My ruminations on my life, my family, cooking, baking, and whatever else comes to mind
Not quite as many tomato options this week, but lots more fruit! Yay for another great week 🙂
This week’s haul:
This easy fresh salsa goes great with many Mexican and Latin dishes. Being allergic to raw onions, my salsa has none, and I’m in the camp that thinks cilantro tastes like soap, so I use a bit of flat leaf parsley instead. This has just a bit of a kick. Add more jalapeno or bump up to a serrano or habanero if you’d like.
Tonight, I served this with my baked turkey chimichangas.
Salsa Fresca
Serves 4
2 large tomatoes, about 1 lb, chopped
1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely diced
1/8 tsp kosher salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1 dash onion powder
1 large clove garlic, finely diced
1 tbsp lime juice (from about 1/2 of a persian lime or 2 key limes)
1 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley leaves
Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl and let sit for 10-15 minutes at room temperature for the flavors to mingle before serving.
This is the latest iteration on my Italian Stuffed Zucchini, which I made this weekend. I’m finally really happy with the balance of tomato flavor in the filling 🙂
Italian Stuffed Zucchini Boats
Serves 4
4 medium or 2 huge zucchini, about 4 lbs
For the filling:
2 tsp olive oil
20 oz ground turkey
2 large cloves garlic, pressed
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp dried basil
1/8 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes (I like San Marzano
2 tbsp concentrated tomato paste
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Wash the zucchini and cut off both ends. Halve lengthwise and scoop out the seedy softer middles, leaving about a 1/4 inch all the way around, forming a boat-like shape. Chop the middle bits finely and set aside. Place the hollowed zucchini halves in a large baking dish that has been sprayed with non-stick spray or olive oil and place the dish in the oven.
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the turkey and garlic and brown well over medium heat. When the garlic is golden and fragrant and the turkey is nicely browned, add the chopped zucchini middles and stir to combine. Cook for another 2-3 minutes, or until the zucchini pieces are turning tender and translucent. Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, and remaining herbs and spices and stir to combine. Remove the skillet from the heat and let cool for about 5 minutes.
Remove the zucchini boats from the oven and place the pan next to the skillet. Spoon the filling evenly into the zucchini boats, packing well. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until the zucchini is nice and tender and the filling is bubbling and starting to brown just a bit on the top.
Serve warm.
I ordered some fresh sourdough starter from King Arthur Flour and it came yesterday. I immediately started with the initial feedings, and now have a happy bubbly starter to play with. 🙂 My first attempt follows their basic rustic sourdough loaf, just dividing the dough into 24 even little rolls and placing them into two parchment lined 9 inch round cake pans before the second rise. That way I had built in portion control. I also started to check on them at 15 minutes, just in case, but they still took 30 minutes to cook.
I do highly encourage you to try this out! I had a lot of fun, and these were absolutely great. 🙂 I can’t wait to try some of the other recipes they have, like waffles, pretzels, or cinnamon apple flatbread.
Rustic Sourdough Rolls
Makes 24 Rolls
1 cup fed sourdough starter
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
2 tsp instant yeast
1 tbsp sugar
2 1/2 tsp salt
5 cups unbleached all purpose flour
Combine all the ingredients in the mixing bowl of a stand mixer. Knead the ingredients with the dough hook until a smooth ball of dough is formed – about 5 minutes.
Cover the dough with a damp paper towel and let it rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size, about 90 minutes.
Line two 9 inch diameter cake pans with parchment paper. Gently punch the dough down. Divide the dough into 24 even pieces (mine weighed 52 grams each, if you happen to have a kitchen scale). Gently roll each piece between your fingers to form a smooth sphere and place the rolls in the cake pans, evenly spaced.
Cover the rolls with damp paper towels and let them rise again until they are about doubled again – about 1 hour.
20 minutes before the rolls are finished rising, start preheating the oven to 425 degrees F.
Uncover the rolls and spray them with lukewarm water. Place the rolls in the oven and spray the oven walls with water as well. Open the oven after 5 and after 10 minutes of baking and spray the rolls and oven walls with water again. Bake the rolls for a total of 20-30 minutes at 425 degrees F, until the tops are a nice golden brown.
