Szechwan Pork or Part 2.

     Welcome and thank you for checking out my blog, today's dinner is
Szechwan Pork.

     Last week I covered Crunchy Asian Salad in part 1 of this two-part series, this week we will conclude with Szechwan Pork.
     I've written about foods from many areas of the world and many styles of cooking, one area that I've briefly touched on but want to cover in more detail is Asian/Chinese food. Of all the types of food I've written about Chinese food is probably the one that we can all relate to but is also the one that we know the least about. It's ingredients are foreign (pun intended) to us and it's flavors are hard to define. As I stated in my Beef and Broccoli Stir-fry post, until recently I've had very little experience at cooking Chinese food but over the last year I've gained a better understanding of the ingredients that create these uniquely Asian flavors.
     Most of the Asian dinners that I've made utilize traditional ingredients, Szechwan pork is different in that it uses non-traditional ingredients to achieve a traditional taste. Peanut butter may not seem like an Asian ingredient but peanuts and peanut sauce are featured in many Asian foods. The really odd ingredient is picante sauce. When I read the recipe I thought it was a typo but when I tried it, it actually worked. The way I look at this recipe is that it's a simplified way to get to a delicious result. And if anyone asks how you made it, you don't have to tell them about the picante sauce, Just tell them it's an ancient Chinese secret.
     So, let's take a look at today's recipe.

                                          Szechwan Pork


Prep time   14 Min.     Cook time   7 Min.     Serves   4

Ingredients

2 teaspoons dark sesame oil

1 pound pork tenderloin, cut into 1-inch pieces

2 teaspoons ginger root, peeled and minced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium red bell pepper, cut into strips

1/3 cup picante sauce

2 tablespoons reduced-fat peanut butter

1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce

2 cups cooked white rice, hot

1/4 cup scallions, sliced

Instructions

Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork, ginger and garlic; stir-fry 1 minute. Add bell pepper; stir-fry 2 minutes. Add picante sauce, peanut butter and soy sauce; stir-fry 3 minutes or until pork loses it's pink color and sauce is thick.

To serve - transfer pork and rice to individual plates and top with scallions

This recipe yields 4 servings at about 1/2 cup of pork mixture and 1/2 cup of rice per serving.


     If you like Chinese food this dinner should be easy to work into your menu rotation. Next month I'm planning to cover a couple more Asian inspired dinners.
As always, if you try this dinner, leave a comment here and let me know how it turned out.


   Next week - Crock Pot Jerk Turkey Soup or How Hot?

Crunchy Asian Salad or Part 1.

     Welcome and thank you for checking out my blog, today's dinner is
Crunchy Asian Salad.

 

     Today's post is part of the Salad and Sides series and is also part of a two-week Asian food series that will conclude next week with Szechwan Pork. When we think about Asian food we normally think about Chinese restaurants. At our favorite Chinese restaurant we will probably order soup, egg rolls, a main course and the obligatory fortune cookie; a salad simply never crosses our minds. With this salad I am asking you to think outside the box and try something new.
     At it's core Crunchy Asian Salad is just like every other salad, the only difference is that we will be using different ingredients to give it an Asian flavor. One of the ingredients that we will be changing is lettuce, instead of the typical lettuce we will be using cabbage and lettuce in equal amounts to give this salad a lot of it's crunchiness. The rest of the crunch comes from edamame (shelled) and slivered almonds.
     Salad dressings generally come in two forms, vinegar based and mayonnaise based, in this recipe we will be making a vinegar based dressing using rice wine vinegar, honey, soy sauce and sesame oil. Where the cabbage, edamame and almonds give this salad it's crunch the dressing gives it an Asian flavor.
     So, let's jump into today's recipe.

                                  Crunchy Asian Salad


Prep time   10 Min.     Cook time   0 Min.     Serves   4

Ingredients

2 cups packaged coleslaw mix (shredded cabbage and carrots)

2 cups romaine lettuce

1 cup edamame (shelled)

1 cup scallions, sliced

1 cup fresh tomatoes, diced

1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

1 teaspoon honey

2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce

1 teaspoon dark sesame oil

2 teaspoons ginger root, finely minced or grated

1/4 cup slivered almonds

Instructions

In a large bowl toss together coleslaw, romaine, scallions and tomato.

