Mexican Chili Colorado

Yes, you guess right. I am on a Chili Colorado binge at this point. Don't ask! Anyways, found this great Chili Colorado recipe on this blog and decided to give it a try!Tasted pretty good, almost like the red chili colorado you can find in a Mexican restaurant. I don't know if the addition of tomato paste into the colorado makes it less authentic but the dish sure comes out tasting darn good. I also replace beef with pork for this recipe since I just made the Ecuadorian Carne Colorado not too long ago. The family approves!

Mexican Chili Colorado
(Adapted from Everday Paleo)
Ingredients
4 cups water
7 dried new Mexico chilies (I substitute with guajillo cos that is what I have)
3 dried California chilies ( I substitute with ancho, again that is what I have)
3 dried Chili de Arbol (I substitute with fried red peppers from my garden last summer)
1 yellow onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, chopped fine
2 Tbsp oil
2 1/2lb beef stew meat or pork shoulder (cut into 2-inch piece)
2 Tbsp ground cumin
2 Tbsp dried oregano
2 cups beef stock
1 6oz can tomato paste
Black pepper and salt to taste

Methods

1. Rinse the dried peppers. Place in a pot and add 4 cups of water to it. Bring it to a boil over the stove. Turn off heat and let it steep in the hot water for 30 minutes. Once ready, removed stems and as much seeds as you can. Place in a food blender. Add 2 cups of the water to the blender. Puree till smooth. Set aside.
2. Heat a large pot on the stove over medium high heat. Add 2 Tbsp of oil to the pot.

3. Sprinkle salt and pepper over meat. Brown meat in batches.

4. Add onions to the pot and turn heat down to medium low. Saute till onions has softened, scrapping the bottom of pot to release the brown bits.

5. Add the garlic and meat back into the pot. Let cook for a minute.

6. Add in the tomato paste, beef broth, cumin, and oregano into the pot. Stir well and let mixture comes to a boil.
7. Reduce the heat to low. Add in the pureed chilies to the mix through a strainer. Use a spoon to help pass the pureed chilies through the strainer.

8. Cook stew on low heat. Let it simmer for 2 hours till meat is tender and sauce has reduced to less than 1/4.

9. Serve Chili Colorado with Mexican Rice and Re-fried Beans.

Char Siew - Chinese BBQ Pork

I make this recipe quite a bit, mostly for the filling of my Chinese-style baked goods. It has not occur to me to post the recipe for this till now. It's a combination of recipes I found on the few food blogs and through trial and error.
It is actually very easy to make your own Char Siew at home and eat them as is or if you are into baking like I am, use the roast pork as a filling for a lot of baked goodies. My family loves it and I hope you will enjoy it too.

Char Siew- Chinese BBQ Pork
Ingredients
2 lb pork (I use boneless pork chops but the belly cut or pork butt will yield better results)
Note: As a rule of thumb, I always brine all the meat before using. I find that the meat stays tender, moist, and juicy even after long hour of baking.

Marinade
5 Tbsp Hoisin Sauce
3 Tbsp Chinese Cooking Wine or Rose Wine
2 Tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
3 Tbsp Soy Sauce
1 2/3 cup sugar (I like mine sweet, you can reduce it to a cup)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp 5 spice powder
A Few Drops of Red Food Coloring, if you prefer

1. In a bowl, combine all the marinade ingredients.

2. Place pork in the marinade and let sit in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.

3. Preheat the oven to 400F.
4. Line a baking pan with heavy duty foil. You really want to do this to avoid the messy clean up.
5. Place pork and all the marinade into the pan. Bake 30 minutes and turn the pork chops over.

6. Bake for an additional 30 minutes till sauce begins to thicken. Remove from oven.
7. Turn broiler on to low.
8. Prepare a baking sheet lined with foil. Place a wire rack, lightly coat with baking spray onto the baking sheet.
9. Place pork on wire rack and place under broiler. Broil till the pork is lightly charred. Serve with the remaining sauce or use as a filling for savory baked goods.

Ham and Cheese Pockets

There comes a time in everyone's kitchen, the day after holidays celebration and you find that you are stuck with leftovers. Make that plenty of leftovers. Being the frugal me, I hate to throw food out and my family is not big on eating leftovers the next day unless I turn them into something new.

The day after New Year and I found myself stuck with 4lbs of honey crunch ham. They taste really good and it will be a shame to toss them out later during the week. What will one do with that many ham left in the fridge? Make ham and cheese pockets, of course.

