A break from the Mediterranean, sort of

I promised the boys that during our year of Mediterranean food, that once a week I would make something different.  This morning - tortilla espanola and a peach, Lunch - greek salad, hummus, those little meat balls from earlier in the week, so for dinner I was attempting something Mexican inspired.  This was partly because of their love Mexican food and their recent withdrawal symptoms, but also due to the fact that there were poblanos and tomatillos and pork shoulder in the house.  What I ended up with was not really Mexican, due to the added Barley Pilaf (from earlier in the week, which I called bulgar pilaf.  That recipe called for bulgar, but I had barley on the brain, so I used it.  No wonder it took longer to cook.  I will try that recipe again using the correct grain.  I am sure it will be much better!)  Anyway, back to dinner, tonight's was really tasty, even if it wasn't what I started out making.  It did follow the Mediterranean concept of using what is available to you.

Pork Stew

Cut 1 pound pork shoulder into one inch pieces.  Brown in a couple of tbsp olive oil.  Remove.  Add 1 chopped onion (half of my onion was bad, so I also used a couple bunches of chopped scallions), 1 chopped zucchini, 1 chopped poblano, 5 chopped tomatillos, 4 minced garlic cloves.  Cook til softened.  Add the pork back to the pot, along with enough chicken broth to cover.  Season with about a tbsp each cumin and coriander.  Add 1 cup or so of white beans (these were still in their cooking juice so I added the juice too.) and a couple of cups of the cooked barley.  Season with hot sauce to taste.  Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer and cook until pork is tender, stirring occasionally.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Sprinkle with minced cilantro.  I served it with corn tortillas with melted pepper jack.

Yesterday  to celebrate back to school and Julia Child's birthday, I surprised the boys with Madeleines.    This was really quick, which was good since I only had about 25 minutes from the time I got home from work til the bus arrived.  The recipe was taken from epicurious.com  They were really great, but the cooking time was a little too long, so I have shortened in the following recipe.

Madeleine

Butter and flour 2 madeleine pans.  I think you could probably use muffin pans if you are not lucky enough to have in-laws that send you cool things like madeleine pans.

Melt 10 tbsp butter, cool slightly.

In an electric mixer, beat 2 large eggs with 2/3 cups sugar just to blend.  Beat in 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1/2 tsp grated lemon peel and a pinch of salt.  Add 1 cup flour.  Beat until just combined.  Gradually add melted butter in steady stream.  Beat until just combined.  

Spoon 1 tbsp into each cup in pan.  Bake 14 minutes, until puffed and brown at 375 degrees.

Dust with powdered sugar. 

Chicken with lentils

The chicken was tossed with olive oil and lemon juice, salt and pepper, then roasted at 350 with wedged onions for an hour and 15 minutes.  The lentils come from the Zuni Cookbook.  Warm 1/4 cup olive oil in a 3 qt saucepan.  Add 1/2 cup each diced celery and carrots, and 3/4 cup diced onion.  We added garlic, even though it didn't call for it.  Add a couple of pinches of salt.  Cook until softened.  Add a bay leaf, few thyme sprigs, 1 1/4 cup small black or french lentils, rinsed.  Add 1 cup of red wine and 1 cup of warmed chicken broth.  (Warm 2 cups chicken broth total).  Turn up heat, bring to a simmer.  Stir occasionally.  Add more chicken broth as the pan gets close to becoming dry.  (As if you were making risotto).  Continue until the lentils are cooked.  (May not use all of the 2 cups). Remove bay leaf and thyme sprig.  Stir in 2-3 tbsp olive oil while still over heat and stir.  Serve.  Pita on the side.  This dinner needed a sauce, in my opinion.  We served it with plain nonfat yogurt, which was good.  Kind of a mix of many mediterranean countries.

For Jack, a creamy salad dressing.  Mix a couple of tsp of grated parmesan with some dijon vinaigrette and a tbsp of mayo.  Stir.  Toss with romaine and tomatoes. 

Shrimp in a roasted red pepper sauce with bulgar pilaf.

First, I think I need to start using my real camera instead of my phone for the photos.  It's just so much easier.

Tonight's dinner was shrimp in a roasted red pepper sauce with a bulgar pilaf and salad.

Shrimp in a roasted red pepper sauce:  This is adapted from "The new mediterranean diet", using what was in my pantry.

Heat 2 tbsp olive oil.  Add shrimp and cook quickly on both sides.  Remove.

