Showing posts with label slow and easy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label slow and easy. Show all posts
Sauerkraut is one of those things that people either love or loathe. I am from the love it crew. It is something we would have as an occasional treat when I was growing up. Basically, this was because my father was from the loath it crowd.
Therefore, my mother only cooked it when she knew he was not going to be around. It was something she had grown up with and adored. As far as I know all of us children love it, although I am sure they will correct me if I am wrong!
My grandfather's people came from the South Shore of Nova Scotia, the Bridgewater/Lunenburg region in an area called New Germany. Lots of Germans settled in that area and so a lot of the foods which were enjoyed have a German or German Dutch history.
My grandfather always made his own sauerkraut. He kept it in a barrel in the cellar. My mother always told the story about how the juice from the raw kraut cured her of an illness when she was a child.
My sister still makes her own kraut, for probiotic purposes.
.JPG "Pickled Pork & Sauerkraut")
Pork and sauerkraut have a natural affinity for each other. Sometimes my mother would cook it with pork hocks, or a cottage roll ham. Sometimes wieners. We didn't really care. We loved it any way she cooked it.
She would always serve it with mounds of fluffy mashed potatoes. I loved to load my potatoes with butter and then mash the kraut into the potatoes. I could eat a whole plate of that and nothing else.
.JPG "Pickled Pork & Sauerkraut")
Today I cooked mine with a piece of sweet-pickled pork. Sweet-pickled pork is like the corned beef of the pork family.
The only way to really describe it is that its pork shoulder which has been preserved in a brine consisting of salt, sugar, seasoning, and vinegar.
This was a common way of preserving pork back in the days before refrigeration. This cut of pork would not really make good hams (which traditionally come from the upper leg of the pig.) The bellies would be smoked and made into bacon. The shoulder was ideal for pickling.
.JPG "Pickled Pork & Sauerkraut")
Slow cooking it in this manner, along with some sauerkraut, yields tender and juicy meat. The sauerkraut helps to tenderize the pork, and the pork helps to inject its flavor into the kraut.
It is a taste marriage made in heaven. Pure and simple. This is comfort food with a capital "C."
.JPG "Pickled Pork & Sauerkraut")
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE PICKLED PORK & SAUERKRAUT
Very simple ingredients that are available everywhere.
- 1 piece of sweet-pickled pork (about 1 1/2 pounds/680g)
- 1 container of fresh sauerkraut (holding about 3 cups)
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 small onion, peeled and chopped
- 1/2 medium apple, cored, peeled and chopped
- 1 TBS soft light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (120ml) boiling water
To serve:
- 1 recipe of fluffy mashed potatoes
.JPG "Pickled Pork & Sauerkraut")
I know that sweet-pickled pork is not available everywhere, but you can also use a pork Cottage Roll which is very similar. You can also use smoked pork hocks, or ham.
If you can find it, however, do use the pickled pork!
The brand of sauerkraut I used this time was from Lewis Mountain Farms in New Brunswick. Normally I would use Tancook from the South Shore.
.JPG "Pickled Pork & Sauerkraut")
I like to add some chopped onion and apple for flavor, as well as a bay leaf. You can also add a few juniper berries if you have them. I did not have any today. Juniper berries have a slightly piney flavor that goes very well with pork.
I always like to drain and rinse the pork and the kraut well to get rid of some of the salt. I do add some water to the cooking dish to make up for this, but you can use chicken stock instead, or even apple juice which is really nice.
.JPG "Pickled Pork & Sauerkraut")
HOW TO MAKE PICKLED PORK & SAUERKRAUT
I have used a slow cooker to cook this today, which is actually my preferred method. It yields consistent results, tender meat and perfectly cooked kraut, but you can also cook this in the oven if you wish. (You can see the slow cooker I use here. I love it.)
Rinse your meat really well in cold running water and then pat dry. Set aside.
Drain your sauerkraut in a colander and rinse with cold running water. Drain again. Dump into the ceramic insert of your crockpot. Stir in the chopped apple, onion, bay leaf and brown sugar, combining everything well together.
.JPG "Pickled Pork & Sauerkraut")
Nestle the piece of pork down into the kraut mixture. Pour the boiling water over the kraut around the pork.
Cover and cook on high for 5 to 6 hours until tender. Alternately cook on low for about 7 - 8 hours.
To cook in a conventional oven, prepare as above placing everything into an oven-proof casserole dish. Cover tightly and bake at 325*F/160*C/gas mark 3 for 3 to 4 hours, checking periodically to make sure it doesn't cook dry and topping up with a bit more water if need be.
Spoon the kraut onto a platter. Slice the pork into thick slices and add to the platter. Serve immediately with buttery mashed potatoes on the side.
