What's for Dinner? Roast Pork with Romesco Sauce!

Pork sirloin was on sale the other day and when thinking of what to do with it, I remembered this recipe I made a while back with this Romesco sauce.  It is a really awesome and different sauce that they make in the Catalonia region of Spain that's made of nuts and roasted peppers (among other things).  It is easy to whip together and adds great flavor to pork, chicken or fish (or really any protein).  The recipe makes a lot so you can keep the leftovers in your fridge and use the sauce on whatever you like.  It just gets better and better!  Definitely give this one a try.  I hope you will like it!

Roasted Pork with Romesco Sauce
Serves as many as your pork allows!

• 1 pork tenderloin or sirloin
• salt
• pepper
• paprika (smoked or regular)
• 2 TBSP olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped and 2 whole
• 1/2 cup marcona almonds (you can get these at Whole Foods...if you can't find them, use salted smoked almonds)
• 1 cup stale white bread
• 1 tomato, seeded and cored and roughly chopped
• 1 jar of roasted red peppers, drained
• 1 TBSP sherry (or red wine) vinegar
• 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• salt and pepper

Place pork in a roasting pan and rub with salt, pepper, paprika, olive oil and chopped garlic.  Roast on 350 until pork temp reaches 155. Remove from oven and cover with foil.  Let sit for 20 minutes.

In a food processor, add almonds, garlic cloves and bread and process until finely chopped.  Add remaining ingredients except olive oil and turn on processor.  Add olive oil in a slow drizzle until it is all combined.  Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve over pork. Enjoy!

What's for Dinner? Spanish Fideuà (aka Noodle Paella)!

I love paella.  It has everything good...rice, seafood, sausage!  When we were in Barcelona, I remember seeing this thing called Fideua on the menu...it was actually a noodle version of paella--even better!  I really wanted to try it, but we ran out of time before I got a chance. Today as I was thinking about what to make for dinner, I remembered I had some fideos (which is just the Spanish word for noodles) that I bought at the Mexican mart last time I went.  They are actually just dried vermicelli noodles, cut into about 1-inch pieces.  I thought it may be a little quicker than the rice version and I surprisingly had everything else to do the (quick version) of the recipe.  It was awesome and super fast to make.  All the good flavor of paella, without the sweating over the hot pan while the rice slowly cooks!  It would be great with even more seafood (i.e. mussels, scallops, etc.)...I just used shrimp because that is what I had!  And I used lowfat turkey smoked sausage, trying to keep it a little lighter, but would also be excellent with Spanish chorizo, as the traditional dish calls for.  Give it a try!!  Enjoy.

Spanish Fideua (aka Noodle Paella)
Serves 4-6

• 2 TBSP olive oil, divided
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lb smoked sausage or Spanish chorizo, cut in 1 inch pieces
• 7-8 oz fideos (don't worry, if you can't find these, just cut dry angel hair or vermicelli in 1-inch pieces!)
• 1, 28-oz can diced tomatoes with juice (I use good, San Marzano tomatoes)
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 2-4 cups chicken broth
• 2 tsp Spanish smoked paprika (this is NOT regular paprika)
• 1 large pinch saffron threads
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined

In a large skillet, heat 1 TBSP oil until hot.  Saute onion until just soft.  Add garlic and sausage and saute until sausage is browned (the sausage should be pre-cooked, so you are just browning, not cooking).  Once done, scrape into bowl.  In same skillet, heat the remaining oil.  Add in dry pasta and saute until pasta starts getting a nice golden-brown color.  Once that happens, add in tomatoes, sausage/onion mixture, wine, 2 cups chicken broth, paprika and saffron.  Stir well to combine and reduce heat to a low simmer.  Let it sit now, without stirring, until the noodles look like they have absorbed most of the liquid.  Then, scrape the bottom and add in another cup of broth.  Repeat.  At the end of this, if the noodles are almost tender, add in peas and shrimp and a little more broth.  Let simmer until both shrimp and noodles are cooked and the rest of the broth is mostly absorbed (don't let the noodles cook too long...you don't want them to get mushy...you have to keep an eye on it and judge how much time you need).  Serve with some crusty bread and enjoy!

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What's for Sides? Spanish Rice!

**First of all, I must start by correcting an error in my last post.  Teriyaki is Japanese, not Chinese, as one of my dear Foodie Gurus pointed out.  She is, of course, correct, so if you are using it in a Japanese-style dish it is Teriyaki Sauce.  If you are using it for a Chinese-style dish, we'll call it Stir-fry Sauce!  There...that settles that!  :)

Tonight I was in a rice mood.  Not sure why but as I was thinking about what kind of rice, a dish came back to me that sounded good.  My roomate in college's mom used to make a version of Spanish rice and she would bring a huge batch of it down with her any time she would visit.  We would devour it like vultures (pretty much went for anything that didn't come from the cafeteria).  What was interesting about it is that it has green olives in it.  I didn't think I would like it, but it gives it a unique flavor. 

Now this rice, to me, tastes very Creole-esque.  But I guess Creole cooking is partially influenced by the Spanish. The saffron gives it more of a Spanish flair, along with the spanish olives.  If you don't have saffron, you can omit it.  If you do, maybe use the Mahatma Yellow Saffron rice in the store (just adjust the liquid to what it calls for on the packet).  If you hate olives (a lot of people I know, do), then you can omit those as well, but I do think they give this dish a little something extra.

I served this along marinated chicken and veggie shish-kabobs, but you could do just regular grilled chicken.  The rice tastes great with the chicken kind of mixed in.  I hope you enjoy!

Spanish Rice
Serves 4


2 TBSP olive oil
1/2 onion, finely diced
1/2 green bell pepper, finely diced
1/2 red bell pepper, finely diced
2 stalks celery, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp chili powder
1 1/2 cups arborio rice (or white rice...adjust fluid accordingly)
3 cups chicken broth
1 large pinch saffron
1 can diced tomato, with juice
1/3 cup sliced Spanish olives
salt and pepper to taste

In large pot, heat olive oil.  Add onion, peppers and celery and saute until they begin to soften, about 3-4 minutes.  Add garlic and heat for one minute more.  Add chili powder and stir to combine.  Add rice and cook for one minute more.  Add in 2.5 cups broth and stir.  Add in saffron. Simmer, covered, on low for about 10 minutes, stirring every several minutes. Add in tomatoes and juice and return cover.  Cook another 10 minutes or until rice is fluffy and has absorbed the liquid.  If more liquid is needed, add it.  Add in olives and stir.  Season with salt and pepper.  Serve and enjoy!

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