Pork, Heirloom Tomatoes and Apples

I am going to combine recipes on this post because I have been making all of these things at the same time.  My cousin, Chris Douglas and her husband, Don, were in town this weekend and asked if I was going to the farmer's market this morning.  Of course I will go to the farmer's market for the chance to catch up with them!  While I was there, I found (well, she found) my favorite heirloom tomatoes.  This is the solid orange ones.  The seller said they were valencia, but when you look them up online, they come up amana.  Either way, I have discovered that I really like these for making slow-roasted tomato sauce.  So, I bought two quarts (at least, that's the size container they put them in). 

On Thursday, after mom and I went to pick up the CSA, she wanted to go get some meats at Jack's Market.  While there, I decided to get a pork shoulder.  I ended up with twice what I intended to get, but today was the day to braise it and make pulled pork. 

And finally, at the farmer's market near school, I picked up some Paula Red apples.  They are a bit tart, so I stopped at Bayne's Apple Farm and picked up some Gingergold (I think), which are a bit sweeter.  Today, I am making applesauce out of them in my crockpot.  So, without further ado, here are my recipes:

Oven-Roasted Heirloom Tomato Sauce

• 10 medium valencia (or amana) heirloom tomatoes**
• Garlic cloves (I used 4)*
• Italian Seasoning
• Salt, as needed

Preheat oven to 250F.  Wash and dry the tomatoes.  Cut them in half and remove stem end.  Place cut side up on cookie sheet covered with foil.  Peel garlic cloves and intersperse them between the tomato halves.  Sprinkle all with Italian seasoning.  Roast in slow oven for 3 hours or until tomatoes are cooked through.  Remove from oven and transfer everything to blender bowl.  Puree until smooth.  Taste sauce and season, as needed, with salt.

*CSA Ingredients
**Farmers market ingredients


Braised Pork Shoulder
Adapted from: http://csafoodie.blogspot.com/2011/04/pork-shoulder.html

• 1 9-lb pork shoulder roast
• sea salt and pepper, to taste
• cayenne pepper
• 5-6 sprigs fresh lemon thyme
• 1 ancho chile, sliced*
• 1 med candy onion, thinly sliced*
• water

Season the roast with sea salt, pepper and cayenne.  Place in a large Dutch oven.  Add thyme, ancho pepper and onion slices.  Fill the Dutch oven halfway with water.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer for 4-5 hours or until thermometer inserted into the center reads 160-180F.  Remove roast to plate; cover and allow roast to sit at room tempurature for 10 minutes.  Drain onions and peppers and place in a large bowl. Skim fat off cooking liquid and save to use as pork stock.  Pull the pork, mix in the peppers and onions and then mix with BBQ sauce (I used my homemade sorgham bbq sauce).

 *CSA Ingredients


Slow-cooker Applesauce

• 4 Gingergold Apples
• 6 Paula Red Apples**
• 2 Tbs water
• Sugar (optional)

 Wash and dry the apples.  Peel the apples, remove the cores and then slice.  Place all apple slices into crockpot.  Sprinkle with water and mix until apples are all coated.  Cook covered, on LOW, for 4 hours, stirring periodically.  If needed, break up apples with potato masher.  If you prefer sweet applesauce, add sugar or sweetener.

   
 **Farmers market ingredients

Fall Soup

Between my CSA share and my husband's cousin, I ended up with a variety of winter squashes. I decided with the recent change in weather, Squash Soup would be a comforting change. As I usually do, I hit the internet for ideas and found a recipe for Roasted Squash Soup that uses several types of winter squash. Since Ihad butternut, acorn and spaghetti squash, I decided to use this recipe as a basis for my version.

 Roasted Winter Squash Soup
Adapted from: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/roasted-squash-soup/detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=roasted%20squash%20soup&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page

• 1 1/2 pounds butternut squash*, halved and seeded
• 1 acorn squash*, halved and seeded
• 1/2 small spaghetti squash*, halved and seeded
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion*, chopped
• 6 cloves roasted garlic*, minced
• 1 teaspoon ginger powder
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 2 Gala apples* - peeled, cored and chopped
• 2/3 cup white wine
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup water
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Place the squash, cut side down, on baking sheets and roast for 45 minutes, or until flesh is soft. Scoop out the flesh into a large bowl.
3. In a large Dutch oven over medium heat, heat the oil. Saute the onion, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in the garlic, ginger and curry powder and cook 1 minute. Add the apples and sherry and simmer for 10 minutes, or until apples soften.
4. Puree batches of the squash flesh and broth in a food processor or blender. Transfer the squash puree to a large saucepan. Puree the apple/sherry mixture and stir into pureed squash.
5. Heat over medium heat and season with salt, pepper and cayenne, to taste. 

 *CSA ingredients

Boiled dinner

This week we received a nice pork roast in the share. We also received a cabbage, Yukon gold potatoes, turnips, and apples. Since it's snowing outside, and also close to St. Patrick's Day, I figured boiled dinner would be a great comfort meal for today.

 Boiled Dinner

•  1 4-5 lb pork roast*
•  1 large potato*, diced
•  1/2 head cabbage*, wedged
•  1 large winesap apple*, wedged
•  1 large turnip*, wedged
•  1 cup apple cider*
•  7 cups water
•  1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
•  1 tsp sea salt

 Place vegetables and apples in bottom of crock. Place roast on top. Pour cider and water over roast and add spices and salt. Cover and cook on HIGH for 3-5 hours, until roast is 160°F in the center. Remove roast and allow to temper 5 minutes. Turn cooker to LOW and cook until potatoes are fork tender. Slice pork thin and serve with vegetables and apples.

