Channeling my inner Latina...

Hahaha...that's a laugh. I'm about as Latina as Tony Blair. Anyways. Mr. R requested that we make Cuban sandwiches, so that we did (with store bought mac salad on the side - v. fancy).


First, we fail to turn our picture around AND put mustard on some hoagie rolls


Then Swiss cheese


Then some grilled pork - well, only on his - I didn't really feel like pork.



Then ham (HAM!)


Then slices of dill pickle


Then onto the panini press


And served so daintily sliced with the mac salad


I really like these sandwiches - I know the mustard will horrify some (you know who you are) - plus the pickle and what not. But I think they are kind of tartly refreshing.

Satisfying lunch

Soft, yet not airy buns...Schmidt's bahama mama...sauerkraut....mustard....a v. tasty lunch.

Roasted pork

Mmm. Roasted pork. Super delicious. That's about all the intro I need, I think...

First, I made a marinade/rub for the pork - garlic, olive oil, rosemary, and poultry seasoning (I couldn't find any sage in the cupboard) No salt, at least, not yet.


I lightly scored the pork roast, then rubbed in the flavorful mixture and let it sit for several hours


Hello my friends. You will make me a delicious gravy. If you see this stuff, buy it up - it is v. hard to find. Chicken, beef, even ham stock are easy enough - but pork stock is gold.


I apparently failed to take anymore prep pictures - here is our lovely food tableau.

Mmm....


Daisy is sad that she's missing out (don't worry, she got a nibble later on)

The power of pork

We had pork for dinner last night. It wasn't mind blowing, but I think my method was flawed. Also, my photography skills are woefully lacking - apparently there was a gross smudge on the lens all evening, therefore, everything has a somewhat ethereal quality to it. Magic pork.

Tonight's pork featured an apricot coating that was gently sprinkled with bread crumbs. First off, make the apricot coating - Jam, coarse grained mustard, salt, pepper, and cayenne.

The mixture was brushed onto flattened boneless pork chops, then sprinkled with plain bread crumbs

Then, time for some frying. I had intended to pan fry them to crisp them up, then bake them off to finish.

After a quick turn in the skillet, then were put onto a cooling rack on a baking sheet and put in the oven for about 20 min at 350 degrees.

They tasted fine - pretty good actually - and the pork was very moist. Final photos were discarded due to the mysterious smudge. But the bottom sides of the chops got all mushy, despite being on the rack. Next time, I shall just have to fry them all the way, or else bake them all the way. Something to stop the mushiness.

Experimental dinner

I was looking for summery pork recipes and found one for grilled pork with a pineapple salsa. I didn't feel like splurging on tenderloin, so I just used regular thin cut chops and improvised from there.

Here we have our lovely cored and skinned fresh pineapple.

GRILL PINEAPPLE! GRILL!
I had some leftover roasted onions and peppers in the fridge, so that was tossed in with lime juice, salt, pepper, one jalapeno, and some cumin and chili powder.
Meanwhile, I needed to season the pork. Salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin, and some chopped garlic...a hefty squirt of lime juice...into the fridge for a few hours.
GRILL PORK! GRILL!
I served up the pork with some wild rice and corn (corn again, jeez - also I have no idea why this is showing up underlined)It was really quite good. Mr. R decided, and I agreed, that the salsa was WAY too pineapple-y, so if I make it again, I'll definitely bump up the savory bits and seasonings. But it was a refreshing change from pork chops and applesauce.

BBQ

I kicked off the May monthly menu planner with a bang - shredded pork sandwiches.

Here is our lovely pork shoulder. It will soon spend many an hour in the slow cooker.
Here is the base of the spice rub - garlic powder, chili powder, salt, paprika, cumin, and cayenne. I forgot brown sugar, and luckily remembered right before the pork went into the fridge overnight. YOU MUST HAVE BROWN SUGAR! quite a lot of it actually. I rubbed this spice mix onto the pork shoulder and let it sit overnight.
Meanwhile, I concocted a sauce - apple cider vinegar, chili sauce, some ketchup, a few garlic cloves, some Worcestershire...maybe a drop of beer? I don't know. It was on the fly.
After a day in the cooker, the pork was easily shredded by fork.
And served with some macaroni salad, CORN, and some of its own sauce (boiled in a pan until thick).

