Are you hungry?: 7/1/09

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Pork Pot Roast with Yuca

One of the local grocers had pork blade roasts for a really good price. And they had beef chuck roasts buy on, get one free. Of course I bought two chuck roasts and if I still had a freezer I would have bought more! Back to the pork. I really enjoy pork and sauerkraut however DH and Red, well not so much. So I started thinking, well maybe I'll prepare it Spanish style, like my ex-mother in law Zoriada taught me... Nah I'm not in the mood for that. OK start searching. I checked out the Food Buzz dot com and found some awesome recipes but, I either didn't have all the ingredients or ednough time to prepare it. I hate it when that happens [grrr]
Finally, after quite a bit of searching I came up with this recipe. This pork recipe is rated with five stars and calls for a Boston butt roast. The blade is the lower cut of the Boston Butt.

Simmered Boston Butt Recipe

* 1 (about 4 pounds) pork shoulder roast (pork butt)
* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (evoo)
* 1 can (10 3/4 ounces) condensed cream of mushroom soup (cream of chicken)
* 1/2 cup water
* 1 cup chopped onion
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon pepper
* dash ground cayenne pepper(1/8 teaspoon)
*1/4 teaspoon marjoram (my addition)
* 1 bay leaf
* 1 1/2 pounds potatoes, quartered
* 4 medium carrots
* 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

Brown roast in hot oil in large Dutch oven. Pour off fat. Combine soup, water, onion, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. Pour over roast. Add bay leaf. Cover and simmer 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. Add potatoes, carrots, and Worcestershire sauce. Cover and simmer 30 minutes, until vegetables are tender. Remove bay leaf. Remove pot roast and vegetables to a serving platter, reserving drippings. Cook drippings over medium heat; let simmer until slightly reduced, and serve the juices with roast.
posted by Burbage (southernfood.about.com/od/porkroasts/r/blbb403.htm)

Just like my Dutch Oven.... Very nice! Cuisinox Elite 3.2 Quart Covered Dutch Oven

Believe it or not, I used cream of chicken soup instead of cream of mushroom. If you are a regular read, and I hope you are, then you know how much my family enjoys spicy food. Because of that, I added just a bit more cayenne pepper, to the tune of 1/8 tsp. Rather than potatoes and carrots, I served the pork roast with yucca.

Yuca with Garlic (Yuca con Mojo)

* 1 - 1 1/2 pounds yucca, peeled and cut into chunks
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 - 1/2 cup olive oil
* 1/2 onion, diced
* 6 cloves garlic, minced
* 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
* 1/2 teaspoon lime juice
* salt & pepper to taste

Place the yucca into a pan and fill with enough water to cover. Stir in salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, cover, and cook until tender, about 20 minutes. Check the yucca occasionally, not allowing it to get too soft. It should feel similar to a cooked potato. Drain, and place yucca on a plate. When cooled enough to handle, split in half and remove any hard fiber stands from centers.

Meanwhile, place the olive oil, onion, garlic, and lemon juice into a pan. Cook over medium heat about 5 minutes. I start with 1/4 cup oil and add more as needed. You have two options here: 1- Pour the hot olive oil mixture over the yucca, and serve immediately. Or 2 - Add the yucca to the pan, toss to coat, salt & pepper to taste, and then serve. The 2nd option works better if you need to reheat as the yucca absorbs the oil mixture pretty quick. Red was working and would be eating his later on thus my choice of adding the yucca to the olive oil mixture.

Red asked his dad where I came up with these recipe ideas. He said the roast was so good it was Ridiculous![big smile]

Are you hungry? ♥

Comments Recipe Tags: dinner, pork, side dish, spicy

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Easy Cheesy Ground Beef Casserole

Limited time, colossal flavor - Easy Cheesy Beef Casserole

Mother loved cooking and cookbooks. Over the years I’ve received numerous cook books as gifts. On one occasion Mom gave me this super cookbook entitled, ‘One Dish Meals the easy way’’. A cook book made for the busiest of moms. “One dish meals the easy way is a cornucopia of recipes for delicious, wholesome meals, all with one thing in common: the convenience of serving a complete meal in a single dish.” Whether you need to feed a bunch of people or your family, prepare something in advance, whip up a fast meal or slow cook this cook book will have something for you.

