Irish-Inspired Herb Roasted Pork Loin

I love it when I get on my Irish cooking kicks. It's really starting to become like comfort food to me.

Lately, I'm trying to make Irish food more often; the attempt to hone some Irish fare skills thru the rest of the year, beyond St. Patrick's Day, is on! Not only is it fun trying out these different things, St. Patrick's Day feasts won't be such a stress. I will KNOW what I'm doing by the time it gets here.

Hey! That's my story & I'm sticking to it!

We have had a very busy week. And we really weren't sure how this next week would look. When we went to the store, we planned on getting entrees that could be fixed easily on the grill or in the oven. If my hubby's schedule allowed, he'd fix [insert whichever type of meaty product here] (keep it clean, people) on the grill. If not, I would find a way to fix [insert whichever type of meaty product here] (keep it clean, people) in the oven.

This past St. Patrick's Day, our non-pork eater wasn't going to be with us, so I figured fixing something Irish with pork would be perfect! Had the right idea for fixing the pork, but I didn't plan out the entire meal as well, so the pork didn't come out as well as hoped.

As I looked on good ol' Pinterest, I was trying to find some pork loin recipes that might work well with an Irish spin on it. Eventually, I found this recipe HERE, and tweaked it.

Tonight was a night when my hubby, last minute, wasn't going to be home to fix anything on the grill. We didn't thaw any of our chicken. That left the pork. Guess he couldn't grill/smoke it, so that meant I needed to get it in the oven somehow...

Then I remembered the recipe I wanted to Irish up a bit. I pulled up the recipe, fixed it more along the lines the recipe called for, but with my Irish-ish herbs.

Here's what I did:

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IRISH-INSPIRED HERB ROASTED PORK LOIN

Ingredients:

~ 2 1.5(ish) lb. pork loin
~ 3 T extra virgin olive oil
~ 6-8 T unsalted butter (I use Kerrygold Irish Butter)
~ 1 T garlic powder
~ 3+ T Worcestershire sauce
~ 1 T grainy mustard (I used French's honey dijon mustard)
~ 3 T+ apple cider vinegar
~ 2 T dried thyme leave
~ 2 T dried majoram
~ salt & pepper to taste (I used sea salt & white pepper)


Directions:

* Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

* Take a large skillet & begin to heat it  at medium high on the stove

* Remove pork loin from package, rinse well & set aside

* Season all sides of the pork loins with salt & pepper

* Add olive oil to the hot skillet & swirl a bit to cover the bottom

* Place the seasoned loins into the hot, oiled skillet & begin to sear - about one minute per side ( I did it twice)

* Once seared, remove from skillet & set aside; make sure to pat dry

* In the same hot skillet, add the butter, Worcestershire, vinegar & garlic powder and begin to heat thru, breaking up & scraping up the brown pieces from the bottom; add a splash more of Worcestershire &/or vinegar to deglaze the pan (you can also use a bit of beer to do the same, if desired....it is Irish-inspired)

* While waiting for the sauce to cook thru & thicken, take a moment to rub the thyme & marjoram on all sides of the pork loins & add back to the skillet with the sauce

* After about 2 minutes, flip the pork loins to the other side in the skillet for about 2 more minutes

* If you are using a skillet that is oven safe, you can leave the pork in the skillet OR if you do NOT have an oven-safe skillet (or just don't want your skillet in the oven), then transfer the pork loins to a baking dish & pour sauce over the pork loin

* Whether you have your pork in a baking dish or left in the skillet - cover the pork with foil & place in the oven for about 30 minutes

* After the 30 minutes, check the temp of the pork loin - if the pork is at 160 degrees F, internally, then you can pull it out; if it is not yet or just barely at the 160 degrees internal temp, cover with the foil & place back in the oven for about 5-10 more minutes (you may flip the pork loins at this point, if desired)

* If you needed to place the pork back in the oven for 5-10 minutes, remove from the oven at this time & allow to set for about 5-10 minutes

* Carefull empty the cause from the pan into a separate bowl or dish & set aside

* Flip the pork loins again & begin to slice, carefully, into pieces about 1" thick

* When serving, use the sauce as a gravy to drizzle on the pork loin pieces


Yield: About 6-8

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This pork ended up so tender & flavorful. My hubby was really impressed with it! YAY! And this is how I wanted it to turn out on St. Paddy's Day.

