Carnitas

Homemade carnitas are totally worth the effort! 

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We ordered our first half pig this year from a local farm. Our pig lived on pasture in an old orchard and ate apples, pumpkins, whey, and acorns. Our pig is delicious. I even requested the lard from our pig and rendered some of it recently. Since we have both pork roasts and lard, I decided it was time to make one of my favorite things at home: carnitas. 

I loosely followed the instructions for carnitas from Homesick Texan. I wanted to keep them simple because the pork we have is so incredibly flavorful - I really wanted it to shine. It did. These turned out really wonderfully. If you've eaten carnitas out before, but never made them yourself, go ahead and give them a try. 

I served ours with the salsa verde I canned last fall and some quick pickled red onions. They were awesome! I'm pretty sure my husband was in pork heaven while eating these and I must say that I impressed myself!

My first batch of homemade lard.

Salted preserved lemons

I've declared 2014 the year of fermentation! I've tried my hand at sauerkraut and received The Art of Fermentation for Christmas, so I'm slowly building my knowledge and experience in this technique. Salted preserved lemons are something I have been wanting to try for a while. 

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I have never actually eaten them before, but after learning about them, they stuck in my head. I love Moroccan spices, so I've been imagining the wonderful flavor that these lemons will impart to couscous, tagines, and much more. I'm super excited for them to finish their fermenting and curing process so I can give them a try!

Citrus is in season now, so it's time to get a jar of these going. They will take about 4-6 weeks to be ready to eat, but will last for a year or more in the refrigerator. 

You eat the rind, so you'll want to get organic lemons. I used regular lemons, but many people recommend Meyer lemons. There are tons of "recipes" for preserved lemons out there and as far as I can tell, there's no prescribed amount of salt - it seems to range from 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup per quart jar. For this recipe, I used a little under 1/3 cup of sea salt and 7 organic lemons.

Saag paneer (with homemade paneer)

Let me start of by saying how much I loved this meal. I loved eating it, and I loved making it. I loved the process of making the paneer cheese, which I will describe in detail below. 

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This was certainly a time-consuming meal, but it was completely worth it when we sat down to eat. This was only my second homemade cheese (first was ricotta) and I must say that I'm looking forward to trying my hand at more cheeses in the not-too-distant future. 

Once the paneer was made, the rest of the dish was pretty simple to put together and all the flavors in it came together perfectly. I read quite a few paneer recipes and saag paneer recipes before I attempted this dish. The two I used most as reference were this one from Food Network and this one from Journey Kitchen. 

If you live near any specialty or Indian markets, you may be able to find paneer, but if you have a lazy Sunday afternoon, give it a try - it's a very rewarding process.

Spaghetti squash patties with cilantro-lemon yogurt

I'm back with a recipe for week 8 of the 12 Weeks of Winter Squash. With all the holiday recipes and general craziness of the season, I missed week 7 - hopefully I'll be able to do all the remaining weeks though. 

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It's the time of year when we try to eat from our freezer and pantry a lot, including a big stash of winter squash and all the goodies I canned the past year. We ate these patties with some pork chops and green tomato and apple chutney. All the flavors went together perfectly! 

I spiced these spaghetti squash patties to compliment the chutney, but you could use other spices as well -- spaghetti squash really provides a blank canvas for flavors. The idea for these patties was inspired by a recipe I saw a while back from Sprigs of Rosemary. I thought it would be a delicious way to enjoy some of our spaghetti squash stash and I was correct.

German cinnamon stars

I guess I'm a little behind this year when it comes to cookie baking. I have my list ready of the ones I want to make and these German cinnamon stars (Zimtsterne) were at the top.