Cranberry Sauce ('Glaze') for Pork Loin

 (pork loin or... use your imagination!)

Ingredients:

½ C canned cranberry sauce (whole berry)

½ C jelly – anything that would complement the cranberry

3-4 sprigs fresh thyme

2 tsp chicken bouillon (powder/granules or ‘Better than Bouillon’)

1½ tsp Dijon

1 tsp minced garlic (or garlic paste)

½ tsp horseradish

Directions:

Bring everything to a boil in a small saucepan; let rest so thyme can release flavor. Remove thyme shoots, leaving any leaves that fall off. Use sauce to baste a pork loin (or chicken, beef…) every 10 minutes during cooking; use remaining sauce to garnish for service.

Bourbon-Peach Sauce on Pork Tenderloin

This is my own spin inspired by a couple different recipes...bourbon-peach over chicken, pork chops...or ice cream! I had a pork tenderloin this time around, but the sauce would work with other cuts and proteins. And the ice cream sounds like a winner too! Fresh peaches would be ideal, but this time of year, I used canned...and even added a little of the juice to the sauce.

Ingredients

1-1.5 lb pork tenderloin (or chops, chicken, etc.)

s & p

1-2 T neutral flavored oil (I used olive oil)

2 C sliced, peeled peaches*

2 T bourbon

1 T apple cider vinegar

1 T honey

1 T butter

* fresh peaches wouldn't have to be peeled; it's just a textural preference for me

Directions

Preheat oven to 375° F. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. rub oil all over the tenderloin and season with salt & pepper. Sear the tenderloin until well-browned on all sides. Transfer the tenderloin to a baking sheet to finish in the oven. (Depending on the thickness of your tenderloin, you could do all the cooking in the skillet. It's done when a thermometer inserted in the thickest part reaches 145° F; actually, you can pull it off the heat around 140° F as it will continue to heat/cook a bit as it rests. A thicker cut can be finished in the oven while you work on the sauce.) When the internal temp reaches 145° F,  remove it from the heat onto a plate or cutting board, tent it with foil and let it rest while you prepare the sauce.

Add peaches to the skillet with a little extra oil, if needed; cook until they just begin to brown and caramelize, but are still firm. Add bourbon, vinegar and honey; stir or swirl often as sauce boils, cooking 4-5 minutes until slightly thickened. Remove from heat; add butter swirling or stirring--gently, don't smash the peaches--until melted and incorporated. Season with salt & pepper as desired.

Slice the tenderloin; serve with peaches & sauce.

Hasselback Steaks

Bon Appetite published a recipe for Hasselback Short Rib Bulgogi. (It's their photo at the top here, too.) I bet it's good, but I wasn't specificially interested in the bulgogi recipe (bulgogi means 'fire meat' by the way). I was intrigued by the hasselback style slicing of the meat before it was grilled. I just thought it would be a great way to get more surface area and therefore more flavor infused and more maillard reaction going on! 

Maillard, to add another vocabulary bonus tip, is similar to caramelization...that delicious browning and often crustiness that develops when foods are heated or seared. Caramelization involves a reaction with sugars, so that's what's typically happening with fruits, veggies and baked goods; the maillard reaction has to do with amino acids found in proteins.

Directions

Before marinating and broiling my steak (I used a smokey, African spice blend, but the specific marinade isn't critical here, nor the specific cut of meat), I sliced it diagonally, hasselback style - slicing in opposite directions on each side. Even with a relatively short marination time, it had lots of flavor. The lacerations also made it seem even more tender.

Chimichurri Sauce

I think I first fell in love with chimichurri sauce when I made it at Bellingham Technical College's Summer Educator's Institute a few years ago. This isn't that same, exact recipe; everyone has their own personal favorite blend of herbs for chimichurri sauce, so feel free to play around with it. But here's a good starting point...





