Ground Pork with Fresh Fennel, Broccoli Rabe and Two Tomatoes: A Sauce for Pasta

Wow.

What a meal.

Frost in the forecast.

A warm fire.

A bunch of broccoli rabe.

A desire for a different pasta sauce.

And a package of ground pork that wanted a home.

It got a great one.

Ground Pork with Fresh Fennel, Broccoli Rabe and Two Tomatoes: A Sauce for Pasta
Inspired by Last Night's Dinner

A couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil
1 pound ground pork
¼ cup dry vermouth
¼ cup chicken stock
½ large Vidalia onion, chopped
1 large fresh fennel, chopped
1 large spoonful garlic confit
1-½ tsp crushed red peppers
1 tbsp fennel seed
1-½ tsp dried French thyme
1-½ tsp dried Turkish oregano
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1-15 ounce can San Marzano tomatoes and their juice
¼ cup sundried tomatoes in olive oil, chopped
1 bunch broccoli rabe, trim the stems, wash and chop
Medium pasta shells, cooked (enough for four)


Heat a cast iron pan over medium high heat and add a couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil. When the oil is wavy, add the ground pork and season well with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. When pork has cooked through, remove from pan and add a bit more olive oil.

Add fennel and Vidalia onions and let cook for about 10 minutes til soft. Add crushed red peppers, thyme, oregano and season with freshly ground black pepper. Add the garlic confit and let cook for another 5 minutes or so. Add the vermouth to the pan and stir well. Add the pork back to the pan and any drippings and stir well. Add canned tomatoes, the sundrieds and chicken stock. Let cook for about 30 minutes.

Bring a pot of water to boil. Add the broccoli rabe and bring back to a boil and let cook about three minutes. Remove the rabe from the water, add it to the pork mixture and let simmer while you cook the pasta. When pasta is done, drain it and add to the sauce. Season to taste with freshly ground black pepper.

Serves 4 generously.

Ground Pork with Fresh Fennel, Broccoli Rabe and Two Tomatoes: A Sauce for Pasta

Pilaf with Shrimp, Pancetta and Swiss Chard

I never think about Arborio rice.

I think about things like shrimp, the election, an occasional bone in pork chop and whether or not the Fed is going to cut interest rates.

So why did I start thinking about Arborio rice?

I don’t have a clue.
But I did have it in the pantry.

And after a long day in the financial world, I wanted comfort food.
And a golden hour with Groom.

I got both!

Pilaf with Shrimp, Pancetta and Swiss Chard

A couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil
1 ounce pancetta, chopped
1 lb 21-25 shrimp, tail on
1-½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 medium red onion, sliced thin
1 tsp dried Turkish oregano
1 tsp dried French thyme
1 large spoonful garlic confit
A nice bunch of Swiss chard, washed
1-¾ cup Arborio rice
2-¾ cup chicken stock


Heat a cast iron skillet over medium high heat.
Add a couple of good swirls of extra virgin olive oil.
When the oil looks wavy add chopped pancetta and cook til brown, doesn’t take a lot of time. Remove the pancetta and turn the heat down. Put the pancetta on a paper towel to drain.

Raise the heat add a bit more olive oil and when wavy add shrimp, crushed red pepper flakes and several grinds black pepper.

When the shrimp turns pink…this will happen very quickly, remove it from the pan.

Add a bit more olive oil and when wavy add the red onion, Turkish oregano and dried French thyme and stir, letting the onions caramelize and then add a soup spoonful of garlic confit. Mash it up and let the onion/garlic continue to caramelize.

Chop up the stems and the leaves of the Swiss chard and add to the caramelized onions and cook, stirring for about five minutes. When wilted add Arborio rice, and chicken stock and bring to a boil. When boiling , reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 25 minutes. Uncover, stir and add the shrimp/pancetta mix.
Fall out of your chair and enjoy!!!

Serves 4 generously.

Pilaf with Shrimp, Pancetta and Swiss Chard

A Mustard Chicken Saute

Food discoveries sometimes come from necessity.

What if you thought that you had plenty of one thing to use for dinner and then the hour for preparation is upon you and, kerblam…what you thought you had isn’t what you have at all and what you thought you were having for dinner takes a new direction.

Take this chicken dinner, for instance.

You think you have bone in chicken thighs.
You don’t.

You think you have mushrooms.
You don’t.

You think you’re making a hunter’s style chicken dish.
Apparently not.

You’re making this.

A Mustard Chicken Saute

4 large boneless chicken thighs, cut in large pieces
A couple of good swirls of extra virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1-½ tsp dried summer savory
½ large Vidalia onion, sliced very thin
A big spoonful of garlic confit
½ cup dry white wine
1 cup water
A nice tablespoonful Dijon mustard
A handful of chopped fresh parsley

Heat a cast iron skillet over medium high heat and put a couple of swirls of extra virgin olive oil in. when it looks wavy add the onions and cook, stirring til they are golden brown.

