Coconut and lemongrass braised pork

I was looking forward to this recipe. Curry, turmeric, and cardamom were a few of the spices in the mix, and I had never cooked with lemongrass or celery root. Let me start with the celery root....one scary looking bulb. Once cooked it tasted like celery, but felt like a potato...pleasantly surprised and I may try making celery root faux mashed potatoes. The recipe also called for coconut milk. We ended up going with the lower fat version, but I think this may have been a mistake b/c after all was said and done, I did not taste any coconut flavor. I don't have a good dutch oven, so my (thankfully) ovenproof Ikea pot had to do. Maybe it impacted the dish, maybe not, but overall Norman and I were not impressed with the dish. For the money spent on all the spices and ingredients, I expected more flavor. Maybe I'll like the next one, Dorie....

Strawberry, tomato, and basil salad

I know I've been absent for awhile, so please forgive me! I semi-cheated on this recipe b/c I didn't have time to do it myself, but I happened to be at my mom's house the night she was going to make it, so we tag teamed it. She bought the ingredients, and I chopped :-). It was essentially a modified caprese salad. Olive oil, basil, mozzerella, balsamic, tomato, and strawberries. Surprisingly the strawberry and tomato combination was very good, and I would definitely recommend this one! Unfortunately I don't have a picture, but if you check out my mom's page, http://motherhubbardscupboard-motherhubbard.blogspot.com/, to see her post on it.

Stay tuned for my next one!

Roasting Rhubarb...how easy!

This week's recipe is for roasted rhubarb. Sounds easy enough since I roast things all the time. Rhubarb, sugar, orange zest...can't get any simpler! Here's what I started with.

And here's what I ended with! It's being served over fat free frozen yogurt. Note to self: I need to start spiking sugar with citrus zest more often! This would be a perfect dessert to bring for 4th of July festivities b/c you can serve it hot, room temperature, or cold! Enjoy the long weekend!

p.s. I still need to get a scrubbie!

And so we begin Around My French Table....with Cola and Jam Spareribs

The Around My French Table cookbook by Dorie Greenspan is no joke. A little over 500 pages filled with recipes! I can barely get it to stay open it's so thick (I think this legitimizes adding a cookbook stand to the registry)! We're basing our blog off the French Fridays with Dorie blog. The goal is to cook one recipe and blog about it on a weekly basis. My mom and sister will be joining me on this adventure...it was their idea to begin with! I was hesitant at first b/c of the commitment of having to go grocery shopping every single week (I loathe the grocery store), but got more excited as I thought about all the new things I would learn in this book. I reallly do love to cook, but I'm no master by any stretch of the word. It will be interesting to see how the three of us, with very different styles in the kitchen, will manage with the same recipe. We've also never blogged before, so it will be a good 'technology' challenge for all of us :-)
2 hours and 30 minutes to go:

Cola and jam spareribs... I'm not sure what to think of this recipe yet, but it does smell pretty good as I'm waiting for it to roast. Already (yes, I know it's day one), I've made a substitution...but not intentionally. The recipe called for ground ginger, and I had a mental misstep thinking it meant freshly grated ginger. Grated...ground, hopefully there's not a big difference in taste. It definitely made the consistency of the dry rub not so dry. I also had to use 2, 9x13 glass baking dishes to cook the ribs since I don't have a roasting pan (really looking forward to that shiny, metal monstrosity from our registry!).

30 Minutes to go:

So far they are looking pretty good. Only a little smoke as the basting liquid disappears. For the last 30 minutes I'm adding cola to the mix. Yes, Coco-Cola. Who wouldn't want their ribs roasting and basting in sugary goodness?! I'm really wishing I had a turkey baster...it would make the basting go much more smoothly. While I understand the importance, this basting every 5 minutes is really getting annoying. My clear glass pans have also turned the color of the ribs. Time to invest in a good scrubbie.

Finally finished!:

So, here's the finished product. I'm serving with toasted almond rice pilaf from a box (I'm not THAT motivated). Now, I know it photographed like a burnt nightmare, but keep in mind the Coke reduced, and was glazing the pork spareribs. Neither Norman or I really like them, but we didn't hate them either. I can't say I would make them again, or necessarily recommend the recipe.

I think I've made a good start, so see you all next week when we tackle roasted rhubarb!