Pork Chops, Potatoes & Apples, and Asparagus

As part of the "Iron Chef" gig for this weekend, my wife got some gorgeous thick cut, bone-in pork chops from our local butcher, Greg's Meats in Springboro, Ohio (yes, we have a local butcher, and the meat there is fantastic...its nice to have his shop as an option as opposed to just what they have in the local grocery stores). She had also gotten some potatoes and asparagus, and now it was up to me to come up with something.

Initially, I was just thinking about grilling the chops and roasting the potatoes, but that sounded sort of boring. As I was leafing through a "Food and Wine" magazine, I came across a recipe for an orange and herb marinated pork loin. Hmmm...that sounded pretty good. I had done a pork roast using orange juice as a marinade before, and it had turned out pretty good. So, I decided to go with that with the chops, and I decided to do something different with the potatoes as well. For some reason, the notion of combining apples with the potatoes kept coming back to me...I knew I had read about it somewhere, and the notion sounded intriquing. I mentioned it to Susan, but she sort of wrinkled her nose at the idea. That set me back a bit, but I was not to be put off. I googled "apples and potatoes" and came across several hits that combined those two unlikely pan-mates.

So, I grabbed a bowl and whisked together 1/4 cup olive oil, 1-2 cups of orange juice, 4 medium cloves of garlic (smashed through a garlic press), some dried parsely, 1 teaspon cumin, and salt and pepper. I put the 3 pork chops into a large zip-lock bag and poured the marinade in, and then set the bag on the counter. Now, it was off to the store to get the rest of what I needed.

I went to my local grocery store and got some apples, fresh rosemary, a nice Austrian Gruner Veltliner white wine, and some more beer (I was down to only 2 bottles...the horror!). When it was time to start cooking, I peeled,cored, and cubed 3 Granny Smith apples, and combined them with 1 1/2 lbs small red potatoes, which I had cubed rather small (about 1/4 inch dice). In a large sauce pan, I melted 3/4 stick of butter of medium heat, and when that was bubbling, I added the apples and potatoes. I tossed the mixture in the butter to make sure they were all coated, and then added 4 sprigs of fresh rosemary. I put the top on the sauce pan since I figured it would take a while to cook, and preheated my grill for the pork chops.

When it was time to put the pork chops on the grill, I pulled them out of the baggie, and poured the marinade into a small sauce pan, and turned the heat up to medium high, and then added 2 tablespoons of butter. I figured that the marinade would make a nice pan sauce after I had boiled and reduced it a tad.

With that I got the pork chops going on the grill, and then prepped my asparagus. I decided to do that simply....tossed with a bit of olive oil and salt and ground pepper. Once I flipped the pork chops, after about 5 minutes, I threw the asparagus on. I pulled the chops off the grill after they had been on about 12 minutes or so, and let them rest for about 10 minutes.

Everything turned out rather well. The apples cooked far faster than I had anticipated, even though I had cubed them at least twice as large as the potatoes. In the end, the apples pretty much disintegrated, coating the potatoes in an apple mush. As unappetizing as that sounds, it actually tasted pretty good, with the apples lending a distinctly tart, slightly sweet (I purposely used the Granny Smiths to avoid adding too much sweetness to what should be, in my mind, a savory dish) flavor to the buttery potatoes. The marinade reduced to a nice, rich, orangy sauce that I poured over the pork chops, which came of the grill at just the right moment. The only part that didn't turn out quite as I had planned was the asparagus, which was a bit cold. Next time I'll put the asparagus on while the pork is resting, as it doesn't take long to cook or cool down.

