Sweet and Spicy Asian Pork Shoulder

From Real Simple's February issue, a yummy pork slow-cooker recipe, which I'm positive I could have passed off as authentic take-out. This was a little bizarre for a slow-cooker recipe, I thought, since it didn't rely on a lot of liquid, just the soy sauce, but it turned out fine. I did the prep the night before, and my husband tossed it together in the morning. By the time I got home, the sauce was dark and salty and rich. In fact, even if you're using low-sodium soy sauce, I would probably not add in the kosher salt. Some of the commenters suggested cooking the whole shoulder and then shredding when it's done. I'm planning on trying this the next time, and maybe adding a little extra water as well.

Mmmeatloaf

Oh, I felt so Sandra Lee-style guilty when I made this recipe. But let's face it: meatloaf is meant to be made mom-style, with fat and preservatives. It's a sometimes meal, but a delicious one, especially the crunchy cheese and cracker pieces (hint: use about 13 Ritz crackers). I took a friend's advice and put two slices of stale bread in the bottom of the pan; that helped to absorb grease, but definitely use extra lean beef (my husband completely canceled out this step by eating the bread and pronouncing it yummy). I take the meatloaf out about 160 degrees to ensure it is cooked through. The meatloaf is a little crumbly no matter how long you wait, but I would wait at least a few (say 10) minutes before slicing or you'll end up with meatcrumble. Top with a mixture of ketchup, honey, and worchestershire sauce-- we used 6 tablespoons, 2 tablespoons and 1 teaspoon, respectively, to cover the loaf.

No-Bake Cookies

No link for this one-- I've been eating these cookies for 20+ years, and since I had chunky regular Jif (not natural) for the blondies, I had to make a batch. You can't really lose with chocolate and peanut butter.

Combine 2 cups sugar, 1/4 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup milk in a saucepan. Boil for 2 minutes, starting as soon as the mixture starts to boil. Remove from heat and add 1/2 cup chunky peanut butter and 3 cups oatmeal. Drop on wax paper and refrigerate until firm.

Tandoori Chicken Kebabs

One of the other shows I've started watching on Cooking Channel is Indian Food Made Easy. As a result, I'm proud to say I made my first successful Indian-style dish! Anjum made lamb and chicken tandoori wraps in one of the season one episodes, and I made just the chicken part as a kebab this week. I made the yogurt sauce the night before and marinated the chicken overnight. (The recipe on the website is for lamb; on the show, Anjum used the same base for both chicken and lamb, but amped up the spices for the lamb since it's a stronger meat. I like strong flavors, so I used the full flavored sauce for chicken). The result is an instantly recognizable flavor profile that grills or bakes easily. I could see the skewers easily translating as an appetizer as well.

Fish Tacos and Green Guacamole

Serendipity! I dvred Good Eats: American Classics VIII: Tacos last week and before I watched it, received the Central Market circular advertising a tilapia special. I added tilapia and taco ingredients to my menu planning list and my husband asked, "Are you going to make the fish tacos from Good Eats this week?" Aha! The episode turned out to be exactly what I was envisioning on my shopping list. When it came time to make the tacos, we skipped the complex tortilla preparation/homemade crema and just went with simple queso fresca and Nigella's green guacamole. I tasted the marinade after I prepared it and I was alarmed-- it is pungent. But cooked off and paired together with the flaky white fish, it added a lot of flavor without overwhelming the fish with hot spice. We made the guacamole extra lime-y to complement the fish. Yummy.

Note: I'm not sure that I would wholeheartedly recommend the guacamole on its own with chips, as I love a thick dip with a strong onion-y and tomato-y flavor for that, but as a complement to an entree, this was perfect. I may make it again with my Enchilados Camerones-- I'll be using up the queso fresca on that recipe later this weekend!

Peanut Butter Mango Chicken

All right, I can't find the original recipe for this one online-- it's from Men's Health, circa 2006. It's ridiculously easy and apparently not terrible for you. Grill chicken, then top with the peanut butter sauce, as follows:

Mix 4 tablespoons peanut butter*, 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, 1 clove garlic, minced and 1 tablespoon of honey in a small bowl. Microwave, stirring occasionally, until melted (30-60 seconds).

Serve with a side of diced mango. We generally use frozen mango to keep this as a pantry meal.

*Note: natural peanut butter tastes fine in this recipe, but doesn't melt as smoothly. It's solely an appearance issue, but I wouldn't try it until you know you like this recipe.

