Showing posts with label Pork. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pork. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Orange You Hungry? Carnitas!
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Split Pea Soup
I'm cleaning out my pantry, which explains why I'm making a pot of split pea soup in July. Or maybe I'm just channeling next winter with a hearty soup and a travel guide to Greece. Whatever the motive, this soup is so easy to make, there's really no recipe:
Boil one smoked ham hock in water until the meat is just about falling from the bone. (I bought the ham hock at Prairie Meats in Saskatoon.) Cook two cups yellow split peas in water (green peas are good, too) with one chopped onion and a bay leaf until the peas are soft. (I did this in a crock pot.) In a soup pot, combine split peas and the meat from the ham hock. Also a few chopped carrots. Top up with water and cook until the carrots are done. Season to your taste with @ 2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Done! Like most soups, it's better the second day.
Boil one smoked ham hock in water until the meat is just about falling from the bone. (I bought the ham hock at Prairie Meats in Saskatoon.) Cook two cups yellow split peas in water (green peas are good, too) with one chopped onion and a bay leaf until the peas are soft. (I did this in a crock pot.) In a soup pot, combine split peas and the meat from the ham hock. Also a few chopped carrots. Top up with water and cook until the carrots are done. Season to your taste with @ 2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Done! Like most soups, it's better the second day.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Flavours of Hanoi - VIETNAMESE SALAD SASKATCHEWAN STYLE
Angel hair pasta for two or threeDipping sauce (see below)
1/2 cup carrots, shaved with a vegetable peeler
1/2 cup English cucumber, cut in thin matchsticks
1/2 cup cabbage, thinly sliced
1 pound ground pork
1/4 cup red onion, thinly sliced and chopped
2 tbsp cilantro, finely chopped
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp fish sauce
Fresh cilantro for garnish, chopped
Dipping Sauce – Mix together:
1 large garlic, minced
1 hot pepper, chopped
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup fish sauce
1/2 cup red-wine vinegar
.
Cook pasta in salted water. Drain, rinse and cool. Make dipping sauce.
Boil two cups of water with a dash of salt. Drop in the cabbage and cook one minute. Add carrots and cucumber and cook another minute. Drain and cool in cold water. Add vegetables to the dipping sauce.
Mix together the ground meat, red onion, cilantro, sugar and fish sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Mix very well, until the meat begins to break down and get sticky. Form into ten patties. Cook patties until browned on both sides and cooked through. Add the warm patties to the dipping sauce and vegetables. Cool.
To serve, place the noodles on a platter. Scoop vegetables on top. Place meat patties around the sides. Pour on dipping sauce. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro.
Cook pasta in salted water. Drain, rinse and cool. Make dipping sauce.
Boil two cups of water with a dash of salt. Drop in the cabbage and cook one minute. Add carrots and cucumber and cook another minute. Drain and cool in cold water. Add vegetables to the dipping sauce.
Mix together the ground meat, red onion, cilantro, sugar and fish sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Mix very well, until the meat begins to break down and get sticky. Form into ten patties. Cook patties until browned on both sides and cooked through. Add the warm patties to the dipping sauce and vegetables. Cool.
To serve, place the noodles on a platter. Scoop vegetables on top. Place meat patties around the sides. Pour on dipping sauce. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Asian flavours - VIETNAMESE SALAD
Other than the dipping sauce, this dish can be made entirely with Saskatchewan-based ingredients. (Adapted from Cooking Light)Vietnamese Salad
1/2 of a 450-gram box angel hair pasta
Dipping sauce (see below)
1/2 cup carrots, cut in thin matchsticks
1/2 cup cucumber, seeds removed, cut in thin matchsticks
1/2 cup cabbage, thinly sliced (optional)
1 pound pork or beef, or a combination
1/4 cup green onion, thinly sliced
2 tbsp cilantro, finely chopped
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp fish sauce
2 handfuls of lettuce
Fresh cilantro and mint for garnish, chopped
Cook pasta in salted water. Drain, rinse and cool. Meanwhile, make the dipping sauce (see below).
