Stuffed Pork Chops

Pork chops stuffed with cheese (Cotija) and topped with a mushroom consume?  Yes please!

Harissa and Coffee ... on a steak? Why not?

For this dinner I decided to have some fun and do a coffee crusted steak topped with a Harissa butter sauce.  For those who aren't familiar with it, Harissa is a spice mix that is a staple of Tunisian cuisine.  The spice combines (mainly) sweet and spicy peppers along with onion, garlic, coriander, caraway and cumin.

For this dinner I started with a blended corse ground coffee beans with salt and garlic pepper and then coated both sides of the steak with it.

To make the Harissa sauce, I first browned about 2 tbsp of butter.  To brown butter you cook it over medium-high heat until it foams (about 5 minutes) and then cook another two to three minutes, stirring frequently until it browns.  Remove from heat and then stir in 1 spoonful of dried Harissa powder (I used the Whole Foods version for this meal).

I grilled the steak, and finished it with my SearzAll (of course), topping it with Harissa butter and then served it over mashed sweet potatoes with sautéed squash.

Farmer's Market time

It's Farmers Market time, and that means one thing ... Shells coming home every Saturday with a bounty of goodies for me to cook with!

For this dinner she came home with a batch of spring onions and I had just the idea in mind for those.  I started the onions by cleaning and trimming off the roots and then I tossed them lightly in a bowl with olive oil, salt and black pepper.  The trick then is to let them sit for a bit ... while heating up an oven on broil, for instance.

Start them face down under the broiler and cook them for 10 minutes.  After that, flip them and cook them another 10 minutes until they are charred on top and soft in the middle.  If you're lucky enough to have a SearzAll (like I used in the picture above) then only cook them 5 minutes after the flip and use the SearzAll to get that beautiful char on them.  Either way, enjoy!

When you need a last minute, "one pot" meal ... turn to the versatile white bean

I know that when we're getting towards the end of the week at my house, I'm usually scrambling to figure out what I can make that is easy and makes use of whatever food is still around.  As many of you will know from past posts, typically the end of the week means sausages or meatballs are the main protein.

Typically I lean towards tacos since tortillas never go bad, and it's pretty easy, but another easy thing is a "one pot" meal.  For this meal to the right, I tossed whole, uncased, sausages into a 3qt pot with a can of white beans (including the liquid), about 1/2 can of water, diced onion and some chopped basil.  I left the pot slightly un-covered and cooked over medium-low heat until the liquid had reduced to a "gravy" consistency.  I removed the sausages and sliced them in half and then served them over rice and then topped with the beans.  Simple, easy and filling.

For this second dish I used a drained can of white beans and a cup of beef stock in addition to some pre-made meatballs.  I added some diced onion and sliced garlic and then seasoned with salt and pepper.  I again cooked the bean concoction slightly un-covered over medium low heat until the beans had absorbed most of the liquid.  I served this dish with asparagus and some avocado puree.

I highly recommend giving one of these dishes a try, or create one of your own ... either way, enjoy!

Stone Crab is a great crab!

Wandering around the seafood section in Whole Foods the other day, I noticed something that I don't see there very often ... Stone Crab Claws!  I love stone crab claws because they have a great meat to weight ratio.  The only downside to them is that they require a little force to crack ... luckily a metal meat tenderizer will do the trick nicely.  Now, I didn't want to make stone crab the entire dinner so I grabbed a couple of U10 scallops and shrimp as well.

I cooked my crustacean feast on the grill and then served it with baked potato chips and sautéed kale topped off with a poblano and queso fresco cream sauce.

Super Easy Tzatziki!

I was really stumped on something fun and different to do with pork chops this past week so I looked for inspiration outside of my comfort zone.  I randomly was driving by a greek place and thought, "yeah, that sounds good!"

I used a Greek seasoning blend with some olive oil as a "marinade" for the chops and then tossed them onto the grill.  While they were grilling, I mixed up a batch of tzatziki sauce and wrapped two lightly oiled pitas in foil and set them off to the side of the grill that didn't have direct heat.

