Sunday, May 19, 2013

"Pork Chahpsh and Appleshaush"

About a year ago, I found a recipe for Drunken Pork Chops on Pinterest.  I tried it and while the flavor was great, the cooking time was completely off.  The chops were tougher than shoe leather.  I attempted them again this time cutting the cooking time by half, and they were delicious!!  They were so juicy!  The gravy is sweeter than typical gravy but it’s truly great on top of mashed potatoes.

I didn’t get into drinking beer until recently, and before that I was primarily into ciders.  This recipe got me thinking about making a sauce with hard cider and apples (the most natural pork accoutrement).  What resulted were juicy pork chops and a low sugar chunky applesauce.

Pork Chops and “Drunken” Applesauce
2 Granny Smith Apples
1 t cinnamon
½ t ground nutmeg
1 t brown sugar
1 t vanilla extract
1 bottle hard apple cider*
1 T Extra virgin olive oil (or fat of choice – coconut oil, butter, etc.)
4 thick-cut pork chops (about an inch thick, boneless or bone-in)
1 T cornstarch
Additional brown sugar to taste
Salt and pepper to taste


Peel core and dice the apples and place in a bowl.  Sprinkle with cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, vanilla extract, and a tiny dash of salt and toss to coat.  Add the apple cider to the bowl and set aside.



In a large skillet, heat EVOO over medium high heat.  Sprinkle both sides of the pork chops liberally with salt and pepper.  Place pork chops in the hot oil and let sear for 1-2 minutes until pork is golden brown.  Flip chops and repeat.  Remove chops to a plate and set aside (the middle will still be raw).

 


Add the apples mixture to the hot pan (make sure you scrape the bottom of the bowl to get all the cinnamon and nutmeg) and heat to boiling.  Reduce the heat to medium and add the pork chops back to the pan.  (Make sure to nestle them down into the apples.)  Cook chops for 15-20 minutes (20-25 for bone-in chops) flipping halfway though cooking.  Set chops aside.



In a small bowl, mix the cornstarch and a tablespoon or two of cool water to dissolve the cornstarch and add to the pan of apples.  Stir and bring to a boil over medium high heat until sauce is thickened.  Taste for sweetness and add more brown sugar (if needed) until you’ve reached your desired level of sweetness (make sure to heat, melt and mix in the sugar each time you add more).


Serve your pork chops with the chunky applesauce.  Enjoy!



Alternately, you can make this applesauce without the pork chops.

Drunken Apple Sauce
Peel, core and dice apples as before.  Toss with the same dry ingredients, but do not add the cider.  Melt 1 T butter in a skillet and sauté the apples over medium high heat for 5 minutes until apples are slightly softened.  Add the cider, stir and reduce heat to medium.  Simmer mixture for 10-15 minutes until apples are very soft.  Add the same cornstarch slurry and bring to a boil to thicken sauce.  Add additional sugar if needed.

*You can substitute apple juice or regular apple cider if you don’t wish to cook with alcohol, however the alcohol will cook off.  If you substitute with juice, eliminate the sugar.

Sunday, April 7, 2013

LAH-ZAHN-YAH


My sister, Holly, moved away from home a few months ago and when she left she was not a cook, and didn’t seem to have much interest.  However, in an effort to eat better and save some money, apparently Holly’s been experimenting in the kitchen, and aside from drying out chicken breasts (easy to do) has been fairly successful.  (Proud sister!)

She mentioned that she was craving my white lasagna and expressed interest in making it for her roommates, so I offered to make it while she was home visiting for Easter, and blogging it, so she’d have the directions online.

The original recipe came from Sara Moulton when she had a show on the Food Network.  This recipe includes asparagus and a lemon goat cheese béchamel (white sauce made of a roux of flour and butter).  Many years ago, I started adding spinach and mushrooms to this dish because I love them, but it wasn’t until recently I figured out how to perfect the sauce.  The béchamel had always been slightly grainy to me.  Granted, part of that is the texture of the goat cheese, but the addition of the lemon juice to the cheese sauce, while completely necessary, always seemed to curdle the sauce just the tiniest bit more.  So this go-round, I found other ways to get the lemon flavor in there without it curdling the sauce.

