Slow Cooker Pork Roast With Apples and Pears Recipe

The winter months are perfect for making anything and everything in your crock pot – and there’s no reason you can’t expand beyond beef stew or good old New England pot roast. Here’s a recipe I created based on one I read in Cook’s Illustrated for Braised Pork Chops. Because the flavor profiles of pork and fruit go so well together, it was a natural to combine them in a slow cooker. An added bonus? This is the perfect recipe for cheap, tough cuts of pork such as the blade or arm roasts.

Slow Cooker Pork Roast With Apples and Pears

(1) 1 pound bone-in pork roast

3 T. kosher salt

Water

1 T. olive oil

1 medium-sized white onion, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 bay leaf

1 medium-sized apple (variety of your choice), peeled, cored and sliced into twelfths

1 medium-sized pear (variety of your choice), cored and sliced into twelfths

½ t. whole allspice

½ t. minced fresh ginger

½ cup pomegranate juice

2 T. balsamic vinegar

Freshly ground black pepper

Dissolve kosher salt in about one quart of water. Add the pork roast and allow to brine for at least an hour.

Meanwhile, heat your crock pot to high. Add oil, onion, garlic and bay leaf. Cook until slightly softened. Add apple and pear slices, bay leaf, allspice and ginger.

Remove pork roast from brine and pat dry. Sprinkle with black pepper. Place on top of veggies and fruits. Pour pomegranate juice and balsamic vinegar over all. Cook on high for one hour, turning roast over halfway through. Reduce heat to low and continue to cook, covered, for 4 – 6 hours.

Serves 4

January 15, 2012: Asian Sauced Pork Tenderloin Medallions Recipe

Here’s another recipe I devised based loosely on one I found in the current issue of Cooking Light magazine. My recipe makes it just a bit more diet-friendly and the best part? My husband absolutely loved this dish! He said it tasted as if I’d fried up sausage in the pan and then added the pork, which made him believe there were plenty of fat calories when it reality, it is quite healthy and low cal.

Asian Sauced Pork Tenderloin served with Whole Wheat Linguine with Vegetables and Slow Cooker Sesame Green Beans

Asian Sauced Pork Tenderloin Medallions

1 t. minced ginger

1 t. honey

1 T. soy sauce

1 t. rice wine vinegar

½ t. Asian red chili sauce

3/4 lb. pork tenderloin, sliced horizontally into 3 thick pieces

1 t. olive oil

Combine marinade ingredients in a glass dish and add pork loin pieces. Marinate, refrigerated, a minimum of two hours.

Heat a heavy skillet to medium high. Add olive oil. Remove pork tenderloin from marinade and carefully add to hot skillet, being careful not to splatter yourself with the hot oil. Reduce heat to medium. Cook medallions for about 3 – 5 minutes each side (depending on thickness) until cooked through. Add remaining marinade and about 1/3 cup of water to deglaze the hot pan and make a sauce. To serve, place one medallion on each plate and spoon about a tablespoon of sauce over each.

3 servings, 312 calories each

December 28, 2011: Orange Chicken Recipe

Unlike the very popular Orange Chicken you find on the menu at many Chinese restaurants, this recipe has fewer calories and a fresher taste. It’s easy to prepare and yummy served with plain or fried rice and a side of crisply sautéed veggies.

Orange Chicken served with fried rice.

Orange Chicken

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Salt and pepper

¼ cup cornstarch

1 t. sesame oil

1 T. soy sauce

1 T. rice wine vinegar

1 T. water

2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced on the diagonal

3 green onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal, white and green parts separated

Sesame seeds

Vegetable oil

Orange Sauce:

1/3 cup orange juice

1 T. soy sauce

1 T. honey

1 t. ginger, finely minced

1 t. sesame oil

1 t. cornstarch

1 t. water

Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt and pepper on both sides. Cut chicken into approximately 1 1/2-inch square chunks. Toss together with cornstarch, soy sauce, vinegar and water. Refrigerate for several hours.

