Rockin Roasted Red Peppers

Last week, I found a recipe for grilled garlic steaks with a yummy roasted red pepper sauce.  I have a new found appreciation and fondness for red peppers.  I never liked them, or any pepper for that matter.  Recently, however, I've started to like them.  I'll eat them raw with some dip, or chop them up in a salad.  I've also realized how delicious they are when they are roasted. Buying them in a pretty jar looks cute, however, they are surprisingly expensive!

I decided that paying $10 a jar was ridiculous... so I decided to make them myself. I'd worked at various restaurants for years, so I've seen the makings of many roasted red peppers.  Here we go:

Rockin Roasted Red Peppers

Ingredients

* Red peppers - I used 2, but use as many as you want :)

First, I turned the oven to 350.  I washed the red peppers and then dried them off.  Next, I just threw them in the oven.  You could also throw them on the grill or a gas stove if you wanted to. 

Keep an eye on the peppers because you don't want to forget about these babies in the oven.... that won't give us roasted red peppers, that would result in a charred, dry mess.  After a few minutes, you will see the skin of the pepper start to blister and turn dark brown.

As you keep an eye on the peppers, rotate them.  When one side is blistered, then flip it on the other side so that it can blister evenly. 

Keep rotating them again until each side is nice and blistered.  

Once the peppers come out of the oven, immediately put them in a plastic bag.  Seal the bag right away because you want these peppers to steam.

Leave them in the bag for at least 10-15 minutes.  This will steam them, making sure that the peppers turn nice and soft. 

When they come out, they will look somewhat deflated.  But this is good! Let them cool a bit so you can handle them. 

Now that they are cooled, you just peel them.  It's pretty easy to do.  The peel feels almost like paper and the pepper itself is really soft, so it just slides off easily. 

Just take your time and peel all of the skin off the pepper.  You don't want to leave the peel on because it won't taste good at all.... the texture will be off too.

Once they are peeled, just cut them in half so you can remove the stem and the seeds. 

So here you have these yummy roasted red peppers! It was super easy, cheap, and fast.  I used these babies to saute with onions and garlic, then I topped a nice steak with them - super yummy!  You can puree them with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar to make a roasted red pepper vinaigrette.  You could put them on a salad.  You could even chop them up and stuff them into a chicken breast with some feta and oregano. The possibilities are endless!

Enjoy,

 Jenn 

Roasted Pork - Pernil al Horno

As you may have noticed, I've been a bit MIA recently.  Life has been super busy! I was taking 2 night grad school classes on top of working full time as a teacher.  Sooo, between taking classes and teaching classes, I've been super busy.  On top of that, Curt and I have some exciting news!  Our little family of 3 (two plus pup) is growing!  In October, we'll be welcoming in a new little bundle of joy.  Needless to say, being pregnant in my first trimester did not make any of the above any easier!

Luckily, I haven't had any morning sickness, but I did have a lot of food aversions.  I would make a big meal and be excited about it, but when it came time to eat the food... I just couldn't stomach it.  I tried to stay as

 paleo as possible, but at the same time,  I needed to eat.  A lot of my meals consisted of white rice and potatoes.  The more bland the food, the better.  With the first trimester behind me, I'm starting to feel better and hopefully go back to paleo as much as possible.

Anyway, today being Easter, we had some friends from church over for a big lunch/dinner.  I love having friends over... the more the merrier.  I was trying to figure out what to make.  Being preggers... I'm not supposed to eat red meat unless it's well done- I don't know about you, but I like my steaks medium rare.... I'd rather not have it be well done and taste like a hockey puck... sooo... steaks and burgers were out.  I found a nice 5 lb pork shoulder roast at Whole Foods and decided to figure out a recipe for that.  It turned out to be delicious and perfect for a group!  Here's the version of:

Pernil al Horno

Pernil is a Puerto Rican roasted pork marinated with vinegar and herbs and slowly roasted until it is oozing with flavors! I found this recipe here and pretty much followed it with only a few minor changes - I know, I know... I almost never do that :)

 * 1 boneless pork shoulder roast (Boston Butt) with skin on - mine was 5 lbs

* 6 fresh garlic cloves minced

* 1 handful of fresh oregano

* 1 tbs of Kosher salt for every lb of meat

* 1 tbs freshly ground black pepper

* 3 tbs of olive oil

* 2 tbs white wine vinegar

First, I minced the fresh oregano and the garlic.  I'm sure you could probably use dried oregano, but I think fresh is so much better.  It was pretty simple.  Just chop up everything until it is really as small as possible and mix it up together and chop them together.

