Soup Addict – Italian Wedding Soup

Tags

basil, butter, cheese, comfort food, cooking, delicious, easy cooking, easy dinner, easy dinners, easy pasta, eat, fall, fall dishes, food, fresh, italian, Italian wedding soup, Italy, kid friendly, leftovers, make ahead meals, Parmesan, pasta, pork, quick cooking, simple entertaining, soup, soup recipes, wedding soup, winter, winter soups

When you live in Ottawa, and it’s the winter and it’s cold than Mars (true story) I crave soup. This delicious Italian Wedding soup always makes feel cozy and warm. Italian wedding soup is a combination of a killer broth, mini tasty meatballs, a small pasta, veggies and greens.

I honestly adore soup.  I love it for lunch with a piece of crusty bread and it makes a great appetizer before dinner. My youngest Holly loves this soup (she loves meat) my oldest Chloe avoids meat like the plague, so I wanted to create a version that would appeal to both kids. Chloe just eats hers minus the meatballs.

This soup is made on the stove 🙂 sorry Instant Pot lovers this is old school 🙂 This soup will keep in your fridge for 5 days and freezes superbly well. Rolling the meatballs are the most time consuming part of this recipe so if you have child labor kids to assist you, use it.

Ingredients

Ingredients for Pork Meatballs (can be done ahead of time and frozen):

• 1 pound ground pork (makes a tender meatball, but you can also use beef)
• 1/2 cup onion , finely diced (about 1/2 medium onion)
• 2 cloves garlic , peeled and minced (or use a rasp)
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs or seasoned breadcrumbs
• 2 tablespoons mixed fresh herbs (parsley, basil, rosemary)
• 1 egg

Ingredients for Soup:

• 1 tablespoons butter or oil
• 1 cup onion , finely diced (1 medium onion)
• 1 cup carrot , peeled and diced (1 medium carrot)
• 2 cloves garlic , peeled and minced
• ~3 liters chicken broth – organic if you can (or homemade… I don’t have time for that though :)…)
• Salt and pepper for seasoning
• 1 cup orzo, seme di Melone or acini di pepi
• 1 pound fresh tender spinach
• 2 tablespoons finely diced mixed herbs

Instructions

Meatballs:

1. In a large bowl, mix together pork, onion, garlic, Parmesan cheese, salt, bread crumbs, herbs, and egg until combined
2. Shape into tiny bite-sized meatballs, roughly 1/2 inch in diameter; place onto parchment covered cookie sheet and refrigerate or freeze until ready to use. Luckily if you live in Canada during the winter you can put these babies outside to freeze while you prepare your broth 🙂 * Refrigerating is important as it will keep them from falling apart in the soup. You need a minimum of 30 mins to set up.

Soup:

1. In a large stock pot, melt butter; add onion, carrots, and garlic. Saute until tender, but not soft (about 5 minutes)
2. Add chicken broth; bring to a boil. Turn to simmer, cover, and simmer 30 minutes.
3. Taste and season with salt and pepper, to taste
4. Drop meatballs into broth; cook 7 minutes. Add pasta of your choice and cook 5 minutes
5. Add herbs and simmer for 30 minutes to meld flavours, adding more broth, if needed. Add spinach for the last few minutes.
6. Serve with crusty bread, or garlic bread (my kids favourite) and top with additional Parmesan cheese. I also love to add a bit of Sriracha to my soup too.
7. Enjoy!

http://www.monicaskitchen.com

Instant Pot: Pulled Pork!

Tags

BBQ, comfort food, cooking, delicious, easy cooking, easy dinners, eat, entertaining, fall dishes, food, instant pot, kid friendly, make ahead meals, pork, pressure cooking, pulled pork, quick cooking, simple entertaining, tacos, winter

I am officially obsessed with my Instant Pot. My pulled pork was a big test because I swear by using my slow cooker for 12 hours to make the “perfect” pulled pork. I saw pork shoulder bone in on sale at the store today so I picked one up for 18$ for 3 kilos. A steal!

Prep is the same, but instead of taking 12 hours in a slow cooker however I had pulled pork on the table in 75 minutes!

