I'm back, bitches: Szechuan Pork

So June and July have been CRAZY. Besides three weddings and a funeral (literally), we've also had myriad bachelor/bachelorette parties, bridal showers, baby showers, etc. Oh, and I billed nearly 400 hours between the two months. Needless to say, "cooking" at home was relegated to slapping a couple burgers on the grill or calling for takeout.

But I'm BACK. Five of my cases have settled or successfully gone through arbitration, and my pro bono client's appellate brief (and his fate) is now out of my hands and in the hands of the Seventh Circuit. I left work before 7:30 without having worked a 12 hour day for the first time in what feels like forever. It's 8:30 and I've been home from work for what feels like an eternity. I have a fridge full of veggies straight from Green City Market. It's glorious. And I cooked, dammit, I cooked.

Szechuan Pork
2 boneless pork chops, sliced
1 broccoli crown, cut into florets
6 purple carrots, peeled and cut into sticks (regular carrots work, but I had the fancy carrots from the farmer's market)
1 large handful combo wax and green beans, cleaned and trimmed
1 large handful oyster mushrooms
1/2 c. hoisin sauce
3 tbsp. Szechuan sauce (more to taste)
Oil
White rice, for serving

Heat oil in skillet
Add pork and let brown.
When pork is halfway cooked, add the carrots, broccoli and beans
When pork is cooked through, add the mushrooms, hoisin and Szechuan sauce, mix well, and let simmer for 5 minutes.
Serve over rice.

Hot Fries

These are hot, but they aren't fries. We aren't really sure why our family started calling them hot fries, but they are what they are. This side dish is super simple, and it goes great with anything off the grill. I've made it two ways - in the microwave, and on the grill if I have more time.

1.5 pounds red potatoes, thinly sliced
1 Hungarian wax pepper, thinly sliced into rings
1 small onion, thinly sliced into rings
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Combine all veggies in a bowl, drizzle with olive oil and generously salt and pepper.
For microwave - heat on high in a covered dish for 6-8 minutes.
For grill - wrap in foil and place on the grill until everything is cooked through.

Chilean Ribs

Yum yum yum. It's no secret that Mr. Foodie and I like it hot. Get your minds out of the gutter. We love spicy stuff - and I love how different cultures have different kinds of spicy.

***DISCLOSURE!!!THE MEAT NEEDS TO MARINATE OVERNIGHT***

There. I hate when I read a recipe, realize I have everything on hand to make it, get super jazzed up about how great it sounds...and then I get to the end of the recipe and find out I can't make it that night because it requires sitting overnight. You're welcome.

These ribs were phenomenal. The marinade would be fantastic on chops, bone-in chicken breasts, flank steak, or as here - country style ribs. The recipe is based loosely on a recipe I found on epicurious.com.

Marinade
1 3.5 oz can chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
1/2 jalapeno, seeded
1/2 onion
4 cloves garlic
Generous pinch of dried oregano, or one tablespoon fresh
3/4 c. red wine vinegar
1/2 c. olive oil

Combine chipotles and sauce, jalapeno, onion, garlic and oregano in food processor and pulse to chop.

With food processor running, drizzle in vinegar, then oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Reserve about 1/2-3/4 cup marinade for basting during grilling. Pour remaining marinade over your meat and refrigerate, covered, overnight.

Grill as usual, basting frequently. For country ribs, grill for a total of 20 minutes, flipping every 2-3 minutes and basting at each flip. Watch the grill - the marinade has a tendency to catch fire!

I served this with black beans and a mixed salad with avocado and red wine vinaigrette. We had white wine open, but I think a zinfandel or other juicy red would have been much better.

Angie's Crock Pot Country Ribs

Angie is a good friend of mine - we met under somewhat unusual circumstances, but bonded over our mutual love of cooking and distaste for newbie wedding planners. Angie's blog can be found at right - Adventures in Home Cooking. I took her country ribs recipe and adapted it based on her comments and our penchant for all things spicy.

Crock Pot Country Ribs

3-4 lbs. of country style ribs
1/2 c. ketchup
1/2 c. BBQ sauce (we LOVE Robinson's hot recipe)
1/2 c. beef broth
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. cider vinegar
2 tbsp. dry mustard
1 tbsp. Penzey's black and red pepper blend (or 1/2 tbsp. each black and cayenne peppers)

Whisk all ingredients together (except ribs) in the bottom of a crock pot. Add ribs and immerse so that they are covered with the liquid. Cook on high for 4 hours or so, or on low for 6 hours. You can definitely cook them for longer, but they do start to fall apart.

