Cuisine: Pork Fried (After a Long Weekend) Rice

I love all types of fried rice. Whether it is curried Vietnamese fried rice or Mongolian beef fried rice or fried rice and beans. All of them are wonderful, especially as a comfort food on cloudy, foggy days.

The key to perfectly cooked fried rice starts with day-old cooked rice. If you don't, it will turn out okay. But it will not be as crisp with the tiny charred bits that make fried rice so delectable.

This recipe seems involved, and it kind of is. But it is broken out into three phases to make it a little more understandable and sequential. Follow this recipe as is, and you will have perfectly spicy pork fried rice.

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Phase One
You Will Need:
4 cups Jasmine Rice, cooked and set aside
1/2 Yellow Onion, diced
1 White Onion, diced
3 Carrots, peeled and diced
2 Serrano Peppers, cored, seeded and diced
5 cloves of Garlic, sliced
2 Tbsp. Butter
1 to 2 Tbsp. Grapeseed Oil
2 Tbsp. Water
Salt to taste

What To Do:
Melt 1 Tbsp. butter and 1 Tbsp. oil in a pan.
Add onions and carrots, and saute 10 minutes.
Add serrano and garlic.
Add butter, and if needed - more oil.
Saute mixture for 10 minutes.
Add water.
Saute 5 to 10 more minutes - or until water evaporates.
Set Aside.


Phase 2
You Will Need:
3 Pork Chops, diced
1/2 tsp. White Pepper
1/2 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Garlic Powder
1 tsp. Onion Powder
1 Tbsp. Butter
1 Tbsp. Oil

What To Do:
Melt butter and heat oil over medium heat.
Combine ALL ingredients (from this phase - pork, pepper, salt, etc), and saute until the pork is slightly crispy.


Phase 3:
Add the onion mixture (Phase 1) to the Pork Mixture (Phase 2), and add the Jasmine Rice.

To this mixture, you will add:
1 tsp. Soy Sauce Paste
2 Tbsp. Chili Paste
2 Tbsp. Butter

What to do:
Mix ALL INGREDIENTS and cook, covered, over low heat for about 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Make sure the bottom browns, but doesn't blacken!

Cuisine: Tex-Mex Cheesy Corn Casserole

Today, was a Margaret day. It meant a good meal and some wandering. I always enjoy these days. After a lovely lunch at Kate's Kitchen and letting Walter back into the house, we found our way to an LGBTQ spiritual gathering that Cindy invited us to. It was wrapping up, and afterwards Margaret told Cindy about our common shoulder aches. Cindy offered some acupuncture at her office a few doors down. We couldn't resist. It was wonderful and healing.

Later, we walked her dog and drank some tea. It was casual meandering with good friends. A perfect unplanned day.

The evening ended with Cindy driving me part the way home. As we rode down Divisidero, she told me about her love of corn chowder. I'm not a huge fan of corn chowder, but her description of it made me crave it or something like it.

I got home and opened the freezer. There was corn. I immediately set to find recipes among the myriad cookbooks on my shelves. After some tinkering, the Tex-Mex Cheesy Corn Casserole was born.

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Ingredients:
2 anaheim peppers, whole
1 pasilla pepper, whole
3 jalapenos, whole
2 small yellow onions, quartered
1 head garlic, cloves broken apart
3 cubes bullion
2 1/2 cups water
2 tsp tex mex chili powder
3 bay leaves

2 cups frozen corn, thawed

1 cup buttermilk
6 saltines, crushed

1 cup uncooked long grain rice

8 oz munster
4 oz parmesan

Directions:
Turn the oven to broil. Place the peppers, onions, and garlic in a cast iron skillet or oven-proof baking dish and put it in the broiler. Check every 3-4 minutes turning when needed. Remove when all sides have browned.

Notes on roasting

Onions - Leave the dry, flaky outer layer of the onion on. Place the onions skin side down on the baking dish. Remove onions when outer layer is dark brown. Remove it and one more layer. Cut off tips and roots.

Peppers - Make sure to rotate the peppers frequently. After you remove the peppers, place in a bowl and cover. Let sit for 10 minutes. Peel and remove seeds.

Garlic - Keep the skin on the cloves. The garlic cloves is perfect when it is a nice golden brown color on all sides.

Dice all onions, peppers, and garlic. Set aside.

Boil a large pot of water. Add rice. Boil for 10 minutes. Drain setting aside 2 1/2 cups water. Set the rice aside.

Mix buttermilk and saltines together. Set aside.

Mix bullion cubes, water, peppers, onions, garlic, tex-mex chili powder, and bay leaves together in a large sauce pan. Add corn. Cook covered for 10 minutes. Cool.

Using a food processor, blend one half of the corn mixture into a coarse cream. Pour into a bowl. Place the second half of the mixture in the food processor. Pulse mixture two to three times. Pour into the bowl. Mix in buttermilk mixture.

Grate the munster and parmesan.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9X9 baking dish. Place half of the cooked rice in the bottom of the pan. Layer half the corn mixture on top of rice. Layer half of the cheese on top. Layer the rice. Layer the corn mixture. Top with cheese. Bake for 25-35 minutes until edges are brown and bubbling. Cool for 10 minutes.