Center Cut Pork, Proscuitto wrapped Shrimp, Risotto and Blue Berry Gastrique

When I cook, I like to follow techniques more so than recipes directly.  The way I look at it, if you understand the ratios then its not as important what the exact ingredients are as it is the function and taste of what each combination is designed to accomplish as a whole.  For example in the gastrique I made, if you wanted to use blackberries or raspberries instead of blueberries or cognac, whisky or rum instead of Triple Sec like I used, then more power to you.  I happened to use Triple Sec because that's all we had and I used blueberries because they are Kaia's favorite and its good to have them at the house. 

I think this philosophy helps me find my own style.  Admittedly, I would get my ass kicked in a professional kitchen but with time and thought I really enjoy some of the combinations and recipes that come out of our household.

Ingredients
Blueberries (1 pint per 3-4 servings)
Chili pepper of choice
Balsamic Vinegar
Triple Sec
Sugar
Shallot
Arborio Rice
Chicken Stock
Cream
Parmesan
Shrimp
Red Pepper Flake (optional)
Prosciutto
Center Cut Pork Chop (preferably bone in)
Garlic
lemon
Olive Oil and Butter

 
Blueberry Gastrique 3-4 Servings
1. Roughly mince the shallot and chili and sweat them in butter in a pan on medium low heat about 5 minutes.
2.  Add 3 tablespoons Triple Sec, 3 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar, 1.5 table spoons of sugar, a big pinch of salt and 1 pint of blueberries.
3.  Reduce on medium heat until the blueberries are breaking down, about 20 minutes. 
4.  Puree the sauce in a blender, cover or keep warm.  (tip: if it gets cold before serving get it back in a sauce pan, if too thick or gelatinous add a tiny bit of water.  The sauce should be made first and finished before other components)

Risotto w Cream
1.  Heat oil and butter in good pan or dutch oven on medium heat.  Warm up chicken stock.
2.  Add the Arborio rice and toast it for a couple minutes. 
3.  Start adding the stock on ladle full at a time and stirring frequently until the liquid is dissolved and then repeating.  Continue this about 18-30 minutes depending on portion size, cooking temperature and how fast you can cook risotto.  The finished rice should have texture to it but not be crunchy. 
4.  When the rice is ready to be finished add about a cup of cream and quarter to half cup of parm and cook it down.  The risotto should be loose and run when you spoon it onto your plate.

Pork Chop
1.  Marinate the Pork in Olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, and garlic.  (Should be done first, can be done anywhere from 45 minutes to several hours before cook time).  Season the pork chop before and after it is marinated. 
2.  When cooking this dish, after you get the sauce about half finished minutes heat the pan to medium high, add the oil and cook the pork.  (You should also gauge this cooking time based on thickness of the cut.  In the picture I took I was about 5-6 minutes per a side and then about 1-2 minutes in the oven plus four minutes resting time for a very moist medium chop)
3.  Set oven to Broil.
4.  When you flip the chop, melt a little butter on top, as it melts into the oil, reduce the heat to medium or low taking care not to burn the butter and then take a spoon and baste the pork chop.
5.  Rest about 4 minutes under tin foil.

Prosciutto Wrapped Shrimp
1.  Remove shells, peel and de-vein if needed
2.  Toss with olive oil, salt, black pepper and red pepper flake.
3.  Wrap in Prosciutto
4.  Broil for about 2 minutes per side and remove from hot oven. 

I made this dish earlier and shared with my daughter Kaia... She loves shrimp... She was saying "Mo Shrimp, Mo Rice" and of course she was munching on blueberries the whole time I was cooking everything.   I think it hits on a lot of points and its a little strange and has something unique from my personality because shrimp and berries are being introduced and I think the gastrique really wakes up your palate but also has enough body that its not "too sweet".  And of course its all about the pork at the end of day, which is my favorite of all the meats and is the main component on this plate.  Twas good.  Enjoy your living and your eating and best of luck to all of you.

Chili Citrus glazed Salmon, sea Scallops, roasted Sunchokes and Carrots

We've had an abundance of good ingredients around the house lately.  Chile's, goat cheese, good bleu cheese, locally made sausage and a ton of vegetables.  Tonight we made a dish that started with using some of the great sunchokes and little gourmet carrots Jessica picked up and evolving from there.  To me if you're going to have a very vegetable forward, earthy dish that really pairs great with sea food.  Jessica picked up some nice salmon fillets and a few scallops at the market and I came up with a citrus based sauce using ingredients we already had in our pantry that tied everything together.  Here is the recipe.

