Shawn's Pork Cutlet Mornay

Don't forget that we're looking for cookie recipes!  Our Christmas Cookie Contest is on and we're ready to bake (and eat -- poor us) the cookies you love best.  Please send your recipes to KristaDavis at KristaDavis dot com.  This year we'll have ten finalists, and you get to pick the winner!  Wendy is putting together a prize that every cookie baker will love.  Stay tuned to learn more.  And send us those recipes!


Our easy holiday dinner begins on Saturday.  If you're debating what to make for Thanksgiving or Christmas, be sure to check our menu!

Shawn Stevens!

You may recall a recent post in which people shared the best meals they ever had.  Shawn, one of our readers, told us about her favorite meal, Pork Cutlet Mornay.  Of course I had to try it!



So when company came to visit, I made Shawn's dish and it was a huge hit.  If you love the combination of tomato sauce and melted cheese (and who doesn't?), you'll adore this dish.  I doubled the sauce as Shawn recommends and served it over linguini.


The only problem I ran into was finding pork cutlets.  I didn't expect that.  A pork cutlet is a lovely boneless lean piece of pork that is almost oval.  It's cut from the sirloin end of the loin.  Unfortunately, my store didn't have any, so I went to my favorite cut of pork, the tenderloin, and cut it into medallions.  It worked out fine.

Here's the recipe that Shawn was kind enough to share with us!

Pork Cutlet Mornay

6 pork sirloin cutlets                               
2 eggs, beaten                                       
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs (may need more depending on how much breading you like)                     
1/4 cup vegetable oil    
2 tablespoon water
2-8 oz can tomato sauce
3/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
paprika

Dip pork cutlets into egg and then coat with bread crumbs.   Melt oil; brown cutlets over medium heat.  Add water and reduce heat.  Cover and cook over low heat until done; about 30 minutes.  Arrange cutlets in ungreased 13 x 9 baking dish (spoon in any sauce left in pan).  Top each cutlet with 1 tablespoon tomato sauce (pour any remaining sauce in bottom of baking  dish).  Pour mornay sauce (below) on pork and sprinkle with cheese and paprika.

Set oven to 550 degrees.  Cook until cheese is bubbly.

Mornay Sauce

1 tablespoon margarine                                        
1 tablespoon flour                                                  
1/8 teaspoon salt                                               
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper  
1/2 cup chicken broth       
1/2 cup half-and-half
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Melt margarine in pan.  Blend in flour salt, nutmeg and pepper.   Cook over low heat; stirring constantly, until smooth.  Immediately add in half-and-half and broth.   Heat to boil, stirring constantly.  Boil and stir 1 minute.  Stir in cheese until melted.

NOTE:  I double the sauce recipe.  We place the pork on pasta and top with sauce.  Enjoy!

Thanks, Shawn!
Everyone, even my picky eaters, loved this dish.

How Food Has Changed

by Sheila Connolly

Having failed to procure a guest for this day (and it's a long one, thanks to Daylight Savings), I thought I would regale you with some recipes from The Williamsburg Art of Cookery; or, Accomplished Gentlewoman's Companion, by Mrs. Helen Bullock.  The authors themselves cited many earlier sources.  The copy I have was purchased at Williamsburg by my grandmother in June 1951.  Her late husband, my grandfather, had attended William & Mary (although he didn't graduate), and she first visited the place with him, in 1936.

"The Apple Bee," by Winslow Homer

I love reading old cookbooks, and trying to puzzle out what some of the unfamiliar ingredients are--like isinglass, which is included in a recipe for blanc mange (which I know of only through Little Women).  There are intriguing recipes that have fallen out of favor,  like celery vinegar, or "apoquiniminics," which appear to be some kind of flat biscuit, or squab pie (if you're having trouble finding squabs, the writers says you can substitute robins).  And of course I'm always on the hunt for apple recipes. The book has a nice selection.

Apple Pudding (before 1839)

Half a Pound of Apples boiled, and squeezed through a hair Sieve half a Pound of Butter--beaten to a Cream, and mixed with the Apples before they are cold, six Eggs well beaten, half a Pound of fine Sugar--the Rind of two Lemons--or Oranges--boiled well shifting the water several Times--then beat all togather--bake them on a Crust.  Half an Hour will bake it.

