Pork – Kara Cooks and Eats

Thai basil stir fry

Recipe

Recipe Notes

I had some leftover rice from Indian takeout, a basil plant that I didn’t kill this summer, and a lime. There was fish sauce already in the cupboard. All I needed to pick up was the onion, carrot, and meat…and voila, dinner is served. The original recipe had more fish sauce in it, but in these types of recipes I prefer less fish sauce and more umami so next time I’d definitely decrease it (and I wrote the recipe to reflect that already).

Recipe adapted from Good Housekeeping, September 2016.

Photos

2017-09-11 00.55.10 — Thai basil stir fry

Bacon jam

The bacon…

Bacon jam made an appearance on New Year’s Eve and helped kickstart 2017 in a delicious way. And I have determined that bacon jam really goes with everything…which is great because the recipe makes A LOT and a little goes a long way.

The jam…

It went really well with the cheese plate (I mean, what doesn’t go well with cheese?) and my favorite combination was a li’l bacon jam and a li’l blue cheese on a cracker. I also made an adult BLT with bacon jam, blue cheese, lettuce, and tomato. I also really like it with a deviled or hard-boiled egg, which also means it would probably be great with any type of breakfast egg (sunny, scrambled, omelet, etc).

Flashback: February 4, 2015

Slow-cooker bacon jam
Source: Everyday Food, December 2010

Makes: 3 cups

Ingredients

Into the slow cooker…

1.5 pounds sliced bacon, cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces (two 12-ounce packages)
2 medium yellow onions, diced
3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
3/4 cup brewed coffee

Directions

Bacon jam!

2. Pour off all but 1 Tablespoon of fat from skillet; add onions and garlic, and cook until onions are translucent, about 6 minutes. Add vinegar, brown sugar, maple syrup, and coffee and bring to a boil, stirring and scraping up browned bits from skillet with a wooden spoon, about 2 minutes. Add bacon and stir to combine.

3. Transfer mixture to a 6-quart slow cooker and cook on high, uncovered, until liquid is syrupy, 3.5-4 hours. Transfer to a food processor; pulse until coarsely chopped. Let cool, then refrigerate in airtight containers, up to 4 weeks.

Pork ragù over creamy polenta

It has been a whirlwind month, with not much cooking going on. But in the past month I did help launch a new product and officially became an alumnus of Boston University’s Questrom School of Business…pretty exciting!

This dish was a bit time-consuming, but not all that labor-intensive. Per the recipe, the pork can be cooked 5 days ahead…I did cook the pork ahead of time.

Pork butt

I used 1.7# of pork butt and skipped the bay leaves (in the pork) and the fresh parsley. Draining the drippings (per step 1) led to burning the onions. After adding the tomato paste, I could see that the bottom of my beloved Le Creuset Dutch oven was burnt. Luckily I managed to save everything by scooping out the onion mixture and swirling some water in the pot to get rid of the burned stuff. Another tip is to be careful when ripping the tomatoes as I had a shirt casualty from squished tomatoes.

Ragu in the works

I had a lot of ragù leftover, which I froze and later used as a sauce with some rigatoni. I do heart leftovers!

Pork ragù over creamy polenta
Source: Bon Appetit, March 2015
Serves: 8

Ingredients
2 pounds skinless, boneless pork shoulder (Boston butt), cut into 3 pieces
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 Tablespoons tomato paste

Shredding the pork

1/2 cup full-bodied red wine
1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes
4 sprigs thyme
2 sprigs rosemary
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 cups coarse polenta (not quick-cooking)
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup grated Parmesan (from about 2 ounces), plus more for serving
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
Olive oil (for drizzling)

Directions

Final product

1. Season pork with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Cook pork, turning often, until evenly browned, 10-12 minutes. Transfer to a platter and pour off pan drippings.

2. Wipe out any burned bits from pot, but leave the golden-brown pieces. Add onion and garlic to pot and cook, stirring occasionally until onion is starting to brown and caramelize. Add tomato paste and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly darkened in color, 5-8 minutes. Add wine and cook, scraping up any browned bits, until reduced by about half, 5-8 minutes.

