Pork Loin Roast with Cranberry Chutney

 Pork Loin Roast with Cranberry Chutney

This recipe has been around the block.  First found by Faye, given to Sue, then to Maryann

next to me and now to you.  Sorry, but the source has been forgotten.

3 1 to 1 1/2 lb. port tenderloins (I used 2 pork loin roasts)

1 T. allspice

 2-3 t. cracked black pepper

1 t. salt

2 T. cooking oil

1 T. butter

1 large onion, quartered and sliced thin

1 12 oz package fresh cranberries

1 10 oz. jar currant jelly

1 C. cranberry juice

1/4 C. packed brown sugar

2 T. cider vinegar

1 T. grated fresh ginger or 1/2 t. ground ginger

1/2 t. curry powder

1 bunch watercress or parsley 

1. Preheat oven to 425 F.  In a small bowl comine allspice, pepper and salt.  Rub on all sides of tenderloins.

2. In a skillet brown tenderloins in hot oil over med. heat, turning to brown all side.  Transfer tenderloins to a shallow reosting pan.  Roast for 25 Minutes or until internal temperature registers 160 F on an instand read thermometer.  Remove from oven and keep warm until ready to serve.

3. Make Chutney:  Add butter and onion to the same large skillet.  Cook about 5 minutes or until almost tender, stirring occasionally.   Add cranberries, jelly, cranberry juice, brown sugar, vinegar, ginger, and curry to the skillet.  Bring to boiling, reduce heat and simmer 20 to 25 minutes or until thickened to desired consistency and reduced to about 3 cups.

4.  To serve, line a serving plate with cress.  Slice pork and arrange.  Spoon some of the Chutney over pork.  Serve remaining chutney on the side.

Kransekaka

Kransekaka is a famous Norwegian wedding/celebration cake and is a favorite dessert of my family.   You can find Kransekaka recipes in Scandinavian cookbooks and there are many on the internet; some are very cakey using 5 cups of flour, some are very candy-like using no flour at all.  Some recipes use a pound of butter, and some use none.  One thing they all have in common is their shape, concentric rings stacked into a pyramid.  My recipe uses easily found almond paste and is more candy-like than cake-like.  I've developed this recipe over the years to give a cookie-type crunch with a candy-ish chewy texture.  It's terrific!

One thing I must tell you:  Kransekaka is notorious for wanting to stick to the pan, refusing to budge causing shattered rings and kitchen tantrums.  But you know I would never give you a recipe that would do that!  I promise if you follow my directions you will have great success!  If you've tried making kransekaka before and failed, try mine.

 My husband came home and saw this on the sideboard, and said, 

"Well hon, you've outdone yourself this time!"  Yeah, I guess it is kinda showy.

There will be leftover dough to make jam tarts.

Over the years I've owned several different ring pans, but this Norpro set is the best.  They have a non-stick surface that is pretty reliable.  Kransekaka is notorious for wanting to stay put in the pan, but I've had good luck with these.  You don't have to have the specialty ring pans, you can eyeball it and bake them on baking parchment paper you've drawn concentric circles on.

The recipe:

3 7 oz. tubes Odense almond paste

4 egg whites, lightly stirred

2 pounds powdered sugar (you'll use some for the icing)

1 cup flour (GF version:  1/2 cup almond meal, 1/2 cup all purpose GF flour)

dry unseasoned bread crumbs, regular or GF

In a food processor, add paste that has either been broken apart in small pieces or grated.  Add egg whites, flour and 4 cups sugar and process.  It will be very sticky.  At this point I like to transfer it to my big mixer.  Add some sugar, little by little continuing to mix until it starts to look like you could knead it, that will take just a few minutes.  It will be thick and sticky.  Transfer to a powdered sugar covered board and knead, using more powdered sugar, until the dough feels like you could roll it into ropes.  Make into disc and wrap with plastic wrap and let rest in refrigerator for a few hours or overnight.

Next, follow the step by step directions below:

 

Spray pans WELL with cooking spray, sprinkle LIBERALLY with dry bread crumbs.
On a powdered sugar coated surface, roll out thin ropes of dough.
If they are too thick they will stick to each other as they bake
 and you won't be able to separate the ring cookies.

Bake at 350 F for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.  If they are undercooked,

they won't remove easily from the pan.  Cool on rack for 10 minutes or so.

Don't wait too much longer, waiting too long will also make them want to stay!

When slightly cool and with the tip of a knife, carefully pry the cookie free.

It will loosen, and most likely come apart in one piece like the one above.

This is the "pan" side and the pretty side you will be showcasing. 

You can see the rings are baked into each other.  I put this on a bread board

and with the tip of a sharp knife, cut the rings apart from each other.

Once you have them loosened from their pans, they are ready to assemble!

Don't worry if you broke one or two or more, 

they can be easily glued together with the icing in the next step.

Prepare royal icing.  I use the recipe on the Wilton Meringue Powder box.

Alternately you can use the traditional powdered sugar/egg white recipe.

You will need less than a cup.  Use a paper cone or a piping bag 

with a small round tip for decorating.

 Take the largest ring and turn upside down.  

Pipe one line of icing around ring

and place on the cake plate to glue it in place.

Make pretty scallops of icing on top of the bottom ring,

  place next largest ring on top and repeat until all the rings are placed.

Decorate with little flags, Christmas poppers or trinkets.  

I like these little vintage Santas.

Sew sleeve seams and close underarm gap.  Sew on buttons and lightly block, being careful not to block out the gathers. - See more at: http://knitionary.blogspot.com/2014/05/snickerdoodle.html#sthash.1eZKg4Za.dpuf

Sew sleeve seams and close underarm gap.  Sew on buttons and lightly block, being careful not to block out the gathers. - See more at: http://knitionary.blogspot.com/2014/05/snickerdoodle.html#sthash.1eZKg4Za.dpuf

With leftover dough you can make Jam Tarts, see below.

