DANGER, WILL ROBINSON! DANGER!

I am a firm believer that heat has its place in the kitchen and I don’t mean the warmth from the oven.  I occasionally have to convince my students that a finely minced jalapeno adds a freshness and a zing to a salad.  A tablespoon or two of ginger adds a slow quiet heat.  A pinch of crushed red pepper adds a level of flavor and kick to stews and sauces.  Peppercorns in moderation are my friend.  Adding peppercorns simply to name a dish “peppercorn crusted” or “peppercorn roasted” is an absurdity.  I was intrigued by the vermouth sauce for this recipe.  I toned down the original recipe from 8 tbsp. peppercorns to 4. 

Can you say steak au poivre on steroids!!!

If you like heat, you will love this dish.  The directions instruct you to create slits in the roast and to fill the slits with the peppercorn paste.  This infusion permeates the pork as intended.  The balance rubbed over the surface sends this from hot to “jump up and slap your momma down hot”. 

The vermouth sauce probably didn’t get a fair shake here as it was completely overpowered by the pepper.  I am still intrigued by it and might try it again over plain ole regular run of the mill I can eat you with nary a glass of water near my hand pork chops and will update you. 

PEPPERCORN ROASTED PORK WITH VERMOUTH PAN SAUCE adapted from Gourmet magazine

6 tbsp pink peppercorns, divided

2 tbsp black peppercorns

1 1/2 tbsp fennel seeds

7 cloves garlic, minced

3 tbsp vegetable oil

5 lb boneless pork shoulder roast (butt end)

1/2 cup dry vermouth

2 cups chicken broth

1 tbsp butter, softened

1 tbsp all purpose flour

Grind 1/4 cup pink peppercorns with black peppercorns and fennel in grinder.  Stir in garlic, oil and 1 tbsp salt.

Pat pork dry and using a paring knife, make about 16 slits into the roast, about 2 inches.  Stuff the slits with all but 1 tbsp of the paste and then rub remaining paste over the roast.  Put in a 13×9 baking dish and chill, 8-24 hours.

Let pork stand at room temperature for 1 hour.  Preheat oven to 350.  Roast pork, fat side up, about 1 1/2 -2 hours or until internal temperature reaches 150 degrees.  Transfer pork to a cutting board and let rest 30 minutes.  

Meanwhile, pour off all but 1 tbsp fat from roasting pan.  Add vermouth to pan and boil, scraping up bits, 2 minutes.  Stir in broth, any meat juices on cutting board and remaining 2 tbsp pink peppercorns.  Boil until reduced to 1 1/2 cups, about five minutes.  Knead together butter and flour and whisk into sauce and boil, whisking constantly, until just slightly thickened, about 2 minutes.  Serve pork with sauce.

What do these have in common:

Halfway between the Allegheny and the Susquehanna Rivers.

Gobbler’s Knob. 

How much wood does a wood chuck chuck?  

Yes.  You guessed it.  It’s Groundhog Day!

Punxsutawney Phil, Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators and Weather Prophet Extraordinary is making his annual debut today.  I certainly hope it is as cloudy, dark and damp in Pennsylvania as it is here in Florida today because I certainly am not happy with these chilly days. 

It doesn’t make sense to me that if it is clear and bright winter will be with us longer and if it is dark and dreary spring is right around the corner.  I just don’t get that.  Seems like trickeration to me. 

What I do get is the chow down we had on Stuffed Poblanos with pork sausage (AKA  ground hog).   These little beauties are just like the movie.  Once you have them you’ll want to have them over and over.  Simple ingredients that pack extraordinary flavor! 

STUFFED POBLANO PEPPERS

4 poblanos, cut in half, seeds removed 

1 tbsp oil

1 roll Jimmy Dean’s pork sausage

1 small onion, diced

1 small red bell pepper, diced

2 tomatoes, diced

1 small pkg yellow rice

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

sour cream, optional

additional cheese for grating, optional

Cook rice according to package directions.  Roast poblano peppers for about 10 minutes on a gas stovetop or in the broiler until the skins begin to blister. Put the peppers in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove the skins from the poblanos with your fingers or a paring knife.  (Do not fret if all the skin doesn’t come off.) 

Meanwhile, add the oil to a skillet, crumble the sausage and begin to brown.  About halfway through, add the onion and red bell pepper and saute until soft.  Put the mixture into a large bowl.  Add the tomatoes, salt and pepper and cheese.  Stir to combine.

Fill the peppers with the mixture and place in a baking dish.  Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until heated through.

Garnish with additional grated cheese and sour cream.

NOTE:  The poblanos add a touch of heat to this dish so feel free to substitute green bell peppers to tone it down.

