There is nothing more fun or more challenging for a seasoned cook or chef than dealing with an overage of product (leftovers for us laymen.)  While you could just reheat and serve, it will almost never be as good as the original dish was (unless it’s a soup or stew, which are sometimes made a day in advance and allowed to get better overnight.)  The idea of turning something previously wonderful into something completely different, but just as memorable is one that some shy from, but I embrace.

This dish is the result of having made far too much braised pork.  I’d used soy in the original marinade and the rest of the ingredients are just pantry staples mixed in a new way.  The difference in textures and flavors was amazing and even though the pork was braised for hours, the dish still had a light, bright flavor that was perfect for a quick breakfast.

The recipe below is for one person, but makes enough dressing for 3 or 4, so feel free to make several plates with a bit more pork and you’ll be fine!

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© Jerry D. Russell and Cooking... by the seat of my Pants!.com, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: leftover recipes, light, pork, Recipes, Salad, simple

Fried rice is something I’ve covered on this blog on more than one occasion. Fried rice is a passion for both my wife and myself.  It’s a staple meal in our home for its versatility, ease of cooking and its ability to carry the flavors of almost any ingredient added to it, but this post is not about the rice.

Don’t get me wrong,  the rice was wonderful; but in this instance it was eclipsed by the accidental perfection of the marinade used on the pork.  It’s good folks.  Good enough to consider using as cologne.  Good enough to make a full batch on skewers and call it a snack for one person good. Good enough that I almost don’t want to share it with you good.

But I’m just not that cruel. This must be shared. All I ask is that if you put it on a restaurant menu, I get a handy little royalty check and credit for the recipe.  This recipe is a keeper.

The flavors in the marinade are more Middle-Eastern than Asian, but they pair very well with the rice and just a bit of soy sauce. The pork is savory, sweet and spicy at the same time, but so tender you can cut it with a glance.  No knife necessary.

I could rave on about this for hours, but I think I’ll end the suspense and just get to the recipe.

… [visit site to read more]

© Jerry D. Russell and Cooking... by the seat of my Pants!.com, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Asian, Asian Cuisine, Garlic, Middle Eastern, pork, rice

Fried Rice is the perfect go-to meal.  As long as you have Rice, eggs and scallions you already have all the basics of fried rice on hand.  Anything and everything else that you happen to have lying about in the fridge or the pantry is fair game for this dish and there’s absolutely no reason not to throw just about anything including the kitchen sink, into the pan.

This particular fried rice incarnation is brought to you by my brand-spanking new smoker/grill. When I bought it I knew I wouldn’t use it all that often as a smoker, but I absolutely had to christen it as such.  To justify the expense of burning three bags of charcoal and two bags of wood chips, I offered up close to 15 pounds of proteins to the gods of the grill and they did not disappoint.

My larder now happily includes 6 pounds of smoked chicken, 5 pounds of smoked brisket, 6 pounds of smoked ribs and 4.5 pounds of smoked pork.  If you’ve got this amount of smoky goodness on hand, you use it.

I was debating between making spring rolls and a simple batch of fried rice.  My wife made up my mind for me and I was off to create something worthy of the time taken in preparing such a wonderful feat of wood infused goodness. I think I’ve managed to do so, but I’ll let you be the judge.

Of course, if you can’t smoke your own pork for 7 hours you can easily recreate the spirit of the dish by cooking a pork roast wrapped in foil with 3 tsp of liquid smoke in the oven at 250 degrees for about 4 hours.  The flavor isn’t exactly the same, but it’s a close second.

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© Jerry D. Russell and Cooking... by the seat of my Pants!.com, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Asian, Fried Rice, pork, rice

The other night I was looking for a recipe idea that just screamed Holidays. We’ve been going over plans for the move, getting paperwork in order and dealing with a sudden and potentially devastating problem that came just one month too early. I needed something realy holiday flavored to get me back in the spirit of the season before it fizzled out on me and this dish was just the ticket.