Angie's recipe calls for serving the ribs with the pan juices; however, we found the resulting juice to be far too greasy for our tastes. I fished the rib meat out of the crock pot and put it into a saucepan and ladled just a bit of the pan juices over the meat to keep it moist. I served the rib meat with additional BBQ sauce at the table. Yummmmmmm.

This went fabulously with the Yukon Gold and Sweet Potato Gratin below and a green salad.

Taco Soup

Not quite chili, not quite tortilla soup. This freezes EXTREMELY well, so double it up and freeze half. Use the leanest ground beef available, and this is actually pretty good for you. The ingredients can be kept on hand for an impromptu football party meal.

Skip the jalapeno if you don't like it spicy. Don't add any salt to this soup, as the seasoning mixes can run on the salty side.

Taco Soup
1 pound ground beef (I use sirloin)
1 package taco seasoning (I get hot)
1 package ranch dressing mix
1 can of diced tomatoes (I like to use the Mexican style)
1 can of mild green chiles
1 c. frozen corn
1 can of jalapenos or 1/2 fresh jalapeno, seeded and minced
1 can of kidney beans
2.5 cans of water
2 tsp. cumin

Toppings
tortilla chips
shredded cheese
sour cream

Brown the ground beef in a soup pot. Add seasoning mixes, cumin and all other ingredients. Simmer for about 30 minutes. Serve with desired toppings.

Pork Chops Adobado

I would like to sincerely apologize to my loyal Justice Is Served readers (ummm...yeah, that would be my mom and Angie, but whatevs) for the lack of posts the past couple weeks. I've been crazy busy with my stoooooooooopid day job, but unfortunately lawyering pays the bills; cooking and blogging, alas, does not.

Anyway, I got this recipe from my good friend RSB, who got it from Smitten Kitchen, aka internet food porn. If you haven't checked out the smitten kitchen blog, you must: http://smittenkitchen.com. I have a sick girl crush on the author.

These chops are spicy and delicious! Perfect with a big salad and either roasted potatoes or rice and beans. The recipe is below, with my notes in parentheses.

Pork Chops Adobado - serves 4
4 boneless pork chops
3-5 cloves of garlic, minced (I thought 5 was perfect)
1 tbsp. paprika
1 tbsp. oregano (I didn't have oregano...WTF...so I used a spice blend that listed oregano as the primary ingredient. I couldn't tell)
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. fresh ground pepper (I used my Penzey's cayenne-black pepper blend)
1 tsp. salt (I think this is entirely unnecessary)
2 tbsp. olive oil (I used just over 1 tbsp.)

Heat olive oil, garlic and oregano in a small skillet over medium heat until fragrant, about 2 minutes.

Add the other spices, stir and remove from heat. Allow to cool slightly.

Place pork chops in a baking dish and pour spice rub over the top. Rub into chops, flip them over and get a little rub on the bottom of the dish, and use that to rub into the bottom of the chops. Put in the fridge and let marinate for at least an hour.

Remove from fridge and let come up to room temperature for about 20 minutes. Preheat broiler or grill. Cook chops for about 4-5 minutes on each side, no longer. If using the broiler, make sure the oven rack is in the middle position to avoid the taste of burned garlic.

Slow Cooker Chicken Tangine

OK, so pretty much anything you can dump in a crock pot at 5:30 a.m. and just leave all day is awesome in my book. There is something so satisfying about having dinner make itself. I made a chicken tangine today that turned out pretty tasty. I thought I had couscous, but it turned out those boxes were just pesky brown rice pilaf mixes that take 40 minutes to cook so I never make them. I served this over white rice, but I think couscous would have been better.

Moroccan Chicken Tangine for the slow cooker
1 medium white or yellow onion, cut into thick slices
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs
2 tbsp. olive oil
1/4 c. flour
2 tsp. cumin
1.5 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 14 oz. can chicken broth (low sodium)
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 14 oz. can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 lemons, quartered
1/2 c. flat leaf parsley, chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

Line bottom of crockpot with thick onion slices to prevent sticking and burning.

OK, when you start this, you can go one of two ways: simple or slightly more complicated:

1. Throw chicken, cumin, cayenne, broth and 1 tbsp. olive oil in crockpot on top of onion slices. Sprinkle with 2 tbsp. of flour.

OR

2. Heat oil in pan over medium high heat. Dredge chicken thighs in flour and quickly brown on each side (about 2 minutes). Remove chicken and place on top of onion slices. Stir spices into the pan with the remaining dredging flour and cook for about 30 seconds. Deglaze the pan with the entire can of broth, scraping up the brown bits. Pour broth mixture into crockpot over chicken.

