Sage Pork Chops

Truth be told, this is not a very appetizing picture.  This was a quick meal, and I did not have much time for plate arranging.  (never mind the two different kinds of pasta)  However, that being said,  the sauce was delicious, and the pork was moist.    There was enough sauce to spoon over the pasta.  Quick to prepare, and easy to make - delish!

Serves 4

4 pork chops
2 tablespoons fresh sage (or 1 teaspoon dried sage)  
1 teaspoon ground pepper
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup water
2 cubes beef bouillon  (I used lower sodium)

• Rub sage and pepper on both sides of pork chops
• Melt butter in a large skillet and saute chops for 5 minutes on each side
• In a separate pan, combine water and bouillon, stir until dissolved
• Add to pork chops.  Reduce to low heat
• Cover and simmer for approximately 45 minutes

-Queenie Cuisine

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Spicy Ham Steak

I had two ham steaks in the refrigerator, and I honestly did not know what to do with them.  None of my kids are terribly fond of ham.  Add a few apples, some maple syrup and a dash of cinnamon, and voila, dinner!



Serves 6

1  1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 lbs ham steak
2 apples (I sweet, 1 sour) 
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• Melt butter in a large skillet
• Fry ham on both sides until butter is browned
• Lay thinly sliced apples on top of ham
• Drizzle syrup over ham and apples
• reduce heat to simmer, and stir occasionally until apples are soft
• Sprinkle with cinnamon

-Queenie Cuisine

Slow Cooker Baby Back Ribs

A little bit of spring and summer in the midst of winter.  Easy and delicious! (finger licking good...honestly!) I made my own barbecue sauce.  (View next posting)  I will serve this with homemade corn bread and Kentucky Fried Chicken coleslaw.

This recipe is allrecipes.com



3 lbs baby back ribs, trimmed
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup water
1/2 onion, sliced (I used shallots,  lighter flavor)
1 minced garlic clove
1 bottle barbecue sauce (I used my own)

• Season ribs with salt and pepper
• Pour water into slow cooker
• Layer ribs
• Top with onion and garlic
• Cook high for 4 hours, or low for 8 hours)
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Transfer ribs to a baking sheet
• Discard onion and garlic
• Coat ribs with barbecue sauce
• Bake for 10 to 15 minutes (until sauce caramelizes and sticks to meat)

-Queenie Cuisine

Asian Meatballs

Boy these are good!  I plan on feeding these to my kids, so I decided not to add any garnishes.    Adding chopped scallions and toasted sesame seeds would add beautiful color contrast to this dish)

I would suggest using low salt soy sauce.  This is not a low sodium dish.  Easy to make, and good for a meal with egg noodles, or used as an appetizer.


Meatballs:

1 lb lean ground beef
1 lb ground pork
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 cup plain panko breadcrumbs
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
3 garlic cloves, minced


Sauce:

2/3 cup Hoisin sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon ground ginger

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees
• Combine all meatball ingredients
• Place meatballs on a nonstick cooking sprayed baking sheet. (I made 40 meatballs with 1 recipe)
• Bake for 30 minutes, or until no pink is showing inside the meatballs
• While meatballs are baking,  mix all sauce ingredients together
• Place meatballs in a pot, and smother with sauce
• Heat until sauce is heated, and meatballs are completely coated
• If desired, top with scallions and sesame seeds

-Queenie Cuisine

Cheddar Wursts with Cider Sauce

This is a great meal for a cold fall or winter's day!  I feel like I am back in Germany, eating at fine restaurant  (My husband and I went to Munich and Bavaria many, many years ago... before kids)
I will admit, the kids were not to crazy about the broccoli.  (they prefer their vegetables boiled)  The original recipe asks for hard cider.  I chose beer, because I thought the taste would be milder for the kids.  Smoked pork sausages may also be substituted.  I thought the sauce was delicious! I doubled the ingredients.  The recipe below reflects a single recipe.  Serve with beer!



2 Granny Smith apples + half an apple
2 oz rye bread
1/2 cup beer
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons light brown sugar 
4 to 6 cheddar wursts
1 tablespoons olive oil
1 lb broccoli (cut into 1 inch pieces)
1 teaspoon ground mustard
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1/2 cup water
1  1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Use nonstick spray on a pan
• Core 2 apples and place cut side down on pan
• Bake for 30 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool
• Scoop out apple pulp and puree.  Discard the skins
• Cut bread up into 1 inch cubes and bake for 10 minutes, until golden
• In a pan, boil beer, vinegar, sugar and apple puree
• Simmer, stirring until reduced to approximately 3/4 cup
• Remove from heat
• Broil or grill sausages  (the cheddar wursts come fully cooked)  until heated inside, remove and cover with foil to keep warm
• In a large skillet,  heat oil and add broccoli 
• Stir in ground mustard, caraway seeds, cider sauce and water
• Cover and cook until al dente or soft
• Remove from heat and stir in butter
• Place sausage, bread pieces and 1/2 apple (cut into match sticks) on top of broccoli mixture

-Queenie Cuisine

Sausage Lasagna Rolls

 My husband likes lasagna as long as it does not have ricotta or cottage cheese... perfect, this recipe calls for cream cheese for filling.  Easy to make, and fancy looking.  The sauce tastes great too!