*CSA Ingredients

What to do with Leftover Goose

Today's adventure is using up leftover goose. Since I managed to get some beautiful stock made, I  decided to make soup. I looked for recipes, but couldn't find one that was quite what I was looking for, so improvise it is!

Leftover Goose Soup

•  about 5 cups leftover goose meat, *shredded
• 6 cups goose stock *
• 6 cups water
• 1/2 head white cabbage, *shredded
• 1 large sweet potato, * diced
• about 3 cups leftover stock vegetables (potatoes, carrots, onions) *
• 2 apples roasted in goose *
• 1 pkg dried wide egg noodles *

Bring stock and water to boil in a large Dutch oven. Add cabbage and sweet potatoes. Returns to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are cooked. Add goose meat, cooked vegetables and apples to soup. Bring to a boil. Add noodles and cook 9 minutes. Makes about 12 (1-1/2 cup) servings.

* CSA ingredients

Squash Soup

Now that my music obligations are complete, its time for me to get back to some cooking. I received butternut and buttercup squash in the last share. I had located a recipe for slow-cooker squash and broccoli soup I thought I'd try. I cut up the squash and an onion and put them in the cooker, but when I opened the bag of broccoli florets, they were clearly spoiled. While this was disappointing to me, I moved onto plan B.

Curried Butternut Squash Apple Soup

• 2 small butternut squash*, peeled and cubed
• 2 large granny smith apples*, peeled and cubed
•  1 large onion*, diced
• 3 cloves garlic*, minced
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 cup apple cider*
• 4 cups water
• 1 Tbsp curry powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• salt and pepper, to taste

Place all ingredients into crock of slow-cooker. Cover and cook 4-5 hours on HIGH or 6-8 hours on LOW, or until vegetables are soft. Cool slightly then blend with an immersion blender or countertop blender until smooth. If you like, add a little cream or plain yogurt before serving. Garnish with diced apples or pears.

*CSA ingredients

Double Duty Chicken and Vegetables

Since this was the last week of the summer CSA and the winter CSA starts this coming week, I knew I had to cook the last chicken that I received.  I was watching reruns of The Chew (as I do not have DVR to record it) and during one of the episodes last week, they mentioned using root vegetables as a base to roast chicken which prevents the chicken from boiling in it's own juices.  I had potatoes, turnips and cauliflower left from the last couple packages, so I decided to give this a try:

Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

• 1 cup tiny red potatoes, washed*
• 1cup fingerling potatoes, washed*
• 2 cups cauliflower florets*
• 3 medium turnips, peeled and diced*
• 1 med tomato*
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 3 Tbsp mixed dried herbs
• 1 4-lb chicken*

Preheat oven to 375F. Prepare vegetables and place in a large ziploc bag.  Drizzle with olive oil and add herbs.  Close bag and shake until vegetables are coated.  Pour vegetables into bottom a roasting pan, making a single layer. Place chicken on top of vegetables and season as desired.  Roast in 375F oven for 1 hour.  Stir vegetables and return to oven.  Raise heat to 425F and roast until thermometer inserted into thigh reads 175F; about 15 minutes longer.

When I checked the vegetables, I noticed that the turnips were still quite al dente.  I also needed to use up some squash and cider that I received in previous packages.  So, I decided to take the vegetables and some of the chicken and make a cider stew.

Chicken Cider Stew

• Chicken breast and thigh from above recipe*
• Vegetables from above recipe*
• 1 ½ cup chicken stock
• 1 ½ cup apple cider*
• ¼ cup cider vinegar
• 1 small acorn squash, peeled, seeded and cubed*
• 2 medium apples, peeled , seeded and wedged*

Remove skin from Chicken. Carve chicken breast and thigh meat, then shred into a large Dutch oven. Pour vegetables and drippings into Dutch oven as well.  Add  stock, cider and cider vinegar to pan and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.  In the meantime, peel and seed the acorn squash.  Cut into 1 inch pieces.  Add pieces to stew, cover and cook for an additional 10 minutes.  While squash is cooking, peel, seed and wedge two tart apples.  At the end of the 10 minutes, add apple wedges, cover and cook another 10 minutes or until apples are becoming soft.  Makes 12 1-cup servings.

*CSA ingredients

Apple Crisp

So, it's funny how I haven't really remembered everything that I have gotten in my CSA packages.  I am assuming that is because I didn't pick up a couple of them personally.  However, in the process of moving, I ran across a bag of spelt granola that I must have received a few weeks back.  Ever since I found that bag, I have been craving apple crisp.  Since John was coming down for the long weekend, I decided that it was a perfect time to use up some of the apples we have received and some of the granola and, of course, some of that 2 lb roll of butter as well.  Here's what I threw together:

Spelt Granola Apple Crisp

Makes 6 servings

• 3 lg apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup lime juice (you can use lemon as well)
• 2 1/2 cups spelt granola
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, melted

Pour 1/4 cup lime (or lemon) juice into a large bowl.  Peel, core and slice the apples, tossing them with the lime juice.  Pour this mixture into the crock.  In another medium bowl, combine the granola and sugar.  Sprinkle over apples.  Drizzle with melted butter.  Cook for 5-6 hours on LOW. 

Weight Watchers PointsPlus: 7


I used lime juice because my lemon juice had gone bad.  I actually have been enjoying the smell of the whole crisp cooking.  The lime juice gives it a different smell.  I can't wait to try it when it is done.  We are going to The Melting Pot for dinner, so I am guessing we will have dessert with dinner, but we can pick up some vanilla ice cream on the way home to have with it tomorrow.  I will post a picture when it's ready to serve!