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Posts Tagged ‘Pork’

I’m not one to stock up on foodstuffs for the week, I shop daily, or at least every other day, for items I want to prepare for dinner. I hadn’t had pork in a while and thought that a good thick cut pork chop would suite my desire. I went to my favorite market whose butcher area is fantastic and purchased a couple of thick cut chops. By thick cut I mean at least 1 inch in thickness.

At the time I was shopping one of their suppliers, Cabot® Cheese Coop had a display of their product. What caught my attention was the sales associate’s comment that their cheese products are lactose free and since I have a friend who recently learned that she was intolerant I thought to include them in my repertoire.

So I thought, what goes good with pork and cheese, specifically Cheddar, the one I decided to purchase. Apples, of course. I took my groceries home and developed this recipe for all to enjoy. This recipe will feed two and multiplying is straight forward.

You will need:

2 Thick Cut Pork Chop – I used a bone in chop however a loin chop will work.
2/3 cup diced Granny Smith apple – dice smaller than ¼”.
1/3 cup diced Cabot White Cheddar Cheese – dice same size as apple.
One tsp fresh Sage.
One TBSP bread crumb – I used Panko.
Ground Pepper to taste.

Combine apple, cheese, pepper and bread crumbs in a bowl. Toss and let stand while you prepare the chop. Using a very sharp knife, I use a good quality boning knife, cut a slit approximately 1 1/2″ long in the center of the thickest part of the chop. Carefully work the blade of the knife into the flesh of the chop. Place your free hand on top of the chop so to feel the movement of the blade. Work the knife into the cavity you have created making sure to open enough room leaving at least a 1/4 inch of wall around the entire chop. Carefully stuff the apple/cheese mixture into the cavity pressing it tightly to compact.

In a sauté pan large enough to hold the chops sear on both sides to get a good brown crust. Place the seared chops in a preheated, 350 degree, oven and cook until the internal temperature reaches 140 degrees. Remove from oven, place on clean plate, tent with foil and let rest for 15 minutes. I served mine with home made egg noodles and sweet corn kernels.

Enjoy!

Sorry folks this isn’t a quick recipe, it’s going to take a day or two but the results will be great. The good thing about this one is that you actually get 2 for 1 deal. First the beans then the soup. The beans work well as a side dish or main meal and using them to create a this Bean/Corn Soup you can’t go wrong.

You will need:

One pound dry white beans (I used pinto).
Two large bay leaves.
Four sprigs fresh thyme
Sea Salt/Fresh Pepper
Two smoked ham hock/shanks (I used a Hungarian Style Shank).
Two medium sized sweet onions – 1/4 inch dice.
Two medium sized red bell pepper – 1/8 inch dice.
One small habanero pepper, seeds removed – finely diced.
One large package frozen corn kernels
Low sodium chicken broth

Start with the beans, in a container large enough to hold the entire package and enough water to cover soak beans for 12 hours or overnight.

Once soaked drain them and place in a large stock pot with enough water to cover by at least two inches. Add all the remaining ingredients except the corn kernels and chicken stock. Bring pot to a slow boil and turn heat down to a low setting. It will take a while to cook but this slow method will help to thicken the final product without the need for a roux or other thickener.

The beans should be done when the ham hock/shank meat separates from the bone. You can also tell by taking a few out of the pot and taste, they should be just at the al denté stage. At this point you have a great pot of beans. You can portion out several meals using some for a side and some for the soup.

Now the soup part. Depending on how many servings you want to make remove a sufficient quantity of the beans and place in another stock pot. Add the packaged corn kernels and chicken stock. How much chicken stock to use is a personal choice. The more stock you use will produce a thinner soup. Some recipes might suggest that you blend a portion of the soup however I find that this is an unnecessary step.

Enjoy!

I started making my own mix of peppercorns many years ago using both well known and little known items then added some other ingredients that enhances the mix. All told there are over 14 items in this mix and have used it on a regular basis. I had some pork tenderloin in the freezer and wanted to come up with something that I had not seen before. I’ve crusted beef tenderloin, made Steak Au Poivre and Pepper Gravy but never tried this before. Contrary to what one might think this recipe does not have a strong pepper bite. I served it with Roasted Garlic/Shallot Linguine.