Ingredients
¼ C olive oil
2 T lime juice
1 oz (2 T) sherry vinegar (or red wine vinegar)

¼ C green onion, rough chopped
2 garlic cloves; smashed

½ C Italian/flat leaf parsley, chopped
2 T each chopped fresh basil, oregano, cilantro
¼ tsp crushed red pepper
s & p to taste (~ ½ tsp salt, ¼ tsp pepper)

Directions
Combine all ingredients in a blender (mini 'bullet'-style blenders work great, but if you don't have one...don't bother with a full size blender, just do a good job of chopping everything and stir it all together in a small bowl); whirl or pulse until consistency is salsa-like with chopped herbs still in chunks. Salt and pepper to taste.

You can serve chimichurri sauce as soon as you make it, but the flavors blend and it gets even better if it sits for at least a couple hours (or overnight).

Stir chimichurri sauce into rice or pasta; spoon over chicken, pork, fish...

Bourbon-Peach Pulled Pork

I don't always follow any recipe with pulled pork. I just toss it in the crock pot for a few hours, usually with some sliced or chopped onion, salt and pepper and then taste and season as I go. Not always, but I often use BBQ sauce -- either homemade or store-bought; but beyond that it really depends. Extra stock as needed to keep everything moist.

Feel like Hawaiin pulled pork? Throw in some pineapple. Want a little heat? Stir in some diced or minced peppers or chilis, or use chili powder. Want to take it Southwest? Add some cumin, garlic or a little cayenne in with the those chiles.

Brown sugar or a little molasses often goes into my pots of pulled pork. Sometimes spoonfulls of stone-ground mustard. I usually like a spash of vinegar; also a bit of soy sauce (or fish or oyster sauce). I also like ginger.

I'll still work that way most often with pulled pork, just tasting and seasoning as it cooks. It's easier than being picky over measured amounts from a specific recipe. But when I stumbled on a pulled pork recipe first sears a pork roast coated with a simple spice rub before tossing it in the slow-cooker with bourbon and peaches...I gave it a whirl!

Actually, no peaches are used in the original recipe*, just peach preserves. But I added half a peach, sliced super thin along with the onions. I also didn't want to open a quart of chicken stock just for half a cup, but I had about half a cup of pineapple juce leftover for extra moisture - and a pinch of smoked salt. To me, even though I love smoked paprika, this recipe was pretty heavy on the paprika, especially with crushed red pepper as well. But it does mellow a bit as it cooks, and my addition of pineapple-juice sweetness may have helped balance the spice too.

Though I may or may not work specifically from this recipe to make pulled pork again, the bourbon peach combo with molasses and balsamic in the mix is a flavor combination I will definitely enjoy again!

* I'm crediting Cooking Light with the original recipe. I also found it on two other recipe sites: My Recipes (using the exact same photo as Cooking Light); and Prevention RD - who credits CookingLight.com.

Sundried Tomato & Herb Compound Butter

This is a great basic recipe - lots of different herbs, lemon zest, dried peppers or pepper flakes, etc. could be substituted in place of the tomatoes, garlic, and parsley to make any variety of herbed butters. Slices of compound butter can be served on hot steak, pork chops, fish,  chicken or over vegetables or smeared on dinner rolls... Lots of options!

Ingredients
1 C butter, softened
¼ C chopped fresh parsley
3 T oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes*
1 clove garlic, minced
s & p to taste

* I use my own oven-roasted cherry tomatoes, from my garden when they're in season

Directions
Whip butter until very fluffy and pale.
Meanwhile, drain the tomatoes of oil; finely chop.
Mix in chopped parsley, tomatoes and garlic. Add salt and pepper to taste. (I started with about ¼ tsp each...)

Lay out a sheet of plastic wrap on the countertop* and spoon butter into a thick strip; wrap with plastic, gently shaping, as needed, to form a log. Chill at least 2 hours until firm.

Slice into ¼ inch thick servings; Top hot fish, beef, pork, chicken or vegetables (corn on the cob!)  and serve immediately. Also delicious on bread and rolls.



* I have an olive boat that I use - line it with plastic wrap and  fill it with the herbed butter; close the plastic wrap over the 'log', grab it by the loose ends and gently lift it out of the olive boat, roll it back and forth a bit on the counter to round out the log nicely, twisting the ends to seal in the process. 
   