Southwestern Baked Pasta

Well, I did largely what I wrote yesterday. First, I did my chopping...I minced 4 cloves of garlic, 2 onions, 2 red peppers, and 2 jalapenos. I grabbed my trusty La Crueset dutch oven, and heated about 3 tablespoons of olive oil on medium heat until it was shimmering. I put in the garlic and sauteed that until it was fragrant, and then put in the rest of the vegetables. I sauteed those until they were nice and caramelized, about 20 minutes, with a nice fond on the bottom of the pan. Then I started rummaging around the spice cabinet. I grabbed a small pyrex dish and put in 1 tablespoon of cumin, 1 tablespoon of ancho chile powder, 1 tablespoon chipotle chile powder (both from Penzey's), and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. I mixed those in the pyrex dish, pushed the vegetables aside, and dumped them into the pot. I fried the spices for a few minutes, and then added 1 lb burger and 2 chorizo sausages (with the skins removed). I broke up the meat with a wooden utensil, and once it was browned, I added 2 14-oz cans of diced tomatoes and one can of tomato sauce. Once that was in, I gave it a good stir, added 2 teaspoons of oregano, and turned the heat down to medium-low.

I let that simmer for a good hour, in order to let the sauce thicken a bit. In the interim, I cooked a box of farfalle pasta. Once that was done, I drained it and then put the pasta into my lasagna pan. I dumped the pot of sauce into the pan, and then stirred to combine. I minced a bunch of fresh cilantro, and sprinkled that over the top, and then spread two 8-oz packages of shredded colby-jack cheese over the top. I slide the pan into a pre-heated 400 degree oven, and baked for about 45 minutes (I pulled it out just as it appeared the cheese was starting to brown in spots, and the whole thing was bubbling).

I served it with a generous dollop of sour cream...it was really good. If I had to do it over again, I would probably just do one jalapeno...it was fairly hot. Not terribly so, but there was some definite heat. I might also be tempted to kick up the smoky flavor a bit by using a can of chipotles in adobo sauce rather than just rely on the spice. But all in all, it turned out pretty well. Hopefully, tonight's excursion with pork chops will be as good!

Ah, the Possibilities

So, on Friday morning, I told my wife I wanted to cook this weekend (as I do just about every weekend). I also told her I wanted to do the “IronChef” thing…she goes to the store and comes back with stuff that looks good to her. I have to make something out of it. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to post what she got, and what I’m thinking so far with what she brought home. Here’s what Susan came home with:

Colby/Jack shredded cheese
1 lb burger
2 chorizo sausages
2 lbs thick cut pork chops
2 jalapenos
Cilantro
2 red peppers
Asparagus
Red potatoes
Yellow onions

I’m also allowed to use whatever we have in the pantry or fridge, which includes canned beans, pasta/noodles, rice, canned tomatoes, garlic, and canned chicken broth.

So, I’m thinking for tonight I’m going to utilize the burger and chorizo to make a baked southwestern pasta dish. Maybe sauté up some garlic, onions, peppers, and jalapenos in some olive oil, then add the burger and chorizo, brown that, and then add tomato sauce and diced tomatoes and simmer for an hour. Once that is reduced to a nice thick sauce, boil some pasta, mix it with the sauce, put in a baking dish, sprinkle some minced cilantro over the top, cover with the shredded Colby/jack cheese, and bake until the cheese is almost browning.

Not sure what to do the pork chops yet. Considering just grilling them and serving them with roasted asparagus and the potatoes, although I also saw a great recipe that involved marinating a pork loin with orange juice and garlic, and roasting. I also have this idea of pairing the potatoes with apples with grilled pork chops….

I’ll post tomorrow to let everyone know how things turned out.

A Southwestern, Chickeny, Tomatoey-Type Thing

So it was IronHomeCook time again in the Raihala household this weekend, and my wife presented me with her ingredient: Diced tomatoes with green chiles, two 14-oz cans worth. Hmmmm…immediately I began thinking of something southwestern…I mean tomatoes and green chiles? How could it be anything but?

However, my brain went completely to mush, and I just couldn’t think of anything. I was frozen with indecision or any clue as to how to proceed, so I made….pizza. That gave me another day to think about what to do with the tomatoes with green chiles. Not just any pizza, mind you, but with a homemade dough and excellent Boar’s Head pepperoni. I even made homemade tomato sauce (although I got carried away with the garlic and nearly made my beautiful pizza inedible).

