braising: pork shoulder with guiness and dried cherries

I spent a lovely day cooking with the O'Meara ladies.  They planned a family dinner for twenty plus and then came and cooked their dinner with me, supporting The Family Table.  It was such a great idea and such a nice day!

We made a yummy dish, one that would be really good for St Patrick's day.  Pork Shoulder is trimmed, seared and then put in a dutch oven (or crock pot would work too).  The aromatics (onion, fennel, garlic) are then sauteed in the pork pot and deglazed with guiness and balsamic vinegar.  Dried cherries, molasses and orange peel are added for a sweet-ish, rich, wintery braise.  You can add chopped sweet potatoes in to make it a complete dish.  Steamed barley would also be really nice to slurp up the broth.  We also made the kale and brussel sprout salad (from BBQ Beef class in May, 2013) for some greenery.

TFT, BRAISE Pork Shoulder With Guiness and Dried Cherries by The Family Table

in the garden: radishes

"Brassicaceae", "Cruciferae", names of the cabbage family of vegetables.  I was surprised that arugula was one of those members, along with bok choy, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, kale, radishes, rutabagas, turnips, watercress to name a few.  They are all powerhouses of vitamins, fiber and are great for an anti inflammatory diet.

Radishes are rich in folic acid, ascorbic acid, potassium, vitamin C, vitamin B6, magnesium and calcium.

I have tried and tried to like radishes the french way: eaten with butter and salt.  It just does not do it for me.  This spring, we grew them in the YWCA urban garden and they came up so faithfully.  In only a few weeks they were plump and sitting on the soil, letting you know they were ready.  We sliced them and ate them along with our fresh lettuce greens tossed with a simple vinaigrette.  We also threw in some cooked french green lentils (great protein and fiber source) and some shaved carrots.

Vinaigrettes are easily made and stored in canning jars.  The simplest one starts with 1/3 part acid: lemon juice or any favorite vinegar (balsamic, sherry, cider, raspberry).  Then, eyeballing it, add 2/3 part olive oil.  Add salt, pepper, any chopped fresh herbs you have on hand (chives, garlic scapes, tarragon, parsley).  Shake vigorously so that you emulsify the dressing.  Drizzle on and toss well.  We leave our salad dressing out of the refridgerator for days...just give it a shake and you are ready.
 

With this crop, I tried pickling radishes, thanks to a suggestion of Courtney's.  They are so good! Good for fish tacos, good to put out with cheeses, good to eat alone to get the appetite going.  These are "refridgerator pickles" so they will not last forever like hot water canning jars, they need to stay in the fridge.  I guarantee they won't last long... we went through our jar in an evening.

Pickled Radishes by The Family Table

I leave you with a couple recipes I found, that I plan to try next batch of radishes: a roasted moroccan mint and brassica salad and a radish and orange chopped salad. 

Here is the lovely summer garden crew for the YWCA.  Amy, working in the shelter, Kim, tending the garden and the volunteers.  They are great.

spring session: pork pot roast with root vegetables

The last spring class...pork pot roast.  This is a recipe I have used for both the dutch over and a crock pot.  Both ways come out nice and succulent, falling apart.  You can use any root vegetable here.  I added celery root, but I think turnips or sweet potatoes would also be delicious.

Enjoy.

Braised Pork Pot Roast by The Family Table

To go along with the pork, we made a quinoa salad, with orange zest, dried cherries, pine nuts and fennel.  See my last posting for the recipe with israeli couscous.  I like it better with the couscous (especially as I overcooked the quinoa in class!)

spring session: braised chicken thighs with swiss chard and balsamic vinegar

Spring and the swiss chard is stretching out in the garden...

A really delicious and nutritious dish is Braised Chicken with Swiss Chard and Balsamic Vinegar.  You sear the chicken, saute the colorful stems along with onions and garlic, and then deglaze the pan with balsamic vinegar and diced tomatoes. 

This is cooked in the crock pot or a dutch oven and you have a meltingly yummy dinner for less than $3.00 per person (with free range chicken thighs). 

Braised Chicken and Swiss Chard by The Family Table

To accompany the chicken, we made an Israeli Couscous Salad with Dried Cranberries, Arugula, Pine Nuts with an Orange dressing.  I started with the recipe from the blog, "the Kitchn" but subbed in dried cranberries for the dried cherries, pine nuts for the walnuts and we mixed in orange zest as well.  It is a really tasty salad, one that I will go back to over the summer.  It was nice with the juices from the chicken.

spring session: saffron braised chicken with fennel and carrots and a spring couscous salad with asparagus and peas

Spring colors are the theme for this week's braised dish.  Saffron Braised Chicken, with fennel and carrots.

Saute the sliced onions and fennel in saffron and butter...

The stunning apron lady, aka Tracy, adds carrots to the saute...