Ingredients
2 Chili's per 3 servings
Honey
1/2 cup orange juice
3 lemons, limes or combination of either (per 3 servings)
Red onion
Sunchokes (also known as Jerusalem artichokes)
Carrots
Salmon
2 Scallops per serving
Tequila or white wine (optional)

Chili Citrus Glaze
1.  Dice half of small red onion and about 2 small chili's very finely.
2.  Combine Orange juice citrus zest, citrus juice and about 1/8 cup of water.
3.  Saute onions and chili's in oil until onions translucent, then season lightly. 
4.  Add 1/4 cup liquor and de-glaze
5.  Add citrus liquid and honey to taste.
6.  Reduce at a simmer for about 30 minutes until the sauce thickens.  Add honey, additional chili's etc. to taste.

Roasted Vegetables
1.  Preheat oven to 425
2.  Slice the sunchokes into about 1/4 inch pieces.
3,  On a sheet pan season the carrots with olive oil, salt and pepper
4,  Roast the carrots for 18-22 minutes and the sunchokes (also seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper) for 15-20.

Salmon
1.  Season the salmon with salt, pepper, citrus liquid.  Roast in the oven preferably on a cast iron skillet for about 8 minutes.
2.  About halfway through cook time, open the oven and glaze the salmon with the citrus sauce. 

Scallops
1.  Season with salt and pepper.  Get a pan smoking hot, add oil and cook 2 minutes per side.  Scallops should be no more than medium rare and should be seared very well.

Plate everything up to your liking.  I like the harem scarem kind of plating for this dish although I wish I used a circular plate unlike the square one in the picture.  The sauce should be liberally applied to the seafood but only drizzled over the other parts of the plate.  Its a strong flavor but lends, acid, sweetness, sourness and a little heat to the dish which is otherwise simply prepared and minimalistic.   I really like sunchokes, they are similar to potatoes but are lighter, more vegetal and less starchy and these carrots are amazing. The salmon was cooked perfect and the scallops very well seared (although maybe in all honesty in this picture about 20 seconds over).  The key is light but even application of the sauce because when you get just the right amount it livens up your palate, but too much and it muddles the otherwise very clean flavors.  I'm going to keep working on this one and hope to cook it again soon:-)

Lemon Penne

Per the request of Jessica's friend Veronica and after a prolonged absence (apologies) here is a recipe that Jessica craves.  Its light, contains easily sourceable ingredients but its still very filling because of the pasta and cheese.  All you do is boil the pasta, make the vinaigrette, prep the other ingredients and combine them in a pan.

Ingredients
Penne
Arugula
Grape Tomatoes
Parm
Mozzarella
2-3 Lemons (Depending on how much lemon flavor you like)
Olive oil
Sugar
Dijon Mustard
Bread
Garlic

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2.  Get your water boiling. Drop the box of penne into boiling, well salted(VERY IMPORTANT!) water. Cook until al dente, consistently stirring. About 11 minutes.
3.  Grate 1- 2 cups of Parm, depending on how cheesy you like your pasta.
4.  Dice 1 large ball of mozzarella into bite sized pieces.
5.  Season 2-3 cups of arugula with salt and pepper.
6. Put a pint of grape tomatoes in a pan with a little bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast them in the oven for 8-10 minutes. Pull them out right before they burst.
7.  Cut the bread and pop it in the oven.  When its done rub it with a clove of garlic.
8.  For the vinaigrette juice 2-3 lemons into a bowl.  Add 1 teaspoon of sugar.  A tablespoon of Dijon mustard, salt and pepper.  (sometimes I add a little bit of minced shallot but not always) Slowly whisk in 3/4c of olive oil.  We like an acidic vinaigrette in our house, if you like a more basic version just add more oil to taste.
9.  Drain the pasta.
10.  Add about half the lemon vinaigrette to the pan and then the pasta and arugula.  Stir over low heat, adding more sauce over the top to taste. 
11.  Add the parm, then the mozzarella and finally the grape tomatoes (be careful not to break tomatoes for presentation purposes)
12.  Spoon it all into a bowl, grab your bread, grate a little parm and additional black pepper over the top and enjoy.

Once you get this recipe down pat you can make it in twenty minutes or less.  Its one of the few things I make that Jessica actually likes better than I do.  I'm always thinking of ways to tweak the recipe and her suggestion is "Don't do it, just make the lemon pasta!".  And so I do.  And now you can too:-)