Braised Pork Stew, Take 2

Braised Pork Stew, Take 2

A short while ago I first experimented with a braised pork stew.  This weekend the weather has been dull and rainy and more like fall than summer.  I decided it was time to experiment with the pork stew recipe again.

I had half the pork top loin left over in my freezer from the last time I made this dish and since then have also come across some colorful potatoes (also from Costco).  Onions, carrots, and a green apple round up the stew ingredients.  For the rub, I used pressed garlic, salt, Worcestershire sauce, parsley, and three types of pepper - black, white, and chipotle.  I skipped the stock and wine this time and used all beer instead.

The stew came out delicious yet again.  It had a bit of a bite without being spicy.  Pork was moist throughout and the veggies cooked perfectly.  The one thing that surprised me most was the blue and pink potatoes that were part of the mix all turned the same color as the white ones did.  This is definitely a recipe I will play around with again and again and again.

Tropical Chicken Salad

Tropical Chicken Salad

I was in the mood for a cornish hen.  I go to the store, a large supermarket, and what do you know?  They have none!  They did have whole chicken on sale, so it forced my hand.

I get it home and break the bad news to The Guinea Pig.  He relents to letting me make the chicken instead of the hen.  Not surprisingly, we have half a chicken in leftovers.

This is when my brain starts working over time.  Uh oh!  What to do with leftover chicken?  Make chicken salad!

That's easier said than done, or so it would seem to me.  I've only had chicken salad maybe twice in my life (not counting the one I just made), so figuring out a recipe would be nerve wracking.

I decide to go with what I believe to be the staples of celery and red onions.  I get to the store and they have no celery that looks good to me.  Nothing wrong with it, just not catching my eye at all.  Back to the drawing board I go.

I ran across a kiwi and that's when I remembered that I had a mango at home.  Add to that an avocado, keep the red onion and substitute Greek yogurt for mayonaise and voila!

The mix needed some salt, but not too much.  I served it inside a whole wheat pita with some red leaf lettuce and vine ripened tomatoes.  The Guinea Pig was satisfied.

Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms

Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms

A local market had Portabella mushroom caps on sale.  Of course, I couldn't resist picking them up!  What's the first dish that came to my mind to make?  Stuffed mushrooms.  That got me thinking on what to stuff it with.

Initially I was going to go with a quinoa mix of some sort.  I didn't get too far with that train of thought.  Instead, I went in a totally different direction.  One of my family favorite dishes is mashed potatoes with sauteed mushrooms.  Usually I serve the mashed potatoes drowning in mushrooms.  I decided I would put a spin on the dish and stuff the Portabella mushroom caps with mashed potatoes.

I feared that the dish would be bland and decided to add pepper, garlic and green onions to my grandmother's standard mashed potato recipe.  I also seasoned the mushrooms with generous amounts of salt and pepper while I pre-baked them.  The flavor was definitely there still the mushrooms supported it.  Juicy and flavorful.  This dish came out to be a nice twist on an old family staple.

Honey Slaw

Honey Slaw

Like coleslaw, but could live without the guilt of mayo?  That's me!  I went looking for recipes without mayo and got inspired to create my own version of coleslaw.

Originally I was going to use green cabbage, red cabbage, and carrots.  As I was shopping, I came across radicchio and thought that it might make a nice red cabbage substitution.  I also ended up throwing in a granny smith apple for good measure.

Seasoning the slaw was where I had the most fun.  I started by adding celery seeds, then some honey, then the Greek yogurt.  After tasting it, I decided that the slaw needed some more honey and some salt for balance.

The end product was a delicious honey slaw that was fit to be eaten as a dessert.  The Guinea Pig did just that.  He had some as a side with dinner and then some more as dessert.

Caramelized Onion and Mushroom Soup

Caramelized Onion and Mushroom Soup

I love French onion soup and I love mushrooms.  Why not join the two together?  There is no reason not to do so.  The outcome has to be good.

I caramelized a bunch of assorted onions:  red, white,  yellow, and even pearl.  To that add some minced garlic and assorted sliced mushrooms - I used baby bella and shiitake.

