Dinner for One

So it's Monday and with every new week comes a new commitment that I will eat better than the week before. Honestly though, sometimes when you're only cooking for yourself you end up short changing yourself, or at least that happens to me more often than it probably should. Well remember last week when I told you I made some killer pork chops? Lovely thing about those is that they are just as easily made for 10 as they are for 1. So, as Mario would say, heerrreeee we go!

Dijon mustard, lime juice, cayenne, thyme, olive oil, salt, pepper. Done. I'll be honest, I'm not reinventing the wheel here, but these chops were mighty fine. First of all, I buy my pork chops with the bone in for a few reasons: (1) it's cheaper, (2) it helps keep whatever meat you're cooking moist, and (3) it's everyone's guilty pleasure - after most of the meat is gone, drawing the blinds and going to town on the bones (keep your mind out of the gutter). Anyway, as soon as I got in the door I mixed my little concoction together and brushed them onto the chops. Mix as much as you need - as with a lot of cooking and as I have said in the past - do. your. thing. If you like it hotter put in more cayenne. Or if you don't have cayenne, but you have paprika or turmeric or adobo or whatever else you might have in your pantry, same principles apply. You're the one eating it. I'm just (hopefully) giving you that nudge to indulge (I'm totally trademarking that phrase by the way so back off).

Ok, so if you have the time you can make this into a marinade (thin it out with more oil) and let it sit for a few hours. If you don't have the time (I did not), then just brush on the wet rub (less oil) with a pastry or BBQ brush and throw them on the grill. Side note: for the difference between a marinade and a rub think salad dressing versus wet BBQ ribs. I use the grill to just get those pretty marks on the meat and also impart some of that "grill" flavor. But after I've gotten marks on both sides I finish the chops on a rack in a 450° F oven. I find they end up juicier and cook more evenly that way, especially if you have a thicker cut of meat.

You're done (when the chops reach an internal temp of 155° F)! While they're in the oven, you can make yourself a side salad, some rice (or quinoa!), or some baked french fries. And there you've got yourself a fast, cheap, healthy, and most importantly, tasty meal. Enjoy!

Hey Babe, Take a Walk on the Wild Side

Today we took a walk on the exotic side. The dishes were fairly intricate - not stuff you would necessarily whip up for dinner. Perhaps something your private chef would be ordered to whip up for you? Let's see...

Sautéed Arctic Char with Citrus Vinaigrette, Mediterranean Salad & Fines Herbs Oil

What is arctic char, you ask? It's a fish in the salmon family - oily, pink colored flesh - that can live in both fresh and salt water. We left the skin on and scored it (thin cuts into the skin) to prevent it from curling up. What you want to do with a fish like this that has a lot of oil and fat in it is actually cook it like bacon. Start the heat off on the lower side and let the fat cook out a bit, then crisp it up. I am admittedly not a salmon lover so the arctic char was not my favorite, HOWEVER, the salad for this dish is really great: frisée, treviso, oranges, fennel, red onions, mint, and black olives mixed in with a vinaigrette of orange juice, lemon juice, lime juice, blood orange juice, and a touch of dijon mustard. Top it off with an herb oil (parsley, chives, chervil, and tarragon) - it was really nice.

Pan Roasted Quail with Sweetbread Gastrique, Sautéed Foie Gras Crouton, & Cranberry Reduction Sauce

This dish had a lot going on. First of all, quail. What are they? They are these pigeon-esque looking birds in the pheasant family and they're super tiny. We browned them in a pan on both sides and finished them in the oven for 10 minutes. Honestly... tastes like chicken. In all seriousness, it is slightly more gamey and similar to the dark meat of a chicken, but for all intents and purposes it tastes like chicken so don't be scared to eat it!

Next - sweetbread. Ahh, but the name can be deceptive. Sweetbreads are the thymus glands of calves and/or lambs and they're those three little nuggets on the plate surrounding the quail. They are actually huge. Google them. I am not quite sure how they got their name; there are a few different stories floating around on the internet. They are very tender though and can be pretty tasty. Today we combined them with vinegar, wine, and sugar (gastrique), but if you have never had them I would recommend trying them sautéed or fried - it's probably the most benign way to have them. They're good, I promise! And quite expensive...

I'm not really even going to talk about the foie gras. It's the fattened liver of a duck or goose and, to be honest, (1) I'm not a huge fan of the taste and (2) I'm not really sure I agree with the whole force-feeding thing. Simply not my cup of tea.

