I found some pork chops in the freezer the other day and threw together a marinade then cooked them on the grill. For a last minute meal it turned out very well. I was only able to marinate the pork for 30-45 minutes but ideally you want these to sit for ~8 hours. Enjoy!
I am a huge Chipotle fan, so last weekend I attempted to make one of their burrito bowls from scratch. I looked up a few Carnitas recipes and worked out a recipe of my own that combined a few spices and decided the best way to cook it would be to use a crock pot. The recipe is very easy to follow and the only thing you really need is time. It takes about 10 minutes to prep then 8-10 hours to cook. You can serve the carnitas with whatever you like. I sauteed some peppers and onions and made lime cilantro rice and refried beans (you can find the recipes below) Enjoy and please leave a comment if you make it and let me know how they turned out. Enjoy!
For the Superbowl last weekend I made these pork dumplings. They are quite easy to put together and make a good party dish. I had to mess around with the dipping sauce a bit because the first attempt came out too vinegary. This is a good dish to make if you are having a few people over, it’s even better if they want to pitch in and help put the dumplings together! Enjoy!
I decided to take a stab at some southern country style cooking earlier this week. We had breaded pork chops on Sunday and I decided to make a bacon gravy for them. In the end the gravy turned out pretty well. However while I was making it I was disappointed with how bland and plain it tasted. The slat and pepper helped but it just needed something else. I took a few spoonfuls out of the pan and experimented with a few additions. Mustard didn’t work well with the flavor of the gravy, Horseradish was too harsh, Finally I settled on chipotles in adobo sauce. The chipotles gave the gravy the subtle zing it needed. If you want you can use the gravy recipe as a base and substitute out the chipotles for whatever direction you want to take the gravy. I am also thinking about substituting the bacon with sausage the next time I make this to see how that works.
I just finished up the Dinner with Robert Irvine event and I must say it went pretty well. While there were a few technical difficulties in the show overall it was a great experience. During the program we cooked two dishes with Chef Irvine, sauteed shrimp with strawberry salsa and spinach polenta and pork tenderloin with a mustard pan sauce and a potato peach hash. Both dishes were delicious but the shrimp and polenta was the stand out dish of the evening. I had never thought to use strawberries over shrimp, the flavor combination worked so well.
The pork tenderloin and hash was also delicious. The use of peaches in the hash was a surprise but again, much like the strawberries, just worked. This whole experience has changed the way I think of fruit. Now I do not view fruit as dessert or something that stands on its own and I will be experimenting with new uses of fruit in main dishes and appetizers.
The only critiques of the event I had were he could have slowed down a bit, at times Irvine went into full chef mode and was pushing out parts of the dish quite quickly. Also it would have been helpful if we received a full ingredient list with some directions for prep, ie chopped, diced, etc. Also a heads up about preheating the oven would have been a big help too However overall for the first time doing a show like this I thought it went very well and I learned a few new techniques and will definitely be making the shrimp dish again in the near future.
I realized I have not cooked a pork dish in quite some time. When I was looking through a magazine I saw a picture of a black bean and chorizo ragu and thought it would pair very well with pork tenderloin. I looked up a few recipes and combined them to make up the this recipe.
It is best to marinate the pork for at least 4-6 hours but you can get away with 2 hours. Before putting the pork in the oven you will brown it on all sides in a pan.
By browning the pork it seals in moisture, shortens the amount of time it will spend in the oven, and preps the pan for cooking the ragu.
While the pork cooks in the oven you will cook the ragu in the pan that your browned the pork in. First you will cook the peppers and onions, until soft.
Then you will add in the chorizo and cook until finished.
Finally you will add the beans, chicken broth, and tomato paste and reduce liquid by half.
Finally you serve the ragu over the pork tenderloin. This recipe is quite simple and looks and tastes great. Follow the link below for the full recipe. Enjoy!
After experimenting with the duck dish earlier in the week I wanted to make something that used the duck fat I had saved. In the end I decided to make a Normandy style pan sauce to put over pork chops. This sauce is very rich and packs a lot of flavor. It would go well over chicken and lamb as well so feel free to mix it up.
A reminder to all the guys out there, tomorrow is Valentines Day. If you haven’t thought of anything to do for your Valentine yet how about cooking them dinner? The following recipes are easy to prepare but look and taste impressive. A few of these recipes I have posted on the blog before while others will get a full post in the future. Enjoy and I hope this helps with your Valentines Day plans.
Penne Pasta in Vodka Cream Sauce
Pan Seared Duck Breast in Honey Balsamic Pan Sauce
Steak Dinner: Show her you are the master of the grill and pick your favorite steak, or her’s. Season it with kosher salt and pepper and grill to your desired finish. Serve it with a baked potato, salad, or other vegetable. You can never go wrong with a well prepared steak dinner.
Honey Mustard Pork Tenderloin: I’ll give you the shortcut for this recipe, longer recipe will be a blog post later. Marinate the pork in honey mustard dressing overnight. Cook in oven at 350 degrees F for 20-24 min or until done. While pork is cooking take spinach, garlic, shallot, olive oil, lemon juice, and whole grain mustard put in pan and saute spinach until wilted. Serve pork with spinach and wild rice. This is a very simple recipe with great flavor.
Tonight I am posting my signature recipe. I have been making this dish for 4 years now and have tweaked it many times to get it to where it is now. The sauce is surprisingly healthy for a vodka cream sauce and only uses 1/2 cup of heavy cream. The addition of the crushed red pepper gives the sauce a subtle heat. You can modify the protein you want to use in this dish. I tend to make it with crab meat. If you use crab meat add it at the end right before you mix the sauce with the pasta. If you use an Italian ham like pancetta or prosciutto saute it with the onions in the beginning to get their flavor infused throughout the sauce. I highly recommend trying this dish. Like I said at the start of this entry this is my go to signature dish and is very special to me, I make it the night before I have a big race or other athletic event. I hope you enjoy it!
UPDATE: I added step by step pictures to go along with the recipe.
On Sunday I decided to experiment with some Spanish dishes. I was inspired to attempt these dishes by a dinner I had at Amada in Philadelphia. The highlight of the meal was the rosemary white beans, they had an great bacon flavor and turned out very well for a first attempt. The chick peas and spinach looked incredible and tasted just as good. The rub on the brined pork tenderloin had a great flavor and the brining process left the meat moist and delicious. You can find the recipes below:
Smartchefblog 