.JPG "Pickled Pork & Sauerkraut")
This is one of my favorite comfort food meals. I had not cooked any in ages. I think the last time I cooked it was when I was home in 2011 when my mother had her lung cancer operation. Today this was a wonderful taste of nostalgia for me.
Of course, I had to enjoy it with my favorite mashed potatoes, nice knob of butter melting into the top of my potatoes. I was in sauerkraut heaven!
.JPG "Pickled Pork & Sauerkraut")
Some other comfort food indulgences that you might enjoy are:
FRIED CABBAGE AND POTATOES - I adore cabbage and I adore potatoes. They are two of my most favorite vegetables. Combine them both and I am in comfort food heaven! This is a simple side dish that goes well with just about anything. If you are a vegetarian, it makes a delicious main dish, especially if you serve it with a nice square of cornbread on the side!
STEWED BRISKET AND POTATOES - Crusty, buttery little drop biscuits . . . tender in the middle and dropped on top of a beautiful rich gravy, tender potatoes and those delicious chunks of beef brisket!
Yield: 4
Pickled Pork & Sauerkraut
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 6 HourTotal time: 6 H & 10 M
This is comfort food pure and simple. I love to serve this with a nice pile of buttery mashed potatoes. This is cooked in a crock pot, but can also be cooked in a regular oven.
Ingredients
- 1 piece of sweet pickled pork (about 1 1/2 pounds/680g)
- 1 container of fresh sauerkraut (holding about 3 cups)
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 small onion, peeled and chopped
- 1/2 medium apple, cored, peeled and chopped
- 1 TBS soft light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (120ml) boiling water
To serve:
- 1 recipe of fluffy mashed potatoes
Instructions
- Rinse your meat really well in cold running water and then pat dry. Set aside.
- Drain your sauerkraut in a colander and rinse with cold running water. Drain again. Dump into the ceramic insert of your crockpot. Stir in the chopped apple, onion, bay leaf and brown sugar, combining everything well together.
- Nestle the piece of pork down into the kraut mixture. Pour the boiling water over the kraut around the pork.
- Cover and cook on high for 5 to 6 hours until tender. Alternately cook on low for about 7 - 8 hours.
- To cook in a conventional oven, prepare as above placing everything into an oven-proof casserole dish. Cover tightly and bake at 325*F/160*C/gas mark 3 for 3 to 4 hours, checking periodically to make sure it doesn't cook dry and topping up with a bit more water if need be.
- Spoon the kraut onto a platter. Slice the pork into thick slices and add to the platter. Serve immediately with buttery mashed potatoes on the side.
Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
In the summer months when we want something that little bit heartier for our dinner, the slow cooker becomes my best friend. If I don't want to be heating up the kitchen, the slow cooker is the way to go! I have three slow cookers. One in a large size for making dishes large enough to feed over 4 people, and two smaller ones which are perfectly sized for two people, a round one and an oval one, because a small round one doesn't always cut the mustard when it comes to slow cooking. A small oval one is perfect for small roasts, hams, etc.
Slow cooking lends itself perfectly to creating delicious dishes like this Lamb Tagine I am showing you here today. A Tagine is traditionally a Moroccan dish. I love the flavours of Moroccan food.
Moroccan cuisine is a delicious mix of Arabic, Andalusian, Mediterranean and Berber cuisine with a dash of European and Subsaharian influence thrown in for good measure. Think what we traditionally see as warm baking spices . . . cinnamon, ginger, mace, nutmeg and cloves . . . with some heat through in from cayenne and black pepper . . . and lemon. They love to use preserved lemons . . . leafy things like coriander . . . rose petals. And this is by no means a complete list, but merely a hint of the deliciousness involved.
They also love using tomatoes, dried apricots, dates, prunes . . . I love savoury dishes with dried fruit involved, and this one is just wonderful using both apricots and prunes . . . and zest of oranges . . .
The sauce is fragrant and delicious . . . sweet and savoury at the same time, with a tiny bit of heat, but not overpoweringly so . . .
The sauce/gravy is thickened with ground almonds or what you might know in American as almond meal, which lends a slight nuttiness into the mix . . . and then there is the sweetness of that oh so tender lamb . . .
Lamb was not something I had ever eaten a lot of before I moved over here to the UK. My only experience with it had been my mother cooking lamb chops once for us when I was a teenager. They smelled like burning wool when she was cooking them, and none of us would eat them. The thought of eating burning wool was not very appealing.
I can only think now that they were not very good lamb chops . . . because I have never had lamb over here that smelled like burning wool, or tasted like it for that matter. I truly love the taste . . . young tender lamb has a delicate almost sweet taste. Older lamb can taste a bit gamey, but its not bad either.
*Lamb Tagine*
Serves 2
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground sweet paprika
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp runny clear honey
I hope you will take advantage of your slow cooker this summer and make this delicious Moroccan stew! I think you will love it! Bon Appetit, or as they say in Morocco, بالصحة و العافية! Now that's what I would call a tongue twister, lol Serving it with peas and rice is so, so . . . well, English. In Morocco you would probably have it with couscous!
