Boneless Pork Loin Roast with Apple Horseradish Sauce

To me, pork IS the 'other white meat.' Where would we be without ribs, chops, boneless loin, tenderloins, sausage? This is a delightful version of a boneless pork loin center cut roast.

Ingredients

1 boneless Pork Loin - Center Cut - about 3 pounds
1 cup chunky applesauce
1/2 cup red currant jelly or raspberry jelly
2 teaspoons horseradish

Preparation

Heat oven to 325°F. Place roast on rack in shallow roasting pan. Do not cover. Roast to an internal temperature of 150°F.

Meanwhile, make sauce by heating applesauce, jelly and horseradish in small saucepan only until blended.

When roast reaches 150°F. spread about 1/4 cup of sauce over roast. Continue roasting about 15 minutes to glaze roast and until internal temperature reaches 160°F. for medium doneness. Serve remaining sauce with roast.

Serve with a twice baked potato, fresh-steamed green beans with Hollandaise Sauce or asparagus, baked sweet potato, cauliflower....actually, serve with whatever you like. :-)

LAMB-CABBAGE STEW

Ethnic soups or stews are always a nice change from the everyday recipes that we always seem to make. This Bosnian recipe is sure to please. You can also used leftover lamb.

2 lbs. boned shoulder of lamb, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 oz. lard
1 onion, finely chopped
2 lbs. cabbage, trimmed, core removed and roughly chopped
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
3 tomatoes, peeled and sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1-2 c. (8-16 fl. oz.) dry white wine
1 TBS. paprika

1. Brown the lamb in the lard, add the onions and sauté them until they are soft.
2. Put the lamb and onion mixture in the bottom of a casserole dish, arrange the cabbage over it and season with salt and pepper. Lay the tomato slices and garlic on top.
3. Cover the casserole and cook over low heat for 2-3 hours. Add the wine gradually while the stew is cooking.
4. 30-minutes before the end of the cooking time sprinkle the stew with paprika. Do not stir the stew.
5. Serve hot with chunks of crusty bread and generous amounts of chilled dry white wine.

Fried Cucumber Slices With Tomato

When a cooking/baking cohort suggested fried cucumbers, I nearly had a culinary siezure. I stand before you in naked humility. This recipe has been slightly modified; the end result was awesome!! Sometimes a recipe can not be perceived by the ingredients (as I found out); this one is a keeper.

Fried Cucumber Slices

1 Medium size Cucumber (9” – 10”) – skin on
Flour
Beaten egg
Parmesan Cheese
Garlic Powder
2 TBS Butter
2 TBS Olive oil
1 Small tomato

Serves 2

Have two separate bowls or dishes with flour – the first for dredging - no spice added. The second, mixed well with the garlic powder and parmesan.

Slice cucumber to ¼” rounds. Dry both sides with paper towel. Dredge in flour and shake off excess. Dip in egg mixture. Dredge once again in second bowl of flour (spiced/flavored)flour – shake off excess.

Fry in the olive oil and melted butter on medium heat, and turn only once. The finished cucumber should be golden and still have a little crunch to it – not soggy. Drain on paper towel, and cool.

Once the slices are cooled, top with thin (1/8”) slices of fresh tomato. Serve these cold without broiling them. Before serving, spritz or sprinkle a few drops of Balsamic vinegar on each slice. You can also do the same procedure and ingredients using eggplant or zucchini squash.

This is an excellent accoutrement to serve with a lamb roast, along with scrubbed, whole, oven baked new potatoes that have been coated with a top quality olive oil sprinkled with garlic powder and baked in a covered pan
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Baked Stuffed Eggplant

A delicious recipe, and easy to make. Glenna's recipe for the Chimichirri sauce (following post) also works wonders.






3 (1/2-pound) eggplants
1 teaspoon salt, plus 1 teaspoon
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus 3 tablespoons
2 cups chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound lean ground lamb
1/3 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
3 tablespoons minced fresh mint leaves
3 plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise, seeded, and cut into julienne strips
1 cup crumbled feta cheese

Halve 2 of the eggplants lengthwise, score their pulp deeply with a sharp knife, being careful not to pierce the skins, and with a grapefruit knife scoop or tablespoon, scoop out the pulp, reserving it and leaving 1/2-inch-thick shells.

Sprinkle the shells with 1 teaspoon salt and invert them on paper towels to drain for 15 to 30 minutes. Cut the reserved pulp and the remaining whole eggplant into 1/2-inch pieces, in a colander toss the pieces with the remaining salt, and let them drain for 15 to 30 minutes.

Rinse and pat the shells dry with paper towels, brush them with 1 tablespoon of the oil, and broil them on the rack of a broiler pan, skin side down, under a preheated broiler about 4 inches from the heat until they are tender, about 5 minutes.

In a skillet, heat the remaining 3 tablespoons oil over moderately high heat until it is hot but not smoking. Saute the onion and the garlic until translucent. Add the ground lamb and the eggplant pieces stirring, until meat loses all color and eggplant is tender.

Remove the skillet from the heat, stir in the parsley, mint, tomatoes, feta, and salt and pepper to taste, and divide the filling among the shells, mounding it. Broil the stuffed eggplants in a large flameproof baking dish for 5 minutes, or until the filling is bubbling and golden.