Tag Archives: pork

Cheese Dishes, Meat Dishes, Recipes, Soups and Stews

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

This potato soup recipe is a lot like a couple of the deluxe salad recipes that I’ve previously posted (see Sesame Mandarin Salad or Thai Chopped Salad) – it’s something that you’d expect to see at a family chain restaurant, but so much better because it has none of the chemicals and preservatives.  Just good ole homemade soup with a bevy of delicious accompaniments all to your liking.  If you love your comfort food without prepackaging, dyes and additives, then this recipe is for you!

The richness of this soup comes from a made-from-scratch, slow-simmered stock that utilizes a leftover ham bone and some savory veggies.  It’s a simple stock to make and is a wonderful use of that bone that folks so often chuck.  What a waste!  The depth of flavor is excellent, and the stock itself can be used in all sorts of recipes – pots of beans, split peas, and cajun dishes like gumbo are all vastly improved with the use of this stock.  Because ham tends to be a bit salty, I recommend that you check the stock for salt after it’s simmered down.

Making the stock is truly the most time-consuming part of this recipe, but nothing is labor intensive at all.  You basically let the stock boil away and go about your business.  Same with the potatoes – they cook on their own until velvety, requiring no additional assistance from you.  Good stuff!  The hardest thing you’ll have to do is decide how chunky or smooth you want it all to be – soooooooo hard, I know.  Speaking of smooth, for a high-brow version of this recipe, try out this Truffled Potato Soup.  Same process, only you’ll feel like you are riding in the car with the dude who requests Grey Poupon.  Bentleys and truffles for everyone!

The soup gets its name from the fact that once it’s finished, you get to embellish it just as you would a baked potato.  Bacon or ham, cheeses of all kinds, scallions and chives, even a dollop of sour cream – all make delicious toppings.  Choose what suits you and tuck in to a hearty bowl of deliciousity.  Yup, deliciousity.

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

1 ham bone
2 stalks of celery
1 onion chopped
2 bay leaves
12 c. of water

4 tbs. of butter
3 tbs. of flour
7 c. of stock (from recipe above)
3 lbs. of russet potatoes
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp. of white pepper
pinch of nutmeg
1 c. of cream
1 c. of sharp cheddar
1 tbs. of caraway seeds

1/4 of cheese for sprinkling
sliced scallions (optional)
croutons (optional)
crumbled bacon or chunks of ham (optional)
dollop of sour cream (optional)

Begin by adding your ham bone, stalks of celery (tops and all), chopped onion, bay leaves and water to a large pot.  Bring to a rolling boil and then lower heat to medium-high.  Allow to cook away until the ham has completely fallen off the bone and the stock has reduced to about 7 cups of liquid – about 2 – 2 1/2 hours.  Strain stock and discard all of the solids.  Taste for salt and pepper and season accordingly.  Set stock aside.

In a large pot, melt butter over low heat.  Whisk in flour and cook roux for about a minute.  Slowly whisk in strained stock so as to prevent lumps.  Bring pot of liquid to a simmer.

While stock is simmering away, peel your potatoes and chop into cubes.  Add your potatoes to the stock and bring it to a rolling boil.  Add the white pepper and nutmeg.  Cook until potatoes are incredibly tender when pierced with a fork, about 20 minutes.  For a chunky soup, mash the potatoes with a potato masher.  For a smooth soup, puree with a hand mixer or in a blender.  If you use the blender, make sure to do so in batches and always put a kitchen towel over the lid.  This’ll keep you from splattering hot soup all over yourself, which is never ever a good thing.

If you’ve blended your soup, return it to the pot.  Stir in the cream, sharp cheddar and caraway seeds.  Once cheese has melted into the soup, taste for salt and pepper one last time.  Serve with your toppings of choice.

 

Note

For those looking to save time, use premade chicken stock and start cooking at the point where you make a roux from the butter and flour.  Just make sure to warm your stock in a separate pot before adding to the roux.  For vegetarians, leave out the ham stock and replace with vegetable stock (homemade or store-bought), making sure to follow the same process as for the chicken broth just mentioned.

