Pan Seared Pork Loin Chops

I wanted an easy dinner with lots of meat last night so brined a couple of pork loin chops for about an hour then pan seared them after rinsing the chops, patting them dry and putting on a simple dry rub.

Dry rub:
- Sea salt
- Cumin ground in mortar
- Cayenne
- Brown sugar
- Garlic powder

Chops are seared and fresh sage and garlic cloves were roasted in same pan. Served with Dijon and horseradish.

Vietnamese Cabbage Salad with Poached Pork and Shrimp

This is a variant of a very popular and common Vietnamese salad with poached chicken (goi ga). I swapped out chicken for slow poached pork and shrimp cooked in liquid of water, soy sauce, fish sauce, cider vinegar, bay, star anise, garlic and chile de arbol. The veggies in the salad are red cabbage, poached shiitake, Vietnamese coriander, mint, pickled carrot, Thai chile, pickled onion and cilantro. It was served with toasted sesame and dried shrimp rice cracker (not shown).

Korean BBQ Pork and Cold Noodles

Korean daikon, bean sprout and dried anchovy kimchi.

Cold Korean noodles dressed with soy and sesame oil, topped with kimchi.

Pan grilling marinated pork. 

Brown Sugar Glazed Bone-In Pork Chop with Celery Leaf Salad

Brown sugar glazed double thick bone-in chop with roasted garlic and salsa rojo with celery leaf and red onion salad with soy vinaigrette.

Indian Spice Rubbed Seared Loin Chop with Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Indian spice rubbed seared (with duck fat) loin chop with pan roasted brussel sprouts topped with picked onion and fennel fronds.

Sichuan Peppercorn Carnitas and Cheese Enchiladas

The carnitas here was an experiment. It is based on Homesick Texan's Houston style carnitas recipe however I used a lot more spices than she did. Specifically, the use of Sichuan peppercorns that gives it an interesting pungent scent.

In case you are curious, this dinner takes very little active time to put together because the style of carnitas I made is mostly done through boiling then braising. The sauce was part pre-made as I used roasted red salsa with chicken broth I had in fridge. Assembly was just grating cheese, chopping onion and filling the enchilada to finish in 450º F oven for ten minutes. All because I have way too much work to do today and I'm still not done but having a proper meal is as or more important.

Just out of oven, sprinkled with more cheese and chopped red onion.

Filled, rolled and sauce, topped with cheese and ready for oven.

Sichuan peppercorn carnitas with red onion enchilada getting filled and rolled.

Shrimp, Pork and Bok Choy Dumplings

Ready to serve.

In bamboo steamer ready to go.