Miso Broiled Eggplant

Anyone who is familiar with my style of cooking knows I am a hard core carnivore.  I am not a big fan of veggies, but I eat them for my health, and I figure I might as well make them tasty when I do.  I saw some Japanese eggplant at Nijiya Market this weekend, so I rolled with the Japanese theme by broiling them sliced in half with a miso glaze made from miso paste loosened up with a few splashes of mirin.  Salty, earthy and meaty, but still not as tasty as an animal.

 

Shrimp Tacos

It's NCAA tourney time, and nothing goes better with watching basketball than...tacos?  Not really, but I had some shrimp on hand and wanted something fairly low maintenance.  A good taco really comes down to the accompaniments, and the key is contrasting components...something spicy, something cooling, something crunchy, etc.  For my spicy component I made a poblano pepper salsa with roasted chopped poblano peppers and some fresh chopped white onion.  For my cooling component I made an avocado crema by pureeing an avocado with sour cream and lime juice.  The crunch came from radishes that I sliced razor thin with my trusty Japanese mandoline (my all time fav kitchen gadget).  For the shrimp, which was by no means an afterthought, I first marinated it in a dry rub of paprika, cumin, garlic powder and salt and then seared it in a grill pan.  This was not a complex dish, but the layers of flavors playing off each other made it a winner.

Pork Chop with Balsamic Glaze and Lentils

Pork is commonly paired with sweet and tangy flavors like apple.  I was fishing around my fridge and saw a neglected bottle of balsamic vinegar, so I went for it and made a glaze by reducing it in a pot with some brown sugar.  I also had a double-cut pork chop, which I seared in a cast-iron pan and finished in the oven.  I wanted a hearty side dish that could stand up to the big flavors of the pork and balsamic, so I stewed some green lentils in water with whole garlic cloves, bay leaf and a hit of apple cider vinegar.  The pork was cooked perfectly, and the lentils were well seasoned, but the true star of the dish was the balsamic glaze, which had a nice balance between sweet and acid to tie everything together.

NY Stip Steak with Chimichurri

The Argentines love their beef, and their condiment of choice is chimichurri, which is a pesto-like blend of parsley, garlic and vinegar.  For my Argentina-inspired dish I seared a NY strip steak in a cast iron pan and let it rest before slicing.  I also made my own chimichurri, sticking with a pretty straightforward recipe of parsley, garlic and red wine vinegar, which I blended together with my immersion blender.  Though not pictured, I also made a side of roasted fingerling potatoes.  The grassiness of the parsley and the tanginess of the red wine vinegar were like magic paired with the beef -- would it be sacrilege to say that it beats a bottle of A-1?

Pulpo a la Gallega

Pulpo a la Gallega is a Spanish dish from the seaside region of Galicia.  The English translation, Galician octopus, doesn't sound quite as sexy, so I am sticking with the Spanish name.  This is one of those dishes that is both rustic and refined.  I first boiled a 2-lb octopus in water with a whole lemon, garlic cloves, onion and flat leaf parsley.  Once tender (after about 45 minutes), I took out the octopus and sliced the tentacles into rounds.  While the octopus was boiling, I roasted some baby fingerling potatoes in the oven with olive oil, salt and lemon juice.  Finally, I dressed the octopus and potatoes with red wine vinegar, oilve oil, sea salt, smoked paprika and parsley for garnish.  This was a really good dish that represented all the flavors of Spain.  The octopus was tender but still had that characteristic chewiness, and the smokiness of the paprika really kicked up the potatoes.

Tamarind Ginger Agua Fresca

After my last foray into Thai cuisine, I had some leftover tamarind pods.  And with the weather warming up, I wanted a refreshing cold drink.  This was the inspiration for a Mexican-style agua fresca.  I first shelled and cleaned the tamarind pods and simmered the tamarind in a pot with fresh sliced ginger, water and sugar.  After simmering for a few minutes I strained everything into a pitcher and added some more water to dilute it.  This was a perfect drink for a hot summer day.  The sweetness and tang of the tamarind and the spicy notes of the ginger were a perfect compliment