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ROAST PORK LOIN AND ROMAINE SALAD WITH BLEU CHEESE

Posted by Tracey Zimmerman · May 26, 2021

ROAST PORK LOIN AND ROMAINE SALAD WITH BLEU CHEESE

A MEAL LIKE THIS MAKES DINNER EPIC. AND RECIPES LIKE THIS MAKE IT EASY.

Pork loin at your big box store is less than $2 per pound. Thank goodness stores don't charge in proportion to flavor, because roasting that pork loin delivers so much deliciousness, it would take a royal ransom to pay for it.

And that is great news for so many families. You don't have to spend large to live large.

Bring out the best in a pork loin with the tips we offer below, and marry it with this crispy, flavorful salad that’s going to be a family favorite forever.

HOW TO MAKE AN EXCEPTIONAL ROAST PORK LOIN

Part of my alchemical obsession with great products is figuring out how to combine them to get something even better. This turns a company’s “simple solution” into something simply magical.

INGREDIENTS

2 loins trimmed
3 heaping Tablespoons mustard with a teaspoon of honey. If you can find truffle oil in your grocery specialty section, add a few drops and stir it all up.
3 heaping Tablespoons brown sugar
1 heaping Tablespoon of a spicy chili sauce of your choosing
2 Tablespoons of minced garlic

PROCEDURE

Get your meat thermometer ready. We don't want to guess when the loin's ready ... and we absolutely do not want to overcook it.

Mix the wet ingredients together, then give those loins a good bath in them, covering all surface areas.
Cover them tightly with plastic wrap and let them hang out in the refrigerator, ideally overnight but -- if time is critical -- at least marinate the loins for the time it takes to set the table, put the salad together, and prepare the tart.
In your EuroCAST grill pan, or the top of your EuroCAST double roaster, place the loins side by side.
Season with a sprinkling of 1 tablespoon kosher salt and 1 teaspoon black pepper.
Roast in a preheated oven at 400 degrees F, until you've reached an internal temperature of 145 degrees F. Take the loins out immediately when they reach that temperature. Let it rest at least three minutes -- or (as I recommend in this recipe) until it gets to room temperature. Frankly -- and this is just me -- I always cook to somewhat less than the target interior temperature and let it rest a long time. I remove the loins from the oven when the top is well-browned and it's firm to the touch, about 10 minutes before reaching the target temperature because (and this is science), the temperature will continue to rise even after the meat has been removed from the heat. This is a decidedly black belt maneuver and requires some finesse. If you follow the 145 degrees F guidance and let it rest at least three minutes, you'll do well.
As for resting: Remove the loins from the pan, put on a plate, and tent with foil. The point of resting is that the juices will retract into the meat. The loin becomes even more sumptuous.

Once the pork loin has come to room temperature, slice it wafer thin. Then drizzle with your best quality olive oil, top with a dash of salt and -- because it is my way -- sprinkle with crushed red pepper flake and edible flowers.

Why crushed red pepper flakes and edible flowers?

As Bonnie Raitt would say, let's give them something to talk about.

GRILLED ROMAINE SALAD WITH ST. AGUR BLEU CHEESE DRESSING

That salad tastes as gorgeous as it looks. Presented here on BergHOFF Essentials hotel platter.

This is one of those “Wow, that never occurred to me” salads: Grilled romaine with an extra crispy veggie chop and a whip-easy-to-put-together dressing.

But the real star is the grilled lettuce.

ROMAINE

Start with 2 heads romaine lettuce split in half. If they’re huge, split them into quarters. Either way, drizzle the split heads with a bit of olive oil.
Place the lettuce, cut side down, onto your hot EuroCAST grill pan, and grill until you have grill marks. TIP: Place them and trust them. Don't move them around. Gently peer underneath occasionally to check for grill marks. I use the top of another pot to press the lettuce into the pan. It makes for sharper lines.
Turn 1/4 in the pan and repeat.
I like my salads chilled. Like, colder than Superman's Fortress of Solitude at the North Pole in winter, at night, which it always is at the North Pole in winter. So, after you grill these girls up, put them back into the fridge.

