Almond Dust Pork Roast

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Here is my pre-Thanksgiving dinner.

A few days ago I bought a pork loin. They are cheap cuts of meat but can dry out quick and need a little help with flavor.

I had some jars and bags of flavored almonds around and thought that the salt and sugar and flavors in the bottom of the containers should be used for something.

Enter the pork loin! I butterflied it open (I am not very good at that but it is pretty easy) then I added a mix of the almond flavor "dust" and some Bad Byron's But Rub. It is great stuff I like to use on bbq.

After that I rolled it back up and used butchers twine to tie it up. I am also not too good at that but this video is how I learned to do it. Real chefs and butchers do it so fast it is hard to see how it is done but this explains it well.

Flavored and tied I put the pork loin in the fridge for a day. I simply roasted it fat side up in the oven at 350 for about an hour. When the internal temp got to 140 I took it out and let it rest for 10 minutes.

It smelled great. There was a roasted nutty almond/bbq/pork smell filling the kitchen.

It sliced well and I used a couple of interesting sauces on the side. The Fat Cat Papaya Pequin Passion was new to me. It has a really interesting mix of flavors but isn't HOT hot. The 1st 4 ingredients are papaya, onion, pineapple, apple cider. It has pequin pepper for a little heat. It has a very Caribbean kind of flavor. A great pairing with the almond-y pork.

The Soy Vay Toasted Sesame was exactly what you might think it would be. I really like it and again it worked well with the pork loin.

 I paired it with Steelhead Vineyards 2012 Red a North Coast California red wine blend.

The final result was really good! I eat a lot of almonds and I'll keep a container to save all the almond dust for projects like this.

Instant Pot Chicken and (not) Dumplings

A low carb Chicken and (not) Dumplings meal in the Instant Pot.

It is mid September and the zucchini are still in the garden. They won't go away! I altered a Chicken and Dumplings recipe to take advantage of them and give me a flavorful low carb dinner in the Instant Pot. You can make it as chunky as you want. It is fun to play around with the flavors.

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken thighs cut in bite sized piece about like a tablespoon. Use more if you want up to about 3 pounds will work.

3 tablespoons of butter

salt and pepper

3 tablespoons of Riley's Red Rub it adds a ton of flavor and is the secret ingredient!

1 onion chopped up. Pick your favorite I like red. Make it 2 onions if you like.

4 or 5 cups of chicken broth. I use the chicken or vegetable Better Than Bouillon

3 to 6 ribs of celery chopped up in stew sized pieces.

2 teaspoons of dried thyme

2 bell peppers in different colors chopped

2 cups of zucchini chopped to a size like the chicken. Not peeled is ok just be sure to remove the seeds.

Instructions 

Set Instant Pot to Saute and add the butter. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. When the butter starts to brown a little add the chicken and brown it with the lid off for about 5 minutes.

When the chicken is browned add everything except the zucchini and bell peppers. Put on the cover and set the Instant Pot to Manual for 8 minutes on High (if you have that option)

When 8 minutes are up do a Quick Release. Open the lid and add the zucchini and bell peppers. Set the Instant Pot to Saute and let it cook for 5 to 10 minutes with the lid off.

Test the zucchini and when it as done as you like you are ready to eat!

You can add things to the individual bowl like parmesan cheese or hot sauce or in the photo above I added some sliced jalapeño peppers. Be creative or leave it alone.

This is pretty low carb with the zucchini replacing the dumplings and the bell peppers adding flavor the carrots and corn would traditionally have in a Chicken and Dumplings meal. If you aren't worried about carbs have some favorite crusty bread with your bowl.

If you want to make real Chicken and Dumplings leave out the zucchini and bell peppers. When the 1st part of the cook is over at 8 minutes and you do a Quick Release add a cup of corn kernels and use Bisquick to make some batter for the dumplings. Put the spoonfuls of Bisquick in the Instant Pot during the final step and let it cook on Saute with the lid off for about 10 minutes.

You can also finish by stirring in 1/2 a cup of milk.

Morimoto Napa

Everything about Morimoto Napa is outstanding. The food, service, location, are all among the best of the best.

The wine list has a great number of Napa wines and the drinks also include a big selection of drinks including Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve and of course some wonderful sake choices.

I had dinner there recently and it started with this tuna tartar that has a unique presentation of the tuna and side flavors you can mix to your preference. It comes with a small metal spatula or paddle that you use to build each bite.




The tasting menu continued with a little of everything including sushi, beef, vegetables and a unique fondue with vegetables and a warm bowl of anchovy paste and olive oil. It was sooo good! The food was paired with some excellent Twomey Sauvignon Blanc that the server kept in an ice bucket for us. It was a nice touch on a warm early evening. She was very good about keeping the glasses from sitting empty.



There is an open kitchen so you can see things being prepared and getting ready for service.

The outdoor riverfront seating is in the shade and allows for some nice views and a look at the eastern Napa hills at sunset.

Ample free parking is across the street and it is just steps from the new Napa downtown dock so you could even boat to Morimotos.

I give it 2 thumbs way way up!

more photos of Morimoto Napa here

Valentine's Night Dinner

Great Indian Nepalese food in St. Helena.

Dinning outside at 7pm in February.

Music includes Keely Smith and Louis Prima.

Winemaker Philippe Melka stops by to say hi to the dog as he picks up his to go dinner.

We aren't drinking his wine.

That's OK.

It's all OK

#lifeisgood

Making beef stew for dinner on a Friday night

This is by far my favorite beef stew recipe I've ever made. Now understand I haven't made a lot so maybe that doesn't count as much as for some people.

It's actually a Vietnamese beef stew and some of the trickier ingredients include lemongrass, star anise, some Chinese five-spice and some other things that you can find at most large grocery stores around.

You can make it in a slow cooker or in a pot I made mine in my Instant Pot. It took 20 minutes of cooking time + little bit extra because when you add the carrots you cook them in the pan first and then you add them to the stew when it's done cooking and you kind of let it reduce and soften up the carrots to your liking.

Of course one of the great things about beef stew is you can also add ingredients that you like and to give it a little bit of a personalized twist.

I made some mushrooms at the very end and I put some scallions in the pan to cook down and put of that on top of the beef stew and it worked out really well. Give it a try I'll put the link down here below and also there's a video on how to make it.

recipe link
Vietnamese Beef Stew - Bò kho

video

Vietnamese Beef Stew - Bò kho

 

Helen's Recipes (Vietnamese Food)

The woman that does these is named Helen and she has a whole bunch of really great videos. This happens to be the one that I've tried. Some of the others might be kind of intimidating for me but you might want to give it a go. She's really good I really enjoyed the video and this beef stew always comes out extremely well serve with some sourdough bread or whatever you like on the side.

If you want to serve some wine you gotta have something big and bold. Don't be afraid to step it up a little bit there's a lot of flavors in this beef stew. I decided to reach for a bottle of Petite Sirah from Chateau Montelena in Calistoga. It's a 2010 and it's got a ton of flavor so it worked out really well. Just pick your favorite big red wine and enjoy the great meal.

My Favorite Cookbook

OK it changes often but I love the simple and easy to follow recipes in $10 Dinners

I recently made this honey orange chicken glazed chicken.

Delicious!