EclecticCook.com » Pork

Pork and Apple Stew

Karen — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 03:44:14 +0000

If I were Dorothy and I just blew back home from my trip to Oz, I’d be wondering if I took a wrong turn on the yellow brick road and ended up in Michigan, not Kansas. It’s farkin’ cold in Wichita this fall. Combine the chilly weather with pubescent growth spurts in both of my girls over the summer, and I’m heading out to buy two entire wardrobes of new winter clothes a month early this year. I may have to consider selling a kidney to pay for it all. Alas, nudity is frowned upon in public schools, so I really do need to pony up the cash and restock the closets.

On the bright side, we are heading back to the kind of weather that gives me an excuse to cook the meals I love best. Soups, stews, roasts and other slow cooking oven dishes, food that fills the house with warm, comforting aromas that smell even better when sniffed with noses still cold from the weather outside.

Pork and Apple Stew

This pork and apple stew is the epitome of fall comfort food. Simmering away slowly, the sweet apple pieces and licorice scented fennel melt together to make a delicious hearty broth for the tender pieces of pork. A big, rustic loaf of bread fresh out of the oven is a must to sop up the juices.

3 lbs pork butt, cut into 1 inch cubes
3 tbsp canola or grapeseed oil
1 fennel bulb, diced
2 medium onions, diced
½ small head of green cabbage, chopped
½ cup dry white wine
1 cup apple cider
3 cups chicken broth
3 granny smith apples, peeled and chopped
2 bay leaves
2 whole sprigs fresh rosemary or 1 tbsp dry
2 sprigs flat leafed parsley
kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil over medium high heat in a Dutch oven or heavy bottom pot. Season the pork with salt and pepper. Working in batches to avoid overcrowding, brown the pork pieces on all sides. Remove the pork, reduce the head to medium, and add the fennel, onions and cabbage to the pot. Sauté the veggies in the pork dripping for about 5 minutes. Add the wine to deglaze, scraping up any brown bits off the bottom of the pot. Cook for a few minutes more. Return the pork pieces to the pot along with the apple cider, chicken broth, apples, bay leaves, rosemary and parsley. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 1½ hours, stirring occasionally. Remove the rosemary, bay leaves, and parsley springs before serving.

(Printable Recipe)

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©EclecticCook.com, 2009. | Permalink toPork and Apple Stew | 20 comments |

Hot and Sweet Glazed Pork Chops

Karen — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 03:46:00 +0000

Pork is not just the other white meat; it’s the better white meat. It’s almost as economical as chicken, and definitely more so than beef. You have to work pretty darn hard to make it dry and tough, unlike beef and chicken. It seems to soak up the flavor of marinades like a sponge, and you can bake, fry, broil, grill or cook it just about any way you like.

What about dessert, you say? Back in the olden days, before people became terrified of any fat that is solid at room temperature, comes from an actual (formerly) living creature, and was not created and/or processed in a lab by people in pristine white lab coats, donuts were fried in pork fat. How ‘bout them apple fritters?

Now that I think about it, if I had to pick a food animal to take with me to a desert island, it would be a pig. Of course I would probably make friends with it, name it Wilson, and we would both live happily ever after, subsisting on a diet of grass and coconut husks.

And so in celebration of the humble porcine, I offer you this ridiculously simple recipe for sweet and hot grilled chops that’ll make you at least think about skipping the poultry section on your next shopping trip and heading straight for the Wilson…er…pork section instead.

Hot and Sweet Glazed Pork Chops

2 lbs bone-in pork loin chops, about ½ inch think
4 tbsp honey
4 tbsp Dijon mustard
½ tsp red pepper flakes
1 cup unsweetened apple juice

Combine all the ingredients except the pork in a small saucepan and bring to a gentle boil over medium high heat. Simmer until the glaze is reduced by half. It should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Let cool completely. Reserve half of the glaze for a dipping sauce.

Preheat grill to medium high. Season the chops with salt and pepper. Brush the glaze on one side of the chop and place glaze side down on the grill. Brush more glaze on the top side. Cook for 4 minutes, then turn. Add more glaze to the top, and cook for another 4 minutes. Continue glazing and turning the chops frequently, for a total cooking time of 15-20 minutes. The chops should read about 145°F to 150°F on an instant read thermometer. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving with the reserved glaze for dipping.

