52 New Recipes | 5 Spice Pork Kebabs
Over the weekend, I took a peek through a few issues of Cook's Illustrated and listed some recipes I wanted to try.
These pork kebabs were on the list, so I gave 'em a shot on Monday.
The recipe was really easy and quick, and the kebabs looked beautiful.
But I think I am not a fan of five-spice powder. It just has so many spices that I associate with sweet baked goods and it feels weird to have those with meat.
The glaze is basically Hoisin sauce mixed with five spice powder, so maybe I'd like the kebabs pretty well without the powder.
I still have half of the pork tenderloin in the freezer, so maybe I'll experiment with that next time.
You win some, you lose some. I've encountered my fair share of duds during this project, but I still think it's been worth it because I have a big pile of new recipes that are keepers.
And heaven knows I wouldn't have tried nearly this many new recipes without doing the 52 New Recipes project.
What new recipe did you try this week?
Do share!
And I hope yours was slightly more successful than mine. 😉
I haven't made it yet but will tonight: I'm using leftover cooked brisket and will caramelize onions and add cheese and bacon to make a big sandwich for tonight. I'm not a fan of cheese on beef, such as cheeseburgers, but I'm trying this idea, which is admittedly very, very simple, to see how it tastes.
I looked at an ATK recipe yesterday for a lemony sauced chicken (since I recently joined their online site) and it looked yummy, until I realized that the sauce for cooking 3 pounds of chicken to feed four people consisted of 1 cup of broth and a half cup of juice, further reduced by cooking. I immediately thought of Kristen -- more sauce!
Haha, yes! Always MORE SAUCE.
LOL especially when it's lemony sauced chicken, the sauce is key! YUM!
I had a couple of disasters this week, not that common for me.
I decided to use my Kitchenaid shredder for a slaw and ended up with mush.
Then I used Gluten Free Bisquick to make biscuits and they fell apart and were terrible.
Ugh, I hate it when I have weeks like that. So frustrating!
My current favorite mix for gf breads/muffins is made by Simple Mills. It is almond flour based, so also has protein in it. It produces a bread with a nice mouth feel and flavor.
I think my issue with 5 Spice is the anise and fennel. Don't like black licorice candy, don't like the flavor in the spice blend!
I haven't made anything new in awhile. Too easy to throw some meat on the grill and call it good. 🙂
Yes, I think the anise is probably my biggest hangup..I associate it with pfeffernusse cookies, which I do like. But it's just weird with the meat.
I, too, don't like those two spices. I routine exclude 5 spice powder from recipes, or maybe add some ground corriander instead. It works. Chinese cuisine never developed the highly specific ingredient lists that European cooking did (although some of the techniques are definitely precise and finicky).
Haven't tried anything new recently which means I'm behind on my CIs. My goal is to try the new recipes that interest me, by the time the next issue arrives. Not this time. There are a couple of recipes that I really want to try, but are a bit intricate and/or of interest to a specific person, so the recipe needs to wait for the right circumstances. Hash Browns, I will get to you yet!
I really like the five spice combo! But everyone's tastes are different!
We had some family over for the 4th, and I tried a new recipe - black bean and corn salsa. The recipe called for canned corn, but I used the fire roasted frozen corn from Trader Joe's. The salsa was really good!
My girls and me shelled purple hull peas at my parents house last week so I cooked those on the 4th. I added garlic, onions, and spicy sausage. It was really good! Usually no one in the family will even try any type of pea, but my oldest and his fiance and my youngest daughter ate them, and said they were good. That was a win for me! I love any type of pea, but unfortunately most of the time no one else does. I'll try this recipe again since we have two more bags of peas in the freezer.
I made black bean hummus for the first time and it turned out pretty good!
The five-spice has weirded me out, too - I think there's still a bottle in the spice cabinet from (ahem) years ago!
I used grilled corn (cut from the cob) and black beans as an add-in to jarred chunky salsa, to take to yet another picnic. It's SO good. It's also good with diced avocado added.
We're a fan of Texas Roadhouse's "Road Kill". (cheap on the menu) That's a large burger patty, with swiss cheese on top, then grilled onions & mushrooms. I'll make that tonight, with a grilled Caesar salad. That's a head of romaine, cut in half. Drizzle with olive oil, kosher salt & pepper, and grilled nicely on both sides. Top with homemade Caesar dressing & toasty croutons. Saw that on Food Network a couple of weeks ago, and have made it twice since!
OMG I love the pics and the food hehe! I think the green onions really brought out the beauty of the Kebabs!
Oooh, these look tasty. I get what you mean with the five-spice seasoning, though. We just had an Indian dish with a lot of cardamom and cinnamon and it was really weird. These still look mighty tasty!
Yesterday we made orzo with chorizo and it was gooooood. It was supposed to be a risotto, but I couldn't find risotto rice, so I made it with orzo instead. It was spicy, meaty goodness. I paired it with a salad to lighten it up. Delish!
I had saved a Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffin recipe and made them as stated. You could either use papers or generously grease tin. I greased. Each one stuck to the bottom. So although delicious, they were a mess. I've since learned from further googling that you MUST use papers as every muffin will stick to pan. Threw away recipe. Good but not that good. Ate the muffins though!
If you want to grease, I would grease and then flour. I have much better luck with muffins and pop-overs not sticking that way.
Do you mean that every muffin recipe will stick to the pan? Because that is not my experience.
My plan for tonight is pork meatballs in lettuce wraps. I'm drowning in Butterhead lettuce from my garden right now, which is delicious, but all tends to need to be harvested at the same time (unlike leaf lettuces) and doesn't keep well in the refrigerator for more than a few days. I figure the lettuce wraps should take care of a couple of heads, if I can convince my kids that they're just like tacos, only, uh, green. And vegetative.
I've never made anything similar, but I'm planning on making small meatballs from ground pork with garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and sesame oil, and then maybe peanut sauce? Maybe. Who knows. Who also knows if any of us will like it or eat it. Uncertainty is what makes it all so exciting. Or something.
I wanted to like 5 spice powder, but every time I gave it a try, everyone seemed to eat a substantial snack 2 hours later because we ate so little of the meal. I brought the leftover container to work and gave it to someone who loves 5 spice. For pork, as well as chicken, I love this recipe http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Pork-Kebabs-with-Cucumber-Mint-Yogurt-Sauce.
My big hit of the week was roasted zucchini hummus - delicious and a new way to use the zucchini from the garden.
I think I should probably give mine away too!
I make my own marinade with vegetable oil, soy sauce, minced garlic, dried onion, sugar ( you could use the hoison sauce) salt and pepper and marinate for about an hour. Better then 5 spice. Cheryl
I tried a smoky jalapeno black bean dip. It was no bueno. I think we just didn't like COLD bean dip. We are trying to eat healthier, with veggies and non mayo, non sour cream dips, but this was a fail. Surprise, the full fat, high calorie things we used to eat taste better! 😉 And I am not a hummus
fan.
Hey there...just thought I'd chime in and say to you what my home economics teacher said to me many many moons ago..
If you don't like a recipie then change it so you will
Case in point...I hear you on hummus...thought it was...blah...soooo...I upped the onion, lime juice (lots), and snuck in a jalipeno and some sirracha (not traditional I realize but I'm a rebel so that's how it rolled) and viola good to eat with all kinds of stuff
Keep trying!!
Have you tried full-fat yogurt for dips? I've never had anyone tell the difference between sour cream dip and yogurt dip. For that matter, I use nonfat yogurt but that took a little getting used to. I did it in steps from fullfat yogurt to nonfat.
I threw together a soup from a can of chickpeas, two shriveled potatoes, garlic, the un-moldy parts of some onions, veggie broth, a bay leaf, and a handful of dill. It was mediocre until I bought some marble cheese to shred on top. That improved it immensely!
I agree with you on not enjoying "sweet" spices in savory applications. It was my first thought when I saw five spice powder in the recipe name. My aversion to this makes it hard for me to enjoy Indian and some middle eastern dishes. Keep trying new things though, we all enjoy reading about it!
I go back and forth on five spice powder. I do like sweet/savory combinations but sometimes it just doesn't work. Also I've found that each brand can taste different, too.
I made the bacon burgers you shared last week. They were amazing!
I tried fried tofu this week, because my partner and I are trying to eat more meatless meals, and it was really tasty. So far I've had it with homemade pesto and on top of homemade salad, and I've been searching online for other ideas. It's ridiculously easy to make (I drain it, salt it, and fry it in a cast-iron pan), and I think it'll work as a substitute in a lot of places where we normally use chicken or pork.
I saw a recipe for a Tuna salad made with cucumbers and diced avocado and a pack of Tuna. They dressed it with fresh cilantro and olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
I had to redo the recipe a bit for my bunch. None of us like tuna and All of us inherited the gene where cilantro unfortunately tastes and smells like soap.
I used cucumbers from my garden, avocado, rotisserie chicken (shredded) and added fresh parsley. Then dressed it with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. It was good!
I, too, hate cilantro. For me, it completely ruins any dish.
I tried fried tofu this week and it needs much more flavour for me to eat it again. I agree with many of the comments about five spice. I don't like sweet flavours with savoury food and I have been eating Asian foods for over 50 years. I didn't like it in the first place and will only eat it to be polite.
Well, I feel less alone now!