Um, I have no idea what this is supposed to come out like. It's not clear if you're supposed to cream the apples or the butter, and what on earth is being boiled?

This next one sounds a bit more manageable:

To make an Apple Tansy (1742)

Take three Pippins, slice them round in thin slices, and fry them with Butter; then beat four Eggs, with six Spoonfuls of Cream, a little Rose-water, Nutmeg and Sugar, and stir them together, and pour it over the Apples; Let it fry a little, and turn in with a Pye-plate.  Garnish with Lemon and Sugar strewed over it.

I won't trouble you with the Pupton of Apples (I have no idea what a Pupton was), although at some point you're supposed to pour the mixture into a silver dish and bake it in a slow oven, then serve it with a plate of sliced butter on the side as well as fresh parsley. 

Most people would recognize the Apple Pie recipe, although there is an interesting twist:  you're supposed to boil the apple peels and cores in water with "a Blade of Mace," then strain it, add sugar, and boil it down to make a syrup ro pour over the apples in your pie before you add the top crust.  I can't say I've ever tried mace in a pie.

A good portion of the cookbook is devoted to breads and pastries, and it ends up with a section called "Of Health Drinking," which includes recipes for such delightful concoctions as Arrack Punch, Caudle, Morello Cherry Bounce, Custard Posset, Negus, Panada, and Orgeat (labeled "A Necessary Refreshment at all Parties").  It sounds like the good people of old Williamsburg knew how to party.  But lest they get to carried away, the section is preceded by the following page, "A Moral and Physical Thermometer," from The Gentlemen's Magazine in 1739.

Southwestern Vegetable Chowder

A lot of people seem to think that a vegetarian diet equals a healthy diet.

Um, no.

French fries are vegetarian.  So is most cake.

Believe me, I have managed to pack on pounds as an omnivore, as a vegetarian, and even as a vegan.  But now and again I get bit with the weight-loss bug.  Now would be one of those times.

Here's the rub:  I really like to eat.  So does Mr. Wendy.  When I try to lose weight, I up the exercise (thank you to my walking buddy, Melissa Bourbon) and work at making my usual tasty dishes a little more heart- and waist-line-friendly.

Take this yummy Southwestern Vegetable Chowder.  The original is a creamy, cheesy corn soup from the Sundays at the Moosewood cookbook.  For this slimmed-down version, I swapped butter for a tiny bit of canola oil, filled out the soup with some carrots and cauliflower, and used instant mashed potato flakes to thicken the soup without cheese or rich dairy (an old trick from my vegan days).  The result is thick and comforting, a wonderful balance of salty and sweet, with the subtle crunch of the corn offsetting the creaminess of the soup base.

For those of you counting your calories or, like me, following a certain alliterative weight loss regimen, the recipe makes 6 two-cup servings.  Ish.

Southwestern Vegetable Chowder

2 tsp. canola oil
1 c. chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
2  c. diced carrot
1 jalepeno, seeded and minced
1/4 tsp. salt
3 c. vegetable broth (or 3 c. water with 1 1/2 vegetable bullion cubes)
1 Tbs. ground cumin
2 tsp. ground coriander
1 - 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes
24 oz. peeled potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch dice
4 c. small cauliflower florets
16 oz. fresh or frozen corn kernels
3/4 c. instant mashed potato flakes (plain, not butter-flavored)

Optional garnishes:  plenty of freshly ground black pepper, low fat shredded cheddar, and/or meatless "bacon" bits

In a large stock pot, heat canola oil over medium heat.  Add onions, garlic, jalepeno, carrot, and salt; saute until onion is very soft (about 10 minutes).  Add cumin and coriander.  Then, add potatoes, cauliflower, and water/bullion or stock.  Simmer for about 10 minutes, until potato and cauliflower are tender.  Add tomatoes, corn, and mashed potato flakes.  Heat through.

