salted pork cutlet with avocado mung bean puree

This one should have been up a while ago, but you know, this led to that. Back when I was talking about yin-yanging food together, I mentioned the idea of putting two separate flavors together on the same plate so that they could be joined harmoniously together in the mouth.

This time, I decided to go with an interesting complementary pair - salty and soothing. The pork is slightly over-salted in this recipe, and to compensate for that there is barely any sodium in the rest of the meal. The salt drives you to taste the avocado and mung bean, which is soothing and refreshing to the palate. Mung bean sprouts are naturally filled with a large concentration of water, and blending them up with a tiny bit of oil leads to a smooth paste.

The pork is seasoned and left to marinate in sea salt with no additional flavors, so if you get a good cut of meat it will make a big impact on the end result here. We are showcasing the meat by keeping it simple. After-flavors from the soy sauteed Napa cabbage and the avocado bean sprout puree will then add complexity in the mouth. This is the basic idea behind the yin-yang approach.

I added little piles of Mothia - a favorite Sicilian sea salt of mine - in front of each cutlet so that diners could choose to give it an extra salty punch if they wished. I prefer it with the extra salt but this way I don't have to force it on anyone, and it makes the meal more interactive. If you're worried about sodium, compare this to any soup you may have made with one cube of bullion from the store and I think you'll be quite surprised at what you find. Also note to balance the overall salt concentration of the meal the avocado dip has only the slightest pinch for seasoning.

Tell me what yin-yang flavor ideas you can come up with!

mascarPOne (and caramelized balsamic pear)

Mascarpone is already fantastic on its own, just as it is. Still, having a few simple – yet elegant – recipes for it will make you feel fancier about yourself and raises your overall sexiness. Caramelized balsamic pears with mascarpone on crostini - this is one of those versatile entries that would be equally fit on a picnic, as an appetizer to a meal, or for a light dessert. 

The caramelization of the pears can be aided by sprinkling a handful of sugar over top. Of course you may consider peaches, nectarines, or apricots, but remember before caramelizing that you want to take out as much of the liquid as possible from the fruit. Caramelizing food, as with searing it, is a dry fry technique.

Caramelization, as it happens, is the reaction that occurs as water molecules are drawn out of sucrose through evaporation, and high temperatures are reached within the component sugars. You can caramelize something even if it’s juicy to start with, but you might end up with a syrup. And, since you’ll be burning off the water anyway, the process will be much quicker if you remove the excess liquids before putting it in the pan.

just get some color on that fruit

After drying out your fruit as best you can on paper towels, get your frying pan hot over medium / medium high heat. Place your fruit in the pan and let it cook for a bit, before pouring over your balsamic vinegar. As that begins to bubble away, sprinkle a bit of sugar (brown for sticky fruit!) over the fruit and turn them over.

You can sprinkle a bit more sugar here before turning them back over. They should start to become dark and syrupy. When you see that the sugar has melted and the fruit looks shiny, take the slices out and put them on a plate to cool. You can use them warm, or leave them in the refrigerator for nice chilled slices. The texture is quite different but delicious either way.

 
The mascarpone, as we have already confirmed, is good as it is, but let’s take it up a notch. Add either a bit of honey, Grand Marnier (or similar liqueur), or lemon juice to the cheese and stir until well blended. Toast your thinly cut bread, scrape some of the mascarpone mix over it, and finish by placing a couple slices of caramelized fruit on top – magnificent.