Roast Pork Loin a la Nottingham Drive

So my local grocery store had a sale on whole and half pork loins, and I thought what a great item for the rotisserie on my grill for Memorial Day weekend. But then the weather got weird, so I roasted this one inside in the oven, and I commend it to you.

I used convection roast, and if you have that capability I recommend it, but this will work fine in a conventional oven.

Recipe

For the rub:

2 tsp. ground thyme or thyme leaves

1 tsp. allspice

1 tsp. ground gloves

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp.paprika

Salt and pepper to taste.

The meat:

1 3-4 lb. boneless or 4-5 lb. bone-in pork loin roast.

How to do it:

Mix the spices together, and rub generously over the roast. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place the roast fat side up on a broiling pan (you are not going to broil it, but the broiling pan will keep the juices and fat from splattering better than an open roasting pan) Score the top of the roast with a sharp knife with shallow 1/2 inch diagonal cuts.

Place the roast in the oven (if using convection roast on the bottom rack, if not in the bottom third of the oven). Cook at 425 for 15 minutes, and then reset the oven to 325 degrees. Cook to an internal temperature of 155 (if you like some pink) to 160 degrees (if you don't) and let sit for 10 minutes before carving. Cut in straight thin slices like a jelly roll.

Serve with baked beans and applesauce. We had a lovely Portuguese Dao with it, but any light red will do.

Enjoy.

Thai Shrimp with Roasted Chili Paste

I love the taste of roasted red chili paste, and this stir-fried shrimp dish is simplicity itself to make. It offers endless variations. I have made it with scallops and with littleneck clams. The version here is one of my “meals of last resort” recipes, the kind you make the day before you go shopping. The other night I scanned the larder and came up with some frozen jumbo shrimp, some frozen peas, a few white mushrooms, some sad scallions, and YES, an opened jar of roasted red chili paste. Call it dinner.

Here's the recipe, but as with all stir-fries the times are very approximate.

2 tbs. peanut or canola oil
1 tbs. chopped garlic
1 medium onion, sliced
4 oz. white mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup frozen peas, defrosted (if you have fresh snow peas, blanch them and substitute)
2 tbs. roasted red chili paste
3/4 lb. jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 tbs. fish sauce (nam pla or nuac mam)
1  scallion slice or fresh chopped cilantro for garnish

Heat wok or pan for a few seconds until hot, swirl in the oil, and when it is hot enough toss in the garlic and stir-fry until it starts to brown, a few seconds, then toss in the onion and stir, then the mushrooms and stir fry for thirty seconds or so. Then stir in the chili paste and the shrimp and stir until the shrimp begins to turn pink. Add the peas and stir for a minute. Add the fish sauce and stir to incorporate.

Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with a sliced scallion or chopped fresh cilantro

Serve with jasmine rice and some Sriracha sauce on the side, which you won't really need unless you're a heat freak as this chili paste has plenty of kick.

Beverage of choice:  beer. Or an Alsatian gewurztraminer


(A note on ingredients: The chili paste, fish sauce, and Sriracha sauce, once exotic ingredients, are now available in many supermarkets. But if not yours, try an Asian market, or a fancy specialty shop. Nam pla is the Thai version of fish sauce and nuac mam is the Vietnamese version, but they are virtually indistinguishable.)


(Photo: R. L. Floyd, 2012)

Corned Beef Hash: The St Patrick's Day Leftovers

One of the joys have having corned beef and cabbage (picture below) for St. Patrick's Day is making hash with the leftovers.  This isn't rocket science, but there are some hazards.  The first time I made it I used too many of the leftover veggies and it came out watery.

So learn from me and forget the cabbage and use mostly the beef and potatoes and use a raw onion.  You can chop some of the cooked carrots in for color, but not too many.

2 Tbs. butter
2 Tbs.  oil
Leftover corned beef, coarsely chopped  (about 3 cups)
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
Leftover potatoes, coarsely chopped (about 3 cups)
Leftover carrots,  coarsely chopped (about a cup)
Salt and pepper to taste

I use oil and butter rather than just butter, because it helps it keep from burning. Heat oil and butter in a heavy-bottomed pan (I use a good seasoned cast iron one) until it foams,  put in onions and sweat them a few minutes until they are translucent.

