Pork Burgers with Fried Brussels Sprouts

So, I graduated.  Officially graduated from culinary school.  I now have a degree in Culinary Arts.  Pretty freakin' awesome.

How did we celebrate?  Well, thanks to a fantastic gift card from my parents, we now are the proud owners of a meat grinder attachment to our KitchenAid (as well as a pretty awesome juicer - Andy's been on this homemade juice kick - and I gotta tell ya, I'm loving the fresh juice combos he's coming up with!).

So the first thing I did?  Went out and bought some pork sausage casings and ground up some sweet pork sausages.  Let me tell you - without an actual sausage stuffer attachment for our KitchenAid or an actual manual sausage stuffer - it's pretty time consuming to stuff some sausages.  I ended up MacGuyver-ing my way through with a pastry bag fitted with a large tip and ended up with decent results - although I'd much rather dish out the $12 for the sausage stuffer attachment for next time.

Anyway, as I got tired of manually stuffing sausages, I didn't end up going through all of the ground pork I had.  With the rest of it, I made these pretty sweet burgers.  So good.  And yeah, I definitely don't plan on buying ground meat ever again (well, let's keep it real, maybe once in a blue moon... or if Andy goes grocery shopping and ends up bringing it home).  But seriously, freshly ground meat is definitely more superior than the grocery stuff!

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground pork (I had about a 70/30 ratio of meat to fat)
salt and pepper, to taste
Mayo, optional
pepperjack cheese, optional
fried egg, optional
burger buns, or sandwich bread in my case

Fried Brussels Sprouts:

1 lb. brussels sprouts, quartered and blanched
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon oregano
oil, for frying

You of course could season your ground meat with whatever you fancy, but I like to keep it simple with just a bit of salt and pepper.  I like dressing up a burger as a whole, rather than trying to really flavor the meat.  Because well... the meat speaks for itself.  Right?  Right.

Anyway, form the meat into thin 4 ounce patties.  Think Steak N' Shake burger style. 

Heat a large saute pan under medium high heat and add a little bit of oil to coat the pan.  Place two patties in the pan and cook until starting to brown.  Flip over and place cheese (if using) on top of each patty.  Continue to cook until the patty is cooked through and the cheese is melted.  Place one patty on top of the other and transfer to a plate to rest.  At this point, you can assemble all of your burger toppings, and you can really be as creative as you want here.   But I had some extra brussels sprouts in the fridge and needed to use them up, so why not fry them, right?

Heat oil or deep fryer to 325 F.

Combine the flour, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, cayenne pepper, and oregano.  Mix well.  Dredge the brussels sprouts in the seasoned flour and dust off any excess.

Place in deep fryer and cook until golden brown and crisp, about 2-4 minutes.  Drain on paper towel-lined plate and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

To assemble this awesome burger, toast some burger buns lightly (or use sandwich bread like I did - I had everything else on hand and I was too lazy to leave the house to get some burger buns).  Get a good smear of mayo on both pieces of bread.  Top the bottom bun with the two burger patties.  Then place a good amount of the fried brussels sprouts on top of the burger and top with a fried egg - good and yolky!  Then close is on up with the top of the bun.

And there you have a pretty darn good burger.  Different, but oh so delicious.

What's your favorite burger combo?!

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!

Salmon w/ Lemon Parsley Green Beans & Spicy Ranch

Louisville, KY has been in the spotlight lately.  Especially after Monday night's win at the NCAA championship - which for a non-basketball watcher, was actually quite exciting.  I heard fireworks and people screaming for well into the night, long after the game actually ended.  And I didn't mind.  It was pretty cool to hear the city come alive and come together.

And here in about a month or so, tons of people from all over the country will flood into the city to witness the most exciting 2 minutes in sports - the Kentucky Derby.  It's always a time of drinking bourbon, eating food, spending money, and watching the races!  I'm definitely proud to call Louisville my home.

Another exciting thing, which may not be as exciting to those of you who are not from Louisville or Kentucky - but the chef that owns the restaurant that I currently work at, Edward Lee - is coming out with a cookbook.  And it looks awesome.  Smoke & Pickles will definitely be on my bookshelf come May 1st - and I hope it'll be on yours too!

Anyway, Andy loved this meal.  I don't know if he was starving by the time I made it, or if he really just overly enjoyed it, but he cleared his plate AND the rest of mine too.  Another winner in the books!

Ingredients:

2 6 oz. salmon fillets
flour, for dredging
salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Green Beans:

1 lb. hericot verts (French green beans), blanched and shocked
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 garlic cloves, minced
juice from 1 lemon
2 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped
salt and pepper, to taste

Spicy Ranch:

1 cup ranch dressing
1 tablespoon Gochujang paste (Korean chili paste)
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon sesame oil
water, as needed

Heat a large skillet under medium high heat.  Melt the 3 tablespoons of butter and add garlic.  Saute until fragrant.  Toss in the hericot verts and coat in the butter.  Add the lemon juice and cook until reduced.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.  Toss the hericot verts with the parsley until combined. 