The next day, I grabbed my cookbook, “The Feast of Santa Fe,” which has the bestest Indian Fry Bread recipe you’ve ever tasted, and started looking for inspiration. It started coming to me, and by and by I had an idea of where to start, and what to use. My wife had also purchased boneless, skinless chicken thighs (which I dearly love…they are cheap at $3.99/lb, and to my mind and taste buds, are far, far better than chicken breasts, which can dry out so easily, has less flavor, and is usually a lot more expensive), so I figured I would use those. I also had three dried ancho chiles (I think they were anchos, but then I’ve had them for a fairly long time) that needed to get used, and some good chile powders from Penzey’s, so I decided to just start with the chicken and move on from there.

I poured some olive oil into my trusty La Crueset dutch oven, and heated it over medium heat until it was shimmering. I dropped the first set of chicken thighs into the pot and browned them with salt and pepper, being careful with the heat so as not to burn the nice fond that was forming. It took four batches (Susan had bought three packs of thighs), and after it was all done I had a very nice fond on the bottom. I threw 4 minced cloves of garlic into the oil, and then thinking about some of the Indian recipes I’ve made, I decided to fry the spices with the garlic for a bit before adding anything else. I dumped in the three ancho chiles that I had stemmed, seeded, and ground in my Cuisinart Mini-Prep, a tablespoon of cumin, a tablespoon of more Ancho Chile powder from Penzey’s, and a ½ teaspoon of cinnamon. I added a bit more oil, and then started stirring. The spices combined with the fond on the bottom to form a rich, dark glaze. I threw in 2 chopped onions, and stirred them in with a bit more oil. I was thinking of adding a bit of liquid to deglaze the pan before the fond burned, but I wanted to sauté the onions, not boil them, so I turned the heat down a tad, and figured that the onions would release enough liquid to deglaze the pan anyway. That is exactly what happened, and after about 10 minutes I had deglazed the pan and browned the onions.

I dumped in the diced tomatoes, the browned chicken thighs, and a can of chicken broth so that the liquid covered the covered the chicken, and reduced to the heat to medium-low for a slow simmer. I let that cook for about an hour, and then added a pound or so of quartered red potatoes. I let that cook for another hour, and when the potatoes were fork tender, I decided to experiment a bit. I was thinking about mole sauces, and figured I was pretty close to one with what I had, so what would happen if I threw in some unsweetened chocolate to make my sauce even richer? However, it turned out we didn’t have any….phooey! But, Susan told me, we did have unsweetened cocoa powder…maybe that would work? Delighted, I grabbed the cocoa, and was considering how much to put in when I thought that perhaps I should try it out on a small bit of sauce before potentially ruining a fairly large amount of food with an ill-conceived idea.

I grabbed a small stainless steel bowl and ladled in some of the sauce. It smelled and tasted wonderful…the flavor was rich and deep. I threw in a teaspoon of cocoa, and….couldn’t taste a thing. I threw in more…still not really doing it for me, so I dropped in a large dollop and stirred like crazy. Eagerly, I raised a spoonful to my lips, and tasted. It was….nasty. Gack…I was overwhelmed with raw chocolate flavor. Clearly, I have a bit to learn about making mole sauce. I decided to not mess with an already good thing, and just served it as it was, being very glad that I had decided to try the cocoa on a small scale before hand.

Anyway, here is the recipe, which I am calling my Southwestern Chickeny Tomatoey-Type Thing, because I don’t know what else to call it.

3 to 3.5 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
3 dried ancho chiles
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon ancho or chipotle chile powder
½ teaspoon cinnamon
2 onions, diced
Olive oil, as needed
2 14-oz cans diced tomatoes with chiles
1 can chicken stock or broth
1 lb small red potatoes, quartered

-Brown the chicken in batches in the olive oil, sprinkling each batch with salt and freshly ground pepper
-Saute the garlic in the olive oil after the chicken for about 1 minute
-Fry all of the spices with the garlic in the oil…add another tablespoon if it looks too dry
-Add the onions; sauté until browned; use the released liquid from the onions to deglaze your pot
-Add the chicken back in and the tomatoes
-Add the can of chicken broth
-Simmer for approximately an hour; add the potatoes
-Simmer for another hour, or until the potatoes are fork tender and the sauce has reduced a bit
-Can garnish with cheese and sour cream, and also good with tortillas…but also just good as it is!