In a small bowl whisk together rice wine vinegar, honey, soy sauce, sesame oil and ginger.

Pour dressing over salad and toss to coat. Sprinkle almond slivers over salad and serve.

This recipe yields 4 servings.


     This is a great salad to go with any Asian dinner. As I stated earlier this is part 1 of a two-part series, I recommend you serve it with next week's dinner and treat your family to make-it-yourself Chinese food. As always, if you try this salad leave a comment here and let me know how it turned out.


     Next week - Szechwan Pork or Part 2.

One-Pan Pork Chops with Fennel, Onion and Apple or Easy and Delicious.

     Welcome and thank you for checking out my blog, today's dinner is
One-Pan Pork Chops with Fennel, Onion and Apple.

     If you've been reading this blog you have probably noticed the theme of easy and delicious, today's dinner is no exception. When I look at recipes one of the things that I consider is how difficult is it to make. If they require multiple tedious steps or a special piece of cooking equipment that I don't have I skip over them in favor of something more simple. One-pan pork chops with fennel, onion and apple is a delicious dinner that is well-suited to fall or winter. It's name implies a level of simplicity and most of the ingredients can be found in your kitchen already.
The most difficult part of this dinner is that you will have to go to the store to get a fennel bulb. The combination of flavors work well together with the fennel bulb giving it a tartness and the apple giving it a sweetness.
     Now that we've covered the simplicity of this dinner, let's take a look at the recipe.

              One-Pan Pork Chops with Fennel, Onion and Apple.


Prep time   15 Min.     Cook time   30 Min.     Serves   4

Ingredients

1 large red onion, cut into wedges

1 medium fresh apple, cored and cut into thick slices

1 medium fennel bulb, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 teaspoon garlic herb seasoning, or steak seasoning

1 pound lean boneless pork chops, four 4 ounce pieces

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375f.

In a large bowl, combine onion, apple, fennel, oil and seasoning; toss to coat and spread out in a large nonstick pan. Bake for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, Season pork to taste with salt and pepper.

After vegetable mixture has cooked for 15 minutes, *remove pan from oven and toss; move vegetable mixture to sides of pan and add pork to the middle of pan. *Bake until pork is cooked through and vegetables are very tender, about 15 minutes more.

This recipe yields 4 servings at 1 pork chop and about 3/4 cup vegetable mixture per serving.

*Note: Be careful - the handle of the pan with be hot.


     This is a easy and delicious dinner that should appeal to every member of your family, make it on a cold fall or winter evening and watch as everyone warms up to it. Also, after you've made it a couple of times try substituting chicken and pears for the pork and apples. As always, if you try this dinner leave a comment here and let me know how it turned out.


     Next week - Crunchy Asian Salad or Part 1.

Turkish Meatballs with Cucumber-Yogurt Dipping Sauce or Happy New Year.

     Welcome and thank you for checking out my blog, today's dinner is
Turkish Meatballs with Cucumber-Yogurt Dipping Sauce.

     When I started this experiment I had a vague idea of what I wanted to do and less of an idea of where it would lead. As it has gone along, this whole thing has evolved and moved in different directions. One of those evolutions has been the development of various series. As the series have grown I've found a commonality among them, the common theme that I've seen and fostered is food for entertaining. The grilling series was a great way to get you into recipes that you would want to make at a cook-out. The regular dinners are interesting and well-suited for entertaining family and friends at a dinner party and the snack series has been a wonderful way to introduce you to light and healthy snacks and appetizers to put out at a party or take to a get together. A couple of things that I've tried to express with these recipes are that food should taste good and cooking shouldn't be thought of as a difficult task but the one thing that I really want you to get from this is that food should be shared with others. If you've enjoyed the snacks that we've covered, make them and eat them with your friends and loved ones.
     So, let's take a look at our last entry into the snack series.

           Turkish Meatballs with Cucumber-Yogurt Dipping Sauce

Prep time   20 Min.     Cook time   32 Min.     Serves   12

Ingredients

1/2 cup uncooked burgur

1 spray cooking spray

1/2 pound 93% lean ground beef

1/4 cup scallions, sliced

3 tablespoons cilantro, fresh, chopped, divided

1-1/4 teaspoons minced garlic, divided

1-1/4 teaspoons ground cumin

3/4 teaspoon salt, divided

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 cup cucumber, finely diced

2 tablespoons fresh radish, finely diced

1 tablespoon dill, fresh, chopped

Instructions

Cook or soak bulgur according to package directions; drain any excess water and let cool.