Remove them from the pan and swirl a bit more olive oil in. Then add the chicken, season with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper and cook fast. Do a good sprinkle of summer savory and add the onions back and the spoonful of garlic confit. Stir really well, add the water and the dry white wine and bring to a boil. Sprinkle a little all purpose flour over and stir well.

As the sauce thickens, add a nice spoonful of Dijon mustard (not too much) and let sauce cook til flavors blend. Fling a bit of chopped fresh Italian parsley over the top and serve big spoonfuls.

This will serve 2 generously.

A Mustard Chicken Saute

Sauteed Shrimp in a Citrusy Fennelly Tomato Sauce

So, this is what I did for dinner.

Nothing fancy. Just a fast shrimp saute thrown (literally ) into a fennelly, citrusy tomato sauce slung over angel hair.

Using up the stuff in the fridge so I can go get some more stuff and forget that I have it.

Then remembering and deciding to forge ahead, because extra virgin olive oil, garlic confit, San Marzano tomatoes will bring out the best in some rather past its prime fennel and a slightly sad looking Valencia orange.

It’s Monday night.


Sautéed Shrimp in a Citrusy Fennelly Tomato Sauce

1 fennel bulb, coarsely chopped
½ large Vidalia onion, coarsely chopped
1 heaping tbsp garlic confit
A couple of good swirls of extra virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
About a tbsp of fennel seeds
1 Valencia orange, zested, then cut in half
A splash of Pernod
1 28 ounce can of San Marzano tomatoes and their juices
16 large shrimp, peeled, tail left on
A couple of good swirls more of extra virgin olive oil
Fresh Italian parsley, a handful, chopped


Put a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Do a couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil. When it looks wavy add the fennel and onion and let it cook until soft, about five minutes. Add garlic confit and fennel seeds. Season with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Cook, stirring until garlic is blended in. Add tomatoes and their juice and raise the heat a bit to get a good bubbling going. Add the splash of Pernod, add the orange zest and squeeze one half of the orange over top and stir. Reduce heat to a good simmer and let cook for about twenty minutes.

Take a medium skillet and place over medium high heat and do a couple of good swirls extra virgin olive oil. Throw in the shrimp, season with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper and squeeze the other half of the orange over the shrimp. These should cook really fast and turn pink. Remove from heat.

When you are ready to eat, add the shrimp to the tomato sauce and let bubble for about three minutes. Toss with chopped fresh Italian parsley and serve with angel hair pasta.

Serves three generously.

Sauteed Shrimp in a Citrusy Fennelly Tomato Sauce

Ripe Mango Chutney

I have a confession to make.

I love Major Grey’s chutney.
I have for years.

It’s gooey and sticky and sweet and I always have a jar of it in the fridge. Usually the top is stuck on the jar and I have to run very hot water on it to get it open.

I was toddling about the Saveur website when I came upon this recipe for Ripe Mango Chutney.
I thought that I had died gone to heaven because now I could make the chutney I adore whenever I want.

Except for one thing. It’s not Major Grey‘s. It’s nothing like it. And I am afraid that the Major Grey’s Chutney makers of the world will discover a downturn in their financial situation because I prefer this.

Spicy and sweet and hot and fresh and fast to make and improves with age.
Compliments all food groups and combinations.

Sorry, Major. You‘ve ruled my palate long enough..

It’s time for a change.


Ripe Mango Chutney
Adapted from Saveur Magazine who adapted it from The Great Mango Book by Allen Susser


4 large ripe mangoes
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 medium Vidalia onions, peeled and diced
3 tbsp minced fresh ginger
2 tbsp minced fresh garlic
2 long red thin chiles
1 large red bell pepper, diced
1 tbsp black mustard seeds
1 tbsp toasted cumin seeds, ground
1 tbsp coarse salt
1 cup dark brown sugar
½ cup cider vinegar
¼ cup fresh lime juice
½ cup golden raisins

Peel mangoes, remove flesh slicing along flatter sides of mango, on both sides and then around the edges with a sharp knife. Cut into large dice and set aside.

Heat oil in large pot over medium heat. Add onions and cook about five minutes, til they begin to get soft, and add the ginger, garlic, chiles and red bell peppers; stir well. Stir in the mustard seeds, cumin and salt and cook for about five minutes. Add sugar and cook stirring until dissolved, add vinegar, lime juice and raisins and mangoes. Simmer til chutney has consistency of a marmalade, takes about 50 minutes.

You can sterilize jars, put the chutney in and store in the refrigerator or take it a step further and process the chutney in the sterilized jars in a hot water bath to seal (method is here)and then you can store in your pantry.

Makes 5 cups of chutney.

Try it with these recipes:

Goan Shrimp Curry

Country Captain

The Frazzly Nub Rice Bowl

Ripe Mango Chutney