Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms

I made this at Casey and Toinette's house and I need to thank Toinette for doing all the prep and the recipe. These delicious beauties are a great supplement to any meal or can be eaten as a meal unto themselves. They take 50 minutes from start to finish, feeds 4-6 people and costs about $10.

Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms

2 Hot Italian sausages, uncased and chopped
1 Mild Italian sausage, uncased and chopped
1 package large baby bella mini portabello mushrooms, stemmed and scooped
1/2 cup mushroom stems, chopped
1 bunch scallions, peeled and chopped
1/4 white onion, diced
5 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 tablespoon crushed macadamia nuts (walnuts or pignoli or no nuts are options)
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
1/8 cup grated Parmesan cheese
5 oz creme fraiche
2 tablespoons of butter
1 handful fresh basil, chopped
4 tablespoon sherry wine vinegar

Start oven at 425.  Scoop mushrooms out with a teaspoon by holding the mushroom firmly cupped on all sides with your hand.  Once cleaned and scooped, start a large saute pan on medium heat, add olive oil and some butter.  Saute mushroom stems, onions, scallions, and garlic until softened, about 10 minutes.  Turn up heat to medium high add sausage to the pan.  Cook for about 5-7 minutes or until sausage is cooked. Remove from heat and fold in panko, nuts, creme fraische, basil and remaining butter plus salt and pepper.  Let stand 5 minutes.

Put mushroom caps in a large glass baking dish.  Sprinkle with sherry wine vinegar, salt and pepper.  Then scoop filing into the mushrooms.  Press it in and over stuff them a bit, top with a bit of bread crumbs and some extra virgin olive oil.  Place in oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden.  Remove and let stand 5 minutes. Buon apetito!

New Years Eve Dinner

Nothing kicks off a night of partying like a great meal with the friends.  This New Years Eve dinner was prepared at our ski house up in Hunter Mountain, NY so I didn't have all of my fancy cooking gear, but that never stopped me before.  Here goes Herb Crusted Pork Loin, Cod in a Shrimp Cream Sauce, TriColor Salad with Pears and Hazelnuts, Sweet Potato Roasted Pear Mash, Lemon Broccoli, Tomatoes and Mozzarella, Roasted Beets and an Apple Cider Gravy to bring it all together.  Thanks to Patti, Harout, Padraic, Julia, Jamie, Jackie, Bentley and Amanda for sharing this great night.  And this was only the beginning of an amazing evening!

Mustard and Herb Crusted Pork Loin with Roasted Winter Veggies
4 lbs Pork Loin
1/2 Jar Horesradish Mustard
3 oz Maple Syrup
1 bunch Fresh Marjoram
1 bunch fresh Rosemary
1 Bunch Fresh Thyme
2 red onions, rough chopped
1 white onion, rough chopped
1 head of garlic, peeled
1 bag of mixed mini sweet peppers

Preheat oven to 450.  Mix maple syrup and mustard in a bowl.  Coat the loin with the mixture and sprinkle with the fresh chopped herbs, salt and pepper.  Place veggies and more herbs in the bottom of a large roasting pan.  Place pork on roasting rack and insert into the roasting pan.  Place the whole thing in the oven and turn the heat down to 375.  Let roast for about 50 minutes or until it has an internal temperature of 140 degrees.  Let rest at least 15 minutes before slicing.

Apple Cider Gravy
4 cups apple cider
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
4 cups vegetable broth
1 cup white wine
2 clove garlic
1/2 teaspoon fresh nutmeg
1/2 cup clarified pan dripppings from the pork roast

Put all ingredients except pan drippings into a medium sauce pan and let cook for about 30 minutes on medium low.  Once about 2 cups of liquid is remaining, add pork drippings.  Finish with a tablespoon of butter and serve over the pork loin.

Baked Cod with Shrimp Cream Sauce
5 filet of black cod, about 2.5 lbs
2 shallots, fine dice
4 cloves garlic, fine dice
1/4 stick butter
4 tablespoons of flour
1/2 cup vegetable stock
1 pint heavy cream
1 lb white shrimp, 25ct peeled deveined and halved long way

Preheat the oven to 400. Season cod with salt, pepper and olive oil then lay them flat on a greased, foil-lined baking tray.  Roast for about 15 minutes.  Remove with a spatula and place in a large serving tray.  Top with cream sauce.

