Didn’t bother with the smoker, just applied a dry rub and roasted a shoulder in the oven. ![DSC_6628 [1600x1060]](https://whats4dinnersolutions.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/dsc_6628-1600x1060.jpg)
pork roast
Mmm… roast pork
I mentioned that we roasted a small chunk of lamb for our big holiday dinner. The size of the roast made me realize that we didn’t have a proper sized roasting pan. We have a couple that are huge, big enough for the largest turkey and they’ve seen a lot of use over the years. What we didn’t have was a pan sized for the smaller cuts like the 3 pound leg of lamb. I remedied that.This one is by Chicago Metallic and measures 13″x9″ and is just over 2″ deep. Pressed and formed from steel with a non stick coating that I hope holds up. It wasn’t very expensive but I didn’t want to spend a lot on an occasional item. I did try it out right away.
That pork butt has been in the freezer for a good while, bought during a pretty good sale on pork. I think I paid twice as much for the lamb and only got half the meat. I knew that a good sandwich would have to be the first thing so I made some buns from the same recipe I used on those hot rolls.
Worked out great. Made a super lunch when paired with some french fries. I used the BBQ sauce from this recipe.
Thursday Night Menu: Tropical Edition
I’m travelling, again, but I’m leaving you with my favorite Key Lime Pie recipe, courtesy of my brother and sister-in-law in Florida. I love Key Lime Pie and this one is so easy and fool-proof. This entire menu has a bit of a tropical feel to it, which I think is perfect for a cold winter’s day. I’ll be on the beach, so whatever. I hear I’ll be coming home to snow and bitter cold, lucky me. I await spring and seed catalogs. Wherever you are this weekend, I hope you’ve got something fun planned. If I was home I’d have a big pot of soup or stew on and be curled up reading a good book. What do you like to cook when the weather is cold and dreary?
On the board tonight:
- Pork Tenderloin w/Mojo Sauce & Chutney
- Baked Sweet Potato w/ Curry Butter
- Steamed Sugar Snap Peas
- Key Lime Pie
Pork Tenderloin w/Mojo Sauce & Chutney
- 1 cup olive oil
- 1 tbsp crushed garlic
- 1 cup key limejuice*
- 1 tsp. ground black pepper
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 1/2 tsp. cumin
- 1-1½ lb pork tenderloin
- 8 oz jar pineapple or mango chutney
sauce pan and roasting pan or casserole dish
Sauté garlic & olive oil in saucepan. Add limejuice & spices. Bring sauce to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Place the roast in a covered oven-proof casserole. Pour 1 cup of the Mojo sauce over the pork. Cover and bake at 350° for 40 to 45 minutes, until internal temperature is 140°. During cooking, baste the roast twice. Let set 10 minutes before slicing into medallions, serve with remaining Mojo sauce & chutney. Start checking internal temperature at 30 minutes. I’ve never had a pork roast cook the same amount of time yet.
Baked Sweet Potato w/ Curry Butter
- 4 small sweet potatoes
- ¼ cup butter
- ¼ – ½ tsp curry powder
Bake at the same time the tenderloin is cooking (I’d start them about 10 minutes before, just to be safe). Approximately 45-60 minutes, until you can easily pierce w/fork. If you have metal skewers, place potatoes on the skewers (usually 2 can fit on each skewer) this will speed up cooking time. Melt butter, add curry and let cool. If potatoes finish before roast is ready, wrap in foil to keep warm. Slice open cooked potatoes and add dollop of curry butter.
Key Lime Pie
So easy, yet sooo good!
- 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 4 egg yolks
- 6 tbsp Key limejuice*
- 9 inch graham cracker pie crust
- 4 oz whipped topping
- 1 lime, sliced
Preheat oven to 250°
Combine milk & yolks with mixer until well blended. Add limejuice, mix well. Pour into pie shell. Bake for 20 minutes. Let cool, then spread whipped topping over the top, garnish with lime slices, and refrigerate until served.
* you can substitute regular limejuice if needed.
No shopping list tonight, sorry, was a rushed week.
If it wasn’t for bad luck
Not that I’m complaining.
Been the last few days enamored of a new little piece of hardware, a Mifi 2200 that will pull in 3g data from the cellular network. We are in a fringe reception area but we get enough signal to make it work. I’ve been running a demo unit from the local Verizon store and was pretty happy with it, all in all. Decided to bite the bullet, went to ebay and bought one cheap. Heh.
Seems I was a bit confused about things. They would have given me one free with a two year plan. I was hoping to avoid a two year plan with the private purchase. Well–I did avoid the contract. I tried to activate the thing last night over the net but it seemed I couldn’t get it going, I kept clicking on “10 gigs/month for $80 plan” and I was being redirected to the “which device do you want to buy” web page. Didn’t want to buy a device, I had one. Frustrated, I registered the device in the pay as you go (prepaid) plan and got the device authorized for a month with a 5 gig cap. Figured I’d go in to the Verizon store front and upgrade the plan to what I wanted.
Nuh-uh.
I can go online right now to the Verizon store and order a new 2200, get it free when activated with the 2 year 10 gig/month plan. I can’t take the one I already own in and get the plan upgraded “until you’ve been on the pre-paid account for 6 months”.
“You mean I can order a 2200 with the two year plan already authorized on it and the device is free?”
“Yes”
But I can’t put the same plan on this one?”
“Nope”
“Why? That makes no sense!”
“Because.”
Grr…
Mmm…pork roast.
Ramen!
I roasted a pork butt last night, made a few sammiches, packed 2 one quart mason jars with meat and broth and pressure canned those. I think of them as instant pozole. Had a little bit left over and browsed some recipes for soups with pork in them. Found this one with the engaging title: “Asian Ramen Noodle Soup“. I think the title could have been reduced to the one word-“ramen”. Heh, but who iz I ta quibble over words n stuff. LOL
I pretty much followed the recipe, adding some shredded cabbage and some julienned carrot. If this hadn’t been intended for Mrs J as well as myself I would have really jazzed it with some more heat-peppercorns, more red pepper flakes.
Enjoy!
Dinner today
We have a standup freezer, so when the grocery has a good deal on meat I tend to go for it. Last week they had these humongous pork roasts, bone in, so I brought one home and carved it into three portions.
Took one of them out and thawed it today. When it was thawed I marinaded it in olive oil, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, and some garlic and onion powders. Oh, and some dried rosemary. Gave it a couple of hours. While it was soaking in all that goodness, I diced some veggies-a couple of potatoes, carrots, some cauliflower, and an onion. I gave them the same general treatment with a similar marinade.
The meat and veggies, marinades included, then went into a 350 oven in a large stock pot with the cover on for nearly an hour, then I took the lid off to get some browning. When I judged them ready, I removed the pork and the rest to a serving tray, and made gravy from the liquid in the bottom of the pot by adding some corn starch in a slurry of water. A wee splash of Kitchen Bouquet for a deeper color as the gravy simmered on the stove top finished it.
It ended up very tasty, though next time I’ll cut the cauliflower bigger, and the other veggies smaller, and take the lid off for the browning step earlier. The carrots and potatoes were perfect, but the cauliflower was a bit overdone. The pork was fork tender. Annie was disappointed when I wiped the plate clean with the garlic bread, she was thinking that job was hers.
What's 4 Dinner Solutions 