Je Mange la Ville is going on Spring Break. Back in about a week!

This month’s Sugar High Friday is hosted by Chocolate in Context and the theme is — wait for it — chocolate. But, ha, not just any chocolate, raw chocolate — “an unrefined cacao product, such as cacao beans, cacao nibs, cocoa butter, or cocoa powder.” After some thought, I chose nibs, as I thought they would be easy to find. However, the store I was completely sure would have nibs (Pasta Works) did not. So sad. And I didn’t really feel like trudging over to Zupan’s searching for nibs.

*Sigh*

I was nibless.

But, I did have a box of cocoa powder in the cabinet. So, that’s what I used. I also utilized some crushed almonds as a coating. About half in the powder and half in the almonds. Everyone’s happy. Especially me because these are delicious.

The flavor is smooth, rich and cool. And oh so good. Definitely use Meyer lemons. All tarty sweet, no bitterness. The combination with the dark chocolate and hint of thyme flavor is out of this world. I upped the lemon juice content on advice from the Epicurious reviews and decreased the cream. I found the ganache smooth and very easy to work with. This is the first time I’ve ever made truffles and I have to say, I can’t wait to make some more!

Meyer Lemon & Thyme Truffles
Adapted from Bon Appétit magazine.
1 cup heavy whipping cream
9 ounces high–quality bittersweet chocolate chopped
1 1/2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
3 tbsp fresh Meyer lemon juice (this will be about 1 lemon)
1 tsp Meyer lemon peel zest (yellow part only)
cocoa nibs (broken up into small pieces or cocoa powder or chopped almonds (or a combination)

Bring the cream and thyme to simmer in heavy small saucepan.

Let sit for 15 minutes, then bring back to barely simmering, remove from heat and strain the hot cream over the chocolate pieces.

My extremely “foodie” mix of Trader Joe’s bittersweet chips and pieces of Dagoba 50-something% chocolate

Add the zest and juice and stir until all the chocolate is melted.

Refrigerate for at least 3 hours, until ganache is firm enough to work with. Use a small ice cream scoop (you can also use a tablespoon or two spoons, and shape little balls of chocolate.

Roll the truffles in the broken nibs, crushed almonds or cocoa powder. Try to touch the truffles as little as possible, trying to use mostly just your fingers (your fingers are cooler than your palm). Place on a parchment lined sheet to store.

I found it helpful to do half, then stick the ganache back in the fridge for about 15 minutes.

Store the truffles in the fridge, on parchment paper, in a covered container. To serve, let sit at room temperature for a little bit before eating. Or not. Seriously, these are really good no matter what, I’m sure.

Thanks again to Chocolate in Context and The Domestic Goddess, the originator of the SHF event. Now, what to do with those extra lemons, as I bought three at the store. Hmmm, I think there will be a Meyer Lemon Drop with my name on it tonight after work!

I just made this to bring to a potluck at work and I think I’m in love with it. jwa and I had some for dinner tonight (I made extra) and it was so good. I highly recommend it. I’ve adapted it from Bon Appétit magazine, by adding the cheese, cilantro and tortilla strips. Oh and a little hot sauce.

Funny story — when I read through the recipe I could have sworn it said “figs”, to which I thought, oh! awesome, I have just about that many in a bag at home!. Then, when I got ready to make the salad, I reread the recipe and realized it said “dates”. Oops. Well, I used the dried figs anyway and I think they worked just fine. Dates (or figs) and honey may sound weird in a dressing for black beans, but it all comes together very well. I did find that I really did like it with a few dashes of the green Tabasco sauce, though.

The salad would probably also be very good with a diced avocado added to the mix — this was jwa’s suggestion. I think it’s a pretty good one.

