Easter isn’t Easter without a ham. And I know you’ve got yours. You do, don’t you? If not, stop what you’re doing and go to the market right now and buy yourself a big, beautiful ham. Actually, watch this video first, then go to the market and buy yourself a big, beautiful ham, and Reese’s peanut butter egg. Just because they’re so good.
In the short video below you’ll be ham inspired by Daily Buzz Chef John Ashton. With lightening speed (and a charming British accent) Chef Ashton pulls together a Thyme-Basted Ham with Roasted Grapes in less than 15 minutes! He also tells you how you could win an Easter ham.
For more Easter inspiration, check out these posts:
Here at Pork, Knife & Spoon, we’re always on the look-out for fellow pork lovers. Today, we’ve got a lady who says “pork is her thang.” Her name is Kendra Bailey Morris, and she’s a Virginia-based food writer who has contributed to a variety of publications including Food Republic, Better Homes and Gardens, and Chile Pepper Magazine. She is the author of White Trash Gatherings: From-Scratch Cooking for Down-Home Entertaining (Ten Speed Press, 2006) and writes about food on her blog, Fat Back and Fois Gras. She also currently hosts a monthly cooking segment featuring Virginia grown products for the Virginia Farm Bureau’s television show, “Real Virginia.”
In the video below, which she made for The Virginia Farm Bureau, Kendra shares her recipe for sassy BLT Deviled Eggs. They’re fun for Easter brunch, a birthday party, or just a lazy Saturday afternoon picnic.
Q: What was your inspiration for the BLT deviled eggs recipe?
A: My thought-process when developing this recipe was, “How can I go wrong if I take all of the elements of a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich and stuff it into a deviled egg?” Admittedly, I am addicted to both deviled eggs and bacon, so that right there is a winning combo. Add in a bit of mayo, a few minced bread and butter pickles, and then top it all off with shredded lettuce and sliced tomatoes, and you’ve got a smoky, salty sweet combination that is impossible to resist.
Q: How does pork inspire you as a cook?
A: Growing up on my grandma’s and my mom’s country cooking (I’m originally from West Virginia, by the way), there was always some kind of pork dish on our dinner table, whether it was kale cooked with a ham hock, brown beans cooked in fatback, cornbread made with a bit of bacon grease (and yes, I have a little pot of bacon grease next to the stove at all times) or my mom’s famous slow-cooked barbecued ribs. My grandfather used can his own breakfast sausage, and I’ve been to and hosted my fair share of Southern-style whole hog pig pickin’s where the star of the show was fifteen hour slow-smoked meat that simply falls apart in your hands. There’s really nothing like it. At home, we try to eat a little healthier and often cook boneless pork chops in a simple marinade or grill pork loin rubbed in garlic, rosemary and olive oil. This, and a side of garden-fresh vegetables makes for a simple, elegant and healthy meal. We do this often.
Q: Would you please share a favorite Easter tradition and/or recipe with us?
A: I’m a huge fan of iceberg wedge salads, and one of my favorite ways to make it at home is to top the lettuce with homemade blue cheese dressing and crumbled bacon. It’s so good, and when it comes to entertaining for the holidays, it’s a great make-ahead starter that’s easy to assemble at the last-minute since the dressing can be made up to two days ahead. (See recipe below.)
Q: Finally, what do you hope the Easter bunny brings you this year?
Thank you, Kendra! I’ll put in a good word with the Easter Bunny for ya. He and I are tight.
Bacon and Blue Cheese Wedge Salad
By Kendra Bailey Morris
Serves 4
1 head of iceberg lettuce
Buttermilk blue cheese dressing (see recipe below)
1 medium tomato, seeded and diced
4 slices bacon, fried and crumbled
1/2 cup blue cheese, for garnish
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced chives, optional
Cut lettuce in 8 wedges and plate two wedges on each plate. Drizzle each wedge with some blue cheese dressing. Then sprinkle with tomato, bacon bits and blue cheese. Season with freshly ground black pepper and garnish with chives. Serve any additional dressing on the side.
Buttermilk Blue Cheese Dressing
Makes about 4-6 servings
½ cup mayonnaise
½ cup buttermilk*
1 heaping tablespoon sour cream
1 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, or to taste
1 small clove garlic, minced
Coarse black pepper, to taste
In a medium-sized bowl, mix together mayo, buttermilk and sour cream. Add rest of ingredients and mix well, incorporating the blue cheese, but leaving a few chunks as well. Season generously with black pepper, cover and refrigerate until ready to use. If dressing is too thick, simply add a little more buttermilk until you achieve your desired consistency. Add less buttermilk if you want a chunkier-type dip.