Lemon Veggie Goat Cheese Lasagna
4 lemons
2 bunches asparagus
12 oz box no boil lasagna noodles
2 T extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) or fat of choice (butter, coconut oil, etc.)
16 oz mushrooms of choice, chopped*
3 T butter
3 T flour
24 oz stock (chicken or veg)
12 oz goat cheese (can also substitute cream cheese if you’re not a goat cheese fan)
10 oz spinach, rough chopped
32 oz shredded mozzarella
4 oz grated Parmesan
Salt and pepper to taste


Using a micro plane, zest your lemons.  Set zest aside.


Halve lemons and juice them into a large pot, removing the seeds.  Place lemon halves in the pot with the juice.  Fill pot ¾ full with water and bring to a boil. 



While you’re waiting for your water to boil, clean, trim and chop asparagus.  The ends of asparagus get woody (fibrous) especially if the stalks are fat.  The easiest/fastest way to trim asparagus is to hold each end of one stalk in your hands and then start bending.  The woody ends will naturally break off and you’re left with the tender tops.  Then using your one trimmed asparagus as a guide, cut the remaining asparagus to the same length.  Some people are opposed to this as it’s not exact and it can be wasteful.  If you’re opposed, break off each asparagus one by one.  I actually think it’s kind of fun and it creates the best popping sound!  When your asparagus has been trimmed, chop into bite-sized pieces (approximately 1 inch).



Add your asparagus to the boiling lemon water and boil for 2-3 minutes.  This is called blanching.   Take off the heat and then remove asparagus and lemons with a slotted spoon to a bowl of ice water.  (DO NOT DRAIN THE COOKING WATER!)  This is called shocking.  It stops the cooking process.  Set aside. 



Still off the heat, empty your box of lasagna noodles into the pot of hot lemon water.  (Break in half if they’re too big to fit in whole.)  True, they’re no boil noodles, but I sometimes find that the noodles come out a little tough when I don’t at least run them under a faucet of hot water.  In addition, the noodles will soak up some of that salty lemon water, thus lending flavor to the dish.  Set aside.


Add EVOO to a sauté pan and heat over medium high heat.  Cook mushrooms, stirring constantly, for 3-5 minutes until wilted a little.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Set aside.


Add butter to a sauce pot (you can use the same sauté pan if the sides are deep enough) and melt over medium high heat.  Add flour and whisk until all of the butter is absorbed and the mixture starts to turn golden.  Continue whisking as you slowly add the stock.  When the flour is completely incorporated and the stock is hot (but not boiling) start crumbling your goat cheese, in batches, into the sauce.  Stir between batches.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Remove from heat and set aside.





Drain your asparagus and discard lemon rinds.

Preheat your oven to 350.

In a lasagna pan, ladle just enough sauce to thinly coat the bottom of the pan. 


1. Remove a few noodles from the pot with tongs and layer on top of the sauce.  They don't need to overlap because they will expand as they cook.


2. Layer half of the spinach and half of the lemon zest.


3. Layer half of the asparagus and half of the mushrooms.** 


4. Layer 1/3 of the sauce.


5. Layer 1/3 of both mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses.


Repeat steps 1-5.
To top off the lasagna, add a final layer of noodles and top with the last 1/3 of the sauce.  Using the back of a spoon, spread the sauce making sure all of the noodles are coated.  Then layer the remaining 1/3 of both cheeses, making sure that all of the noodles are covered.


Cover pan loosely with foil and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove the foil and bake an additional 15-30 minutes until the cheese is gold and bubbly and lasagna is heated throughout.

Remove from oven and let sit for 5-10 minutes to let layers set up.


Cut, serve and enjoy!


*I only put mushrooms on half of this lasagna since my sister is not a huge fan.  However, she tried a bite with the mushrooms and really liked the flavor so henceforth I will make this lasagna with mushrooms throughout!

**In addition, since I had to distinguish which side had mushrooms and which did not, I also layered some asparagus and mushrooms on top of the lasagna.  For the purposes of the written recipe all of the vegetables are incorporated within the lasagna.  Feel free to do either.