Braised Pork, Cabbage, and Roasted Potatoes

For my mom's birthday, I made her a birthday feast of Braised Pork with Apples and Cider Sauce, Braised Red Cabbage, and Roasted Potatoes. And Pink Cake for dessert. The pork and cabbage recipes are from "Savoring the Seasons" by Beth Dooley and Lucia Watson.

Braised Pork:
Pork Roast (we used two pieces of pork roast that were about 5lbs total)
4 tbsp butter
3 scallions, chopped
5 apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
3 carrots, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup brandy
3 cups apple cider
3 cups chicken stock
1 tbsp dried thyme
bay leaf
8 peppercorns

preheat oven to 350F.
heat the butter in a large, deep pan over medium high heat. sear the
pork roast on all sides. remove the meat from the pan and add the
scallions, apples, carrots, and onion and sauté. when the veggies are
soft, add the brandy and boil for 1 minute. add the cider, stock,
thyme, bay leaf and peppercorns. place pork roast in a roasting pan
and pour veggies/liquid over the pork. roast in oven for 2 1/4-2 3/4
hours, until meat reaches 160F on a meat thermometer. we served the
veggie/stock/cider mixture on the side and poured over the pork. the
recipe says you can also reduce it and make more of a gravy or puree
the veggies into the stock to make a thicker sauce.

Braised Red Cabbage:
3 strips bacon or 2 tbsp butter
1 small onion, peeled and thinly sliced
1 medium head red cabbage, shredded
1/2 cup cider vinegar
2 tart apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1/2 cup apple cider1/3 cup sugar
salt and pepper to taste

in a large, deep skillet, fry the bacon (or if using oil or butter, heat over medium heat). leave the drippings in the pan and drain the
bacon on paper towels. crumble the bacon and set aside for garnish.
sauté the onion until soft and brown. toss the shredded cabbage with the vinegar, then add this, along with the remaining ingredients (except the salt and pepper), to the pot and simmer, uncovered, until the cabbage is bright and tender (it should not get soggy), about 20 minutes. season with salt and pepper to taste.

Roasted Potatoes:
simple and delicious. this is my favorite way to cook potatoes.dice potatoes, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. add whole cloves of garlic, still in the paper.

roast at 400F for 45 min-1 hour, depending on how crispy you like
them. in my case, very crispy.

Noodle soup

I got home from vacation last week to not so many groceries - certainly nothing fresh. Thus there became an experience of being in some Top Chef type of quick-fire challenge where you have to make a delicious something out of random stuff in the cupboard. (Don't we all do this sometime or another?!) The culinary creativity for this soup was all My Charming Companion and not me - but I am posting because it turned out delicious.

Onion, carrots, celery, & cabbage were sauteed in sesame oil.
Garlic and fresh ginger were added, then chicken stock, tamari, sriracha, and fish sauce.
Rice noodles were cooked on the side.
Two mixed eggs were stirred in (the trick is to do it very slowly) along with frozen peas.
Noodles and soup were combined in a bowl.

Pupusas

I came across corn flour in the cupboard this week and was inspired to try making pupusas - Salvadorian masa cakes traditionally filled with refried beans, pork and/or cheese. I have only had them a couple of times before: in Mercado Central and at the Pupuseria on Lake Street closer to 14th (I think). I came across this article from The Heavy Table that outlines a few different places in the twin cities with good pupusas and some nice photos.

The recipe for the masa dough is super simple(for 4-6 pupusas):
2 cups masa harina
1 c. warm water
Mix the masa harina and water and knead together (adding in a bit more water if needed) until the texture is smooth and does not crack. Cover and let sit 10 minutes.
While the dough is sitting, prepare the filling:
1 cup refried beans
cheese

It was difficult for me to get the right texture with the masa. I'll keep testing that, but this video about how to prepare the pupusa shows the texture you are looking for, and also the technique of making them. I found it KEY to use some oil on my hands so the masa would not stick while I was shaping the cakes. After making the cakes, fry on a dry cast iron pan for many minutes on each side. The goal is to heat the filling inside as well as brown the outside.

Next time I want to try making the traditional topping - curtido - which is a fermented carrot and cabbage mix. I ended up putting some left over mesa red sauce on mine, which was tasty, but missing the tang.

