Pork Chops with Strawberry Chutney

Tonight was leftovers night and I wanted to make something to enhance some pork chops I had made earlier in the week. I was a little ambitious last week and got two parcels of strawberries because my daughter loves them, but by today these darlings had not been completely eaten and they were starting to look like they needed to be used. I thought I would give a try at a chutney using them. I had not seen any recipes for chutney using strawberries so I made one up and here it is.

Strawberry Chutney

1 1/2 Pounds of Strawberries (finely diced)
Ginger Root (a 1/2 inch piece, pealed and finely sliced)
3 Medium Shallots (finely sliced)
3 TBSP Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1 TBSP Sherry Cooking Wine
Salt to taste
2 tsp Red Pepper Paste
1 TBSP Yellow Curry Powder
1 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar

Heat the oil in a pan at medium high heat and add your shallots and ginger root. Saute until the shallots become translucent.

Add in your strawberries and allow them to cook briefly.

Add in the brown sugar making sure to allow it to dissolve and incorporate it evenly into the strawberry and shallot mixture.

Add in the sherry, salt, red pepper paste and curry powder mixing in until well incorporated. Make sure to taste it at this point to make sure you like the amount of seasoning.

Add in the vinegar, lower the heat to medium low and let it simmer, making sure to stir frequently until the texture is soft and thick. Do a check on your seasoning again to ensure you like it. then remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly. When ready place on top of the pork chops.

This makes enough to fill a 13oz jar so you can save it and use it on crackers with some nice cheese for a great snack.

Enjoy. 

The GoogaMooga Festival

I just got an announcement of this event via facebook. After reading what the event is all about and that Baohaus is going to be one of the food vendors at it, I am definitely going to be making my way to it. Not that I have to go very far for it.

If you are living in Brooklyn or planning to visit New York around May 19 & 20, I would recommend you try to go to it. Pre-registration is required. Here is a link to the GoogaMooga festival website so you can learn more about what it is and who will be participating.

Gnocchi Alfredo with Pancetta and caramelized Shallots

This one is actually a recipe I made a while back, but I had misplaced the picture (which I luckily found today). You can say it is long overdue, especially because I need to give credit to my very wonderful friend Josh for the tremendous curing job on the pancetta. He has become some sort of renaissance man who not only knows how to lead in the business world of theater but who can make mozzarella, ricotta and other smoked and cured meats. In our group of friends we have agreed that if the apocalypse ever does take place we want him on our side to ensure our survival. He is pretty darn awesome.

I digress, so let's get back to the point. I cheated a bit because I did not make the gnocchi, but I did make a simple Alfredo sauce and  a great pancetta topping. This is a nice and easy dish that will literally take you at most 20 minutes to put together (Ronnie I hope you are still reading because this one will make it easy for you to get a meal together during your busy week).


Gnocchi Alfredo with Pancetta and Caramelized Shallots

1 Pack of store bought gnocchi (1pound recommended)

For the Alfredo Sauce:
1 Pint Heavy Cream
2 TBSP Butter
3-4 Cloves of Garlic (crushed or finely diced)
1 1/2 Cups Grated Parmesan
Pepper to taste

For the Pancetta and Caramelized Shallot Topping:
1/4 Pound Pancetta (cut up into small cubes)
2 Shallots (finely sliced)

Start by getting 6 cups of water in pot with some salt and a small amount of olive oil and bringing this to a boil. Add your gnocchi and cook for about 5-6 minutes or until tender (but please make sure not to over cook it because it will not be good eats if you do).

In a sauce pan melt your butter and add in the garlic, and saute until the garlic starts to brown. Add in your heavy cream and stir. Add in the Parmesan a little bit at a time while simultaneously stirring it into the heavy cream mixture quickly with a whisk (what you want is to incorporate the cheese into the cream slowly to allow it to become a part of it without creating clumps). Add your pepper and remove the sauce from the burner.

