FoodB

Back in May , Jenn made a recipe that involved sausage stuffed in a pork roast and being the funny man I am, made a joke about having three kinds of pork mashed together would probably make my head explode. Well I found out last week that my wife is either trying to see if that is true (and therefore trying to kill me) or just trying to make the most insane pork chop ever. Here is the heart stopping recipe in all it's glory:

Sausage Stuffed, Bacon-Wrapped Pork Chops

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 pound Sausage (Italian or Andouille)
1/2 cup chopped yellow onions
1/4 cup chopped orange bell peppers
1/4 cup chopped celery
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups crumbled corn bread
1 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
4 (14 to 16-ounce) bone-in loin pork chops
16 slices bacon

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. In a large, heavy skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium-high heat. Add the sausage out of its casing and cook, stirring, until brown, about 3 minutes. Add the onions, bell peppers, and celery and cook, stirring often, until tender, about 4 minutes. Add garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and the black pepper, and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the corn bread and chicken stock and cook, stirring, until the corn bread is soft, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat and mix in the parsley. Let cool for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, with a thin sharp knife, cut a slit into the side of the pork chops about 2 1/2-inches across and 1-inch deep. Season the chops on both sides with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and the pepper. Then stuff each chop with about 1/2 cup of the cooled corn bread stuffing. (The chops will be very full.) Wrap 4 slices of bacon around each chop, making sure that each end of bacon overlaps the next, so that the chop is completely wrapped. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a very large heavy ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Carefully lay the chops in the pan. Cook until the bacon is crispy, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer the skillet to the oven and roast for 20 minutes.
3. Remove from the oven. Transfer the chops to a platter and tent with aluminum foil to keep warm and serve.

Really, I mean, come on! Pork chops stuffed with sausage, wrapped in bacon. How could I not like this one. I can't even put into words how much I liked this one. The stuffing was really good to. Another version of corn bread stuffing that I can imagine eating any old day of the week. Good stuff on all three layers.

Posted by Gordon at 01:35 PM | Permalink

A few weeks back we had a soup recipe that backfired on us. We had been making soups on a weekly basis and that bad soup was enough to stop us from making any soup for the last couple of weeks. But we can't live in fear. When the horse throws you off, you need to get right back on.

So when Jenn was trying to find a good soup recipe to make this week she read me off about 12 different recipe that she had found. Just from the titles alone, they all sounded great. We were able to narrow it down to two finalists and the consensus was a soup I really enjoy at most Italian restaurants that I go to:

Minestrone with Crisp Parmesan Crumbs Recipe

1 pound borlotti beans
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus 1/2 cup divided, plus more for garnish
1/2 pound pancetta, finely chopped
2 medium onion, finely chopped
4 stalks celery, finely chopped
4 carrots, finely chopped
4 parsnips, finely chopped
3 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
3 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves
6 fresh sage leaves, chopped
2 bay leaves
2 (28-ounce) cans whole, peeled tomatoes, drained and hand crushed
6 quarts chicken stock
3 cups fresh white bread crumbs
1 cup grated Parmesan
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Soak the beans: Put the beans in a large pot and cover them with water by 2 inches. Bring to a boil and cook the beans for 2 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and let sit for 1 hour. (Or cover the beans with cold water and let them soak overnight.)
2. Start the soup: In a large soup pot over medium-high heat, add 3 tablespoons olive oil. When the oil is hot add the pancetta, onion, celery, carrots, and parsnips and cook until the vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons thyme, 2 tablespoons rosemary, the sage, and bay leaves. Drain the beans and add them to the pot along with the tomatoes and 1/4 cup olive oil. Pour in the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, adding water if you need more liquid. The soup should be thick: to thicken the soup, break up some of the beans with the back of a spoon. Remove the bay leaves and discard before serving.
3. Toast the bread crumbs: Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mix the bread crumbs, remaining thyme and rosemary, and cheese on a baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle over about 1/4 cup olive oil; combine well. Bake until the crumbs are golden brown and crisp, 20 to 25 minutes.
4. To serve, ladle the soup into small glasses, cups or mugs. Drizzle on a little olive oil, top with the crispy crumbs, and serve.

