Tequila Pork Chile Verde

Here is another quick and easy recipe from Cooking Light. The flavor is quite intense and tasted as though it had cooked all day. I served it with refried beans and heated flour tortillas on the side as suggested by the magazine.

Tequila Pork Chile Verde

2 tsp. canola oil

3 Tbsp. yellow cornmeal

1 Tbsp. ancho chile powder

1 lb. pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut in 3/4" pieces

2 cups coarsely chopped fresh tomatillos (about 12 oz)

1 (14 oz) can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

1 (4.5 oz) can chopped mild green chiles, drained

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped

1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions

1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro

2 Tbsp. tequila

1/4 tsp. salt

Heat oil in large non-stick skillet over medium high heat.

Combine cornmeal and chile powder in a medium bowl. Add pork, tossing to coat. Remove pork from bowl, reserving any remaining cornmeal mixture. Add pork to pan; saute 5 minutes or until browned. Stir in remaining cornmeal mixture; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Stir in tomatillos, broth, chiles, and jalapeno; bring to simmer over medium low heat. Cook 8 minutes or until tomatillos are tender. Stir in onions and remaining ingredients; simmer 1 minute.

Raglan Road Irish Pub - Kansas City, MO

Raglan Road Irish Pub is coming to the Power and Light district in Kansas City. The only other location in the States is at Disney World in Orlando. The pub is the creation of Chef Brendan Behan and is built in Ireland, then shipped over here. It will be interesting to see what the food is like. I still think that it is disappointing that a chain BBQ will be going in, instead of one of KC's outstanding places. You can go to http://www.raglanroadirishpub.com/ and check out their website.

***** I incorrectly listed the chef as Brendan Behan, the chef is actually Irish Master Chef Kevin Dundon.*************

Casa Katalina - San Miguel de Allende

While we were in San Miguel, our friends Dan and Larry were staying at Casa Katalina. They were in a very fun and funky 2 bedroom casita that sits above Kathy Leutzinger's shop. The casita consists of a full kitchen, 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, a sitting room and a nice large balcony with views of the beautiful church in the town center. The space is decorated in a very fun and functional style, with great splashes of color in places that you would not expect. I believe that Kathy said the place rented for $500 a week or $1500 for the month, but you would have to check with her on those prices.

Her shop is full of one of a kind vintage Mexican art pieces, jewelry, home decor and custom made furniture. Kathy scours the Mexican countryside to find items for the shop. The shop is as eclectic as the space for rent above and worth checking out.

She is located close to the town center and within walking distance of many restaurants, galleries and other shops. The address is Jesus #26 Zona Centro 37700 San Miguel de Allende, Gto., Mexico Tel (415) 150-0061. You can e-mail Kathy at katherineleutzinger@yahoo.com.

Red Beans and Rice w/ Smoked Turkey Sausage

This was a recipe that I adapted from Cooking Light and prepared for dinner last night. The liquid never got as thick as I wanted, but the flavor is actually quite good. It's a pretty simple recipe so it's perfect for a weeknight and actually pretty cheap to make.

Red Beans and Rice w/ Smoked Turkey Sausage

2 cups dried small red beans
2 tsp. olive oil
2 cups chopped onion
4 garlic cloves , minced
10 cups water
2 Tbsp. salt-free Cajun seasoning
3/4 tsp. kosher salt
1 lb. smoked turkey sausage, thinly sliced
3 cups hot cooked long-grain rice
Chopped green onions

Sort and wash beans; place in a large Dutch oven. Cover with water to 2 inches above beans; cover and let soak for 8 hours. Drain and rinse beans.
Heat oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and saute for 4 minutes. Stir in beans, water and next 4 ingredients (through sausage); bring to boil. reduce heat , simmer 1 1/2 hours or until mixture thickens. Serve over rice; garnish with green onion.