Appetizers and Small Plates, Impressive Dishes, Meat Dishes, Recipes

Pan-Fried Pork and Chive Dumplings (Jiao Zi)

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The pork and chive dumplings you get in Chinatown here in NYC usually involve the thin skinned wrappers and garlic chives, a flat, milder flavored variety.  Because these can be hard to come by, I’ve modified this recipe to use a small amount of regular chives, some cilantro and a couple bunches of scallions. I use a traditional jiao zi wrapper made out of a cold water dough, making these heartier and more robust that the usual pork and chive dumplings.

Jiao Zi © Spice or Die

For something a little lighter, use thinner pre-made dumpling wrappers (found in Asian Supermarkets) and cook like traditional potstickers. Basically, you steam the dumplings in a covered skillet with 1/4 to a 1/2 c. of water and a few drops of oil until the water evaporates and the bottoms crisp up.  Hence the name “potstickers” – I know, sometimes the world just makes a whole lot of sense, doesn’t it?  For a great potsticker recipe from start to finish, check out my good friend Chef Tim Ma’s Pan Fried Pork and Chive Potstickers.

The best part of this recipe, and all homemade dumplings, is that the quality is much higher than what you’ll find at restaurants and dumpling joints.  You control exactly what is added to the little delicacies, and you still end up keeping the price down.  Fresh ingredients at a low price is a hard thing to come by these days, so definitely celebrate a little when you tuck into a plate of these bad boys.

Pan-Fried Pork and Chive Jiao Zi

4 c. of flour
1 1/4 c. of ice water
1/2 tsp. of salt

3/4 lbs. of ground pork
2-3 raw shrimp, minced (optional)
1/4 c. of water
1/2 in. of ginger, minced
1 tsp. of cornstarch
2 tbs. of soy sauce
2 tsp. of sherry
2 tsp. of sesame oil
1/2 tsp. of salt
4 tsp. of sugar
3 bunches of scallions, finely chopped
1 small bunch of cilantro (10-15 stems with leaves), minced
1 small bunch of chives (the plastic pack from the store is fine)

Start by making the dough for the wrappers.  Add the four cups of flour to a bowl along with the salt.  Slowly stream in water, stirring as you go and making sure not to put any actual ice cubes in the mixture.  Add only enough water to get the dough to hold together – if it gets too sticky, add a bit more flour.  Knead dough until silky and elastic (about 5-8 minutes) and then wrap with plastic and let chill in the fridge.

Mix all ingredients (except for scallions, cilantro, chives and water) until smooth and a little stringy, making sure to stir all in the same direction.  Next, stream your water into the mixture in small amounts, stirring in between each addition.  Lastly, add the scallions, cilantro and chives and stir again.  Set aside.

Break out your dough and pinch a chunk off the size of a clementine.  Run the dough through a pasta roller or roll out by hand to about 1/4 in. thick.  Cut out 3-4 in. circles using a cookie cutter or the mouth of a large cup (I use one of my hubby’s beer steins).  Place a heaping teaspoon of filling onto the wrapper and pleat the edges to close.  Set aside on a floured cookie sheet.  Continue to fill the dumplings until you run out of filling or dough – whichever comes first.

Fill a large pot with water and set to boil.  When the water is ready, plunk in about 8-12 dumplings and watch the water go from a boil to a simmer.  Let the water come back to a boil and then pour in a rough cup and a half of cold water.  Let the water come to a boil again and then add cold water a second time.  Let the pot come to a boil one last time and then remove dumplings from the water with a slotted spoon.  Repeat until you’ve cooked all of the dumplings that you could possibly eat in one sitting.

Serve with Sweet Soy Dipping Sauce.

Note

For a different taste, pick up the thin, round pre-made dumpling wrappers from your local asian market.  You can even use the wonton wrappers found in the deli aisle of the regular grocery store, and cut the squares into rounds with a ring mold.  Fill your dumplings and set aside on a floured cookie sheet.  Add 3-4 tbs. of cooking oil to a skillet and turn on high.  As the pan warms up, place the dumplings, seam side up, in the pan one next to another.  When the pan is super hot and the oil starts to sizzle (a few minutes), add about 1/2 c. of water to your pan.  Immediately cover to trap the whaft of steam that arises when you add the water to the hot pan.  Cook until the water has evaporated and the bottoms of the dumplings crisp up.

Main Courses, Meat Dishes, Recipes

Baked Ham with Rosemary Hurricane Glaze

I’m Pretty Sure the Holiday Ham is Drunk Again

Easter is all about the celebration of Spring (new birth, resurrection, lilies and the like), which is why lamb is such a popular dish.  If you want to go old school, my money is on a classic smoked ham with a sweet, crackling crust.  In fact, I am going to play Neil Diamond’s “Cracklin’ Rosie” as I type this post.  *singing* Bakin’ it sloooooow.

