Cooking Inspiration
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| (Pickled Peaches and Pork on the beach) |
I like to plot my meals out a week in advance so my nagging desire to think of little else but food usually starts setting in on Friday morning. The weekend is ahead, the Farmer's Market is the next morning, so my brain starts churning out ideas. When I get home from work on Friday night, I pull out a couple of cookbooks and old issues of cooking magazines and look for something to jump out at me as the perfect thing (or things) to cook over the weekend and in the coming week.
Last month, I found my inspiration in multiple places. Tomatoes at the Farmer's Market and in my garden, Jamie Oliver's website , NYTimes Cooking, and ripe Jersey peaches. Maybe these recipes will inspire you!
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| (I also added some Castraveltrano olives here, because I love 'em) |
Pan Roasted Cod with Tomato and Fennel
Serves 4
*When life gives you an abundance of tomatoes, put them in everything. When you find fresh, wild caught cod on sale at the grocery store, you take it home and dress it up.
Serves 4
*When life gives you an abundance of tomatoes, put them in everything. When you find fresh, wild caught cod on sale at the grocery store, you take it home and dress it up.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 lb Cod (or other white fish like haddock or halibut) cut into 4 portions
Salt and pepper
1 fennel bulb- very thinly sliced (fennel fronds reserved for garnish)
1 large shallot, sliced
2 cloves garlic-minced
1 ½ lbs cherry, grape or baby heirloom tomatoes
pinch salt and pepper
¼ cup white wine
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons capers, drained
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Prep
1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Heat olive oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium heat. Season both sides of cod with salt and pepper. Place cod in the oil and cook until golden brown on one side, about 5 minutes. Remove cod from pan and set aside.
3. In the same skillet that you cooked the fish, raise the heat to med-high and add another glug of olive oil. When the oil is nice and hot and add the fennel and shallot. Cook, stirring frequently until it just begins to soften, add garlic and tomatoes, the salt and pepper and the wine. Cook, stirring to incorporate all of the flavors until the wine is reduced and the tomatoes have burst. Stir in the butter.
4. Nestle the fish, crispy side up, into the tomato/fennel mixture and finish cooking in the oven for about 5-7 minutes until the fish is cooked through.
5. Plate the tomato and fennel mixture with the cod on top and sprinkle with capers and parsley. Serve right away.
Slow-Roasted Pork Shoulder with garlic and fennel
(Adapted from a NYTimes recipe)
Serves 8-12
3. In the same skillet that you cooked the fish, raise the heat to med-high and add another glug of olive oil. When the oil is nice and hot and add the fennel and shallot. Cook, stirring frequently until it just begins to soften, add garlic and tomatoes, the salt and pepper and the wine. Cook, stirring to incorporate all of the flavors until the wine is reduced and the tomatoes have burst. Stir in the butter.
4. Nestle the fish, crispy side up, into the tomato/fennel mixture and finish cooking in the oven for about 5-7 minutes until the fish is cooked through.
5. Plate the tomato and fennel mixture with the cod on top and sprinkle with capers and parsley. Serve right away.
Slow-Roasted Pork Shoulder with garlic and fennel
(Adapted from a NYTimes recipe)
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*Wanting to host an impressive dinner party for friends, I splurged on some very good pig from Agricola Farm in Panton, VT. I found inspiration for this recipe from Jamie Oliver's website and the NYTimes Cooking section.
Ingredients
1 (7- to 8-pound) bone-in, skin-on pork shoulder roast
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
¼ cup chopped fennel fronds
5 garlic cloves, mashed to a paste
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon fennel seed
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
½ teaspoon black pepper
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Prep
1. Score skin and fat all over pork, taking care not to cut down to the meat.
2. Combine fennel fronds, rosemary, sage, garlic, salt, fennel seed, red pepper flakes and black pepper. Pour in oil and stir into a paste. Rub all over pork. You can cook the pork immediately at this point but if you have the time it’s preferable to let it marinate, 4 hours or preferably overnight.
3. If marinating, remove pork from refrigerator 1 to 2 hours before you want to cook it. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Transfer pork to a rimmed baking sheet and roast 35 minutes. Reduce temperature to 325 degrees and cook an additional 3 to 4 hours, until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat reads 180 degrees, which will give you sliceable, tender meat.
4. Transfer pork to a cutting board and let rest 15 to 30 minutes before serving. Make sure everyone gets some of the cracklings.
