Brown Butter Brussels Sprouts

Everything tastes better with butter, even Brussels sprouts.

Makes 3 servings

Ingredients:

• 16 oz Brussels sprouts, stems trimmed and halved (cut and "X" in the stem prior to halving supposedly makes the Brussels sprouts more tender).
• 4 tbsp salted butter
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

• Bring to boil 2 quarts of water and 1 tbsp of salt.
• Add Brussels sprouts to water and cook for 10 minutes or until tender. Drain.
• Melt butter in a large pan over medium-high heat until butter is golden brown. Add Brussels sprouts and cook until thoroughly caramelized
• Remove from heat and add lemon juice and pepper.
• Serve and sprinkled with parmesan cheese.

Port Braised Pork Butt with Figs

Delicious dish with an affordable cut of pork.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 tbsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp dried sage
• 1 tsp dry mustard
• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 4 lb pork butt, most external fat trimmed. Rolled and tied.
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 1/2 cup carrot, diced
• 1/4 cup scallions, sliced, white parts only
• 1 cup port wine
• 1 1/4 cup chicken stock
• 1 cup dried figs, cut into quarters
• 2 bay leaves
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions

• Pre-heat oven to 325 F.
• Mix kosher salt, black pepper, thyme, sage, mustard, and olive oil. Rub onto and thoroughly cover pork.
• Heat oil in a dutch oven on high heat. When the oil is hot and slightly smoking, add pork. Brown pork on all sides. Remove pork and set aside.
• Lower heat to medium and add onion, scallions, and carrot to dutch oven. Cook vegetables until soft.
• Pour port and chicken broth into dutch oven scraping the brown bits from the bottom. Add figs and bay leaves and bring to boil. Add pork back in. Cover with foil and lid to form a tight fit.
• Place the dutch over into the oven and cook for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until the pork is tender and the internal temperature of the pork is 165 F. Remove pork from pot and set aside covered loosely with foil to rest for about 10 minutes.
• Remove the bay leaves. Remove 1/4 cup of the figs, carrots, onions and puree. Stir puree back into the sauce to thicken. Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Remove string from pork and slice to 1/2 in. thick slices.
• Serve slices with sauce, figs, and vegetables.

Ma Po Tofu

Spicy bean-paste and chili tofu dish from the Szechuan province in China. This dish goes great on top of rice.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb ground pork
• 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 1 tbsp cornstarch

• 1 tbsp fermented dried black beans, soaked in hot water for 5 minutes, rinsed, and mashed
• 3 cloves of garlic, mashed
• 1 teaspoon minced ginger
• 2 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tbsp of Sambal Oelek
• 1 tsp of sugar
• 1 cup of chicken broth
• 1 tbsp neutral flavored oil (e.g. canola oil)

• 2 tbsp cornstarch mixed with equal part water
• 1 package of soft tofu, drained, and cut into cubes (You can use silken, but it will be a little harder to work with since soft tofu is slightly firmer)
• 1 dash of sesame oil
• 2 tbsp of scallions thinly sliced

Directions:

• In a bowl, mix 1 tbsp cornstarch with Shaoxing wine. Add ground pork to mixture and mix to incorporate and let marinade for 5 minutes
• Heat a large pan over medium heat and add oil.
• Once the oil is hot, add ground pork and cook until brown.
• Once the pork is brown, move the pork to one side of the pan. On the opposite side of the pan, add the garlic, ginger, fermented black beans, scallions, and Sambal Oelek and cook for a few minutes. Stir mixture and pork.
• Stir in soy sauce and sugar to pork.
• Add chicken broth to pork and bring to boil.
• Slowly stir in cornstarch mixture until thickened enough to coat a spoon.
• Mix in sesame oil and add tofu. Carefully stir mixture until tofu is warmed through being careful not to break the tofu.
• Serve immediately topped with scallions.

Corn Casserole

This is a really easy recipe that I got from my MIL. It's a staple at every Oberly holiday meal, and its no wonder why-- its delicious! It has the taste of the corn goodness that they serve at Chevys, with a corn bread texture with whole grains of corn. Need I say more?

Ingredients
-1 can whole corn, drained,
-1 can creamed corn
-1 stick unsalted butter
-1 egg, lightly beaten
-1 package of Jiffy corn muffin mix
-1 cup of sour cream


Directions
Mix all together, pour into 8x8 baking pan and bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.