Boil two cups of water with a dash of salt. Cooking each separately, boil the carrots, cucumber and cabbage just until they start to soften. Remove with a slotted spoon and rinse in cold water. Add vegetables to the bowl of dipping sauce.
Mix together the ground meat, green onion, cilantro, sugar and fish sauce. Add a dash of salt and pepper. Form into ten patties. Cook patties on a grill or skillet until nicely browned and cooked through. Add the warm patties to the dipping sauce and vegetables.
To serve, place the noodles on a platter. Circle with lettuce. Scoop vegetables and meat patties on top. Pour on dipping sauce. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and mint.
Dipping Sauce – Mix together:
1 large garlic, minced
1 hot pepper, chopped
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup fish sauce
1/2 cup red-wine vinegar
Friday, June 06, 2008
Down comes the house - PORK RAGOUT WITH FENNEL SEEDS
Rosie's house came down yesterday. In honour of our old friend, I cooked a Czech dinner (Rosie was of Czech ancestry and it was her first language, eventhough she was born in Saskatchewan.) Now that we have a big hole in the ground we can start building our new house. For years I'm been bugging John to redo my kitchen. He builds gorgeous kitchens for "clients," an elite group of people of which I am not a member. But all that nagging has paid off. Not only do I get a new kitchen, I get a whole new house!
Pork Ragout with Fennel Seeds
(Adapted for local ingredients from The Cooking of Vienna’s Empire, Time-Life Books)2 lbs. pork cut into cubes
3 tbsp butter
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2 tbsp flour
1 tbsp fennel seeds
1 1/2 cups meat stock
1 cup thinly sliced morel mushrooms
Sprinkle the pork with salt and pepper. Melt the butter on medium heat, add the onions and sauté until soft. Stir in the pork and lightly brown. Sprinkle with the flour and fennel seeds and stir together well. Cook on low heat for several minutes, stirring to prevent the pork from sticking. Pour in the stock and bring to a boil. Turn to low, add the mushrooms, cover and simmer 1 hour. Adjust seasoning as needed. Serve on buttered noodles.
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Week 49 - STUFFED ONIONS
Saskatchewan Menu of the Week - 18 March 2006
Breakfast - Yogurt with cherries.
Lunch - Baguette and ham sausage.
Dinner - Green salad. Stuffed onions.
STUFFED ONIONS
I found this recipe in a French cookbook from the library. My husband loves it and it has been a regular on our dinner table ever since. I usually use ground pork or a mix of ground pork and beef.
4 large white onions
1 cup cooked ground meat
2 tbsp. chopped chives
2 tbsp. chopped herbs (parsley, thyme, rosemary – whatever you have on hand. If using dried, cut the amount in half.)
1/2 cup grated Gruyere cheese (or other robust hard cheese)
1 hard boiled egg
Cut a slice off the top of each onion about 1/2 inch thick. Peel the onions and boil them whole in water about 30 minutes, until cooked through. Drain the onions and set aside to cool enough to handle. Using your fingers, gently remove the inner layers of onion, leaving a stable exterior wall about 1/2 inch thick.
Mix the meat, herbs and half the cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. Separate the whites and yolk of the hard-boiled egg. Mash both separately. Add the whites to the meat mixture. Spoon the meat mixture into the four hollow onions. Top each one with egg yolk and the remaining cheese, dividing evenly among each onion. Bake in a greased pan at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
Breakfast - Yogurt with cherries.
Lunch - Baguette and ham sausage.
Dinner - Green salad. Stuffed onions.
STUFFED ONIONS
I found this recipe in a French cookbook from the library. My husband loves it and it has been a regular on our dinner table ever since. I usually use ground pork or a mix of ground pork and beef.
4 large white onions
1 cup cooked ground meat
2 tbsp. chopped chives
2 tbsp. chopped herbs (parsley, thyme, rosemary – whatever you have on hand. If using dried, cut the amount in half.)