Next, I put oregano and garlic in a bowl with the olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Here, you just mix it all up until it forms a sort of oily paste.

Next, you need to put the roast, fat side up, on a cutting board.  I scored the top of the meat so the marinade will reach further into the meat and really infuse the taste much better.  Scoring the fat also helps to make a crunchy crust on top.  Then, I rubbed the paste all over the pork.  Make sure you rub the marinade so it all gets into the cuts.  After that, I put the roast on a plate and wrapped it in plastic wrap.  It's supposed to marinade for at least 3 hours, but I marinated it overnight.

The next morning, I pulled the roast out and set it on a roasting rack over a baking sheet.  You have to wait 30 minutes while it comes to room temperature.  Because you want it to cook evenly, you don't want to put it in the oven cold.  While I waited, I went ahead and preheated the oven to 350.  Once it came to the right temperature, I threw it in the oven for 3 hours... yup... 3 hours!  If your roast is not exactly the same size, you can always use a meat thermometer to make sure it's cooked through to your liking.  Just make sure that the internal temperature is around 145.

It sounds like a long time, but it was definitely worth the wait!  While it was roasting, I could hear the sizzle of the juices dripping onto the baking sheet.  The whole house started smelling delicious!  The pernil came out looking amazing.  There was a nice crunchy crust on top.  Now here's the hard part.  Leave it alone for 10 minutes!  If you start cutting into it now, the juices will leak out everywhere and you'll lose a lot of moisture. 

After the agonizing 10 minutes, I started slicing the roast into nice slices.  I placed them on a serving platter so no one had to take the time to slice their own portion. 

The best part of the whole thing is that all of the yummy juices collected in the baking pan.  After the whole roast was sliced and nestled nicely on my serving tray, I poured all of the tasty juices over the pork slices.  This just added a bit of extra flavor and moisture.  Why waste it?!

Overall, this was a delicious meal!  It was very tasty and tender.  I was able to cut my slices with a butter knife.  Everyone seemed to like it too :)  I also have lots of leftovers, so I'm pretty excited about it.  The best part was that I was able to eat it... no food aversions... so our little baby peanut (that's what we call it) approves!

enjoy!

Jenn

Fig and Chile Glazed Pork Tenderloin

This past weekend, my friend Anne and I went to Chicama Run to pick up some more meat since Curt and I were running low!  In addition to buying a "Box of Beef," I happened to pick up some pork tenderloin!  I tend to stay away from pork tenderloin because it can be dry if you don't cook it right.  Also, I find that there are a lot of plain old boring pork tenderloin recipes.  I looked on my new favorite website, Pinterest, and found this recipe which looked amazing!  Here's the recipe!

Fig and Chile Glazed Pork Tenderloin

1/2 cup fig preserves

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1 tbs chile paste with garlic

 1 tbs soy sauce (or coconut amino/wheat free alternative)

1 tsp kosher salt, divided 2 (1-pound) pork tenderloins

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper  

So this was easy peasy!  First, just mix all of the ingredients ( fig preserves, rice vinegar, chile paste with garlic sauce, and soy sauce) in a small bowl.  I was able to find some fig preserves that were only fig and some pectin, so pretty much paleo :)  Also, for the soy sauce, you can either use the coconut amino things that is a soy sauce alternative or else at least go for a gluten free soy sauce! 

My mother in law had given me a tiny little wisk for Christmas one year and this was the perfect size for wisking all of the ingredients together!  I must admit that I was a little skeptical of this recipe, but I figured I'd give it a try.  I liked all of the ingredients individually, but I wasn't sure about how I would like them when all mixed together!