In a small bowl, combine the ranch, Gochujang, maple syrup, and sesame oil.  If the mixture is too thick, add a little bit of warm water until you reach your desired consistency.

Heat a large saute pan under medium high heat.  Add the olive oil and remaining 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter. 

Season the salmon fillets with salt and pepper and dredge in the flour, dusting off any excess.  Add the salmon to the saute pan and cook until browned.  Flip over and cook until desired temperature.  I like to cook my salmon to medium, with a little bit of pink still in the middle.

To plate, place a good amount of sauce on the center of the plate.  Place green beans on sauce and top with salmon fillets.  We had some onion rings in the freezer and decided to fry those up and serve them with this as an added crunch factor.  It was pretty darn delicious, if you ask me!

Hope you guys have a great rest of the week!

Fettuccine w/ Artichokes, Tomatoes, & Spinach

How is everyone's week going so far? 

I can't believe it's already Wednesday.  This week has just flown by, hasn't it?

The next 10 day forecast is in the 50+ range, so Spring is definitely making it's way to Kentucky.  I made Andy this pasta dish for lunch because it was easy, delicious, and made me think of Spring!

Sorry to be short and quick today, but this girl has got some major errands and Spring cleaning to do!

Ingredients:

1 lb. fettuccine noodles
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 shallot, minced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup artichoke hearts, roughly chopped
2 cups baby spinach
1/4 cup white wine
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup parmesan cheese, grated
salt and pepper, to taste

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Add fettuccine and cook until al dente.  Drain and toss in olive oil to keep from sticking together.

In a large saute pan, melt butter under medium high heat.  Add shallot and garlic and cook until fragrant.  Add cherry tomatoes and artichokes and cook for another minute or two.  Deglaze pan with white wine and reduce until only 2-3 tablespoons remain. 

Add heavy cream and reduce until thickened. Add in parmesan cheese and spinach, stirring until spinach is wilted.  Add pasta and toss until coated with the sauce.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste. 

Serve in hot plates or bowls with garlic bread.  Dig on in!

Easy and so versatile!  Change out the vegetables based on what you have on hand, or keep it as is!  The possibilities are really endless!  Hope you guys have a great rest of the week!

Salmon w/ Mustard Parsley Sauce

It's really starting to feel like Spring around here.  The temps are starting to rise every day and sooner or later I'll be able to leave the house without a jacket - and that excites me so much!

Even more exciting news - one of the sous chefs at Milkwood is moving out of town, so his position will soon be open.  I was approached the other night to see if I was interested in it - so, soon enough - I'll be a sous chef!  Didn't think in a million years it would happen this fast, but hey - I'll take it!

I made something easy breezy for lunch the other day that was light and tasty.  And I even got to take the pictures outside - which is another sure sign that Spring is a-coming!  The only thing I wish I would have done differently was to not be lazy and chop up the parsley a little bit finer - so it's duly noted in the ingredients to do so!

Ingredients:

2 6 oz. salmon fillets
flour, for dredging
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil

Sauce:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 small shallot, minced
1/2 cup white wine
juice from 1 lemon
1 & 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped
2 tablespoons maple syrup
salt and pepper, to taste

Caramelized Brussels Sprouts, optional

The sauce comes together in a matter of minutes and is versatile enough that you could put it on chicken, fish, meat, pork, etc.  So feel free to mix and match as you see fit!

In a medium saucepan, combine the olive oil and butter under medium heat.  When the butter is melted, add the shallots and saute until fragrant.  Add wine and lemon juice and reduce mixture by half. 

Turn off the heat and stir in the dijon mustard, maple syrup, and parsley until combined.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Heat a large saute pan under medium high heat and add olive oil.

Season the salmon fillets with salt and pepper and dredge in the flour, dusting off any excess.

Add the fillets to the pan and sear until golden brown.  Flip over to continue cooking to desired temperature - I love medium salmon.

I caramelized some brussels sprouts to pair along with the salmon and they were perfect.  Serve the salmon over your preferred veggie and top with the mustard sauce.

 

A meal that comes together in less than 20 minutes!  Can't beat that!

Hope you guys have a great weekend! 

Sweetbreads w/ Asparagus & Crab Salad

Apparently today is the first day of Spring.  One would never really know by looking at the temperature, though.  I mean, seriously - 38 degrees?!  Come on warm weather!

I had the day off on Monday and decided to take advantage of the sunshine (maybe a little too much since these photos are a little over-exposed - my laziness in editing and properly styling photos is a side effect of the cold weather) and made a unique salad to start my day. 

