Pork on the Egg!

The Famous Egg

We haven’t used our egg for a bit and we decided to make: Herb-Crusted Pork Loin Roast from License to Grill by Chris Schlesinger. We purchased the lamb loin at McCall's Meat and Fish. This is a very easy and good recipe. I used maple wood for the smoke flavoring. It only takes about an hour and a half in the egg to have a great smoky taste. You can get the recipe in our blog of: July 2, 2008. Click the date to get the recipe.

I was browsing through the Munch Munch looking for previous dinners that we had made in August to get seasonal ideas to cook. I came across a Tomato-Leek side dish that we had at The Slow Club in San Francisco. It was poured over the pork and polenta. We used the recipe for Polenta from The Zuni Café Cookbook. You can find the recipe in our blog of: Feb. 22, 2010. Click the date to get the recipe.

This was one of those dinners that will give us fantastic leftovers.

Slow Club Tomato Leek and Balsamic flavored Vegetables

I have no real recipe for it but it is basically, tomatoes, leeks, garlic, red pepper, yellow pepper lots of thyme, salt and pepper. Core and quarter the tomatoes, slice the garlic in thin slices (I used 4 large garlic cloves), and seed and slice the peppers in strips. We had a some cherry tomatoes so I sliced them in half and through them in. Bind the mixture with Balsamic Vinegar and some olive oil. Bake in a slow oven for a couple of hours until the vegetables start to look a little blackened.

Turkish Salad, My Favorite Pasta, Persian Mulberries

One of my favorite summer salads is: a Turkish Chopped Salad that we found in Casa Moro The Second Cookbook. The salad is very unusual in that it is topped with yogurt and the melted brown butter. It has no lettuce. It is a favorite and if you want to try something different and delicious I really recommend it. The recipe can be found in our blog of: August 12, 2008.

For the main course we made Penne with Tomato and Balsamic Vinegar From: Rogers and Gray: Italian Country Cookbook. I can’t rave enough about this simple to make pasta! It is fabulous! It is rich! It will make you a vegetarian! You MUST try it. You can get the recipe for it from our blog of: Oct. 26, 2008. Click the date to get the recipe.

For dessert we lucked out and found Persian Mulberries at the Farmer’s Market. They are sweet and tart and rare to find. A perfect end to a summer meal.

Summer Pizza, Salad and Soup

Papa Al Pomodoro, is a very thick tomato and bread soup. We use the recipe from Italian Country Cook Book by Rogers / Gray. They have the fabulous River Café in London. This is almost a soup that you can eat with fork. In every respect you would think it should be a winter dish it is such a hearty soup, but it is best made with fresh tomatoes. I really recommend this dish! You can get it from our blog of: August 2, 2006. Click the date to get the recipe.

We made a Pizza that speaks of summer. We started with the frozen pizza shells by: Vicolo. They are a thick crust corn based shell. They are very good. We topped the pizza with Dolce Leche Gorgonzola Cheese, then a layer of Caramelized Red Onions, Sliced Figs and Hazelnuts. Not all pizza needs tomato sauce! The key to this pizza, like most cooking, was in the top quality ingredients. The cheese was from The Cheese Store of Silverlake. The figs from the Farmers Market and the Hazelnuts from Mozza2Go.

We also went retro. We first had a Shrimp Louie then with the left over Russian Dressing made a Iceberg Lettuce and Tomato Salad. We use Mark Peel’s recipe for both the Shrimp Louie and the Russian Dressing from New Classic Family Dinners. You can get the recipe from our blog of: July 4, 2010. Click the date to get the recipe. We purchased the Shrimp at McCall’s Meat and Fish.

Shrimp Louis [makes 4 servings]

New Classic Family Dinners by Mark Peel

Both Shrimp Louis and Crab Louis are West Coast classics. Crab Louis was the original, then people began making it with bay shrimp. I use medium shrimp, which I poach gently in a court bouillon, then split in half. The dish is a simple combination of shrimp dressed with Thousand Island Dressing or Russian Dressing, embellished with avocado, hard-cooked egg, and tomatoes and set on a bed of shredded lettuce.

[COURT BOUILLON]

1          tablespoon canola oil
½         cup chopped onion
1/3       cup chopped celery

¼            cup chopped fennel bulb (you can use the coarse outer layer for this)

            The green part of I small leek (optional)

2          fat garlic cloves, coarsely chopped

            A few sprigs parsley

1          bay leaf

1          chile

½         cup dry white wine

2          tablespoons white wine vinegar

2          cups water

1          teaspoon kosher salt

[SALAD]

16            medium shrimp, with shells on

1            Japanese cucumber, cut in half lengthwise, seeded, and cut on the diagonal in 1/4-inch-thick slices

¼            teaspoon kosher salt

¼            cup minced red onion, soaked in cold water for 5 minutes, drained, rinsed, and dried on paper towels

1            head Boston lettuce, outer leaves removed, inner leaves cut in chiffonade

¼            small head radicchio, cut in chiffonade

1            small or 1/2 large avocado, sliced

1            medium tomato, quartered, seeds and seed pods cut away, and sliced lengthwise in thin strips (about 1/8 inch thick)

2            extra-large eggs, hard-boiled (see below), quartered

            Fleur de Sel

2/3            cup Russian Dressing or Thousand Island Dressing

2            teaspoons minced chives

Make the court bouillon: Heat the canola oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat and add the onion, celery, fennel, leek green, and garlic. Cook gently until the vegetables soften, about 5 minutes, and add the parsley, bay leaf, chile pepper; wine, and vinegar Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, simmer 1 minute, and add the water and salt. Bring to a simmer and simmer 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool (you can do this quickly by setting the pot in an ice bath). Strain into a bowl, pressing the ingredients against the strainer Return to the pot.

