Nevada had us a little stumped. I suggested we set up our meal buffet-style and charge the kids a buck each to eat, but all I got were a few eye-rolls in response. Instead, we opted to highlight a little of Nevada's ethnic diversity. Nevada, California and Idaho all have sizable populations of Basque-Americans. Many of these people immigrated, via South America, to the American West where their shepherding skills provided meat for mining camps in the late 1800s. With origins in Spain and France, you can imagine that the community has a strong culinary tradition!
Lamb and mutton dishes are popular, but we also managed to find a good pork recipe (we do like pork in this house!). Our recipe came from a restaurant in Carson City, Nevada. After the pork loin went into the marinade, the rest of the meal was quick and easy to prepare. We grilled outside over charcoal, even though the weather is quickly approaching official-winter here in Iowa.
We purchased a jar of roasted peppers, rather than roasting our own, which made our Thursday night meal even easier.
On the side, I put together a salad, found here.
The dressing for this was exceptionally good--and so simple! Olive oil, garlic, cider vinegar, salt and mayonnaise. It was rich and satisfying, and the boiled egg balanced the intense garlic flavor.
Everyone liked this meal. Maia was initially suspicious of the salad, but consumed it at a rate that indicated she liked it. Lucy liked the pork and dipped hers in bottled barbecue sauce. Marc, who does not generally like mayonnaise, (how we've been married nearly 12 years I'll never know) really liked the dressing.
I was initially a little intimidated by cooking an official "Basque meal." Hopefully, we've done it justice. Even if we haven't, we'll eat this meal again in our house.
Next stop: North Carolina
Loved all these photos
ReplyDeleteand I had not seen the food.com
website. Cool.