Italian Braised Pork

Here's a comforting dish that's minimal on prep but really delivers on flavor. Economical pork shoulder (only $4.99/lb...and at Whole Foods no less!) is elevated to fork-tender perfection by braising it in a rich Chianti-tomato sauce accented with hearty portobello mushrooms and fresh oregano. Simply toss the ingredients into a slow-cooker (or a dutch oven) in the morning and let them simmer away all day, filling your home with a wonderfully savory aroma. I paired it with fresh, homemade pappardelle pasta for an authentically Italian dinner, but it would be just as tasty with any number of less time-consuming options, such as store-bought pasta, polenta or even mashed potatoes!

Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
2 1/2 lbs boneless pork shoulder
1 yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 stalk celery, diced
3/4 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 cup Chianti or other dry red wine
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 cup portobello mushrooms, sliced
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped

Instructions
1. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Season pork with salt and pepper and cook, turning occasionally, until browned on all sides, about 8 minutes. Transfer pork to a 5-6 quart slow cooker. Reduce heat to medium and add onion, garlic, celery and fennel seeds to pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened, about 4 minutes.

2. Add wine and cook, scraping up browned bits with a wooden spoon, until reduced by half, about 2 minutes. Add to slow cooker along with tomatoes. Cover and cook on high until pork is very tender, about 4 hours (or 8 hours on low). Add portobello mushrooms to slow cooker during the last 20 minutes of cooking.

3. Transfer pork to a cutting board. Shred meat into bite-size pieces with two forks, discarding any large pieces of fat. Skim fat off sauce and discard. Return shredded pork to slow cooker and stir to combine. Serve over starch of your choice and garnish with fresh oregano, if desired.

Read More

Honey Mustard Glazed Pork Tenderloin

 Today's dish features one of my favorite cuts of meat: pork tenderloin. It feels fancy without breaking the bank, and I love to play around with a myriad of different preparations. Whether it's coated in a panko crust or served with a delicious sauce, pork tenderloin never disappoints. The star of this dish a gorgeous glaze made from honey, Dijon, soy, red wine and a few other ingredients, which lends a wonderful Asian Fusion spin to the pork. I served it over a bed of goat cheese whipped potatoes and a side of sautéed winter greens for an elegant but easy weeknight meal.

This recipe utilizes two important methods that everyone should include in their meat cooking repertoire for an impressive result each and every time. The first is the act of pan-searing the meat on all sides to ensure that amazing outer crust, followed by finishing it off in the oven for a moist, juicy texture (bonus tip: always rest the meat for 5-10 minutes on the cutting board before slicing to prevent the juices from escaping and drying out the meat). The second method to master is that of reducing your marinade to create a sauce or glaze. A marinade is a wonderful way to infuse flavor into your meat, and boiling and cooking down the leftover marinade into a nice, thick sauce results in maximum flavor potential. You can then use it to baste the meat as it cooks and even spoon the sauce over the finished plate...YUM city! These two steps work well with various types of meats, so it's worth practicing until they become second nature, and this recipe is a great place to start!

Ingredients
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp garlic, minced
1/2 tbsp ginger, minced
2 scallions, sliced
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/4 cup red wine
2 tbsp grapeseed oil
1 1-2 lb pork tenderloin
2 tbsp olive oil

Instructions
1. In a bowl, mix together the soy, garlic, ginger, scallions, honey, Dijon, wine and oil. Toss with pork to coat well and let marinate for 2-4 hours, refrigerated.
2. Pull the pork out of the marinade. Place marinade in a small saucepan, bring to a boil and reduce by about 25 percent. This should take a few minutes, however make sure that the sauce is at a boil for at least one minute in order to kill any bacteria from the raw meat.
3. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat an oven-safe sauté pan large enough to hold the tenderloin over medium high heat and add olive oil to coat the pan. When the oil is hot, sear the pork on all sides, about 2 minutes per side. Glaze the pork every few minutes with the reduced marinade.
4. Transfer pan to the oven and cook for approximately 30-40 minutes more, basting every 10-15 minutes with the glaze, until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat reads 155-160 degrees.
5. Transfer meat to a cutting board and rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing. Spoon any remaining glaze over the meat.

Read More

Heart Shaped Sandwich Cookies

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I wanted to feature an unapologetically sweet recipe to celebrate this day of love, and these heart shaped sugar cookies filled with vanilla buttercream fit the bill perfectly. When this month's Martha Stewart Magazine landed in my mailbox my eyes landed on these adorable confections staring back at me from the cover, and I instantly knew I would be setting aside a couple of hours to recreate them.

Now, Martha may be the cookie queen, but I did make a few of my own modifications: first, I substituted the red food coloring that the recipe called for, using natural all natural beet juice instead- I highly recommend finding natural food dye alternatives and beet juice works just as well, if not better, than artificial red dye. Secondly, the cream filling called for a combination of powdered sugar and granulated sugar, mixed with butter and a bit of vanilla extract and milk. I had a funny feeling about adding granulated sugar but went against my better judgment and followed the recipe. It turned out I was right and the buttercream had a gritty texture due to the granulated sugar not dissolving (I knew it, Martha!!!). So I wound up scrapping that and making a second batch omitting the granulated sugar, which resulted in the smooth creamy texture I was looking for. It just goes to show that a recipe is not the end all be all of a dish. Use your own judgement and instincts to tweak a recipe to your tastes.