Make the salad: Bring the court bouillon to a simmer and add the shrimp. Turn off the heat, coven and let cool in the court bouillon. Peel the shrimp and devein if necessary.

Toss the cucumber with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Let sit for 15 minutes, then rinse and dry on paper towels. Toss with the onion, the shredded inner leaves of the lettuce, and the radicchio. Add 2 tablespoons of the dressing and toss again.

Line a large platter with the whole lettuce leaves. Place the shredded lettuce mixture on top. Arrange half the avocado slices on one side, fanning them over the lettuce, and the other half on the other side. Arrange half the tomato slices and half the egg wedges on one side and the other half on the other side. Sprinkle with fleur de sel and drizzle with ¼ cup of the dressing. Toss the shrimp with the remaining dressing and arrange over the shredded lettuce. Sprinkle with the chives, and serve.

[NOTE] I like the eggs just under hard-boiled for this. Place in a saucepan and cover with cold water Bring to a rolling boil, cover and turn off the heat. Let stand 8 minutes, then drain and transfer to an ice bath.

Dinner with Tim

Now that summer is here, finally with warm weather we can eat outside and enjoy the view. Also vegetables are reaching their peak flavor. We made several of our favorite farmer’s market dishes.

Tim was in the neighborhood and stopped by for one of dinners.

We started with Feta Salad with Anise Bread, Tomatoes and Oregano from Casa Moro, The Second Cookbook. I love this salad! I published the recipe in our blog on: June 23, 2008. Click the date and scroll to the recipe.

A rarity in the market are Heirloom Zucchinis once again we were able to purchase them. We made Zucchini Pasta from a recipe by Mark Bittman in the New York Times. This is an amazing dish. The zucchinis are sliced thin and browned making a delicious sauce. With the addition of eggs and parmesan cheese it is like a Carbonara. Very easy to make and delicious. You can get the recipe from our blog of: June 19, 2009. Click the date to get the recipe.

We stayed up late on the deck drinking wine and talking. It was a wonderful night.

Ribs! Pop-up Dinner

We have been having a pork-a-thon. Fabulous pork dinners at Mozza and Palate. To continue the theme we decided to make baby back ribs.

We purchased 5 racks at MaCall’s Meat and Fish to smoke in the egg. I came up with a clever idea to evenly smoked the ribs. I created wedges out of aluminum foil to separate the ribs and keep them standing on edge.

We made Chinese-Style Baby Back Ribs with Ginger-Scallion Sauce from License to Grill by: Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby. You can find the recipe in our blog of: June 21, 2008. Click the date to get the recipe. These were great ribs, moist, smokey and tender.

We started with a tomato salad. We used the recipe for Green and Red Tomato Salad with Russian Dressing from New Classic Family Dinners by Mark Peel. I just love this salad. It can be found in our blog of July 4, 2010. Click the date to get the recipe.

Cathy found a recipe for Ginger-Scallion Fried Rice from License to Grill Chris Schlesinger & John Willoughby. The rice was delicious, we will make it again.

For desert we had Ice-Cream with Cherry Sauce and Darryl Chocolate Cookies.

Billy stopped by and was joined by Kevin for this impromptu neighborhood pork dinner.

Ginger-Scallion Fried Rice

License to Grill

Chris Schlesinger & John Willoughby

SERVES4

This simple (and eggless) version of classic fried rice is flavorful but still plain enough to serve with many different types of grilled food. A full bunch of scallions might seem like a lot to use with this amount of rice, but try it and you may find a new appreciation for this pungent and slightly sweet member of the onion family.

Timing is important on the rice—you want to make sure it is dry but not burned, because cooking it until dry helps create those separated grains for which fried rice is known. It also helps if, after the rice is cooked, you put a tea towel over the pan and fit the lid on over the tea towel before you set the rice aside to sit for a few minutes. The towel absorbs a lot of the moisture that would otherwise keep the rice grains together.

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 tablespoons minced ginger 1 tablespoon minced garlic

l cup rice

1 3/4 cups water

¼ cup sesame oil

1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and diced large

½ green bell pepper, seeded and diced large

6 medium mushrooms, trimmed, cleaned, and thinly sliced

1 bunch scallions (white and green parts), thinly sliced

¼ cup soy sauce

Salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste

1. In a medium saucepan, heat the vegetable oil over medium heat until hot but not smoking. Add the ginger and garlic and saute, stirring occasionally, for i min­utes. Add the rice and saute, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes. Add the water, cover, reduce the heat to low, and cook until the water is absorbed and the rice is tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside for a few minutes.

2. In a large saute pan, heat the sesame oil over medium heat until hot but not smoking. Add the bell peppers and mushrooms and saute, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes. Add the cooked rice and saute for a few minutes to heat through, stirring occasionally. Add the scallions and soy sauce and stir until thoroughly mixed. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.