Now you're at the same spot.

Pour tomatoes with juice over chicken, add the parsley and garlic and tuck the lemon quarters around the chicken. Cook on low heat for 4-8 hours. About an hour before serving, add the chickpeas.

Serve over rice or couscous.

Some Like It Hot: White Chicken Chili

I made this last week for a football party. It's a good way to use up leftover chicken. If you don't have any leftover chicken, you can buy a salt-free rotisserie chicken at the grocery, remove the skin and shred it for an easy shortcut.

2 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 cup celery, finely chopped
1/2 cup carrots, peeled and finely chopped
1 cup onion, chopped
1 cup green bell pepper, chopped
2 tbsp. pickled jalapenos, chopped (I used LaPreferida's jarred jalapeno nacho slices)
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp. chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 can low sodium chicken broth
2 15 oz. cans Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed
1 pound cooked chicken, shredded or chopped
1/2 cup milk or half and half

Heat the oil in a heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add celery, carrots, onion, pepper and jalapeno. Saute until just beginning to soften, about 4 minutes.

Add garlic, chili powder and cumin. Saute 1 minute.

Add broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer.

Add beans, chicken and milk. Bring to a boil again, reduce heat to medium and simmer. Chili is ready to eat in as little as 5 minutes if you're in a hurry. If not, I like to simmer it for about 30 minutes so the beans start to fall apart a bit.

Top with cheese, sour cream and chopped onions.

Mexican Stuffed Peppers

I made these up last week when I got home late, we were both STARVING and I was trying to figure out how to use up a ton of veggies from the farmers' market that were on their last legs. They turned out VERY tasty. This recipe can be adapted to be entirely vegetarian by doubling the veggies and omitting the meat, or you can sub any diced veggies you like or need to use up.

Makes 3 stuffed peppers
3 green bell peppers, tops cut off, seeded and wrapped in foil
2 servings cooked brown rice (I use Minute Rice - 1 c. rice to 1 c. water)
1/2 lb. ground turkey breast
Pinch cumin
Pinch onion powder
Large pinch chili powder
1 yellow squash, diced
1 zucchini, diced
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, very finely minced*
One big spoonful of the adobo sauce
Shredded cheddar cheese

* They sell tiny cans of chipotles in adobo sauce in nearly every supermarket near the Mexican/Hispanic foods. The smallest cans (about two inches high) contain about 4 peppers and 2 tbsp. sauce. Reserve the remaining two peppers and sauce and make my chipotle lime vinaigrette (recipe to follow).

Prep green peppers and cook rice. Put rice in a large bowl.

Spray skillet with Pam and brown ground turkey. When browned, add spices.
Add turkey to rice and mix.

Spray skillet again and saute veggies until just soft.
Add cooked veggies to the turkey and rice.

Drain tomatoes and simmer with the minced chipotles and adobo sauce for 5-10 minutes.
Pour tomato sauce over rice mixture.
Add a small handful of cheese to the rice mixture and mix well.

Stuff into green peppers.
Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes.
Top each pepper with a bit of cheese and bake for 5 minutes longer.

Bear Down Buffalo Chicken Dip (aka the Balldinger)

Not sure why my husband and our friend Jim nicknamed this "The Balldinger." That might have been the bottle of Jameson talking. At any rate, the BEST football party snack you will eat.

Bear Down Buffalo Chicken Dip
3 chicken breasts
1 8 oz. package of cream cheese (light works just fine)
About 1/2 bottle of Frank Red Hot Sauce
2 tsbp. butter
About 1/4 c. blue cheese dressing (must use refrigerated stuff - none of that bottled crap!)

Preheat oven to 400.

Poach chicken breasts:
* Place in a pot and cover with enough water to cover by 1 inch
* Bring to a boil
* Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.

Allow chicken to cool and mince in a food processor. If you aren't bad ass enough to have a Cuisinart, shred the chicken with a fork or chop finely with a knife.

Place shredded chicken in the pot (emptied of the water, obvs), add hot sauce and butter. Simmer for about 10 minutes. If the chicken looks a bit dry, add a little more hot sauce.

Meanwhile, spread the cream cheese in the bottom of an 8x8 pan.

Top with chicken/sauce mixture.

Spread blue cheese over the top.

Bake the whole mess at 400 for 10-15 minutes, until heated through. Serve with Fritos Scoops and celery and carrots if there are dieting bitches coming over. Tortilla chips would probably work as well.