The molecules in my computer have misaligned themselves again, so I am unable to, at this time, to provide photos for this post. (I've temporarily taken over my hubbies work computer) There were too many good things this weekend though to not do a post, so you'll just have to imagine what everything looked like until I can add the photos later.
The theme of the weekend seemed to be "French-ish"...
On Fri, we received a bag of goodies from the garden of T.'s work buddy. Some vibrant yellow squash and a lot of heavenly smelling herbs. So for our dinner, I grilled some of the squash with some other veggies and served them tossed in a vinaigrette featuring the herbs, a simple white bean puree and grilled French bread. I also made an herbed butter and while discussing with T. all the possible uses for this butter he responded "It's herbed butter! What wouldn't it be good on? Just spread it on my face."
Herbed Butter
1 full handful of chopped, fresh herbs of your liking--i.e from farmers market or some one's garden. NOT the grocery store.
1 stick unsalted butter softened at room temperature
salt and pepper to taste
This is so fast it hardly seems worth dragging out the mixer, but then again, not using the mixer makes it not so fast. Using the paddle on your mixer, mix on low speed until combined. Probably a minute at most. This keeps in the fridge for a week or so, or you can freeze it to use when fresh herbs are harder to come by. Use this mixture for/in: steamed veggies, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, on chicken, fish, steak, cook omelette's in, mixed into rice, couscous, pasta, on toast,biscuits---anything that a little butter would make better!
Next, on Sat. morning I felt like using some of the leftover grilled veggies to make savory crepes. A little planing a head was required as the batter has to rest for an hour in the fridge, but luckily I thought of it just as T was taking the dog to the dog park. I had at least an hour and a half which was time for the batter to rest and to make the crepes. It then only took a few minutes to heat the veggies and a few eggs to fill the crepes with. Yum!
Saturday's dinner had a little head start too. While in Oregon last week, two things happened. First, I had a dessert of local cherries soaked in rose wine. Second, my friends dad, on the morning we left, picked us a huge box of cherries from the trees in their yard. I got to thinking that one of the ways I'd like to use them was to soak them in rose too. But my twist came from a recipe that my dad used while on a visit here in Seattle. He put some sage and lemon zest in a bottle of rose to sit overnight and flavor the wine. I combined the two and soaked the cherries in rose with sage and lemon. I used these to make a sauce to go over pancetta wrapped, grilled pork chops served with red potatoes and green beans tossed in the herbed butter I made the night before.
Rose and sage cherry sauce
Two days before you'd like to make the sauce, combine pitted cherries (The dark red kind. Rainier's will not look pretty) in a jar or bowl with 2-3 sage leaves and a swath or two of lemon zest and enough rose wine to cover the cherries. Cover and refrigerate.
To make the sauce:
In a sauce pan, melt a bit of butter and saute 1/2 an onion with a little salt and pepper for about 5 minutes. Add the cherries, some of the wine they've been soaking in and about a cup of chicken stock/broth. Simmer until the sauce has reduced by half. Just before serving, whisk in about a tablespoon of butter that's been cut into smaller pieces, adding them one at a time.
Grilled pancetta wrapped pork chops or: what's better than pork wrapped in pork?
Two pork chops about an inch thick, each cut in half to make four smaller chops
4 slices pancetta
Wrap each chop in a piece of pancetta, securing with a toothpick if desired. Grill over med high heat for about 7-8 minutes on each side. Remove from grill and let rest at least 5 minutes before serving. Each grill varies, so cooking time will too. The pancetta should be mostly crispy all around. Make sure to keep a lid on it for most of the time. This should help crisp things up by retaining heat. We like our pork still a teenie bit pink in the middle. If you don't, cook a minute or two more. Wrapped in pancetta, you shouldn't have to worry too much about the chops drying out. I specifically used pancetta here because I didn't want the smokiness that bacon would have given. But, that could be a good thing in another recipe, so you can do the same steps with bacon. Oh, and if you're not using a gas grill, the smokiness from your grill won't be too much if you use pancetta. But, if you like smoke the just go hog wild! Ha-ha. Pun only a little intended.
Simple veggie side dish
Boil quartered new red potatoes in salted water until a fork easily pierces them. A minute before draining them, add cleaned green beans. Drain both veggies and add to a bowl with a large pat of the herbed butter and toss. Serve. Note, if the potatoes give off a lot of starch that seems to attach to the green beans, quickly rinse in warm water to remove.
Remind me to post what I did with pork chops tonight. Something not to miss, but doesn't fit the "theme".
This is the unofficial start to the "Pantry posts: protiens"
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