Roast Pork (Butt)

This was a boneless pork butt. 

Pork Roast

Preheat oven to 425* Season roast generously with salt and pepper to give it a great crust. Place in roasting pan with a rack and grease pan and rack heavily. Roast for 1 hour on 425* then lower the temperature to 375* and bake it an additional hour to hour and a half. Slice and serve. It has great crispy, salty edges and tender, moist, meaty inside - yum!

See entry for gravy to serve with rice or mashed potatoes and gravy. 

Leftover Pork (Carnitas) Tacos

Corn tortillas

Pork roast, chunked

Purple onion, finely diced

Cilantro, chopped

Limes

Sear tortillas individually in olive oil until lightly browned and bubbly. Add pork chunks, chopped raw onion, fresh cilantro and top with freshly squeezed lime juice.  

This fresh, authentic, Mexican treat brings me back to my fist days in Fort Worth. I used to get these little bundles of joy at my favorite little taco truck outside of a Carnival Grocery on 8th Avenue.  

King Cake

This is an old one that I forgot to update with the recipe.  However, it's just in time for Mother's Day.  It's a beautiful pastry and great for Sunday brunch (minus the colored sugar).  So, here it is for any adventurous bakers... it's a time consumer FYI.  

King Cake (large platter-$40)

I got this online a while back, but don't know from where

Pastry:

1 cup milk

1/2 stick butter

2-.25 oz pkg active dry yeast (4 ½ tsp)

½ cup sugar (split)

2 eggs

1 ½ tsp salt

½ tsp nutmeg

5 ½ cups all-purpose flour

Filling:

1 cup brown sugar

½ tsp cinnamon

2/3 cup pecans, chopped

½ cup flour

Optional:  ½ cup raisins

½ stick butter, melted

Or:

8 oz block cream cheese, softened

¼ cup sugar

Topping:

1 cup powdered sugar

1 Tbs water

¼ cup each:  purple, green, gold sugar crystals

Optional: traditional plastic baby

 Pastry:  Scald milk, remove from heat and stir in ½ stick butter.  Allow mixture to cool to room temperature.  In large bowl, dissolve yeast in 2/3 cup of warm water with 1 Tbs sugar.  Let stand until creamy (about 10 minutes).  When yeast mixture is bubbly add the cooled milk and butter mixture.  Whisk in the eggs and stir in the remaining sugar, salt and nutmeg.  Beat the flour into the milk/egg mixture 1 cup at a time.  When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, (about 8-10 minutes).  Kneading can be done using the electric mixer on low speed stopping 2 or 3 times to readjust dough.  Lightly grease a large bowl and place the dough in the bowl turning to coat dough completely.  Cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and let rise in warm place until doubled in volume (about 2 hours).  Once risen, punch down and divided dough in half. 

Filling:  Combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, pecans, flour and raisins (optional).  Pour melted butter over dry ingredients and mix until crumbly.  Or, beat cream cheese and sugar until mixed thoroughly.

Formation:  Roll dough halves out into large, long rectangles (about 10”x16”).  Spread the filling evenly down the center of the dough and roll over like a jelly roll beginning with the wide side sealing in the filling.  Bring the ends of each roll together gently mashing to seal the seams to form one large oval shaped rings.  Place each ring on a parchment lined cookie sheet.  With scissors make 1” slits in the top of the dough at 2” intervals.  Let rise in warm spot until doubled in sized (about 45 minutes). 

Baking:  Preheat oven to 375*  Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes. Cool on rack for 30 minutes. 

Optional:  Push the plastic baby into the bottom of the cake. 

Topping:  Mix powdered sugar and water until it mixture forms a paste.  Pour down the center of the bread and let the frosting run down the sides of the bread. Heavily sprinkle purple, green and gold sugars alternating colors every 3”.    

Bacon-wrapped, Jalapeño & Cream Cheese Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

This is a fancy little dish that's not too much trouble.  

