Pork Loin with Parsnips & Apples

Have I ever told you all how much I LOVE Parsnips? Well I am going to tell you now! I LOVE PARSNIPS!!! Come on now! Who can not love Parsnips! Its love at first taste. Mmmmmm..

Well to that I thought, what the heck cook up some apples jazz them up and make a little drizzle to go over the pork loin steaks. Complete comfort and really no guilt. Nothing to brag about. Just the thought of it teased me so I had to have it! Mmmm...mmmmm!

Pork Loin Steak with
bed of Parsnips
& cooked Apples

Pork Loin Steaks
Salt & Pepper
Thyme
Parsnips (Peeled and sliced)
Olive Oil
Butter
Minced Garlic
Apples (Peeled, Cored, Sliced)
Cinnamon
Ground Red Pepper
Chicken Stock
Sugar Free Maple Syrup....Oh yes!

1. Season Pork lightly with salt & pepper and thyme. Brown on both sides and remove from pan.

2. To same pan, add a little olive oil and a little butter or margarine. Melt butter and heat up. Add Parsnips season with salt and pepper, brown a bit and stir in minced garlic. Add enough water to just barely cover parsnips. Bring to a simmering boil covered. You can add herbs of preference to this. I love Sage with it.

3. After simmering for 5 minutes remove lid. Add pork loin back in and continue cooking at simmer until just about all the water is gone and parsnips are tender and pork is fully cooked.

4. Separate sauce pan, melt butter. Add apples and brown a little. Add cinnamon, ground red pepper give it a stir and pour in a little chicken stock. Just to give it some moisture. About 1/4 cup for a jumbo size apple. Bring that to a simmer and stirring. Add maple syrup and give that a good stir while simmering and remove from heat. I added an extra packet of Stevia..or sugar you can use. Cinnamon you add to your liking and ground red pepper to the degree of heat you want.

Just for fun I assembled a bed of stacked parsnips and rest pork loin on top. Assorted the apple slices and drizzled with the syrup from apples. WOW! Love them apples with that syrup! I would like that I think in some whole wheat crepes with toasted almonds in a vanilla custard whipped cream filling with almond extract flavoring. Something along the lines of that. I'm going to have to make that next!

So give the white carrot a try..Love on a Parsnip! You can't go wrong. Parsnips also a good source of Vitamin C, Folic Acid, which helps convert carbs into energy, also help prevent birth defects with women having babies. It has high soluble fiber which helps in lowering cholesterol and lowering blood sugar and it makes a great fat burning food. Its sweet without the extra calories. So trust me, if you love the Parsnip, it will love you back.

Pork in Salsa Verde with Creamy Polenta

Here I mixed a bit of Mexican with a touch of Italian with a twist. I typically make my own salsa verde, but this time I bought for a quick fix. Plus store was out of decent tomatillos. I have no words for this dish..just that I moaned and repeated to feed myself..and moaned again. HERE MY MOAN! MMMMMmm! Was that ever good!! Mas..porfabor!

Pork in Salsa Verde
with Creamy Polenta

2.5 lbs Boneless Pork loin ribs (cubed)
1 medium onion (diced)
1 tbsp minced garlic
Salt & Pepper to taste
Chili Powder
Cumin Powder
16 oz. Jar of Salsa Verde
6 0z of water
Cilantro (Garnish optional..may chop up and add to salsa even though salsa already has some)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil to coat bottom of pan.

1 box of Polenta
Mexican Shredded Cheese
Cilantro
Salt & Pepper
Garlic Powder
Water or Broth

*For Polenta just follow box instructions. I added seasoning to water or broth and tasted to liking, then when started boiling add Polenta. Keep stirring for 5 minutes. It thickens quick so at this time add cheese and cilantro. Stir up well. Serve it up to dish. Make this last minute!!!! Hardens quick but soooo good!!

Pork in Salsa Verde:

1. Season cut up meat and season with salt, pepper, cumin powder and chili powder. Heat up pan with oil then add meat. Stirring and searing on each side. Add garlic and onion. Cook together covered for 15 minutes medium low. Stirring occasionally.

2. Add salsa verde and water. Give it a good stir and cover. Bring to a simmering low boil and leave it there for 10-15 minutes until pork is fork tender. Salsa will thicken a subtle bit. You may add cilantro now if you like.

I made the polenta last minute. Dished it up and topped with the pork. Polenta thicken and got stiff like a tamale consistency as it sat. Really..out of the park. I normally would make it with my homemade salsa verde which rocks, but this will do for the ones that don't like to cook much and want to buy minimal ingredients.

You can serve this pork with some spanish rice and beans or even soft corn tortillas. I always encourage to think outside the box as I do and just do what sounds good to your palette.

Stuffed, Mashed, Smothered & Roll

On this day, Sous Chef Mike and I decided to have some what of a Thanksgiving feast. We decided to have a Stuffed Pork Chop with Sweet Mashed Potatoes, Smothered Green Beans with Bacon and a Pumpkin Roll for dessert. We had decided to pair this meal with a Caramel Apple Martini and a Pineapple upside down cake martini. We've decided that it was too sweet for this meal and a lighter beer or perhaps a wine would be best.

A friend of mine took the photos. Whom I am thankful for. Thanks Chica! :)

Stuffed Pork Chop

We first put the Pork chops in a brine. No measurements were taken but it consisted of the following.

