Chili Verde

Where've I been? Fighting blogger burnout. I've had brain drain.

I've been trying to attend a session on Blogger Burnout on Google+ but every time it's scheduled, I already have something in the time slot. Grrrr. But, this morning I found the video of the session I wanted to attend and got some real good pointers. I have little self-examination to do, but I might just have started my creative engine again.

I'm not sure I'm in full go mode, but I'm trying. We'll see how it goes.

So, on to the Chili Verde. Has the weather turned cold where you are? Yeah, here, too.

Cold is not my favorite time of year. The older I get, the more I get like Joe, our mostly-Maltese. When the weather turns cool, you are more than likely to find him curled up under a quilt. Me, too.

Autumn is the time of year for soups, stews, chowders and chili. I love a bowl of something hot and scrumptious with a crusty baguette, cornbread muffin, biscuit or warm tortilla. I like all kinds of anything served up piping hot in a bowl, but rich and hearty is my first choice, whether it's fish, beef, pork, lamb, thick, creamy or brothy. I like them all and luckily I have created quite a collection. I just recently add this one to my repertoire.

This recipe is for the day when you have a few hours to let it cook on the stove top in a big pot and enjoy the wonderful aroma from the kitchen while you clean the house, return emails, or write your own blog post.

Verde translated means "green". The sauce consists of green ingredients: tomatillos, chilies and cilantro. And I like that this recipe uses mostly fresh ingredients, except for one small can of diced green chilies. No cans of beans. No enchilada sauce. No canned tomatoes. And the flavor sings because of it.

Chili Verde

• 2 pounds tomatillos, husks removed, rinsed well and cut in half
• 2 onions, quartered
• 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 2 Poblano peppers, roasted, peeled, seeded and diced
• 1 bunch cilantro, leaves picked and roughly chopped
• 4 lbs (approximately) pork shoulder (pork butt), excess fat trimmed and cut into 2-inch cubes
• 1-1/2 cups frozen (thawed) or fresh corn
• 1 - 4-ounce can diced green chilies
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ancho chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• salt and pepper
• olive oil

Preheat oven to 425˚

Put the halved tomatillos and quartered onions into a large bowl. Drizzle with a little olive oil, sprinkle generously with salt and pepper and stir to coat evenly.



Spread the mixture on a large baking sheet and roast in the oven until the tomatillos and onions are slightly browned, about 1 hour.


Remove the tomatillos and onions from the oven and set aside to cool slightly. Do not pour off the liquid. You will add that to the pot later.

While the tomatillos are cooling, season the pork cubes with salt and pepper. Heat a little olive oil in a large pot on medium high heat and working in batches of a few at a time brown the pork cubes on all sides. Remove each batch from the pot and continue until all the pork cubes are browned.

Add the garlic to the pot and cook on medium heat until it is fragrant. Do not allow it to brown or it will turn bitter. Remove the pan from the heat.

In a food processor, again working in batches, add a few of the roasted tomatillos and onions, some of the cilantro and the roasted Poblanos and pulse until pureed. Pour the mixture into the pot with the garlic. Continue until all of the tomatillos, onions, cilantro and Poblano peppers are pureed and added to the pot.

Add the browned pork cubes back into the pot with the tomatillo sauce. Now, add the reserved liquid from the roasted tomatillos, the chicken stock, the can of diced green chilies, oregano, cumin, ancho chili powder, cinnamon and cloves and mix well. Season very lightly with salt and pepper. You can correct the seasoning later.

Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and gently simmer the chili for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally, then add the corn. Return the chili to a simmer and continue cooking until the pork is fork tender, approximately one more hour, for a total of 3 hours. Correct the seasoning if necessary, adding a little salt and pepper.

Serve hot with cornbread or warm tortillas.

Cuban Chorizo Sweet Potato Stew

The North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission is having a "No More Mallows" Recipe Contest and I have decided to enter.

Like most everyone else, when I was growing up Candied Sweet Potato Casserole, with or without marshmallows, was a staple at our Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner table.

But sweet potatoes are more versatile than that. They lend themselves very well to an array of main and side dishes. I love baked sweet potato fries as a side to the Pork Banh Mi Burgers I posted a while back. Sweet potato ravioli topped with a sage cream sauce is a dance in my mouth. And roasted rack of lamb on grated and fried sweet potato nests takes special to the next level.

My favorite sweet potato pairing is with savory and spicy dishes, like today's recipe.




I love Cuban food, the unique and delightful combination of heat, sweet, sour and salty.

Most people are under the impression that Cuban cuisine is similar to Mexican food - tacos, enchiladas and the like - but it's not. It's quite different. The food of western Cuba has Spanish influences: olives, capers, pickles, raisins. Other European influences are found in their cream and béchamel sauces as well as variations of rice pilaf. The rice and beans prevalent in eastern Cuba reflect the African and Caribbean influence. The tropical climate provides an array of fruits and vegetables: bananas, plantains, citrus fruits, coconuts, avocados. In recent years, soy yogurt has become a Cuban staple. And let's not forget the abundant use of fresh fish. Cuba is an island after all.

So, what American influences have the Cubans embraced? Canned fruits and vegetables and processed cheese. Go figure. At least they haven't adopted the American adoration of fast food. I've read that there are a few pizza places, but fast food is nearly non-existent.

In any case, Cubans have successfully married all these ingredients and season them with popular spices and herbs like cumin, oregano, mint, cilantro and saffron, as well as an array of peppers, hot and mild.

For this recipe, I modified my recipe for Sweet Potato Chorizo Soup and combined many of those traditional Cuban flavors and ingredients - beans, sweet potatoes, coconut, tomatoes, peppers, yogurt and, of course, rice - for a rich, highly flavorful, slightly spicy stew.




Cuban Chorizo Sweet Potato Stew

• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into bite sized pieces
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced
• 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, roughly chopped
• 1 - 10-ounce tube Mexican pork chorizo (not smoked)
• 2 - 15.5-ounce cans black beans, undrained
• 1 - 14-ounce can fire-roasted diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 - 13-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• 1 cup cilantro, divided

Grated cheddar cheese
Cooked white rice for serving

In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent. Add the garlic and peppers to the onions and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, being careful not to burn the garlic.

Remove the chorizo from the plastic tube and add to the pot and sauté until the meat it is thoroughly cooked, breaking it up as it cooks.

Add the sweet potatoes, black beans and tomatoes (juice and all), coconut milk, cumin, oregano and bay leaf to the pot. Mix well. Once the liquid begins to boil, reduce the heat to low, cover the pot and simmer for about 30 to 40 minutes until the sweet potatoes are cooked through. Stir in the Greek yogurt and about 3/4 of the cup of the cilantro. Cook until the stew is once again heated through.

To serve, ladle the stew into a shallow bowl. Top with a scoop of rice. Sprinkle with the grated cheese and cilantro to garnish.

What? You don't know how to make rice? It's simple. While the stew is cooking, put 1-3/4 cups of water, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon butter in a small pot and bring to a boil. Add 1 cup of long grain white rice to the boiling water and stir. Bring the water to a boil again. Cover the pot with a tight fitting lid and reduce the heat to very low and simmer ~ without peeking into the pot ~ for 20 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and without lifting off the lid, let stand for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, remove the lid and fluff the rice with a fork or spoon.

Easy peasy!

Pork Banh Mi Burgers with Vietnamese Slaw

I love to cook. But I suppose that's pretty obvious because I wouldn't be a food blogger if I didn't.

Unlike most couples, Tom and I don't eat out much. We'd rather cook at home and eat dinner, wearing our shorts and a t-shirt or sweats, in the comfort of our backyard patio when the weather permits.

But I have a hard time finding ingredients, particularly fresh ingredients like the daikon radish required for the Vietnamese Slaw for this dish. The first time I made this slaw, there wasn't a daikon radish to be found between Conway and Little Rock, not even at Fresh Market. {pouting face} Since a daikon radish is more mild than the common red radish, Tom stopped at the store and bought a jicama, which has a similar color and texture, though sweeter than a daikon. When Tom got home, I started the slaw preparation, but when I cut the jicama in half, it was brown all the way through. Tom headed back to Kroger, rotten jicama in hand.

I opted to make the slaw with red radishes and tediously grated about a dozen of those little suckers, which yielded just about a cup, so I cut the recipe in half. I also didn't use a fresh jalapeno. I used candied jalapenos, which I make myself (a recipe I will share next time).

The night before I had prepared chicken fried pork steaks for dinner, and as we almost always do, we had leftovers - two pork steaks. I hate seeing food go to waste, so I decided to make the Banh Mi sandwiches using the leftover fried pork steaks. I can't even describe how delicious they were. The slaw is crunchy because the carrots and radish are julienned instead of grated, and slightly sweet from the pickling step, with a little heat from the jalapenos and sriracha. What a wonderful combination.

A week or so later, when I decided to make the Pork Banh Mi Sandwich, I happened to be in Kroger and lo and behold, they had three large daikon radishes! Yippee! I grabbed one daikon and a bag of julienned carrots, paid for my groceries and headed for home to make the slaw.

This time I did not grate the radish. I wanted the daikon to be the same texture as the carrots. I have a mandoline (this one) my son gave me over six years ago. I swear I use it almost every single day. Anyway, the daikon is much larger and easier to use on my mandoline, which has a julienne blade. I cut up two cups in no time.

This...

Became this...


We've used the Vietnamese Slaw on the chicken fried pork burgers and as a side with Bang Bang Shrimp. But on top of those juicy, flavorful, herby, slightly spicy pork burgers....oh my! I served the burgers with oven baked sweet potato fries, which was the perfect compliment to the spiciness of the burger.


Pork Banh Mi Burgers with Vietnamese Slaw
Adapted from Chaos in the Kitchen

For the Burgers:

• 1 pound ground pork
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, minced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 green onions, minced
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce (if you don't have fish sauce, substitute soy sauce)
• 1 tablespoon sriracha
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 4 ciabatta rolls or other crusty rolls, sliced in half

In a medium sized bowl, combine the pork, basil, garlic, onion, fish sauce (or soy sauce), sriracha, sugar, cornstarch, salt and pepper until evenly combined. Divide the mixture into four equal parts and pat into four patties.

Heat a grill pan or large skillet over medium heat. Brush the pan with sesame oil. Cook burgers about 7 minutes minutes on one side until lightly browned, then turn the patties over and cook another 5 - 7 minutes or until the patties are cooked through. The internal temperature should be 145˚.

Remove the burgers from the pan and keep warm.

Place rolls in the same pan used to cook the patties, cut side down, over the heat until toasted.

Serve burgers on rolls topped generously with slaw. Top with additional fresh cilantro sprigs and sliced fresh jalapenos if desired.

For the Vietnamese Slaw:

• 2 cups carrots, julienned
• 2 cups daikon radish, julienned
• 1 jalapeno, chopped (I used candied jalapeno)
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup mayonnaise
• 2 green onions, white and green parts, sliced thin
• 1 tablespoon sriracha
• 1/2 cup packed fresh cilantro, minced

In a medium sized bowl, combine the carrots, daikon and jalapeno. Pour the vinegar into a measuring cup, add the sugar and stir until sugar is mostly dissolved. Pour the mixture over the carrot/daikon mixture. Stir well to combine. Set aside for about an hour, stirring occasionally so that all of the vegetable mixture is submerged in the vinegar mixture from some time.

After an hour, drain the liquid from the carrot mixture and discard the marinade.

Add the green onions and cilantro to the carrot mixture and mix to combine. In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise and sriracha and stir until combined. Add to carrot mixture and mix well. Taste and correct seasoning if necessary.

Chill until ready to serve.

It's All In The Sauce

I believe that a good sauce can transform a plain, uninteresting piece of chicken, pork, beef or fish into a sumptuous dish.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I must say that my view would most likely be poo-pooed and disputed by most nutritionists and some health care professionals who admonish us to steer clear of butter or cream and all those other luxurious ingredients.

You know those nutritionists and health care professionals are right. I know they are right. But man and woman cannot live by broiled or poached protein alone. At least this woman can't.

I understand the perils of too much cholesterol. I rarely use butter. Instead I use Smart Balance. I still ingest the dreaded fat, but no cholesterol. And, I've used olive oil for years. I cook and eat mostly boneless, skinless chicken, very lean pork and very little beef. I haven't had a fried pork chop or piece of chicken in months and my freezer is full of all kinds of fish. I try really hard to be reasonable about what I eat, but sauces are my downfall.

I just love a good sauce. I love the texture on my tongue, the fragrance, the taste...even the sight of a good sauce. Among the many blogs I visit, my favorite website is Food Porn Daily, not really pornography unless food is your idea of porn. Every single day Food Porn Daily posts a photograph of some sort of food, usually in a sauce or broth, up close and personal, in full color, and every single day I click the link to view, close up, a beautiful dish of something-or-other, begin salivating and thinking about how I can recreate that sauce that I can almost taste.

I have a vast array of recipes for all kinds of sauces, cold and hot, but I'm always looking for something new and something different. Several years ago, I came across a recipe in a small paperback French cookbook for Chicken Dijon: sauteed chicken in a sauce made of sour cream and dijon mustard. The sauce is simple and quite delicious, but when I came across Gareth Mark's variation, I just knew it would be equally as good so I gave it a try. Mmmmm. Simple, fragrant, delicious, luxurious.

Gareth bathed a sauteed chicken breast with this sauce. I used pork. I flattened then sauteed two slices of pork loin and dressed it with this wonderful sauce, but this recipe makes more than enough for 4 slices of whatever meat you choose. I served it over a whole grain and rice blend with a side of peas. I used this brand of whole grain mustard.

Whole Grain Mustard Sauce
adapted from Gareth Mark's Recipe @ Stumptown Savoury

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 thin chicken breasts or pork loin slices
• Kosher salt
• Fresh ground pepper
• 1 shallot, minced (I didn't have a shallot, so I used about 1/4 of a cup of finely minced onion)
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 3 tablespoon whole grain, coarse ground Dijon style mustard

Heat a saute pan over medium high heat. Season the chicken or pork slices with salt and pepper. Add the olive oil to the hot pan, heat the olive oil and and saute the slices, 4 - 5 minutes per side for thin cut. Remove cooked meat to a plate and keep warm.

Add another tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and saute the shallots for about a minute. Add the wine to the pan to deglaze, stirring up all the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Allow the wine to boil and reduce to about two tablespoons of liquid. Add the cream, stirring continuously and bring to a boil and reduce the liquid until slightly thickened and it coats the back of a metal spoon, about 2 minute.

Add the mustard, stir to combine and add salt and pepper to taste. Add the chicken or pork slices to the sauce and cook gently for about a minute to reheat. Remove the slices of meat to a serving dish and serve with the sauce.

What To Do With Leftover Ham?

When I was growing up, my mother rarely served ham, but when she did, it was usually one of those canned, boneless, jellied things. She'd doctor it up with a little brown sugar, stick some whole cloves in it and bake it in the oven. It was never my favorite meal, but I ate it because I was hungry. What else can you do?

I can only remember once or twice during my childhood that my mom served a "real" bone-in smoked ham. To stay within her budget, she bought the cheapest one available. All I can remember is salty, salty, salty.

It has only been the last 15 years or so that we have occasionally enjoyed a meal of ham and creamy scalloped potatoes, but the reason I don't fix it very often is because we have so much leftover. I wind up cutting the ham into pieces or slices, bagging it and freezing for later to make split pea soup, red beans and rice, or ham and potato soup. Not very creative.

This last time, I wanted something different, so I Googled and found these babies. They are supposed to be appetizers, but I served them as the main course of a meal with a little marinated white bean salad and some asparagus spears.

This is the original recipe which makes 24 mini-sandwiches, but I cut the recipe in half to make only a dozen. However, I inadvertently added the entire 2 tablespoons of poppy seeds instead on 1 tablespoon. They were still delicious. Next time I will make a full recipe and send some to my father-in-law. He will love them!

Marinated Ham & Swiss Buns
Adapted from the recipe by Peggy Trowbridge Filippone, About.com

For the Marinade:
1 cup (2 sticks butter)
1/4 cup sweet onion, finely minced
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons hot or spicy mustard (I used horseradish mustard)
1/4 brown sugar
1 tablespoon chopped parsley

For the Sandwiches:
24 (about 2 X 2-inches each) small dinner rolls
Horseradish mayonnaise (I used Kraft Horseradish Sauce)
24 thin slices of deli ham (I used leftover ham, sliced not too thin)
24 thin slices of Swiss cheese

Line two 9 X 13-inch baking sheets with non-stick foil or butter traditional pans (I sprayed my pan with non-stick spray).

To prepare marinade, saute the onion in the butter over low heat until onion is soft and translucent. Add the poppy seeds, garlic powder, Worcestershire sauce, mustard and brown sugar. Stir until brown sugar is melted into the sauce. Remove from heat and stir in parsley. Set the marinade aside.

Slice the buns in half. Spread the bottoms of the buns with a thin layer of horseradish mayonnaise.



Fold the ham slices to fit the bottom of each bun. (You can see, that I just used pieces of my leftover ham.)



Repeat with the Swiss cheese slices, folding to fit the buns. Replace bun tops and place ham and cheese buns into a the prepared baking pans.



Pour the marinade evenly over both pans of buns.



Cover tightly with foil and refrigerate overnight.

To serve, preheat over to 350 degrees F. Baked the marinated buns, covered, for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking for an additional 10 minutes.



Mmmm, mmmm, good!

I'm Finally Back from Vacation...

And able to speak and write coherently (hopefully). So... vacation and the Powers family reunion came off fairly smoothly and we ate well, particularly when we cooked.

We ate. And ate. And ate. I think most of the photos taken were of someone eating something. I suppose that's what happens when most families come together in one place.

I've written about the whole family reunion experience here, if you are inclined to read it.

Besides the Powers family tradition of preparing "Bacon Bread" over an open wood fire, by far my favorite food of the entire week was my son, Chris', Barbecued Ribs. Since my camera tanked by the end of the first day, I only have photos of my attempt to make Chris' ribs a couple of months ago. I made mine using the oven and grill method and it worked very well.

Chris' Barbecued Spareribs
by Chris Powers

1 slab of pork spareribs, approximately 3-1/2 to 4 pounds
1/4 cup Emeril's Essence seasoning
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/8 cup Chef Prudomme's Magic Barbecue Seasoning
1 teaspoon cumin powder
Any bottled Barbecue Sauce (Chris prefers Sweet Baby Ray's Honey Barbecue Sauce)

To make the dry rub, to a small bowl add the Essence seasoning, brown sugar, Barbecue Seasoning and cumin. Mix with a small whisk until completely combined.

Place the slab of ribs on a large tray or cookie sheet. Using half of the rub, cover one side of the ribs evenly. Turn the slab over, and cover the other side evenly with the remaining half of the rub.



Gas Grill: Preheat your outdoor grill to between 225 to 250 degrees and maintain that temperature for about 2 to 2-1/2 hours. Place the ribs in the middle of the hot grill, close the top on the grill and cook the ribs, turning the ribs about every 15 or 20 minutes, until almost done, about 1-1/2 to 2 hours. During the last 1/2 hour, begin basting with the prepared barbecue about every 10 minutes until you have basted both sides of the slab twice.

Charcoal Grill: Start with a small stack of charcoal and throughout the cooking process add a few more charcoal pieces at a time to keep temperature even between 225 and 250 degrees for about 2 to 2-1/2 hours. (For extra flavor, you can also add a few hickory chips that have been soaked in water for at least 1/2 an hour.) Place the ribs in the middle of the hot grill, close the top on the grill and cook the ribs, turning the ribs about every 15 or 20 minutes, until almost done, about 1-1/2 to 2 hours. During the last 1/2 hour, begin basting with the prepared barbecue about every 10 minutes until you have basted both sides of the slab twice.

Oven and Grill: Preheat your oven to 250 degrees. Place the ribs on a rack over a large baking sheet to catch drippings. Roast for about 1-1/2 hours, turning every 1/2 hour or so. Remove from oven. Preheat your grill to about 250 degrees, then place the slab of ribs in the middle of the hot grill and close the top and cook for another 30 to 45 minutes until desired doneness. Turn the ribs every 10 to 15 minutes, basting with the prepared barbecue sauce each time until you have basted both sides of the slab twice.



The slow 250 degree temperature will make the ribs tender and juicy.

Szechwan Pork Curry

About 30 years ago (oh, yes, I was merely a child), I copied this recipe from a co-worker. At that time, I used to type recipes out on lined paper on an old typewriter and keep our favorite recipes in a binder. Obviously, this recipe is one of our favorites. Now protected in plastic sheeting, you can see it has been very well used.



We have since moved most of our collection to our laptop, but we still have binders full of recipes and recipe cards that still need to be converted.

This dish is spicy, but extremely flavorful and very quick from wok (or large frying pan) to plate. It does not taste like an Indian curry dish, as you might expect. Cooking the spices prior to adding to the sauce brings out the medley of flavors in the curry powder.

Warning! Your kitchen will smell like this dish for a minimum of 24 hours, but it is worth it.

Pork Curry
by Terri Powers for Terri's Table

2-1/2 lbs. pork chops
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 egg white
1 medium sized red pepper
1 medium size green pepper (since we don't care for green peppers, I use orange or yellow)
1 onion
4 large cloves garlic
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons curry powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons tomato paste
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons sherry
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon soy sauce

Carefully cut the meat away from the bone and cut meat into 1/4 inch slices about 1 inch long. Put in a large bowl. Add the cornstarch and egg white. Stir well in one direction with your hand so that you have coated the meat thoroughly. Refrigerate while preparing the vegetables.

All vegetables should be cut the same size as the pork for even cooking.


Cut the peppers into 1 inch pieces. Separate the onion halves into their natural layer divisions, then cut into 1 inch pieces. Smash garlic; peel and roughly chop. Place the vegetables, separated, on a platter.

In a small cup or dish, mix the sherry, sugar and soy sauce. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Set aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a small pan. Stir in curry powder and red pepper flakes. Cook and stir 1 minute. Be careful not to burn. Add the tomato paste and mix quickly. Remove from heat and set aside.

Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a wok. Add the pork. Stir-fry over high heat about 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from pan to bowl.

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in the wok. Stir fry garlic (do not brown). Add peppers and stir-fry over high heat for 1 to 2 minutes; add onions and stir-fry for another 1 to 2 minutes. Remove the vegetables from the wok.

Add remaining 1 tablespoon of oil to the work. Stir in curry mixture. Add the sherry/sugar/soy sauce mixture and stir well. Return the meat and vegetables to the wok. Stir-fry thoroughly until sauce has covered the meat and vegetables and the mixture is hot. Serve with hot white rice.

Note: We really like the sauce for this dish and I usually double the sauce recipe except for the red pepper flakes, i.e., 2 tablespoons oil (for the curry and red pepper), 4 tablespoons curry powder, 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, 4 teaspoons tomato paste, 4 tablespoons sherry, 4 teaspoons sugar, 2 tablespoons soy sauce.

“I left home (like all Jewish girls) in order to eat pork..." ~ Rosanne

I love pork, but I like it cooked through. I know, I know, like the rest of you, I've read that you don't have to cook pork until it's no longer pink; that today pork is fed and raised differently and the meat is safe to eat when cooked to an internal temp of 160º. I reject the pink notion because I'm old and set in my ways. It's as simple as that. I don't think I could bring myself to eat pink pork. But I don't think you have to cook the meat until the texture resembles that of a hockey puck either. Just barely beyond pink is good for me.

Growing up, pork was not necessarily a staple meat in our house. Hamburger was king, but occasionally my mom would make pork chops. A typical pork chop would be fried and served with mashed potatoes and corn. The chops were lightly salted, but heavily peppered and fried in their naked state; no dredging in flour. From the drippings in the pan, my mom would make a cream gravy... and, no, neither my father or mother were from the South. Dad was raised on a farm in Minnesota and I think this was typical, heavy farm food fare and mom cooked for his tastes. Besides, with seven of us in the family (I am the oldest of 5 girls), mom had to stretch whatever she was cooking. Gravy was a good way to do that.

My mom didn't know what it meant to trim the fat, and what fat was on the chop would wind up brown, crunchy and perfectly rendered. Once we finished cutting the meat from the bone and eating it with a fork and knife, my dad and I would use our fingers and teeth to eat any remaining bits of meat, fat and pepper from the bone. As a child, this was heaven on a plate. I loved the peppery flavor mixed with the caramelized pan juices and I still make them that way sometimes.

Fortunately, I have expanded my pork repertoire to include many other different dishes. Tom found the recipe for this dish several years ago in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, our statewide newspaper. The flavors of the apple and coriander compliment each other perfectly and the dish is suited for a cold winter dinner. We usually serve it with slightly chunky mashed potatoes.

Pork With Caramelized Onions and Apples
My adaptation of the original recipe from the Arkansas Democrat Gazette

1 tablespoon butter
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided use
2 apples (I use Fuji), cores removed and cut crosswise into thick slices (about 6 slices per apple
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 onions, sliced not too thin
1 pound pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch slices and pounded slightly
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
salt and pepper to taste
1-1/2 tablespoons ground coriander
1/2 cup chicken or pork broth (I used pork broth made with Minor's Pork base)
1/2 cup apple juice or apple cider
2 bay leaves
2/3 cup heavy cream

Heat the butter and 2 Tablespoons of the olive oil in a large skillet and add the onions. Sprinkle the onions with about 1 Tablespoon of the brown sugar. Cook on medium heat until slighty caramelized, about 20 minutes. Remove to plate.



Coat the apple slices in the remaining brown sugar, add to pan juices and cook on both sides until barely brown. Remove to plate with onions.



Heat remaining 2 Tablespoons oil in the skillet. Season the pork with the salt and pepper and 1/2 Tablespoon of the ground coriander, then dust with the flour. Brown quickly on both sides.

Add the broth, juice, bay leaves, and remaining 1 Tablespoon of coriander, bring to a boil and simmer for about 5 minutes. Return onion and apple slices to skillet, add the cream and simmer for 5 minutes more. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove bay leaves and serve.



Makes 4 servings.

“Anybody can make you enjoy the first bite of a dish, but only a real chef can make you enjoy the last.” Francois Minot

Last month when Tom and I were in Memphis for the weekend, we ate at a small restaurant called McEwan’s On Monroe. I ordered Niman Ranch Pork Osso Bucco served over Cheddar Cheese Grits (it's the South, y'all).

The dish was more than delicious. It was, in a word, amazing to the very last bite. I ate every morsel. Everything else I had to eat that weekend was good, but paled in comparison to the Pork Osso Bucco.

I had never eaten, let alone cooked, Osso Bucco. Veal shanks are hard to come by here in central Arkansas. As a matter of fact, that first time I saw them was about a week ago at the newly opened Fresh Market in Little Rock. And, who would have thought to use pork instead of veal shanks? Certainly not me. I had to try to recreate the dish anyway. Shortly after we got home, I tried to put it together. I looked all over the internet trying to find one definitive Osso Bucco recipe. Of course, the internet being what it is, I wasn't able to find anything definitive. So I just took the ingredients I thought were crucial to the dish, recording each one as I added it and this is the final recipe. I am happy to report that the dish is very close to the original (sorry Mac).

