Earth and smoke: Grilled Pork Tenderloin stuffed with Mushrooms and Pear

A butterflied pork tenderloin is stuffed with sautéed mushrooms, pear, shallots and sage, then grilled both indirectly and directly. Recipe below.

We’re experiencing the season’s first real bout of don’t-heat-up-the-kitchen weather here in Chicago. So this weekend, I fired up the grill. For my inaugural grilled meat meal of the year, I turned to a recipe inspired by one of our favorite vegetarians. You may remember the recent vegetarian pasta dish based on a side served by our friend Laura. Well, even though she doesn’t eat meat, she knows how to cook it.

Two elemental flavors come together beautifully in this recipe. With two cups of chopped mushrooms, the filling delivers a delicious, earthy taste. And a combination of indirect and direct grilling adds plenty of smokiness to the pork tenderloin. Continue reading “Earth and smoke: Grilled Pork Tenderloin stuffed with Mushrooms and Pear” →

Stir frying for good: Black Pepper Beef with Kampot pepper from the Pepper Project

Black Pepper Beef is a weeknight-quick classic Chinese stir fry. Onion, fresh ginger, red bell pepper, celery, garlic and lots of black pepper offer plenty of flavor. And the Pepper Project helps Cambodian pepper farmers and communities. Recipe below.

One simple ingredient can often make all the difference when you’re cooking. And now that’s more true than ever. The ingredient in this case is black pepper—freshly ground, of course, instead of pre-ground and packed in a tin. Freshly ground peppercorns pop with flavor and fragrance, becoming a true flavor, not just background noise, and you can control the grind, from fine to coarsely cracked.

And in Cambodia, the Pepper Project is making a difference, with pepper. Run by the husband and wife team Tom Gordon and Cris Peterson, the Pepper Project is a not-for-profit enterprise devoted to introducing products of Cambodia to the United States. Through the sales of these products, primarily pepper, they support fair trade for farmers as well as organizations that protect street children, disabled children and victims of sex trafficking. Continue reading “Stir frying for good: Black Pepper Beef with Kampot pepper from the Pepper Project” →

Bánh Meatloaf: Classic Vietnamese sandwich gets American comfort food treatment

Pork and beef meatloaf is flavored with basil, scallions, garlic and Chinese five-spice powder, topped with pickled carrots and daikon, then served with baguette slices for this American take on Vietnamese bánh mì sandwiches. Recipes below.

We love border-crossing cooking. When ingredients and techniques travel across boundaries and cultures, food gets interesting. Vietnamese cuisine is a perfect example. Not only does it share herbs and spices with its Asian neighbors, but it borrows from its culinary past as a French colony.

A family favorite here at Blue Kitchen is Marion’s Vietnamese Beef Stew. The slow cooked, meaty, multi-spiced dish is served with a French baguette instead of rice and eaten with forks and spoons, not chopsticks. Similarly, bánh mì—in the West, delicious, usually meaty Vietnamese sandwiches—are served on baguettes. In Vietnam, the term bánh mì actually means bread or, more specifically, French bread. Continue reading “Bánh Meatloaf: Classic Vietnamese sandwich gets American comfort food treatment” →

Meat and potatoes, well done: Beef Pot Roast and Potato Hash

Leftover pot roast (or whatever meat you may have on hand) combines with potatoes (and not a lot else) to make a hash that shows why meat and potatoes rock. Recipe below.

SOME FOODS ARE JUST MADE FOR EACH OTHER. A grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup; black beans and rice; pizza and beer; apple pie and vanilla ice cream.

And, of course, beef and potatoes.

These days we are not eating meat as often as we once did, trying to be more mindful of the way we live on the planet. But when we do, we still love it. And we don’t waste any of it. Continue reading “Meat and potatoes, well done: Beef Pot Roast and Potato Hash” →

Osso Buco, meet Cassoulet: Braised Veal Shanks with White Beans

Elements of two classic comfort foods combine in meaty, satisfying Braised Veal Shanks with White Beans. Recipe below.

Don’t get me wrong. I love osso buco. I’ve even made the time-honored Italian dish. But when I recently got my hands on some nice looking veal shanks, I wanted to try something different. Apparently, I’m not alone in that. Nestled among a bazillion osso buco recipes that a quick search for veal shanks recipes brought up was this plaintive cry on Chowhound: “Need veal shank recipe—Not Osso Buco.”

In my head, I traveled the culinary globe off and on for a couple of days. I spent a lot of virtual time in Mexico and Latin America, conjuring up tangy, spicy, chipotle-smoky dishes. Morocco called to me, with cumin, paprika, cinnamon and golden raisins. In the end, though, I landed right next door to Italy, in France. And the resulting recipe borrowed from classic dishes of both. Continue reading “Osso Buco, meet Cassoulet: Braised Veal Shanks with White Beans” →

Fire is optional, flavor isn’t, with Giardiniera Aioli and Cumin Coriander Pork Chops

A cumin/coriander spice rub adds big flavor without heat to pan-seared pork chops; this lively, vinegary, fiery (or not) giardiniera aioli is great with pork, fish, chicken, tofu… Recipes below.

