Sweet Potato and Turkey Hash

Thanksgiving means leftovers. We actually didn’t have all that many leftovers, however I did come home with enough turkey for a meal or two. Rather than just eating a sandwich I took it one step further with a Sarah Original.

Materials:
Leftover turkey, chopped
1 sweet potato, chopped
2 slices prosciutto, chopped
Coarse ground sea salt,
Black pepper
Rosemary

Methods:
Peel the sweet potato and chop it up. Cook the chopped sweet potato with oil in your favorite skilled until softened and slightly browned on the top. I added the salt, pepper, and rosemary during this stage. I chopped up the leftover turkey and the leftover prosciutto from Thanksgiving and heated them up in the hash.
Verdict:
Amazing. First, I love coarse seas salt. So much punch. Next. I love rosemary. Finally. I love turkey, sweet potatoes, and prosciutto. Win. Epic Win. I actually added in the prosciutto at the last minute as I was surveying the fridge. Next year I would add the prosciutto while working the potatoes to impart that gorgeous pork flavor into the prosciutto. I would also add some garlic, which I was somehow out of during this escapade. However, delicious. Amazing. Worth roasting turkey breast just for this!!!!

Roman Green Beans

For Thanksgiving I put myself in charge or providing a vegetable for David’s dad and I. Rather than the so-called traditional green bean casserole I went with a fancy fresh green bean dish from a “not so humble vegetables’ cookbook I picked up years ago.

Materials:
Olive oil
1 lb green beans
4 oz sliced baby bella mushrooms
2 thick slices prosciutto
3 tbl pine nuts, toasted
1 ½ tbl lemon juice
Several sprigs of thyme
Methods:
First, I toasted the pine nuts on the stove. Meanwhile I broiled the slices of prosciutto until they got crispy. I cleared the prosciutto of grease and shredded it into bite sized pieces. Next the mushrooms were sautéed in a deep skillet on medium-high to high with the olive oil for about a minute. I added the green beans and cooked for about 5 minutes until they were just tender and cooked yet still crunchy. I added the prosciutto, pine nuts, lemon juice and thyme and toasted to coat and heat. Served and enjoyed J

Verdict:
Served and enjoyed pretty much summed this up. I enjoyed that it was the traditional green bean of thanksgiving, and it was even cooked in the traditional southern manner of adding pork product to your beans -- however this was fresh and tasty to say the least! I gave it two giant thumbs up!! I have several other fancy green bean recipes I want to try from various cookbooks, or I would certainly repeat it at the next fancy, or not so fancy, event.

Orange Cranberry Sauced Pork Chops

Have you been wondering if this blog would even show up in your RSS feed/google reader again? I sure was. Too much travel and busy time leads to not cooking enough. I’ve done some cooking during my down time, but nothing new, nothing special at all, and I’m still awaiting camera surgery. However, in time for Turkey Day Eve I got back to the business. You know I brought out ‘old trusty’ aka the crock pot.


Orange Cranberry Sauced Pork Chops
Materials:

½ bag baby carrots
3-4 pork chops
½ can whole berry cranberry sauce
1 tbl orange marmalade
1 tbl quick cooking tapioca
¼ tsp cardamon

Methods:
Place the baby carrots in the bottom of the slow cooker. Place pork chops atop the carrots. Mix the remaining ingredients and place sauce on top of pork chops. Cook on low for 9-10 hours while at work.
Verdict:
Eh. This smelled amazing when I came home from work. I could hardly wait until going over to David’s to eat dinner. Alas, there was a lot of hype for nothing. The original recipe from a Crock Pot magazine called for orange cranberry sauce, which I couldn’t find -- so I added orange marmalade to my cranberry sauce as a substitute. I couldn’t really taste the orange. More importantly, the pork was somehow exceedingly dry, despite the fact that there was plenty of juices/water in the bottom of the crockpot. I thought it was impossible to cook dried out food in the crockpot. Unfortunately, I’m able to do that. I also didn’t really think the tapioca did anything -- I know its supposed to make the sauce creamy, but I wound up with glazed pork chops (the glaze was good despite the lack of orange taste) and a thin, watery cranberry-y sauce that the carrots were sitting in. I had high hopes… maybe will use the cranberry sauce and marmalade combo for glazed chops on the stove in the future.

I would like to note that I think pork pairs really well with fruit -- david had never had pork cooked with fruit. When I think of pork chops I think of cherries, apples, pears, and peaches -- I swear it’s a natural pairing.