Feed a Cold

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Feed a cold, starve a fever... It's an apothegm we've all heard before, but it's scientifically untrue. It seems we should actually be feeding both colds and fevers - the body fights infection better when it has nourishing fuel.

So where did the false adage come from?!? Same place as "if you go outside without a coat you'll catch a cold," and "if you go outside with wet hair you'll catch  cold." Seems once upon a time, the common belief was if your body core got cold, you would catch a cold. Eating would raise your inner core temperature and help fight the cold. Same thought process with starving a fever. If you ate, you'd be raising that core temperature even more - which would increase your fever.

It made sense in a world where viruses and bacteria were relatively unknown. It's pretty much the world we're heading back into. I mean, you did see who is about to become the next Chairman of the Science and Space Subcommittee, didn't you?!? It's going to be an interesting couple of years...

So with my acute bronchitis reasonably under control, it was time to feed that cold, tonight. Pork tenderloin with cranberry jalapeño sauce, rice-a-roni, and spinach.

The tenderloin was grilled with just a bit of salt and pepper. It was topped with store-bought cranberry jalapeño sauce. The sauce had a nice flavor. Could have been a bit hotter, but, otherwise, not bad, at all. The rice was a variation on a faux rice-a-roni. 1/4 cup orzo, 3/4 cup rice, 2 cups turkey broth, a pinch of French herbs, and some butter. I put the rice and orzo in a small pot with the butter and toasted the orzo just a bit. Added the broth and herbs, covered, reduced heat, and let simmer for 20 minutes.

Spinach: frozen - make hot.

Oh - speaking of acute bronchitis... Instead of dealing with the office staff at my primary care physician - the people who only answer phones when it's convenient for them - I ended up going to Doctor's Best Immediate Medical Care in Berwyn. I had actually never been in an emergency care-type place before - and I was impressed.

The place was impeccably clean, the staff friendly, courteous, and professional, and they really went out of their way to make me feel like a valued customer. It was a great experience from start-to-finish. And today, the Dr who saw me called to see how I was doing! Methinks more medical office staff should take note. I reallyreallyreally like my PC Physician, but I also reallyreallyreally liked not having to deal with the office attitude.

It would be my hope to never have to see any Dr again, but if the need does arise, I now have options...

 

 

 


Roasted Vegetable Soup with Coca Cola Country Ham

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Coca Cola?!?  In MY house?!? Has the End of Times come and gone?!?

Well... not quite. It was a recipe ingredient. Really. And it was an imported Mexican Coke - made with sugar.

I drink maybe three Cokes a year. All from Mexico from an ice-cold bottle. Even if high fructose corn syrup was a healthy alternative to sugar, I wouldn't drink American Coca Cola. It's too damned sweet. The Mexican Coke made with sugar really is a fun and refreshing beverage. Three times a year.

I used to love Coke, Dr. Pepper, Bireley's Orange soda... Working in restaurants at a young age, I had a pretty much endless supply of it. But as I got older - and they changed the sweetener to HFCS - I lost my taste for it. Today, plain seltzer is my carbonated beverage of choice.

But we had country ham in the 'fridge compliments of Ann and Julie, and the label gave a recipe for fried ham in cola. I had to go for it. There's a world of difference between a country ham and a city ham. City hams - the ham you find at the supermarket, bone-in, boneless, spiral cut, etc., are a wet-cured ham, giving the meat a mild, tender and juicy flavor. Country hams, on the other hand, are dry-cured. They're rubbed with salt and seasonings, then smoked and aged for anywhere from a few months to several years. They're salty, chewy, and more intensely-flavored.

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The simple recipe called for half cola and half water in a skillet, and then to fry the ham in it for a few minutes per side. More braising than frying, but who am I to argue?

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It came out pretty damned good. The Coke added sweetness and the water leeched out a bit of the salt. It was chewy and really flavorful. I put pieces on buttered baguette and dipped it into the soup for a fun-flavor-combination.

The Soup...

It was going to be a roasted cauliflower soup, but when I opened the vegetable bin, I found bits and pieces of this-and-that that needed using up. Roasted Vegetable Soup was born.

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Broccoli, carrots, onion, cauliflower, garlic, and mushrooms were drizzled with olive oil, salt, and pepper and roasted at 425° for about 30 minutes. Into a pot they went with a cup of white wine, water, a carton of vegetable broth, and herbs d'Provence. When it all cooked down nice and mushy, I hit it with the immersion blender and 2 cups of heavy cream.