This is straight out of my memories of childhood – Dad would get the Smithfield smoked hams from the grocery for Easter or Christmas and bake them to perfection.  Occasionally, my mom would chuck a few oranges in the baking pan and stud the thing with cloves to keep it spicy and ever so juicy.  Then, after cooking and a good rest on the counter, my Dad would carve with an electric knife (that’s now been upgraded to a super sharp butcher’s knife that he sharpens right before slicing) and give my sister (then a meat eater) and I a slice before serving.  Now, the only ones around clamoring for an early slice of ham are their pug and puggle, Bentley and Chloe.

This ham is straight-forward, but the glaze is a little different.  It gets the name “hurricane” from the Creole-inspired ingredients – it’s the juice and booze that make up the traditional New Orleans drink of the same name.  I add brown mustard, bay leaves, cloves and rosemary and boil the concoction down to a thick syrup that bathes the ham in the last hour of cooking.  I gave you the ingredients for making the glaze as a standalone, but when I do it at home, I double the glaze ingredients and brine the ham in them overnight.  This sweetens the ham and desalts in a bit.  Then, I take the brining liquid and cook it down to make the glaze.  It’s very good this way, but if you don’t feel like wasting that much rum on glaze (as opposed to drinking) just follow the steps as I’ve listed them below.

I serve this ham with the accompaniments of my childhood as well (and this is via our neighbor who usually makes these sides) – scalloped potatoes and spinach salad with red onion and hard-boiled eggs.  Because I need a little more greenery on my plate, I like to roast some asparagus spears as well.  It doesn’t get any more spring-y than that.

Baked Ham with Rosemary Hurricane Glaze

1 smoked ham (around 8 lbs.)
1 c. of orange juice (blood orange or clementine work well)
1 c. of pineapple juice
1/2 c. of grenadine or hibiscus syrup
1/2 c. of brown sugar
1 c. of rum
2 bay leaves
1 tsp of ground cloves
2 tbs. of brown mustard
3 sprigs of rosemary
1 small bunch of sage
pinch of cayenne pepper

Preheat the oven to 325°.  Fit a v-shaped roasting rack over a roasting pan and line with sage and one sprig of rosemary.  Sit ham on top of herbs and put into the oven.  Plan to bake the ham for about 20-25 minutes per pound (my oven runs hot, so I cook mine closer to 20 minutes per lb. to keep it from drying out)

While the ham is cooking, make your glaze.  Pour the orange juice, pineapple juice, grenadine, sugar, rum, bay leaves, cloves, mustard, and the rest of the rosemary into a large saucepan (or if you are cooking down the brine that you used on the ham, use a large pot) and bring to a boil.  Continue to cook until the liquid reduces to a cup and a half.  Strain and set aside.

When the ham only has about 45 minutes left to cook, take it out of the oven.  Pour the glaze over the top.  Return the ham to the oven and continue to bake.  When the ham is done, let rest at least 10 minutes before carving so that the juices have time to redistribute.  Slice and serve.

Breakfast and Brunch, Egg Dishes, Impressive Dishes, Meat Dishes, Recipes

Morel Mushroom Bacon, Egg and Cheese

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Rob From the Rich and Give Truffles to the Poor

I know what you are thinking.  Based on the fancy pants ingredients in this dish and the haute descriptions, this seems like something reserved for trust-fund babies and old money fat cats.  Not the case, plebian reader.  I like to think of this as superior breakfast for the adventurous palette.  Got a little time after a hard week and want to treat yourself to something lovely?  Snag the ingredients for truly THE best bacon, egg and cheese of all time.  I’m talkin’ eternity.

Morel Mushroom Bacon, Egg and Cheese © Spice or Die

This recipe is a lovely tower of creamy eggs, rich goat cheese bechamel, savory morel mushrooms, and prosciutto baked until crispy as bacon.  The whole mix is atop a toasted round of brioche (cut with a $1 ring mold – pick one up and start impressing folks with your presentation skills) and topped with seasonal violets and leaves of fresh thyme.  I usually tell people to make dishes for people that they love, but this is reserved for people in the upper echelons of your love contingency.  Like the top 5.