You could, if you were calculating, grill these off in the morning and put them in the fridge before you head off into the day.

VEGGIE CHOP

Use what you love. The extra sweet crunch of raw vegetables is such a welcome note on the plate against the smoky goodness of the grilled romaine. Here’s my list:

Radish
Red onion
Green onion
Peas or peapods
Red cabbage
Red pepper

Chop them loosely, aiming for beauty and variety. Always a good aim.

ST. AGUR BLEU CHEESE DRESSING

That's a dressing so easy to make, you'll giggle. If you're a bit scared of bleu cheese, I encourage you to be brave. Just a little bit at a time, and pay attention to all the wonderful flavors and aromas. If you love bleu cheese, you're in good company, and for all the right reasons: Flavors should not just be primary colors. Bleu cheese for me is like a Van Gogh, or, when it's a gentler bleu cheese, Monet's haystack paintings . (Get in close on those paintings on your computer while you're eating bleu cheese. You'll thank me. I think. Well, let me know.) — That's a dressing so easy to make, you'll giggle. If you're a bit scared of bleu cheese, I encourage you to be brave. Just a little bit at a time, and pay attention to all the wonderful flavors and aromas. If you love bleu cheese, you're in good company, and for all the right reasons: Flavors should not just be primary colors. Bleu cheese for me is like a Van Gogh, or, when it's a gentler bleu cheese, Monet's haystack paintings. (Get in close on those paintings on your computer while you're eating bleu cheese. You'll thank me. I think. Well, let me know.)

St. Agur bleu cheese is one of my all time favorite cheeses. To make the ultimate bleu cheese dressing, I just chuck some St. Agur into a bottle of good-quality commercial bleu cheese dressing. Organic, if you please.

Wait, what? This isn't a recipe if you're using a prepared off-the-shelf dressing, right? Ah, but it is indeed a recipe. The St. Agur -- creamy and fascinating -- not only makes it "yours", it makes the story. People will love your salad with this version of this dressing.

After all, making dinner epic doesn't mean you have to make everything totally from scratch. You just have to make things with integrity, a point of view, and flavor people will remember.

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PORK ENCHILADAS WITH ROASTED TOMATILLO SAUCE AND GUACAMOLE

Posted by Tracey Zimmerman · May 26, 2021

Pork enchiladas in the double roaster lid. Perfect size, perfect results. Easy cleanup. Happy eaters. — Pork enchiladas in the EuroCAST Double Roaster lid. Perfect size, perfect results. Easy cleanup. Happy eaters.

It’s back!

Summer is back!

Our famous EuroCAST-driven pork enchiladas are back!

This is one of our most famous and popular posts, maybe because you get the full skinny on how to make each element taste that much better. And it all winds up being delicious and gorgeous on your table.

And maybe that’s because we make almost all of it from scratch from simple ingredients and serve it right up on the table in the EuroCAST Double Roaster lid.

Here's how.

PORK FOR THE ENCHILADAS

The pork cut I use is pork loin. Usually you find it boneless, and that's the one you want. (Pork loin roast, strictly, can be either boneless or bone in.) But if you're a vegetarian, just substitute sautéed summer squash or butternut squash, and some cleaned, drained spinach instead. (Frozen spinach can be great, too, but do squeeze out any excess water before using it in the recipe.)

At the end of the day, this enchilada is about its lovely texture and the incredible sauce. You could cover almost anything in the sauce -- that green, lovely, herby sauce -- and make it brazen, sumptuous, and irresistible.

INGREDIENTS

2 trimmed pork loins
4 T. olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Chicken stock sufficient to cover the pork loin

Season your pork loins generously. Seriously. Be a bit extravagant with the S&P.

