Easy Pork Schnitzel

Easy Pork Schnitzel

My husband’s Dutch and loves a good schnitzel. We often make this popular German dish using veal or chicken, but perhaps our favorite version is to use pork tenderloin. Pork tenderloin isn’t a cut of meat I purchase often, like its beef counterpart, I just find it too low on fat to produce a juicy, dare I say moist, dish.

Pork Schnitzel

The crunchy exterior and ultra-tender meat are a perfect match for a great schnitzel. I typically serve our pork schnitzel with my Lemon Mustard Cream Sauce and lots of fresh lemons.

Ingredients:

  • 1 pork tenderloin cut into 2-inch-thick portions
  • 2 cups breadcrumbs, I like a mix of regular and Panko
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour, seasoned with 1/2 tsp. each salt and pepper
  • 2 large eggs, beaten
  • ½ cup vegetable oil for frying
  • Lemon Mustard Cream Sauce
  • 2 lemons, cut into quarters
Prepped Ingredients
Properly Coated Pork
Pork Frying
Pork Schnitzel with Lemon Mustard Cream Sauce

Directions:

  1. Place a pork medallion between two layers of plastic wrap and pound with a meat mallet to ¼ inch thick.
  2. Place the breadcrumbs on a plate.
  3. Place the flour on a separate plate.
  4. Scramble the eggs in a shallow dish.
  5. Warm the vegetable oil in a large deep skillet (I use my cast iron pan) over medium-high heat for about 2 minutes. You want the oil hotel so the pork gets crispy and not soggy.
  6. Dredge the pork into the flour to coat, then dip into egg mixture, back into the flour, back in the egg then finally in the breadcrumbs. Lightly pat the breadcrumbs on to ensure a good coating.
  7. Place the coated pork into the hot oil and fry 3 to 4 minutes. Flip the pork and cook and additional 3 minutes, or until the pork is browned and crisp. Fry in batches so the pan doesn’t get crowded causing the oil to cool too much.
  8. Serve hot with the Lemon Mustard Cream Sauce lemon wedges.

Makes two generous portions or up to four if you serve the schnitzel with a starch like mashed potatoes, rice or buttered noodles.

Quebec Meat Pies (Pâtés a la Viande or Tourtières)

Quebec Meat Pies (Pâtés a la Viande or Tourtières)

Meat pie, pâté a la viande, tourtière….there are so many names for the popular Quebec dish! The idea is a mixture of cooked ground meats baked between two flaky pastries.

Where I’m from in Quebec, the holidays simply wouldn’t be joyous without a meat pie on our Christmas tables. There are a gazillion versions, typically passed down from generation to generation, and every family claims theirs is the best and THE recipe.

My one criticism of the meat pie is that depending on how fatty the meats are, the pie can be dry. In my family, we use a mixture of pork and beef and it’s still what I prefer. Once in a while, I add small cubes of potatoes and that’s tasty too. This year, I saw someone on one of my Canadian Facebook pages that said her family uses mashed potatoes in their meat pies. What!!?? Then I thought…mmmm….wouldn’t that make the meat mixture creamy and not crumbly/dry? The answer is 100% YES!! These were the best meat pies I’ve ever had and I’ll always make them with mashed potatoes going forward.

My Snack of Leftover Mixture

For this Quebec Tourtière recipe, I make a double batch of my buttery Fail Proof Pie Crust recipe and for the two, double-crusted meat pies. Simply omit the sugar in the crust recipe as this is a savory pie.

Ingredients:

  • 2 large or 3 medium Russet potatoes, cut into chunks
  • 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
  • 1 ½ pounds ground beef (80%/20% fat)
  • 1 ½ pounds ground pork
  • 2 small onions, diced
  • 1 cup brewed medium roast coffee
  • 1 cup beef broth
  • ¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
  • ½ tsp. ground clove
  • 2 tsp. salt
  • ½ tsp. black pepper
  • 4 9” pie crusts
  • 1 egg + 1 Tbsp. water stirred well
Mashed Potatoes and Meat Pot
Meat with the Mashed Potatoes Combined
Eggy Crust for Sealing
Meat Pie Ready for Baking

Directions:

  1. Place the potato pieces in a medium saucepan and cover with water. Over high heat, bring the water to a boil then turn the heat down to medium and simmer for about 20 minutes, until the potatoes are fork tender. Drain very well and return the potatoes to the pan to dry for a few minutes then mash well with a potato masher. Set aside.
  2. In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, warm the oil then add the ground beef and the ground pork and cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until no longer pink. Add the onion and continue cooking for 3-4 minutes until the onion has softened. Add the coffee, broth and all the spices and stir well. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes until some of the liquid has evaporated. Add the mashed potatoes to the meat mixture and still until well-distributed and the potatoes have absorbed the liquid.
  3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  4. Place a pie crust in each of two 9” pie plates. Add enough of the meat mixture to the two pies so that the meat is a bit above the height of the pie plate (you may have some leftover meat which is delish eaten out of a bowl as a side treat). With wet fingers from dipping in water, wet the crust on the lip of each pie to create the ‘glue’ that will adhere to the top crust. Cover with the remaining two crusts and crimp the bottom and top crusts together to ensure they’re sealed. Cut some slits in the top crusts to create a way for extra moisture to escape. Brush the egg mixture over the pies. Place the pies in the oven and bake for 45 minutes, until the pies crusts are golden brown.
  5. Enjoy the pies right away or cool completely and place in zip top bags then in the fridge for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months. To reheat, bring the pies to room them and bake in a 325-degree oven for about 10 minutes.

Makes two 9” meat pies serving 6-8 each.

Pulled Pork Quesadillas

I really enjoy smoking pork shoulders. I like the whole process – adding the rub to the pork, getting my Weber Kettle ready, manning the smoker and obviously, eating the fruits of my labor. This is my go-to pulled pork recipe for making smoked pork shoulder (butt) on a Kettle grill if you don’t have a smoker.

With so much pork and only a two-person household, what do you do with all the meat? When I make a pork shoulder, I freeze some of the cooked meats for easy weeknight dishes. One of these easy dishes is pulled pork quesadillas that I serve with my Zesty Guacamole – it’s fast to make and so tasty.

There are several ready-to-serve pulled pork products you can get at the grocery store that would also work well in this recipe. I like to fold my tortillas in half to make my quesadillas (see picture above), but you could also use one tortilla on the bottom and one on top.

Ingredients:

  • ¼ cup warmed BBQ sauce, home-made or store-bought
  • 1 ½ cups smoked pork shoulder, pulled or chopped
  • 4 6-inch white or yellow corn tortillas (could use flour also)
  • 1 cup shredded white Cheddar cheese (could use Monterrey Jack or Colby)
  • ½ cup sautéed onions (optional but delish)
  • 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
  • Garnishes: guacamole, sour cream, chopped red onion, chopped cilantro, salsa, 1 lime cut in half

Directions:

  1. In a bowl, combine the warm BBQ sauce and the pork.
  2. Place the tortillas on a work surface and add an equal amount of pork, cheese and onion (if using) to half of each tortillas. Fold each tortilla over.
  3. Add a tablespoon of oil to a non-stick pan over medium heat. Add two of the folded quesadillas to the pan and cook for about 3 minutes per side, or until deeply browned. Remove the cooked quesadillas from the pan and add to a plate then cover with foil to keep warm. Repeat with the remaining two quesadillas.
  4. Cut each quesadilla into four pieces and serve with the garnishes and a squeeze of lime.

Makes 2 servings.

Hearty Sausage and Orzo Soup

Hearty Sausage and Orzo Soup

We love soup at our home, and I try to make it most Sundays so we can have a bowl during the week. This past week, we’d bought a few packages of fresh hot Italian sausage to freeze, and before they went into the freezer, I grabbed a few links to put in my soup.

Typically, I’d add kale to this soup, but I had a ton of spinach, so I added that instead. Whatever you have on-hand would be perfect.

Ingredients:

  • ¼ cup vegetable oil
  • 4 hot Italian sausage links (could use mild also), taken out of the casings and broken up into bite size pieces
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 4 celery ribs, diced
  • 3 carrots, diced
  • 8-ounce package of fresh, chopped mushrooms
  • 1 tsp. each, salt, pepper, dry thyme
  • 48 ounces of chicken broth
  • 14-ounce can of pureed tomatoes
  • 5 ounces baby spinach
  • ½ cup dry orzo

Direction:

  1. Heat oil for 30 seconds over medium-high heat in a large, heavy saucepan. 
  2. Add the sausage and break up the pieces as the sausage cooks, about 5 minutes.
  3. Add the onion, celery and carrots to the pot, turn down the heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes, or until vegetables begin to soften, stirring frequently.
  4. Add the mushrooms and the seasonings and cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  5. Add the broth and chopped tomatoes, lower the heat to medium-low, cover the pot partially and simmer for 45 minutes.
  6. Add the spinach and the orzo to the soup and cook for 10 minutes.

Makes 6 servings.

