Monthly Archives: December 2017

Delicious Dishes

Making meat eaters happy – Shredded Pork

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Pork becomes the star:

So we cooked a lot of chicken dishes. I mean, A LOT. And folks loved them. But we had a few customers (mostly men and wives looking to make their man happy) ask for more beef and pork dishes. We didn’t blame them, eating chicken every night does not a well-rounded diet make, although it can make a well-rounded person. (laughter)
When we catered, we made a pork loin that was super delicious and I will get to posting that in a week or two. We often had the “ugly end” of a pork loin that we needed to use and that had lots of good meat on it, but just wasn’t picture worthy, ya know? All that fattiness that makes for less than pretty chops or loin makes for super tasty meat, though. So we slow cooked it to tenderize it in its own fatty juices, along with a beer and a coke and a healthy dose of spicing. You can use these same spices with a pork butt in the crockpot. Easy and delicious.
This is great as a base for barbecue pork sandwiches with baked beans and potato salad. Or maybe with a brown onion gravy over mashed potatoes, green beans, and hot rolls. Or spiced up with taco seasoning and salsa for nachos with Mexican rice and black beans. I could go on and on, but I’ll just provide the basic recipe and let you run with it.

Pulled (Shredded) Pork
Pork Loin (5-6 lb. is the usual size found in your grocery store) Use the whole thing or cut pork chops out of the pretty end and freeze those for later. Put the rest in the crockpot.
12 oz. beer (pale ale, preferably)
8 oz. Coca Cola (not Dr. Pepper, not Pepsi, not RC Cola – Coca-Cola)
1 Tbs. salt
1/2 Tbs. black pepper
1 Tbs. Rib Rub (or your favorite pork seasoning)
2 cups water (or to cover)

(You can also add a bottle of barbecue sauce if you already know that’s how you’re gonna use it. Or a jar of mild Salsa Verde for nachos or tacos. If you do, reduce your water a little.)

Turn crockpot on low.
Place loin inside.
Pour coke and beer over it.
(And barbecue or salsa if you want)
Add seasonings.
Add water.
Cover and cook for 6-8 hours on low (8-10 for a whole loin)

Shred and eat!

Get Saucy

Top it off! – Enchilada Sauce

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Enchiladas need love too:

Great dishes start with great ingredients. And great sauces make great dishes even greater! We made lots of delicious gravies and sauces but the one we made the most was enchilada sauce.
Our customers loved our salsa. And it followed naturally that they wanted enchiladas to go along with their salsa and chips. So we had a few favorites in that category: creamy corn and spinach enchiladas for the vegetarians, add chicken to that mix for the meat eaters, beef and bean enchiladas, and Caribbean chicken enchiladas. This last recipe was formulated by an employee (and foodie genius) of the previous owner. She had worked for Southern Living test kitchens at one point and knew her stuff. But that’s another recipe for another post. This is all about the sauce. The original enchilada sauce we put on these was super easy and delicious and simple! One can cream of mushroom soup to one can enchilada sauce. (Whatever brands of each that you like). Whisk well so it’s smooth and well incorporated. We made giant bowls of this stuff for use on enchilada day.
Over time, the red sauce changed into a homemade concoction of delicious simplicity born from watching a couple episodes of different cooks on the FoodNetwork and then adding my own touch. This can be used just as it is or mixed with cream of mushroom soup to make it creamier (and go further).

Red Enchilada Sauce

1 Tbs olive oil
2-3 peppers (I use jalapeño, cayenne, Thai hot chile)
1/2 cup white or yellow onion, rough chopped (I prefer sweet onions)
3 cloves garlic, bashed or chopped
2 (14.5 oz.) cans fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 Tbs cumin
Salt and pepper to taste

In large pan, put olive oil, peppers, and onions.
Sauté for 3-4 min.
Add garlic.
Cook 3-5 minutes more, stirring constantly.
Add tomatoes, salt, pepper, and cumin.
Cover with lid and simmer on low for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Use immersion blender, or food processor or regular blender to blend smooth.
Ready to eat!

Very Appetizing

Salsa Time – The Food, not The Dance

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A wish for dips led to this:

Our wonderful customers challenged us to offer more sides and snack items.
Challenge accepted.
In an attempt to have something – anything to easily fill at least one of our constantly emptying shelves (yes, actually a good problem), we turned to salads and dips. Things relatively easy to make and package.
One of the absolute all-time favorites was our homemade salsa. A great topper for tacos, a great chip dip, a great side with enchiladas  a great drink. Just kidding, I don’t think anybody was guzzling it. It just disappeared off the shelf so fast, we thought that.