After searing the cumin, coriander and paprika crusted chicken thighs, you add diced tomatoes, chicken stock, sherry and sherry vinegar.  The stew is then braised in the oven for 1 1/2 hours or in the crock pot for 4.

Chicken With Saffron, Fennel and Cilantro by The Family Table

Making the most of the spring produce coming to market, we made an Israeli Couscous Salad with fresh peas, asparagus and snap peas.  The salad is dressed with a lemon vinaigrette and tossed with chives and freshly grated parmesan.  This can be made ahead and served room temperature with the chicken or would be nice eaten warm as well.

spring session: barbecued beef brisket, kale salad and biscuits

The Family Table Spring session has started.  I am going back to simple, easy to prepare, good tasting family dinners, inspired by Michael Pollan and his new book "Cooked".  I particularly liked the editorial that Mark Bittman wrote on this book in the New York Times.  He wants to start a home cooking movement.  As Michael Pollan says: "Cooking is probably the most important thing you can do to improve your diet. What matters most is not any particular nutrient, or even any particular food: it’s the act of cooking itself. People who cook eat a healthier diet without giving it a thought.”

I am going to post whole family dinner menus in this spring session of the Family Table.  I hope that you will grab a friend, shop and chop with them, laugh and share while your family dinner simmers away!

Wednesday, we made Barbecued Beef Brisket in the crock pot (or dutch oven, both work great).  The advance prep time is very short (see the lovely Tracy pricking the meat before she slathers the marinade on), then into the crock pot for 9-11 hours.

Slice the meat, drizzle on the sauce, and you are good to go.

To complete this meal, I would add a kale salad, roasted sweet potatoes and either home made biscuits (these are very easy and lighter than normal biscuits) or store bought parker house rolls. You can print out the recipes below. 

Barbecued Beef Brisket by The Family Table

Kale Salad by The Family Table

Sweet Potato Wedges by The Family Table

winter soup session: tunisian soup with swiss chard, chickpeas and harissa

Swiss Chard is a beautiful, and nutritional plant.  It grows at the garden from May until November.  I like to describe it as somewhere between spinach and kale.  It wilts quickly in a soup like spinach, but you need to take the stems off as they take longer to cook.  Some mistakenly throw away the stems, but I just dice them and then throw them in when you saute the aromatics (carrots, onions and celery).  Swiss Chard is in the chenopod family along with beets, spinach and quinoa.  It is high in vitamins C, E and K.  Swiss Chard has anti inflammatory and anti oxident properties and contains lots of manganese, beta carotene and calcium. 

I adapted this recipe from Gourmet and cook it regularly.  The harissa gives it a richness, the chickpeas add protein, and the swiss chard adds color and vitamins.  Make the harissa first.  I took this harissa recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks "Sunday Suppers at Lucques".  It is possible to buy harissa in upscale grocery stores, but this is so easy and it makes enough so you can keep what you don't use in a canning jar or tupperware in the fridge.  It lasts for a while.  I swirl it into soups or toss on roasted vegetables.

Harissa by The Family Table

If you have some leftover beef brisket, shredded chicken, pork carnitas on hand, throw it in the soup pot.  I like using egg noodles, or farro, or barley, or israeli couscous...whatever is in your cupboard.

Tunisian Soup With Chard by The Family Table

winter soup session: sunchoke soup with apples and lentils

Jerusalem artichokes (aka Sunchokes) are the tubers of a sunflower.  They are interesting looking, they store well, they can be eaten raw, steamed, sauteed, pureed, they are a good source of calcium, iron, potassium, vitamin C, vitamin B, fiber, folate and magnesium.  BUT....and it is a big but, they are hard to digest and thus have gained the name "fartichokes".  In 1621, an english botanist, John Goodyer wrote this about them: "they...cause a fithy loathsome stinking wind within the body...and are a meat more fit for swine than men".  Some cookbooks attach most of the gas to eating them raw (you can ask my cooking partner Amy about this).  So, if you dare, this recipe produces a deliciously creamy soup, especially with the garnish of black lentils, apple and chives (or tarragon).

This picture is of the soup pre-puree form, both are good.

Sunchoke Soup With Apples and Lentils by The Family Table

winter soup session: coconut curry carrot soup

There are so many recipes for carrot soup, ask around, everyone has a go-to version.  This one is simple, rich and coconut-ty with the warming flavor of curry.

Who would think a bunch of carrots...

Could turn into this:

Coconut Curry Carrot Soup by The Family Table

winter soup session: italian wedding soup with herbed chicken meatballs

I like to look up the history of my soups.  For the Italian Wedding Soup, I imagined there was going to be a romantic story of true love wrapped around an elaborate feast.  I was very surprised when I learned that the cited wedding is the really the marriage of green vegetables and meat, to each other.