Makes 10 lasagna rolls 

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 minced garlic cloves
1  28 oz can crushed tomatoes (undrained)
1  15 oz can tomato sauce
1  6 oz can tomato paste
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon parsley
1 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
10 uncooked lasagna noodles
5 uncooked Italian sausage links
1 package fresh baby spinach
1 package softened cream cheese (8 oz)
2 cups part-skim shredded mozzarella cheese

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees bake
• In a pan, over medium heat, heat oil
• Add onion and garlic.  Cook for 4 to 6 minutes, or until tender
• Stir in tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste and seasonings
• Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer partially covered for 40 minutes (if cooking uncovered, sauce will spit all over the stove)
• Cook lasagna until al dente
• Cook sausage according to package
• In a pot, bring water to boil, and cook spinach until wilted.  Drain and squeeze dry
• In a bowl, mix cream cheese and spinach
• Spread 3 cups of sauce into a 13 x 9 inch baking dish
• Spread out 2 tablespoons of cream cheese mixture onto flat noodle
• Cut 1 sausage, and place half at end of noodle
• Roll up noodle and place standing on top of sauce on baking dish
• Repeat until all noodles and sausage are used up
• Place last 1  1/2 cup of sauce over noodles and sprinkle with cheese
• Cover and bake for 40 minutes
• Remove cover and bake for another 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted

-Queenie Cuisine

Pork Pie

Once a year,  my husband makes the suggestion that I order a pork pie from Phyllis' Bakery in Putnam.  For the Pomfret locals,  you know where I mean.  For those of you who don't,  she makes the best pork pies! (cookies, cakes...the list goes on)   To me, pork pie reminds me of cool, crisp days; which is when I decided to make my own.   Well, today is 80 degrees, with light southern breezes, but I made it anyway. In the future, l may try 1/3 ground veal, to 2/3 ground pork. (and call it meat pie)   As usual, don't pay attention to the crumbly pie crust... different crust recipe,  same result.  Tastes good!    Serve with steamed asparagus, and don't forget the ketchup.  Enjoy!


Pie Insides:

2 lbs ground pork
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups water
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves (this ingredient makes the whole pie)
3 cups mashed potatoes



Pie Crust:

4 cups flour, plus extra for work surface
2 teaspoons salt
1  3/4 cups shortening
1 large egg
1 tablespoon vinegar
1/2 cup ice water
1 tablespoon milk

• Heat oven to 400 bake
• In a saucepan, combine pork, onion, salt and water, gently simmer, breaking meat up and stirring often until all liquid evaporates
• Stir in spices
• Add potatoes and mix until thoroughly combined, set aside
• Using a large bowl, combine flour and salt
• Cut in shortening into size of peas
• Add egg, vinegar and ice water
• Work mixture until soft and form into a dough ball
• Divide in half
• Roll out crust until thin, place on bottom of pie plate
• Add pork mixture evenly
• Make and cover pork mixture with top crust (I took thin pieces of crust and placed them on top of the mixture like a puzzle)
• Pinch edges together
• Prick with fork and brush top with milk
• Bake on middle rack for 30 minutes, or until crust begins to brown slightly (place a pan underneath the pie plate so that it will collect any spillage as the pie is baking)
• Cool on a rack before cutting

-Queenie Cuisine

Fig Glazed Pork Tenderloin

I had a left over jar of fig jam, so I thought I would try this.  The glaze is delicious, and so easy!  My 3 kids finished their plates tonight.  I had 3 ears of corn in the fridge, so I made Cheddar Corn Spoon Bread.  (next recipe)  While this recipe is similar to my Dixie Spoon Bread Recipe, (May 19, 2013)  this recipe calls for fresh corn and cheese.  A nice"different kind" of side that went nicely with the pork tenderloin. 


1  3+ lb pork tenderloin
1  13 oz jar fig preserves
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar 

• Mix together fig preserves, mustard and vinegar
• Place tenderloin on foil lined pan
• Brush with glaze on all sides
• Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes (until thermometer reaches 170 degrees)
• Brush with glaze several times during cooking 

-Queenie Cuisine

Pork Dim Sum

This concludes the Chinese appetizer portion of recipes for the time being.   These are tasty, and surprisingly easy to make.  Before placing them all on a plate,  test one to make sure it is cooked all the way through.  

14 ounces ground pork

2 chopped scallions

1 1  3/4 oz canned bamboo shoots, drained, rinsed and chopped

1 tablespoon light soy sauce

2 teaspoons oil

2 teaspoons sugar

1 egg white, lightly beaten

4  1/2 teaspoons cornstarch

24 wonton wrappers

• Mix together the pork, scallions, bamboo shoots, soy sauce, oil, sugar and egg in a bowl
• Stir in cornstarch
• Spread out the wonton wrappers and place a spoonful of the mixture in the center of each wrapper and lightly brush edges with water
• Bring the sides of the wrappers together in the center of the filling, pinching firmly together
• Line a steamer with a clean, damp cloth and arrange the wontons inside
• Cover and steam for 10+ minutes (mine took closer to 18 minutes, so check often)
• **Make sure the pork is not pink before eating

-Queenie Cuisine

Ham Loaf

We all wonder what to do after a holiday with so much left over ham.  I have a solution for you,  ham loaf!  I currently do not have a meat grinder, so I cut the ham into very small pieces. Doing this, is not half as attractive as if it is ground, but it still tastes delicious!  My mother and I used to joke about it and call it "chunk and clunk." (Mmmmm!)  Following this recipe, I am going to post Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges,  a great accompaniment!    Enjoy!


1 slightly beaten egg
1/2 cup milk
2/3 cup medium cracker crumbs
1/4 cup chopped onion
dash pepper
1 lb ground ham
1 lb lean ground pork

• Mix all ingredients
• Press into a loaf pan, and then turn out into a shallow baking dish.  
• Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.

-Queenie Cuisine