Parmesan Grits

Here's my healthier take on Parmesan Grits (yes, they can typically be cooked with milk or cream or smothered with butter).

I use organic yellow corn grits from Arrowhead Mills--they're wheat-free/gluten-free, a good source of whole grains, and they cook up in under ten minutes. I cook them up and then stir in a generous portion of parmesan reggiano cheese, the nutty flavor of the cheese perfectly compliments the grits.

Braised Pork Belly With Soft Polenta

Oh, the decadence!  Oh, the layers of fat and meat and more fat!  Oh, heavenly belly of pork!  

Alright, so maybe I'm not much of a poet, but if anything in the culinary universe inspires one to burst into spontaneous iambic pentameter or even just haiku, it's pork belly.  Yes, this is the cut of meat that is cured into bacon, which is how most Americans know pork belly.  Fresh pork belly, long popular in Asia and other regions of the world, hadn't made much of a dent on America's palate until recently.  David Chang of NYC noodle bar Momofuku who is famous in part for his pork belly buns even admits that a decade ago, he couldn't have called them "pork belly" and expected to sell them (by the way, I love the Momofuku cookbook and referred to it when constructing this dish).

Well, folks, that has all changed.  Bacon's popularity as a big culinary trend seems to have led people to discover pork belly itself.  Well, some people at least, like myself.  So, over the weekend, with visions of Animal's BBQ Pork Belly Sandwiches (see side picture) dancing through my head, I undertook my first attempt to braise the crap out of a fresh piece of pork belly.  Well, first I rubbed it with a mixture of salt, sugar, nutmeg and cardamom, wrapped it tightly and let it sit overnight.  Then, I braised the crap out of it in my brand new oven at 325 degrees for bordering on four hours.   During this time, I occasionally basted it in its own fat and braising juices.

Finally, after an excruciatingly long wait, I dished it up over a plateful of soft polenta.  Kuzak and I settled down before out plates and regarded our hunks of pork belly, nestled on their soft polenta pillows, topped with a piece of crispy sage.  "If it sucks, we can order pizza," I reassured him, knowing culinary experiments can go really well, or really poorly.  With that, we both tucked into our dishes and let out little noises of pleasure.  I'll sum it up this way.

Braised Pork Belly = A Little Piece Of Culinary Heaven

The luscious, velvety pork belly melted into the polenta, which it turns out is the perfect receptacle for pork belly juices.  This dish was an absolute winner, and I would make it again in a heartbeat (but not too often, if I'd like to avoid a heart attack).  And I even had two leftover chunks of braised pork belly.  No, I didn't give them to the Adorable Monster, though he did get to lick some plates.  Instead, I transformed them into pork belly ravioli the next night.   Now, that's a revelation.  Stay tuned for that recipe coming up next week!

Braised Pork Belly With Soft Polenta
Serves 4 people
Cooking time: 3-4 hours

Ingredients
1 pound fresh pork belly
1 tablespoon grapeseed or canola oil
2 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup tamari
1 cup water
1/2 cup polenta (grits)
2 cups filtered water
1/4 cup parmesan reggiano, grated
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 pieces of sage
1 tablespoon olive oil

Rub
1/4 cup Kosher salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cardamom 

Directions 

Mix together the rub ingredients and rub it all over the fresh pork belly.  Wrap tightly in plastic and allow to sit in the fridge for at least twelve hours but not longer than twenty-four hours (overnight).

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Remove the pork belly from the fridge and pat it dry.  Cut it into four pieces of equal size.  Next, heat the grapeseed oil in a braising pan over medium-high heat.  Quickly, sear the pork belly pieces on all sides until golden brown.  Add the chicken stock, tamari and water to the pan.  Cover tightly and place in the oven.  Braise the pork belly for about three to four hours, occasionally basting the pieces and making sure they stay moist.  If needed, more water can be added.

Once the pork belly has taken on a pillowy texture and is fork tender, remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly.

Meanwhile, add the 2 cups of filtered water, polenta (grits) and about 1/2 teaspoon of salt to a pot and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Cover and reduce to a simmer.  Cook for 5 minutes or until they reach desired consistency.  Stir in the parmesan and season to taste with salt and pepper.  Finally, fry the sage leaves in the olive oil over medium-high heat and allow to drain on a paper towel.

To plate, spoon the soft polenta onto a plate in a circle.  Top with a piece of braised pork belly and place a crispy sage leaf on top.  Enjoy!

Source For Ingredients
fresh pork belly, tamari, grapeseed oil, organic olive oil, organic sage, organic grits, organic nutmeg, organic cardamom, Kosher salt and organic chicken broth from Whole Foods

parmesan reggiano from Surfas

Wine Pairing
We paired a bottle of Carlisle 2007 Zinfandel, Carlisle Vinyard, Russian River Valley with the braised pork belly ($40 off the mailing list/SOLD OUT).  Robert Parker rated this wine 93 points.  It's not entirely Zinfandel, but rather a blend of 92% Zinfandel and the rest Carignan, Petite Sirah, and a few other Mediterranean red grapes.  The wine is a deep, purple color with hints of pepper and dark fruit on the palate, perfect to stand up to the very rich, braised pork belly. A truly great wine from a great producer!

