Osso Buco Stew Recipe

Osso Buco Stews

Stews never fail to disappoint. And this one is no different. The original recipe used lamb instead of veal. I also used lamb and it was fantastic.

I didn't thicken the soup, because I couldn't wait any longer. If you have time and patience, try to thicken it more since the result would be far better. 

Source: cooking with chopin

Ingredients

½ cup unbleached flour

2 pounds of osso buco meat (cut into 1-inch pieces)

¼ cup olive oil

1 stick unsalted butter

2 medium onions, coarsely chopped

3 large garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

6 large carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped (about 1/2-inch thick pieces)

1 (28-ounce) can of Italian whole plum tomatoes, drained

1 cup red wine

3 cups beef or lamb stock (to make your own, just substitute this recipe with lamb or beef bones)

¼ teaspoon dried oregano

¼ teaspoon dried basil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1.      Place the flour in a shallow container and season with salt and pepper. 

2.      Coat all sides of the meat with flour and set aside

3.      In a large Dutch oven or casserole heat the oil and butter together on medium-high until butter is sizzling. Sear the meat until lightly browned on all sides. Transfer browned meat to a paper towel to drain and set aside. 

4.      Add onions, garlic, carrots, basil and oregano to Dutch oven.  Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. 

5.      Add tomatoes and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 10 minutes.  Skim excess fat.

6.      Add wine and bring to a boil.  Once the liquid is boiling, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. 

7.      Heat oven to 175°C/350°F

8.      Return the browned meat to the Dutch oven.  Add enough beef or lamb stock to just cover the meat.  Cover Dutch oven and bake for 1½ hours.  Remove lid and bake uncovered for an additional 30 minutes, until meat is very tender.

9.      If you want the sauce to thicken further, transfer the Dutch oven back to the burners and cook, uncovered, for an additional 10-15 minutes.

Pulled Pork with Caramelized Onions Recipe

Pulled Pork with Caramelized Onions

I have never pulled pork before, neither have I pulled a pig, and this is my second time eating pulled pork. Quite a simple dish to prepare, and the outcome is outstanding. 

The recipe I used suggested using pork shoulder or tenderloin but I used chops and it worked perfectly. I think just about any cut of meat will work. The tougher cuts like pork leg may take longer to cook and produce a much more juicier outcome.

I  reduced the amount of ingredients by 6 to get a single serving size, and cooked it in a ramekin. This was convenient and mess free.

I adopted the recipe from Cooking in Stilettos

Ingredients

1 pound chops (I used Svensk Rapsgris Kotlett)

1 large onion, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

1½ tablespoons turbinado or brown sugar 

1½ tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 cloves  garlic, minced 

1/3 teaspoon dried oregano

Pinch salt and pepper

1/3 cup chili sauce (or BBQ sauce)

½ teaspoon minced chipotle chili in adobo

Ingredients

1.      Heat oven to 160°C/325°F

2.      Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.

3.      Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes

4.      Add sugar and cook until the onions are a rich golden brown, stirring continuously, about 6 to 8 minutes.

5.      Add the garlic, oregano, salt and pepper and cook for another minute.

6.      Add the vinegar and bring to a boil. Cook until the vinegar is mostly evaporated, about 1 minute.

7.      Remove from the heat and stir in the chili sauce and chipotle chilies.

8.      Place pork on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet, add sauce and cover with aluminum foil

9.      Bake until a fork inserted in thickest part of pork can be twisted easily and meat shreds off with little resistance, about 3½-4 hours.

10.  Alternatively, instead of baking, you can cook the pork in a slow cooker on high for 4 hours or on low for 8 hours

11.  Once the pork is done, transfer it to a cutting board and shred using two forks. Add the sauce and mix.

Butter Pork (Pork Makhani) Recipe

Butter pork

Butter pork is nowhere near as common as butter chicken. Pork and chicken have similarities, so what works with chicken generally works well with pork. 

Butter pork may sound a bit unappetizing. Pork is already considered fatty, adding butter may be a step too far. But it is not, only a small amount of butter is added. Cream is the main ingredient. You can use oil instead of butter. The result will still be very delicious, however its perhaps not a good idea to call it “oil pork’.

Adopted from Easily Good Eats

Butter pork

Ingredients

25g butter

2 tablespoons oil

500 g diced pork tenderloin (I used Svensk Rapsgris Karré)

1 onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced

2 teaspoon curry powder

Chili powder or fresh chilies (to taste)

30ml natural yogurt 

40ml tomato paste (or 1 cup tomato puree)

100 ml heavy cream

100 ml water or chicken stock (omit if using tomato puree)

Directions

1.      Heat butter and oil in a saucepan over medium heat.

2.      Add the onion and salt and cook until translucent.

3.      Add curry powder, ginger and garlic and cook until fragrant, about 2-3 minutes. Stir constantly

4.      Add pork pieces and cook until browned

5.      Reduce heat to low, add yogurt, tomato paste, cream and water and simmer covered for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally

Butter pork

Pork Chops in Sour Cream (Wieprzowina W Smietanie) Recipe

Pork Chops with Sour Cream 

There is some mystery surrounding the origin of this dish. The name sounds Polish and English websites all state that it comes from Poland. However, Sissi from With a Glass  told me that Polish sites state that this is a Belorussian dish. I didn't check to see what the Belorussian sites claim. 