Pork Osso Bucco
by Terri Powers
4 to 6 pork chops, 1-inch to 1-1/2-inch thick
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large onion, medium diced
1 large carrot, medium diced
1 large stalk celery, medium diced
1 cup white wine
1 - 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons ground fennel seed
3 bay leaves
3 cups chicken broth

I don't know exactly what cut of meat Mac used, but I had a small pork loin roast in the freezer and I cut it into large chops, at least one inch thick each.

Dredge the chops in the flour mixed with salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. In a large Dutch oven, heat the olive oil. Add the chops. Brown on both sides and remove from pan to a plate.

Add the onion, celery and carrots to the remaining oil in the hot pan and cook on medium high heat, stirring occasionally, until they are nicely brown and caramelized, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.

Add the white wine, being sure to scrape all of the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the can of tomatoes (liquid and all), the bay leaves, oregano, fennel, and chicken broth.

I have to admit here, that I didn't use the chicken broth you buy in the can or box and I didn't use chicken broth in this recipe. I buy Minor's Soup Bases at SoupBase.com and for this recipe I used 3 cups of water with 2 teaspoons of Minor's Pork Base. I think, however, chicken stock would be the next best thing and would provide a dish very close to mine.

Add the chops back to the pan, along with any liquid that has accumulated on the plate. Cover tightly, turn the heat down to a slow simmer and cook for about 2-1/2 hours, turning the chops occasionally and stirring the sauce. The chops should be very tender.

Remove the lid and simmer for about another half hour until the sauce has thickened slightly. Season with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste. Serves 4.

Serve over Parmesan Grits (recipe follows), although this dish would be just as good over pasta or polenta.


Parmesan Grits
by Terri Powers
2 cups milk
2 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons instant grits
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Put the milk and butter in a saucepan and bring almost to a boil over medium high heat. Remove from the heat and to the hot milk add the instant grits in a steady stream whisking constantly to avoid lumping. Add the parmesan cheese, whisking well. Return the mixture to the heat, turning it to a low flame. Cook the mixture for about 5 minutes. It will thicken considerably. Serves 4.

Note: I did not add any salt to this because I think the parmesan cheese is salty enough.

Parmesan Crusted Pork Chops

Back in August, I saw a recipe on Nic's food blog for Parmesan Crusted Pork Chops that I just had to try. They looked so delicious and tasted even better. I couldn't believe that such a simple recipe could be so outstanding. I served them with Roasted Rosemary Potatoes and Sauteed Brussel Sprouts. Here is how they turned out...



Parmesan Crusted Pork Chops
(Recipe Courtesy of Nic in the Kitchen, who adapted it from Giada De Laurentis recipe)

3 to 4 pork chops (I chose the large, boneless butterflied chops)
2 eggs
Italian bread crumbs
Parmesan cheese, fresh ~ finely grated
Salt & pepper
Olive oil

Whisk the eggs in a pie plate to blend. Place the bread crumbs in another pie plate. Place the cheese in a third pie plate. Sprinkle the pork chops generously with salt and pepper. Coat the chops completely with the cheese, patting to adhere. Dip the chops into the eggs, then coat completely with the bread crumbs, patting to adhere.

Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a very large skillet over medium heat. Add pork chops, in batches if necessary, and cook until golden brown and the center reaches 150 degrees, about 6 minutes per side.

As I said, I used the large, boneless butterflied chops and 6 minutes on each side was not enough time for the meat to come up to temperature. In addition, I didn't want them to be any darker, so I did as Nic did with hers. I put the chops in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10-15 minutes.

They were perfectly done, juicy and tender on the inside, and crunchy on the outside.

The Rosemary Potatoes are simple. I cut up the potatoes into pieces (just larger than bite size) and put them in a bowl. Add enough olive oil to coat, salt & pepper to taste; sprinkle with a teaspoon or two of ground dried rosemary and some grated parmesan cheese. Toss to coat the potatoes really well. Pour onto baking sheet sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake at 400 degrees until done (about 45 minutes). Crispy outside, tender inside. Yummy and so, so easy.