 You could get fancy and press tablespoon servings of herbed butters into individual molds before chilling.

Sugar & Spice Bacon

Check out Food Network Spiced Bacon for the original recipe. But this one is easy to come up with your own personal riff on any spice combination that will compliment whatever you're putting your bacon onto or into (even if it's just your mouth!).

Ingredients
12-16 oz bacon
¼ C light brown sugar*
2 t water
2-3 T spices

* Light brown sugar, or...go dark if you want to highlight the flavor. If that mapley-molasses
   flavor is not at all complimentary to the spices you want, sub in plain white sugar.

Directions
Preheat oven to 375°F.

Place bacon strips in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet (a 'jelly roll pan').* Bake 9-10 minutes (12-14 for thick cut bacon) until just begining to crisp.

* For easy clean-up, but a little more work on the front end: Line rimmed baking sheets with foil and set a metal rack (cooling racks work great) on the baking sheet; place strips of bacon on the rack.

While it's in the oven... Combine sugar with water; microwave in 15 second intervals, stirring each time, to dissolve the sugar. Prep spices if needed.

When bacon begins to crisp...  Remove from oven; use tongs or a fork to flip bacon. Use a pastry or small BBQ brush to coat top side of bacon thinly with sugar-water mix. Sprinkle with spices. Return to oven for another 8-12 minutes or desired crispness. Drain on paper towel lined rack or plate.

Spice combos to try...
* dk brown sugar with chili powder
* cinnamon chai blend
* jerk seasoning (purchased blend or make your own)
* cumin, coriander and peppercorns (grind or use whole seeds)
* rosemary & black pepper
* Chinese 5-spice (use soy in place of water; thorw in some sesame seeds too!)
* bourbon BBQ (use bourbon in place of water; add a little squirt of ketchup, chili powder, ground mustard...)

Caribbean Jerk Wraps with Lime Mayo (Dressing)

Ingredients
1½ lb boneless pork, chicken or beef
      bone-in cuts work too, just account for the weight of
      the bones; you want 1½ lbs of meat
1½ T jerk seasoning
1 C water
juice of 1 lime (at least 2 T)
s & p
8  10" tortillas
2 C torn or shredded lettuce
1 red bell pepper, small diced
1 C diced mango, or pineapple
½ C mayonnaise or salad dressing (Miracle Whip)
¼ C minced shallot
½ t lime zest
1 clove garlic, minced

Directions
In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise (or salad dressing), minced shallot, lime zest, 1 T lime juice and minced garlic. Cover and refrigerate until ready to prepare wraps.

Sprinkle mean with jerk seasoning, massaging it with your fingertips. Place meat pieces in a 3 - 4 quart crock pot (slow-cooker); add water. Cover and cook on low-heat 8-10 hours, or high heat 4-5 hours until meat is tender enough to pull apart with forks (and falls off the bone easily, if bone-in cut is used).

Remove meat from crock pot; pull into shreds using forks. Place in a bowl and sprinkle with remaining lime juice (at least 1 T). Season to taste with salt and pepper, if needed.

Toast tortillas briefly on stovetop, if desired.

Prep each wrap: line with lettuce, add approximately ¼ lb shredded meat, diced pepper and mango (or pineapple), top with lime mayo. Roll up securely.

Delicious warm or cold.

Lemon Rosemary Pork Tenderloin

(This photo isn't mine; I made this for company today -- with roasted red potatoes! -- but didn't stop to photograph the dish before serving. Maybe next time I'll take an original shot.)

Ingredients
1 or 2 pork tenderloin, 1-1.5 lb each
zest of 1 lemon
¾ C lemon juice
½ C + 2 T olive oil
2 T minced garlic
1½ T minced fresh rosemary
1 T chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 T Dijon mustard
salt & pepper
Optional: extra rosemary or thyme sprigs for garnish

Directions
Combine lemon zest, lemon juice, ½ cup olive oil, minced garlic, rosemary, thyme, Dijon mustard, and 1 teaspoon salt in a large zip-tight plastic bag; knead or shake to combine. Add pork tenderloin(s), turn and massage to coat tenderloins. Squeeze excess air from bag; seal. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight.