We were given an opportunity to try a new product from Montillo Italian Foods. Vino Cotto di Montillo is a a semi-sweet reduction of premium wine grapes that has been used in Calabrian cooking for generations. We combined the Vino Cotto with raisens and pine nuts creating a sauce that is not only unique but very satisfying. Even your most demanding gourmand will appreciate this rather simple presentation. As with our other recipes we try to develop new ideas with the home cook in mind. We strive to create a meal that takes 30 minutes or less in cooking time. This pork tenderloin recipe turned out great. The earthy richness of the polenta is a perfect compliment to the fragrant sauce.

You will need:
Pork Tenderloin – approx. 4 oz/serving
Sea Salt and fresh ground pepper
Olive Oil
Unsalted butter
Pine nuts – approx. 1 oz/serving toasted
Raisens – approx. 1 oz/serving (soak raisens in Vino Cotto – use enough to cover)
Vino Cotto di Montillo – approx. 5 TBSP/serving
Salt free chicken stock – approx. 2 TBSP/serving
Polenta – approx. 1/4 cup dry/serving.

Prepare the pork:
Remove any excess fat and silver skin from tenderloin. Cut into tournedos at least one inch thick, season with sea salt and pepper. In a sauté pan large enough to hold the tournedos without crowding brown until a nice rich crust is formed (about 6 minutes/per side). Don’t walk away from this step as to negate the possibility of burning. If your pan is not large enough you can brown the pork in batches. Remove pork from pan and place in oven preheated to 350° F and cook until internal temperature reaches 140° F. Remove from oven and keep warm. Remember that the pork will continue to cook while it rests and will come to 145 – 150° F for serving.

For the sauce:
Pour off any excess fat from the sauté pan. Heat the pan on high for about a minute then off heat add the chicken stock, return to heat and deglaze. Reduce the stock by about 1/2 then add Vino Cotto and soaked raisens. Bring to a rapid simmer then add 1TBSP cold butter and swirl into sauce. Return pork tenderloins to sauce to warm through. Add pine nuts just before serving. Cook polenta according to package recipe. Spoon polenta onto serving plate, top with Pork Tenderloin tournedos and spoon sauce over all.

You will get rave reviews with this one. Enjoy!

To purchase an 8.5 oz. bottle of Vino Cotto di Montillo for the low price of $15.95/bottle just send us a note.

Sure, everyone has their family recipe for Sunday gravy, well that is if you were of Italian heritage, others would refer to this as Spaghetti Sauce. Well I’ve made many a Sunday Gravy, had some failures and some great successes, this recipe has always proved to be one of my best.

This recipe will make approximately 20 cups of gravy.

For the gravy you will need:
Four 28 oz cans crushed tomatoes
One small can tomato paste
Two cups beef stock
One medium size sweet onion
Carrots – enough to equal the volume of the onion
Four or five sprigs fresh oregano
Four or five garlic cloves
Fresh ground pepper
Kosher salt

Two pounds country ribs
Two pounds Italian Sausage (your choice of sweet or hot)

For the meatballs

Two pounds ground chuck
One pound ground pork
One pound ground veal or turkey
Enough stale bread (I used leftover Italian bread) to equal the volume of the ground meats
Two cups milk (or more if necessary)
Two cups shredded Parmesan cheese
Two large eggs
Olive oil
Vegetable oil

In a heavy bottom stock pot heat four tablespoons olive oil until shimmering. Place carrots, onion and garlic in a food processor and run until the vegetables are of a paste consistency. Thoroughly brown the country ribs (in batches if necessary) until a nice brown crust forms, remove and set aside. Pour off any liquid from the stockpot, add four tablespoons olive oil, reheat until shimmering then brown the Italian sausage until a nice brown crust forms, remove and set aside. Pour off any liquid, add two tablespoons olive oil, and reheat until shimmering. Place vegetable past along with tomato paste to the stockpot and cook until the mix is somewhat dry. De-glaze pot with the beef stock scraping up all the fond at the bottom of the pot. Add the four cans of crushed tomatoes, the sprigs of oregano and the ribs and sausage to the stockpot. Reduce heat to very low, place lid over pot and simmer for 5 or 6 hours. To reduce the possibility of the gravy burning I take one of the unused burner grates, place it on top of the burner you are using, make sure that it is firmly in place, put the stockpot on that tiered burner. Stir the gravy every occasionally to insure a good mixture.

