Meaty Monday: Apple Spice Pork Chops

The Ninja's new colleague had supper with us one night a few weeks ago so I was looking for a recipe that had two things: 1) pork as the main ingredient and 2) some sort of fall implement. I am trying to beckon colder weather with fall aspects; home décor, apple pie etc. I may even drink a pumpkin spice latte.

I found this recipe on Pinterest and it looked so easy and delicious I couldn't pass it up. The key thing to remember about this, and any pork chop recipe, is DON'T OVERCOOK YOUR PORK. You're doing yourself a disservice by cooking pork chops and roasts until they are dry as a bone. Pork is best served at 145 F and it is ok to have a little pink in there. Trust me - I'm married to a doctor ;)

I hope you enjoy this meal - if you try it and like it, shout it out below in the comments!

Ingredients:

 - 4 or 5  pork chops (ours were about 1" thick)
 - 2 T vegetable oil
 - salt and pepper
 - 1 medium onion
 - 2 medium apples
 - 2 T butter
 - 1 T brown sugar
 - 1/2 t cinnamon
 -  1/4 tsp nutmeg
 - 1 t chicken bouillon
 - 1 cup water



Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. While the oil is heating, season chops with salt and pepper (I use heavy salt and pepper because we like spiced up food). Once the oil is hot, place the chops in the pan and let the bottoms get a nice brown crust (2-3 minutes). While the chops are browning slice up your onions and apples (you don't have to peel the apples). Flip the chops and brown the other side for 2-3 minutes, then remove them from the pan.








Give the chops a few minutes to get a good crust on one side; then flip and repeat with  the other.

Now put the apples, onions and butter in the pan so that they can soften (approximately 5 minutes), then add in the bouillon, water, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir everything together well and ensure that the apples and onions are softened, then add the chops back to the pan. Make sure there are apples and onions on the chops so that the flavors can collide.



They taste better than they smell - and they smell DELICIOUS!

Simmer the whole mess until the sauce is reduced by half and the chops are 145 degrees F. Serve chops with apples and onions served on top, with your favorite starch or veggie.














I hope you enjoy these as much as we did - fall weather is here and this is great recipe for those chilly nights! What are your favorite fall recipes?

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~

Meaty Monday: Smoked Beef Brisket

My Sunday lunch. Sunday supper. And [hopefully] Monday supper.

Holy cow, my Sunday meals were out of this park. Brisket for lunch. Brisket for supper and I will probably have brisket for Monday supper.

I scored a beef brisket at Dillon's on sale - it was originally $8.99/lb but I got it on sale for $5.97/lb so my total 3.4 pound brisket was $20. I'm pretty stoked about the sale on its own but add in the delicious factor of this meal and it's a full on win!

The Ninja is the meat-smoker in the family. I prefer to stick to grilling, frying, baking, broiling but smoking is his major forte. He got a smoker for Christmas in 2013 and hadn't gotten much use of it so it was time to fire that puppy up. But first, let's take a selfie the marinade.

We got this recipe and marinade from the Backyard BBQ: The Art of Smokology cookbook. We used the In Your Mouth recipe, the Brisket Rub II, and the Spiced Brisket Mop. While this recipe is not as simple as many of the others I post, it was scrumptious and juicy and absolutely delectable. I am hoping to have it for supper on Monday night as well. Trust me, take the plunge and do it!

"In Your Mouth" Brisket p. 142
- 1 beef brisket (ours was 3.4 lbs but this recipe will work for a 6-8 lb brisket)
- Brisket Rub II
- Spiced Brisket Mop

Brisket Rub II p. 114
- 3 tbsp. kosher salt
- 3 tbsp. black pepper
- 2 tbsp. paprika
- 1 1/2 tbsp. dry mustard
- 1 tbsp. thyme
- 1 tbsp. celery seed
- 1 tbsp. onion powder
- 1 tbsp. garlic powder
- 1/2 tbsp. cayenne pepper
- 1 bay leaf

Spiced Brisket Mop p.190
- 3 cup beef stock
- 3/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- 2 tbsp. yellow mustard
- 1 tbsp. Asian chili paste
- 1 tbsp. chili powder
- 1 tsp. celery seed
- 2 tsp. seasoning salt
- 1 tsp. cumin
- 1 tsp. onion powder/salt

Combine the ingredients together in a nonreactive pot and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes and remove from heat to cool slight. When using as a mop, keep wamr. Heat flavor can be adjusted by increasing or decreasing the chili paste.

Brisket prep instructions
Trim the brisket of any excess fat. Do not remove all the fat since it helps keep the brisket moist during cooking. Once the fat is trimmed, place the brisket in a large Ziploc bag or plastic container and pour Brisket Mop over the meat. Let marinate for six hours.

