Pizza

Pizza with artichoke, roasted pepper, pesto (thanks mom!) And half anchovies.

I know lots of people will get annoyed with my use of store bought dough, but its from Eataly. So is the mozzarella.

I'm beginning to learn that the products made in house at Eataly are a really good value for the quality. Mozzarella, bread, some pastas, basic staples that aren't imported and excessively expensive.

Rosemary rubbed pork chops

Pillaged the herb garden at my parent's townhouse balcony for a quick and easy rub for searing pork chops.

The rub contained chopped rosemary, brown sugar, salt, black pepper, and a tiny bit of cumin. Brined chops seared for 5 minutes per side, quick pan sauce with some wine for deglazing and flour for thickening. Yum!



Paired along with some roasted broccoli and brussel sprouts.

Polenta and Sausage

Polenta is one of those rare dishes that I'm glad Mark Bittman decided to dumb down. His version of polenta is pretty classic, just with less stirring of the pot.

I've been making lazy man's polenta for a while. A good way to be incredibly lazy about it is to use the oven. Simmer the polenta first on the stove for about 10 minutes until a thin porridge emerges. Then cover and throw it into 350 degrees. It's very hard to overcook polenta, but very easy to undercook it. Give it at least 20 minutes.

One key note is to add the fats LAST. You kind of want the cheese and butter to coat the kernels. Use room temperature butter to bring the whole mixture to a perfect texture and temperature.

Roasted potatoes

Contrary to popular thought, waxy red potatoes roast very well. Forget those puffy starchy russets or those expensive fingerlings.

Wedges of new potatoes tossed in a mixture of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, rosemary and smashed garlic, salt and pepper (let the mixture stew for a while so the oil gets infused with the herbs).

450 degree oven for 30-40 minutes, flip the wedges twice.

Learned this vibration from the old master (my dad).

The Koreans got it right

Add a billion things to a plate of rice and it tastes GOOD. Hot, cold, sweet, salty, spicy, multiple sauces. It might not be actually Korean, but it works for me.

Reinventing pasta sauce

What bachelor doesn't rely on a hot bowl of pasta as a quick weeknight meal?

Boil pasta, drain the pot, add the sauce to the pot, now you have a dinner that covers at least one food group.

But it gets boring sometimes. So you add protein, like ground beef, or meatballs. But then that gets boring.

This doesn't taste boring:


Combine:
Jarred pasta sauce
Crushed red pepper
Roughly chopped olives
White beans

Add it to:

Arugula
Plain pasta

Texture, color, and now we're upwards of TWO food groups!

Quinoa salad

Uncovered a half used box of quinoa while looking for something to eat. Turns out I had all the right ingredients for greek quinoa salad!

Quinoa seems like it would be a hassle to cook, but in my experience you just need a touch less water than the recommended amount and it comes out perfectly.

This salad is really just quinoa plus a mix of "Greek", or generic mediterranian, ingredients:

• Olives
• Red onion
• Feta
• Sundried tomatoes
• Olive oil
• Red Wine vinegar

I added cashews and golden raisins to make a greek/middle eastern hybrid. The presentation could really use some green, so definitely use parsley if you've got it (none of that italian flat-leaf stuff...go with the curly kind).