So, I'd had a desire to make some onion jam recently and finally found a recipe I liked as well as the motivation to actually attempt it. It came out delicious! With roasted garlic and some apple cider how can you go wrong? Once it was done, however, I needed to use it on something. So we got a nice, big pork tenderloin roast and carved it out into a flat sheet, brined it overnight, smothered it with the jam, cranberries, raisins, pecans, and rolled it back up and baked it. Awesome is the best way to describe it. The brine is good for both pork and chicken and the jam works well on bagels with cream cheese, most meats, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are next on my list to try.
To back it up musically, I've got some Cock Sparrer with one of my favorites from them "Take 'Em All". Nothing like some gutter punks to compliment a nice fall meal! - justin
Add all ingredients to a 3 qt saucepan and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce to simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool completely. This can be frozen for later use if desired.
Caramelized Onion & Roasted Garlic Jam
Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 60 minutes Makes: Slightly less than 2 quarts Level: Easy
4 heads of garlic
4 cups onion, chopped
1 cup raisins
1/4 cup butter
2 tbsp olive oil
3/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tsp ground mustard
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground white pepper
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
5 cups sugar
2 oz dried pectin
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Remove the papery outer skin from the garlic heads but do not peel or separate cloves. Cut off the top inch of the garlic bulbs and brush with olive oil. Wrap each bulb in heavy duty foil and bake for 35-40 minutes or until soft. Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes.
In a dutch oven, saute onions in butter for 30-40 minutes or until lightly browned. Squeeze softened garlic into pan. Stir in the cider vinegar, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, salt, white pepper, ginger, cloves, and smoked paprika. Bring to a rolling boil. Gradually add sugar, stirring constantly. Return to a boil for 3 minutes.
Add the pectin and bring to a rolling boil. Boil for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and allow the liquid to cool for 5 minutes, scraping any foam off the top afterward. Pour mixture into sterile quart canning jars, leaving 1/2 inch of head space. Adjust the caps and process in boiling water for 10 minutes if long term storage is desired. Otherwise the jam can be stored in the fridge for immediate use.
Onion Jam Pork Roast
Prep Time:12 hours Cook Time: 2 to 2.5 hrs Serves: 8 people Level: Medium
5 lb pork tenderloin roast
1 qt pork or chicken brine
1 cup Caramelized Onion Jam
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup pecans
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 tbsp kosher salt
1 tbsp ground black pepper
Fillet the pork roast out into a flat sheet, like a flank steak. Take a large knife and cut an inch thick piece along the length so the as you roll the roast away from the knife you create a sheet of meat. Place in a gallon ziplock bag and all enough brine to cover the top of the meet. Place in a spill proof container overnight.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Remove the pork from the brine and rinse with cold water to remove the brine. Pat dry with a paper towel. Lay the pork out flat, over three pieces of butchers twine (cotton string) cut to 1 ft in length, and cover evenly with the jam, raisins, pecans, and cranberries. It should look like this when you are done:
Roll the roast back up and tie off at even intervals with the butchers twine. Place in a roasting pan, sprinkle the top with the salt and pepper and place in the oven for 30 minutes a lb, or until the center of the roast reaches an internal temp of 150 degrees. Remove from heat and allow the roast to rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing and serving.
Serve with the jam as a condiment or topping and enjoy!
Song Title: Memphis Album: Indestructible (2003) Lyrics: "By the time we made it to New Orleans, it must have been half past three. By the time we made it to Memphis, we were crazy."
The song "Memphis" might be my favourite song off of the "Indestructible" album... though I suppose it depends on my mood. This song gets me going! This is the song that I play in the car as loud as my pathetic speakers will allow when I'm in a happy mood... but I will do the same thing with this song if I'm in a really pissed mood! Right from the start you're assaulted with a great, driving beat backed by what I can only describe as electric bagpipes?! When I get it loud enough... it kind of takes my breath away (awww). And then it inspires me to make some southern barbecue! Which I did... but for some reason, I was feeling like Asian food too, so it turned into Southern-Asian fusion! This came out so tasty! I'd never cooked meat in vinegar before and the flavour was so tangy, the meat was perfect and juicy, falling apart! I was almost sad to put the sauce on the meat because it was so good plain! We'll be making this again... and again! -jen
ASIAN BARBECUE PORK SANDWICHES
4-5 pound pork shoulder
4 tablespoons minced garlic
3 tablespoons minced ginger
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon chili paste
2 cups cider vinegar
1/2 cup soy sauce
Asian barbecue sauce
fresh sandwich rolls
shredded carrots
fresh cilantro
Cut pork shoulder into 2" steaks. In a bowl, combine garlic, ginger, sesame oil, fish sauce, and chili paste. Place pork steaks into slowcooker. Pour vinegar and soy sauce over steaks. Spread the garlic and ginger mix over the steaks. Cover and cook on high for 7 hours. Remove pork from slowcooker and shred. Drain liquid from slowcooker and put shredded pork back in. Begin mixing Asian barbecue sauce into the pulled pork. I suggest starting with about 1/2 a cup and adding more to your taste. I ended up adding about 3/4 cup sauce all together, as I don't like my barbecue real saucy; I like to be able to taste the meat's flavours. (And now I have a lot of leftover sauce to use for other barbecuing.) Rewarm pork and serve on a roll with spicy mayonnaise, shredded carrots and fresh cilantro.
