Cauliflower Wings – Must Try!

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baking, cauliflower, cauliflower wings, cooking, delicious, easy dinners, eat, food, fresh, garden, quick cooking, simple entertaining, summer, summertime, tacos, wings

So Pure Kitchen just opened up in Kanata and now I eat, sleep and dream about their cauliflower wings.

And as much as I would love to eat there every single day, I needed to come up with my own recipe for making cauliflower wings in the oven.

These were pretty delicious I must admit they will curb my craving for the PK version. They are great as a appetizer, on tacos, in a wrap instead of meat or on top of a salad.

Here’s what you need:

(Preheat your oven to 425 degrees)

• 1 Head cauliflower cut into bite sized “wings”
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 tsp garlic and onion powder
• 1/4 tsp chipotle powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup water
• A good squeeze of sriracha
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 tablespoon sriracha
• 2 tablespoons Mirin or 1 tablespoon maple syrup

Steps:

1. Cut up the cauliflower
2. Make batter with the flour, garlic and onion powder, water and sriracha
3. Toss wings in batter with your hands. Make sure they are all covered
4. Lay out on a parchment paper covered baking sheet
5. Bake in oven for 25 mins
6. Remove from oven and toss wings with melted butter, mirin and sriracha mix
7. Put back in oven for 15 mins
8. Devoir
9. As much as I would like to say this is 1 serving, it is not. It is 4 servings. But you don’t need to share with anyone. 😉

Drop me a note and let me know how you liked them!

Enjoy

Www.monicaskitchen.com

Instant Pot: Pulled Pork!

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BBQ, comfort food, cooking, delicious, easy cooking, easy dinners, eat, entertaining, fall dishes, food, instant pot, kid friendly, make ahead meals, pork, pressure cooking, pulled pork, quick cooking, simple entertaining, tacos, winter

I am officially obsessed with my Instant Pot. My pulled pork was a big test because I swear by using my slow cooker for 12 hours to make the “perfect” pulled pork. I saw pork shoulder bone in on sale at the store today so I picked one up for 18$ for 3 kilos. A steal!

Prep is the same, but instead of taking 12 hours in a slow cooker however I had pulled pork on the table in 75 minutes!

Here is what you need:

• 3 kilos of pork shoulder bone in (remove the skin and slice into fist full chunks)
• Dry rub – start with 2/3 cup but you may need more (I use my own rub but you can buy one from the store)
• 1 bottle beer or can of coke or root beer (not sugar free)
• 1 onion thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup bourbon
• 1 cup bbq sauce – I use homemade but you can use your favorite store bought BBQ sauce.
• 

1. Cut the pork shoulder into fist full chunks keeping the bones.
2. Rub each and every pork chunk with the dry rub.
3. Typically I would do this 24-48 hours in advance and keep it in the fridge but today I did it all in one step.
4. In your instant pot press the sauté button and add a splash of oil. Add sliced onion. Sauté for 2 or 3 minutes. Add pork chunks.
5. Layer meat and onions, meat and onions.
6. Pour beer over top. If you want it gluten free don’t have a beer use root beer/coke etc. in this case I used a radler. Try to make sure the meat is evenly in the pot and mostly covered by the beer.
7. Put on instant pot lid.
8. Press meat button, set for 75 minutes and put up your feet and relax.
9. Fast forward ~90 mins (once instant pot is finished and done venting open the lid.)
10. Remove bones and discard. Shred meat with fork or tongs. The meat is like butter and just falls apart.
11. You will have a lot of pork juices (these are delicious and if you want to scoop out 3 cups you can use it for baked beans) reserve a good 3 cups, you will most likely have 5-6 cups of juices.
12. In the instant pot add back in the pork, 2-3 cups of porky juices and the bourbon and BBQ sauce. Press sauté button and cook for 5 minutes or so. You want to taste the sweet pork, not just the BBQ sauce so start with a little, you can always add more.
13. This made 8 cups of meat and sauce. Enough for 4 dinners. It freezes superbly well. I use it for tacos, on nachos on my famous pull pork pizza! Think about it, 4 dinners for 18$ is a great deal.

Enjoy! I can’t wait to hear how you liked it!

