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Spiced Pork Roast with Apple Onion Gravy

November 27, 2017 By Caroline Leave a Comment

Savoury, spiced and sweet—this roast brings it all together for an elevated take on the classic applesauce and pork pairing. Roasted apples and onions come together with fresh apple cider, maple syrup and pan drippings for an unbelievably flavour-packed gravy. Cinnamon, ginger, lemon zest and spices add subtle complexity to round out the dish. Perfect to enjoy with crisp Riesling on a cool late autumn evening with candles flickering to brighten the dark evening.

Spiced Pork Roast with Apple Onion Gravy is plated with potatoes and roasted apple slices

To start with, combine the spices and lemon zest together. Next you’ll split the mix between two bowls, as you’ll use half as a dry rub on the apples and onions, and the rest mixes up with olive oil to rub into to the pork roast.

Spices for the pork roast with lemon zest

Toss the apples with the spice mixture in the roasting pan, and add water to the dish.

Apples and onions are tossed with spices

Rub the pork with the olive oil spice mixture, and allow to rest at room temperature for 45 minutes to an hour to allow the meat to come to room temperature before roasting.

The rub is applied generously to the pork roast

Stand the pork on top of the apple onion mixture, and roast until the internal temperature reaches 145°. Wrap in foil and allow to rest for 5–10 minutes, allowing the temperature to rise to about 150°. (There was a time when the recommended temperature for pork was 160°, but this is actually way overcooked and leaves the meat dry and tough. Here’s a link where you can learn more about why the new USDA guidelines list 145° as a safe minimum temperature for pork. See a little trace of pink? No need to worry, it’s a good thing!)

Spiced Pork Roast emerges from the oven

As the roast emerges from the oven the fragrances of spice and onion is soooo good! Remove most of the apples and onions (reserving just a few as garnish), top with the pan drippings,  and blend into a puree. Add the puree to a small pot you’ll have simmering with apple cider and maple syrup, and you have pure apple onion gravy magic.

Roasted apples and onions in the blender

Slice up the perfectly cooked roast, juicy with just a faint trace of pink. Slather with apple onion gravy and enjoy with mashed potatoes, Brussels spouts or your favourite veg. Light some candles, uncork a bottle of Riesling, and turn one of those long, dark winter nights into cozy instead of cold.

Spiced pork roast, perfect medium, sliced

Spiced roast pork with apple and onion gravy
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Spiced Roast Pork with Apple Onion Gravy

The classic pairing of applesauce with pork is elevated with a zesty spice rub and apple-onion gravy that's so good, you'll want to just eat it straight up.

Course Main Course
Servings 4

Ingredients

  • zest of one lemon
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp ground allspice
  • 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1.5 lb pork loin roast, centre cut (700 g)
  • salt
  • freshly ground pepper
  • 3 apples, peeled, cored and sliced into wedges
  • 2 onions
  • 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup fresh apple cider
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup

Instructions

  1. In a small bowl, combine lemon zest and spices. Take half of this spice mixture, move it into another bowl and add olive oil. Season pork with salt and pepper and rub with the oil spice mixture. Allow to rest for 45 minutes to one hour before roasting.

  2. Heat oven to 375°. In a roasting pan or deep baking dish, toss apple and onion wedges with lemon juice and the remaining spice mixture. Add 1/2 cup water, and place pork roast on top. Roast until internal temperature reaches 145°. Remove roast to cutting board and tent with foil, allowing to rest for 5–10 minutes. 

  3. While pork is roasting, combine apple cider and maple syrup into a small to medium saucepan and cook over medium high heat, bringing to a boil. Allow to simmer for a few minutes to reduce slightly. Remove from heat and set aside.

