Easy Pork Chop Recipe

I'm not sure how i came up with it... but I thought I'd change it up a little and do something different with the pork chops--I took a look in my fridge and I had some organic rosemary that I wanted to use before it goes bad. I think what I did here was combine a couple of recipes I found and made a rub for the porkchops.

Pork Chops w/Rosemary and Thyme
For the Rub:
(I only make about two pork chops at a time--so adjust to what you're making)

1 or 2 sprigs of fresh Rosemary--I used fresh but I bet dried would work just as well)
1/4 tsp Thyme
lemon juice from 1/2 lemon
Chili pepper (ground)
1/4 tsp Dried Oregano
salt and pepper

Mix the ingredients in a separate bowl and rub on the pork chops. If you have time, you can always cover with saran wrap and put in the fridge for about 1-2 hrs to give it a good marinade. Otherwise, heat up some oil and go straight to browning. You can always finish it off in a 350- degree oven.

Riccioli Pasta with Polska Kielbasa

I made some pasta and the good thing about this pasta recipe is you can pretty much throw in anything you want (it's one of those everything but the kitchen sink-type dealios). Enough talk, I'll just give you my recipe:

Riccioli Pasta with Polska Kielbasa
Ingredients:
Riccioli pasta

Kielbasa, cubed or sliced into half-moon shapes (yeah!)
Onion, diced
Zucchini, cubed or [again with the] half-moon shapes
Red bell peppers, sliced thinly and halfed
Olive oil

for seasoning: salt, pepper
(optional seasoning) red pepper flakes, oregano, parsley
(and... The Kicker:) Paul Newman's Sockarooni Sauce

Cook the pasta according to directions.

To start, heat up oil on a skillet and put all the vegetables in. You can add a little salt and pepper for seasoning and you want the vegetables to get soft. Remove from the pan. Add a little new oil (you do not need a lot) and put the kielbasa on. You'll want to cook this until it's brown on both sides.

When the pasta is done, drain and reserve 1 cup of pasta water. Return the pasta to the stockpot and add the vegetables and the kielbasa. Pour the sauce over it and add the optional seasonings if you'd like. You may want to toss it over low heat. Then it's ready to serve.

Paul Newman's Sockarooni Sauce is so rich in flavor... I think it's the all natural ingredients and I'm a huge fan of bell peppers--I even add my own fresh bell peppers to the mix. Yumm-o!!

Beef Stroganoff: My Favorite Dinner

When I was young, I used to love the nights when my mom made beef stroganoff for dinner-- granted it came from The Packet (with or without MSG), but it was still good. I remember there was one time that I helped Chef make stroganoff from scratch. All I remember was that we were throwing in ketchup and mustard... and when I was making it, I was thinking I wonder if that will taste good... and it did!! As an ode to that batch that I made with my uncle, I was searching for a similar type recipe (his recipes are in his head--sometimes I think they're secret...).

In the end, I found two recipes that I liked and combined them. (refer to Simply Recipes website and Cooks.com--for links, see below.)

Beef Stroganoff  

1/4 cup flour
1/2 Tsp salt
1/8 Tsp pepper
6 Tbsp butter
1 to 1.5 pounds of flank steak or top sirloin, cut thinly
1/3 cup chopped shallots or onions
1/2 pound cremini mushrooms, sliced
7 to 10 oz. beef broth or consomme (I tried this combo from one of the recipes: 1/2 cup water and 1/4 cup wine... I used a red--see pictures for reference.)
3 Tbsp ketchup
1 Tbsp Worcestershire
Tsp dijon mustard
1 cup sour cream or less

Instructions:
1. In plastic bag combine flour, salt, and pepper. Add beef and shake to coat.
2. Melt 3 Tbsp of butter in a large skillet on medium heat. Increase the heat to high/med-high and add the strips of beef. Cook the beef quickly, only browning it on each side, so the temp needs to be high enough to brown the beef, but not so high as to burn the butter. You may need to work in batches (but I didn't have to--I used a big pot.) While cooking the beef, sprinkle some salt and pepper. When both sides are brown, remove the beef to a bowl and set aside.
3. In the same pan, reduce the heat to medium and add the onions. Cook the onions for a couple of minutes, allowing them to soakup any meat drippings. Remove the onions to the same bowl as the meat and set aside.
4. In the same pan, melt the last 3 Tbsp of butter. Increase heat to med-high and add the mushrooms. Cook, stirring occasionally for about 4 minutes. (#Optional seasoning: 1/8 tsp nutmeg and 1/2 tsp dry tarragon or 2 tsp chopped fresh tarragon) While cooking, sprinkle the nutmeg and the tarragon on the mushrooms.
5. Return the meat and onions to the pan (or I guess this is why I used a pot). Add broth, some water, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, mustard and wine. Cover and simmer about 45 minutes or until tender. 6. Stir in sour cream. Mix thoroughly. Do not let it come to a boil because the sour cream will curdle. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately over egg noodles or rice. (The recipe even suggests fettuccine or even potatoes--I've never heard of that before!)

References:
http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/001976beef_stroganoff.php
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1727,159188-237206,00.html

Pork Loin with Bay Leaves

I realized that if you were reading this blog you might think that I'm some sort Food Network endorser... but all I can say is that I have a pretty good success rate with finding recipes on the Food Network website. My searches are usually of dishes with ingredients that I've always wanted to cook with, or if I've heard about a certain kind of dish--I look it up and try to make it.