Black Bean Salad with Bell Peppers and Tortilla Strips
Serves 6-8

Vinaigrette
1/2 cup water
16 dates (about 4 ounces), pitted, chopped — or, you know, figs’ll work too
1/2 cup fresh lime juice (3-4 limes, depending on how much juice you get from each one)
6 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp dried oregano
4 tsp honey
4 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
dash or two of hot sauce (I used jalapeno Tabasco)
salt & pepper

Salad
4 15-ounce cans black beans, rinsed, drained
1 chopped red bell pepper
1 chopped yellow or orange bell pepper (I used a little of both kinds)
1 chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup crumbled Cotija cheese (you could substitute cubed cheddar or crumbled feta)
3 corn tortillas, halved , then cut into strips
1/3 cup canola oil
salt

Boil water and dates in heavy small saucepan for 2 minutes. Remove from heat; cover and let stand 1 hour to soften.

Transfer date mixture to blender. Add lime juice, oil, oregano, honey, cumin and coriander. Then purée. The mixture will be nice and thick. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (This can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Let stand 1 hour at room temperature before using.)

Heat oil in a large skillet and fry the tortilla strips (in batches if necessary), until crisp. Salt and let cool on paper towels.

Combine beans, bell peppers, onion, cheese and cilantro in large bowl. Toss with enough vinaigrette to coat nicely. Taste and season with salt and pepper if needed. Top with tortilla strips.

And look — your compost pile will be happy too!

Just when I start to think about changing the blog theme to something more Springy, it gets all cold again. The kind of weather where you want to make a creamy sauce and bake something in it. Something like potatoes. The kind of weather where there’s a pork tenderloin involved in the whole thing as well.

I started with an idea — mmmmm…lavender and goat cheese — and ended up with a whole meal.

Lavender-Goat Cheese Potatoes
This made two 1-cup ramekins. In fact I had a little extra sauce left over. I’m sure I will be able to figure something out. My point is though, if you want to double this, add another potato, then double the whole recipe, and it should serve around 6).

3 small yellow potatoes, scrubbed and sliced thinly, peeled or unpeeled, your choice (figure about 1.5 potatoes per person for a generous serving)
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cups fat free, 2% or full fat milk (I used fat-free and it was very creamy)
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1 tbsp dried culinary lavender
2 oz goat cheese
dash of nutmeg
salt & pepper
1/4 cup + 2 tsp grated Parmesan cheese
Some non-stick spray or some butter
Garnish: A sprig or two of fresh lavender

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Add the milk and lavender to a small pot and bring to a simmer (don’t boil). Let the lavender steep for a few minutes.

Melt the butter in a larger pan over medium-high heat and add the garlic. Saute for two minutes and then add the flour. Let that cook for a couple of minutes more and then strain the hot milk into the roux. Whisk until smooth. It should bubble and thicken. Reduce the heat and add the goat cheese, whisking until melted.

Then add the nutmeg, 1/4 cup of Parmesan and a little salt and pepper. Taste and adjust any seasonings. Spray individual ramekins with non-stick spray (or coat with a little butter) and ladle a little of the sauce in the bottom.

Layer a few potato slices around the bottom and cover with sauce. repeat until you reach the top. Ladle a generous amount of sauce on top and cover each with a teaspoon of Parmesan and some black pepper. Give a quick spray with canola or olive oil or dot with butter.

Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes, until the potatoes are nice and tender and the tops are golden. Garnish with fresh lavender if available (our plants are still sleeeping for the Winter…).

Now, what to serve with the potatoes? I know — how about some Parmesan-sage crusted pork tenderloin? Well, okay then.

Parmesan-Sage Crusted Pork Tenderloin
Will feed about 3 — double it for 6.
1 pork tenderloin
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tbsp good quality dried, rubbed sage
salt
pepper
1 tbsp olive oil

Blend the cheese, sage and a few grinds black pepper in a shallow dish. Before dredging, sprinkle the pork with a little salt on all sides. Then, lay the tenderloin over the cheese and push down. Turn over and repeat. You can also kind of pat the cheese and sage into the pork. When you are doe it should look something like this.

If you don’t mind an extra step, you could also coat the pork in Dijon mustard before dredging. I was just too lazy to do that. Heat an oven proof skillet and add the oil. Sear pork on all sides. Then, pop in the oven for 15 minutes or so, until the pork registers about 150-155 degrees. Remove from oven and let sit 5-10 minutes before serving.