(Printable Recipe)

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©EclecticCook.com, 2009. | Permalink toHot and Sweet Glazed Pork Chops | 13 comments |

Souvlaki Pita

Karen — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 04:52:42 +0000

You know that dish that everyone always begs you to bring to the backyard BBQ even when you really really (really) want to bring something different for once, so you end up making both, and then they barely touch the new dish that took you *forever* to prepare and that you were so excited about bringing, but completely devour your regularly requested one?

(Pause to let punctuation catch up)

Souvlaki Pita is that dish for me, the dish I will never escape. Good thing it’s pretty darn tasty. I could probably eat it every week without going crazy. I may or may not be speaking from personal experience.

I’ve searched high, low and even under a few beds, but I just can’t find good pita bread in Wichita. I can find “pita pockets”, which are small thickish pita’s that you can cut in half and split open to make a pocket, or “pita bread” which is a small, thick and dry thing with no pocket inside. Pita bread for souvlaki should be soft and thin enough to be able to wrap around the filling, similar to how you would wrap a soft shelled taco. Yes, I realize that I should simply make my own pita bread. I haven’t yet found the motivation (or a recipe that doesn’t scare me; I’m not a baker) to go that route, so I use the pita pockets.

Souvlaki Pita

The Meat
2 lbs grilled souvlaki. Use chicken, pork or both.

Traditional Toppings
2 tomatoes, cut into cubes
¼ tsp oregano
1 yellow onion, sliced fine
1 tbsp vinegar
1 tsp olive oil plus more for drizzling
Tzatziki

Mix the tomatoes with the oregano and 1 tsp olive oil. To remove some of the bite from the onions, soak then in cold water and the vinegar for about 10 minutes. Drain, then soak them again in fresh, cold water for an additional 10 minutes. Drain and pat dry. Drizzle the onions with a bit of olive oil before serving.
Fill the pita with souvlaki, top with tomatoes, onions, any additional toppings you choose, and plenty of tzatziki. Get a napkin ready, then take a big bite and enjoy!

If you want to mix things up a bit, you can also use shredded lettuce, feta cheese and/or some chopped olives for toppings.

(Printable Recipe)

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Mom, Memories and Souvlaki

Karen — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 04:52:26 +0000

I love you and I miss you, Mom. This one is for you.

My mother was a feisty little Greek woman from Thessalonica; short in stature, with a big, warm, giving heart. She was a naturally talented cook who never wrote down a single recipe. She passed away when I was a teenager, before I had the chance to really learn from her in the kitchen. Dad was a set-in-his ways, meat and potatoes Irish fireman who couldn’t really appreciate many of the Greek dishes she was capable of preparing. Mom would reserve those dishes for when Dad worked nights and it was just her and I for dinner. I have so many wonderful memories of those special nights; picking dandelion greens from the side of the road and taking them home to cook up for just the two of us, watching mom make phyllo from scratch for her spanakopita. I treasure those memories today as I treasured those moments spent together, just her and I.

One dish Dad would devour without complaint was souvlaki, which she made quite often during the summer grilling season. I recreated this recipe from my memory of its taste many, many years ago. It isn’t a recipe my mother handed down to me, but I don’t suppose that really matters in the end. I think of my mother, and all of our special moments, every time I make this for my family, and that means so much more to me than authenticity or accuracy.

I use pork loin in my recipe, but pork butt or shoulder will also work well. Just be sure to trim it well to remove the excess fat before marinading. Pork butt/shoulder may also take a bit longer to cook on the grill.

I have also used chicken breast for this recipe. Dark meat would also work fine, but I prefer the breast meat.

Souvlaki
Serves 4-6

2 lbs pork loin and/or chicken cut into 1 inch cubes
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp dried oregano
3 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp lemon juice (the juice of about 1½ lemons)
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper

Whisk together garlic, oregano, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Combine the marinade with the pork in a large freezer bag. Marinade in the refrigerator for at least 24 and up to 48 hours. Rotate the bag to redistribute the marinade at least twice during this time.
Preheat the grill to medium high heat. If you are using wooden skewers, soak them in water before using, or use metal skewers. Thread about 5 pieces of meat onto each skewer, enough for one serving. Grill the skewers for about 15 minutes, turning two or three times. The chicken will take less time to cook than the pork, so start checking for doneness at about 10 minutes. The meat should register about 150°F for the pork and 160°F for the chicken when you take them off the grill. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving. Because of the marinade ingredients, the meat (both the pork and the chicken) may still be slightly pinkish inside even when fully cooked.

(Printable Recipe)

You can serve the souvlaki skewers as they are with a side of rice pilaf or a Greek salad and tzatziki sauce for dipping, or you can make a souvlaki pita sandwich, which is my personal favorite way to eat them.

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