Combine the meat and potatoes and spread  them evenly in the pan.  Tamp them down with a spatula and resist the impulse to stir them.  They will steam and hiss for a while, which is a good thing.  Peak around the edges with a spatula, and when they are good and brown flip them over, and repeat the process, keeping an eye out that they don't burn.  It takes a little practice but the results are worth it.  I top them with a fried egg.  A good shot of freshly ground black pepper is nice.  If you use beets it becomes Red Flannel Hash, a recipe for another day.

(Photos:  R. L. Floyd)

Pastor John's award-winning New England Clam Chowder

Here’s something new on Rick’s Recipes: a guest recipe! My friend John Castricum has a nice little blogsite called Reflections of a Reformed Pastor. Last week he posted his award winning clam chowder recipe in a post called the Theology of Clam Chowder. John is a native of the Bay State and serves a church near Boston, and this is the real deal.  I bumped into him this week, and asked him for permission to repost the recipe here, so here it is:


John writes:  “I prefer my chowder on the creamy side, rather than the milky side, so that is why I put in a flour/butter roux and use half and half. A good "mouth feel" is important. I know this is not exactly "health food" but I think you really need the fat to make it taste good (I know Julia Child is with me on this one). I also want to make sure people taste clams, so plenty of clam juice is important. Believe it or not, the bacon helps give it a "sea" taste. I think part of the appeal of clams and other shell fish is getting a sensation of "sea water" as you eat the clams. Same thing with clam chowder. I put in the clams at very last, since they cook pretty quickly and turn rubbery if they cook too much.

3 oz. Bacon

1 onion, chopped

3 stalks celery, with leaves, finely diced

1 1/4 lb. potatoes, diced to 1/2 inch cubes

1 quart clam juice

3/4 cup flour

1 1/2 sticks butter

1 1/2 quarts half and half

12 oz. chopped clams

salt and white pepper to taste

1. In a large stock pot, fry bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove to paper towel. When cool, crumble into small pieces.

2. Saute onions and celery in bacon fat until soft. Add potatoes.

3. Add clam juice and bring to a simmer.

4. In a separate pan, melt butter and add the flour. Constantly stir mixture on medium-low heat until smooth, about 3 minutes.

5. Add flour/butter mixture to simmering stock. Stir until thick and stock comes back to a simmer.

6. Add half and half and bring back to simmer, stirring. Gently simmer for 15 minutes, stirring often.

7. Season with salt and pepper.

8. Add the clams. Simmer for a few minutes more and serve.”

Provençal Savory Eggplant Custard (Gratin D’Aubergines)

Here’s a rich savory end of summer dish for those of you who have lots of ripe tomatoes and basil in your garden. It is a delicious side dish or could be a main course to serve four. Use a big gratin dish, baking or lasagna pan. In Provence they would use a soft cheese called Brousse, but Ricotta is a good substitute.

Extra virgin olive oil

4 Italian eggplants, stemmed, unpeeled and washed and cut into ½ inch slices

4 large ripe tomatoes, cored, seeded, coarsely chopped, and drained of liquid

1 cup basil, washed and cut into thin shreds

1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped

2 gloves garlic, finely chopped

1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

8 oz. ricotta cheese (or Brousse)

2 large eggs

½ cup heavy whipping cream

Freshly grated black pepper

Salt


Sprinkle the cut eggplant slices with kosher salt and let them drain in a colander for half an hour. Then dry them thoroughly with paper towels. In a large stick-proof pan put enough olive oil to come up 1/4 inch and heat slices over medium heat. Cook for ten minutes, turning once. You will need to do this in three batches. After each batch place cooked eggplant on a cookie sheet lined with paper towels. The eggplant absorbs a lot of oil, so you may have to replenish it a bit for each batch.

When the eggplant is finished remove all but two Tbs. of the oil, reduce heat to low and sweat the onion for ten minutes. Turn the heat up to high, add the drained tomatoes, garlic and salt and cook for about ten minutes stirring until the mixture as given up most of its juice. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Whisk together the Ricotta cheese, eggs, half the Parmesan cheese, and the cream in a large bowl. It should be the consistency of a thick cream, but pourable.

Arrange half the eggplant slices in a single layer in the bottom of your pan (photo below). Grate pepper to taste, sprinkle the basil shreds, and half of the remaining Parmesan cheese. Spread the tomato/onion mixture. Add another layer. If you have leftover eggplant slices press them onto the top.

