Mojo Grilled Pork Chops

Every now and then our grocery store sells the most GINORMOUS pork chops ever, and I just cant ignore the cavegirl inside me.


And when it comes to grilling one of these bad boys, nothing will do but a mojo marinade.  This marinade is equally awesome on pork or chicken.


Just mix up the marinade below, get stab happy with a piece of pork and pierce it thoroughly, and let it marinade for 4+ hours or even overnight.


Throw it on the grill until its cooked through.  I served this up with some fresh guac and some cherry tomatoes sauteed with garlic, olive oil and green onions.

Ingredients for Marinade 
 6 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped 
.5 C minced yellow onion 
1 C freshly squeezed orange juice 
.5 C freshly squeezed lime juice 
.5 t ground cumin 
1 t dried oregano flakes 
.5 t lemon-pepper seasoning 
.5 t black pepper 
1 t kosher salt 
.25 cup chopped cilantro 
1 t hot pepper sauce 
1 cup olive oil 


 Method 
 Throw the garlic and onion in a food processor and pulse until very finely chopped. Pour in orange juice, lime juice, cumin, oregano, black pepper, salt, cilantro, and hot pepper sauce. Blend until thoroughly incorporated. Pour in the olive oil, and Continue until smooth.

Chicken Bits!

What to do with a whole bunch of trimmings from chicken?

GRIND THAT SHIT UP!!!

yea, nothing you can do to pretty up raw ground chicken.

Having found myself in a position of trimming rib meat and fat from a metric ass-ton of chicken breasts to feed a couple hundred people, I couldn't help but feel that little pit of guilt growing deeper and deeper exponentially as the "waste" pile also grew in size.


"What are we doing with this" - says I, pointing at the sad little tray of chicken bits.


"Tossing it?" - says She Who Was In Charge Of Kitchen


"I can has?" - eyeing the ziplocks and already concocting aforementioned chickenbits destiny.


See this is why I could never work in a professional kitchen, I am sure there are like a zillion health / weird kitchen laws I am breaking here somehow.  Plus I think I would get all neurotic over saving bones and bits and become some sort of freak animal part hoarder with one of those mystery "extra freezers" in the garage.  Because lets face it, I am already too close to that now.


And now that I have scared you all from wanting to eat at my house, ever.  Let us continue.




Ingredients:


1 lb pilfered chicken bits
1/2 red onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
a dozen or so shittake shrooms
2 T sesame oil
1 T Chinese 5 Spice Powder (star anise, cinnamon, cloves, Sichuan pepper, & fennel)


1 T coconut oil (or whatever cooking fat blows yer skirt up)


1 T ground ginger
1/4 C oyster sauce


Some lettuce for serving.


Method:
Throw the first 6 items into a food processor and let it go crazy til the chicken looks like something you would find online labeled "mechanically separated chicken"... which technically, I guess it is... but I do it at home... so that makes it ok.


Heat your oil in a skillet or wok and add the ginger, heating briefly. Then add the chicken and stir fry, til its all cooked through, adding the oyster sauce just at the end, blending it together completely.


Serve with lettuce, or use for some other foodventure. (which I will be doing with the other half we didn't eat last night!)

14th Century Veal Stew

 This recipe comes from the 14th century English book, "Fourme of Curye". The original recipe is as follows. 

  
Mounchelet

Take veel other motoun and smyte hit to gobettes, seeth hit in gode broth, cast therto erbes yhewe, gode wyne & a quantite  of oynouns y mynced, poudour fort & safroun, & alye it with ayroun & verjous, but lat it not seeth after.

But because I don't hate you all, here is a modern interpretation! :D

Heavily modified from the book Pleyn Delit, to suit my quantity and quality needs and personal flavor.

