Easy and Elegant Pork Dish

Whether you are looking for an elegantly easy recipe for a nice dinner with friends, or just something for any night, these Pork Rolls with Feta, Artichoke and Capers are just perfect. The idea for these pork rolls came when watching The Chew one day last week. Often there will be a segment where Michael Symon pairs off with Daphne Oz. Michael will make a certain dish in his normal fashion, with no skimping on either flavor or calories. Daphne will make a version of something similar, where she will use ingredients that really amp up the flavor, but tone down calories or excessive fats. It so happens in this particular episode, both the dishes sounded amazing. In particular, Daphne (using chicken breast meat instead of Michael's use of fattier chicken thigh meat) made a wonderful filling with Castelvetrano olives, capers and a few other things. 

Pork Rolls with Feta, Artichoke Caper Filling

I had some boneless pork loin chops in the fridge, and wanted to try using them this way, pounded thin and stuffed, then rolled. I really liked the sound of Daphne's olive-caper filling. The only difficulty fell in that my husband won't eat olives.

I love olives. Maybe the simple black olives in a can are not my favorite flavor profile, but I will eat them anyway, if they are in a dish. Possibly my favorite olives are Nicoise. I love stuffed green olives, Kalamatas and so many others. I believe I have tried Castelvetrano olives once some years ago, but cannot be absolutely positive at this remove. After researching a bit, I confirmed what Daphne said about Castelvetrano olives being milder in flavor, and less salty. I would have loved to try them in this dish, but I figured that whether mild or not, it still might be too much for my husband's taste. 

So, What Substitutes for Olives in a Recipe?

Browning the Pork Rolls

I spent a while looking online for suggestions to replace olives in a recipe. In most cases, capers were the suggestion. Since capers were already a part of the ingredients, more capers would not be useful. Since most olives are rather salty, some suggested meats such as prosciutto. I know that meats are used as ingredients in a stuffing for another meat, but I didn't want to go with that much meat in this case (the recipe called for a cup of Castelvetrano olives, so a cup of whatever ingredient to sub). Another ingredient in the filling was Feta cheese, and as that is also salty, it seemed to me using too much salty prosciutto would be less palatable. 

And then I found a suggestion for using artichoke hearts! This seemed the perfect solution for the dilemma. Artichoke hearts are mild flavored, enough so to make the bulk of the filling without going crazy on the salt level. Hurrah!


Daphne's recipe for the filling (found here), was used to fill chicken breast cutlets pounded thin. I had pork loin chops. The one thing I really would have added to the recipe I was adapting from Daphne's was fresh rosemary. She was going for Mediterranean flavors, and I liked that profile. Rosemary is also Mediterranean flavor. However, the rosemary I had in the fridge had gone all black, and it was too late to run to the store. The recipe would have to do without, at least this time. Both Michael and Daphne's recipes used cheese in the filling. Michael used goat cheese, which I love, but I wanted to keep Daphne's use of Feta in this recipe. The mixture just sounded so good. For now, the results were marvelous. A little rosemary would have really taken the flavors even more the direction I wanted, but for now, this worked very well.

The last thing I altered was browning the rolls before popping them into the oven to finish cooking. Michael did this with the chicken thighs, but Daphne's version went straight to the oven. I chose the fry first and oven finish method, because I wanted the pork to look golden and appetizing. Twenty minutes in the oven will not brown as nicely as a quick frying will!

Quite on its own, this recipe is also completely gluten free! Michael Symon's recipe used bread crumbs, though bread crumbs can also be made easily from gluten free bread.

Pork Rolls with Feta, Artichoke and Capers

Makes 4 servings

Pork Roll with Feta, Artichoke and Capers

4 boneless pork loin chops
salt and pepper for seasoning
4 ounces grated/crumbled Feta cheese
1 (7-ounce) jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained
¼ cup chopped dates
2 tablespoons small capers, drained
2 cloves garlic
1½ cups loosely packed flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon orange juice concentrate
1 teaspoon grated orange zest (dried is fine)
2 tablespoons olive oil
more olive oil for browning

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place the chops, one at a time, between plastic wrap and pound them very thin, until they are about 5 x 6-inches. Season both sides with salt and pepper. Set aside. If using a block of Feta, grate it on a large holed grater, or chop or crumble finely. Set aside.

