Pork carnitas with roasted corn and cilantro cabbage salad

I saw a yummy looking recipe the other day in a magazine that I’d been carrying around in the bottom of my purse for a couple weeks. Generally, I look at the picture, read the title and wing it. This was the case with tonight’s dinner and everyone loved it!

1 pork loin
1 tsp. olive oil
zest from 1/2 lime
1 tsp. each cumin and chili powder
pinch of kosher salt and pepper

2 C. frozen corn
1 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. each cumin and chili powder

½ head napa cabbage, finely chopped
¼ C. chopped cilantro
juice from 1 lime
¼ C. olive oil
pinch of kosher salt and pepper
-optional- thinly sliced radish

corn tortillas

-optional- sliced avocado

Heat grill to high, and oven to 350. While grill heats, rub pork loin with olive oil, lime zest, cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper. Grill pork for 4 minutes per side, remove and wrap in aluminum foil and place in oven for 15 more minutes.

While pork cooks, place frozen corn on a cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil, cumin and chili powder and bake for 15 minutes or until corn turns crisp. Wrap tortillas in foil and warm in the oven for 5 minutes.

Assemble salad by combining cabbage, cilantro, lime, olive oil, salt and pepper in a bowl. Season to taste.

Remove pork from oven, thinly slice and pour juice over pork. Place pork, cabbage salad and a little corn on a tortilla.

Corn chowder

Fall is in the air and I have been busily making (or at least thinking about) all of the different soups I'm planning to make. We made lentil again last week and it was gobbled up.

I had some frozen roasted corn sitting in the freezer that I had from a party this summer and decided to make a corn chowder from it.

Here's my recipe for the chowder, it can easily be made vegetarian by omitting the proscuitto, but it adds a nice smoky flavor.

8 oz. package diced proscuitto
1 Tbs. unsalted butter
1 finely diced onion ( I used my vidalia chop wizard)
3 C. roasted corn kernels (Trader Joe's sells a bag of roasted corn kernels that are good)
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
2 C. milk ( I use non-fat)
1 C. water
2 tbs. Better than Bouillon
3 Yukon gold potatoes, finely diced ( I used my vidalia chop wizard)
kosher salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 C. leftover roasted cauliflower ( I threw this in because it was in the fridge, completely optional!)
Other options- add in 1 C. cooked quinoa, 1 C. fresh lump crab meat, 1 C. diced red pepper

Saute proscuitto in butter for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in diced onion and continue cooking for 2 more minutes. Add in remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low, cover and let cook for 30 minutes.

Season to taste with salt and pepper, and using a hand mixer, puree soup until mostly smooth. I like a little body in the soup.

Cover and continue cooking on low or serve.

chili powder and lime grilled corn

I picked up some delicious corn at the market today, in fact my little one ate it raw as we strolled through the aisles.

I boiled a few ears for the kids and after they were boiled, I threw them on the grill on high heat for about 5 minutes turning them a couple times.

While they grilled, I melted some butter, a pinch of cumin and about a tablespoon of chili powder. I rubbed this mixture over the corn. When the corn were ready ( the kernels become brown, but NOT charred) I removed the corn and squeezed a little fresh lime juice over the top with a pinch of salt before serving.

They were delicious and my older daughter even asked for a taste!

Try it with some of your local corn.