Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Mojo Peach Pork Sauté - Delicious & Easy Publix Recipe

Tonight, I tried making a Mojo Peach Pork Sauté I had sampled at Publix the other night. We loved it. The recipe serves four and takes about half an hour to prepare.

(http://www.publix.com/aprons/meals/SimpleMealPDF.do?mealId=8269)

(I have a soft spot in my heart for Publix recipes since I learned to cook at Publix Aprons Cooking School.)

Ingredients

- 2 firm peaches, coarsely chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh chives, coarsely chopped (I skipped the chives because I didn't want to buy a package of chives just for a tablespoon)
- zest & juice of 1 lime
- 1 lb of pork tenderloin sliced into 1-inch thick slices
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 12-oz bag of Publix fresh fajita vegetable mix. (If the fajita mix is not available, use about half an onion, half a red bell pepper, and half a green bell pepper sliced.)
- 1/4 cup Publix Bakery spicy peach butter. (You could probably substitute spicy or regular peach preserves)
- 3 tablespoons mojo marinade.

Directions

- Preheat large sauté pan on medium high for 2-3 minutes. Season pork with salt & pepper; place oil in pan. Add pork; cook 1-2 minutes on each side, or until browned. Remove pork from pan.

- Add fajita vegetables to same pan, and cook 3-4 minutes, or until peppers begin to soften.

- Combine peach butter, mojo, lime zest, and lime juice.

- Add pork, peaches, and peach butter mixture to vegetables. Cook and stir 1-2 minutes until sauce thickens. Top with chives and serve.

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Chicken Katsu - Tasty and Easy Japanese Dish

One of the types of dishes I enjoyed in Japan was Katsu dishes such as Tonkatsu (Ton = pork), Katsudon, and chicken Katsu. Americans who are not vegetarians usually enjoy katsu dishes. What many don't realize are that the original Japanese katsu dish, a beef dish first created in Tokyo in 1899 are Japanese versions of western dishes. Katsu is an abbreviated Japanese pronunciation of the English word "cutlet" (katsuretsu) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonkatsu#History).

I decided to try making Chicken Katsu. I found an allrecipes.com recipe that was very easy, and the results were excellent (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chicken-katsu/). The author of the recipe says it can also be used to make Tonkatsu (by replacing the chicken with pork.) I plan to give that a try.

This recipe serves 4 and should take less than half an hour to prepare. I served it with Japanese-style short grained sticky rice.

Ingredients

- 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - pounded to 1/2 inch thickness. (I avoided the pounding by purchasing thin-sliced chicken breasts.)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 egg beaten
- 1 cup panko bread crumbs
- 1 cup oil (I used canola oil) for frying

Directions
1. Season the chicken breasts on both sides with salt and pepper. Place the flour, egg, and panko crumbs into separate shallow dishes. Then:
- Coat the chicken breasts in the flour, shaking off any excess.
- Dip the chicken breasts into the egg.
- Press the chicken breasts into the panko crumbs until well coated on both sides.

2. Heat 1/4 inch of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Place the chicken in the hot oil, and cook 3 to 4 minutes per side, or until golden brown.

3. Serve with rice and tonkatsu sauce. (You can often find tonkatsu sauce at oriental food stores. The brand we prefer is one called Bull-dog sauce. Tonkatsu sauce also sounds very easy to make. Google "tonkatsu sauce recipe" to find recipes for the sauce.)

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Delicious & Easy Glazed Carrot Recipe

If you enjoy glazed carrots, you may enjoy this really easy Emeril Lagasse creation which I found on the food network. It's named, "Oh Yeah Baby Glazed Carrots."  (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/oh-yeah-baby-glazed-carrots-recipe/index.html)

Ingredients

- 1 one-pound bag of baby carrots
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

Place all the ingredients in a medium, heavy saucepan

Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally until the carrots are tender and the sauce becomes a shiny glaze, about 15 minutes.

Serve

Terrific Pork Chop Recipe

In searching for a good, easy pork loin chop recipe, I found a YouTube creation - "Juicy Pork Loin Chops"  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAjlfkzr2sg) that easily produces moist, delicious results.

Ingredients

- Pork loin chops (I used two center cut chops from Publix.)
- Several sprigs of rosemary
- As many cloves of garlic as you'd like, chopped coarsely. I used four large cloves
- one onion, sliced
- salt, pepper, and any other seasoning you'd like. I used pepper and a very nice French sea salt with herbes de provence, lavender and cornflower, called Balade en Provence by Delices d'Ophelie. The salt was a gift from friends Kathy & George.

Directions

- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Put a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in an oven-safe skillet.
- Heat the olive oil over medium high heat.
- Put the pork chops and rosemary into the skillet and cook the chops for 3-4 minutes on one side.
- Turn the chops with tongs, not a fork.
- Add the onion and garlic, and cook for another 3-4 minutes.
- Put the skillet in the oven and cook for 4-5 minutes.
- Remove the skillet from the oven, using oven-safe gloves or other protection to hold the skillet.
- Remove the pork chops from the skillet and cook the onions and garlic for another 5-10 minutes. (I did 5 minutes.) You can add salt, pepper, and/or other seasonings to the cooking onion-garlic mixture.
- Combine pork chops, onion, and garlic. Serve.