Fennel-Rubbed Pork with Shallot-Pomegranate Reduction

This may be the first legitimate "OMG" recipe of the year. The unique zing of the fennel, the pungency of the cracked pepper, and the sweetness of the pomegranate all come together and you close your eyes and hum.

It's that good. And just to ice the cake, it's easy.

Fennel-Rubbed Pork with Shallot-Pomegranate Reduction

The only question is, what to serve with it. We had a spinach salad, which was fine, and a simple rice pilaf (I didn't make the walnut couscous the link suggests), which was "meh." Maybe the couscous would have been better.

The reduction does tend to run all over the plate, which makes presentation a tad tricky. I'd love to make this for a dinner party someday, and if I did, I think I'd serve in courses, give this the messy run of the plate and maybe have a little risotto or something separately (ooh, an excuse to make lemon risotto again!).

Moroccan-Style Vegetable Stew with Harissa Yogurt Sauce

Sometimes I don't even make it all the way through the first read of a recipe before I'm starting to make changes. "Blanching the root vegetables shortens the stew's cooking time." Um... right. Because the blanching doesn't take any time, and another pot? And I'm not making a special trip to some other store in hopes they have harissa when the recipe only wants a teaspoon.

See the recipe here

Those quibbles aside, we stay vegetarian on Fridays in Lent (mind you, we generally have at least a couple of meatless meals per week for no particular reason), and this recipe came in a recent magazine, and seemed ideal for a day I'd be working at home and had some time to fuss around.

This, in fact, turned out to be the case. A bit of chopping, a bit of simmering, and there was an appallingly healthy dinner. It was perfectly okay, but I'm not sure it's worthy of becoming a regular dish. I'll have to give it a bit of thought.

The most astonishing thing about the meal was that L did not have hysterics when faced with her bowl of "carrot stew." Instead she delicately removed and dissected a chickpea, ate it, then pushed her bowl away (she ended up eating raw baby carrots for dinner; at least she's getting a vegetable...). JJ, on the other hand, spent most of the time trying to unplug the telephone until finally I put him in the playpen, which he hates. He has a cold and is generally being a grumpy little guy in the evenings this week.

Trying to get back into the blogging thing....

Sauteéd Chicken Cutlets with Asparagus, Spring Onions, and Parsley-Tarragon Gremolata

Another mile-long recipe name from Bon Appetit. No pictures from me, but there's one after the link.

Sauteéd Chicken Cutlets with Asparagus, Spring Onions, and Parsley-Tarragon Gremolata

This was a very nice spring meal, light and satisfying, and of course anything that gives me an excuse to eat asparagus is good. It wasn't much work at all once the gremolata was put together, and the flavor combination was... I want to say sprightly, but that sounds precious. It was tasty, leave it at that.

We have been insanely busy lately, but I wanted to mention two important kid milestones: L is finally and completely potty-trained, and JJ is sleeping through the night. Hooray!

Yes, I am Still Here

Busy, busy, busy, but I do have a couple of new recipes on the menu this week, so I hope to have time to write them up.

We'll miss you, Pam

Last Tuesday I found out that Pam C., the founder and organizer of our supper club and a woman I have been pleased to consider a friend, passed away. Saturday we attended her funeral. There's been no discussion as yet of whether we'll continue to meet.

Goal Roundup - February

Continuing the year's self-examination....

• Buy a house - We went out and looked at one yesterday. It had some nice features, but like so many we've seen, needs a lot of work. We also drove around another town we've got on our list of possibles and deemed it worth keeping. B
  
• Decluttering - Got rid of the old futon, four boxes of kids' clothes, and a bunch of broken toys. A+!
• Finance - Excuses, excuses. Did not meet target. D
• Health/Fitness - I lifted weights... once. C
  
• Food-Related - I did finally make soup with dried beans, and you can tell the difference. Have not been trying too many new things, though, and my tracking has suffered as other projects eat into precious free time. C
• Wish list control - Given how much we spent on other stuff this month, I am going to give myself a pass on this one.
  

I think that works out to a C.

Toujours Provence

This is the book that I picked up while we were in Providence on Valentine's Day. I hate to leave a used book store without buying something--it's so hard to keep these stores going--and I figured that even with my schedule of late, I should be able to get through this.

I've read three of his other collections, and found myself disappointed by this one. Without any sort of organizing theme, it's really just a collection of anecdotes that didn't make the cut previously, and probably shouldn't have this time; some are amusing, but too many of them touch on subjects we already know without adding luster. A "gotta get paid" book if ever I saw one. I'll keep rereading French Lessons regularly, and probably give this one a miss.