Next, I had to take the silverskin off the pork tenderloin.  The silverskin is the thin, white membrane along the pork tenderloin which connects it to the actual pork loin.  You don't want it for a few reasons.  First, it doesn't look pretty when you cook it.  Also, it is tough and chewy when it is cooked.  Chewy is great when you're describing gum... not so much when you're describing a pork tenderloin.  Anyway, you just take a short and sharp knife and make little cuts and pull it away from the tenderloin.  Make sure to be careful not to cut the meat itself!

So here's the lovely little pork tenderloin.  I took the salt and pepper and seasoned the tenderloin on all side.  This was a snap!  Meanwhile, heat up a skillet to very very hot!  I used an oven safe skillet so that I could just throw the whole thing into the oven afterwards.  That reminds me... heat the oven up to 350!

Next, you want to brown the pork tenderloin.  I did put a little bit of bacon fat into the pan to help the tenderloin brown a little bit.  You just want to brown the whole tenderloin.  You will cook it the rest of the way in the oven.  Caution - this browning may cause smoke in your house and may set off a fire alarm - mine is almost permanently disconnected!

Next, with the tenderloin still in the pan, I spooned the fig mixture over the tenderloin.  I put almost all of the mixture over the pork tenderloin.  Then, I put the whole thing in the oven.

Since my pork tenderloin was somewhat tiny, it really didn't take long at all to cook.  It was in there for about 15-20 minutes, depending on how well you like your pork cooked.  I trust the farm where mine came from and I don't like things dry, so mine was cooked about medium to medium wellish.

Next, I removed the pork tenderloin from the pan and set it on a plate to rest and let the juices settle down.  The last thing you want is to cut into it immediately and have all of the flavor run out everywhere.  While I was doing this, I set the pan back on the stove, over medium heat.  Make sure you don't burn your hand when you touch the pan... remember - it's been in the oven!!!  I thickened up the sauce a little bit and added a little pat of butter to finish it off.  I let everything get all mixed up nicely and whisked it together.

When the tenderloin had settled, I sliced it up and spooned the fig chile sauce over the top.  I have to tell you that this unlikely combination was amazing!!! It was sweet and spicy and salty and delicious!  I'm definitely making this one again!!!  Curt loved it too :)

Pure deliciousness!  I think I served mine with some broccoli or some other green... maybe asparagus? I don't remember... I do remember how good this recipe was though!

Enjoy!

         Jenn

Super Short Ribs

So one of my New Year's Resolutions is to become more efficient at the grocery store.  I can literally spend hours at Whole Foods... Curt is amazed at the amount of time I spend there.  Part of the reason I take so long is that I don't have a grocery list.  Sometimes, I have an idea of what I want to cook, but when I get to the store, I get dazzled by the arrays of veggies and meat counter, that I forget what I wanted.  Anyway... the point is.... I'm trying to write a list of the dishes I'll make each week and also write down a specific shopping list.  Last Saturday, as I was creating my list, I checked Pinterest (one of my new obsessions) and I found this idea from Pioneer Woman.  It looked delicious and different, so I decided to give it a try!  I LOVED it!!! Also, I didn't really need to change much from the recipe at all!

Short Ribs with Wine and Cream

original recipe from Pioneer Woman Cooks

* 12 individual short ribs

* 3 Tbs bacon fat

* 1 cup good red wine

* 1 qt chicken stock

* 2 Tbs fresh minced rosemary

* 2 Tbs Dijon mustard

* 1 cup heavy cream (optional)

* 2 Tbs capers

First, I seasoned the short ribs on both sides with some salt and pepper.  I also heated up my heavy bottom cast iron pan and added in the bacon fat.  You want the pan to be super duper hot so that you can sear the short ribs. 

So here, you can see me browning the short ribs.  The point isn't to cook them through, but to develop a nice brown sort of crust to seal in all of the yummy flavors.  Once each side is nicely browned, you take them out and put them on a separate plate.  You'll have to cook them in batches, unless you happen to have a freakishly large pot!

Once you're done, you'll have a huge pile of nicely browned short ribs.  Just let them hang out a bit and turn the heat on the stove down to medium.

Next, you'll add the red wine and mustard to the pot.  Don't worry about the browned bits at the bottom of the pan... even though it looks like gunk... it's the most delicious gunk ever!  Once the red wine is in there, take a wooden spoon and scrape up those bits and they will dissolve and add so much flavor to the meal!