North African Meatballs

Melissa D'Arabian's North African Meatballs from her first season of Ten Dollar Dinners were on our weeknight dinner list last week. Prep took a little longer than I would have liked; it's the forming of the meatballs that kill you! I made mine a little too large and ended up closer than 20 to 32-- as a result, the meatballs didn't hold together well. Next time I may try to make them smaller, but I may also try and bake them in a mini muffin tin instead of cooking in a skillet. I think they'll stay together better and will also be healthier since they won't be cooked in oil. If I do that, I'll start with the meatballs and make the sauce while they are cooking. The good news? The sauce has an amazing sweet/spicy flavor. Served with some boxed couscous, this tasted like exotic takeout and definitely not like inexpensive ground beef and tomatoes!

Spaghetti Bolognese

Spaghetti Bolognese is my favorite thing about fall. There is literally nothing better to do on a Sunday afternoon than to sit on the couch, watch football and smell this sauce cook. It's drizzling out today, so I almost feel like we're there.

The only tricks to this recipe are time and a big pot. It takes a while to prep all of the ingredients, and then a few hours for the flavors to come together. After we eat, I'll also typically put together a lasagna with some of the leftover sauce and put it in the freezer. So for the two of us, this recipe will last for 4-5 meals.

Rosemary Roasted Potatoes

I have a couple of different rosemary roasted potato recipes that I use. Rosemary roasted potatoes are a great simple side that really showcase potatoes without outshining your main dish. This Barefoot Contessa version takes longer to make as you only bake the potatoes, as opposed to boiling and baking a la Jamie Oliver. However, it's a great company dinner side because you can assemble it a few hours in advance, put it in the oven an hour before, and focus on cleaning the kitchen. By the time your guests arrive, the only evidence is the smell of rosemary.

$30 Chocolate Chip Cookies

The title is only kind of a joke-- the chocolate disks called for by this famed NY Times recipe will be around $12 at Central Market, plus when you add in the specialty flours, the ample amount of butter and sea salt, you end up with not cheap cookies. I have to put in this warning, because once you make these and serve them to your family and friends, they will refuse to eat any other kind of chocolate chip cookies you make. These cookies literally ooze chocolate and fall apart in your hands. They are actually the best chocolate chip cookies in the whole world.

Roasted Chicken and Bow Tie Pasta Salad

I have kind of a crazy obsession with chicken salad. This Cooking Light pasta is basically a waldorf chicken salad pasta, and you have to think of it like that to not think that adding grapes to pasta sounds ridiculous. I cooked the chicken breasts ahead of time in a crock pot, but there's a decent amount of mise en place here so it still takes 30 minutes or so to make even if you have a fancy instant boil burner. Additionally, the pasta is better room temperature or cold, so allow a few minutes for your pasta to cool down. Add a bit of oil to the bow ties to keep them from sticking if you want them to cool while you assemble the rest of the dish (as opposed to preparing and sticking in the fridge).

Creamy White Bean and Herb Dip

From the depths of my recipe file (Feb/Mar 2009 issue of Fine Cooking), bean dip that looks like hummus!

This bean dip recipe is versatile and easy. I used bagel chips and crudites as dippers, and one friend also suggested it as a sandwich spread. The dip has a good flavor, but not so much flavor that you'd have to stay away from seasoned dippers. Note, though, that I left out the anchovy filet because it seemed ridiculous to use one anchovy filet and throw the rest of the filets in the can away. I do have one green bean recipe that secretly uses anchovies, so I may try the dip with anchovies the next time I make that. It will stay good and taste good for several days.

Most important thing about this recipe: the "serves 6 to 8" is misleading. I'd make half a recipe unless you are (a) actually serving 20 people and (b) have no other dips or snacks to serve them.

Oven Roasted Beef Brisket and Barbeque Sauce

Two recipes for the price of one!

First, the brisket. Brisket was on special at Central Market this week, so I sought out recipes from the Food Network website and found this highly rated Paula Deen recipe for the oven. The amount of spices was, to say the least, alarming. Once I passed the spice mountain hurdle, the recipe was nearly foolproof, even though it didn't provide a meat temperature. To cover the pan, I used foil, which is fairly treacherous with a hot roasting pan. My burned arm would like for me to brainstorm a new solution for new time.

Second, the barbeque sauce (which I refuse to spell "barbecue"). As it turn out, the brisket was delicious just dipped in pan juices, but the barbeque sauce served to add a nice tang. Both Real Simple and bon appetit featured homemade barbeque sauces this month and I tried the Real Simple version first. This version is sweet and vinegary, although a little more on the vinegary side. I've determined that it would be fantastic on meatloaf.

