FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

Hen & Brussels Sprouts

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Roasted Cornish Hen

There was something appealing about a mini bird at the grocery store tonight.  I didn’t want to fuss with carving up and packaging leftovers from a regularly sized bird.  I didn’t feel much like navigating through my cabinets to dig out the roasting pan.  And I had a new dish that was just begging to be stuffed with sautéed brussels sprouts and topped with a roasted cornish game hen.  So mini bird, it was.

How To Cook Cornish Game Hen

I followed the same chicken roasting basics that I’m accustomed to: dry off, place fat {coconut oil or ghee} above and beneath skin, place chopped herbs {thyme, rosemary, or both} beneath skin, stuff cavity with lemon and some more herbs, and roast at 375 degrees until the meat thermometer reads 165 degrees {about 45 minutes}.  Tonight roasting happened with a cast iron grill pan rather than the deeply buried roasting pan.

Sliced Brussels Sprouts

While the hen was doing its thing in the oven, I whipped up some super simple brussels sprouts with shallots that were… okay.  I focused on the flawless hen and made a mental note to be better at brussels sprouts the next time around.   

Sirloin & Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

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Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

This past weekend, I spent a lot of time getting cozy with nature and this book. And even though there was a seemingly quotable line on every page, there was one quote in particular that resonated with me – “The right constraints can lead you to your very best work”.

Cubed Sirloin

I haven’t yet addressed why the past 50 days have been filled with gluten-free and dairy-free recipes, because I had {still have} hopes that it was irrelevant.  My intention isn’t to deliver good gluten/dairy free recipes, it is to deliver delicious recipes. Period.

And to circle back around to the above referenced quote, I can’t help but believe that these constraints are creating a better FoodFash.

Quinoa Stuffing

So today I bring you another delicious recipe: orange peppers {turned yellow in the oven} stuffed with cubed sirloin, quinoa, and some staple stuffed-pepper veggies.

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers 3Using cubed sirloin and quinoa gave this dish texture and prevented the mush that is so commonly associated with traditional stuffed peppers.  The onions, tomatoes, and garlic provided the bulk of the flavor.  And the bell pepper, well the bell pepper provided the most photogenic bowl ever {and some additional flavor as well}.

Array

Achiote Pork Salad

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Achiote Pork Salad

Gosh, this salad.  Where do I begin?  Ultra tender achiote pulled pork and sweet and tangy pickled red onions on a bed of fresh spinach – a wow worthy meal, for sure!

Achiote Paste Ingredients

I started by making a double batch of homemade achiote paste {not by choice}.  A pre-made paste was nowhere to be found, so I Googled my way through the Whole Foods aisles until I found annatto seeds {the red nuggets in the photo above} and a recipe that made sense.

Seasoned Pork Shoulder

I then purchased the rub ingredients from this recipe, but didn’t care much for the cooking instructions {or the review comments}, so this big hunk of pork and I went rogue in the kitchen.

Pulled Pork

After coating the 4 pound bone-in pork shoulder with the rub, I wrapped it tightly with plastic wrap and let it hang in the fridge for about 16 hours.  I placed the pork in a slow cooker, poured 32 ounces of veggie broth around the sides {being careful not to wash the rub off the meat}, and placed a few quartered yellow onions around the pork.  I let it cook on low heat for about 8 hours {until the meat pulled away easily from the bone} and then used two forks to to shred the meat.

After the meat was prepared, assembling the salad was super easy: baby spinach, pickled red onions, pulled pork. And the best part about this salad?  The pork provided fat and the pickled onions provided acid, so the addition of salad dressing was unnecessary.

Pretty As A Present Pickled Red Onions

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Pickled Red Onions

What. A. Day!  This morning started well before bright and early, when it was dark and just plain early.  The restaurant I’m working on in Dallas is in full swing, so I flew up for a day of meetings and flew right back.  Exhaustion would have been justified.  But I chose to yoga, grocery shop, and be unexplainably ambitious in the kitchen instead.

Mandolin Sliced Red Onions

Pickled onions.  Not just pickled onions for the heck of it.  Pickled onions for achiote pork.  Neither of which resulted in an immediate food reward.  So today, on this busy bee Tuesday, I chose to make a feast of a meal that might just be ready by Thursday.  It made no sense, but I rolled with it.

Toasted Cinnamon

I whipped up this pickled red onion recipe – I was drawn to cinnamon, cloves, and fresh lime.  And I sliced, toasted, stirred, and jarred, all the while bopping around to my fav new album by Damaged Bug.  Perhaps the song below was the catalyst of tonight’s kitchen ambition.