In a medium sauce pan start the butter, shallots and garlic on medium heat and let cook until the onions are just turning brown.  Add flour and mix well, keep stiring for 10 minutes or until the flour begins to just get lightly brown.  Add the cream and the vegetable stock and mix well.  Let this cook for about 15 minutes or until reduced by half.  Now add the shrimp and let cook for 10 more minutes.  Serve over top of fish.

Sweet Potato and Roasted Pear Mash
4 medium sweet potatoes
1 barlet pear, halfed and destemmed
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons of butter
3 tablespoons heavy cream
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon pepper
1/2 tablespoon nutmeg

Wrap the potatoes with foil and roast in the oven at about 400 degrees for 40 minutes or until they are soft to the touch.  Roast the pear for about 20 minutes or until soft as well.  Peel the potatoes and the pear and whip it together with the other ingredients.  Make sure you mash everything together well and then whip it together with a whisk or large fork.

Tri-Color Salad with Pears and Hazelnut
1 head Raddicchio, sliced thin
1 large Belgian Endive, sliced thin
1 12oz container of baby arugula
3 oz hazelnuts, chopped and toasted
1/2 Bartlet pear, diced
White balsamic vinaigrette (1 part white balsamic, 1 part EVOO, 1 teaspoon mustard, salt&pepper)

I also tossed together a tomato and mozzarella salad, some fresh roasted beets, steamed broccoli and some sweet dinner rolls to round out the meal.

Thanks to everyone who helped.  2012 was a big year with many memorable events, however I think 2013 will be even better!

Buon Apetito!!!

Roasted Pork Loin, Camembert-Spinach Smashed Potatoes, Raspberry Cilantro Gravy

A pork loin is a great way to feed a lot of people good protein at a reasonable price.  This was a store bought pork loin that was pre-marinated with honey mustard.  This recipe takes 1 hour 15 minutes, feeds four and costs about $30 dollars.

Camembert-Spinach Smashed Yukon Gold Potatoes
6 medium organic yukon gold potatoes, large diced
1/2 organic vidallia onion, large diced
5 cloves of garlic, smashed
1 teaspoon sugar
8 oz fresh spinach
1 wheel of Camembert Cheese, rind removed
2 tablespoons butter
1/8 cup cream
salt and pepper

Start diced potatoes in cool water on high heat and bring to a boil, cook them until tender.  Drain and set aside. In a separate sautee pan start onions and garlic on medium low heat in olive oil.  Let cook for 15 minutes or so until they get very soft and lightly brown, keep the heat low and stir often so you don't burn them.  Now add the sugar and let cook for 5 minutes. Next add the spinach and cook for 3 minutes.  Combine this mixture to the cooked potatoes, cheese, butter, cream, salt and pepper in a large mixing bowl and smash all ingredients together.  Bomb!!

Raspberry Onion Cilantro Gravy
2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 organic vidallia onion, sliced thin
2 cloves of garlic, chopped fine
4 cups Kitchen Basics vegetable stock
1/2 container fresh raspberries, smashed
1 handful fresh cilantro, chopped
1 teaspoon butter
salt and pepper

In a medium sauce pan start olive oil, onions and garlic and cook on medium until lightly golden.  Add stock and reduce to 1/2 cup of liquid.  Remove from heat and add raspberries, cilantro and butter, mix well and let sit for five minutes, season to taste.

Roasted Pork Loin
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Sear pork loin on all sides on a roasting pan till browned.  Put on a baking rack and cook in the oven about 30 minutes or until 155 degree internal temperature.  Remove from oven and let rest ten minutes covered with aluminum foil.  Slice and serve over mashed potatoes and top with gravy.  I added some broccoli for some freshy greens as well. Thanks to Harout, Dre and Paula for coming to dinner.  Buon Apetito!

Asian Style Baby Back Ribs

I made these ribs for my going back to New Jersey barbecue party and they were amazing!  There were 9 racks in total, half Asian and half traditional.  These Asian style ribs were amazing but using traditional or any form of custom spice and sauce with this technique will ensure a finger licking outcome.  This recipe for three racks takes 1.5 hours of prep and 3.5 hours of cooking time, costs $40 and feeds 6 to 10 people.

