Honey Glazed Pork Loin & Belly

It's hard to speak about the trivial things going on in my own life when such tragedies as today's events in Boston occur.  So instead of rambling about being tired, or being over-worked, or stressed... I'm just going to say I'm thankful.  We never know when our last day will come.  Nor do we know what tomorrow will bring.  So I'm thankful for my health, my sanity, my family.  And my prayers go out to all of the families affected by today's awful event.

Ingredients:

Pork Belly:

1 lb. pork belly
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup salt
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon garlic powder
2 cups chicken stock
1-2 tablespoon olive oil

1 lb. pork loin, cut into 1 & 1/2 inch thick medallions
salt and pepper, to taste

Honey Glaze:

1/2 cup water 
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup honey
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tablespoon black peppercorns

In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, paprika, onion powder, cayenne, and garlic powder. 

Score the pork belly and rub the spice mixture all over the pork belly, making sure to get in the creases of the scoring.  Tightly wrap pork belly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, up to 24 hours.

Preheat oven to 275 F.

Unwrap pork belly and rinse off spice rub.  Pat pork belly dry. 

Heat a large oven-proof skillet under medium high heat and add olive oil.  Sear the pork belly, scored side first, until golden and caramelized.  Add enough chicken stock to the pan to come up halfway on the pork belly.  Transfer skillet to oven and cook until pork belly is nice and tender, about 4-6 hours.  Alternatively, you can do this step in a slow-cooker if you don't want to have your oven on for such a long period of time.

Combine the water, soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, garlic, and black peppercorns in a small saucepan.  Reduce mixture by half or until slightly thickened.  Set aside.

Heat a large saute pan under medium high heat.  Season the pork loin medallions with salt and pepper, to taste.  Add oil to the saute pan.

Add the pork loin to the pan and cook until caramelized.  Flip over and cook until at desired temperature.  About a minute or so before done, pour some of the glaze liquid into the hot pan and let the mixture thicken around the pork loin to coat it.

Brush some of the thickened glaze on the pork belly, as well.

We served this with some creamy grits and balsamic brussels sprouts.  Definitely a tasty meal.

I hope you all have a great rest of the week and remember not to take any day for granted!  Be safe!

BBQ Pork Chops

Almost every Saturday morning, sometime between 10am and 2pm, I find myself perusing around the Douglass Loop Farmer's Market.  And more often than not, I find myself ogling the meats at the Stone Cross Farm's booth.  I've been having a hankering for some bone-in chops lately, but always arrive too late to the booth to get some.  But trust me, settling for the boneless chops isn't that bad.  In fact, it's not bad at all.

You see the chop in the above picture?  That was only HALF of the whole chop I got.  Yeah, the whole chop was practically bigger than my entire plate.  Now, that's what I call a chop.

And the size isn't what gets me reeled in, either... the flavor of the meat is just superb!

And while I was perusing for recipes last weekend, I came across this little gem at Kohler Created.  By far, one of the. best. pork chop. recipes. ever. EVER.

Don't forget to vote in this week's treat poll:





Ingredients:

Adapted from Kohler Created's recipe


2 boneless pork chops (or in my case, one huge one cut in half)
1/2 cup honey
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
juice from 1 lemon
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

In a medium bowl, combine the honey, brown sugar, dijon mustard, lemon juice, soy sauce, and garlic until sugar is dissolved.

Place pork chops in a large Ziploc bag and pour marinade into bag.  Place in fridge for at least 4 hours.

Heat a charcoal grill under medium high heat and grill chops for about 5-7 minutes per side.  Let chops rest for about 5 minutes before serving.

We served this with some leftover homemade macaroni and cheese and some mixed vegetables.  This was the perfect Friday night meal.  So what are you waiting for?  It's Friday night!  And if you're in the Louisville area tomorrow morning, between 10am and 2pm, don't forget to check out the Douglass Loop Farmer's Market for some goodies!  Especially for some Stone Cross Farm's pork chops!

Have a great weekend guys!  We'll be headed up to Indianapolis for a graduation party (and to possibly hit up the outlet malls in Edinburgh on the way up) so don't forget to vote in the poll above to suggest something I should bring with me!

CSA Week #1

I figured since our CSA started yesterday, I'd do a special weekly post every Thursday from now on! 

