Brainy Delicious Farm Style Veal or Pork Medallions...

 

Veal or pork loin can be cut into medallion size and cooked simply into a definitely gourmet meal!

Just saute them with chopped onion in olive oil. Once browned, add green or black olives, sun dried tomatoes or even dried plums; pouring in 1/4 cup of heavy cream with 2 tbs of Dijon mustard - both are optional. Serve with sweet potatoes, or yellow gold mashed potatoes, red skinned roasted potatoes, or risotto 'rice'.

~ Tutti a Tavola!

*Check out this blog post ~ http://thebrainygourmet.blogspot.com/2017/07/veal-medallions-with-sun-dried-tomatoes.html

Brainy Comfort Food ~ FarmStyle Chicken and Dumplings...

 

 

Farm life means hot steaming comfort food.This dish can be done in one single skillet and in no time at all. You need to have chicken pieces: legs, thighs, or breasts with skin on. You can do all legs, or all thighs or all breasts or a mix. Take from your pantry: one onion, chicken stock, flour, heavy cream, milk and one egg.

Begin by browning one chopped onion in 3 tbs of olive oil and the same of coconut oil in your covered skillet on med heat. Once the onion is browned on the edges, add your chicken pieces. Season using generously: rosemary, mint and oregano along with a dash of red pepper flakes and a dash of garlic powder. Cook the chicken on med heat until all sides have browned nicely.

Next, you will need to add 1 cup of chicken stock. Cover and let simmer for 30 min. on low heat. Near the end of this timed simmer, prepare your dumplings. Mix 2 cups of milk with 1 and 1/2 cups of flour (use gluten free if you are on such a diet) 1 tsp of baking powder, and one egg.  I suggest you eye ball the consistency of the dumpling dough, it should be sticky but not thick, so go slowly with the flour.

Just before you drop in your dumplings, add 1/4 cup of heavy cream to the chicken bubbling in the skillet. You may also want to add a bit more chicken stock if you see that it has reduced too much. The dumplings will need plenty of liquid to cook in.

Turn up the heat to med high and drop in your dumplings, cover and let them grow up into clouds of yummy.

Test them to make sure that they are completely cooked through, they should appear light and fluffy not gooey. If the are cooked through, then ladle all that goodness onto a large serving plate.

~ Tutti a Tavola!

Brainy 'Chunky Chili' with Mashed Potatoes Pancakes...

Rancher's style...

For this dish you will need: beef stew meat, one purple onion, one red pepper, one med. can of diced tomatoes (or 2 fresh chopped) and one med. can of black beans. Make sure you also have on hand: chili powder, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, cinnamon and dried herbs. Marinate the beef in balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and sea salt one hour prior to cooking.

In a deep stock pot, saute chopped onion in olive oil and long with the red pepper. Push aside and sear the beef, bring back in the onion and pepper. Cover with 1 cup of beef stock and the one can of diced tomato. Stir and then add the one can of 'drained' black beans and or red kidney beans if you prefer.

Sprinkle in chili powder, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, a pinch of cinnamon (go easy) and dried herbs: rosemary, oregano and mint. I like to sweeten this stew with either a little organic brown sugar or black strap molasses.

For a side dish, mashed potato pancakes fried in bacon drippings.

~ Tutti a Tavola!

A Brainy Cuban Pulled Pork with Black Beans and Rice...

This slow cooked Cuban 'Mojo' Pulled Pork is the best combination of tangy and savory flavors. The term “Mojo” translates to sauce in the Spanish language. In Cuban cooking, Mojo is any sauce that uses olive oil, garlic, and citrus juices and is typically used as a marinade for pork. 

Mojo Pork is wonderful served over a bed of rice accompanied by black beans... For this dish you will need: One 4 to 5 pound boneless pork shoulder (Boston butt roast), trim the fat. From the pantry, take out:

4 tablespoons olive oil 

1 tbs cumin 

1 tbs dried oregano 

2 tsp salt 

2 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp fresh ground black pepper 

1/2 cup low-sodium beef broth 

1/2 cup fresh orange juice 

1/4 cup fresh lime juice 

 

 1 Can of Black Beans 

 1-1/2 cups long grain white rice 

 3 cups low-sodium vegetable broth 

To begin, marinate the butt roast in the olive oil, cumin, oregano, salt, garlic, pepper, orange and lime juice for about 30 min. Next, turn up the oven to 375. You want to sear (in the oven) the marinated butt roast for about 40 min. 

After that time, turn on the slow cooker to high. Pour in the 1/2 cup of beef broth. Then lay in the butt roast. Let this slow cook for about 3 hours, adding extra broth if needed. Test the roast's tenderness after this time. If it does not pull apart with a fork, then continue to cook for another 1 hour or longer until it does. 

 

Boil the rice in the unused broth in a stove top lidded pot. As for the black beans, you can cook them in another small pot or skillet. 

Serve with remaining 'Mojo, in French the 'Au Jus'; also, put your bestie hot sauce on the table...

~ Tutti a Tavola!