I grilled the chicken long enough to get grill marks and rubbed it with a beer-honey-chipotle mixture. I put it in the oven at 350F and then worked on the compote.

The finished product was excellent. The flavors mingled well and the beer added an extra earthiness that I really liked. Use a honeycrisp or granny smith apple for this. You want the flavor to be able to hold up to the beer.

I used chicken breast but you could use a split chicken or cut up chicken. It really is versatile. I suspect that it would do as well with pork.

• 8 chicken breasts
• 1/3 cup strong honey (like organic buckwheat)
• 1 tbs mashed chipotle in adobo
• 1/2 lemon squeezed into mixture
• 1/4 cup Guinness Stout
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 4 honey crisp apples, washed and chopped – not peeled
• 1 purple onion, chopped
• Remainder of the bottle of beer
• 4 tbs of unsalted  butter
• 1 canned chipotle chopped (more if desired)

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Oil a grill pan and preheat it lay chicken on it to establish grill marks; turn once
3. Simmer honey, 1 tbs chipolte,  1/4 cup Guinness, and lemon until reduced and thickened slightly – about 10 minutes. Glaze chicken with mixture and place in oven. plan on cooking until 180F is reached, about 30 to 40 minutes depending on the chicken.
4. Meanwhile saute onion, remaining chipotle, and chopped apple in 2 tbs  butter in a pan until tender.
5. Pour in the remaining Guinness and simmer until the mixture is reduced to a juicy compote.
6. Stir in remaining 2 tbs butter
7. About 15 minutes before chicken is done remove it from oven and spoon compote over it.
8. Return to oven to finish cooking.

Serves 8

images : Marye Audet

Post from: Baking Delights

The sauce is spicy. If you don’t like it spicy then adjust the amount of habenero or change the peppers totally. You could go with a chipotle, a jalapeno, or a serrano. It is hard to say how much to use because each person seems to have a different opinion as to what is spicy and the peppers can vary in heat from pepper to pepper. Let me tell you what happened to me.

I was getting the ingredients together for this sauce. Normally I taste a pepper to see how much I will want to use because I have had enough variation in heat to totally mess up a recipe. So I took a tentative nibble…they were, after all, habeneros.

Nothing. just a tiny little zap on the tongue. Sigh. I proceeded to chop about three habeneros and add them to the sauce. As I chopped the last one I popped a bit of it in my mouth.

ZOWIE. I saw stars. I became one with the universe. The top of my head came off. Again, verily, verily, I say unto you…always, always taste the peppers. EACH pepper. They vary in heat!  Quickly I pulled as many peppers as I could see from the bubbling sauce and put them in the chicken scraps. Our chickens like spicy things.

So, be sure to to check your peppers for heat and adjust your recipes accordingly.

This sauce was so good that people were spreading it on bread until it was gone.

Blueberry Habenero Sauce

• 1 large, sweet onion (like Vidalia) peeled and chopped
• 1 quart of blueberries
• 2 habenero peppers, chopped (adjust as needed)
• 1 tsp of adobo sauce from a can of chipotle in adobo, you can leave this out if you don’t have it but it adds a nice dimension
• 1/4 cup good quality balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup sugar, or to taste
• Juice and zest of one lime
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• Olive oil for pan

1. Saute the onion in the oil until it is soft.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients, except for the lime juice, and simmer until the sauce reduces by about half. This will take ten minutes or so.
3. Add the lime juice and remove from heat.
4. Blend the sauce in the blender until smooth.
5. Brush on meat before cooking and then serve remaining sauce as a garnish.

Makes about 1 1/2 cups

Images:MaryeAudet

Post from: Baking Delights

This is such an easy dish that it is terrible to even post.

I love pork loin.  It is a tender and flavorful cut of pork that is easy to fix and hard to mess up.  In my book that makes it perfect.

In the jelly section of your grocers there should be, on the top shelf way out of your sight, a jar of red stuff with a label that says something like “Red Pepper Jelly” or “Jalapeno Jelly.”

Grab it and pay for it.  It is going to be your new ingredient of choice.  I am so serious.  Sweet and spicy you can use red pepper jelly to add complexity to everything from apple pie to chicken.

Here it makes a fantastic glaze for this pork loin.   Remember not to over cook the meat.  Bake it at 350 for about 30 minutes per pound or until the internal temperature registers 160 degrees.  I try to catch mine at about 155 and let it sit for 20 minutes.  This allows it to finish cooking without getting dry or leathery.

Pork Loin with Red Pepper Jelly and Cilantro

• 1 4 lb pork loin
• 1/3 cup red pepper jelly
• 1 tbs amber agave if desired
• Kosher salt
• Cracked pepper
• 1/4 c chopped fresh cilantro (set aside)

1. Preheat the oven to 350F
2. Salt and pepper the pork
3. Lightly oil a baking dish
4. Mix the agave and red pepper jelly.  Heat until the jelly liquifies
5. Brush over the meat
6. Place in pan fat side up
7. Bake for 30 minutes a pound, or until internal temp is 160F
8. Brush with remaining jelly, sprinkle with cilantro and serve with pan juices.

Serves 8-10

That is it.  Seriously.  Serve it with some corn and black beans on the side and you are good to go.

