Fish Sticks and Custard - er, Mango Sherbet

I finally got into the kitchen.  School is nearing the end of the quarter, work is - well, work - and life... it's all just a juggling act and I only ever learned to juggle two balls at once, so it's been a show for sure.

So happy kitchen time this night consisted of "fancy" fish sticks - they're fancy for a couple reasons, we'll get to that later - and mango-coconut sherbet.  I was excited for this!  Not only because both sounded über tasty from the recipes, but because it'd been a while since I'd had the time to play in the kitchen (last week's chipotlé flank steak with Gorgonzola sauce doesn't count, I was hurried).

Fancy Fish Sticks & Sauce...and beer.

The fish sticks I cut from a fillet of cod mum had picked up late last week.  Yep, that's right, cut them myself - see, fancy.  Then they were dredged first in a flour and black pepper mix, then into an wet mixture (best ingredient of which was lager) and then coated in a mix of Panko bread crumbs, pumpkin kernels and spices.  See, fancy!  Then I faux-fried them - aka put 'em on a heated, oiled sheet in the oven - and voila! Delicious, better-for-you-than-the-originals, "fancy" fish sticks!  Served those babies up with a dip concocted from low-fat mayo and sour cream, spicy brown mustard, fresh lime juice and a Cajun seasoning mix I'd already made myself and I had a great, proud-of-myself dinner.


But what is dinner without dessert? Blasphemy I say!  So I through the whopping 4 ingredients for mango-coconut sherbet into the blender and hit "liquify".  After all was happily blended I flipped the "on" switch on my Cuisinart Pure and poured all that sweet orange goo into the awaiting, frozen tub that was rotating almost as much giddy fervor as I was feeling. 30 or so minutes later the deliciousness was done. Well, sort of; you see it has to be put into a container and then in the freezer to solidify more, so I did that.  While I waited, I toasted up some shredded coconut I had.  Even though it wasn't solid yet, I could wait no longer; so I dished it up, topped it with the now golden  and nutty coconut sprinkles that I'd freed from the oven and spooned my taste buds up some tropical tastiness.

Mango-coconut awesome! I mean sherbet.

Note: I don't have the best camera for this sorta thing, but I do what I can with what I have :)

Pineapple Jerk Pork Chops

One slow day I was working at the e-reader counter and downloaded the (then current) March issue of Everyday Food.  In scanning the contents, I noticed an article about pineapple (one of my favorite fruits); it started with a guide on selecting and cutting the prickly tropical fruit and then had a number of recipes, the first of which was for jerk pineapple pork chops... nom!  Obviously, I snatched up an ink & paper issue of the magazine from the newsstand as soon as I was off work.  After several weeks with school and other life things roadblocking my cookery, I found the time to prepare a delicious din for mum and me (and then took several more weeks before blogging about it.)


Ingredients
2/3 of a whole (4 pound) pineapple, peeled
1 bunch scallions, sliced crosswise into 1-inch piece
1/2 small habanero or 1 large jalapeno, stemmed and seeded (I used two medium ones)
2 tsp dried thyme
4 cloves of garlic, smashed and peeled
1 1/2 tsp ground allspice
4 bone-in pork chops, 3/4-inch-thick and about 6oz each (I bought a loin on the cheap and sliced it myself)
course salt and ground pepper
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Scallions, spices, garlic and jalapenos

Pineapple

1 - Cut four 1/2-inch-thick rounds from the pineapple and set aside. Cut the remaining pineapple into large chunks, discarding the core. In a food processor (or blender in my case), combine pineapple chunks, scallions, chile(s), thyme, garlic, and allspice and pulse until coarsely chopped. Reserve 1/4 cup of this marinade and refrigerate.

It doesn't look like much, but just wait!

 2 - Season pork with salt & pepper and place in a 9x13 glass baking dish along with the pineapple round. Top with remaining pineapple marinade and turn pork and pineapple to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour (up to 4 hours).

3. In a large nonstick skillet, hear 1 Tbsp of the olive oil over medium-high. Working in two batches, brush the marinade off the pork and cook chops until browned and cooked through, about 10 minutes per batch, flipping once (reduce heat if pork begins to overbrown.) When chops are complete, add 1 Tbsp oil to the skillet. Brush marinade from pineapple rounds and cook until golden brown in spots; 5 to 7 minutes, flipping once.




4. Serve pork and rounds with reserved pineapple marinade.

A complete meal

Delicious!

The meal was delicious! Tender and flavorful pork with the savory marinade accented with caramelized sweetness of the browned pineapple.   If you dig Caribbean fair, I highly suggest giving this recipe a go.