Crockpot Alton Brown Pork Loin

Posted on by aurorameyer

AB Crockpot Pork Loin
I haven’t been shy about my love for all of AB’s recipes (for example our Christmas ham, gyro meat and a peach buckle). This one started out as a delicious grilled summer meal, but quickly morphed into a scrumptious year round crock pot meal. Extra bonus, we make it ahead and freeze it so it’s super simple to just pop into the crockpot!

Crockpot Alton Brown Pork Loin

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Ingredients
  

  • 1 whole pork tenderloin approximately 1 pound
  • 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice concentrate is also fine!
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder we actually use regular minced garlic
  • 1 in chipotle chile pepperadobo sauce (out of the can we use about three or four chipotles and half of the sauce)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt We omit (but you can feel free to add!)
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro leaves We omit (but you can feel free to add!)

Instructions
 

  • Place the lime juice, honey and garlic powder in a ziptop bag and shake to combine.
  • Add the chipotle pepper (s) and squish together to combine.
  • Add the pork tenderloin to the bag and seal, removing as much air as possible and squish to coat the tenderloin. (At this point, we usually freeze this mixture together.)
  • If not freezing, marinate in the refrigerator for 6 to 24 hours (we like overnight).
  • When you're ready to cook, dump the entire mixture into the crockpot, marinade and all. Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours. (Always double-check your specific crockpot settings for correct cooking times).
  • If you can, flip it once, but if you can't it's ok.
  • When you're ready to eat, remove the pork loin. Make sure to reserve the juices! We enjoy pouring it over rice to go with the pork.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

My opinion:
Like I said above, this is great year round. It’s just as good with a salad as it is over rice. Enjoy!

p.s. Summer 2016 update: without the chipotles in adobo sauce, our toddler eats this up! We just add the chipotles and adobo sauce to our plates. 

Langlois Andouille Cornbread Stuffed Green Pepper

Posted on by aurorameyer

 

On a recent visit to New Orleans, J and I got to take a cooking class at the amazing Langlois Culinary Crossroads. The very appropriate slogan is “decadent with no apologies” and that proved more than true during our class. We made several wonderful dishes, including an Andouille Cornbread Stuffed Artichoke. Unfortunately, the artichokes at home, didn’t quite look as good. Luckily, Chef Amy told us about 15 ways to use the same stuffing/dressing and we improvised stuffing a green pepper instead.

Langlois Andouille Cornbread Stuffed Green Pepper

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Ingredients
  

  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 pound Andouille sausage
  • 1 cup diced onion
  • 1 cup diced bell pepper
  • 1/3 cup diced celery
  • 1 tablespoons and 1/4minced garlic
  • 4 cups crumbled cornbread
  • 1/3 cup parsley
  • 1/3 cup sliced green onions
  • 1 pound shredded smoked gouda
  • pinches couple ofof Emeril's essence cajun seasoning (we made our own recipe to come)
  • 1/2 cup chicken stock only use if the mixture is too dry and crumbly!
  • olive oil for the pan

Instructions
 

  • If not using pre-made cornbread, bake the cornbread according to package instructions.
  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large saute pan over medium heat, melt the butter and cook the andouille until browned.
  • Then add the onions, bell pepper and celery (the holy trinity) and the garlic until the vegetables are wilted. Add the pinches of Emeril's essence cajun seasoning to taste. You want it to be a little red. That's from the paprika, not the cayenne, so don't panic. Remove from heat and add cornbread, parsley and green onions.
  • Mix well and allow to cool. Add the cheese and mix again. If the mixture is too dry and crumbly, add chicken stock a little at a time to make it more like a dough (it should stick together). Stuff the peppers and bake for 15 to 20 minutes.
  • Remove from oven and allow to cool for about 5 minutes.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

My opinion:
I love this super filling dish. It is light enough for a summer meal, but surprisingly filling. Plus, if you have left over mix, Chef Amy suggests freezing it in patties for a nice side dish.

Homemade Stuffed Poblanos

Posted on by aurorameyer

Or homemade chile rellenos. A new grocery store opened in our town and it is amazing. I’ve described it as if Trader Joes and Whole Foods had a baby. The produce is fantastic. When I stopped by opening day, the poblanos were some of the best I’ve seen since leaving Texas. So I roasted them and we had them for dinner.

Homemade Stuffed Poblanos

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Ingredients
  

  • 1 in can whole tomatoespuree; or if you prefer fresh 5-7 large Roma tomatoes, 28 ounces
  • 1 jalapeno chile; (ribs and seeds removed for less heat) minced
  • 1 large or 2 small yellow or white onions; chopped
  • 3 tablespoons minced garlic
  • coarse salt and ground pepper to taste
  • 1 pound can black beans; rinsed and drained or about 1ground beef 19 ounces, we used 80/20 ground beef because it was also on sale at the new grocery store
  • 4 ounces shredded pepper Jack cheese
  • 1/4 block of Velveeta Queso Blanco cheese cubed (we had some left over from making Mag Mud at home)
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 4 large poblano chiles; halved lengthwise ribs and seeds removed, stems left intact
  • 1-2 tablespoons oil (vegetable olive, whatever you have on hand)