The gnocchi and the sauce should be cooking simultaneously because they will take about the same amount of time to cook and because you want to make sure that your sauce is ready as soon as you drain your gnocchi so that you can immediately coat it with the sauce.

In a frying pan, preheated over medium high heat start cooking your Pancetta the goal is to heat it through and sear it just a bit, and to let it render some fat. once you see the Pancetta start to brown (about 5 minutes) remove it onto a plate with a paper towel to drain any extra oil. Use the fat rendered onto your pan to caramelize your shallots. Once this is done return the Pancetta to the pan, incorporate it into the shallots and remove the pan from the burner. Add on top of your gnocchi alfredo with a little fresh grated Parmesan and enjoy.

Bobotie Adaptation

 One of the many reasons I am grateful for having lived outside the US is how much that has helped to broaden my horizons when it comes to food. I am particularly grateful for the time my family and I spent in Dubai, because were it not for it I would have missed out on a lot of cuisine from Africa that I might not have otherwise experienced. One of my favorite food finds during that time was Bobotie. For my US peeps Bobotie is a dish typical of South Africa, and the best way I can describe it is to say that it is like meatloaf but sooooo much better because of all the great flavors that go into it. I have made my version of it adapted from three different recipes, one which I saw in Spinney's Magazine while I was living in Dubai and the other two I found on the internet recently. I took ingredients that the recipes had in common and kept those while omitting stuff like raisins that my husband is not very keen on. Anyway here is my recipe:

Bobotie - An Adapted Version

1 Lb Ground/Minced Beef
1 Lb Ground/Minced Lamb
1 Large Carrot (Grated)
2-3 TBSP Olive Oil
3-4 Shallots (thinly sliced)
4 Garlic cloves (minced)
2 TBSP Curry Powder
2 tsp Tumeric Powder
3 tsp All Spice
2 tsp Ginger Powder
1/2 tsp Ground Cloves
1/4 Cup Water
2 Slices of Bread (Crumbled - I used Arnold's Whole Grains Oatnut Bread)
1/4 Cup Milk
Salt and Pepper to taste
4-5 Bay leaves


Preheat oven to 365 degrees Fahrenheit.

Heat the olive oil over medium high heat in a dutch oven adding the shallots and garlic. Saute until the shallots have become translucent.

Add in the spices adding water if necessary in order to prevent the mixture from becoming dry and clumpy.

Take the pot off the stove and add in your ground beef and lamb making sure to incorporate the shallot, garlic and spice mixture evenly throughout the meat.

Add in the grated carrot and incorporate evenly into the mixture.

In a separate bowl mix the bread with the milk allowing the bread to absorb the milk. Add this to the meat mixture making sure to incorporate it as evenly as possible.

Insert the bay leaves at even intervals, and now you are ready to place your pot in the oven. Make sure to cover and bake for about 1 hour.

** I want to note that you do not need to have a dutch oven to make this. You can just as easily prepare everything in a large pan and then transfer everything into a baking dish. Just make sure that the baking dish is deep enough to fit the meat mixture as well as the topping that is added onto it.

As you get close to the end of the baking time (5 minutes or so) you can start making the topping. Here is what you need to make it:

Bobotie Topping

1 Cup of milk
2 Large Eggs
1 tsp Tumeric
1/2 tsp Salt

Mix all the ingredients together until well incorporated and set aside briefly.

Once your baking time is done remove the baking dish/dutch oven from the oven and remove the foil/lid.

Raise the oven temperature to 400 degrees Fahrenheit

Pour the topping over the meat and place your dutch oven/baking dish back in the oven (uncovered) and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until the topping starts to turn a golden brown.

Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. It is recommended that this dish be served over yellow rice, but Jasmine rice works well too.

Enjoy.  