In your largest EuroCAST Dutch oven, over medium heat sear all sides of the pork loins. This sear holds in the flavors for the next step which is the braising.
When all sides have been seared, add stock to just cover the pork. Increase heat and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to very low and cover, leaving the top slightly ajar. The stock will reduce. Add a bit of water if it nears the bottom of the pan.
Braise until absolutely fork tender and easy to break apart. 1-1/2-2 hours.
Remove from heat and cover to cool.
Shred cooled pork with two forks in a large mixing bow. Reserve the juices.

At this point you could refrigerate for up to 3 days and assemble the enchiladas then.

ROASTED TOMATILLO SAUCE

INGREDIENTS

20 tomatillos, husks removed and each scrubbed of sticky residue
4-7 Serrano or jalapeño peppers
2 heads of garlic, split
One large whole onion, split
One large bunch cilantro
1/2 cup flat leaf parsley
1/2-1 cup water
Kosher salt and fresh black pepper

PROCEDURE

On a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper, line up the veggies. Drizzle with olive oil and season with kosher salt.
Roast at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 hour.
Let rest until cool enough to handle.
Press the garlic from its skins and add to a blender along with the tomatillos, their juices, and the onion.
Blitz until smooth.
Add the fresh herbs and blitz briefly.
Add water to the blender bit by bit to create a smooth sauce.
Taste and season.
Set aside.

ENCHILADA ASSEMBLY

CHEESE PLEASE

What's an enchilada without cheese? It's like Billie Holiday with no orchid. An airplane with no wings. Raiders of the Lost Ark with no Harrison Ford and no lost ark.

Both halves of the double roaster have a ferrous plate, for even cooking and to work with modern induction cooktops.

I use a combination of melty extra sharp cheddar and a crumbly goat's milk cheese such as cojita or feta.

Have these all prepared and handy:

16 corn tortillas
3 cups cheese
Tomatillo sauce
Shredded pork

Here's how to put them together.

Over an open flame, working one at a time, char the tortillas to soften for easier rolling
1-2 T. tomatillo sauce spread on each tortilla
Cheese
Shredded pork

Repeat until you fill the pan (I used the wonderful EuroCAST Double Roaster's top).

NOTE: Do not overfill as these are delicate creatures and need to be rolled.

Once you've filled the pan:

Pour 1.5-2 cups tomatillo sauce over the top and nudge it into the nooks and crannies.
Top with cheese.
Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees until heated through and the cheese is bubbly and begins to brown.

Serve with sour cream and the pomegranate guacamole.

LET'S TALK GUAC

I love the sprightly zing of pomegranate pips this time of year and I love adding them to all sorts of things. Especially guacamole.

I use a straight-ahead chunky guacamole recipe with the perfect avocados, garlic, onion, salt, and a big squeeze of lemon juice.

You can just make your family's favorite recipe. At the end, fling in some pomegranate pips! It's a lovely and unexpected fall treat.

THE FEAST

When it's all done, you have a gorgeous spread and food to thrill the hungriest crowd.

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DOUBLE ROASTER CHICKEN WITH FENNEL, OLIVES, CAPERS AND GARLIC

Posted by Tracey Zimmerman · May 26, 2021

ROASTED CHICKEN INSPIRED BY LONGER DAYS AND HUNGRIER PEOPLE

The main technique in this dish is browning the chicken, skin-side down, in your EuroCAST Stock Pot, sautéing the aromatics, and scraping up the browned bits with a little white wine. And that’s a technique you can use all your life. It’s even easier because of the non-stick qualities of the stock pot. The remaining effort is like falling off a log: Toss all that goodness into your EuroCAST Double Roaster’s lid, and let the afternoon — and your oven — go about its merry business.

SPRING CHICKEN

You can do this with a whole organic chicken cut into pieces, but use any combination chicken parts you enjoy. I love thighs and legs, so I’m going with those.

Check the procedure for ingredients … and be sure you have Castelvetrano olives (2 cups) on hand. These are the best.

