Wilted Spinach and Spicy Pork Salad

So, I'm in trouble with my wife's trainer.

Apparently, the food I cook isn't healthy enough.

What E.V.E.R.

I can cook healthfully. The trick is to make it taste good, but I can do that, too.

When I get lucky. And the stars align. And the gods smile upon me...you get the idea.

Wilted Spinach and Spicy Pork Salad

What You Need

4 cups raw spinach

1/3 cup chopped red onion

4 crimi mushrooms

4 strawberries

12 oz extra lean pork loin (trim the fat, if necessary)

1 tbsp bacon grease

1 tsp olive oil

powdered chipotle

powdered, smoked paprika

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 ounces reduced-fat feta cheese

kosher salt

What To Do with It

Sprinkle the chipotle and paprika (liberally) on 2 sides of the pork loin (OK, you're going to coat it, just don't overdo it, as it will get a bit HOT).  Lightly sprinkle on some salt. Let stand, unrefrigerated, for 2 hours.

After 1 hr, halve the strawberries and mushroom, then slice (you want them at room temperature before serving).

After 2 hours, turn an oven to 400.  Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the bacon grease then sear the pork loin for about  5 minutes per side. Place in the oven for 10 minutes.

While the pork finishes in the oven, sautee the onions in the olive oil, and quickly wilt the spinach in the same pan you cooked the pork in (and by quickly, I mean throw in the spinach, then flip after 10 seconds, then remove after 10 seconds).

Remove the onions from the other skillet, then put in the vinegar. Remove from heat.

Plate the spinach, feta, strawberries onions and mushrooms and toss.  Drizzle on the vinegar, and sprinkle a bit of salt on top.

Remove the pork loin from the oven, cut longitudionally, then slice and plate.

Stilton-Stuffed Pork Loin Chops

In my never-ending quest to rid myself of the freezer full of pork I bought, I'm having to find more and more willing victems...errr...guinea pigs...errr...dinner guests.

This Friday, we cooked dinner for our friend, Donna, for her birthday. Donna's fun to cook for: she's up for just about anything.

She's also no slouch in the kitchen herself. So the pressure was on: no faking my way through this meal. I also wanted a bit of "wow factor." I settled on making an emulsified sauce for the "wow." Half way through dinner, I decided that a little chutney would add the punch I was looking for.

While I'm still working on getting that sauce right (I really need to buy a saucier pan), and I'm going to have to work on the color palette, the flavors all came together quite nicely on the palate.

Stilton-Stuffed Pork Loin Chops

What You Need:

Pork chops

4 pork loin chops (fairly thick, about 1 1/2"-2")

1/2 cup toasted, crumbled walnuts

1/2 cup stilton cheese at room temperature

Sauce and Chutney

1 Beet, roasted

1/2 cup diced granny smith apple (peeled)

1/2 cup diced white onion

2 sprigs fresh thyme (stripped)

1 cup chardonnay and 1 cup water

8-10 cloves (ground)

3 egg yolks

3 tbsp water

3 tbsp butter

juice from 1/2 lemon

1 sprig thyme, chopped

Salt to taste

2 grinds black pepper

What To Do With It:

Start prepping the sauce first. Saute the onions for about 15 minutes over medium-low heat. I used 1/2 tbsp of butter for this. Throw in 1-2 healthy pinches of kosher salt.

Separtely, roast your beet in the oven at about 350 (this takes about an hour--alternatively, you could nuke it for about 6 minutes).

Add the wine & water, apples and stripped thyme, and boil over medium-high heat.

While your sauce is reducing, sear the pork for about 2 minutes on each side over medium-high to high heat. You want a little bit of brown. Butterfly each chop.

Mix the walnuts and stilton together. Apply evenly to each chop (on the inside).

Fold the chops back together and secure with a toothpick.

Back to the sauce... Once the liquid is reduced to about 3/4 cup, strain it into a separate container and reserve. The apples and onions left in the strainter now become your chutney. Chop up your beet, add the ground cloves and a couple of grinds of pepper and get them good and mixed in.

Go ahead and put the chops in the oven at 400 for about 20 minutes (I left mine in a little longer, on the advice of my sous-chef, and over cooked them).

When the chops are about 10 minutes from being done, things get busy. Melt the butter. (Experts will say to clarify it, as well, but I just left most of the solids at the bottom of the butter container, which worked pretty well.) In a pan with sloping sides, whisk together the egg yolks and 3 tbsp water until frothy.

Place the pan over medium-high heat and whisk the tar out of it, paying particular care not to let any one area rest (you'll just end up with boiled egg yolk in your sauce). As soon as the sauce thickens (and this will happen very quickly, and it looks like pudding), count to 5 (still whisking), and remove from heat. Whisk for another 20-30 seconds more. This is called a sabayon.

Add the butter and lemon, using the whisk to gently stir them in. Now add the chopped thyme and the reserved liquid to taste, gently stirring the liquid in. Add salt, if necessary.

Plate by putting sauce on top of the pork chops, then the chutney on top of that. We served ours with a wild rice mixture (Safeway brand, no less) that was quite tasty, and a field green salad with toasted walnuts, stilton and fresh, diced apple on top and a raspberry-chipotle vinaigrette.

