Pomegranate and Parsley Pork with Spicy Eggplant

Sometimes an entire dinner comes together to participate in my no-ingredient-left-behind policy.

There are two main ways I've found to stop ingredient-wasting pitfalls and both of them play a role in this evening's dinner.

First: keep track of what's in the fridge. I try to keep tabs on "investment" ingredients (condiments, sauces, salty/pickley treats) and cycle them through now and again, in different permutations to keep it interesting. Pomegranate molasses, I'm looking at you.

Second: Make friends with the freezer. Find a great deal on meat but don't want to eat the same chicken breasts all week long? Freeze it. Family packs are great for this, especially when you don't have a family.

So here's how this meal is a waste-saver: I'm using the pomegranate molasses dish-by-dish, I'm freezing the half of the pork loin chop family pack I didn't cook, and all the veggies come from the CSA vegetable dump, which is getting so big as summer comes to a close that I'm going to start freezing some items we don't get to each week.

Pomegranate and Parsley Pork

3-4 lean boneless pork loin chops

1 heaping Tablespoon pomegranate molasses

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1/2 c. parsley, chopped

Salt and pepper

In a shallow bowl, mix the pomegranate molasses, olive oil and parsley. Add salt and ground black pepper. Slide the pork loin chops in and turn until well-covered with the marinade. Set aside for 10 minutes. Heat a nonstick pan with a little olive oil over high heat. (You can try it without the olive oil, too, but I just find my pan needs a little help to prevent sticking.) Cook pork on both sides. These were thin cuts so they cooked about 3 minutes a side.

Spicy Eggplant

1 medium-size Japanese eggplant

1 teaspoon Ras el Hanout

2-3 scallions, chopped

olive oil

Slice off the ends of the eggplant and cut in half. I cut 1-inch slices, but if you are short on time, go smaller. In a bowl mix the eggplant with the Ras el Hanout. Set aside.

Heat some olive oil (about 1 Tablespoon) in a saute pan over high heat. Chop the scallions and start to saute in the pan. Then add the eggplant on top and cook, stirring, until the eggplant has turned darker and is soft. The scallions will get crispy and the eggplant will be nice and tender.

Salad: lettuce leaves + juice of 1 lemon + olive oil drizzled + sea salt

Tally:

Standard veggies and lean protein take a trip to Morocco

Pantry items find new ways to the table

Pork family pack's $5 split over two nights = thrifty

3 Ingredient Ideas

When I first started cooking, and not just the delicious dishes my mother and grandmother had handed down, but really exploring flavors on my own, it was at a time in my life when I didn't have a lot of cash. So I'd read my various food magazines (this was pretty much before food blogs) or trawl the pages of cookbooks I was working on and I'd think, that would be a delicious meal if only I could afford to buy all those ingredients.

And then I came upon a cookbook author and chef who seemed to speak to my predicament -- the desire to expand my flavor and cooking know-how without buying out the grocery store. Vibrant and complex flavors, as I found in Rozanne Gold's fantastic 1-2-3 volumes, can come from just three ingredients. Now these are not necessarily thrifty ingredients, and some can be quite pricey. But being able to keep it to three ingredients meant being able to cook more than one new dish a week. Eureka!

I'm back to watching my grocery bills, and so I've been thinking a lot about Ms. Gold's approach. Many of her recipes call for ingredients that aren't "processed foods" but do include several elements: anchovies with capers in brine, garlic oil, flavored vinegars and so on. I thought of her when I had Mr. Lemon pick up Ras el Hanout on his adventures to Brooklyn's Sahadi's Grocery. (We call it going to the souk, and it really can be as exotic and exciting.) One ingredient, but so many spices in this delicious Moroccan staple that literally means "top of the [spice] shop."

So here's a dinner with 2 dishes, 6 ingredients (not counting olive oil, salt and pepper), that takes about 25 minutes from start to finish. Easy as 1-2-3. Thrifty as $5.