I could eat sweetbreads all day long.  They're seriously the most appealing of all the offal meat, in my opinion.  They're not sweet.  They're not bread.  But they're oh-so-delicious.  And for those of you that follow me on Instagram (@mtlabor) - you know that my new t-shirt exemplifies my love for sweetbreads =)

Ingredients:

Sweetbread Poaching Liquid:

1 lb. veal sweetbreads
1 carrot, peeled and small diced
1/2 onion, small diced
2 celery ribs, small diced
5-6 parsley stems
3 sprigs thyme
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup white wine
1 cup veal/beef stock

Sweetbreads:

1 lb. poached sweetbreads, peeled (great video on how this is done here)
1 cup seasoned flour, for dredging (you can adapt this however you like and it can even be as simple as salt and pepper - I add salt, onion powder, cayenne, oregano, and chili powder for mine)
salt and pepper, to taste
Oil, for frying

Asparagus Dressing:

4-5 stalks of asparagus, peeled, blanched, and shocked
1 cup spinach, blanched and shocked
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons champagne vinegar
salt and pepper, to taste

1 cup watercress, washed
1/4 cup lump crab meat
asparagus stalks, peeled, blanched, and shocked - then cut on a bias
juice from 1/2 lemon
aged swiss cheese, optional
salt and pepper

I know what you're thinking - this is a lot of fuss for a salad.  But if you've got the time, or the occasion, it's definitely well worth it!

In a medium saucepan, combine the carrot, onion, celery, parsley stems, thyme, bay leaf, salt, pepper, white wine, and veal stock.  Bring to a slow simmer and add sweetbreads.  Poach for about 10 minutes, or until the sweetbreads start to firm up.  Remove the sweetbreads from the poaching liquid and transfer to an ice bath to cool down. 

Once cool, carefully remove the membranes from the sweetbreads - if you don't do this step, you'll end up with tough sweetbreads, and nobody likes that!

Heat a deep fryer or heavy-bottomed pot with oil to 325 F. 

Dredge the sweetbreads in the seasoned flour and fry until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes.  Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to dry and season with salt and pepper.

In a Vitamix or a blender, combine the asaparagus, spinach, olive oil, and vinegar.  Blend until smooth and season with salt and pepper, to taste.  You can choose to strain through a chinois or fine-mesh strainer if you'd like.

Toss the watercress in a little bit of lemon juice, salt, and pepper.  Arrange on a plate in sort of a straight line.  Place sweetbreads on top, along with scattered pieces of lump crab, asparagus, and swiss cheese bits.  Drizzle some dressing around the plate and finish with freshly ground black pepper.

And voila - a fancy salad to impress any offal lover!

Have you guys had sweetbreads?  How do you like to cook them?

Pork Roast w/ Braised Red Cabbage

I'm officially done with culinary school! 

I can't say how happy I am to be done.  It's a big relief and a bundle of emotions all in one.  I can focus on a career path and live life!  Not to mention, spend more time on this blog!

Anyway, I have a month before graduation, and I'll be taking full advantage of my newly appointed free time.  I've given my notice at Jack Fry's and will be taking on a full time position at my internship restaurant, Milkwood.  It was one of the hardest decisions of my life, but I feel that I need to experience new things, and I LOVE working at Milkwood - and I truly feel that I could advance faster there than I would at the other.  I gotta do what's best for me, right?  Right.

Yesterday was my last day of school and I celebrated by making this delicious dinner for Andy and I!  He was kind of hesitant about the cabbage, but I think with the added sweetness of the apples, he was on board after the first bite!  After all, he did clean his plate, so it can't be that bad!

Ingredients:

Cabbage:

4 slices of bacon, sliced into 1/4" pieces
1 carrot, julienned
1 onion, julienned
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 red cabbage, shredded
3 Granny Smith apples, peeled and small diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 bay leaf
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
salt and pepper, to taste
2 cups red wine
2 cups veal/beef stock
  
Pork:

2-3 lb. pork roast, cut into portions (preferably something with a decent amount of fat, like pork shoulder)
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste
4-6 thyme sprigs

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup marcona almonds, optional 
fresh thyme, optional

In a large dutch oven, render the bacon strips under medium heat. 

Add carrots, onions, and butter.  Saute until vegetables start to soften.

Stir in the cabbage and cook until starting to wilt, about 10 minutes or so.

Add in apples, garlic, bay leaf, cloves, nutmeg, red wine, and veal stock.  Season lightly with salt and pepper - as the braise cooks, the salt will intensify, so it's best to season lightly now, then correct later on when the braise is done.

Braise the cabbage under a simmer for about an hour, stirring occasionally. 

In a large saute pan, add olive oil and heat under medium high heat.  Season the pork portions with salt and pepper and sear on all sides.  Remove from pan and add to dutch oven with cabbage.  Top with thyme sprigs.  Make sure the meat is covered by at least 1/2 - 2/3 by the liquid - if not, add more wine or stock.

Continue to braise until pork is fork tender, about 3-4 hours.

Alternatively, you could transfer all of the ingredients to a crockpot and let simmer on low for the allotted amount of time to make it easier.  Either way, you'll end up with fork tender results.

When ready to serve, ladle about 1/2 cup of the braising liquid into a saucepan.  Reduce by half and then mount with the unsalted butter until thick and shiny. 

Place a mound of cabbage in the center of the plate and top with a portion of pork.  Top with the reduced sauce and garnish with marcona almonds and fresh thyme.

This was definitely a comfort meal.  With the last days of winter coming to a close, this was a great way to celebrate the coming of spring and the start of my new found freedom!  Hope you guys have a great rest of the week!