Ummm… pork with mashed sweet potatoes and stuffing waffle… yeah.

 

So… stick with me here…. there’s a lot going on.

Pork:

Ingredients
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt
1 1/4 pounds pork tenderloin
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic

Preheat oven to 450.

Mix the top 6 ingredients together.

Rub down the pork on all sides with the spice rub.

Drizzle your oil into a pan and add your garlic. Then, brown your pork on all sides… it takes about 5-8 minutes per side.

After it’s browned, toss it in the oven for about 20 minutes… or until it’s done.

 

Sweet Potatoes:

Preheat the oven to 400

Grab some sweet potatoes.

Peel them and chop them into cubes…

Roast in the oven until soft…check with a fork.

Mash them up, add some butter, maybe some brown sugar or cinnamon.. whatever floats your boat.

 

Apples:

Cut up some apples into slices.

Toss them in a pan with a splash of white vinegar , coat them with honey, two shakes of cinnamon, shake of cloves, shake of nutmeg….. if they’re not sweet enough, add some brown sugar… add a handful of raisins and cook until everything is happy and at the correct level of done-ness.

 

Finally… the stuffing waffle.

So… grab a box of your favorite stuffing. Make it according to the recipe on the box… usually water, butter/oil/margarine….

The instructions on my box of stuffing said to boil water and margarine… add stuffing, remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes.

I did the first couple of steps, but pulled the stuffing out when it hit 3 minutes and spooned it into the waffle maker… Stack it high in the waffle maker, as it won’t expand like waffle batter, so you’ve got to make up for that with initial height….

Let it cook in the waffle machine for 5-7 minutes… you might have to flip your waffle maker over to make it easier to remove the stuffing waffle in one piece.

 

And there you go… that’s everything…

And the verdict is….. Awesome… it’s not the most photographic thing.. it’s kinda monochromatic.. it could have used something green… or maybe red… some cranberry sauce would have done it…

But… now that I have the stuffing waffle in the arsenal… I’m planning on a Thanksgiving waffle.. with some cut turkey breast on top with maybe some cranberry syrup, or just good ol gravy….

Carrot Cake

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
4 extra large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup canola oil
1/2 cup buttermilk
2/3 cups firmly packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup crushed pineapple, drained
1 pound finely grated carrots
1 cup toasted chopped pecans
1 cup golden raisins
1 batch Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

The traditional method is to prepare two 9-inch cake pans by lightly coating with baking spray. However... pour the batter into whatever you want. I made two trays of cupcakes, a loaf pan, and a 4" round Pyrex.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, salt and nutmeg together in a bowl.  Set aside.

Mix the eggs, sugar, oil, buttermilk, brown sugar, vanilla, and pineapple together in a large bowl.   Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until fully incorporated.   Stir in the carrots, pecans and raisins just until evenly distributed throughout the batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake on the center rack for about 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. Obviously, if you're making cupcakes, or loaf pans, or whatever, cooking times will vary.

Cool cakes in their pans for at least 30 minutes before attempting to remove them.  Then, removed from the pans and peel off the parchment paper.  Continue to cool the cakes completely before frosting.

To assemble the cake, place the bottom layer on a cardboard round or other flat surface and put on a cake turntable. Scoop about 1 1/2 cups of the cream cheese icing onto the top of the bottom cake layer.  Using an offset spatula, spread the frosting evenly over the surface.  Carefully place the second layer on top.  Scoop another 1 1/2 cups or so of the frosting on the top of the cake and spread evenly, easing the frosting down the sides.  Spread the icing around the sides of the cake, adding more as needed.  Lift the cake off the turn table and place on a cake stand or platter and chill a bit to firm up the frosting before slicing.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

16 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon orange extract
3-4 cups confectioners’ sugar to taste

Directions:

Beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth.  Add extracts and beat just until incorporated.  Beat in sugar, one cup at a time, until frosting has the flavor and consistency you want.  You may not need to add all of the sugar.

 

 

 

Here's my take... the cake was good. I didn't really stick to the measurements exactly.... I dumped some raisins in... and ran some carrots through the food processor until it looked like a good amount... and dumped out what appeared to be a cup of nuts from a 2-1/2 cup bag...  So.... it was very fruity and awesome... but kind of like a fruitcake. But, texture was good, it was moist and wonderful, with just the right amount of chewy crust.

