Stuffed Pork Loin and Roasted Cauliflower

I had an idea that I wanted a pork loin for dinner.  I wasn't sure what I wanted, but knew that two of the ingredients really needed to be cauliflower and arugula.  This time of year, "fresh" produce can either last indefinitely (which makes me suspicious) or can go off overnight - which makes me suspicious.  I decided I needed to use these before I started getting suspicious.

I made a pretty simple bread and arugula stuffing with ingredients already in the house.

Arugula and Bread Stuffing with Bacon

  • 3 slices thick-cut bacon, diced
  • 1/2 cup chopped onion
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 6oz arugula
  • 1 cup bread crumbs
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp thyme
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp pepper

Fry bacon until almost crisp.  Add onion and cook until wilted.  Add garlic and continue cooking.

Add arugula and cook down until wilted.  Remove from heat.

Add bread crumbs, thyme, salt, pepper, and egg and mix well.

To assemble:

With sharp knife, slice pork loin open and flat.  Spread stuffing and roll.  Tie with butcher twine.

Roast at 350° about an hour or until desired doneness.

The potatoes were simply boiled and tossed with butter and parsley, salt and pepper.

The cauliflower was oven-roasted, caramelized goodness.

Roasted Cauliflower

  • Cauliflower
  • olive oil
  • garlic powder
  • salt and pepper
  • Romano or parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 500°.

Mix cauliflower with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper.  Arrange on baking sheet in one layer.

Roast in hot oven about 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and top with grated cheese.

Cut cauliflower into small florettes.


Shake 'n Bake. And I Helped!

We were talking with a friend the other day and she mentioned she was having Shake 'n Bake pork chops for dinner.

It will probably come as no surprise that Shake 'n Bake is not something I would normally have in the cupboard.  I love baked and/or breaded things.  It just wouldn't cross my mind to buy a pre-made breading mix.  It's a bit of the curse of the cook.  I often have to remind myself that I don't need to grow the wheat and mill the flour and bake the bread to make a sandwich.  A shortcut is using all-purpose flour.

But I digress.

Thing is, the Shake 'n Bake pork chops sounded really good.  And since I had pork chops, bread crumbs, and almost every known herb and spice, I figured I could make a reasonable facsimile.

First thing I did was do a web search to see exactly what was in Shake 'n Bake.

Shake 'n Bake's Original Pork flavor includes as ingredients: enriched wheat flour (wheat flour, niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate Vitamin B1, riboflavin Vitamin B2, folic acid), salt, partially hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed oil, sugar, contains less than 2% of paprika, dextrose, dried onions, spice, caramel color, yeast, annatto (color), and natural flavor.

There's not enough of anything in there to kill ya, but I figured I could do better...

I've probably had Shake 'n Bake at some time, but I don't really recall.  It's not something I would have had as a kid - I was out of the house by the time my mom started using "convenience foods" - and since I always worked in a restaurant or kitchen of some sort, it just wasn't something I thought of.  I do remember the commercials, though!

So fast-forward to 2010.

I started off with panko bread crumbs because I wanted crunchy, and looking at the pictures online, it looked like there should be a lot of crunch.  I added just a tad bit of flour, and then salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika.  I have annatto seeds, but I didn't need the coloring - or the caramel coloring.  I needed a bit of oil, but didn't want to add oil.  Instead, I added a drop of mayonnaise.  I flashed back on my mom making a baked cornflake-crusted chicken where the chicken was dipped in mayo and then rolled in crushed corn flakes.  It was really good.

Shake 'n Bake instructions say to dip the pork in water or milk and then into the bag with the coating mix.  I decided to use mom's mayonnaise coating and then bread the chops.  Just a really thin coating, then lots of crumbs. Into the oven at 425° for about 25 minutes.

It worked.

For those Shake 'n Bake purists?  Well...  I doubt my chops came close to Shake 'n Bake perfection.  I've seen the pictures on the internet, and you can easily see the difference in the picture above.

But the chops really did come out good.

Oh...  I almost forgot.  Side dish...

I steamed artichokes and since I had the mayonnaise out, I mixed some with a teaspoon of chopped capers, 2 cloves of minced garlic, a teaspoon of lemon juice, and a sprinkle of pepper.  It made a great sauce for dipping the artichokes.


Pork Roast, Rye Bread, and an Apple Tart

I decided it was time to do something a tad bit different tonight - a bone-in pork roast!

It's been a while.

