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.