La Comida de Mi Vida (My Life in Food)

Tray Baked Sticky Pork Chops Recipe – Food.com – 206280.

DH makes the best grilled chops – perfectly seared, juicy and never, ever overcooked.  With the weather getting colder grilling outside isn’t really an option (because he won’t do it ).  I’m always afraid of overcooking pork chops when I pan fry them so I decided to look for a recipe that allowed baking them.

Since I generally don’t prefer sweet on my meat dishes I slightly modified the ingredients to suit our tastes and what I had in the fridge.  I omitted honey and chili peppers since this was a family meal and I didn’t want to burn my kids mouths.  Instead of soy sauce, ginger and garlic I used a teriyaki marinade that contained all these ingredients already.  There was no dry sherry left so I used rice wine vinegar instead.  So, I mixed the hoisin, rice wine vinegar and 4 tablespoons of the teriyaki marinade and set it aside.

As per the recipe instructions I pan fried the chops in a heavy pan in the olive oil for 2 minutes on each side.  Immediately after this I spooned the sauce mixture over each chop coating them evenly and transferred my oven save, heavy bottom pan to the 400F degree oven (oh yeah, 200C is 400F).  I set the timer for 20 minutes and went about making the rest of my dinner.  I made some basmati rice (cooks quicker than regular long grain white) and a side salad.  It would have been better paired with a veggie stir fry, but that wasn’t available.

After 20 minutes I removed the pan from the oven and couldn’t have been more pleased.  The chops weren’t tough or pink in the middle – they were just right.  I served them on a bed of basmati and spooned some extra sauce over each one.  Like I said vegetable stir fry would have been better as a side but I had to improvise.  Now I know I can make perfectly cooked pork chops in the oven while I wait for grilling season to return.  Thank you Terese!

Happy Cooking!

On a cold, windy evening a meal that just fills your belly isn’t good enough. You need something which will warm it and leave you feeling radiant. Soups usually fill that need for me. I love soups because they are a great way to marry ingredients and stretch what may otherwise seem like meager pickings.

This recipe for Caldo Verde I found in a Good Housekeeping cookbook. I needed a recipe that used the potatoes I had in the cupboard and the beautiful kale I’d pulled out of my garden (which despite the freezing cold is still thriving). Anthony Bourdain on his Travel Channel show No Reservations tried a soup very similar to this when he visited Portugal. Simple, hearty and delicious.

Caldo Verde as per the recipe is great for someone who likes creamy soups, but is on a low fat diet or is lactose intolerant. The onion and garlic give it a lot of flavor and the potatoes make it creamy. According to my 2 year old when she tasted the soup said, “Oh man, so good.”

Caldo Verde

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion (12 oz. approx), diced
3 large cloves of garlic, minced
8 potatoes, cleaned and diced
2 – 14 oz cans of chicken broth (3 1/2 cups of homemade chicken broth)
3 cups of water
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cracked black pepper
1 lb. kale, very thinly sliced (stems and large veins removed), I like to cross cut mine into very small pieces to make it easier for little mouths to handle

Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a 5 qt. dutch oven (or similar sized pot) over medium heat. Once hot add the onion and garlic. Sautee until golden. Add the diced potatoes, broth, water, salt and pepper and increase the heat. Heat to boiling then reduce to medium and allow to simmer until the potatoes are tender, approx. 15-20 minutes. Lightly mash the potatoes in the broth to make it creamy, yet leaving the potatoes chunky in the soup. Add the sliced kale and allow to cook until tender 8 to 10 minutes.

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This soup is so full of flavor you barely notice it is lacking meat. Serve it with cheese of your liking and a piece of warm, crusty bread. If you are a total carnivore you can sprinkle some cooked crumbled bacon, crumbled spicy sausage or diced ham to the soup just before serving.  Conversely, for the vegetarians and vegans out there, just switch out the chicken broth for your favorite vegetable broth.

One of my favorite condiments or dips is guacamole.  I like it’s creaminess and earthiness.  Spiced just right it goes wonderfully with tacos, tostadas or just plain tortilla chips.  Sometimes though I’m more in the mood for something chunky not smooth like instant mashed potatoes.  For a get together last year I made some Chunky Guacamole and it was a hit, so I’m sharing it with you.  This way you can have the same great flavors of guacamole with a little twist; just change things up a bit.  Your dinner or game day guest will thank you for it.

