Easy Provençal Pork Ragoût

This is one of my favorite week night treats. Pork makes a lighter summer alternative to the heavier taste of beef. You could also make a vegetarian version by substituting the pork with lentils ~ very French, or meat substitute. You will see that I'm using a jarred Italian Sausage Sauce, but the flavoring of Herbes de Provence and the use of a Rosé wine give it a Provençal twist. Using a jarred sauce is what makes this dish so forgiving: you're adding other flavors, but since the base had a head start, if you don't have the time, you don't have to simmer the sauce all day.

• 1 pound ground pork


• 1 small onion, chopped


• 1 rib celery, chopped


• 1 medium carrot, chopped


• 1/2 bell pepper, chopped


• 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped


• 1 jar of Italian Sausage Pasta Sauce


• 1 6 oz can of tomato paste


• 3 oz Rosé wine


• 1/2 tablespoon Herbes de Provence


• 1 spring rosemary


• 3 springs of thyme


• 1 bay leaf


• sea salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste

Start off by sautéing pork in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. As the pork slowly browns, chop vegetables and garlic, placing in a bowl.

Once pork is half cooked, add the garlic and vegetable mixture, stirring well.Next add the Herbes de Provence, rosemary, thyme, bay leaf, and a pinch of sea salt. Cook over medium heat until pork is cooked and vegetables have started to soften. Next add in the Sausage flavored sauce. I'm not loyal to any one brand, most likely choosing whatever is on sale, or better yet ~ buy one get one free!
Then add the can of tomato paste and wine. For this recipe, you'll need to use a proper dry Rosé, not White Zinfandel or the like which are way too sweet.Stir meat, vegetables, and sauce to mix well. Once mixed, cover and simmer. It really doesn't take long to make. If you're pressed for time, follow the instructions above for the sauce. Once the sauce is mixed, start to prepare your pasta. While the water is heating up and then the pasta is cooking, simmer the sauce on medium heat. Once your pasta is cooked, the sauce will be ready to eat. If you have a little longer, turn the heat down to medium-low and let simmer. While it simmers away, you can read a chapter or two of your book, look through a new magazine, call your mother, or do the laundry. Once you have relaxed or caught up on your chores, boil some pasta and you have a sauce that has slowly simmered, letting the flavors develop a little more.Taste before serving. I almost always have to add some more sea salt at this point. Season with freshly ground pepper.

Makes 4 generous servings.

Enjoy! x

Spinach, Tomato, and Orzo Salad

One of my favorite sides to get from the deli at Morton's Market is Spinach and Orzo Salad. Well, Morton's moved out of my neighborhood a year ago, and I've been Orzo free since. I had a strong craving for it the other weekend, and instead of driving to their other location, I decided to make my own. It was so easy and we loved the results, I felt silly that it had taken me so long to make myself. The guide for my salad was one I found by Rachael Ray. Hers was the closest to what I was looking for. Mine is pretty true to her recipe, with just a few slight changes. For Ms. Ray's unadulterated recipe, please click here. Below are my notes on what I changed on her recipe. Hers looked great, I was just missing the lemon and wanted to add feta so had to come up with something slightly different. Sorry you can't see the tomatoes. I used mini Cherokee Purple Tomatoes. By the time we were ready to eat I was so hungry that the photo was an afterthought.

Ingredients
* 1 bunch spinach, washed, dried, stems removed
* 1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
* 1/2 box of orzo, cooked to al dente
* 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
* bunch of basil leaves, torn or thinly sliced
* Salt and pepper
* 2 tablespoons of prepared Greek Salad Dressing
* 4 oz Feta cheese, crumbled

Directions
Thinly slice spinach and put into the bottom of a mixing bowl, followed by the halved tomatoes.

Once pasta is cooked and drained, add on top of tomatoes and spinach to slightly wilt.

Drizzle olive oil and salad dressing over orzo and veggies and mix well.

Add basil and salt and pepper and mix again.

Add feta, stirring again to mix.

Taste your orzo to adjust seasonings and serve.

Season to taste.

Serves 4

Culinary Creations: Baked Chicken Alfredo with Bacon and Mushrooms

This wasn't exactly the most original thing I've ever made, but it was a good use of things I had in my kitchen: Jar of Alfredo Sauce, Mushrooms, Bacon, and Chicken.

I started off by sauteing the bacon. Once bacon was finished and removed, I then cooked the mushrooms in the left over bacon fat and a little bit of olive oil. Next I added the chicken pieces (I was using tenderloin cutlets), scattered the bacon over the chicken, poured the jar of sauce over the mixture, along with 1/2 cup of white wine. This was baked in my oven, uncovered, at 350F for 35 minutes. After cooking, I garnished with small basil leaves that were left-over from the basil I used in the salad.

To serve, I had a bowl of cooked plain, corkscrew pasta to spoon the sauce over.

I also made a simple salad of lettuce and fresh basil leaves from my garden, dressed with my homemade vinaigrette. Please note my uber fancy jar. Yes, that is an authentic Branston Pickle jar. Unfortunately even after 4 washings, it still retained some of the pickle smell, which slightly altered the taste of the dressing. Not sure if you could tell if you didn't know, but I could...

Culinary Creations: Goulash for Grown-Ups

OK, this isn't in fact Goulash at all, but if you were a kid in America, in your reality, it was. I suppose Beef & Macaroni would be a more appropriate name. That's exactly what the version I found in the freezer section of Whole Foods was called. For $2.99, they sell an organic version that is pretty good. The pasta is perfectly al dente, even after 3 minutes in the microwave. While this was a perfectly acceptable version of the childhood classic, and a good option for lunch, I decided to set out to make my own. It has been around 10 years since I’ve made this (I think the last time was when I was living in Wymondham around ’98), so I decided to make an adult version. It’s basically the same standard recipe everyone knows, with a few additions. Here is what I came up with:

• 1 pound ground beef (or buffalo, turkey, vegetarian crumbles)
• ½ Spanish onion, chopped
• 1 stick of celery, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• ½ green pepper, chopped
• Sprinkle of salt
• 1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
• Dash crushed red pepper
• 1 small bay leaf
• Dash of dried oregano
• Dash of dried thyme
• 1 can (14 ½ oz) of diced tomatoes
• 1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
• 1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
• 6 oz red wine
• 1 tbsp Worcester sauce
• 2 cups uncooked macaroni

1. Cook macaroni according to box.

2. Brown the ground beef on medium heat.

3. Before beef is completely brown, add the garlic, onion, carrot, green pepper, salt, crushed red pepper, bay leaf, oregano, and thyme. Continue to cook over medium heat until vegetables are softened.
4. Add crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, red wine, Worcester sauce and gently simmer for at least ½ hour on low heat.5. Slowly stir in cooked macaroni, allowing the sauce to fill the pasta tubes. Allow to simmer 5 minutes on low.

6. To finish off, once in serving bowls, garnish with a little freshly grated Parmesan cheese and chopped basil.

Serves 4.

The results weren't bad. I used buffalo instead of beef, and really welcomed the addition of red wine. Also, I had forgotten to buy a green pepper, so had to use red. In addition to the herbs mentioned, I added a little fresh rosemary. While you could serve it with crusty garlic bread and salad for dinner, mine is going into little containers for my lunch this week. It has been raining here for weeks, so this will make the perfect stay-in-the-office lunch time treat.