We paired this with a Perrin & Fils Cote du Rhone, which was very tasty.

Pork Spring Rolls--Another way to eat the other white meat

My family is from the south, and my folks grew up in the post-depression era. Maybe that's why they always have a full pantry and freezer. Whatever the reason, I inherited that habit, and if I find a good deal at the store, I can't resist it.

Which is how we came to have 14 pounds of pork loin chops in our freezer (who can resist "buy one 'family size' package, get two free"?). Now, pork loin chops for about a dollar per pound is a great deal. 14 pounds of chops in the freezer, however, presents a challenge. After all, there's only so many different ways to cook pork chops, and then it starts to get boring.

So, we've been experimenting. Our latest foray was to try to make spring rolls. Took about 20 minutes start to finish.

Pork Spring Rolls

What you need:

Spring roll wrappers.

Pork:

2 garlic cloves, crushed and minced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sesame oil
10 ounces of pork (I used two pork chops), cubed into 1/4 to 1/2 inch
1 tsp Chinese 5 spice
1/4 tsp salt
1 serrano (or similar chili--Thai pepper will be significantly hotter, so bear that in mind if you go that route)
1 tbsp onion, chopped
1 tsp ginger

Veggies (cooked):
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp soy sauce
1/4 cup each of carrots, celery and bell pepper (thinly sliced)
2 tbsp chopped onions
1 cup thinly-sliced napa cabbage (also called Chinese cabbage)

Veggies (raw):
1/4 cup cilantro (coarsely chopped)
1/4 cup pea shoots
2 water chestnuts (thinly sliced)

What to do with it:

Prep everything before you start cooking. The actual cooking time is around 6-8 minutes.

In a skillet about 10 inch round, place 1/4 inch water and heat until warm. Leave on stove.

Pork:

Cover the pork with the spices.

In a separate skillet, combine the olive oil and sesame oil with the garlic and heat over medium-high heat until the garlic begins to turn brown. Remove the garlic and add the pork. Saute for about 2 minutes, then add the onions , ginger and peppers. Saute for another 4-6 minutes.

Veggies:

While the pork is cooking, in another pan combine the oil and soy sauce over medium heat. Drop in the hard vegetables for about three minutes (you want them still quite firm). Remove and drop in the cabbage for a minute, moving constantly (you want it only slightly wilted).

Now the fun begins. Place a spring roll wrapper in the water. The instructions on my box say to leave it in about 3 seconds. I found 5-8 worked better. Either way, don't leave it in until it's "done," because then it will just shred on your plate. It should still be firm when you pull it from the water (it will get more pliable).

Put the wrapper on a plate and dish out some veggies (raw and cooked) and meat. Roll it like you would a tortilla, but close both ends. So, if your food cuts across the diameter of the wrapper like this: (-----), you're going to fold the ends over thusly: )---( and then roll.

Mix up some Sriracha and soy sauce, or Chinese mustard and teriyaki, or peanut sauce, or whatever floats your boat for dipping. Consider adding mushrooms to the cooked vegetables and lemon grass to the raw vegetables and substituting watercress or bean sprouts for the pea shoots. You could also make this with chicken (maybe cook a minute longer) or shrimp (cook a couple minutes less).

Pork Stew "Ethiopian"

We really like Ethiopian food. In case you're not familiar with it, Ethiopian has a lot of stews and is eaten with a bread called injera (think of a sourdough pancake). It's spicy and quite flavorful

Once upon a long time ago, we got an Ethiopian cookbook and made actual Ethiopian food. It turned out really good. The problem is that it took a fair amount of time because you clarify butter and make berbere sauce before you get started on anything else. (This sauce keeps in the fridge, and you use it for all your dishes).

So unless it's a special occasion, we don't make Ethiopian food.

However, on a whim this weekend, I bought some injera. We had some pork in the fridge, and were wondering what to make. I figured I could make a reasonable facsimile of an Ethiopian stew.

And I did. :)

Pork Stew "Ethiopian"

What you need

(This recipe assumes you're cooking for two people.)

Two pork chops, cut in 1" cubes (or so)
2 medium tomatoes, peeled and diced
1/4 cup diced onion
1 clove minced garlic
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1 cup fresh spinach leaves, torn
1 tbsp cardamon
1/2 tsp tumeric
1/2 jalapeno (or 1 serrano)
1 tsp salt
A few grinds of red pepper and black pepper
2 tbsp sour cream
1 tsp butter

What to do with it

Sear the pork in a pot. Once it gets brown, throw in about 1 cup water and all the rest of the ingredients except the sour cream.

Cook on high until it boils, then reduce to medium. You want to cook away a lot of the liquid.

Put the sour cream in a small bowl and add an equal amount of water. Stir this until you have a liquid with no lumps. Then add to your pot.

If you get tired of waiting for the liquid to reduce and the stew to thicken, you can use about a tablespoon of flour, mixed with water until it makes a thin paste, then add that. (You don't want to add just flour, or you'll get dumplings).

Serve with injera if you can get it (probably have to go to an Ethiopian grocery) or you can use sourdough bread. The latter isn't as fun, because you don't get to eat with your fingers.