Chefs Notes: We didn't use dried beans for this recipe, instead we just added canned beans. We have been finding that for soups that canned beans are more than ok as a replacement. Also we cut the recipe in half once we realized that it would have been enough soup to feed all the homeless people in Orange County. And lastly, Jenn added some tomato sauce from crushed tomatoes to the broth to add some flavor. I didn't taste it without the tomato sauce but she said it really helped the flavor of the broth.

Really good stuff. The parmesan crumbs are a great addition and I think they can go in just about any soup we make from now on. For the bread, instead of running to Albertsons to pick up what is most likely a few days old baguette, I headed over to Lee's Sandwich and bought 2 baguettes for a dollar. Man they make some good bread there and its cheaper than the regular store. If you have one near you that makes bread I implore you to buy all of you French bread from their instead of the leftover crap they are selling at your grocer.

Posted by Gordon at 02:05 PM | Permalink

Our quest to create ravioli's continues. In our first adventure we made everything from scratch. The results were not so good. We did learn a lot and making anything from scratch tends to take practice.

Our second attempt was a lot better. That time we didn't try to make the pasta ourselves. Instead we used store bought won-ton wrappers and the results were great.

With that in mind, Jenn decided to get a little creative on the fillings. We are eating healthier and on a trip to Trader Joe's she came across some chicken sausages. Personally the thought of chicken sausage didn't really sound appetizing to me but I was willing to give it a try. Also we picked up some sun dried tomatoes and fresh basil and she decided to make 2 different kinds of ravioli's. Here is a brief explanation of what we did to create the stuffing's:

Chicken Sausage and Mozzarella cheese

For these ravioli's, we removed the meat from the casing and then cooked it in a pan until it was firm and brown. Once we let the sausage cool we added some shredded mozzarella and presto, instant ravioli stuffing.

Mozzarella Cheese, Sun dried Tomatoes and Fresh Basil

What we did with the sun dried tomatoes was put them in a food processor until they were like a paste. For the fresh basil I just finely cut up the basil leaves. Add mozzarella and mix together. Important thing to note on this one is to add some salt to the mix for a little seasoning.

Really good stuff here and we had enough stuffing to make extra and freeze them for a day in which we didn't want to cook (which turned out to be yesterday). I helped stuff the raviolis and I was thinking that this would be a perfect recipe to make with kids because it is easy using the won-ton wrappers, it allows them to pick their own ingredients, and they get to get their hands dirty making it.

Posted by Gordon at 03:36 PM | Permalink

Once again, I am handing off the posting duties to my wife for this last recipe. I didn't really care for it but I could tell that she really like it so I thought it better if she wrote it up. Take it away hon:

It's Woody again, writing another food blog. Gordon didn't particularly like this dish all that well but I thought it was so good so I wanted to write a review on this recipe.

I saw this recipe on Food 911 and thought it would be something new and exciting to make.

Shrimp Ceviche Served in Coconuts

1 Lemon, halved
1 head Garlic, halved
3 Bay Leaves
8 Peppercorns
Sea salt
1 1/2 lbs. large Shrimp, peeled
2 cups Coconut Milk
1/2 cup Lime Juice (about 6 to 8 limes), plus more for drizzling
1 Red Onion, sliced thin
2 Serrano Chiles, sliced thin
1/2 bunch freshly chopped Cilantro leaves, plus more for garnish
4 Coconuts
2 cups rock or kosher Salt, for serving
Extra-virgin Olive Oil, for drizzling

1. Make the ceviche: Put a large pot of water over high heat and add the lemon, garlic, bay leaves, peppercorns and salt, to taste. When it comes to a boil add the shrimp and turn off the heat. Let the shrimp poach just until they are cooked through, about 3 to 5 minutes. Remove the shrimp to a sheet pan and refrigerate. When they are cool slice them in half lengthwise. Combine the coconut milk, lime juice, onion, chiles, and cilantro in a large bowl and season it with salt. Add the cooled shrimp and let them marinate, refrigerated, for about 1/2 hour.
2. Prepare the coconut shells: Take a hammer and hit the coconut repeatedly (not too hard) around its equator, turning the coconut in your hand. It will eventually split into 2 halves. Drain the liquid from the coconuts.
3. To serve: Pour the salt onto a large platter and nestle the coconut halves into the salt so they stand upright. Divide the ceviche among the coconut halves; garnish with drizzles of lime juice, olive oil and cilantro.