Click here to visit the Carlisle's website

And check out my new pages pages at the top of my blog, including my brand new Wine page!  Or, just click here!

Simple Suppers: Grilled Chicken Sausage With Roasted Asparagus And Polenta (Plus Music On Tap Featuring Blitzen Trapper)

Happy Friday!

I can't believe how quickly the week has flown by.  Today, I thought I'd share one of my favorite quick dinners to throw together:  Grilled Chicken Sausage With Roasted Asparagus And Polenta.

I always keep a stash of spicy chicken sausages in my fridge, ready to pop into braised cassoulet or a meaty ragu sauce at a moment's notice.  However, they're great by themselves, too.  Simply throw them into a grill pan or onto a grill, and presto chango, you have the centerpiece for a great meal.  I served these grilled sausages over a soft polenta and topped the whole dish with lovely organic asparagus that I roasted in the oven.  This is a healthy, complete meal that cooks up in a flash!  So check it out!

Grilled Chicken Sausage With Roasted Asparagus And Polenta
Serves 2 people
Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients
2 chicken sausages
1/2 cup polenta (grits)
2 cups filtered water
1/4 cup parmesan reggiano, grated
1 bunch asparagus
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper

Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Snap the tips of the asparagus and place them in a roasting pan.  Drizzle them with the olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Roast in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until tender.  Remove from the oven and set aside.

Meanwhile, add the 2 cups of filtered water, polenta (grits) and about 1/2 teaspoon of salt to a pot and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Cover and reduce to a simmer.  Cook for 5 minutes or until they reach desired consistency.  Stir in the parmesan and season to taste with salt and pepper.

To cook the sausages, heat a grill pan or a grill to medium high heat.  Halve the sausages down the middle and grill them with the center part down for about 3-4 minutes or until cooked.  Flip over and grill for another few minutes.

To plate, spoon a heaping portion of the soft polenta onto a plate.  Top with a chicken sausage and the roasted asparagus.  Enjoy!

Source For Ingredients
organic andouille chicken sausages (Applegate Farms), organic grits and organic olive oil from Whole Foods

organic asparagus from Trader Joe's

parmesan reggiano from Surfas

Music On Tap

Blitzen Trapper - Furr

Great album from this Portland, Oregon band that fuses Americana with an edgy punk attitude - sort of a Ryan Adams meets Eliott Smith vibe.  I discovered the album in Kuzak's car and can't stop listening to it.  Love it!

Simple Suppers: Blackened Tilapia with Soft Polenta

Happy Friday Divas!

Here's the deal.  We should all eat more fish.

Not only more fish, but fish that's sustainable, low in mercury, in this economy, affordable, and oh yeah, tasty, too.

Whew!

Is anyone else overwhelmed by all the requirements?  Making good dietary choices can be like navigating through a minefield without losing a limb (did you see the ads and read about the new Taco Bell Drive-Thru Diet?!). One of the most readily available fish in the supermarket is farm-raised Tilapia.  It's tasty, easy to cook up and inexpensive.  But does it meet the above guidelines?

I've done the research, and while there are some asterisks that I'll discuss, the answer is yes.  Seafood Watch rates farm-raised tilapia a "best" choice when it's raised in the United States.  It's high in protein and an excellent source of phosphorus, niacin, selenium, vitamin B12, and a good source of potassium.  It's also exceptionally budget-friendly, which is important.

However, unlike the touted salmon, farm-raised tilapia is not a great source of omega-3 fatty acids.  But this isn't the poor little tilapia's fault - rather it's caused by the corn-based food most farm-raised fish are fed (this is the same reason why our meat supply is so unhealthy).  You are what you eat, and this holds true for fish as much as people.  Wild fish eat a diet rich in algae, which is the reason they contain so many omega-3's, which then trickle up the food chain to us (by the way, the same holds true for grass-fed meat).  So this could be corrected by reforming our farming practices to feed the fish a diet rich in omega-3's.  It's that simple. 

But when you consider all the choices out there and shake it out, I believe that tilapia can be part of a healthy, varied diet.  Just make sure you scoop up a handful of walnuts to get your daily dose of omega-3's from another source.

Here's a fast recipe that I whip up from time to time.  While I made it with tilapia, it would be great with catfish or snapper, too.  I serve the blackened fish over a quick soft polenta.  Just pair this meal with a veggie and you're all set (I recommend my Roasted Broccoli with Garlic and Parmesan Reggiano).

Also, don't forget to click click click away on my blog Domestic Divas!  In conjunction with Blog Away Hunger, I'm donating 100% of my January ad revenue to the World Food Program's disaster relief efforts in Haiti.  So browse through my archives - the more you view, the more money gets donated.

Blackened Tilapia with Soft Polenta
Serves 2 people
Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients
2 tilapia fillets
2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning
2 tablespoons grapeseed or canola oil
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 cup polenta (or grits), cooked per package instructions
2 teaspoons fresh thyme
salt and pepper

Directions
To make the soft polenta, cook the polenta per package instructions (should cook quickly - about 10-15 minutes).  Stir in the fresh thyme and season to taste with salt and pepper.