Place the drained artichoke hearts, dates, capers, garlic parsley, orange juice concentrate and orange zest into the bowl of a food processor. Process, while adding in the 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Scrape down as necessary to process evenly. Pour out into a bowl and stir in the Feta cheese until combined. Divide this mixture between the 4 pounded pork cutlets. Pat to evenly distribute, leaving the end farthest from you free for about 1-inch. Roll the pork, starting at the end closest to you, without smashing the filling out. Secure the rolls with a toothpick if necessary.

Heat a skillet to high and add a little olive oil. Brown the rolls quickly on all sides, about 5 minutes, total. Set them on a foil lined baking sheet and bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until they reach an internal temperature of at least 145 degrees. Remove from oven, cover with foil and allow to rest for 5 minutes before slicing.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Musing on Thanksgiving Meals

My sister's feast with family, 2010

As an aside, it has been slow going, as it usually is when returning from a trip. I always have a hard time getting back into my routine, meaning things I normally get to are left for last - like this blog. That does not mean I have not been cooking! At present I have enough new things made to write for days. However, with Thanksgiving looming on the near horizon, some time has been spent pinpointing the recipes I want to make for this holiday. To change a recipe I love? Or not? Just an adjustment?

Our feast with friends, 2011

I never stray too far from my usual. All the things I grew up eating, like roast turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes and cranberries are always on my menu. However, aside from the fact that I am making the same foods, none of my recipes are even comparable to what my Mom made.

I loved Thanksgiving at my Mom's table. She stuffed her bird, back before all the dire warnings of illness due to stuffing cooked wrongly, and I loved that stuffing best. It was made with a cubed loaf of bread, fried bacon, onion fried in the rendered grease, parsley, eggs and milk. Over the years things changed. As I learned more about cooking, I added things I thought would taste good. Making Mom's stuffing recipe, it seemed natural to add in some apple, some grated nuts, reduce some of the grease, try to approximate the flavors of stuffing in the bird - without stuffing the bird!  My stuffing recipe morphed over the years to become Better than Mom's Stuffing. This year it is morphing again, but I will get to that after the fact. My ideas at this point are to proceed as usual, but substitute cornbread for part of the bread in the recipe, and to add in a jar of whole chestnuts. 

Better than Mom's Stuffing

She made mashed potatoes with butter and milk, salt and pepper. Her sweet potatoes were canned, partially drained and cooked down with some butter and brown sugar as a glaze. Her gravy was delicious, though I cannot say how she made it. Cranberries were from a can and most usually the "jellied" variety, served sliced. Did you know that there exists a silver cranberry server? Actually, it seems that in Victorian times this piece was to serve tomatoes, but there is nothing like re-purposing, right?

Tomato or Cranberry Server

I do not stuff my turkey any longer; have not for many years. I often rub some mixture under the skin for flavor, like my Herbed Butter for Turkey or Chicken. In many prior years, I just stuck sprigs of fresh rosemary & thyme, with some onion wedges and garlic cloves under the skin. 

I cook 2 or 3 parsnips with my potatoes and then rice them, adding cream cheese or goat cheese and chopped scallions or chives. I make a Sweet Potato Casserole I have been making since the early 1980s. My stock is made using extraneous bits and pieces of the turkey (gizzards, neck, wingtips, extraneous fat chunks) and is used as the basis for my gravy. The pan drippings get added to the stock later on, before making the gravy.

Cranberry Orange Relish

I make my own Cranberry Orange Relish. My recipe for many, many years is a variation on many out there using orange juice as the cooking liquid. This year I am changing that recipe again. I had a bottle of Ruby Port open since using some to make the Fall Fruit Compote to accompany Pheasant Alfredo. I wanted to use some of this Port as a part of the cooking liquid for the fresh cranberries, along with orange juice. My thought was to first cook the Port down to about half the amount, to concentrate the flavors and lend sweetness. An alternative I would like to try some day is using pomegranate juice instead of the Port for this recipe. I imagine it will give great flavors also, and I would recommend it for those of you who do not use wine at all.