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It simmered away for a bit and dinner was served!

I vacuum-sealed the remaining ham and placed it in the freezer. I'm thinking that some of it is going to grace the Thanksgiving Table in some way and I definitely see a Bean Soup in our near future...

This is gonna be fun!

Thanks, Ann & Julie!


Pork Pies

A while back I picked up a package of ground pork at the grocers. As is typical of my shopping habits, I had no plan for it, but knew that I could do something with it, eventually.

Yesterday morning, while going through the freezer to see what I would fix for dinner, I grabbed it to thaw. I had no idea what I was going to make, but I had looked at in the freezer for too long. It was time.

It sat on the counter and I walked by it many times with no ideas formulating. And then all at once, it said Pork Pie.

A dinner was born!

I decided to just wing it with ingredients already in the house - sweet potatoes, onions, spinach, and apples. It worked well. Even Nonna ate a whole one all the while saying it was too much.

I used a standard 6-hole jumbo muffin tin and had enough dough and filling left over to make 2 more. I made a free-form pie with it for Victor's lunch one day this week. Adjust ingredients, accordingly.

Pork Pie

  • Pie dough for 2-crust pie
  • 1 1/2 lbs ground pork
  • 1 cup diced onion
  • 2 cups diced sweet potato
  • 1 cup diced apple
  • 2 cups frozen spinach
  • 2 eggs
  • 1-2 tsp rubbed sage
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Make your favorite pie crust and refrigerate. Mine is:

Pie Dough

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/3 cup cake flour
  • 1/2 lb butter, frozen
  • pinch salt
  • 3 tbsp ice water
  • 3 tbsp chilled vodka

Using a food processor, add flour and salt. Pulse to mix.

Chop up frozen butter and add. Pulse until butter is incorporated and mixture looks grainy.

Slowly add ice water and vodka. Pulse until mixed.

Turn out onto counter. Press and form mixture into 2 disks . Wrap in plastic and refrigerate about an hour to allow the flour to properly absorb the water and to relax the gluten.

For the filling:

Saute onion in a bit of olive oil until it begins to become translucent. Add diced sweet potato and apple and continue to cook until they just begin to soften. Remove from heat and add the frozen spinach. It will help quickly cool down the vegetables.

In a large bowl, mix the cooled vegetables with the raw ground pork. Add 2 eggs, the garlic powder, sage, salt, and pepper, and mix well.

Put it all together:

Roll half of the dough out to about an 8" x 24" rectangle - or any shape where you can get 3 good 7"-8" circles of dough.

Butter the muffin tins and place a circle of dough in each one. Fill the dough cups with filling and fold the edges over the top.

Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 375° about 45 to 55 minutes, or until browned and cooked through.

They were surprisingly fun. A flaky crust and a savory filling were perfect for a cool day.

Methinks I may just have to get some more ground pork!


Catching Up

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You'd think we had stopped eating around here!

I've been pretty busy migrating websites - including this one - onto a new hosting account.  The old account was old and clunky. Some sites were taking forever to load - and that's just not a good thing.

So... to make a long story longer, I was spending pretty much every waking moment chained to the computer, downloading sites, uploading sites, recreating sites - and in a couple of cases, making brand-new sites.

It's great having everything neat and orderly, again. There were 15 years of extraneous stuff on those old servers. It's all neat and organised. Today.

We did eat while all this was going on. Victor cooked several nights when he saw me totally immersed in a move. This site, in particular, was fairly nerve-wracking.

I started this site back in 2005 and it has grown to 1700 posts and 8 cookbooks and recipe collections. Thousands of recipes that I would hate to lose.

When I finally got it moved and uploaded, none of the pictures were there. And let's face it - it's all about the picture! After a bit of mild panic - and extraordinary luck - I was able to upload them separately and have them actually link.

The Internet. Gotta love it.

Ya also have to love quick dinners when you're otherwise detained. like the Stuffed Pepper Pasta, above. I took a jar of Victor's Pasta Sauce and added ground beef and a jar of stuffed peppers. Mixed it with pasta shells and dinner was served. Simplicity.

And we did a quick pork tenderloin with tomato salad...

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Nothing fancy - just quick and basic.

Another quick - as in unattended - meal was a stuffed round steak.

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I cut and pounded the steaks, filled them with spinach. rolled and tied them, and then let them simmer in a bit of red wine and beef broth for a couple of hours.

