YiMT: Nothing about this meal is kosher

This week's recipes feature pork -- two types of pork -- with cheese. In the same dish. On the same plate. Astounding! Outlandish! Not! Kosher! I only mention this because a couple of the girls in the house where I live try to keep their meals kosher, and I've only recently come to realize how entirely non-kosher my diet is. It's pretty surprising.

This meal is actually kind of a funny story (in my head, at least) because it shows just how inept I am at shopping. After receiving my first paycheck from my new job last week (HUZZAH), I spent a fair amount of time organizing my finances because, frankly, they had gotten wonky since my move to Brookline. And they're still a bit wonky, but that's mostly because I was living without any income for two solid months. Anyway. Getting paid also meant that I had money to stock up on food for the next couple weeks, and that's probably my favorite part about getting paid. If you haven't figured it out by now, dear reader, I enjoy food. I enjoy the experience of cooking, experimenting, trying what I've created, and feeling accomplished and full. It's fun. And basically amounts to edible science.

So I went shopping. And I didn't actually buy enough ingredients to constitute any one recipe or meal idea, despite the handful that was floating around my noggin. I only had about 2/3 of any given meal. Go me. And yet, Monday night's dinner was a feast.

First course
Aged cheddar and chipotle pepper hummus on fresh baguette. No recipe required. Delicious. Aged cheddar is one of the greatest cheeses of all time. OF ALL TIME.

Also, chipotle pepper hummus is perfect. Smoky and a little spicy and darned scrumptious. Trader Joe's knows its way to my heart.

Is this love?

Second course
Here come the recipes! I knew I wanted pork chops for dinner and wanted asparagus as a side dish, but I've never actually cooked asparagus on my own before. Back in San Diego, my family has an asparagus steamer, which is awesome. But I'm not about to go out and buy one of those simply because I don't have that particular pot yet. If I practiced that kind of spending, I'd be perennially broke.

That's where my iPod came handy. I went to my handy dandy Whole Foods app and looked up recipes featuring asparagus... and found the perfect one!

Prosciutto-Wrapped Asparagus

Ingredients
(for up to 4 people)
24 stalks of asparagus, trimmed
4 thin slices of prosciutto
Ground black pepper
2 Tbsp grated parmesan
1 lemon, quartered (optional)

Rachel's Notes
To trim asparagus stalks, you simply cut a bit off the ends. How much? Well, the ends of asparagus stalks are usually quite hard and not super edible, so use your best judgement and cut off as much as appears to be too tough to chew. In my experience, it's usually only an inch or two and covers the bottom of the stalk that isn't entirely green. Also, I've never seen anything other than thinly-sliced prosciutto available for sliced prosciutto at a reasonable price at a grocery store. Trader Joe's (I think they've bought my soul at this point) usually has good prices.

Directions

1. Preheat over to 425°F.
2. Place asparagus in a large skillet and barely cover with water. Bring water to a boil and cook just until tender (2-3 minutes).
3. Drain asparagus and transfer to a bowl of ice water to cool down and stop the cooking. Drain well.
4. Create four bundles of asparagus by wrapping one slice of prosciutto around 6 stalks. Place bundles on a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil and sprinkle with black pepper and parmesan.
5. Roast until cheese is golden brown (4-5 minutes).
6. (Optional) Serve with lemon wedges on the side.

Rachel's Notes
The ice water thing is kinda weird. I've never seen it in a recipe before, but it works just fine and makes handling the stalks much easier when they're not piping hot. I didn't serve the bundles with lemon, but think that it would make a fantastic addition -- will be adding it next time!

Fresh out of the oven!

Travers de porc aux oignons
(Adapted from Etudiants aux fourneaux! by Cyril Lignac, p.40)

Ingredients
(For 4 people)
4 pork chops, loins, or ribs
1 medium onion
Ground black pepper, salt
Spices
Soy sauce
Olive oil or sunflower oil

Rachel's Notes
I've tinkered with this recipe a lot. The original asks for 2 bunches of green onions instead, and since I'm not really a fan of those, I simply traded them out with a regular yellow onion. Works like a charm. Also, since I am a bargain shopper, I find that I can often get a better deal on pork chops and pork loins than on ribs. I also prefer cooking without bones. The recipe is great with all three cuts, though, as I've seen over time. Try them all! I normally prefer oregano or herbes de Provence as my "spices." Sunflower oil adds a better flavor, but can be hard to come by for a cheap price.

Directions

1. Peel the onion and chop into bite-size pieces. Set aside.
2. Salt and pepper the pork, then add spices. Cook pork in olive oil or sunflower oil in a pan until 2/3 - 3/4 is no longer pink.
3. Add onions to the pan and cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Add soy sauce, cover, and let cook an additional 5-10 minutes.

Rachel's Notes
Cooking time varies somewhat significantly based on your stove and cut of pork. This type of meat is far too easily dried out, despite all the liquid it's cooking in, so your best bet in this case is to cook by sight and go until the pork is no longer pink -- and not much longer. I usually follow something close to this time scale for pork chops (the cut I use the most often).

Here's what the second course looked like:

Third course
Dessert! Which I usually like to eat at any and all times of the day and night. Dessert last night was Trader Joe's Coffee Bean Blast ice cream. I think it's probably the best coffee flavored ice cream I've ever had. Certainly better than what the dining halls at Wellesley had...

Wine of the meal
Ravenswood 2010 Vintners Blend Old Vine Zinfandel

I've been stocking up on wine for an evening of cards and frivolity with friends, but Ravenswood is not something I normally share. The Vintners Blend is the cheaper line of wines from Ravenswood, and the winery is one that I've known about since before I was in high school. My parents enjoyed a bottle of zinfandel now and then, and my dad was (still is) a particular fan, as I recall, of Ravenswood zinfandel. I consider this wine to be the poor daughter's version of pretending to be like her parents. As such, I tend to drink this wine only with family or very, very close friends or by myself.

Here's what the winery's fact sheet has to say about this wine:
"Not a poser Zin, but a real one. Big, bold, unapologetic. This 2010 rendition leads the charge with tantalizing aromas of black cherry, raspberries, and blueberries along with hints of oak. It then gets really serious with a cascade of fruit flavors, oh-so-flexible tannins, and a long, fruit-forward finish you’re not going to forget very easily."

I won't forget this wine based on my own personal history with the winery and my desire to be more like my dad. It's fairly robust and pairs well with pork dishes. In fact, barbecue pork ribs are a suggested pairing. The black cherry, raspberries, and blueberries are present in the flavors and aromas, sure enough, although the blueberries aren't as strong for me. In fact, I'm much more inclined to agree with the back of the label, which denotes flavors of raspberries, cherries, and boysenberries.

This is a wine for people who like wine, I feel. And by that, I mean people who drink red wine on a regular enough basis that the its drier, bolder tendencies don't scare them off. It's a good wine to go with a flavorful meal, and I think it's nice to have a glass of it nearby while one is preparing said flavorful meal. If, dear reader, you ever end up in my home for dinner one evening, and I break out a bottle of this stuff (or, hopefully one day when $20 per bottle doesn't seem extravagant, the County Series Zinfandel, which is what I remember my parents drinking), then you'll know you've made it into my inner circle.

Peace, love, and nostalgic wines,

Rachel