Pork Scaloppine with Gremolata Sauce

I love my local grocery store, because they have CRAZY sales on protein almost every week. It's usually just one or two items designed to get people into the store with the expectation that they will buy a million other things while they're there (which works on me more often than I should admit.) But since it's just 5 minutes from my house, and I have to pass it almost daily on my way to or from somewhere else, I have no problem whatsoever going in there to stock up on their one crazy-priced item. That's what freezers are for, right?

Last week, they were selling pork cutlets for $.99/pound. I may or may not have purchased every single pack they had in stock. Just don't worry yourself about it.

And then I made this. And it made me super glad that I now have a freezer full of pork cutlets. :-)

Ingredients:

6-8 thinly sliced/pounded pork cutlets (You can buy them this way or just get boneless pork chops and pound them thin with a meat mallet.)

2 large oranges (zest and juice)

2 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon mustard (whatever is your favorite kind--I used Dijon)

salt

pepper

1 cup whole wheat Panko bread crumbs

1 cup whole wheat seasoned bread crumbs

2 eggs

1/3 cup milk

butter flavored nonstick cooking spray

1 generous tablespoon basil paste

1/3 cup olive oil

a few handfuls of baby greens

Instructions:

1. In casserole dish or wide-based bowl, combine zest and juice of one orange, honey, mustard and a generous pinch of freshly ground black pepper.

2. Season pork pieces generously with salt. Coat with marinade and chill in refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight if you have the time. (Note: this is not a liquidy marinade, but it is very "clingy," so as long as you make sure all pieces are covered, it should be fine even though the meat will not be immersed.)

3. When ready to cook, preheat oven to 350 degrees.

4. Set up dredging station by combining eggs and milk (seasoned with salt and pepper) in one pan and both kinds of bread crumbs in a second pan.

5. Dip each pork cutlet into egg mixture, shaking off excess each time, and then coat with bread crumb mixture. Place on parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Repeat with each cutlet.

6. Once all cutlets are coated, spray with nonstick cooking spray and place in oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, increase heat to 450 degrees and cook for an additional 5-7 minutes until pork is cooked through and nice and brown and crispy on top.

7. While pork is cooking, prepare gremolata sauce by combining zest and juice of second orange, olive oil, basil paste and salt and pepper to taste.

8. I served this by tossing baby greens with just a tiny bit of the gremolata sauce and then placing a cutlet over each bed of greens with an extra drizzle of sauce on top.

So yummy!

Chorizo Cheese Dip

Let's pinky promise to never again use Velveeta cheese, ok? I mean, no judgment. I've eaten (and served) plenty of it in the past. But my goal is to eliminate as much processed food as I possibly can from my life and the lives of the people I feed. And with a recipe this simple, we just don't need that stuff anymore. Let's eat real cheese from now on, k? Like this stuff. It's yummy!

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

4 tablespoons cornstarch

12 oz. half and half

4 oz. light cream cheese (at room temperature)

8 oz. Monterey Jack cheese, freshly shredded*

8 oz. extra sharp Cheddar cheese, freshly shredded*

1 can diced tomatoes with green chiles

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 pound chorizo

*You can really use any cheese. I like the cheddar for the flavor, but it's good to combine it with something a bit "meltier". Monterey Jack works well, but mozzarella would probably be just as good. Also, you could use pre-shredded if it's easier. I find that pre-shredded cheese is much less flavorful since it tends to dry out, so I like to shred just before using. But that's just me. ;-)

1. Brown chorizo. Drain and set aside.

2. Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in cornstarch until combined and cook for about a minute, stirring constantly until nice and smooth and no longer grainy.

3. Add half and half and whisk until combined and smooth. Reduce heat to low and stir in cream cheese until melted and well-combined. Add cheese, one handful at a time, stirring after each addition until fully melted. (Keep at low heat to avoid graininess or separation.)

4. Stir in tomatoes w/ green chiles, salt, onion powder, garlic powder and cooked chorizo. Serve with raw vegetables or tortilla chips.

Scotch Eggs with Dijon Cream Sauce

Well... Not exactly Scotch eggs. Because I baked them instead of deep frying them. But I don't think you'll mind. These are utterly delicious. After one bite, both of my daughters declared these their new favorite food/birthday meal for the rest of life. Alright then.

