Friday
Jul062012

Thin Crust, Saliva Inducing Nirvana

Like pizza? Don't eat it often to keep your waist line happy? Non-sense! Thin crust pizzas are generally much lower in carbs and calories than the thicker crust counterparts and fall well within most people's daily caloric allowance. The trick of course is not to throw back an entire pizza in one sitting!

Sunday
Jun242012

Boneless Ribs

Boneless Ribs

The wait is over! It's time to get your "sticky fingers" on!

Like a few posts before this one, this will be more a technique than a recipe. The idea is simple: Butterfly a pork tenderloin, pound it thin, rub it down with spices, sear it, simmer it, sauce it up, bake it, enjoy.

To start, you'll want to trim any silver skin from the tenderloin. Silver skin is stringy and relatively unappetizing, so get rid of it.

Next, you want to butterfly the loin. Simply rub some freshly caught butterflies all over the loin and move on.. jokes! To properly butterfly the loin, slice it lengthways almost all the way through and open it up like a book. Place a sheet of plastic wrap over the loin and pound it thin. If you don't have a good meat mallet, just use a heavy frying pan or dutch oven. If your angry, use your fists.

Now its time to get dirty. Mix up your favourite spice rub and slather it on. Using your hands will make you a serious home cook. Using a spoon or brush will make you a wuss.

If you don't have a spice rub recipe, feel free try this one:

1 tsp paprika (sweet or smoked)

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp dried thyme

a pinch of cayenne (or more if you like it spicy)

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

 

Now, crank a pan up to medium-high heat, add a tsp or two of canola or safflower oil and sear them loins. About 1-2 minutes per side should suffice.

Remove the pork from the pan and toss in a tbsp or so of good quality tomato paste. Allow it cook for a minute or 2 and deglaze with a half cup of good quality stock or beer.

Reduce the heat to low, toss the meat back in the pan with a few cloves of garlic, half an onion and a few of your favourite fresh herbs. Thyme and bay leaves work well here. Cover with a lid and allow it to simmer for about 20 minutes.

Remove the pork from the pan, slather it up with your favourite BBQ sauce and toss under a hot broiler for about 3-5 minutes per side. You want the sauce to be sticky yet gooey, without burning.

Voila, you just made boneless ribs!

 

 

 

Wednesday
Jun132012

There's Nothing Whole Wheat About This Whole Wheat Crust!

Pizza as part of a healthy diet you say? Absolutely! This is a great pizza dough that is simple to make (It literally requires no kneading), much healthier than the white flour alternatives and to be frank, just as tasty. You might not even know it's whole wheat, except.. I just told you.

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Monday
Jun112012

Morrocan Sole Food!

Moroccan Healthy Sole Foil

Ok, I admit, I have no idea what a Moroccan person (Morocconian?) would consider soul food, but I decided to roll with the clever title.

I love meals that are cooked in pouches. I don't know why, but I think it has something to do with cracking into that foil package and finding a pile of flavourful, steaming hot grub. It's like finding a buried treasure, only instead of treasure its food, and instead of being buried it comes from your oven. Same difference.

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Monday
Jun112012

I'll Have a Green Tea Please!

 

I've recently come to the conclusion that green tea (as well as white tea, black tea, rooibos, etc) makes me feel good. I'm not entirely sure why though. Maybe, its the relatively modest amount of caffeine, the cancer fighting anti-oxidants or.. maybe it's all in my head.

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