Place oven rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 425f. Coat baking pan with cooking spray.

Put beef, scallions, 2 tablespoons of cilantro, 1 teaspoon each of garlic and cumin, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, paprika, cinnamon and drained bulgur in a large bowl; combine ingredients with your hands until well mixed.

Roll meatball mixture into twenty-four 1-1/4 inch balls; place on prepared pan. Bake until lightly browned and cooked through, about 10 to 12 minutes.

Meanwhile, to make dipping sauce, in a small bowl combine yogurt, cucumber, radish, dill, remaining tablespoon of cilantro, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon each of garlic, cumin and salt; mix well.

To serve, place meatballs on a serving platter with toothpicks and spoon sauce into a small bowl.

This recipe yields 2 meatballs and about 1-1/2 tablespoons of sauce per serving.

Note: You can form the meatballs up to 6 hours before cooking and keep them refrigerated until you're ready to cook them. The dipping sauce can be made up to 6 hours ahead too, but stir in the cucumber and radish just before serving.


     The snack series has been a long running part of this blog and I want to thank you for working through them with me. I hope that you have been entertained by reading about them and I hope that you have opportunities to serve them to your friends. Lastly I want to wish you a Happy New Year.


     Next week - One-Pan Pork Chops with Fennel, Onion and Apple or Easy and Delicious.

Crock Pot Sweet and Sour Chicken Curry or One More Way to Make Indian Food.

     Welcome and thank you for checking out my blog, today's dinner is
Crock Pot Sweet and Sour Chicken Curry.

     Over these many months we've covered a lot of recipes and we've seen a few recurring themes. With today's dinner we are going to revisit the theme of Indian food. As a child and a teenager I was not aware of Indian food; it wasn't until I moved to West Germany in the mid 1980's that I had any exposure to it.
Shortly after moving to Columbus I noticed that Indian restaurants were becoming more popular in the states and people were being exposed to these new and exciting flavors. I do have to say that until recently I had only eaten Indian food a handful of times and I had never experienced it at the level that I have since finding these recipes.
     In previous posts I have written about the use of skewers and tandoor ovens in Indian cooking but to the best of my knowledge crock pot cooking is not common among Indian cuisine but it lends itself very well to this dish.The one thing that might throw you off in this recipe is chutney; chutney is similar to jelly and is usually made from mango. The chutney that I have used when making this recipe is mango and ginger which adds an extra layer to the sweet and sour complexity.
     So let's take a look at today's recipe.

                        Crock Pot Sweet and Sour Chicken Curry

Prep time   10 Min.     Cook time   240 Min.     Serves   4

Ingredients

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 large green pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 large vidalia onion, sliced

14-1/2 ounces stewed tomatoes

1/2 cup mango chutney

1/4 cup water

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1-1/2 teaspoon curry powder

Instructions

Place chicken, pepper and onion in a crock pot; top with tomatoes

Mix together remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Pour over chicken mixture, cover and cook on low heat for 4 hours.

This recipe yields about 1-1/2 to 2 cups per serving.


     This is an easy and delicious dinner that has a wonderful complexity of flavors.
If you try this dinner, check back here and leave a comment to let me know how it turned out.


     Next week - Turkish Meatballs with a Cucumber-Yogurt Dipping Sauce or Happy New Years!

Spinach Au Gratin or A Nice Alternative.

     Welcome and thank you for checking out my blog, today's dinner is
Spinach Au Gratin.

     Last month I started a new series I am calling the salad and sides series, spinach au gratin could be thought of as a salad but I consider it a side dish. At my house I do the vast majority of the cooking. Most of the time I make a main course dish with a simple salad and maybe some type of bread or I will throw vegetables in the microwave. A few times a month and when we have guests for dinner I like to make a more complete dinner with a couple of side dishes. My goal with this series is to give you some alternatives to salad-in-a-bag and mashed potatoes.
     Spinach Au Gratin is a variation of a French dish called Swiss Chard Au Gratin, the difference is that we are substituting spinach for the swiss chard. This is basically spinach that is wilted and then tossed with a melted cheese mixture; that right there puts it well into my simple and delicious category.
     Now that we know where we are going, let's take a look at today's recipe.