After the six hours is up, pat dry and put on the brisket rub. Rub well on both sides and then place brisket at room temp while your smoker comes to temperature.

Bring smoker to about 300 degrees. Place brisket in the smoker and smoke at 225F for 3 hours. Once the brisket has smoked for three hours and formed the bark, start to mop with the Spiced Brisket Mop. Mop the brisket every hour. Cook brisket until internal temp is 165F.* Wrap in foil and continue cooking until the internal temperature reaches 195F.*
 
*This part didn't take as long for our three-lb brisket. Regardless of the size your brisket, monitor the temp throughout to make sure you are on track.
 

Look at the beautiful crust on this meat masterpiece!

The finished product, hot out of the smoker.

I did a poor job of taking photos during this whole process but all anyone cares about for recipe photos is what the end product looks like, right?! I even included a video of the Ninja cutting the brisket.



It was juicy. Sensational. Delectable. Absolutely amazing.

 

I hope you have a wonderful Meaty Monday and a great week! This brisket helped fuel my 8 mile run today and will get me through my sore muscles on Monday! If you try it, please let me know if you like/loved it!

 

Until next time,

~ Buzzard ~

Hunk of Meat Monday: Balsamic Beef Roast

When I wasn't huddled around the heater trying to stay warm out here on the arctic plains this past weekend, I was catching up on my Pinterest recipe collection and cooking. I stumbled across what may be my FAVORITE beef roast recipe. Bonus: it called for ingredients I already had on hand and was super easy.

Buzzard's Crockpot Balsamic Beef Roast

Ingredients:
2 cups beef broth
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
~ 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
~ 2 tbsp soy sauce
~ 2 tbsp honey
~ 1 tsp red pepper flakes
~ 4 cloves garlic, chopped

Assemble all of your ingredients, including a beef roast. The amount of marinade will work for a roast up to 3-4 pounds.

Gather your ingredients

Mix together all of your ingredients. Place beef roast in your Crockpot and pour mixture over the beef. Our roast was about 1.25-1.5 pounds and it was the perfect medium-rare doneness after about 2 hours on high. If you have a larger roast (3-4) pounds, you could do 4 hours on high or probably 6 hours on low.

Pour the ingredient mixture onto your roast. Look at all that garlic, yum!

When done, place beef roast in a serving dish and spoon gravy and beef bits over the meat to moisten and infuse with deliciousness.


Robust flavor and so very delicious!

Please, for the sake of all things holy, don't cook your beef to well-done! You only need to cook the roast to 145F!

If you try this one out, let me know how you liked it. We LOVED it - the flavor was robust and the roast stayed very moist. This will definitely be a repeat in our house.

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~

Hunk of Meat Monday: Beef Roast Times Two!

Tikki Masala Curry - easy and delicious

P.s. my food photog skills are improving a wee bit!

I'm all about easy recipes - I do not have the time nor the willingness to spend 3+ hours over a stove making a completely homemade, handcrafted meal. I often will try to fancy up a main dish or try a new entrée recipe and then resort to frozen veggies and rice as our sides. One out of three ain't too bad, if you ask me.

Which is why I love being able to whip up something new from something old. It's like a makeover. That's what I did with a beef roast last week - the leftover turned into a brand new dish that we've never tried and it was DELICIOUS [all caps intentional]. My timid journey into foods from different cultures continued with this beef curry roast. Both the Ninja and my eyes went wide when we had our first bite of this stuff - and it takes A LOT to get that kind of reaction from him!

Without further ado...

Beef Tikki Masala Curry
1 lb shredded beef
1 jar Tikki Masala curry (we used Patak's)
Naan bread (or appropriate substitute)

That's it - three ingredients.

First, I made a beef roast last Monday night. Nothing too fancy or special - you can use this recipe if you're looking for one. I cooked it to 145 F - please for the sake of all that is good and amazing in the world, do not overcook the meat! We ate half of the beef roast and the other half I shredded using two forks and put in the fridge.

A few nights later, I heated up about 4-5 tbsp. of vegetable oil in a skillet and put the leftover roast in the pan. This is to heat it up and get some of that crisp on the end (you can't get that great crisp in the microwave, people!).


Getting its crisp on. Like my spatula? It came from South Africa!

When I could see the edges were starting to get crispy (not burnt - let me stress this NOT BURNT) I poured in about half of the jar of tikki masala curry sauce. I stirred it around and made sure all the meat was coated thoroughly then I let the whole meal heat up until it was piping hot.