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 425.
  • In a blender or food processor, combine tomatoes in puree, jalapeno, half the onions, and 2 whole garlic cloves; puree.
  • Season with salt to taste.
  • Pour sauce into a 9-by-13-inch baking dish; set aside.
  • Add a little oil to the skillet and sauté the onions, garlic and cumin.
  • If using ground beef, brown the beef in the same skillet with the garlic and onions, if you want, add some of the salsa.  
  • Add half the poblano in the salsa covered baking dish. 
  • Dividing evenly, spoon the onions and beef into the poblano half.
  • Sprinkle poblanos with the shredded pepper jack cheese.
  • If room add, the other poblano half with the inside in the salsa (so the skin side is up). (Since there wasn't room in our dish, I just added them where there was room.)
  • Bake uncovered for about 20 minutes.
  • Remove from oven.
  • Add the Velveeta cubes and cover with the other poblano half. Note: you'll want to use a fork or other utensil, the poblano tops will be hot.
  • Return to the 425 degree oven for 20 more minutes or until the salsa is slightly thickened and the poblano half on top is starting to brown. 
  • Let cool 10 minutes.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

My Opinion:
The poblanos that were on top of the salsa roasted up quite nicely adding a sweet char to the pepper. Next time, I’ll roast the entire poblano before adding the filling. Other than that, the only other addition is to smother the entire stuffed poblano in Mag Mud for extra creaminess.

Homemade Beef Pho

Posted on by aurorameyer

Homemade Beef Pho by Dispatches from the Castle

The more J and I cook at home, the more we find amazing recipes of meals we once thought were super complicated and therefore only available in a restaurant. Pho is one of those dishes. With the complexly deep flavors and food coma-inducing warmth, we were sure we couldn’t make it in our own kitchen. We were so wrong. J found this recipe from Sarcastic Cooking (love!) and it was dead on. We adjusted a few things to our taste and suggest you do too.

East at Home Beef Pho Ingrdients

My opinion:
This makes a lot. Enough for three of us to have two large bowls each and quite a bit leftover. It’s in the freezer waiting for one of those cold, rainy late fall days when soup sounds best. I love this dish. I couldn’t eat it fast enough.

Homemade Beef Pho

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Ingredients
  

  • 2 Tablespoons Canola Oil we used vegetable
  • 2 Yellow Onions halved (we ended up quartering them)
  • 1, 3- inch Piece of Fresh Ginger halved (we left this whole but kind of crushed to infuse more flavor)
  • 2 Cloves Garlic we used minced
  • 4 Quarts Low-Sodium Beef Stock
  • In a tea ball we put: 1 Cinnamon Stick, 3 Star Anise Pieces, 3 Whole Cloves, broken If you do not want to invest in cinnamon sticks star anise, and cloves, some stores sell pho seasoning packs. But it's worth it to have your own, plus, with a tea ball removing it is simple!
  • ⅓ cup Fish Sauce
  • 3 Tablespoons Packed Light Brown Sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon Kosher Salt
  • cup Button mushrooms we used sliced
  • Ingredients for the Pho:
  • 1 12-ounce Ounce Package of Bahn Pho or Udon Noodles These ended up being hard to find so we just used glass noodles . Flat Rice Noodles, thin rice noodles
  • 1 Pound Flank Steak or charcoal steak
  • 2 Thai Chiles stems removed and thinly sliced (we left these out)
  • 2 Handfuls Bean Sprouts fresh is crunchier and we loved it!
  • 1 Bunch Fresh Cilantro
  • 1 Bunch Fresh Mint
  • ½ White Onion sliced paper-thin
  • Sriracha or Chili Garlic Sauce for Serving
  • Lime Wedges for Serving
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Indian at home: Chicken Vindaloo

Posted on by aurorameyer
Indian at home: Chicken Vindaloo by Dispatches from the Castle
Indian at home.

Sadly, our town is lacking in good Indian cuisine. Which means, this fall J and I have decided to figure out how to make it at home. We’ll tackle naan soon, especially since we discovered how easy the main dishes can be. We tried Chicken Vindaloo from our new favorite site rasamalaysia.com. The directions were easy to follow, easier than finding all the ingredients! With a few modifications, we had a meal that rivaled any local Indian restaurant.

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken, cut up into 8 pieces and skin removed (We used about 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts because that’s what we had on hand)
1 onion, chopped (we used a large yellow onion)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/4 tsp each Salt and pepper
3 tablespoons oil (we used olive)

Spice Blend:
1/2 cup vinegar (white)
4-5 dried red Chile peppers (we used dried, whole red chilis)
4 cloves (we used ground)
8 garlic cloves, skin removed (we used minced about 2 tablespoons)
1 2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled
1 teaspoon paprika powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon sugar

Directions:
Add vinegar and soak all the ingredients needed for the spice blend for 15-20 minutes. Then blend these into a fine paste using a blender. (we used the food processor and with the added vinegar, this turned very runny. Next time, we’ll remove the spices from the vinegar and then re-add it at the end). Add the spice mixture paste to the chicken and toss well to evenly coat all the chicken pieces. Let the chicken marinate for 4 to 6 hours. In a large wok heat the oil on medium heat. Add the marinated chicken and cook for 4 to 5 minutes. Stirring often. Add the chopped onions, tomato paste, salt and pepper to the chicken. Give everything a good stir. Finally add 1/2 cup of water (we omitted this step since it was already pretty runny), cover the lid of the skillet and lower the heat to low. Let the chicken simmer on low for 15 to 20 minutes or till well done and the oil start to ooze from the curry. If you prefer little thinner gravy add water as need and let it simmer for another 4 to 5 minutes before serving. Like the original author, we prefer the gravy to be thick and sticking to the meat pieces. Serve immediately over basmati rice.

My Opinion:
The sauce was a little runny for our tastes and it wasn’t quite as spicy as we like our vindaloo. Next time, we’ll use the spice blend as a run without the vinegar and add it at the end.