German Style Sauerkraut Pork Chops

I tried this recipe out quite a while ago but I never got around to posting it up. Really nice and thick pork chops were on sale at our local grocery store, so we bought a huge pack. I tried making some Hainanese Pork Chops (blogged about it a while back) with about half of the pack and I had three large pieces left over from it. I googled for some pork chop recipes and found this delicious recipe. Since Kevin totally loves sauerkraut (I'm guessing cos he is half German? :P), I decided to try this recipe out. It turned out to be really good, so I'm gonna share it with all of you.

Start off by arranging some apple slices on a large baking dish. Just core some apples and slice them into thin slices. It doesn't really have to be perfect, just make sure that it covers the whole bottom of the pan.
Then, brown your pork chops in a large pan. You can sprinkle on some seasoned salt to give it some taste. You do not have to fully cook the pork chops, just make sure that they are nice and brown. The purpose of this is to give those pork chops some color.
Once they are nicely browned, place them on top of the sliced apples and set them aside.
Now it's time to work on the sauerkraut. Start of by sauteing some onions in a pan.
Next, add in some sauerkraut. You can pretty much buy sauerkraut from any grocery store (usually at the deli section). Then, crack in some black pepper and add in some caraway seeds.
After mixing all of the ingredients together, pour in some apple juice. At this point, some people would add in some applesauce and/or apple slices too. It's totally up to you. Stir everything together and allow it to cook for a bit. Turn off the heat and your sauerkraut topping is done.
Pour the sauerkraut topping over the pork chops. Make sure that you fully cover the chops.
Cover the top of the baking dish with some aluminum foil and pop it into a 350F oven for about an hour. After an hour or so, your pork chops are ready to be served! It's so easy to make, yet so yummy to eat. The pork chops turned out to be really tender and the flavor was just out of this world! This recipe is definitely a keeper. I served the pork chops up with some of the sauerkraut and mashed potatoes. You should try it. Wash that down with a pint of beer and it will feel like Oktoberfest, right in your own dining room!

Involtini di Melanzane (Rolled Eggplant Bundles)

I had some eggplant left over from making Eggplant Parmesan the other day, so I went online to look for some new eggplant recipes to try out. I found a rather interesting recipe called Involtini di Melanzane. It's basically rolled eggplant with pasta stuffing. I've never heard of this dish before, let alone tried it. So, I was pretty psyched to try it out. It turned out to be really good and I'll definitely make this for dinner again in the very near future. I'm not sure if it's authentic or not, but here's my take on how to make Involtini di Melanzane.

Start off by slicing the eggplants lengthwise into thin slices. Sprinkle salt on both sides of the eggplant slices and place them into a colander. Allow the eggplant slices to sit for about an hour or so. This is done so that we can get as much water out of the eggplants as possible. After about an hour, rinse off the excess salt and pat it dry with a paper towel.
Heat up some oil in a pan. Once the oil is hot, place a couple of eggplant slices into the pan. Be really careful when you do this, cos it will splatter! Also remember not to overcrowd the pan. Fry until the eggplant slices becomes soft and golden brown on both sides.
Remove the eggplant slices from the pan and place them onto some paper towels. This is done so that we can get as much oil out of the eggplant slices as possible. You can put more paper towels on top of the eggplant slices and lightly pat it down too. That will help in removing as much oil as possible. Once you have done that, set the fried eggplant slices aside.
Next, cook up your favorite long pasta. It can be spaghetti, fettuccine, linguine or even angel hair pasta. I used spaghetti and it worked out pretty well. Once your pasta is al dente, drain it and set it aside.
Now it's time to make some pasta sauce. You can just reheat some from a jar or make from scratch using your grandma's favorite pasta sauce recipe. It doesn't really matter. I just reheated some tomato and basil pasta sauce that came in a jar. Once you are done with the pasta sauce, split it into three portions.
Pour the first portion of your pasta sauce into a deep baking dish.
Toss your pasta in the second portion of that pasta sauce and set the third portion of sauce aside. We will use it later on.
Here's when we assemble everything together. Place a slice of eggplant on a flat surface. Scoop up some pasta and place it in the middle of the eggplant slice (just like the photo).
Then, sprinkle on some feta cheese (you could also use mozzarella cheese if you like) onto the pasta. Top if off with a slice of cooked bacon. I used turkey bacon but you can pretty much use any type of bacon that you like. Just make sure that it's not greasy.
Roll up the eggplant and place it on top of the pasta sauce that we placed earlier in the deep baking dish. Make sure that you place the eggplant rolls seam side down, so that it doesn't unravel during cooking.
Once you have finish rolling up all your eggplants, scoop on some pasta sauce (the 3rd portion that we saved earlier) on top of the eggplant rolls. Sprinkle on some Italian herbs, black pepper and it's ready to go into the oven.
Place the baking dish into a 375F preheated oven, uncovered, for about 40 minutes. After 40 minutes or so, remove the baking dish from the oven and sprinkle on some Parmesan cheese before serving. I'm glad I found this recipe cos it was totally delicious. Go ahead, try it and tell me what you think!

