Sometimes (a lot of the time), taking the time to cook a healthy and tasty meal just seems like too much work and always seems to take too long. You sit there for an hour mincing and chopping and burning just to wolf it down and fall asleep on the couch. Well, there are two things wrong with that description of dinner. I thought I would address the first with a meal that I really enjoy making that is SUPER simple. That takes care of the time factor. While not a “set it and forget it” meal its very close.
The second part has to do with wolfing it down and falling asleep. If I were French I would say something like “Pfft. You Americans *grumble grumble* pffft!” But I am not French so I will say this “Appreciate your food!” Taste it. Talk about it. Think about it. Enjoy it and respect it. You took the time to cook it now take the time to taste it. I don’t really care if it tastes bad. Chew it and appreciate it and maybe try to figure out why it doesn’t taste so good and maybe how to make it better next time. Maybe I am being too critical by associating this lack of respect for food with our country *cough* McDonalds *cough* but I am tired of getting weird looks when I try to discuss the meal when I am out with friends at dinner. Food comes so easily now for most of us that I guess it is easy to take it for granted but take some time with it and you might learn something new.
Now on with the recipes!
Recipe: Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Summary: Quick easy sprouts
Ingredients
Brussel Sprouts – As many as you like
Salt – your call, I like to give them a good coating
Pepper – same as salt
Oil – A few glugs
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Toss your brussel sprouts in a bowl with the oil, salt and pepper.
Throw these onto a baking sheet and place in the oven.
Cook for 30 to 40 minutes. Give them a shake every so often to make sure they are cooking evenly
Thats it!
Recipe: Roasted Carrots
Summary: Another quick veggie for dinner
Ingredients
Carrots – about a pound works best for me
Salt – a smattering
Pepper – ditto
Garlic Cloves – 3 to 5 smashed
Olive Oil – a glug or two
Red Wine Vinegar – a splash
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Clean up your carrots (wash ans scrub or peel)
Toss the carrots in the bowl with the oil, salt, pepper, vinegar and cloves.
Put them in an oven safe dish and cover tightly with tin foil.
Bake for 30 – 40 minutes.
You can take the foil off and finish them for 10 more minutes to give them some nice color too.
Done!
Recipe: Pan Fried Pork Chops with a Simple Shallot Sauce
Summary: Really quick and easy pork chops
Ingredients
Pork Chops – 2 or 3
Oil – a glug or two to fry
Salt and Pepper
Shallot – half (for 2 chops) to a whole (for 3 or 4)
Cooking wine – A splash to deglaze
Stock or water – you can use chicken or vegetable
Butter about 1 to 2 tablespoons
Instructions
Season your chops with salt and pepper
Add a glug of oil to the pan and begin cooking
After about 4 mins check the chops, they should be nice and golden. Time to flip!
After about 4 more minutes they should be done but if they are very thick you might need to give it more time. Give one a little cut and see. If they are done, remove to a plate.
Hopefully you are using a stainless steel pan and have some nice brown gook clinging on. This is Fond. It’s magic. Its little browned pieces of meat that stick onto your pan. Here is what you do with it…
Toss a few glugs of stock in there and use a spoon or spatula to rub it over some of that Fond, it should come off and turn the mixture brown. Now add your shallots, butter and cooking wine and simmer it up. You only need to do this for a few minutes. Use your taste buds to know when it’s done.
Drizzle the sauce over the chops, plat them with some sprouts and carrots and you are done!
Enjoy!
Quick Notes
I don’t measure too often so I apologize for generalizing. If you don’t know use a little and then add more, you can always add more.
A few weeks ago I was told about a food called Nduja. Go ahead, take a few seconds and try to pronounce it. Endoooja? Nedooja? The correct way to say it is En-doo-ya. It is a spicy spreadable pork sausage originating from Calabria, Italy. A part of my family originates from Calabria and when I heard about this meat I became extremely interested in tasting a bit of my heritage. I also love just about any pork product so that also may have had something to do with it. An article in the Times led me to my favorite cheese shop. Located on Bleeker Street in Manhattan, Murrays Cheese is a fantastic shop where you can find a huge selection of meats and cheese with a knowledgeable staff to help you wade through their overwhelming selection. Now from what I gather Nduja is known to be incredibly spicy. The variety that I purchased at Murrays has a bit of kick but nothing too crazy so it’ll be fine for those who might be a bit squeamish when it comes to heat.
I was wandering around the West Village with a friend when suddenly we came upon Bleeker Street and I knew exactly what we had to do. Almost running to the cheese shop, dragging my very confused friends, I crossed my fingers, looked up at the clerk and said “Nduja”. A little smile crossed his lips as he reached into the case. $16.00 and a trip to bakery next door for a loaf of italian bread and we were ready for a taste. Using my pocket knife and a paper plate I just happened to have on me we cut a few pieces of the crusty loaf and scooped out some of this pate like meat. Sweet, peppery, spicy. The spice builds up and then plateaus, hanging on but not overwhelming. I sat thinking about it for a bit. It was tasty, no denying that, but there was something missing from it. It was new but had so many elements that you had tasted before. The combination and consistency of it can be a little confusing at first. Just give it 30 seconds though and when somehow another piece has found it’s way into your mouth it’ll all be ok.
You don’t just have to spread it on bread though. Here is a recipe where it is stirred into a pasta sauce.
I cooked this one last night for the gals over at the Breakup Cookbook and it got a very warm reception so I thought I’d share it with you here. I found the original version of this recipe last year and have been playing around with it a lot ever since. It is so simple and so delicious that I find I can change up a lot of the main ingredients and create a ton of variations.
If you follow the basics below you will get a dark brown sticky sweet glaze. Its fantastic on its own and I love it. But lets say you dont have balsamic vinegar but you DO have red wine vinegar…go for it. Maybe you have half a lemon laying around, squeeze it in there! Mess around with different soy sauces. Try using honey instead of sugar or even agave nectar or maybe Splenda if your down with that. Its a great recipe to experiment with so I hope you have fun. My thanks to Tomoko and the original authors for providing a great recipe.
Recipe: Sticky Japanese Chicken
Summary: A great tasty japanese style chicken dish you can whip up in 30 mins.
Ingredients
8 chicken drumsticks, I like them on the smaller size but they should fit in a large saucepan 1 cup water 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar (you can use whatever dark vinegar you got) 1/3 cup soy sauce (I use regular low sodium but you can try Shoyu or Tamari) 2 1/2 tablespoons Sugar (honey is nice too!) 1 garlic clove, peeled and bruised (Smash with the flat of your knife) 1 small hot chili pepper, slit open, seeds removed (you can use any kind of spice you like here)
Instructions
Start by lightly browning the chicken in a sauce pan over medium high heat. Just a little color here so don’t go too far.
Place the rest of the ingredients in a saucepan and crank the heat.
With the saucepan uncovered bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce the mixture for about 20 minutes. Careful with the heat though, don’t scorch it. You want bring the heat down to something between a simmer and a boil.
During the cooking you should skim off any scum that rises to the surface.
Turn the drumsticks every so often to keep them cooking evenly and also to keep them evenly coated in sauce.
As the sauce thickens slowly reduce the heat. You know it is done when you are left with a very gooey honey like glaze.
Remove the chicken and spoon over the remaining glaze.
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