Note: this dressing is excellent served alongside spicy Buffalo wings and celery.
Maureen, I love the way the whole family pitches in at “stations,” making your feast an authentic communal dinner. I also have to try those nut rolls; they sound wonderful. By the way, I assume you meant “warm milk” and not “warm mile.” Thanks for sharing your family recipe with us!
Kristi, it warms my heart that despite having grown-up children, you still play the Easter Bunny every year. If they’re anything like me, then I know they adore the tradition! Thank you for sharing your family tradition with us.
And warmest thanks to all of you who commented and tweeted. I just love connecting with you and learning about your traditions. Don’t worry if you didn’t win this time, as we’ll have many more give-aways to come.
To all of you, I hope the Easter Bunny brings you only your favorite flavored jelly beans. Happy Easter!
There are some foods that simply must be eaten on Easter Sunday: Deviled eggs, chocolate bunnies, and ham. Not necessarily in that order. Deviled eggs should be fluffy and speckled with paprika. Chocolate bunnies should be solid, not hollow. Ham should be the piece de resistance of the Easter table. Whether it’s for brunch or dinner, Easter just doesn’t taste as delicious without a big, glistening roasted ham. Now, I know many of you have your traditional Easter ham recipes all ready to go. But, I’m hoping I can tempt you with a couple of new recipes we have from Pork, Be Inspired!
The first new ham recipe is for an elegant Thyme-Basted Ham with Roasted Grapes. Sweet roasted grapes and grape jelly contrast deliciously with fragrant thyme and shallots, making this a stand-out Easter ham. It pairs beautifully with spring vegetables such as roasted asparagus and carrots and braised artichokes.
Finally, we have a hearty, family-friendly Ham, Bacon, and Caramelized Onion Tart made with springtime asparagus. If you’re hosting an Easter brunch, then this tart just has to be on your menu.
For many more inspired ham and pork recipes, do what bunnies do, and hop on over to www.porkbeinspired.com.
Plus, don’t forget about our BIG Easter ham give-away! We’re giving away coupons for TWO Easter hams. Want to win? Click here to find out how!
It’s almost Easter! Are you ready? We’re here to help. We’re giving away TWO coupons for FREE EASTER HAMS!
Here’s what you have to do to win:
1) Watch the above video in which my husband and I share one of our favorite Easter traditions and pork recipes. It involves sausage and Italian mothers and their sons. How can you go wrong with that combo?
2) Share your favorite family Easter pork tradition or recipe in the comment section below between now and March 28, 2012 (midnight PST).
3) Boost your chances of winning by sharing this give-away announcement on Twitter and mentioning @Porkandknife.
Italian Sausage Bread Recipe from Jeff’s Mom, Dorothy
Makes 10-12 slices
1 pound pizza dough, homemade or store-bought
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 pound hot Italian sausage, removed from the casing
1/2 cup diced hard pepperoni or diced pepperoni slices
6 large eggs, lightly beaten, seasoned with salt and pepper
2 small balls of fresh mozzarella (about 1/2 pound)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
1. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F, and center a rack. Roll out 1 pound of room temperature homemade or store-bought pizza dough into a rectangle about 10 X 12 inches on a lightly floured counter top. Transfer to an unrimmed cookie sheet coated with a little cooking spray. Cover with a kitchen towel while cooking the filling.
2. In a large skillet, over medium-high heat, warm olive oil. Add sausage. Using a wooden spoon, break up the sausage into small pieces. Cook 8 to 10 minutes, or until browned and crispy. Add pepperoni. Cook 2 to 3 minutes. Add eggs, mozzarella, Parmesan, and parsley. Cook 2 to3 minutes, stirring several times. The eggs should be partially cooked, and the cheese partially melted and stringy. Overcooking the eggs will make them dry. Let egg mixture cool for about 5 to 7 minutes.
3. Spread egg mixture on dough, leaving a 1-inch border all around. Turn the shorter sides of the dough up on to the filling. Then roll the dough into a loaf, in a jelly-roll fashion. Turn the roll over with the seam on the bottom. Place in the middle of the pan. Brush the top of the loaf with olive oil and sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown and crisp. Cool slightly before serving. Eat hot or at room temperature. Wrap leftovers in tin-foil and refrigerate. Toasted, they make a delicious breakfast the day next.