Oven Roasted Split Chicken with Vegetables

All kinds of chicken cuts were on sale at our local grocery store last week. I managed to pick up 6 pieces of split chicken (3 whole chicken in total) for less than $5!!! Mind you, they were not tiny. Those are regular sized (I would even dare say that they rather large) chickens. I wanted to make something simple and quick for dinner, so I just roasted one chicken (2 pieces of split) with some vegetables. It turned out to be really good. Here's the recipe.

Start off by cleaning the chicken under cool water and pat it dry with a some kitchen towels. Then, spray on some cooking oil onto the chicken and rub on your favorite chicken marinade. No prize for guessing what I used. Yes, of course I used Chef Paul Prudhomme's Magic Poultry Marinade :P Once you have seasoned the chicken on both sides, place it onto a deep baking dish. You can see from the picture that I placed the chicken on a rack that I set up inside the baking dish. This is to allow all the fat to drain to the bottom of the pan, so that the chicken doesn't sit in fat, while cooking. If you do not have a rack, you can just place it inside a deep baking dish. It might be a little bit more greasy but it still works.
Set the chicken aside. Now it's time to work on the vegetables. Peel and cut up one large sweet potato into small chunks. Depending on the size of your sweet potato, you might need two.
Then, place it into a big bowl together with some red potatoes (also cut into small chunks) and some fresh mushrooms (half them if they are too big). You can also add in some carrot if you like.
Next, pour in some balsamic vinaigrette followed by some lemon juice. Mix it all in with all the vegetables. You do not need a lot, just enough to coat the vegetables.
Once you have mixed the dressing with the vegetables, sprinkle in some dried thyme and rosemary followed by some freshly cracked black pepper. Give the vegetables another good stir and it's done.
Arrange the vegetables around the sides of the chicken. Then pop it into a preheated 400F oven for about 40 minutes.
After about 40 minutes, take out the chicken from the oven. Baste it with some melted butter. This will help to brown the chicken nicely as well as help make the skin crispy. Return the chicken into the oven for another 20 minutes or so and it should be done! Allow the chicken to rest for about 5-10 minutes before serving. I just love this recipe. It's so easy to make! Just prepare everything in one dish and pop it all into the oven. You should try it out, it's yummy!

Oven Roasted Beer Can Chicken

Remember me blogging about getting a beer can chicken roaster from CSN Stores a while back? Well, there was a sale for whole chickens (only $5 for a huge chicken!!) at our local grocery store, so we figured we will try making Beer Can Chicken for dinner last week. Traditionally, Beer Can Chicken is cooked over an open grill but since we live in an apartment, we just made ours in the oven. It turned out to be be really good. It's so simple to make, you just have to check this recipe out!

Start off by removing all the giblets from inside the chicken. You can save the giblets to make gravy for the chicken if you want to but I just threw mine away. Rinse the chicken in cold water and then pat it dry with some paper towels. Next, spray on some vegetable oil onto the chicken and then put on your favorite dry rub. There is no prize for guessing what I used, since I use it all the time in most of my cooking. Yup, Chef Paul Prudhomme's Poultry Magic Rub. It's the best! :D
Make sure you rub on the seasoning on both the outside as well as the inside of the chicken. Once you have done that, place the chicken in a large Ziploc bag. As you can see from the picture, our chicken was way too large, so we had to use two...LOL! Allow the chicken to marinade for at least a few hours but we left it to marinade in our refrigerator for about 24 hours.
Now, it's time to set up the beer can chicken roaster. It's fairly simple actually. All you need is a deep baking dish and the beer can roaster. If you do not have a beer can roaster, you can use an actual beer can. Just cut open the top of the beer can, pour out about 1/3 of its content and set it in the middle of the baking dish (just like how I placed the roaster).
Next, pour in your favorite beer. I used Yuengling cos Kevin happened to have a six pack of that sitting in our refrigerator. I am not a huge beer drinker but I find Yuengling to be pretty decent :D Yeah, so just fill the beer can roaster up. You would need probably about half a bottle of beer to fill it up. If you are using an actual beer can, you can of course skip this step (since the beer can is already filled with beer :P).
The next thing you need to do is to place your chicken onto the roaster. Just set it upright, just like how you see in the photo. If your chicken is too large (like ours), it might be a little bit tricky to get it to stand upright properly. It's all about balance. Try moving it around a little, it should stand relatively well after a few tries.
Then, pop it into a 350F oven and set the timer for 2 hours.
Remove the chicken from the oven when it's about half way through it's cooking time (around the 1 hour mark). Baste the entire chicken with melted butter. This is to give it color as well as to make the skin extra crispy. Yummmy stuff!! This is the only time you would need to baste the chicken. Your chicken won't dry out because of the beer that is keeping it all juicy and moist. Pop the chicken back into the oven for another hour. While you are waiting for the chicken to be done, sit back, relax and enjoy the remaining half bottle of beer :P
We bought Perdue's Oven Roaster Chicken, so it comes with a built it thermometer. Once it pops up, you know that it's done. If your chicken doesn't come with a built in thermometer, all you need to do is stick a thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh. When it reads 180F, you know that its done! Allow the chicken to rest for about 10 minutes before removing it from the beer roaster. Be extra careful when you remove the chicken cos the beer will be really really hot. Carve the chicken and it's ready to be served! Doesn't it look yummy? The skin was really crispy and the meat was oh so moist. I cannot believe something so simple can turn out to be so good. You should try it, it's totally awesome!

