Roasted pork with fennel
A few weeks back, we had purchased a prepared pork tenderloin that had a garlic and herb rub, and it turned out great. But, for the upcharge of being prepared for us, it really wasn’t worth the extra money — plus, we don’t know what exactly it is they used. So we poked around the interwebs, for something similar, and ended up settling on trying out a garlicky pork roast from her Better Homes & Garden book. It turned out great!
Read MoreBrigadiero
Brazilians have lots of little sweets – cocada, brigadeiro, beijinhos de coco, doce de leite, and so many more. Many of them (or, at least, the ones my Brazilian fiancé has introduced me to) involve sweetened condensed milk and take about ten to fifteen minutes to make.
Read MoreBLT Pasta
Last night, we made BLT pasta for dinner. My friend Tria had linked an NPR article talking about quick summer pastas, and it reminded me of a pasta I used to make in college, a riff off of BLTs. This version, however, was kicked up a few notches, using pancetta instead of bacon, and some fresh buffalo mozzarella instead of whatever cheese I had on hand. It was a quick and dirty dinner – I think it took maybe 20 minutes to create for the two of us, because I had roasted some good grape tomatoes the day before, for paninis.
Read MoreFull breakfast!
Today, I made a huge breakfast, using up all sorts of leftovers. Zucchini and potato pankcakes, applesauce with cranberries, a fried egg, and lightly seared country ham. Most of it was somewhat left over from Thanksgiving. If I can find the recipe again, I’ll edit this so you can try the awesome zucchini and potato pancakes.
Read MoreMoqueca de Ovos
My new husband’s originally from Bahia, a state in northeast Brazil. Salvador, his home town, is not unlike New Orleans (and other southern port cities) in that there’s been a huge influence of a variety of cultures, especially African culture (due to slavery centuries ago). Red palm oil (also known as dende), okra, and more are not uncommon in the region.
One of the styles of food that Bahia is infamous for is moqueca – a stew with a coconut-and-tomato based broth – served with rice. Typically, seafood is featured, but my husband’s favorite way to eat it is with eggs. Since I love seafood, we usually make two batches, one for him and one for me (with white flesh fish, shrimp, and/or mussels). If you use it with seafood, add about 1 tablespoon of lemon or lime juice per half pound of meat.
Read MoreSpicy Chicken Schawarma
Flipping through the most recent issue of Cooking Light, I stumbled onto a gorgeous sounding recipe for chicken schawarma. I really enjoy Mediterranean food, but don’t often have a chance to indulge in eating it in a restaurant (the biggest disadvantage of living in a medium-sized city the midwest!).
Read MoreMexican Black Bean Soup
Black bean soups and chilis are great food for the winter, because they’re rich and hearty and the spiciness warms you from the inside out. They also reheat fabulously, for those with smaller households or who like to bring their lunch.
This soup is on the thin side as written on the book (with an extra cup of water), but I like my soups on the thicker side. I’m totally guilty of using up half a package of saltines in thin soups to get it to the consistency I like. The photo above was taken on the third eating of the soup, so it’s really starting to thicken up.