Some holidays get all the good food. Easter has glazed ham. Thanksgiving has marshmallow topped sweet potatoes. The Fourth of July is also National BBQ Spareribs Day. Then there’s St. Patrick’s Day. It has cabbage. A member of the brassica family, which includes broccoli and cauliflower, cabbage is probably best known for its sulfurous smell. That’s not good.
Since eating cabbage is required on St. Patrick’s Day (I don’t make food laws; I just report about them), I’m going to make it easy on you by sharing a cabbage recipe that’s really good, okay, great. Why? Because it’s made with chorizo. Revered in many Latin American and European cuisines, spicy, robust chorizo is a deliciously simple way to make just about any unpopular vegetable enticing.
In this recipe, the cabbage is braised, which means it’s sauteed until browned, then slowly cooked in a liquid until tender. That means it’s infused with lots of flavor.
So, this St. Patrick’s Day don’t suffer through boiled cabbage; make this braised cabbage and chorizo recipe instead. Oh, and drink it with a Guinness, because imbibing beer is also required on St. Patrick’s Day.
Braised Cabbage and Chorizo
Makes 3-4 main or 6 -8 side servings
For a main dish, serve atop a bowl of your favorite rice or spread it on top of thick slices of toasted rye bread.
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
8 ounces raw chorizo, removed from casing
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 head green cabbage (about 1 pound), shredded or very thinly sliced
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1/4 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
Salt and black pepper, to taste
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, warm olive oil. Add onion and saute until lightly browned, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add chorizo and cook until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cabbage and cook 3 minutes, until just softened. Add broth, red pepper flakes, and salt and black pepper. Cover and reduce heat to low. Cook for 20 minutes, or until cabbage is soft. Serve hot.
Variation: You can add 1 (15 oz) can of pinto or black eyed peas (rinsed and drained) just before you cover the dish and simmer.
What are doing Tuesday, March 13th at 7 PM (EST)? If you’ve got plans, then change them. (Don’t worry, anniversaries and birthdays come around every year.)
I have never liked leftovers. While my two brothers would happily, dare I say, gratefully, eat leftovers any time my mom served them, I always rebelled: “It’s too fishy.” “It’s too meaty.” “It’s too left-overy.” Hey, I was six. My diction was limited.
Although I’m a lot older, I still don’t love leftovers, because as we all know, they ripen with age. When it comes to stews, that’s a glorious thing. When it comes to fish sticks, not so much.
This past February, which was American Heart Month, I cooked a lot of pork tenderloin. (In case you haven’t heard, February was a big month for pork:The American Heart Association recently certified pork tenderloin as a heart-healthy food with its iconic red check mark.) So I had a lot of leftovers. And — Mom, get this — I ate leftovers, leftovers so good I thought I’d share them with you here.
Here are 11 wonderful ways to enjoy leftover pork tenderloin:
1. Thinly slice and heat it, and nestle inside of a crusty oblong roll with sauteed onions, mushrooms, peppers, and mozzarella cheese or barbecue sauce, cole slaw, and Monterey Jack cheese.
2. Dice and saute it, and add to home-made fried rice.
3. Chop and heat it, and add to rice and beans.
4. Thinly slice it and add to pasta. Try rigatoni with sauteed pork, white beans, spinach, olive oil, and lots of grated Parmesan cheese.
5. Chop it into small pieces and add to your nachos.
6. Dice or slice it, and use in place of bacon for a breakfast scramble.
7. Thinly slice it and add to quesadillas or tacos with shredded cheddar cheese, salsa, and guacamole.
8. Thinly slice and saute it, and add to a bowl of ramen noodles or miso soup.
9. Thinly slice it and add to a hearty salad of romaine lettuce, sliced apples, almonds, and a mustard vinaigrette.
10. Slice into thin strips and add to a cold Asian noodle salad with sprouts, carrots, sugar snap peas, mangoes, and a soy-ginger dressing.
11. Slice and heat it, and serve over hot creamy polenta with tomato basil sauce and grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.
So, tell me, do you like leftovers? What do you do with leftover pork and pork tenderloin? I’d love to hear!
In a recent conversation with my older brother, who has lost a lot of weight, he said, “Hey, Sue, you got any good healthy pork recipes? Cause if I eat another piece of chicken I’m gonna start clucking.” Since I didn’t want to see my brother begin clucking (any clucking after the age of forty is just unseemly), I suggested he try pork tenderloin. I explained how I had just written about healthy pork tenderloin recipes and how ounce for ounce, it’s as lean as skinless chicken. Then I began listing all the reasons I love pork tenderloin and how I cook it all the time.