Dinner is served!

3. Add tomatoes, crushing with your hands as you go, then add thyme and rosemary. Stir in 2 cups water. Add pork with any juices that accumulated on the platter; season with salt and pepper.

4. Bring liquid to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, until pork is falling-apart tender and sauce is thickened, about 2.5-3 hours. Using 2 forks, break up pork into pieces or shred it; taste and season with salt and pepper.

5. To prepare polenta, bring 6 cups of salted water to a boil in a large pot. Whisking constantly, gradually add polenta then reduce heat to medium-low. Cook, whisking often, until polenta is tender and creamy, 20-25 minutes (if polenta becomes too thick too soon, loosen mixture by adding more water and continue cooking). Add butter and 1/2 cup Parmesan to polenta and whisk until melted; season with salt and pepper.

6. Spoon polenta into bowls or onto a platter and top with pork. Scatter with parsley and more Parmesan over top and drizzle with oil.

Slow-cooker bacon jam

This recipe came from the clean-out of my December Everyday Food magazines (six years!). I thought it would be a good dish to bring to my NYE hosts, and it also made an appearance at a family Christmas gathering after Christmas.

It was a little time-intensive, and required using the stove, slow cooker, and food processor. That’s kind of a lot of equipment (and dishes) for one recipe! It was also a LOT of bacon. But all in all, it was totally worth it. It was so delicious, served warm on slices of baguette with a shmear of whole milk ricotta. We also tried putting it on deviled eggs, which was a very delicious experiment.

Slow-cooker bacon jam
Source: Everyday Food, December 2010

A whole lotta bacon!

Makes: 3 cups

Ingredients
1.5 pounds sliced bacon, cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces
2 medium yellow onions, diced small
3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
3/4 cup brewed coffee

Directions

Bacon jam in mason jars

1. In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium-high, stirring occasionally, until fat is rendered and bacon is lightly browned, about 20 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towels to drain.

2. Pour off all but 1 Tablespoon of fat from skillet; add onions and garlic, and cook until onions are translucent, about 6 minutes. Add vinegar, brown sugar, maple syrup, and coffee and bring to a boil, stirring and scraping up browned bits from skillet with a wooden spoon, about 2 minutes. Add bacon and stir to combine.

3. Transfer mixture to a 6-quart slow cooker and cook on high, uncovered, until liquid is syrupy, 3.5-4 hours. Transfer to a food processor; pulse until coarsely chopped. Let cool, then refrigerate in airtight containers, up to 4 weeks.

Hard cider pork chops with apples and onions

What did I do to celebrate the end of another semester? I tried out this quick pork chop recipe, which I think is one of the first and only things I’ve really cooked this month. This week I also had time to bake two batches of cookies (M&M and molasses), though it wasn’t the same without my baking partner. This is the first year in more than 10 years that we haven’t gotten together to do our Christmas cookie bake-a-thon. Sad face.

I liked this recipe because it looked quick (great for a weeknight) and it forced me to face my fear of overcooking meat. I also liked it because I bought a 22-ounce bottle of Crispin cider and got to drink the rest while I was cooking (since the recipe only called for 1 cup).

Mise en place

The pork browned nicely, but could have used a little more flavor. I think next time it could be marinated a bit ahead of time (I can’t take credit for that idea) or I would brown (but not cook through) the pork, then finish cooking it in the sauce.

My pork to apple/onion ratio was also a bit off. I only bought two pieces of “butterflied boneless pork loin”, which I cut in half to make four chops (the original recipe called for 8 pork chops or about 2 1/4 pounds). There were a lot of onions and apples leftover, which I saved but couldn’t figure out a good use for them,

Pork prep, on a different cutting board (safety first!)

Hard cider pork chops with apples and onions
Serves:
Adapted from Aggie’s Kitchen via Pinterest

Ingredients
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/2 Tablespoon olive oil
4 thin, boneless pork loin chops
1 Granny smith apple, washed and sliced
1/2 large red onion, sliced

Deglazing the pan

1/2 large yellow onion, sliced
1 cup hard apple cider (or non-hard apple cider)

Directions
1. In a small bowl mix together salt, pepper, garlic powder, and rosemary. Liberally rub seasoning mix on both sides of pork chops.

