Pork and Potatoes Meet at the Apple

For the main course of my recent dinner party (for the appetizer click here) I made a dish that would confuse a nice Jewish boy. I took two of my favorite dishes, pork loin and potato latkes and brought them together on one glorious plate. The irony of the dish is that both pork and potato pancakes are perfect for each other. The standard accompaniment for both pork and latkes is apple sauce, so what I did was bring the potatoes and pork together with a layer of homemade apple sauce. To top the pork, I made some caramelized onions and for some flavor and color, I made some sauteed green beans. The meal was spectacular. The pork was extremely moist, and the flavors in the apple sauce blended perfectly between the pork and potatoes. The green beans provided a bright visual and gustatory break in the meal against the rich, warm flavors of the pork and potatoes. This would be a perfect meal for a romantic, home cooked Valentine's day dinner.

Lamb for Levi!

Three weeks ago, my sister gave birth to a beautiful, healthy baby boy named Levi. She lives out in Colorado, so I flew from NY to go visit and see my little nephew. He is CUTE!! Obviously, I'm biased being that he's my nephew, but he is a really cute little baby.

On top of Levi being born, my father was celebrating his birthday that weekend as well (and my brother in law's birthday was later in the week, December birthdays abound!) As my father and I are accustomed to do, we decided to make a delicious meal in CO to celebrate all of the momentous occasions surrounding our visit. We decided on a nice Colorado boneless leg of lamb with butternut squash risotto and green beans. If you're reading this on Christmas, and you can find a store that's open, you still have time to make this dish!

Braised Green Beans with Tomatoes and Onions

Out of ideas for a side? Sick of slaving over the stove? This is a dish for you! The only difficult part of this dish is cutting the ends off of the green beans. Once this is done, all you need to do is put the ingredients in a pot and put it on the stove. Seriously, that’s it. Very easy, very healthy, and very delicious, this is a simple dish that is good all winter long and tastes like it took way more work than it did. Feel free to embellish the amount of effort so your friends are even more impressed with you.