Chunky Guacamole

3 medium tomatoes, diced (I like juicy ones)

2 medium Haas avocados, pitted,  diced and peeled

1 small onion, diced

1 garlic clove, minced

1 jalapeño pepper, diced

1/2 a bunch of cilantro, chopped fine

juice from 1/2 a lime

salt to taste

Dice and chop the ingredients as indicated.  Put all but the avocado together in a bowl, squeeze the lime juice over the top, season with salt and mix evenly.  Carefully fold in the avocado at the end taking care not to mash up the chunks too much. This can be consumed immediately or allowed to marinate in the refrigerator for 15 to 30 minutes before serving.  It is typically best to consume it the day it is made as the salt and lime will continue to macerate the ingredients the longer it sits.

This is a great accompaniment to rice, chips, tacos, pinto beans or anything you can think of that you like with regular guac.

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As peppers may differ in their level of heat you can add more or less to suit your taste.  Typically, the smaller and more thin the jalapeño the hotter it is.  To reduce the heat you can always remove the seeds and the pith, but please wear rubber gloves when you do this because the capsicum in the pepper will still get on your hands and can burn you later.  Hand washing isn’t always a successful method of removal.

If part of this recipe looks familiar, it is.  Check out Pico de Gallo.

If you love garlic and parmesan cheese you will love this Alfredo Sauce recipe.  This sauce will go great with shrimp, crab, lobster, chicken or just noodles.  Typically it is served with fetuccine, but will go great with any pasta you have on hand.  Personally, I like it with angel hair pasta and garlic bread for dipping, mmmm.

For the richest and most full bodied flavor I suggest you use parmiggiano reggiano.  This native Italian Parmesan is very nutty, slightly salty flavor and has the biggest Parmesan flavor and a great consistency for melting into a sauce.  Domestic parmesan cheeses will do OK, but miss the full bodied nuttiness you expect from a REAL parmesan cheese; they are barely a step up from the canned brands.  Like coffee it is always better to grate the cheese right before you are going to use it.  Kraft or other prepackaged already grated Parmesan cheeses are a last resort, but will do fine in a pinch.

2 large cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup (one stick) butter

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1/8 tsp. cracked black pepper

1/8 tsp. salt

1/4 cup grated parmiggiano reggiano

Directions:

Put the butter in a saucepan over medium heat and melt, stirring frequently to prevent burning.  Add the minced garlic and brown lightly.  This won’t take long so DON’T WALK AWAY! Add the heavy cream, pepper and salt.  Bring to a simmer, stirring occassionally until it thickens, approximately 10-12 minutes.

Once the sauce has reached the desired consistency remove the saucepan from the heat and add in the cheese.  Stir until the cheese is completely melted.

Serve with the meat, bread and/or pasta of your liking.

Mangia!

This is one quick and easy to make chunky salsa that goes well with beef, chicken, fish or pork – or even on it’s own.  There have been many a summer evening where my hubby and I have made dinner out of corn chips and a big bowl of pico de gallo.

Pico de Gallo when translated means “Rooster’s Beak” or “Peckings of the Rooster”.  Really, if you left the ingredients in front of a rooster they would end up looking like the salsa but not as tasty .

Pico de Gallo Recipe:

3 medium tomatoes, diced (I like juicy ones)

1 small onion, diced

1 garlic clove, minced

1 jalapeño pepper, diced

1/2 a bunch of cilantro, chopped fine

juice from 1/2 a lime

salt to taste

Dice and chop the ingredients as indicated.  Put all together in a bowl, squeeze the lime juice over the top, season with salt and mix evenly.  This can be consumed immediately or allowed to marinate in the refrigerator for 15 to 30 minutes before serving.  It is typically best to consume it the day it is made as the salt and lime will continue to macerate the ingredients the longer it sits.

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As peppers may differ in their level of heat you can add more or less to suit your taste.  Typically, the smaller and more thin the jalapeño the hotter it is.  To reduce the heat you can always remove the seeds and the pith, but please wear rubber gloves when you do this because the capsicum in the pepper will still get on your hands and can burn you later.  Hand washing isn’t always a successful method of removal.