Rachel Ray's Maple-Mustard Pork with Grilled Apples

It's Rachel Ray week! We've got a fantastic recipe here. The original recipe calls for pork chops, which you grill on a grill pan over the stove and then finish in the oven. I made it with pork tenderloin instead, and I baked it at 500 degrees for 20 minutes.

The pork was moist, sweet and savory, and the grilled apples complimented it perfectly. This is a dish I can easily make again and again on a busy week night. It only took 30 minutes. :)

The recipe can be found on page 60 of Rachel Ray's Classic 30 Minute Meals cookbook.

Ingredients

1/2 cup dark amber maple syrup

1/4 cup spicy brown mustard (I used dijon)

1/4 c apple cider

1/4 medium onion, finely chopped

1/2 tsp allspice

1 tsp ground cumin

8 center-cut boneless pork loin chops (1/2 to 3/4 inch thick)

EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)

Grill seasoning blend such as Montreal Seasoning by McCormick OR salt and pepper to taste

3 Golden Delicious apples, sliced across into 1/2 inch rounds, with core and peel intact

The juice of 1/2 lemon

1/2 tsp freshly grated or ground nutmeg

Preheat a grill or griddle pan over medium heat. Also preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the maple syrup, mustard, cider, onion, allspice and cumin in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook for 7-10 minutes so the sauce thickens.

Coat the chops with evoo and grill seasoning/salt and pepper. Cook on the grill pan for 3 minutes on each side. Then baste the chops with your sauce and cook 2-3 minutes more. Transfer to a baking sheet and baste again with sauce. Finish cooking in the oven for 10-12 minutes.

While the chops are in the oven, coat apples with lemon juice and a drizzle of evoo. Season with the grill seasoning or salt/pepper and the nutmeg. Grill apples on the grill pan for about 3 minutes on each side. You will have to do this in batches. You don't want apples too soft; just tender.

Serve apples next to the pork chops.

Robert Rodriguez's Puerco Pibil

Have you seen the movie Once Upon A Time In Mexico with Johnny Depp? In the film, Depp's character orders a Mexican dish called Puerco Pibil again and again whenever he is in Mexico.

At one restaurant, Depp says to Antonio Banderas' character: "It is a slow roasted pork. Nothing fancy. Just happens to be my favorite, and I order it at every dive I go to in this country, and honestly, this is the best it's ever been. ... It is so good that when I'm finished with it, I'll pay my check, walk straight into the kitchen and shoot the cook. Because that's what I do. I restore the balance to this country." Did I mention that it's a pretty violent film?

Violence aside, I was intrigued by this dish and when one of our friends made it for us at a dinner party, we were hooked. I made my own for a dinner party this past weekend and it came out pretty well. The recipe is from the film's writer/director himself: Robert Rodriguez.

Ingredients:

5 Tb annatto (achiote) seeds

2 tsp cumin seeds

1 Tb peppercorns

8 allspice berries

½ tsp. whole cloves

2 habanero chiles

½ cup orange juice

½ cup white vinegar
2 Tb. salt
8 cloves of garlic
Juice of 5 lemons
Splash of tequila
5 pounds pork butt
Banana leaves and heavy-duty aluminum foil

Place the annatto, cumin, peppercorns, allspice and cloves in a spice or coffee grinder and grind to a fine powder.

Carefully remove the seeds and veins from the habaneros and chop.

Place the orange juice, vinegar, habaneros, salt and garlic in a blender or food processor until liquefied. Add the lemon juice and tequila.

Cut the pork into 2-inch chunks. Place in a large, self-sealing plastic bag with the marinade. Seal bag and turn to evenly coat the meat. Marinate for up to 24 hours.

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Remove the meat from the marinade and wrap tightly in banana leaves so no steam can escape. Do a second wrap with aluminum foil. Place packet in roasting pan and roast four hours.

The only thing I would do differently next time is wrap the pork tighter in the banana leaves (it could have been moister) and add more salt to the recipe.

Here are some of the steps, illustrated with photos:

Place the pork (this is the leftover bone with some meat attached) in banana leaves and wrap tightly

The wrapped pork

Cover the whole pan in foil

What it looks like after 4 hours

The finished dish over rice

Our friends brought Japanese cream puffs from Beard Papa on Sawtelle!

They also brought cakes from Mousse Factory on Sawtelle.

My favorite was the pear mouse cake (in front)

Maple Roasted Bacon

After eating at the restaurant Grub last week, I became infatuated with maple glazed bacon. I tried this recipe by Ina Garten for maple roasted bacon:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/maple-roasted-bacon-recipe/index.html

While her recipe is great, I thought that it was just as good (and much faster) pan frying the bacon in maple syrup instead of waiting for it in the oven. To copy the Grub-style bacon, I also added cumin seeds and some chili powder.

Ingredients:

Niiman Ranch Bacon
Maple Syrup
Cumin Seeds
Chili Powder

The marriage of sweet, salty and melt-in-your-mouth fattiness in this dish is positively sinful. The outside of the bacon is caramelized with a sticky toffee-like crust; think bacon candy. You'll find yourself eating much more bacon than you'd ever eat on its own. You've been warned ;)

Balsamic Sticky Ribs

I made balsamic sticky ribs from Gourmet's recipe, and they were unbelievably amazing, even without the grilling. Here's the recipe:

http://www.gourmet.com/recipes/2000s/2009/07/sticky-balsamic-ribs