Pork Souvlaki

Souvlaki is a favorite Greek street food, it's also a favorite grill food. I've never had Souvlaki before. Whenever I frequent Greek restaurants, I tend to always drift towards my favorites. So I was so delighted that this turned out as lovely as it did, this will definitely be put into our dinner rotation!

One of the best parts was the grilled Naan. I don't think I've ever had it before. To me it was similar to a fresh pita bread. I picked up a package of two in my local grocery store, I didn't have to search for it at a special store. I had some roasted red pepper hummus from a local greek restaurant that went well with this dish.

Pork Souvlaki (From Food Network Magazine)

Ingredients
2 shallots, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 pounds pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2-to-2-inch chunks (I used Pork Tenderloin Tips because they were a better price than the Tenderloins)

Combine the shallots, garlic, oregano, jalapeno, lemon juice and olive oil in a large resealable plastic bag. Add the pork, turn to coat, and refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight.

Soak 10-12 wooden skewers in water, at least 20 minutes.

Preheat a grill or grill pan to medium. Remove the pork from the marinade and thread 2-3 pieces onto each skewer. Grill until cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes per side



Rub each side of the Naan and place on the grill or grill pan a few minutes on each side. This will warm and soften the bread.

Serve the Souvlaki with sliced cucumbers, tzatziki and/or hummus, and grilled pita or Naan. Opah!!

Spring Fettucine Alfredo

I love pasta-flat out admission, I love it. However I do try and limit to once a week but I had some beautiful asparagus from the farmers market, as well as some peas and carrots. I turned to an indulgent comfort food to celebrate these lovely veggies-Fettuccine Alfredo! However this is being deemed a "Spring Alfredo" with the addition of my farmers market finds and some diced ham added to the mix. Homemade Alfredo sauce is too easy to make, and I know there are a lot of variations out there, and that's good. I love the one I use. When I am in the grocery store passing through the spaghetti aisle, I cringe when I see jarred Alfredo sauce. It's so easy-try it for yourself!

Spring Fettuccine Alfredo (source: me!)

2 Tbsp butter
3/4 cup of heavy cream
1 cup grated Parmesan (can also use asiago, but DO NOT use the powdery stuff in a green plastic container)
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg (prefer fresh)

prepared fettuccine (we usually use about half of a box of dried-prepare according to package directions)

1 cup sliced asparagus (remember to break the woody bottoms off!)
1/2 cup carrots, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup fresh peas
3/4 cup diced ham
sliced green onions for garnishing

While your pasta water is heating, assemble the sauce ingredients so they are ready to use as soon as you need them. The sauce comes together rather quickly, so you don't want to be hunting for things last minute.

Prepare the fettuccine according to packaged directions. I added the asparagus, carrots and peas to the pasta water two minutes prior to the end of the cooking time. This was done primarily to cook the asparagus and carrots a little before adding them to the finished pasta(you could also add the sliced ham to the pot just to heat it up if it's been in the refrigerator if you wish.) If you prefer to cook them separate, feel free to do so. At the end of the cooking time, drain the pasta and veggies and set aside for the moment.

To prepare the sauce:

In a skillet or saute pan, preheat over medium heat and add the butter to melt. Once that has melted add the cream to the the pan and heat until bubbles start to appear and the cream has become hot. Add the cheese to the pan and swirl the pan to combine. Add the nutmeg to the sauce. At this point the sauce should start to thicken. Add the pasta along with the veggies to the pan and toss to combine.

Garnish with fresh Parmesan, sliced green onions, and chopped Italian flat leaf parsley if you choose.

Sloppy Joes

Hi my name is Rachel, I like Sloppy Joes. This was my first try making them in how long. It was very easy, and very quick. Instead of solely using ground beef, I used what is labeled as 'meatloaf mix' from the meat dept at the grocery store. Meatloaf mix consists of ground beef, veal, and pork. I felt this lightened up the recipe a bit, and I suppose you could use ground turkey to lighten it up a bit more, but I don't like the taste of ground turkey on it's own. This recipe also utilizes a lot of pantry staples, so this is a great go-to recipe in a pinch!

