Rack of Pork with Celery Root Puree & Braised Brocolli Raab

I'm actually pretty amazed that I pulled this one off tonight, since we are all pretty sick around here. I brought the pork out of the fridge about 45 minutes before I seared it on the stove to temper it.

I wanted it to taste really fresh so I made a rub for it in my food processor.

I used the peel from half of a lemon and orange and reserved the juice from the orange to add to the mixture. I added the peel along with half of the onion, some walnuts, sage, thyme, rosemary and garlic to the food processor. I squeezed the orange in and started blending. I then added some olive oil and kept blending, finally adding coarse mustard and a little horseradish.

While I was blending the rub, I seared off the pork rack.

I then peeled the organic celery roots, which have a really unique, almost sweet smell.

After searing the pork, I added the rub and put it in a roasting pan on a rack at 400 for an hour and 15 minutes. I added an orange, garlic and onion to water under the rack in the roasting pan so the juices wouldn't burn and the aroma would be nice.

I let the roast sit for 15 minutes while I boiled the celery root and blended it in the food processor. The meat turned out ridiculously tender and had great flavor. I braised the raab in some water with pepper flakes, wanting to keep it fresh and not flavored with any stock. The celery root puree was really fresh tasting, and the texture went well with the pork, which was very tender. The rub was a nice addition, especially when you would get some of the rind of the citrus on the bites.

The pork was just a little past medium and extremely tender and juicy.

Pork Chop (from the Butcher and Larder)

So I was very excited to go to a new butcher shop in my neighborhood called the Butcher and Larder, a name I love. When I got there the pickings were pretty slim and it seemed like they were waiting on a truck to arrive. Luckily, the two things that I was looking for were in stock. He hand cut two rib chops for me that I thought looked really good (they were) and he also had fresh pork lard that I had wanted to make some flour tortillas, so the trip was a success.

Although the fat looked pretty cool, I cooked them on medium which didn't allow it to render down at all and it ended up just getting cut off. I cooked them in my cast iron and added the chop to a bed of rapini that I sauteed with hot pepper flakes and reduced with balsamic.

BLT's and Borsht

I thought that soup and salad sounded good this weekend so I decided to go outside of the traditional comfort zone and create a nice soup.

Traditional borsht has a lot more ingredients than I wanted in my soup, so I just decided to keep the flavors simple. I roasted red beets at 350 for a while and added some whole carrots and a part of an onion to the pan after about 15 minutes of roasting. After they were done roasting I blended them up individually. For the beets, I blended them with a little beef stock and a touch of cream to ensure they were smooth. I wanted the carrots to be a different texture so I didn't blend them as long but still added a touch of stock and cream to them. As you can see in the picture they are a rougher chop.

The colors were even brighter in person and the soup was warm and delicious. Because of the amount of roasting, the sugars came out in the beets and it didn't taste overwhelmingly earthy.

For the BLT, I just kept it traditional, except for replacing the lettuce with Arugula.

NYD > NYE

I think we enjoy NYD more than NYE around here. In fact, we were all in bed before 11 on NYE, which is badass.

We had some close friends in town from LA, so we decided to have a feast. I made homemade Lobster Mac & Cheese with Gruyere and Cheddar. It was ridiculous. So good, in fact, that I forgot to snap photos. I was able to make a double batch and freeze one, so potential pics to come in the future. I hand picked the lobster from claws the night before and do have a pic of some of those.

Because my friend from LA is a rib addict I made 2.5 slabs. I divided them into two styles. The first, was asian influenced and marinated with ginger, jalapeno, mae ploy, sweet chili sauce, siracha and a touch of OJ. The second batch was honey bbq and I marinated them with a rub, fresh sliced apple, orange and a touch of olive oil. They turned out really well for being baked in the oven at 325 for almost 2 hours.

The scallions were a nice touch on the Asian ribs. I added mirin and honey to the sauce which tasted sweet up front but had a nice residual heat .

Porktober Continues: Rib Stickin'

While still working our way through the pork loin I bought yesterday, I thought that we would take a turn for the rib stickin', midwestern comfort food. I sliced some thin cutlets and soaked them in milk. Then I breaded them in flour and panko and fried them up in the cast iron skillet. From there, I added them on top of mashed potatoes and peas. Oh, and I made a little milk gravy too.

It really hit the spot with the wind blowing at 50 mph today, not to mention it getting dark around 4:30.

Dinner: Pork Loin over Spinach with Pancetta and Feta

Occasionally I buy a large pork loin and make pork dishes all week from it. Since it is officially the end of Porktober, I thought it was only appropriate to pay homage. The key to cooking pork loin is cooking it slow. If you cook it on too hot of heat, the juices all run out and you end up with a dry piece of meat. I cooked this on medium low in my cast iron skillet and then finished it in the oven.

After cooking the pork, I made a simple mustard sauce with the fond on the bottom of the pan. I added some whole milk, grainy dijon mustard and regular dijon mustard. I then sprinkled on pistachio nuts, which added nice flavor and texture to the dish. I sliced the pork and put it on top of sauteed spinach, which I had added to cubed pancetta. I finished the spinach with feta, which added a necessary tang.