Monday, November 19, 2012

Berbere rubbed pork chops

It's Monday. I'm pooped. I feel 30. Good thing I have 3 more days to be 29. My sneaky (and loving) girlfriends with my sneaky (and loving) hubby planned a surprise birthday dinner for me this weekend. It was a wonderful weekend of shopping for a whole new work wardrobe (my birthday present from Main Man), a surprise dinner at one of my fave places (see pic of my oscar below...so mad I forgot my leftovers), and lots of fun times with friends. I won't forget it anytime soon...I'm a lucky girl, and 2012 has been the best year yet. I can't wait to turn 30 on Thanksgiving day and welcome an even better year to come!
 
 
Like all good things, this weekend had to come to an end....but the best thing about your birthday being during a holiday week is that you have a short work week! And believe me, I need a short week right about now. I'm sure you're all planning your Thanksgiving meals this week, so if you want to check out some of our family's favorite holiday dishes, go check out last year's post with our  Thanksgiving menu on it, I promise you'll find something you can't live without!
 
As for us this week, easy dinners are the ticket when you're planning on a few large Thanksgiving meals later in the week. This is a simple weeknight meal, with great flavor that won't leave you unsatisfied and counting down the days for the real deal fat kid meals in a few days.
 
I had never heard of Berbere spices before but Wikipedia says:
 
Berbere (Amharic: በርበሬ berberē, Tigrinya: በርበረ berbere) is a spice mixture whose constituent elements usually include chili peppers, garlic, ginger, dried basil, korarima, rue, white and black pepper and fenugreek.[1][2] It serves as a key ingredient in the cuisines of Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Berbere sometimes encompasses herbs and spices that are less well known internationally. The latter include both cultivated plants and those that grow wild in Ethiopia, such as korarima (Aframomum corrorima)[3] and long pepper.[4]
 
Interesting. I got the cutest little package of fun spices (and the cutest little package of cool flavored olive oils and vinegars) from my friend Leslie for one of the wedding showers we have a couple months ago. Leslie knows what is right up my alley because she resides in the same alley. She's a foodie, loves to stay active, enjoys a good time out on the town, and has a little of that OCD stuff I've got floating around. We mesh well. Anyway, she got me a bunch of cool cooking stuff from this little place called All Spice in the East Village (you can order online with that link if you're not from around here. I need to go there. I'm scared though. I have a vision of my bank account slowly draining itself in there....
 
This was the first of the new spices I used from the gift and I was uber impressed. I rubbed the pork chops with olive oil very generously, rubbed with the spice mixture, and refridgerated overnight to let that shizz fall in love before cooking. It was goooooood. Check this place out.
 

We grilled our chops to a charred perfection (the rub and olive oil made a nice almost sauce) and served with the Stensland vegetable favorite at the moment...roasted brussel sprouts. There were a lot of "mmmmm's" resonating from the walls of the casa that evening. Hopefully you hear them too!



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