Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Rhubarb BBQ Sauce, from Gael

Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Rhubarb BBQ Sauce, from Gael

--From EatingWell:  May/June 2014

In this pork tenderloin recipe, rhubarb cooks with ketchup and cider vinegar to make a tangy, healthy barbecue sauce. If you’re lucky enough to have a lot of rhubarb, make a double or even a triple batch of the rhubarb sauce recipe and freeze it for later in the summer. It tastes great with grilled chicken and beef too.

4 servings | Active Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups sliced rhubarb, fresh or frozen (thawed)
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, divided
• 1 1-pound pork tenderloin, trimmed
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. 2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring, until starting to soften, about 2 minutes. Add rhubarb, ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; stir to combine. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring, until the onion and rhubarb are soft, about 10 minutes. Cover and remove from heat.
3. 3. Meanwhile, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle pork with salt and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper; add to the skillet and cook until browned on all sides, about 4 minutes.
4. 4. Transfer the skillet to the oven. Roast the pork until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part registers 145°F, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer the pork to a clean cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes. Slice and serve with the sauce.

Nutrition

Per serving : 288 Calories; 10 g Fat; 2 g Sat; 6 g Mono; 74 mg Cholesterol; 25 g Carbohydrates; 25 g Protein; 2 g Fiber; 395 mg Sodium; 775 mg Potassium

1 1/2 Carbohydrate Serving

Exchanges: 1 vegetable, 1 other carbohydrate, 3 1/2 lean meat, 1 1/2 fat

Tips & Notes

• Make Ahead Tip: Cover and refrigerate the sauce (Step 2) for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

Pork Chops and Cider-Braised Brussels Sprouts, from Gael

Pork Chops and Cider-Braised Brussels Sprouts, from Gael

Via Rachael Ray Magazine, Jan/Feb 2015


2 8 ounces bone-in pork chops
1 tablespoon canola oil
3/4 pound Brussels sprouts, halved
6 tablespoons apple cider
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves


Season chops. In skillet, cook chops in oil over medium-high, turning once, until cooked through, 10 minutes. Transfer to plate. In skillet, brown sprouts, stirring, 2 minutes. Add remaining ingredients; cook until sprouts are tender, 4 minutes. Season. Serve with pork.

Roasted Pork Chops with Sweet Potatoes and Apples, by Gael

Roasted Pork Chops with Sweet Potatoes and Apples, by Gael

• 4 bone-in pork chops, each about 1 inch thick (about 2 1/2 pounds total)
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 medium sweet potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
• 1 large sweet onion, such as Vidalia, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
• 1/3 cup apple-cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup apple cider
• 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
• 2 apples, preferably Honeycrisp, thinly sliced, seeds removed

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Season pork with salt and pepper. Heat a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat; swirl in oil. Cook chops until golden brown, turning once, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Remove all but 2 tablespoons fat from skillet.
2. Reduce heat to medium. Add potatoes and onion; season with salt. Cook until golden in spots, about 10 minutes. Add vinegar and cider. Cover and simmer, stirring a few times, until potatoes are tender, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with caraway seeds. Return pork and juices to skillet; tuck apple slices between chops. Roast until a thermometer inserted into thickest part of chops (without touching bone) registers 138 degrees, about 10 minutes. Serve pork, vegetables, and apples with pan juices.

--From Martha Stewart
--Made this Jan. 21. 2015, served to Dan and Rob along with Shaved Brussels Sprout Salad, a good fall/winter dish

Hidden Valley Ranch pork chops, from Gael

Hidden Valley Ranch pork chops, from Gael

1 packet (1 ounce) Hidden Valley® Original Ranch® Salad
Dressing & Seasoning Mix
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 pork loin rib chops about 1-inch thick
Dash of paprika (optional)
InstructionsPreheat the oven to 450ºF.

In a small bowl, add the seasoning mix, together with the salt,
pepper, and paprika and mix well. Liberally sprinkle the porkchops on
both sides with the seasoning mixture.

Arrange the chops on a baking sheet or try with a rack. Bake the pork
chops for 20 minutes, turning once until browned or an internal
temperature of 160ºF is reached. Serve immediately.