I should actually call these Sunday Tacos. The delicious beef filling is made in the slow cooker and on Sundays the slow cooker is my best friend! 💕
I've noticed a lot of this ready made in the shops recently. Charging at a premium price, for what looks to be a very small piece of meat. By the time you bought enough to serve your family, it would cost a small fortune. Why buy ready made when it's so easy to make at home, and probably much tastier too!
It does take a bit of planning as you need to rub the meat with the spice rub on the evening prior to cooking. The meat then marinates overnight in this mixture. The next morning you simply place it into the slow cooker with some barbecue sauce and Worcestershire and let the slow cooker do all the hard work.
This leaves you free to do whatever you want all day, free from worry, as dinner is cooking itself in the slow cooker. Of course if you don't have a slow cooker, you can simply pop it all into a casserole dish and cook it in a very slow oven for the same amount of time. I would suggest a temperature of 150*C/300*F. Do check it from time to time though, just to make sure it's not burning or going dry.
In any case by the end of the day you will be rewarded with fork tender beef in a lovely sauce, perfect for shredding and spooning out onto toasted buns. I like to top mine with sweet pickled hot peppers and bake a few oven chips on the side. Salad is also nice on the plate, just so you get some of your five a day you know. We all need those! Enjoy!
*Barbecued Brisket*
Serves 8
Deliciously tender beef brisket, perfect shredded and piled onto toasted buns. Plan ahead as the meat marinates over night. The next day is a dawdle however as
you just pop it into the slow-cooker and let it go.
1 TBS dried thyme leaves
1 TBS sweet paprika
2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
2 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp ground cumin
3 pounds of beef brisket, unroll and trim off any fat,
discarding the fat.
2 TBS Worcestershire sauce
1 bottle of barbecue Sauce (about 1 1/2 cups)
(I like the honey one)
Mix together all of the spices in a small bowl. Rub them into the brisket, covering it completely. Place it into a plastic food bag and tie shut. Place into the refrigerator overnight.
The next morning whisk the barbecue sauce and Worcestershire sauce together in the bottom of a slow cooker. Place the beef on top. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10
hours, until the meat is fork tender. Shred and serve piled onto toasted buns as desired.
I think I am really rather late climbing onto the Pulled Pork band wagon. I know it's been around for a while . . . but in all truth, until I tasted my son's fabulous sandwiches recently in Canada, I hadn't even been tempted to taste such a thing.
I think it was a consistency thing for me. I am not overly fond of pork that's well done . . . I am not sure why. When my son said he was making pulled pork sandwiches I thought to myself, here we go . . . and thought I would be polite and eat it anyways . . . but guess what?
I fell in love. Simples . . .
Totally and completely in love. In fact I fell so completely and utterly in love I found myself wondering how I had managed to get this far in life without having tasted one!
Of course I had to make them for Todd when I got home. I knew he would love them. Of course I had to put my own spin on them as well . . .
Homemade barbeque sauce . . . you know it's good. Melted cheddar, chopped spring onions and chopped dill pickles . . . even better. In fact I'd call these totally scrumdiddlyumptious!
*Pulled Pork Sandwiches*
Serves 4Printable Recipe
2 tsp salt
1/2 of a single serving can of Dr Pepper, Root Beer,
or Coca Cola
or Coca Cola
For the sauce:
2 cups tomato ketchup
1/3 cup soft dark brown sugar, packed
1 small onion, peeled and grated finely
2 TBS sunflower oil
3 cloves of garlic peeled and crushed
1 TBS cider vinegar
1 TBS tomato puree (paste)
1 TBS Worcestershire Sauce
1 tsp dried mustard
1 tsp smoked paprika
fresh ground white pepper and salt to taste
To finish:
toasted buns
butter
sliced strong cheddar cheese
chopped dill pickles
chopped spring onions
Put
the spices for the pork into a mortar and pestle and grind them fine.
Rub this mixture all over the pork, rubbing it in well. Put this into
the bottom of a slow cooker. Pour the Dr Pepper (Root Beer or Coca
Cola) around the pork. Pop the lid on and cook for 1 hour on high, then
reduce to low and cook for 6 to 7 hours until the pork is fork tender.
While the pork is cooking make the sauce. Combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes until thick and the flavours have melded well.
While the pork is cooking make the sauce. Combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes until thick and the flavours have melded well.
Once
the pork has cooked until nice and tender, remove it from the crock
pot. Scrape off any fat and discard. Using two forks, shred the pork
to your desired consistency. Return it to the crock pot along with
prepared Barbeque Sauce to your taste, stirring it all together.