I pulled them out, cooked the noodles right in the sauce, and dinner was served.

So... hopefully, I can start spending a bit more time in the kitchen and a bit less time updating websites for a while. I do enjoy both, but cooking takes the lead...

 

 


Pork Tenderloin and Fava Beans

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Frozen fava beans. Who woulda thunk?!?

I really like fava beans but they're not easy to come by out here in the sterile Philadelphia suburbs. Frozen Dried favas are really only good for mashing or for soup - they're just too mushy - but the frozen seemed to be pretty good.

Favas hail from the Mediterranean, so I thought I'd give them a Mediterranean twist - Pancetta, Marsala, and Parmesan.

I simply fried up the pancetta, added a splash of Marsala, a nice pinch of marjoram, and then the beans. I covered the pot and let them simmer for about 10 minutes. When they were cooked through, I stirred in about an ounce of freshly-grated Parmesan cheese.

They went onto he plate and were topped with slices of grilled pork tenderloin that had been marinated in Marsala, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and marjoram.

I've always liked Marsala - Veal Marsala was my birthday dish when I was a kid - and I can't wait to get to Sicily and actually be where it originated. I have a feeling I shall be bringing several bottles back with me! I want to see the Ambra, the Oro, and the Rubino - I want to check out a Marsala Stravecchio – a  wine aged a minimum of 10 years in oak. I think I could have a lot of fun with a bottle of that.

We brought back champagne and cognac from Paris, and apertivos, digestivos and liqueurs from Italy. I think this trip will be a variety of Marsalas and other local wines. Even though I don't really drink, I can appreciate a good beverage and can't wait to get into our kitchen and peruse the organic garden that will be at our disposal. Who knows... maybe there will be fresh fava beans!

65 days until we take off!

 

 


Dinnertime

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It hasn't all been cake and pasta sauce this week! We really have done other things, as well.

I do take pictures of dinner most nights, but they don't always get posted on the blog. I can get busy doing other things and next thing I know, a week has gone by without a post! Quelle horreur!

So here we have a few from this past week... Starting with tonight.

Roast beef. How ... uh... normal. Normal, except we rarely actually cook a roast. It was an impulse buy at the store a while back and I decided it was time for it to come out of the freezer and see the light of day. I'm rather glad I did! I rubbed it with garlic, salt, and pepper and then seared it before going into the oven with about a cup of red wine.

I made a mushroom gravy, added caramelized onions from last night, and mixed it all with wide egg noodles. They were pretty good. They were a bit of a tribute to my mom who used to make some wicked-good noodles and gravy when I was a kid.

And speaking of caramelized onions form last night... They topped steaks that were also topped with some chopped bacon.

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The broccoli rabe and the mashed potatoes were also topped with a bit of chopped bacon. It was good. Real good. None of us cleaned our plates.

And sadly, neither one of us can remember the sauce we had on the pork tenderloin.

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Flat-out no idea.

I'm sure it was fabulous.

 


Pork Loin with Oranges

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Victor and I both get emails from Italian magazines and every now and again, a recipe comes through that actually sounds promising.

Once upon a time, my main focus in cooking was building layer-upon-layer of flavor and texture - more in the style of classic French, I guess. While I still enjoy that, the focus is becoming more and more a few good ingredients, and letting them speak for themselves - more in the style of rustic French or Italian. Simpler foods from a simpler time.

This recipe - from Italy magazine - is about as simple and basic as one can get, but the flavors really jump out at you. The sweet orange, the rich rosemary, and the salty capacola all play off the pork requiring no other ingredients other than a sprinkling of black pepper. It's one of those genius recipes. I'm thinking I may make this again when I can get some good blood oranges. It may even be something fun to make when we're in Sicily in May. The creative juices are flowing...

This particular dish was way more food than a family of three can eat in one sitting, so the rest became another simple meal with just a few ingredients.

Orange Pork Loin

  • 2 lb pork loin
  • 2 oz capicola or other thin-sliced dry-cred Italian meat
  • 2 oranges
  • 2 tbsp rosemary
  • 8 oz red wine

Slice one orange and juice the other.

Make deep incisions into the pork loin and place one slice of capicola, one slice of orange, and a couple of rosemary leaves in each cut. Use kitchen twine to tie up the pork and place in a braising pan with lid.

Add a cup of red wine, the juice of the orange, and sprinkle with black pepper. Cover and bake for 1 hour at 375° . Remove lid and cook another 10 minutes.