I was a bit hesitant to try this. Pork with sour cream does not sound to appealing. But strangely it works really well. The sugar balances the acidity quite well and the braising liquid, albeit very little, adds lot of flavour to sour cream 

Pork Chops with Sour Cream 

Adopted from BigOven

Ingredients

4 Pork chops (3/4" thick)

½ cup sour cream

½ cup water (or substitute with milk, stock or white wine)

2 tablespoons vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar 

Salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients

1.      Season both sides of the pork chops with salt and pepper. Fry in butter until brown. 

2.      Mix together vinegar, sugar and water and pour the mixture over the chops. 

3.      Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer gently about 1¼ hours or until chops are tender.  

4.      Add sour cream and heat to just under boil.

5.      Alternatively instead of cooking on a stove top you can bake in a casserole dish at 175°C/350°F for 1¼ hours. Add all the ingredients, including sour cream and bake. Sour cream will separate

Pork Chops with Sour Cream 

Sticky Raspberry Cake (Pudding) Recipe

Sticky Raspberry Cake

I got inspiration for the cake from sticky date pudding and malva pudding. Sticky date pudding is made from dates, obviously, while malva pudding has apricot jam. I replaced apricot jam with raspberry jam.

As expected, the cake is sticky, moist and berry delicious. The cake on its own is not very sweet so the sauce is definitely a welcome addition. The sauce is necessary, having sticky cake without the sauce is like having a burger without the bun. However I was not generous with the amount of sauce, I wanted to have my teeth intact by the time I finished the cake.

Adopted from SBS

  

Sticky Raspberry Cake

Ingredients

1 cup sugar (use 1½ cups if you prefer your cakes to be sweeter)

115 g soft unsalted butter

60 ml (¼ cup) smooth raspberry jam

1 egg

250 ml (1 cup) milk

2 teaspoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

150 g (1 cup) plain flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Pinch of salt

60 ml (¼ cup) hot water

250 ml (1 cup) cream or evaporated milk

Ingredients

1.      Heat oven to 180°C/360°F. Line with baking paper or grease a 2 litre baking dish.

2.      Beat 1 cup of the sugar, 15g of the butter, the jam and egg, until pale and fluffy.

3.      In a separate bowl mix together the milk, vinegar and vanilla.

4.      In a separate bowl sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt.

5.      Alternately, fold the flour mixture and milk mixture into the egg mixture until thoroughly combined. Pour into prepared baking dish, cover with lightly oiled foil and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until just firm.

6.      When cake is nearly ready, stir the hot water, cream and remaining sugar and butter in a saucepan over medium until the butter melts and sugar dissolves. Bring to just below the boil, then pour over the pudding in the dish.

Chorizo and Pork Jambalaya Recipe

Chorizo and Pork Jambalaya

This was my first experience eating or cooking jambalaya, and it was a happy experience. When I see pictures of jambalaya, I see mush with various ingredients thrown it. After eating jambalaya, I realized it is mush, but a really delicious one. I will be making it again for sure.

The recipe that I adopted used chicken and andouille sausage, I substituted pork and chorizo since thats what I had in my freezer. It worked well. 

The recipe below has a long list of ingredients. I prefer recipes with less ingredients so I skipped quite a few ingredients, such as creole seasoning, celery, bay leaves, thyme, parsley and green onions. I substituted canned tomato with tomato puree, and added harissa instead of the herbs and spices. It turned out well but it was probably less authentic.

Adopted from Its Good to be the Cook

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

Emeril’s creole seasoning (see below)

½ kg pork, diced into inch cubes

400 grams chorizo sausages, sliced

2 cups chopped onion (1 large)

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped red bell pepper

2 tablespoons minced garlic

3 bay leaves

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

1½ tablespoons dried thyme

1 (14oz) can diced tomatoes, partially drained

6 cups water

2 cups bismati rice 

Salt & pepper

1 cup chopped green onions

½ cup chopped parsley

Emeril’s Creole seasoning mixture:

2½ tablespoons paprika

2 tablespoons salt

2 tablespoons garlic powder

1 tablespoon of each:  black pepper, onion powder, cayenne pepper, oregano, dried thyme

Directions

1.      In a dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat.

2.      Season pork with Emeril Creole seasoning and sauté until cooked through.  Remove and set aside, reserving the rendered fat in the dutch oven.

3.      Add sausage and cook for a few minutes.  Remove and set aside, reserving the rendered fat.

4.      Add onion, celery, bell pepper, garlic, bay leaves, cayenne and thyme and cook for about 5-10 minutes, or until the vegetables have softened.

5.      Add the can of diced tomatoes and water.  Season with salt and pepper.  Simmer covered for about 20 minutes.

6.      Add uncooked rice and return to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and cook, covered, for another 10-15 minutes.  Most of the liquid should be evaporated and cooked into the rice at this point. 

7.      Add in the sausage, pork, another sprinkle of Emeril Creole Seasoning, green onions, and parsley.  Cover, and cook for another 5-10 minutes. 

8.      Let sit cool down (rest!) for 10 minutes before serving. 

Chorizo and Pork Jambalaya