Orange Glazed Stuffed Pork Chops

This is another great fall dish - Stuffed Pork Chops with potatoes and green beans. Sounds like basic fare but it can be made into a "wow" meal by building interesting layers of flavor with just a few easy cooking techniques and a couple readily available herbs for seasoning. The stuffing has bread crumbs, cranberries, orange juice, onion and fennel seeds. Serve the chops with rosemary roasted potatoes and garlicky green beans as sides. 

For the stuffing - 
Tear up several pieces of good crusty country bread and pulse briefly in a food processor so that they are in approx 1/2 inch pieces not fine crumbs. Saute chopped onion and dried cranberries in a little olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Add 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds and 1/4 cup of fresh squeezed orange juice. Remove half of the liquid and set aside for later use in the glaze. Add the breadcrumbs to the remaining juice mixture and stir together. 

For the pork chops - 
Pick good looking loin chops minimum of 3/4 inch thick, thicker is better. 
Cut a pocket for the stuffing and spoon the stuffing in. Close with a toothpick or two.
Brown well on both sides in an oven proof skillet - cast iron works great!
Add 1/4 cup of water to the skillet and put in the oven pre-heated to 375 to finish cooking - about 20 minutes. 

For the potatoes - 
Cut roasting potatoes into wedges, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt, pepper and finely chopped fresh rosemary. Roast at 375 for 30 minutes, alongside the pork chops, stiring/flipping over once. 

For the green beans - 

Clean and trim the fresh green beans, steam in a steamer for just 5 minutes then take out and saute in a frying pan with olive oil and minced garlic. Season with salt and pepper.

For the orange glaze
Add the reserved orange juice mixture set aside from making the stuffing to the pan juice from the pork chops. Add a little water or orange juice if it is too dry or if you need to make more. Stir together to blend and spoon over the chops on the plate.

Braciole

Braciole (pronounced - bra-SCHO-lay or bra-SCHOL in Americanized Italian) is another one of those Italian classics that has a basic style - thin sliced meat packed with a filling and rolled but with many variations - someone's mother/nana/aunt made it with pork instead of beef, made it with a layer of prosciutto in the stuffing, someone else used a layer of salami instead, some added raisins or currents, pine nuts, crushed pistachios, some used parmesan cheese, some used pecorino cheese, on and on.

I decided to make this blog post about braciole following a disappointing experience at a local Italian restaurant that we really like. Lisa wanted to try their braciole. When it was served, it was not what we expected, it was more like an oblong meat ball wrapped in a Steak-Umm sitting in a thin beef gravy. And it was very bland like an unseasoned hamburger patty.

This is our version. We know you will love it! Serve with pasta and a good tomato sauce.

For four -

4  6" x 10" pieces top round beef thin sliced about 1/4 thick 
2 full cups coarse bread crumbs - homemade from good crusty country bread like ciabatta 
24 pieces thin sliced sopressata or hard salami
1 1/2 cups grated Pecorino Cheese - divided
5 or 6 cloves of garlic minced
1 tsp Herbes de Provance
1 tsp Crushed fennel seeds
Olive oil

Parsley

1/2 cup Raisins - chopped

1/2 cup Pine Nuts - toasted

1 box of spaghetti or other long pasta

Salt and Pepper

For the sauce -

2 15 oz cans peeled whole tomatoes with their sauce. Add whatever herbs and seasonings you typically use to make your favorite tomato sauce.

Sautee the garlic until just lightly colored. Then add the bread crumbs, stir together and lightly toast.

Pecorino cheese

- I like to take a meat hammer to the beef, pounding it to make it a little thinner and reshape if necessary.

Layer the beef slices with the sopressata 

Top with the bread crumbs, pine nuts, raisins, herbs and cheese

Roll it all up and secure with toothpicks or tie with string

Brown the braciole up well -

Click to see the video -

Take out the browned up braciole and deglaze the pan with a little red wine. I like Sicilian Nero D'Avola or a Primitivo from Puglia. Add the wine and deglazed bits to the sauce!!!!  :)  Then add the braciole. Have the rest of the wine with dinner.

Simmer in the sauce for at least an hour -

Tip - I like to pull the braciole out and set on a plate while the pasta is boiling to al dente then drain the pasta and add to the sauce to continue cooking so the sauce gets into the noodles.

Plate up with the pasta -

Pork Belly with Rye Whiskey and Maple Syrup Glaze

Oh Boy! 

Pork Belly roasted low and slow, glazed with a mix of pure maple syrup and Pennsylvania rye whiskey. Served with roasted baby red potatoes and baked granny Smith apples.

Just three simple ingredients - Sea salt, Maple Syrup and Rye Whiskey

 Make a series of crisscross cuts through the fat cap and sprinkle with sea salt

Marinate overnight in maple syrup and rye whiskey

Roast on a rack low and slow in oven - 250 degrees for 4 hours

Slice into pieces, just about falls apart

Porchetta American Style

This is our take on Porchetta, a wonderfully savory, moist, fatty, tender boneless pork roast of Italian culinary origin. Traditionally the whole pig is dressed, deboned and arranged carefully with layers of stuffing, thin sliced cured meats and aromatic herbs and seasonings like garlic, fennel seeds, rosemary, sage and parsley then rolled, tied, put on a spit and roasted slowly over wood coals. It's a big deal.