Serve the cooking liquid over the meat.

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It took about 10  minutes of prep and the rest of the time was unattended cooking in the oven - but it tasted like I had been cooking away all day. A definite keeper!

I cooked it in a 30-year old Le Creuset braiser. The beauty of Le Creuset is you buy it once - for life. Like our old Calphalon and inherited Corningware. All of it will outlive us and never go out of style - no matter what the shopkeepers want us to believe.

 


Pork Pies and Bean Soup

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I cooked up a bunch of navy beans yesterday and took a pound of ground pork out of the freezer. I didn't have a real plan, but I had an idea. But after a yummy birthday lunch none of us were in a dinner mood.

Today, I had a bunch of cooked navy beans and thawed ground pork. I needed an idea.

My sister had made a comment about adding vodka to pie crust a few days ago, and while I knew the science behind it, I had never made a crust with vodka, before - so... I decided a pork pie with a vodka crust was in order. And bean soup.

I have been making the same pie crust for years - using the food processor. It is pretty no-fail and makes a perfect 2-crust pie. I decided to tweak it a bit with some vodka. The results were stellar. I think I shall be adding a couple of tablespoons of vodka in my crusts from now on!

Pie Dough

for a double crust:

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/3 cup cake flour
  • 1/2 lb butter, frozen
  • pinch salt
  • 3 tbsp ice water
  • 3 tbsp cold vodka

Using a food processor, add flour and salt. Pulse to mix.

Chop up frozen butter and add. Pulse until butter is incorporated and mixture looks grainy.

Slowly add ice water and vodka. Pulse until mixed.

Turn out onto counter. Press and form mixture into 2 disks . Wrap in plastic and refrigerate about an hour to allow the flour to properly absorb the water and to relax the gluten.

Roll out crust and place in pie plate. Crimp edges and fill.

For a sweet crust add 2 tbsp sugar.

That's the basic.

For the pork pie, I used one crust for three pies and the other for a tart that I froze for Thanksgiving. This should actually be good for 6 pies.

Pork Pie

  • 1 lb ground pork
  • 1 onion, minced
  • 1 carrot, minced
  • 1 stalk celery, minced
  • 3 tbsp parsley, minced
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 1 tsp sage
  • Pie dough

Preheat oven to 375°.

Grease a jumbo muffin tin with butter.

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients.

Roll out the dough and cut out 6 8" circles.

Center the rounds in the tins. Divide the filling evenly among the cups and fold the excess dough over the tops, leaving a vent hole in the center.

Bake until the tops are browned and puffed slightly, about 45 minutes.

Serve warm.

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For the soup, I sauteed celery, carrots and onion in a bit of bacon grease and then added the beans and a couple cups of turkey broth. I let it all simmer and then hit it with an immersion blender to make it creamy. I added S&P - no other spices. It didn't need anything...

Victor thought the pork pie could have used a cream sauce. I think he's right. Maybe a creamy green peppercorn sauce or something along that line...

I'll figure something out by Thanksgiving...


Tater Tots

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Pan-seared pork chop with a pomegranate and chili sauce, broccoli rabe with lemon - and tater tots. What can I say?!? I wanted tater tots.

It's usually how it happens - I get fixated on something and that's it until I make it. Tonight it was tater tots. Who knows what will be next.

Actually... my other fixation right now is pumpkin. I could eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Alas, Nonna doesn't really like pumpkin, so I'm not making quite as many things as I have in the past. I have no qualms at all about telling a kid to eat or go hungry, but it's a little different with an 87-year old.  She's earned her likes and dislikes. I finally figured out she really likes canned vegetables so I no longer have to overcook ours to get her to eat them - note the green beans on her plate instead of the broccoli rabe. But while I've been keeping most of my pumpkin things to desserts that she doesn't eat, anyway, I'm going to have to figure out a few savory dishes...  I love a challenge... I wonder how a tater tot pumpkin casserole would work?!?

The pomegranate sauce was merely pomegranate molasses with a bit of sambal oelek. Sweet, tart, and spicy. Broccoli rabe was steamed and drizzled with a bit of lemon. The tater tots were tater tots.

Simplicity.

And really yummy.

 

 


Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

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I just love it when Victor cooks. Especially when it's an unexpected meal.

I was working on a project when out of the blue Victor asked if I minded if he cooked dinner. "Oh, yes, honey. I mind completely" NOT!!! Cook away!