Truthfully, you can go into this very budget-mindedly without sacrificing on taste.  Brioche can be replaced with challah or another cheaper, eggy bread.  Goat’s milk cheese can be acquired for a reasonable price and at most grocery stores.  Same deal with the prosciutto.  There is no replacement for morels and truffle oil, but they are your only splurge and you won’t be using a lot of them.  If you want my opinion, although it won’t be nearly as luxe, you could get away with replacing the morels with a super fresh in-season mushroom and leave out the truffle oil.  Not the same dish, but still decadent as hell.  But really, get the truffle oil.  You use so little and if you’ve never had truffles before, you need to.  You really, really, really need to.  Like now.

This recipe was born from our attempts (and by our, I mean my friends Richard and Amy, whom I invited to help me cook and who brought the lovely violets that I think make the presentation) to create an award-winning entry into the Marx Foods Morel Mushroom Competition.  We were sent 1 oz. of morel mushrooms and asked to make something lovely.  Well, creative kids that we are, we ended up making two dishes, and this, my darlings, is the runner up.  Can you believe that we found something crazy enough to guild the proverbial lily? And it wasn’t truffled eggs?  Make this one first, and then if you want to up the decadence, read our entry in the competition.  By the way, I’d be remiss in not thanking Justin Marx for his inclusion of my humble site in the short list of competitors.  Talk about good people 🙂  Not to mention their products are ever-so-lovely – I spend hours just thinking how much damage I can do with their fabulous ingredients.  A cook’s dream.

But I digress, as it’s time for some decadence. This recipe is NOT hard to cook.  In fact, the hardest part is the grocery shopping.  It does, however, go in stages, with all of the components assembled at the last minute.  It’s forgiving, though, so take your time stirring and assembling, and maybe enlist those aforementioned people you love in putting the whole thing together. And then get them to wash the dishes.

Morel Bacon, Egg and Cheese (Truffled Eggs on Brioche with Morels, Goat Cheese and Prosciutto Chip)

1/4 oz. of dried morels
1 c. of chicken stock
2 tbs of butter

3 slices of brioche
2 tbs. of butter

2 prosciutto slices

2 tbs. of butter
2 tbs. of flour
2 c. of milk
1/3 c. of cream
1 c. of mild goats milk cheese, grated (we used Midnight Moon Goat from Whole Foods, but use whatever you like, to include 8 oz. of mild soft goat cheese)
pinch of black pepper
pinch of white pepper
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of cayenne
1 tsp. of salt

6 eggs
2 tbs. of truffle oil
3 tbs. of butter
1 tsp. of salt
1 tsp. of white pepper
2 tbs. of cream

violet blossoms
fresh thyme leaves

Round one – prep your morels.  Bring your stock to a boil and plunk in your morels.  Cover and let sit for 30 minutes or until mushrooms are puffy and lovely.  Strain, making sure any grit is poured out with the chicken broth.  Slice morels in half and sauté in a pan with 2 tbs. of butter on medium love until soft – about 3-4 minutes.  Set aside.

Round two – begin by prepping your brioche.  Cut out slices from a loaf, or if you want to be ultra fancy, cut out rounds using a 3″ ring mold.  Cookie cutters also work well.  Plunk 2 tbs. of butter into a skillet and melt on low heat.  Turn up the heat to medium low and toast the bread on each side until golden.  Set aside.

Round three – make your prosciutto chips (and you can skip this step, my vegetarian darlings).  Line a baking pan with foil and crank your oven to 450°.  Lay prosciutto flat on the baking pan, making sure that the pieces aren’t touching.  Place in the oven and bake until crispy and dark rose, about 10-12 minutes.  Check once or twice to make sure that it doesn’t burn – there’s not much fat on the prosciutto so they can cook quickly depending on the thickness of the slices.  Set aside.

Round four – make your bechamel (cream sauce).  Melt 2 tbs. of butter in the same pot you sautéed your morels in on medium low.  Whisk in the flour and stir until smooth and all incorporated – about 1 minute or so.  Slowly add your milk in dribs and drabs, whisking to prevent lumps.  Keep on whisking and crank the heat to medium to coax the sauce into thickening.  When it gets lovely and creamy, pour in the heavy cream.  Whisk and add the black pepper, white pepper, cayenne, nutmeg and salt.  Turn off the heat and whisk in the grated cheese.  If you are using goat cheese instead of a hard goat’s milk cheese that can be grated, just toss spoonfuls of it into the sauce and stir.  Taste for salt and pepper and correct seasoning.  Set aside.