 

The icing... could have done with about half of the orange extract.... It was very orange-y.  Also... this makes a ton of icing... so... I don't know what else we're going to put it on, but I'm sure we'll find something.

White Turkey Chili

This afternoon, for some reason, Virginia decided to make up some white chili.

Ingredients :

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 2 stalks celery, diced (about 1/2 cup)
• 3 medium poblano peppers (about 4 ounces each), seeded and white ribs removed, finely diced (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, more to taste
• 1 pound ground white meat turkey
• 2 (15.5-ounce) cans white beans such as cannelini, preferably low-sodium, drained and rinsed
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 (15.5-ounce) can hominy, drained and rinsed
• Salt
• 1/4 cup nonfat plain Greek-style yogurt
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• Lime wedges

 

Directions :

Heat the oil in large pot or Dutch oven over moderate heat. Add the onion, celery, poblanos, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are soft, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic, cumin, coriander and cayenne and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Add the ground turkey and cook, breaking up the meat with a spoon, until the meat is no longer pink about 2 minutes. Add the white beans, broth and oregano. Cook, partially covered, stirring occasionally, for 25 minutes.

Add the hominy and salt and more cayenne pepper, to taste, and continue cooking, partially covered, 10 minutes longer. Ladle into individual bowls and top each serving with 1 tablespoon of yogurt and 1 1/2 teaspoons of cilantro. Garnish with a lime wedge.

 

Notes:

Well, Virginia isn't typing this.... so.. you get my thoughts.

It was tasty enough, but a little bland. Also, for me, ground turkey always has a weird texture. Not that happy, wonderful texture of good ol beef. It could use a shot of hot sauce for me... or maybe something like green onions... something a little crunchy... or maybe just crackers.

Jerk Catfish and Spicy Coleslaw.

So, we're going to change things up a little bit here. Normally, every blog post is a lot of prep shots, and the method is spread around throughout all of that business.

Well, today, Virginia and I found a cooking "channel" on our Roku player and decided to watch that for a little bit. A few minutes later, we're watching a video of a woman in her late 50's - early 60's in a bikini. She's in her kitchen, explaining how to make frozen grapes. ***Spoiler alert *** You take some grapes, and freeze them... But for some reason, this video was 15 minutes long. This Social Security beneficiary in the bikini is telling us about why frozen grapes are great, how she like to take them out to friends at the pool, exercises she does at the pool, how she likes "black" grape more than green ones... and meanwhile, I'm sitting here, with my jaw dropped, wondering why anyone would tell me this much about grapes, when the method really is "take grapes off of the stem; put in freezer".

With that in mind, we'll have a little witty banter every once in a while, but I think the last thing you need is another picture of slicing garlic, or cooking bacon. So, the new format will be more focused, easier to follow, and I'll be assuming that you've been in a kitchen before.

Without further ado, Jerk Catfish and Spicy Coleslaw.

Coleslaw (make at least a couple hours in advance)

• 3 cups cabbage-and-carrot coleslaw mix
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 3 tablespoons canola mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped habanero or serrano pepper

 Mix all of the above together. Put it in the fridge.

 

Jerk Seasoning:

• 2 TBSP dried minced onion
• 2-1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 2 tsp allspice
• 2 tsp black pepper 
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt

Mix all of the above together, set aside for now.

 

Catfish:

You need 1 catfish filet for each person you want to feed. 

 

Put a pan on medium heat, put a little olive oil in the pan.

Drag the catfish through some of the jerk seasoning.

Cook for 3-ish minutes per side, or until done.

 Serve with coleslaw.

       

 

 And boom goes the dynamite.

 

Here's the verdict. It's tasty. But, it's also got a damn fine kick to it. If you're not one for the spicy food, cut the cayenne pepper  in half.. or swap out the habanero in the slaw for a serrano, or a jalapeno, or scotch bonnet, or whatever your level of spiciness can handle.

 

Virginia thought that a green apple would have gone well in the coleslaw as well. 

 

I was a big fan of it as is, but I was honestly surprised that Virginia plowed through it like she did.

