red beans and rice take two

We enjoy Roger Mooking's Man, Fire, Food quite a bit and recently caught an episode that included red beans and rice and tons of smoked meat. The version of that recipe we tried, while similar to mine, threw in enough new ingredients, and turned out well enough, that I wanted to write down what I did before I forget.

1 package pork belly (we get it from Trader Joe's)
1 link linguica
1 package andouille sausage (we love North Country's)
1 onion
2-3 garlic cloves
12 ounces of water
2 16 ounce cans of dark red kidney beans
cajun seasoning
Worcestershire sauce
Crystal's hot sauce
Cooked rice

Cut up all three meats into bite sized pieces (we did smallish chunks for the pork belly, cubes for the linguica and rounds for the andouille). Place the pork belly in a Dutch oven and heat on high until the pork belly gets crusty and brown. Add the other meats, onion and garlic and cook until onions become translucent. Add the water and kidney beans and stir. Add cajun seasoning to taste, as well as 2 to 3 glugs each of Worcestershire sauce and Crystal's hot sauce. Heat at medium high until the liquid has thickened and reduced, or until the rice is ready.

We also steamed some spinach and vitaminna with just salt and pepper and it complemented the heaviness of the dish nicely.

Adapted from Cooking Channel

chicken corn chowda

This was an incredibly easy and delicious chowder - most of the work goes into chopping everything, but once that's done it all comes together very quickly. Good for a hearty weeknight meal.

2 cups half and half
2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels
2 tablespoons butter
2 lbs skinless, boneless chicken thighs
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped celery
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced
2 tablespoons corn starch
3 cups milk
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels (about 3 ears)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh or 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt

Combine the half and half with the first 2 cups of corn in a saucepan. Heat over medium heat, but watch to make sure it doesn't boil over. Stir regularly and cook for approx. 15 minutes until the half and half is infused with corn flavor.

Cut the chicken thighs into bite sized pieces. Season with salt and pepper. Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the chicken and brown until cooked through. Remove the chicken to a separate dish.

Add onion, celery, and jalapeño to the Dutch oven; cook for 3 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently. Add corn starch; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in milk, chicken, the half and half and corn mixture and remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil; cook until thick (about 5 minutes).

Adapted from Cooking Light

non-caramel caramel pork

We stumbled across this caramel pork recipe when looking recipes using fish sauce and while it doesn't really smell very good the flavor was outstanding. The original recipe called for raw cabbage but we found the slightly wilted flavor much more appealing.

2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 pounds ground pork
1 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 cup unsalted chicken stock
6 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoon fish sauce
2 tablespoon soy sauce
4 teaspoons cornstarch
4 teaspoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
sushi rice
3 cup thinly sliced napa (Chinese) cabbage
1/4 cup chopped unsalted roasted peanuts
1/4 cup cilantro leaves
4 lime wedges

Heat large skillet over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon sesame oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add ground pork; stir-fry 6 minutes, until cooked through. Remove pork from pan. Add onion, ginger, and garlic to pan; stir-fry 4 minutes. Combine stock and next 6 ingredients (through red pepper) in a bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add stock mixture to pan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 4 minutes or until sauce is thick and bubbly. Return pork to pan; cook 1 minute, stirring to coat.

In a separate skillet heat second tablespoon of sesame oil and olive oil. Add cabbage and salt and pepper to taste. Cook until wilted and just beginning to brown.

Spoon 1/2 cup rice onto each of 4 plates; top each serving with 3/4 cup pork mixture and 1/4 cup cabbage. Sprinkle each serving with 1 tablespoon peanuts and 1 tablespoon cilantro. Serve with lime wedges.

Adapted from Cooking Light

lettuce mix

We eat salad at least once a week, and now that our spring farm share has started off with delicious lettuce mix it just makes us want to eat even more salads.

A few options for when we're forgetful:

Steak and Blueberry Salad

steak seasoned with salt and pepper only
blueberries
goat cheese
lettuce mix

For the dressing we used black cherry balsamic, olive oil and salt and pepper. We used Denver cut steak and it was amazing.

Pulled Pork Salad

leftover bbq pulled pork
tomatoes
orange
lettuce
goat cheese

For the dressing we used cara cara vanilla balsamic, olive oil and salt and pepper.

Pork Chop Salad

Pork Belly and Roasted Root Veggie Salad
For this you can throw in any root veggies you have. We did it with:
baby carrots
small turnips
kohlrabi
radishes

We roasted all of the veggies in a marinade of honey, olive oil, cara cara vanilla balsamic and pineapple white balsamic, salt and pepper for 45 minutes at 400 and 15 minutes at 415 degrees.

We made a vinaigrette using the pineapple balsamic, coated the lettuce, added the fried pork belly and roasted veggies and a little bit of goat cheese.