Pork Chops with Ras El Hanout

1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon Ras el Hanout

2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 pork chops, bone in

Combine the Ras el Hanout and olive oil and spread on all sides of the pork chops. Let sit for 10 minutes while you get the grill ready. Grill until white inside, about 8 minutes a side.

Grilled Collards and Potato

5-6 large collard leaves, rinsed, thick rib removed and torn into large pieces

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tablspoons olive oil

4 small potatoes (white or red, but waxy), thinly sliced

Create a "bag" with tin foil, using two sheets. In the bag toss the sliced potatoes, olive oil, garlic, and torn collard greens. Add salt to taste. Cook over direct heat, 20 minutes on the grill.

Tally:

Easy and healthy dinner on the grill

Investing in spices is worth it for this dish

A balanced meal in two steps

On sale pork chops find a new flavor from Morocco

Zucchini Pancakes Times Two

Zucchini may just be the tofu of the veggie world.

And if you join a CSA your zucchini cup will surely runneth over. Put it on the grill, make some muffins and, in this case, make some tender little pancakes. Try something new, because you'll have a big batch every week with which to experiment. I ended up making zucchini pancakes...twice.

Since we've also been entertaining frequently to share the lovely cool nights on our terrace, it seemed like a zucchini-focused nibble was inevitable. I had been eyeing zucchini pancakes for a while: a finger food that is filling, mostly nutritious, and can be made slightly ahead of time and kept warm in the oven. And it turns out they were a hit.

Ina's Barefoot Contessa Zucchini Pancakes seemed to best match my goal to use as much zucchini and as little flour as possible. Plus I trust her recipes implicitly. Since these were for company, I wanted to dress them up a little, so the lemon zest and thyme are my own addition since both flavors go so well with zucchini. This dish is adapted from Ina Garten's recipe:

Zucchini Pancakes with Lemon and Thyme

2 medium zucchinis, grated

1/2 spring onion or 1 medium onion, grated

2 eggs, lightly beaten

6 Tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

10 sprigs fresh thyme

Zest of one lemon

Vegetable oil

Grate the zucchini and the onion and squeeze out extra moisture in a towel (I used a paper towel and it worked just fine.) Place in a large bowl and mix in flour, baking powder, salt, lemon zest, and fresh thyme leaves pulled from the stem. Lightly beat two eggs and mix into zucchini mixture.

Heat enough vegetable oil to cover a large saute pan over medium high heat. You'll know it is hot enough when a little batter drop sizzles. Drop in small spoonfuls (about 1 1/2 Tablespoons) of batter and cook on both side until golden brown and the pancakes hold together. Keep warm in an oven up to 30 minutes.

This makes a two-bite sized pancake that can be topped with sour cream or mascarpone, too.

And then...I thought maybe there was a way to make these even healthier...

A zucchini favorite is Couscous Royale. I make this Moroccan dish with zucchini, carrots and butternut squash, cooking it in chicken broth with a touch of spice and a lot of ground pepper.

I had carrots and, of course, zucchini, so that was the inspiration for these Zucchini Pancakes.

Moroccan Zucchini and Carrot Pancakes

1 medium zucchini, shredded

3 small carrots, shredded

1 spring onion, shredded

1 egg

4-5 Tablespoons flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4-1/2 teaspoon cumin

Salt and ground pepper

Olive oil

Shred vegetables and drain slightly on paper towel. Add in egg, flour, baking powder, cumin and salt and pepper.

Heat olive oil in saute pan over medium high heat. Drop in 2 Tablespoons of batter for each pancake, about 4 will fit in the pan. Brown on both sides, about 3 minutes each side and make sure the oil doesn't get too hot (just turn it back if it starts to smoke.)

These were moist, a little sweet and with a nice subtle spiciness. A great accompaniment for:

Moroccan Chicken Rub: Rub chicken paillard (thin cut) with 1 t. cumin + 1 t. cinnamon + 1/4 t. ground coriander + 1/4 t. ground cloves + salt/pepper. Grill.

Tally:

Zucchini introduces veggie goodness to the cocktail hour

Inexpensive ingredients become something a little fancier

Using up the CSA supply makes us healthier and ready for more