Pork & Cheese

Ingredients:

16oz uncooked elbow macaroni

Pinch of salt

1 tsp olive oil

1lb smoked pork belly, sliced

3 TBSP flour

Salt & pepper

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp paprika

2 cups milk

1 1/2 cups shredded white cheddar

1/2 cup shredded smoke provolone 

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan 

Chopped green onion

Butter for greasing baking pan

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bring a large pot of water to boil, add pinch of salt and olive oil. Boil pasta until al dente.

2. While you're cooking the pasta, pan fry pork belly until crispy. Drain on a paper towel. 

3. In a sauce pan on medium, add four TBSP of pork fat from the frying pan (if you don't have enough rendered fat, use butter to make up the difference. Wisk in flour, one tablespoon at a time, to form a smooth paste. 

4. Wisk in a pinch of salt, pepper, nutmeg,band paprika. Wisk in 1/4 cup of milk, maintaining a smooth texture. Wisk in the rest of the milk, 1/4 cup at a time, until it is all incorporated. 

5. Slowly bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in cheddar and provolone.

6. Chop pork belly and mix into your béchamel (cheese sauce). Season with salt and pepper to taste.

7. Grease baking pan with butter, add pasta & pour cheese sauce over the top. Gently stir to incorporate.

8. Bake for twenty-five minutes and top with Parmesan. Bake an additional five minutes and remove from oven. Top with green onion & serve.

Apple Pepperjack Pork Loin

I'm getting down to the bitter end of my referigerator staples, which means improvising. I had the crazy idea to watch the latest episode of Maste Chef, which involved an abundant amount of apples and absolutely no deserts! Then I saw that I had one lowly apple left in my crisper drawer. Eureka.

I had no bacon but I had pancetta! 

I had one tiny brick of Pepperjack left!

Then everything else fell into place...

Main dish Ingredients:

1lb pork loin, boneless & about 1/8 inch thick (which I had in my freezer)

1/4lb pancetta, diced

1 apple, preferably a sweet variety

4oz Pepperjack cheese, shredded

Breadcrumbs

Salt & pepper to taste

Jalapeño olive oil (plain will work but this jalapeño olive oil gives it a delicious kick)

Dijon mustard

1 onion, thinly sliced

1/2 TBSP butter

1/2 cup apple juice (or white wine; however the apple juice really ties in the apple flavor from inside the pork)

Toothpicks

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 475. Skin & core the apple then finely dice.

2. Mix apple and 1/2 the grated cheese together in a bowl.

3. Generously salt and pepper pork on both sides. 

4. Slather a layer of the cheese and apple mixture on one side of the loin, pushing gently.

5. Roll the loin and secure with a toothpick (diagonally so that both ends barely pertrude).

6. Repeat until all pieces are rolled and secured.

7. Sautée pancetta until crispy and drain on paper towels.

8. Add 1 TBSP of jalapeño olive oil to the same pan over medium.

9. When pan is very hot, add loins and cook 45-60 seconds on each side. Remove from heat and immediately baste in Dijon mustard.

10. Quickly chop half the pancetta and toss with remaing cheese and equal parts bread crumbs.

11. Roll loin in breadcrumb mixture and place on greased baking sheet.

12. Bake ten minutes, turning tray halfway through (I steamed my brocolli at the same time).

13. While loin cooks add onion and butter to the pan you cooked the loin and pancetta in. Coat onion in the butter/olive oil. Cook until translucent. Add apple juice and gently scrape bits of pancetta and pork off the pan to incorporate into your pan sauce. Allow to simmer over medium low until only about half the liquid remains. Toss in the rest of the pancetta.

14. Gently remove toothpicks. Serve.

& if you're interested in a quick and easy desert like this:

Try this Lemon Soufflé Pudding recipe!

Braised Pork Ribs

Pork is actually one of the leanest cuts of red meat you can buy. Currently, most pig farmers breed their pigs to be more lean. This is why cooking pork can be a little tough, literally. Cook it too long and you risk a dry, tough piece of meat. Fat content helps give a bit of room for error when cooking because the fat keeps the meat juicy. 

