Best Ever Carnitas

Yeah, you read that right. I love caritas... they are my family's favorite Mexican dish. When we lived in San Diego we used to go to this great Mexican place near our house for dinner weekly and caritas were our favorite, but alas once we moved away there were no caritas to be had. So there started our quest for the perfect caritas recipe. I have been tweaking it for about 15 years and the batch I made last night was proclaimed by my better half as "The Best" I have ever made. Thanks sweetie! I think they were damned good too, my kids agree and I hope you will too!

Caritas1 Pork Shoulder, bone in
2 tbsp. Canola oil
1 large sweet onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp dried Mexican oregano
2 bay leaves
Salt and Pepper
1 c. Orange Juice
1/2 c. Lemon juice
1/2 c. Lime juice


Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Salt and Pepper the Pork shoulder well on all sides.
In a large Dutch oven, sear the meat well on all sides over medium to medium high heat, about 5 minutes per side. This is the most important step! Don't skip it or skimp on the sear time and make sure you sear all around.... even the sides. Trust me, that golden brown crust on that meat and the bits that are in the bottom of the pan are flavoring gold!

 Now that you have that bad boy seared, remove to a plate and move onto he the aromatics.

Turn the heat down to medium, add the onions and garlic, add oregano, bay leaf, salt and pepper and sauté  until slightly translucent.

Now add the citrus juices. Now I'm not going to lie, fresh is best (and if you go fresh please add some of the zest of those beautiful fruits!) but I usually do a combination of fresh and store bought juices. I usually have fresh lemons and limes in the house so I use fresh there and orange juice from one of the great bottled brands you can pick up at the grocery store.

Return the meat to the Dutch oven. The juice should reach about a 1/3 of the way up the meat. If not you can add a bit more of any (or a combination) of the juices to get to that level. Now pop the lid on the pot and sit back and relax while the oven does the rest of the work.

The meat is ready when the bone slips out of the roast easily, this usually takes about 4 hours but cook times vary depending on the size of your roast ( I start looking at it after around 3 1/2 hours, but if you have a very large roast it can take up to 5 hours)

Once the meat is done, remove bone and shred with 2 forks, mixing the meat with all of the wonderful braising liquid. 

Now you are ready to eat! This makes great tacos, burritos, burrito bowls, or nachos but my favorite is as Enchiladas Verde.

This is a great recipe for parties because it feeds a crowd affordably (and deliciously) but it also freezes great!

Hope you give it a try and let me know what you think.

Bon Appetite!

K

Summer Grilled Peach and Chicken Salad with Goat Cheese and Lemon Vinegrette

Where did June go?? We have had terribly hot temperatures here this June and today was the worst yet- upper 90s with 90% humidity!! Ugh!! And yet, bought these great looking peaches that I really want to use in one of my favorite summer salads.... Grilled peaches and chicken with goat cheese. I can't think of anything right now that could scream summer. And that it is a breeze to throw together and doesn't require heating up the house is just bonus.

 

 

 

Summer Grilled Peach and Chicken Salad with Goat Cheese and Lemon Vinaigrette

 

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

4 medium to large peaches

10 strawberries, sliced

1/2 pint fresh blueberries

4 oz soft goat cheese

1 large bag fresh baby spinach, baby arugula, or romaine lettuce

Salt and Pepper to taste

 

 

 

Vinaigrette:

1 Tbsp Dijon mustard

1 lemon, zest and juice

1 tsp. honey

2 Tbsp Olive oil

2-3 chopped herbs of your choice- anything you have in your fridge or garden will work really. I use thyme and parsley, chives if I have them are nice here too but feel free to play!

Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

 

Preheat grill on med-high to 400F

Salt and pepper the chicken and grill until the internal temperature is 160 degrees, which is about 10 minutes preside depending on the thickness of you chicken breast.

 Half way through the cooking time is when I add the peaches, cut side down and grill for 5-10 minutes until the juices are running and you have some lovely grill marks.

 

Once done, remove the peaches and the chicken to a plate and let rest for 5-10 minutes (to allow the juices to redistribute throughout the meat).

 

Now is the time for your vinaigrette. Combine all the ingredients except the olive oil until combined. Now, slowly drizzle in the oil with a small whisk until all of the oil is emulsified. Set aside.

 

Now pop those salad greens into a bowl, add the dressing and to coat. Add your blueberries, strawberries, crumbled goat cheese, grilled peaches and sliced chicken.

 

Serve with warm crusty bread. Hope you enjoy this as much as we do.

 

Bon Appetite!

 

K

 

Hazy, hot and humid= Summertime Salmon Salad

Oh my God it's hot! I leave the DC area for a week long class, sunny skies and cool breezes in Newport, Rhode Island and come home to August in June! Lol! I mean it is crazy hot here-low to mid 90s with high humidity, hazy skies, and the occasional thunderstorm. Definitely summertime now. 