The seasonings were pretty basic - garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper.  The fun twist cam in the pan - red wine and lingonberry concentrate!  (Thank you, Ikea!!)  I poured about a cup of wine and a half-cup of the lingonberry concentrate in the pan and used it to baste the pork as it was cooking.

I quartered a couple of potatoes and added them to the pork roast pan about half-way through the cooking.  The pan juices made a perfect sauce.

And because I was at the grocery store today...  I picked up a bag of rye flour.  Which, of course, meant I had to make a loaf of rye bread.

Actually, I made two loaves. James Beard, again.

Rye Bread

  • 1 pkg active dry yeast
  • 3 tbsp honey
  • 1/4 cup warm water
  • 1 cup warm milk combined with 1/2 cup warm water
  • 2 tbsp softened butter
  • 1 heaping tbsp salt
  • 1 tbsp caraway seeds
  • 2 1/2 cups rye flour
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour (or more, if needed)
  • 1/4 cup cornmeal
  • 1 egg white beaten lightly with 2 tbsp water

Disolve the yeast and honey in the warm water and allow the mixture to proof for 4 or 5 minutes.

Combine the warm milk and warm water with the softened butter and add to the yeast mixture along with the salt and caraway seeds.

Add the flour, 1 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition.  When you have addeed about 4 1/2 cups the dough will become difficult to stir and quite sticky, but continue to add the remaining flour a tablespoon at a time.

Scrape out the dough onto a floured board, and using a baker's scraper or a large metal spatula, scrape under the dough and fold the dough over.  Continue to lift and fold, and with your free hand start pressing down and away from you on these folded areas, adding more flour as needed to dust your hands and to sprinkle the board.

After 2 or 3 minutes of this procedure you can eliminate the scraper.

Flour both hands and knead for about 10 minutes, until the dough is soft, velvety, and elastic.

Shape the dough into a ball and place in a well-buttered bowl, turning to coat with the butter.  Cover with plastic wrap and place in a  warm, draft-free area to double in bulk, which will take from 1 to 2 hours.

Punch down, turn out on a lightly floured board, and divide into two equal pieces.

Let the dough rest for 2 or 3 minutes, and then shape into two loaves, either free-form or for well-buttered 8 x 4 x 2-inch loaf pans.

If you are making free-form loaves allow them to rise, covered, on a buttered baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal until almost doubled in size, and then quickly invert them and brush with the egg and water mixture.

Otherwise, let the loaves rise, covered, in their pans until they have doubled in bulk and then brushing the tops with the egg white and water mixture.

Bake at 400° from 45 to 50 minutes or until the loaves sound hollow when tapped with the knuckles.

Cool thoroughly on racks before slicing.

Beard, like Julia Child, or many other cookbook writers, go into a lot of detail and tend to make things sound more complicated than they really are.  This is a pretty easy bread to make.

And tasty, too!

Speaking of tasty...

Guess what Victor made for desert last night?!?

A bit of a free-form puff pastry with apples!

He rolled out a sheet of puff pastry, sauteed a couple of granny smith apples in butter, brown sugar and a bit of white sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon.  He sprinkled in a big teaspoon of flour to help thicken it all, and set it in the middle of the pastry, folded up the sides and into the oven it went - following the instructions on the puff pastry package.

Yumlicious!


A New Year Date

I was speaking with a woman yesterday about dates.  She was saying how much she absolutely loved them, and then said she stuffs them with parmesan cheese, wraps them in bacon, and bakes them.

My mouth started watering, I got weak in the knees.  I knew that 24 hours were not going to pass before having them, myself.  And I was right - it was less than 20!

I've always liked dates, but I've never gone totally out of my way to bring them home or do anything with them.  They've always been part of the realm of so many foods, so little time...  That is about to change, especially since Victor said that he absolutely and totally loves dates.  The things ya learn after 15 years...

So, armed with my package of Medjool Dates, a wedge of parrano cheese (an Italian-style cheese that is actually produced in the Netherlands!) and a package of Niman Ranch bacon, I went to work.

The timing could not have been better.  We're off to the bro-and-sis-in-laws for dinner today and Marie said "bring something, if you want".  We had the ingredients right here.  We didn't have to go to the store.  And... well.. we had to try them before giving the to people, right?!?

The dates all had pits, but a pair of needle-nose pliers took quick work of that!  Really.  I pitted 30 mdates in just a couple of minutes.

I cut small sticks of cheese and stuck them into the date.  Wrapped a half-strip of bacon around, and secured with a toothpick.

