martha's november menu

i get martha stewart living delivered, there is one these cards inclosed every month.







as you can see, i have saved them all, since 2000 (i think). yesterday was actually the first time i cooked (almost) the whole menu from these recipes







spicy carrot soup







stuffed pork chops and couscous with brussels sprouts







i tried to find the recipes online, no luck. if they get posted, i'll edit the links later. for now, you'll need to go with my approximites.

carrot soup, obviously, calls for carrots, then leek, chicked stock (i used vegetable) and harissa, which i didn't have and used sriracha instead.







mince the leek, sautee in some olive oil, add carrots, sriracha and stock, cook until carrots are tender, puree half of the soup in a blender, combine and serve. i did add some of my "herb of the month" tarragon, i think tarragon goes very well with carrots (among other things)







toast some (rye) bread, cut into stick and garnish the soup







the couscous and sprouts then, certain someone doesn't eat couscous so i used pearl barley instead.







the recipe called for lemon juice and peel, but all i had in the fridge was this tiny lime, that ended up working great







the recipe also called for peeling the sprouts in order to get leaves, but i was too lazy to do that. i just washed and quartered the sprouts and browned them in some olive oil...







...before adding to the cooked barley, then added juice and peel of the lime, so easy







the chops were next. i had hard time trying to find dried apricots that didn't have any additives in them, namely sulfur oxide. fortunately i found this brand sundried acricots, not the bright yellowish orange you normally associate with them, however, nothing but apricots in that bag.

the recipe for the stuffing also called for almonds, but as i had this half empty bag of pinenuts, i used them, and loads of parsley







mixed these in a bowl with some olive oil...







...before making cuts on the sides of the chops for the stuffing







browned the chops on medium heat on both sides, before adding some vegetable stock and red wine vinegar to further cook (with the lid on) the chops. i then took the chops out and poured the sauce thru a sieve before pouring it on the chops. i had forgotten how good pork chops are, but, please, do pay attention to how and were the meat was produced...






we did have something sweet with coffee, but is tomorrow's post...