French Onion Soup

Cold winter days can make me yearnful for french onion soup. For years in high school I worked at the Hotel Sofitel where French Onion soup was the order de rigueur. The cheese melted over the top and crusted around the bowl...yum. I don't have the oven-proof serving bowls yet, so I made a mini soup pot version. It turns out that the soup is relatively easy, just time consuming to carmelize the onions.
Serves 6
1 T butter
2 T olive oil
4 large onions, finely sliced
2-5 garlic cloves
1 t sugar
1/2 t dried thyme
2 T flour (I used GF flour)
1/2 c. dry white wine (I used red!)
2 1/4 quarts beef stock
2 T brandy (optional)
6 slices thick french bread, toasted (I had GF bread)
3 c. gruyere or swiss cheese, grated

In a large heavy bottomed saucepan, heat butter and oil over medium heat. Add onions and cook 10-12 minutes until soft.

Set aside one garlic clove and chop the rest. Add to onions with sugar and thyme, and continue cooking over medium heat for 35 minutes until the onions are brown, stirring frequently.

Sprinkle the flour over and stir until well blended. Stir in wine and stock and bring to a boil. Skim off any foam from the surface. Lower the heat and simmer for 45 minutes. Stir in brandy, if using.

Heat the broiler. Rub toasted bread with garlic. Place 6 flameproof soup bowls on a cookie sheet and fill them 3/4 full with onion soup. Float a piece of toast in each and top with grated cheese. Broil for 3-4 minutes until cheese melts and bubbles and serve.

Baked polenta

I decided to try baked polenta a few weeks ago after having only made it on the stove and served it immediately in all of its gooey creamy goodness. I've been craving the baked version ever since.

On Sunday, I made a big pot of polenta with a hefty milk (or other creamy substitute if you prefer)-to-water ratio. You have to cook it on the stove till it's pretty thick. Then, gloop it into a cake pan about 1/2-3/4 inch thick and refrigerate for at least a couple of hours before attempting to cut into cute little triangles.

Whenever you're ready (a few hours or a few days later, or both in our case), cut the polenta into desired shapes, place on a baking sheet and brush with olive oil on both sides. Salt and pepper are also welcome additions at this point. Bake at 450 degrees for about 20 minutes (until golden), turning once.

eggs poached in tomato sauce

This was, like many good things, 1.) inspired by the Smitten Kitchen (linked in the title); and 2.) totally easy.
We made our favorite tomato sauce (some tomatoes, some onions, some garlic, some tomato paste, some olive oil, cinnamon, salt and pepper, a bit of red wine if you have it...), let it bubble for awhile, then cracked 6 eggs into it, covered it for 5 min, and served over crusty French bread. We decided to omit the spinach and forgot the Parmesan cheese on top, but it disappeared nonetheless.

blogluck!

Just some pictures from the get-together.

Cast Iron Cornbread - GF or wheat version

Blogluck Post! Last weekend's WFD blogluck was delectable. The theme was "summer-menu-in-winter" with the idea to still think locally and seasonal...hopefully others will post their recipes soon, but the menu included tofu egg salad, pasta salad (hilary's grandmas recipe), tomato poached eggs, cornbread, beet salad, and some amazing rhubarb tarts (frozen rhubarb from gabie's garden). Photos are all with KP and E, so they are forthcoming.

This cornbread recipe comes from the package of Bob's cornmeal - I have made lots of cornbread before, and this one makes a nice fluffier cornbread (all the baking powder maybe?). It also does not require buttermilk, which I generally do not have around and tends to be in other recipes. I made it GF by substituting Bob's "GF flour" for the flour, which turned out great. *I actually doubled this recipe to fit in an 11" cast iron for the blogluck.

1 c. cornmeal
1 c. flour (if you go GF, also add 3/4 t. xanthan gum)
1/2 t. salt
4 t. baking powder
1 T. sugar (optional)
1 egg
1 c. milk
1/4 c. butter (melted)

Put 8-9" cast iron pan in the oven to pre-heat at 425 degrees. Mix dry ingredients in large bowl, and mix wet ingredients in a smaller one. Make sure the butter is cooled a bit before adding it to the egg/milk mixture. Once pan is hot, remove from oven and butter the pan, making sure to get the sides. (This pre-heat method makes for a nice bronzed, crispier cornbread edge. yum.) Pour wet ingredients into dry ones and mix - do not overbeat. Pour batter into hot cast iron and cook for 20-25 minutes.