We had an Asian cuisine class the other night and we cut about six ounces off of a pork tenderloin for one of the dishes which left me with about 10 ounces of pork tenderloin to utilize in some way.  As it was nearing dinnertime, I decided to make weiner schnitzel and spaetzle.  Two incredibly simple dishes to prepare and who in the heck doesn’t like saying weiner schnitzel and spaetzle.  Kind of like saying titikaka, european or uranus when you were a kid and thought you were getting away with something.  Those words make me smile.  As do other words like leiderhosen, glockenspiel and hassenpfeffer  (incorporated which also makes me smile as I see Laverne and Shirley skipping down the street).  It is a wonder I ever get dinner made with all of the random thoughts which pass through my head.  So what was I talking about?  Oh yes, weiner schnitzel  (smiling).   And if you don’t smile at my words, have your youngsters read Titikaka, European or Uranus and see if they can do it without giggling.  Or Joey Buttafucco.  Or asinine.   Trust me.  Snickering will ensue!

Anyhoo, I sliced the pork into about 1 inch slices and then I used a meat mallet to pound them out.  Weiner schnitzel is, technically, veal but has become increasingly popular made with pork.  Always, always, use a flat meat mallet and not one of those with the protruding points which make the resulting protein look like road kill or one of those mats with holes in them you find in a commercial kitchen.  You are getting the picture.  Just a quick pound to flatten.

Next, prepare the breading mixture.  Put seasoned flour (salt and pepper) in the first bowl, some milk and an egg in the second bowl and bread crumbs in the third.  I only had unseasoned at home but either will do.  Here is my big tip of the day.   Imagine a drumroll here.    Think FEB.  Not as in the month but as in Flour, Eggs, Breading and all of your dredging will be a thing of beauty.  The initial drag or dredge in flour gives the egg/milk something to cling to and adds a bit of “stickiness” to the food so that the breadcrumbs (substitute cornmeal, cracker crumbs, crushed nuts, etc. here) adhere and create a nice thick coating.  

Put some oil into a pan and heat it up.  Please do not be afraid to use a liberal amount of oil.  Contrary to what you might think, the oil will not absorb into your meat but will create a nice browned crust and the majority of the oil will remain.  Cutlets or scallopine of this sort don’t take long to cook, about 3 minutes per side. 

Remove and cover prior to service if you need the pan for additional batches.  

Spaetzle, oh the deliciousness of spaetzle.  There are many, many variations of spaetzle in most Eurpoean cultures.  My grandmother utilized this same dough to make drop dumplings in soup in lieu of noodles.  It makes my mouth water to think of those dumplings and how many of them I could eat… and it’s been probably 30 years since I’ve had them.  Yum!  Todd’s mom makes them with water instead of milk so they are a bit chewier and according to him, like my grandmother’s soup, his mom’s chicken paprikash with spaetzle is the best dish in the world.  It is his requested dish every year for his birthday dinner.  Whether they are called gnocchi, passatelli, hulaski or csipetke, this quick dish should definitely be one you memorize and utilize…. a lot!

Spaetzle is a very sticky dough and to do it justice, requires a spaetzle maker which, fortunately, can be purchased fairly inexpensively.  I understand that authentic spaetzle makers, whatever the heck that means, cost upwards of $100.  I have never seen one but do know that my $8.00 jobbie works just fine!  Mix the dough together and add it to the hopper on the spaetzle maker.  Slide it back and forth into a pot of boiling salted water and viola.  Spaetzle are born!  They only take about 2-3 minutes to cook.  Floaters = doneness.  Remove to a dish, add some butter and freshly grated nutmeg and you have a fabulous hearty homey alternative to rice, pasta or potatoes. 

We added a quick pan sauteed zucchini and yellow squash as a veg left over from our Egg class (I love it when students unknowingly help me with mise en place) and dinner was finished in a flash.  It’s all doable and delicious here!

So to the recipes.  I really don’t have one for the weiner schnitzel.  Sorry.  It is just as I laid it out.  Flatten veal or pork into cutlets.  Dredge in approximately 1/2 cup flour seasoned with salt and pepper.   Whisk one egg and 1/2 cup milk in a second bowl.   Put about 1/2 cup bread crumbs into a third bowl.  Dredge with the FEB tip.  Heat some oil in a pan and saute about three minutes per side.  That’s it.  Really.  I promise I didn’t leave a step out. 

Spaetzle

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

3/4 cup milk

butter and nutmeg

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.  Stir together the flour and salt in one bowl.  Whisk together the eggs and milk in a second bowl.  Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir until combined.  The dough will be sticky and may or may not be totally incorporated.  My reference point here is Bisquick.  It should look like that.  Put the dough into the hopper.  As you will discover this needs to be done close to the boiling water as they dough will ooze out if you make a habit of carrying your spaetzle maker around the kitchen with you.  Push the hopper back and forth over the holes.  When they float they are done.  Add some butter and a grate or two of fresh nutmeg.  Toss, serve and enjoy!