Dinner is served

2. In a large heavy skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Place the pork chops into the pan. Cook on one side for 4 minutes until chops are golden brown and they release from the pan easily. Cook the other side for additional 4 minutes or until golden brown. Remove pork chops from pan and set aside.

3. Place sliced onions and apples into skillet. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Pour in about 1/4 cup of the hard cider and deglaze the pan while tossing the apples and onions. Add the rest of the hard apple cider and simmer for 5 minutes uncovered or until liquid reduces a bit. Add pork chops back into the skillet and cover. Turn off heat and let sit for 1-2 minutes.

4. Using tongs, take out pork chops and place in dish. Pour apple and onion mixture over pork chops and serve.

Chinese New Year potluck

It’s been awhile since we’ve had a potluck, and it was great to get together to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Gung hay fat choy! Thanks to Kim and Rob for hosting and challenging us to create some delicious Chinese-inspired dishes.

I searched “Chinese new year” on Allrecipes and I decided to make Chinese lion’s head soup for a few reasons 1) I’m obsessed with soup, 2) I loved the name, and that it does not contain real lion, and 3) it didn’t seem too complicated. Turns out you can’t really go wrong with a pork, cabbage, ginger combination…it was the base for my soup as well as Kendrin’s pork dumplings.

Homemade dumplings

We had a pretty delicious spread, including chicken in foil, hot and sour soup, Chinese chicken salad, longevity noodles, peanut noodles, and a beautiful cake from Eldo Cake House.

Chicken in foil

Delicious cake

Chinese lion’s head soup
Source: Allrecipes.com
Serves: 4-6

Ingredients
1 pound ground pork
1 egg
1 Tbsp cornstarch
4 tsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp minced fresh ginger root
1/2 tsp salt
2 green onions, chopped and divided
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 head Napa cabbage, cored and cut into chunks
2 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
2 cups water, or as needed
1 Tbsp soy sauce

Directions
1. Mix the ground pork, egg, cornstarch 2 teaspoons of sesame oil, ginger, salt, and half of the chopped green onions together in a bowl. Use your hands to mix until the ingredients are evenly distributed. Use a spoon to form the meat mixture into 1-inch balls. Set aside.
2. Heat the vegetable oil in a wok or large pot over high heat. When the oil is hot, fry the cabbage, stirring constantly, until cabbage begins to wilt, 2-3 minutes. Pour in the broth, water, and soy sauce. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to medium.
3. Drop meatballs into the boiling soup. When the last ball has been added, cover with a lid and simmer for 10 minutes. Taste, and adjust salt before serving. Garnish with remaining green onions and 2 teaspoons of sesame oil.

Prepping the lion’s head

Cheers to the Year of the Serpent! May your fortunes be better than some of the ones we received…

Fortune cookies from Long Island

Pulled pork

I don’t cook meat very often, but when I do pulled pork in my slow cooker is one of my favorites! I also wanted to make something that make a lot of leftovers (I heart leftovers) for lunches this week. The same recipe works great for pulled chicken. The recipe is not very precise as you can vary the amount of meat, onions, and garlic to your taste. This week I used a 2-pound boneless pork loin, 1 onion, and 1 bulb of garlic.

Pulled pork
Serves: 4-6, but depends how much pork you use
Source: me

Ingredients
Pork (I usually use pork loin)
Onions, sliced
Garlic, minced
1 (12-ounce) bottle of beer (I usually use a medium-dark beer, like Sam Adams)
1 (28-ounce) bottle of barbecue sauce (I usually use Sweet Baby Ray’s or make my own)

Directions
1. Place pork, onions, garlic, and beer in slow cooker. Cook on low for about 6 hours (I usually cook on high for the first hour and then low for 5 hours).

2. Remove pork and discard liquid, reserving onions and garlic if desired. Shred pork.

3. Place shredded pork back in slow cooker and mix with barbecue sauce. Cook on low for 1 hour.

4. Enjoy! I like to have it with cornbread or slider rolls.