Sloppy Joes (From My Kitchen Cafe adapted from Dave Lieberman)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 ½ pounds ground beef (or meatloaf mix as I used-beef, pork, veal)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2/3 cup smoky BBQ sauce (or whatever BBQ sauce is in your fridge)
½ cup ketchup
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp soy sauce
Freshly ground black pepper
8 to 12 sandwich rolls

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring, until they start to turn translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the beef and cook, stirring and breaking up the meat, until it is finely crumbled, the liquid boils off and the meat begins to brown, about 10 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste, and keep stirring until the meat is coated. Add the BBQ sauce, ketchup, Worcestershire, soy sauce, and pepper, and bring to a boil. Cook until the sauce is slightly thickened, 4 to 5 minutes. You can make the sloppy joe up to 2 days in advance and reheat it over low heat or in the microwave.

Weiner Schnitzel and Spaetzle

So my dear husband usually never makes requests when it comes to dinner, but he proclaimed one day that he wanted Weinerschnitzel and Spaetzle. Hmm, that's kind of out of the blue, but ok! I have never eaten either of the two, but I would give it a try anyway. So you guessed it, I Googled, and I Googled, and Googled. From what I could tell the weinerschnitzel was going to be a breeze, but the spaetzle was not. There are many many versions of this (as with most things) and I used a variation of one I found online.

This turned out to be a delicious favorite, the combination of the two that is, but I might invest in a spaetzle press next time. The process of making these little beauties was quite messy for me. This was my first attempt at this, so maybe my dough didn't have enough of this or that, but they tasted pretty good. After boiling the spaetzle I sauteed them briefly with a little butter and olive oil to give them a little texture and flavor, which turned out rather nice. If you unfamiliar with spaetzle, you can read more about it here.

Weinerschnitzel (adapted from Allrecipes.com)
two servings

4 boneless thin cut pork pork chops**, about a quarter of an inch thick, may need to pound thin.
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1/2 lemon

oil for frying

Ensure that the pork is the desired thickness of 1/4", you may need to use a heavy skillet or a meat mallet to attain this thickness. In three separate shallow bowls or containers, place the flour in one, the lightly beaten eggs in the next one, and the bread crumbs in the final container.

Thoroughly dredge each cutlet of pork in the flour first, shake of the excess. Then one by one , submerge each cutlet in the beaten egg, allow excess to drip off, and finally dredge really well in the bread crumbs. Once these are completed, reserve them to the side on a plate.

Meanwhile in a skillet, heat oil until shimmering. Move pork cutlets to the pan, do not crowd and work in batches if needed. Don't let the oil get too hot or the crust will get dark too quick. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side, or until they are golden brown. The cutlets of pork will cook rather quickly due to the thickness of each piece.

Once complete move to a paper towel lined plate to absorb any excess oil. Add a quick squeeze of lemon juice to each cutlet and serve. The lemon juice will really make a difference, don't skip it unless you have to.

**I believe that traditional Weiner Schnitzel is made with veal, but an ok substitution is pork.

Spaetzle

(adapted from Mrs. KLA's family recipe and Food Network magazine, October edition)

3 cups all purpose flour

2eggs

kosher salt

4 Tbsp. unsalted melted butter, plus 2 Tbsp melted butter for saute pan

freshly ground pepper

pinch of nutmeg

Combine flour, salt, nutmeg, and eggs in a bowl and gradually add up to 1 cup of water to produce a dough like consistency. Stir in 4 Tbsp of melted butter. The dough at this point should be smooth and elastic like.

Turn dough out onto floured surface. This is where it became a bit tricky for me. You are supposed to be able to simply press the dough through either a spaetzle press (which I did not have, ) or a colander with larger holes. I had neither so I turned to the pasta insert I had for my large stock pot. You are instructed to use a plastic spatula and press the dough through the holes, and voila, you have spaetzle. In a perfect world you could probably just press the dough right into a big stockpot full of boiling salted water and when they floated to the top you are mostly finished, strain them out and reserve them on the plate. Give them a quick saute to lend a bit more texture and enjoy!

