Hot Slow Roasted Pork, Mushroom and Mozarella Sandwiches

I have made this recipe three or four times now. Once was when my folks were visiting and I forgot to make the gravy. I wouldn't recommend not making the gravy, it leaves the sandwich kinda dry. I found this recipe on one of my favorite cooking websites and switched it up a bit to fit my tastes. Here is the original recipe if you want to try it out. And here is the way I like to make it:

Hot Slow Roasted Pork, Mushrooms and Mozarella

Pork
4 garlic cloves chopped
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 coarse kosher salt
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup chopped fresh oregano
1/4 cup chopped fresh rosemary
3-4 leaves of chopped fresh sage
Black pepper to taste
2 pork loins trimmed of fat

1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Add the garlic, olive oil, herbs and salt together in a small bowl. Using a sharp knife make 1-inch long, 2-inch deep slits all the way down each pork loin. Stuff the herb mixture into the slits and sprinkle the outside of the pork with salt and pepper. Place the pork in a roasting pan and place in oven preheated to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Roast until the thickest part registers 170 degrees Fahrenheit. This usually takes about an hour and a half. Let the pork rest for 30 minutes. Slice the pork and cover with foil.

Gravy
Spoon off the fat from juices and measure out 2 cups worth. If needed add water to juice to measure 2 cups. Stir 2 tablespoons of juices and cornstarch in small saucepan until cornstarch dissolves. Whisk in remaining juice and vinegar. Whisk over medium heat until sauce boils and thickens. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Mushrooms
One container of fresh mushrooms sliced (regular mushrooms or mini portabello mushrooms are both good)
1-2 tablespoons of butter
salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat and add sliced mushrooms. Saute until mushrooms are cooked to your taste and add salt and pepper to taste.

Any type of bread (I like to buy the big loaves of french bread in the bakery section of our grocery store)
1 1/2 pounds shredded mozzarella


Once the meat, gravy and mushrooms are ready pile it all on your favorite type of bread and enjoy.

I love this sandwich, especially with fresh herbs. It is so good!

Thai Beef with Chilies and Coconut Rice

We had two exceptional, really easy meals this week. My favorite was this recipe that I saw on a TV few month's back: Thai Beef with Chilies and Coconut Rice. I have had it in the back of my mind ever since. It took me a while to find fish sauce (3 out of 4 local grocery stores didn't carry it). I kept looking though, I knew I had seen it before.

Once I had the fish sauce it was extremely easy to make. So easy that in the process of cooking it, I thought this just isn't going to be good. It really is as simple as browning ground beef. But the flavor is so much more interesting then just ground beef. Both Frank and Cait declared that they could eat this every week.



We made the coconut rice as suggested, it was good but not quite what I expected. I wanted it to have a little coconut flavor to it. But mostly it just tasted like rice with a really nice sticky texture. While I liked the texture it just isn't worth all of the extra fat that the coconut milk added. Plain rice for us next time.

Warning: It is not a good idea to slurp chili peppers like spaghetti (as if you couldn't figure that out on your own).
After dinner, Cait was complaining that she burned her lip. I really didn't think the dish was very spicy, the peppers were a little hot but I had taken out the seeds and ribs so they were pretty mild in the end. After asking her exactly how she managed to burn her lip, she explained that she had been slurping the red pepper slices like spaghetti. Leave it to the kid to find a way to make dinner dangerous.

Filipino Style Chicken Adobo

Okay, so my wonderful Filipino neighbor had me over last summer for a little neighborhood get together. I took over some pico da gallo and chips and she had made some chicken adobo, along with some other dishes. Well, let me tell you that the chicken adobo made a huge impression on me. It was just mouthwatering delicious. The meat just fell right off the bone and the taste of it was just simply wonderful.

So, I tell her that it is just wonderful and she replies, "Oh, Rachel, it's nothing, just chicken, soy sauce, vinegar, onions, garlic and water." Still, I can't believe how easy it is to make and yet it tastes so good. After the dinner I went home and haven't really thought about it until today. Today with the rain and cool weather all I could think about was my neighbors chicken adobo. So, I start researching how it is made and she was right, it's just chicken, soy sauce, vinegar, water, onions, garlic and in some recipes ginger.

I headed to the store and bought some chicken thighs and came home and just started to throw the ingredients together and this is the recipe that I came up with.


Filipino Style Chicken Adobo
cooking time about an hour
Serves 4

1 onion diced (any color, I used red because that is what I had on hand)
1 head of garlic diced
2-3 teaspoons of fresh chopped ginger (optional)
4 tablespoons of oil
1 pound chicken thighs (I bought the deboned, skinless ones, but my neighbor used the ones with bones and skin in hers.)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup vinegar (I used 1 cup of vinegar and it was a little too tangy for my tastes, so next time I will just use a 1/2 cup)
2-3 cups chicken stock
2 teaspoons paprika or smoked paprika
4 bay leaves
2 tablespoons of cornstarch
salt and pepper to taste

• Saute the onions, garlic and ginger in wok or a large pan. Once it is all sauteed, probably about 2 minutes add the chicken thighs and brown both sides.
• Once the chicken is browned add the rest of the ingredients except for the corn starch and bring to a boil and turn the stove down medium-low, to let the mixture simmer. Simmer for at least 30 minutes until chicken is nice and tender. My neighbor says that this is a dish that you could just let simmer for hours if you wanted to. I just let mine go for 30 minutes because the family was starving.
  