Ingredients
1 (7- to 8-pound) bone-in, skin-on pork shoulder roast
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
¼ cup chopped fennel fronds
5 garlic cloves, mashed to a paste
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon fennel seed
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
½ teaspoon black pepper
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Prep
1. Score skin and fat all over pork, taking care not to cut down to the meat.
2. Combine fennel fronds, rosemary, sage, garlic, salt, fennel seed, red pepper flakes and black pepper. Pour in oil and stir into a paste. Rub all over pork. You can cook the pork immediately at this point but if you have the time it’s preferable to let it marinate, 4 hours or preferably overnight.
3. If marinating, remove pork from refrigerator 1 to 2 hours before you want to cook it. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Transfer pork to a rimmed baking sheet and roast 35 minutes. Reduce temperature to 325 degrees and cook an additional 3 to 4 hours, until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat reads 180 degrees, which will give you sliceable, tender meat.
4. Transfer pork to a cutting board and let rest 15 to 30 minutes before serving. Make sure everyone gets some of the cracklings.
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| Pork, pickled peaches, padrone peppers and bread and gazpacho |
Makes 2 quarts
Ingredients
3½ cups sugar
1½ cups white vinegar
14-16 ripe medium peaches, peeled
8 whole cloves
2 sticks cinnamon
1" piece ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
Prep
1. Bring a canning pot of water to a boil. Submerge 2 one-quart canning jars and their lids and ring bands in boiling water; sterilize equipment for 10 minutes. Remove from boiling water with tongs, draining jars, and transfer to a clean dish towel.
2. Combine sugar, vinegar, and 1½ cups water in a heavy medium-size pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Working in batches slide peaches into the pickling liquid and cook, turning once or twice, until peaches soften but before they turn fuzzy, 4–5 minutes per batch. Transfer peaches to a bowl as done.
3. Divide cloves, cinnamon, and ginger between the 2 jars. Cut any peaches with brown spots into halves or quarters, discarding pits, and trim away the brown spots. Spoon peaches into the jars, filling the gaps with the halves and quarters and packing the jars as tightly as possible.
4. Return pickling liquid to a boil, then pour boiling liquid into each jar, covering peaches and filling jar to 1/4" from the rims. Let liquid settle in jars, then add more boiling liquid as necessary. Discard any remaining liquid. Wipe jar rims with a clean dish towel, place lids on jars, and screw on ring bands.
5. Transfer filled jars to a canning rack, submerge in a canning pot of gently boiling water (jars should be covered by at least 1" of water), and process for 10 minutes. Carefully lift jars from water with jar tongs and place on a dish towel at least 1" apart to let cool undisturbed for 24 hours. To test that jars have properly sealed, press on center of each lid. Remove your finger; if lid stays down, it's sealed. Refrigerate any jars of pickled peaches that aren't sealed; use within 4 weeks.
*I had some pickled peaches at a restaurant in Boston and have been obsessed ever since. They served theirs on a fat, center cut pork chop over creamy polenta and it was heaven. They are also excellent with ham and fried chicken. I've been putting them on everything.
Ingredients
3½ cups sugar
1½ cups white vinegar
14-16 ripe medium peaches, peeled
8 whole cloves
2 sticks cinnamon
1" piece ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
Prep
1. Bring a canning pot of water to a boil. Submerge 2 one-quart canning jars and their lids and ring bands in boiling water; sterilize equipment for 10 minutes. Remove from boiling water with tongs, draining jars, and transfer to a clean dish towel.
2. Combine sugar, vinegar, and 1½ cups water in a heavy medium-size pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Working in batches slide peaches into the pickling liquid and cook, turning once or twice, until peaches soften but before they turn fuzzy, 4–5 minutes per batch. Transfer peaches to a bowl as done.
3. Divide cloves, cinnamon, and ginger between the 2 jars. Cut any peaches with brown spots into halves or quarters, discarding pits, and trim away the brown spots. Spoon peaches into the jars, filling the gaps with the halves and quarters and packing the jars as tightly as possible.
4. Return pickling liquid to a boil, then pour boiling liquid into each jar, covering peaches and filling jar to 1/4" from the rims. Let liquid settle in jars, then add more boiling liquid as necessary. Discard any remaining liquid. Wipe jar rims with a clean dish towel, place lids on jars, and screw on ring bands.
5. Transfer filled jars to a canning rack, submerge in a canning pot of gently boiling water (jars should be covered by at least 1" of water), and process for 10 minutes. Carefully lift jars from water with jar tongs and place on a dish towel at least 1" apart to let cool undisturbed for 24 hours. To test that jars have properly sealed, press on center of each lid. Remove your finger; if lid stays down, it's sealed. Refrigerate any jars of pickled peaches that aren't sealed; use within 4 weeks.
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