While the gravy is simmering make the meatballs. Break up the stale bread into medium to small chunks, but into a bowl large enough to hold the bread and both meats. Pour one-cup milk into the bowl, as the bread starts to absorb the milk using a fork start to mash the bread. If there is not enough milk continue adding more until you can mash the bread into a paste. Add the parmesan cheese, the eggs, the meats, salt and pepper (to taste) and using very clean hands or hand covered with rubber gloves and work the mixture until it is thoroughly combined. Form the mixture into equal balls (I like mine large). In a sauté pan large enough to hold the meatballs, heat approximately one-quarter cup of vegetable oil until shimmering. Carefully lower meatballs into oil, do not crowd, work in batches if necessary, and cook until a nice brown crust forms rotate balls until all sides have that same rich brown crust. Set aside meatballs until cooled enough then place in the refrigerator. During the last one to one and a half hours of cooking the gravy, add the meatballs submerging them to cover. During the last half hour taste the gravy for seasoning and adjust if necessary. Once the time used in this recipe is completed, cool to room temperature.

Remove the meatballs, sausage and ribs from the gravy and portion two cups of the liquid into quart freezer bags for future use. Similarly portion out the meatballs, ribs and sausage into quart freezer bags for future use.

Over the holidays I had an excess of pomegranate, and not wanting to waste them, I separated the seeds and froze them in a zip log bag. I knew that I would be looking for something different and just recently came up with this quick dish. Additionally, I had purchased a large quantity of pork loin cut into steaks, it was a deal, price wise, so I just couldn’t pass them up. You can substitute pork chops very easily.

You will need:
Pork Loin Steak – approx. 6 oz./serving
Olive oil
Fresh ground pepper
Kosher or Sea Salt
Pomegranate Seeds – approx. 1 TBSP/serving
Pomegranate juice – approx. 2 TBSP/serving (I used POM brand)
Beef stock – approx. 2 TBSP/serving
Unsalted butter – approx. 1/4 TBSP/serving

Prepare the pork – heat a sauté pan (oven-proof, not non-stick) over medium high heat, brush both sides of pork with olive oil, salt and pepper to taste (it is OK to be generous here). Sear pork to get a nice rich color on both sides, put into a pre-heated 350 degree F oven to finish (cook until temperature is 140 degrees)

For Glacé – when pork is finished remove from sauté pan, keep warm by covering it with aluminum foil. Deglaze the pan with pomegranate juice scrapping up the fond. When juice starts to thicken add beef stock, pomegranate seeds and butter. Heat through until butter is emulsified into the sauce, pour over pork and serve. If you don’t have the pomegranate seeds diced dried cherries will work. Enjoy!

Pork has always been one of my favorite proteins. I wanted to add an Asian element to my repertoire so came up with a simple recipe for Teriyaki Glaze to add that facet. With the summer soon to be at hand I prepared this dish with grilled pork loin chops but it works well with other cuts.

You will need:
Loin pork chop – approximately 6 oz./person.
Olive oil
Salt/Pepper

For the glaze you will need:
Soy Sauce (I used Tamari Soy for this recipe) – approximately 1 TBS/2 servings
Mirin – approximately 1 TBS/2 servings
Sesame Oil – approximately 1 tsp/2 servings
Ground Ginger – approximately 1 tsp/2 servings
Brown Sugar – approximately 1 tsp/2 servings

Grill pork chops as you traditionally would except that they need to be just undercooked as they will be finished in the glaze.
In a sauté pan large enough to hold the chops combine all elements and at medium heat cook until the sauce starts to thicken, turn off heat, cover to keep warm. When chops are ready place them into sauté pan with glaze turn once to coat the pork. Cover pan and put in oven heated to 350° to complete the cooking process. The time needed will depend on the thickness of the chops cook until internal temperature reaches 160°/165° remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes.

I served this dish with Four Rice Medley.

This is a very simply prepared glaze that can be used on Ham, Chicken or Pork. The total cooking time is less than 10 minutes.

You will need:

Cognac (I used Hennessey VS) 2 TBS
Orange Marmalade (I used Smuckers Simply Fruit) 1 cup
Honey/Dijon Mustard (I used Plochman’s) 2 TBS + 1 tsp
Habanero Pepper 1/2 with seeds (cut pepper in half lengthwise

In a small sauce pot add cognac and habanero pepper bring to a boil to cook off alcohol. Add marmalade and honey/mustard. Turn heat down so that glaze just simmers, put on lid and cook for 5 minutes. Remove habanero pepper. As an alternative you can omit the pepper or use milder Jalapeno pepper. The glaze can be made ahead and reheated when needed. Brush glaze on ham, pork or chicken and roast as you would normally. You can re-glaze the meat half way through cooking time to enhance the flavor.