Creamy Prosciutto and Tomato Pasta

Creamy Prosciutto and Tomato Pasta

This creamy prosciutto and tomato pasta was super easy to make and delicious. It was in my Blue Apron box this week and I keep thinking about it. My favorite part was the topping of the pasta with breadcrumbs toasted in brown butter – what’s not to like!? My second favorite part was the addition of rich pieces salty/porky prosciutto to the top of the warm pasta just before serving. This recipe is a winner on any weeknight as it’s fats to make but special enough to prepare on a weekend evening.

Ingredients:

  • 6 oz penne pasta
  • 2 Tbsp. butter
  • ¼ cup Panko breadcrumbs
  • 1 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 4 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 Tbsp. capers
  • ¼ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
  • 2 Tbsp. Mascarpone cheese
  • 3 oz Prosciutto, torn in bite-size pieces

Directions:

  1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook pasta according to package directions. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta cooking water for step 4 then drain the pasta and reserve for later us.
  2. In a medium pan, heat the butter on medium-high until melted then cook, stirring constantly, 1 to 2 minutes or until the foam subsides and the butter is nutty and toasted in aroma. Add the breadcrumbs and season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly, 1 to 2 minutes, or until lightly browned. Transfer to a bowl. Rinse and wipe out the pan.
  3. In the pan used to make the breadcrumbs, heat the olive oil on medium-high until hot. Add the sliced mushrooms in an even layer. Cook, without stirring, 3 to 4 minutes, or until browned. Add the chopped garlic, capers and the red pepper flakes. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, 30 seconds to 1 minute, or until combined. Add the tomato paste. Cook, stirring constantly, 30 seconds to 1 minute, or until thoroughly combined. Add 1/2 cup of water (carefully, as the liquid may splatter). Cook, stirring frequently, 2 to 3 minutes, or until the sauce is slightly thickened. Turn off the heat.
  4. To the pan of sauce, add the cooked pasta and half the reserved pasta cooking water. Cook on medium-high, stirring constantly, 1 to 2 minutes, or until the pasta is coated (if necessary, gradually add the remaining cooking water to ensure the pasta is thoroughly coated). Turn off the heat. Stir in the mascarpone until combined. Serve the finished pasta topped with the prosciutto and brown butter breadcrumbs.

Serves two.

Penne with Hot Italian Sausage and Arugula

Here’s another entry my growing list of “there’s nothing to eat in this house’ recipes. This is a one pot wonder (unless you want to boil the pasta in a separate pot while you make the rest of the recipe) – pasta recipe with Italian sausage and arugula.

The hot Italian sausage was sitting in my freezer so I thawed it in the morning and made this easy pasta dish for dinner, all in 20 minutes.

Don’t have penne pasta on hand? No worries, use any dry pasta you have in your pantry.

Ingredients:

  • ½ pound dry penne pasta (I LOVE Delverde pasta)
  • 1 Tbsp. salt (for pasta water)
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • ½ tsp. each salt and black pepper
  • 4 links hot Italian sausage (could use mild if you don’t like hot), removed from the casings
  • 5-ounce bag of baby arugula
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • ½ cup dry white wine
  • 1 cup chicken broth
  • 1 Tbsp. softened butter combined with 1 Tbsp. flour to make a paste (called beurre manié)
  • ¼ cup freshly-shaved (or grated) Parmesan cheese

Directions:

  1. In a large saucepan over high heat, bring water to a boil. Add the salt and pasta and cook one minute less than recommended on the pasta packaging. Drain and set aside.
  2. In the same pan, warm the oil over medium heat for 30 seconds. Add the salt and pepper and cook for 15 seconds. Add the sausage and break down with a wooden spoon into bit-size chunks. Cook for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  3. Add the arugula and cook until wilted, about 1 minute.
  4. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
  5. Add the wine and broth and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  6. Add the beurre manié and stir into the sauce until slightly thickened, about 1 minute.
  7. Add the cooked pasta to the sauce and gently stir to coat. Continue cooking for 1 minute.
  8. Serve the pasta with the Parmesan.

Makes 2 servings.

Romanian Mici (Mititei)

Romanian Mici (Mititei)

Mici also known as Mititei (Romanian for “small ones”) is a Romanian dish of mini sausage-shaped grilled ground meat made from a mixture of beef, pork and sometimes lamb blended with various spices, including smoked paprika.

This recipe is from my friends Jeff and Iulia Orel. Iulia hails from Romania and her American husband, Jeff who’s a chef, has made it his mission to recreate and perfect the dish they’ve enjoyed while visiting Romania.