After the mushrooms were nice and tender, I started with the liquids.  First, I added some Kolsch beer we had on tap and let it cook for a while and reduce.  Next came beef stock and water.  When that came to a boil, I added the seasoning:  bay leaves, salt, pepper, and white pepper.  While everything was simmering, I sliced and broiled a sourdough baguette until golden.

When the soup was done I played a little game of find the bay leaves.  I won 2 and bay leaves won 1.  The Guinea Pig had to get involved to find the last drowning bay leaf, which he did.

I served it up just like French onion soup:  ladle the soup into a bowl, top with a sourdough slice, sprinkle some shredded Gruyere cheese, and broil until cheese is melted and bubbling.

By itself, the soup was a bit on the spicy side.  Together with the bread and cheese, the flavor was perfect!  Watermelon we planned to have for dessert was the only thing that prevented The Guinea Pig from going in for seconds.

Mushroom Sauce

Mushroom Sauce

Not knowing how moist the quinoa patties would turn out and totally expecting them to be dry, I wanted to make a sauce to go with them.  I came up with a spin on a family favorite:  sauteed mushrooms.  I figured that by slicing the mushrooms into smaller pieces, they would lend themselves to a sauce more than a full fledged side dish.

Off to the store I went in search of a suitable fungus.  A nice looking portabella mushroom ended up calling my name and so it went into the pan.  In addition to the portabella mushroom, I used pearl onions, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and sesame seed oil.

The flavor combination was fantastic!  This might have been only the second time I ever used ginger and this time I did it right.  I won't be shying away from that ingredient in the future.  Next time I'm going to try and have patience and chop up the mushrooms into smaller pieces.

Mission quinoa patty accompaniment was accomplished as well.  The two together were a perfect match.

Quinoa Patties

Quinoa Patties

I came across this recipe a few months ago and have been trying to make it for a while now.  The biggest obstacle was being too lazy to make fresh quinoa.  This time I had leftovers and I knew I had to give this one a shot.  One of those now or never things.

Of course, I didn't follow the recipe exactly.  I substituted in some grated Parmesan cheese and Italian bread crumbs for their counterparts, left out the salt and mint, and used 2 thinly chopped stalks of green onions.

Even though there were 2 eggs in the mixture, the patties were difficult to form.  The outcome was better than I expected.  Not dry at all like I thought they would come out.  Next time I think I'm going to add a bit more greens to it.

Bacon Avocado Egg Salad

Bacon Avocado Egg Salad

Over the weekend it struck me that I haven't eaten egg salad in a long time.  Rather than look up a recipe online, I decided to raid the fridge.  I came out with too many ingredients to make one cohesive dish.

After brainstorming for a bit, I decided to go with the less is more way and went with bare essentials.  I cut it down to just bacon, avocado, eggs and salt and pepper to taste.

I chopped the bacon up into thin strips.  While I mashed the avocado, The Guinea Pig cooked the bacon until it was crispy.  Then I shredded the hard-boiled eggs and mixed everything together.  I thought that maybe bacon would provide enough salt, but it didn't.

The dish was quick to make.  The outcome was a smooth and rich egg salad.  I served it on potato rolls that we had laying around.

Braised Pork Top Loin Stew

Braised Pork Top Loin Stew

A few weeks, or maybe even months now, I made a braised brisket from recipe that turned out unbelievably delicious.  This time around I wanted to apply the same principal to pork.  We got a nice piece of pork that we got in Costco.  In fact, we only used half of the piece we had.  I know that The Guinea Pig will be wanting me to make the other half.

I made the rub/marinade using a whole head of garlic as well as some salt, pepper, and soy sauce.  For the stew part of it I used potatoes with chopped onions, carrots, and some leftover asparagus we had for a pop of green.  Total cook time was approximately 8 hours.

The result was perhaps even more delicious than the brisket, but then again I am partial to pork.  Pork tends to come out dry, but not this time.  The Guinea Pig even had 3 helpings of it during his first seating.  He slowed down a bit after that in hopes of making the delicious food last a bit longer.