When the chowder cools, the soup becomes very thick.  When reheating the leftovers (if there are any), you may need to add additional water or vegie broth.

~~~~~~

Wendy (aka Annie Knox) is the author of the Mysteries a la Mode. Visit her on the web or on Facebook.

San Francisco Pork Chops

by Sheila Connolly

Ever have one of those days when time gets away from you?  When you run errands in three directions, then stumble home to find a hungry family and three cats staring at you, all wondering the same thing:  "Where's dinner?"  Assuming your spouse hasn't generously pitched in and made something, or volunteered to go out and fetch pizza/Thai/Mexican, you prioritize, fast.  Step one:  feed the cats.  Step two:  pull out one of your trusted quick and easy recipes.

Yes, the cat is helping

One of mine is San Francisco Pork Chops.  It came to me decades ago through an unsolicited mailing from someone who wanted to sell me a bunch of recipe cards.  I never did order anything from them, but I did keep the best of the recipes, and have been making this one ever since, with a bit of fine tuning.  It's quick to make and takes only (pause to count) nine ingredients, including water.

SAN FRANCISCO PORK CHOPS

3 or 4 boneless pork chops, thick cut
1 Tblsp cooking oil
1 clove garlic, minced

Trim the fat from the pork chops.  Heat the oil in a skillet, then brown the chops quickly on both sides (they don't need to be cooked through yet).  Remove the pork chops from the pan and add a little oil if needed.  Turn down sthe heat and aute the garlic briefly.

Sauce:

4 tsp cooking oil
8 Tblsp dry sherry
8 Tblsp soy sauce
4 Tblsp brown sugar
pinch of cayenne pepper

Combine the oil, sherry, soy sauce, sugar and cayenne in a bowl.  Return the chops to the pan and pour the sauce over them, turning the chops once to coat both sides.  Cover the pan tightly and simmer until the chops are cooked through.  You don't need to cook them too long--if you do, they'll get tough and chewy.

2 tsp cornstarch
2 Tblsp water

Salt and pepper to taste

Remove the chops from the pan again.  Dissolve the cornstarch in the water, and add the mixture slowly to the sauce in the pan, stirring constantly with a whisk.  Cook over low heat until the sauce thickens, just a couple of minutes.  Taste for seasoning (you may not need to salt the sauce if your soy sauce is salty).  Return the chops to the pan and coat them with the sauce.

Serve with cooked egg noodles (you can ladle the sauce over the noodles and the chops), with something green on the side.

Tommy Bahama Pineapple Caramel Cheesecake - tweaked recipe.

Have you heard of Tommy Bahama clothing? It's the island-style wear that's pretty darned expensive but it's all made of beautiful quality material. It's long-lasting. I like to go into the store and simply touch the clothing to feel the textures. Have you ever done that? LOL

Well, Tommy Bahama also has a chain of restaurants. I was lucky enough to be invited to dinner. Imagine island music (or at least Jimmy Buffet), fruity drinks, palm trees in pots, rattan furniture. It all puts you in a relaxing mood. Whenever I go to places like this, I try to drink in all the environment, and if I can, remember to put that into my writing.

Setting is so important, isn’t it?

Lucky for me, the restaurant had a gluten-free menu. Isn't that fabulous! So many places are getting into the swing of this. PF Chang's, Outback Steakhouse, even Wendy's! People with allergies are able to eat out again.

But I digress. At Tommy B's, I had the most delicious gluten-free ribs with blueberry sauce, and though I'd like to share that recipe, I couldn't snag that one from the waitress. It will be out in a Tommy B cookbook...not sure of that publication date, but you can bet I'll track it down. In the meantime, I had a fabulous dessert, Pineapple Cheesecake with Caramel Sauce, and the chef was willing to part with the recipe.

Sure he was..because the recipe was for 100 portions!  LOL.

A couple of months ago, I shared a soup recipe that I'd seen in the "art" on the wall at a Chef Prudhomme restaurant in New Orleans. I copied the recipe and went home and realized it was a recipe for over 100. I narrowed it down to a recipe for 8 servings, and it worked.