Jeff and Iulia Orel (Photo by Jeff & Iulia Orel)

Ingredients:

  • 1 ½ pounds ground beef
  • 1 ½ pounds ground pork butt
  • 2 tsp. sea salt
  • 2 tsp. white pepper
  • 2/3 tsp. smoked paprika
  • ¼ tsp. coriander
  • ½ tsp. cumin
  • ½ tsp. cimbru (use savory if cimbru is unavailable)
  • 3 tsp. garlic powder or 4 cloves minced into a paste
  • 100 ml sparkling water ( ½ cup)
  • 2 tsp. baking soda 

Directions:

  1. In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except for the water and the baking soda. Mix thoroughly. Cover tightly, or vacuum seal and refrigerate for 24 hours to allow the mici to develop their distinct flavor.
  2. When you are ready to make the mici, build a fire and let it burn down to coals, no flames. Alternatively, preheat your grill to 500F.
  3. While the wood is burning down to hot coals, I make the mici.
  4. In a mixing bowl, add the mici mixture, the sparkling water and the baking soda and mix well with your hands until the mixture feels “sticky”. Jeff recommends using your hands, grabbing large handfuls and crushing them in your hands like you would to crush tomatoes.
  5. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, set aside.
  6. Get a bowl of cold water to wet your hands periodically if the meat becomes too sticky.
  7. Using a scale, weigh out the meat into 1 ¾ ounce portions (27 portions if you don’t have a scale) and roll them tightly into balls, like you would do with meatballs.
  8. Roll out each mici into cylinder shapes like mini sausages (refer to the above photo of raw mici as reference).
  9. After the coals are hot, lower the grate as low as possible. Having a spray bottle with water is a good idea in case of flares ups when grilling – flames would negatively impact the flavor and texture of the mici.
  10. Place the mici on the grill, the key is to not mess with these, let them form a light crust before you turn them. Flip them once during cooking and let them be. Grill until the internal temperature reaches 140-145F (we know it’s recommended for the temperature to reach 160F, but at that temp, the mici will be less juicy. Up to you!), 8-15 minutes. The mici should have an elastic texture when you squeeze them and they’re done.
Grilled Mici (Photo by Jeff & Iulia Orel)

Serve immediately!

Note: The mici are best if served with Hrean, a horseradish condiment but yellow mustard would also work. To make your own Hrean, microplane a 3″ piece of fresh horseradish into 1 ½ Tbsp. sour cream.

Yields: 27 mici, 1 ¾ ounce each

Cheers,

Veronique

The Shannon Rose’s Guinness BBQ Pulled Pork

The Shannon Rose’s Guinness BBQ Pulled Pork

Don’t have a smoker but love BBQ pulled pork? The Shannon Rose Irish Pub (http://theshannonrose.com) has a very tasty alternative that requires just an oven and some rich Guinness stout.

The Shannon Rose’s Guinness BBQ Pulled Pork, with slow-roasted pork simmered in Guinness BBQ sauce and topped with pepper jack cheese on a toasted brioche roll, is a customer favorite. Adding Guinness to the barbecue sauce creates a sweet and sharp balance, using the stout’s smoothness to keep it from being overpowering.

The Shannon Rose’s Guinness BBQ Pulled Pork

BBQ Sauce Ingredients:

  • 1 oz shallots
  • 1 cup Guinness
  • 1 qt BBQ sauce
  • ½ cup honey

Dry Rub Ingredients:

  • 3 tbsp brown sugar
  • 3 tbsp paprika
  • 3 tbsp salt
  • 1 tbsp black pepper
  • 1 tbsp white pepper
  • 2 tbsp cumin
  • 1 tbsp onion powder
  • 1 tbsp garlic powder
  • 1 tbsp coriander
  • 1 tbsp Cajun spice

Other Ingredients:

  • 8lb Pork Butt
  • 1.5-gal water
  • ¼ cup liquid smoke
  • ¼ cup apple cider vinegar

BBQ Sauce Directions:

  1. Mince shallots and sauté over medium heat in vegetable oil until softened, about 2 minutes.
  2. Add Guinness and allow to reduce.
  3. Whisk in BBQ sauce and honey. Set aside.

Dry Rub Directions:

  1. Combine all the dry rub ingredients together.

Pulled Pork Directions:

  • Rub the pork butts with 1 cup of the dry rub, making sure all surfaces are covered.
  • In a deep pan, combine water, liquid smoke & vinegar and place in pork butts.
  • Cover with aluminum foil and cook at 300 degrees for 6 hours. Finished pork should be dark brown and pull apart with ease.
  • Remove from the liquid and let cool.
  • Once cooled, pull pork into bite-sized pieces.
  • Heat and mix the pulled pork with the Guinness BBQ sauce.
  • Assemble your sandwich by placing Pepper Jack cheese on the bun with a heaping scoop of pulled pork. Top with frizzled onions, coleslaw or your favorite condiment.