                                        Spinach Au Gratin

Prep time   10 Min.     Cook time   20 Min.     Serves   8

Ingredients

1-1/2 pounds spinach

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 cup low-fat milk, at room temperature

1/2 small onion, minced

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg, optional

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, parmigiano-reggianno recommended

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

Steam, parboil or microwave spinach until wilted, about 2 to 3 minutes; drain and place in a serving dish.

Place a medium-size saucepan over medium-low heat; add oil. When oil begins to shimmer, add flour, whisking constantly for 3 minutes. Slowly whisk in milk, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan.

Add onion and nutmeg; simmering gently and stirring often until mixture starts to thicken.

Remove pan from heat; stir in cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper; stir until well-combined. Pour sauce over spinach; toss and serve.

This recipe yields 8 servings at about 1/2 cup per serving.

*Note- Skim milk is not recommended for this recipe.


     This is a great side dish that should appeal to adults and children. If you want to forgo the spinach and try it with Swiss Chard just change out the two ingredients but make sure you remove the tough center rib and boil the leaves until they are wilted.
     As always, if you try this side dish, check back here and leave a comment to let me know how it turned out.


     Next week - Crock Pot Sweet and Sour Chicken Curry or One More Way to Make Indian Food.

Roasted Brisket or Something New (To Me).

     Welcome and thank you for checking out my blog, today's dinner is
Roasted Brisket.

  
     Recently I found a slimmed down recipe for roasted brisket; I have never had brisket and I've always been curious about it. With all of the places I've been and all of the different types of food I've eaten I somehow had never eaten brisket. So what is it and how is it prepared? I don't feel at this point that I have a definitive answer but with this recipe I think I have a good starting point. The one thing that I was aware of before I tried this recipe is that brisket is a large piece of beef (usually 2 - 4 pounds) that is cooked for a long time at a low temperature. In this recipe I found that I would be cooking my brisket in the oven for three hours at 325f. The second thing I discovered is that I would be roasting baby carrots, mushrooms, and onions in the same pan as my brisket; I don't know if this is the normal way to roast brisket but I do like the idea that it is getting me one step closer to a complete dinner so I will go with it. The third thing I discovered is that this recipe also has a tomato mixture that will be poured over the brisket and will be used to baste it.
     After working through this recipe I found that I had a large piece of beef similar to a pot roast but coated with a layer of tomato mixture on the outside similar to meatloaf. When I tasted it I found that it was very moist and flavorful,; how have I missed out on this for all of these years? The vegetables cooked in the tomato mixture and juices that had run off of the brisket were soft, moist, and delicious.
I don't know if this is the normal way to prepare vegetables with brisket but I definitely like it.
     Now that you have a little background about my limited experience with brisket, let's jump into today's recipe.

                                            Roasted Brisket

Prep time   15 Min.     Cook time   180 Min.     Serves   8

Ingredients

1 large onion, sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 pound baby carrots

5 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced (about 2 to 2-1/2 cups)

2-1/2 pounds lean and trimmed beef brisket

28 ounces canned crushed tomatoes

1 teaspoon paprika

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325f.

Spread onion slices and garlic on bottom of a nonstick roasting pan; top with carrots and mushrooms. Arrange beef over vegetables.

In a mixing bowl combine tomatoes, paprika, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, lemon juice and sugar; stir to dissolve sugar.

Pour tomato mixture over brisket and vegetables; tightly cover with a sheet of aluminum foil. Roast for 2 hours and then remove from oven; uncover, stir and use pan juices to baste meat. Return brisket to oven and roast for about 1 hour more uncovered, basting every 15 minutes.

Remove pan from oven and let stand for 10 minutes before slicing beef into 1/4-inch-thick pieces. Serve meat and vegetables with sauce spooned over top.

This recipe yields about 3 ounces of beef and 3/4 cup of vegetables and sauce per serving.


     This is a wonderful, nearly complete dinner that would be great for holiday entertaining. I recommend you put this on the table at your Christmas or New Years party and prepare yourself to graciously accept the compliments. If you would like to add some extra color and flavor, add a cup of frozen green bell pepper strips and a few red skin potatoes. If you try this dinner check back here and leave a comment to let me know how it turned out.

     Next week - Spinach Au Gratin or A Nice Alternative.