I was so happy with it. Even though we served it up with mac & cheese as a side, I would love to suggest colcannon to pair with it & enjoy with some Mustard Dill Vinegar Slaw (HERE). Keep the oven available for the pork by fixing some Irish Soda Bread in the lazy cooker (like I did HERE).

It's a great meal to have any time. So keep working on this, and use it again for St. Patrick's Day! It will be a cinch at that point! And a good authentic meal, too.

ENJOY!

Irish Bacon & Bean Stew (with Barley & Beer)

I'm really on my Irish kick lately. It's not often I'm not around this time. Why? Not only because I have a lot of Irish in my blood, but it's because I continue to research & get inspired by Irish fare to make traditional dishes (as authentically as I can) or to create an Irish spin on a meal that could be served in the Emerald Isle.

Pardon me, another moment, while my Irish continues to show thru... (my list of Irish & Irish-like fare, HERE)

I was thinking about some Irish dishes, like Colcannon (find my recipe in this post HERE), but with a healthier spin (hope to have a recipe for that when I've tried it), and then I got thinking about the greens used in it, and what could be substituted.
That led me to thinking about the greens I use in my NEW YEAR'S HAM & BEANS (a twist my usual LAZY COOKER HAM & BEANS).
What if I did an Irish spin on ham & beans??

Something to think about is the fact that Irish bacon is actually more of a cured piece of ham, much like Canadian bacon. So a great substitute is cured pork belly. I also found that Navy Beans are pretty typical in that part of the world. I could totally do a ham & beans stew, lazy cooker Irish style!
(I'm also including a stove top "hot pot" style, too.)

Here's what I did:

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IRISH BACON & BEAN STEW

with Barley & Beer

Ingredients:

* 2-3 lb cured pork belly, trimmed or pork shoulder
* 1 lb bag dried navy beans
* 1-2 can(s) navy beans, drained & rinsed
* 1 lb potatoes, lightly scrubbed & diced
* 32 oz chicken stock/broth (you can use pork, beef or vegetable stock/broth, too)
* 1- 2 12 oz bottles/cans Irish stout/ale,can or bottle (I used a bottle of Boulevard Irish Ale)
* 1 C apple cider
* 1 C pearl barley
* 2 T honey (local or Irish honey - I used Irish honey with Jameson whiskey)
* 1 handful coleslaw mix (with carrots)
* 1 sweet onion, diced
* 2 C turnip greens or curly kale, shredded or torn into small pieces
* 1 medium to large parsnip, scrubbed & diced
* 2 medium to large carrots, scrubbed & diced
* 1/2 C brown sugar
* 2-4 bouillon cubes (I used chicken, but you can use beef or pork)
* 1 T liquid smoke (optional)
* seasonings: ground pepper, thyme, caraway seeds, marjoram, parsley, dried chives
* 2 bay leaves


Directions - Lazy Cooker:

~ Soak dry beans in beer & water (or all beer), about 1 inch over the beans, for about 8 hours in a tightly covered container; or soak overnight in water 1 inch above the beans in refrigerator in a container with a tight-fitting lid
     ** If using all beer from 2 containers of the beer, use the reserve of the 2nd container in the stew

~ Once beans are soaked, spray the insert of your lazy cooker with cooking spray

~ Drain & rinse the beans; sort thru them to make sure there are no pebbles; if you find any, discard the pebbles

~ Add the rinsed beans to the lazy cooker insert

~ Take your trimmed pork belly, then add to the lazy cooker (I had some leftover cedar plank smoked ham I augmented with the pork belly)

~ Add in the barley and all of the root vegetables

~ Add in all the seasonings, bouillon cubes, brown sugar, honey, and liquid smoke (if using)

~ Pour in all of the liquids over the beans, pork belly/ham, barley & veggies

~ Place the 2 bay leaves on top of the mixture

~ Close the lid of the lazy cooker

~ Depending on how long you have, either set the lazy cooker to low for 6-8 hours OR set on high for 4 hours

