Sweet Plantains

Here's a very common Caribbean/Central/South American side. The first time I attempted to make fried plantains I was in Costa Rica so this brings back lots of memories. The recipe and the preparation are all very simple but its all about finding the ingredient and making them at the perfect ripeness. They turn out soooo sweet and with a crispy burnt caramel coating. Just perfect. I think its traditionally served with savory dishes like charcoal chicken, but it makes for a tasty breakfast or snack too.

I got these fresh plantains at a local Columbian market. Ideally the plantain peal is completely black when you make them. The one pealed in the picture was black. Dont worry, they may not look so pleasant but they arent mushy. The other two I make 3 days later.

Ingredients:
Plantains (one for each serving)
Three tbsp of canola oil
Dash of salt

Directions:
1. Heat the oil in a pan
2. Meanwhile peal and slice the plantain into 1/2 in thick pieces
3. Pan fry them in the pan by gently sliding them in one piece at a time
4. When the are browned, flip and fry the other side (some burnt edges is fine..think taste of burn marshmallows)
5. Place on a paper towel to absorb some of the oil.
6. Sprinkle a few grains of salt over the top to enhance the flavor and consume!

Thai Pork Chops with Caramelized Onions/ Potato Salad in a Pan

Being a new mom, and a wife who gets tired of cooking, I am constantly looking for new recipes that are really good, really fast, and really easy-- all at the same time. For my first recipe, I would like to share: Thai Pork Chops with Caramelized Onions with Potato Salad in a Pan on the side. Here is what the meal looked like on my plate!

Thai Pork Chops with Potato Salad in a Pan on the Side

I combined the two dishes into one meal and will go through how I cooked both of them at once. Feel free to seperate the dishes if you feel like it.

Ingredients needed for Pork Chops:

3 Tbsp brown sugar

3 Tbsp peanut butter

2 Tbsp soy sauce

2 tsp grated ginger

1 garlic clove, minced

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

1/2 large onion, sliced

1/3 cup orange juice

4 (1 inch thick) pork chops

1/2 tsp salt

Ingredients for the Potato Salad in a Pan:

(To make 4 servings)

2 large baking potatoes

1/2 onion, diced

4 pieces of bacon

2 cloves garlic, minced

dill

salt

pepper

1. Start off by putting the brown sugar, peanut butter, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and crushed red pepper in a small saucepan. Over Medium-high heat, mix it together into a sauce.

Before melting and mixing:

After melting and mixing:

2. Once the sauce is melted together, add in the sliced onion and saute for about 10 minutes. I like to turn down the stove a little to about medium heat. You should stir this off and on.

When it is down sauteing, the sauce will have thickened a bit to look like this:

3. While the onions are cooking for that 10 minutes, peel and cube your potatoes. Put the cubes into a bowl with about 1/3 cup water and microwave the potatoes on high for 3 minutes. This gets the potatoes a little softer before you fry them.

Also, take a few minutes to chop up the bacon into smaller pieces and the onion for the potato salad into chunks. Set these aside for now.

4. At this point, the recipe says to take the onions out of the sauce-- that the sauce is actually supposed to be more liquidy. In the 5 times I have made this recipe, my sauce has NEVER been liquid. So I reserve enough of the onions to garnish the pork and leave the rest in the pot.

I have also left the onions totally in the sauce and it worked fine too.

Either way, stir in the orange juice into your sauce and mix til it is combined well.

5. Once the sauce is mixed, brush it over both sides of your pork chops. Sprinkle salt on the chops.

6. Grill the pork chops over medium-high heat for about 4 or 5 minutes on each side, or until done. I like to use my George Foreman grill.

7. While the chops are grilling, fry your onions in a pan over medium high heat in 2 tbsp of olive oil. Let the onions brown up and then add in the bacon. Fry this for a minute or two more and then add the potatoes, garlic, salt, and a few shakes of dill.

8. Stir the potatoes every minute or so, so no one section is stuck to the bottom of the pan. YOu get the best taste if the potatoes get nice and brown, but don't burn.

