Pasta, Garlic, Oil, Asparagus and Red Pepper

Saturday night was one of those nights - we looked through the pantry to see what caught our eye, and defrosted some thick pork loin chops. We decided on pasta, but without the red sauce. A quick search of the internet yielded hundreds of simple recipes, so I got an idea of the amount of oil and garlic to use, and went to work on my own version.

Blanch a handful of thin asparagus for 2 minutes by placing them in boiling water, and then draining and covering in ice water to prevent further cooking. Dry on paper towels. Meanwhile, put a large pot of water on to boil (for the pasta). I add a pinch of salt and a few drops of olive oil to the pasta water. In a saute pan, place 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil, and over medium or medium low, depending on your stove, add 5 minced garlic cloves. You don't want the garlic to brown too quickly, instead, you want it to infuse the oil with flavor.
When the garlic is just starting to turn brown, add a few pinches of crushed red pepper flakes to taste. When your pasta water boils, add a box of thin spaghetti, and cook as directed. This recipe is better with dry pasta as opposed to fresh, because of the way the oil will coat the dry pasta. When the pasta is al dente, drain and return to pot. Add oil, garlic and pepper and stir. Add asparagus, and it's ready to eat.

Grilling the pork chops was a quick and easy way to get a fantastic result. Salt and pepper generously, and then put on a hot grill for 2 minutes per side, and turn the flame to low for 8 minutes. Easy! They looked and smelled so good, I thought I would slice them just for fun. The flavor of the grilled pork, along with the garlic and oil was so good, it was as though I had planned that all along. Take a peek in the pantry and the freezer and see what you can create. Sometimes those meals you throw together will be so good they'll surprise you...and the eggs.

Pastrama-nini! Jewish Soul Food with an Italian Twist.

Thanks to a pastrami-loving Romanian neighbor, we found a great deli! I stopped in to pick up some pastrami and ended up with 2 full bags of deliciousness: pastrami, corned beef, potato knishes, whitefish salad, sable, muenster cheese, rye bread and bagels. I could have kept ordering, but it was a zoo at the deli counter, and I wasn't quite up to competing with the throngs of other hungry people. That was the nice way of saying it- actually I think I would have been humiliated, ridiculed and possibly trampled if I had added anything else to my order. I was not only happy to escape with my bags full of food, but also happy that I made it to the car fully intact with no bloodshed or broken bones. It was a close call. Next time, I'll just call ahead.

We decided we wanted a grilled sandwich and then came the brainstorm of making a hot pastrami and corned beef on the panini press.

First we put some of each meat in pan and heated it on low until it was warmed through.

Next, we piled the warmed meat onto a slice of rye.

Covered with two nice slices of muenster cheese!

Spread on a little pad of softened butter on each side, and placed it on the hot panini press.
Three or four minutes later, it was toasted to perfection. The rye bread was crisped and the filling was warm and melt-in-your-mouth wonderful. I could eat this every day, but I think it's better to save for special occassions. My father and Kitty-Mom are going to be visiting next week, and since I know how much they'll love the food (they have tongue, dad!), we'll make this one of our stops. Don't worry, we should be okay as long as we call in our order ahead...and the eggs.

Spicy Peanut Chicken Kabobs

Our good old Weber kettle charcoal grill finally gave up on us. It just broke due to being outside in the South Florida elements. We did some research and decided on a new grill. It's different from any other grill we've had because it doesn't use charcoal or lava rocks or anything. It's marketed as a restaurant type grill, and you are supposed to cook on it by searing for 2 minutes a side and then turning the temp down to low to finish the food off. So far, it has worked like a charm.

For a quick meal popping with flavor, slice boneless, skinless chicken breasts into small-ish pieces and marinate in OTS (off-the-shelf) peanut sauce. If you have a good recipe for peanut sauce, make your own! It would probably be even better. Add your own heat- I added some chili oil, hot pepper flakes and some peanuts, too. I let it marinate for at least 1 hour. I also had zucchini and onion to use up, so I sliced that up and marinated it another container with the same sauce. Soak some wooden skewers, and in an hour, you're ready to fire up the grill.

I followed the instructions and seared on two sides for two minutes each. I then turned the heat down to low and let it cook for 8-10 minutes. After coming off the grill, and sitting for 5 minutes (lightly covered in foil), everything was done to perfection. The chicken was most yet cooked through, and the vegetables were just like we love 'em.

We had some brown rice with this- if you mixed everything together, it made a great rice bowl. You could use any side dish you like. If you don't have a grill, you could also do these in the oven, but you won't get that pyro instant gratification, or that extra yummy taste that the grill provides. Try it, you'll like it...and the eggs.