Pork Chile Verde Burritos

I love Mexican food! As my last class in Culinary Arts we ran a Restaurant called Greg's,on the weekends in the McKay Events Center at UVU.  During the week we learned about a certain cuisine, got our assignments for the restaurant and started prepping for the weekend. During Mexican week I was on line 2 and had to prepare 2 of the 4 appetizers and 2 of the 4 Entree's. One of which was Pork Chile Verde Burritos, along with all the sides. Lots of work! On Thursday, just before dinner service, I finish up adding the chile's and put the lid on for it to simmer. I started going over my recipe to make sure everything was right and I realized, I put the WRONG chilies in. The recipe called for Pablano Chile's and I added Serrano. I was going to die...I didn't know what to do. Pablano chile's are pretty mild and Serrano's are some of the hottest chile's there are. I was so nervous but it was too late to remake everything! I let it finish cooking while finishing the other sides. 5 min before dinner service Chef Troy came around to taste everything. I held my breath, still deciding if I should say something, when he said "good job, it tastes great!"  Few, I felt like a ton of bricks was lifted off my shoulders. Half way through dinner service,  Chef Greg, who started the Culinary Arts program and the Restaurant, got up from his table, came into the kitchen and yelled "Who made the Chile Verde Burritos?" uh, oh..I just new I was in trouble. I sheepishly raised my hand, not knowing what to say and he then said "This is the best chile verde I have ever tasted, Great Job!" and then walked out. Best night ever... in Culinary school! A couple nights ago My mom had a ton of tomatillos from her garden that she didn't know what to do with so I decided to recreate my success.  My school book is in storage right now since we are in the process of moving and so I found this recipe from Food Network and gave it my own little twist. Hope you enjoy! 

Pork Chile Verde

Source: Adapted from Food Network

Ingredients

• 4 pounds pork butt or shoulder, trimmed of fat and cut into 2-inch cubes
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Flour for dredging
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3 yellow onions, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 green bell pepper, Roasted 
• 3 Serrano chilies, finely chopped
• 2-3 jalapenos, seeds removed, and finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves or 3 T of already minced Garlic
• 1 1/2 pounds tomatillos, roasted, peeled and chopped
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons ground coriander seeds
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 bunch cilantro leaves, cleaned and chopped
• 4 cups chicken stock

Directions

Season the pork meat generously with salt and pepper, lightly flour. Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium high heat and brown pork chunks well in small batches, on all sides. Spoon pork out of pan and place in a wide soup pot. Turn oven on to broil. 

Roast the green pepper over the burner until black. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in fridge to sweat. 

Place the Tomatillos,1 chopped onion, 2T garlic, 1 Serrano pepper and 2 jalapenos in a roasting pan. Roast in the oven for about 10 min. Remove the charred skins from the tomatillos and peppers. (including the green pepper) and blend in a food processor with all the juices from the pan. Set aside 

Place the remaining onions and pepper in the same skillet that the pork was browned in and sweat over moderate heat, stirring occasionally until limp, about 5 minutes. Add the rest of the chilies and cook an additional 3-4 minutes, then add the rest of the garlic and cook 1-2 minutes more.

Add the Sauteed vegetables, chopped roasted tomatillo mixture, dried herbs and cilantro to the meat, cover with the chicken stock and bring up to a boil and reduce to a slight simmer. Cook for 2-3 hours uncovered or until the pork is fork tender. Fill tortillas with the Chile Verde, Best Spanish Rice, and Rustic refried beans and roll up. Top with more sauce and cheese,  then melt under the broiler or in microwave. It's like being at a restaurant but better! 

Parmesan Crusted Chicken

For my internship I worked at a Reception center called White Willow, located in Provo, UT! It is a great place and I loved it there. This Parmesan crusted chicken was one of my favorite things that we made there. At White Willow we made it with roasted potatoes but I think it's wonderful with any side, especially pasta! I made this as one of the Entrees that I served at the Graduation party with Anniversary Bow-tie Pasta and my Easy Garlic Breadsticks.

Parmesan crusted chicken

Ingredients:

Chicken

1-2 bags of garlic croutons crushed in a food processor or blender

Shredded Parmesan cheese

Caesar dressing

Creamy Italian dressing

Instructions:Mix equal parts of the dressings together.

Mix bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese together.

Dredge chicken in dressings and then in crumb mixture.

 Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 min

Anniversary Bow-tie Pasta

Anniversary Bow-tie pasta

Adapted from Favorite family Recipes

Ingredients:

1pkg. Bow tie pasta

1/2c. Butter

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced

3/4c grated Parmesan cheese

2 chicken bouillon cubes

1 pint heavy cream

Salt & pepper to taste

1/2lb bacon, crumbled

Toasted pine nuts to taste

Instructions:Boil pasta until al dante. Don't overcook. In a wok or heavy skillet melt butter. Sauté garlic for a min. or so and add Parmesan cheese and bouillon cubes. When bouillon cube is dissolved, slowly stir in cream and S&P. Add cooked pasta to cream sauce and toss until covered. Sprinkle with crumbled bacon,pine-nuts and Parmesan cheese. Toss together and serve.