Unfortunately, while I would be perfectly content with summer fruit and a cheese platter for dinner, the rest of my family has been swimming in the pool for three hours and needs something a bit more substantial. This kind of day calls for a big dinner salad. Tonight's version:

Garlic-Parsley Butter Grilled Salmon Composed Salad with a Honey-Mustard Vinegrette  

This is a super fast and easy recipe and satisfies even the hungriest little fish at your table. 

Summertime Salmon Salad:

4 Fillets Salmon (wild Alaskan is my favorite but farm raised will do just as well)

1/3c. Softened Butter

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 c. fresh parsley, minced

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat grill to high

For the garlic butter, combine butter, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper until well combined

Pat the salmon fillets dry 

Spread  about 1/2 tbsp butter mixture on each fillet

Once grill reaches 400 degrees, grill the salmon skin, side down, for 8-10 minutes depending on thickness and cook until just cooked through. Remove to a plate

Honey Mustard Vinegrette

1/4 c fresh lemon juice

1/4 c extra Virginia olive oil

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

Salt and pepper to taste

Composed Salad- 

Now here is where you get to use your imagination, favorite flavor combinations, or (in my case) whatever you have in your fridge. 

Today I used chopped romaine lettuce, grape tomatoes, diced cucumber, hard boiled egg halves, olives, and some wonderful leftover marinated oven roast tomatoes I had in the back of my fridge. I'll post that recipe another time :)

I also had some leftover garlic butter, so I popped that on a few ciabatta rolls I had tossed in the freezer a few weeks ago and toasted those up as well. I love the crunch of hot grilled bread along with a cool salad. 

(Bread before picture because my kids are the grilled bread before I remember to grab a photo of it! But trust me when o say it was grilled to crunchy perfection. Lol!)

Now the easy assembly- 

Dress the salad with the Vinegrette, top with the grilled fish and serve with some of the lovely grilled bread. Easy peasy, healthy and satisfying. 

Hope you enjoy! 

Xx

K

Rainy Day Banana Bread Blues

First off, apologies for not writing in so long. Hopefully you aren't waiting for me to post new recipes in order to get food on your table every day. I have been in a bit of a simple food phase lately...loads of big salads and grilled proteins. Not sure if it has been the weather- which has been unseasonably hot and humid (I think I read we had the warmest May on record!)- or if I have been waiting for summer's bounty to inspire me. 

Looks like I am going to have to wait as it has been rainy, gray, and chilly for the last week. So as I sulk over my lost opportunity to go strawberry picking for the first time in 4 years (insert whine here). 

So after spending yet another rainy day at the pool for my kids' swim team practice I and going to pour myself a cup of tea and baking a fresh chocolate chip banana bread. That should warm us all up! 

CHOCOLATE CHIP BANANA BREAD

2 cups all purpose flour (you can substitute whole wheat if you like here. It makes a slightly denser bread but has great flavor)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp kosher salt

2/3 cup sugar 

1/2 cup Greek yogurt

2 eggs

1/3 cup milk

1 tsp lemon juice 

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp ground cinnamon (I'll be honest, I only eyeball this) 

3 very ripe bananas- 2 mashed, 1 diced

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F 

Combine the flour, salt and baking soda

In a separate bowl combine the sugar, Greek yogurt, eggs, cinnamon and vanilla. 

Add the wet to the dry and mix gently. Next, combine the lemon juice to the milk, and then add to the batter

Now the fun part- mash up 2 bananas and dice the third. Add to the batter along with chocolate chips

Pour batter into a well buttered loaf pan and bake at 350F for 60 min until golden brown and delicious. 

Hope you enjoy!! 

Xx

K

Summer in a bottle

Woohoo!! Summer time has arrived here in Northern Virginia! Finally! 

After what seemed like the coldest, longest winter in decades, the spring finally came...for two weeks and we went straight to summer. Ugh! 80-90 degrees Fahrenheit and humidity...not that I'm complaining. Having once lived through two winters in Maine, and the accompanying snow and fridges cold that  went on for 6 months , I resolved never to complain about the heat again. 

That being said, I need a drink. Something cool and refreshing. Maybe a touch sweet. So off to my container herb garden I went to grab some fresh mint for some iced mint tea. 

This isn't so much a Recipe. It's more of a technique- 

Step 1

Boil water in a kettle

Step 2 find beautiful glass bottle, jar, pitcher (make sure it is heat resistant or it may shatter) and fill with a large bunch of mint. Your decision on how much you use but I like mine quite minty and use about one cup of tightly packed leaves, well rinsed of course. You don't want any bugs on your tea (unless you are looking for the extra protein from wee beasties that might live in your mint- hahaha). 

Step 3

Add between 1/3 c to a full cup of sugar for sweetness. This is your preference here. I like mine slightly sweet but the kids like it a touch sweeter than i do because, well, they are children and will work for sugar.

Step 4

Add the boiling water and stir to dissolve  the sugar. Enjoy watching the beautiful swirls of sugar syrup and mint mingle 

Step 5

Let stand as long as you can you hold off and enjoy over ice cubes. My daughter loves to use ice cubesade from leftover lemonade.