Next, add in the chicken stock and rosemary.  The original recipe called for beef broth.  I think this would have been really really good, but... I didn't have any beef broth.  I did have home made  chicken stock, so I figured that would be a nice enough swap.  Luckily, it worked! 

 Next, you'll add the short ribs back to the pot and nestle the little ribs as much as possible into the sauce.  You want to have it covered as much as possible.  Then, you'll cover it, reduce the heat to medium low, and the patience comes into play.

You just set it and forget it.  You'll simmer the whole dish on the stove for 2-3 hours.  You could probably also throw it in a crock pot or the oven for a couple of hours too.This is a cut of meat that needs to be cooked low and slow to really enjoy all the flavors.  If you try to rush it, it will be tough and not as flavorful.   Every 30 minutes, I opened the lid so I could enjoy the smells, but also so I could push the short ribs around and make sure that they were all getting a turn to be covered by the broth.   

Finally, Curt was getting annoyed that he could smell all the yummy food, but he couldn't eat it.  After 3 hours, I carefully took the short ribs out and set them on a different plate.  You have to be careful because, at this point, they are so tender they they will just fall apart when you touch them.

Next, I turned the heat back to hi and added in the cream. At this point, it was really really really starting to smell good.  I also added in the capers.  I wasn't sure about this part of the recipe... I don't dislike capers, but I've never really added them in for fun either.  So, I just let it boil pretty nicely for a cood couple of minutes to thicken up a bit.    While I was waiting for the sauce to thicken, I sauteed some asparagus.  The Pioneer Woman (Ree) originally served it over a pile of roasted mushrooms, but we all know that Curtman's not a fan of mushrooms, so I chose asparagus.... I did add in some mushrooms for me, though.

Here's the finished product!  Absolutely amazing! The rosemary and cream and wine and beef... just everything! It was so good! I'm definitely making this recipe again and again. It was relatively simple, super delicious and the flavors were great.  Short ribs are really trendy now, but most of the recipes are pretty similar.  This one is different, unique, and delicious! Thanks, Pioneer Woman!

Enjoy!

Jenn

Apple Sweet Potato Bake

In my last posting, I made this yummy Stuffed Pork Roast.  I was surprised at how well it turned out!  I needed a side dish to go with it, so I pulled out this recipe.  When we were in Massachusetts over Thanksgiving, my mother in law had this Kraft magazine that had a bunch of recipes.  Many of them were FAR from paleo, but this one seemed promising.  By the time we had gotten back to Virginia, my sister in law, Tracee, had texted me saying that it was really good!  So here it is... with a few minor twists, of course!

Apple- Bacon Sweet Potato Bake

* 1 large onion, chopped

* 6 slices bacon, chopped

* 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

* 2 apples (I used Braeburn), peeled and chopped

* 1/2 cup apple cider (no sugar or anything added- just apples)

* 1 tsp. ground cinnamon

* 1/4 cup chopped pecans

This recipe was easy peasy.  First, preheat the oven to 350.  Then throw the chopped bacon into a pan on medium high heat and let it get nice and crispy.  Once it's crispy, turn the heat down to medium low and remove the bacon to a separate plate.  Keep the bacon fat in there because that's what you'll cook the onions in.  Make sure you let the fat cool down a bit because you don't want to fry the onions, just make them soft. So you throw the onions in there and cook until soft.  Then add the bacon back to the pan for another minute or two.

While all the bacon and onions were cooking, I took the time to chop up the apples and the sweet potatoes.  Then, in a baking dish, just throw the cubed sweet potatoes and the apples.  Mix them up so they are all combined nicely. 

Next, you'll add in the apple cider and cinnamon.  Then, you'll mix everything up so it's evenly distributed.  You could use a spoon to make sure it's evenly distributed, but I think using your hands is easier and faster... and why dirty a spoon when you don't need to, right?

 

Next, pour the bacon and onion mixture over the sweet potato and apple mixture.  Then, cover the dish with some aluminum foil and pop it in the oven.