Bacon-wrapped, Jalapeno Cream Cheese Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

1 pkg pork tenderloin (2 count)

Salt 

Pepper

Garlic Powder

4 oz cream cheese, room temperature

1 jalapeno pepper, seared, chopped

bacon, thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 425*  Slice jalapeno meat away from the seeds and membrane.  Discard seeds and membrane.  Sear meaty jalapeno strips in a pan with olive oil.   Remove pepper strips from heat and chop once they have cooled.  Season tenderloins with salt, pepper and garlic powder.  Using a very sharp knife make a slit (length-wise) down the center the tenderloins that goes about 3/4 of the way through the meat.  Mix chopped pepper with cream cheese and stuff into the opening.  Wrap bacon around leaving gaps of exposed pork and stuffing (as pictured below).  Place wrapped tenderloins on a baking pan making sure they are not touching so they have plenty of heat circulating around them.  Bake for 20 minutes without opening the oven.  After time is up leave oven sealed shut and let pork rest in hot oven for an additional 20 minutes.  It should be perfect.  This is how I do my regular, unstuffed tenderloins and they are perfectly done every time.  Slice about 1/4" thick.    

Gravy

These drippings make excellent gravy.  Place the baking pan with drippings on the stove top over medium-high heat and add 1/2 cup water.  Take a whisk and start loosening the drippings from the pan.  In a mixing bowl add (in this order) 1 cup cold water, 2 Tbs flour, salt and pepper to taste and 1/2 tsp Kitchen Bouquet (mostly for color - it's okay if you don't have this).  Whisk flour mixture well and add to boiling drippings on the stove top.  Continue cooking over medium-high heat and whisk constantly until gravy has boiled for 1 minute.  Gravy should be thick and ready to serve.

This works with any kind of drippings.  Add more Kitchen Bouquet for beef or lamb to make it darker and less for chicken or turkey to make it lighter.

Cream Cheese & Chili Dip

I wanted something to bring a dinner party down a little so it wasn't so fancy.  I enlisted one of my favs from my sister-in-law... good ole' cream cheese and chili dip.  It's as simple as that:  1 pkg cream cheese, 1 can of no bean chili.  Heat, mix, serve with tortilla chips.  It's not healthy or pretty, but dang it's good.  My husband and I can eat this entire bowl in record time.  

Fried Plantains

This is my third or fourth attempt at making these and they finally came out right.  It was all in finding a ripe plantain.  You want it very soft.  Not firm like a banana.  It's super easy after that.  If at first you don't succeed...try, try, try again.  They are worth it!

Peel the plantain.  Cut it in diagnal slices about 1/4" thick.  Pan fry in olive oil over medium heat until brown on each side.  Optional:  Dust with confection sugar for garnish.  

Open-faced Ham & Swiss English Muffin

Delightful breakfast treat!  

Toasted English Muffin

Mayo

Thinly sliced ham

1/2 slice Swiss cheese

Broiled for a few minutes until bubbly. 

Parmesan Chicken

I keep seeing a Hellmann's mayo commercial for Parmesan chicken and had to finally try it. It was outstanding!

This is directly from the Hellmann's website. I did cut my chicken breast in half width wise and then into smaller cutlets about 2-3" length/width and about 3/4" thick and they were perfectly done at 20 minutes cook time:

I made it with some fresh broccoli crowns (boiled 6 minutes) and a pasta salad. I can't get enough of this salad either with pasta or lettuce. 

Greek Salad

Pasta (shells or spirals preferred), cooked in salted water OR lettuce, chopped

Tomato, chopped

Black olives, sliced

Purple onion, chopped

Cucumber, sliced thin half moons

Celery, thinly chopped

Bell pepper, chopped

Lots of Feta cheese, crumbled

Italian dressing

Toss and let set until ready to serve. If using lettuce let it set in the refrigerator until ready to serve. I like it weepy but cold.