The mass amount of rain had a big effect on many Kentucky farms so our first share wasn't as plentiful as Grasshopper's had hoped for us.  But you know... that's also the risk you take with joining a CSA.  You benefit when the farmers benefit.  But you also go through the sparse times also.  I think it kind of gives you perspective of how the weather really effects the produce we receive.  Me?  I'm not complaining at all, because I definitely appreciate all that our local farms do for us and I'm happy to get anything and support our farmers!

Grasshopper's Distribution does a good job with substituting some canned produce in these times, so we're very lucky either way!

So this was our box this week...

Lots of greenery, obviously!  The contents included:

• green onions
• mixed greens
• head lettuce (which still had the roots attached so I chopped the top off and planted the root part in my garden... all you avid gardeners out there - was that a good idea or am I just a novice idiot? lol)
• pint of strawberries
• bunch of swiss chard
• bottle of Bourbon Barrel Foods Soy Sauce
• jar of pumpkin butter
• jar of salsa

All locally made products!

Some beautiful strawberries!

So yeah, that was our haul this week.  You guys have any recipe ideas for me?  I'm in the process of making some strawberry shortcakes with some of those strawberries, so that should be delicious!

If you guys received a CSA this week, what did you end up getting?  I'd love to have a weekly round-up of your CSA goodies (if you participate in one), or even if you made a weekly visit to your Farmer's market - I'd love to see the local produce everyone gets!  So feel free to e-mail a snapshot of your goods (as well as your name and blog title (and don't worry if you don't have a blog, your name will be just fine!) as well as link to your blog) at mtlabor85 (at) yahoo (dot) com and I'll post them in next Thursday's CSA post!  

Spicy Fried Rice w/ Chorizo

Happy Friday guys!  I am so elated that it's rearing up to be the weekend, that it's not even funny.  We've got a pretty jam-packed weekend planned, actually.

Tomorrow morning is the Derby Marathon & Mini.  And no.  My butt is not running in it.  I'm not that in shape yet.  I'll actually be volunteering at one of the Powerade and water stations (mile marker 10/19 for those of you that are actually running!).  The only bad thing about this is... I have to be there at 6:15am.  SIX. FIFTEEN. In the morning.  On a Saturday.  Yeah.  I'm dedicated to giving the runners their fluids.

But it won't be so bad.  I've been on a volunteering kick lately, so it'll be good to get out there and do some good.  (And I get a free t-shirt, so that's always a plus!)

And there's also a free concert (that was supposed to be by the river, but considering Waterfront Park looks pretty much like Atlantis right now, I'm positive that they'll be relocating that) on Saturday night that we plan on going to with a couple friends.  The band?  Soul Asylum.  Yeah, anybody remember that early 90's band?  Most famous for that song "Runaway Train".  Yeah, I was 7 when that came out, so no, I don't really remember that band... but since Andy is a tad bit older than I am, he remembers them clearly.  Which is also funny because he can't ever remember to take out the trash on Mondays, but yet, remembers a band from ages ago.  But I digress. 

Anyway, let's talk fried rice.  Fried rice is one of those things that I believe my mom can make the best.  She always just added in whatever we had laying around the house, and it was always amazing.  Definitely great for dinner all on it's own.  But I'm not bragging.

What I will be bragging about, is this new recipe for fried rice that may give my mom's many versions a run for her money.  It's spicy, it's filling, it's absolutely delicious.  So go ahead, try it out - you won't be disappointed!

Ingredients:
Adapted from PigPigCorner's recipe

2-3 cups leftover cooked rice (cold and day old is usually best)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
4 pieces of bacon, chopped
1 small onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 scallions (green parts only), chopped
1 large cooked chorizo sausage (or whatever meat/protein you want to add - I just had some leftover), chopped
2 tablespoons Sriracha, or other hot sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon hot water
1 tablespoon sesame oil
Soy sauce, to taste
3 eggs

In a medium bowl, mix leftover rice with the melted butter and set aside.

In a small bowl, mix together Sriracha, sugar, and hot water.  Set aside.

In a large skillet under medium high heat, fry up the bacon pieces until browned and crisp, about 6-8 minutes.  Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.  Set aside.

Drain pan of the bacon fat, leaving about 1-2 tablespoons still in the pan.  Add the diced onions and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.