Poco's On The Boulevard - Kansas City, MO

Saturday, Dan and I were out south and trying to think of where to eat dinner on our way back to the Northland. We knocked around a couple of ideas and then I remembered hearing the food critics on Walt Bodine's NPR program talking about this great little place on the Boulevard. I could not remember the name, but I did remember that it was located in the old Waid's location at 3063 Southwest Blvd. When I saw the sign calling the place Poco's , I remembered that was the name. Since we like to expand our eating horizons this seemed like the perfect place to check out. All I can say is Wow! We loved the restaurant so much we ended up there again Sunday morning for breakfast. It's amazing how one place can give you such totally different experiences, albeit , both positve.
When we walked in Saturday night, the place was softly lit and quiet. There were only 5 or six other tables in use. We were told to sit wherever we wanted and then were promptly greet by our server Dana. Dan and Dana, it was soon discovered, knew each other somewhat and we later found out that she is the owner's daughter. So she knew what she was doing and was able to recommend some great items. The dinner menu states that the restaurant serves Latin American Cuisine, so don't expect the typical Mexican fare that you usually find on the Boulevard.
When you are seated, they bring a basket of fresh, fried flour tortilla chips and an amazing tomatillo salsa. In my opinion, this was the best chips and salsa I have ever eaten. The salsa has the perfect amount of heat and the flavor is very intense. I had to keep telling myself to hold back or I would not eat my meal. On Dana's recommendation, we ordered the Brochetas Avocado ($5.95) as a starter. We were served four slices of toasted baguette that were heaped with a fresh tomato- cilantro salsa and chopped avocado concoction. That was one of those dishes I will crave from now on. It was a perfect dish and I would have been happy just eating that all night, but there were other great dishes to come.
The entrees are served with either your choice of soup or a salad. We both opted for the chicken tortilla soup. The soup was served in a small bowl that was packed with big flavor. It was full of chicken and crispy tortilla strips, cilantro and a lime wedge. The chicken stock tasted homemade to me and had just a hint of lime juice added in. This soup was pure perfection! I ordered the Cordero Borracho ($20.95), which was grilled rack of lamb in a fig-port sauce with grilled asparagus and wonderful poblano mashed potatoes. The lamb was cooked as ordered and for the price, there was a lot of food on my plate. Dan ordered the Yucatan Tacos de Puerco ($15.95), which consisted of orange-chipotle pork chunks served in lettuce leaves with rice and beans. There were three of those, so one came home with the extra lamb.
After our meal, the owner came out and talked with us. She explained her passion for food and her passion for the restaurant and told us we should come in for breakfast, which we did the following morning.
The place was packed when we arrived at around 11:30 the next morning and we got the last table. Dana was there again, but this time she was manning the register and Lorenza was once again at the helm in the kitchen. The place was really hopping and so differnst from the previous evening.
For my breakfast I ordered Huevos Rancheros ($6.25), 2 corn tortillas topped with ham, eggs and Poco's spicy salsa. This dish would be perfect on a cold morning, because it would heat you up from the inside out. The dish was served with a nice helping of hash browns. Dan ordered Poco's Omelette ($7.00) which was filled with chorizo and cheese and topped with pico de gallo. His was also served with hash browns and they brought toast to the table.
I realized that I have gushed on about this place, but it is very deserving of the praise. This will definitely be added to our list of places to frequent. There are some other things that I must try out on the dinner menu. They are located at 3063 Southwest Blvd, KCMO 64108 816-931-2526.

Happy 23rd Birthday, Ryan!!

Today is my son Ryan's 23rd birthday!! Wow, it's hard to believe that he's that old or maybe it's harder to believe that I'm that old. Happy Birthday Ryan, I love you dearly and am very proud of you.

This picture is of the two of us in Rome at the Forum right after he graduated from high school.

La Grotta Resaurante - San Miguel de Allende

While in San Miguel de Allende, we ate pizza at 2 different Italian places, one was very good the other was just okay. The very good one was La Grotta Restaurante located at Cuadrante No. 5 Centro, San Miguel de Allende.

We ate there the last night of out trip and loved the place. The restaurant is small and cozy with a good and pleasant staff. The doorway opens up to stairs going down or an old wooden spiral staircase going up. Both the upstairs and downstairs dining rooms are small, so the place fills up pretty quickly.

We only ordered pizzas, but they do have other Italian items on the menu. The pizzas are on a nice thin crust, topped with the perfect amount of sauce and cheese. We ordered 2 mediums for the four of us, one pepperoni and mushroom and one salami and green olive. Both were good , but I was partial to the salami with the salty, whole green olives. Dinner and drinks for the four of us cost only 345 pesos.

When we asked the chef at our cooking class what restaurants she preferred in San Miguel, one of her recommendations was La Grotta. Dan and Larry tried to take us there on our first night but it was too crowded. We decided to head over to Romanos located at Hernandez Macias #93.

The restaurant is spacious and the decor is beautiful. We went upstairs and sat out on the roof where we had a nice view of the cities lights. Kathy, a friend of Dan and Larry, took charge of the ordering since her Spanish was better than the rest of us. After a few communication breakdowns, we finally got the food ordered. One issue was when Dan and I ordered prosciutto on our pizza, the waitress thought we said bruschetta.

They brought out plates with bread and chopped liver that was covered in carmelized onions and that was the best part of the meal. We did have salads, which were good. The pizzas arrived and ours looked good, it seemed that they used fresh mozzarella on them. The crust , however, was not so great, they tasted like they were pre-made and frozen. The menu said the pizzas were cooked in a wood fired oven, but they did not have the look or taste of pizzas that came from such an oven. Dan B. and Kathy ordered their pizza with anchovies and it had to be taken away. It seems that the chef got a little creative and made a paste of the anchovies and then rolled it into balls, very gross and inedible. The owner's wife was very apologetic and took it off of the bill.I've heard that Romano's other Italian dishes are good, it seems that they failed in the pizza class .