JAG
just add garlic.
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Pork Dumplings
Proof that I’ve got first rate friends.
After I cut the tip of my finger off on a brand new mandolin and was incapacitated an hour before a Friday night dinner party, my roommate and friends carried on the cooking. To delicious results. “50 dumplings are enough for 8 people, right?” Wrong.
Ingredients:
- 12 ounces green cabbage, roughly chopped
- 1/2 t salt
- 1 t grated fresh ginger
- 1/4 cup minced green onions (white and green parts)
- 2/3 pound ground pork
- 1/8 t ground white pepper (or freshly ground black pepper)
- 1 1/2 T soy sauce
- 1 T rice vinegar
- 2 t sesame oil
- 1 package frozen round dumpling wrappers (gyoza/potsticker wrappers), defrosted at room temperature for 30 minutes
- to seal: 1 tablespoon cornstarch + 1/2 cup water
Asian goodness.
1. Throw the cabbage in the food processor and pulse until it’s really finely chopped. Put it in a bowl with the salt.
2. Add the ginger, chives, pork, pepper, soy sauce, vinegar, and sesame oil to the food processor. Pulse 4 times to mix the ingredients well. Set aside.
3. Grab a handful of the cabbage and squeeze and discard the excess moisture out into the sink. Place the dry cabbage back into the large bowl and add the pork mixture, and combine.
3. For each dumpling, put a spoonful of the mixture in the middle of a wrapper and press edges shut, moistening with the corn starch water.
We cut the corners off after realizing these babies really puffed out during boiling.
4. To cook, half fill a large pot with water and bring to boil. When boiling, gently slide in 1/3 of the dumplings. When water returns to a boil, turn heat to a simmer and gently cook for 6-8 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon and repeat with remaining dumplings.
5. For extra deliciousness, fry in hot oil.
6. Serve with dipping sauce! Sriracha mixed with gyoza sauce recommended.
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Creamy Mascarpone, Prosciutto, and Arugula Pasta
Apparently NPR has a cooking series. Who knew? This recipe, with a few tweaks, was fantastic.
Ingredients:
- 1 pound pasta
- 10 ounces mascarpone cheese
- Zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper
- 1 cup hot pasta water
- 3 packed cups wild arugula
- 1/3 pound thinly sliced prosciutto
- Shaved parm for garnish and passing
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 small shallot, diced
- 1/4 red onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
1. Cook the pasta in a large pot until al dente. Scoop some of the water out while it’s cooking into a measuring cup.
2. Meanwhile, whisk mascarpone cheese, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, black pepper and hot pasta water until smooth and creamy. Mine resembled an alfredo sauce.
3. Cook the shallot garlic and onion in olive oil over high heat for about 5 minutes. Lower heat to medium, and add the diced proscuitto, cooking for another 2-3 minutes.
4. Drain the pasta and toss it back in the pot. Add arugula, proscuitto, onion, and cheese sauce and toss until well coated.
5. Divide among plates. Sprinkle with shaved cheese.
Behind the scenes at JAG: food staging becomes a game with Blue around.
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Giveaway! Yet Another Reason to Love Pork.
If you regularly visit JAG, or happen to know me at all, you know I love pork. Recent recipes that I’ve made with the magical meat include carnitas, pasta all’ amatriciana, ham saltimbocca, and ham and bean soup.
In the past I’ve given away (courtesy of pork) a ham and a nice gift basket. This week, I’ll be giving away an awesome “Be Inspired with Pork” kit that includes:
· Gift card to a local retailer (to purchase the pork)
· 11” Square Grill Pan
· 16-Jar Revolving Spice Rack
· Cutting Board
· Digital Thermometer
· Richard Blais autographed copy of “How to Cook Like a Top Chef”
I’m thinking that in order to enter, anyone interested should post a picture/poem/story about pork, and I’ll randomly pick a winner on Friday!
*Please note that the National Pork Board is not sponsoring the giveaway promotion, but rather supplying the prize pool
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JAGOB Sauce (Pasta All’Amatriciana)
For this sauce, we’ll use the incredibly classy title of JAGOB.
Just
Add
Garlic
Onion
Bacon.
(Although not necessarily in that order.)
I ate plenty of this traditional spicy sauce in Rome last summer, and since realizing how easy it is to make, I understand why it’s on every trattoria’s menu. So, here it is:
Puree two large cans of tomatoes, diced. Just add:
Garlic cloves (4)
Bacon (half a package- cut into strips- over high heat until crisp)
Diced onion (3 cups- into bacon grease- saute until golden)
White wine comes next (2 cups dry)
Don’d forget the red pepper flake! (1 T)
Reduce wine by half. Add tomato/garlic puree. Simmer.
