New Year’s Day Dinner

January 3rd, 2010


Happy New Year everyone. We started New Year’s Day in the traditional way that we have followed for the last ten years. We have a group of friends who spend New Year’s Eve and Day together. We are a motorcycle gang. Don’t laugh. We are tougher than we look. We’ve ridden the Canadian Rockies and the Beartooth Pass, the Million Dollar Highway and the Grand Tetons. The guys have been to Sturgis. What more credentials would you need? We are also good cooks and our gatherings always include fabulous food.

The New Year’s Day menu has always been a traditional Southern spread and each of us has a specialty. Pork has to be on the menu. Pigs forage forward with their noses so eating pork represents moving forward in the new year. For years I have been making my Fall-Apart Tender Slow Roast Pork. The recipe came from Shirley Corriher. We also have collard greens and blackeyed peas which represent wealth and good luck. Barbara is the collard greens queen, but she couldn’t be with us this year so, shhh, don’t tell anyone but we fixed Glory brand canned seasoned collard greens. Jackie makes the black eyed peas and Rosa’s cornbread which is rich with butter and absolutely decadent. Rosa was David’s secretary for many years and a talented Southern cook. We always have a potato casserole and Cynthia made a rich and luscious Gouda and Asiago scalloped potato with a panko crumb crust. Karen makes wonderful coleslaw and a refreshing Pea salad. Our dessert this year was compliments of the Cheesecake Factory.

Since I am always taking pictures of food, everyone got into the act this year. This obsession is catching.

Here are few of our favorite recipes.
FALL-APART TENDER SLOW ROAST PORK (adapted from Shirley Corriher)
4 to 5 lb Pork Butt
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup apple juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place pork in pot with lid. Sprinkle pork heavily with Worcestershire sauce; turn it over and sprinkle other side heavily as well. Take handful of brown sugar and smush brown sugar crust all over meat. Turn meat over and smush brown sugar all over other side. Pour apple juice in bottom of pan, not over meat. Cover and place pot in oven. Turn oven down to 275 degrees and cook 4 hours until meat literally falls apart when you try to lift it with a fork. Break meat apart a little and push it down into drippings. Sprinkle with salt. This salt cannot be omitted; it is vital to bring out meat flavors.
SCALLOPED GOUDA-ASIAGO POTATOES (Cynthia)
3 lbs potatoes peeled and sliced
2 cups shredded Gouda cheese
1 cup shredded Asiago cheese
1 tsp garlic juice, from minced garlic jar
1/4 to 1/2 tsp nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup milk
1/2 cup heavey cream
Panko crumbs to cover top.
Layer potatoes in casserole and sprinkle each layer with salt and pepper and cheeses. Add nutmeg and garlic juice to milk and heavy cream. Pour over casserole. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 1 hour. Cover with panko crumbs and continue cooking until potatoes are tender and panko crumbs are browned and the cheese is bubbly.
ROSA’S CORN BREAD (Jackie)
2 cups Joy Brand self-rising cornmeal
4 eggs
1 stick of butter, melted
1/2 cup oil
3 Tbls sugar
1 cup buttermilk
In a large bowl mix corn meal, eggs, buttermilk, oil, sugar, and melted butter. Pour into a large cast iron skillet and place inside a 350 degree oven and bake for 25 minutes.
PEA SALAD (Karen)
1 can French style green beans, drained
1 can shoepeg corn, drained
1 can tiny English peas, drained
1 small jar chopped pimentoes, drained
1 medium yellow bell pepper chopped
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup vinegar
1 1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup oil
Mix vegetables in bowl. In another bowl stir together dressing until sugar is dissolved. Pour dressing over vegetables and refrigerate until ready to serve.
It is wonderful to bring in the New Year with good friends and I consider all of you good friends also. I look forward to our sharing good food and good times in 2010.

An Autumn Dinner Menu

October 10th, 2009

This menu was inspired by a shopping trip to add some autumnal accents to the house. I found the sunflower plates at Marshalls for a very good price and they pair well with my pumpkin Vietri dinner plates. Vietri dinnerware is usually expensive, but I was fortunate to live close to their warehouse in Hillsborough, NC. Twice a year they have a huge sale and I was able to get great discounts on this lovely Italian dinnerware. I would use the sunflower plates to serve the salad course of Baby Greens with Pears, Roasted Walnuts and Blue Cheese. This Epicurious recipe goes well with the rest of the meal that I prepared.

Pork is such a Fall kind of entree. I would have to say that if I could eat only one kind of meat it would be pork; pork chops, pork tenderloin, pork butt, or pork loin. Boneless Pork Sirloin roasts were on sale the other day. You’ve seen those roasts with the string netting around them. They are packaged like this because there are two pieces of meat that comprise the roast. I like the sirloin cut because it has both the white meat of the loin and and the darker moister meat of the hip or back area. The best way I have found to cook this cut is to brown it well on all sides in a deep roasting pan. Add seasonings and fresh rosemary and sage, add liquid such as white wine, apple cider or water and roast it uncovered in a 375 degree oven for approximately 1 and 1/2 hours.

After the roast has been in the oven for one hour, remove the netting and separate the two pieces of meat. Add more liquid to the pan if needed and baste the meat. Use a meat thermometer to check for doneness after the first hour. For the complete recipe go here.

With the roast I served Roasted Butternut Squash, Potatoes and Red Onions. If you have limited oven space you could do these ahead of time and rewarm them in the oven just before serving.

I tried to keep the vegetables a uniform size. With a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of salt, pepper and cumin they roasted to a golden brown.