Chefs Note: Now I didn't use the Serrano Chilies because I can't do spicy and I didn't use the Rock Salt or Coconuts for presentation. And I didn't have a whole garlic clove so I just used Garlic Powder and it was fine.

All in all this was a great dish. There were flavors that I had personally never had before and it was so exciting to me. The coconut milk was so light and added such a gentle flavor to it and it especially went great with the cilantro. I seriously could not get enough of it. I ended up eating Gordon's half. Gordon didn't like it because he doesn't like coconut all that much. Now I don't like shredded coconut because of the texture but I love the taste and the taste was definitely in the milk.

This is definitely something fun to do at a next BBQ or summer party. It was light and refreshing.

Posted by Gordon at 11:07 AM | Permalink

We had quite a track record going there for awhile. Jenn had been picking meals and it seemed like they were all things that we would be willing to try again.

Well that all ended last week. Last week we tried making a chicken recipe that called for a peach/mango BBQ sauce. I have seen BBQ recipes that use peach or mango so I didn't think anything of it. When we tried it we realized that the sauce was quite, how to say this, nasty. I put my sauce on the side so I was able to just eat the chicken plain but Jenn was not so lucky.

Last night we also ruined our "we have yet to have a bad soup" milestone as well. I won't go into to much detail but it was definitely an odd flavor.

One thing we did have on Monday that we enjoyed was this lamb recipe. I am growing into quite the lamb fan these days. I noticed that when I finish a lamb chop, I don't feel quite as weighed down as I would if I had eaten beef. Maybe I am a New Zealander at heart.

Lamb Chops with Rosemary Plum Sauce and Roasted Asparagus with Lemon Vinaigrette and Diced Egg

Cooking spray
1 bunch asparagus
4 small red potatoes, quartered
Salt and ground black pepper
4 (4-ounce) boneless lamb loin chops, trimmed of fat
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 leeks, rinsed and chopped
1 cup prepared plum sauce
2 Tbsp prepared plum preserves
1 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary leaves
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 hard-boiled egg, shelled and diced

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray.
3. Arrange asparagus and potatoes on baking sheet and spray with cooking spray. Season with salt and black pepper. Roast 20 to 25 minutes, until tender and golden brown.
4. Meanwhile, season lamb chops all over with salt and black pepper. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add chops and sear 2 to 3 minutes per side, until golden brown. Remove lamb from pan and set aside. Add leeks to the same pan and sauté 3 minutes, until soft. Return lamb to pan.
5. In a small bowl, whisk together plum sauce, plum preserves and rosemary. Pour mixture over lamb chops. Simmer 5 minutes, until lamb is tender and medium-rare to medium.
6. In a small bowl, whisk together lemon juice, lemon zest, oil and mustard. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Arrange asparagus on a serving dish. Drizzle lemon vinaigrette over top. Top with diced egg. Serve lamb chops with asparagus and potatoes on the side and extra sauce (with leeks) spooned over top.

Good stuff. Lamb loin chop are relatively expensive so this one will probably be a special occasion meal. Neither of us know what prepared plum sauce is so we just used plum sauce from the Asian section of the market. Also we couldn't find plum preserves so we just omitted it from the recipe. The sauce was probably not as thick as it could have been but there wasn't anything really missing from the lamb.

Posted by Gordon at 01:38 PM | Permalink

Jenn made this recipe and it involved something that I refuse to eat. She really wanted to have it represented on this site, so she asked if she could write up the post on this one. Being as I didn't have to taste the salad, I am all for that compromise. So without further delay, here is my wife...

OK, so I am writing today's food blog, just because the recipe I found is really good, however Gordon's 3 evils are Pickles, Mustard and Mayo and this recipe has Mayo in it, so there is no way he would be eating this.