The last few weeks have been very busy and stressful. Planning for anything was unattainable, including preparing meals. I am so thankful to have been given this cookbook. The meals I prepared were simple, delicious, and clean up was a snap!

Beef in Mushroom Sauce without Mushrooms [big sigh] - I called it, well you know the title

1 lb lean ground beef or pork - I used beef. If your meat is not lean, you will need to reverse cooking steps 1 and 2 in order to drain the fat off.
2 tablespoons oil, butter, or margarine - I used evoo.
½ cup finely chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables, thawed and drained
4 oz medium-wide egg noodles
1 can cream of mushroom soup - I used what I had in the pantry, cream of celery.
1 cup milk
8 oz can mushrooms with liquid - I didn’t have these, figures huh. [another sigh]
2 tsp Dijon mustard - I used Honey Dijon.
½ tsp thyme
½ tsp marjoram
Salt and pepper
1 cup coarsely shredded Gruyere cheese OR ½ cup each Gruyere and grated parmesan - I had no Gruyere so I used sharp cheddar.

Preheat your oven to 350 F. 1- Sauté vegetables until slightly soft, 3-5 minutes. 2- Add the beef, marjoram, thyme, salt, and pepper. Cook until the meat is no longer pink. 3- Add the soup, milk, mushrooms, and mustard. Bring to a simmer, add the uncooked egg noodles, and stir. 4- Spoon the mixture into a greased 11 x 9 x 2 baking dish or a shallow 2 ½ quart casserole dish. Sprinkle with the cheese and bake, uncovered for 35 to 40 minutes or until bubbling and light brown.

Photo by me... Best I could give you, sorry.
Maybe one day I'll learn how to shoot food pictures ;)

♥

Comments Recipe Tags: beef, casserole, dinner, reviews

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Dill, Lime Basil, Mint, Sage, and no Rosemary

It has been a while since I’ve posted and a really, really long week. My mother in law passed away last Thursday morning. We were very good friends and I miss her already. I wrote about my Gift of Chocolate and the Maine Lobster dinner that mom provided. Mom had the basic arrangements made and paid, thank you mom. The family asked that I arrange the final details; the church, the funeral home, the phone calls, and (of course) the food. I'm in an exhausting, stressful, weird, sad state which I'm sure most anyone who has lost someone close can relate to. So, this morning I decided to get back to my herb garden to try and escape from the sorrow, at least for a while anyway.

If you read my first herb garden post, you already know that Red and I planted rosemary, dill, lime basil, sage, and mint. I believe either the birds or the tremendous rain got the rosemary seeds. The pot overflowed with water right after we planted and since then the doves are hanging out on the fence close by the pots. At this point nothing but a blade of grass is growing in the rosemary container.

The sage is coming right along. It amazes me how some of the leaves are textured and some smooth. This is something I never would have known had we not started this herb garden. I can't wait for the opportunity to cook with these fresh herbs, if all goes well that is.

The lime basil is doing outstanding. The aroma of basil is wonderful and already noticeable. I transplanted some of the seedlings last week before Mom passed. We now have three basil growing containers. Since the basil is so fragrant, I moved one pot to the front porch. This morning I found that some pest has begun eating the leaves. I’ll be making a trip to the Home Depot to get some pesticide I suppose, unless you all have a better solution?

The mammoth dill and mint really took a long time to sprout. The bottom leaves on the dill look a bit yellow. Since Red is working today and he’s the brains of our herb garden, I’m going to have to do some research on that. Does anyone know if that’s normal?

The mint container has lots of baby sprouts. I was warned in my first post and also read how mint grows like a weed. I am planning on transplanting some to put on the front porch as well but have to resolve the pest issue first.