Pork Stir-Fry with Sugar Snap Peas

I had some leftover cooked pork tenderloin in the freezer from when I made the five spice pork a couple of months ago and thought it would make a wonderful stir-fry. I found a recipe for stir-fried pork tenderloin with sugar snap peas in one of my Food Network cookbooks, so I adapted it to use my leftover pork. I have to say – I think that the five spice marinade probably worked better for this recipe than the marinade the original recipe called for ;). The marinade was basically a combination of coriander, jalapeno, brandy, honey, and five-spice. Everyone in the office definitely noticed how good my lunch smelled this week!

You could also make this recipe by starting with raw pork tenderloin (or chicken even) marinated in some of the sauce from the recipe. I would stir-fry it before stir frying the vegetables, take it out when the meat is just about cooked, and add it back in at the end.

Pork Stir-Fry with Sugar Snap Peas
Adapted from Making It Easy (Food Network Kitchens)

2 tbsp. soy sauce
4 tsp. palm sugar (or brown sugar)
2 tsp. sherry
2 tsp. sesame oil
2 tbsp. hoisin sauce
1 tsp. sriracha
2 tsp. cornstarch
1 lb. cooked (leftover) pork tenderloin, cut into ½ inch cubes
½ lb. sugar snap peas
½ large red onion, sliced
3 scallions, sliced (keep white and green parts separate)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp. fresh ginger, minced
Peanut oil
Salt and pepper, to taste

1. Mix together the soy sauce, palm sugar, sherry, sesame oil, hoisin, and sriracha in a small bowl. Set aside.
2. In another bowl, whisk the cornstarch into two tablespoons of cold water. Set aside.
3. Heat up a little bit of peanut oil in a wok. Stir-fry the sugar snap peas and onion for about a minute until they are slightly cooked but still crisp.
4. Add the white parts of the green onion, the garlic, and ginger. Stir-fry for another minute or so.
5. Add the pork and stir-fry until heated through.
6. Add the soy sauce mixture into the wok and stir until heated through.
7. Finally, add the cornstarch mixture and cook until the sauce thickens (probably about a minute).

Serve topped with the green parts of the scallions with some jasmine rice. Who needs takeout?

Basil and Arugula Pesto

I picked up some beautiful basil at Green City Market yesterday and decided to make some pesto. If you’ve read any of my previous posts, you know I love to make a lot of something and freeze it for later, so that’s exactly what I did with my pesto: I saved a little bit for a couple of meals, and froze the rest in an ice cube tray for perfect little freezer portions.


I’ve read that, when freezing pesto, it’s best to omit the cheese and just add it after defrosting. I did just that, which is why I don’t have a cheese measurement in the recipe. I also added some arugula to the mix because I had some in my refrigerator that needed using, as well as some lemon zest to brighten the flavor a bit. I served it with some penne and grilled shrimp, but pesto is so versatile; it’s a great thing to keep on hand.

Basil and Arugula Pesto
2 c. basil
1 c. arugula
1/2 c. olive oil
1/3 c. pine nuts
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
Salt and pepper
Parmesan cheese
Lemon zest

Combine the basil, arugula, olive oil, pine nuts, and chopped garlic in a food processor. Season with salt and pepper, to taste (but take it easy on the salt because the parmesan is salty). If you are not freezing the pesto, add some parmesan cheese and little bit of lemon zest.

To freeze, line an ice cube tray with plastic wrap and fill with the pesto. Cover with another layer of plastic wrap and freeze. When the pesto is frozen solid, transfer to a freezer bag.

Smoked Salmon and Goat Cheese Sandwiches

I was contemplating breakfast on my walk home from the gym the other morning and started craving smoked salmon. I had to stick with my standard ham sandwich breakfast that morning (yeah, I eat lunch food for breakfast), but I went to the grocery store after work and crafted this smoked salmon sandwich to have for the rest of the week. The possibilities are endless, but I decided on a filling of smoked salmon, herbed goat cheese spread, arugula, and cucumber. I also lightened up the goat cheese by adding some non-fat greek yogurt and lemon juice. It’s a great incentive to get myself out of bed in the morning!

½ c. non-fat greek yogurt
4 oz. herbed goat cheese
Juice of 2 lemons
1 shallot, chopped
Ground black pepper
Cucumber, thinly sliced
Arugula
Smoked salmon
Wheat bread

For the spread, combine the yogurt, goat cheese, lemon juice, and pepper in a food processor. Stir in the chopped shallot.

For the sandwich, spread a thin layer of the goat cheese spread on both sides of the bread. Add a layer of cucumber, a thin layer of salmon, and top with the arugula.