Spicy Mayo = mayonnaise with sriracha hot sauce to taste.
ASIAN BARBECUE SAUCE
34 oz tomato sauce
6 oz can tomato paste
1 jar (8oz) Hoisen sauce
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons dark molasses
2 heaping tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
zest and juice of 1 lime
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon dried cilantro or oregano
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 teaspoon Chinese 5 Spice
1 teaspoon Pasilla chili powder
1 teaspoon New Mexico chili powder
2 chipotle peppers (from a can of Chipotle peppers in Adobo Sauce)
Whisk all ingredients in a large sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Simmer on a low heat for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
BAKED BEANS WITH BACON (Gotta give credit to my mom, Loretta, for these! I might have zipped them up a little, but she's been making kick ass baked beans my whole life and I got my base recipe from her!)
1/2 pound bacon, diced
1 can (1 pound 12oz) pork and beans in tomato sauce
1 can (15oz) kidney beans, drained
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1-1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon dark molasses
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1 tablespoon whiskey
1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
black pepper to taste
Cook diced bacon over a medium-high heat until crispy. Remove from pan and set aside on a paper towel to drain. In an oven safe dish, combine all ingredients (including crumbled bacon). Cook at 325 F for 1 hour if you like your beans saucy, or for 1.5 hours if you like thick beans (which is how I like 'em!)
Song Title: Arrested In Shanghai Album: Indestructible (2003) Lyrics: "In my cell there is no sky, when I was arrested in Shanghai"
Good mellow song. Cursed with an overactive imagination, I end up thinking of horrifying images of what prison in Shanghai might be like. Makes me think of the movie "Midnight Express". Chilling. But back to the food! I haven't had a lot of experience with making Chinese food, only a few different dishes over the last few years. I came up with a few recipes tonight and wasn't feeling so confident about how it was turning out. However, I'm glad to say that the dinner was a delicious success - fantastic Chinese food without a delivery fee! -jen
SHANGHAI FRIED NOODLES WITH CHICKEN STIR-FRY
2-3 medium sized boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup soy sauce, divided (1/4 cup, 1/4 cup)
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/4 cup green onions, chopped + 1 cup green onion, sliced in 1" strips
Cut raw chicken breasts into thin slices. In a Ziplock bag, combine sliced chicken, 1/4 cup soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, 1/4 cup chopped green onions, cilantro, 2 tablespoons minced garlic, and chili paste. Refrigerate and let marinade for at least an hour.
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet or wok on high heat. Stir-fry chicken in two or three batches, adding oil for each batch as needed (remember to give the oil a minute to get hot in between batches.) Set chicken aside. Add 2 tablespoons of oil and in small batches, stir-fry broccoli, carrot, cabbage, mushrooms, and bean sprouts, 2 tablespoons of minced garlic, and 1/4 cup of the remaining soy sauce, setting cooked veggies aside in a bowl after each batch. When final batch is finished, toss with the chopped basil.
In the hot skillet, add 1 tablespoon minced garlic and 1-1/2 cups of the chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Combine the remaining 1/2 cup broth and corn starch in a small dish. Mix until smooth. When the broth comes to a boil, add the corn starch mix, and whisk until the liquid returns to a boil. Broth should begin to thicken into a gravy. Once gravy has begun boiling again, quickly add chicken and vegetables. Cook for a couple more minutes until chicken is rewarmed and remove from heat.
Serve over pan-fried noodles.
PAN-FRIED NOODLES
1/2 pound Shanghai noodles or Chinese egg noodles
1 tablespoon sesame oil
olive oil
Cook noodles until al dente. Drain. Rinse with cold water and let drain again. Toss with sesame oil. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet or wok. Add 1/4 of the noodles to the pan, spreading out to the edge of the pan. Cook on high for 5-8 minutes - do not stir! When noodle-patty is golden brown, carefully flip the patty and cook the other side until golden brown. Repeat three more times to make a total of 4 patties.
