Pork Belly Goodness

I'm not sure why, but I had not cooked pork belly at home. Outside of the professional kitchen, fresh pork in my visit in Virgina years ago, and bacon at home I had just not connected with it.

We saw it at Whole Foods, and I had to make hubs some. He often orders it at upscale restaurants, so I knew he would enjoy it.

My plan? Cook two pieces, 4X4 inches, about 1/2 pound each, or more in an Asian pear and hot oven environment.

Score the fat with diagonal cuts and in each line place generous amounts of dry rub.
I rubbed them down with pepper, salt, cumin, paprika and let them sit over night.

The next day I preheated the oven to 350 degrees.

Again, fat side up, I patted a moderate amount of you favorite brand hoisen sauce, sliced Asian pears, and placed the pork bellies in a foil covered baking pan. Placing them in the middle of the hot oven (again, fat side up); it cooked it for about 1 and half hours.

Unwrap and let the top crisp up a bit in a 425 degree oven, for about 30 minutes or more. Your taste.

Turning vegetables in Asian pear and fat which has collected in bottom of pan, and cook with pork bellies.

Once done, let sit for 10 minutes and slice; serve with salad and vegetables.

I took the bits of veggies and pork and pears in bottom of pan, separated the fat, and made a gravy of sorts.

Hubs thoroughly enjoyed this, as I.

Lemon Chicken and Potato Dumplings

Just a post about winter eating. Nothing fancy. Collard and mustard greens with some chard sauteed in garlic, pepper, salt and a squeeze of lemon; add some chicken stock to the pan after removing and cook your dumplings. Add some heavy cream and a dusting of flour to thicken. Maybe another splash of lemon, as I always do.

Brown some chicken breast with the same seasonings, douse with more lemon juice and zest, and you've got yourself a great weekend sports or award show meal. Nothing fancy like I said. Just good! Don't forget to open a Chardonnay and Enjoy your weekend!

Gluten Free White Lasagna

Back in late January when we had this, I made this...

White Spinach Lasagna and BBQ Roasted Chicken (and in my new clay dish from Spain).

Making pasta with gluten free ingredients is a bit tough, but I wanted to try it.  I found this interesting recipe on an Examiner site for Soyghetti, so I decided to give it a try. Soy flour was hard to find, but I had Whole Earth order it for me and mixed it with Quinoa flour.

If you do not have a pasta roller, then you might want to invest in one. My client wanted to make it too, since she has never tried some of the things I do. She is an expert Indian roti maker, she can roll it out paper thin if needed. So we both began rolling out the pasta.

We made the sauce bechemel style, and added egg to the spinach and onion to help it stick together, because I forgot Parmesan cheese. Only had Tex-mex. It still tasted good. The men in our life loved it. The pasta was place in a glass dish sprayed with non-stick spray, and simply layered with ingredients.

The BBQ Chicken- I mixed Tandoori paste with tomato sauce and barbeque sauce recipe just playing around, and it had this really great flavor! We will be having this again.