Carne Adovada, Real New Mexican Food

* We linked this post at Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade *

Cape Girardeau, Missouri.  Probably among the very last places you'd expect to have genuine carne adovada, made with real hatch red chiles (I brought them back with me on my last trip to NM -- that's the kind of chile addict I am).  I was following a recipe I found here, at least approximately.  I had never made carne adovada with smoked pork before, but I will never make it without smoked pork now that I have.  This stuff is GOOD.  Be warned though, it is pretty spicy for those who aren't accustomed to chiles.

Carne adovada is a New Mexican dish consisting of cubes of pork marinated in red chile puree, then smoked and finally slow simmered in red chile sauce until they are fall-apart tender and bursting with chile flavor.  The ingredients are simple, the method is simple, but it does take a few days to do this properly.

Lamb Gyros -- the Ultimate Grill Experience

* We linked this post at Monday Mania at the The Healthy Home Economist and Friday Foodfight at RunDMT *

I love gyros.  I'll take them in nearly any form, even the ones that get sliced off of a giant cylinder of lamb pate at a Greek fast food restaurant.  However, when I get the chance, I make them at home because the flavor of a fresh leg of lamb marinated for three days in a delicious mix of herbs and spices is simply unbeatable.  I believe that this gyros recipe is the best I've ever tasted, anywhere, and I hope you like it too:

Lamb Korma Pulao

* We linked this post at Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop *

Tonight we took a little jaunt to India, via another excellent cookbook called 50 Great Curries Of India.  Indian food is amazing to me -- they have the longest ingredient lists of anything I cook other than barbecue sauce, yet the results are invariably smooth, rich, and perfect on the taste buds.  We like fiery food over here so that probably helps too, though this particular dish is quite mild.  Tonight's menu comes to us from Lucknow -- Lamb Korma Pulao -- and it was delicious:

South African Bobotie

Bobotie, except that it has no egg topping and it's a little runny.  Very tasty though!

We're having an around-the-world week here at the Dude2 household this week.  Our first excursion was to Louisiana with smothered pork roast, and now we're off to South Africa for their national dish, Bobotie.  I've never had Bobotie before, and there was no picture in the cookbook (150 Best Slow Cooker Recipes), so I have no idea if this was done right or not.  It tastes good though!

Smothered Pork Roast with Blackened Tapenade Potatoes

* We linked this post at Simple Lives Thursday at GNOWFGLINS and at Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade *

I woke up this morning to a great blanket of fog covering the pasture. There's nothing like a foggy morning to make you want to slow down and enjoy life a little more, and this dish is perfect for that.  The pot roast cooked for nearly eight hours, until it was fall-apart tender and covered in a thick, oniony gravy packed with flavor.  I made the potatoes on a whim, because we've managed to deplete our stock of greens.  They came out really good, I'd definitely recommend trying this one!

Sourdough Whole Wheat English Muffins

I posted this recipe over at Food Renegade, an excellent real food blog. You should check it out!

Having just moved to a new house that I'm having to remodel extensively, I don't yet have an oven. I saw Dude1's post about his sourdough bread last night and decided I needed some myself. What kind of bread can you make without an oven? English muffins. Read on: