Pork Chops and Strawberries

 Summertime and berries. They go together like... berries and summertime? I was in the mood to make a dish that featured some fresh fruit. I decided to get a nice bone-in pork chop, as pork lends itself very well to the flavors of fresh fruit. I also wanted some spice, so I picked up some spicy red peppers. To go along side this spicy, fruity, porky dish, I wanted some potatoes and brussel sprouts.

For the strawberries, I cut them up with the pepper and put them in a small saucepan with some honey and white wine. I let this cook down until the berries and peppers were falling apart and the mix could be crushed with a wooden spoon.

 I cut up the potatoes and put them in a fry pan with about half an inch of salted water. I love cooking potatoes this way because they have a really great starchy and salty flavor. I cooked the potatoes until the water evaporates and then add olive oil to the pan and saute the potatoes until they start to brown. The pan ends up getting brown because of the burning starch, so it's important to toss the potatoes frequently so they don't burn or stick to the pan. Once the potatoes were nice and brown, I removed them and added on white wine to deglaze the pan. I scraped up all of the burned starch, cooked the wine to burn off the alcohol, and pour the "potato gravy" over the cooked spuds.

 

For the brussel sprouts, I cut them in half and quickly blanched them until they started to become bright green. I then cooked them with capers in canola oil in a hot cast iron until the browned and the capers were crispy.

Once the brussel sprouts were done, I cooked the pork. I had coated the chop in salt, pepper, and panko crumbs to give it a breaded exterior. I set the heat on the cast iron to medium high and started cooking the pork. I flipped it after about 6 or 7 minutes when the bread crumbs were nice and golden. I cooked the other side 7 minutes, and pressed on the meat to see if it was done. When the meat was firm enough, I took it off, let it sit for 5 minutes to finish cooking and let the juices settle, and then spooned some of the strawberry mixture on top.

The dish turned out really well. The potatoes were very tasty and the capers gave the brussel sprouts a nice pungent but not overpowering kick. The strawberry sauce and pork worked nicely together. The sauce had a nice balance of spicy and sweet (though it could have used a bit more sweet to give it further balance) and the mild sweetness of the pork complemented the powerful flavor of the sauce. All in all, a great dish that looks tough but really isn't that work intensive or time consuming.

A Classic Comfort Dinner

My girlfriend and personal food photographer, Devon, requested a simple, comforting meal for dinner. One of my favorite dishes to cook is roast chicken and potatoes with salad. This meal is extremely simple to make and always makes me feel like it's a nice, home cooked meal.

I preheated the oven to 450 degrees, and started by washing and drying the chicken. I then rubbed it with salt and pepper, put some sprigs of rosemary in the cavity, and tied the legs.

I then cut up the potatoes, added some garlic cloves, and coated them with olive oil, salt, pepper, and paprika. I then spread the potatoes around the chicken along with a few more sprigs of rosemary, and put the pan in the oven for an hour.

I then seared some green onions in a hot cast iron, and made a salad with the seared green onions, cuke, red pepper, tomato, and mixed lettuce. For the dressing, I mixed dijon, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper.

I checked the chicken after an hour of my apartment smelling of delicious garlic and rosemary, and the result was a golden brown skin and a perfectly moist chicken. The potatoes were nice and crisp, and the salad added a colorful touch and bright flavor to the meal. Devon was very satisfied and happy I could fulfill her request.

Beef Stew for Dave

My good friend Dave was turning 26 and a celebration was in order. Instead of dropping a lot of money at a restaurant, we decided that a home-cooked meal would be best. Dave is one of my favorite people to cook with and a very good chef himself, so I wanted to be sure to deliver a meal to remember. He has requested beef stew with mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts, and I obliged. The plan was to meet around 5 in Williamsburg for some drinks and oysters and then head to my place for dinner.