When I walked into the kitchen, all I was sure of was that I wanted to pair the pork with a few apples I had left over.  What I ended up with is one of those “hooRah!” moments that simply come together perfectly.  A blent of svaory, sweet and spicy that we just couldn’t get enough of.  I hope you enjoy this as much as we did.  It really is something close to perfection, especially during the holidays.

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© Jerry D. Russell and Cooking... by the seat of my Pants!.com, 2008. | Permalink | 11 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: apples, bourbon, Braised, Holiday-Recipes, pork

The weather in our part of the world finally got chilly.  The moment that happened I had a definite urge to slow cook something for a very, very long time. Luckily i had just picked up a pork butt roast at the store a few days before.  Originally I’d planned on grilling and smoking, but with the mercury in the 40’s the roast suddenly had a new direction in life. the only question was exactly how I was going to braise it.

The answer came more from a need to get going than it did from planning.  There on the counter sat a few onions that needed to be used and a few heads of garlic that are on their way to getting woody, so those looked like prime candidates.  On the other counter sits a bottle of Sherry that’s past its prime for baking, but would still go wonderfully in a sauce.  Then there was a lonely 1/2 stick of butter and most of a box of vegetable stock in the fridge… I was good to go!

With just a little effort and a little patience we had what is very likely the best pork roast I have ever made. The pork was tender, so packed full of flavor that a little goes a very long way, and with the potatoes…  Well, let’s just say that on winter days when I don’t have a post for this blog, I’m probably making this dish again! I hope Y’all enjoy it as much as we did.

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© Jerry D. Russell and Cooking... by the seat of my Pants!.com, 2008. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Braised, Garlic, pork, Potatoes, Recipes

I love Stir Fry.  I love it because it’s fast.  I love it because it’s simple, and I love it because it’s the easiest way I know of to use up anything you happen to have in your fridge or pantry.  You can stir fry just about anything and it’s gonna be good.  Add the right flavorings and whatever it is, it’s gonna be great.  This dish was absolutely fabulous.

Lunch needed to be quick yesterday.  All I knew was that it was going to involve two pork shoulder blade steaks I had in the fridge.  These guys were just begging to be used up before they went bad. I’m ot sure what inspired me to use this particular combination of marinade ingredients, but I’m very glad that I did.  The ork was tender, with a zing of ginger and more than enough flavor to induce a perfectly fed food coma after eating it.

The recipe easily makes enough for 4 to 6 people, especially if you pare it with a few extra sides, like pot stickers or dim sum.  Add in a bit of garlic chicken and you’d have a complete take out feast.

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© Jerry D. Russell and Cooking... by the seat of my Pants!.com, 2008. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Asian, mushrooms, Peppers, pork, Recipes

What if I told you that you could make a dish that would wow your guests with less effort than it takes to order-in?  What if I told you that you don’t need a huge arsenal of cooking skills or prior knowledge to turn out a perfect meal each and every time? What if I told you that all of this can be done with just five or six ingredients that can be found in any big-scary-mega-mart anywhere in the country, for somewhere around $10.00, depending on the price of pork in your area?

It’s all true, every word of it. With just a few minutes of prep time and a few lazy hours spent doing… Well, whatever it is that you’d like to do… You can produce something so sinfully delicious and decadent that everyone who tries it will think you’ve slaved your day away working on the perfect meal. And I’m going to tell you how to do it.

Hey, I won’t tell anyone it was easy. That will be our little secret, O.K?

… [visit site to read more]

© Jerry D. Russell and Cooking... by the seat of my Pants!.com, 2008. | Permalink | 17 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: hawaii, pork, rice, slow cooked

I whipped this up for myself on the same night I made the beef in plum sauce for my wife. It was a perfect pairing with fried rice, and more than spicy enough to make my mouth sing. All three dishes were wonderful and could be served together without issues.