We went to an underground dinner last week hosted by Tuesday Night DInner. The TND crew creates pop-up dining events throughout the year, each in a different location and each with a different theme. This one was held at No Sandbox Studios, just west of Chicago’s Loop, and the theme was ”Off the Boat, Into the Kitchen,” an interpretation of immigrant fare reimagined by the TND chefs.

The four courses were delicious and inventive, but the thing that caught my eye—or more accurately, my taste buds—was an accompaniment for one of the courses, a giardiniera aioli. Usually, aioli is a sauce made of fresh mayonnaise and garlic, but chef Jeremy Leven substituted spicy giardiniera for the garlic. The result was amazing. Continue reading “Fire is optional, flavor isn’t, with Giardiniera Aioli and Cumin Coriander Pork Chops” →

The winter of our meaty content: Korean Oven-braised Short Ribs

Korean-style beef short ribs become tender and flavorful when oven braised with soy sauce, ginger, garlic, fresh pear, carrots, scallions and daikon. Recipe below.

One of the best things about exploring other countries’ cuisines is shopping. Saturday found us at H Mart in suburban Chicago, conveniently at lunchtime. We headed straight to the food court, where we ordered generous, steaming bowls of pork and kimchi dumpling soup. H Mart is an Asian-inspired supermarket chain that started in Queens, New York.

The name is short for “Han Ah Reum,” Korean for “One Arm Full of Groceries.” You’re lucky if you can get out of this sprawling treasure trove of all things Asian carrying just one armful of groceries. The vast produce section has beautiful examples of all the usual suspects as well as things hard to find elsewhere—lotus root, enoki mushrooms, turmeric (not the powder, but the actual gnarly little rhizomes), tiny, speckled fresh quail eggs… The specific ingredient I’d gone in search of was Korean-style beef short ribs. We left, of course, with our arms more than full. Continue reading “The winter of our meaty content: Korean Oven-braised Short Ribs” →

Linguine with Ragu Bianco and nose-to-tail tales

Ground pork and pork liver are cooked with mushrooms, shallots, garlic, fennel, thyme and wine, then finished with cream in this traditional Italian pasta sauce. Recipe and substitution ideas below.

I’ve been having offal thoughts lately. They started with a piece I recently wrote for the Christian Science Monitor on nose-to-tail eating. The current trend of using the entire animal—and indeed, the phrase nose to tail itself—began with publication of Fergus Henderson’s seminal cookbook, The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating. As chefs are increasingly embracing the idea of cooking and serving “odd cuts,” the CSM editors wondered if diners and home cooks were taking to those odd cuts. The short answer is yes. You’ll find the entire article here.

When I got the assignment, I immediately thought of Rob Levitt, owner of Chicago’s first whole animal, locavore butcher shop, The Butcher & Larder. We met Rob when he was chef at Mado, one of the city’s first whole animal, locavore restaurants. Rob and his staff butchered, cooked and served pretty much every part of every animal delivered to the kitchen. Continue reading “Linguine with Ragu Bianco and nose-to-tail tales” →

Miso Braised Pork Shoulder: Because nothing comforts you like umami

Japanese miso paste adds a satisfying umami note to chunky pieces of pork and carrots braised with garlic, fresh ginger and onion. Recipe below.

[su_dropcap style=”flat”]W[/su_dropcap]hat’s the traditional sixth anniversary gift? If it’s a food blog anniversary, I’m going with pork. Yes, Blue Kitchen is six years old this month. A lot has changed for me foodwise in that time. For one thing, I feel like I know more about food than when I started—including how ungodly much I don’t know and will never know. But some things have remained the same, like my willingness to borrow ingredients from the global pantry and use them authentically or otherwise. This week, that ingredient is miso paste. Continue reading “Miso Braised Pork Shoulder: Because nothing comforts you like umami” →

Chengdu meets Paris: Pork Chestnut Kale Stir Fry with Fried Soba Noodles

Ginger, garlic and chili paste flavor pork stir-fried with chestnuts and kale and served over gently fried soba noodles. Recipe below.

We’ve often talked about our love for Chinese food, which for us is the ultimate in comfort food. In the last year or so, our adventures have led us away from our friendly old favorites in the kitchen, but some recent enjoyable dinners in Chinatown, and a memory of past pleasures, put it front and center for us again. Continue reading “Chengdu meets Paris: Pork Chestnut Kale Stir Fry with Fried Soba Noodles” →