Firecracker Pork with Fruity Lime Salsa

This recipe comes from the Southern Living Slow Cooker Cookbook.

5 lb. boneless Boston Butt pork roast

1 Tbsp. paprika

1 tsp. dried thyme

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

6 garlic cloves, minced

3/4 c. water

7 oz. can chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, undrained

1 small onion, cut into chunks

16 flour tortillas

Fruity Lime Salsa:

8 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained

2 c. diced, peeled papaya

1 c. diced, peeled kiwifruit

1/3 c. finely chopped red onion

1/2 c. chopped fresh cilantro

3 Tbsp. fresh lime juice

Trim fat from roast, cut roast in half crosswise. Combine paprika, thyme, salt, pepper and garlic, stir well, then rub over surface of roast halves and place in slow cooker. Combine water, chipotle chiles and onion in a food processor and process until smooth; pour chile puree over pork. Cover with lid, cook on high setting 1 hour. Reduce to low setting and cook 9 hours or until pork is very tender. While pork is cooking, mix ingredients for fruity lime salsa.

Remove pork from slow cooker and let it cool for 10 minutes, then shred with 2 forks. Pour cooking liquid into a bowl and let it stand for 5 minutes, skim fat from the surface. Return liquid and shredded pork to slow cooker , cover and cook on high setting for 15 minutes. Serve pork in flour tortillas with fruity lime salsa.

This is pretty spicy!

Grilled Herb Pork Tenderloin with "Magic Sauce"

If you're reading through these recipes, you are starting to realize that I get many of them from the same 3 people! Here is another one that Donna made for us in RI. Is it any wonder we've made this trip an annual tradition?!

2 pork tenderloins
shallots, diced
fresh rosemary
fresh thyme
fresh oregano
olive oil

Sauce:

equal parts of whole grain mustard, sour cream and mayo.

Marinate the pork tenderloin in the oil and herbs overnight. Grill. Serve with "magic sauce" - Donna does not call it this, but I served it to some friends who really loved it and coined the term. I like to serve this with Orzo with roasted vegetables.

Filipino Pork on a Stick

This is yet another recipe from my friend Donna from yet another amazing meal we had in RI.

2 1/2 lbs. center cut pork loin, cut into bite size pieces
1 c. soy sauce
1/3 c. lemon juice
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. Heinz 57
pepper to tase
3 cloves garlic, minced

After marinating, thread onto skewers. Grill.

Veggie Fried Rice (with leftover Pork Tenderloin)

If we make Pork Tenderloin for just our family, we have enough leftover to make this the next night.

1 bag (5.3 oz) quick brown rice
1 c. Sugar snap peas
4 green onions, chopped
1/2 c. Matchstick carrots
Cooking spray
2 large eggs
leftover pork tenderloin, cut into bite size pieces

Cook rice. Saute peas, green onions and carrots in a large skillet over med-high heat for 3 min. Add rice and cook for 2 min. Make a well in the center of the pan, add eggs and cook 1-2 min., stirring occasionally. Mix in the leftover pork tenderloin and juices and stir.

Baked Ziti

Buddy Valestro, aka the Cake Boss, aka the Kitchen Boss created this. Jon found this recipe on-line and so did his dad. We made it the same week and told each other about it after we both tried and loved it! It is so different than the typical baked ziti. Once, I made this times 5 because I had a bunch of friends that had just had babies and it was a great meal to deliver because they could freeze it and heat it up whenever they wanted to eat it.

1 lb. ziti

2 c. heavy cream

1/4 c. fresh ricotta

1 c. grated fontinella

6 ounces thick proscuitto, diced (original recipe calls for mortadella, but we think that tastes like bologna!)

1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes in juice

1 tsp. salt

1/2 c. breadcrumbs (panko are best)

2 Tbsp. butter

Preheat oven to 400. Butter a 9x13 pan. Cook the ziti to al dente and drain. In large bowl, whisk together the cream, ricotta, fontinella and salt. Fold in the can of tomatoes with their juice and the proscuitto. Add the ziti and combine well. Pour all into the dish. Bake 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, with a large spoon, stir the contents of the baking dish, sprinkle the top with breadcrumbs and dot with butter. Continue baking another 15 minutes.

Pasta Campagnola

This recipe is probably close to being our favorite, partly because it's so good, and partly because it has a great story. Back in February of 2009, we went to this amazing little restaurant in the Tuscan countryside

Our bus driver had quite a bit of trouble finding the place and our bus even got stuck trying to get there. We had come from being in Rome where we were not super impressed with the food and were still looking for that to-die-for Italian meal.

Our group (we were chaperones for a highschool boy's basketball team) had the place to ourselves for lunch and they brought us out the most amazing meal.


