Hedgehogs

We had a potluck SCA event today. I wasn't sure what to bring, so I went with an old stand-by: hedgehogs!

Little pork sausage meatballs decorated with toasted sugared slivered almonds (for spines) and dried currants (for eyes).

I like them with currants much better than when I made this before with raisins cut in half (if I recall correctly). They were the perfect size and nice and firm and none of them popped out during the baking process.

Pork back ribs

We had some pork back ribs so I thought I would try a recipe by Alton Brown.

Stir Fry in Seattle

Pork dish in the wok

I spent the weekend with a friend in Seattle and we had a number of culinary adventures. I brought some lovely tomatoes and peppers from home that we were drowning in. So our goal was to come up with some simple dinners that would make good use of them. On the final night, we picked up some lovely pork at the farmers market and made a stir fry in a wok.

This worked well on all counts. Easy to prepare, quick to cook, looked and tasted great.

We made a dredged the pork in seasoned flour. And added a sauce of corn starch, soy sauce, and sesame oil.

Sweet and Sour Pork redux

I made a second try at sweet and sour pork. This time I managed to take some pix and a few liberties. 

You can read a little about my previous try here. 

I gathered up a bunch of things that looked good. 

Zucchini, roasted carrots, roasted red peppers, chard, kale, onion, peaches, pineapple

I had marinated the port the night before, and kept it in the fridge. 

 They got a quick dip in seasoned flour and almond meal then into 350 degree oil in batches.

Lots of veggies, peaches, pineapple, and prepared pork.

Serve it up.

Kookoolan Farms

Just a quick note that someone recommended I check out Kookoolan Farms. Seems like a great source for pork.

Sweet and Sour Pork

While trying to figure out something to do with a cut of shoulder blade steak I came across a nice looking recipe from Alton Brown for Sweet and Sour Pork. I served it over sautéed snap peas. Turned out ok.

Pork chops and Apple sauce

Now that we have quite a supply of pork chops in the freezer, I suspect there will be a lot of experimenting with pork chops in my future. We had some applesauce that I used in the sauce with a reduction from the juices from cooking the chops.

I used the Easy Pork Chop recipe from The Best Recipe. At least I started with that recipe. To the reduced sauce I added some fresh bread crumbs, which made the sauce too thick. This gave me the idea to add a little hot apple sauce, and then a little more until it seemed about right.

I served the pan sauce on top of the chops and put a little of the hot apple sauce on the side for good measure.

Update: I made these again, but added some steamed mixed vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots) to the sauce. Seemed like a good addition.