Hoisin Glazed Baby Back Ribs
3 racks of baby back ribs, cleaned of membrane
1/2 cup asian dry rub
 - 5 tablespoons five spice powder
 - 5 tablespoons kosher salt
 - 5 tablespoons brown sugar
 - 2 tablespoons ground ginger
 - 2 tablespoons garlic powder
 - 2 tablespoons chilli powder
 - 1 tablespoon cumin
 - 1 tablespoon cayenne
 - 1 tablespoon coriander
2 cups Hoisin Glaze
 - 8oz Hoisin Sauce
 - 8oz BBQ sauce, Bullseye or Sweet Baby Ray's
 - 1 small ginger root, peeled and rough chopped
 - 2 cloves or garlic, rough chop
 - 2 tablespoons Nama shoyu, or regular soy sauce
 - 2 tablespoons ponzu sauce
 - 1 tablespoon sesame oil
 - 1 tablespoon dry rub

First you have to clean the ribs of the membrane along the back side.  This is tedious and annoying (among other expletives) but makes for a fall off the bone tender result. Using a sharp pairing knife cut the fat between the ribs and then pull off as much of the membrane and fat as possible.  See the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQVIMKDpZfg Once the ribs are cleaned, cover liberally with the dry rub and wrap individually in heavy duty aluminum foil and refrigerate for at least 2 hours up to 12 hours.  Preheat oven to 270 degrees.  Place foil wrapped ribs on a baking sheet and cook in the oven for 1 hour.  Remove and then open the aluminum foil.  Baste the ribs on both sides with the Hoisin Glaze and place back in the oven for 1 hour uncovered.  Remove from the oven and glaze again.  Cook 30 minutes and repeat the glazing process.  Cook 30 more minutes.  Remove the ribs from the oven a turn the oven to low broil.  Place the ribs on the bottom rack for about 15 minutes or until then begin to brown a bit.  Remove, slice and serve.

These turned out very tender with a sweet and smokey flavor.  Thanks to everyone for coming out to the party!! Buon Apetito

Cubano Pressed Sandwich

This is Miami and I love sandwiches so this was a natural, surprised it took this long to do this. This classic costs $7 takes 15 minutes and feeds 2.

Cuban Sandwich
2 Cuban Rolls - sorry there is no substitute
1/3 lb roasted pork
1/3 lb roasted ham
4 sliced bread and butter pickles
4 slices Swiss cheese
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 tablespoon brown mustard

Mustard both sides of the cut roll. Place pork on bottom followed by ham, pickles, then cheese on top. Place it on the panini press for a few minutes and press down. Slice and serve. Oye, que vola?

Spice Rubbed Pork Chop with Wilted Arugula and Apple-Thyme Butter

This quick and tasty dish take less then 30 minutes to make and hits all the right taste buds. Plus it feeds two people for about $10. So today I made this for lunch instead of overpaying at a bad restaurant.

Spiced Rubbed Pork Chop

2 bone-in pork chops (about 8 oz with bone)
1 teaspoon of Agave nectar or honey
1 teaspoon of Chinese 5 spice powder (or garam masala)
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon of coriander
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
2 oz vegetable oil

Start the oven at 350. Put a large frying pan on medium high heat (7 of 10) and add the oil. Coat the chops in the agave or honey and coat with the spice rub. Once the oil is hot place the pork chops in the pan, bone side to the center. Let cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until the pork gets a little charred. Turn the chops over and place the whole pan directly in the oven. Let that cook for 12 to 15 minutes depending on the thickness of the chop. Remove from the oven and let it rest at least 7 minutes before serving.

Apple-Thyme-Butter Sauce
1 red delicious apple skinned, cored an diced
1/2 stick of salted butter
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme
1 pinch of 5 spice powder (or garam masala)

Start butter in a small saute pan on medium low heat (4 of 10). Once the butter has melted and started to brown, add the diced apples and let them cook together for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and add thyme and 5 spice powder.

Wilted Arugula
2 big handfuls of arugula, about 10 oz
1/4 onion, diced
1 oz olive oil

Start a medium sauté pan on low add olive oil and onions. Let that cook for at least 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once the pork has finished resting and the apple sauce is done, addthe arugula to the pan and toss with the oil and onions for about 1 minute. Remoive from the heat and add directly to the plate.


The plating is simple with the pork on the plate and the sauce over the top. Fill the greens on to the bone side of the chop and it looks better then anything else you would see from a restaurant for lunch today.