Another Great Dinner from www.arthursdays.blogspot.com

This was a really great dinner last night. I will admit that the idea and the recipe itself came from Chef Michael Smith, as did the advice he starts with. It was so good, although I made some changes and I will suggest some others. It’s worth doing and I will make it, with changes, sometime next week. It was so full of flavor, and a good thing to eat while we watched “Biggest Loser”. On Tuesday night I aways get to cook now, after my wife and daughter come home from yoga. It’s my chance to shine in the cooking department. I highly recommend this dinner!

A recipe is merely words on paper; a guideline, a starting point from which to improvise. It cannot pretend to replace the practiced hand and telling glance of a watchful cook. For that reason feel free to stir your own ideas into this dish. When you cook it once, it becomes yours, so personalize it a bit. Add more of an ingredient you like or less of something you don't like. Try substituting one ingredient for another. Remember words have no flavour; you have to add your own!


Michael Smith


Halibut Provencal

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 4x6 ounce halibut filets, dried on paper towels (I used tilapia, which was wonderful and half the price of halibut. It is a bit thinner, so it cooks up even faster. The whole dish is very quick after you start to cook.)

• Salt and pepper to taste

• 1 large onion, peeled and chopped

• 8 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

• 4 ripe tomatoes, chopped or 1 can of whole tomatoes (I will use a can of Italian tomatoes the next time as they are very flavorful. The vine ripened tomatoes I used have not much taste in the winter months.)

• 24 black olives, pitted (I will chop them in quarters the next time.)

• 24 green olives, pitted (I will chop them as well.)

• 1/4 cup of capers

• 1/4 cup best quality balsamic vinegar

Directions

1. Preheat a large heavy skillet. Add enough oil to cover the bottom with a thin film. When wisps of smoke begin to appear, season the halibut with salt and pepper and add to the pan. Sear on one side until it has a crispy golden crust and releases easily from the pan. Flip and sear on the other side, remove to a plate and reserve.

2. Add the onions and garlic to the hot pan, and sauté until they smell great, a minute or two. Add the tomatoes olives, capers and balsamic and heat through. Add the halibut back to the pan and continue heating until the fish is cooked through, another five minutes or so.




Moroccan Zucchini

Ingredients

• 2 zucchinis, cut in half, lengthwise (I did 4 zucchinis, and added a bit more couscous and stock. I had way too much for 4, so I’d leave the couscous the same and add a bit more stock.)

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 large onion, chopped

• 1 cup couscous

• 1 cup chicken stock (add a bit more if needed)

• 1 small bunch basil leaves, chopped

• 4 ounces feta cheese

• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. Place zucchini; cut side down, onto a baking dish (use parchment paper on a cookie sheet) and roast in the oven until it turns golden brown. Scoop the pulp out from the centre of the zucchini, keeping the skins intact for stuffing. Reserve pulp and skins.

3. Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the onion. Sauté until golden brown then add the zucchini pulp, couscous, chicken stock and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer then turn off and rest until the couscous has absorbed all the liquid. Add the basil leaves and feta cheese and stir well. Spoon the mixture into the zucchini skins and place in an 8” by 8” baking dish. Bake until golden brown and hot.

Braised Pork Chops and Creamy Polenta.

recipe from http://www.arthursdays.blogspot.com/

On January 29 I wrote:
I haven’t done a food post in a long time and I feel the need coming on. In my non-linear thinking, why not? It seems to be I just go with what I’m thinking, and fortunately or unfortunately, much of my life had worked that way.

A dear old friend from Baltimore sent an email to me the other day and he said, after the posting about my mother’s 100th birthday:

“Wonderful remembrance. Thanks for sharing and if your Mom can read these e mails from heaven my best wishes to her for a happy birthday. Great recipes too. Ever consider publishing a cookbook of them?” Jack


We have appeared in a cookbook published in Alberta a few years ago, where we had three recipes, but nothing planned, so far. We appeared in the Calgary Herald many years ago, about ten times, cooking with the kids. We also did one family cooking event for the Hamilton Spectator. But this week, instead of Greek Meatballs, the January 29 delicacy, I am going with the next big hit around here, which was Braised Pork Chops over Creamy Polenta.

To be fair, I took the basic recipe from Chef Melissa d’Arabian’s “Ten Dollar Dinners” show on the Food Network. I had to change the Country Ribs to Pork Chops as Country Ribs tends to be a US cut, available here in Canada but basically it would have to be ordered, so I just used bone-in pork chops, pretty much a thinner version of the same thing. I used my own polenta recipe as hers was too strange for me to do and way to high in fat content.

So here’s the big hit at my house from Tuesday evening. I came home from the grocery store at five before six o’clock to say good-bye to my wife and daughter as they left for yoga. I had until eight o’clock to make my dinner, a Tuesday night recurring event. This is my one, guaranteed chance to get to cook each week and its fun! Its newly minted, so I hope to keep it up and add to my knowledge and to yours, as well as add it to my other blog, the one with my mothers cookbook plus all of my own recipes. http://renascookbook.blogspot.com/

Braised Pork Chops and Creamy Polenta.

Braised Pork Chops

Ingredients

• 3 pounds bone-in pork chops

• salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 1 onion, chopped

• 1 carrot, chopped

• 1 stalk celery, chopped

• 4 cloves garlic, minced

• 2 tablespoons tomato paste

• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

• 2 bay leaves

• 2 1/2 cups chicken stock

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Pat the ribs dry and season with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat and brown the ribs on all sides, working in batches if needed. Remove the ribs and set aside. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the Dutch oven and reduce the heat to medium. Add the onions, carrots, celery, salt, and pepper and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, to remove the raw flavor, about 3 minutes. Deglaze the pan with the vinegar, and then add the red pepper flakes and bay leaves.

Add the ribs back to the pan and add enough stock to reach halfway up the sides of the ribs. Bring the pan to a simmer, cover, and place in the oven. Braise until the meat is tender, about 1 1/2 hours. During the last half hour, uncover to allow the liquid to reduce and the pork to brown.

Serve the ribs over Creamy Polenta and garnishing with parsley.



Creamy Polenta

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup whole milk

• 3 cups water

• 2 tablespoons butter

• 1 cup coarse polenta, or corn grits

• Ground salt and black pepper

• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan

• ¼ cup Pecorino Romano Cheese

Directions

In a medium saucepan boil 1 cup water and 1 cup milk. Mix polenta well into 2 cups cold water. Add this mixture to boiling liquid, lower heat and continue stirring all the time. Add butter to mixture, season with salt and pepper and continue over medium-high heat, whisking constantly to keep the mixture lump-free. Boil very lightly for 25 to 30 minutes. At the end of the cooking time, add cheeses and the rest of the milk and continue to stir for a minute or two.

Pour the mixture into a greased baking dish. Put into the oven at 300 degrees for 30 minutes or until you are ready to serve.

Enjoy!