Similarly to beef borscht, this soup is made with many different combinations, basically whatever you have on hand, as long as the sacred marriage is respected.  For the meat, I have seen it as chicken, brisket and meatballs.   The chicken meatballs in the recipe below are delicious baked in the oven for about 10 minutes at 350 and eaten straight off the cookie sheet.  The taste of parmesan comes through and the chicken flavor is a nice change from heavier beef meatballs.

As yummy as the baked meatballs are, for this soup, they are best when poached in the actual soup broth as they are light and easy to eat while slurping down the soup (I would like to thank Kim for this brilliant suggestion).  For the vegetable, I have seen it including cabbage, spinach, kale and escarole.  Having made this with both spinach and escarole, I prefer the escarole as it holds up better and imparts a nice flavor.  That being said, if you have spinach, throw that in.  Most people don't have bags of escarole hanging about.

Italian Wedding Soup by The Family Table

winter soup session: spicy grain and roasted root vegetable soup

I have long been an admirer of First Slice.  Mary Ellen Diaz, their founder,  left the restaurant world to start First Slice, a non profit organization who's goal is to ensure that needy and homeless people get "the first slice" of a pie, not the crumbs.  She funds her dream by selling subscriptions to family dinners.  For 10 weeks, at $78 a week, families come pick up 3 freshly prepared, then frozen meals for the week.  Included in the price is money to provide the same quality meal for homeless people at various shelters and soup kitchens in the Chicago area.  Her program is so inspiring.

I found this delicious, vegetarian and protein rich soup while researching grains.  Mary Ellen shared it with Food and Wine, saying that it is one of the more popular soups at the shelters.  I tinkered with it slightly, roasting the vegetables before adding them to the chile broth.  One of my soup session friends, Heather, planned to add shredded roast chicken to it.  Topped with crumbled tortilla chips, it would resemble a tortilla soup closely.

Spicy Grain and Roasted Root Vegetable Soup by The Family Table

winter soup session: beef borscht

It did not escape my observation that "beef borscht" was the hardest class to fill in my soup series this winter.  I guess I get it:  beets are not loved by everyone nor does the name really grab you.  Just say "borscht", it does not immediately inspire appetite.  Regardless, I was so excited to start sampling recipes and finding the perfect combination: beets, braised meat, vinegar, red cabbage and orange zest!

After mixing many recipes, I have come up with a nice blend.  When I first made the recipe, I seared and then cooked the short ribs in a stock pot with carrots, celery, fennel, onion, making a little stock that I then used as the broth for the soup.   Today at Family Table cooking, we shredded beef brisket that I had made in my crock pot the night before, and then used the cooking liquid for the soup broth as well.  Borscht is a great vehicle for leftover meat.

Borscht by The Family Table

winter soup session: lentil

There are so many different recipes for lentil soup: some are pureed, some are chunky, some are yellow, some are red, some have orange zest and ginger, some have sausage, some have vinegar.  I inherited my go to lentil soup recipe from my friend Sarah who had served it to my daughter for dinner.  It comes, adapted from the blog "vicious ange", from Bill Granger's "Sydney Food" and it is delicious: hearty, vegetarian, with a bit of a kick from the chiles de arbol.

Here are the pots from this week's Family Table cooking.  We were a symphony in red, a true advertisement for Le Creuset's cherry line.

As you can see from the picture, it is a thick soup.  If you like more of a brothy soup, just increase the amount of stock or water that you use.

Lentil Soup by The Family Table

Lentils were recently called one of the five healthiest foods by Health Magazine.  After soybeans and hemp, lentils have the most protein of any legumes or nuts.  When eaten with rice, lentils are a complete protein (contains all nine of the essential amino acids necessary for a human's diet).  They are also have a good fiber content, good iron, folic acid and vitamin D.   My preferred lentil is the green lentils de Puy, mostly because they keep their shape so nicely in a soup or for a lentil salad. 

How to cook lentils:

• Rinse the lentils, until the water runs clear, then put them in a pot
• Top them with water, covering by a couple inches.  Salt.
• Bring to a boil.
• Turn the heat down to a simmer, cover the pot.
• Cook until it is to your liking.  This usually takes about 20 minutes. Test it, it is done when it is soft.
• Drain the excess water out. 

I love tossing my warm lentils with a simple mustard vinaigrette, maybe adding in some diced red onions and eating for lunch. It is also a great bed for a seared filet of salmon. Or, cool them down, keep them in freezer bags in your freezer until you have a lentil hankering. They are a great way to get some protein into a simple green salad.

We also made Cauliflower Flatbread to go along with our soup:

 
Roasted cauliflower is one of my family's favorite vegetable.  I just cut the cauliflower into smaller florets, toss it in olive oil, salt and pepper and then bake on a pyrex glass dish at about 400 degrees for 30 minutes or so.  The cauliflower gets all brown and caramelized.

If it is not all eaten the moment it comes out of the oven, use this recipe from Mark Bittman for a nice side, or as a yummy appetizer.