Because of this, unless I have time to babysit pork during cooking, a lot of the recipes I prefer include either brining or, in this case, braising to help maintain moisture and keep the meat tender. Now for those of you who have ever eaten collard or mustard greens, braising also helps soften these hearty leafy vegetables, which is why I cooked my radish greens with my pork. Please keep in mind, when you braise, almost any liquid can be used. I've used beer, wine, and even broth or stock. The only thing that you'll probably change (based on liquid) is your marinade or accompanying produce. I usually do an apple sautée to accompany my pork but I decided to give apple juice a try.

Ingredients (require no specific measurements)

Apple juice (braising liquid)

Pork ribs

Salt & pepper

Olive oil 

Marinade (optional)

Couple sprigs of fresh herbs (I used sage & rosemary)

Radish greens, stems removed

1 medium onion, sliced

Two cloves garlic, chopped

Barbecue sauce

Directions:

Generously salt and pepper your ribs. If also marinating, do so now. Marinate overnight if desired. I used a dry marinade so I mixed it with a bit of olive oil to form a paste and slathered it on the ribs.

Heat a heavy sautée pan on medium with a generous drizzle of olive oil in it. When the pan is nice and hot (if you're unsure, add a few drops of water. If they sizzle and dissapate within a few seconds, you're ready, be sure not to smoke the pan).

Heat oven to 350.

Sear your ribs on both sides, for about two minutes on each side to brown. Then put the ribs in an oven safe dish. I used my deep roasting pan, usually for turkey. 

Toss your greens with the garlic and onion and add in a corner of the roasting pan.

Pour in your apple juice until the tops of your ribs are just barely submerged. Toss in your fresh herbs and cover with foil. Bake 2 hours. 

Carefully remove pan from oven. Uncover, place ribs on foil lined baking sheet. Strain liquid and place your greens on your serving dish. Cover with foil to keep warm.

Baste ribs in barbecue sauce and bake fifteen to twenty minutes (you can disregard this step and serve the ribs as is). 

You can also make a quick gravy using the braising liquid. 

Ingredients:

2 TBSP butter

2 TBSP flour

2 cups braising liquid

Directions:

Melt butter in sauce pan over low heat.

Whisk in one TBSP of flour at time vigorously to create a smooth paste. 

Whisk in 1/3 cup braising liquid until smooth. Whisk in an additional third cup until smooth. Whisk in about 2/3 cups braising liquid until smooth and then whisk in the remaining 2/3 cup. Bring to a light boil, stirring occasionally, then remove from heat and serve.

Pork Belly Roast

Ingredients:

2 1/2-3lb pork belly roast

2 TBSP favorite dried herb (my grandmother uses fennel seeds)

2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil

1 large russet potato, cubed

2 medium carrots, scrubbed vigorously

1 celery stalk, chopped

2-4 cups beef or chicken stock

Salt and pepper

1. Heat your oven to a high temperature. I'm cooking with gas so my range says "Max" and that is what I use, it is approximately 550 degrees.

2. Slice the pork belly (skin side) just down to the meat, cutting through the fat, about 1 inch apart in both directions to create a grid effect. Generously salt and pepper underside (meat) portion. Now back on the skin side, sprinkle only 1 TBSP of the herbs on the skin side. Then drizzle one TBSP of olive oil. Gently rub the herbs into the crevices. Repeat for second TBSP of both the herbs and the olive oil.

3. Drizzle some olive oil into the bottom of your baking dish. Add all the vegetables and generously salt and pepper (the veggies are to keep your roast off the bottom so that it doesn't burn and will also be used for a gravy).

4. Set the pork loin on top of your veggies and put in the oven for 10-15 minutes until you notice the skin bubble and crisp. Then reduce the heat to 325 and continue to bake 1 1/2 hours.

5. Remove roast from oven, place meat on your cutting board (to rest, don't cut it yet! Let the juices get sucked back into the meat first).

6. Put the veggies in a large sauce pan on medium and mash. Add just enough beef (or chicken stock) to make a paste. Now whisk in enough stock to form a gravy. Strain with a mesh strainer to remove any large pieces of veggie (this is how I trick my boys into eating vegetables... I do leave a bit untrained as I love the chunky veggie gravy).

7. Slice cracklings off the roast (keep it for your own enjoyment). Slice roast and serve with veggie gravy.