Swedish Meatballs

Ingredients:
4 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, minced
1 pound each ground beef and pork (or all beef if you prefer)
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons salt
Few grinds black pepper
2 teaspoons ground allspice
4 pieces white bread, crust removed, torn and soaked in whole milk

Sauce:
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups chicken stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 to 2 tablespoons black currant jam
1/4 cup chopped parsley leaves 1 (12 oz.) package of egg noodles

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent. Remove the onion to a plate and cool. Wipe out the pan with a paper towel.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground meats, egg yolks, heavy cream and onion. Add salt, pepper and allspice. Squeeze excess milk from the bread and add it to the bowl. Mix gently with your hands or wooden spoon.

The meatballs were very wet, so the bowl of cold water is very important. I was worried if the meatballs were going to hold up and they did! With a bowl of cold water standing by, form meatballs about 1-inch across. Dip your fingers in cold water, from time to time, to keep the meat from sticking to your hands.

Melt the remaining butter in the saute pan and once the foam has subsided add a layer of meatballs. Do not overcrowd the pan. Shake the pan once in awhile, to keep the meatballs round.
Brown all of the meatballs, in batches, removing them to a large oven safe dish when cooked.

Put the dish in the oven for about 20 minutes, being careful not to overcook them.

To make the sauce: Pour off most of the fat from the skillet and return it to the heat. Add 2 tablespoons of butter and swirl it around to coat the pan. Sprinkle in the flour, and stir with a wooden spoon or whisk to dissolve the flour into the fat. Pour in the chicken stock, and stir to loosen the bits from the bottom of the pan.

Simmer, stirring, until the liquid is reduced and the mixture starts to thicken to a sauce. While the sauce is simering and thickening, book one 12 oz. package of egg noodles per package directions.

Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Lower the heat and stir in the cream and the black currant jam.

Add the meatballs to the sauce. Simmer until the sauce thickens slightly and the meatballs are heated through, 15 to 20 minutes.

To serve, spoon a portion of egg noodles onto a plate then add couple of meatballs onto each plate and spinkle with chopped parsley.

Honey Glazed Ham

Most baked ham recipes call for heating the ham to an internal temp of 140°F. But you can heat it to a lower temp, you just want it to be warm enough to eat. The higher the internal temp, the more risk there is of drying out the ham. So the guideline here is 110°F to 120°F, but heat it to a higher temp if you want. Remember, the ham is already cooked, so you're not cooking it here, you're just heating it. If you are working with a partially cooked ham, and not a ready-to-eat ham, follow the cooking directions on the package, most suggest cooking a partially cooked ham to 150°F. Half hams are either cut from the shank end or from the butt end. The butt end may have more meat, but because of the shape of the bone at that end, is more difficult to cut. The hams pictured here are both from the shank end.

Ingredients:
1/2 ready-to-eat, cooked ham, bone-in, uncut (NOT spiral cut), shank end or butt end, about 9-11 pounds

Sweet Hot Honey Mustard Glaze:
3 Tbsp sweet hot honey mustard (or brown mustard with honey)
2 Tbsp brown sugar
About 50 cloves
OR
Honey Thyme Glaze
3 Tbsp melted butter
2 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme (or 2 teaspoons dry)
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup honey
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Directions:
1 Remove the ham from the refrigerator (still wrapped) a couple of hours before you intend to cook it so that it can get closer to room temperature.

2 Preheat oven to 325°F. Place ham, fattier side up, in a foil-lined roasting pan. Score a diamond pattern in the fat with a sharp knife, about 1/4-inch to 1/2-inch deep, and the parallel lines about 1 1/2-inches apart. Do not score the meat itself, just the fat and any skin. You can score the fat to as deep as where the fat meets the meat. If you want you can first cut off any skin that might still be on the ham, but it isn't necessary.

3 If using cloves (with the Sweet Honey Mustard Glaze), you can either put them in before applying the glaze or after. They look better if applied after, but it is easier to see the lines in the ham as a guide for placement if you put them in first. Place the cloves in the center of the diamonds to form a nice pattern around the top and sides of the ham. (Some people put the cloves in the intersection points of the scores. Do as you wish. You just want a nice pattern.)

