Saturday, August 28, 2010

Lechon Asado - Citrus Marinated Roast Pork

This smells WONDERFUL in my oven at the moment. So I must admit my blog is a bit premature because I have not even eaten the pork yet but I'm fairly certain it'll be a hit. Overall it was very easy to make and inexpensive as well.

1/4 cup finely chopped onion
6 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup orange juice
3 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspooon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 (2-lb) boneless center cut pork loin roast, trimmed
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
12 carrots, cut into 2 inch chunks.
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- Combine the first 8 ingredients into a large zip close plastic bag. Add the pork to the bag. Squeeze the air out and seal the bag. Turn to coat. Refrigerate for about 3 hours, turning bag occasionally.

- Preheat the oven to 425 F. Place a rack in a large roasting pan and spray the rack with nonstick spray.
*Note: I used a roasting pan but didnt have a rack that was quite right so I skipped that part. Still sprayed nonstick spray, but put the pork directly in the pan.

- Remove the pork from the plastic bag and place on the rack (*or in the pan*). Sprinkle the pork with salt/pepper. Spray carrots with olive oil nonstick spray (or drizzle olive oil) and arrange them around the pork. Road until carrots are tender and pork registers 160F for medium.
*Note: I also cut up small red potatoes, seasoned them up with salt/pepper and other herbs, then added it with the carrots around the pork.

- When pork is done, transfer to cutting board and stand for 10 minutes. Then cut and serve.
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When you make the marinade, then especially when you are cooking the pork, your kitchen will smell SO GOOD. The orange juice/lime juice and the garlic and cumin and red pepper flakes makes such a yummy smell.

The timer just beeped! Time to go check it and so here goes nothin'! ;) Yum!

Monday, August 23, 2010

Fruit Salad with Mint

Really wanted something sweet and cool on this HOT evening to go along with my fried fish.....I remembered wanting to make fruit with mint. I googled recipes and found this and made it! SO GOOD. Try it - with any seasonal fruit you can find. The almond extract in it is amazing and adds just a hint of yumminess. Also I have a TON of mint in my yard so it was pretty convenient to use...

Oh yeah.....I just bought little containers of the fruit, I didnt pay attention to the actual measurements according to the recipe. For this you can't go wrong!

INGREDIENTS

1 pt strawberries
1 pt blueberries
1 mango peeled, sliced (I got presliced from Trader Joes :-)
1 peach peeled and cubed. (I left this out completely, no ripe ones at the store. . . )
1/8 cup simple syrup (Instructions below)
1/4 cup lime juice (about 3 limes)
1/2 cup fresh mint chopped
1/8 tsp almond extract

Chop and mix fruit as desired.

SIMPLE SYRUP

Equal parts water & sugar. Boil water and then mix in sugar until dissolved fully. Remove immediately from heat then cool completely.
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In a blender combine chopped mint, simple syrup, lime juice and almond extract. Blend together then pour over fruit. Refrigerate (overnight is great for flavors to meld) for at least an hour and serve!

It was YUM!!! Hope you enjoy!

Beer Battered Fish

Beer Batter

1 (12 oz) bottle beer
2 cups all purpose flour
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Pepper
About 1 1/2 lbs flaky white fish (I used Tilapia .... Cod works, so does Ruffy, Halibut, etc.)
Cut fish into strips about 1" wide and between 4-6" long

In dutch oven or large deep skillet, heat canola oil (or just whatever frying oil you want to use) to 375 degrees F.

In large bowl pour 1 large bottle of beer. Sift 1 1/2 cups flour into the bowl (sifting prevents lumps), whisk gently until combined. Stir in salt, pepper and garlic pepper (just pinches to taste...probably about 1 tsp each or so).

Pat fish dry, coat both sides with salt/pepper. Coat fish in batter, then dredge in the rest of the flour (it says 1/2 cup but I used more than that for the 2nd dredge...) and then put in oil (gently). Do it in batches, not too many pieces of fish in the oil at once. about 4 to 5 minutes per piece of fish. Until golden brown and the fish is cooked through. Transfer done fish to paper towel covered plate or pan to drain off oil.

Season with more salt when finished and still hot....!

We loved this! The oil turns a bit brown towards the end so you might want to switch out to fresh oil if you are doing a large batch.

We LOVE Malt Vinegar and tarter sauce.... =) French fries are a great pair with fried fish of course.....