If you wanted a sauce to go with your pork, when you put the pork in the oven, add about a cup of chicken broth to another small pot, along with about a tablespoon of dried lavender, a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, a splash of wine, and a teaspoon of Herbes de Provence. Put it over medium-high heat. This way, it can reduce on the stovetop while the pork cooks in the oven. Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 15-20 minutes, reducing by about half.

If there isn’t a lot of Parmesan fall-off in you pork skillet(after you remove it from the oven, of course), strain the reduced sauce into the pork pan and continue to reduce for another minute or so. Taste and add salt/pepper as needed. Finish by melting about a half tablespoon of butter into the sauce.

Serve everything with the vegetable of your choice. I chose roasted carrots. Excellent. jwa thought so too. Now go ahead and finish the wine you opened for the sauce with dinner and call it a tasty, not-quite-Spring-yet night.

Hooray for crusty cheese!

Saturday, jwa and I headed to the Dundee/Dayton area in Yamhill County, where the wine flows like, uh, water or somethng. Seriously, so much wine, so little time. You could not throw a rock and not hit a winery. Add to this, it was a beautiful day (high of 66 and blue skies).

Here’s what we saw and did.

The first stop was at Red Ridge Farms in Dundee. Of course, google maps got us a little lost and it directed us to Sokol Blosser instead of the farm (not necessarily a bad thing) but we eventually found our way to the herb farm.

They had a greenhouse open, along with many herbs, olive trees, herbs, flowers and a small store with olive oil, some art and other things. They were also having a wine tasting — this will be a theme of this post.

View from the balcony. It’s hard to see but the hills are covered with grape plants. Trees? Shrubs? Whatever. It’s all grapes, all the time.

Above the store, there is a great little apartment you can rent. It has a full kitchen, living room and bedroom. But the best part may just be the balcony. It overlooks hills and vineyards — maybe Domaine Serene and the previously mentioned Sokol Blosser, but I could be wrong there. I’m probably wrong. It was hilly and it was grapes. I know I’m right about that, though.

I captured a little bug in this shot

After checking out the farm and walking around, we got back on 99 and headed again to Dundee. Once there, we stopped at Argyle, which is one of our favorite wines.

Here, we tasted some brut, some riesling, a pinot and some merlot. jwa carried the box of six wines to the car afterwards.

The Argyle Nuthouse — unfortunately the Nuthouse Pinot and Chardonnay weren’t ready to taste yet

They also had some cheese, crackers and other snacks out but we were saving ourselves for lunch.

Argyle porch — cute!

Lunch at the Dundee Bistro, which is conveniently across the street.

I started with the cauliflower & manchego cheese soup — which was amazing — and a glass of the Ponzi pinot.

Then, we moved on to halibut fish and chips (jwa) and coq au vin for me. Both were really good.

How to finish the day? A slice of lemon-marscapone cheesecake with an espresso crust, bittersweet chocolate drizzle and white chocolate shavings.

Yeah, it was really good. After all that, we drove back to Portland (well jwa drove back as he just tasted at Argyle and had ice tea at Dundee Bistro). Not a bad way to spend a sunny St. Patrick’s Day Saturday afternoon!

Places:
Red Ridge Farms
5510 NE Breyman Orchards Road
Dayton, Oregon 97114

Sokol Blosser
5000 Sokol Blosser Lane
Dundee, OR 97115

Argyle Winery
691 Highway 99W
Dundee, Oregon 97115

Dundee Bistro
100-A SW Seventh Street
Dundee, OR 97115

Google Map of Red Ridge Farms and Surrounding Wineries

This was a recipe I found on Slashfood, which in turn was an overview of the Boston Globe Food Section. They, in turn had adapted it from Jamie Oliver. Hmmm, this dish gets around — it’s kind of a slutty recipe.

Anyway, it was very tasty. It makes the best weeknight dinner — it’s relatively good for you, it’s quick and damn, it’s addictive. I have to admit, I had two bowls. But, but, it’s healthy so that’s okay.