Roll walnut sized dough and place in prepared mini cupcake pan.

With the handle of a wooden spoon, make a depression in each ball.

Fill with scant 1/2 teaspoon jam and bake at 350 F for 12-14 minutes or until done.

Cool slightly then remove and cool on rack.  These are chewy and delicious.

With leftover dough make pretty jam tarts. 

This is not as difficult as it looks.  Perhaps a bit time-consuming but worth it!  Once my Norwegian girlfriend and I made 5, yes, FIVE! in one day for her daughter's wedding.  It was show stopping to see them all together.  Quite spectacular!

How to serve:  If you are having a dessert buffet, it deserves a place in the center as the showpiece.  Break off a piece or two and encourage your guests to do the same.  Once a few top rings are gone, people are pretty comfortable taking bits off.  Or, if your are planning to pass it at the table, keep it throughout dinner in a place of honor to show it off.  When it's time to serve dessert, take it into the kitchen and break it up and put on a platter and pass.  Leftovers keep well.

Knitionary

Mom's Pinto Beans

I think every family has their own version of "Mom's" beans.  My husband's mother made chili beans with red kidney beans and lots of chili powder.  I love her recipe, but of course my mother's beans are what I crave.   I've always loved the smokey flavor from the ham and since it takes all day to cook, the house smells wonderful!

Mom's Pinto Beans

1 pound dry pinto beans

1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes

1 14 oz. can tomato sauce

2 cans water

1 meaty smoked ham hock

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. herbs de Provence

2 bay leaves

1 tsp. dried pepper flakes

1 carrot, chopped fine

1 yellow onion, chopped fine

1/2 red bell pepper, chopped fine

2 ribs celery, chopped fine

2 cloves garlic, chopped fine

2 tablespoon olive oil

1 pound hamburger, cooked and drained

1 small slice ham, diced

Soak beans overnight, drain and rinse.  Put beans in a slow cooker and add next 8 ingredients and set cooker to low.  Toss diced vegetables with the olive oil, roast in hot oven for 10-15 minutes until just soft.  Add to slow cooker.  About 2 hours before the beans are done add the meats.  Adjust seasoning and add water if necessary.  Just before serving, remove bay leaves and ham hock.  Shred meat from ham hock and add to pot.  This takes all day to cook and will be done by dinnertime if you start it in the morning.

You can make this on the stove top, but I like the slow cooker as it eliminates the constant stirring.

Lemon, Ricotta & Almond Cake

Lemon, Ricotta & Almond Cake

A dense but light cake, slightly similar to a cheesecake.

1/2 cup softened butter

1 1/3 cup superfine sugar (whirl sugar in a blender to super fine it)

2 tsp. vanilla

1/4 cup lemon zest (about 5 lemons)

4 eggs at room temperature, separated

2 1/2 cups almond meal

10 1/2 oz. ricotta

sliced almonds and powdered sugar to decorate top of cake

Heat oven to 325 F.  Line the base and side of a 9" round cake tin with baking paper and set aside.

Place the first 4 ingredients in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer several minutes until pale and creamy.  Scrap down side of bowl, then gradually add the egg yolks, one at a time, continuing to beat until fully combineed.  Add the almond meal and beat to combine.  Fold in ricotta cheese.

In a clean bowl beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.  Gradually add the remaining sugar to the egg whites mixture and whisk until stiff peaks form.  Gently fold a third of the egg whites into the cake mixture.  Repeat with the rest of the egg whites.

Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin, smooth the top with a palette knife, decorate the cake with the almond slices and bake for 40-45 minutes or until cooked and firm to touch.  Allow to cool completely in the cake tin.  Dust with icing sugar to serve.

Rumaki

I'd forgotten how much I loved rumaki until I was served them at a party last week.  As a newlywed, this was my go-to hors d'oeurve--my specialty!  We gobbled these up like they were potato chips.  

Wrap a whole canned water chestnut with a half slice good quality bacon.  Secure with toothpick.  Bake in hot oven (400 F.) for about 15 minutes or until nicely browned, turning halfway through cooking.  Great variations are adding quartered dates, small pieces of chicken liver, and/or cubed Parmesan cheese to the water chestnut and bacon.  Serve with dipping sauce.

Dipping Sauce:  Mix 3 tablespoons jam or jelly with 3 tablespoons prepared mustard, heat slightly. 

Curried Cashews

This is from the Knitionary post, America's Cup, bay view party. 

Knitionary

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Mom's Stuffed Bell Peppers

These are economical when peppers are plentiful.

My son asked for the recipe, so here it is.

2# extra lean ground turkey

1# lean ground pork sausage

2 cups cooked rice

1/2 bunch Italian parsley, minced

1 medium onion, chopped fine

1 14 oz. can chopped tomatoes

1 1.5 oz. packet of Meat Loaf seasoning mix
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

5 to 6 bell peppers, halved and seeded.  I prefer red, but green, yellow or orange will do just as well.
2 cups tomato sauce
olive oil

Mix first 7 ingredients by hand in a large bowl. Stuff each pepper half with meat mixture and mound it high.  Put tomato sauce on bottom of large roaster and place stuffed peppers on top.  Pour a little bit of olive oil over the peppers and cover lightly with foil.  Bake at 400 F for 1 hour or until done, removing foil for last 15 minutes or so.  Serve with sauce.  10 to 12 servings.  These freeze well cooked or uncooked.

I consider this a family dish and never serve it for company, but don't know why on earth I don't.  It may not be elegant, but it is delicious.  Who doesn't like stuffed bell peppers?  This may be my number one requested dish for family get togethers and always makes my husband happy.