Butter
and toast your buns under the grill. Top with cheese, pickles and
onions, Pop back under to melt the cheese. Divide the shredded pork
amongst the buns, close up and enjoy!
(This is after the initial baking period of 4 hours as I was stirring in the
frozen peas and mushrooms.)
Again, here I am using up all the fresh veg etc. that I can from the fridge before I go on holidays. The Toddster is a meat and potatoes kind of a guy. As you know all I have to do to please him is throw some meat and potatoes on to a plate and he is quite happy . . . AS IF! I would never just throw some meat and potatoes on to a plate!!!
(The finished product.)
On his Birthday this week, I baked him a lovely cherry almond cake, AND a fruit cake AND I made him this lovely stew. He was one very happy camper. You just can't beat a good stew can you?
Fruitcake, cherry cake . . . meat and potatoes!
This is a very easy stew to make. All you do is throw everything into a casserole dish and bake it in the oven. No browning. No mess. No fuss. Easy peasy as can be!
I love it when things are easy and yet come out tasting gloriously delicious and as if you'd spent all day slaving over a hot stove, don't you? (Tis called Lazy Man's Beef Stew, coz who'd ever believe a woman would be lazy? tee hee!)
*Lazy Man's Beef Stew*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe
An oldie but a goodie. Delicious, easy and quick to throw together. Beef and vegetables baked in a slow oven until the meat is meltingly tender and the accompanying sauce, rich and delicious.
2 pounds of stewing beef, trimmed of all fat and cut into cubes
4 large carrots, peeled, quartered and cut into pieces
1 tin of cream of tomato soup
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp savoury
freshly ground black pepper to taste
4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
8 fluid ounces of red wine
2 leeks, trimmed, washed and thinly sliced
8 ounces of frozen peas (1 small package)
1 punnet of fresh mushrooms, sliced and browned in a bit of butter, or 1 tin of sliced mushrooms, drained
(about 1 cup)
Oven temperature 140*C/275*F/ gas mark 3.
Grease a large casserole dish. Put into the beef, carrots, tomato soup, leeks, potatoes, bay leaf, black pepper and 1/2 of the wine. Stir well together. Cover tightly and bake for 4 hours. Remove from the oven and stir. Add the frozen peas, mushrooms and remaining red wine and if necessary a little water. Cover tightly and cook for 1 hour longer.
There's some tasty Lunch Box Oatmeal Cookies baking over in the Cottage today!
It is hard to believe that I had never really eaten lamb before I moved over here to the UK. It is a meat that I have come to love very much and I have to say that here in the UK we have beautiful lamb . . . some of the best in the world.
More often than not we have lamb chops, cutlets or steaks, and occasionally I will treat us to a shoulder or a leg. All are very, very good.
Last weekend I cooked some lamb shanks for the first time and I was very pleased with the results. They were tender and full of flavour and we both really enjoyed them!
The shank is cut from the shoulder area of the animal and is actually very lean, with very little fat marbling or cut into it. Lamb can be quite a fatty meat, so this was surprising. Because it is so lean, it truly lends itself perfectly to braising in a liquid.
A long slow braising in the oven may require more patience than frying a few chops in a pan or roasting a leg, but your patience will be more than rewarded with fork tender meat and a rich and tasty gravy. Not to mention that, once it is covered and in the oven, it really requires no attention at all.
The resulting dish lends itself perfectly to being served with a delicious mound of buttery mashed potatoes . . . the absolute comfort meal!! It made my meat and potatoes loving husband a very, very happy camper indeed!
*Oven Baised Lamb Shanks*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe
Tender and juicy, with a delicious gravy. Perfect comfort food served with freshly mashed potatoes!
5 lamb shanks
olive oil
2 large onions, peeled and chopped
1 large stick of celery, trimmed and chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1 pound of carrots, peeled and cut into sticks
1/2 pound of parsnips, peeled and cut into sticks
a handful of fresh rosemary leaves
400ml of lamb stock ( 1 1/2 cups)
400ml of chopped tinned tomatoes (1 3/4 cup)
2 star anise
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 TBS red currant jelly
Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.
Heat some olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the lamb shanks and brown them on all sides. Remove and place into a large roasting dish which has a lid, with the bones sticking up. Add the onions and celery to the drippings. Cook and stir over medium heat until they begin to soften. Add the garlic, carrots, parsnips and rosemary. Cook and stir for several minutes. Add the stock, tinned tomatoes, star anise, sea salt and black pepper to taste, and currant jelly. Heat through and then pour over the lamb shanks in the roaster.
Cover tightly with the lid and put into the oven. Roast for 3 hours, until the meat is very tender. Remove the lid and cook for another 15 to 20 minutes until the meat and bone begin to brown somewhat.
Serve immediately with a nice pile of mashed potatoes. Serve one shank per person on a plate with some of the vegetables and gravy spooned over top.
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