After we were back in the States, my friend Donna, emailed the restaurant and asked if we could have the recipe. They sent back a list of ingredients (some in English, some in Italian). I found the email and here is what it said:

thank you for your compliments and sorry for my english......its called pasta campagnola and this are the ingredients

1.butter(burro)

2.meat sauce(pork)(salsiccia)

3.liquid milk(panna)

4.piper(pepe)

5.prezemolo(i dont know how do u call it)lol.

So, we had an idea of what to look for and Jon and I went on another internet quest to find something similar. The closest we came was one by Mario Batali, which we sort of combined with the info we had in the email. Every time we eat this, it takes us back to that amazing time and place.

1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

1 Tbsp. butter

1 onion, diced

1 lb. Italian sausage (special kind like parsley & parmesan)

1 c. white wine

1 c. heavy cream

1/2 c. chicken stock

1 Tbsp. tomato paste

salt & pepper

fresh grated Parmesan cheese

2 pkgs. frozen ricotta cavatelli

Heat olive oil and butter, saute onion, cook sausage (casings removed) slowly breaking apart and until it loses pink color. Add white wine, then cream, chicken stock, tomato paste and salt and pepper. Serve over cavatelli with fresh grated Parmesan cheese. Crusty bread and a glass of Italian wine are a must!

Smoked Sausage Cassoulet

This comes from a crock-pot cook book we have by Southern Living. It is so good with a loaf of crusty bread and a simple green salad. It tastes even better if you make it a day ahead of time.

1 lb. lean boneless pork loin roast
2 bacon slices
2 c. chopped onion
1 t. dried thyme
½ t. dried rosemary
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. salt
½ t. pepper
2 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes, drained
2 (15 oz) cans Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained
½ lb. smoked sausage, cut into cubes
Shredded parmesan cheese

Cut pork loin into 1 inch cubes. Cook bacon in large skillet over med-high heat until crisp, remove bacon from skillet, crumble and set aside. Add onion, thyme, rosemary and garlic to bacon drippings in skillet – saute 3 minutes or until tender. Stir in crumbled bacon, salt, pepper, tomatoes, bring to a boil. Remove from heat, set aside. Mash half the beans with a potato masher until chunky. Combine mashed beans, remaining half of beans, pork loin and sausage and mix well. Place half of bean mixture in slow cooker, top with half of tomato mixture. Repeat layers, cover with lid and cook on high setting for 1 hour. Reduce to low heat setting and cook 4 hours. Serve with grated parmesan cheese.

Angel Hair alla Carbonara

When we went to Italy in 2009, we ate Spaghetti Carbonara in a little restaurant in Rome. When we got home, we went on an internet hunt to find something close to the meal we experienced. After trying several, this has become our favorite (but I can't remember which site we got it from!).

1 and 1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese

3 large eggs

3/4 c. whipping cream

12 ounces angel hair pasta

6 pancetta slices, chopped

1 large onion, chopped

2 tsp. minced garlic

1 tsp. dried crushed red pepper

3/4 c. dry vermouth or white wine

Directions:

Get pasta water heated in large pot. Saute pancetta in large skillet over medium heat until crisp. Add onion, garlic and crushed red pepper. Saute until onion is translucent, about 8 minutes. Once water in large pot is boiling, cook pasta until 'al dente', stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, whisk 3/4 c. cheese, eggs and cream in bowl to blend; set aside. Add vermouth to the pancetta, onion, garlic mixture in the skillet. Simmer until most of vermouth has evaporated, about 8 minutes. Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 cup cooking liquid. Return pasta to same pot. (Pasta will probably be done before pancetta mix.). Add pancetta mixture and egg mixture to pasta. Toss over low heat until egg mixture thickens and coats pasta, adding reserved cooking liquid by tablespoonfuls if sauce is too thick, about 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer pasta to large bowl and serve with remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese.

Pork Tenderloin

I feel like this deserves a better title. Something like, "the most amazing pork tenderloin ever"! Jon's sister, Elizabeth, made this for us years ago and we have served this to countless guests. We serve it along with mashed potatoes and an amazing asparagus recipe .

1 pkg. pork tenderloin (2 tenderloins)
½ c. soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, pressed
2 Tbsp. fresh grated ginger
1 Tbsp. sesame oil
¼ c. honey
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
4 Tbsp. sesame seeds

Combine soy sauce, garlic, ginger and sesame oil. Pour over pork and marinate overnight (or at least a few hours). When ready to cook, put pork in shallow pan with juices. Heat honey in the microwave for about 10 seconds, add brown sugar and sesame seeds and spread over pork. Bake at 400 for approximately 30 minutes. I always cut it open to make sure it's done (probably should invest in a thermometer but haven't!). It should be a little pink inside. Also, I often cover it with aluminum foil after the first 15 minutes so that the juices don't burn.