Cider-Maple-Dijon Pork Chops: Another One-Pot Oven Meal

Here's a meal you can start with frozen pork chops, put in the oven, and ignore.  Maple syrup and mustard are surprisingly good flavor partners for pork.  Add some apple cider and cider vinegar and you have a wonderfully tasty concoction for bringing flavor to boneless loin pork chops and assorted vegetables.

Ingredients:

• 2 boneless loin pork chops
• 1 shallot or other mild onion, thinly sliced
• 8-12 mushrooms, sliced
• 2-3 carrots, sliced
• 2-3 stalks celery, sliced
• 1/4 cup maple syrup, preferably Grade B
• 1/4 cup apple cider
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 2-3 tablespoons Dijon mustard

Procedure:

1. Lay the shallot or onion slices in an 8" x 13" glass roasting pan.
2. Place the frozen or thawed pork chops on top of the onions.
3. Layer the other vegetables around the pork chops.
4. Mix together the maple syrup, cider, vinegar and mustard and pour over the chops and veggies.
5. Cover the pan with foil and bake at 350°F for 30-45 minutes depending on how frozen the pork was.
6. Uncover the pan, flip the pork chops and spoon the juices and some of the veggies over them.
7. Return to the oven for another 30-45 minutes.

The cooking time for this is imprecise.  The long cooking time enables the pork chops to become tender and the vegetables to soak up some of the flavors.  The only thing to watch is that you don't let the liquid boil away.  If it seems to be loosing too much liquid, recover the pan for the end of the cooking.

Chorizo & Italian Sausage, Olives, Spinach, & Red Pepper Pasta

Our local grocery stores are starting to carry more of what are considered around here "ethnic" items.  In other words, venturing into extensive stocks of Latin American and Asian ingredients.  Yay!  Recently, the local Publix has started to carry fresh chorizo-flavored sausage in addition to their Italian-styled.  This recipe uses one of each to create a salty-peppery Mediterranean flavor akin to sugo alla puttanesca but with sausage instead of anchovies and capers.  It was great made with roasted red pepper sauce and orecchiette (AKA "little ears" pasta)

Ingredients:

• 1 6-inch link Italian flavored fresh sausage, removed from its casing
• 1 6-inch link chorizo-flavored fresh sausage, removed from its casing
• 10 oil-cured olives or other strong dark olives, pitted and cut in several pieces
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch squares
• 1 package of baby spinach, well washed
  
• 1/2 cup roasted red pepper sauce, tomato sauce, or spaghetti sauce
• 2 servings pasta, water & salt
  
• 2-4 Tbl. olive oil
• grated parmesan to garnish

Procedure:

1. Start the pasta in boiling salted water
   
2. In a large sauté pan or skillet large enough to hold all the ingredients (including the pasta), crumble and sauté the sausage.  If the sausage is very greasy, drain.  Otherwise, keep the sausage fat in the pan for flavoring.  If the sausage is very lean, add 1-2 Tbl. olive oil.
3. Add the olives and red pepper and sauté 2-3 minutes
4. Add the spinach and a ladle or two of the pasta water.
5. Sauté until the spinach is wilted.
6. Add the sauce and heat through.
7. Drain the pasta and toss it with the other ingredients. 
8. Drizzle 2 Tbl. of olive oil over the whole and lightly toss again.
9. Serve with parmesan sprinkled on top.
   

Portobellos with Sausage Stuffing

We needed a smallish meal to place between the luscious carnivore extravagances of the holidays.  This recipe stretches one link of grocery store Italian sausage to flavor a great meal for two.

Ingredients:

• 2 portobello mushroom caps
  
• 1 Italian sausage link (approximately 6" long by 1" diameter)
  
• 1-2 shallots, finely minced
  
• 2-3 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley, finely minced
  
• 1/2 cup Italian-flavored bread crumbs or plain bread crumbs and Italian herb seasoning
• 1/2-3/4 cup grated parmesan, divided
  
• 1 egg
• 3-4 Tbl. olive oil, divided
• romaine lettuce
• salad dressing

Procedure:

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F
2. On top of the stove, heat 2 Tbl. olive oil in a largish oven-proof skillet 
3. Remove the stems from the portobello mushroom caps, taking care not to break the caps, and mince the pieces of stem
4. Scrape the gills out of the mushrooms with a spoon and discard them
   
5. Squeeze the sausage meat out of its casing and break into small pieces
6. Sauté the sausage meat, onions, garlic, and stem pieces until the meat is done
7. Add the parsley and sauté just long enough for the parsley to wilt
8. Remove the meat mixture to a bowl large enough to mix the stuffing, making sure to get as much as possible out of the skillet
9. Coat the portobello caps inside and out with olive oil and place open-side down in the skillet
10. Bake for 8 minutes
11. Let the meat mixture cool and then mix in the bread crumbs, half the cheese, and the egg to make a stuffing
12. Remove the mushroom caps from the oven and flip them so that the open side is up
13. Mound the stuffing on top of the mushrooms and top with the remaining cheese
14. Bake another 15 minutes
15. Make a salad of dressed romaine lettuce on each plate and place the stuffed mushroom on top.

A complete and satisfying meal!  And it dirties only one pot ... and a knife, the cutting board, a bowl to mix the stuffing and to dress the romaine, ...

Haddock and Veggies with Crunchy Bread & Almond Topping

A tasty one-pot oven meal.  Fish with veggies & a tasty stuffing-like topping.

Ingredients:

• 2 haddock fillets
• 8-10 large mushrooms, sliced
• 2- 3 carrots, sliced
  
• 1-2 shallots, chopped
• 3-4 sprigs fresh dill, large stems discarded
  
• 1/4 cup plain yogurt
• 1Tbl. mustard 
  
• 1 Tbls. olive oil + olive oil in a spritzer (or cooking spray)
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
  
• 1 cup bread crumbs, divided
  

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F
2. In a food processor, whir the shallots, dill, yogurt, 1 Tbl. olive oil, and 3/4 cup bread crumbs to make a lumpy stuffing
   
3. Lightly oil a glass lasagna pan or shallow roaster
4. Layer the sliced mushrooms on the bottom of the pan
5. Spread the carrot slices on top of the mushrooms
6. Put the fish on top of the vegetables
7. Crumble the stuffing and distribute it to cover the fish and vegetables
8. Sprinkle the remaining bread crumbs over the top
9. Spritz with olive oil to provide some fat to help the topping brown
10. Bake 30-40 minutes until topping is golden brown, the fish is flaky, and the veggies are cooked.  

Serve with a slotted spatula to leave behind excess mushroom liquid.

Perky Turkey Meatballs

Here's a formula for turkey meatballs with sufficient flavor and bite to stand up against most any sauce you put with them. Tonight, we had them with peas and rice flavored with mushrooms, shallots, curry powder and yogurt. I'm looking forward to having them over dilled carrots in a paprikash sauce. Ooh, they'd also be good in a wedding soup. Yum. Luckily, I made enough for several meals.

Ingredients:

• 1-1½ pounds ground turkey
• 1 egg
• ½-¾ cup bread crumbs, optionally use seasoned bread crumbs
  
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. lemon pepper
• 1 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
• 2 Tbl. olive oil
• ½ cup chicken broth
  

Procedure

1. Thorougly mix turkey, egg, bread crumbs and seasonings. This is most easily done with your bare hands although a potato masher will work, too.
2. Roll the mixture into ¾"-1" balls
3. Heat olive oil in a large skillet with a lid
   
4. Brown the meatballs on at least two sides but do not worry at this stage on cooking them all the way through
5. Pour the chicken broth into the pan and cover letting the meatballs steam to finish cooking all the way through
6. Remove the meatballs from the pan and drain.
7. Use immediately or store for later use.

When you remove the meatballs from the pan, you can start your sauce in the pan. For example

1. Sauté finely chopped mushrooms and shallots
2. Add frozen peas, rice, water and curry powder
   
3. Simmer until the rice was done
4. Stir in some plain yogurt
5. Add turkey meatballs and warm through

Add the peas later if you want them bright green.

Quick Ham and Beans Inspired by Fannie Farmer

I've had a facsimile edition of Fannie Merritt Farmer's Boston Cooking School book for many years. It's pages are yellow and brittle not much fun to page through anymore in it's awful condition. So I was very happy to find that Bartleby.com makes it available online!

In her recipe for Boston Baked Beans, she says, "The fine reputation which Boston Baked Beans have gained has been attributed to the earthen bean-pot with small top and bulging sides in which they are supposed to be cooked. Equally good beans have often been eaten where a five-pound lard pail was substituted for the broken bean pot." [emphasis mine]

Well, if that isn't an invitation to flexible cooking, I don't know one! So, last night, a can of navy beans and some ham turned into a quick and delicious one-pot meal.

Ingredients for two servings:

• 1 can of beans — I used navy beans but you could use another kind
  
• 6-8 ounces of ham — I used leftover picnic ham AKA smoked Boston butt AKA shoulder ham
  
• Several stalks of celery — enough that this will be your prime vegetable for the meal
• 1 large sweet onion
• 2+ tablespoons mustard
• 2+ tablespoons ketchup
• 2+ tablespoons molasses
• 2+ tablespoons broth or water

Procedure:

1. Cube the ham
2. Coarsely slice the celery and onion
3. Drain the beans
4. Put the ham, celery, onion and beans in a covered oven-proof casserole
5. Mix the mustard, ketchup, molasses and broth (or water) as a dressing
6. Pour the dress on the other ingredients and stir to mix thoroughly.
7. Bake, covered, at 350°F approximately 1 hour or until the flavors have melded and the vegetables are soft.
   

With such a simple recipe, you can adjust the ratio of ingredients to suite your taste. Want some bite? Add a little horseradish, use a hot mustard or add a little hot sauce. Like it sweet? Increase the molasses. Last night, I "leaned heavy" on the mustard using AJ's Walla Walla Sweet Onion Mustard with Smokey Bacon that I got in our most recent order from the Mustard Museum.

Faux Cassoulet: Quick & Low Fat White Beans & Sausage

A real cassoulet is made rich with duck confit. Made by salting duck leg meat and then submerging it in duck fat, confit is one of those things I read about, nod, and then decide is never going to happen in my kitchen!

A low-fat, quick faux cassoulet is a good supper for a cold and rainy night. It's also a one-pot meal.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 Tbl. olive oil
  
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2-3 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 heart of celery, sliced (about 1 cup)
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
  
• 1 bunch flat leaf parsley, chopped
• 6-8 oz. fat-free turkey kielbasa, sliced
  
• 1 can white beans
• 2-3 Tbl. sun-dried tomato pesto or tapenade
  
• 1/2 cup white wine

Procedure

1. In a large saucepan, sauté the onion, carrots, celery, and garlic in the olive oil until the onions are translucent
   
2. Add the parsley, kielbasa, white beans, pesto or tapenade, and wine
3. Simmer slowly for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching.

And, yes, that's all there is to it.

Ceci con Tonno -- Chick Peas and Tuna

Before summer comes to an end, there are more opportunities for salad-centered suppers. Ceci (garbanzos) con tonno is my favorite variation on fagioli (cannellini beans) con tonno. Both are very simple and flexible dishes.

A purist would start with dried beans but it's much faster to start with a can of beans. Try different brands of canned beans until you find your favorite. Each brand is quite different. For this recipe, I prefer Bush's Garbanzos because they are crunchier and drier than other brands but you might prefer another brand.

Ingredients:

• 1 can chick peas, drained and rinsed
• 1 can tuna, drained
• Chopped celery, onions, bell pepper, sweet pepper or other vegetable to taste
• Italian dressing

Procedure:

1. Toss the ingredients and and serve or let sit for the beans to soak up a bit of the dressing.

Easy peasy. Use whatever kind of tuna you prefer. Use any beans you like. Vary the veggies. Vary the dressing. This is an extremely easy main dish salad.