Farro aint cheap!

I must credit Food and Wine Mag for this recipe, http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/farro-salad-with-fried-cauliflower-and-prosciutto
I was instantly intrigued by the picture and have been looking at the print out for months.
I finally tried it and made a few slight modifications and it was a hit.
Below is the start of the F&W recipe with my tweeks.
Farro is surprisingly expensive, about $9 a pound, yes, crazy! But, when you include the other elements, its not a bad total.

1 pound farro, rinsed and drained
2 carrots, halved crosswise
1 small onion, halved
1 celery rib, halved crosswise
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 bay leaf
Olive oil
2 large heads of cauliflower (2 1/2 pounds each), cut into 1-inch florets
2 or 3 slices prosciutto, sliced 1/4 inch thick and cut into 1/4-inch dice
5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley or sage
Garlic powder
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
Heat oven to 450
Drizzle chopped chopped cauliflower w/olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder, bake for 15 mins or till brown
In a large saucepan, combine the farro, carrots, celery, garlic and bay leaf. Add enough cold water to cover the farro by 1 inch and bring to a simmer over high heat. Reduce the heat to moderate and cook until the farro is tender but chewy, 15 minutes; drain. Spread the farro on a rimmed baking sheet to cool. DO NOT the carrots, onion, celery, garlic and bay leaf.
Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, heat 1 table spoon of olive oil over moderately high heat and brown onions .
In a bowl, mix the farro, cauliflower, prosciutto, onions, lemon juice and herbs. Season with salt and pepper and serve.
Delicious warm or room temp

Weekly Meal Planning

Since its Sunday, I felt it appropriate to post, as my blog claims to be about Sunday dinner. I am debating on a few dishes for today's feast, the grocery store selection. It will either be Chicken w/Mole, roasted chicken w/Escarole...either way, its chicken. The biggest task for the day is menu planning, my second favorite thing to do...next to the actual cooking.

• Sunday - one of the above


• Monday - Braised Chicken Thighs w/Roasted Cauliflower and Farro (See pic)


• Tuesday - Breakfast for dinner - Huevos Rancheros or Coddle eggs w/Roasted Tomatoes


• Wednesday - Freezer Roulette - a little game we play when we dont know whats in the tuppeware since I dont lable containers


• Thursday - leftover/clean out the fridge night


• Friday - Takeout night - Gasp, I know...but I do it once every 2 weeks

Im sure this will all change once I hit the store and see whats on sale.

Saturday Night Dinner

Yes, the blog is called Sunday dinner...but since Im not cooking tomorrow, Im cooking tonight. Also, we tend to stay in and have a restaurant worthy meal on Saturdays.


Apparently I was inspired by the pig for tonights dinner, no surprise since we're pork people in this house.


Bacon Wrapped Pork Loin - Sage/thyme/orange zest/garlic/olive oil/salt pepper chopped up into a paste and rubbed on the top of the roast...fat trimmed off. Then 3 or 4 strips of bacon placed on top and tucked in to the sides. Roast at 400 till 160 degrees

• Tip: loosly cover the pork w/foil toward the end of cooking...it will stil brown but it covers the bacon splatter to avoid smoking in the oven

Roasted Red Potatoes - Cut in bite sized peices of potatoes with thinly sliced onion, thyme and sage, toss w/Olive Oil, S&P, roast w/pork till tender and onions are a brown

• Tip: Roast next to pork but cover for the first 20 mins to ensure that the onions dont burn

Green Beans with Almonds - Sautee w/butter, almonds, shallots till tender

Saturday Snacking

After a long day of GTL...Gym, Trader Joes, and Laundry I decided to have a pre dinner snack...

Enjoy this lil bit of food porn from me to you:

Fat Cat 420

Almonds/Peanuts/Walnuts/Raisons

Carmelized Onion Cheddar Cheese from Trader Joes

Fresh Baguette with really good (and expensive) olive oil

Crackers

Olives

I'm a Lazy blogger

I recently realized that I am the laziest blogger...with a few friends recently creating pages and posts and updates I am slooooow on the recipes.

I cook every day and read recipes and culinary articles and food junk all day long but keep recipes in edit mode for weeks because I want to QA the measurements and make them perfect.

Enough of that, from now on ill start updating with random pictures, articles, links, and stream of consciousness posts related to food nonsense.

I also know that I might be talking to myself as my slow to post self has probably lost any and all followers. I would undserstand if I've bored you...Ill try to make it up to you with my random additions.

Mangia! ...Age

Pork Chop Brine

I learned this great trick from the food science master himself, Alton Brown. Lean cuts of pork like chops, tenderloin and roast have very little fat and need additional flavor and moisture before cooking. A brine is a great way to inject both and ensure that your pork is never dry.

There are several recipes or ingredient lists to follow for a Brine, mine is simple, tried and tested with a few notes for modifications depending on what you have in the house:

Chicken stock
Garlic
2 Bay leaves
Fresh Thyme
1/4 cup Apple Juice if you have it
Dash of soy sauce
Equal parts of salt and sugar
Black pepper

Put your pork in heavy duty zip top bag, inside a bowl and fill w/the ingredients. Seal and chill, prefereably over night, or at least 12 hours.
Pork will be plump and juicy when cooked whether you grill, roast or pan cooked

Pork Chops Scarpariello

We love Pork Chops and Love chicken Scarp so I tried a combo...it came out great! A very quick and easy weeknight meal or could be a big fat Sunday dinner. I served it with roasted potatoes, arugula salad and fresh bread. This is another one that doesnt have many measurements but more of a ratio and formula:

Two important elements in this recipe:

• Brine for the chops, see the recipe below
• Hot peppers must be in the jar w/Vinegar, your favorite brand...or home made if you're that lucky to know someone that makes them, I've tried to use fresh hot peppers and its not the same flavor

Ingredients:

• Bone in or boneless pork chops - 1 per person is plenty
• 1:1 Ration of sweet and hot peppers - Hot peppers must be in the jar w/Vinegar, Sweet peppers can be fresh red/green/yellow bell peppers
• White Wine
• Chicken stock
• Juice of half lemon
• A few teasespoons of the hot pepper vinegar
• Shallots
• Garlic
• Parsley

S&P the chops and pan sear in a medium/high pan, with a nice brown crust on each side...about 2 mins per side

Once brown, remove from pan and place on plate/platter

Reduce heat and add veggies shallots, then garlic, sweet peppers and hot peppers - in that order. Be careful when adding hot peppers, the steam is spicy and will make you cough if you put your face in it to smell it! been there, it hurts

Let simmer for a few mins till peppers are soft

Add liquid: splash of wine, splash of stock, lemon juice and vinegar from hot pepper jar

Let simmer for a few mins and taste...add more stock to cut the heat...or more peppers to kick it up as needed

Add chops back in and cover w/sauce, simmer on very low for a few mins to heat through

Plate and pour sauce/peppers and sprinkle w/Parsley

Side dish ideas: Arugela and Parmesean salad, Polenta, Smashed potatoes or Rice Pilaf