Add another tablespoon of olive oil.  Add 1 med chopped onion and 1/4 cup minced parsley.  Cook about 10 minutes, until soft but not browned.  Add 2 jars roasted red peppers (I sliced mine, then rinsed the brine off of them) and 1 can diced tomatoes.  Cook for about 20 minutes.  Add 1/2 cup red wine and boil to cook the alcohol off.  I let mine simmer for another 10 minutes.  Puree using an immersion blender.

Put some saffron in warm water to bloom.  Add it along with 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper to the sauce.  Stir.  Add the shrimp back into the pan.  Cook on low until shrimp is warm.  Serve at once.

Bulgar Pilaf:  (Also adapted from "THE NEW MEDITERRANEAN DIET")

Warm 3 cups chicken broth.

Saute 1 med chopped onion until soft, about 10 minutes.  Add 1 1/4 cup barley.  Stir.  Add 1 can diced tomatoes.  Stir and cook about 5 minutes.  Add the broth and salt and pepper to taste.  Cook, on med, covered 5 minutes.  Reduce heat to low and cook another 15 minutes.  Turn off heat and let sit for 10 minutes.  When I tasted it at this point the barley was still pretty firm, so I returned it to med-low heat for another 10 minutes.  Let sit another couple of minutes covered.  Stir in 1/4 cup minced parsley.

Chicken Cacciatore

Chicken Cacciatore 

This is adapted from "Cooking Under Pressure" .  I used the pressure cooker, but you wouldn't have to.  Just increase the cooking time when you add the chicken.  If I was not using the pressure cooker, I would have left the skin on the chicken and browned it first.

Heat 3 tbsp olive oil in pressure cooker.  Add 2 med chopped onions.  Saute a couple of minutes.  Add 2 chopped celery stalks and 1 chopped green bell pepper.  Saute another couple of minutes. Deglaze with 3/4 cup red wine.  Add 1/2 pound thickly sliced mushrooms.  Stir.  Add 2 bay leaves, 1 tsp oregano, 1 tsp fennel seed, 1 tsp salt and fresh ground pepper.  Add skinned chicken thighs and legs (8).  Stir.  Add 1 28oz canned tomatoes, chopping them coarsely.  DO NOT STIR.  Put the lid on and bring to pressure.  Cook 9 minutes.  Bring pressure down using the quick release method.  (I let mine come down naturally since I was doing other things)  Add 1/4 cup chopped parsley and 2 minced garlic cloves.  Simmer until raw garlic flavor is gone.  I simmered mine for about 20 minutes while I finished the rest of dinner.

I served this with orichiette (from March 2011), steamed broccoli and salad.

Jack said the flavors made his "taste buds tingle and dance with joy".

Italian Bean Soup:

Cook one cup small white beans until tender.  Drain reserving liquid.  

Put 1 slice pancetta or bacon, 1/3 cup chopped parsley, 3 small chopped carrots, 2 chopped garlic cloves, 1 chopped onion into a food processor and process until almost a paste.  Heat a couple tablespoons olive oil.  Add the paste and cook, stirring for about 5 minutes.  Add 3 cups chicken broth and 1 cup reserved bean juice.  Add 1 bunch chopped kale and 2 cups white beans.  Simmer 15 minutes.

I followed the basic recipe from Essentials of Mediterranean Cooking.  The boys and I agree that we prefer the way I've always made this. 

The old recipe:

Cut a couple of italian sausage links into bite size pieces.  Brown in a little olive oil.  Remove.  Add 1 chopped onion, a couple of chopped carrots, 3-4 minced garlic cloves, a pinch of thyme, and a bay leaf.   Cook until soft.  Add 1 bunch chopped kale and stir.  Return sausage to pan.  Cover with chicken broth and let cook until kale softened and sausage cooked.  (The longer, the better flavor).  Add a couple of cups of white beans and cook until warmed through.

Here is a spin on a mediterranean/middle eastern meatball.  Normally this would be made with lamb, but I found a few recipes that called for ground beef.  Since we bought part of a cow last winter, and I have a freezer full of ground beef, I decided to go with it.  This isn't from one particular recipe.  In the future, I would increase the seasonings for more of a wow factor. 

Meat balls:  1 1/2 pounds ground beef mixed with 1/2 tbsp of thyme and oregano, 2 tbsp sumac, salt and pepper to taste.  Make small patties.  Cook in olive oil.  Sprinkle with more sumac to taste.  I served this with hummus, olives, cucumber, tomatoes, tzatziki, feta, and some homemade pita.

Spanish dinner with Barbara

I didn't take any pictures last night, and all of the recipes from our dinner are found elsewhere in this blog.  We had gambas al jillo (which we added halved baby bellas), tomatoes in olive oil and balsamic, tortilla espanola, aioli, and a crusty baguette.  It was wonderful to see you last night Barbara!