For a little less fire, skip adding the additional curry powder at the end, or marinade in a sweet curry, it’s up to you. I was feeling the need for a few alarms, so I went with a yellow curry sauce and a mix of red and yellow curry powder.

This is a simple dish, and would work well on the grill if you simply kabob the ingredients then serve with a dish of curry dipping sauce on the side. Not a bad job considering that I took about five minutes to decide what i was going to do with a leftover pork loin. (Hey, they come two in a package, and if we cook them both, we eat them both, so there’s always one left over.)

Any suggestions on what would have made this a better dish? I’m itching to make it again, but I’d like to see if I could boost the flavors in it a bit.

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© Jerry D. Russell and Cooking... by the seat of my Pants!.com, 2008. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Asian, curry, pork, Recipes, Stir Fry

Slow cooked, rich, sumptuous and packed with flavor. Braised short ribs are well worth the time and effort to make them. If you’ve had a dish like this before, you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, shame on you! Rush down to the store right this minute with a printed copy of this recipe and get cooking!

You’ll be glad you did, I assure you.

Go ahead, I’ll wait…

…

Are you back with the ingredients? Good, I’ll continue.

Meals like this can be cooked on the stove, but I prefer the oven method, mostly because I don’t have to worry about charring the bottom of the dish. The oven gives more control over the process, but this is also a great slow cooker dish. Just sear your ribs first, then deglaze that pan with onions and wine, add everything to the slow cooker and set it to low, forget it for 8 hours and viola! Perfect braised numminess each and every time.

Any way you cook these, just do.

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© Jerry D. Russell and Cooking... by the seat of my Pants!.com, 2007. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Braised, pork, Recipes

What does a foodie make for lunch? Perhaps a better way to phrase that question is to ask what a foodie who generally hits the kitchen with no idea what he’s about to make cooks for lunch, because when I threw this together I had absolutely no concept of what I was going to do with what I had, just that I needed lunch on the table in under 30 minutes and I wanted it to be a fairly light meal. The result was, as are most truly inspired culinary moments, sublime. In the end the dish was light, slightly spicy and just enough for two (with the addition of a little bread to sop up the leftover juices).

Why chutney you ask? To be honest, I had no idea that I’d made a chutney until I looked it up this morning. For me the process went more like this:

• Notice the time, blurt out a chosen expletive and run for the kitchen.
• Throw open the fridge to see what’s available for a trip to the stove top, decide on super thin pork chops because they cook quickly.
• Tear open the pantry and rummage, not finding anything that looked good at the moment.
• Switch to the freezer… We haven’t had corn in a while, but what to do with it…
• AHA!

It’s those “AHA” moments that make cooking a joy for me. They are the culmination of the methods I’ve learned, the flavor combinations I’ve tried and the skills acquired in my 20-plus years of cooking. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. This time it was a resounding success, and in the process I discovered something.

Chutney isn’t necessarily all that exotic.

That may strike some of my more experienced foodie friends as quite humorous. Chutney, by definition, isn’t complicated stuff at all. The fact is, I’ve always thought of chutney as some exotic concoction that only classically trained chefs whip out on anything like a regular basis. I also never realized that I’ve been putting them together for over a decade without ever knowing that was what I was doing.

To Quote CooksOnline.com, Chutney is simply:

A sauce or relish containing fruits, spices and herbs.

Hmmm. Been there, done that. And they’re good!

So why, you may ask, didn’t I just write this up as an entry on how to make chutney? Well, the simple fact of the matter is that this particular variant requires a pan that’s had pork seared in it. It just wouldn’t be right without it. So I’m suggesting this as a substitute for the apple sauce that so many people seem to slather on their poor lil’ unsuspecting chops.

But enough of this dissertation… On with the food!

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© Jerry D. Russell and Cooking... by the seat of my Pants!.com, 2007. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: chutney, corn, pork, pork chops, Recipes