 

As a side note, I made a double batch of the coleslaw. It was tasty on the fish, but later this week, the plan is: Spicy Coleslaw, 1/3 pound burger, white cheddar, toasted kaiser roll, maybe a splash of BBQ sauce.... I think the slaw will be just amazing on a burger.   

If you eat this, you WILL die.

Well, they can't all be winners right?

There is no doubt in my mind that if you make this exactly as the recipe tells you to, you will in fact die. No doubt at all.

I'm a fan of collard greens, but I never made them before. So, I figured who would know better than Paula Deen?

Ingredients:

• 1/2 LB smoked meat (Ham hocks, smoked turkey wings, or smoked neck bones)
• 1 TBSP "House seasoning" - (Recipe Follows)
• 1 TBSP Seasoned Salt
• 1 TBSP hot pepper sauce
• 1 Large bunch collard greens
• 1 TBSP Butter

Stupid "House Seasoning":

• 4 Parts Salt
• 1 Part Black pepper
• 1 Part Garlic Powder

So.... I went and got some country ham hocks. For all I know, this may have been the issue. Is there a difference in regular ham hocks and country ham hocks? I know country ham is salty as hell... So... maybe this is where I messed up... if so, let me know, because I really wanted this to work.

I chopped them up into about quarters.

Now, get a pot, add 3 quarts of water, "house seasoning" seasoned salt and hot sauce. I didn't have seasoned salt, so I used some Tony's Creole seasoning. ... So... reduced the salt content a little bit, compared to the recipe.

So, here's the water/spices. Toss the meat in there, bring it to a boil, and then turn it down to medium and let it go for an hour.

Wash the collards and cut them into small-ish pieces. Remove the big veins/stalks.

After the stuff on the stove has gone for an hour, add your greenery and let it go for another hour. Uncovered.

You can see how much of the fluid disappears... granted, you've basically boiled it for two hours... so... that's not too surprising.

Pull out the bones and the fat, and get rid of that stuff.

So.... here's the deal. Like I said, I might have messed up with the country ham hocks.... But, this was saltier than a mouthful of salt. I'm completely serious. This stuff should be packaged up and sold as WMD's in slug world.

So, I put it in a strainer and ran water over it... for about 10 minutes. There was a brownish muddy-ish water running out of the strainer as I shook it around. Once the water ran clear, I'd shake it around, and it'd get all muddy again. So... after about 10 minutes... it was edible... still on the salty side... but edible.

So... that's what happened here. Like I said, I'm absolutely sure that if you were to have a serving right out of the pot, you would die. Maybe stroke, maybe heart attack. Maybe intense dehydration. In any case... it'd be painful and awful.

Slow Cooker Beef Sammiches.

This one is quick and easy. Not a ton of ingredients.... so not time consuming.

Ingredients:

• 3 pounds Chuck Roast, Boneless
• 1 Large onion, sliced,
• 1/2 Distilled White Vinegar
• 1 Pack Hidden Valley Ranch Dry Mix
• 2 Cloves Garlic
• 1 TBSP Water
• Bread
• Cheese
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Get your crock-pot preheated on low heat. Peel and slice onions. Liberally apply salt and pepper on both sides of the meat. Mince your garlic.

Put the sliced onions in the bottom of the crockpot. They'll kind of act as a set of stilts for your beef at first, so it's not down in the juices immediately.

Put your beef on top of the onions. Mix your vinegar, water, ranch mix, and garlic together and pour into the crockpot.

Let this do its thing for about 7-8 hours. To check and make sure it's ready, jam a fork in it. The meat should fall apart.

Once it's ready, pull out the beef and shred it up like pulled pork.

Set the oven to 350, toss some nice crusty bread in there, and let the inside of the bread toast up a little bit.

Put the beef on your bread, top with whatever you like.

I tossed on some of the onions from the pot, some banana peppers and a slice of mozzarella cheese.

This is easy... not quick, but easy.

Here's the thing... Pork > Beef. .... It's just the way it is.