Chicken Stew with Grapes and Tarragon
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp AP flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder (use good stuff — NOT garlic salt, I get garlic powder from Penzey’s and it’s very good quality and I love using it in coatings)
2 skinless boneless chicken breasts (about 3/4 pounds), cut into 1-inch cubes
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 large shallot, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 stalks celery, trimmed of leaves and thinly sliced
1 cup dry white wine
1 3/4 cups chicken stock
1 tbsp whole-grain mustard
1/2 cup wheat rigatoni
1/2 cup seedless grapes, halved (so, here, I actually ended up using grapes with seeds. They were the best looking grapes, so I got them. I just scooped the seeds out when I halved the grapes. Green or red will work but I think red looks especially pretty)
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon
Optional: 5-6 leaves red leaf lettuce, torn into smaller pieces

In a shallow bowl, combine 1/4 cup of the flour with the salt, pepper and garlic powder. Toss with the chicken. Discard the leftover seasoned flour.

In a large soup pot on medium heat, heat the oil. Brown half the chicken. Remove the chicken from the pan; set aside. Add another tablespoon of oil if needed to brown the remaining chicken and remove it from the pan too. Cover with foil. Of course, if your pot is big enough, you can do all the chicken at once, just don’t crowd the pan.

Turn the heat to medium-low. Add the butter. Cook the shallot, garlic, and celery over medium heat, stirring often, for 5 minutes. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of flour. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes.

Stir in the wine, stock, and mustard. Scrape the bottom of the pan to remove any browned goodies. Next, return the chicken to the pan. Also add the uncooked wheat pasta. Bring the mixture to a boil. Lower the heat, cover the pan partially, and simmer for 8-10 minutes, until the pasta is just tender.

Turn off the heat and add the grapes, parsley, and tarragon. Cover and let the mixture sit for 3 minutes. Stir and dish up.

If desired, also add the torn lettuce before you lid the pan or if you just want to try it on a single bowl (and not the whole pot), you can add a few lettuce leaves to your bowl and cover with foil for 3-4 minutes so that the lettuce wilts a bit. I found that I didn’t dislike the lettuce but I think I liked it better without it. It’s worth trying though, because it certainly wasn’t bad.

Well, it least it was a little while ago. Ahhhh, Spring.

This makes a lot (let’s say 6+ servings) so you can invite a couple of people over or have extra lunches for the week. It also freezes beautifully. In fact, jwa’s having a defrosted container of it for lunch today. Myself, I’m going to my new favorite lunch place, Voila Cafe on SW 9th. Today, the special is salmon over soba noodles. But, I believe that’ll be another post.

Baked Bolognese with Lamb
Adapted from a recipe by Dave Lieberman
For the tomato sauce:
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound ground lamb
4 large cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp dried oregano
Couple dashes red chili flakes
1 (28-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes
Sugar
Dash of ground cinnamon
1/2 cup red wine
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add oil to large skillet over high heat. Add ground lamb and saute, breaking up the meat as it cooks. Add garlic, oregano, dash of cinnamon and chili flakes and cook a couple minutes. Add the wine, stir and then the tomatoes and season, to taste, with sugar, salt and pepper. Simmer for 15 minutes, breaking up the tomatoes as it simmers.

For the bechamel:
3 tbsp butter
1 large onion
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/3 cup white wine (I used a pinot grigio)
1 1/2 cups 2% milk, warmed
Dash ground nutmeg
2 cups grated three-cheese blend, divided

The Rest
1 pound parcooked rigatoni
1/4 cup pine nuts

In a large saucepan melt butter over medium-high heat until bubbling. Add onions and saute until translucent. Sprinkle with flour, stirring constantly and cook until the mixture begins to thicken. Gradually whisk in the wine, if using, and then gradually whisk in the milk and nutmeg and cook until smooth, thick and creamy.

Combine the meat sauce and pasta. Cover with almost half the cheese — I like to use a little more than half the cheese covering the top of the dish.

Then pour half of that into your baking dish (lasagna pan sized — 9 X 13 — works well for this).

Spoon the bechamel over the pasta and top with the remaining pasta, ending with the rest of the shredded cheese. Sprinkle pine nuts over the top. Bake 30 to 45 minutes until browned and bubbly.

We had this with some broccolini on the side and a bottle of red wine. Delicious! Hopefully where you live, you can still sneak in one more cold-weather comfort meal before Spring hits in full.