So I decided to try to do the same for this Tommy Bahama cheesecake. At the restaurant, the cheesecakes were served in little rounds. The kitchen must have dozens/hundreds of little cheesecake springform pans. I didn't, so I had to work with my single springform (that serves 8) and hope it worked. It did. The deliciousness is in the sauce. Pineapple (which I’ll bet doesn't have to be fresh, though I used fresh) and caramel.

Now...the really, really fun part of this is I didn't have eight people to serve it to, so the cheesecake made a terrific mid-afternoon snack the next day and the next and the next... Cool, refreshing, and totally delicious.

Enjoy.

Note: the caramel does get "hard" after it's made, so it must be served right away or reheated.

Second Note: This looks difficult to make but it isn’t. And not even time consuming until it’s in the oven. It’s sort of a dump method. :)

TOMMY BAHAMA'S PINEAPPLE CARAMEL CHEESECAKE 
tweaked by Avery

Ingredients:

 Topping:

 1 cup pineapple diced

 1 cup light brown sugar

 1 teaspoon vanilla (or vanillin)

Caramel sauce:

4 ounces dark brown sugar

2 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon butter

Cheesecake batter:

1 pound cream cheese (16 oz)

1 pound cottage cheese (16 oz)

1 cup white sugar

2 tablespoons butter, softened

4 eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon lemon zest

1 tablespoon vanilla extract (or vanillin)

Directions:

Topping: mix all together in a saucepan. Toss well and spread thin. Cook on medium low until caramelized on one side. Toss and caramelize on the other side. (About 5 minutes) Remove from heat. Cool.

Caramel sauce:

Heat brown sugar, water, and butter until sugar dissolves and mixture is at a high boil. (About 2 minutes) Set aside to cool.

Cheesecake:

Cream the cheese, sugar, butter. Add the eggs, one at a time until fluffy. Add the sour cream, zest, and vanilla together. Fold into the mixture, making sure there are no pockets of cheeses.

Cut a round of baking paper that matches the bottom of a springform cheesecake mold. Set it in the bottom of the mold. Spray the sides of the springform pan with Pam spray (or brush with oil). Pour mixture evenly into the mold.

Set the mold on a 15 x 9 baking sheet filled with a low level of water. Bake the cake at 300 degrees for 1 and 1/4 hours or until top is tender to the touch (but not hard). Turn the oven OFF oven. Let the cake STAND IN OVEN for 2 hours.

Remove from the oven and cool for 30 minutes. [I set the cake into the refrigerator for 2 more hours before assembling.]

Assemble:

Spread the pineapple topping on the top of the cake. Serve each slice with a drizzle of the caramel sauce. [Note: the caramel sauce will harden when not warm. If it hardens, reheat on low-low-low heat until liquid.]

Aloha!


* * *
Note, last week, KittCatt (a commenter) won a prize from me, but KC, you never wrote me an email with your mailing address. If I don't hear from you by tomorrow, I'll have to choose another winner. Best, Avery
* * *

You can learn more about Avery by clicking this link.

Chat with Avery on Facebook and Twitter.

And watch for CLOBBERED BY CAMEMBERT, coming out February 2012.

* * * * * * * *

 

BOOKSELLERS LINK

Bacon and Tomato Pasta

Okay, it’s been way too long since I’ve slipped a bacon recipe in here. 
Besides, I should do a recipe involving pork to celebrate Hickory Smoked Homicide’s release yesterday. My sleuth has her very own barbeque restaurant. (Thanks for the amazing post yesterday, Cleo!)
This bacon and tomato pasta would definitely be a recipe after Lulu’s own heart.  After a long day at the restaurant (not to mention fighting crime in Memphis)  she’d want something quick, easy, and delicious.  This fits the bill.  Fits my bill, too, since I haven’t had a whole lot of time to cook in the past couple of weeks!
Now…I’ll admit this isn’t the lowest calorie meal out there.  But we can trim it down a bit if we used turkey bacon (not that Lulu would approve the lack of pork there), a lower-fat milk (I did use 1% in this…that’s what we’re drinking at home now), and maybe a low-fat chive and onion cream cheese…not that I could find one at my store! But I’d have been good and gotten it if I’d found it. :)
If you’re in a particular hurry, try real bacon pieces instead of cooking the bacon. I’ve cooked it that way before and thought it was just as good.

Bacon and Tomato Pasta (Quick and Easy)

8 oz. chive and onion cream cheese
1 cup milk
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
8 slices cooked and crumbled bacon
