with Homemade Pickled Turnip

Tender grilled pork seasoned with homemade shawarma spice served with quinoa tabouleh, homemade pickled turnip and tahini dressing. Is this the exact meal you need? I think we both know the answer to that. So, fire up the grill, sharpen those knives and let's get cooking. This is my grilled pork shawarma bowl with homemade pickled turnip.

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Where have I been?

Before we get too deep into today's post, I want to talk a little about where I've been and why there haven't been any new posts on Chefsnotes.com in over a month. Near the end of April, I decided to take a week off to spend some time with my family, rest and reset. The day before I was supposed to get back to work, I hurt my shoulder, neck, and back. More accurately, I aggravated an old injury. Since then, the pain has ebbed and flowed but has mostly been bad enough that I could not cook or even type. The few times it's felt okay, it was set off again by something simple like opening the fridge. I'm sure you can imagine my frustration. I've been doing everything I'm supposed to be doing and have been seeing some minor improvements. But enough is enough. I am dying to work, so that's what I'm going to do. I am getting back to work, however, on a limited schedule. Rather than posting three days a week, I'm only posting once, which should be manageable. I want to thank you all for sticking by me and for your understanding. This is an incredibly frustrating time, and I am happy to be back to work.

What's to come?

When I had to stop working, I had two series that I was working on. The casserole series and the bowl series. This post is the last in the bowl series and was supposed to be posted about a month ago. I am also ending the casserole series early. If I'm only posting once a week, I want to make sure that the one post really counts. So, all the upcoming posts will be one-offs, and when I'm able to get back to work full time, I'll jump back into some different series.

Pickled Turnip

Pickled turnip is a classic topping for shawarma and falafel, but it works just as well on pork chops or a grilled chicken sandwich. And, because it is pickled, it will last in the fridge for about a month. To make it first, julienne about one cup of turnip. You can do this by hand or use a julienne peeler. Then do the same thing to one beet until you have about half a cup of julienne beet. Put the beets and turnip in a medium pot with two cups of water, half a cup of red wine vinegar, two tablespoons of sugar and one teaspoon of kosher salt. Bring the contents of the pot to a boil and cook for five minutes. Take it off the heat and cool it to room temperature before using or storing it in the fridge.

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Tahini Dressing

Tahini is a spread made of sesame seeds. Essentially, tahini is sesame butter (like peanut butter), and you can find it in the health food section of most grocery stores. It has a great flavour that makes the perfect sauce for our pork shawarma bowl. To make it combine half a cup of tahini with half a cup of hot water, one tablespoon of minced garlic, the juice of one lemon, a quarter teaspoon of cumin, three-quarters of a teaspoon of kosher salt and half a teaspoon of honey. Mix until smooth. You can use the tahini dressing right away or store it in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week.

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Quinoa Tabouleh

Tabouleh is a salad from the Levantine region of the world. It is traditionally made of parsley, tomatoes, mint, onion, bulgur wheat, olive oil and lemon juice. This simpler version substitutes the bulgur wheat with quinoa to make the salad gluten-free and a little more nutritious. Quinta Quinoa gave me this bag of quinoa to try. What interested me about this specific brand is that it is produced in Canada. I didn't even know that we produced quinoa in Canada. And I have to say, as far as quinoa goes, this was an excellent quality one. Worth checking out for sure.

How to make quinoa tabouleh

To make the quinoa tabouleh, we first have to cook the quinoa. Start by measuring out one cup of quinoa. Rince it and drain it well. Combine the one cup of rinsed quinoa with one and a quarter cup of water. Bring the quinoa and water to a boil over high heat, turn the heat down to low, cover the pot and let it simmer for fourteen minutes. Take the pot off the heat and let it sit, covered for five minutes. Put the cooked quinoa in a medium mixing bowl and combine it with one cup of chopped parsley, one tablespoon minced garlic, the zest and juice of one lemon, one tablespoon olive oil, and a quarter teaspoon of kosher salt. Mix well and serve.

Pork Shawarma

Shawarma Spice Blend

Shawarma spice is something I've used before on this blog because I love it. You can buy it in most grocery stores now, but I find no comparison to homemade. The full recipe is below.

Pork Shawarma

For the pork shawarma, I used pork loin (1 kg). You could use pork shoulder or tenderloin if you'd prefer. If you do use tenderloin, cut it after it is cooked, not before. Start by slicing the pork loin into thin pieces (about ⅛ inch). It helps if the meat is partially frozen while you are cutting it. Then, in a medium mixing bowl, combine the meat with the shawarma spice and a few tablespoons of olive oil. Mix well. At this point, you can grill the pork right away or put it in the fridge to marinate for up to a day.

How to cook pork shawarma

Traditionally, shawarma is cooked on a vertical spit. I'm guessing you don't have one of those, and neither do I, so our shawarma is going to be grilled. If you don't have a grill, you can cook it in a hot pan with a bit of oil or in a 400°f oven for 12 to 15 minutes. To grill the pork, preheat your grill to 400°f, lay each piece of pork down in a single layer and grill for 2 to 3 minutes per side or until it is cooked. Finish the pork by squeezing some lemon juice over it and serve.

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Assemble the Pork Shawarma Bowl

First things first, grab the biggest bowl you have. Put about half a cup of the quinoa tabouleh in the bottom of the bowl and top with a little bit of sliced iceberg lettuce. Besides the lettuce, add a few tomato slices. Take a few pieces of the pork shawarma, thinly slice them and put them beside the lettuce. Top meat and vegetables with a tablespoon or two of the tahini dressing and finish with the pickled turnip and a lemon wedge. It is absolutely delicious and actually pretty healthy.

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The Wrap-Up

There are obviously many components to this shawarma bowl, but it is well worth the effort. If you do want to cut down on prep, you can substitute the picked turnip for some sliced dill pickle if you'd prefer. It won't have the same flavour, but it will be delicious nonetheless. Thanks for reading, and man, is it good to be back. See you next Wednesday.

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