I have to credit this recipe to my dad. He loves southern food and found this recipe the other day and said I should make it. I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out but let me say I was very happy with the finished product. If you use the jalapeno peppers instead of the bell peppers this rice brings the heat. This rice is a great way to dress up a common side dish. Enjoy
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.
This past weekend my sister graduated from Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA.On Saturday night my family and I went to the Boiling Springs Tavern for Dinner. Located about 10 minutes away from Carlisle Boiling Springs gets its name from the natural artesian wells that are located near the town. The largest of these springs is located right behind the Boiling Springs Tavern and is nicknamed the bubble.
The food at the Boiling Springs Tavern is very good and the service is even better. They focus on serving local fare and along with their daily menu rotate in daily specials. To start we ordered the seared tuna, smoked trout and salmon, baked oysters, and buffalo calamari. For being in the middle of Pennsylvania I was very impressed with how good the seared tuna turned out. The sliced it very thin and served it almost like sashimi with a pickled coleslaw. The smoked salmon and trout paired well with each other and were served with bread and various spreads and toppings. The baked oysters were topped with a small slice of smoked salmon and a dill cream. The baked oysters change daily but if the are as good as the ones we were served I would recommend ordering them.
After the appetizers we were served our soups or salads. The seafood bisque is absolutely delicious and I recommend ordering it. It is on the lighter side and will not fill you up like a chowder tends to do, which will allow you to enjoy your entrees.
I ordered the Stuffed Rainbow Trout special. It was a pan cooked rainbow trout stuffed with crab imperial. Everything was cooked to perfection and it tasted great. If I ever saw this on the menu again I would order it in a heart beat.
My sister ordered an Asian inspired pork tenderloin. I did not get a chance to taste it but the presentation was impressive.
If you every find yourself in the Carlisle area I recommend stopping by the Boiling Springs Tavern for lunch or Dinner.
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.
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:
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