Pork 'n' Potatoes

Another monthly menu favorite, kielbasa and potatoes. I've spoken of the gloriousness of the mustard-roasted potatoes on several occasions, here they are in action.

Here we have about 2 1/2 lbs of potato hunks - mostly Yukon golds, but some russet action as well. Salt and pepper.
Add a sliced onion.
And a blob of whole grain mustard and some olive oil.
Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet and put into a 400 degree oven (I kept cranking it up towards the end to get dinner moving)
Meanwhile, I sliced up my kielbasa into chunks. It goes into the oven for the last 25 minutes or so.
About 50 minutes later, golden browness.
And a meal to inhale. Yum.
This really is a lovely way to make potatoes. The mustard and onions become almost sweet amidst the potatoes - the potatoes get a lot of flavor and crunch.

Pork 'n' Peas

Meal #2 of the monthly meal menu is stuffed pork chops with peas (and b/c I love it, more stuffing). For this meal, I simply prepared some random stuffing I had in the pantry, leftover from Thanksgiving (stuffing cubes, butter, onion, celery, broth) and let it cool. Meanwhile, I pounded out four pork cutlets in order to stuff them in the future - well, not so much stuff, as fill with stuffing and tie up.

First, here are the bound up little pork cutlets, awaiting their flouring and frying. Also, they are sitting in their original packaging, because I didn't want to dirty another plate. Next, our cutlet friends go into a hot pan for browning, after a run through the flour plate.Once browned on the first side, I flip, and into the oven with the lot (350 degrees for about 15 minutes)Untie, find you side dishes, and serve! I'll admit, the pork is rather...pale looking from this angle, but it was quite nice tasting and I LOOOOVE stuffing/dressing and had to resist eating the entire pan. MMM. I wish I'd had gravy for it. Sigh.

Birthday gift of meat and cheese

Miss L gave me a glorious gift of meat and cheese from the lovely Usingers company, up in ol' Wisconsin.

Here we have the package, newly opened. Miss Daisy made short work of that wrapping paper the next day, FYI. Behold - three sausages - beef s'lami, beef summer sausage, and summer sausage of indeterminate meat source. I've tried the latter and it was delish. I've also wielded the handy knife!

And don't forget the cheese! Three kinds! I've only tried the cheddar, but I give it a loud HUZZAH! HUZZAH!

Easter pork

I felt odd not making something at least a bit special for Easter dinner. I went out with the intention of getting some veal, but since the meat counter was closed, that wasn't happening, so crunchy pork became the meal du jour.

I followed a time-honored tradition of breading thinly pounded pork in Ritz crackers and pan frying. Here are the battered Ritz crackers:Then we breaded the pork and created a fine pile of crunchy pork to eat for many days:Then I made gravy for the pork and mashed potatoes, ignore the bad picture, the steam would NOT go away:
And all was served with some roasted asparagus. Happy Easter meal!

V'day celebration

Since I was departing on Friday for a long weekend away in NC, I decided to whip together a nice dinner for my sweetie, my honey, my Valentine, Mr. R. (barf away). I had a pork tenderloin and I decided to play around with, culinarily speaking.

First, I patted the tenderloin dry and smeared it with whole grain mustard. Here's a squirt of it down the middle. Then I salt and peppered it, and sprinkled it with breadcrumbs.

Here is our pork tenderloin in the pan. This pictured makes it looked blackened. I again claim camera difficulty. The tenderloin was seared in the pan on both sides, then placed in a 325 degree oven for about 25 minutes. Other recipes said 10-12 minutes, but that left me with a raw pork tenderloin. You want at least 155 degrees in the center of the tenderloin, and that's what it took in my oven.
While the pork was cooking, I dug out some apples from the fridge. Here we have a study in nude/clothed.Here are our apples chopped up in a pan with a pat of butter or two pats perhaps.
Then I tossed in some cinnamon, brown sugar, salt, and pepper. Cooked them until the apples were slightly browned and soft. Mmm.And here we go. Sliced pork with apples, some boxed long grain and wild rice on the side, and as a special treat for Mr. R, CANNED green beans. Mmm.