Prehead oven to 400°F.

Remove pork tenderloin(s); discard excess marinade. Season with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in an oven proof skillet over medium-high heat. Sear tenderloins on all sides. Roast tenderloins in 400°F oven approximately 25 minutes, until meat thermometer inserted in thickest point registers 140-145°F.

Remove from oven; cover with lid (or tinfoil) and let rest 6-8 minutes.

Slice. Garnish, if desired, with rosemary and/or thyme sprigs.

Caribbean Jerk Marinade

I've made it often before and taken it to family dinners. So, at my brother's request, I'm posting it now. I could give you a 'from scratch' recipe (sugar, salt, onion, red pepper flakes, allspice, thyme, turmeric...) but there are good, premixed jerk seasonings available in the spice aisle at most supermarkets. There are also prepared jerk marinades (liquid, in jars/bottles). My favorite--and what I've brought to family dinners--is McCormick brand dry spice, but others will work too.  I mix it up like this:

Ingredients:

2 Tbls McCormick Caribbean Jerk Seasoning
1 Tbls oil
2 Tbls vinegar
2 Tbls brown sugar
1 Tbls soy sauce

1 to 2  lbs of chicken, pork, beef or seafood

1 or 2 15-oz cans of Dole Tropical Mixed Fruit

     (or fresh, diced tropical fruits of your choice)

Directions:

The meat can be diced or left to cook in whole portions. Place meat in a single layer in a 9x13 casserole dish. Combine all of the ingredients for the marinade. Pour over meat. This can be cooked immediately, but ideally it should marinate 2-4 hours before cooking.

Just before cooking, add tropical fruits. Adding the juice (optional) stretches the marinade, and dilutes and sweetens it. To include flavor without thinning, add 1 tablespoon of corn starch to the cold juice from each can of tropical fruit before pouring it over the meat.

Cover with foil; cook (350°) until the meat is cooked through. (45 min to an hour? depends on thickness of the meat). If marinade/juice is too thin – or there’s too much liquid – uncover for all or part of the cooking time.

My Culinary Arts students cooked up a Caribbean feast (for my World Literature students, when we were in our Caribbean Literature unit)...including jerk chicken with tropical fruit. We diced the chicken -- it can serve more people in small pieces -- but I often leave the chicken as whole breasts, thighs, or tenders.

Pomegranate-Molasses and Mint Marinade

Pictured: marinated caribou steak - one of the leanest meats I've ever had, so it appears very dark. I'd have never thought of garlic with pomegranate, but this was positively delicious! - and complimented the caribou very nicely.

Ingredients:
¾ C chopped mint leaves
½ C pomegranate molasses*
2 Tbls lemon juice
2 Tbls olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp salt

Directions:
Whisk together all ingredients. Put meat into glass baking dish and pour marinade over, turning to coat. Bake or broil, basting occasionally with marinade...  Makes enough for about 2 lbs meat.

* Find pomegranate molasses at well-stocked grocery stores and Middle-Eastern markets, or make your own pomegranate molasses.

Anchovy Lemon Marinade

I found this recipe when I was looking specifically for "wild game" recipes to cook up some caribou steaks I'd gotten from my dad. With capers and anchovies added to the citrus, it's a briney, zesty marinade, and I think it's well suited to fish, seafood and chicken as well as red wild game meats. (Pictured here on pork chops.)

Ingredients:
½ C chopped flat leaf parsley
3 Tbls olive oil
2 Tbls lemon juice
1 Tbls chopped capers
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp minced anchovy
½ tsp salt

Directions:
Whisk all ingredients together. Place meat in glass baking dish; pour marinade over meat, turning to coat. Bake, broil, grill...  Makes enough for about 2 lbs meat.