I plated with the pita first, followed by tzatziki and then topped with the grilled pork chop.

Super Easy Tzatziki
1 14.5oz plain Greek yoghurt
1/2 peeled cucumber, peeled, seeded and roughly chopped
1 Tbsp freshly chopped dill
Juice from 1/2 lemon
Salt and Pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients in a bowl, enjoy!

Fantastic Shrimp Poppers!

I decided to have some fun with the "stuffed pepper" concept during our recent Cinco de Mayo party. Typically I will use a mix of cheeses and bacon for the stuffing, but for this I decided to go a different way and use whole shrimp!

I found some nice long & wide jalapeños and bought some medium shrimp and pepper jack cheese to go with them.  First I cut the top off of each pepper and then I seeded and de-veined them.  I grated some of the cheese and pushed it to the base of each pepper.

I then peeled each shrimp, leaving the tails on, and wrapped them with thin slices of the cheese before stuffing them into the peppers.  I used a bit more of the cheese between the shrimp at the top of the pepper and then cooked them in a standing rack in a 400F oven.

I served the peppers sliced in half and with a batch of "taco shop" guac in the middle of the plate.  Dip in and enjoy!

A post about Onions? Yes, really!

The weather is getting warmer and the farmer's market is back open ... those two facts mean that me cooking meals outside is pretty much a foregone conclusion.

Shells came home with some great produce from the market, including some awesome spring onions and green onions.  So I decided to grab a couple of steaks and see what I could turn out with this fun stuff.

 For the spring onions I decided to pan cook them so I sliced them down the middle and then drizzled them with olive oil salt & pepper.

The first trick to getting them nice and crispy on the outside and soft on the inside is a very hot pan.  So for this, I used the burner attached to my grill ... cranking the temp to high and letting the pan get nice and hot.  A little bit more oil into the pan and then the onions went down.

The second trick is to leave them the heck alone.  Seriously; don't shake the pan, don't turn them 10 times ... just leave them there for about 5 minutes.

After five minutes I used a pair of tongs to flip them over.  Instead of trying to grab the sides, slide one side of the tongs underneath and then lightly hold the onion as you flip it.  If you go to flip the first one and it doesn't look like the ones pictured here, leave it for two more minutes before flipping.

Cook the onions for another 5-7 minutes on the other side and then you will be ready to serve them.

For this dinner, I decided to serve the onions paired with some sliced steak that I had prepared on the grill and then finished with the SearzAll.  The broiler effect from the SearzAll gives that steakhouse style crispy crust on top of the steaks, while not cooking the inside.

Finally, I served the steak and onions over mashed potatoes and topped them with a mixture of garlic, green onion bulb and sliced green onions that I had simmered in beef stock for about an hour.

I highly recommend giving all of these things and try ... enjoy!

Surprisingly light: fish and pasta for summer

Once summer time rolls around I like to do a lot of grilled or broiled fish, but I don't always want a heavy bean or potato starch to go with it.  Typically I'll use pasta instead, with a nice light sauce that I make up depending what's handy and fresh.  I did a couple of dinners the last two weeks that were a great example of this.

For this first dinner, I started with a small can of tomato sauce and some garlic.  I mashed some fresh garlic and then put that and the sauce into a small sauce pan over medium-low heat.  After about 5 minutes I added a tablespoon of water, about 1 tablespoon of diced fresh basil, and a pinch each of dried oregano, salt and pepper.  I plated the pasta, fish & veg and then topped everything off with the sauce before adding a dollop of ricotta to the pasta.

For this second dish I wanted to make use of some shrimp I had in the fridge so I roughly chopped them and then tossed them into a hot pan with some sliced garlic and butter.  I cooked the shrimp and garlic this way for about 3 minutes, stirring frequently to avoid sticking.  I turned the heat down to low and added a half cup of white wine.  I allowed the wine to cook down a bit while I was cooking the rest of the meal and then I plated everything but the sauce.  Once I was ready I removed from heat and stirred in a tbsp of ricotta cheese until just melted and then I spooned the sauce over the dish and was ready to enjoy!