Peanut Butter and White Chocolate Blondies

One of the gems on the new Cooking Channel is Rachel Allen: Bake! While many of the Food Network shows will feature desserts, there are fewer regular series that focus on them. Rachel Allen is a charming British woman who finally convinced me to like blondies! I'd never had any blondie that could top my favorite chocolate brownies until I tried these. To be clear, they are heavy on the peanut butter, so "blondie" may be a stretch-- they're really a thick peanut butter cookie.

Three-Cheese Mushroom and Spinach Calzone

I used to be a vegetarian for six years. I was a terrible vegetarian; I ate a lot of cheese, french fries and chocolate. These calzones would have fit the bill. Now, I say calzones because I made four individual calzones as opposed to one large calzones and cooked the calzones for a few minutes less. Since there are just two of us, we eat a lot of leftovers and making four individual calzones enabled us to easily package the extras in a brown bag lunch. I used the frozen pizza dough from Central Market-- it's next to the pizzas in the freezer section and is softly garlic-flavored. Next time, I may substitute mozzarella for fontina; I doubt I could taste the difference and it'll be cheaper.

4/10/11 update: tonight, substituted 1/2 lb. of hot italian sausage for the spinach and omitted the fennel seeds and red pepper flakes-- worked well. Also, learned that fontina is easier to grate if you freeze first-- 15-20 minutes.

Grilled Chicken with Garlic-Herb Dressing

I suppose there are herbs in this Tyler Florence recipe, but the true heart of the grilled chicken marinade is the roasted garlic, which is also a handy thing to snack on while you cook. (If you've never roasted garlic before, the recipe has great simple directions. There's no need to peel the garlic before roasting.) I've never bothered with either the grilled lemons or the radicchio. This may mean that my chicken is not truly "ultimate." Instead, I've used this as a quick company grilling dish. I'll make the marinade the night before and use bone-in breasts so that every piece cooks evenly and there's less of a need to monitor once they are on the grill.

Chocolate Lovers' Brownies

My all-time favorite classic brownie recipe has an unlikely origin-- it's from the Disney Family Cookbook, and I've been using it for at least 15 years. The 8 ounces of semisweet chocolate in addition to the unsweetened chocolate make for a sweeter brownie. These brownies are so overwhelmingly chocolate-y there is no need for frosting or topping other than a shake of powdered sugar. Serve with lots of milk :)

Southwestern Chicken Salad

This southwestern chicken salad is one of those things I would pay for at a restaurant or in the prepared foods aisle at Central Market, but would stupidly never think of making for myself, save some prodding from Real Simple (July 2010 issue). It would probably even be called "Southwestern Chicken Salad" at Corner Bakery, or maybe "Chicken Fajita Salad" at Chili's. I digress--I used cut up chicken breasts instead of rotisserie chicken; I would advise just making extra chicken with whatever method you're using and then toss it in. The black beans were the best part, and I ended up adding more since the recipe called for less than a whole can. Finally, I used a plain whole wheat tortilla instead of chips because I had it on hand. A corn tortilla or tortilla strips or anything else would easily work.

Potato Salad with Bacon and Parsley

This June 2009 Real Simple recipe for potato salad with bacon and parsley has become an instant classic in our house (and, seriously, that June 2009 issue was a real winner!). This salad has all of the flavor of a classic mustard potato salad, but it's light enough to be truly called a salad, and not a heavy side. The addition of the bacon elevates the recipe into something almost gourmet. One note: children apparently are not fans of the red wine vinegar. Good thing I am.

Sweet and Spicy Chicken

From the same alluring Real Simple picnic article as the oatmeal-raspberry bars, here's the sweet and spicy chicken. To start: I was confused by the direction that the chicken should be cut into 10 pieces. We went ahead and did an 8-piece cut (2 breasts, 2 thighs, 2 legs and 2 wings). The premiere of Top Chef: D.C. used the 8-piece method in the quickfire challenge, so I'm sticking with it. If you want to do a 10-piece method, see the illustration here. Otherwise, this is a simple spice rub that you could likely prepare ahead of time, then quickly rub onto the chicken prior to baking. Although the spice rub looks like a small amount, it is more than enough to cover all of the chicken pieces. I rubbed the spices underneath the skin as well as on top of the skin. The name is so descriptive I don't have much more to add!