Beer Brine

I only have a photo of pork chops marinating. The finished product doesn't look all that much different than a typical roasted (grilled, baked, fried...) chop. Of course, plate presentation with a side dish and a little garnish can dress anything up! :)

Ingredients:
1 12 oz bottle amber ale
1 Tbls kosher salt
1/8 C brown sugar
½ Tbls black peppercorns
½ Tbls mustard seeds
½ Tbls fennel seeds
1 clove garlic, peeled & crushed

Directions: Combine all ingredients in saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar and salt are fully dissolved. Let cool completely. Place pork or beef in zip lock bag with brine. Chill at least 4-6 hours. Remove meat from brine (discard brine); rinse gently. Cook.

Battered Pork Chops with Peach Sauce

I'm not sure how often I'll want to batter and fry a perfectly good pork chop. (Probably not often.) But I bought a huge (5 lb) tenderloin on sale, so even after the Honey-Orange tenderloin I made yesterday, I had lots left. I froze a 1 lb tenderloin for later and cut the rest into chops, some for now, some for later...and plenty to try new recipes.  Besides, the peach sauce would be good over an UNbattered chop too.

Ingredients: 
¹/₃ C peach jam
2 Tbls ketchup
1 Tbls + 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbls cider vinegar
2 Tbls cold unsalted butter, small diced
1½ C flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg (white only)
4  ¼"-thick boneless pork chops (about 1 lb)
vegetable oil, for frying

Directions:
Combine jam, ketchup, 1 tablespoon Worchestershire sauce with 3 tablespoons water in a large skillet over medium-high heat; whisk until thickened (about 5 minutes). Whisk in vinegar, then butter -- a few pieces at a time. Remove from heat and cover.

Whisk together 1 cup flour, baking powder, ½ cup water (or a little more, if needed), the egg white and remaining Worcestershire. Put remaining flour in shallow dish. Heat ¼ inch vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat to 375°. Dredge pork chops in flour, then dip in batter. Fry until golden (about 3-4 minutes per side). Drain on paper towels. Serve with peach sauce.

Honey-Orange Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients: 
½ C orange marmalade
3 Tbls cider vinegar
2 Tbls soy sauce
1 Tbls minced garlic
2 tsp honey
2 Tbls olive oil
1 lb pork tenderloin (trimmed) 
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. Whisk together marmalade, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic and honey. Set aside 2 tablespoons of this mixture.Heat an ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat; add oil, swirling to coat pan. Season pork with salt and pepper. Cook in skillet until browned (about 5 minutes). Turn tenderloin over; baste with ¼ cup marmalade mixture. Bake 10 minutes. Turn tenderloin over; baste again with marmalade mixture. Bake another 10 minutes (or until center of tenderloin reaches 150°). Remove from skillet onto serving dish; brush with reserved marmalade mixture. Let rest 10 minutes; slice.

Spicy Corn & Sausage Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed pepper recipes...round 2!
(See 'round 1' recipe here.)

Ingredients:
2 Tbls olive oil
1 15-oz can corn 
½ bell pepper, diced 
½ onion, diced 
½ lb pork sausage
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
4 oz cream cheese 
¹/₃ C chopped fresh parsley
1-2 Tbls hot sauce
C bread crumbs
12-15 Anaheim or Poblano peppers
   I'm really a weenie about hot peppers (or hot anything). Neither Anaheim or Poblano are all that hot, relatively speaking; however, I still had some of the sweet mini peppers from my last stuffed pepper post. I used the rest here and was perfectly happy with the results. You can also vary the heat significantly with the type and amount of hot sauce you choose.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425°.

Pulse the corn in a food processor so that it's still chunky, but not whole kernels. Heat 1 Tbls olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add corn, bell pepper and onion; cook, stirring frequently until tender (about 5 minutes). Add sausage and garlic; break up sausage with a wooden spatula and cook until well browned. Add cream cheese and stir until all ingredients are well incorporated. Remove from heat. Add parsley and hot sauce, stirring to combine.

Halve the peppers lengthwise and remove seeds. Toss peppers with remaining olive oil to coat lightly. Set halved peppers into baking dish cut-side up; fill each pepper with corn and sausage mixture. Sprinkle with bread crumbs. Cover loosely with foil and bake until peppers are tender, about 25 minutes.