Prepare orange sauce by combining all ingredients in a small bowl.

Add enough oil to a wok to cover the bottom. Heat to medium high. Carefully place the chicken chunks into the oil and fry until completely cooked, turning as necessary, for a few minutes. You may have to cook two separate batches to ensure the chicken gets crispy and doesn’t overcrowd the wok. Remove with a slotted spoon to a paper plate or plate lined with paper towels. Set aside.

Reduce wok heat to low. Remove all but one tablespoon of oil from the wok. Add the white parts of the sliced green onions and garlic. Saute for one minute. Add the sauce and slowly bring to a boil. When sauce has thickened, add the cooked chicken back in and heat through.

To serve, spoon chicken and sauce onto plate or over plain cooked rice. Sprinkle with green parts of sliced onion and sesame seeds.

Serves 2

December 17, 2011: Christmas Party Hors d’oeuvres Ideas and Recipe

This year, the most popular appetizers for a party are served on a stick. Yep, they look cute and they’re easy to eat, to boot, which is especially important if your guests are encouraged to stand and mingle while eating.

The menu for my holiday party includes (items with asterisk denote recipes included here):

• Assorted Christmas cookies and candies
• Strawberry Pecan Cheese ball (seasoned with a mix) and Pringles honey wheat stix
• Tray of pickled jalapenos and okra (that I canned over the summer)
• Crackers topped with Alouette Spinach Artichoke soft cheese and slices of smoked sausage
• Meatball skewers (using my baked meatball recipe but made much smaller) with cheese cubes and olives
• Korean Pork skewers*
• Goat Cheese Phyllo cups* (look for recipe in tomorrow’s post)
• Spiced Apple Cider
• Hot Chocolate
• Egg Nog with Brandy

Photo courtesy of yourlife.usatoday.com

Korean Pork Skewers

This recipe courtesy of USA Weekend magazine

1 pound pork tenderloin

3 T. Asian chili sauce

2 T. each soy sauce and rice wine vinegar

1 T. each minced fresh ginger and garlic

½ t. hot red pepper flakes

Thinly slice the pork tenderloin into about 30 pieces (freeze it slightly to make slicing easier).

Combine remaining ingredients in zip-top bag. Add pork. Refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

Thread pieces of pork onto small bamboo skewers. Place on grill rack over a broiler pan. Broil close to heat about 5 minutes, until cooked through. Garnish with thinly sliced green onions, if desired.

Makes 30 hors d’oeuvres

November 6, 2011: Oriental Garlic Roasted Chicken Recipe

I know I’ve included a lot of chicken recipes on this blog, but can you really ever have too many? Chicken is, and continues to be, one of the favorite meal mainstays of the typical American diet and with today’s exorbitant beef prices, it’s no wonder. And with the cooler weather, it warms up the kitchen to roast a meal in the oven.

For this recipe, you’ll use the spice packet from a package of ramen noodles, so you might want to make a ramen side dish to go along with it. If not, just remember to save the spice packets when you use ramen noodles for a recipe at a different time.

Oriental Garlic Chicken served with easy fried rice, roasted onions and snow peas.

Oriental Garlic Roasted Chicken

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 T. soy sauce

2 t. vegetable oil

1 ½ t. minced ginger

½ cup + 1 t. chicken broth

1 seasoning packet from ramen noodles, chicken or Oriental flavor

1 medium yellow or white onion, cut into thick chunks

 1 3 – 4 pound chicken, skin-on and cut into pieces

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Wash chicken and pat dry. Combine garlic, soy sauce, oil, ginger, 1 t. chicken broth, and seasoning packet. Gently separate skin from meat on each piece of chicken. Using your fingers, rub garlic mixture under and over skin.

Spray a roasting pan with nonstick cooking spray. Place the onion slices in the bottom. Place roasting rack on top; arrange chicken pieces on rack. Pour remaining half cup of chicken broth in bottom of pan.