1/2 cup grated Gruyere cheese (or other robust hard cheese)
1 hard boiled egg
Cut a slice off the top of each onion about 1/2 inch thick. Peel the onions and boil them whole in water about 30 minutes, until cooked through. Drain the onions and set aside to cool enough to handle. Using your fingers, gently remove the inner layers of onion, leaving a stable exterior wall about 1/2 inch thick.
Mix the meat, herbs and half the cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. Separate the whites and yolk of the hard-boiled egg. Mash both separately. Add the whites to the meat mixture. Spoon the meat mixture into the four hollow onions. Top each one with egg yolk and the remaining cheese, dividing evenly among each onion. Bake in a greased pan at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Week 41 - TONKATSU
Menu of the Week - 25 January 2006
Breakfast -- Yogurt and cherry sauce.
Lunch -- Chicken soup.
Dinner -- Tonkatsu. Cabbage salad.
When I was in Japan I could not afford to eat in restaurants. It’s not that I was so broke, but the restaurants were really expensive. I met a young woman who wanted to practice her English so she took me out for dinner. We went to a tonkatsu restaurant – a place that served a breaded pork cutlet with tonkatsu sauce. It’s a western-style dish, as far as Japanese food goes, and it’s quite easy to make at home. Recently, my bookclub read Memoires of a Geisha and the theme for dinner was, of course, Japanese. So, I looked up a recipe for tonkatsu. It is one the few Japanese dishes I’ve found that can be made with mostly Saskatchewan ingredients.
TONKATSU
4 pork loin cutlets, trimmed of bone and fat
(I bought cutlets that had been tenderized – ie: pounded – by the butcher. Each cutlet was then large enough to be cut in two.)
salt and pepper
2 T flour
1 egg, whisked
1 cup good white bread crumbs (by this I mean, no factory bread)
canola oil for deep frying
tonkatsu sauce (see below)
finely shredded cabbage for garnish
Place the breadcrumbs on a cookie sheet and toast under the broiler until they are crispy and brown, turning once or twice. Pound the meat to tenderize it. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Dust it in flour. Dip into whisked egg. Coat with dried breadcrumbs, pressing with your finger so the breadcrumbs firmly adhere to the meat. Let rest about 15 minutes. In the meantime, heat enough oil in a frying pan that it will just cover the pork. Fry the cutlets in the hot oil, about 5 minutes per side, until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. To serve, cut the cutlet into several bite-sized slices. Place some cabbage beside it, and spoon on the tonkatsu sauce.
TONKATSU SAUCE
You can buy the sauce, but it’s also easy to make by mixing 4T ketchup, 2T Worcester sauce and 2T soy sauce.
Breakfast -- Yogurt and cherry sauce.
Lunch -- Chicken soup.
Dinner -- Tonkatsu. Cabbage salad.
When I was in Japan I could not afford to eat in restaurants. It’s not that I was so broke, but the restaurants were really expensive. I met a young woman who wanted to practice her English so she took me out for dinner. We went to a tonkatsu restaurant – a place that served a breaded pork cutlet with tonkatsu sauce. It’s a western-style dish, as far as Japanese food goes, and it’s quite easy to make at home. Recently, my bookclub read Memoires of a Geisha and the theme for dinner was, of course, Japanese. So, I looked up a recipe for tonkatsu. It is one the few Japanese dishes I’ve found that can be made with mostly Saskatchewan ingredients.