What was even more fun was he had no idea what he wanted to make. We had a pork tenderloin thawed, but that was the extent of the planning.

He decided on a stuffed tenderloin.

  • Bacon
  • Carrots
  • Green bell pepper
  • A small bulb of fennel
  • Onion

He cooked the bacon till it was very crisp - took it out, chopped the veggies and sauteed them in the bacon fat.  While that was happening he found some stale rolls and made bread crumbs in the food processor - dumped the veggies in a bowl, crumbled the bacon into them - added the bread crumbs - a bit of olive oil and milk...  Slit open the pork loin - pounded it out a bit, stuffed the sucker, rolled it up (called me in to tie it for him - a guy needs "some" help) and roasted it for 45 mins at 350°.

Fresh tomatoes out of the garden. Sliced and slathered in home made pesto.

Rice cooked in chicken stock for flavor.

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Nonna and I both cleaned our plates. Completely cleaned our plates.

It was one of those perfect meals. Every flavor worked with every texture, worked with everything.

The pesto with the tomatoes was another perfect combo.  The basil has really taken off and we're going to be making a lot more of it in the next week.

And the tabasco peppers are getting close, too...


Pork Tenderloin and Rice-A-Roni TJRecipes.com Tim and Victor's Totally Joyous Recipes

Pork Tenderloin and Faux Rice-A-Roni

Pork Tenderloin and Rice-A-Roni TJRecipes.com Tim and Victor's Totally Joyous Recipes

 

Rice-A-Roni, The San Francisco Treat!  ™

I have heard that jingle more times than I could ever possibly count! Hearing the clang of a cable car bell immediately brings the jingle to mind. Good ol' Golden Grain Macaroni Company. Rice-A-Roni is now owned by Quaker Oats which is owned by Pepsi. The San Francisco Treat is headquartered in Purchase, NY.

How sad.

Growing up in San Francisco, I rarely - if ever - actually ate Rice-A-Roni. My mom made her own faux-rice-a-roni dishes all the time by just breaking up spaghetti noodles and adding it to rice. She'd saute the rice and spaghetti in a bit of butter, add water, a bouillon cube and some chopped [fill-in-the-blank] and we'd have a tasty side dish with Sunday Chicken or whatever. Mama was an inventive cook.

Fast-forward a few years and I'm still making variations on a rice-a-roni theme...

Tonight, it was rice, broken up spaghetti, and a bit of onion. I sauteed about 3 ounces of broken spaghetti with 3/4 cup rice and then added 2 1/2 cups of chicken broth, a pinch of poultry seasoning, and a pinch of salt and pepper. I brought it to a boil, and then covered it and let it simmer on low for about 20 minutes. My own treat.

The rest of the meal was just as simple.

I cut a pork tenderloin into medallions and browned them in a skillet. I added a bit of homemade BBQ sauce and a splash of chicken broth and let them simmer until done. Green beans.

Done.

Back in the late '60s, I actually knew the grandson of the founder of Golden Grain Macaroni - he and his lovely wife lived up the street from Pirro's Pizzeria where I spent my time spinning pizzas and making every management mistake a young manager could make.

Small world.

 

 


The Last Supper

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Oh, our bags are packed, we're ready yo go...

The plane leaves in a few hours... non-stop to Portland! It's time for some quality family-and-friend time! We haven't been west in 2 years. It is definitely time.

The main impetus for the trip is my nephew Bill's wedding on Saturday. He's marrying a most wonderful young lady in the redwoods of northern California. The setting couldn't be more perfect.

And we finally get to meet two new great-nephews, Mason and Dylan!  And we get to see the original 13 nieces and nephews and meet some fiances, boyfriends, and/or significant others.  Plus seeing the siblings will be great. We tend to get loud when we're all together. Good times are going to be had by all.

After the wedding, we're back to Portland and then up to Seattle to see two of our most favorite people in the world! Back to Portland for a bit more family time and then home on the 20th...

Nonna will be taken care of by Victor's brother and sister. She's already dreading our leaving - she just knows no one can get her medication together like we do. And who's going to fluff her pillow at night if I'm not there?!?  Cybil's only concern is making sure she gets fed and gets plenty of treats. Dogs are so easy.

We'll be taking lots of pictures, of course! My sister Phoebe and I are cooking the rehearsal dinner on Friday for about 45 people, and the wedding food is going to be a real treat - no spoilers! Plus we know that we're going to be spoiled in Seattle!

See ya in a couple of weeks with a fun recap of the trip!