This was an experiment that was based on a lunch that I recently had in Cannon Beach. It was at the Lazy Susan Cafe (not bad — definitely overpriced, though), but it was basically just a quick meal to tide us over until dinner that night — Cilantro-Chicken Pizza at Pacific Way Cafe!

But anyway, I was intrigued by this tuna-curry-hazelnut salad that was on the menu. I ordered it and was presented with a big pile of romaine, flaked tuna, hazelnuts and apple cubes, all with a curry dressing. It was not pretty to look at but it had a really great, interesting taste. So much so that I couldn’t help but wonder how those flavors would be if presented a little nicer, using tuna steaks (instead of canned tuna) and generally just fancifying it up a little. Here’s the answer that I came up with — Albacore Tuna with Apples, Hazelnuts, Curry Dressing and Red-Leaf Lettuce.

Tuna Marinade
1 tbsp curry powder
3 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp mango juice (had some leftover from the other night’s halibut)
1 clove garlic, peeled and mashed
1 tsp white wine vinegar
3/4 - 1 lb albacore tuna steaks, cut into 1-inch cubes (I’ve found that Trader Joe’s frozen albacore steaks work great for this)
Juice of half a lemon

Combine the first five ingredients in a bowl or sealable plastic bag. Add the tuna cubes and let marinade in the refrigerator for about 2 hours. Make sure you smoosh it around a little to get all the tuna coated before you put it in the fridge.

When ready, heat a grill pan, sprinkle the tuna cubes with a little salt and cook the tuna, getting nice grill marks on all the sides — probably 4-5 minutes total. Take it out of the pan a bit before you think it’s completely done. It’ll finish cooking through off the heat. Pile it in a bowl, squeeze half a lemon over it, and cover it with foil until you’re ready for it.

Dressing
1 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp curry powder
1 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper

Whisk all ingredients and set aside until needed, which will be in a couple of minutes.

The Rest
1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts, chopped
1 green apple, cubed
Red leaf, romaine or other lettuce
Toasted flat bread or naan

In a bowl, combine the torn lettuce leaves, hazelnuts and apple. Toss with the dressing. Serve with the bread and tuna cubes. You can make a sandwich by putting some salad on the bread and topping with tuna (what I did) or have a pile of salad, a pile of tuna and a piece of bread and eat in that fashion (what jwa did). No matter which you choose, it’s so, so good.

Wow, I just realized we’ve had a lot of fish lately. Awesome.

Super Foods Friday? Uh, he went on vacation. Or something. In his place? A delightfully healthful meal with carrots, mango, halibut and macadamia nuts — or Macadamia Nut Crusted Halibut in a Spicy Carrot-Mango Broth over Soba Noodles. Hmmm, that’s a mouthful.

Like the title suggests, half the recipe is based on one by Bobby Flay (the carrot-mango broth that was originally paired with a potato-crusted halibut) and half by Ming Tsai (the macadamia nut crusted halibut in an Asian-fusion type sauce that I can’t remember right now). I took a little from column A and a little from column B and combined the two. Put them together and it was a tasty and amazing meal. And healthy! Ha! Take that Super Foods Friday.

Carrot Mango Broth
2 cups fresh (or packaged if you can’t get fresh) mango juice
2 cups fresh (or packaged if you can’t get fresh) carrot juice
1 tbsp toasted whole fennel seeds
2 tbsp toasted whole coriander seeds
1 habanero chile (or about a 1/8 - 1/4 tsp chili paste)
1 clove garlic, peeled and whacked open
Salt and pepper

Toasting the seeds.

In a medium saucepan over high heat, combine the juices, fennel, garlic, coriander and chile and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer 20 minutes, or until reduced by half.

Strain through a fine strainer and season to taste with salt and pepper. Sauce can be made to this point and the set aside while you cook some soba noodles and make the halibut.

Noodles awaiting the boiling water.