Serve with Parmesan Crusted Chicken, and  Roasted Asparagus or Green beans.

Island Pork Tenderloin

Congratulations!  When my husband, Porter, graduated from Notre Dame we had a Graduation Dinner with a big group of friends, who were all graduating. Each couple paid $20 and I went all out! I made this with Basic Rice Pilaf, Cooked apples and pears, green beans, Roasted Red pepper coulis, and Candied orange zest as a garnish. I don't always cook this way, with the full 5 components of an entree, but when I'm cooking for an event I usually get a little over excited!  The other Entree I did for this party was Parmesan crusted chicken and Anniversary Bow-tie pasta, with a Pesto Sauce on the side. Appetizers:Tomato Basil Brochetta, Bacon wrapped water chestnuts, and Shrimp Cocktail.  Desserts: White Chocolate Brownie Trifle, and Creme Brulee.  We had such a great time!

Island Pork Tenderloin

Adapted from P90X cookbook

2lb Pork tenderloin 
1T oil 

Rub

1 t Salt

1/2 t pepper

1 t Chile powder

1 t ground cumin

1 t cinnamon

Glaze:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1T fresh Garlic, finely chopped

1T Ta patio hot sauce (any hot sauce will do)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Clean Pork and coat with spice rub (by clean I mean..cut off fat and silver skin. The silver skin is the dark silver layer. When cutting it off you don't want to dig into the pork,it's just a thin layer. Insert the knife underneath the layer of silver skin and carefully slice to one edge, then with one had hold the loose piece up and take the knife back in the other direction. )

3. Heat oil in a 12-inch skillet over moderately high heat and brown pork on all sides

4. Place in roasting pan. Stir together glaze and spread on top of tenderloin. Bake in oven for 20-30min.

Mushroom Brisket

 Birthday Dinner! Mine and my husbands families live just across the street from each other and both have 3 younger brother whose ages fall right in between each others. I then have 2 sisters just younger than them and we both have 1 older sibling, Porter's is a Brother who has 2 kids of his own and lives in Arizona and mine is a sister with 2 kids and they live in Cedar Hills, UT. Right now there are only 3 of those siblings who are still at home but on the weekends we get a good group together. Especially now during Football season with Fantasy Football going.   Anyway...We all love to get together and get along really well so it makes it very convenient for Birthdays and Holidays! We are continually running back and forth from house to house and sometimes we will just combine and have Sunday Dinners together. My husbands Birthday was one of those days, and we made him one of his favorite meals. Brisket, Sour Cream potatoes, a Strawberry Poppy-seed salad and Artichokes! It was delicious!

 Mushroom Brisket

Adapted from: Tracy Tonks Brisket
Ingredients:
5lbs or more Brisket
8-16oz package of fresh Mushrooms,sliced
1 Lipton onion soup mix envelope
1-2 cans of beef broth
Instructions:
Rinse meat in cold water. Put in oven roasting bag and sprinkle with Lipton onion soup mix.Place in roasting pan and cover with lid or foil and bake at 400* for 15min. Reduce heat to 325* & bake 3hrs. Take meat out of bag and pour juices into roaster. Let meat cool then slice thinly. Put meat back in pan and add 1-2 cans beef broth and cover with sliced mushrooms. Cover and bake an additional 1 1/2-2hrs. Uncover for last 15 min.

I know it takes a long time to make but it is so worth it and very easy. It's a great Sunday meal because I can let it cook during church and once we get home I can finish it up and prepare the rest of the meal, while it finishes cooking.

Cream Potatoes & Peas

This recipe brings me back to a simpler time when the demands of life weren't so crazy. It was a time when you couldn't get on a computer or just pick up your smart phone and search for a recipe to make for dinner. This was a time when everything you consumed was produced from your own hard work. My grandmother used to pick all of the ingredients from her own garden and make this soup for my mom, and my mom made it for me.  Although we are unsure of the recipes origins, it is inexpensive and delicious. All you need are 3 main ingredients!

Cream Potatoes and Peas

 Ingredients:
4 cups Water
8-12 Medium Red Potatoes,cut into 4ths
small package of Peas
1 can of canned milk
1/4 c cornstarch
1/4c cold water
Seasoned salt & Pepper to taste

Instructions:

• Boil Potatoes in water until soft
• add peas and canned milk without draining the water. It should thicken up a little bit.
• Meanwhile, make a slurry by combining the cornstarch and cold water. Slowly add the slurry a little at a time letting it thicken. You may not need to add all of it.
• Salt and Pepper to taste. I like seasoned salt because it adds a little more flavor!