Great Lakes Foodie » Pork

Chinese BBQ Baby Back Ribs

Great Lakes Foodie — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 23:56:00 +0000

I had the opportunity to make something with a set of baby back pork ribs that I purchased. I found this recipe in my Gourmet magazine arsenal. I’ve never made anything with pork ribs on the bone before. This was a great mid-week meal. The flavor was wonderful. The only complaint that I would have is that the process was too quick to cook down/off the fat in the pork. The ribs were a bit on the fatty side for my preferences. Next time, I’ll cook them slow and low in the oven. The flavor in the sauce was wonderful.

Technorati Tags: Barbeque, Chinese, Pork

Navy Bean Soup

Great Lakes Foodie — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 01:21:06 +0000

Navy bean soup for dinner tonight. This dish was another recipe from Cooking Light magazine. The thing I like about this magazine is that it provides recipes that are healthy all around. These aren’t fat free meals. Rather, these are meals that are quite well-balanced. Most shoot for a fat calorie content of 30% or less.

This recipe was an easy one to make. I didn’t do the quick soak method, which identified in step 1. Knowing that I’d be making this dish hours in advance, I opted for the 6-8 hour cold water soak. This allowed me to have a pot of beans ready to go when I got home this afternoon. Saved me an hour of preparation time. The rest of the dish went well. Admittedly (and the picture shows it), I skipped the kale. I’m not the biggest fan of greens in my soups. The other deviation from the recipe below was the ham hocks. I substituted a ham bone (with a little meat on it) that I had placed in the freezer a few weeks ago. I save ham bones for either navy bean soup or split pea soup.

I will say that this meal is a very hearty one, even without the kale. The serving size below is quite generous. We had a bowl and a half each….and I have four containers in the refrigerator with more than what we ate tonight. We probably could have divided the dish into 8 servings and still had the soup as a standalone meal.

Technorati Tags: Pork, soup

It’s almost Friday!!!

Great Lakes Foodie — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 02:05:56 +0000

What a long week! I’m really looking forward to the weekend. Have to come up with a meal plan for the next week or two. Not having been out to eat in nearly three weeks, I have to come up with some meals that will continue to keep me excited about not going out. A friend at work went out for Mexican last night. She was talking about the pitchers of margaritas, the fajitas, the steak tacos, the strip steak with poblanos on top. I NEED Mexican. So, in addition to having a margarita at home tonight, I’ve decided one of the meals in the next two weeks must be Mexican. Soft shell flour tortillas, black beans, salsa, avocado…mmmmm.

Had a great meal tonight. No recipe required. Mango chutney pork chops and mashed cauliflower. Quick pan saute of the chops with a drizzle of chutney on top. Cauliflower cooked in chicken broth and milk…then mashed with salt, pepper, garlic, and your favorite herbs!!! Yum!

Technorati Tags: Mango Chutney, Pork

Herb-Roasted Pork

Great Lakes Foodie — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:49:53 +0000

Rosemary

Well, it was 4:00am this morning and I couldn’t sleep anymore. Working 12-hour days the last three days has not left me much in the mood to cook from scratch. However, I had pulled a pork roast out of the freezer on Sunday and it was now thawed and ready to go. I decided to get out of bed instead of dwelling on my work issues. The roast is marinating with it’s herb goodness. Later on, herb goodness is going to turn into herb crust. I can’t wait! I’ve put a semi-chunky paste of fresh rosemary, fresh thyme, dried sage leaves from my 2009 garden, garlic, salt, pepper, and olive oil. I minced the herbs into consistent pieces and then mixed everything up and rubbed over the top and sides of the roast. Hopefully, I’ll be back home in 12-13 hours and can start the roast. By 7:00pm, we should be eating delicious pork, scalloped potatoes, and having a glass of red wine. Ahhh, the remedy for a long work week is arriving.

Technorati Tags: Herbs, Pork

Spice-Rubbed Pork Chops

Great Lakes Foodie — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 15:28:59 +0000

This quick dish was absolutely wonderful. The spice-rub forms a great crust on the top of your pork chop. The warming flavors of coriander and cumin paired really well with the garlicky sweet potatoes and lemon-scented green beans. I followed all of the side suggestions for this recipe.

Source: Cooking Light, October 2009

Recipe: Spice-Rubbed Pork Chops

Ingredients

2 (4 ounce) boneless pork loin chops
1/8 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil

Instructions

Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle pork with 1/8 teaspoon garlic salt. Combine spices and sugar in a shallow bowl. Sprinkle spice mixture over one side of pork.
Add oil to pan, swirl to coat.
Add pork to pan, spice side down. Cook 2 minutes until browned. Turn pork over, and cook 4 minutes or until done.

Quick Notes

Click on the recipe title for a link to a video of this dish on myrecipes.com

Cooking time (duration): 40

Meal type: supper

Quick hint on pork. I bought a full center loin in bag on sale at our local Pick ‘n Save. The pork loin was just after $16.00 after discount. I was able to cut 14 center-cut chops and 2 small pork roasts out of this piece of meat. I’m not sure I’ll ever buy pork chops pre-cut at the store again!

Technorati Tags: Cooking Light, Pick 'n Save, Pork