I picked up the ingredients from Whole Foods and rushed to get the stew on so that it would have enough time to cook before we met up for drinks. I wanted to do a classic beef stew, so I got about 4 lbs of stew beef, carrots, cipolini onion, mushrooms, red wine and beef broth. For the potatoes, I wanted to do a horseradish and chive mash, to give a nice tangy flavor as a counter to the warm and hearty stew. I picked up 4 lbs of yukon golds, some chives, greek yogurt, and horseradish. For the vegetable, I grabbed 4 lbs of brussel sprouts.

With my very heavy bag of groceries in tow, I headed home to get cooking. I cut up the carrots into thin discs, sliced the mushrooms, peeled the cipolinis and cut up some garlic. Once my vegetable prep was done, I salt and peppered the meat and browned it in batches so that I didn't overcrowd the pot. Once the meat was browned, I poured off the fat and sauteed the vegetables until they were starting to brown. I added the meat back in, tied up a bunch of thyme and bay leaf, and covered everything with about half a bottle of malbec and 4 cups of beef broth. I brought the pot to a low boil, covered it and put it in the oven at 375 for about 2 hours (taking off the cover for the last 45 minutes to let it thicken.)

For the potatoes, I peeled the yukons and put them in a large pot of boiling water. I boiled them for about 15 minutes until tender, drained them (saving a little of the water) and mashed them up. I added in about a cup of greek yogurt, 2 tablespoons of horseradish, 1 tablespoon of butter, salt and pepper. I then used a hand blender to make the mash very smooth, and once it was smooth and rich, I added in about half a cup of chopped chives.

For the brussel sprouts, I cut the rough base stem and then sliced them in half. I tossed them in olive oil, salt and pepper and cooked them for 35 minutes at 375 until they were brown on top.

The meal turned out great. We shared a nice bottle of Belgian style beer and laughed the night away while we enjoyed the meal. One thing I did realize is that beef stew is very difficult to photograph in an appetizing way. Despite the aesthetics, the dish was beautifully balanced and exactly what Dave wanted for his birthday dinner!

Cassoulet in the Mountains

While visiting my sister in Aspen along with Heath and my cousins Adam and Stephanie, I wanted to cook a great meal for everyone to celebrate our trip. I wanted to cook something hearty and warming in the cold Colorado air; something that would refill us after a solid weekend of skiing. I decided on making a cassoulet with crispy braised chicken legs with a kale caesar salad. I picked up 6 chicken legs, 3 cans cannellini beans, bulk chorizo, fennel, onion, parsley, diced canned tomatoes, garlic, some white wine, and bay leaves. To cook the cassoulet, I diced the onion and sauteed it in a large saucepan. I added the garlic after a few minutes, and once the onions began to get translucent, I added the chorizo to brown it and cook through. Once the chorizo was cooked through, I added the beans (drained) and the can of tomatoes and some chopped parsley. I added a little salt, pepper, bay leaf, crushed red pepper, and a little bit of sugar and let the pot simmer for 45 minutes on low to cook through and let the flavors expand.While the cassoulet cooked, I prepped the chicken by patting it with paper towel and rubbing salt and pepper over it. In a large dutch oven, I heated some olive oil on medium high, and in batches, browned the chicken skin side down for about 5 minutes, and then flipped and cooked for about 1-2 minutes. Once the chicken was browned, I set aside. I drained most of the fat from the dutch oven and added the sliced fennel and onion. Once the fennel and onion became translucent, I added garlic, white wine, and bay leaf. I added the chicken back in in one layer, skin side up, and put the pot covered in the oven at 375 for about 25 minutes. Once the chicken was cooked through, I put the cassoulet in large bowls, served the chicken on top, and the fennel and onions on top of that. I added a little parsley garnish on top as well.