The true story: My patience with the stock pot insert lasted minutes, same with the plastic spatula. In truth, the dough was so elastic and sticky my plastic spatula separated into two pieces. So I thought, hmmm, I'm not giving up yet, what else in my possession could I try. So I grabbed my four-sided box grater. I used the side you grate cheese with. Instead of using a spatula I used the two greatest tools God gave us-my hands.

So I grabbed a big scoop of sticky dough with my hand and reached inside the box grater and started to press the dough out through the holes. This took A LOT of work and patience, I truly believe that it was not supposed to be this hard, I'm sure there was something wrong with my dough...maybe? Of course now I realized I had a big pile of sticky, elastic-y spaetzle that began to cling together, so I grabbed for the flour and tried to remedy the situation and that worked.

After much cursing and a close bout with carpal-tunnel syndrome I was finished. I boiled them as mentioned and gave them a quick saute and sat down to a nice German dinner which was well worth the effort. It was delicious.

Penzeys Rubbed Ribs

I wanted to make my first blog entry to really represent summer to me. Today was a beautiful late summer day in MN and I was ready to fire the grill up again. Today for dinner I am preparing BBQ Pork Ribs, red skinned mashed potatoes. Everyone has their own interpretation as to what a decent rib rub is and their version of mashed potatoes, but I am going to show you mine.

Earlier this season I, admittedly, was scared of ribs. There are endless ways to make them-which one was the right way? did I have the right tools? did I have the right meat? Then I thought to myself and realized...it's just meat, if it doesn't turn out, it doesn't turn out! so what, maybe a little disappointing, but you'll be ok!

I went to my trusty Penzey spices and selected the BBQ 3000 and grabbed a rack of ribs and went to work. That's all I literally needed.

BBQ Ribs (A Penzeys Recipe)

serves 2-3

2-3lbs Pork back ribs

Penzeys BBQ 3000 seasoning

Red-Skinned Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes

serves 3

2 lbs red potatoes

3 Tbsp. Butter (or margarine, or lite, whichever you choose)

1/4 c. sour cream (lite, lean, fat free, whichever you choose)

2 tsp. Dried Garlic

about 1/2 cup cream or milk

salt and pepper

Directions:

First remove the membrane thing along the bone side of the ribs. It's a very thin membrane, and a good grip should let you remove it somewhat easily. I've always heard you are supposed to remove it, I think it's to let the rub get up in the underside?! But it's something you should just do.

Get your BBQ 3000 (or whatever dry rub you'd like) and rub those ribs that you have on your cutting board. Generally use 2-3 tsp per pound of ribs that you are preparing. Really rub that seasoning on, and if you can, wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about an hour or so.

Preheat the oven to about 230 degrees and place ribs meat side up on a foil lined baking sheet. Bake like this for about 4 hours. After this finish on the grill. Place ribs over indirect heat for another 45 minutes or so. If you'd like to baste your ribs with a BBQ sauce, do this towards the end so the sugars in the sauce do not burn.

Meanwhile towards the end of this process, wash the potatoes thoroughly. Leave the skin on, and cut them down to fairly even size pieces, not too small and not too big (or they'll take forever to cook.) Place potatoes in a large pot and fill with cold water so the potatoes are covered by about an inch or two. Season the water generously with salt.

Once the potatoes have come to a boil, keep the heat on for about 15 minutes and test a potato chunk. If it crushes easily with a fork, the potatoes are ready. Drain the potatoes really well and return to pot, keeping the heat on low. This will really help rid any extra water from the pan. Place butter, garlic, sour cream, and warmed milk/heavy cream in the pot also and go to town with your potato masher. Really get in there mash them up! Once that is complete-taste test. Adjust the salt and pepper to how you like them.

Now all we are missing is some corn on the cob-Enjoy!