Simple Salisbury Steak

Both Kevin and I have always liked eating Salisbury Steak. In fact, it's one of my favorite dishes to order whenever we go to a diner. However, I have never gotten around to making it at home (should have tried it a long time ago!). I had some minced meat sitting around in my fridge a while ago, so I decided to search for it's recipe online. To my surprise, it turned out to be so easy to make! I changed the recipe around a bit (based on what I had in my pantry at that moment) and it turned out to be awesome! Here's how I make my version of the Salisbury Steak.

Start off by adding one extra large egg to a lbs of ground beef. Stir in the egg with the meat until it's evenly mixed.
Then, add in about 1/4 cups of milk. You can add in a little bit more, depending on how wet/dry the mixture is. I would usually just eyeball, when it comes to stuff like that.
After that, add in some Worcestershire sauce. I just love the taste of Worcestershire sauce. I pretty much use it for everything...burgers, steaks, chicken....etc :P Mix all the ingredients together.
Now, it's time to add in the dry ingredients. Mix in a packet of onion soup mix followed by some Italian breadcrumbs. If you do not have Italian breadcrumbs, regular ones will work too.
Once you have mixed all the ingredients together, it's time to get your hands dirty. Using your hands, just make sure that all the ingredients are nicely and evenly mixed. Then, separate the minced meat into 6 portions and form 6 large patties (there are only 4 patties in the picture cos I can't fit 6 into a plate :P). Remember to compact the meat together tightly, so that it doesn't break apart during cooking. You can sprinkle some breadcrumbs at the bottom of the plate to prevent the meat from sticking, if you like. Cover it with some plastic wrap and allow it to sit in the fridge for about an hour.
Now it's time to give our Salisbury Steak some color. Heat some oil in a pan on high heat. Then, add in the patties. I only cooked two (since it's only the two of us) patties and saved the other 4 patties for another day. I just had to put them between some wax paper, place them into a freezer bag and pop them into the freezer. So, you can pretty much make a large batch and keep the patties in the freezer for quite a long time. The purpose of pan frying the patties is just to give it color. You do not have to cook the meat all the way through. Once it's nicely browned on both sides, remove it from the pan and set it aside.
Using the same pan, we shall now make the sauce. Add in some chopped portobello mushrooms into the pan. Mix it around and make sure that you scrap off all the nice leftover brown bits from the bottom of the pan.
Once the mushrooms have soften a little, add in some brown gravy. I made the gravy by mixing some water with a packet of instant brown gravy mix. You can also use brown gravy that comes in a bottle or if you really really want to, you can make it from scratch. Mix it all together and all ow it to simmer.
Once the sauce have reduced a little, it is done. Arrange the meat patties on a lightly greased baking pan and then pour the sauce over. Cover it with aluminium foil and it's ready for baking.
Pop the baking pan into a preheated 375F oven and allow it to cook for about 35-45 minutes (depending on your oven). As you can see, I also had some baked potatoes in the oven. I placed the potatoes in the oven when I started making the sauce earlier. This way, both the Salisbury Steak and Baked Potatoes will be done at almost the same time. After about 40 minutes or so, the Salisbury Steak is done! I then sprinkled some fried onions on top and served it with a side of baked potato and some sweet corn. Another simple and uber yummy dinner!! :D