Into a very hot 450° oven for 15 minutes.

WOW!  They were good!  In fact, we were thinking that they might be too good to share and we could eat them all ourselves.  In the end, we chose the high road and will be bringing them with us to dinner.  It's only twelve and a half hours into the new year.  Way too early to be selfish!


Pork Chops and Repurposed Cranberry Sauce

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'Tis the Season to See Red!  And Green!

While we have gone through most of the Thanksgiving leftovers, there was a goodly amount of Cranberry Blackberry Sauce that was just asking to be reworked into another meal.  I answered the plea tonight!

The original sauce was actually pretty basic:

Cranberry Blackberry Sauce

  • 1 bag cranberries
  • 1 cup blackberries
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 1/4 cup sherry

In a heavy saucepan combine the cranberries, blackberries, sugar,water, and the sherry. Simmer the mixture, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, or until the cranberries have burst and the sauce is thickened. Cool and refrigerate.

As I said, pretty basic.

Tonight, I heated about a cup of the sauce, added a heaping tablespoon of grainy Dijon mustard, and used it as a sauce over pork chops!

The pork chops were thick-cut, browned in a  skillet and then finished in a hot oven.  I added salt and pepper.  That was it.

The simple pork chops went perfectly with the sweet and tangy sauce.

Buttered asparagus and a wild rice and brown rice mixture finished off the plate.  For the rice, I sauteed a shallot, added a half-cup of wild rice and a half-cup of whole grain brown rice along with 2 cups of chicken broth.  Simmered for 45 minutes.

Victor made a rustic pear tart that we all ate before I could get a picture.

Suffice to say, it was really good!


Savory Noodles

Jan Hammer Dineen

 

This is a simple, good, hearty dinner, And very tasty too!

  • 1/3 lb egg noodles
  • 1 lb. fresh pork butt, ground
  • 2 small onions, chopped
  • 2-1/2 C celery, chopped
  • 1-1/2 cans tomato soup
  • 3/4 C water
  • 1 C grated Parmesan cheese
  • Salt & pepper

Cook noodles until tender. Drain. Brown meat. Add onion, celery, and seasoning. Cook until tender. Combine with noodles in casserole. Add soup, water, and cheese. Mix. Bake 45 minutes at 350.


Baked Tenderloin of Pork

Ann Stanosheck Galles

  • 3 – 1 lb pork tenderloin rolls
  • 3 strips bacon
  • ½ C soy sauce diluted w/ ½ C water
  • 1 T grated onion
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 T vinegar
  • ½ t cayenne pepper
  • ½ t sugar

Wrap bacon around each tenderloin. Secure w/ toothpicks. Mix ingredients and pour over meat. Marinate � hours, turning meat once. Bake uncovered at 300 degree oven w/ marinade for 2 hours. Baste frequently. Lay pork on platter, remove toothpicks, slice thickly. Serve with juices.

This recipe was handed from Betty Fitzsimmons Seymour. We shared recipes while spending a weekend in Madison with Betty and Gary and with my sister and brother-in-law, Mary and Bob Furno.


Randy's Pork Chops

Marcy Dineen Medeiros

  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp Olive Oil
  • l/2 Cup Soy Sauce (mucho)
  • l tsp Garlic
  • l/2 tsp of Sugar
  • l/2 tsp of Chicken & Fish Seasoning (by Shillings)
  • 4 meaty Pork Chops (boneless preferable)

Cook at 325 -350 degrees for l hour (turn over after half hour)


Homemade Italian Sausage

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We have friends coming down to visit with us theis weekend - which means I've been busy planning meals.  Yes, I always do think in terms of food.  It's a blessing and a curse.

My first thoughts were pretty grandiose - and rather silly.   Cooking is a lot of fun, but I really don't need to be spending every minute they're here in the kitchen!  So we scaled back - a bit.  Except for Sunday.

Victor is going to cook "Sunday Dinner".

Sunday Dinner is the old gathering of the entire family and having pasta and meatballs and sausages and brasiole and salad and garlic bread and antipasto platters and all that stuff.  The nice thing is most of it can be prepared in advance, so no one will be spending the entire day in the kitchen!

With a couple of ideas in mind, I was off to the grocery store today to see what was freshest and bestest.  I knew I wanted to pick up some Italian sausage, but when I was in the butcher area, I noticed sausage casings!  And then I noticed pork shoulders for 89¢ a pound!  I decided to make Italian sausage!

Almost 10 pounds of pork for $8.78.  Time to break out the grinder!

