Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen

Last week my friend Penny and I had our annual first Spring shopping trip to Asheville.  We always like to stop for lunch at Fig, our favorite French bistro.  It was a lovely day and we ate on the patio.  Penny ordered the Pork Schnitzel with Cranberry Beans and Chow Chow.  Here is how it looked.

 She said it had a lot of flavor.  The flattened pork tenderloin was slathered in mustard before being breaded in Panko crumbs and deep fried.  The smooth cranberry beans and piquant chow chow relish sounded to me like the perfect balance of flavors.  So I had to see if I could make it at home.  I am very happy with the results.

I could not find cranberry beans, so I substituted simple red beans.  I pan fried the flattened pork tenderloin filets after dipping them in flour, thinned Dijon mustard and Panko crumbs.  I bought the chow chow relish at a local roadside stand.  This made a wonderful meal.

It feels good to get inspirations from a restaurant and be able to come up with a new and special dish.  Although this came from a French inspired restaurant, it has all of the earmarks of a true Southern dish, albeit with German overtones.  I guess you could call it Global.  I am linking this to Tasty Tuesday at Penny’s Comforts of Home.

PORK SCHNITZEL WITH RED BEANS AND CHOW CHOW

1 (1 1/2 lb.) Pork Tenderloin, trimmed and cut into 3-inch pieces.  You should get about 5 pieces
1/2 cup flour
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup Dijon mustard thinned with a little water (You may need more)
1 cup Panko crumbs

Enough vegetable oil to come to 1/2 inch in a large skillet

Pound each pieces of pork tenderloin, cut side up, between 2 sheets of waxed paper until the meat is very thin.  Dip each piece into flour that has been seasoned with salt and pepper.  Then coat with mustard mixture.  Finally dip into panko crumbs to cover.  Place the pieces on a sheet pan and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to set the crumbs.

Heat oil in the large skillet.  When hot, saute the pork pieces until they are browned on each side.  Watch carefully so they do not burn and adjust heat as needed.  You may have to do this in batches.  When they are well browned they should be done.  Keep warm in slow oven if you are not ready to serve.

Place each individual pork cutlet on top of a serving of the red beans on individual plates.  Top with store bought or homemade chow chow relish.

RED BEANS

Cook beans according to directions on a one pound bag of dried beans.  One hour before beans are done, saute one chopped onion with 1 cup of cubed ham until onions are soft and ham is browned.  Add to the bean pot along with 1/2 cup of cider vinegar and 1 tablespoon of sugar.  Season with salt and pepper.  When beans are soft, add 1/4 cup of chopped parsley and serve.

Printable recipe

David (Mr Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen) here again. Penny asked me to write about some of our Labor Day food….specifically, the BBQ part that I was responsible for. We had a house full of extended family here for the long weekend, and everyone pitched-in in the kitchen.  Needless to say we ate well…you might even say “high on the hog”, at least as high as the shoulder.

As of late, I have been inspired by another Dave, the one responsible for the blog My Year On The Grill (MYOTG),  not to mention the inspiration I always get from Bobby Flay and The Neely’s on The Food Network.  It was actually a Neely’s episode back in April about how to smoke spare ribs at home that inspired me buy a Char-Griller off-set charcoal smoker grill.  I christened the grill by cooking some ribs following the Neely’s dry rub recipe and techniques, and I must say they were some pretty tasty ribs.  I was then ready to step it up a notch and tackle some Carolina Pulled Pork, i.e. Pork Butt, which is kind of an odd name for what is in reality a pork shoulder. For detailed instructions on smoking a Pork Butt (it’s a lot more fun to say than shoulder) I referred to MYOTG.  MYOTG Dave is doing for Steve Raichlen’s book How To Grill what Julie Powell did for (or some might say to) Julia Child’s Mastering The Art Of French Cooking…cooking his way through the book, one recipe at a time. Dave has many detailed recipes and instructions on his blog, and his info on Pork Butts was exceedingly helpful in my quest to achieve a nice Butt.  I was particularly interested in his comments on using coffee in the dry rub. After reading MYOTG’s musings on pork butts and studying Steve Raichlen’s and Pat Neely’s recipes, and never being one to leave-well-enough-alone, I concocted my own java dry rub with this formula.

