Pops De Milk » pork

Green Chili…again

Pops De Milk — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 02:09:40 +0000

Ever since the first time I made this Green Chili, I’ve been dreaming about it, plotting and scheming to make it again. At last, I decided it was time and tonight I died and went to pork heaven. Just as before, each piece of slowly cooked pork melted in my mouth and the sweet spice from the green tomato and pepper sauce pricked at my taste buds, making me close my eyes and say, “Mmmm….”

Serve this dish with a side of white rice, beans, and a warm tortilla. A nice white wine also compliments the meal, a chardonnay perhaps.

Recipe here.

Halloween

Pops De Milk — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:21:42 +0000

Alright, so this post is kinda late but, better late than never, right? This year, Jay and I had a very quiet Halloween with three friends, a couple of scary movies, really “gross” food, and a last minute pumpkin carving contest. It seems like tradition now for me to make Vampire Cupcakes especially because I think this is the third time I’ve made them. My friend sent me the link to Baking Bites a while back and I instantly fell in love with the cupcake recipe (found here). Trust me, they are worth the effort. Only thing is, when you’re making the marshmallow frosting, don’t over beat the eggs or the frosting will over time get hard and crunchy. Not a big deal and our friends insisted it added to the cupcake experience but I personally prefer to have my frosting soft.

And now comes the “gross” food…

Gnarled and mangled shortbread fingers with sliced almonds for nails. A couple of the fingers lost their “nails” and I glued them back on with leftover “blood” (cherry filling).

BBQ “Bat” wings (recipe here). Sweet and yummy.

My personal favourite, gutted flesh worms (instructions here). Honestly, this was delicious.

Jay had originally allotted 45 minutes to carve our pumpkins but that was just impossible. I think it took us close to two hours to carve these beauties:

Coffee Chops and Blue Cheese Pasta

Pops De Milk — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:31:26 +0000

I have laid to rest my French Food At Home book, temporarily. After making Laura Calder recipes for a week I have discovered that some of her recipes are awesome and some are not so scrumptious. I cannot tell if the recipes were not wonderful due to my inability to follow directions correctly from time to time, or simply because the recipe just wasn’t meant to be. For the most part, though, I enjoyed the meals immensely. Another thing I learned is that I really hate blue cheese. I’ve known this for a very long time, ever since I was 12 years old and my sister’s god parents were in town and they brought us a small brick of blue cheese. I remember sniffing it and thinking it smelled like old cheesy socks. I remember tasting it and spitting it back out because I was convinced the blue bits were the remains of old cheesy socks. Since then, I have avoided blue cheese and the faintest scent of that cheese triggers my gag reflex.

So, it was a great surprise to Jay- who absolutely loves to eat blue cheese – that I made blue cheese pasta. I made it because I knew he would like it, and he did, and also because I thought that if I gave it a chance I would somehow instantly fall in love with it. This was not so. I ate about four bites of it before announcing, “Yep, I really do not like blue cheese. Please eat the rest.” Jay laughed. I’m so glad he found my suffering amusing. The pork chops were great though.

To make the pasta, cook fetuccini noodles how you like them and while they’re cooking make the blue cheese sauce. Melt 250g of blue cheese and then whisk in half a cup of cream. Once the noodles are ready, drain them, return to pot, and coat them with the sauce and some fresh ground pepper.

For the pork chops, season two chops with salt, pepper and sugar on both sides. Heat a bit of olive oil and butter and once that’s hot fry the chops for about 10 minutes or until they are nice and caramelized. While that’s happening, brew about a quarter cup of strong black coffee. Once the pork chops are done, set them on a plate and keep warm. Pour the coffee in the pan and shake to deglaze. Let it boil down to a thin syrup, about 1 or 2 minutes then pour over the pork chops.

Blue Cheese Pasta

Coffee Pork Chops

Chili Verde

Pops De Milk — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 13:26:49 +0000

Last night I created something incredibly magnificent. I’ve devoured and enjoyed many fantastic dishes in the past. Dishes that have me tilting my head back as my eyes close in absolute pleasure. A morsel of buttery tender meat, covered in a perfect blend of tang, sweet and spice. The meat is so tender, chewing is almost optional only to further enjoy each bite. I am craving this dish as we speak and I cannot wait for the next time I make this. It would be a crime for me to not share this recipe from my Mexican cookbook.

Chili Verde

Serves 4

1 kg pork, cut into bite size chunks

1 onion, chopped

2 bay leaves

1 whole garlic bulb, cut in half (this confused me for a minute and in the end I peeled an entire bulb and cut each clove in half)

1 bouillon cube (I used chicken)

2 garlic cloves, chopped

450g fresh tomatillos, husks removed, cooked in a small amount of water until just tender, then chopped. Or canned which is what I used

2 large fresh mild green chilies, such as poblano, or a combination of 1 green bell pepper and 2 jalapeño chilies, seeded and chopped (I used green pepper and jalapeño)

3 tbsp vegetable oil

1 cup pork or chicken stock

1/2 tsp mild chili powder, such as ancho or New Mexico

1/2 tsp ground cumin

cilantro

Place the pork in a large pot with the onion, bay leaves and garlic bulb. Add water to cover and the bouillon cube and bring to a boil. Skim off the scum that rises to the surface. Reduce heat to very low and let it simmer gently for 1 1/2 hours or until meat is very tender.

Place the chopped garlic, tomatillos and chilies (and bell pepper if using) in a food processor and puree. Heat the oil in a deep sauce pan and add the tomatillo mixture and cook over medium-high heat for 10 minutes or until thickened. Add the stock, chili powder and cumin.

When meat is tender, remove from pot and add to the sauce. Let it simmer gently for 20 minutes, or until flavours are combined. Garnish with cilantro and serve with flour tortillas and lime wedges.