Remove the rolls to a cooling rack and let them cool for a few minutes before breaking them apart and serving.
This spicy stew used up the leftover chile rubbed pork from last night. You could easily make this from scratch as well, just cut a pork tenderloin into bite sized chunks and toss it in the rub I made last night and brown up the pork pieces for a bit longer. This has a significant kick to it – if you prefer less heat, use less hatch chiles, eliminate the jalapeno, make sure you remove all of the seeds from the hatch chiles, add some pinto beans, and/or garnish with some sour cream.
Green Chile and Pork Stew
Serves 4
2 lbs hatch chiles
1 tbsp canola oil
1 jalapeno, seeded and finely diced
1 chile rubbed pork tenderloin (about 1.5 lbs), cut into large bite sized chunks
1 can chicken broth (I prefer low sodium, fat free)
2 tbsp masa harina
1 tsp Mexican oregano
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp onion powder
2 cloves garlic, pressed
Heat the broiler. Place the chiles in a single layer on a baking sheet. Broil the chiles for 10 minutes, flipping them over halfway to get an even char. Remove the chiles from the oven and seal in aluminum foil or under a glass bowl to trap the steam. Let the chiles steam for 5 minutes. Remove the skin from the chiles (it should come off pretty easily at this point), and remove most of the seeds. Dice the prepared chiles.
Heat the oil in a stockpot over medium heat. Add the diced jalapeno and when it starts to sizzle and turn brown, add the pork pieces and brown them as well. As the pork is browning, stir the masa into the chicken broth, then add the mixture to the pot. Add the spices and garlic, and turn the heat to medium high. Bring the stew to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 20-30 minutes.
Serve warm with tortillas or cornbread, and any desired garnishes such as sour cream or avocado.
My folks returned to Colorado today. We had a really nice visit, and Emma loved the extra company and play time. She was still tuckered out when I got home this afternoon. She’s usually underfoot when I’m cooking dinner, but tonight she curled up on the couch where she could keep a sleepy eye on me in comfort 😛
All the tomatoes are starting to come in, so I got several varieties this week 🙂
This week’s haul:
This is an original recipe that turned out quite well. I was feeling like a Mexican sort of rub for the pork and happened to have some fresh jalapenos from my CSA box, so they got thrown in the mix. The fruity heat was a great touch and I’ll definitely do this again in the future! I served this with some green salad and roasted cauliflower that I seasoned with cumin and a touch of cayenne pepper.
Chile Rubbed Pork Tenderloin
Serves 6-8
For the rub:
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dark chili powder (I like Gebhardt)
1/2 tsp chipotle chile powder
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1 medium jalapeno, seeds and ribs removed, finely diced
2 tsp canola oil
For the rest:
2 pork tenderloins (about 3 lbs)
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Mix the rub ingredients in a small bowl and set aside. Trim the pork tenderloins of any silver skin or excess fat. Make a shallow cut down the middle of each tenderloin to butterfly them open. Rub generously with the chile mixture, evenly distributing the jalapeno pieces.
Bake for 30-45 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 145 degrees F for medium rare or up to 170 degrees F for well done. Let the meat rest for 10 minutes at room temperature before slicing and serving.
Today was the annual Pacific Northwest Corgi Fun Day at our local McCollum Park. The event is sponsored by the Cascade Pembroke Welsh Corgi Club.
There were some speakers this year – one talking about dog behavior and training, one talking about agility rally, and one talking about herding and lure coursing. They had a bunch of fun corgi items to buy, hot dogs and chips for lunch, an example rally course, some agility equipment, and various races.
Emma and I participated in a watermelon race – we ran (okay, I sorta jogged-ish, and Emma ran) to a plate, each ate a piece of watermelon, and ran back to start. We didn’t win, but the watermelon was tasty 😛
We took a walk around the park perimeter too before heading back home. Emma is now engaged in being flat and sleepy 😀
Another beautiful CSA box this week. The squash is getting more and more abundant. I’ll have to start baking with some of it soon 🙂
This week’s haul:
