ArtWeek and Al Pastor

Des Moines' summer season of festivals is in full swing. This weekend Des Moines hosted it's 20th annual Arts Festival in Western Gateway Park. What started decades ago as Art in The Park near the Des Moines Art Center has grown and evolved into a huge festival with nearly two hundred artists from all over, features food and live music, and has been the recipient of a number of major awards including the Gold Grand Pinnacle Award for the past three consecutive years. It's hard to believe but more than two million people have visited the festival. I remember around the ten year anniversary the festival was usually held on the downtown bridges, but it quickly outgrew the limited space in that part of downtown and found it's current home in Western Gateway Park.

The same weekend as the downtown arts festival there is also an equally popular arts festival held at the State Fairgrounds called ArtFest Midwest. The Varied Industries Building on the fairgrounds is the scene and 250 regional artists display their works. It's a bit more casual than the downtown festival but just as exciting- and air conditioned! Besides being able to view, and purchase, art from local and regional artists, there are also a lot of activities for kids and a lot of tasty food choices as well, with many vendors who will also be there for the State Fair in August. There is a free shuttle bus to take visitors back and forth so you can catch both without having to drive and park. Pretty convenient.

You might wonder what this has to do with food...... there actually is a roundabout connection. The festival in Western Gateway Park is not only a showcase for artists from all across the country, it's also a preview of coming attractions for "fair food" and a great opportunity to try out some of the food trucks that are increasing in number every summer. Since the city loosened the restrictions allowing food trucks, it's been growing like a wildfire. This year downtown Des Moines, the Capitol complex, and many of the larger office parks regularly see food trucks parked and open for service during the lunch hour. People here are embracing this new way to try food you might not normally try. The city has come a long way from the early days of Mexican food trucks set up in odd locations, often out of the way from the action of downtown, and around office areas. It wasn't that long ago that truly was the only kind of food truck in the city, and although some of them looked a little sketchy, alot of people swore by them for authentic Mexican food at great prices. For a lot of us, it was an introduction to tacos like we'd never seen before.

Tacos al Pastor is becoming a very popular menu item in Latin restaurants and food trucks these days, and for good reason. The tender juicy pork takes on the sweet pineapple flavors and hint of spice from the peppers. You often see the pork cooked on rotisseries like the ones used for gyros, and carved off the pile of stacked pork cuts for each serving. It's fantastic and one of my favorite Mexican/Latin dishes. Of course at home, we don't have one of those fancy rotisseries and don't need to make that much pork at one time. That's where the pork chop comes in. As an Iowa girl I grew up loving a juicy Iowa pork chop as much as any other all American food and as an adult I appreciate the way pork lends itself to many different flavors and cuisines. In this simple version of al Pastor the chops are marinated in sweet pineapple and orange juices, warmed up with chili powder, cumin and chipotle pepper, with onion and garlic for kick. I grill these chops to get some good caramelization and grill marks from the sugars in the marinade. I had more marinade than I needed for my pork chops so I threw a couple chicken breasts in there as an experiment. I bet they will be just as delicious. I might even make a little bowl of pineapple, cilantro and jalapeno salsa to serve with the chops. This recipe is perfect for thick-cut Iowa chops.

Pork Chops Al Pastor

1 cup crushed pineapple with juice

zest and juice of one orange 

zest and juice of one lime

1/2 cup chopped onion

3 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 teaspoon cumin

2-3 chipotle chilies with a little adobo sauce

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

6-8 inch thick pork chops, bone-in

In a blender or food processor, place the onion, garlic and chipotle peppers. Add some of the pineapple and puree the vegetables. Combine all other ingredients except chops and mix. 

Pour over chops in a large zip top bag and distribute over the chops. Allow the chops to marinate in the mixture for at least four hours.

When ready to cook, remove chops from marinade and discard marinade. 

Grill chops using a grill or grill pan to 145 degrees for pork. Since I threw a couple chicken breasts in the marinade those guys will cook to 165 degrees.

Check out those grill marks!

Serve chops with cilantro rice or some roasted potatoes and avocado tomato salad or grilled corn. I just love the combo of pineapple, citrus and a bit of heat from chilies and you know I am allllll about the Iowa pork. 

The chicken turned out delicious!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 55: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Clean Out The Fridge Dinner

Let's face it, we all have those nights. It's been a busy day running errands, driving around, laundry, cleaning, working in the yard. Now the dinner hour is looming ahead and you find yourself hungry so you head into the kitchen hoping for inspiration. Opening the fridge reveals the weirdest combination of things ever. A couple butterflied boneless pork loin chops. Half a package of baby spinach leftover from making salads. A small handful of garlic cloves and a small onion that needs to be used up. The cupboard is nearly as uninspired. Some spices, half a can of bread crumbs, a little parmesan cheese.

While that may not sound as inspiring as just calling for takeout, you actually have the makings for a pretty delicious and fairly quick to fix dinner. Want to know more? Keep reading to the easiest no-recipe meal ever.

The butterflied pork chops are just begging to be stuffed with something delicious. I grabbed a small handful of garlic cloves- I used 5, but use garlic to taste. Chop it up real small. You can use already minced garlic from a jar if you have it, or even garlic powder. Chop up about 1/4 cup onion too. Mince it up nice and small. Melt a little butter in a skillet and add the onion and garlic, season with salt and pepper. Cook slowly for 5 or so minutes until softened.

While that's going grab that half a package of baby spinach and chop it up coarsely. A couple good sized handfuls is all you need. Throw that in the skillet too and saute for a few minutes until wilted. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Add a small handful of breadcrumbs and a small handful of parmesan cheese and mix it up.

Line a baking sheet with foil and butter it liberally. Place the chops on the foil. Season with salt and pepper. Divide the spinach stuffing between the chops, fold over and secure with pics. Brush the top of the chops with a little more butter and sprinkle with additional bread crumbs and parmesan cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes until done. So delicious and so easy and hey- no recipe needed!!

Pork and Fat Asses

It's been a while since The Chef and I cooked anything "new" to share with everyone. We've been sticking with the usuals- roast, pizzas, simple dinners. But it's the weekend, and a crummy football day so between a big day of cleaning and cooking- we got a lot accomplished.

I'm going to start off with The Chef's part of dinner. We scored a really nice pork loin at the grocery store and decided not to roast it like we originally planned. Instead, he trimmed it up, cut 8 nice thick loin chops and set aside the rest. Half the chops went in the freezer for later and the other half were sauteed in a mixture of butter and our secret homemade meat rub. They were perfect, tender, juicy and delicious. I finished mine with a couple tablespoons of my apple sage jelly melted in the pan drippings and glazed the chops.

What to serve with these wonderful chops ? I decided on one of my family's favorite recipes- we lovingly call it Fat Ass Potatoes (and when you see the ingredients, you'll know why). You might know them as funeral potatoes or brunch potatoes though. Incidentally, the ingredients used in this dish are NOT low fat or fat free products. I've tried using them but they just don't hold up well in the baking and separate into this greasy gooey mass. I don't normally eat alot of deep fried high fat foods anyway, so once or twice a year this won't kill me. I don't recommend substituting those products, so this really is a once in a great great while side dish.

Mom's Famous Fat Ass Potatoes

1 2 lb bag frozen hash browns
1 small bunch green onions, sliced or 1/4 chopped onion
salt and pepper
1-2 cloves minced garlic
couple tablespoons chives
1 stick butter, melted (use BUTTER not margarine, because margarine is mostly water and doesn't perform well in this dish)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
1 small bag shredded cheddar cheese

Additional seasonings and herbs of your choice if desired 

Melt butter, combine with sour cream, onions, seasonings and soup.

Add cheese and frozen hashbrowns. Mix thoroughly.

Pile into 9x13 dish that's been sprayed with cooking spray.

Bake at 400 degrees about an hour. If you have a roast in the oven at a different temperature, you can bake these at the same temp, just add more time as needed. I also make these in the crockpot alot- on high for at least 4 hours or low at least 8 hours.

Some people like to top this with crushed potato chips, but I think they are naughty enough !! They get a nice brown top and browned crusty edges, I think the topping is just not necessary, but if you like to add that, by all means, do so.

WARNING: Fat Ass Potatoes are addicting. And the crusty brown edges.......like heaven !!!

As I said before, the Chef set aside the trimmings from the loin- not fat and stuff, but meat chunks that he cut off to make the rest of the loin uniform and even. Anyway, those he sauteed with a little garlic and olive oil and added lots of yummy Italian ingredients like tomatoes and herbs  to make that classic Italian staple- Sunday Sauce. And even though we didn't eat it today, tomorrow I will come home from a hard day at the office and know I will have an amazing home-cooked pasta dinner waiting for me. You can bet there will be plenty of photo ops tomorrow too !!