September 10th: Grilled jerk pork chops with pineapple salsa, quinoa pilaff, and chocolate chip walnut oatmeal cookies

For supper tonight, two great recipes from August 2015's Chatelaine:

Grilled Jerk pork chops with pineapple salsa

2 jalapeño peppers, seeded*
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp dried thyme
3/4 tsp salt
4 boneless pork chops, about 1/2-in. thick

PINEAPPLE SALSA**
1 pineapple, cored and diced
1/4 cup diced red onion
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 2 tbsp chopped mint
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp canola oil
1/4 tsp salt


PREHEAT barbecue to medium.
WHIRL jalapenos with lime juice, canola oil, allspice, dried thyme and 3/4 tsp salt in a food processor until finely chopped. Transfer to a medium bowl and add pork chops. Turn until pork is well coated. Set aside.
STIR pineapple with red onion, bell pepper, mint, lime juice, canola oil and 1/4 tsp salt in a medium bowl.
OIL grill. Barbecue pork chops, lid open, 3 to 4 min. Flip pork chops and brush with remaining marinade. Continue grilling until no pink remains, 3 more min. Let rest, 5 min. Serve with pineapple salsa.
Makes 4 servings.

*I used one jalapeño; that was enough for us
**I made half the salsa for 3 pork chops; that was enough for us too

Quinoa pilaf

Melt 1 tbsp butter in a medium pan over medium. Add 1 finely chopped onion and cook until soft, 3-4 min. Stir in 1 3/4 cups chicken stock and 1 cup quinoa. Boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, covered, until tender, 15-20 min. Stir in 1/4 cup each toasted pine nuts and finely chopped parsley.
Makes 4 servings.


I had a craving for oatmeal cookies and decided to make this recipe yesterday, despite the reviews saying it is not an oatmealy oatmeal cookie. This is correct, but the cookies are still delicious. I did not bother chopping the walnuts, because I was making these late at night and just wanted to go to sleep (but also wanted cookies to eat for breakfast, that’s right, breakfast), but it turns out the big pieces of walnut halves were just plain awesome. I weighed out the amount of chocolate chips required (12 oz) and then used less than half because that looked like way, way too many chocolate chips to me. I prefer my cookies only slightly chocolate chippy. I used coconut oil where it called for vegetable shortening. In future, an additional change I might make is to remove the nutmeg. I have a newly-purchased jar of ground nutmeg and it is so fresh the cookies tasted strongly of nutmeg and I found it to be a bit much. You should make these cookies! Just not when what you really want is an oatmeal cookie. From Epicurious:

Chocolate chip walnut oatmeal cookies

1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 eggs
1 3.4-ounce package vanilla instant pudding mix
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon water
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (optional)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup old-fashioned oats
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 12-ounce package semisweet chocolate chips (or, like, 5 oz of chocolate chips is PLENTY)
1 1/2 cups walnuts pieces or halves (about 6 ounces)


Preheat oven to 375°F. Cover cookie sheets with parchment.
Beat coconut oil and unsalted butter in large bowl until light. Gradually add white and brown sugars and beat mixture until fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla pudding mix, vanilla extract, baking soda, water, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg (if using) and salt and mix until well blended. Mix in oats, then flour. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.
Drop cookie dough by large rounded spoonfuls (about 3 tablespoons each) onto prepared cookie sheets, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies appear dry and tops are lightly cracked and soft when pressed, about 12 minutes (do not overbake).* Cool cookies 5 minutes on cookie sheets. Transfer cookies to racks and cool. (Store cookies in airtight container.)
Makes about 30 cookies.

*I baked one pan a little longer to create a stiffer cookie on purpose. I like 'em like that. The softer ones I froze, then I later I can pull them from the freezer and reheat them in the oven and they won’t be dried out because they were moist to start with (I hope).


BAH! I'm sorry. No pictures. :(

March 2nd: fish tacos

I swear, I forget the Oscars every year. You would think I would remember, because they are always the same week as my birthday, and occasionally fall on my birthday, if my birthday happens to be on a Sunday. I hate when that happens. I do not want to spend my birthday night glued to the TV. I suppose I could opt out of watching the Oscars, but somehow I never do.

That's my excuse for not blogging about Sunday night supper. Glued to the TV. Putting the kids to bed, I missed Jared Leto's speech, the only one I would have wanted to see (swoon), and I missed Pharrell Williams singing, the only song I would have like to have seen. Then I went to bed before the final three big awards were awarded. Clearly, I should not have bothered. I should have just blogged.


Alas. Sunday night I made fish tacos. I believe I've made fish tacos once before, but didn't blog about it at the time: one of my non-blogging moments. I think that time I made a recipe from November 2012's Chatelaine: Roadside fish tacos. This time, I used one from March 2014's Chatelaine: Tropical fish tacos. Going entirely from memory, I recommend the former recipe over the latter. But I'll talk about the latter here, as I can't guarantee my comments on the former.

Tropical Fish Tacos

Stir 1/2 cup sour cream with 2 tsp lime zest and sriracha sauce to taste (1 1/2 tsp for us) in a small bowl. Combine 1 cup finely shredded red cabbage with 1/4 cup finely sliced red onion and 2 tbsp lime juice in a medium bowl. Set both aside.

Pat 400 g cod fillets dry with paper towels. Sprinkle with 1/2 tsp salt. Season with fresh pepper. Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high. Add 2 tbsp canola oil, then fish. Cook until browned, 2 to 3 min per side. Remove from heat. Cut fillets in bite-sized pieces.

Assemble tacos by filling 8 warmed flour tortillas with cabbage slaw, fish, sour cream mixture, 2 cups chopped fresh pineapple and 1/4 cup cilantro leaves.


Makes 4 servings.


I've altered the original recipe slightly, as I found it didn't have enough sauce or pineapple, and had too much slaw. This recipe was good but we didn't love love it, so we'll toss it. I'll have to try that other recipe sometime again.

assembly line

assembled

May 28th: upside down pineapple cake

Quick mention of this yummy cake I made for dessert, from smitten kitchen: Pineapple upside-down cake. It's supposed to be made in a 10-inch skillet, which I don't have, so I went bigger, about 12 inches. I had to reduce the cooking time a bit for this reason, but it turned out beautifully. As you'll see, my bigger pan made it so I didn't have enough pineapple to cover the bottom, but that's okay, as the pineapple bits are super sweet so it's alright to have bites here and there with no fruit. I might reduce the sugar next time around.