Ingredients:

4 eggs

1 pound homemade chorizo

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup seasoned bread crumbs

1 cup crushed crispy fried onions

2 Tablespoons butter

1 Tablespoon coconut flour

3/4 cup milk (any kind--I used 1%)

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan

1 generous Tablespoon of your favorite mustard--I used horseradish

splash of Sriracha

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Soft boil eggs any way you like. My favorite method is to bring to a gentle boil. As soon as they are boiling, remove from heat, cover and let sit for 2 minutes. After 2 minutes, dump hot water and submerge in cold water. Continue to dump and replace water as it will warm up from the heat of the eggs and pot. Once the eggs are nice and cool, they are ready to be peeled.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Create prep station by putting beaten eggs in one dish and mixing bread crumbs and crushed onions in second bowl.

3. Wrap each egg in a layer of chorizo, taking care to seal any seams so they won't fall apart while cooking.

4. Dip each wrapped egg into egg wash and then bread crumb mixture and place into seasoned or sprayed oven-proof dish. (Cast iron works great for this, but any metal or glass pan would be fine as well.)

5. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through.

6. While eggs are baking, prepare sauce by melting butter in pan on stove top. Add coconut flour and stir until well incorporated and browned. Add milk, Parmesan and mustard and stir until all is well-incorporated. Add Sriracha, salt and pepper. Taste and adjust as you like.

Homemade Chorizo

A few weeks ago my local grocery store had a huge protein sale during which almost all of their pork products were on sale for under $1 a pound. I picked up a 17-pound $50 roast for $16, but my favorite purchase was quite literally ALL of the lean ground pork they had in stock that day. I'm not even kidding. I bought all of it. Six or seven 2-pound packages if I recall correctly. This is what freezers and homemade chorizo recipes are for. :-D

And speaking of homemade chorizo--

Ingredients:

1 pound ground pork (Most chorizo is made with very fatty meat like pork butt, but I actually like it even better with leaner meat like ground loin. There is every bit as much flavor due to all the spices. The only thing missing is the grease.)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 Tablespoons chili powder (That's not a typo. Don't be scared. It's chorizo. It needs a lot of spice.)

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 Tablespoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon Tony Chachere's seasoning

2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Instructions:

In medium bowl, mix all ingredients together, cover and chill in refrigerator overnight. (Or freeze for later use.)

(adapted only very slightly from a recipe by Bobby Flay)

Stuffed Pork Loin

I'm just gonna let the picture speak for itself on this one. Mercy. (But one note: This is much easier to make than it might look, so it could be a great way to impress someone. Don't be scared. ;-)

Ingredients:

6 boneless pork loin chops

Olive oil, for coating pan

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium onion, finely diced

1 heaping tablespoon garlic paste

4-6 sundried tomatoes, chopped

2-3 handfuls fresh baby spinach

salt

freshly ground pepper

1/2 teaspoon dried basil leaves

1/4 cup goat cheese

1/4 cup cream cheese

Instructions:

1. Coat a skillet with olive oil and cook onions low and slow until nicely caramelized.

2. While onions are cooking, create a pocket in each piece of pork by cutting a slit into the side of each loin, being careful not to cut all the way through. Generously coat the inside of each loin piece with garlic paste. (And don't try to be dainty about it. It's messy business. Just get in there and go for it. The added flavor will be worth it. I promise.)

3. Once onions are nicely caramelized, remove from pan into medium bowl. Coat the same pan with oil again and add minced garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper and basil. Cook, stirring occasionally, until garlic is fragrant and spinach is wilted. Add this mixture to the same bowl with the onions.

4. Add goat cheese and cream cheese to the same bowl with the vegetables and mix well. Stuff each pork loin generously with this mixture.

5. Oil pan one more time. Generously salt and pepper both sides of pork and add to hot pan 3 pieces at a time. Cook about 5 minutes on each side, until golden brown on the surface and cooked all the way through.

This is maybe one of my favorite pork recipes of all time. I find that pork can be pretty bland, but the sharpness of the goat cheese and sun-dried tomatoes paired with the sweetness of the garlic paste and caramelized onions add the perfect layers of flavor. Enjoy!