Here is what you need:

• 3 kilos of pork shoulder bone in (remove the skin and slice into fist full chunks)
• Dry rub – start with 2/3 cup but you may need more (I use my own rub but you can buy one from the store)
• 1 bottle beer or can of coke or root beer (not sugar free)
• 1 onion thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup bourbon
• 1 cup bbq sauce – I use homemade but you can use your favorite store bought BBQ sauce.
• 

1. Cut the pork shoulder into fist full chunks keeping the bones.
2. Rub each and every pork chunk with the dry rub.
3. Typically I would do this 24-48 hours in advance and keep it in the fridge but today I did it all in one step.
4. In your instant pot press the sauté button and add a splash of oil. Add sliced onion. Sauté for 2 or 3 minutes. Add pork chunks.
5. Layer meat and onions, meat and onions.
6. Pour beer over top. If you want it gluten free don’t have a beer use root beer/coke etc. in this case I used a radler. Try to make sure the meat is evenly in the pot and mostly covered by the beer.
7. Put on instant pot lid.
8. Press meat button, set for 75 minutes and put up your feet and relax.
9. Fast forward ~90 mins (once instant pot is finished and done venting open the lid.)
10. Remove bones and discard. Shred meat with fork or tongs. The meat is like butter and just falls apart.
11. You will have a lot of pork juices (these are delicious and if you want to scoop out 3 cups you can use it for baked beans) reserve a good 3 cups, you will most likely have 5-6 cups of juices.
12. In the instant pot add back in the pork, 2-3 cups of porky juices and the bourbon and BBQ sauce. Press sauté button and cook for 5 minutes or so. You want to taste the sweet pork, not just the BBQ sauce so start with a little, you can always add more.
13. This made 8 cups of meat and sauce. Enough for 4 dinners. It freezes superbly well. I use it for tacos, on nachos on my famous pull pork pizza! Think about it, 4 dinners for 18$ is a great deal.

Enjoy! I can’t wait to hear how you liked it!

The Best Bolognese sauce, hands down. Instant Pot Recipe.

Tags

basil, comfort food, cooking, easy cooking, easy dinner, easy dinners, easy pasta, eat, entertaining, fall dishes, food, fresh, fresh cooking, fresh pasta, gluten free, instant pot, italian, Italy, kid friendly, make ahead meals, Parmesan, pasta, penne, pork, quick cooking, sauce, sausage, simple entertaining, spaghetti, sugar, veal

I can’t say enough good things about my Instant Pot. I bought the 8 quart one this winter and I can’t get enough of it. 

I typically make my bolognese sauce on the stove and it takes roughly 6 hours on a slow simmer to come out perfectly. 
Using my instant pot it took 35 minutes on high pressure and viola my sauce is ready!

The sauté feature is a huge time and prep saver as you can sauté in the actual pot. 

The key to this sauce is the meat ratio and I blitz all the vegetable in the food processor before I add it into the meat. This bolognese sauce is more of a ragu than your typical spaghetti sauce. Also another tip I don’t use beef, I only use veal and pork and prom sausage. This makes the sauce much more mild. 

What you need:

• 1 1/2 pounds ground pork
• 1 1/2 pounds ground veal
• 1 pound Italian sausage meat (casing removed)
• 1 large white onion
• 2 carrots
• 3 celery heart stalks
• 4 garlic cloves 
• 3/4 cups of sundried tomatoes
• 1 huge handful of fresh basil
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 28 oz can tomato purée (try to find San Marizano tomatoes)
• 1 16 oz can of diced tomatoes
• Parmesan rind
• Dried Bay leaves (4) 
• 1/3 red wine
• Splash of heavy cream 

In a food processor add all the vegetables and basil and sun dried tomatoes. Blitz until their are no chunks and you have a very finely diced mixture. Set aside.

Plug in your Instant pot and press the sauté button – it will take a few minutes and it will beep and say hot.

Start sautéing the sausage meat so some of the fat renders down, once crumbly add the  ground pork and cook down and then add the veal. This whole process will take about 10 minutes to brown the meat. 

Once no longer pink, add in the onion, carrot, celery, garlic, basil and sundried tomatoe purée. Cook for an additional 5 minutes. Then add in the 2 cans of tomatoes, salt and sugar and bay leaves. Throw in the Parmesan rind and 1/3 cup of good red wine. 

Put on the top of the Instant pot, press the meat/stew button (35 mins on high pressure) and sit back and relax! It will take about 5 minutes to come up to high pressure and then the timer will start counting down. Once it is finished, the Instant pot will shut off automatically. 

This sauce usually simmers on my stove for 4-6 hours. With this instant pot it now only takes 45 minutes! 

Typically a Bolognese sauce is served with a wider pasta noodle but you can serve it on whenever noodle you desire. Before serving add a splash of cream to the sauce. I can’t explain what it does to the sauce but it makes it amazing and rounds out all the meat and tomato flavour. 

This sauce freezes amazingly well (do not add the cream before you freeze it) and this recipe will give you roughly 10~12 cups. 

Mangia! 