Water
Apple juice
Salt & Pepper
Sugar
Red Pepper Flakes

It sat in the brine for at least 4 hours. Which added a nice layer of flavor that accompanied the stuffing and decent amount of moisture. It was truly enjoyed.

Then we dumped the brine and seasoned with simple salt and pepper on both sides. I encourage you to have your butcher to prep the chop for you as a thick cut butterflied. Saves you time and also being thicker holds up well with the stuffing.

For the stuffing:

Apples
Cornbread
Parsnips
Carrots
Celery
Onions
Garlic
Sage
Salt & Pepper
Chicken Stock

We just prepared it as you would to any standard stuffing. Then overly stuffed these chops. Then browned on both sides in a pan that was sprayed with cooking spray. On each side for 1 1/2 minutes.

After that the chops were browned, they were transferred to a large oven proof dish and covered with foil. Baked in oven @ 375 for 25-30 minutes. Until internal temp of chops reached 145-150.

Were taken out of oven and rested a few minutes.

To that dish we added Mashed Sweet Potatoes. I do not have a photo of this. You can subtly see in above picture that it was on the plate.

That consisted of....

Sweet Potatoes (Cut in thirds, boiled and skins removed)
Heavy Cream
Butter
Sage
Garlic
Salt & Pepper

We seasoned to our liking and whipped it up in stand up mixer. I love a Kitchen aid mixer. Add any type of potatoes in there and let it mash and whip up for you. These potatoes were a perfect balance of sweet and savory. Yet creamy and whipped and I would have been content just with that. YUMMO!!!!!

Smothered Green Beans with Bacon

Green Beans (Blanched)
1 pkg. Bacon ( chopped and cook..reserve grease)
Garlic
Salt & Pepper
Sliced Almonds for accent

Once green beans were removed from hot water and cooled with cold water, they were drained and added to bacon in grease. Minced garlic was added and tossed with salt and pepper. Very simple and quite enjoyable. Seasoned salt I've tried before and gives it more of a hint of flavor without disguising the natural flavor and essence of the green beans. Red Pepper flakes can be added or diced onion can be cooked down with bacon and added as well for another layer of flavor. Mmmmmmm..yum!

The Pumpkin Roll

Basically for this you can follow a recipe on the side of the a Libby's can of Pumpkin Puree. Haha! I researched the roll and they all call for same measurements for the main characters of Flour, Salt, Sugar, Baking Soda & Powder, Pumpkin. I just changed up the spices. I used Pumpkin Pie spice and Cinnamon. I would want more of a pumpkin flavor so I would want to try to add more pumpkin at another time and see if it will help with flavor but not affect the texture of the cake.

For filling I used cream cheese, vanilla flavored cool whip and sugar. I would like to reinvent that again. It was all great and creamy. The assembly of this baby was tricky for sure. Once out of oven you need to flip over to a linen kitchen towel dusted with powder sugar and roll up gently with towel. It will cool off in this position. Then unroll spread filling roll back up and dust with powdered sugar.

This was the first time I made or ate a pumpkin roll. I was quite impressed that it turned out. I want to perfect it and give it my twist..the "Massi twist". :) Definitely will be making other flavor cakes like this. I think presentation is neat love the combo of the creamy swirl with the fluffy dense cake. Mmmmm...I think White cake with a strawberry kiwi creamed filling would be salivating. Yummy!!!!

Spaghetti & Pork Ribs Asian style

I love me a good Spaghetti Salad. Then, as I went down the salad dressing isle, behold and idea pops out at me. Asian style Spaghetti! This one is a definite keeper and one I will always add to and recreate. Yum yum!

Spaghetti & Pork Ribs
Asian Style

1 box Barilla Plus Thin Spaghetti
2.5 lbs Lean boneless Pork Ribs
2 bunches of Green Onions (1 bunch sliced and the other cut on the bias)
6 baby Bella mushrooms, sliced
2 Tbsp Sesame seeds
1/2 cup slivered Almonds
1 Tbsp of finely minced Garlic
White Ground Pepper
Red Pepper Flakes
2 Tbsp of Soy Sauce
1/8 tsp Sesame Oil
2 tsp Rice Wine Vinegar
1/2 cup of Vegetable Stock
1/2 bottle of Ken's Light Asian Sesame Ginger Dressing


1. Bring water to a boil in a pot. Add pasta and cook until al dente. Drain Pasta and add the dressing, sliced green onions and sesame seeds with a bit of white pepper. Give a good stir.

2. Marinate pork with Soy sauce, garlic, rice wine vinegar, white pepper, sesame oil and red pepper flakes for about 30 min.

3. In a heated pan, add a little bit of canola oil then add pork. Cook on all sides about 2 min each until caramelized and golden brown. Add almonds and cook for another minute. Then add Stock and mushrooms. Cover and cook for 2 minutes. Uncover and at a simmering boil let the sauce thicken up. At last add the green onions cut on the bias.

Serve up noodles and pork together. I made some steamed sugar snap peas with mine. Endless varieties for this. This is something semi homemade with the store bought dressing that is absolutely perfect for this or even to marinate some steak or chicken. Perhaps add some bok choy and crinkled cut carrots and red peppers strips. Oh yes!