Schwa: A One of a Kind Dining Experience

I read about the reopening of a restaurant called Schwa right after I moved to Chicago. It’s considered to be one of the best restaurants in the city, it’s BYOB, and nearly impossible to get a reservation. I knew I had to try it. After several phone calls – most of which took me straight to the full voicemail box - I finally got a call back. A few weeks later, my friend Katie and I were off to Schwa.

I came across this article about chef-owner Michael Carlson the day of my reservation. It talks about the circumstances around how the restaurant closed. Long story short: Charlie Trotter called him in the fall of 2007 and asked to reserve the entire dining room for him and a slew of famous chefs, like Thomas Keller and Wylie Dufresne.

“Characteristically, Carlson refused to allow Trotter to pay for the meal—dinner for twenty-two on the house. Then, with the pressure of the evening […], he went on a three-day binge. Alcohol, cocaine, Ecstasy. […] He canceled all pending reservations for the restaurant, announced he was closing, and disappeared from public sight. “I did not know true mental stress until that day,” he says. He lacked the strength—and the money—to go on.”

Four months later, Schwa was back. His restaurant is full of eccentricities that make the restaurant wonderful but apparently difficult to sustain, both physically and financially. He only seats one party every half hour, which means that he never allows the restaurant to be at capacity. The restaurant only seats twenty-six. The chefs are the wait staff. They have no liquor license. We ordered the 9-course meal, and we got 12 courses (plus some free wine and beer). He says that the restaurant survives paycheck to paycheck, and I see why. Nevertheless, it was an incredible experience and I hope it stays open so I can go back!

I was nervous when I walked into the restaurant, for some reason. I thought it might be pretentious and people might wonder what we 20-somethings were doing there. Luckily, this was not the case at all; I felt like I was in Michael Carlson’s home kitchen. When we walked in, he graciously thanked us for coming and promptly poured us a glass of the Prosecco we brought. The restaurant was very small and basic looking, but I knew we were in for a treat.

Speaking of Prosecco, I should probably mention the wine we brought. Even though there were only two of us, we had read that Michael Carlson suggests bringing “something sparkling, a pinot blanc or a gruner veitliner, and a pinot noir or light-medium bodied red.” We brought three bottles, somewhat following these guidelines, and left it up to the chefs to pour whichever wine they thought was best for each course. I’m not a wine expert, but I tried to pick some that would be versatile with food. They turned out to all be fantastic.

Prosecco Veneto IGT Organic (Italy)
Vina Robles Red 4 2007 – Blend of Petite Sirah, Syrah, Tannat, Touriga Nacional (California)
Mulderbosch Cabernet Sauvignon Rose 2008 (South Africa)

Now, onto the food.

“Salad Course”: Hendricks Gin bubble tea
He took the flavors in Hendricks Gin (cucumber, rose, juniper) and deconstructed them. This honestly was way more delicious than it looks in this picture. It was a light, refreshing start to the meal. It was also fun to drink!


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Red beet risotto with cave aged cow milk bleu cheese puree and horseradish foam
This was probably one of my favorite courses. There wasn’t much of the blue cheese puree on the plate but it was so intense tasting and went perfectly with the sweetness of the risotto and the light horseradish foam.


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Pea soup with fresh peas, hummus, pea powder, and mentholated air
Who knew pea soup could be so delicious? I could have eaten a bowl of this for my dinner and been happy. Katie was writing notes down about what we were eating, and I now see that her description for this course was “pea soup (omg).”


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Cauliflower tortelloni with birch-smoked cheese in cocoa consume
The cocoa consume sounded a little shocking, but the combination of that with the cauliflower and cheese was amazing. There were also some crunchy cocoa nibs on top. This went so well with our red wine. I was a happy camper.


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Quail egg ravioli with brown butter and parmesan
This course also got an “omg” in Katie’s notes. We were instructed let the ravioli sit for 20 seconds before eating (so that the egg yolk sets a little bit), and then to eat it all in one bite. All I have to say is – wow. There was truffle, runny egg yolk, butter, and parmesan. That was quite a bite.


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Whitefish roe with lemon, buckwheat-polenta cake, coffee gelee, and fried capers
As you can see, I forgot to take a picture before we dug in, so this is an action-shot. Again, this was a random combination of ingredients that worked perfectly.


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Butter poached Maine lobster, toasted quinoa, pancetta, and fava beans
I’m from New England, and this was the best lobster I have ever tasted. The presentation was beautiful, too.


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Chicken liver with rutabaga balls, turmeric broth, greens, and beer foam
This was good, but not our favorite course. The flavors were great but the liver was a little rich by itself. They told us later in the night that they usually serve some sort of brittle to add some crunch to this, but the heat and humidity that week made impossible to make. They did give us some great beer to go with this course which went perfectly.