Round five – egg action.  Scramble together 6 eggs, truffle oil, salt and white pepper.  Melt 3 tbs. of butter in a skillet on low and then slowly pour in your eggs.  Keep your heat LOW the whole time and gently stir your eggs as small curds form delicately.  This is a slow process, but not complicated.  Just keep stirring until the eggs are creamy and shiny and still a little wet.  Pour in the cream and turn off the heat.

Now, for the big finish – grab some plates and put a piece of brioche on each.  If you are going for fancy presentation, put the ring mold over the brioche and gently put 1/3 of the eggs right into the ring mold.  Otherwise, just portion the eggs right over the toasted brioche however you’d like.  Split the morels amongst the three plates of eggs.  Drizzle a couple of tablespoons of goat cheese bechamel over the works.  Sprinkle the thyme leaves and the violets over the entire plate.  Spear the top of the eggs with a shard of prosciutto.

Tuck into some majesty.

Appetizers and Small Plates, Impressive Dishes, Meat Dishes, Recipes, Seafood Dishes

Cha Gio (Vietnamese Crispy Spring Rolls)

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Greatest Wrapper of All Time

Cha gio, the Vietnamese answer to the Chinese spring roll, are a heck of a lot more than a crispy wrapper around a bit of filling.  The complex mix of tender pork, delicate shrimp and crab, and savory vegetables and spices form an addictive amalgamation that trumps the few shreds of cabbage and roast pork in a traditional spring roll.  Combine this roll with the delicious crunch of herbs and lettuce, and finish the whole thing off with a dunk into some sweet and salty nuoc mam, and you are in for a treat.

I always order cha gio with all the fixings at Vietnamese restaurants, and feel that the presentation lends an air of luxury to the dish.  And yet, when I was young, our Vietnamese friends would make the rolls in large quantities and share with anyone deserving of a little treat – cha gio were unpretentious and meant to be shared.  I feel the same way about feijoada completa (the Brazilian national dish of black beans, rice, and assorted condiments) – in a restaurant, the many dishes of food that make up the meal add an element of grandeur to the meal, when in actuality, feijoada is the people’s food at its best.  Just good, honest cooking meant to be shared with friends and family. Continue reading Cha Gio (Vietnamese Crispy Spring Rolls) →

Appetizers and Small Plates, Easy to Prepare, Impressive Dishes, Meat Dishes, Recipes, Seafood Dishes

Kanom Jeeb (Steamed Thai Dumplings)

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Pleat Me and Treat Me

Ah, kanom jeeb – you have officially earned platinum status in the dumpling ranks.  You are a mere morsel of goodness, a two-bite treasure, and I thank you for gracing me with your presence.  Jam from the wonderful food blog “Thai Cooking with Jam” explains that your name is derived from the thai words for “pleated snack”, but I posit that you legally change your name to the thai words for “pleated awesomeness”.  Awesomeness indeed.

I know that you are a textural delight with your essential combination of crunchy carrots and water chestnuts carefully blended with tender shrimp and pork.  You are also a luxurious treat with your delicate topper of lump crab.  And yet, you don’t mind dressing yourself down on certain days with a crispy shallot or two.  You are similiar to your Chinese brother, shu mai, and yet your combo of sweet and savory taste worlds away at times. Continue reading Kanom Jeeb (Steamed Thai Dumplings) →

Appetizers and Small Plates, Meat Dishes, Recipes

Jiao Zi (Boiled Pork Dumplings)

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Kitty Yum Yum’s Dumpling Emporium

I admit that I’m a bit of a fussy pants about collecting the best version of a recipe possible, to the point of years of trial and error to get things just right.  I believe in a specific set of credos of the kitchen, and won’t accept any substitutions for particular dishes that my palette is craving a certain way.  Was it Anthony Bourdain that said that people that refuse to peel garlic (by way of pre-chopped jarred garlic) don’t deserve to eat it?  I watch Sandra Lee cook out of seasoning packets and processed piles of ingredients, and it reminds me of why I enjoy spending a little extra time in the kitchen getting things just right.  It’s so worth it when the stars align and the recipe you’re working from just works. Continue reading Jiao Zi (Boiled Pork Dumplings) →