1    Cup white sugar
1    Cup brown sugar
3/4 Cup paprika
1/2 Cup ground coffee
3    Tablespoons onion powder
3    Tablespoons black pepper
2    Tablespoons course salt
2    Teaspoons garlic powder
2    Teaspoons cocoa powder
1    Teaspoon cayenne pepper
1    Teaspoon ground cumin
1    Teaspoon ground coriander

The only picture I thought to take during the Butt cooking process was this one showing the rub on the raw Butt, which I then let sit in the fridge over-night.

For the mop sauce and Carolina vinegar finishing sauce I made up some of MYOTG’s  Raspberry Chipotle Sauce Concentrate and added it to Steve Raichlen’s standard mop and vinegar finishing sauce just like Dave suggested.  I forgot to take a picture of the butts on the grill or after they had cooked for 9 hours, so the only photo of the finished product is the sandwich shot above.

For sides, we did MYOTG’s Blue Cheese Potato Salad and Smoked Beans, both of which are described here.  I had quite a struggle convincing Penny to even let me make the Blue Cheese Potato Salad…she has an aversion to blue cheese for some reason. In the end, she caved in, and guess what….she actually liked it. The blue cheese is not over-powering if you follow Dave’s recipe. 

 
I had actually been making smoked beans very similar to Dave’s since I got my smoker.  The main difference between mine and Dave’s being the additional bean varieties Dave throws into the mix. Where I had been using only Bush’s baked beans as the base, he adds a can of pinto’s and  a can of great northern’s to the pot….a worthwhile addition.  The smoked beans need to include smoked pork of some variety.  I had some smoked ribs in the freezer, so I chopped some up and threw it in the pot along with a little leftover andouille sausage.  I left the bean pot in the smoker, under the pork butts to catch some of the drippings, for three or four hours.  They were pretty yummy beans.

Penny whipped up some coleslaw following a Bobby Flay recipe.  All in all, a very satisfying all-American Labor Day feast.  Thanks for the recipes Dave, and the advice on how to cook a good Butt.

I don’t know about you, but my Mother always made her baked beans by doctoring up the canned variety of baked beans with ketchup, onion and brown sugar. For years I have been making baked beans by first opening a can and adding a variety of things from sausage to green peppers. I remember that years ago my Aunt Ruth always brought baked beans to our Christmas Eve celebration and everyone thought they were so special because she started out with dried great northern beans. I don’t know what took me so long to actually make beans from scratch, so to speak, but I am so glad that I did and no canned beans will ever grace my pantry again. They take time, but it is waiting time, not active time, so if you plan ahead you will be rewarded with the best baked beans you have ever tasted.

The recipe that I chose to follow came from Ina Garten. I trust her instincts and liked her ingredients. Instead of great northern or other white beans, she used dried red kidney beans. She flavored them with pure maple syrup, brown sugar, ketchup, Chinese chili paste and fresh ginger. Thick cut bacon cubes were added for meatiness. As I write this at 5:00 AM on Saturday morning, I am thinking about going to the refrigerator and scooping out a serving and warming the beans for breakfast. They were that good. If you are serving ham for Easter on Sunday, this would be the perfect side dish. Happy Easter.

MAPLE BAKED BEANS (From The Barefoot Contessa at Home)

1 pound dry red kidney beans
1 large yellow onion, cut in eighths
1 bay leaf
6 whole black peppercorns
3/4 cup medium amber pure maple syrup
1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon Chinese chili paste
1 teaspoon kosher salt
5 ounces thick-cut bacon, cubed

Place the beans in a large bowl and cover with cold water by 1 inch and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overningt. Drain and rinse the beans and then drain again.

Place the beans in a large pot with 2 quarts water, the onion, bay leaf, and peppercorns. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for about 50 minutes, or until tender. A good test is to scoop up several beans in a spoon and blow on them; if the skins start to peel off, they’re done. Drain the beans, reserving the cooking liquid.

Preheat the oven to 225 degrees. In a small saucepan, whisk together the maple syrup, brown sugar, ketchup, chili paste, ginger, salt, and 1 1/2 cups of the cooking liquid, still reserving the remaining liquid. Bring to a simmer and cook over medium heat for 6 minutes.

Transfer the beans to a medium Dutch oven or a bean pot. Push half the bacon into the beans and place the rest on the top. Pour the maple syrup sauce over the beans. Place the lid on top and bake for 6 to 8 hours. Check occasionally; if the beans are too dry, add 1/2 cup more of the cooking liquid. You can remove the lid for the last 30 minutes to thicken the sauce. Discard the bay leaf. Serve hot.

Printable recipe