Vietnamese Glazed Pork Chops

We got a new cookbook over the holidays. American Express gave away the 2009 Food and Wine Annual Cookbook to card members who were willing to pay shipping. We are always easily persuaded to indulge in free cookbooks, so we signed up and have been pleasantly surprised. The book now has lots of little post it pages on recipes that we'd like to try in the future.

This was Bob's first effort. I have learned from him to love Vietnamese food. This dish reminded me of a pork chop that we've eaten at our favorite New York Vietnamese restaurant, Saigon Grill on the upper west side. We tried a similar dish at a restaurant in Salt Lake last week. While Bob felt that these pork chops weren't perfect for the dish (they were a little on the thick side), I thought the flavor was remarkable. We cut the meat into strips to make it easier to manage with chopsticks.

Vietnamese Glazed Skinny Pork Chops
(Serves 4)
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup Asian fish sauce (available at Asian or international grocery stores)
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 medium shallots, very finely chopped
2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper
8 think-cut pork loin chops on the bone (about 6 ounces each)
Salt
1/4 cup chopped salted peanuts

In a large bowl, combine the vegetable oil with the honey, fish sauce, garlic, shallots and pepper. Add the pork chops, turn to coat thoroughly with the marinade and refrigerate over night.

Light a grill. Lightly season the pork chops with salt. Brush the grill with oil and cook the pork chops over very high heat until nicely charred and just cooked through, about three minutes per side. Scatter the peanuts on top and serve right away over Jasmine rice.

Pizza!

Homemade pizza is probably our family's favorite meal. Our teenage kids have been known to change plans and stay home (on weekend nights, even) when they hear we are having pizza. We've tried a variety of toppings. In a later post (after we make them again), I'll include the recipes for our Chicken Feta Basil pizza and Bob's barbecue chicken pizza. I'll also try to post the recipe for the somewhat involved pizza sauce that I make from garden produce and bottle every summer.

The first time we made pizza at home was with the help of our friends Blake and Catherine, who are true experts. They introduced us to the magic of the pizza stone (which we had stored in our pantry since our wedding but had never used). We've actually gone through several stones in the meantime, and now have two that are well seasoned and well used--they are also great for baking bread, giving the finished product a lovely crust. See here, for example.

Our crust recipe has evolved somewhat over time as we've experimented with and combined different recipes. This recipe makes three large pizzas, which is usually enough to feed our crew for dinner and a rewarmed snack the next day (warm the pizza on the pizza stone for best results).

Pizza Crust
2 T. + ¼ t. instant yeast (if you aren't using instant yeast, activate the yeast in the warm water. Adding the sugar will make it come to life faster).
2 ½ cups warm water
2 ½ t. sugar
2 ½ t. salt
5 T. olive oil
6 ¼ cups flour

Mix together in stand mixer or large bowl; knead for 7-8 minutes. Let rise until double. Divide into three equal portions and roll out flat (we make them as close as possible to the size of the pizza stone). Add sauce and toppings and bake at 550 degrees for about six minutes.

We have found that order matters when it comes to toppings. Here is the preferred order for our three most frequently made pizzas. Use any basic tomato or pizza sauce for the sauce. We prefer grated mozzarella cheese, which we buy in bulk from Costco and then freeze in smaller portions.

Sausage/Mushroom Pizza: Crust – 1 ½ ladles of sauce – cheese – sausage – mushrooms – onions – cheese

Combination Pizza: Crust – 1 ½ ladles sauce – cheese – sausage - onions – mushrooms – peppers – sliced olives - pepperoni – cheese

Pepperoni Pizza: Crust – 1 ½ ladles sauce – cheese – pepperoni – cheese

Here is a photo of Bob's fine assembly work on a combination pizza just before it goes in the oven (although we do put another layer of cheese on). As you can see from the photo, we use a wooden pizza peel covered with corn meal as the base for the pizza. This allows it to slide easily onto the pizza stone, which we pre-heat for 30 minutes or so in the oven.

Mimi's Buttermilk Spice Muffins

One of my earliest posts last year was about finding the recipe for Mimi's corn chowder on the Mimi's website. We were also happy to discover the recipe for their buttermilk spice muffins. I have to confess that I've never actually made this recipe. However, Bob has perfected it. This week he found some oversized muffin tins at a very good price, so now they're ready to be shown off in public.

I should note that they work perfectly well in standard-size tins, but they aren't quite as pretty (and don't make you think you're actually at Mimi's quite as much).

Mimi's Buttermilk Spice Muffins

Muffin Batter

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine

3 eggs

2 1/2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon buttermilk

Nut Topping

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup walnuts, finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Grease baking tins with butter or margarine.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a mixing bowl, cream the sugar and the butter together with an electric mixer. When they are thoroughly mixed, add eggs and beat one more minute.

Sift the flour into a separate bowl, together with the baking soda, nutmeg and the cinnamon. Add the flour and the buttermilk. Mix at low speed until smooth. To avoid lumps in the batter, add the wet and dry ingredients alternately, in small amounts.

Make the nut topping by combining all ingredients together in a small bowl.

Fill each muffin cup 3/4 full of batter. Add a full, rounded tablespoon of nut topping on top of each muffin cup of batter. Bake immediately or the topping will sink to the bottom of the muffin.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. Recipe yields 12 standard-size muffins or six jumbo muffins. If using the jumbo muffin pans, reduce the oven temperature by 25 degrees and increase the baking time by 5-10  minutes.