I hope you'll love this recipe enough to give it a try and share with your loved ones!

adapted from Martha Stewart
makes about 18-24 sandwich cookies
Ingredients
For the cookies:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp coarse salt
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp beet juice
1/4 cup cocoa powder

For the cream filling:
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 to 2 tablespoons whole milk, if needed

Instructions
1. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat together butter and sugar with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low, and gradually add flour mixture, beating until just incorporated.
2. Divide dough into 2 pieces. To one piece add beet juice, mixing and kneading to combine, until an even pink shade is reached; return the other piece to mixer and add cocoa powder. Beat on medium speed until cocoa powder is combined with dough (you may need to knead a bit with your hands). Flatten each piece of colored dough into a disk, and wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour and up to overnight. Bring to room temperature, about 10 minutes, before rolling.
3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees with racks in top and lower thirds. Roll out each disk of dough on a lightly floured surface to just under 1/4 inch thick, adding more flour as needed to keep dough from sticking. Cut out even numbers of heart shaped cookies and place 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Freeze until very firm, about 15 minutes.
4. Bake for 8-10 minutes, rotating halfway through. Let cookies cool completely on baking sheets set on wire racks.
5. Meanwhile, make the filling. Beat butter with a mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low, and gradually add sugar, beating until thoroughly combined. Beat in vanilla. If filling is too thick to spread, beat in milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until spreadable.
6. Spread filling onto bottom side of half the cooled cookies, and sandwich with remaining cookies, pressing gently.

Read More

Cardamom Ice Cream

I was looking for an ice cream flavor to compliment peach pie for the dessert course of a recent dinner party I catered. Cardamom came to mind as something exotic and elegant- the perfect thing to elevate a humble peach pie. Once I had decided on the ice cream flavor I added a subtle note of cardamom to the pie filling to bring the whole dish together, and let's just say I went out on a high note!

Homemade ice cream can sometimes prove to be a tricky endeavor, but as long as you invest the proper care and attention, the reward is always well worth the effort. In other words, don't try to manage eight other things at the same time, as I will admit to doing in the past- this avid multi-tasker has had to learn the hard way that some things deserve your full attention. So, after a period of trial and error, my best ice cream advice is this: keep a close eye on your custard mixture as you bring the eggs up to a safe temperature. Never let the custard come to a boil, and stir often until the mixture reaches 160 degrees. Then use a mesh sieve to strain out any solid bits for the creamiest, most decadent texture imaginable.

makes about 1 quart
Ingredients
2 cups whole milk
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
8 whole green cardamom pods, lightly crushed
1 cup sugar
5 egg yolks
1 cup heavy cream
1/8 tsp ground cardamom

Instructions
1. Add milk, cream, vanilla bean and crushed cardamom pods to a heavy saucepan and heat gently until mixture just comes to a boil. Remove from heat, and let infuse for 20 minutes. Remove vanilla bean and scrape seeds back into the liquid. Remove the crushed green cardamom pods.
2. Meanwhile beat the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture reaches a thick, pale yellow consistency.
3. Gently reheat the milk or cream and whisk a small amount into the egg yolks. Gradually pour the egg mixture into the cream, whisking constantly over low heat. Stir until the custard reaches 160 degrees on a thermometer; it will take several minutes. Do not let it boil, or the eggs will begin to scramble.
4. Remove the pan from the heat and pour through a mesh strainer into a bowl set over an ice bath. Stir in ground cardamom and allow mixture to chill before freezing in an ice cream maker.

Read More

Asparagus Ricotta Tart

I put this dish on one of my meal delivery menus recently alongside an arugula and shaved asiago salad. Only a few slices sold so I got to enjoy the leftovers for the rest of the week! I just couldn't get enough of the fluffy, airy, lemony filling, and trust me when I say that this tart would be perfect for breakfast, lunch or dinner. This was super simple to make: It starts with a simple blind-baked puff pastry crust to prevent sogginess from the wet filling. Then just mix the filling ingredients together, pour over the cooled crust, top with strategically placed asparagus spears and bake a second time. Foolproof, I tell you.

adapted from Crumb
Ingredients
1 sheet puff pastry, defrosted
1 cup fresh ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan
Zest of 1 lemon
2 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup heavy cream
10-12 asparagus spears, trimmed

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Roll out the puff pastry onto a round tart pan with a removable bottom and press the pastry down against the bottom and up against the sides.
2. Pierce the bottom and sides of the crust several times with a fork. Line with parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove the parchment and weights. Continue baking the crust for another 5-7 minutes, or until golden. Gently press down the bottom of the crust if it has puffed up a bit, then set aside to cool.
3. Meanwhile, combine ricotta, parmesan, lemon zest and thyme in a mixing bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add beaten egg and cream and mix until smooth. Spread evenly into the cooled crust.
4. Cut the asparagus to fit the tart pan and arrange on top of the filling.
5. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until asparagus are tender and filling is lightly browned. Cool for approximately 5 minutes before slicing into wedges and serving.

Read More