Ravioli Party

We hosted several friends for a ravioli party this past weekend and it was delicious!! We opted for one vegetarian and one meat filling using everyday Italian recipes and two pounds of fresh pasta dough later we were all rubbing our bellies and moaning from fullness but it was so worth it. For the veggie filling (which you can make slightly less veg friendly by adding bacon, because as we all know, bacon really does make everything better) we caramelized a red onion mixed with tender braised kale, creamy ricotta and a salty bite of Parmesan. When topped with a spicy tomato sauce, it was a real winner. But then the meat ravioli came out... and I have to say, while I love love love kale, the pork filling really blew us away. I knew we were in for a treat when I pulled the roasted pork shoulder out of the oven and could barely keep myself from scarfing the whole thing down in one full swoop! When paired with cheese and spices and browned ground pork (yes, more pork!) we were hard pressed not to eat all the filling before it made it into the dough! It was salty and meaty and superbly succulent. Paired with a brown butter sage sauce, it’s another dish you want to climb into the bowl with and do the backstroke. These recipes are pretty straight forward and with some extra hands and a bottle or two of wine, a ravioli party can be an easy way to host and feed your favorite people.

Old School Seasoned Breadcrumbs = Tasty Breaded Pork Cutlets

This week was a bit of a throw-back to my childhood. Any time I use pre-seasoned breadcrumbs I think of being a kid. These days we have all these fancy breadcrumb options, like panko, that are fantastic additions to everyone’s pantry, but once and a while I feel nostalgic and breakout the Italian seasoned breadcrumbs my mom used to cook with. Costco had a salt on pork cutlets, so we’ve been eating a lot of them. They’re great because they cook up fast and taste fantastic. I mixed my old school seasoned breadcrumbs with my mom’s favorite sprinkle cheese, pecorino, for a cheese, salty crust. If you use thin cutlets, they take less than 3 minutes to cook per side and you don’t use a ton of oil so it’s not exactly a terribly unhealthy dish. Paired with my sweet and tender roasted broccolini, you’ve got a meal in 12 minutes!

Creamed Chard and Breaded Pork Cutlets

SmittenKitchen might be one of my favorite food blogs. She’s hilarious, endearing and makes damn fine food. I found myself this week with a package of pork cutlets and a massive bunch of swiss chard without any bright ideas on what new take I could employ with seemingly standard ingredients. SmittenKitchen to the rescue! No only did I find an epic recipe for creamed swiss chard (seriously amazing discovery, which when pared with the spectacular fresh onions and garlic I found at the farmers market made one hell of a side dish) but she also was nice enough to share a delightful recipe for crunchy breaded cutlets!  I was in heaven (and so was husband when he came home to pipping big plate of creamy chard and tangy yet cheesey breaded pork). And so I bring to you my take on a SmittenKitchen classic.

No Grill Required Tender BBQ Ribs

We’re pretty big meat eaters in this family so when ribs went on sale this week husband nearly flew to the store. One of the best things about cooking ribs is how seriously easy they are. You absolutely do not need a grill to make fall off the bone amazeballs ribs. As you probably have surmised by now, A Girl and Her Kitchen is all about the pinch of this and pinch of that school of cooking. It’s how my mom generally cooks and while the measuring cups and spoons have a time and a place, they tend to spend more time than not decoratively hanging on my wall. This recipe is no exception to that rule. I took the base inspiration from an Emeril recipe, which is surprising because I tend to want to smack that man any time I see him, but alas there is always a first time for everything.

So despite its dubious roots, this recipe is fabulous.  The rub gives the meat fastastic earthy undertones while the BBQ sauce brings a bright and rich flavor. Your loved ones will give you a standing ovation for these suckers and never know that your hard work amounted to a solid 5 minutes of prep and the rest the meat did on its own. You do however need a few hours to sit at home while they cook in the oven so unless you are lucky enough to work from home like yours truly, this might have to wait for a weekend dinner night, but they are well worth it. So grab a bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce, a couple of pantry seasonings and make the easiest yet tender, mouthwatering ribs you have ever eaten in your own kitchen.

Pork Tenderloin Two Ways

Pork tenderloins are a dinner table staple in my house. They freeze well, Costco sells them cheap and once in a while when they go on sale at my market, they’re an even better steal. You can plop them in a bag with a marinade overnight for an easy weeknight dinner. Or spread on a flavor packed rub just before cooking for a different but still easy as sin approach. Either way, after 30+ minutes in the oven, you’ve got a killer piece of meat…and lean too!

Since it’s just the husband and I (Smokey the cat doesn’t like anything other than her kibble…seriously folks, not even an open can of tuna will entice her) we always get tons of leftovers. But it is safe to say one packet of pork tenderloin, which is typically two loins smushed together into one plastic wrapped mass, will feed four comfortably. The fact that I get two separate loins in one packet is perfect because I can actually never decide which of many ways to cook them because they all taste so darn good!!

Last night we did a pork tenderloin duo of marinades. One with an Asian kick from salty soy sauce and garlic. The other took a sweeter route with beer, honey and mustard. Both were divine. On top of that, I got to make my spectacular apple and onion marmalade to go with the sweeter version. Ok, so we ended up slathering the marmalade over both types because it’s uber tastey and, well so maybe it’s not technically a marmalade, but who cares. This is one seriously scrumptious sauce.