For the kale caesar, the key is making a good dressing. For the kale, I steamed it for a few minutes until it’s starting to wilt. I tossed the kale with a little salt and set aside in a large salad bowl. For the dressing, I used a small food processor and mixed 2 garlic cloves, dijon mustard, an egg yolk, and 2 chopped anchovy filets until smooth and combined. I then added lemon juice, red wine vinegar, worcestershire, and a dash of tobasco and mixed until that is fully combined. I then added olive oil while stirring to emulsify. The result is a creamy, tangy caesar dressing. I cooked the leftover egg white in a small sautee pan, mixed that with the kale, tossed the salad with the dressing and added some croutons.
The trip was awesome, amazing skiing, fun stories, great meals. This meal was a really special way to finish the trip up, and we all had a great time.

A Fittingly Colored Valentine's Day Meal

I’m not a big fan of going out to dinner on Valentine’s Day because most restaurants jack up the price of their prix fixe menu and I just don’t have that much money to toss around. This year I decided to come up with the most festive menu I could think of and the first thing that popped into my head: BEETS. I love beets on their own, but my girlfriend isn’t a huge fan of them, so I thought of a way to incorporate their beautiful color without featuring beets alone on the menu: pink mashed potatoes! To go along with the Valentine spuds, I made sautéed red chard (sensing a theme?), and featured some sizable veal chops with balsamic apples. The meal turned out really well and was good to look at and even better to eat.

Ingredients:

2 ½ lb Veal Chops on the bone
2 Fuji or Pink Lady apples
1 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp grated jalapeno flesh
1 lemon
1 tsp agave or honey
2 tbsp balsamic
.5 lb red potatoes
1 large beet
2 tbsp butter
¼ cup milk
1 large bunch red chard
3 garlic cloves (chopped)
2 tbsp olive oil

To cook!

Pink Potatoes:
1) Boil the beet in a large enough pot to hold the beet and the potatoes

2) After 20 minutes, add the potatoes and boil for another 15 until the beet and potatoes are fork tender

3) Melt the butter in a small pan and slowly cook half of the chopped garlic until browned

4) Drain the pot (reserving a little bit of the water) and take out the beet to remove skin

5) Mash the potatoes with the reserved water, the milk, and the garlic butter

6) Cut the beet into small pieces, add to the potatoes, and mash (I had small chunks of beet in the mash, but feel free to use a hand blender to make the mash smoother)

7) Add salt and pepper to taste

Red Chard

1) Coarsely chop the chard into 1 inch strips

2) Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a large pan and sautée the remaining chopped garlic

3) Once garlic starts to brown add the chard and toss in the oil and garlic

4) Add ½ lemon juice and cook until chard is fully wilted

Balsamic Apples:

1) Chop the apples into small rectangles and sautée in a saucepan in olive oil

2) Mix the grated ginger and jalapeno with juice of ½ a lemon and the honey/agave

3) Pour the dressing and half of the balsamic over the apples and simmer until the apples are very soft

Veal Chops:

1) Preheat the oven to 375

2) Sear the veal on both sides in an oven proof pan or cast iron

3) Finish in the oven for 15 minutes

4) Serve apples on the veal and finish with the remaining balsamic

Sunday Steak

Sunday evening and I was craving some beef. I picked up a nice big ribeye from the WF meat counter, some asparagus, and some fingerling potatoes. I didn’t want a big involved meal to cook, but was definitely feeling a hearty and comforting dish. When I got home, I salt and peppered the steak and let it sit until I was ready to cook it. I sliced the potatoes in half, tossed them with 5 garlic cloves, olive oil, salt, pepper and paprika and put them in the oven (all sliced side down) at 375. I tossed the asparagus with olive oil, salt, pepper and lemon and added them to the oven about 15 minutes after the potatoes. I usually cook my potatoes for about 45 minutes, so I wanted the asparagus to be nicely roasted for 30. I heated up the grill pan tossed a little olive oil on it. Once the oil was almost smoking, I added the ribeye. I cooked it about 7 minutes a side to a nice medium rare. The steak sit for about 10 minutes, and once the potatoes and asparagus were done, I put it all on a plate and enjoyed this classic meal. It was the perfect dish for a Sunday night, and a great way to end the weekend.