9. When plating your pork, put the onions on top and a little of your sauce.

And most important, when making this recipe is to have a good sous-chef!

challah back, y'all

My pals Krista and Alett came over for a 13.9-mile run, after which we made bananas foster stuffed french toast, courtesy of Thursday Night Smackdown, whose directions are replicated below (slightly moved about and with my comments in italics).

Mascarpone-Stuffed French Toast with Banana-Cardamom-Brown Sugar Topping
serves 4

For the French Toast:
1 medium loaf challah or brioche
1/2 c. mascarpone
4 tbsp. honey
1 1/2 c. half-and-half, cream, or mixture of milk and cream/half-and-half
5 large eggs
Pinch of salt
2-4 tbsp. unsalted butter

For the topping:
1/3 c. packed light brown sugar
1 tbsp. vanilla
2 tbsp. dark rum
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
1/4 c. heavy cream
3/4 tsp. ground cardamom, fresh if possible )
3 ripe bananas

Bacon should also be included as an ingredient, as Thursday Night Smackdown did. I got an Applegate Farms one since I couldn't find a Niman Ranch one.

The night before you plan to make this, slice the bread into 1 1/2 inch slices and cut pockets for stuffing - stick a paring knife into the bottom of each slice and work it back and forth until you have as large a pocket as you can make without destroying the bread. Leave the bread out overnight to dry out.

You can make the custard the night before as well: whisk half-and-half, eggs, salt and 2 tablespoons of the honey together.

Whisk the other 2 tablespoons of honey into the mascarpone.

Scoop the mixture into a piping bag or ziploc with the tip snipped off. Fill the cavities in the bread with the cheese mixture. I found this part really hard! Alett had to help me by propping the bread holes open with two forks while I squeezed cheese out of the ziploc bag, then poking the cheese in after I took out the bag.

Put the bread into the fridge while you pre-heat the oven and get the custard ready to give the cheese a little time to chill. When you’re ready to cook, preheat the oven to 300 and melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large skillet over medium heat.

Pour the custard mix into a pie plate. Put a cooling rack over some paper towels. Put each slice of bread into the custard and hold down for 30 seconds; flip and hold down for another 30. Put the custard-soaked slices onto the cooling rack; this allowed the custard to really seep into the bread, and the paper towels catch any drippings. I ended up just using a bowl and it turned out okay except for the last piece, which could not fit into the remaining egg mixture. I poured the egg mixture over it while it was on the cooling rack. Check out Alett's arrangement of bacon strips.


Cook each piece of French toast for 2-3 minutes per side, until golden brown. Transfer all the toast to a baking sheet and bake for another 5-7 minutes, until cooked through. The last few ended up with gorgeous color striations.
Check out the finished bacon:

Put all the ingredients except the bananas into a medium skillet over medium heat. Stir until the sugar is dissolved, all the ingredients are incorporated and the mixture is bubbling; it will just be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. I ground up fresh cardamom in a spare coffee grinder. The fresh cardamom really made a difference!

Slice the bananas and toss them with the sauce. Cook for 5-6 minutes, until the bananas are heated through. The sauce will thicken a bit when off the heat.

Krista chopped up the bananas.

Then Alett tossed them with the sauce.

Pour over french toast, pancakes, waffles or ice cream and enjoy. We totally did!

Chocolate Coconut Cake (Happy Birthday to Carlos)

So its Carlos's birthday and this is the cake I made him! I used the standard box mix with a twist of coconut and attempted to make a healthier icing other than the standard stuff in a tub or anything that involves creaming butter. It turned out so pretty. I will update later with his review on taste. notes in parentheses. Serves 12 (or 1)

Ingredients for the cake:
Standard box of chocolate cake mix that makes two 8-inch rounds (I was debating regular yellow cake. The coconut flavor would definitely stand out more but chocolate gives you better contrasting colors...its a cake, presentation is actually important here!)
6 oz of an 8 oz can of cream of coconut (btw here is the 411 on coconut products from a can from my favorite food blog...this actual post inspired this recipe...mmm tasty)

Ingredients for the icing:
5 oz package of instant vanilla pudding mix
1.5 cups of skim milk
8 oz tub of coolwhip
2 oz of the remaining 8 oz can of cream of coconut
1 cup of sweetened toasted coconut shavings