Roast in oven approximately one hour, or until all juices run clear. If desired, thicken sauce in bottom of pan. To serve, pour pan juices over chicken.

Serves 4

Note: Feel free to add another vegetable to the onions in the bottom of the roasting pan. I added snow peas during the last 15 minutes of cooking.

October 22, 2011: Cheddar Puffs With Apple Filling Recipe

Today we’ve got a high tea event planned for the women of our church. We did this last year and held the event at Kathy’s house, which is decorated like a very feminine, floral B&B so it’s perfect for this type of ladies’ event.

I was tasked with making dessert. As usual, I wanted something different and I’d clipped this recipe recently from The Arizona Republic. Since October is National Apple Month, I thought it would perfect.

Apple Cheddar Puffs

For the puffs:

1 cup water

6 T. butter (or 6 T. butter plus 1 t. salt)

1 1/3 cups flour

5 eggs

1 cup grated extra sharp cheddar cheese

For the filling:

4 sweet apples, such as Golden Delicious (I used Fiji)

¼ cup sugar

1 t. freshly grated ginger (I used minced jarred ginger)

1 T. lemon juice

Pinch of salt

½ cup water divided

1 T. cornstarch

Heave oven to 425 degrees. Line one large or two smaller baking sheets with parchment (the puff recipe will make 1 ½ - 2 dozen, depending on how large you make each one).

In a medium saucepan over medium high heat, bring the water and butter to a boil. Add the flour all at once and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes away from the sides of the pan and forms a ball of dough, about 1 minute.

Transfer the dough to the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix with paddle attachment for one minute. Add the eggs, one at a time, waiting until fully incorporated before adding the next. When all the eggs have been added, mix in the cheese on low speed.

Spoon the mixture into a gallon size sealable plastic bag or pastry bag. Cut off the corner if using a storage bag and seal the top. Gently squeeze the bag to create walnut-size mounds on the prepared baking sheets, leaving at least one inch between each. Note: I made mine bigger and they were just fine; easier to fill.

Bake for 10 minutes, then lower the oven to 375 degrees and bake for another 15 minutes, until golden brown.

Remove puffs from the oven and pierce the side of each to let the steam escape. Cool completely, then use or store in an airtight container up to 24 hours. Note: you need to allow them to cool completely before storing so they don’t get soggy.

Meanwhile, make the filling by combining the apples, sugar, ginger, lemon juice, salt and 2 tablespoons of the water in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat until apples are tender, about 15 minutes. In a small bowl, combine remaining water and cornstarch; add to the apple mixture. Bring to a gentle boil to thicken the mixture, then remove from heat.

To fill the puffs, you can either cut them in half and spoon filling inside or use a pastry bag to pipe the apple mixture in through a small hole (the latter looks nicest; the former is much easier and requires less cleanup/effort).

Makes between 18 – 24 puffs.

September 4, 2011: Thai Red Curry Paste Recipe

I’ve been looking for Thai red curry paste at my local grocery store for some time now (it’s used in yummy curry sauces) – with no luck. I just happened to find this recipe online recently and I was ecstatic! I didn’t have exactly the ingredients as listed so I made some slight substitutions and this is what I came up with. Try it and see what you think.

Thai Red Curry Paste

3 T. red chili sauce

2 shallots, coarsely chopped

1 t. peppercorns

2 ½ t. cumin seeds

1 ½ T. coriander seeds

2 T. fresh or dehydrated cilantro

1 t. lemon balm

1 t. salt

2 t. paprika (for color)

1 t. curry powder

2 t. finely chopped lemon or lime peel

1 t. minced ginger

2 t. Asian fish sauce

1 T. vegetable oil

Using a mortar and pestle or coffee grinder, grind the whole spices to a fine powder. Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Add more oil or a little bit of water, if necessary, to make a smooth paste.

Store in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. If desired, you can freeze any remaining paste in baggies or ice cube trays (when frozen pop the cubes into baggies or a plastic container).