About The Shannon Rose

The Shannon Rose Irish Pub provides a chef-driven menu using fresh, high-quality ingredients, blending Irish pub classics and new tavern favorites. For its thirsty guests, The Shannon Rose Irish Pub features more than 30 beers on tap – including Guinness, Harp and Smithwick’s – and a wide selection of premium scotch malts and Irish whiskeys.

Veronique

Quick Orecchiette in Tomato Sauce with Sausage

Quick Orecchiette in Tomato Sauce with Sausage

In my expanding list of “there’s nothing to eat in this house’ recipes, this one is a winner. This is a one pot wonder where I cooked the sausage with the pasta to save time and it worked great.

Don’t have Orecchiette on hand? Don’t fret – use any dry pasta you have in your pantry.

Ingredients:

  • ½ pound dry Orecchiette pasta
  • 1 Tbsp. salt (for pasta water)
  • 2 links hot Italian sausage (could use mild if you don’t like hot)
  • ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • ½ tsp. each salt and black pepper
  • 2 cups cherry tomatoes, pureed in food processor (some small chunks are perfect)
  • 10 fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
  • ½ cup cubed, fresh Mozzarella
  • ¼ cup freshly-grated or shaved Parmesan cheese

Directions:

  1. In a large saucepan over high heat, bring water to a boil. Add the Orecchiette and the sausage links to the water and cook one minute less than recommended on the pasta packaging. Drain the water and roughly chop the sausages in bite-size pieces.
  2. In the same pot, warm the oil over medium heat for 30 seconds. Add the salt and pepper and cook for 15 seconds. Add the cooked sausage and the pureed tomatoes and cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  3. Add the cooked pasta and the basil to the sauce and gently stir to coat. Continue cooking for one minute.
  4. Add the Mozzarella to the pasta and stir to combine.  Cook an additional minute.
  5. Sprinkle the Parmesan over the pasta.

Makes 2 servings.

Spicy Italian Sausage Pasta

Spicy Italian Sausage Pasta

Spicy Italian Sausage Pasta

A couple weeks ago, I visited the greatest little Italian deli and market in Hoboken, NJ called M & P Biancamano (check them out on Facebook). My girlfriend wanted to stop in as Biancamano is her last name and had wanted to visit for years but just hadn’t. The store is fantastic and my senses were on overload as soon as we walked in the door.  

The refrigerated case contained the makings of a feast. What caught my eye immediately was the fresh pasta, straight out of Italy, from a town near where the store’s owner’s family immigrated from. I took home the Fusilli Calabresi from I Sapori Del Vallo and the milkiest, softest, most melt-in-your-mouth fresh Mozzarella I’ve had. The cheese is made in house, every day using a very traditional method – it’s worth a visit to the store just for a taste of it.

M & P Biancamano

When I got home, I debated how to use the fabulous pasta and thought the yellow tomato sauce with lots of fresh basil I’d made with my own crop of tomatoes would be a suitable pairing. I also incorporated some heat with spicy Italian sausage meat that I sautéed until it had crispy bits in my cast iron pan – YUM! Any old marinara sauce could do, but fresh is best. I included my easy marinara recipe below which uses Roma tomatoes, but this recipe used yellow instead of red.

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound fresh pasta, ideally tubular like a fusilli or penne
  • 3 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 1 pound spicy Italian sausage, casings removed and torn into bite-size pieces
  • 1 ½ cups Basil Packed Marinara Sauce (or store-bought)
  • ½ tsp. each salt, pepper (can use red pepper flakes instead of pepper if you’d like more heat)
  • ½ cup freshly-grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

  1. Fresh Pasta

    Cook pasta 1 minute less than recommended on the packaging (pasta will continue to cook in the sauce).

  2. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, warm the oil. Add the sausage pieces and cook until no longer pink, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. If the pan runs dry, add a drizzle of olive oil.
  3. Add the marinara sauce to the sausage and cook for 3 minutes, until the sauce has evaporated a bit and is thicker, stirring a few times.
  4. Add the pasta and cook for 2 minutes, tossing so the mixture doesn’t stick to the bottom of the skillet.
  5. Add the salt and pepper, stir to incorporate and turn off the heat.
  6. Serve with a grating of Parmesan. I served this dish right in the pan, family style.

Serves 4.