Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Tarragon Chicken Salad in Cantaloupe Boats

Tarragon Chicken Salad in Cantaloupe Boats
Tarragon Chicken Salad in Cantaloupe Boats
Ingredients
3 cups diced grilled chicken, chilled
1/4 cup minced red bell pepper
2 tbsp. minced red onion
1 tbsp. chopped fresh tarragon
3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp. white balsamic vinegar
1-1/2 tbsp. orange marmalade
1/2 tbsp. Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp. salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste
2 cantaloupe, halved and seeded
Directions
Tarragon Chicken Salad in Cantaloupe Bowls Prep time: 15 minutes Place chicken, bell pepper, onion and tarragon in a medium bowl. Whisk together remaining ingredients except cantaloupe and pour over chicken mixture; toss well to coat. Place equal amounts in each cantaloupe half. Makes 4 dinner or 6 lunch servings. Tip! For a pretty presentation, serve cantaloupe wedges on a bed of baby spinach.
Shopping List:
Chicken, red bell pepper, red onion, fresh tarragon, extra virgin olive oil, white balsamic vinegar, orange marmalade, Dijon mustard, salt, black pepper, 2 cantaloupe

Recipe Bio: I have had this recipe in my book for a while without ever trying it. It just looks fun and delicious! Well, this week Sunflower Market had cantaloupe on sale 3 for $1, so I thought it was the perfect opportunity! I used dried Tarragon since I didn't have fresh and I used regular Balsamic Vinegar since I was pretty sure it would taste as good as White. We also had Mandarin marmalade so I used that instead of Orange marmalade. It was a hit. I served it with a creamy potato soup(by Bear Creek) and some toasted french bread to round out the meal. Yum!!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Oh Yeah! Pork Carnitas

Pork

  • 3-4 pounds of boneless pork shoulder (may be called Boston butt) or 4-5lbs of bone-in pork shoulder

Spice rub

Note: This amount of spice works well for the amount of meat we normally use (3-4lbs), but it's a simple ratio so simply scale it for your amount of meat

  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 tsp chile powder
  • 1 tsp cumin (freshly toasted and ground if you can--it does make a difference)
  • 1 tsp garlic powder

Braising liquid

  • 3/4 cup orange juice
  • Water to cover (for our pan that's usually about 2 cups)

Technique

  1. Heat a dutch oven or other heavy bottomed oven-ready lidded pan over medium high heat with just enough vegetable oil (or lard if you have it) to cover the bottom .
  2. Pre-heat oven to 300ºF
  3. Cut pork into 1-2" cubes, trimming large sections of fat off (we need fat for the flavor, so just cut off any real large pieces). Toss pork pieces with spice rub.
  4. Brown the cubed pork well in the dutch oven, going in batches so there is only one layer of meat at a time.
  5. When all the meat is browned, deglaze the pan's bottom with the orange juice, stirring to break up the brown bits. Introduce all of the meat back to the pan and cover with water until it's nearly submerged.
  6. Bring to a simmer, cover, and place in the oven.
  7. Stir the pot after one and two hours, the pork should be very tender towards the third hour. When you're confortable with the tenderness, evacuate all the pork to a platter and begin to boil the braising liquid on the stove top.
  8. After letting the pork cool for a few minutes work through with your hands to separate and discard any fat or gristle pieces that hadn't melted in the braise. Tear the meat into smaller pieces.
  9. Turn your broiler on to high and place a rack towards the top
  10. Toss the now shredded pork with some of the reduced braising liquid (that should have boiled down significantly by now) and spread in a single layer on a sheet pan.
  11. Broil the pork for approximately five minutes per side until the outside begins to carmelize
  12. Serve! We like it best in tacos, but there's no wrong way to eat carnitas.

Tips

  • Carnitas saves in the fridge very nicely, we like to hold back an amount from the last step (broiling) just for the fridge. Later in the week we heat it up, broil and the result is undistinguishable from same-day carnitas.
Recipe Bio: I was at the store with Mom and found Pork Carnitas for just over $1 a lb. I bought 2 packages knowing that I had been wanting to try to make Carnitas for dinner sometime. I found this recipe on www.itsfordinner.com . We had them tonight for dinner and they were a HUGE hit! We ate them on warmed corn tortillas with shredded cheddar cheese and avocado slices, complimented with black beans, basmati lime cilantro rice and Juanitas Tortilla chips(LOVED these as well! got 'em at Winco) It was better than a restaurant and worth the work!