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Pork Chop Heaven, aka: Pork Chops with Fennel Pollen

By mlb, on April 19th, 2010%

pork chops

Fennel pollen is kind of expensive but also really amazing. There really isn’t a great substitute for it, so if you’ve got a little extra money, I’d invest in some. So fragrant. Kind of like if you mixed fennel with curry and some kind of mystery tasty ingredient. I’ve seen it online at Amazon. I was going to go that route but, in the words of jwa, I was able to score some through my “shadowy, underground, food blog connections.”

Actually, I made a comment on twitter about wanting to get some and a fellow pdxer offered to sell me some from a big, fancy food order they were putting together! But honestly, I think “shadowy, underground, food blog connections” sounds better. Much more mysterious…

Even without the fennel pollen, I think these are worth making with the brine alone. The chops are so flavorful and juicy!

Pork . . . → Read More: Pork Chop Heaven, aka: Pork Chops with Fennel Pollen

8 comments   Cheese, Fruit, Pork, Spices

Future Space Food II: Electric Vegetarian Boogaloo

By mlb, on April 13th, 2010%

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So, when we last left off with this culinary space odyssey, Rachael Ray’s Swedish Meatballs were pretty good. They also contained full-fat sour cream, which is why for the two other recipes I cooked, I went right to the healthier section of The Astronaut’s Cookbook.

NASA, it seems has done some research on vegetarian diets for long space flights and there are about 20 of these recipes in the book. A number looked interesting but in the end I went with Kidney Bean Burgers (I had actually been looking for a veggie burger recipe) and Tofu Brownies.

The burgers were really good! The recipe makes six burgers — jwa and I each ate one for dinner and I froze the other four. I was a little afraid that the bean burgers would squish out of the bun (as bean burgers are prone to do) but they seemed to . . . → Read More: Future Space Food II: Electric Vegetarian Boogaloo

Leave a comment   Beans & Legumes, Cookbooks, Dessert

Rachael Ray (and More) in Space: Part I

By mlb, on April 11th, 2010%

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Facebook, not just for fake farms and stupid quizzes…
I went to grade school, junior high and then high school with someone who now works at NASA. I know, neat! We recently got back in touch via facebook and now I am contributing to a cookbook review he’s working on. Not just any cookbook, but The Astronaut’s Cookbook: Tales, Recipes, and More. I must admit that when he first asked me if I wanted to help review the book and cook a few of the recipes I was a little worried. My only previous experience with space food was the novelty packages of freeze dried Astronaut Ice Cream you could get at the Bay area Frys. (Edited to add: I kind of miss the San Jose Ancient Egypt-themed Frys).

But, it was okay as the cookbook was filled with pretty normal looking recipes. In fact, it seems that . . . → Read More: Rachael Ray (and More) in Space: Part I

Leave a comment   Comfort Food, Cookbooks, Pasta, Pork

Easy Mole Sauce (and what to do with it)

By mlb, on April 5th, 2010%

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I once spent the better part of a day making a Rick Bayless Mole Sauce recipe. Hours and hours and the end result was…fine. Which I’m pretty sure had much more to do with my execution than the recipe, but there it is. I wasn’t in love with it and jwa actually didn’t like it. Then I make this recipe not expecting much and it is really good. I guess you just never know.

Of course I have absolutely no problem spending all day on a sauce, but I’m okay taking a short cut or two, which is no way should be interpreted as a “semi-homemade’ anything. Seriously. Don’t make me come over there.

Anyway, even though this is “easy” it still takes about an hour or so to prepare. I also found it very beneficial to make the sauce earlier in the day so it has 4+ . . . → Read More: Easy Mole Sauce (and what to do with it)

5 comments   Chocolate, Mexican, Spices