Pot-Roasted Pork in White Wine with Garlic, Fennel and Rosemary

This lovely, simple and delicious recipe is courtesy of Jamie Oliver’s “Happy Days with the Naked Chef” book. 

This recipe literally takes 5 minutes to throw together. It’s all in one pot and it tastes like heaven.

Serve with roasted potatoes.

(CW - yes, you have had this before.)

1 - 3 1/2lb loin of pork, off the bone and skin removed

salt and freshly ground pepper

1 tbsp fennel seeds (I didn’t have fennel seeds - I used Caraway Seeds instead)

2-3 large pats of butter

olive oil

8 cloves of garlic, skin left on 

1 handful of fresh rosemary, leaves picked

4 bay leaves

1 fennel bulb, sliced

1/2 bottle of Chardonnay, your choice

1. Preheat the oven to 400F
2. With 2 or 3 bits of string, tie up your pork loin - do this anyway you like. It doesn’t have to be fussy, you just want to keep the meat in a snug shape while it’s cooking. Season generously, then roll the meat in the fennel seeds until covered. In a casserole pan or roasting pan, fry the meat for a couple of minutes in half the butter and little olive oil, until nice and golden.
3. Throw in the garlic, herbs, fennel and wine, then cover the pan loosely and place in oven for 1 1/4 hours. As the pork loin is off the bone it cooks very quickly. Remove from the oven and allow the meat to rest on a plate. Then without using any more heat, finish off your sauce in the pan, scraping any goodness off the bottom and adding the rest of the butter. Remove any large bits of rosemary stalk if you prefer. Correct the seasoning and squash open a couple of the garlic cloves - when cooked they go nice and sweet and add a lovely taste to the sauce.

Serves 6

Portobello Mushroom Lasagna

This recipe is from “Barefoot Contessa at Home” by Ina Garten. My best friend gave me this book as a Christmas gift and it is a beautiful book. The pictures are gorgeous and the recipes are quintessentially Ina Garten. They are filled with butter and cheese and east coast style. My only complaint is that the recipes scream “summer”. I read the cookbook from cover to cover and then cooked nothing from it. The snow has now melted, the tulips are coming up and I’m now excited to try some recipes from this cookbook. This is the first recipe I’ve tried and it is beautiful. This is a French twist on lasagna. It is elegant and bursting with rich flavour. So lovely.

• Kosher Salt
• Good olive oil
• 3/4 pound dried lasagna noodles
• 4 cups whole milk
• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp freshly ground pepper
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 1/2 pounds portobello mushrooms
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350F.

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil with 1 tbsp salt and splash of oil. Add the lasagna noodles and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain and set aside.
2. For the white sauce, bring the milk to a simmer in a saucepan. Set aside. Melt 8 tablespoons (1 stick) of the butter in a large saucepan. Add the flour and cook for 1 minute over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Pour the hot milk into the butter-flour mixture all at once. Add 1 tablespoon salt, the pepper, and nutmeg, and cook over medium-low heat, stirring first with the wooden spoon and then with a whisk, for 3 to 5 minutes, until thick. Set aside off the heat.
3. Separate the mushroom stems from the caps and discard the stems. Slice the caps 1/4inch thick. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil and 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large (12-inch) saute pan. When the butter melts, add half the mushrooms, sprinkle with salt, and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, until the mushrooms are tender and they release some of their juices. If they become too dry, add a little more oil. Toss occasionally to make sure the mushroom cook evenly. Repeat with the remaining mushrooms and set all the mushrooms aside.
4. To assemble the lasagna, spread some of the sauce in the bottom of a 8x12x2-inch baking dish. Arrange a layer of noodles on top, then more sauce, then one-third of the mushrooms, and 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese. Repeat two more times, layering noodles, sauce, mushrooms, and cheese. Top with a final layer of noodles and sauce, and sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan. 
5. Bake the lasagna for 45 minutes, or until the top is browned and the sauce is bubbly and hot. Allow to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes and serve hot.

Sun-Dried Tomato Haddock

Fish is apparently good for you. So here is a delicious way to eat healthy. It's also really easy to make. Serve with my Potato Carrot Mash.

Sun-Dried Tomato Haddock

• 1 garlic clove
• 1/2 yellow onion, halved
• 10 capers
• 10 julienne cut sun-dried tomatoes in oil
• dash balsamic vinegar
• salt & pepper
• 4 haddock fillets 
• 4 slices of

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Combine first 6 ingredients in a small blender. Blend together until finely chopped (add sun-dried tomato oil if needed)
3. Lay each haddock fillet on 1 slice of prosciutto slice. Spoon the sun-dried tomato mixture on to each fillet. Wrap the prosciutto slice around it.
4. Bake for approx 20 minutes.

Mediterranean Stuffed Chicken Breasts

This recipe tasted absolutely amazing. Obviously "Danish" Camembert is not Mediterranean, but I stand by my cheese choice for this recipe! I actually cooked this meal for Valentines Day but have been too lazy to post the recipe until now. Lately I've been cooking with Mediterranean flavours and wrapping meat in more meat. It's been a long winter and I'm ready for some nice weather! These stuffed chicken breasts reminded me of a summer evening.

Mediterranean Stuffed Chicken Breasts.

 

• 2 chicken breasts, cut open and pounded flat
• 125g Danish Camembert Cheese
• Half of medium sized eggplant, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 4 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, finely chopped
• 2 anchovies fillets in oil, finely chopped
• 4 strips of bacon
• Italian seasoning, salt & pepper
• olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Heat a little oil in a small frying pan over medium heat. Add eggplant, onion, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, anchovies and seasonings. Fry lightly for approx 3-5 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and place in a small hand blender. Pulse while adding a bit more oil until mixture becomes a nice paste.
4. Spread the mixture evenly on the chicken, place a large slice of camembert on top and roll the chicken. Place 2 slices of bacon around the chicken to hold together.
5. Bake for approx 30 minutes.

Serves 2

Cuba Libre Back Ribs

These ribs have become an absolute favourite in my house. This recipe is from “Cooking with Booze” by Ryan Jennings and David Steele. I had never heard of this book until my awesome real estate agent, Larry Jennings, gave me this book, autographed. Turns out his son is Ryan Jennings. But how did I find Larry to be my real estate agent? I have worked with his other son Shane on many occasions. This happens to be a 6-degrees-of-separation-type-thing! (But with less degrees :) 

This is a must try recipe that I highly recommend. “Cuba Libre...literally means “free Cuba” but really it’s just fancy bartender talk for a classic run and Coke.” These are literally Rum and Coke ribs. I love ‘em. You need to try ‘em.

Cuba Libre Back Ribs

Ribs:

2 racks pork back ribs

1tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

1 onion, peeled and quartered

6 cloves garlic, crushed

2L cola

Caribbean Barbecue Sauce

1 tsp vegetable oil

1 onion, minced

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp chili powder

3/4 cup ketchup

1/3 cup dark rum

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Dash hot pepper sauce

1. Preheat oven to 200F.
2. For the ribs, trim any visible fat and remove membrane from underside if attached. Season both sides with salt and pepper and place meat-side down in large baking dish. Arrange onion and garlic evenly around ribs. Pour enough cola to cover ribs completely. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 3 hours. Remove from oven and allow ribs to come to room temperature in cooking liquid, about 1 1/2 hours.
3. Meanwhile, to make sauce, heat oil in small saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, cumin and chili powder and cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 15 minutes. (Note: I generally add a bit more brown sugar than the recipe calls for. I like the sticky sweetness of the brown sugar. Feel free to play around with your flavours)
4. Preheat BBQ to low (about 300F).
5. Place ribs meat-side down on grill and close lid. Cook, turning occasionally, until meat is browned and caramelized, about 30 to 45 minutes, or until tender and bones are exposed at ends. With 10 minutes remaining, brush ribs with BBQ sauce. 
6. Remove from BBQ and let sit a few minutes before serving. Bring lots of napkins to the table and dig in. I like to serve this with roasted potato fries (finger food!) Simply cut up potatoes into fry-like-shapes and coat with olive oil and herbs de provence - bake in 475F oven for approx 30mins.

Roasted Herb Chicken

After much debate with my beautiful, pregnant sister-in-law, we finally decided to try this recipe for chicken. She wanted chocolate, the rest of us wanted regular chicken. I suggested a Mole sauce (spelling way off), but in the end, she decided she could live without chocolate for this dinner. LOL. This turned out really good. The chicken was moist and the glaze was wonderfully saltly and complicated. 

Roasted Herb Chicken

1/3 cup reduced sodium soy sauce

3 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1tsp dried rosemary, crushed

salt & pepper

1 tsp dried oregano, crumbled

1 roasting chicken

1 apple, quartered

2 sprigs fresh rosemary

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Rinse chicken in cold water and pat dry.
3. Combine first 7 ingredients and baste chicken. Insert fresh rosemary and apples into cavity of chicken.
4. Bake for 1 hour, 15mins or until meat thermometer 82C, basting chicken with sauce every 30 minutes. 
5. Let rest 5 to 10 minutes and enjoy.

Slow Roasted Pork Loin with Honey Balsamic Glaze

Served with Rustic Sage Bread Stuffing, Glazed Root Vegetables and Apple Endive Salad with Sweet and Spicy Pecans

The following 4 recipes comes courtesy of Anthony Sedlak’s cookbook “The Main: Recipes”. This book is laid out into theme menus. This menu’s theme is Honey. Who doesn’t love honey? 

A comment on Anthony Sedlak’s cookbook: it is visually stunning. The pictures are so beautiful and all the food looks amazing. So far, this is the only menu I have tried to date, but I periodically flip through the pictures. It’s almost like a beautiful picture book for foodies. 

This menu tasted even better than it looked. I was so impressed with the flavors and my guests loved it too.

If you plan to make this delicious menu, prepare in the following order for best results: Prepare pecans for salad in advance, Glaze pork and roast, prepare root vegetables and simmer, assemble bread stuffing, remove pork and prepare jus, bake stuffing, prepare salad, carve pork at table.

Slow-Roasted Pork Loin with Honey Balsamic Glaze

• one 4 lb pork loin roast, bone in
• 3-4 sprigs rosemary
• 3-4 sprigs thyme
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/2 cup beef stock

Preheat oven to 350F.

1. Score the skin of pork roast. Cut along the bone, following bone down to the loin. Stuff the pork with rosemary and thyme and season generously (both inside and out) with salt and pepper. With kitchen twine, tie roast in between each bone, securing tightly.

2. In a saucepan, combine balsamic vinegar, white wine, Dijon mustard, and honey. Stir over medium heat until mixture has reduced by half. Set aside.

3. In a large roasting pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add meat and sear on all sides until golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes. Baste pork with reserved glaze. 

4. Place roasting pan in preheated oven. Cook for 60 minutes, or until meat thermometer reaches 145F, basting meat every 10 to 15 minutes. If pan appears dry, add extra water or wine, 1/2 cup at a time. Remove from oven and deglaze pan with white wine and beef stock making sure to scrape up all the brown bits. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving. Reserve the pan juices for the Rustic Bread Stuffing.

Slow Cooked Chili

Chili is the ultimate comfort food and perfect on a cold winters day. I make this chili 3 or 4 times a year. It’s easy to make (love my slow cooker), and can be adjusted to suit anyone’s tastes. Leftovers get placed in individual portion size tupperware and frozen for my lunches. 

Slow Cooked Chili (6 quart slow cooker)

2 pounds ground beef, ground chicken, or ground turkey

1 1/2 cups chopped onion

1 chopped green pepper

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 28-oz can whole tomatoes, undrained

2 16-oz cans kidney beans, undrained

2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon ground pepper

Optional: Tobasco/cayenne/red pepper flakes to add heat - customize here

My slow cooker pot can be used on the stovetop, so I follow the below steps in my slow cooker pot, if yours cannot be used on the stovetop, use a large pan.

1. Preheat pot over medium heat. Add ground meat and brown. Add onion, green pepper, and garlic and cook for a few minutes to release some of the juices. 
2. Transfer to the slowcooker and add tomatoes, beans and spices. Stir to combine. Cover and simmer at Setting #3 for 7 to 9 hours. 
3. Top with cheddar cheese.
4. Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Apple Cinnamon Chicken

I don’t know if you noticed yet, but I love when food tastes good and is easy to make. As much as I love following recipes, cooking from my instincts is even better. Sometimes (ok all the time) I surprise myself with my ability to know what flavours go with what flavours. I’m not perfect and my failures generally do not get posted, but this recipe turned out fantastic. I’m super proud of this recipe. I literally made it up as I went along and the results were amazing. It’s fall in Canada and the harvest season is pretty much over for most of our favourites. Apples are still in season though and this dish features apples inside a chicken. The apple imparts a delicate taste into the neutral chicken and this whole dish tastes like fall. It’s also really easy and next to impossible to screw up. Give it a try and play around with your herbs. 

Apple Cinnamon Chicken

1 whole chicken

1- 2 apples

1/4 unsalted butter, softened

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon sugar

Pinch Nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 400deg F. Rinse your chicken under cold water, place in roasting pan.
2. Mix spices and butter together. Gently lift the skin around the chicken so you can pack the butter under the skin and into the cavity.
3. Cut the apples into large wedges (remove cores) and stuff inside the chicken cavity. Tie up the legs and wings.
4. Bake in your pre-heated oven for approx. 40 to 60 minutes depending on the size of your chicken. Check with a meat thermometer.
5. Allow to rest for at least 10 minutes. Serve with the apples and a nice potato gratin. 

Note: I used a small chicken for this as there are only 2 of us. We each ate a half a chicken. 

Boston Baked Beans in the Slow Cooker

Ah, the slow cooker. One of the best inventions for working people. Turn it on in the morning and when you walk through your front door in the evening, the whole house smells like dinner. The dinner you didn’t put much effort into. The dinner you still do not have to put much effort into. Last night I decided I wanted to make Boston Baked Beans. I had ALL the ingredients therefore I didn’t need to go shopping. I did the cutting work in the evening, put the remaining ingredients in the pot this morning and left the house. When I got home, I had to mix the other ingredients in and let it cook some more. I had a serious craving for boston baked beans. They are comfort food. On a cool fall evening like today, they are the perfect dinner. They taste oh so good going down... not so great later in the night.. looking on the bright side, they contain lots of good-for-you fibre. I could always use more fibre. So here is the recipe for a 6 quart slow cooker. If you don’t have a slow cooker, go buy one. 

Boston Baked Beans

1 900g bag of dried Navy Beans

10 cups of water

3 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 cup (approx.) salt pork, cut into 1 inch cubes * - See note below

1/2 cup molasses

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons dry mustard 

1/2 cup Ketchup

2 tablespoons of maple syrup (because I’m Canadian - optional for non-Canadians)

2 cups reserved hot bean liquid

1. Wash and sort the beans. Put beans in pot. Add water, salt, onion and pork. Mix well so that pork is covered by beans. Cover pot.
2. Place pot on base and cook at Setting #3 for 10 to 12 hours until beans are tender (My beans were tender after 10 hours). 
3. When beans are tender, drain the liquid and reserve 2 cups. To the beans add molasses, brown sugar, dry mustard and ketchup; stir. Add bean liquid; stir. Taste it now. I ended up adding more molasses to darken the colour and cut some of the ketchup taste which I didn’t like.  
4. Cover and simmer beans on base at Setting #3 for 2 hours. Keep warm at setting #2. 

Makes a lot.

• Note: I used a few good slices of baked ham instead. You could also use bacon. And what is salt pork, anyway? I wouldn’t even know where to get it and it sounds nasty.

• P.S. This recipe came from my Slow Cooker manual with some yummy modifications.

Lemon and Parmesan Capellini with Herb Bread

This recipe comes courtesy of “15 Minute Vegetarian” cookbook. Along time ago I was a vegetarian. I wasn’t a good vegetarian as I never could get all my proper proteins and ended up looking kinda sickly. So I decided to go back to eating meat after 5 years. I still like to cook vegetarian though. I’m just as happy to have meat only once or twice a week. This is a simple, lemony, garlicy dish that’s sure to please. You will not miss the meat.

1/2 multigrain baguette

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 tbsp chopped fresh herbs (rosemary, thyme, oregano) (Dried works too)

Good handful of dried or fresh capellini

1 cup single cream

3 oz parmesan, grated

finely grated rind of 1 lemon

salt & pepper

1. Preheat over to 400deg F. Cut the baguette into thick slices.
2. Put the butter in a bowl and beat with the garlic had herbs. Spread thickly over each slice of bread.
3. Reassemble the baguette. Wrap in foil, support on a baking sheet and bake 10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile cook your pasta.
5. Pour the cream into another pan and bring to the boil. Stir in Parmesan and lemon rind. The sauce should thicken in about 30 seconds.
6. Drain pasta, return it to the pan and toss with the sauce. Season to taste and sprinkle with a little chopped fresh parsley and grated lemon rind, if desired. Serve with hot bread. 

Serves 2