Not that this is bad... because with a shot of Chipotle BBQ Sauce, it's pretty tasty... But given the choice between pulled beef, and pulled pork, I'm going for the pork. It's cheaper, it's oinkier, and it's generally juicier... But, that's my opinion. If beef is how you like to get down, this might be the ticket for you. If so, remember where you heard about it.

Oink Tacos.

So, the recipe that this generally came from was called "Tinga Poblana Tacos" which, as far as I can tell, translates to: "Spanish sounding name that has no real meaning Tacos"...

So, we're going to call them oink tacos. Cause that about says it all.

Here's the deal. Tacos = awesome. Pork = Awesome. Tacos + Pork = Awesome^2.

So, we occasionally like to make some pulled pork in the crock-pot. It's always wonderfully tasty, but when you have two people and you've just made 13 pounds of pulled pork, you're going to get tired of it before you eat it all. You'll use a few different sauces and that'll get you through a week or so, then maybe fry an egg and put that on top for an awesome sandwich... You've managed to get it down to the last 3-4 pounds, but the thought of cramming more pulled pork in your mouth is about as appealing as Larry King in a bikini.

So, this is something completely different. I'll go through how we made it, then a quick explanation on how to do it without leftover pulled pork.

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs Pork Roast (or leftover pulled pork)
• 6oz Chorizo (about 3 if in sausage form, skins removed)
• 1 15oz can Petite diced tomatoes
• 1/2 Cup Chicken Stock
• 1 Large onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 chipotles in Adobo, Chopped
• 3 Bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 Teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• tortillas
• toppings : avocados, sour cream, salsa, cheese, etc.

For using leftovers -

Step 1: More pork

 So, if you buy your chorizo in sausage form, 6oz is about 3 of them. Grab a sharp knife, slit them down the side, and the sausage casing will peel right off. Toss it in a 2qt saucepan and smack it around for a while until it's nicely browned.

It'll be somewhat difficult to tell when it's cooked, as chorizo tends to be bright red.

Once it's browned, drain off any excess fat and add your onions....

Give it a quick stir, and add your can of tomatoes.

Give it another stir, and let your onions sweat for a little bit.

While that's happening, open up that crazy little can of Chipotles in Adobo, pull out a few, and dice them up. The last time I used these things, they were pretty spicy, so as I diced them up, I pulled the seeds out of 2.

Toss these in the pot, and then your chicken broth.

and then, all of your spices....

Give it a stir, and let it cook for a while on about medium heat.

Once about half of the liquid has cooked off, grab your leftover (un-sauced) shredded pork, and dump it in.

Mix your pork into the pot, reduce the heat to a simmer, and let it go for about another half hour.

Now, grab your tortillas and whatnot, put some pork, some.... whatever else you want... and chow down!

These puppies were tasty, and it totally revived the pulled pork that I had gotten sick of. It's got just a little spiciness, but that's completely adjustable depending on how hot you like it, with the peppers, or you could add a dash of hot sauce.


Now... if, for some reason, you don't have pulled pork at the ready, you'll have to change the recipe a little bit... here's how that'll go....

1. Cook chorizo.
2. Put everything on the ingredient list except the last two items in a crockpot (including the browned chorizo)
3. Come back in 8 hours.
4. Pull the pork, add back to crockpot.
5. Wait 30 minutes
6. Chow down.


Either way, you can't go wrong.... It's a pretty awesome recipe.

Pork Tenderloin with Pears and Shallots

It's been a while since I've tried anything really outside of my normal realm of cooking. I've been sticking with the safe, comfort food type stuff lately.

Tonight, I decided to take something I know how to cook pretty well, pork tenderloin, and do it in a different way.When I first saw this recipe, I was intrigued, as it involved a few things that I wasn't really good at... like making a gravy-like sauce. Also, typically when you're making something with a bunch of thyme, it's usually chicken. So, using it with pork sounded awesome.

So, here's what you'll need:

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme plus fresh thyme sprigs for garnish
• 1 1-1/4-pound pork tenderloin
• 3 large shallots, each cut into 6 wedges through stem end, peeled
• 3 unpeeled small Bosc or Anjou pears, quartered, cored
• 4 teaspoons butter, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups low-salt chicken broth
• 3/4 cup pear nectar 

 One of the things that takes the most time is getting the thyme ready. You want to remove the leaves from the stems for the most part, but you also want to leave a few pieces in tact for cooking the pork in the oven, and a few end springs for garnish.