Bring 4 chicken thighs and 4 chicken legs to room temperature. Salt and pepper them well.
Cut 1 white onion into halves and then into rings. Set aside.
In your EuroCAST Stock Pot, heat at medium-high temperature 1/2 cup of olive oil. Then sear the pieces skin side down until well-browned.
While the chicken is searing, place 2 fennel bulbs, woody ends trimmed and cut into rounds, into the lid of your EuroCAST Double Roaster (the grill pan part). When you’re disassembling the fennel, pull off the fronds and set them aside — you’ll be using them for garnish after the chicken comes out of the oven.
Also place the onion rings into the pan.
When your sear is done, use silicone-tipped tongs to move the chicken pieces from the stock pot to the double roster lid, placing the chicken pieces on top of the fennel bulbs and onion rings.

Pour off the fat you rendered in the pot, and wipe clean. (No need to clean it!)

Now, preheat your oven to 400F.

While your oven comes to temperature, heat your EuroCAST Stock pot on the stovetop to a medium heat, and add 1/4 cup olive oil.

When the olive oil is hot but not smoking, brown, add to the pot:

1 head garlic, peeled and separated into cloves. Smash away. Some people smash at the beginning and then take the paper off. Other people take the paper off and then smash. But do smash.

After the garlic is lightly brown and the garlic flavor has infused into the olive oil, add:

2 T fennel seeds
1 whole tin anchovies, each filet broken up with the edge of a wooden spoon
2 glasses white wine, or 1/2 cup cider vinegar and 1-1/2 cups water
1 whole jar capers, brine included
Stir and allow to simmer and slightly reduce.
Pour then contents of the stock pot over the chicken and vegetables waiting in your double roaster lid.
Add 1 cup of Castelvetrano olives.

Bake in your 400F oven until the chicken is fork tender and the juices run clear (about 30 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken pieces you’re using).

After removing from the oven, let cool slightly before garnishing.

Before serving, garnish with:

1 cup of Castelvetrano olives
Red pepper flakes
Aleppo flakes
Fennel fronds
Fennel pollen if you fancy (you bought some for one of our recipes recently, right? If not, check it out, because fennel pollen is heaven and a little goes a long way)

Will it be good? Definitely.

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CARAMEL SALMON WITH JASMINE RICE

Posted by Tracey Zimmerman · May 26, 2021

CARAMEL SALMON: AN IRRESISTIBLE WAY TO MARRY FLAVORS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Long ago, what people cooked used to be controlled by what grew nearby. Cows were in the Alps; so, the Germans and French ate fondue. Grasses make fires burn hot and fast; so, Asian peoples cook at high heat in a wok. Seafood, rice and hot spices abound in western India; so, fantastic shrimp curry in a bowl of rice was your pleasure. (And every grandma had her own Goan curry shrimp recipe. That’s a culinary tour I’d take in a minute.)

Nowadays, with so many of these ingredients grown everywhere (or available because of sprawling global food chains), you can have all the flavors you want.

And you should try them all! The main goal is to make sure they’ll make sense together.

And in this caramel salmon dish I’ve created, you’ve got pure, logical pleasure on a plate.

From the New World, I pull brown sugar and jalapeños. Asia gives me soy and fish sauce, along with ginger and garlic. Jasmine rice is from Thailand. Cilantro started in Iran, and spread to Ancient Egypt, Greece, and Moorish North Africa and Spain (which is how it got to the New World). And salmon is native to cold waters from Alaska to Greenland, regions dominated by indigenous peoples (and large bears) for millennia.

What I put into the dish is global, but what gets on the plate is a local hit.

Make it and love it like we do!