Yesterday was the day for this experiment. I have never, ever put spices into my cranberry sauce, but this year I did add in a small Cassia cinnamon stick, plus a little cheesecloth bag of ½ teaspoon each cardamom seeds and allspice berries. The smell in the kitchen was just heavenly while the wine cooked down!

A cup of Port  |  cooking Port with spices  | peeled sections of orange rind  |  orange sliced julienne style

I still used orange juice for the rest of the liquid, but used less sugar, overall. I added in a cup of dried cherries, for that flavor element. Along with orange zest, I also added lime zest and grated fresh ginger. I took plenty of photos while making it, but did not display the finished product  to get great photos. Those will be added in later on. Meanwhile, this is my Cran-Cherry Relish with Ruby Port:

Relish Cooked to Jam Consistency

Cran-Cherry Relish with Ruby Port

Makes about 4 cups

1 cup Ruby Port
½ teaspoon whole allspice berries
½ teaspoon whole cardamom seeds
1 stick (4-inches) cassia cinnamon stick

12 ounces fresh cranberries (about 3 cups)
1 cup dried cherries
1¼ cup orange juice
3 parings of fresh orange zest, about 1 x 3-inches each
1¼ cup granulated sugar
zest of one lime or lemon
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger

In a 4 - 6 quart saucepan, bring the port to a boil. Wrap the allspice berries and cardamom seeds in a piece of cheesecloth and add them to the pot with the cassia cinnamon stick. Boil the mixture on medium for about 8 to 10 minutes, or until it has reduced to half. If the prep is not yet done, remove the pan from the heat until it is all done.

Grated lime zest, grated fresh ginger | dried cherries,
all added to the reduced Port and cooked to perfection

If the rest of the ingredients are prepped and ready, add all of them in now. Stir together and return the mixture to boil. Almost immediately, the cranberries will begin to pop. I like to mash them against the side of the pan with a wooden spoon, freeing the insides. This helps thicken the mixture. After about 8 to 10 minutes at a gentle boil, the mixture should have thickened appreciably, to a jam consistency. Remove from heat, cool. Pour into a container, cover and refrigerate. The relish will keep at least 2 weeks well covered in the refrigerator. A great Do-Ahead dish for a busy time!

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Versatile Squash in a Cake

I have stopped using canned pumpkin for my pumpkin pies since some years ago. One of the first times I was so happy with the substitution of actual squash for the canned stuff was when I found a Jarradale squash here locally. It was the prettiest squash, all slate green-blue colored, but when I baked it and cut it open, it was also the brightest yellow-orange color inside that I had ever seen to date. The following year, I found a Jamboree squash; this one looked the same on the outside, but unfortunately it was all moldy on the inside. A complete waste of the hour of baking. Oh well, I guess that can happen.

Jarradale Squash

The other thing about the Jarradale squash that I loved so much was the density of the meat. It was a small squash, by comparison to most pumpkins. The meat was so dense though, that it doubled the weight of a pumpkin that was twice its size. When I baked and scooped the meat out, I put it into the food processor in batches and got the smoothest, most beautiful puree I could ever have wished. It also made the most delicious "pumpkin pies" that Thanksgiving. When I could not duplicate that with the Jamboree squash the next year, it really was too bad, and since it was rather last minute, I had to go back to cans for that year's pies. 

This past year, I couldn't find a Jarradale or Jamboree squash at all, so I did some online research on squash and which ones were best for making pie puree. I found a very interesting comparison one woman did, trying out 9 different squash, and making 9 separate pumpkin pies. Her results? Good old butternut squash was, for her, the tastiest, with best pie color. Okay, I can always find butternut squash. I bought one large squash, baked, pureed and came up with enough for 4 pies. I was amazed. Butternut, also, is very dense and smooth. I knew this empirically, but had never paid much attention with an eye to a pie.

I guess by now, you may be wondering what all this reflection on squash varieties is all about. I was getting something out of the freezer the other day and noticed a couple of zip-top baggies of pureed squash tucked in back. This made me think I should make something with it, which led to thinking about what pumpkin recipes I might have. I decided to try Mom Rawstern's recipe for Pumpkin Bars.

