New Favorites

Favorite Recipes That Make It Back To The Table Again and Again

I've saved more recipes than I'll ever be able to cook.  They keep calling my name, and finally a few make it to the table.  Then we either give it a thumbs up, or a thumbs down.

I probably save five or six recipes a week. That means I have hundreds in my files.  When Martha Stewart's daily TV show goes off the air later this year, that number will decrease.  She frequently has guest chefs from the best restaurants in the world.  It's hard to pass up trying something they're giving you straight from their menu.  You can count on these recipes, because no chef would dare mess with Martha.  I've heard her call people out more than once on ingredients or technique.  If it's extremely involved, I just watch and enjoy the talent.  Some things are best enjoyed when someone else is preparing it--or maybe several other people.  But many of the recipes are remarkably simple and rely on good technique and quality ingredients.  They're the ones I like.  Upcoming new favorite from Martha:  Passionfruit Cheesecake Tart--it's a thumbs up for sure!

But everything I do isn't inspired by Martha.  My latest 'favorite' was inspired by a pork roast at the grocery story.  It was gorgeous and it led to a wonderful meal.

Stuffed Pork Loin Rib Roast with Port Sauce

(This recipe was adapted from Epicurious and was originally featured in Gourmet Magazine in 2008.)

Stuffing:

8 oz. mixed dried fruit, roughly chopped

2/3 cup ruby Port (you can buy it at the grocery store in the wine section)

1 tart apple, peeled, cored and cubed

1 medium sweet onion, diced

2 shallots, diced

three-fourths stick butter

One-half tsp. Salt and pepper

Mix dried fruit and port in small saucepan. Simmer, covered for five minutes. Then remove from heat and let it stand for another 10 minutes.

Meanwhile add butter to skillet with onion and shallots, apple, salt and pepper over medium heat. Cook about five minutes, until onions and apple are softened. Add dried fruit and port. Stir to combine. Then remove from heat and cool.

Roast:

One 5-6 lb. Rib-in pork loin roast

8-10 slices of bacon

1 ½ tsp. Salt

½ tsp. Pepper

Preheat oven to 500°.

With a long, narrow-bladed knife, make a cut all the way through the center of the roast. Turn the knife 90° and make another cut forming a pocket through the center of the roast. Use the handle of a wooden spoon and push 1 cup of cooled stuffing into the pocket in the roast. Reserve the remaining stuffing to make a sauce.

Rub the roast with the salt and pepper, then wrap the bacon slices around the roast, between each rib, ribs pointing up, and secure bacon ends under the bottom. If roast won't stand like this, use some heavy foil crunched up to hold it in place.

Place roast in oven for twenty minutes, then reduce temperature to 325° and cook until thermometer inserted into center of meat (not touching bone or stuffing) registers 155°. This should take about l ¼ to 1 ½ hours. Remove roast from pan to cutting board and let it rest tented with foil while you make the sauce.

Sauce:

½ cup ruby Port

1 ½ cups water

1 T cornstarch

Discard all but about 1 ½ tablespoons drippings from roasting pan. Add port to pan and place over medium heat. When heated, stir vigorously to get browned bits from bottom of pan. Add cornstarch to the water, and stir to mix, then add mixture slowly to heated port. Finally, add fruit mixture that was set aside. Cook, stirring, until heated through and thickened. Serve as sauce.

HAM: An Obsession with the Hindquarter

Featured on Warren Bobrow's Wild Table in the Wild River Review

I'm drawn to books like some women are drawn to shoes. Even with the internet, and all the information I have at my fingertips, I still love my hardcopy books. Just think how much money women could save if they were satisfied looking at shoes online rather than stockpiling them in their closets.

You won't be surprised to know that food related books take up most of the room on my shelves. I play a game with myself when book shopping: Which Book Grabs My Attention First, and Why? Sometimes it's the color or shape, or the font on the spine. Next I peruse titles. Finally, I get a book in hand and thumb through. I love food pictures and since I've started trying to take a few myself, I realize just how hard it is to make some foods look as good as they taste. I save the best 'til last: the recipes. If one recipe catches my eye, makes me want to taste, prepare, serve it—the book is probably going home with me. Often, just one good recipe will seal the deal—and it's worth it if the recipe turns out to be all that I expected.

I have a book in hand right now that has far exceeded all my expectations! It's spring, and I'm thinking about the Easter dinner we share in our family. When we have large gatherings, I begin thinking 'large' food, which leads me to HAM, especially fresh ham for spring. And here we have the perfect book: HAM: An Obsession with the Hindquarter by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough.

The very first recipe, Roasted Fresh Ham with a Maple-Spice Glaze sounds perfect, but wait, there's Moroccan-Style Roasted Fresh Ham, Tuscan Roasted Fresh Ham, Oven-Barbecued Fresh Ham. And that's just naming a few of the recipes in the first section. This luscious volume covers four types of ham: Fresh Ham, including recipes for a Ham Tagine and Steamed Ham Buns; Dry-Cured Ham in the Old World, with recipes for Chilled Honeydew Soup with Frizzled Ham and Prosciutto-Wrapped Meatloaf in a Vinegary Tomato Sauce, as well as a menu for a European ham party; Dry-Cured Ham in the New World, offering Jerk-Style Country Ham and Pineapple Tamales and a Glazed and Roasted Country Ham; and Wet-Cured Ham, featuring an Iberian-Inspired Frittata and an over-the top Mac and Ham and Cheese. The recipes cover the globe and range from cooking an entire ham, to appetizers using bits, pieces, or slices. They're all quite doable and very enticing.

Bruce, a “New Yorker from Torah scribes and Kosher butchers”, and Mark, a “Southerner from sharecroppers and Civil War soldiers”, are a most unlikely pair to be writing about ham, but they cover the subject thoroughly with tempting recipes for all cooks. Trust me, if there's anything you want to know about preparing the hindquarter of a pig, you can find it in this very humorous, well written and informative book.

Here are two of my favorite recipes from Ham: An Obsession with the Hindquarter, the afore mentioned Roasted Fresh Ham with a Maple-Spice Glaze, and a show-stopping Jambon Persillé (terrine). Hope you enjoy!

Hindquarter being sliced and served at 'Gustos in Rome. They don't fool around!

Roasted Fresh Ham

with a Maple-Spice Glaze

feeds 6 teenage boys, 16 adults, or 26 twentysomething models

One 8- to 10-pound bone-in fresh

ham, preferably from the shank

end, any rind removed

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup maple syrup

1. Put the Dickensian joint in a large roasting pan, preferably one that’s

shiny enough to reflect lots of ambient heat and not so flimsy that it tips

willy-nilly when you pick it up. Set the oven rack as high as it can go and

still afford the ham at least 2 inches of head space. Leave the roast in its

pan out on the counter and fire the oven up to 325 F.

2. Mix the sugar, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, nutmeg, and salt in a small

bowl. Wash and dry your hands, then smooth the spice mixture all over

the ham’s external surface. Work it down into some of the crevices, but

be careful to avoid any deep-tissue massage. A ham is a complex structure

of muscle groups—too much massage and they can come apart like

Goldie Hawn in Death Becomes Her.

3. Cover the whole kit and caboodle with aluminum foil, shove it in the

oven, and leave it alone for 31/2 hours, while you go do whatever it is you

do when a big, sweating hunk of meat is roasting in your oven.

4. Peel off the aluminum foil. Baste the ham with about half the maple

syrup, preferably using a basting brush. Take it easy so you don’t knock

off the spice coating. Use small strokes—think Impressionism, not

Abstract Expressionism. (Or just dribble the syrup off a spoon.)

5. Continue roasting the ham, uncovered this time, basting every 15

minutes or so with more maple syrup as well as any pan drippings, until

an instant-read meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the

meat without touching bone registers 170 F, about 11/4 hours. If it starts

to singe or turn too dark, tent it loosely with foil, uncovering it just at the

last to get it back to crunchy-crisp.

Jambon Persillé

from Ham: An Obsession with the Hindquarter by Weinstein and Scarbrough

Traditional preparations often include garlic with the parsley. However, we feel its spike can be excessive, so we've used only a little bit as well as some shallots here, a softer hint with the ham and parsley. Be sure to mince that garlic into very fine bits so no one takes an unexpected hit.

4 cups reduced-sodium, fat-free chicken broth, plus a little more if necessary

4 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces

2 medium celery stalks, cut into 2-inch pieces

1 medium yellow onion, peeled and quartered

2 teaspoons stemmed thyme leaves or 1 teaspoon dried thyme

8 whole cloves

2 bay leaves

3 teaspoons unflavored gelatin (about one and a half l/4 oz. Packets)

2 T water

1 ½ cups packed parsley leaves, minced

3 medium shallots, minced

1 medium garlic clove, minced

1 ½ pounds not-smoked, wet-cured ham, such as jambon de Paris, diced

1. Bring the broth, carrots, celery, onion, thyme, cloves, and bay leaves to a boil in a medium saucepan set over high heat. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and cook very slowly for 35 minutes.

2. Uncover and continue cooking over a very low temperature for 10 minutes.

3. While the broth cooks, sprinkle the gelatin over the water in a small bowl and set aside to soften for 5 minutes.

4. Remove the saucepan from the heat, cool for a few minutes, and then strain the broth into a medium bowl, discarding all those solids. You should end up with 3 cups of liquid. If not, add a little more broth, just until you have the right amount.

5. Stir the softened gelatin and any residual water into the broth until the gelatin dissolves, then set aside to cool for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, mix the parsley, shallots, and garlic in a small bowl.

6. Make alternating layers of the ham pieces and the parsley mixture in a 6-cup loaf or paté pan.

7. Gently pour the broth mixture over the ham pieces. Refrigerate for at least 24 hours, until the gelatin has set up the broth—but cover after a couple hours, once the mixture is chilled. If there's extra gelatinized broth left over, save it back in the freezer, adding it in dribs and drabs for extra richness to your next pots of soup.

8. To unmold, fill a large bowl with warm (not hot) water. Run a thin knife around the inner perimeter of the terrine or pan, then very briefly dip the mold into the hot water, just so it comes about three-quarters of the way up the side. Don't dip longer than a few seconds or the gelatin will start to melt! Turn upside down onto a serving platter, unmold (shake free if necessary), and serve slices with grainy, spicy mustard on the side.

Daring Cooks Challenge: Pork Satay with Peanut Sauce

This month's Daring Cooks Challenge was a delicious recipe for satay, an Indonesian dish of marinated meat, threaded on skewers and either grilled or broiled, usually served with a peanut dipping sauce. We could choose the meat we wanted to use, as well as the sauce. I chose pork and the traditional Peanut Sauce. This was a great recipe, easy to execute, and while I would normally choose the grilling technique, the sub-freezing weather made the broiler seem much friendlier!

Depending on the ingredients you select,
Time Table

• 	Prep	Marinate	Cook
  Pork	30 min.	4 – 24 hrs	20 min.
  Beef/Lamb	30 min.	6 – 24 hrs	20 min.
  Chicken	30 min.	2 – 12 hrs	10 – 15 min.
  Vegetables	5 - 10 min.	2 hrs	5 - 10 min.
  Tofu	5 - 10 min.	2 hrs	5 - 10 min.

Pork Satay with Peanut Sauce

Satay Marinade


1/2 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 T ginger root, chopped (optional) (2 cm cubed)
2 T lemon juice (1 oz or 30 mls)
1 T soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp ground coriander (5 mls)
1 tsp ground cumin (5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground turmeric (2-2.5 mls)
2 T vegetable oil (or peanut or olive oil) (30 mls)
1 pound of pork (loin or shoulder cuts) (16 oz or 450g)

Feeling the need to make it more Thai? Try adding a dragon chili, an extra tablespoon of ginger root, and 1 tablespoon (0.5 oz or 15 mls) of fish sauce. (I keep some premature (still green) dragon chili peppers in the freezer for just such an occasion.)

Directions:
1a. Cheater alert: If you have a food processor or blender, dump in everything except the pork and blend until smooth. Lacking a food processor, I prefer to chop my onions, garlic and ginger really fine then mix it all together in a medium to large bowl.
2a. Cut pork into 1 inch strips.
3a. Cover pork with marinade. You can place the pork into a bowl, cover/seal and chill, or place the whole lot of it into a ziplock bag, seal and chill.




Chill Chart

Pork	Beef/Lamb	Chicken	Vegetables	Tofu (no oil)
4-8 hrs Up to 24 hrs	6-8 hrs Up to 24 hrs	1-4 hours Up to 12 hrs	20 min – 2 hrs Up to 4 hrs	20 min – 4 hrs Up to 12 hrs

Faster (cheaper!) marinade:


2 T vegetable oil (or peanut or olive oil) (1 oz or 30 mls)
2 T lemon juice (1 oz or 30 mls)
1 T soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp ginger powder (5 mls)
1 tsp garlic powder (5 mls)
1 tsp cayenne pepper (5 mls)

Directions:
1b. Mix well.
2b. Cut pork into 1 inch thick strips (2-2.5 cm thick), any length.
3b. Cover pork with marinade. You can place the pork into a bowl, cover/seal and chill, or place the whole lot of it into a ziplock bag, seal and chill.

Cooking Directions (continued):

4. If using wooden or bamboo skewers, soak your skewers in warm water for at least 20 minutes before preparing skewers.
5. Gently and slowly slide meat strips onto skewers. Discard leftover marinade.*
6. Broil or grill at 290°C/550° F (or pan fry on medium-high) for 8-10 minutes or until the edges just start to char. Flip and cook another 8-10 minutes.

* If you’re grilling or broiling, you could definitely brush once with extra marinade when you flip the skewers.




Peanut Sauce

3/4 cup coconut milk (6 oz or 180 mls)
4 Tbsp peanut butter (2 oz or 60 mls)
1 Tbsp lemon juice (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 Tbsp soy sauce (0.5 oz or 15 mls)
1 tsp brown sugar (5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground cumin (2.5 mls)
1/2 tsp ground coriander (2.5 mls)
1-2 dried red chilies, chopped (keep the seeds for heat)


1. Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl. Add soy sauce and lemon, mix well.
2. Over low heat, combine coconut milk, peanut butter and your soy-lemon-seasoning mix. Mix well, stir often.
3. All you’re doing is melting the peanut butter, so make your peanut sauce after you’ve made everything else in your meal, or make ahead of time and reheat.

Post-Turkey Pork Chops

Turkey-time is OVER, at least for a few weeks, and we're moving on. Even the great day of left-overs has passed, turkey sandwiches consumed, and my refrigerator looks pretty much back to normal, except for one tupperware bowl of cranberry salad.

Speaking of the cranberry salad, Mama has been making this delicious side for years and years. She arrived with said salad in tow. We consumed, enjoyed, raved, ate more, even added a little on the side of our dessert plate. And then Mama broke the news--this was a prepared salad from a restaurant in Galax. The only differences in the 'store bought' one and hers are walnuts instead of pecans, and Mama adds chopped navel oranges. This is a good product. Far be it from me to complain just because we didn't make it. It's called Cranberry Nut Gelatin by Orval Kent Foods. That's my holiday tip.

So, it's the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and we are moving on--to pork--pork chops to be exact. Can't wait for dinner tonight.

Happy Shopping!

Seasoned Pork Chops with Maple Apples and Onions

4 bone-in pork chops, medium thickness

House Autry Chicken Breading, or regular flour seasoned with salt and pepper

2 T extra virgin olive oil

2 medium apples, cored, and thinly sliced

1 medium sweet onion, thinly sliced

One-third cup golden raisins

1 T fresh Thyme leaves

One-fourth cup white wine

One-fourth cup maple syrup

Preheat oven to 350°.

Grease a casserole dish that's big enough to hold your pork chops with a little olive oil.

Add remaining olive oil to a skillet large enough for your pork chops. Place over medium heat.

Flour both sides of pork chops, and add to skillet. Brown on both sides (about 4 minutes on each side), and place chops in casserole.

Add apples, onions, raisins and thyme to pan. Saute until onions are soft and apples are beginning to brown. Add wine, and cook for three or four minutes, until most wine is evaporated. Add syrup, toss to mix, and then top pork chops with apple mixture. Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes.
We'll be serving them with Smokey Cheese Grits (no recipe necessary--just prepare grits as usual, add butter, cheese, worcestershire sauce, a dash of tabasco and some sweet smoked paprika), and a green salad.

It's a quick, easy meal, and very satisfying after a long day of shopping or decorating!