Ham and Cheese Pockets 
Adapted from Stolen Moments)
(Makes 12)
Ingredients

For the dough:

• 1 Tbsp (or 1 packet) yeast
• 1 c. warm water, divided
• 1 t. sugar
• 1/4 c. melted butter, cooled to room temperature
• 2 1/2 – 3 c. flour
• 1 1/2 tsp salt

For the filling:

• 1/2 lb. sliced ham
• 1/2 lb. cheddar cheese, sliced 

To assemble:

• 3 T. butter or margarine, melted (optional)
• 1 t. coarse salt (optional)

Directions

1. In a bread machine, combined all dough ingredients as per manufacturer's direction. Put machine on dough cycle and let the machine does the work. Once the one hour proofing time is over, punch the dough down. Let it rise for another 30 minutes.

2. Divide dough into 12 equal portions.

3. Roll dough out into 6-inch diameter squares.

4. Place filling at the center of each dough. Seal the edges tight and crimp with a fork.

5. Preheat oven to 375F. Brush dough with melted butter and sprinkle with coarse sea salt.

6. Bake for 15-18 minutes till lightly golden brown.

7. Serve warm.

Bún Rice Noodle Salad with Vietnamese Restaurant Style Grilled Lemongrass Pork

It was a hot summer day, one of those days that make you doesn't feel like doing anything at all. My only resolution to cooking that day was to use the grill outdoor as I hate to overheat the house. Thank God we got the ac fixed, the house is nice and cool now, we intend to keep it that way.

Near supper time, I was at a lost as to what I can cook when suddenly I remember a summer Vietnamese dish: Bún! For the uninitiated, Bún is a Vietnamese Rice Noodle Salad. I love how refreshing this dish is as it combined lots of lettuce, shredded cucumber, onions and fresh herbs, all nicely mixed with heaping tablespoon full of nuoc cham dipping sauce.

So whom do I go to when I need great Vietnamese recipe which I can count on? Andrea Nguyen of the famed blog Viet World Kitchen, of course! If you have never tried the Vietnamese Bún before, go ahead and try it now. It is so healthy and refreshing, I can really eat this all summer long.

Bún Rice Noodle Salad with Vietnamese Restaurant Style Grilled Lemongrass Pork



Recipe adapted from Andrea Nguyen
(Serves 2)

Ingredients
2 pieces of dried rice noodle, soaked in cold water for an hour to soften
1 cup of fresh Vietnamese herbs, basil, mint or other herbs you prefer
1/2 cucumber, seeded and finely shredded
1 cup raw beansprouts, washed and dried thoroughly
1/2 small onion, thinly sliced
A few whole Thai chilli peppers, thinly sliced

For the pork
2 piece of boneless center-cut pork chops, about 1-inch thick
2 Tbsp light brown sugar
1 Tbsp chopped garlic
1 Tbsp chopped shallot
1 stalk lemongrass, finely chopped
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 Tbsp fish sauce
1 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
1 Tbsp oil 

For the Nuoc Cham Dipping Sauce
3 Tbsp fresh lime juice
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 cup water
2 1/2 Tbsp fish sauce
1 small garlic clove, finely minced
2 small Thai chilli, thinly sliced


Directions

 Step 1: Prepare the pork marinade. Finely chopped the lemongrass, garlic and shallot.

Step 2: In a bowl, combine oil, brown sugar, dark soy sauce and fish sauce.

Step 3: Mix in chopped lemongrass, shallot and garlic. Stir to mix well.

Step 4: Submerge pork chops into the marinade. Leave to marinade for 45 minutes at room temperature. You can also leave pork chops in refrigerator. Just remove pork chops 30 minutes prior to grilling.

Step 5: Make the nuoc cham sauce by combining all the ingredients in a small bowl. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Step 6: To assemble, boil a pot of water. Cook rice noodle in water for 2 minutes, drained and set aside.

 Step 7: Preheat an outdoor grill to 450F. Grill pork chops till cooked, about 7-8 minutes on each side. Let rest and slice thin. Place some noodle salad at the bottom of a bowl. Top with lettuce, cucumber, bean sprouts, herbs, onion and pork slices. Add in nuoc cham sauce.

 Toss well and served.

Crispy Cheese Stuffed Pork Chops

I have been really busy lately. Sorry for all the slow posting. Yes, I am still making supper every night, just do not have the time to post them all. Will get back on track once things settled down.

If you have been reading my blog since early this year, you may recall that I am not a big fan of pork. I am still not a big fan of pork. However, the crispy cheese stuffed pork chops which I featured in this post is something I will not mind to eat again.