Instant Pot! Chipotle Chicken

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chicken, cooking, easy cooking, easy dinner, easy dinners, eat, food, instant pot, pressure cooking, tacos, winter

Holy moly was this one ever quick and delicious! I was craving wraps for dinner and didn’t want to pan fry the chicken so I whipped this up in minutes. Dinner on the table in less than 15 minutes.

Here is what you need:

• 4 small chicken breasts (roughly a pound give or take)
• 1/4 cup of diced chipotles in adobo sauce (I LOVE this stuff!) – Tip ! once you open the can throw the rest in a zip lock bag and toss it in the freezer to use in other dishes.   I’m obsessed with it.
• 1 medium onion finely diced
• 3 garlic cloves minced finely or use a rasp
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 2 tsp Brown sugar
• salt and pepper
• 1 tsp oil

1. With the cooker’s lid off, add a tsp of oil spray and heat to “Saute” until the cooker has heated up. Add the onion and garlic and cook until the onion is translucent and the garlic is fragrant. Add in the chipotle and adobo sauce.
2. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper and place in the Instant Pot and saute until browned. Add the chicken stock & brown sugar. Securely lock the pressure cooker’s lid and set to “Manual”. Cook at HIGH pressure for 8 minutes. YES 8 MINUTES!!! 😳 crazy eh?
3. Perform a quick release to release the pressure. Open the lid and remove the chicken breasts. Shred the chicken and set it back in the cooker.

This is delicious in wraps, on nachos, served on rice and topped with avocado and salsa and cheese.

Stay tuned.. I will have 8 more Instant pot recipes to go for January!

Www.monicaskitchen.com

Pulled pork, a delicious make ahead meal. Eat it 4 different ways!

Tags

BBQ, easy dinner, make ahead meals, nachos, pork, pulled pork, slaw, tacos

I have a love affair with pork. If I had to chose between beef or pork I would always choose pork. It is just delish!

I love a good pulled pork sandwich. Making pulled pork in your slow cooker has got to be one of the easiest things to do. Not only does it take 10 minutes to assemble but it freezes well and can be made into many different dinners. 

All you need is pork butt, pork rib roast or pork shoulder, a good rub, a cup of cola/beer/stock, cider vinegar, Worcester sauce, an onion, 1 cup of BBQ sauce and you are ready to go. Pulled pork needs to be made 24 hours inadvance so a little planning can go along way.

  
Time to prep:

You need ~ 2 kilos of pork. Dice it into cubes and season well with your dry rub. Sometimes I do this the day before and let it sit in the fridge.. But you don’t need too. You can make your own dry rub, or buy it.  I make my own and I use equal parts salt, white sugar and brown sugar, coffee, paprika, garlic and onion powder, dry mustard etc. Mix it up and save the rest in a Masson jar in your pantry. You can use it for anything! Chicken, steaks, pork chops… It is terrific. 
You need a cup of liquid. Today I used cola. Good cause it keeps it gluten free… Beer is also delish.

Start with your slow cooker. 

   
    
 Toss in 1 diced onion. Add in your seasoned pork, top with 1 cup of liquid of your choice, add 1/4 cup Worchester sauce and apple cider vinegar. Set to low for 12 hours or high for 8. 

After the pork is cooked, remove from crockpot and shred. Save 2 cups of cooking liquid and drain the rest. Place shredded meat back into pot and top with 1 cup of bbq sauce and cooking liquid. 

This freezes extremely well. And you can serve it a number of ways.

On a bun topped with a slaw.  

 
Make pulled pork nachos

  
Pulled pork topped baked potato 

  
Pulled pork tacos with creamy avocado and cilantro 

  
  

I can’t wait to hear how you liked it! 

http://www.monicaskitchen.com

The Best Of San Fran

Tags

best burritos in America, burritos, La Taqueria, San Francisco, tacos

La Taqueria in the Mission has been declared to have America’s Best Burritos and Tacos and after eating them I can see why. 

Miguel Jara opened the taqueria over 40 years ago in the Mission. Back then burritos were 90 cents and tacos 60 cents. Today considering inflation the food is very reasonable… Tacos are 3.95 each and burritos 5.95. He has been asked many times “What makes your food so good?” His answer “Everything is made fresh every day”

When I was there last week I ate the beef tacos. I ordered 2 and they were massive and so delicious. 

If you are ever in SF you need to stop by the Mission district and eat at La Taqueria…you won’t be disappointed. And if you are lucky, you may even get serenaded by a Mariachi band 🙂