Cuisine: Pork Fried (After a Long Weekend) Rice

I love all types of fried rice. Whether it is curried Vietnamese fried rice or Mongolian beef fried rice or fried rice and beans. All of them are wonderful, especially as a comfort food on cloudy, foggy days.

The key to perfectly cooked fried rice starts with day-old cooked rice. If you don't, it will turn out okay. But it will not be as crisp with the tiny charred bits that make fried rice so delectable.

This recipe seems involved, and it kind of is. But it is broken out into three phases to make it a little more understandable and sequential. Follow this recipe as is, and you will have perfectly spicy pork fried rice.

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Phase One
You Will Need:
4 cups Jasmine Rice, cooked and set aside
1/2 Yellow Onion, diced
1 White Onion, diced
3 Carrots, peeled and diced
2 Serrano Peppers, cored, seeded and diced
5 cloves of Garlic, sliced
2 Tbsp. Butter
1 to 2 Tbsp. Grapeseed Oil
2 Tbsp. Water
Salt to taste

What To Do:
Melt 1 Tbsp. butter and 1 Tbsp. oil in a pan.
Add onions and carrots, and saute 10 minutes.
Add serrano and garlic.
Add butter, and if needed - more oil.
Saute mixture for 10 minutes.
Add water.
Saute 5 to 10 more minutes - or until water evaporates.
Set Aside.


Phase 2
You Will Need:
3 Pork Chops, diced
1/2 tsp. White Pepper
1/2 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Garlic Powder
1 tsp. Onion Powder
1 Tbsp. Butter
1 Tbsp. Oil

What To Do:
Melt butter and heat oil over medium heat.
Combine ALL ingredients (from this phase - pork, pepper, salt, etc), and saute until the pork is slightly crispy.


Phase 3:
Add the onion mixture (Phase 1) to the Pork Mixture (Phase 2), and add the Jasmine Rice.

To this mixture, you will add:
1 tsp. Soy Sauce Paste
2 Tbsp. Chili Paste
2 Tbsp. Butter

What to do:
Mix ALL INGREDIENTS and cook, covered, over low heat for about 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Make sure the bottom browns, but doesn't blacken!

Cuisine: Parmesan Crusted Pork Chops

This is a recipe I crafted for Sing for Your Supper.

The potluck guidelines for this The S. Kitchen event were to bring a dish inspired by your favorite music. I thought and thought and thought about what my favorite music actually is. I like so many different types of music that picking just one is really, really difficult. Then, I thought about what I really wanted to make and to see if there was a musical genre that spoke to it.

Having been to Berlin to visit my dear friends Dan and Tomas last April, German food and German music were still swirling in my head. I started looking up different types of classic German food. But the problem with classic German food is that I hate classic German music. I do, however, love German electro.

So my husband scoured our cd racks to find German electro music to help inspire the cuisine. As I listened to the music and let Germany seep back into my blood, I found a recipe for pork chops. I knew it would be good because it included being cooked in milk with lots of cheese. In order to make it my own, I decided to kick up the seasonings because German food is not all that seasoned.

This is what was created. It was the hit of the ball and everyone loved the Parmesan crust.

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You Will Need:
14 1/3 inch cut pork chops, trimmed of fat
1 pint buttermilk
1 jalapeno, cored and seeded and finely diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp salt
6 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups flour
2 tsps sweet paprika
2 tsps hot paprika
2 tsps fine German pepper
2 tsps black pepper
2 tsps garlic powder
2 TBSPs salt
2 containers grated Parmesan cheese

What To Do:
Mix the buttermilk, jalapeno, garlic and 1/4 tsp salt together and let sit for about one hour.

Pound each pork chop with a flat meat tenderizer of a small sauce pot until about 1/4 inch thick. Set aside.

Beat 1/4 tsp salt into the 6 eggs until frothy. Sift remaining dry ingredients together.

Grab four containers that are large enough to lay a pork chop in without it being crowded. They could be baking dishes, flat bottomed bowls, etc. In the first container, pour in about half the buttermilk mixture. In the second one, pour in about 1/4 of the flour. In the third one, pour in the beaten eggs. In the last one, pour in about 1/4 of the Parmesan.

To assemble the pork chops: dip the chop in the buttermilk ensuring it gets fully coated. Then, dip both sides in the flour. Make sure that the flour adheres all over the pork. You may need to pat it down into the flour. Then, dip both sides in the egg. Finally, dip it in the Parmesan. The last coating will be really messy. Make sure it is covered fully otherwise it doesn't get the right flavor at the end. Finally, place it in a prepared pan. You will need to continually refill the flour and the Parmesan containers. The buttermilk and egg should be fine.

Make sure to not crowd the pork chops in the baking dish. This recipe will fit into two large aluminum trays (seven in each).

