What's for Dinner? Roast Pork with Romesco Sauce!

Pork sirloin was on sale the other day and when thinking of what to do with it, I remembered this recipe I made a while back with this Romesco sauce.  It is a really awesome and different sauce that they make in the Catalonia region of Spain that's made of nuts and roasted peppers (among other things).  It is easy to whip together and adds great flavor to pork, chicken or fish (or really any protein).  The recipe makes a lot so you can keep the leftovers in your fridge and use the sauce on whatever you like.  It just gets better and better!  Definitely give this one a try.  I hope you will like it!

Roasted Pork with Romesco Sauce
Serves as many as your pork allows!

• 1 pork tenderloin or sirloin
• salt
• pepper
• paprika (smoked or regular)
• 2 TBSP olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped and 2 whole
• 1/2 cup marcona almonds (you can get these at Whole Foods...if you can't find them, use salted smoked almonds)
• 1 cup stale white bread
• 1 tomato, seeded and cored and roughly chopped
• 1 jar of roasted red peppers, drained
• 1 TBSP sherry (or red wine) vinegar
• 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• salt and pepper

Place pork in a roasting pan and rub with salt, pepper, paprika, olive oil and chopped garlic.  Roast on 350 until pork temp reaches 155. Remove from oven and cover with foil.  Let sit for 20 minutes.

In a food processor, add almonds, garlic cloves and bread and process until finely chopped.  Add remaining ingredients except olive oil and turn on processor.  Add olive oil in a slow drizzle until it is all combined.  Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve over pork. Enjoy!

What's for Dinner? Fall(ish) Chili!

It's the first day of September, and when I stepped outside this morning, there was a slight (dare I say) chill in the air!  It felt great and got me really excited for Fall.  So in honor of that, and it being the first night of college football (and Sully's Fantasy Football draft), I decided to make chili tonight (no mind that it ended up at 85 degrees out!).  I think chili is one of those things that is hard to mess up.  You really just throw a bunch of ingredients--whatever you like--in a pot, cook for a couple of hours, and it usually turns out pretty good.  This little concoction I came up with turned out great.  I used lean beef and hot italian sausage for a little kick, but you can use anything from beef to turkey to bison. Just cook for at least 2 hours, and preferably longer, to give it time for the flavors to meld.  You can even do it in the crock pot and set it to cook on low all day.  Be creative! I can't wait for Fall weather (and food), every day!!  Enjoy!

Fall(ish) Chili

Serves 6

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
• 2 stalks celery, finely chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• 1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 pound ground beef (can use turkey or bison as well, at any fat level)
• 3/4 pound hot Italian sausage (can use turkey or chicken sausage instead of pork)
• 1 (15 ounce) can chili beans (or you can also use black beans)
• 1 (15 ounce) can dark red kidney beans, drained
• 1 (28 ounce) cans diced or crushed tomatoes with juice
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• ½ cup pureed pumpkin (NOT the pumpkin pie filling)* [this is my mom's secret chili ingredient--adds extra fiber and vitamins, but you can't taste it...promise!]
• 1/2 cup beer
• 2 tbsp powdered beef bouillon (or 2 cubes)
• 2 tbsp chili powder
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• salt & ground black pepper to taste
• shredded cheese (for garnish)
• diced onion or green onion (for garnish)
• sour cream (for garnish) 

In a large stew pot, heat olive oil over medium heat and add onion, celery and peppers.  Saute for 5-7 minutes, until veggies begin to soften.  Add garlic and saute one minute more.  Pour into bowl and set aside.  In same pot add meat and brown over high heat.  Make sure to break up the meat in very small pieces.  When meat is browned, add back in veggies.  Add tomatoes in juice, tomato paste and pumpkin and stir to combine.  Add in beans and beer.  Add all spices.  Reduce heat to simmer and cook for at least 2 hours (the more, the better!).  Garnish with goodies on top (and tastes really good over spaghetti and/or with crushed Fritos on top...ohhhhh, yeah!).

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