Ingredients:

1 lb veal, cut into

1 inch pieces

1 C almond flour

1 onion, diced

1 T fresh parsley, minced

1 tsp fresh thyme1 tsp rosemary

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp fresh cilantro

2 cups good veal stock

1 C white wine

Pinch of saffron strands

1 T raw butter

salt to taste

1 egg

juice from 1 lemon

Method

Dredge veal in almond flour and set aside. Melt butter in a heavy pot, once it begins to bubble (but not burn) place the veal in one piece at a time, allowing it to brown on all sides. Add wine and scrape up all the browned bits from the bottom of the pot and stir, adding the onions and all of the herbs and seasonings. Add the stock, stirring everything together, and allow to simmer for about an hour, stirring now and then.

In a small bowl, break and egg into a small bowl and whisk in the lemon juice. Just before serving, remove the stew from the heat and add the egg mixture, stirring quickly. this should thicken the stew a but and add a lucious golden color ( if the saffron hadn't already). Take care not to add it back into a too hot pot, or else the egg will begin to clump into unattractive eggdrop soup looking thingies.

We served this with a delish stinky blue cheese and this totally kickass fig cake that contained ONLY figs, almonds, cinnamon and anise. Also making it not only period but also paleo.

Win win all the way around! :D I'd definitely recommend making this if you want to experiment in historical foods.

Chinese Eggplant with Pork

One of my favorite combinations is pork and eggplant. And this dish hits the spot. So healthy and so filling.

Eggplant is a beautiful thing, as it is is loaded with vitamins and minerals, but its health benefits extend beyond just adding vital nutrientsl. Eggplant contains other compounds that promote good health, even to the point of helping to prevent cancer and lowering cholesterol. Once you realize how beneficial eggplant is to your health, you may want to give more consideration to it becoming a regular part of your diet. Packed full of chlorogeninc acid, and nasunun. Eggplant is also an excellent source of dietary fiber, which can help protect against colon cancer and keeps the digestive system regular. The vitamins in eggplant consist primarily of vitamin A (in the form of beta-carotene), B vitamins, folate and vitamin C. Eggplant is also rich in minerals, boasting a large quantity of potassium, magnesium, calcium and phosphorous. (see http://www.livestrong.com/article/19046-nutritional-benefits-eggplant/)

So on to the good stuff.

Recipe:

2 Chinese eggplants, cut into rings

1 lb ground pork

2 T organic oyster sauce

2 T chinese 5 spice powder

1 T sesame oil

1 T coconut oil

1 C chicken broth

1 wholoe clove, minced

thumb sized piece ginger, minced

2 green onions, diced

sesame seeds for garnish

Method:

Soak your eggplant in salted water for about 20 minutes, I'm not sure why but this cuts back on the bitterness.

In a wok or iron skillet heat the stock to a rolling boil and cooked the eggplant briefly.

Meanwhile combine pork. 5 spice powder, garlic, ginger and sesame oil to the pork.

Strain liquid from the skillet.

Heat the coconut oil in the skillet and add the pork mixture, stirring to brown evenly. Add eggplant and oyster sauce, and stir until heated through.

Serve with sliced green onions and sesame seeds as garnish.

Enjoy!

Duck with Gai Lan

Gai lan is without a doubt my favorite vegetable. Why it is near impossible to find in American groceries store is a complete enigma to me. The closest thing that it could possibly be compared to is rapini.... which can not even begin to hold a candle to the sweet tenderness that is gai lan.

Highly nutritious with powerful antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties. It is also very high in beta carotene, vitamin K, C, lutein, zeaxathin and is reasonably rich in calcium.

I tend to stir fry it on its own with a bit of oyster sauce and chicken stock, but sometimes I will have leftovers from some of my favorite Chinese joints and will bring home loots like peking duck and crispy skin pork.

Tonight was one such night.

Recipe:

1 large bunch gai lan, chopped

1 cup sliced mushrooms (optional, we just happened to have them)

1 clove garlic, minced

1 nob raw butter

.25 C chicken stock

2 T Oyster Sauce

Leftover cooked meat such as duck or pork

Method:

Quickly cook and soften the gai lan in the stock until the stalks are tender. This shouldnt take long, as gai lan has a pleasant sweet flavor even when still crisp tender.