The spices were pretty basic - fennel, garlic, Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, paprika, and salt and pepper.  I don't really have quantities, because I added some, then cooked up a bit to see how it was, tweaked them a bit, added a bit more...

When stuffing the casings, I did two stupid things; I overstuffed them, and used the wrong stuffer attachment.  I used the small tube and I should have used the large. If I had used the right tube in the first place, I doubt they would have been overstuffed.  Oh well.

When I opened the box with the sausage attachment, there was only the one tube there, and I really didn't think anything about it.  But when I was stuffing them, it was really a lot more work that I remembered from the last time I did it.  I was pressing more, it was taking longer...

When I was finally done and cleaning up, the proverbial light bulb went off and I looked at the tube and knew it was wrong.  I did a drawer search and found the right one with the baking supplies.  Too late for this batch, but it's back in the correct box for the next time.

And the sausages are are going to be vacuum-packed in just a few moments.

It's going to be a fun dinner!


Pork and Figs

11-3-pork-chops-and-figs

Weeks ago, I cooked down some fresh figs with sugar and made a fig jam, of sorts.  Into a tupperware container it went - and into the 'fridge - where it's been sitting ever since.

Until tonight.

I had pulled out pork chops for dinner, but wanted something other than plain ol' pork chops.  I toyed with several ideas, but onions and figs kept coming to mind.  Since we had both, I decided to go for it!

I sauteed half a sweet onion with a splash of olive oil and then added the fig jam.  When it was all hot and gooey, I added a splash of balsamic vinegar to brighten it up a bit.

Served it over the chops.

Oven-roasted teeny tiny potatoes and buttered peas finished the plate.

Yum.


Pork, Pumpkin, and Apples

I knew this morning that I was making pork chops with a pumpkin sauce of some sorts.  It wasn't until this afternoon that I figured apples should play a part, as well.  And Elizabeth brought me in some baby sweet potatoes from her garden.    Sweet and savory.  Mentally, dinner was done.

The weather is absolutely gorgeous.  Perfect for the contractors out there fixing the dry rot and the painters painting the house.  We could not have planned this any better.  But painters and contractors mean everything is in disarray.  And I hate disarray.  But somewhere out there, there is a grill - and a grill and beautiful weather means grilled pork chops with pumpkin and apples.  It's a rule.

Pumpkin Apple Sauce

  • 1/2 cup shallots, chopped
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • 2 small apples, cored and sliced
  • shot of dark rum
  • 1/2 cup chicken broth
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Wilt shallots in a bit of olive oil.  Add apples and brown a bit.  Add sugar and spices.  Add pumpkin and rum.  Heat through.

Check thickness of sauce and add chicken broth to thin to desired consistency.

On the pork chop, I sprinkled a bit of garam masala, garlic, boonie pepper (for heat), and salt and pepper. Cumin and cinnamon in the pumpkin and apples called for a bit of an Indian flair.

I oven-roasted the sweet potatoes with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper.  They didn't need anything else!  Steamed broccoli finished the plate.


Roasted Pork Loin

10-19-pork-loin-1

It has been a while since I put a pork roast into the oven.  Quite a while.  I buy them all the time - and then cut them up into chops to grill or stuff.  Just haven't put one in the oven.  It takes a bit of commitment - there's a lot of meat that needs to be consumed - but it can't be done by two people in one (or even two) sittings.  I'm committed (as opposed to being committed, which some people I'm sure think is long overdue)!

This was a fun recipe - maple syrup and champagne garlic mustard for the glaze, celery, apples, onions, and potatoes cooking along with the pork, and an apple juice and apple cider vinegar reduction to cook it all in!

Roast Maple Mustard Pork

  • 1 4lb pork loin roast
  • 3 apples, cored and sliced
  • 1 red onion, cut in 8ths
  • 4 stalks celery, sliced
  • 1lb potatoes
  • 3 cups apple juice
  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • 3 tbsp mustard

Preheat oven to 350°.

Brown pork loin in olive oil and place in oven-proof pan large enough to hold all ingredients.  In pan used for browning pork, add 3 cups apple juice and reduce to 1 cup.

Place apples, onion, celery and potatoes around pork.  Pour reduced apple juice over.

Mix maple syrup and mustard and brush onto pork loin.

Using a thermometer, bake in oven until internal temperature reaches 150°.

Thicken pan juices with a bit of cornstarch, if desired, for a sauce to go over the pork.

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It cooked up in about an hour.

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Plates were cleaned in about 10 minutes!