• After the 30 minutes is up take the chicken out of the pot and place in a pan of hot oil and braise for a few minutes on each side. Then place the meat back into the pan with the sauce and add the cornstarch to the mixture so that the sauce will thicken just a little bit. Once the sauce is thickened the chicken is ready to be served over a bed of rice.

So, there ya have it. The only thing that I will change the next time that I make this, is that I will use 2 pounds of chicken thighs. One pound was just the right amount for our family, but I would like to have enough for leftovers next time. That way we can have the leftovers for lunch the next day or something.

Racholee's Spaghetti Carbonara

Wench #2 here. So, as I was making dinner tonight, I thought this would be a good recipe to post on the blog. It is a recipe that I have adapted from good ole Martha Stewart's Great Food Fast cook book. I've made it more than a few times over the past two years and the whole famdamily loves it. Which really means something when you have the pickiest four year old - soon to be five year old son.

If that hasn't sold ya, it only takes about thirty minutes to make.
Racholee's Spaghetti Carbonara
Serves 4-6

1 package of bacon
Salt and pepper to taste (I like to use shallot pepper also)
1 pound of pasta (I used mini farfalle this time)
2 large eggs
1/4 cup of milk
1 cup or more of freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Put a large pot of water on the stove to boil, add some oil and salt (for the pasta). Begin cooking the bacon on a skillet until the bacon is nice and crisp. I like to get it really crisp because it tends to soften a little when added to the pasta.

My kitchen helpers frying up some bacon.

2. Once the water is boiling add the pasta and cook until al dente.
3. Meanwhile in a large bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper and shallot pepper. Set aside until pasta is al dente.
4. Drain the pasta. Return the pasta to the pan. Working quickly, add the egg mixture to the pasta. Add the bacon to the mixture and toss all to combine. Usually the heat from the pasta will cook the eggs. Although I have noticed that sometimes it is still a little runny after tossing it. When this happens I just throw the pot back on the stove on medium and let it cook for a few minutes.

I also like to throw in a few mushrooms with this meal sometimes.

Well, there ya have it, a really easy meal that everyone will love. As long as you're not a vegetarian.

Picky 4 year old boy approved!

Spicy Peanut Chicken

This is going to be a shocker to Wench #2 & #3. They made me promise to post something; I don’t think they believed I actually would. Up until now I’ve managed to avoid most social networking stuff. So they are going to be amazed that not only am I posting, but I am the first of the Wenches to post a recipe. Ha!

Living in rural middle America has it's perks. Great take-out is not one of them. We have tried the only take-out in town and was very disappointed. We almost never get take-out, since it doesn't seem worth it to drive 20 minutes to another town to get it and then drive 20 minutes to get home.

Tonight we had a great meal that was very easy to prepare. It has all of the great flavors of takeout and it can be prepared quicker then it would take us to go get it elsewhere. It was inspired by this recipe I saw prepared on TV. I made a few adjustments to accommodate what I had in the house and made it my own. Cait said it was as good as Global Noodle, which in our little family is pretty high praise. It also means that this sauce would also be great tossed with pasta and shrimp. Tonight we served it alongside fried rice.


(not a great picture, but not bad considering it was taken with my phone)

Spicy Peanut Chicken
Serves 4-6

Sauce:
¼ cup creamy peanut butter
¼ cup soy sauce
½ cup chicken stock
1 teaspoon Sriracha Hot Chili sauce (or to taste)
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
Stir-fry:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 ½ pounds boneless chicken, diced into 1-inch cubes
1 red bell pepper, diced into ½-inch pieces
3 carrots, julienned
1 teaspoon Sate seasoning, or your favorite curry powder (optional)
Salt and pepper
1 inch ginger, grated
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 can sliced water chestnuts, drained
1 bunch scallions, sliced into 1-inch pieces
½ cup peanuts

Stir together sauce ingredients and set to the side. Don’t worry about mixing thoroughly it will all come together when the heat is applied.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet. Season chicken with Sate seasoning, salt and pepper. Add chicken to hot oil and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes. Add bell peppers and carrots and stir-fry for 2 more minutes. Remove chicken and vegetables from pan.

Add 1 tablespoon oil to pan. Stir-fry garlic and ginger in pan for 15 seconds, and then add sauce ingredients to pan. Stir sauce to combine ingredients. Peanut butter will melt and thicken sauce. Add chestnuts and scallions to sauce and heat through for 1 minute. Add back chicken, peppers and carrots to pan. Add scallions and toss to coat in sauce. Serve over hot rice.