Pork Carnitas

Pork carnitas tacos are just one of my favorite things. The carnitas are very easy to make, though they do take a while to cook.

In theory, the pork shoulder should have enough fat to fry the pork shreds but in reality, American pork is still too lean to render enough fat (this is even true for the fatty pork shoulder). That's why I add some oil - or even better, some lard - to fry the carnitas.

Serve your carnitas with hot corn tortillas, some diced pineapple, sliced red onions, diced avocado, and a green salsa.

Pork Carnitas
(makes 3-4 cups, 6 servings)

What do you do with that leftover corned beef?

OK, I'm running a bit late on this one since St. Patrick's Day and that corned beef dinner was a week ago. But, you can make this with a hunk of cooked corned beef from the deli and it's just as good. This also gives me the chance to say what a great thing hash is - one of the best ways to clean out odds and ends in your fridge (soup is another great depository for them).

Traditionally, corned beef hash is made with white potatoes. Very fitting, seeing as the white potato nourished millions of Irish until the potato famine came along. We really love sweet potatoes in this house and I thought the sweeter flavor would be a nice counterpoint to the salty corned beef. And a recipe was born.

Hash is one of recipes that you can make up on the fly with whatever bits and pieces you have in your fridge. Leftover chicken, leftover potatoes, leftover veggies - together they make hash. I know my friend Deb is nodding her head while she reads this.

Sweet Potato Corned Beef Hash
(serves 4-6)

Asian Fish in Papillote

Cooking fish in papillote - cooking in paper - is a classic French cooking technique. You don't need to use parchment paper. Aluminum foil works fine too. It's a self-contained steaming method, locking in flavors and making clean-up a breeze.

I used whole pompano but I wrote the recipe below to use any white fish fillet, such as sole, striped bass, or snapper. We stopped in a major-league Asian supermarket and they had beautiful pompano for cheap, cheap, cheap. It's a great fish, with white, slightly oily flesh. If you can find it, I recommend it but if you cook them whole, you are in for a little surgery. Their bones are big and there are no pin bones at all, which makes them easier to eat than trout. But, if you don't like dealing with bones, stick to fillets. That said, fillets are perfectly delicious prepared this way.

This recipe grew out of one in Mark Bittman's Fish. His recipe is pretty classic with pine nuts, shallots, and lemon juice. I had also bought some beautiful fresh shiitakes at the Asian mega-mart (again, cheap, cheap, cheap) and wanted to use them. Which led me to an Asian spin on the classic recipe.

My experiment can guide you on your own variations of the classic recipe. Use a different fat, preferably something tasty like butter, good olive oil, even bacon fat. Switch out the mushrooms for another quick cooking vegetable (or julienne it to speed up cooking - good for carrots). Instead of rice vinegar, use another acid such as lemon or lime juice, or another type of vinegar. You get the idea. It's a great way to throw together a tasty fish dish.

Asian Fish in Papillote
(serves 4)

Cheesecake Cupcakes, the decorated version

One of my first posts was about cheesecake cupcakes, a recipe I inherited from my mom. It also happens to be my daughter's favorite recipe to bake. Her friends devour these things whenever she makes them. Traditionally, she makes them at least every February for her friend Celeste's birthday. I thought I would share her awesome decorating  from the latest batch. Can you guess the theme*? She uses a toothpick as the brush and supermarket food coloring. A couple of years ago, she painted on the NY Yankees logo and baseballs. I have to say the kid has talent with food coloring!

Check out the recipe. It's so delicious and simple. It's getting cheesecake without having to make a whole cheesecake. Nice little bite-sized cheesecakes. Highly recommended for Valentine's Day!

Link to PDF of cheesecake cupcakes

*They are flags from countries in South America. Celeste had visited them all during a gap year. Except the US flag, of course. But, as a proud American, my daughter had to throw that one in too.

Spicy Chickpeas

I know my friend Mary was on a chickpea kick a while back. I finally found the recipe I wanted to give her. When you have 900 cookbooks, sometimes it takes a while.

This recipe is from Madhur Jaffrey's World of the East Vegetarian Cooking (which provided a recipe for creamed eggplant about a week ago). I toned down the spice a bit. The original recipe is called Very Spicy, Delicious Chickpeas. If I had used all the cayenne, it would have blown my husband's head off. As it was, it was still quite spicy but absolutely delicious.

There is one exotic ingredient here: ground amchoor. Amchoor is ground dried unripe mango and it adds a unique tart-sweet flavor. You can find it in Indian grocery stores.  I don't know a substitution. Hopefully, you'll be able to find some for this dish because it's a winner.

Spicy, Delicious Chickpeas
(serves 6-8)

Turkey Thighs in Herbed Tomato Sauce

In November I posted a recipe for polenta. Back then, I said that the polenta is only part of the recipe. The main recipe is turkey thighs cooked in a tomato sauce flavored with dried porcini mushrooms and dried herbs. The porcini is a key element so, though it's an expensive ingredient, don't leave it out. Turkey thighs have a rich, gamey flavor that I love and they go nicely with the woodsy porcini. This is a hearty dish, particularly when you serve it over some stick-to-your-ribs polenta.

Turkey Thighs in Herbed Tomato Sauce
from Rick Rodgers' The Turkey Cookbook
(serves 4)

Fun with Eggplant

Eggplant was on sale this week. I wanted to make some baba ghanoush but I bought enough to make more than that. So, here are 2 recipes that use eggplant. In fact, they both start with eggplant broiled whole but after that, they go in totally different directions. There are no pictures of the dishes because neither of them looks all that interesting. But, they taste so good, each in their own way.

Baba ghanoush is a Middle Eastern eggplant dip enhanced with tahini and lemon juice. It retains the delicious smokiness that comes from getting the eggplant skin well-charred.

The other recipe is Indian, using a plethora of fragrant spices to transform the eggplant into something special. It's called Creamed Eggplant but the cream isn't that key to the dish. You could leave it out and it would still be awesome. The original recipe called for vegetable oil. I used butter instead and I do think it adds a depth of flavor. Use vegetable oil if you prefer. There is enough flavor here even if you use a neutral oil.

Both recipes came from Madhur Jaffrey's World of the East Vegetarian Cooking. I have added additional instructions on broiling the eggplants. She says to rinse them after peeling but I feel that is not necessary. Just be careful about removing all the skin because it would add a lot of bitterness, seeing as it's burned totally by the time it's done. It does take a while to cook the eggplant but it's worth it. The long broiling develops the smoky flavor that enhances both recipes.