~ Open can(s) of navy beans; drain & rinse

~ After the first round of cooking times, open the lazy cooker lid, remove the bay leaves, add the rinsed canned navy beans, stir, breaking up the pork, then add the bay leaves back & cook on low for 4 more hours OR on high for 2 hours

~ In the last 45 minutes to 1 hour of cooking, open the lid of the lazy cooker, remove & discard the bay leaves, add in the leafy green pieces & coleslaw mix, stir, and close the lid until done

~ After the cooking is done, give one more great big stir & get ready to ladle into bowls

~ Garnish with a little bit o'parsley, and eat it up



Directions - Stovetop:

~ Soak dry beans in beer & water (or all beer), about 1 inch over the beans, for about 8 hours in a tightly covered container; or soak overnight in water 1 inch above the beans in refrigerator in a container with a tight-fitting lid
     ** If using all beer from 2 containers of the beer, use the reserve of the 2nd container in the stew

~ Once beans are soaked, spray the inside of a Dutch oven or heavy stock pot with cooking spray

~ Drain & rinse the beans; sort thru them to make sure there are no pebbles; if you find any, discard the pebbles

~ Add the rinsed beans to the Dutch oven or stock pot

~ Take your trimmed pork belly & add to the pot (I had some leftover cedar plank smoked ham I augmented with the pork belly)

~ Add in the diced onion

~ Add in the barley

~ Add in all the seasonings, brown sugar, honey, and liquid smoke (if using)

~ Pour in all of the liquids over the beans, pork belly/ham, barley, onions & seasonings

~ Turn up the heat on the burner, and bring the stew to a boil

~ Once boiling, turn down to low to begin simmering, and place the 2 bay leaves on top of the mixture

~ Put the lid of the pot (hopefully it has one) onto the pot to cook, at a simmer, for about 2 hours

~ After 1 hour of cooking, remove the bay leaves & set aside, then add in the potatoes, carrots, and parsnips; place the bay leaves back on top, and put the lid back onto the pot, slightly askew, and continue simmering for another hour

~ Open can(s) of navy beans; drain & rinse

~ In the last 30 minutes of cooking, open the lid, remove & discard the bay leaves, add in the canned beans, coleslaw mix and leafy green pieces, stir, and close the lid until done

~ After the cooking is done, give one more great big stir, making sure the pork is broken into pieces & get ready to ladle into bowls

~ Garnish with a little bit o'parsley, and eat it up

Tip: You can use hulled barley, just soak it overnight, like the dried beans, and add it in

Yield: approximately 8

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This is a dish that would work so well for St. Patrick's Day! So much more Irish in this inspired dish than Corned Beef & Cabbage could ever dream of being.
(I saw it put that Corned Beef & Cabbage is as Irish as spaghetti meatballs, and as American as apple pie. Stew on that. <<< Yep. I just said that.) And no worries about the stew being served to the kiddos. The alcohol of the beer gets cooked off in the process.

I usually serve up my ham & beans with cornbread (as it should be), but with this dish being Irish-inspired, I highly recommend a beautifully traditional and super simple Irish Soda Bread (which only has 4 ingredients), like my lazy cooker version, HERE.

OK...I cheated a little. That's shredded carrot in there. Just because I had it.
And I forgot the canned beans because I was distracted. Still really good!

This is a perfect dish for a cold night or for when you need to feed a slightly larger crowd. And a fabulous comfort food!

Sláinte! 
(That's an Irish toast to "Good Health"!)

ENJOY!

Adapted Authentic Dublin Coddle - Lazy Cooker

This year, for St. Patrick's Day, I had to celebrate my Irish heritage! This totally includes the food. And I'm not talking turning mashed potatoes green or serving up the completely American dish of corned beef & cabbage! I wanted something more authentic for the family to enjoy, so I found Dublin Coddle. It's Irish sausage, bacon, potatoes & onion all in a broth. I did mine in the lazy cooker & a couple of adaptations...but here's what I used:

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DUBLIN CODDLE 

(in the lazy cooker)

Ingredients:
1 lb. (Irish) Sausage* - thickly cut
1 lb. Bacon*+ - thickly sliced
1 lb. potatoes, diced/quartered (I used quartered baby potatoes in gold, red & purple)
1-2 onion(s), thickly sliced (I used 1 medium yellow onion)
4 C water OR broth/stock (ham, chicken, beef)
2 bouillon cubes (chicken or beef - if using water)
1/4 C chopped parsley
1 T salt (I used fine sea salt)
1 T black pepper

* Because we have a non-pork eater in the house, I used turkey bacon & turkey smoked sausage. I added minced garlic, dried thyme, dried rosemary & some marjoram to mimic Irish sausage.