Seared Venison Loin with Red Wine Reduction Sauce, Caramelized Chestnuts, Butternut Squash Puree, & Roasted Wild Mushrooms

Today, we ate Bambi. Or his mom. Whatever. Anyway, this was my favorite dish! Again, very similar to beef, but much leaner. And for those reasons, also much healthier for you than other cuts of red meat. The caramelized chestnuts were also very yummy: chestnuts, juniper berries (that we later removed), and equal parts red wine vinegar and sugar. Bring all of that to a boil and reduce it until it becomes a glaze. It's sweet, but when mixed with the red wine reduction and a piece of meat it has a really nice flavor. Plus, deer happen to also feed frequently off of juniper trees so it really is a nice pairing especially for venison. The mushrooms we simply cut, tossed with extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper, and thrown in the oven until they roasted and got crispy. They were very good, considering I almost completely botched them. How could you possibly screw that up, you ask? HA. It's ok - they came out just lovely.

Pretty Plates

And so began Module 3. The first week or so we are focusing on plating and design, which I loooove. Granted these pictures are taken through the lens of my iPhone, but they came out pretty well. Let's take a look...

Tuna Carpaccio with Micro-greens, Capers, 
& Horseradish Mayonnaise 

Carpaccio, a Venetian invention from Harry's Bar in the 1950s, is traditionally made by thinly pounding beef fillets, but in class today we used sushi grade tuna. We fried the capers and used the excess oil to make a fresh mayonnaise (with horseradish), and the micro-greens are simply dressed with a bit of salt, pepper, and olive oil.

 Seared Scallops with Parsnip Puree, Red Cabbage, 
& Potato Chips

What I want to point out here, oddly, are the homemade potato chips! We used a mandolin to slice the potatoes paper thin, put them in cold oil, and then turned the heat on to bring the oil up to temp and cook the chips. By using cold oil you're able to better control the moisture in the potato as well as the cooking process. As the oil heats, the potato essentially steams and looses moisture before it browns, making a perfectly crispy potato chip! Apparently we can try this with fries too - let me know if you get to it before I do.

Seared Halibut with a Warm Vinaigrette of Asparagus, Artichokes, Fennel, Tomatoes, & Potatoes

This is exactly what it sounds like. Very simple, clean, and healthy dish made by sautéing the artichoke hearts, fennel, and some shallots and then simmering them in chicken broth and lemon juice. We blanched the potatoes, tomatoes, and asparagus separately and then combined everything right before we plated.

And that is EXACTLY what I made today. Actually I also made some awesome pork chops for dinner, but I'll save that for another post.

Eat by Numbers

Module 2 is officially over! We had our practical this afternoon where we had to individually prepare a sautéed strip steak (medium rare), pommes persillade (fancy name for sautéed potatoes with garlic and parsley - we discussed a variation of this when we talked about butter), and haricots verts (aka string beans). All in all it went extremely well and I cannot believe we begin Module 3 next week, which is comprised of a survey of international cuisines. I have already skimmed through a few things and I am super excited (and you should be too because I'll be talking about them)!

As for this evening though, I am currently sitting here with a tall cool glass of lemon, cucumber, and basil water, enjoying the silence of my apartment, and frankly having no desire to cook. And that's ok! You know, when I began the program I said to myself, this will either drive me to obesity or make me sick of eating. I fear both. We shall see.

 So tonight will be a "betcha didn't know that" post. Well, I hope most of my posts are like that for you, but this I find particularly interesting and we also recently discussed it in class. Most of us shop for produce by simply (1) seeing it and knowing what it is and/or (2) reading the sign that amusingly says, "Radicchio (Italy)" and then on the bottom in smaller print says "Made in Guatemala." We buy the produce, go home, rip off that annoying sticker (or if you're my brother forget about the sticker and mistakenly eat it), and do our thangs. REWIND. That annoying sticker, while granted may continue to be annoying, may also prove helpful. Here's why...

 If you see a 5-digit number beginning with a "9" on the sticker, that is an organic product. If you see a 4-digit number, that product is grown using pesticides. Now if you really want to eat some funky food look for a 5-digit number on the label beginning with the number "8" - those goodies are genetically modified. I found this nifty little website while I was writing this tonight where you can plug in the number and it tells you what you're eating, how it's grown, and what other varieties there are out there. Feel free to give it a go-around here.

As NBC always says, "The More You Know..." Well, they never actually finished that sentence, but you get the idea. I hope that was worth the quick read! I'm off to figure out how I am going to feed myself this evening.


Photos: Fruit (Kent Crockett's Devotionals); Orange with a sticker (The Good Stuff)