Here are 10 Reasons to Love Pork Tenderloin:
1. It’s readily available at super markets, so you don’t have to scurry from store to store to find it.
2. It’s honest food. Since it’s boneless and has little fat, there’s no waste. So if you pay for a 1.5 pound pork tenderloin, you’ll be eating a 1.5 pound pork tenderloin.
3. It’s one of the quickest-cooking cuts of meat available. When sliced into cubes or medallions, it can be pan-seared or grilled in mere minutes.
4. It’s endlessly versatile. Roast it, grill it, slice it, stuff it, cut it into cubes for stews and soups or skewer them for kebabs.
8. It’s an economical and attractive company dinner dish. Roasting it whole and serving it on an oblong platter trimmed with roasted vegetables will always impress your guests.
9. It’s delicious hot, at room temperature, or even leftover, so it’s ideal for a potluck or a picnic.
10. It won’t cause you to cluck.
For dozens more delicious pork tenderloin recipes, visit Pork Be Inspired.
What do you do with pork tenderloin? Most people just roast it, which is fine. But there’s so much more potential for pork tenderloin. You can stuff it, pan-sear it, grill it, or cut it into cubes to use in chiles and stews.
Since it’s mid-winter, and most of the country is hunkered down, trying to stay warm, there’s no better time for pork stew. It’s wholesome, fortifying, and comforting. It’s the kind of meal that makes shoveling snow seem a little less laborious. It’s what you need when it’s cold outside because it warms you from the inside out.
This Pork, Sweet Potato, and Pinto Bean Stew is quick-cooking, so you don’t need to start hours before dinnertime to enjoy. Of course, if you’d like to make it a day ahead and just re-heat it, then I’d say go for it. Like soup, stew tastes better the next day after the flavors have mingled overnight.
In this recipe, the fiery chipotle chilies in adobo sauce contrast with the sweet potatoes and cinnamon, while the stewed tomatoes, pinto beans, and cilantro lend a zesty Southwestern flair. Enjoy it on its own, or serve it with a side salad. When it comes to sopping up the juices in the bottom of your bowl, let me recommend a thick slab of corn bread.
Chipotle Pork, Sweet Potato, and Pinto Bean Stew
Makes 8 servings
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and black pepper
1 1/2 to 2 pounds pork tenderloin, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 large yellow onion, diced
1 large red bell pepper, diced
2 medium sweet potatoes, diced (about 4 cups)
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
the juice of 1 lime
3 chipotle chilies in adobo sauce, finely chopped
2 teaspoons cumin
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed tomatoes
1 (14.5 ounce) can pinto beans, drained
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro, plus extra for garnish
In a large heavy bottomed pan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat, warm the oil. Season the pork with salt and pepper and cook until browned all over about 6 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic, onion, and red bell pepper and cook until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Add the sweet potatoes, broth, lime juice, chilies in adobo sauce, cumin, and cinnamon and stir. Bring to a boil. Add stewed tomatoes and pinto beans and stir. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook 20 to 25 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. Stir in cilantro. At this point, if you’d like a thicker stew, take the cover off, raise the heat to medium-high and allow to cook 8 to 10 minutes, until thickened. Serve hot. Garnish with chopped fresh cilantro before serving.
Optional garnishes: reduced-fat cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese, reduced-fat sour cream, diced avocado, sliced green onions, baked tortilla chips, unsalted roasted pepita seeds.
Like pork tenderloin? Then click here for more healthy pork tenderloin recipes.
PorkKnifeandSpoon.com is the official blog of the National Pork Board. The National Pork Board aims to educate people on the power of pork - including its ease of preparation, versatility and taste as well as manage communication with U.S. pork producers and the public through Checkoff-funded research, promotions and consumer information programs.
About Susan
Susan is a cookbook author, freelance writer, and recipe developer living in beautiful San Diego. She's the voice behind the popular food blog, Food Blogga , (yes, that’s Rhode Islandese for Food Blogger) where you’ll find her musings on food and life, original recipes and photography, and book and product reviews. She has recently written two tasty cookbooks: Recipes Every Man Should Know (co-authored with Brett Cohen) and The Encyclopedia of Sandwiches Recipes, History, and Trivia for Everything Between Sliced Bread. Susan is a regular contributor to NPR’s “Kitchen Window,” and has been published in magazines such as Cooking Light and Edible San Diego. Susan thinks spicy Italian sausage makes life better.