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Roasted Ham Saltimbocca
If you want a ham in the mail, reply to this post and the Pork Board might send you one!
I decided to try this take on the classic veal recipe for an Easter dinner party- the ham cooked much faster than I thought, so the timing was completely off, but it was an interesting twist on the typical Easter ham.
Ingredients
- 6 to 8 pound fully cooked bone-in shank end ham, trimmed
- 1/4 cup fresh sage leaves, chopped, divided
- 4 thin slices prosciutto (I actually used 6)
- 1 cup chicken broth, low sodium
- 1 cup dry white wine,
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons flour, dissolved in 1/3 cup cold water
- S&P
- fresh squeezed lemon juice
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Position rack in lower third of oven.
2. Place ham flat side down in a large shallow roasting pan and score a diamond pattern about 1/8-inch deep into any fat. Sprinkle all over with 2 tablespoons sage and season with pepper. Bake until internal temperature reaches 140 degrees F, 15 to 18 minutes per pound total cooking time.
3. After the first hour, baste with pan juices about every 15 minutes. Remove ham from the oven, transfer to a cutting board, and let rest 15 to 30 minutes.
4. While ham is resting, increase oven to 400 degrees. Arrange prosciutto on a baking sheet and bake until crisped, about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
5. The original recipe says to drain the roasting pan, discarding liquid. But I’m of the opinion that pork juices should never be wasted, so I added not only the little bit of liquid from the pan, but also bacon grease from bacon wrapped dates to the sauce.
6. Over medium-high heat, add broth and wine to the drippings, bring to a boil, and cook, scraping up any browned bits in the pan, until liquid is reduced to 1 1/2 cups, about 4 minutes depending on the size of the pan.
7. Reduce to a simmer and add butter and remaining 2 tablespoons sage, stirring until butter melts. Whisk in flour mixture and cook, whisking, until sauce thickens, 30 to 60 seconds. I found the sauce to be a little bland, which is why I added the lemon. But that may have also been to the group decision to add bacon grease…
8. Remove from the heat. Season with salt and pepper. Carve ham and arrange on plates or a platter. Crumble prosciutto on top. Serve sauce on the side.
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Carnitas
Chipotle, consider yourself challenged.
Carnitas tacos with pico de gallo, queso fresco, and Elinor’s macho salad.
Ingredients:
- 4 pounds fatty pork shoulder, cut into 2-inch pieces
- 3 cups water
- 1 medium white onion, thinly sliced
- 1/2 orange, cut into 2 pieces
- 1/4 cup pork lard or vegetable oil
- 8 garlic cloves, peeled
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon sweetened condensed milk
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano, preferably Mexican, crumbled
- 2 teaspoons fine salt, or 4 teaspoons kosher salt
1. Butcher the pork shoulder into 2 inch cubes. I’m not so good at this, and ended up leaving quite a bit of meat on the bone. I just tossed that into the pot with everything else and let the meat fall off as it cooked.
That’s what 6 pounds of pork shoulder looks like.
Bone with meat on it.
My most popular dinner guest enjoying shoulder bone post simmering.
2. Put all the ingredients in a big heavy pot (don’t worry if the pork is not completely covered) and bring the water to a boil, skimming the surface as necessary. Lower the heat and simmer vigorously, stirring occasionally, until the pork is fork-tender and the liquid has completely evaporated, 1½ to 2 hours. My liquid didn’t even come close to evaporating after 2 hours, so I fished all the pieces out and shredded the pork with 2 forks before putting it in the oven.
3. Preheat the oven to 450°F.
4. Discard the orange pieces and bay leaves, transfer the pork and fat to an ovenproof dish, if necessary, and brown the pork, uncovered, in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes.
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Pork and Lemongrass Meatballs in Lettuce Cups
Since my dinner guest this weekend actually knows how to operate a camera more advanced than point and shoot, I had to lead with the photo of the finished product here. These meatballs are really a treat, especially drizzled with the accompanying sauce- a new favorite from Bon Appetite.