To make the tilapia, thoroughly coat both sides of each fillet with the Cajun seasoning.  Heat the grapeseed oil or canola oil in a saute pan over high heat until almost smoking.  Add the tilapia and reduce heat to medium.  Cook for one to two minutes, and then flip.  Continue cooking until cooked through (only a few minutes depending on thickness).  Remove from heat.

To plate, spoon some soft polenta onto a plate.  Top with a piece of fish and finish with fresh squeezed lemon juice.  Enjoy!

Source for Ingredients
farm-raised tilapia, Cajun seasoning, organic thyme and polenta from Whole Foods

Heritage Pork Tenderloin with Crispy Sage & Soft Polenta

Two days until Christmas!  Are you ready for it, divas?

I'm still holed up in Floyd, enjoying some quality time with the family.  We went to see "Avatar" yesterday, and oh my god, I have to digress into a nerdilicious rant here for a moment!  It surpassed even my lofty expectations, and when I say lofty, I mean it - I'm obsessed with 3D and have been waiting years to see this darn movie.  The movie is incredible and works on every single level.  Despite the hoopla over the 3D, this is by far the most soulful work that Cameron has ever put out, and it's perfect for the holidays.  The Wine Lover is already plotting a return trip to see it again on Christmas Day.

Best Picture anyone?

You heard it heard first.  This is the movie that should win it all, so I'll be rooting for it.

Now onto food!  

We're leaving the realm of the vegetarian (sorry all my lovely veggie readers) and moving back into meat!  I made this dish using Healthy Family Farms, CSA's Milk-Fed Heritage Pork, which is the most incredible pork into which I've ever sunk my teeth.  Forget the chicken-tasting other white meat that haunts your grocery store, this is rich, meaty, succulent, full-flavored pork that tastes the way pork used to taste before the meat industry got their hands on it and bred all the flavor out of it decades ago (they tried to make it more like chicken).  Healthy Family Farms' pork is also all natural, with no hormones or antibiotics, and raised on small family farms.

Soft Polenta with Crispy Sage

To make this dish, I simply herb-crusted and pan-roasted the thin slices of tenderloin, and served them over a soft polenta studded with chopped sage, and topped with a fried sage leaf.  Oh, wow, this was delicious!  The soft polenta with sage complimented the flavor of the pork.  I'm headed to Harvest Moon today with The Original Diva, hoping to procure some local Bright's Farm pork chops to make for dinner.  I think I just might have to serve them over polenta!

Heritage Pork Tenderloin with Crispy Sage & Soft Polenta
Serves 4 people

4 pieces of pork tenderloin (pork chops would also taste delicious)
2 tbsp herbs, such as rosemary, sage, parsley, thyme, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, chopped
2 tbsp grapeseed or canola oil
4 sage leaves
salt & pepper

soft polenta:
1 cup corn grits
3 cups water
1/2 cup parmesan reggiano, grated
2 tbsp sage, chopped
salt & pepper

Directions:

To make the polenta, place the water and corn grits in a small pot and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally to prevent clumping.  Reduce heat to simmer and continue stirring until the grits thicken (about 20 minutes).  Stir in the parmesan and sage, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, rub both sides of the pork with the herb mixture, garlic and olive oil.  Sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper.

Heat the grapeseed oil in a saute pan over medium-high heat.  Quickly, fly the sage leaves in the oil until crispy (about 2-3 minutes).  Set aside to drain on paper towels.  Then, add the pork to the pan.  Cook until golden brown (about 5 minutes), and then flip and cook on the other side for a few more minutes.  Once the pork is cooked through, remove from heat and allow to rest for 5 minutes.

To plate, place some of the soft polenta on a plate and top with a crispy sage leaf.  Then, place a piece of pork on top.  Enjoy!

Source for Ingredients:

milk-fed heritage pork tenderloin from Healthy Family Farms, CSA (Hollywood Farmers Market)

organic sage and corn grits from Whole Foods

parmesan reggiano from Trader Joe's

Music on Tap:

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Live Anthology (4 discs)

This set was an early Xmas gift from The Wine Lover, who took me to my first Tom Petty concert when I was in high school, one of the best shows I've seen to this day!  I've been listening to it on heavy rotation all week long, and I think The Wine Lover has been going with it for a month solid. It reminds you of what an incredible, and in some ways, underrated band they really are!

Here's a description from Amazon:

The Live Anthology is a multiple-disc set of recordings drawn from thirty years of live performances. The collection brings together material from 1978-2007 culled from hundreds of hours of live concert recordings covering every era of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' tours and represents the best tracks as chosen by producers Tom Petty, Mike Campbell and Ryan Ulyate. The producers made no fixes or overdubs, letting the newly mixed original recordings showcase the invention, spontaneity, craft, and the musicianship that has made Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers among the most celebrated live performers of their time.

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THIS ALBUM!