INGREDIENTS

2 T olive oil
Two salmon filets, skin on

For the sauce

Mix together:

2 whole shallots, minced
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 T soy sauce
1 clove garlic, smashed and finely minced
3 T fish sauce
2 T hot water
1 T (roughly) minced ginger
2 T pickled jalapeño juice
Dash black pepper
Dash cayenne pepper

For garnish

Cilantro leaves
1/4 large red pepper, minced
6 pickled jalapeños slices, minced
Dried marigold leaves

PROCEDURE

Make the sauce.
Heat your EuroCAST grill pan over medium high heat. Add the oil and swirl the pan to evenly spread the oil. Because the grill pan has EuroCAST’s innovative FernoGreen composition, the oil won’t “coat” the pan, but spreading it around creates an even flavor layer between the pan and the salmon fillets once the fillets are in the pan. NOTE: If the fillets stick a bit, don’t move them. The heat will eventually increase and release the skin from the pan.
Turn 1/4 turn and repeat.
Add the fillets flesh side down. Leave them be until they’ve turned color to about halfway to the middle of the fillet.
Turn 1/4 turn to continue cooking. This creates beautiful grill marks on the skin.
Flip over skin side down and pour half the sauce over the top of the salmon and reduce heat to medium and cook until desired doneness.

SERVING SUGGESTION

Serve with steamed jasmine rice and steamed, well-salted green beans. Use the remaining sauce to drizzle over the salmon and rice.

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ANGEL HAIR PASTA WITH PESTO AND MEATBALLS

Posted by Tracey Zimmerman · May 26, 2021

ANGEL HAIR PASTA WITH PESTO AND MEATBALLS

HOW TO MAKE AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS PASTA DISHES

Italian food makes for some of the best eating in the world.

Fresh ingredients and "getting out of the way" of those ingredients are part of the story, and that's what we're doing here. As a nod to traditional Italian food (you know, the cuisine they actually cook in Italy), we're making our meatballs smaller than in Italian-American cuisine, and we're using pesto as the sauce.

In Italy, food is dominated by vegetables and herbs (and occasionally, as with an arabiatta sauce, a bit of heat). Only when the Italians emigrated to the United States -- a land of large portions and lots of beef -- did we start to see meatballs grow in size, and they are almost always served here in red-sauce joints with a big plate of pasta.

I love this dish because the flavors are so clear and full that you don't really need a lot of it on the plate to be sated. But ... you could give yourself a bigger portion if you want to honor the abondanza glee of Italian-American food.

MEATBALLS (POLPETTE)

Ground meat in Italy (polpe) gets rolled into little (-ette) balls. They're called polpette. (Now you'll never forget the Italian word.)

But, tiny as they are compared to the two- to three-inchers you'll find in the US, they pack flavor and have a lovely firm texture on the outside when you make them this way. In Italy, they use ground pork, beef, or veal, or combinations of those three, in their meatballs. It's a great idea.

INGREDIENTS

1 lb sweet Italian pork sausage
1 lb ground best-quality sirloin
2 cups panko breadcrubs
1 cup finely grated Parmesan
1/2 cup finely minced parsley including the stems
1 T kosher salt
1/2 T black pepper
2 eggs
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

PROCEDURE

After washing your hands carefully (clean hands, people!), combine all the ingredients to make the meatball mixture
Place a piece of parchment paper in the bottom of your EuroCAST double roaster just big enough to cover the bottom
Form the meatball mixture into 1-1/2 inch-diameter balls and place them side-by-side on the parchment paper in the lid
Give each one a little nudge so they sit neatly in their row
Bake in a 375 F oven for 20-25 minutes until lightly browned and cooked through.

The meatballs, even though they're smallish, are formidable in flavor. Just a couple on the plate will do. Which means with this this recipe -- if you have as I do one plus an even number of teenagers (we are a table of three!) -- you'll have a few left over.

What to do with the extras? Gotcha covered. Stay tuned on our Instagram page (Instagram.com/eurocastcookware) with a few ways to deploy your secret stash of extra polpette -- and the extra pesto you're making below.

Don't worry. They won't languish in the fridge.

PESTO

Pesto with angel hair pasta is heaven. Just as great pasta is made of the simplest of ingredients (a great double-zero or semolina flour, egg, a hint of salt, and water), great pesto is made of an herb, garlic, Parmesan, S&P, and pine (or other) nuts. Oh, and lots of best-quality olive oil.