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Pennsylvania duck breast, duck confit, brussel sprouts, pumpkin smear, cocoa dust
Each bite of this was laid out perfectly with the duck confit on the bottom, the brussels sprout leaves in the middle and the seared duck breast on top. Again, it was absolutely delicious.


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“Cheese Course”: Taleggio cheese, coddled egg, white truffle, and powdered honey
The little dish contained taleggio cheese at the bottom and coddled egg on top. I’m not sure where the white truffle was, but it was in there somewhere. We were instructed to take the spoonful of powered honey and stir it into the cheese and egg mixture. We did what we were told and the mixture turned into something with a fondue-like texture. It was such an odd combination, but it was certainly the best cheese course I have ever had!


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“Dessert – Meat and Veg”: Candied veal sweetbreads, parsnip-ice wine-vinegar puree, passionfruit sauce, honeydew foam, and parsnip puree
I really felt like I was on Iron Chef with this course. Veal sweetbreads for dessert? It actually worked! They also gave us a glass of Muscat wine to go with our dessert.


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We thought we were done at this point, but one of the chefs put down a tiny bottle that said “bacon.” Hmmm…


They brought over another “bonus” course, which was a red beet ice cream on top of a white chocolate cream in a lavender cone. They added some of the bacon extract on top of the ice cream. Amazing!


Who wants to go back with me??

Garlic Roasted Asparagus

Roasting is my favorite way to cook asparagus. I make a lot of variations of this by adding things like balsamic or parmesan cheese, but here is my simple recipe for garlic roasted asparagus.

Asparagus
Garlic, roughly chopped (I used 4 cloves for about 1 and a half bunches of asparagus, but I change the amount depending on how much garlic I feel like)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

1. Trim the rough ends of the asparagus and spread out flat on a baking sheet. Top with the garlic.
2. Drizzle the asparagus and garlic with olive oil (to coat) and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.


3. Cook in a 450 degree oven for 10-15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the asparagus.

Turkey and Spinach Lasagna

I actually don’t always love lasagna because I find that the noodles can get soggy, but I came across a Cooking Light recipe for Turkey Lasagna that doesn’t call for pre-cooking the noodles. I’ve made it a few times, tweaking the recipe a little bit each time. I kept the base recipe (uncooked noodles, cottage cheese and mozzarella mixture), but upped the amount of sauce, added some extra seasoning, added some spinach to boost the veggie content, and broiled it at the end to crisp up the top.

This lasagna freezes really well, so I’m going to bring it to work for lunch this week and then freeze the rest for later. I love having this kind of thing in the freezer for lazy nights!

1 lb. ground turkey breast
Olive oil
1 ½ c. water
3 ½ c. marinara sauce (homemade or store bought…I used store bought)
16 oz. chopped frozen spinach, thawed
3 ½ cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
2 c. 1% low-fat cottage cheese
½ c. grated fresh Parmesan cheese
2 eggs + 1 egg white
¼ c. chopped fresh parsley
¼ tsp. black pepper
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. nutmeg
9 uncooked lasagna noodles

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Heat up a little bit of olive oil in a large saucepan and add the ground turkey breast. When the meat is browned, add the marinara sauce and the water. Simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Drain the spinach to get as much water out of it as possible. Combine it with 2 cups of the mozzarella, the cottage cheese, parmesan, egg, parsley, pepper, salt, and nutmeg.
4. To assemble, spread ½ cup of the turkey mixture on the bottom of a 13 x 9 inch baking dish. Arrange 3 noodles over turkey mixture; top with 1 ½ cups turkey mixture. Spread half of cheese mixture over turkey mixture. Repeat layers, ending with the remaining turkey mixture.
5. Top the lasagna with the remaining 1 ½ cups of mozzarella cheese and some cracked black pepper.


6. Bake covered for one hour. Then, uncover the lasagna and broil on high for a few minutes until the cheese is slightly browned.

Salmon with Horseradish and Lemon Cream

I made a quick and easy dinner for myself tonight with some salmon and the fresh peas I got yesterday at Green City Market. I kept the peas simple by just steaming them and tossing them in a little bit of butter, but I made a nice horseradish and lemon cream to spruce up the salmon.

¾ c. light sour cream
Juice of half a lemon
2 tbsp. prepared horseradish
1 tsp. Worcestershire
1 ½ tbsp. chopped chives
Salmon filet(s)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste

1. To make the sauce, combine the sour cream, lemon juice, horseradish, Worcestershire, chives, salt, and pepper. Keep cold.
2. Coat the salmon filet(s) with some salt, pepper, and olive oil. Broil on high on the top rack of the oven for about 8 minutes, or until desired doneness (I like my salmon cooked to medium).
3. Top the salmon with a little bit of the sauce and garnish with more chives.