TONKATSU
4 pork loin cutlets, trimmed of bone and fat
(I bought cutlets that had been tenderized – ie: pounded – by the butcher. Each cutlet was then large enough to be cut in two.)
salt and pepper
2 T flour
1 egg, whisked
1 cup good white bread crumbs (by this I mean, no factory bread)
canola oil for deep frying
tonkatsu sauce (see below)
finely shredded cabbage for garnish
Place the breadcrumbs on a cookie sheet and toast under the broiler until they are crispy and brown, turning once or twice. Pound the meat to tenderize it. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Dust it in flour. Dip into whisked egg. Coat with dried breadcrumbs, pressing with your finger so the breadcrumbs firmly adhere to the meat. Let rest about 15 minutes. In the meantime, heat enough oil in a frying pan that it will just cover the pork. Fry the cutlets in the hot oil, about 5 minutes per side, until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. To serve, cut the cutlet into several bite-sized slices. Place some cabbage beside it, and spoon on the tonkatsu sauce.
TONKATSU SAUCE
You can buy the sauce, but it’s also easy to make by mixing 4T ketchup, 2T Worcester sauce and 2T soy sauce.
Monday, June 20, 2005
Newspaper - CORIANDER MARINADE
From the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix - 20 June 2005.
What’s my beef? Well, let me tell you. My beef is grass-fed, pasture-raised and drug free. I buy beef from Al Bennett and his family farm at Meacham, where the cattle roam the land like the buffalo once did – munching the grass, lolling in the sun, and moving on to greener pastures. Al has divided his farm into small paddocks, and every day he moves his cattle to a new paddock where the grass is fresh. He does not feed them any grain at all.
"Cattle are like the buffalo. They’re made to eat grass," he says. "We didn’t see the Indians carrying slop pails out to the buffalo, did we?"
I like Al’s beef. It’s lean, delicious, additive-free and best of all, I actually know the farmer who produced the food that I put on my plate. This is important to my new food philosophy – for one full year, I will serve nothing but Saskatchewan foods at my own dinner table.
In my first column in April, I talked about the reasons why eating locally is good for human health, the environment and the economy. In the May column, I wrote about the "rules" I follow to put my food philosophy into practice. In this column, I’ll chew the fat (but very little) about my sources of good Saskatchewan meat.
Sure, I know there are vegetarians among today’s readers, and the subject will mean very little to you, but the philosophy applies no matter what your diet – local is best.
I rarely buy meat in a grocery store because, without a label of origin, I can’t be sure it’s from Saskatchewan. Also, I like to know how the meat was raised. In the case of Al Bennett, he was a regular grain and dairy farmer until ten years ago, when he sold his big machinery and started raising cattle by holistic and organic principles.
I buy pastured pork and chickens from his neighbours, John and Karen Dale, but they’ve decided not to sell pork this year, so I’ve placed an order with Natureworks Farm north of Saskatoon. It’s owned by the Bilanski family, which also sells naturally-raised lamb, poultry, eggs and berries. You’ll find them at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market.
Occasionally, I drive out to the farm of Kevin and Melanie Boldt near Osler, where they sell all-natural meat from their own store. When it comes to processed meats, I have three current favourites: The buffalo salami and summer sausage from the Sage Hill Buffalo Ranch, sold at the Farmers’ Market. European cured meats (such as Italian-style prosciutto) from Emco Finer Foods on Avenue C, also available at the Farmers’ Market. And the award-winning kovbasa from the Attridge Co-op grocery store.
But some things money can’t buy. Like the 30-pounds of cut and wrapped moose in my freezer, a gift from our friend Jeff who is an avid hunter. I remember a time driving back from Canora very early in the morning, when I spied a road sign for homemade shishliki, a marinated lamb kabob of Russian origin. Forgetting it was 6 a.m., I pulled into the yard. Sure enough, the farmer was up and made his first sale of the day.
So, as you can see, I’m quite opportunistic when it comes to Saskatchewan foods – you never know what road it might take me down!
CORIANDER CRUST MARINADE
Here is a great marinade for pork chops. Most of the ingredients are not from Saskatchewan, but the coriander seeds are from my garden. Coriander is the easiest thing in the world to grow, and you get two harvests – first there are the green leaves called cilantro, essential with Mexican food, and later come the dried seeds called coriander with a faint lemon smell, popular in dishes from the Mediterranean and Asia.