1/2 cup of halved cherry tomatoes
6 cups cooked penne pasta
Mix the cream cheese, milk, and Parmesan and cook over medium-high heat until hot and bubbling (stirring frequently).  Stir in bacon, tomatoes, and pasta. 
Enjoy!

Hope you’ll check out Lulu’s latest adventure in Hickory Smoked Homicide! Visit Lulu at Dru’s Book Musings, where she had a guest appearance this week!

Hickory Smoked Homicide Release Day Party with Favorite Southern Recipes!

Publication Day is always an exciting one around here and today we can share that excitement with our own Riley Adams/Elizabeth Spann Craig. Her 3rd Memphis BBQ Mystery officially releases today. Please join me in toasting her on the pub day of HICKORY SMOKED HOMICIDE! Woot!

Be sure to check out Riley's comment-to-win contest at Dru's Book Musings blog, where you can enter to win her new mystery. Click here to jump there.

In the Kitchen
with Riley... 


For two years now, Riley/Elizabeth has been my co-blogging buddy, and my husband and I have enjoyed so many of her recipes. Because today is such a special one for her, I'm making her my "guest of honor" in the kitchen by sharing five wonderful Riley recipes with you. (And, let me tell you, there were many more I wanted to include. This was a difficult list to narrow down!) 


Riley's affection for her Southern roots shines through in her posts as well as her books, and it's irresistible. Click on each photo below. A new window will open up and Riley/Elizabeth will share her ingredients and directions. 


TIP: Now that we have a "print friendly" button at the end of each post, you will find that it is much easier to print or save (to PDF) some of Riley's earlier posts. With our blog's Recipe Index now LIVE, you can easily locate more of Riley's past recipes. To visit our Index, click here or on the "Recipe Index" icon in the upper left column.



Lowcountry Boil

A true keeper of a recipe! "This dish first originated in South Carolina’s coastal regions," Riley informed us, "where it was called ‘Frogmore Stew,’ after the town of Frogmore, SC, (which no longer exists)."


According to Riley, this recipe can be easily adjusted to feed a crowd; and in the South, it’s frequently served on newspapers laid out on picnic tables for easy clean-up. To see Riley's recipe, click here.

Smoked Salmon 

Shirred Eggs 

“Down in the small but pretty town of Saylors Crossroads, South Carolina, there’s a little restaurant that’s starting to make quite a name for itself,” Riley wrote. “And, with a name like Grits and Groceries, it’s only natural. It’s in an old country store in an historic building. The building itself might be old, but the interior is full of fresh ideas from owners…” One of those ideas was an incredible recipe for Smoked Salmon Shirred Eggs. To see Riley's post on this recipe, click here. 

Lulu's Special 

Asparagus with bacon and walnuts

My husband now eats asparagus. 
'Nuf said. :-) .... To see Riley's tasty recipe, click here.

Pimento Cheese

This favorite Southern treat brought very happy memories back to my husband, Marc. His mother made this often when he was a little boy. Until Riley's post, he had forgotten. Thanks to Riley, we both now enjoy this (on crackers, bread, or with chips) a few times a month! To see Riley's recipe, click here.

Apple Cobbler 

"There’s something about a small-town festival that’s really appealing," Riley wrote after she attended a local apple festival. According Riley, "North Carolina is the 7th largest apple producer in America." With apple season upon us once again, Riley's Apple Cobbler is a welcome treat in our house. To make it one in yours, too, see her recipe here.

Thank you, Riley/Elizabeth
for sharing your warmth, wit, and recipes with all of us!

~ Cleo Coyle, author of

The Coffeehouse Mysteries

 CoffeehouseMystery.com

Full yet? 

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CLICK HERE
FOR CONTEST INFO

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If you didn't receive my newsletter and you'd like to subscribe, simply
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* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

HAPPY 

RELEASE DAY, RILEY!

To purchase 

HICKORY SMOKED HOMICIDE, 

click here.

To learn more about Riley/Elizabeth
and the books she writes, visit her
official author page by clicking here.

And don't forget about her
comment-to-win contest
at Dru's blog!