Chickpea Salad

This is super easy. There is no cooking involved. This salad makes a great side dish for pork chops or with chicken. It would also be ideal with a hanger or skirt steak.

Open two cans of chickpeas and drain them and then give them a little rinse. Combine the chickpeas in a bowl with a couple tablespoons of finely chopped red onion, one diced tomato, a couple tablespoons of chopped cilantro, one clove of garlic really finely minced or put through a garlic press and somewhere around a cup of frozen corn, defrosted. Make a dressing of one tablespoon of mayonnaise, the juice of one juicy lime and a tablespoon or so of vegetable oil (or canola, etc). Mix the dressing together and pour over the salad and toss together. Salt and pepper to taste.

If you don’t like mayonnaise you can skip it and up the oil a little. This salad works fine without the corn too, if you don’t have any on hand.

Pork Roast with Apples and Onions

This meal turned out amazing, if I do say so myself. The pork roast I used was one from a small organic farm so that makes a big difference in the richness of the meat and especially the fat. Try to find something like that because it really is worth it and better for everyone. Berkshire pigs are always delicious. I’m not really sure the exact cut because it just said roast but I would bet, judging by the meat, that it was part of the shoulder.

Peel and cut up two apples into about inch thick slices. Slice up half of an onion. Season the roast well with salt and pepper. You can use some sage or do what I did and just use a little Bell’s seasoning. I love Bell’s not only for the versatility of it but also it's quaint old fashioned packaging. Sear the roast well. I used the cast iron skillet for this dish, another kitchen item I absolutely adore. After you have a good sear on the meat take it out and put aside. Drain off most of the fat and pour in half a bottle of beer, preferably a lager or ale, something with a little body to it, and scrape the bottom of the pan with a large spoon or a spatula to release the tasty brown bits in the pan. Throw the apples and onions in with some salt and pepper, toss around a little and then place the roast on top. Put in an oven at 375. It’ll probably take around an hour. Check the internal temperature and take out when it reaches between 150 and 160. Let the roast rest for at least 15 minutes before cutting in. Resting meat is an important part of keeping it moist.

I served it with collard greens and sweet potatoes. The sweet potatoes I just put in the oven directly on the rack alongside the roast. I used to cover sweet potatoes with foil but recently I was out of it and did it without and found them to be even tastier.

For the collard greens I just chopped them up coarsely and diced an onion finely. I cooked the onion in a little olive oil in a large pot at a low temperature until they were soft and then added the collards to the pot with salt and pepper. Then I added a couple tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and a little water and cooked the collards until they were good and soft.