4 Prepare glaze.
If using the sweet honey mustard glaze, mix the mustard with the brown sugar in a small bowl.
If using the honey thyme glaze, mix thyme in with the hot melted butter and let sit for a few minutes. In a small saucepan on high heat, let the cider vinegar reduce down from 1/4 cup to 1 Tbsp, remove from heat. Whisk in the butter and thyme. Add the honey, the brown sugar, and the Worcestershire sauce. Using a pastry brush, brush whichever glaze you are using over the ham. Only use about third of the glaze (reserve the rest for later in cooking). Try to work the glaze into the scored lines.

5 Place ham in oven. Cook for about 1 1/2 hours (check after 1 hour, will take longer if the ham is not at room temp to begin with), or about 10 minutes per pound, until the internal temperature of the ham is 110°-120° (use a meat thermometer). (Note that the ham is already cooked when you buy it, all you are trying to do is heat it up for eating.) Baste the ham with the glaze a couple of times during the cooking. If you check on the ham and think that the glaze is at risk of getting too browned (like on the way to burnt), you can cover with a piece of foil.

6 When the ham has reached the desired temperature, finish it off in the broiler for a minute or two just to get some nice browning on the top. Take the pan out of the oven and brush the ham all over with pan juices. Cover with aluminum foil and let rest for 15 minutes before serving.

Balsamic Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients:
4 1/2 lb. pork tenderloins, 2 packages with 1 tenderloin in each package
4 Tbsp. Balsamic vinegar
4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
8 cloves garlic, cracked or chopped
Steak seasoning blend or coarse salt and black pepper
4 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves stripped and finely chopped
4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves stripped and finely chopped (I used a teaspoon of dry)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 500 degrees
Trim silver skin or connective tissue off tenderloins
Place tenderloins on a nonstick cookie sheet with a rim (I covered mine in foil)
Cut small slits into meat and disperse chunks of cracked garlic coves into meat.
Coat tenderloins with a few tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and rub into meat. Drizzle tenderloins with olive oil, just enough to coat. Combine steak seasoning blend or coarse salt and pepper with rosemary and thyme and rub meat with blend. Roast in hot oven for 20 minutes
Let meat rest, transfer to a carving board, slice and serve.

Chile Verde

Ingredients:
3 pounds pork roast, fat removed as much as possible (*If using a roast any larger than 3 lbs, I always double the remaining ingredients)
1 onion chopped
3 cloves garlic crushed
1 10 oz can green enchilada sauce
1 4 oz can diced green chilis
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes with chilis
2 chicken bouillon cubes
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp oregano
¼ tsp pepper

Directions:
In a large heavy pot, over medium heat, brown meat, then add onion and garlic and saute a few minutes. Place in crockpot. Stir in the rest of the ingredients, cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours. 1 hour before serving, remove roast and set aside. Strain out the onions and tomatoes as much as possible and put with the roast. Pour remaining liquid into a large saucepan. (I place the roast and strained solids back into the crockpot, TURNED OFF, with the lid on to keep warm.) Bring the liquids to a boil on the stove, and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour, stirring every now and then, until considerably reduced. The point is to concentrate all the liquids to make a thicker sauce. This is a very important step, because all the flavor is in this liquid, and you want to preserve all that flavor for the meat. Plus, I don't like meat too liquid-y or else it runs out the back of the burritos. (You could also opt to drain the tomatoes at the beginning to make this step go faster.)

Mix the thickened sauce into the shredded meat and serve. Serve with warm tortillas, Monterey Jack cheese (monterey pepper jack is good too), cilantro, diced tomatoes, and lettuce. You can also served it with sour cream and chopped red onion.

*Original instructions say: Cube roast. In a large heavy pot, over medium heat, brown meat, then add onion, garlic and ½ cup water with the bouillon cubes. Cover for 15-20 minutes then stir, getting all the brown bits off the side of the pan. Stir in the rest of the ingredients, cover and cook on low for 2-4 hours (or in oven at 300°).

Kahlua Pork

Ingredients:
4-6 lbs boneless pork butt
1/2 bottle liquid smoke
Hawaiin salt or Kosher salt

Directions:
Cut slashes in pork and rub with salt. Pour liquid smoke over meat and wrap in foil. Refrigerate overnight. Put marinated pork in a crockpot with 1/2 C water. Cook on low for 8-10 hours. Shred to serve.