Stir in garlic and half of the scallions.  Saute for about a minute more.

Add rice to the pan and pour Sriracha mixture over top.  Mix well.  Stir fry for about 3-5 minutes, or until rice is started to "crisp" or brown.

Crack the eggs over the rice and stir to scramble throughout mixture.  Cook for an additional 2-3 minutes, stirring often.

Stir in bacon pieces and chorizo.

Season mixture with soy sauce, I think I used maybe 2-3 tablespoons and it was perfect. 

Stir in sesame oil and remaining scallions.  Serve hot and with extra Sriracha if you'd like!

This was seriously delicious.  We had this with some Red Curry Chicken Wings (recipe soon to come!) and it couldn't have been a better meal.  The best part?  We had a good amount of leftovers, and after making this on Tuesday, they're practically almost gone.  It's almost bittersweet... but then again, I could always just make some more!

How do you guys fix your fried rice?  Leftovers are always useful!

Hope you all have a great weekend and look forward to a new recipe on Monday!

Wasabi & Mustard Mahi Mahi

The weekend was pretty uneventful. It was damn near dreary, really. It rained like it had never rained before, well, this season anyway. And it's supposed to keep raining on and off until Wednesday. One really good thing about the weekend though, it managed to stop raining long enough for me to go on 2 runs. Yeah. TWO RUNS! Friday I did about 3.8 miles, and Saturday I did a little over 4. I'd say that's pretty good if you ask me... especially considering a couple weeks ago, I went for my first run of the season, and wanted to just pass out in every lawn I came across. Yeah, funny how out of shape we can get when taking the winter off.


Ingredients:

1 cup panko bread crumbs
2 eggs, beaten
2 mahi mahi filets
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1/3 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons sake
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
3 tablespoons wasabi paste
2 tablespoons mustard powder
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon olive oil

Place panko in a shallow dish. Place eggs in a separate shallow dish. Dip the mahi mahi filets in the eggs, then dredge in panko. Set aside.

Whisk the mustard powder, red pepper flakes, and 5 tablespoons water in a small bowl until mustard is dissolved.

In a large skillet, heat olive oil under medium high heat. Add fish and cook until browned, about 4 minutes per side. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste and set aside.

Combine the mustard mixture with 1/4 cup soy sauce.

In same skillet used for fish, add the powdered ginger and stir for about 30 seconds. (If no or little oil remains in the pain, add about 1 teaspoon or so) Then add chicken broth, sake, remaining 2 tablespoons soy sauce, sugar, and wasabi paste. Stir until wasabi and sugar is completely dissolved.

Arrange fish on top of steamed brown rice and drizzle with wasabi/ginger sauce. Serve with the mustard/soy sauce on the side.

This meal was pretty okay for me. If I did it again, I probably wouldn't use Mahi Mahi. I mean, don't get me wrong, Mahi Mahi is a good fish, but I think it was "meatier" than needed for this dish. The sauce was delicate and needed a delicate fish to pair with (maybe halibut or even tilapia). Enjoy!

Btw! For those that gave me feedback on Food Science Friday, THANK YOU! I hope to keep doing it and will be glad to have you all learn with me!

Garlic Noodles w/ Chicken

All I can say is yum! These were perfectly done garlic noodles and thanks to White on Rice Couple for posting this recipe which they got from Steamy Kitchen's cookbook (there's a link on their page for the book, which I think I'm going to invest in soon!)

Ingredients:

1 box spaghetti noodles
2 large chicken breasts, cut into small cubes
3 tablespoons butter
6 leaves fresh basil, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1-3 teaspoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add noodles. Cook until about al dente, roughly 7-9 minutes for spaghetti noodles. Strain the noodles and add back into pot. In a separate large skillet, melt butter under medium heat and add garlic. Saute garlic until fragrant, about a minute. Then add chicken and cook until white throughout. Remove chicken with slotted spoon and set aside.

Add brown sugar, soy sauce, and oyster sauce to skillet. Stir until brown sugar dissolves and then add chicken and noodles. Make sure to coat everything evenly with the sauce.

Remove from heat and stir in basil. Serve and eat up!

This was such a quick meal to prepare and tasted really like authentic garlic noodles. I highly recommend the cookbook it came from and will be snagging up a copy of my own soon! Enjoy!