Recipe #9: Caribbean-Style Pork

I was flipping through one of the many cookbooks that I own and doing a new test - if there is nothing in here that I want to cook now or in the immediate future, why do I own this book? And luckily for this book, there was a few! First up - a taste of the Caribbean!!

Pork tenderloin is the base for this dish and an interesting combination of flavours that I never had while I was in the Caribbean - but sounded like they would work out all right. I'm a fan of one pot dinners if I'm using a slow cooker so next time I make this, I'll probably throw some more vegetables besides pepper in - and yes, I will definitely make this again! Cookbook stays!

And because I am a nervous crockpot user at the best of times, I couldn't figure out how all the veggies and pork were going to "stew" together. I might have added about 1/2 cup of pineapple juice to start things off! Knowing what I know now, I probably would skip that step - the juices showed up and stewed everything beautiful, and the pineapple flavour either didn't stick around or was lost by the strength of the other flavours.

Ingredients

2 lbs lean boneless center-cut pork loin roast
1 tsp olive oil
2 cups chopped red bell pepper
6 green onions, cut into 1 inch pieces
cooking spray
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp fresh lime juice
2 tbsp creamy peanut butter
1 tsp cumin seed, crushed
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 1/2 cups hot cooked basmatic rice
2 tbsp diagnoally sliced creen onions

Instructions

1. Trim fat from roast; cut roast into 1-inch pieces. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add pork; saute 5 minutes or until browned.
2. Place pork, bell pepper, and green onions in a 4 quart electric slow coker coated with cooking spray; stir well.
3. Combine hoisin sauce and next 7 ingredients in a small bowl; stir until well blended. Pour mixture over pork; stir well.
4. Cover with lid; cook on high-heat setting 1 hour. Reduce to low-heat setting and cook 5 to 6 hours. Serve over rice; sprinkle with green onions.

Enjoy!

Sincerely,
Sincerely xoxo

Recipe #8: Apple Chicken Curry

I remember when I found this recipe in a "Hope Blooms" newsletter released by the Canadian Cancer Society. I love curry and I'd had chicken curry - but apples? Okay, maybe this could work because I do love apples. The most important thing for this recipe is that the apples are of the perfect crunchy sweet variety that still come out firm after cooking. The original recipe recommends B.C. Brand Sunrise or Royal Gala, but I am currently loving Ontario Honeycrisp. In the fall, I would buy one or two apples of different varieties (Canadian of course!) to increase my apple repetoire, but I've been stuck on this variety for a few months now. I'm an apple-a-day kind of girl and whether that is keeping the doctor away or just makes me happy, we'll see...

This is my second time making this dish and I had forgotten until it was done how very much the chicken is not the star! It's all about the apples! If you wanted, you could probably not even include the chicken breast, though I would add more chickpeas to make sure that it is still a strong source of protein. For some reason, the grocery store had an abundance of green, yellow and orange peppers, but no red peppers! I think visually the picture is missing the red, but the orange was still a good choice for substitution. Thank goodness for a little bit of red apple peel peeking through! I'm a bit of a curry fan so I might have doubled (okay, fine tripled the curry powder - but it was a really weak variety), but I'd start with the recommendation and see how you like the taste. Gluten-free flour substituted just fine!

I would recommend a little bit of Sean Paul to help you keep the rhythm as you prepare this dish... ;)

Ingredients

2 tbsp butter
1 large chicken breast, skinless, boneless and cubed
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 large onion, chopped into chunks
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 apples, unpeeled, chopped
1 red bell pepper, cut in large chunks
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp hot pepper flakes
4 tbsp flour
3 cups chicken broth

Instructions

In a large saucepan, cook chicken in butter until brown and cooked throughout. Remove from heat and set aside. In the same saucepan, heat vegetable oil and sautee celery, onion and garlic until soft. Add apples, pepper, chickpeas, cooked chicken and spices and cook for 2 minutes. Sprinkle on flour and cook for 3 minutes. Add broth. Bring to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes or until sauce thickens. Serve plain or over rice garnished with yogurt, cilantro and apple wedges.

[I went with about 1/3 cup rice just because rice and curry go together like curry and roti in my world... I did use the curry by itself in a sandwich later in the week - mmmmmm.....]

Enjoy!

Sincerely,
Sincerely xoxo