Gael made these in the summer of 2010 as part of her continuing crusade to convert Rob to loving pork chops. These were his favorite to date!

Skillet-Glazed Pork Chops, from Gael

Skillet-Glazed Pork Chops, from Gael

4 boneless center-cut or loin chops, 3/4 to 1-inch thick

Salt and pepper

1/2 c maple syrup

2 t Dijon mustard

1/4 c cider vinegar

1 t minced fresh thyme (can substitute dried)
1 T vegetable oil

Prep chops:
Trim chops and slash through fat and silver skin, making 2 cuts about 2 inches apart on sides of each chop. Pat chops dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Combine syrup, vinegar, mustard and thyme in bowl.

Cook chops:
Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add pork to skillet and cook until well-browned, about 5 minutes. Turn chops and add glaze mixture. Turn heat down to medium low and cook until internal temperature registers 140 degrees, 5-8 minutes, Remove chops to plate and tent with foil.

From Cook's Country, February/March 2010. Gael made these in fall 2010 and Rob, who is always suspicious of pork chops and normally thinks they're dry, really liked them.

Pork chops with Granny Smith apples, from Gael

Pork chops with Granny Smith apples, from Gael

Made this fairly quickly in July 2009 and we loved it. The pork chops from Omaha Steaks are perfect for it...nice and thin. I served it with mashed potatoes and gravy and brussel sprouts.

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 6-ounce boneless pork loin chops
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 small Granny Smith apple, halved
1/4 cup fresh parsley, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons champagne or white wine vinegar


Mix together the flour, cumin, salt, and pepper on a large plate. Lightly coat each piece of pork with the flour mixture; set aside.

Heat the vegetable oil and butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the apple halves with a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook the apples cut-side down about 5 minutes or until golden brown (Rob likes them cooked longer). Remove from the skillet, cover, and set aside.

Place the pork in the skillet, sprinkle with the parsley, and cook until the meat is golden brown and crispy, 4 to 5 minutes per side.

While the pork is cooking, whisk together the broth and vinegar. Remove the pork from the skillet and set aside. Pour the broth mixture into the skillet, stirring and scraping up any browned bits. Bring to a boil and cook until slightly thickened.

Divide the pork among 4 plates and pour some pan sauce over each. Before serving, place an apple half on each plate.

Pork Chops with Sour Cream Onion Sauce, from Gael

Pork Chops with Sour Cream Onion Sauce, from Gael

Tried this in March 2008 from AllRecipes.com. I loved the sauce -- very much like stroganoff -- but Rob hates sour cream so I made his without sauce. I also only used 2 chops, and certainly did not cook them for an hour as mine were pretty thin.

6 pork chops
salt and pepper to taste
3 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3/4 cup chicken broth
1 bay leaf
1 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons paprika


Saute onion and garlic in hot butter. Trim excess fat from chops and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Brown chops in skillet; pour off fat.

Lower heat, add bay leaf and chicken broth. Cook covered over low heat for 1 hour. (NOTE FROM GAEL: This seemed way too long for my thin chops, so just check them until they are cooked through. Mine took about 25 minutes.) Transfer chops to a serving plate, but keep them hot.

Heat juices in skillet and reduce to half. Add the sour cream, onion-garlic mixture and paprika, blending thoroughly. Heat through, but don't boil. Pour over pork chops and serve.

Sauerkraut & Dumplings, from Mom and Marge

Sauerkraut & Dumplings, from Mom and Marge

Mom recopied this from a recipe card dated 1972. First is the recipe as Grandma Fashingbauer gave it to her, and after Grandma’s version are Mom and Marge’s notes. Read the whole thing before you make it!

Grandma’s version: Cook meat in water (like soup) for 1 hour. (Chunk of bacon and chunk of pork. Spareribs are good here also. The pork can be a small pork roast—usually the cheaper cut, like a pork shoulder, etc.) Then add sauerkraut and cook at least 2 hours. Add a little water if it needs it. After you take meat out, when it is cooked until tender, then add enough grated raw potato to sauerkraut (keep cooking it) to thicken it. (If you didn’t grate enough potato for thickening, Grandma said she'd add corn starch and water as a supplement.)