Add butter, garlic and meat and stir fry until everything is nice and hot and yummy looking, finish with oyster sauce stirring in completely! :D

Enjoy!

Sweetbreads in Butter with Mushrooms

Contrary to popular belief, sweetbreads are not brains. Though, for some form of strange entertainment, we could pretend they are brains anyways at the coming of the zombie Apocalypse.

Sweetbreads is the thymus gland is located at the throat, gullet or neck. Or the pancreas (heart belly or stomach). And, most famously, "Rocky Mountain Oysters", are also the same gland that in the food world we call sweetbreads.

The etymology of the word "sweetbread", considering it is not a bread, nor is it sweet is attested to the idea that it is sweet in comparison to savory muscle based meats. And "bread" most likely comes from the Old English word "brǣde", meaning roast meat.

Sweetbreads are a significant source of B12 which plays a key role in proper functioning of the brain and nervous system, as well as being a very high quality protein source.

yes, it is fugly

Unfortunately sweetbreads, like most offal, has a bad wrap... and of the offal kingdom, I will even admit it is one of the saddest most ugly bits out of the lot. But its velvety texture and mild sweet flavor more than make up for it. I promise!

Ingredients:

1 lb sweetbreads

1/4 diced red onion

12 button mushrooms, sliced

1 C chopped parsley

knob of raw butter

1 T olive oil

Enough water to submerge the sweetbreads

A splash of white wine

thyme and parsley

Method:

Rinse your sweetbreads thoroughly in cold, gently running water.

Bring your pot of water with the wine, herbs, and spices to a boil. Reduce to a gentle simmer. Add your sweetbreads into the pot. Poach for 2½ minutes so they firm up slightly.

Remove the sweetbreads from the pot, and scatter the sweetbreads across a cutting board to cool and dry off.

Once the sweetbreads are cool enough to handle,slice them into several uniform pieces.

Heat your pan. Add a splash of oil and a knob of butter. Add your mushrooms and onions and let them cook until they are nice and golden. Remove them and set aside. Add a bit more oil and butter if needed and season the sweetbreads with salt and pepper and then add to the pan. Careful not to let the butter burn, and cook the sweetbreads until they are golden brown, careful not to overcook. At this point they are ready to serve. Plate the sweetbreads and return the mushrooms and onions to the pan as well as the parsley in the last minute to heat, and drizzle the butter and mushroom mixture over the sweetbreads,

Nom.

Spicy Fried Chicken Livers

Chicken livers, right behind fried chicken, it probably my favorite comfort food. I like them battered and fried, simply pan fried in butter with only a bit of salt and pepper, and even roasted in the oven with a drizzle of olive oil. Lets not forget the multitude of pates from which they can be made, but personally, I like them in their most natural state.

Chicken livers are packed with vitamin B-12, which prevent anemia, vitamin-A in the form of retinol, alpha and beta-carotene including lycopene for your eyes, along with folate, riboflavin, selenium, iron, niacin, and phosphorus. For years they have been used by nutrition wise doctors to aid in the recovery of anemia and iron deficiencies.

For this recipe, I use a paleo friendly Southern fried variant. One of my favorites.

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken livers, cleaned.

1 T cayenne

1T onion powder

1 T garlic powder

1 C coconut flour

2-3 T coconut oil

Salt to taste

Method:

Combine the seasonings, and liberally coat the chicken livers in the mixture. Cover and place in the fridge for a few hours.

Heat the coconut oil in a cast iron skillet until hot enough to fry a tiny piece of bread.

Dredge the livers in the coconut flour one by one and place into the hot oil. Do not overcrowd the skillet, it is ok if you must do more than one batch.

Fry on each side until both sides are crisp and golden.

Allow to drain on a paper towel and salt to taste.

Serve with a veg of your choice, we like collard greens. ENJOY!