Peaches and Pork Roast

 

(Lisa) "I'm going to become a vegetarian" (Homer) "Does that mean you're not going to eat any pork?" "Yes" "Bacon?" "Yes Dad" Ham?" "Dad all those meats come from the same animal" "Right Lisa, some wonderful, magical animal!"

You might be scrunching your face over Homer’s   moments with the magical pork.

Let ‘s face it pork is not for everyone. You know why or maybe no reason why.  I am not a devout pork eater, I tend to avoid cooking one simply because it has to be seasoned and cooked right. Nevertheless I have to agree though "Pork - no animal is more used for nourishment and none more indispensable in the kitchen; employed either fresh or salt, all is useful, even to its bristles and its blood; it is the superfluous riches of the farmer, and helps to pay the rent of the cottager."Alexis Soyer 19th century French chef('The Modern Housewife'1851) 

However with suggestions on diet to consume less red meat, pork become one of the choices left. Although the rest of pork meat is fatty, Pork loin is low in fat (5gram of fat) and content as high as 29 gram of protein for a 4oz loin. So I thought why not. Today I challenged my seasoning and cooking skill with a slab of pork loin sitting in front of my face. Coriander is the first spice that is ringing in my brain, since we used it a lot to marinate pork satay back home. Since traditionally fruit is a good accompaniment to pork, I picked a few ripe peaches to give an extra freshness to the pork.

So here are the ingredients and how to:

 1lbs of Pork Loin

Seasoned with:

3 tsp of garlic powder

2 tsp of coriander powder

1tsp of sea salt

½ tsp of cinnamon

1tbsp of mustard seed

2 tbsp of brown sugar

Baked for 400 F  for an 45 minutes

 In the oven also throw in a pan of:

2 large peaches ( wedged)that has been drizzle with 1 tbsp of brown sugar and  1tsp cinnamon

After 45 minutes remove the pork loin juice, and throw in the baked peaches to the pork loin,

Broil them for 10 minutes. Let it cool and serve.

Now is it your cup of tea? I enjoyed it for a change.



Passion + Patience *Gastrobutterfly* A food to your soul.

Reminiscence of Soba

A cold and rainy days always calls for a good soup.  I remember during my student days, I embraced the windy fall days at home, curling underneath our blankets with our dog Levi watching on the edge of the door: we know it , we have a justification to just be on our PJ’s all day long. Often the programme of the day goes like this:  Watching episodes of sappy Korean or J drama until late afternoon, and then we would realize we were too lazy to go outside for food or even to cook.  The next mission is to feed the hungry stomach with a very little effort. With no grocery left toward the end of the week, we would open the cupboard and found instant noodle staring at us. Smiling for victory, minutes later the movie is complete with extra spicy noodle caressing our empty stomach.

simple ingredients but full of flavors!

Those days are over a while ago. But last Saturday was a little bit of a reminiscence of movie moments and lazy PJ’s days. My husband and I went to St. Lawrence Market every Saturday morning to pick up Ontario fresh produce from our local farmers market. Despite of ambitious plan for crazy food adventure that day, we agreed that the cold weather was wearing us out. So right after doing the grocery, we picked up some movies and decide to just stay home. Although I did not find any instant noodles at our pantry, I found a box of soba noodle there. Brilliant ideas came right away. I want my brothy soupy noodle for movie lunch.

So here it is a tweak to the memories of the old days.

Perfect Saturday with a little sunburst tomatoes!

  

Making this soba noodle soup is so much easier than one can think. Well you can go as easy or as complicated as you want it.

For  two bowls of soba noodle soup:

2 fillets of basa fish fillet
150g of soba noodle

½ avocado ( sliced)

3 tsp of fish sauce

1 tbsp of garlic powder

1 tsp of sesame oil

1tbsp lemon juice

1tsp of crushed blackpepper

1 tsp of grated ginger

1 tsp of black sesame seeds

nori sea weed

Water to boil noodles

So in a pan, boil enough water to cook the soba noodle based on the instruction.

On another pan, simmer 2 cup of water and put in the fish and all other ingredients ( except avocado, tomatoes, nori,and sesame seeds). Simmer for 5-8 minutes until the fish is cooked.

Once the soba noodle is cooked, rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process.

Pour the broth and the fish over the soba noodle. Garnish with fresh yellow tomatoes, sliced avocado,nori and sesame seed. Enjoy the earthiness of the soba noodle complimented by  a bursting sensation of yellow tomatoes!

