Weekend Recap

I spent most of the weekend working on a presentation that I’m giving in a few weeks. By requiring me to turn in my slides 2 weeks in advance, they have ensured that I am well prepared for the talk. Despite my attempts to get things done in advance, however, I spent the majority of the last two days making power point slides. And re-watching Downton Abbey. I did have some time to cook though.

Friday I went out with some girlfriends, to say farewell to one friend who is leaving rainy Seattle for sunny Denver. I can’t say that I blame her, although Seattle is putting on its best show today in an attempt to convince her to stay. We went to Cantinetta, which was delicious. I’ve had a hard time finding a good Italian restaurant in Seattle, but this might be it. Homemade pasta is amazing, as were the nutella filled donut holes we had for dessert.

Saturday, I made meatloaf. Meatloaf never blows me away, and this was no different. I *love* meatloaf sandwiches though, so that was my main motivation for making this. I’m not sure that I’d make this one again, I missed the ketchup-y nature of my usual meatloaf recipe. And the mushroom gravy was unnecessary. Tasty, but unnecessary. The roasted vegetables (green beans, quartered red potatoes tossed with olive oil, salt and a little sugar roasted at 500 degrees for 20 minutes, then tossed with 1 Tbsp olive oil, 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar, 1 clove pressed garlic, a little salt, a little pepper and sliced radicchio) were delicious. I can’t find the meatloaf recipe right now, but unless you really like mushrooms and you don’t like meatloaf with ketchup and bacon (which I love and will likely be the basis for all future meatloaf adventures), you can probably skip it.

Sunday I went to an Oscar party, so ate lots of appetizer sized foods. Adam ate leftovers. I haven’t planned a menu for this week, since my mom is in town visiting. We’ll play it by ear, although tonight might be pizza night if I get home from work early enough to make the pizza dough.

Pork and Salmon

But not together…

Tuesday I felt like I got hit by a bus. I stayed home sick, but after spending all day on the couch, I was feeling useless so decided to go ahead and make dinner anyway. I typically do our menu planning on the weekend and make one grocery store run either Saturday (if I remember, because that is when they have free wine tasting at our grocery store!) or Sunday. I usually only plan 5 meals per week, to allow for unforeseen circumstances like spontaneous nights out, or as was the case this week, me being sick and not feeling like eating. I planned a full menu this week however, with lots of perishable veggies, so decided it would be best to cook. I think in my febrile delirium I thought this would be a good idea. In retrospect, Adam would have been much better able to make dinner. Ah well.

Tuesday night we had pork stir fry, from Cooks Illustrated. I love this magazine, because it explains why you do the things you do when cooking. I hate their website though, because they charge you $30 per year for internet access. Even if you already subscribe to the magazine! So you cannot have a link to the recipe (unless you subscribe). I cannot tell you if it was any good, because I am still congested and cannot actually taste anything. I’m having it for lunch today. If I can taste it, I will let you know. It’s easy to make, it just requires a lot of small bowls for prep, like any good stir-fry.

Sichuan Stir-Fried Pork in Garlic Sauce from Cooks Illustrated

For the pork:

12 oz. country style boneless pork ribs

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 c water

2 tsp rice wine

2 tsp corn starch

Cut the pork into 2 inch pieces after trimming excess fat, then cut each piece into 1/4 inch matchsticks. Mix water and baking soda and soak pork for 15 minutes. Rinse well, pat dry with paper towel. Combine rice wine and corn starch, add pork and toss to coat.

For the sauce:

1/2 c low sodium chicken broth

2 Tbsp sugar

2 Tbsp soy sauce

4 tsp Chinese black vinegar (or 2 tsp balsamic vinegar and 2 tsp rice vinegar)

1 Tbsp sesame oil

1 Tbsp rice wine

2 tsp ketchup

2 tsp fish sauce

2 tsp corn starch

Whisk all ingredients together, set aside.

For the stir fry:

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 green onions, white and green parts sliced

2 Tbsp Sriracha sauce (aka rooster sauce) or chile garlic paste

6 oz. shitake mushrooms, stemmed, sliced thin

2 stalks celery, sliced thin on the bias

4 Tbsp vegetable oil

Combine garlic, white parts of onions and chile paste, set aside. Heat one Tbsp oil in non-stick pan over high. Add mushrooms, cook until soft (3-5 minutes), then add celery and cook until crisp-tender (3-5 minutes). Remove from pan. Add remaining 3 Tbsp oil to pan, add chile-garlic sauce. Stir 30 seconds. Lower heat to medium-low, cook pork until no longer pink (3-5 minutes). Add sauce, increase heat to high and cook 1-2 minutes until thickened. Add veggies, toss to combine. Sprinkle with remaining sliced green onions. Serve with rice (or Adam requested crunchy chinese noodles next time, with water chestnuts instead of celery).

Last night was salmon with cucumber relish (also from Cooks Illustrated so I will transcribe the recipe for you here):

Oven Roasted Salmon from Cooks Illustrated

Skin on salmon filets

Olive oil, salt and pepper

Place baking sheet (lined with foil to make you dish washer happy) on the bottom rack of your oven, and heat to 500 degrees. Meanwhile, coat salmon filets (1 1/2 thick) with olI’ve oil, salt, pepper. Turn oven temp to 275, place salmon on pre-heated baking sheet, and cook 9-13 minutes.

Top with cucumber relish:

1 Tbsp chopped shallot

1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced

1 serrano chile, seeded, ribs removed, diced

2 Tbsp fresh mint, chopped

1 Tbsp lime juice

1/4 tsp salt

Combine all ingredients, let sit 15 minutes. Adjust seasonings with additional salt and lime juice.

I have made this before. It is delicious. They have several other relish options, which are also tasty (you might be able to link to this one). On the side we had broccolini with sesame vinaigrette. I’m constantly looking for new ways to make veggies tasty. Again, I was too congested to tell you if this was good. I can tell you it was spicy.