Directions:
Part 1: The Cake
1. Follow the directions on the back of the box for the batter. (Also take the coolwhip out of the fridge to let it sit in room temp)
2. Substitute 1/2 a cup of water for the cream of coconut
3. mix mix mix
4. pour 1/2 of the batter into an 8 inch round pan or whatever pan you want. The batter should hit the halfway up the pan. (if you have two pans pour the other half in the other pan and bake both at the same time. otherwise just bake one at a time)

Part 2: The Icing
5. While cakes are baking mix together the milk, pudding mix, and remaining cream of coconut.
6. let sit for however long it says to in the back of the pudding mix. Mine said 2-3 mins
7. Now gently fold the coolwhip into the mix. (If you over mix and it falls flat try beating it with a fork like beating an egg to incorporate air back in and then popping it into the fridge to stiffen up...not that big of a deal)

Part 3: Assembly
8. When cakes are done set it on a rack and let it cool completely (I let them sit out over night. Dont cover them in containers or put in the fridge to speed up the process or you'll get soggy mush due to random condensation).
9. Use a long knife to level both cakes and remove any bumpy irregularities.
10. Spread icing on top of one cake and stack the other one on top.
11. Then cover the whole thing with icing.

12. Sprinkle the whole thing with toasted coconut.

Part 4: Consumption (optional)
13. stick candles in the cake.
14. light them.
15. sing the birthday song.
16. make wish.
17. blow out candles in one breath.
18. eat the cake (not optional)

Done!

Citrus Marinated Pork Chop

Ingredients:
4 pork chops
1/4 cup orange juice
juice and zest of one lemon
1 tbsp cf chipotle hot sauce
some minced fresh parsley
1 tsp of garlic and onion powder
1 tsp of salt and pepper
dash of coriander

Directions:
1. Mix ingredients together
2. Marinate chops overnight (I trim the fat at this point)
3. Grill over high heat on each side for 10-15 mins depending on thickness
4. Let the meat rest for 5 mins
5. Enjoy

miso soup and soba

I had some miso soup packet, spinach, scallions, tofu left over from my miso soup + udon adventures, so I decided to do it again. I added a veggie bouillon cube to the miso soup along with meatballs frozen from one of my "football spaghetti sauce" days (it takes about one game to do the sauce and simmer meatballs in it) and used soba instead of udon. It was much, much better than the miso soup + udon!

miso soup and udon

I was feeling ill earlier this week and decided to make soup as comfort food. I started with tofu...


cut it up...


chopped up some green onions...


made some udon...


ripped the stems off some spinach leaves...


and threw it all into a pot of water with half a packet of miso soup mix.


I threw some soy sauce in at the end. Voila!

Top Chef Comment

WTF

Is it just me or should Leah have gone home and not Jamie and her cute headband?

ChickPeas (Part 3 of 3): Falafel Patties

For my last trick I shall make falafel patties out of the remaining chick peas.

Ingredients:
4 or 5 cups of cooked chickpeas
1/2 bunch of fresh parsley
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 a small onion diced
splash of hot sauce
pinch of cumin
pinch of coriander
3 teaspoons of flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
olive oil
salt/pepper
canola oil
pita bread
cucumber yogurt tzatziki sauce(optional)

Directions:
1. Blend the chickpeas, onion, garlic, parsley, olive oil, and spices in a food processor.
2. heat a pan with some canola oil
3. form the patties with your hands like you are making burgers
4. pan fry it in the pan for about 5 minutes, flip, and cook until both sides are toasted and golden.
5. eat it folded between some pita bread and tzatziki sauce.

I haven't made up all the falafel mixture so I dont know how many it will make. My guess is about 15 little patties. I ate three in a sitting. haha

Delish!

ChickPeas (Part 2 of 3): Hummus

So its superbowl weekend and I have a gigantic pot of chick peas...oh what to do...
the answer is hummus people! hummus!

Ingredients:
2 cups of cooked chickpeas
a couple of drizzles of olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
salt
pepper
paprika

Directions:
Blend everything together in a food processor
Dip in with some toasted pita. :)



Yay, for hummus! yay for football! yay for heath miller!