Coconut Lemongrass Braised Pork

This one was certainly an adventure and Nana and I both
enjoyed trying many ingredients we had not cooked with before. 
Of course the fact that I read the calendar wrong and was prepping
for the berry terrine (until Nana mentioned she had picked up
lemongrass and celery root) kept it a lively week as well. 
The results ?  Surprisingly mixed.  Nana loved hers while I will
not be revisiting these pages again myself...... 



Per Nana~

When the temperature reaches 95 and above,

 you should check with your elderly neighbors.  

 Well, if your elderly neighbor is lucky enough to have

 air conditioning...... "forgetaboutit".  

 She is probably busy cooking.

This week I made good on all my cooking

 promises (and I had made a lot...)

 

 A blueberry tart and a Nutella pie for both grandsons,

 and an Apricot tart for hubby.  

Also in the mix was this week's recipe of coconut-

lemongrass braised pork.  Let me tell you, by

 Thursday evening I didn't want to know about food.  

( Thank Goodness we have a 50th Anniversary affair to

 go to on Saturday  and  "yay"  -I don't have to cook)

This recipe was fantastic and definitely will be revisited.

One of the things I love about cooking with Dorie

 is learning  about new ingredients.  I have never used

 lemon grass, celery root or coconut milk before.    

Dorie suggested a pork butt for the recipe, but I

 only know of smoked pork butts so I decided on

 a pork tenderloin, which worked wonders.  

I found the cutest tiny potatoes at Wegman's,

 used a few carrots, and at the end I threw in some left

over fresh corn kernels, and fresh string beans

all from the farm stand.  Great way to use leftovers.

Hubby was chomping at the bit about the delicious

aromas coming from the kitchen so I cut him a break 

and we had an early dinner.  We both loved it.

Can't wait for that apricot tart with a little whipped cream.

Tomorrow we diet.....

Per Tricia ~

While I do not plan to cook this recipe again,

it is not because we "didn't like" it. 

 It was simply underwhelmingly.

  With all the new and wonderful exotic ingredients

 (ok, at least to me.....) that went into that pot ~

 I was very disappointed that the results tasted so bland. 

 Tumeric, cardamom, exactly 6 coriander seeds....not

 to mention a host of others, I was expecting quite the results. 

The only thing we could taste was the tumeric and curry.

 Just keeping it real. 

 I still enjoyed the whole process and the kitchen

 smelled amazing.  And Nana and I shared a great laugh

over the consistency of Coconut Milk ~ we both

 expected it to "pour" out of the can like condensed milk.

  The best part of the effort - I got to enjoy the lovely

 aroma of fresh lemon grass. I LOVE this stuff and made

 everyone in the house come and sniff it

(the part that did not go into the pot :)

  When they are waiting for "Dorie food" to cook, I

 can get them to do just about anything.......

P.S.- the "best" part of this French Friday ?  Nana and I bit

the bullet and booked a September trip to France !!