The inspiration came from the weather, sort of! It has been raining almost everyday this week and grilling is straightly out the window. Since I have to cook in my kitchen, I figured why not make chicken Cordon Bleu. Then again, I do not Swiss cheese nor ham in my fridge. Oh well, why not make pork chops stuffed with cheese then. That is how this recipe comes about. It is so easy to prepare that I am seriously contemplating to put it as one of my rotation menu.

Crispy Cheese Stuffed Pork Chops
Ingredients
3 boneless pork chops, about 1-inch thick
1 cup of shredded monterey jack or cheddar cheese
1 large egg beaten
1/2 cup flour
1 cup plain breadcrumbs
3 Tbsp grated romano cheese
1 tsp dried parsley
5 Tbsp canola oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Step 1: Lightly pound the pork chops thin. Be careful not to tear the pork.

Step 2: Sprinkle pork chops lightly with salt and pepper.

Step 3: Place 1/3 cup of shredded cheese on the center of pork chops, leaving about 1-inch space from the edge.

Step 4: Fold the sides together.

Step 5: Roll the pork chops tightly to seal.

Step 6: use wooden toothpicks to secure the two ends to avoid cheese from oozing out during the baking process.

Step 7: Wrap pork chops individually in sandwich bags. Place in freezer for 15 minutes so that cheese has time to firm up a little. This step is extremely important to avoid cheese from oozing out during baking process.

Step 8: To prepare pork for cooking, roll pork in flour seasoned with a little salt and pepper.

Step 9: Dip pork chops in egg wash.

Step 10: Coat with breadcrumbs. Repeat with egg wash and breadcrumbs again to double coat the pork.

Step 11: Place coated pork chops in fridge for 15 minutes prior to cooking to let coating to set properly.

Step 12: Heat 5 Tbsp oil in a pan over medium heat. Preheat an oven at 375F.

Step 13: Lightly fried pork chops till golden brown, about 5 minutes on each side. Place pork chops on a baking sheet lined with wire rack. Bake for 15 minutes till cooked.

Served pork chops with pasta salad.

Melted cheese inside crispy pork chops, anyone???

Grilled Pork Chops with Molasses and Balsamic Glaze

I love and hate grilling season. Love the fact that grilling season represents the lovely summer months after the snow laden winter here in New England. Hate the fact that my limited grilling ideas for meat caused a repetition of recipes more often than I would have like. Not that there aren't a multitude of grilling marinades, sauces and dry rub to choose from, I am constraint with the fact that my mom is a finicky eater. She likes everything plain while my husband, dad and myself love flavor.

Combining molasses and balsamic vinegar has always been a great idea for grilling. I can only imagine the wonders of a sweet tang marinade can do to anything on the grill. After I saw this recipe on Cafe Sucre, I can't help myself but to go ahead and try it even if mom disapproves. I am glad I did. The result was a superbly flavored pork chops that everyone loves. One more great grilling marinade to add to my collection.

Grilled Pork Chops with Molasses and Balsamic Glaze
(Adapted from Cafe Sucre)
Ingredients
4 bone-in pork chops, about 1 1/2 inch thick
3 Tbsp salt
3 Tbsp brown sugar
Enough water to cover pork chops

For the Molasses and Balsamic Glaze
1 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 small onion, coarsely chopped

6 sprigs of fresh thyme

2 sprigs fresh rosemary

2 cloves garlic, peel and smashed  with the back of a knife

2 cups chicken stock  (low sodium)

1/2 cup molasses

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

 

Directions

Step 1: Prepare the brine for the pork by combining the salt and brown sugar in a big bowl. Add enough water to cover the pork chops. Submerge the pork chops into the brine. Leave in the refrigerator for 2-4 hours.

Step 2: Prepare the marinade/glaze. Combine balsamic vinegar, thyme, rosemary, garlic and onion in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat till mixture comes up to a boil. Continue to boil for 10 minutes till vinegar is reduced to about 1/3 cup. Add in chicken stock into the mixture. Cook over high heat for 20 minutes till reduced to about 2/3 cup. Strain vinegar to remove herbs, garlic and onion.

Step 3: Return strained vinegar into the saucepan.

Step 4: Add in mustard, crushed red peppers and molasses. Set aside to cool.

Step 5: Once glaze is cool enough, add about 2/3 cup of the glaze to the pork chops to use as marinade. Marinade pork chops in the refrigerator for about 1 hour before grilling.

Step 6: Preheat grill to 450F. Grill pork chops till cooked, basting occasionally with the leftover marinade.

Step 7: Serve pork chops with the reserved glaze, grilled vegetables and a nice cold pasta salad.