Here is do-able version (no whole hog necessary) for the home cook here in America with a few practical changes to the traditional method. Using "skin on" fresh pork belly as a base instead of the whole hog still gives this porchetta the signature taste and super crisp outside skin. I got this belly from Publix. The butcher had to order it and it came in later that same week. A whole pork belly would run between $40 - $50 depending on the market. This is way too much meat unless you have a big family event you want to cook for. Publix was fine with cutting the belly it in half. This is the perfect size to feed a few friends and have left overs which make great sandwiches. If you do have it cut, have them cut it across, not lengthwise.

Ingredients

1 5-6-pound piece fresh pork belly, skin on

3 tablespoons fennel seeds

1 teaspoon crushed hot red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon black peppercorns

2 tablespoons minced fresh sage

1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary

2 tablespoons minced flat leaf parsley

10 or so garlic cloves, minced

Kosher salt
1 orange, seeded, thinly sliced

5 lb skin on fresh pork belly

Toast fennel seeds and red pepper flakes in a small skillet over medium heat until fragrant, about 1 minute. Tip spices into a bowl and let cool. Add the peppercorns.

Coarsely grind spices in a spice mill or electric coffee bean grinder and transfer to a small bowl.

Chop the sage, rosemary, parsley and garlic.

Set belly skin side down on a cutting board. Using a knife, score the belly flesh in a checkerboard pattern 1/3" deep so roast will cook evenly.

Flip belly skin side up. Using a sharp pointed paring knife, poke dozens of 1/8"-deep holes through skin all over belly. Don't be gentle! Keep poking.

Turn belly and generously salt it and rub with the spice mixture, then the herbs and garlic, finally topping with the orange slices.

Roll belly up and tie with kitchen twine at several intervals.

Transfer roast to a cooking rack set in a rimmed baking sheet.

Refrigerate, uncovered, for 1-2 days to allow skin to air-dry; pat occasionally with paper towels.

Cooking:

On the day you are going to cook the roast, let the porchetta sit at room temperature for 2 hours. Preheat oven to 500°F. 

Season porchetta with salt. 

Roast on rack in a roasting pan seam side down for 30 minutes. 

Reduce heat to 300°F and continue roasting and turning porchetta occasionally, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into center of meat registers 145°F, 1 1/2-2 hours more. If skin is not yet deep brown and crisp, increase heat to 500°F and roast for 10 minutes more. But keep an eye on it so that it doesn't burn!

Let rest for 30 minutes. Using a serrated knife, slice into rounds.

Suggested sides - sauteed mustard greens or Swiss chard and roasted mixed russet and sweet potatoes

Loose Meat Sandwiches

Our version with added bread and butter pickles, a side of homemade french fries and a cold beer.

I have to confess my ignorance here. I never heard of  Loose Meat Sandwiches until this election year during the current coverage of the political campaigning in Iowa prior to the Iowa Caucuses. Apparently Loose Meat Sandwiches are a Hawkeye State specialty. I heard them being talked about during a lighter side news coverage segment of the campaign this morning. Lisa and I decided to find out what the heck they were, how they differed from "tight meat" sandwiches and how we could make them in our very own test kitchen here in Georgia. 

We found out quickly that the founder of an Iowa based restaurant chain - Maid-Rite originated these sandwiches back in the 1920's and that they couldn't be easier to make. Not surprisingly, as their name implies, they are loose meat sandwiches, basically Sloppy Joes without the slop. Their flavor comes from a few key ingredients: a good grade of ground beef, onions, garlic powder (we used minced garlic), yellow mustard, and Worcestershire sauce. We also used a little white vinegar.

Ingredients

1 lb ground chuck

1 medium onion, minced (reserve some for garnish)

1 Tbsp yellow mustard

1 Tbsp white vinegar

1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tsps. sugar

1 clove garlic minced

salt and pepper to taste

6 hamburger buns

Sliced pickles

Instructions

Heat a large saute pan or skillet on medium heat.

Add onion and cook until translucent

Add ground beef and cook until browned

Mix in the other ingredients until well combined

Serve on toasted hamburger buns topped with minced onions and pickles and a side of fries. Have a fork handy because the loose meat is going to tumble out of the bun with every bite.

Herb Encrusted Pork Roast and Sides

There are a few of things we always make for New Years Day - roast pork, lentils, roasted or pan fried potatoes, corn bread and some kind of greens, either collards or mustards. Trying to combine traditional southern Italian with traditional American southern New Years. Also, had prosecco, couldn't get any moonshine...

This is how I did the pork roast - The herb mixture is made up of ground fennel seeds, rosemary, lemon zest, light brown sugar, minced garlic, flat leaf parsley, red pepper flakes, olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl and the add enough olive oil to make the herbs moist and spreadable. The day before cooking, score the top layer of fat and rub the herbs all over the roast and down into the score marks. 

Lisa made the potatoes, mustard greens and corn bread.  I cooked the the pork roast and lentils in the clay oven.  

Cooked the lentils in the pignata and made a dough lid. The ingredients in the lentils were minced carrot, onion, garlic, pancetta, rosemary, a bay leaf and chicken stock.

Cooked the pork roast in a cast iron skillet. 

Removed the lid and spooned the lentils into a serving dish.