This was the second time I've done Pork Loin with Bay Leaves. Currently, there is an excess of dried bay leaves in my pantry... and I remembered how good this tasted the first time. So I got myself to the market and bought a 2-pounder! (what?! that's all they had! honest!) Turned out... it was perfect for dinner for four.

Nigella Lawson's Loin of Pork with Bay Leaves:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nigella-lawson/loin-of-pork-with-bay-leaves-recipe/index.html

...coupled with Rachael Ray's Roasted Potatoes with Rosemary:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/roasted-baby-potatoes-with-rosemary-recipe/index.html

So for these two recipes, I stuck close to the recipes. Unfortunately, I have not consulted my wine guy about what kind of cooking wines I should be keeping in my fridge (*hint *hint)... so often times when the recipe calls for wine (and if I have it) I throw a lil grape juice in the gravy... hahaha* (I'm laughing with you, because I know how silly it sounds). This time it was cranberry juice. It works because it gives the au jus-like-gravy for the pork a deeper taste than if you were to add water--you know what I mean? For the potatoes, I would advise just leaving it in the oven for as long as the potatoes take. I don't know about you but I like my roasted red potatoes nice and toasty, with a lil bit of crunch.

Oh, and in case you're wondering what else is on that plate. It's Roasted String Beans and Red Bell Peppers (Kris was right, they're Chinese long string beans!) . I chopped the string beans into 3-4 inch segments and sliced the bell pepper thinly. I tossed them with a little bit of olive oil and some salt and pepper. In about the last 10 minutes of the pork cooking, I just shifted over the potatoes and threw 'em on the same baking pan. You can give them a toss at about 5 minutes in.

Just an ordinary dinner on a Thursday night;o) Sipping Newcastle and staying in to eat!

We're feasting tonite...

Menu:
Pork Chops with Cornbread stuffing
Twice Baked Potatoes
Green Beans

Baskin Robbin's Ice Cream Cake
S'mores (no s'moresmaker needed)

Emeril's Andouille Stuffed Double-cut Pork Chops
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-live/andouille-stuffed-double-cut-pork-chops-recipe/index.html

Here's the base of the pork chops recipe. This was my second time using this recipe--maybe third. Instead of using andouille sausage I used the mild sausage (from Nugget Market) and added some crushed red pepper to give it a lil kick. For the cornbread part of the stuffing, I used Rosemary Sage Cornbread Stuffing Mix by Our Pantry Organics (so yum!). Also, I like to add more veggies in the stuffing such as chopped carrots and whatever else I think might taste good (and whatever else you can grab out of the fridge.)

Other than that, you can pretty much stick to the recipe on the porkchops. The only mystery-slash-kink that I haven't worked out yet is that the I always end up making way too much stuffing for the 2-4 porkchops that I am stuffing. Maybe I need bigger chops... :oT Hmmm... I'll figure it out by the fourth or fifth time. *wink*

And last but not least... the Twice Baked Potatoes were jus as much a star of the meal as the pork chops. It was my first time ever making them... and sadly I didn't have my (new) pastry bag to make it pretty but it still turned out lovely!! I used the recipe in the America's Test Kitchen Cookbook. Specifically, I put gruyere cheese in there and I used their homemade buttermilk recipe (and made it lemony) so the potatoes had an extra lemony flavor to it.

[will add the recipe later... till then, please enjoy the food photography:o)]

Birthday cake...

I haven't fallen off of the face of the earth... I've been busy... Recently it's been all about the birthday celebrations. I think it's nice sometimes when you can stay home and make something special for a special occasion. We went out to dinner but for dessert we had a Mixed Berry Shortcake. It's super easy! And good for any day;o)

Mixed Berry Shortcake
what you need:
Sara Lee Pound Cake (I didn't have enough time to make my own--pls don't be disappointed, Uncle)
Strawberries, quartered
Raspberries, whole (or sliced in half, if preferrable)
Blueberries, whole
Whipped cream (I made my own... see below for the how I did it)

First things first--defrost the pound cake and cut in to about 1 inch slices--be sure to have at least 2 slices per person. (I like a lot of cake!) Wash all the fruit and cut in to bite-size pieces--variation: It can be any fruit you like, fresh or frozen. With frozen fruit, you can always slightly defrost it and make sure that it is well drained. The piling technique on this may vary with preferences but I like to stack it (from bottom to top): one pound cake slice, a spoonful of each fruit, a dollop of whip cream, sandwiched between the 2nd slice of pound cake with whip cream on top too. For presentation, you can put one of each fruit on top of the whipped cream topping.

To make vanilla whipped cream I used vanilla extract and vanilla sugar for flavoring. Vanilla sugar is vanilla bean peels (leftover from another adventure *wink) that has been left in granulated sugar.). It's best to use cold Heavy whipping cream.

I used a metal mixing bowl poured in the heavy whipping cream straight from the refrigerator. Add in the flavoring(s) and using a whisk I used a quick jabbing mixing motion and you're supposed to do that for about 15 minutes until it thickens and becomes kind of fluffy. Be careful not to overbeat or else it will start to get thick like butter.