Post from: Baking Delights

When we had the restaurant one of the sauces that we used as a signature sauce was Fischer and Wieser’s Roasted Raspberry Chipotle.  Our signature dish was a grilled chicken breast served with this sauce and I can tell you, quit honestly, it was incredible.

I had not seen the sauce available in a retail market, although I knew you could buy it online, so when I saw that Tom Thumbs/Safeway had started carrying it I was ecstatic.  And I bought a bottle immediately.

Now, pork loin is a little tricky because most people want to overcook it until it is dry.  Please don’t.  Don’t let salmonella-paranoia keep you from enjoying a succulent, juicy piece of incredible buttery tenderness.  Pork is done when an instant read thermometer inserted in the center registers 160F.

Now here’s the deal.  The pork will continue to cook when it leaves the oven and if you wait until it is 160F IN the oven to remove it it will be over cooked when you serve.  Take it out when it registers 150 or 155F and allow it to stand for 10 minutes or so.  Keep an eye on the thermometer.

The other thing is, don’t be afraid to salt this meat! Under-salted will keep it bland and boring.  Use a good kosher or French gray salt and fresh cracked black pepper.  Place the pork fat side up (do not trim it ) and give it a good covering with your seasoning.  Allow it to stand for at least 30 minutes.

Meanwhile preheat your oven o 375F.  Brush a quick glaze of the raspberry chipotle over the pork, not to thick.

Place the pork on a rack, or in a lightly greased pan.  roast, uncovered, for about 20 minutes per pound or until the internal temperature is 150-155F.  Remove from oven and allow to stand for 10 minutes or so, checking that the internal temperature does reach 160F.

Warm your plates and warm the raspberry chipotle to room temperature.Pour some of the sauce on the plate and arrange a slice of the meat next it it.  Admire the beauty….Eat…Be happy.

Personally I love this dish with roasted garlic and rosemary potatoes and a spinach salad.  A chocolate dessert, like lava cake, really finishes it nicely.

Image: maryeaudet (c) 2008

Post from: Baking Delights

I don’t cook pork nearly enough.  I just don’t think about it for some reason.  Dear God, I am in a foodie rut!

Anyway, I found a package of center cut loin chops on clearance (love those meat clearances!) for 50% off the lowest price…The lowest price was $10.00 and there was 10 of them in the pack. SO, in the cart they went, nestled against a couple of pounds of burger and a roast.

I always liked the combinations in food and recently the thought of chipotle and maple have been calling to me;sweet,smoky and hot.  Honestly I want to try that with duck, but I had pork so pork it was.

I liked the results.  The chops were tender and juicy, and the flavors arrived in layers.  First the sweet, then the smoky, then the hot.  I served them with homemade dinner rolls, creamed corn, and broccoli.  Sort of a nice, retro-suburban dinner with a twist.

These are really easy.  For the best flavor, go ahead and glaze the chops in the morning and stick them in the fridge until time to cook for dinner.  The flavors will blend and mature and really get into the meat.  On the maple syrup, grade b is darker and has, I think, the most flavor.  Different syrup will give different results and overall the organic syrups are more flavorful…I am not sure why.  Also, I get chopped up dried chipotles so when I say a tablespoon it is of the chopped, dried chipotle NOT the powder.  If you can only find powdered chipotles then use a teaspoon, maybe.

In the summer this would be amazing on the grill.

Maple Glazed Chipotle Pork

• Center cut pork loin chops
• French gray salt and cracked black pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup grade B organic maple syrup
• Dried chipotle, about a tablespoon, more if desired
• A few drops of liquid smoke
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1. Mix the salt, pepper, syrup, chipotle, liquid smoke, and vinegar and whisk together.
2. Put the pork in an oven proof baking pan.
3. Cover with the glaze. Reserve any remaining glaze.
4. Cover with plastic wrap  and refrigerate until dinner.
5. Brush on the remainder of the glaze.
6. Preheat oven to 400F
7. Bake for 30 minutes, or until pork registers 160 degrees.

image:maryeaudet

Post from: Baking Delights

  Tourtiere is one of these. This was traditionally a holiday dish for them, his mom used the filling as a stuffing for turkey and the pie was created for special occasions.  I used to make it only for Christmas, but as I have gotten older I have become more aware of how certain foods can encourage, comfort, and bless and so it has become something I try to make more often…while still keeping the special occasion aspect to it.  It is simple and inexpensive and delicious, and you can’t ask for more than that.  We had it yesterday to celebrate Father’s Day and let Marc know how loved he is.

Ingredients:

pastry for a 2 crust pie

1 1/2 lbs ground pork

1 large baking potato

1 large onion, minced

1/2 tp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cloves

pinch fresh grated nutmeg

1/2 c water

1 egg (for brushing on top crust

Bake the potato until done (or microwave). Peel and mash.

Place the water, pork, potato, onion, and spices in a pan and simmer until thick about one hour.

Prepare pastry and line a deep dish pie plate with pastry. spoon in filling, spreading evenly. Cover with top crust. Make steam vents.

brush with egg beaten with a little water and bake at 350 for 50 minutes. serve warm. serves 8

Post from: Baking Delights