This was my first attempt at flipping a noodle patty without using a spatula... I wouldn't recommend it unless you know what you're doing... and I didn't. But I've flipped a lot of crepes this way. I didn't do too bad for my first noodle flip.
PORK AND SHRIMP EGG ROLLS
1/2 pound ground pork
1/4 cup shredded carrot
2 cups shredded Napa cabbage
1 cup bean sprouts
1/4 cup green onions, chopped
1 tablespoons minced garlic
1 teaspoons ground ginger
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon chili paste
3-4 cranks of fresh black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup bay shrimp (tiny shrimp)
2-3 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
egg roll wrappers
1 egg white, beaten
In a large bowl, mix pork, carrot, cabbage, bean sprouts, green onions, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, chili paste, and black pepper. Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork mixture and cook until pork is cooked through. Add shrimp and cilantro, toss, and remove from heat. Let cool. Lay egg roll wrapper out with a corner pointed at you. Add 3 tablespoons of meat mixture about 1/3 of the way up from the corner pointed at you. Brush a little egg white on the top two edges of the wrapper. Roll the lower corner over the filling and roll tightly until the halfway point. Tuck the left and right sides in and continue wrapping until the top egg-washed sides seal the wrapper.
Heat oil in deep fryer or large pan to 350 degrees. Deep fry 3-4 egg rolls at a time for 5-7 minutes, until golden brown. Turn egg rolls half-way through to cook evenly.
EGG DROP SOUP
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 tablespoon minced ginger
1 quart chicken broth
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 eggs
1/4 cup corn starch
salt and pepper
1/4 cup green onions, chopped
In a 3 quart pan, heat sesame oil on medium heat. Add garlic and ginger and let them sweat for 2-3 minutes. Set 1 cup of the chicken broth aside and add the remainder of the chicken broth, as well as the soy sauce, to the ginger and garlic. Bring to a boil. In a separate bowl, mix the corn starch and 1 cup of chicken broth until smooth. In a different bowl, whisk two eggs (like you were making scrambled eggs) and set aside. When the broth has come to a boil, whisk in corn starch mixture and continue whisking until it comes back to a boil. When it has begun boiling again, slowly drizzle in the eggs, breaking them up in the soup with a fork as you drizzle. Remove from heat and serve topped with a few green onions as garnish.
These were recipes Justin came up with for dinner the other night. They're really simple and easy dishes that seem a little more decadent than just "meat and potatoes". His play list consisted of the Descendents' compilation album, "Somery". -jen
PREPARE THE ROASTED GARLIC FOR THE CAULIFLOWER DISH
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare roasted garlic by cutting off stem end, about 1/4" into the garlic cloves. Place garlic, cut side up, in the center of a square of aluminum foil that's about 8"x8". Drizzle the exposed garlic with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Salt and pepper it with a pinch of each. Fold ends of foil to make a pouch that won't leak and roast garlic in 375 oven for 60 minutes. Remove and let cool.
ROASTED PORK LOIN
3 pound pork loin roast
1.5 teaspoons Sate seasoning (Indonesian spice found at Penzeys.com)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground thyme
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all spices in a small dish. Rub outside of entire roast with seasoning mixture.
Place pork in roasting pan, fat-side facing up. Cook in 350 degree oven uncovered for approximately 45 minutes, until internal temperature reaches 148 degrees using a meat thermometer. Remove roast from oven, cover tightly with aluminum foil, and let rest for 10 minutes before slicing. Serve with warmed or chilled Blackberry Barbecue Sauce.
ROASTED GARLIC CREAMED CAULIFLOWER
1 head of roasted garlic
1 head of cauliflower, cut into large chunks
1 cup shredded Gouda cheese
2 tablespoons butter, room temp
1/4 cup milk
3 green onions, chopped
1 teaspoon dried marjoram, parsley, or any herb of choice
salt and pepper, to taste
Steam cauliflower in a large pot by placing 1" of water in the bottom of the pan. Put cauliflower in pan, cover and bring to a boil. When water begins boiling, turn heat down to a simmer and keep covered until tender, about 25 minutes. Test cauliflower by poking with a fork. If fork slides in easily, cauliflower is done. Remove from heat and drain thoroughly.
Using a food processor or immersion stick blender, combine drained cauliflower with all other ingredients and blend until smooth. Garnish with chopped green onions.
Prep Time:12 hours