Passion + Patience *Gastrobutterfly* A food to your soul.

The Feast of Fall: Whole Roasted Chicken with Garlic Cinnamon!

       I work at the wonderland of foods, and every morning I am awakened not by the smell of coffee, but fresh roasted chicken! The aroma is so tempting, sometimes I feel like eating the chicken right away. Too bad my dress shirt and the name badge preventing me from doing so. So tonight when I went home I made a revenge and put the chicken on the table for our dinner! Only this time its Home made.

      I was having a difficult time to decide what to put on my chicken. I feel like putting toppings for pizza, sometimes I get too carried away and ended up with something more elaborate than I thought. This time I promised myself to keep it simple and nice.

The ultimate Fall Feast

 So it came down to 4basic ingredients and 1 special superstar: garlic, pepper, salt, olive oil, lemon juice and cinnamon! I decided the later ingredients because I have been infatuated by its warmth.

I also had a chance to cut up some nice vegetables from the farmers market. My  best favourite is the yellow carrots! They are sweet and crunchy. I also paired them with honeyed peppered pumpkin as accompaniment for the chicken.

Roasted Potatoes and Yellow Carrots with Salami and Romano cheese

Honey Pepper Roasted Pumpkin

So it came down to 4basic ingredients and 1 special superstar: garlic, pepper, salt, olive oil, lemon juice and cinnamon! I decided the later ingredients because I have been infatuated by its warmth.

I also had a chance to cut up some nice vegetables from the farmers market. My  best favourite is the yellow carrots! They are sweet and crunchy. I also paired them with honeyed peppered pumpkin as accompaniment for the chicken.

If you want to make this simple chicken here is how:

You need:

1 whole chicken ( medium size)

2 tbsp of lemon juice

1 tsp of freshly cracked pepper

1 ½ tsp of coarse sea salt

1 tbsp of garlic powder ( easy way of adding flavour)

1/2 tsp of cinnamon powder

Olive oil

Garlic Cinnamon Roasted Chicken with Fall Vegetables

How:

Pour the lemon juice evenly on the skin and breast cavity. Mix all the dry ingredients and sprinkle it over the chicken skin evenly, and  on the inside cavity

Preheat the oven for 375F, and cook for an hour covered, and then uncovered and turn to broil for 10-12 minutes until its nicely browned and crispy. Serve it with your favourite vegetable and a type of carbohydrate.

Bon Apettite! 

Passion + Patience *Gastrobutterfly* A food to your soul.

Tofu Noodle Pancake: Amazing protein source

tofu noodles and shrimp pancake

I was watching CTV news and the KFC’s double down is making the headlines! With a whopping 540 calories with 50 grams of protein, the double down is the ultimate protein charger for a muscle builder: especially post weight training workout.  The problem: chewing this monster down already take up  more than sodium intake in a day, not to mention the 30grams of fat love in there. Nevertheless, our curiosity made the impulsive decision to try the controversial sandwich when we were shopping at a local mall on the weekend. Good thing we shared the bite:  so we felt less guilty. Our verdict concluded Double Down as an amazing flavourful super meaty sandwich but note to you: may only be consumed with careful discretion. Now I  will be crazy to eat double down everyday, but there are those days when I crave for protein. Better figure out how to include variety of protein food source to balance out the diet.

 My husband just started doing his weight again this week, and he has been craving for protein too. So today, I made Tofu  noodle egg pancake, or similar to egg foo yong. I love the tofu noodles since it gives you good protein and deceiving you into thinking you are eating delicious noodles which is  not loaded with carbs.The recipe is fairly easy.

All you need:

4 eggs, cracked and beaten

3 spoon of all purpose flour

75 grams of shitake / enoki mushroom

Tofu noodles ( buy in Chinese grocery)

A small pack of peeled shrimp ( 340gr)

Salt, pepper ,oyster sauce

½ tbsp of garlic

2tbsp of olive oil

¼ cup of water

You can add chillies, sesame and scallions to add an extra oomph

How to:

In a pan, heat the oil and sautee the garlic, mushroom, shrimp and tofu noodles until the mixture gives out good aroma

In a bowl, put the flour, and mixed in the egg until the mixture is smooth, add a little water if mixture is too thick.

Pour in the egg flour mixture into the pan, and let it cook until the egg is set.

served with nori  and chilli on a bed of rice

Are you going to try A double down this week? Or maybe stay healthy with Tofu Noodle pancake instead!

Passion + Patience *Gastrobutterfly* A food to your soul.