Mom and Marge’s notes: For cooking meat: Mom notes: “This is the way Grandma told me but it worked better for me when I put the sauerkraut and meat in the pan and then added enough water to barely cover the mixture. Then I cooked everything together--probably on medium.”

Marge said if she uses spareribs in the sauerkraut, she does boil them in water for a little bit and after that, she drains the water, rinses the ribs and then she puts them in with the sauerkraut. She says they need this, she thinks, before going into the sauerkraut. (Sounds like they have little bits of fat, etc., on them before she does this.) The other meat is okay to go in without being boiled first. I forgot to tell you that if you don't have a piece of pork to put in the sauerkraut, if you have pork chops or pieces of pork, they are fine. You want them to cook enough so you can break them up in smaller pieces and, of course, you can take any bones out then.

Dumplings: Mom says: “Grandma made two kinds of dumplings. She made some that were a combination of grated raw potatoes and flour and salt. She, sometimes, also, made some that were a combination of cooked mashed potatoes, flour, egg, and a little salt. Actually she used to put some fried bacon cracklings (bacon pieces, fried until hard) in the center of these dumplings. She said Grandpa Fashingbauer liked that kind. I never made them. (Sounded too fat for me.) The first kind, with raw potatoes, were sort of gray-looking and very hard. This is what the Lindl family made, I think. Dad said they used to joke about them because they got so hard when cold that you could throw them like baseballs. Ugh!

I liked the second kind (recipe below) and when Marge got that recipe from me, she made them and said she liked them much better and never made the raw- potato ones again. I got the recipe for my dumplings from Clara Graves. They're easier to make because you have amounts listed. (Grandma could never tell anyone how much flour, etc., to use. She'd say you had to put in enough so they'd stick together when you dropped them into the boiling water. As Marge said, you could use up a whole batch, dropping them in and watching them break apart.)

Clara's Dumplings:
2 cups mashed potatoes
2 cups flour (use a little more if potatoes are warm )
Beat one egg w/fork and add to potatoes and flour; also add a little salt. Cook the dumplings in boiling water; probably about 20 minutes. I haven't made these for quite a while but I think they will sink at first and then will come to the top.

Serving tips: Clara said she liked these with stew or roasts also. They can be sliced and fried when leftover or heated as is. These mashed potato dumplings are nice and white. The ones made with raw potatoes are gray and not very appetizing-looking.

Another thing that made the sauerkraut dinner good was that usually we fixed a beef roast in the oven (or as a pot roast on top of the stove) and had this also. That way, you get a nice gravy to put over the dumplings. (You also get some rich-looking meat to have along with the meat that was cooked in the sauerkraut.) Some people put the thickened sauerkraut over the dumplings but I like the gravy. Usually we liked serving wilted lettuce (w/bits of fried bacon and a sweet/sour warm dressing) with this. Sometimes we fixed cucumbers but it isn't necessary.

Hot Dagos, from Clio

Hot Dagos, from Clio

Call it whatever you want, but Italians in St. Paul have called it this for years!

3/4 pound ground beef
1/4 pound ground pork
1 cup dry bread crumbs (or cracker crumbs)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon parsley
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs -- beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
spaghetti sauce

Mix everything together and make patties. (Mixture will be sticky.) Brown them on both sides. Add spaghetti sauce and simmer. Can put in crockpot and let simmer for 2-3 hours. Serve as sandwiches or over noodles.

Bernell's Pork Hot Dish

Bernell's Pork Hot Dish
From 1979.

Mom says: “Watch so it does not dry out”

2 pounds pork steak or roast -- cube and brown
2 onions – chopped, 3 c celery – chopped, 1 green pepper -- chopped
1 can mushrooms
1 jar chopped pimento
1 can cream of mushroom soup, 1 can cream of chicken soup
1 tablespoon sugar
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 package large pasta shells

Preheat oven to 350. Add a little water to pork and onions and simmer on stove until tender. Mix all ingredients together. Bake 1 hour covered; then 15 minutes uncovered.