Here are the links to some of the recipes I drew inspiration from
Bobotie Recipe at Epicurious
Cleopatras' Bobotie - with secret sauce

Hanco's Bubble Tea & Vietnamese Sandwich - Great Brooklyn Eats

I have been wanting to try Vietnamese sandwiches for a while, since I keep passing  them by whenever I go to Park Slope or Brooklyn Heights. According to one of my husband's cousins they are pretty darn awesome and are among his favorite foods. Coming from him this is a pretty good signal that this was something I needed to try. I already loved bubble tea from when my husband and I lived in Fort Lee so I was already sold on that part of the deal.

Today we took advantage that our little one had passed out in her stroller during our walk to try a cuisine she would be less than likely to try. We both agreed that it was about time we found out what was so great about Vietnamese sandwiches so we went to Hanco's on the corner of 7th Avenue and 10th Street in Park Slope, Brooklyn (their website sucks so here is a link to their menu from Menu Pages, just note that the sandwiches are $6.50 not $5.75). My husband ordered the Classic Sandwich, made up of roasted ground pork, Vietnamese ham, pate, mayo, butter, cucumber, picked carrots & daikon radish and cilantro on a toasted french baguette.

I ordered the Pork Sandwich, containing grilled pork chop, mayo, butter, cucumber, picked carrots & daikon radish and cilantro on a toasted french baguette. I accompanied mine with their Taro bubble tea and my husband chose their black tea version. I really loved the flavors I got in this sandwich. The grilled pork was moist and tender and combined perfectly with the flavor of the pickled daikon radish and the cilantro. The sauce on it had just enough heat and the fact that the bread was crunchy on the outside but spongy enough to absorb the juices on the inside made this a sandwich that is pretty hard to beat.

We have both agreed that this place is definitely one that we will be going back to because the flavors were tremendous and the portions satisfying (and even better, the prices are great). Perhaps the only gripe I have about the place is that is was a bit dirty. We sat at the back on the sofa and the seat covers looked a little grimy as did the floor, but I am chucking it up to the fact that there are a lot of us who come in with children and this entails that messes will happen, so I am not going to write them off based on this. If you have not tried Vietnamese sadwiches yet I definitely recommend that you do because they are beautiful, flavorful things.

 Taro Bubble Tea

The Pork Sandwich

Zesty Lemon Bars - Martha Stewart Recipe Tried and Tested

While this one is not an original recipe of mine, I wanted to make these because they just sounded amazing. I also love eating citrus flavored anything during winter because it is such a simple and effective way of lifting your spirits when the weather is bringing you down. I got the recipe for these Zesty Lemon Bars for the Martha Stewart website, and my verdict is that they are delicious and very much worth every second you spend making them. The crust provides a delectable, buttery, flavorful vessel for the lemon topping which is sweet and tart at the same time. These will go well at tea time or ...... oh who am I kidding, they are a good any time treat. Check out the recipe and enjoy them if you decide to make them.

Why BAOHAUS Rules

I finally took the time to go to this wonderful bastion of goodness. I have been wanting to check it out for a while. I figured that anyone who is good enough to earn the respect of the ever surly but sincere Anthony Bourdain deserves to be given recognition, and oh my is the recognition deserved. My daughter wanted dumplings (which we had later), but I tried to convince her (for my sake) that Baohaus was a much better choice.

This place definitely does not disappoint. I had the Chairman Bao and the Birdhaus Bao. Although I liked the Birdhaus Bao the Chairman Bao is so delicious, delectable, delicate and flavorful that I can sincerely declare I am addicted to it. I will probably have dreams about it tonight. I also have to mention how awesome the staff that was on duty when we went there was to us. They were so happy to see how much we enjoyed our food and even gave us a sample of their sweet Bao Fries with black sesame and pandan condensed milk glazes. I am in love with this place and will probably start having an indecent affair with it, sneaking away to it so I can have more of the love only the Chairman Bao can give. Here are some more pictures for your perusal.

 The lovely BAOHAUS crew

 The Chairman Bao - My new found guilty pleasure

 My husband and daughter in a state of food induced bliss

My daughter scarfing down Swee Bao Fries