I wanted to find something fun and different to make for the 4th of July and I was watching Paula Dean one day on TV and she made this. I thought it looked real tasty so my mother and I made it one day, and it was just that! I decided to make it also for 4th of July and it was a hit and miss kind of a dish. Some people loved it and some people thought it was just OK and for those who hate Mayo; well, they didn't have any.

McCalls Plantation Shrimp Salad

2 lbs. Small Shrimp (You can use pre-cooked bag)
1 Tbsn. Old Bay Seasoning
1-cup medium grain Rice
1/2-cup Red Onion, chopped
Black Pepper
1-cup Mayonnaise
Salt to taste

1. Boil the Shrimp in water. Drain and set aside to cool. Season shrimp with Old Bay.
2. Boil rice according to package instructions and set aside to cool.
3. After the shrimp and rice have cooled, combine and add the red onion and pepper.
4. Stir in the mayonnaise and add salt to taste. Toss and Serve.

Chefs Note: It was brought to my attention on the show that when cooking with Mayo that a lot of salt usually needs to be added, so don't be shy with it.

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July, I know we did. Yet another year at Nate's house blowing up the neighborhood, it was quite a night.

Posted by Gordon at 02:06 PM | Permalink

Yesterday was the first day of our new diet. We are not going on the traditional Weight Watchers or low carb diets, just trying to eat healthier and downsize our portions. We have been noticing that our portions for meals have been getting bigger and our waistbands have been doing the same. So with that in mind we set up a few rules to help us get back on track towards getting fit again. Here are the main ones:

• No soda
• No candy
• Splitting meals when we go out
• Reducing portions on items we make
• Healthy snacks
• Exercising regularly

Now these are not set in stone goals and we will have the occasional day off. Once we get over the initial hump of starting it, we will not even have to think about these things anymore.

On top of the guidelines we set up, Jenn is making menus that are a little healthier than we normally see. We eat fairly good foods on a regular basis but there is always room for improvement. The first meal she found was a Middle Eastern inspired meal from Bobby Flay:

Mint Marinated Grilled Shrimp Tabbouleh Salad

Tabbouleh
1/2-cup medium or coarsely cracked bulgur
1 1/2 cups boiling water
3/4-cup baby arugula leaves
2 large green onions, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint, plus fresh mint leaves for garnish
1/4-cup fresh lemon or lime juice
1 clove garlic, chopped to a paste
1/4-cup olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Place bulgur in a bowl and pour the boiling water over. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand until bulgur is tender and most of the water is absorbed, about 1 to 2 hours.
2. Drain off any excess liquid from the bulgur and stir in the arugula, green onions and mint.
3. Whisk together the lemon juice, garlic and oil and season with salt and pepper. Pour the mixture over the bulgur and season with salt and pepper.

Grilled shrimp
1/4-cup fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
1/4-cup canola oil
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1-pound shrimp (20 to 24 size), shelled and deveined
Salt

1. Combine juice, mint, oil and pepper in a blender and blend until smooth. Place shrimp in a bowl, pour marinade over and stir to coat evenly in the marinade. Marinate for 10 minutes.
2. Heat grill to high. Season shrimp with salt and grill for 1 to 2 minutes per side or until slightly charred and just cooked through.
3. Transfer tabbouleh to a platter and top with the grilled shrimp. Garnish with fresh mint leaves.

Chef's Note: I chopped the arugula up fine before adding it

We both enjoyed this one. The tabbouleh had too much lemon juice for my taste. Jenn pointed out that if you ate the shrimp and salad at the same time, the effects of the lemon juice where not as noticeable. I did enjoy the tabbouleh otherwise and hopefully we can start making our own, because I have yet to find a place down here in So Cal that make decent tabbouleh. We also tried the bulgur after Jenn added the hot water and we might have some ideas on new recipes for that. The bulgur had a unique flavor and with a little help could become a healthy snack for us when we are craving sweets.

So the first day of the diet was pretty rough on me especially. The only way I get caffeine is through soda and I never realized how much I depended on the stuff to wake up in the morning. Craving candy in the afternoon was a pretty miserable experience also. This morning is a little better so far and hopefully by the end of the week I won't miss it at all.

Posted by Gordon at 08:29 AM | Permalink