Meatball Ingredients:
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 lemongrass stalk- bottom 5 inches, smashed with rolling pin, then minced
- 1/4 cup chopped shallots
- 2 t chopped fresh cilantro
- 2 T fish sauce
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 T vegetable oil
- 1 t sugar
- 1/2 t ground white pepper
1. Chill pork in freezer while making lemongrass paste.
2. Combine lemongrass, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and remaining ingredients in processor; pulse until paste forms. Add chilled pork; pulse to blend.
Raw Ingredients…. turned into…
A really savory paste for the meatballs! Could have eaten this on crackers.
3. Shape into 24 balls (each about 1 tablespoonful). Place on rimmed baking sheet. Cover; chill at least 1 hour and up to 1 day.
4. While meatballs are chilling, make the dipping sauce:
- 1 lemongrass stalk
- 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
- 1/4 cup fish sauce
- 2 T chopped fresh cilantro
- 2 T coarsely grated carrot
- 4 t (packed) golden brown sugar
- 2 t minced green Thai chile or serrano chile with seeds
- 2 T vegetable oil
5. Cut bottom 3 inches from lemongrass. Smash it with something heavy- BA recommends a rolling pin, I used a jar of coconut oil. Then mince it, using 1 T in the sauce. Add lime juice, fish sauce, cilantro, carrot, sugar, and chile to bowl; whisk until sugar dissolves.
6. Heat 2 T of oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. The recipe says to use veggie oil, but I tried coconut out of curiosity, which was basically drowned out by the dipping sauce anyway.
7. Cook the meatballs until fairly firm when poked with a fork. This took about 15 minutes.
8. Wrap in butter lettuce, drizzle with sauce, and enjoy!
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Pork loin with prosciutto, goat cheese, and sage
This recipe, another sent by the National Pork Board, originally called for fontina cheese. I had some goat cheese in the fridge, so I substituted it in. I also had trouble getting the stuffing down the hole the recommended, so I went ahead and cut the whole roast open.
Obviously, this is not my work product. My computer died, along with my most recent photos, so you’ll all have to wonder how beautifully it really tuned out.
Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 pound boneless top loin pork roast
- 2/3 cup panko, (Japanese bread crubs)
- 1/3 cup goat cheese)
- 1 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped
- salt and pepper
- 4 thin slices prosciutto
Preheat oven to 350.
In a medium bowl, combine panko, cheese, and sage. Slit the roast open to the middle, and pack panko mixture along the seam. Season roast on all sides with salt and pepper.
Place roast, fat side up, on work surface. Arrange prosciutto slices across top of roast. Tie with kitchen twine at 1- to 1 1/2-inch intervals. (I also skipped this step.) Place in shallow roasting pan, prosciutto side up, and roast 1-1 1/4 hours, or until internal temperature reaches 155 degrees F. Remove roast from oven and let rest 10 minutes.Slice roast and arrange on serving platter. Serve drizzled with any pan juices.
Yield: 8 to 10 servings
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Pork Tenderloin Schnitzel
Since pork tenderloin is much less expensive, and more widely available, than veal, I made a veal schnitzel recipe from Bon Appetite with pounded out tenderloin cutlets. I also added dijon mustard to the coating, which I think gives a great layer of extra flavor.
Ingredients:
- 6 pork cutlets
- 1 1/4 cups (or more) chilled whole milk plus 2 tablespoons
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 2 large eggs, beaten to blend
- 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
- 1 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
- 3/4 cup finely grated Pecorino Romano cheese
- 1/4 cup butter
- 2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
After you’ve pounded out the pork into medallions, arrange cutlets in glass dish and add milk to cover.
Cover; chill at least 1 hour and up to 3 hours.
Place flour in shallow dish. Place eggs in second shallow dish. Whisk in two tablespoons of milk and mustard. Mix panko and cheese in third shallow dish. Drain cutlets; pat dry; sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Coat cutlets with flour, then egg mixture, then panko mixture, shaking off excess. I like to use a fork to handle everything, because without it, fingers get way too covered in egg and other stuff.
Preheat oven to 3250F. Melt butter with oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 3 cutlets to skillet. Cook until brown, 3-4 minutes per side. Transfer cutlets to rimmed baking sheet. Place in oven to keep warm. Repeat with remaining 3 cutlets, or more if you double the recipe like I did. Also, really only do a few at a time, because crowding them into the pan really increases cooking time.
I fell down on the job with taking pictures of coating the meat or the rest of the process, but here’s the final product with the rest of our lovely Christmas Eve dinner.
Author
Kitchen musings from Lizzy: not so novice cook, part time law student, newbie gardener, lifetime Chicagoan, garlic spice and travel lover.