And I love my red pepper flakes for added oh, hello.

This pesto is so good you need strategies to keep you from just face-planting into it. First, serve it in a small bowl too tiny for your face. Second, serve with some lovely, simple, homemade buns. (I hate the word "rolls"). So, as you eat your angel hair pasta and meatballs with pesto, you can up your pesto game with the bun. Just do it.

Just about everything in pesto would be just meters away from the cook's feet. Grab some fresh basil, grate some Parmesan off the wheel, and you're on the pesto path! We're using fresh ingredients and just getting out of the way.

INGREDIENTS

4 cups lightly packed basil leaves
5 cloves garlic
1 cup toasted pine nuts
1 cup finely grated Parmesan
2-1/2 cups olive oil
1-1/2 teaspoons black pepper
1 T kosher salt
1 tsp crushed red pepper

PROCEDURE

Place everything but the oil in your food processor and pulse until finely minced.
Then, continue processing steadily while adding the 2-1/2 cups of olive oil in a steady stream bit by bit until it comes together. It's important to use a slow stream because you're effectively emulsifying the oil so it combines better with the other ingredients.
Taste for seasoning and keep at room temperature until ready to use.
Refrigerate in a covered glass container.

Grilled vegetables (sliced thin on a mandoline and grilled up in our grill pan) with chopped frisée and marcona almonds. While the vegetables are still warm, add the chopped frisée and perhaps some arugula. Season well. Drizzle with olive oil and red wine (or balsamic) vinegar. Gently toss. Color, texture, flavor. All simple. That's true Italian style.

Things you could slice thin and grill and put into the salad. The edible flowers -- don't slice those. Just drop them all around. Turns any salad into an Easter Parade.

This makes a fair amount of pesto. How to store? Put it in the fridge. It's best not to freeze the end result of this recipe (cheese and ground nuts don't freeze nicely). There are ways you can construct a pesto so you can freeze it ... but I'd rather you just think about how to use that pesto in different foods the rest of the week.

Omelets with pesto are classic, but why fuss with an omelet? Just put it on scrambled eggs (the world's easiest thing to cook in EuroCAST skillets).

Or ....

Put a little bowl of pesto out with a cheese tray (include a warn brie) and crackers. Warm brie on crackers with a smear of pesto, yes, please.
Make a pizza on the EuroCAST griddle and skip the tomato sauce, using pesto instead.
Spread it on a sandwich or flatbread.
Grill up some vegetables with a bit of S&P and then drizzle the pesto on it.
Make a fish stew and put a dollop in the middle.

Or, make something up! Pesto on kielbasa for a cross-cultural party!

The top of our famous double-roaster is great for making bread. These buns, topped with sesame or caraway, are soft, smell great, and tear perfectly for dipping into the pesto or wiping the plate clean. Right? Who's with me? By the way, I hate the word "roll". It's a roll. But for deep, inexplicable-family-history-reasons, the word "roll" just doesn't appeal to me. And, "pass the rolls" feels funny to say. "Let's roll down the hill," on the other hand sounds great to me, and like a good idea. Wait, have I gone on too long about this? Eat the buns. With pesto. Or -- hey, a pesto butter! (Two parts pesto to one part softened butter, just mash it all together and store in the fridge.) Good for the rolls - uh, buns - and for dropping on vegetables, potatoes, steak.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY HOME RUN PRODUCTS AND OUR DIRECTOR OF CULINARY MEDIA. INTRODUCING EUROCAST’S “PAN CARE IQ”.

Helping you get the most out of your investment. Stay tuned to our EuroCAST YouTube channel for more pan care tips, recipes and an upcoming Home Run Hero cooking contest.

Here’s #1 in our series: How to clean your EuroCAST cookware. Enjoy!

AND NOT TO BE OUTDONE BY A CLEAN PAN, HERE’S #2 IN OUR “PAN CARE IQ” SERIES: HOW TO SEASON YOUR EUROCAST COOKWARE.

Brought to you by Home Run Products.

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