Props and Probs: Food Funk

Dateline end of June, early July 2012:  Somewhere outside Cheney, WA

After the busiest two weeks of the year at my job were finally over, I thought I would be free to create some awesome dinners.  Instead, I thought most were pretty dud-y.  So, as part of my self-flagellation, I thought I’d review the last five dinners with commentaries about what went wrong (or right in a few cases).  I can see that part of my problem is that I have two freezers filled with pork products, and I’m not digging far enough to unearth the other yummy things in there.  Time to re-organize the freezers!

FRIDAY:  collards with bacon, chicken and dumplings.

Props:  incredibly delicious, no fuss meal was easy to make, home grown collards, made lots of leftovers.

Probs:  store bought bacon and chicken not as good as home grown, made lots of leftovers.

Reasons:  ran out of home-cured bacon, lack of planning to defrost whole home grown chicken in advance.

SATURDAY:  tossed salad with kohlrabi and other veggie goodies, parmesan toast, BBQ pork ribs, cherry/rhubarb cobbler.

Props:  balanced, home raised pork, tried something new from the garden (kohlrabi), awesome cobbler used my farmer supplied cherries and homegrown rhubarb.

Probs:  off-taste to pork, ribs not juicy, forgot to serve the cobbler (but ate it for breakfast the next day).

Reasons:  should have completely brined the ribs the day before; I just used an apple cider brine for about an hour, which was not enough; poor planning—started dinner tooooo late and I got impatient waiting for the ribs to cook, so I cranked up the oven; spent most of the day making furikaki chex mix and cherry jam, both of which were yummy.

SUNDAY:  chorizo and red bean chili, big salad with toms, onions, and avocado.

Props:   balanced, home raised pork, lots of greens, red beans (from dried) were perfectly cooked, made good lunch leftovers.

Probs:  off-taste to chorizo (I was the only one who thought this), tomatoes in the chili did not break down.

Reasons:  underspiced, canned tomatoes should have been pureed in food processor prior.

MONDAY:  ham and cheese sandwiches (tomatoes, onions and lettuce) on Kaiser rolls with kohlrabi oven fries and chili/yogurt dipping sauce.

Props:  very easy, tried something new, yogurt dressing was tasty.

Probs:  boooring, kohlrabi fries were soggy even if tasty.

Reasons:  too many carbs, used too much oil in the pan with kohlrabi, oven not hot enough.

TUESDAY:  pork steaks in teriyaki marinade with red peppers, white rice, steamed artichokes with homemade lemon mayonnaise.

Props: home raised pork, used up leftover peppers, meat cooked to medium-rare/medium just right and tender, rice nice and fluffy, mayo was excellent and plenty for leftovers.

Probs:  bland rice, bland chokes, not enough sauce on the meat, served too late in the evening.

Reasons: lack of planning; spent most of the evening walking around outside and enjoying the weather; had a piece of fresh picnic ham that would have taken too long to roast, so I cut it into steaks; chokes were just not quality—note to self to stop buying stuff that has been picked 2 weeks ago and grown 2 states away;  rice would have been fine with more sauce.  OMG, are we having pork again!?

Yummy Easy Chocolate Mousse

This  recipe is superbly yummy and relatively easy.  It does not demand the cooking and stirring of the egg custard.  Make it the day before and refrigerate it to allow time to set up properly.  Very easy to double to serve more folks.

Makes 2 cups (about 4 servings)

4 oz semisweet chocolate chips
1 egg, separated
1/2 C heavy cream
2 t sugar


Melt the chocolate in a double boiler over very low heat, stirring constantly (or heat for 30 seconds at a time in the microwave, stirring after each time--you'll only have to do this 2 or 3 times).  Transfer to a bowl.  Meanwhile, mix the egg yolk and the cream together thoroughly, then quickly whisk the yolk mixture into the chocolate. Combine thoroughly.  Set aside.  Beat the egg whites into soft peaks, incorporating the sugar near the end of beating.  Fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture a third at a time and incorporate completely.   Pour into serving glasses.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. 

Serve as is or with a dollop of freshly whipped sweetened cream garnished with a raspberry.

Snap Pea Shrimp Salad with Mangos and Creamy Lemon Mango Vinaigrette

Snap peas, lettuce, onions, shrimp, peppers, and mangos.

This salad is perfect for a brunch or a light summer supper.  I made it recently with Number One Daughter for a brunch at her house on a hot day in Texas.   We  found similar recipes on line that all suggested a ginger dressing, which was too strong a flavor profile and created a confusing taste juxtaposition with the other more traditional brunch dishes that we served. Instead, we opted for mangos and lemon to lighten it more.   Easy to make and very refreshing, this salad would also be good sprinkled with some sunflower seeds.  Enjoy!

Serves 4-6 as a main dish, more as a side

Salad
1 head Boston lettuce or Romaine  (about 4 C of lettuce)
12 oz fresh snap peas
1 lb raw shrimp (small size, but not mini salad size), peeled and deveined
4 green onions, diced
1/2 mango, diced
1/2 C finely sliced red, orange or yellow sweet peppers (1 inch matchsticks)

Tear or cut up lettuce into large pieces. Set aside.    Heat 2 quarts water to  boiling in large saucepan.  Boil snap peas for 2 minutes, drain, then chill in ice water.  Set aside to cool.  In a separate saucepan heat more water to boiling and add shrimp.  Boil for 1 minute or  until done (don't overcook).  Drain shrimp and chill in separate ice bath.  Set aside to cool.*  When you are ready to compose salad, drain peas and shrimp, pat dry and toss all ingredients in a bowl.  Best to compose right before serving so that the mango doesn't water down the salad.  Serve with Lemon Mango Creamy Vinaigrette (below) on the side.

 Creamy Lemon Mango Vinaigrette
3 large lemons
2 T white wine vinegar
2 T diced cilantro
1/2 mango diced
1 t pureed garlic
2-3 T sugar to taste

1/4 C walnut oil
1/2 C light olive oil

salt  to taste

Into a blender, put the zest of one whole lemon and the juice of three lemons (about 1/2 C of juice).  Add vinegar, cilantro, mango, garlic and sugar.  Blend completely.  With blender running, slowly add the oils.  Taste and add salt to your liking.  Adjust with more lemon, vinegar, sugar or oil.  I like my dressing very tangy in order to make an impact on the salad.


*Note on boiling peas and shrimp:  I came across versions of this recipe that recommended boiling the snap peas for 2 minutes and then adding the shrimp for a final minute into the pot with the peas.  A couple cautions about that:  first, depending on the size of your shrimp, they may be underdone and cause you to then over boil your peas, resulting in limp peas.  Second, the peas will become somewhat shrimpy tasting.  You may want this.  I prefer to keep the flavors distinct, so the extra work of boiling 2 separate pots was worth it.