Red Salsa

1 (10.5 oz.) can Rotel
1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes (I prefer fire roasted)
1 (14.5 oz.) can “Mexican style” diced tomatoes (Now the can just says with green peppers, celery and onion)
1/4 cup dried chopped onion (you could use fresh if you love onions)
1/3 bunch cilantro, bottom half of stems removed (or 2 Tbs dried cilantro flakes)
1 Tbs chopped garlic (refrigerated kind or fresh, not dried)
4 oz. can chopped green chilis
1 tsp. Cumin
1/2 tsp. Black pepper
1 tsp. Salt

Optional: Add 1 jalapeño, lightly sauted and chopped

Place all ingredients in food processor and process to desired smoothness.
Let sit for about 30 minutes to allow flavors to become friends.
Refrigerate leftovers, if there are any.

For Catering: Double or triple this easily and offer a variety of chips for dipping.

Delicious Dishes, Vegetarian

Vegetarians Must East Too – Spinach and Black Bean Lasagna

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How a vegetarian got her wish:

As our customer base grew, so did our menu. We made chicken dishes in every way possible, mouth-watering roasts with potatoes and carrots, slow-cooked prime rib, oven roasted turkey, brown sugar ham, and a plethora of ground beef dishes. This is when a customer brought it to our attention that vegetarians like to eat too. She bought a lot of our meaty meals for her husband, a big fan of all things meat.
I told her jokingly, “We have all kinds of salads and vegetable sides. Grab a head of lettuce out there.”
She had a sense of humor and responded, “Just because I don’t eat meat doesn’t mean I wanna live on lettuce every day.”
Point taken.
She added, “There are a lot of us ‘crazy’ (she used air quotes) vegetarians who want an actual main dish to eat. Can’t you cater to us. You are a ‘catering company’ (she used air quotes again) after all.”
Funny girl. And another point well made.
So JoAnn dug through her own recipes and came up with this little gem. It’s so good, our vegetarian requester’s husband even loved it. And he didn’t seem to mind that it was actually pretty good for him too. … or maybe she never told him.

Spinach and Black Bean Lasagna

Wait, stay with me. Don’t let the name turn you off! I know, I know … it sounds slightly too healthy? yuck? (insert your adjective here.) But take it from me, an admitted picky eater who used to hate to try new things, it’s delicious.

Get a large pot of water and set on high heat to boil the water.

Salt that water! (A couple teaspoons should do it.)

Once boiling, add pasta.

Boil for eight minutes and remove to towel to drain when done.

Drain spinach, but also …

place in towel and squeeze. Take your aggression out on it. Really get in there. Get all the water out. We don’t want soupy spinach.

See? Nice and dry. And clumpy, but don’t worry. It’ll break up in the stirring process.

Mix ricotta, spinach, egg, and cilantro

See? Spinach all mixed in and well hidden behind delicious cheesy flavors.

Now, drain your black beans in a colander ….

and rinse them too.

Pour into food processor and process until relatively smooth. Then …

add pasta sauce and process a bit smoother.

Add cumin and mix.

Get ready to layer. Layering is in, after all.

Scoop in some black bean mixture and smooth,

Layer on noodles and ricotta mixture,

And smooth. Add cheese and keep layering.

Cover this with foil and place in 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes. Uncover and bake 5-10 minutes more (just to melt that cheesy goodness on top).

Eat. Like I had to tell you the final step.

Spinach and Black Bean Lasagna

Ingredients:
29 oz. black beans, drained, rinsed and mashed
26 oz. pasta sauce
1/2 tsp. cumin
15 oz. container ricotta cheese
10-12 oz. (whatever size bag you get) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
9 lasagna noodles
2 cups shredded pepper jack cheese

Directions:
Boil noodles (unless using the non-boil type) for 8 minutes in salted water.
Drain on towel when done.
Combine mashed beans, pasta sauce and cumin.
Combine ricotta, spinach, eggs and cilantro.
Spoon 1/3 of bean mixture into bottom of pan.
Arrange 3 noodles over beans.
Spoon 1/2 spinach mixture over noodles.
Scatter 1 cup cheese over spinach mixture.
Spread remaining spinach mixture over cheese.
Layer 3 more noodles.
Spread half the remaining bean mixture over noodles.
Layer 3 more noodles.
Top with remaining bean mixture.
Top with remaining cheese.
Bake covered at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.
Uncover, bake an additional 5 minutes.

Make 9×13 dish

For catering:
Double or triple recipe depending on which size aluminum food service pan you’re using.
Increase baking time to 40-50 minutes so that the center gets good and melty!

Sit back and wait for compliments.