Spacelaredo

The other night I came home and created Angry Pork Stew. I’d had a hot, frustrating and frenzied day. As if in a trance, I walked through the grocery store. I was a woman with a mission. I wanted tangy and sweet, full-bodied flavor that refused to apologize. I chose my main ingredients (pork chops, an orange, radicchio and an Argentinian Malbec) and charged toward the kitchen.

What resulted was cathartic, very flavorful and kept well for many days, though it would have been better if I hadn’t over-cooked the pork. I suggest making it when you’re hungry and need to feel empowered!

Angry Pork Stew

Ingredients:
Pork chops (I used 3 boneless)
Salt and pepper
2-4 tbls. Olive oil
3 shallots
2 cloves of garlic
One orange
2 tbls. (?) sherry vinegar
2 tbls.. (?) red wine
1/3 cup chopped prunes
½ head of radicchio

Serves 2

1. Salt and pepper pork chops then brown in olive oil quickly. Set aside in a bowl with the prunes.
2. Pour off half the remaining olive oil and replace with fresh olive oil.
3. Add shallots and cloves of chopped garlic. Cook until translucent.
4. Squeeze in juice of the orange and scrape out some of the pulp, mix, and cook until everything seems to be talking to each other.
5. Pour in sherry vinegar. Again, cook until everything is just mixed and mingling.
6. Pour in wine, and reduce until alcohol seems to have cooked off.
7. Reduce to a very low simmer. Add pork chops, prunes, and radicchio. Integrate, then cover and cook until done (8-15 minutes).
8. ** If you over cook the pork chops, as I did, the meat regains a good deal of moisture if you cut of the chops into chunks, exposing the meat to more of the sauce.

I’ll add updates and more precise measurements next time I make this.

For dinner, m and I had lentils, pineapple-corn chutney and Fage. Easy, flavorful and satisfying, this meal is also healthy and cheap. I find that I gravitate to these flavors when I feel anxious or anchor-less. There is something very simple and grounding about preparing and eating this food. I’ve been meaning to post about it and share the love.

Like a triangle, strength comes from three connected points: lentils, salsa, yogurt.

The lentils: cooked within an Indian flavor palate. These are nothing like your mother’s lentil soup or even your lentil salad. The flavor is earthy and spicy, buttery rich in a supporting, fortifying manner.

1 cup lentils (the smaller the better, I like to get green French Lentils)

2 chunks of ginger, about the size of quarters

2 large cloves of garlic

5 cardamom pods

1 tbl. mustard seeds

3 cloves

1/2 tsp. chai masala

Wash the lentils, then place them in a saucepan. Add ginger and garlic (both finely chopped or pressed), spices, and a few strong grinds of a pepper mill. Pour water into saucepan so that the lentils are covered by an inch. Bring to a slow boil, then turn down the heat as low as it will go and simmer, adding a pinch of salt from time to time as the lentils soften and to taste. Cook for 20-30 minutes, or until the lentils are done.

Once the lentils are done to your liking, stir in 2 tbl of butter. Don’t skip this. The lentils won’t be anywhere nears as good.

**This recipe is based the recipe, “Simplest Dal” in Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.**

The chutney: spicy is the only requirement. I tend to mix up the chutney/salsa ingredients, depending on what I have around and what’s in season. As now it is summer, the height of mint and corn, I was compelled to include these flavors. I also had a pineapple that was very ready to be eaten. I think the fruit chutney work well especially with the lentils, which are quite solid in their flavor. Sweet-spicy chutney adds an element of light-hearted exictement, of crunch and twists to the steady lentils.

1 thinly diced pineapple (canned is fine)

juice of two limes (if you’re looking to cut costs, 1 lime is fine and add some orange juice or lemon juice)

scant 1 tbl. of brown sugar

big handful of chopped mint

big handful of chopped cilantro

1-2 cups of corn or to taste

1 tsp chopped habanero pepper (don’t use the seeds! the habanero is not a pepper to be taken lightly. It is intense but not painful; it is very spicy, be forewarned.)

1 tsp. mustard seeds

one large chunk of ginger, thinly thinly diced

salt and pepper to taste

The yogurt: greek yogurt is best for this. If cutting costs, any yogurt will do. But Fage is so thick and creamy. It really is the mortar that ties the flavors together.

Enjoy!

*New habit: After squeezing the juice, don’t throw away the limes! Add them to a pitcher of water or use them in gin and tonics.

Around dusk each evening my mind wanders to cocktail shakers and ice. Summer, winter, every season has its taste. This summer I have been partial to the Sidecar, or rather, a Sidecar re-imagined, A lá Americaine.

The creation myth of the Sidecar, like that of most cocktails, is apocryphal. Most everyone agrees that the classic Sidecar rose to popularity around World War I either in Paris or London, and traditionally combines Cognac, Cointreau, and lemon juice. Personally, I will subscribe to the view that the Sidecar (note: a sidecar is a one wheeled-attachment to a motorcycle) was named as such because it takes the one who drinks it “for a ride.”

These days, I make what I believe to be the ultimate Sidecar. Once upon a time, I happened to be having cocktail hour at the Bar Americain (of Bobby Flay fame), where simple American classics are turned into indulgent–and amazingly exquisite–dishes. (Examples: Roasted Corn Soup, Crispy Okra; Gulf Shrimp and Grits; Boston Lettuce, Bacon, Poached Egg and Buttermilk-Blue Cheese dressing; Red Pepper Crab Cake, Red Cabbage Slaw, Basil Sauce…)

Their drink menu is also inventively American, and this cocktail caught my eye. Our waiter exclaimed that he loved the drink and had been making it at home all the time; he happily shared the recipe. Below, my explanations and paraphrasing:

Combine equal parts Bourbon (or Whiskey), Contreau (or Triple Sec), and lemon juice

Muddle generous amount of mint and and bit of sugar in a glass

Shake alcohol mixture vigorously with lots of ice

Strain mixture into glass

Serve neat, (if you dare)

And so a tradition is born.