  4. Set aside a few apple and onion wedges for plating. In a mini-food processor or blender, blend the remaining roasted apples and onions along with the pan drippings until smooth. Add puree into the apple cider mixture and heat over medium-low heat to warm. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

  5. Slice pork roast and serve with apple onion gravy on the side, garnished with the reserved apple and onion wedges.

Spiced roast pork with apple onion gravy,

Filed Under: Main, Recipe Tagged With: apple, Gravy, lemon zest, Onion, Pork, Pork Roast

Test-Kitchen: Martha Stewart Apple-Cider Doughnut Bundt Cake

October 17, 2017 By Caroline 5 Comments

Martha Stewart came out with a new book last May, called A New Way to Bake. Touted as “the next-generation home-baking bible,” the book claims to offer healthy alternatives to your favourite baked goods with ingredients including whole-grain flours, quinoa, chia and coconut oil. The bundt cake on the cover caught my eye so I decided to give it a try.

Cross-section of the sliced cake shows a nice crumb

This recipe takes advantage of fresh apple cider, whole wheat flour, olive oil and unsweetened applesauce.

A slide of Martha's Apple Cider Donut Cake

I found the final result was a cake with a lovely texture, moist but not too dense. It sort of reminded me of a cake doughnut/coffee cake hybrid.

For me, the one fail was the natural cane sugar coating on the outside of the cake. It just wouldn’t stick to the cake, the texture of the sugar is too coarse so I could not achieve the lovely look of Martha’s cover cake. I finally gave up and simply sifted some icing sugar with cinnamon on top instead.

Cake on pretty glass stand with soft blue background

Overall this is a solid cake recipe that tastes great. You feel a bit less guilty eating it because of the whole wheat flour and other healthy substitutions. It still has quite a bit of sugar, so I’m not sure you could exactly call it healthy, but replacing some refined sugar with the applesauce and apple cider seem like healthier substitutes. I found it was nice to take to the office for a mid-afternoon snack the next day, too. Get the recipe here.

 

 

Filed Under: Dessert, Recipe Tagged With: apple, Apple Cider Bundt Cake, cake, cider, Doughnut, Healthy, Martha Stewart, Test, test kitchen, Whole wheat

Pleb Feasts: Apple Celery Tuna Salad Sandwhich

April 8, 2017 By Caroline 1 Comment

sandwich elements being assembled

In my never-ending search for better lunches to bring to the office, I bring you “Pleb Feasts”. It’s all too easy to be lured in by the foodcourts and unhealthy dining options available for purchase when buying lunch. On the other hand, making lunches takes time and planning, and I don’t want to compromise on flavour or freshness by eating something made in advance. What’s a common office pleb like myself to do? I’ve been working on some creative solutions. This sandwich is super easy and doesn’t take a lot of time. I’ve also included tips on how I like to wrap mine up for maximum freshness the next day.

I’ve combined a favourite of mine—crisp apple celery salad, with tuna and light rye bread for these sandwiches. Parsley is a hardy herb that doesn’t get soggy; here it replaces your typical lettuce leaves to brighten up the tuna (and protect the bread from getting soggy).

I experimented with apples on one half, sliced cucumber on the other. Apples won for me hands down, but you could make these with cucumbers as an option to change things up a bit.

Assembling the sandwiches

A note on the packaging. I find wax paper is the best wrap for sandwiches—enough protection to avoid drying the bread out, but not a tight seal like plastic where things start to get soggy. Roll out a piece of wax paper, build your sandwich on top, wrap it up, throw in a fruit snack and lunch is done!

sandwich assembly in progress
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Apple Celery Tuna Salad Sandwhich

A perfect lunch to take to work—quick and easy to make, and stays fresh.

Course Lunch
Cuisine American
Prep Time 10 minutes
Servings 2 sandwiches

Ingredients

  • 1 can solid white tuna packed in water
  • 3 tbsp mayonnaise
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • pinch salt
  • freshly ground pepper to taste
  • 1 celery stalk
  • 1/2 apple Gala or Empire, cored and sliced thin
  • 1 bunch fresh curly parsley roughly chopped
  • 4 slices light rye bread
  • 1/4 seedless cucumber (optional)

Instructions

  1. Drain water from tuna in can, place tuna chunks on a paper towel and pat away excess moisture. Place into a medium size bowl and break apart with a fork.