Macadamia Nut Crusted Halibut
1 pound halibut, cut into 2 (8 ounce) portions
1 cup macadamia nuts, roughly chopped in a food processor
Salt and black pepper, to taste
1 egg white
2 tbsp vegetable or canola oil

Lay the 2 pieces of halibut on a clean work surface. Season each piece with the salt and pepper. Using a brush (or, hell, your index finger), quickly spread a thin layer of the egg white on top of the fish and then sprinkle over the chopped macadamia nuts. Press the nuts into the fish to secure.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Heat a large saute pan coated with the oil to medium heat. Place the fish, macadamia side-down, in the pan and sear for 2-3 minutes, until the macadamias are golden brown. Now, this may be a little tricky and some of the nuts will fall off. Just do the best you can. And when you flip back over, try to get the spatula all the way under the fish and flip quickly. Any nuts that fall off, just stack back up on the fish.

Flip the fish and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Place the fish in a baking dish and cook in the oven for another 6-8 minutes. Or, if you’re using an oven safe pan, just pop the pan in the oven.

To finish it all:
Cooked soba noodles
green onions and chopped cilantro for garnish

Reheat your broth. Place some cooked soba noodles in a bowl and ladle some of the broth over. Place a piece of fish on top and garnish with diced green onion and chopped cilantro.

Ah, the first recipe from the most recent Eating Well — the one with the asparagus on the cover. Except there’s no asparagus in this one. It’s a Moroccan-influenced pork ragu. This even included a special trip to Pasta Works (which has kind of become my go-to place when I need an imported, out of the ordinary, ingredient). In this case it was preserved lemons.

This really cooks pretty quickly, so I guess it’s a cheater’s ragu as I think normally it’s something you would cook for hours and hours. You’d also, because of that, use tougher meat. But the pork chops the original recipe calls for and the cubes of pork tenderloin that I used, both are very tender and don’t need to cook for hours.

I changed a couple of things from the original recipe — added a bit more olive oil, sauteed the veggies, used tenderloin instead of chops since that’s what I had in the fridge and doubled up on the butternut squash.

Moroccan Pork Ragu
2 lemons
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon plus 1 pinch ground ginger, divided
1 1/2 pounds boneless pork chops (1 inch thick), trimmed of fat, cut into 1-inch cubes (or 1 pork tenderloin, trimmed of fat and cut into cubes)
14 oz chicken broth
2 cups diced butternut squash
1 cup sliced carrots (1/2 inch thick)
1 15 oz can chickpeas, rinsed
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup diced tomatoes (canned or fresh)
2 tbsp chopped rinsed preserved lemon (optional — if you can’t find it just leave it out)
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 cloves minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce, such as Tabasco (or a bit of chili paste)
Pinch of ground cinnamon
Pinch of ground allspice
6-8 leaves of fresh spinach, sliced into strips

Chopped preserved lemon

Zest and juice the lemon(s) to get 1 tablespoon zest and 2 tablespoons juice; reserve the zest. Combine the juice, 1 tablespoon oil, paprika, turmeric, coriander, cumin, pepper and 1/4 teaspoon ginger in a medium bowl. Add pork; stir to coat. Marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or up to 4 hours.

Heat the remaining oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pork and cook, stirring, until no longer pink on the outside and beginning to brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the pork to a plate. There should be a nice coting of the pork marinade in the pot — leave it in there and cook everything else in that.

Add the squash, carrots, garlic and onion. Saute for about five minutes and then add the broth chickpeas, tomatoes, preserved lemon (if using), tomato paste, hot sauce or chili paste, cinnamon, allspice, the reserved lemon zest and the remaining pinch of ginger to the pan. Whew! A lot of stuff, but it mostly goes in at once.

Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally; reduce heat to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, 20 to 30 minutes. Next, stir in the pork, return to a simmer and cook, stirring, until the pork is just cooked through, 5-8 minutes more. The kitchen will smell all fragrant and you will be hungry. Call it done and get some bowls.

We had this over some rice. I thought it looked very orange so I garnished it with a little spinach. Very pretty. Oh I also added a dollop of yogurt to the top because that’s just like something I’d do. jwa was a little skeptical at first. He gave it a few sniffs (as he’s apt to do with new meals), tried a bit and decided that he liked it very much, as did I. We both had leftovers for lunch the next day. So there you go. It’s quite tasty!

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