This marinade is adapted from a recipe from my friend Susan. I serve the pork chops with barley risotto. (For that recipe, go to my website at HomeforDinner.blogspot.com)
Crush or grind together: 1 tablespoon each of coriander, black peppercorns and brown sugar, 1 whole clove and 1 whole allspice. Stir in enough soy sauce to make a marinade, about 3 tablespoons. Spread a little bit on each side of four pork chops and marinate a few hours before grilling.
What’s my beef? Well, let me tell you. My beef is grass-fed, pasture-raised and drug free. I buy beef from Al Bennett and his family farm at Meacham, where the cattle roam the land like the buffalo once did – munching the grass, lolling in the sun, and moving on to greener pastures. Al has divided his farm into small paddocks, and every day he moves his cattle to a new paddock where the grass is fresh. He does not feed them any grain at all.
"Cattle are like the buffalo. They’re made to eat grass," he says. "We didn’t see the Indians carrying slop pails out to the buffalo, did we?"
I like Al’s beef. It’s lean, delicious, additive-free and best of all, I actually know the farmer who produced the food that I put on my plate. This is important to my new food philosophy – for one full year, I will serve nothing but Saskatchewan foods at my own dinner table.
In my first column in April, I talked about the reasons why eating locally is good for human health, the environment and the economy. In the May column, I wrote about the "rules" I follow to put my food philosophy into practice. In this column, I’ll chew the fat (but very little) about my sources of good Saskatchewan meat.
Sure, I know there are vegetarians among today’s readers, and the subject will mean very little to you, but the philosophy applies no matter what your diet – local is best.
I rarely buy meat in a grocery store because, without a label of origin, I can’t be sure it’s from Saskatchewan. Also, I like to know how the meat was raised. In the case of Al Bennett, he was a regular grain and dairy farmer until ten years ago, when he sold his big machinery and started raising cattle by holistic and organic principles.
I buy pastured pork and chickens from his neighbours, John and Karen Dale, but they’ve decided not to sell pork this year, so I’ve placed an order with Natureworks Farm north of Saskatoon. It’s owned by the Bilanski family, which also sells naturally-raised lamb, poultry, eggs and berries. You’ll find them at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market.
Occasionally, I drive out to the farm of Kevin and Melanie Boldt near Osler, where they sell all-natural meat from their own store. When it comes to processed meats, I have three current favourites: The buffalo salami and summer sausage from the Sage Hill Buffalo Ranch, sold at the Farmers’ Market. European cured meats (such as Italian-style prosciutto) from Emco Finer Foods on Avenue C, also available at the Farmers’ Market. And the award-winning kovbasa from the Attridge Co-op grocery store.
But some things money can’t buy. Like the 30-pounds of cut and wrapped moose in my freezer, a gift from our friend Jeff who is an avid hunter. I remember a time driving back from Canora very early in the morning, when I spied a road sign for homemade shishliki, a marinated lamb kabob of Russian origin. Forgetting it was 6 a.m., I pulled into the yard. Sure enough, the farmer was up and made his first sale of the day.
So, as you can see, I’m quite opportunistic when it comes to Saskatchewan foods – you never know what road it might take me down!
CORIANDER CRUST MARINADE
Here is a great marinade for pork chops. Most of the ingredients are not from Saskatchewan, but the coriander seeds are from my garden. Coriander is the easiest thing in the world to grow, and you get two harvests – first there are the green leaves called cilantro, essential with Mexican food, and later come the dried seeds called coriander with a faint lemon smell, popular in dishes from the Mediterranean and Asia.
This marinade is adapted from a recipe from my friend Susan. I serve the pork chops with barley risotto. (For that recipe, go to my website at HomeforDinner.blogspot.com)
Crush or grind together: 1 tablespoon each of coriander, black peppercorns and brown sugar, 1 whole clove and 1 whole allspice. Stir in enough soy sauce to make a marinade, about 3 tablespoons. Spread a little bit on each side of four pork chops and marinate a few hours before grilling.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
