup are nice and bold but not overbearing.  It's hearty and you don't feel like it's missing anything.  It was easy to make, and will definitely be made again.

Beef & Broccoli Stir Fry

For Christmas, I got the Ming Tsai 'Simply Ming One-Pot Meals'.  Quite possibly one of the best gifts I have gotten.  I love cookbooks!  This cookbook so far has been great.  This recipe actually includes shiitake mushrooms, but since we didn't have any, we didn't include them.  Also, you have to marinate the beef for at least 1 hour up to 5 hours. 

Recipe:
- 1lb flank steak, 1/4 slices
- 1 tbsp minced ginger
- 2 tbsp minced garlic
- 1/2 bunch of scallions chopped
- 1/4 cup oyster sauce
- 1 large head of broccoli
- 5 tbsp canola oil
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 2 tbsp water

In a resealable plastic bag, combine the steak, ginger, garlic, scallions and oyster sauce.  Seal the bag and use your hands to distribute the ingredients.  Marinate, refrigerated, for at least 1 hour and up to 5 hours.  

Once ready, blanch the broccoli for 30 seconds and set aside - make sure they are cooled.  Heat wok, and cook meat.  Once all meat is cooked (may need to be cooked in batches - if you are using the shiitake mushrooms, cook those first, then the meat) add the broccoli (and mushrooms) back into the wok with the chicken stock.  Bring to a simmer.  Season with salt & pepper.  Transfer the meat, broccoli (and mushrooms) onto a plate.  Add the cornstarch mix into the sauce.  This will thicken the sauce.  Then pour over the meat!  Serve with rice!

Verdict:
This came out good.  It wasn't quite restaurant like but definitely good.  I think I may need a bit more practice with it.  We ate this with a side of white rice & cucumber kimchi.

*note: the recipe is not verbatim to the cookbook.

Homemade Granola

This is our second batch of granola.  Our first recipe, was from my mom.  It tasted great, but it only called for honey, which I found hard to spread around.  So for this batch, we tried a recipe where the "liquid" part was easier to spread around.  Below are the ingredients we used.

Recipe:
- 4 cups of oats
- 1/2 cup of almonds
- 1/2 cup of sunflower seeds
- 1/2 cup of coconuts
- 1/2 cup of walnuts
- 1/2 cup of banana chips
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons honey
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup of craisins
- 1/2 cup of dates



Preheat the oven to 325 degrees

Combine the oats, sunflower seeds, almonds, coconuts, banana chips and walnuts in a large bowl. Stir together the salt, brown sugar, maple syrup, honey, oil, cinnamon, and vanilla in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then pour over the dry ingredients, and stir to coat. Spread the mixture out evenly on the baking sheets. 

Bake in the preheated oven until crispy and toasted, about 20 minutes. Stir often. Cool, then stir in the craisins and dates before storing in an airtight container.


Verdict:
It came out delicious.  This recipe was more evenly crispy due to the liquid.  I kind of don't like that it uses so much oil.  I think I may make some adjustments for my next batch to also include wheat germ and flax seeds.  Off to hug some trees!

Leftovers: Chicken Salad

The best part of roasting a chicken is the leftovers.  So many different things you can make.  Today, we used the leftovers to make a chicken salad sandwich.
 

Recipe:
- leftover chicken
- 2 stalks of celery
- 1/4 onion
- 2 cloves of garlic
- fresh sage - chopped
- handful of grapes
- 3 TBSP of mayo

Chop & mix all together!  We stuff them into lightly toasted pita bread. 

Verdict:
Awesome.  They were pretty garlicly.  Perhaps one clove next time as my breath still smells like garlic.  :) 

Lemon & Garlic Roast Chicken

I decided to try a new recipe for my roasted chicken.  I found this recipe from my favorite Ina Garten, from the Food Network and decided to give it a try.

Recipe:
1 (5 to 6-pound) roasting chicken
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 large bunch fresh thyme
4 lemons
3 heads garlic, cut in 1/2 crosswise
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 pound sliced bacon




Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out and pat the outside dry. Place the chicken in a large roasting pan. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the thyme, reserving enough thyme to garnish the chicken dish, 1 lemon, halved, and 2 halves of the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Cut 2 of the lemons in quarters and scatter the quarters and remaining garlic around the chicken. Lay the bacon slices over the chicken to cover

Roast the chicken for 1 hour. Remove the bacon slices from the top of the chicken and set aside. Continue roasting the chicken for an additional 1/2 hour, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove to a platter and cover with aluminum foil while you prepare the gravy.

Verdict:
This turned out great.  Made it in my Le Creuset, with a bit of oil on the bottom.  My chicken was also 4.5lbs.  The chicken came out super moist but surprisingly wasn't as full flavored as I expected it to be.  But the pieces of bacon with the chicken was amazing.  We ate this with a side of rice pilaf and was great.  Will have chicken leftover meals to come...!

Quick Eats: Ratatouille

 A simply, easy & healthy meal.  You can also add in a meat if you wanted.  In tonight's version, we added in sausage.   We ate our ratatouille on top of couscous, but is also delicious with angel hair pasta, orzo, rice. 

Recipe:

- 2  Japanese eggplants
- 1 small onion chopped
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 2  zucchini
- 1 398-ml can diced tomatoes
- 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1/4 cup chopped roasted red pepper
- Cilantro, chopped
- Fresh basil, for garnish
- Grated Asiago cheese, for garnish
 

In a deep, non-stick skillet, sauté eggplant over moderately high heat for 2 minutes until lightly golden. Cook in batches, if necessary. Transfer to a plate.  In same skillet, sauté onion for 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, add garlic and zucchini and continue cooking until onion is translucent.Add tomatoes with juice, chickpeas, roasted red pepper, cooked eggplant and ground coriander. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Top with basil and cheese to serve.

Verdict:

A quick healthy option for dinner.  We love it. 

Chicken Katsu

I would say this is a quick eats, but it can be a bit consuming with each step and depending on the size of the meat, it can take a bit longer.  But overall, it's pretty easy. 

Recipe:
- chicken or pork cutlets (thin as possible)
- flour
- egg
- panko

Cover the chicken in flour, then in egg & then in the panko.  Fry in a pan.

Verdict:
We had it with a side of rice & miso soup.  We both love it.  Who doesn't love fried chicken?!

Spinach, Pancetta Egg Quiche

I love making this quiche when we just have extra ingredients laying around.  So this recipe isn't exact, but here is what I used to make the below quiche, and really anything can go in!

Recipe:

- ready made pie crust
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1/2 onion diced
- pancetta
- Serrano chile, minced
- spinach
- frozen peas
- 1 cup colby cheese shredded
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- fresh rosemary
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Saute garlic, onions, pancetta, serrano chile.  Once fully cooked, add spinach, peas & then add 1/2 the cheese.  Roll out the pie crust and scoop the mixture into the pie.  Whisk 4 eggs together with milk & add rosemary.  Pour the egg mixture into the pan. Cook quiche for 15 minutes and add the rest of the cheese.  Continue to bake for another 20 minutes or until fully cooked.  Voila!

Verdict:
This is a great meal to make to eat at any time of day.  Especially when you have leftover ingredients laying around.