Matt Armendariz’s Chinese Five Spice Pork Tenderloin

Look at that delicious spicy crust, yum!

Tomorrow is President’s Day and I can’t help but think about President Hoover and his prosperity promise to provide a chicken in every pot.  Thanks Mr. President but if you don’t mind, I’d prefer a pork loin.   They’re versatile, easy and make an impressive presentation.   And, because you can pair them with so many different flavors — sweet, savory or spicy — it’s hard to ever be board with them.  I thought I had a good pork loin repertoire — barbecued with a sweet red sauce, smoked with a balsamic fig sauce, grilled after marinating in Italian flavors and oven roasted glazed with chutney — but I’m always open to new flavors and ideas.  Enter Spice Islands and a man obsessed with food, Matt Armendariz, to introduced five new flavors to me and my pork loin.

Chocolate-Covered Cherry Cookies

Chocolate-Covered Cherry Cookies

Rich, chocolaty and chewy — like the chewy edge of a brownie but with a cherry, fudgey center.  Yum! Who needs a date on Valentine’s Day when you can have plate full of these cookies? Remember these cookies after Valentine’s Day too.   They are quick and easy to make and their bite-size, petite portion make them a great “fancy” cookie for teas, showers or Christmas cookie exchanges.

Roasted Potato and Fennel Soup Recipe

Peppery, hearty, warm and rustic, this Roasted Potato and Fennel soup is the perfect foil to January’s cold, dreary weekends.  Double the recipe, freeze the leftovers and you’ll have enough hot soup to get you through these last brutal winter months. This recipe is an adaptation of Ina Garten’s.  I’ve changed a few small things and the recipe below reflects that.  Gartner’s original can be found in her first book, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook.  It takes about two hours from potato scrubbing to soup’s on.

Hoppin’ John, Greens & Cornbread

Happy New Year!  Starting the new year with a mess of greens, Hoppin’ John or black-eyed peas and corn bread is a southern tradition said to bring you luck and prosperity in the New Year.  According to tradition you are to have 365 peas (one for each day of the year), yellow corn bread to represent gold and greens to represent folded money in your wallet.  I have to wonder how this tradition really got started because to me this seems like the perfect meal to get you back in form after a night of celebrating, just saying…

Pomegranate Prosecco Cocktail

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone had a wonderful 2010 and I send best wishes to a successful, happy and prosperous 2011.  To close out the year and to kick off the next I have a quick and easy cocktail, Pomegranate Prosecco Cocktail, that will get you through this evening or any Sunday brunch or wedding shower.

Pomegranate Prosecco Cocktail

1 – 2 Tbsp. Pomegranate Juice, to taste

Prosecco, Champagne or your favorite sparkling wine.

Add 1-2 Tbsp. of pomegranate juice to each champagne glass, top off with Prosecco.  Toast with someone special and enjoy!

Thanks so much to the wonderful people at POM Wonderful who sent me a case of Pomegranate juice.  Delicious and healthy — a great combination when you can find it.  Stand by for more pomegranate recipes in 2011.

Roasted Pear & Gorgonzola Salad

I’m solo this year for Thanksgiving — having just gotten back from 17 days of traipsing across Indochina I’ve more than fulfilled this month’s quota of time zone changes, airports and security checkpoints.

Just because I’m on my own doesn’t mean I won’t be cooking a special meal. It will start with one of my favorite recipes for entertaining from the Neiman Marcus Cookbook, Roasted Pear and Gorgonzola Salad with Toasted Walnuts and Balsamic Vinaigrette.

Caramel Popcorn Recipe

Halloween is here and I can’t stop thinking about caramel popcorn.  It must be the hundreds of caramel popcorn balls I made and the thousands I ate as a child around this time of year.  It’s too bad that for safety’s sake all of the treats you hand out on Sunday night will be pre-packaged.   The trick-or-treaters’ loss is your gain.  Make up a big batch of caramel popcorn on Sunday night for a buttery, salty, crunchy treat and save the Snickers for the kiddies.