Since I was in a roasting kind of mood, I decided to also make Roasted Chunky Applesauce. I used Granny Smith apples for this. I coated the apple slices with softened butter, sprinkled with brown sugar, sugar and cinnamon and cooked them until they were soft and beginning to fall apart.

I would suggest that you peel the apples. The applesauce had a good flavor, but the skins were tough. Again if you have limited oven space you can do this ahead of time.

This was a fragrant and easy meal. I started cooking at 4:00 and was finished by 6:00. In my next post I will tell you what I would suggest for dessert.

Pork Roast with Prunes

February 6th, 2009

Since my last post I have been thinking about some of the cookbooks I have in storage and remembered one in particular. I believe the title is Simca’s Cuisine, written by Julia Child’s collaborator on Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Simone Beck. From what I recall of the history of their relationship, Simone could be fiesty and opinionated, but I found her cookbook engaging and warm. I am remembering a recipe for Pork Roast with Prunes – at least I think she had such a recipe, but since I do not have it here in front of me, I will make that assumption and tell you that I improvised this dish. Sometimes it is rewarding to rely on instinct while cooking. Pork and Prunes complement each other. Some recipes have you soak the prunes in Armagnac, which I’m sure is delicious, but the liquor cabinet at my house had no brandy of any description, so white wine was the best I could do. The initial preparation for this dish was a little time consuming, but was a welcome chore on a cold and blustery day. Once the roast was in the oven, I relaxed with my computer and enjoyed the heady aroma of dinner to come.

PORK ROAST WITH PRUNES

1 3 to 4 lb. center cut boneless pork loin
10 oz bag of pitted dried plums (I guess this sounds better than prunes)
1 cup white wine

2 to 3 shallots
3 T. olive oil
1/2 cup Panko crumbs (or dried bread crumbs)
2 sprigs Rosemary, stripped and chopped
1/2 cup chicken broth
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Soak prunes in white wine. Butterfly pork loin by slicing through the middle lengthwise to within a few inches of the other side and open up and flatten it out. Place 1 tablespoon of oil in medium skillet and saute chopped shallots until softened. Add 1 more tablespoon oil to skillet and add bread crumbs and saute a minute more to brown slightly. Spread mixture on 1/2 half of opened pork loin. Top with salt, pepper and rosemary. Top with as many prunes as will fit and still allow you to fold roast back together easily. Once folded tie roast with twine at 1/2 inch intervals. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large oven proof casserole and saute roast on all sides until nicely brown. Season with salt and pepper and any left over rosemary and add the remainder of the prunes and the soaking liquid to the casserole. Add chicken broth or water if you need more liquid. Bring liquid to a boil. Cover casserole and braise in oven for about 1 hour. Remove roast from casserole and let rest for 10 minutes. Remove twine, slice, and serve with pan juices.


Printable recipe

Tried and True

January 8th, 2009

I have a collection of Gourmet magazines dating from the 1960’s. Some of them I inherited from my Father-In-Law who was a fabulous cook, and the rest I subscribed to, hoping that I too could be a good cook. Recently when we added on to the cottage, I made sure that we would have a lot of closed storage in the bookcases for my tattered magazines which I still pull out and peruse to find food ideas that I swear I missed before. One of my favorite menus that came from an issue in the 1980’s is for Grilled Garlic Lime Pork Tenderloin with Red Onion Marmalade served with Cashew Sesame Noodles. This is my “go to” grill recipe when we have company. I know what you are thinking – It’s Winter – but where I am in Florida right now grilling is possible. So if you are snowed in, sorry, just save this for the balmy weather to come. And don’t leave out the marmalade. It enhances the Pork.

GRILLED GARLIC LIME PORK TENDERLOIN

3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tbls soy sauce
1 Tbls ginger root, grated
1 tsp dijon mustard
2 limes, juiced
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 tsp hot pepper sauce
2 Pork Tenderloins, trimmed

In a blender or small food processor blend marinade ingredients with salt and pepper to taste. In a large sealable plastic bag combine pork with marinade. Seal bag, pressing out excess air, and put in a shallow baking dish. Marinate pork, chilled, turning occasionally, at least 8 hours. Prepare grill or light gas grill. Let pork stand at room temperature about 30 minutes before grilling. Remove pork from marinade,letting excess drip off, and grill on an oiled rack turning every 5 minutes and basting occasionally for about 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer meat to a cutting board and let stand 5 minutes before slicing. Serve pork with red onion marmalade.

RED ONION MARMALADE

4 cups red onion, finely chopped
3 Tbls oil
3 Tbls sugar
2 Tbls red wine vinegar
1/4 cup water

In a large heavy skillet cook onions in oil with salt and pepper to taste over moderate heat, stirring until softened. Add sugar and cook, stirring 1 minute. Add vinegar and simmer, stirring, until almost all liquid is evaporated. Add water and simmer, stirring, until mixture is slightly thickened and onions are very tender, about 10 minutes.

CASHEW SESAME NOODLES

2 cloves garlic, chopped
3 Tbls soy sauce
1 1/2 Tbls rice vinegar
1/4 cup Sesame oil
3/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1tsp sugar
1/2 cup dry roasted cashews
1/3 cup water

1 lb thin spaghetti
1/2 cup cilantro or parsley, chopped

In a blender blend sauce ingredients with salt and pepper to taste until smooth. Just before serving bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook spaghetti until al dente. Drain spaghetti and rinse well under cold water. Drain well again and in a bowl toss with sauce and chopped parsley or cilantro. Garnish with extra cashews.

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