  2. Chop celery into 1/8" size pieces, and add to tuna with 1.5 tbsp mayo, lemon juice and salt to taste. Combine well.

  3. Place a wax paper sheet on counter top for each sandwich, and set out 2 slices of bread on each sheet. Cut slices in half and spread one side of each with the remaining mayo. Season bread slices with extra fresh ground pepper for extra kick if desired. Layer fresh parsley on half of the slices, and divide tuna mixture on top, patting tuna down to create a flat surface. Layer apple slices on top of tuna (or cucumber if preferred). Top with remaining slices and wrap each sandwich in its wax paper sheet.

Filed Under: Pleb Feasts, Recipe Tagged With: apple, cucumber, lunch, pleb feast, sandwich, tuna

Whole Wheat Cranberry Apple Scones

April 8, 2017 By Caroline Leave a Comment

Apples, cranberries and flour in a bowl

Ever purchase some specialty flour like cake or whole wheat, only to have it sit there for a year and never have any need for it again? Determined not to let that happen to my recently purchased whole wheat flour, I decided to try out this recipe for scones. While this scone is not the buttery, crisp on the outside, melt-in-your-mouth scone of my dreams, they were a great mid-day snack and would be a lovely addition to any brunch. Bonus: unlike their buttery brethren, these will actually leave you feeling good after you eat them.

scone broken apart showing juicy cranberries on a red rimmed china plate

Based somewhat on a recipe from Epicurious, I changed things up by using fresh apples and cranberries rather than dried. I also substituted fresh pressed apple cider for the frozen concentrate, and I didn’t have buttermilk so went with the traditional substitution of milk and vinegar (1/2 cup milk with 1/2 tbsp milk). I also didn’t want to add yet another type of flour to my pantry so used rolled oats instead of oat flour.

Upon following the recipe I found the dough was very sticky and the scones lost their shape in the oven. To minimize the loss of shape, I suggest chilling the shaped dough on the baking sheet in the fridge for 20 minutes before popping them into the oven.

If you don’t want to make 12 all at once, these also freeze quite well—place shaped scones onto a baking sheet and freeze in a single layer; remove from sheet and wrap in plastic or a ziplock freezer bag.

scone broken apart showing juicy cranberries on a red rimmed china plate
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Whole Wheat Cranberry Apple Scones

A healthy take on scones with whole grains and fresh fruit, a great snack or addition to brunch.

Course Breakfast
Cuisine American
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Servings 12 scones

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 cup rolled oats
  • 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter chilled, cut into cubes (1 stick of butter)
  • 1/2 cup fresh cranberries
  • 1/2 cup diced fresh apple
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 1/4 cup half and half cream for glaze
  • 1/4 cup fresh apple cider
  • 1 egg (large)
  • coarse sugar crystals

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Prep work surface with plastic wrap to roll and shape dough onto.

  2. Combine first 8 ingredients in a large bowl, blend. Using a pastry cutter or 2 knives, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add cranberries and apples and toss together.

  3. Whisk 1/2 cup buttermilk, cider and egg in a small bowl to combine. Add buttermilk, tossing until evenly moistened. Knead 2–3 turns in the bowl, then turn out onto the prepared plastic wrap, shaping into two 6" disks. Cut each disc into 6 wedges. Arrange scones onto baking sheet, spacing 1" apart. Place baking sheet in fridge for 20 minutes.

  4. Remove baking sheet from fridge, brush with half and half, and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake until puffed and golden, and a tester inserted into the centre comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Serve warm. 

Filed Under: Breakfast Tagged With: apple, breakfast, brunch, cranberry, Healthy, oatmeal, scone, Whole wheat

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Welcome to my kitchen journal, a place where I will share my favourite heritage recipes honed over the years, as well as document new evolutions and experiments along the way. Great feasts become vehicles for fond memories—the best meals are the ones someone made with love, for you. Follow me to explore traditions, document stories and experience the joy of the feast. Read More…

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