Chorizo Spiced Pork & Bean Soup

A nice spicy soup, very hearty with lots of protein to fill you up. Something to do with some raw pork I had.

Item	Calories	Protein
407g navy beans	1384	93.6
500g raw pork meat	568	112.3
4 tbsp chorizo spice mix
25g oil	225
4 leaks	390	9.6
4 cloves of garlic	28	1.2
2 tbsp dried thyme	15	0.5
2 L chicken broth	133	13.3
2 L water
600g red potato	534	13.8
12 bay leaves
salt & pepper
TOTAL	3465	248

Yeild 10, 2 cup servings.
Per Serving Calories: 346, Protein: 24.8


Dice the pork and combine with chorizo spice mix. Refrigerate over night.

Cover the beans with water and let sit over night.

Cut the leaks in half and  slice thin. Keep some of the leak tops for cooking with the beans

Combine the beans with the water add some of the leak tops and bay leaves. Bring to a boil and simmer until tender. Remove the onion and bay leaves and reserve the water & beans.

Saute the pork in the oil in a soup pot on medium heat. Remove and set aside. Add the leaks with some salt & pepper. Sweat the leaks & garlic while trying to scrape off any bits that stuck to the bottom.

Add the meat back with the beans along with the water they were cooked in. Add the potato and chicken broth. Simmer until the potatoes are tender

Pork braised in cider

It's been a while since I have posted anything. Here is my interpretation of Braised Pork Shoulder by Cristine Cushing

The adaptation has more to do with what I had handy in the kitchen. I used a piece from the pork leg I bought a few weeks ago and de-boned. So the piece was from the other end of the pig.

Ingredients
3-4lb boneless pork roast
3-4 cloves of garlic
salt & pepper for seasoning the roast
2 tbsp oil
2 leeks, halved and sliced into 1/2" pieces
1 tsp whole cumin seed
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp whole coriander
1/2 tsp ground ginger
4" cinnamon stick
1 tsp hot sauce
1/2 cup sauvignon blanc
1 litre of hard apple cider
2 fuji apples, cored and sliced

Slice the garlic into slivers. cut slits in the pork and insert the garlic slits, randomly located around the roast

Heat the oil in a large pot. Sear the pork on all sides, remove and set aside

Add the leeks and cook until wilted and slightly browned. Add the spices and continue to cook for a few minutes. Deglaze the pan with the wine.

Add the pork back to the pot. Pour over the cider and add the apples. Bring to a boil and simmer for 2-3 hours.

Remove the roast from the pot and cover with foil to keep warm. Strain the liquid and return to the pot. Boil the liquid until it has reduces by 1/2 or more to make a sauce.

Serve with scalloped potatoes, roasted cauliflower and sauteed mushrooms

Scalloped Potatoes - My style
5 medium potatoes
1c grates cheddar cheese
1c grated asiago
1/2 c graded parmesean
granulated garlic
salt & pepper
skim milk - enough to fill dish.

Thinly slice the potato one at a time. Create a single layer of sliced potato in your casserole dish. Season the layer with salt, pepper and garlic. Sprinkle some of the cheese mixture over the layer. Repeat with enough layers to fill the dish. Make sure you have enough cheese for the top layer. Gently pour the skim milk into the dish until the level is a little below the top. Bake in a 400 F oven for 45 minutes. You will should place a pan underneath to catch the stuff that will drip out of the dish.

Sauteed Mushrooms
1 1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced
3 jalapeno peppers, finely diced
3-4 cloves of garlic, finely diced
1 tsp oil
salt & pepper

In a large pan heat the oil on medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms, peppers and garlic. Season with salt & pepper. Fry until the moisture evaporates and the mushrooms brown slightly.

Battle Pork Leg

The local Italian grocer is offering whole pork leg for $0.89/lb. How could I resist the opportunity to de-bone a pork leg? The total weight from the store was 12 kg or 26.5 lb

I watched a few youtube vidoes on how to debone a pork leg to try to help. Of course it is always more difficult than it appears. Here are the links to the videos

How to debone a pork leg: Part 1

How to debone a pork leg: part 2

How to debone a pork leg: part 3

In the beginning there was this leg of pork:

and from the other side:

Ain't it a beauty!

I think I eventually won the battle. I got the bones out and most of the meat was intact!

And from the other side:

Now what do I do? I cut off what I think was the heel portion and ended up tying that into a roast. I ended up rolling the rest and tying it off so I could portion it into 3 roasts with the skin on - sweet.

The bones were roasted with 3 onions, 5 carrots, 4 celery stalks and a whole head of garlic. Then boiled with a tablespoon of rosemary and a dozen bay leaves. The pan was de-glazed with a cup of white wine and added to the stock pot with 4 litres of water. This stock will end up as one of the best pea soups you can imagine.

I still have some skin to deal with. I will cut some of it into strips and roast with the pork tonight.