Pumpkin Cake

For starters, I changed all her spices, though I kept the basic recipe amounts. I substituted ¾ cup of the sugar with coconut sugar, and ⅓ of the butter called for with coconut oil. I have no idea where her recipe came from, or if she made it up. It was scribbled on a little sheet of paper and stapled into her one cookbook, with absolutely no instructions. This was not uncommon. Most of her recipes assumed one knew how to make a thing, because most of the time there were no instructions, or only a minimalistic "bake at 350." Imagine my surprise then, when I baked this "bar" recipe in a 9 x 13-inch pan and it baked up high as a regular cake! It also took terribly long to bake, far longer than most cakes in that size pan, at 50 minutes. It seemed it would never test done, as I timed it another 5 minutes, then another 5 minutes, and so on. There is nothing at all wrong with the flavor. I am very pleased with my spice additions. It just came out as a cake, rather than bars. This is the recipe:

Pumpkin Cake

Pumpkin Cake

One 13 x 9-inch cake

1 stick unsalted butter
¼ cup coconut oil (or use all butter)
2 cups sugar (or substitute part coconut sugar)
4 eggs
2 cups squash/pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons Bourbon, or 2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons dried orange zest
1 teaspoon ginger
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cloves
¼ teaspoon allspice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (325 on Convection). Grease a 9 x 13-inch pan and set aside. In a stand mixer, cream together the butter & coconut oil with the sugar(s), until light. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until combined before adding the next. Beat in the squash puree. Sift or whisk together the dry ingredients, and then add in three batches to the creamed mixture, beating gently just until combined. Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45 - 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
While the cake was baking, I wanted to try out something new for a frosting. First, I wanted to incorporate sour cream into the mix, but had never done this before. I wanted a little tang in the flavor. Another thing I wanted to try was making glazed nuts (walnuts or pecans) and then placing them in a food processor to pulverize, then add these to the frosting. I started with the nuts.

Burnt Sugar Glazed Nuts

Burnt Sugar Glazed Pecans

⅓ cup granulated sugar
1 cup walnuts or pecans 
(I used walnuts this time; photo shows pecans from last week's wine tasting)
 
Cut a large sheet of waxed paper and place onto a counter top. Place the sugar and nuts into a medium sized, preferable non-stick skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon, until the sugar melts and caramelizes to deep amber and completely coats the nuts. Once the nuts reach that point, stir for a few seconds more, then remove from the hot burner and continue stirring for 1 minute. Turn the nuts out onto the waxed paper and with 2 forks, separate the nuts. Allow them to cool completely.

***These glazed nuts are wonderful to eat on their own. They are great in salads. You could sprinkle them with cinnamon or other spices, as desired. Do not attempt to add any liquid to the hot nuts or it could be explosive. The sugar has reached extreme temperatures to melt. For my purposes, once cooled, I poured all the caramelized nuts into the food processor with 1 cup of confectioners' sugar and processed until very fine. This way, they would also be wonderful sprinkled over ice cream.

Caramel Walnut Frosting

Caramel Walnut Frosting

½ stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
½ cup sour cream
4 cups confectioners' sugar
The whole recipe for pulverized glazed nuts
1 teaspoon bourbon, or vanilla
½ teaspoon salt (preferably medium ground sea salt)

In a heavy duty stand mixer, beat the room temperature butter and cream cheese for 6 - 8 minutes, until very pale and fluffy. NOTE: This will not work properly unless the ingredients are room temperature. Add the sour cream and beat to combine. Add the 4 cups confectioners' sugar and starting on lowest speed for one minute, combining the dry into the creamed mixture. Increase speed to medium high and beat for another 6 to 8 minutes. Pour in the nut mixture, salt and flavoring and beat to just combine. Spread this over the cake once the cake has completely cooled.
The cake and the frosting were delicious. Neither turned out exactly as I had anticipated, but the flavors are excellent in both, and the icing goes excellently with the cake. I would like to try this again, using pecans in the frosting (I had none yesterday when I started this). I might also try using less sugar in the cake. It seemed a little too much, though the flavor is wonderful.


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.