Pulled pork, a delicious make ahead meal. Eat it 4 different ways!

Tags

BBQ, easy dinner, make ahead meals, nachos, pork, pulled pork, slaw, tacos

I have a love affair with pork. If I had to chose between beef or pork I would always choose pork. It is just delish!

I love a good pulled pork sandwich. Making pulled pork in your slow cooker has got to be one of the easiest things to do. Not only does it take 10 minutes to assemble but it freezes well and can be made into many different dinners. 

All you need is pork butt, pork rib roast or pork shoulder, a good rub, a cup of cola/beer/stock, cider vinegar, Worcester sauce, an onion, 1 cup of BBQ sauce and you are ready to go. Pulled pork needs to be made 24 hours inadvance so a little planning can go along way.

  
Time to prep:

You need ~ 2 kilos of pork. Dice it into cubes and season well with your dry rub. Sometimes I do this the day before and let it sit in the fridge.. But you don’t need too. You can make your own dry rub, or buy it.  I make my own and I use equal parts salt, white sugar and brown sugar, coffee, paprika, garlic and onion powder, dry mustard etc. Mix it up and save the rest in a Masson jar in your pantry. You can use it for anything! Chicken, steaks, pork chops… It is terrific. 
You need a cup of liquid. Today I used cola. Good cause it keeps it gluten free… Beer is also delish.

Start with your slow cooker. 

   
    
 Toss in 1 diced onion. Add in your seasoned pork, top with 1 cup of liquid of your choice, add 1/4 cup Worchester sauce and apple cider vinegar. Set to low for 12 hours or high for 8. 

After the pork is cooked, remove from crockpot and shred. Save 2 cups of cooking liquid and drain the rest. Place shredded meat back into pot and top with 1 cup of bbq sauce and cooking liquid. 

This freezes extremely well. And you can serve it a number of ways.

On a bun topped with a slaw.  

 
Make pulled pork nachos

  
Pulled pork topped baked potato 

  
Pulled pork tacos with creamy avocado and cilantro 

  
  

I can’t wait to hear how you liked it! 

http://www.monicaskitchen.com

Easy Peasy Thai Food in under 15 minutes!

Tags

food in 15 minutes, Larb, pork, pork larb, thai cuisine, thai food

First of all sorry for my delay between my blog posts. Life was just too busy and then we moved… And I am finally getting my life back. 🙂 

Thai food isn’t hard to make, it is all about the balance between salt, sweet, sour and savoury. Today’s recipe is pork larb. It takes 15 mins to make and is super delish!

INGREDIENTS

1. 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2. 4 large garlic cloves, finely minced
3. 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sugar
4. 1 pound ground pork
5. 1 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon Asian fish sauce
6. Salt
7. Freshly ground pepper
8. 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
9. 3 Thai chiles, very thinly sliced with seeds (I used dried Thai chiles)
10. 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
11. 1/4 cup sliced peppers
12. 1/2 cup torn Thai basil leaves
13. 1/2 cup torn cilantro leaves
14. In the skillet, heat the oil. Add the garlic and cook over moderately low heat, stirring a few times, until golden brown, about 1 minute. Add 1 teaspoon of the sugar and cook for about 20 seconds. Add the ground pork and 1/2 the onions and cook over moderately high heat, breaking up the meat finely, until no pink remains, about 3 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon of the fish sauce and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
15. In a small bowl, combine the lime juice with the remaining 2 tablespoons of fish sauce, the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar, two-thirds of the chiles and 1 tablespoon of water. Stir to dissolve the sugar.
16. Reheat the pork. Remove from the heat and stir in the rest of the onion, basil, cilantro and sauce and the remaining chile. Transfer to a bowl and serve with rice or in lettuce cups. 

Enjoy!  

               

The perfect side for a turkey – crispy brussel sprouts!

Tags

bacon, brussel sprouts, christmas dinner, pork, turkey side dishes

First of all I hated brussel sprouts until recently. But after eating these at a restaurant in NYC I was officially converted.

Introducing … Roasted Brussels sprouts with crispy bacon and balsamic glaze. This is super easy to make and so delicious! Here is what you need:

3 cups of Brussels sprouts – cut into quarters
4 slices of bacon diced
Salt and pepper
Oil
3 tbs if balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 400. Quarter the brussel sprouts and toss with balsamic and oil and salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 15 mins. While that is roasting, cook the bacon in the pan on the stove until almost crispy.

Remove sprouts from the oven and toss with the bacon and drippings. Put back in the oven for another 10 mins.

Resist eating the entire pan.