Cover the trays with aluminum foil and place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Take the trays out of the refrigerator and uncover. Pour the remaining butter milk in both trays and recover. Place in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes. Then, remove the cover and bake for another 15 minutes ensuring that the breading browns.

Serve and enjoy!

Cuisine: Grandma’s Best Meat Loaf

Keep In Mind: You will need at least 3 hours to prepare this dish

You Will Need:
1/3 cup Chopped Onion
1/3 cup Chopped Sweet Red Pepper
1/3 cup Chopped Green Pepper
3 Tbsp. minced Fresh Parsley
3 minced Garlic Cloves
1 ¼ tsp. dried Sage
1 ¼ tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Pepper
2 lbs. Ground Beef
¾ cup Milk
2 Eggs, beaten
¼ cup Worcestershire Sauce
2/3 cup Bread Crumbs
4 Bacon Strips

For The Sauce, You Will Need:
¼ cup chopped Canned Tomatoes
¼ cup Ketchup
2 Tbsp. Brown Sugar
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Ground Mustard
½ tsp. Pepper

What To Do:
In a large bowl, combine the first 9 ingredients. Add beef and mix well. Combine milk, eggs, and Worcestershire sauce and mix this into the beef mixture. Add crumbs.Grease a large sheet of foil, and place bacon on the foil. Mold the meat mixture into a loaf and place over the bacon.

Refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Open foil and drain the juices. Combine sauce ingredients and spoon over the loaf. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes or until no pink remains.

Cuisine: Country-Fried Pork Chops

This recipe was created for The S. Kitchen presents...A Very Mary Queer Year. Pork is considered a very lucky food in cultures around the world. Normally it is a ham or pork shoulder or some other large piece of meat. This is my reinterpretation of traditional pork chops pounded, battered, and fried.

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Ingredients:
4 lbs boneless pork chops about 1/2 inch thick
Jason's Zesty Spice Rub
corn starch
2 cups buttermilk
4 egg yolks
saltines or water crackers, crushed fine
lard
butter
1 onion, diced
2 - 4 TBSP flour
milk
pepper
salt

Directions:
Sprinkle Jason's Zesty Spice Rub over both sides of each pork chop. Place in refrigerator over night.

Take pork chops out of refrigerator and pound with a meat tenderizer until 1/4 inch thick. Cut pork chops in half.

Set up a dredging station: one container with cornstarch, one container with buttermilk whisked with egg yolks, one container with crushed crackers. Dip the pork chop in the cornstarch making sure to coat both sides fully. Then dip in buttermilk mixture. Finally dredge in crushed crackers. Set on wire rack and let rest for about 5 minutes.

Heat lard and butter (in equal measures) in a cast iron skillet until melted. Liquid lard and butter should be about 1/4 inch deep. Place pork chop in hot fat and fry for four minutes per side. Place in a 200 degree oven to keep warm until all pork chops are fried.

Add about 2 to 4 tablespoons of flour to the drippings and fat. Fry the flour for about 3 to 5 minutes (Flour should be completely incorporated into the oil and not yet brown.) Add the diced onion and fry for about 5 minutes. Add a pinch or two of Jason's Zesty Spice Rub. Add all of the buttermilk used in the dredging and bring to a simmer. Add milk until slightly runnier than the gravy thickness you prefer. Bring to a simmer and add salt and pepper to taste. Turn off heat.

Serve pork chops smothered in gravy and enjoy!

Cuisine: Barbara Kaio's Ahi Tuna Poke (My Way)

This dish was crafted by Barbara Tamayo Kaio as part of The S. Kitchen presents... The Kitchenless Cook. It is incredibly tasty filled with complex flavors. It starts out slightly sweet until you hit the hint of lime and lemon juice. Then, as you bite into the tuna you get a lovely salty flavor along with a suggestion of soy. Finally, the sesame hits your tongue and you melt away. It has to be tried to be believed.

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Ingredients:
2 pounds fresh or sashimi-grade Ahi (yellowfin) tuna steaks, cut into small pieces
½ cup Yamasa brand (tastiest!) soy sauce (regular, not lite or flavored – use less if you need it ‘lite’)
1 squeezed lime
1 squeezed lemon
1 bunch chopped green onions (white part included)
3 Roma tomatoes diced
½ cup chopped white onion, shallot, garlic mix
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon (or less) Shichimi Togarashi or crushed red pepper
½ tablespoon (or more) furikake (toasted sesame seed and nori variety)
Alaea sea salt or plain medium coarse sea salt to taste
1 tablespoon roasted sesame seeds
1 tablespoon chopped freshly toasted macadamia nuts

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine tuna with everything and mix together with hands. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.

Eat as is or with romaine lettuce leaves or good quality tortilla chips or fried wonton skins