Pour your egg/cheese,/cream mixture over the top and smooth with a spatula. Sprinkle remaining Parmesan cheese over top. Place pan in the oven and turn heat down to 350 f. Bake for 30 minutes or so until custard has set and is golden brown. Serve hot.

For a wine match-up I would suggest a dry rose from Provence.
(Photos: R. L. Floyd)

Grilled Orange-Juice Marinated Pork Chops

Here's a nice summer main course that you can make on the grill and not have to heat up the kitchen.  You can use bone-in or boneless pork chops for this, although I think the bone-in kind have more flavor and stay moister better on the grill.

The main challenge with grilling pork chops is to get them properly cooked without drying them out. My marinade evolved over the years from a teriyaki sauce to its present citrus form. I think pork has an affinity for citrus flavors, and the Asian flavors are a nice match.

You can throw the marinade together in minutes, put it and the chops in a gallon freezer bag, and stick them in the fridge for a couple hours (or longer) until grill time.  Turn the bag over and slosh it around a few times.

For the marinade:

1tbs. peeled and chopped fresh ginger

1 large glove garlic peeled and chopped

1/4 cup dark soy sauce

3 tbs. dark brown sugar

2 tbs. peanut oil

2 tsp. sesame oil

½ cup orange juice

2 tsp. orange zest

Whisk it all together.

Cooking the chops:

Heat the grill to high. Remove the chops from marinade and save the marinade. Put it in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer so that it can thicken a bit. Take a small amount for basting and save the rest as a sauce for the chops.

Oil the grill, put on the chops. After a minute turn the chops 90 degrees to get nice grill marks and turn heat to medium. Depending on the thickness of the chops it will take about 3-5 minutes a side to cook them through. Baste them before you turn them over, and from time to time as you go. The brown sugar will burn if you don’t keep moist or let the flame get too high.

When they come off the grill let them sit for a few minutes then pour the hot marinade over them (not the batch you’ve been basting with.) I served this with grill-baked sweet potatoes and fresh corn. A pinot noir from the South of France rounded it out nicely.

Enjoy.

My Big Fat Greek Shrimp and Tomato Saganaki with Feta

We had something similar to this in the pretty seaside town of Molyvos on the Island of Lesbos back in 2003. Martha's grandparents emigrated to America from Lesbos, and it was her first time visiting there. It's a beautiful place.

This summer Andrew and Jess came back from the Greek Islands and reported having a version of it in Santorini, though they claim mine is better, which may just be because there is more of it. This is a tourist dish with no claim to authenticity, but it is yummy. And, once you’ve cleaned the shrimp, easy and pretty foolproof.

I use frozen easy-peel shrimp that come in 2 lb bags. You will need a heavy-bottomed skillet, and an ovenproof serving dish (I use a Le Crueset enameled one, but you could do it any shallow casserole or baking dish.)

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 yellow onion chopped

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

½ tsp crushed red pepper (or to taste)

2 lbs jumbo shrimp, peeled and de-veined

2 large fresh tomatoes in season, coarsely chopped (or use a 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes)

1 cup of crumbled feta cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

¼ cup flat-leaf parsley, rinsed and chopped

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Heat the oil in the skillet over medium heat and cook the onion, stirring occasionally until it is soft, about 5 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute, then add the red pepper flakes and tomatoes, and let it cook for another ten minutes or so until some of the liquid has evaporated and the sauce begins to thicken. Add the shrimp and cook for a few minutes, stirring now and then, until they turn pink and begin to firm up (don't overcook them).

Turn the mixture into the baking dish, sprinkle the feta over the top, and put it in the oven for 10 minutes until everything is bubbling nicely. Salt and pepper to taste (the feta should be all the salt you need), and sprinkle with the parsley.

Although in Greece this is typically a starter, it will easily feed four people as dinner with some crusty bread and a Greek salad. In the best of all worlds your kids will bring you a white wine back from Santorini to have with it (as mine did), but any sturdy crisp white will go just fine (feta is a tough flavor match for wine.) White Retsina works if you’ve acquired a taste for it, which most people who aren’t Greek haven’t. Enjoy.

(Photos: R.L. Floyd)

(This one first appeared in Retired Pastor Ruminates on September 18, 2009)