A twist on the classic BLT

Tags

bacon, eat, food, pork

For all of you who know me, you know I love pork. I spilled the beans in my first blog post My Love Affair With Pork.

Today it is about the classic BLT made better with avocado. So how do you make it?

Step 1: How to cook bacon

The key to perfectly cooked bacon is to do it in the oven. You need a high rimmed baking sheet, bacon and parchment paper. Lay out the bacon on the parchment paper and place it on the baking sheet. Bake it in a preheated oven set to 400 degrees and bake for approximately 18-20 mins. Around the 15 minute mark peak in and take a look. Once it is done, place it on paper towel to remove the extra grease and let it cool a bit.

 

Place bacon on parchment paper

Step 2: Time to assemble.

*Important Tip – Toast the bread lightly, the worst thing you can do it over toast the bread so that it shreds the top of your mouth apart, and you can’t enjoy your sandwich.

You can use any type of lettuce you have (iceberg, mache, bib, arugula, romaine), you need fresh tomatoes, sea salt, an avocado, cooked bacon and toasted bread. You can use a bit of mayo if you would like, but it is not necessary. Mash up some avocado with sea salt. Spread it on both sides of the toasted bread. Top with lettuce, slices of bacon and tomatoes sprinkled with a touch of salt.

Avocado Bacon Lettuce Tomato Sandwich

And while one could argue that nearly any sandwich is improved by avocado, I would say there is something particularly special about a BLT with avocado, as it sits there, nestled alongside the salty bacon, crisp lettuce and juicy tomato, it is exactly where an avocado was meant to be.

Time to eat.

---

I am a girl who loves food. I grew up with a Mom who was an excellent cook. She wrote a cookbook when I was a child, and as they say, the rest is history. Started a catering business in 2005 and haven’t looked back. I am a mom to 2 beautiful girls and I want them to love food as much as I do. In the meantime, I love life and love my job @ www.monicaskitchen.com

 

 

 

My love affair with pork

Tags

BBQ, eat, food, pork

I know I am not alone in this claim, pork is very popular.. look at bacon for goodness sake. Bacon isn’t just for breakfast anymore: I use it in ice cream; I candy it; I wrap jalapenos with it and I even put it in cookies. Bacon is the filet of the pork world.

The cut of meat that is underused in my opinion is the pork chop. Not just any old pork chop, the rib end cut… the cut that has a bone in it, a rim of pork fat and both white and dark meat. My mouth is starting to salivate.

Delicious Rib Pork chop

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For most of my life I have loved pork chops but it is the only meat I would never order in a restaurant, why do you ask? Because usually they show up on your plate bone dry and over cooked and resembling a hockey puck with a bone in it. A pork chop needs to be juicy, the golden pork fat on the outside needs to be sizzling and crisp. I must admit I love to gnaw on the bone too, the bone gives the meat so much flavor . My mom used to hate when I would but it wouldn’t stop me from doing it.

The How-2’s for cooking pork

There are 2 things, very key things you need to know about pork. The first thing is not to overcook it.  Pork can actually have a little bit of pink in the middle. I know shocking but it is true! The second is once your pork is cooked it needs to rest. Do not miss this step! What do I mean by rest? Wrap it in foil, cover it for 5-10 minutes. If you don’t, you will cut it, all the juice will run out and your pork will be dry…. A real shame.

To add extra flavor and make it even juicer you can brine your pork chops.

Here is a simple recipe:

• Pork chops 4-6 approx ¾ to 1 inch in thickness
• 3/4 cup coarse salt (sea salt if you have it)
• ½ brown sugar
• ¼ maple syrup
• 1 cup boiling water
• 8 cups of cold water
• 1 tablespoon black pepper, ½ onion cut up and a few cloves of smashed garlic

Dissolve salt and sugar and syrup in the boiling water. Add it to the cold water; add pepper and seasonings and stir to combine. Chill brine completely in the refrigerator before adding pork. Place your pork in the water and place in the refrigerator for the time required. For pork chops I would say you need to brine if for 12-24 hours. Once done, remove from brine (throw the brine out) and pat dry to chops. Do not salt them but you can rub them with a bit of oil and slap them on the BBQ to cook. If your BBQ is like mine it usually sits at 450-500 degrees. Put the Pork chops on the BBQ for approx. 4 – 5 minutes on each side. Once done remove from BBQ wrap in foil and let those babies rest for 5-7 mins. Unwrap and eat. I am drooling while tying.

So the next time you are at the butchery or grocery store and are looking for something to make, buy some rib pork chops, you won’t be sorry. And if you are too embarrassed to gnaw on the bone, step away from the table and take a bite. You will like it, I promise.