It will bake for 40 minutes, then you pull it out and remove the aluminum foil.  Top it with the chopped pecan pieces, and then put it back in the oven, without the aluminum foil top.  You'll just bake it for another 10 minutes or so.  I baked mine a bit longer because I like it to the point that it is nicely browned.

So there you have it! Super simple and really really tasty.  It'd probably taste good as a side to anything, but I think it'd be best with a lighter meat like pork or chicken.  Hopefully you'll like it as much as I do!

Enjoy!

Jenn

Paleo Stuffed Pork Loin - Harvest Style

Normally, I'm not a fan of pork.  I feel like it tends to get really dry or not flavorful.  Recently, though, I've been making more pork recipes.  There are a lot of recipes that look really good, but use bread as a stuffing... corn bread, brioche bread, even wheat bread.... blah to bread!  I needed to find something else to add some body to the stuffing.  This is one concoction that I just kinda threw together.  I had made pork loin a few weeks ago stuffed with raisins and apples and it was surprisingly good.  This week, I decided to try it again, but this time, with different "stuffing" things.  I had some dried apricots and figured that I could find a few things to complement the flavor... and I did!

Paleo Harvest Stuffed Pork Loin

* 3 lb boneless pork loin roast

* 1/2 cup of dried apricots (no sugar added)

* 1/4 cup of natural apple cider (apples should be the only ingredient!)

* 1/4 cup of chopped pecans

* 3 cloves of garlic

* 1/2 tbs rosemary

* 1 tsp bacon fat/butter/etc

First, I tried to cut the pork so that it would lay flat.  I'd done it before where you go in a circle and get 1 nice long, flat piece of pork.  This time,  I didn't have the patience and just cut the whole thing down the middle to butterfly it.  I also seasoned the whole thing with some salt and pepper.

 I chopped the garlic and added it to a saute pan with some of the bacon grease and the rosemary.  I let it cook for a little bit to get a bit of the sharpness out of the flavors.  I wanted them to mellow out and just taste really good together.  I also used dried rosemary, so I didn't want the little leaves to be all spiky and stuff.

While the garlic and rosemary were cooking, I chopped up the apricots into nice little bite sized pieces.  I hate it when you bit into something and this HUGE chunk comes out.  So, anyway, I cut them up and threw them into the pan to warm through.

After that, I added in the apple cider.  I'm not sure why I added it in there.  I just had some in the fridge and thought, what the heck, why not?!  So anyway, it did help to soften up the apricots and the pecans.  It also helped all of the flavors to really blend together.   I cooked it all, stirring continuously, until most of the apple cider had evaporated or had soaked into the other ingredients.  I then took it off the stove and let it cool until it was a good temperature for me to handle it.

I then placed all of the stuffing  in the middle of the pork loin.  I wanted to make sure it was spread evenly so that there was a lot of flavor in every bite.  No one wants to be stuck with that one end piece that doesn't have anything fun in it, right?!

Then, I folded the pork back up into its original round shape and I tied it up with some kitchen twine (which I have since misplaced and have gone CRAZY tearing up the kitchen looking for it!!!).  There are videos on youtube on how to tie up a roast.  Really, any way you can get it to stay together is good!  You really just don't want to throw it in the oven and have it open up so the stuffing can spill everywhere.  The stuffing adds so much flavor and makes it tender. 

 I threw it into the oven at 375 for about 45 minutes.  You want to keep an eye on it because the last thing you want is to burn it!  They've recently said that you can eat pork medium now (you don't have to cook it well done throughout like you used to).  So really, just cook it to your desired amount of doneness.  Just make sure that you let the roast rest for about 10 minutes when it comes out of the oven.  You want to give it time for the juices to redistribute.  The last thing you want is to cut it immediately and have all of the yummy flavor to slip out... that will cause you to lose flavor and also make it more dry.

Here is the finished result! It was delicious!   I really liked it! I think the rosemary added a nice little kick to the sweetness of the apricots.  The pecans also added some good flavor!  This is a great dish which I will definitely be making again!

It's pictured here, served with a sweet potato and apple bake.  The recipe will be coming soon because it paired up sooooo well with the dish.  Of course, you can add any veggies that you like.  I tend to think of harvest flavors and orange veggies - squash, carrots, sweet potatoes.   Enjoy!