Cooking June 8 - Pork Roulade and Vegetarian Lentil and Wild Rice Dish

Cooking Demo June 8, 2013

I was shopping for this weeks demo and spied some thin pork chops and thought that a roulade   would be a nice change.  I was very pleased with this dish.  The mint leaves along with the lemon balm really gave a terrific taste to the sauce.  Enjoy!

Pork Roulade with Apricots

10 Thin pork chops

½ cup chopped Mozzarella cheese

1 cup ricotta cheese

½ lb Shitake mushrooms chopped

8 Dried apricots chopped

5 basil leaves chopped

3 T fresh Greek oregano chopped

1/8 cup chopped fresh parsley

8 fresh Lemon balm leaves chopped

4 Spearmint leaves chopped

juice of 1 Lemon

¼ t Lemon rind grated

1Green onion bulb and greens chopped

1 cup Apricot Mustard Glaze

3/4 cup heavy cream

Olive Oil

Add the chesses to a bowl and mix until combined.  Add the chopped apricots and herbs and mix.  Lay the chop flat and cover with the cheese and herb mixture.  Roll and secure with toothpicks.  Brown in oil turning to make sure all sides have been seared.  Remove from the pan and set aside.  Add the apricot mustard glaze, lemon juice and rind and green onion to the pan stir until it starts bubbling then slowly add the cream.  Add the pork roulade back to the pan and coat the meat with the sauce.  Cook covered on a low flame until the meat is done.

Vegetarian Lentil and Wild Rice

1 cup Red lentils

¼ cup Wild rice

Mushroom essence broth

½ lb Shitake mushrooms

1 small head Red cabbage

Six leaves of Chinese cabbage

4T Sesame seeds toasted

1 T Pink peppercorns

2T Brown mustard seeds

Snow peas

2 Green onions

Red onion

3T Roasted Pumpkin seed oil

½ package Bacon Horseradish dip mix

Boil the lentils in mushroom essence until done.  In a separate pan, boil the wild rice until soft.  This will take a while so start it first.

In a pan, add the sesame seeds, peppercorns, brown mustard seeds and toast the seeds until they pop.  Add the cabbages, snow peas, green onion and red onion.  Add the mushrooms to the pan and cook until done.  Toss the wild rice and lentils together and add roasted pumpkin seed oil. Combine the vegetables and lentil mix together.  Sprinkle the Bacon Horseradish dip mix and stir until well mixed.  Serve with Nasturtiums as garnish.

Rolled Chicken Breast with Cheese and Spinach Filling

During the winter, traffic in the shop slows down significantly;y so we only cook once a month.  Saturday Feb 18 was the night.  I wanted to create something and as usual for me, I make a list of ingredients that I think will blend well for a great dish and mark down the amounts as I go.  There are 3 recipes from that session.  One was a chicken breast filled with ricotta and spinach, the second was a vegetarian crepe and the third a sweet mustard and wine sauce to pour over both.  Hope you enjoy.

Rolled Chicken Breast with Cheese and Spinach Filling

6 chicken breasts pounded flat

1 15 oz container of ricotta cheese (I like the whole milk but you can use part skim if you choose)

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1 egg

2T chopped garlic or 5 cloves smashed

3T fresh parsley

1/2 cup frozen spinach drained and pressed to remove all water

5T Basil Pesto (we sell Elki brand and it gives a great punch to the dish.)

EVVO

Mix the ricotta with Parmesan, garlic, spinach and pesto until blended well.  Gently whip the egg and add to the mixture.  Lay the breast on a flat surface and spread the cheese mixture, starting at the pointed end, on 2/3 of the meat. Add a touch of salt and pepper. Sprinkle some chopped parsley over the cheese and roll tucking the sides in and secure with a toothpick.  Saute' in EVVO until outside is gently browned then place in a dish and bake for 20 minutes.  Insure internal temperature is 160 degrees.

You can serve the chicken with any side as is or make the creamy wine sauce in my next posting and pour it over the chicken.      Serves 6.  cooking and prep time approx 45 minutes.