+ I used the American version of bacon since Ireland views cured pork loin as bacon. Since we have a non-pork eater, I stuck with the turkey bacon. I also baked the turkey bacon at 375 degrees for 15 minutes, but should have done 20. Set on cooling racks resting in foil-lined baking sheets/jelly roll pans to catch the grease. Then I cut each bacon slice into slightly smaller pieces. I should have cut it into much smaller bits.

Directions:

After spraying the inside of the lazy cooker with cooking spray, place liquid in the insert. Place sausage, bacon, potato pieces & onion slices into the pot, along with bouillon cubes (if using water for your liquid). Add in all of the seasonings.

~~ I had some leftover chopped greens from another dish, so I added it to the Coddle. This could be kale, collard greens, turnip greens (you could throw in the turnip, all sliced up, too), mustard greens, etc. But the original recipe does NOT call for this!

Place the lid on the lazy cooker, make sure it's plugged in & turned onto low for 4-6 hours. (I placed on high for 1 hour, and then low for the rest of the time...and it came out great.)

Stir & serve.

You could probably add in some stout beer, like Guinness, to the pot, too!

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All I know is that the Dublin Coddle turned out to be amazing comfort food for a chilly day! I so want to do it again!

I served it with Mustard Dill slaw. It didn't turn out as great. Too much bite for us. So we may end up scrapping the mustard & dill part. I think sticking with our favorite KFC-style cole slaw will work out just fine from now on! Plus, due to timing issues, I just served a loaf of Old Style Potato bread. Meh. 

I hope to have time to make Traditional Irish Soda Bread next year. But the plate sure was pretty!

I followed up this hearty meal with my APPLE IRISH CREAM CAKE for dessert! I was so happy with this much more authentic meal!

Dublin Coddle & a slice of Apple Irish Cream Cake

This is also a challenge for you to either try Dublin Coddle or find another authentic Irish dish for St. Paddy's Day. Corned Beef is not your answer. If you like it...have it another time.

But in the meantime...

ENJOY!

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UPDATE: Made on the stovetop...

It's April 23rd, and I decided to make the coddle for lunch. It's a cold & nasty, wet day. It's a perfect day for warm comfort food. Since a couple of my potatoes were going bad before they were supposed to, I thought I'd better use 'em up. So I threw my stuff in a pot on the stove. Here's how that went:

Directions:

Since I try to make turkey smoked sausage mimic the likes of Irish sausage, and had already planned on making this dish very soon, I cut up the sausage into chunks & placed them into an airtight container with the garlic, thyme & rosemary. I punctured the sausage pieces so they could absorb the flavorings better. My original plan was to marinade it this way the night before hand, but I let it set for a couple of days...only because of family scheduling being out of whack.

I had some beef broth to use. I poured it into a large pot on the stove. I also had a couple of chicken bouillon cubes that I threw in, too. I brought it to a boil, then added parsley, salt & pepper. After letting that boil for a moment. While I let the broth boil, I cut up my potatoes & onion. 

After letting the seasonings boil for a moment, I turned the heat to mid-hi, then added the potatoes & onion slices. I, then added in the marinaded sausage. I placed about 1 cup of water in the sausage container, closed it, shook it up, and then poured the water & remaining marinade into the pot. I didn't have time to work up any bacon, so I threw in some turkey bacon bits that we had on hand.

Then I brought all of that up to a boil, turn down to a simmer, and then placed the pot's lid on top. I allowed the coddle to simmer for 45 minutes to about an hour...until the potatoes were tender.

Once the potatoes are good & tender, serve it up! YUM!