Serve peppers drizzled with extra hot sauce.

Sweet & Sour Stuffed Peppers

This recipe -- my own combination/adaptation of about three other stuffed pepper recipes -- calls for 3 medium bell peppers. I had a bag of sweet mini-peppers (on sale recently at Safeway), so I used them instead; the recipe filled about a dozen mini-peppers, halved.

Ingredients:
1 medium carrot, small diced
1 C broccoli, small diced
1 lg shallot, small diced
2 Tbls olive oil 
¹/₃ lb ground pork sausage
3 Tbls tomato paste 
¼ C mix of chopped fresh parsley, dill and mint
¹/₃ C crushed pineapple, with juice
2 Tbls red wine vinegar
2 Tbls mirin 
½ tsp salt 
½ C prepared couscous
3 medium sweet bell peppers (any color) 
½ C grated asiago cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450°.

Heat 1 Tbls olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add chopped vegetables and cook, stirring frequently until tender (about 5 minutes). Add sausage and 2 Tbls tomato paste; break up sausage with a wooden spatula and cook until well browned. Add pineapple with juice, 1 Tbls vinegar, 1 Tbls mirin and salt. Bring to a simmer for about 2 minutes, stirring until mixture is well combined and becomes slightly saucy. Remove from heat. Add couscous and herbs, stirring to combine.

Halve the peppers lengthwise and remove seeds. Toss peppers with remaining olive oil to coat lightly. Whisk together remaining tomato paste, vinegar and mirin with ¼ cup water; pour into bottom of baking dish. Set halved peppers into baking dish cut-side up; fill each pepper with vegetable-sausage-couscous mixture. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover loosely with foil and bake until peppers are tender, about 25 minutes.

Serve peppers drizzled with tomato cooking liquid from bottom of baking dish.

Gingered Pork Potstickers

Ingredients
6 oz ground pork
¼ C diced white onion
2 Tbls minced ginger
1 Tbls minced garlic
4 Tbls diced green onion
1 tsp soy sauce
¼ tsp sesame oil
salt and pepper
12 round wonton/potsticker wrappers
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vegetable oil

Directions
Combine pork, onions, ginger, garlic, green onions, soy sauce, sesame oil, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Mix until thoroughly combined.

Bring 2 quarts water to boil in medium stock pot. Place 1 tablespoon of the mixture in the middle of each wonton wrapper. Brush edges of wrappers with egg. Fold wrappers in half and pinch to seal.

Place wrappers in boiling water for 1-2 minutes. Remove;cool individually on cooling rack. When ready to serve, heat saute pan with 1 teaspoon oil; saute on medium-high heat until the skin of wrappers is browned.

Meat & Vegetable Pie

MHS: This recipe was part of the Culinary Arts course (Spring 2012)

 INGREDIENTS:

1 onion, diced

2 Tbls fat

2 C cubed, cooked meat

1½  Tbls flour

1 C milk

1 Tbls Worcestershire sauce

1 C cooked peas

1 C sliced, cooked carrots

1 C sautéed mushrooms

salt & pepper

2  9” pastry crusts

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 425°. Line a 9” pie pan with bottom crust.

Cook peas and carrots.  Sauté mushrooms. Layer cooked vegetables into pie crust.

Melt fat in skillet or sauté pan and add meat; brown well. Remove meat and onion from skillet, layering over cooked vegetables in pie crust (leave fat and any browned bits in the pan).

Add flour, milk and Worcestershire sauce to remaining fat. Blend well. Reheat slightly if needed to thicken into a gravy-like sauce. Pour sauce over meat and vegetables; season with salt and pepper.

Cover with top pastry crust, sealing edges. Prick with fork or slit with knife to create steam vents. Bake until crust is brown, 30-35 minutes.

Obviously, lots of variations are possible with this recipe. In addition to using different meats, other vegetables could be added or substituted for endless flavor combinations. Herbs and/or spices added to the meat, vegetables or sauce could also alter and enhance this pie. Have fun with it!