Xx

K

Cinco de Mayo Improv!

Yay! It's Taco Tuesday and Cinco de Mayo...a match made in taco heaven! So I head to the freezer to pull out my go to mahi mahi and - shock! horror!- there are only 3 pieces of fish, 2 fillets of mahi and one of flounder. Grr....I hate it when this happens. Poor planning on my part but I got this covered. I will have black beans and rice, with a salad, chips and salsa for dinner. Dearest husband and daughter get the mahi and my picky son gets the flounder. No problem.

Fish goes in a bowl of cold water to defrost and I head down to the pantry to pull out my go to canned Goya black beans.... and no beans! Seriously!?! I can't believe this. I am down to my last can of beans  and it is chick peas, which would be fine for Indian night but they don't say Cinco de Mayo to me. Ugh!

Quick glance over the shelves and Iron Chef Pantry it is! I grab the tube of tomato paste, a can of whole kernel corn, and the bag of precooked lentils my sister brought me from the UK and lentil and corn vegan tacos for me/side dish for everyone else and we are off to the races!

Fish Taco Seasoning

1 tbsp. dried oregano
1 tbsp. Smoked or regular paprika
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chili powder
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground black pepper

Corn and Lentil Tacos

 1 tap canola oil
1 onion diced
1 clove garlic minced
1 roasted red pepper, diced (jarred is fine)
1 tbsp. Tomato paste
1/2 can sweet whole kernel corn, drained
8 oz cooked Le Puy lentils (you could use any kind of lentil, but the Le Puy lentils keep their shape and integrity better and the texture is really nice)
2 tbsp. jarred Sofrito (I love Goya) but if you make your own that's even better
1/4 c water
1 small whole bay leaf
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tap fish taco seasoning (optional)

Sauté onions and garlic in canola oil over medium heat until soft
Add remaining ingredients and simmer until all of the water have nearly evaporated
Serve immediately as a side dish with brown rice or as a taco filling with toppings of your choice. 

Grilled Fish Tacos

Preheat grill or grill pan to high

4  4-6 oz Fish fillets- I prefer mahi Mahi or flounder, but use whichever white fleshed fish that you like and can find at your fish counter

Brush the fish lightly with canola oil on each side and sprinkle liberally with the seasoning.
Place firm fleshed fish, like mahi mahi directly on a well oiled grill, or if using a more fragile fish like flounder mist a piece of foil with canola oil, place fish on the foil and then the foil onto the grill.

Cook the mahi mahi on high heat for 4-5 minutes per side or the flounder for 7 minutes (no need to flip)

Assemble tacos using corn or flour tortillas- corn is traditional but hey, you use what you like best-with sour cream or chipotle mayo, shredded white cabbage or romaine lettuce, slice avocado and a squeeze of lime. Enjoy!

Both tacos were delicious, and while fish tacos are a staple in our house, the lentil and corn tacos will definitely be added to the rotation.

Hope you enjoy them!


Xx
K

A rainy day means Carrot and Coriander Soup

When we lived in England a good friend, and excellent cook, introduced me to the joy of Carrot and Corriander Soup. I loved the simplicity and freshness of this soup and when I found out I could buy it in a carrot in the refrigerated section of nearly every grocery store in England I was in vegetable heaven! 

I must have eaten this soup at least once a week for lunch because I could grab it, throw it in my bag and instant work day lunch. When I was pregnant with my first child I craved this soup so much I would buy 3 or 4 cartons a week! Which might just explain my daughter's love of carrots.

Imagine the withdrawal I went into when we moved back to the States. I searched for recipes for carrot soup that got close to the version I remembered so fondly, but even the recipe from the company who made the soup was never quite right. 

Well, after years of experimenting and playing with the recipe I think I have finally got it! 

Carrot and Corriander Soup

1 sweet onion, chopped (I like Vidalia onions for this)

2 cloves garlic, minced

4 tbsp butter

2 lbs carrots, roughly chopped, plus another 2 carrots grated 

6 cups water

1/4 cup heavy cream or half and half 

1/4 cup chopped fresh corriander leaves (cilantro for all us Americans 😊)

Salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a large stock pot and sauté the onions and garlic over medium-low heat stirring often, until onions are soft and translucent be careful to avoid browning the onions. 

Once the onions and garlic are soft and the  chopped carrots and the water. Cover, and simmer on medium high heat until the carrots are just cooked thru (about 10-15 minutes). 

Next purée the soup until smooth with either a blender, food processor, or stick blender. 

Return the soup to the pot and add the raw grated carrots, cream or half and half (you can omit the cream if you like but it isn't much and really does add to the flavor of the soup), salt, pepper, and Corriander leaves. 

Serve piping hot with crusty warm bread, or my favorite for a light lunch, tuna salad with cucumber on baguette. 

I hope this soup keeps you warm on a cold and rainy spring day, like it is here today.

Bon appetite! 

K