Let the saucy goodness overtake the beef

Serve with naan bread, veggies and rice. Or, if you're like me and couldn't find naan bread at the Dillon's, you can use Kroger sandwich thins which are just as tasty and fit the function well.


So much delicious on the Ninja's plate

That's it - the whole meal took less than 30 minutes. Boiling the rice was the longest activity by a long shot!

I got this recipe tip from the culinary experts at NCBA. Every time I visit our headquarters they are whipping up something tasty and fun - this was no different! Can't wait to see what they develop next!

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~

Hunk of Meat Monday: Marinated Pork Roast with Pan Sauce

A hot meal for a cold day

It's cold and rainy here in Kansas, which has me dreaming of spring and grilling. Alas, our grill doesn't get used as much during the colder months so I'm forced to cook whole meals instead of putting the Ninja in charge of the meat.

Which is why this Hunk of Meat Monday recipe is so fabulous - it was easy, delicious and can be replicated with beef or lamb just as easily so it doesn't get old and boring. Throw the roast in the marinade in the morning and that evening, in less than an hour, you've got a scrumptious, moist pork roast to enjoy while the wind blows and snow flies.

Marinated Pork Roast with Pan Sauce
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
~ 3 tbsp. lemon juice
3 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1-2 tbsp. parsley
2 tsp dry mustard
black pepper, to taste
~ 4 tbsp. minced garlic

All of this was already in my pantry - win!

Combine all ingredients and save back about three tbsp. of the mixture. Place the pork roast (mine was about 2 lbs) and marinade in a plastic Ziploc bag and let marinate for at least 3-4 hours (longer is better but 3-4 gets the job done).

After marinating is complete, sear each side of the pork roast in a skillet over medium-high heat for about 3-4 minutes. Place in 350 F degree oven and cook until internal temperature reaches 145-150 degrees (this took about 45 minutes in my oven but can vary). Let rest for five minutes before cutting.

Searing the pork roast really locked in the flavor on the surface

For the pan sauce:
Marinade that you saved back
2 tsp butter
Pan scrapings from the pork roast
1/2 cup beef broth

Place skillet back on stove over medium heat and add beef broth while scraping up the browned pieces of goodiness from the pan. Add the marinade and let the whole thing boil down for a few minutes. Add butter and remove from heat, stirring until butter is melted. Pour this over your pork roast and enjoy!


So delicious!

In other news, I have finally reached the stage of my life where I look at a recipe like this and am confident that I have all the needed ingredients - red wine vinegar, minced garlic, beef broth etc. I have an overwhelming feeling of pride that my kitchen feels fully stocked. Any others out there feel this way?

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~

Hunk of Meat Monday: Easy, Delicious Beef Meatballs in Under an Hour!

Dear readers, it is 'Hunk of Meat Monday' and yes, you read that right. You can prepare a delicious home-made beef meal in less than an hour. For reals.

This week, I thought I'd share something that doesn't require a crockpot - no offense Crockie, I still love you but sometimes you need something that tastes fresh, ya know?

I made this recipe because I wanted to see if it could compare to my grandmother's meatball recipe, which I have no intention of sharing. Good news - these are fantastic! This is the second time I've made them and they were delicious both times and SO FANTASTICALLY SIMPLE. The great thing is that you could substitute pork, veal or lamb really easily, or do a combo. The next time I make them, I plan to combine pork and beef.

Buzzard's Meatballs

• 1 lb hunk of meat ground beef
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp H2O
• 1/2 c bread crumbs (I make a piece of toast, then tear apart and put in my food processor)
• 1/4 c minced onions
• salt and pepper to taste
• ~ 1 tsp garlic salt*
• ~ 1 tsp Italian seasoning*

* Remember my inability to measure things? Note the approximation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (that's 177 degrees Celsius for my Aussie friends). In large bowl, combine all ingredients except meat and mix together.

Doesn't look like much but all those spices contribute to the delicious factor!

Add hunk of meat/ground beef, broken into chunks, and mush with your hands to combine.

Mix it - mix it real good.

Form into meatballs and bake for 25-30 minutes for 1" balls. If your balls are larger, it will take more time to bake them. Mine were larger than a golf ball so it took about 40 minutes (always use a meat thermometer and for ground beef recipes like this, the internal temp should be 165 F).

Handsome little fellas

These could be really great for spaghetti or pasta or as a stand-alone meal. I like to prepare them as a meal and then serve with veggies and pasta on the side.



I've mentioned before that food photography is not my forte but trust your tongue not your eyes - these are delicious!

I hope you enjoy! Sound off below and let me know if you liked it!

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~