  Basically, this is what you're going for... Top left: stems; top right: longer, in-tact sprigs for oven; bottom right: end sprigs for garnish; bottom left: leaves only.

Once you have that done, preheat your oven to 475. Then, prep everything else.

Mix your thyme leaves with your minced garlic, add 3 TBSP of olive oil and set aside.

 

Now, prep your shallots and pears.

Shallots get cut into either quarters or into 6 wedges, lengthwise.

 

Pears get about the same treatment.

I used a mix of pears just for a bit of variation. Note: This time of year, all of the pears you find will be shitty.

Now, take your oil/garlic/thyme mix, coat the pork with some, coat the pears, and coat the shallots.

 

For the pears and shallots, it's hard to beat the old shake and bake method... toss them in a bag, toss in some of the oil/garlic/thyme, and shake it like a rusty paint mixer.

Now, it's about time to actually start cooking. Once you start, you have to pretty much keep continuous motion, so make sure that the ingredients you'll need soon are close-by.

First up, get a large-ish non-stick pan going on about medium heat.

Dump in your shallots on one side, and your pork on the other.

You're looking to brown your pork on all sides, and you want to get your shallots a bit browned as well... 

Above is the first flip. Toss the shallots around, and while those things are getting browned, go ahead and get everything else ready.

A note on the pear nectar... you can find the stuff in big bottles in your fancier grocery stores, and they'll probably want about $9.00 for a quart of it.... Or, you can hit the Mexican section of your favorite supermarket and find pear nectar in a can for about $1.00. Since you only need 3/4 of a cup, one 12oz can is good for two batches. After measuring out my pear nectar, I added the cup and a half of chicken stock on top. (For those keeping track, 3/4 Cup + 1-1/2 Cups = 2-1/4 cups.)

So, after your pork is browned on all sides, and the shallots are browned up nicely, pull those out of the pan and put them in a oven safe dish.

Wrap your longer springs of thyme around the pork before you toss it into the oven. Set the timer for 10-15 minutes depending on how think your tenderloin is. Mine took right about 12 minutes tonight.

Meanwhile, with that removed from the pan on the stovetop, toss your pears in.

You're just looking to get a little char / brown these up a little bit. The heat will sweeten them up, and soften them up a little bit, so if it's the end of February, and your local produce is awful... this will help a bit.

 Once your pears are nicely browned, pull them out of the pan (they may be a little hard to get out, as they softened up).

 

Now, you have a bunch of awesomeness left in the pan.

 

We've still got the pan on medium heat.... Pour in your chicken stock/pear nectar.

All of that steaming and whatnot is the look of awesome. You're deglazing all of that business from the pan, and it will become a magical part of your sauce that you're about to start working on.

After you've got all of the chicken stock / pear nectar in and heated up a bit, add your butter and flour. This is where things get fun. You're basically making a roux, so you're going to spend the next 10-15 minutes whisking and trying to get out the tiny pockets of un-incorporated flour mixed in. So, have fun with that. 

About the time that you get the last pockets of flour mixed in, your timer will go off for the pork. Pull it out of the oven and let it sit for 5-10 minutes.

 

If your sauce is thick, and your meat is resting...  pour yourself a drink. You deserve it....

After resting, cut the pork into 3/4" thick medallions, and plate with the pears and shallots. Put gravy over everything, or just over the pork, or whatever floats your boat. garnish with the remaining sprigs of thyme, and chow down.

This was surprisingly awesome. The pork was tender and juicy, the pears were sweet, but almost starch-like.... They took place of ... say.... potatoes. The shallots were amazing as well, with a bit of char from the pan, and a bit of sweetness. The only downside of the meal is that it's a bit monochromatic. We had ours with some kale and golden raisins, so that provided a bit of contrast, but maintained the sweet fruit theme.

My .02: Make it. It's not the most traditional meal, but it's surprisingly light on the palate, while still being filling. Plus, it's pretty impressive on a plate. If you're having guests over for dinner, you're pretty much guaranteed to deliver something that they don't eat once a week at home, and something that the local restaurants aren't making.