Pork Stew with Dill Dumplings

Happy Monday.  Welcome to my new followers.  Thank you all for stopping by my blog and reading my posts.  It is so nice to have you here.  Hope that you find the information I post useful.

Although it is still warm here, I recently was hungry for stew.  Pork is more tender than beef so it cooks more quickly.  This makes it a good choice for making stew in the summer.  Pork Stew with Dill Dumplings fits the bill.

Either pork shoulder or loin may be used, but the shoulder will be slightly more flavorful.  As with all stews, the vegetables can be changed to suit personal preferences.  Although I usually use frozen peas for this dish, the stew in the photos has drained, canned peas in it.  I had some of those left over in the fridge that needed to be used up.

Pork Stew with Dill Dumplings
1 to 1 1 /2 lbs. boneless pork, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/3 c. flour
1 t. paprika
1 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper, coarse ground if possible
2 T. or more vegetable oil
3 medium/large potatoes (about 1  1/2 lb.) peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 c. coarsely chopped onion
2-3 medium carrots (1 c.) cut into 1x1/4-inch matchstick pieces
1 red pepper, coarsely chopped
2 ribs celery, cut into 1/2-inch bias slices
1 bay leaf
1 clove garlic, minced
1 can (14 oz.) low-sodium chicken broth
1 c. frozen peas
Dumplings
1 c. flour
2 t. sugar
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 t. dried dill weed
1/3 c. milk
2 T. vegetable oil
1 egg

Place flour, paprika, salt and pepper in a plastic bag and shake to combine.  Add pork cubes and shake until the cubes are coated.  Heat the vegetable oil in a Dutch oven.  Add pork cubes, but do not let them touch.  (You may need to do this in two batches.)  Brown cubes on all sides.  Remove and set aside.  Continue until all cubes are brown, adding more oil if necessary.  Return pork to Dutch oven and add potatoes,  onion, carrots, red pepper, celery, bay leaf and garlic.  Stir in remaining flour.  Pour in chicken broth and stir well.  Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer 30 minutes.  While stew is cooking, prepare dumplings.  In a medium mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and dill weed.  Stir to mix well.  Combine milk, vegetable oil and egg in a small bowl.  Add to flour mixture and stir just to  moisten dry ingredients.  Add peas to stew and bring back to a low boil.  Drop dumpling mixture by tablespoonsful into hot stew.  Cover and simmer 15 minutes.  Remove from heat and serve.  Makes 6 servings.  Store dumplings and stew separately if there are leftovers.

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Pork Chops a la City Chicken

Good Monday to all.  Welcome to my new followers and thanks to all who take time from their busy lives to read this blog.  It is much appreciated, and I hope that the information found here is useful.

Back in the 1930’s, if you lived in a city, chickens were very difficult to get and very expensive.  Pork, on the other hand, was plentiful and cheap.  Creative cooks dreamed up a dish called City Chicken that consisted of cubes of pork which were threaded on skewers, rolled in seasoned flour, browned in oil and then cooked in a seasoned broth.

Recently I had some pork chops to cook and decided make them in the City Chicken fashion.  So I dipped them in seasoned flour, browned them, added broth and cooked them in the oven.  When they were done, I had yummy pork chops with a nice gravy to serve with them.

Pork Chops a la City Chicken
6 pork chops (about 4-6 oz. each)
1/2 c. flour
2 t. seasoned salt
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/4 t. pepper, coarse ground if possible
3 T. vegetable oil
2 T. dried, minced onion
1 (14 oz.) can low-sodium chicken broth
Water

Trim chops of any visible fat.  Set aside.  Combine flour, seasoned salt, garlic powder, and pepper in a shallow pan.  Heat oil in a large skillet.  Dredge pork chops in seasoned flour mixture.  Cook in hot oil until browned.  Remove to a 9x13-inch baking pan as the chops brown.  Reserve excess flour mixture.  Add chicken broth and onion to skillet.  Heat till boiling, scraping up any browned bits in skillet.  Pour liquid mixture over chops.  Cover with foil and bake in 350-degree oven until tender, about 1 hour.  Remove chops from baking pan and keep warm.  Pour liquid into a saucepan.  Combine reserved flour mixture with water to make a smooth paste.  Stir into liquid in the saucepan and bring to a boil.  Heat and stir until thickened.  Add additional water if gravy is too thick.  Taste and adjust seasoning.  Add a bit of chicken bouillon if gravy seems too bland.  Makes 6 servings.

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Savory Roast Potatoes

 

These are the potatoes that I made with the chicken that I posted on Tuesday.  This is a recipe that I make often when I am making chicken or meat where there will not be any gravy.  The potatoes soak up the butter and broth while they are baking and are so good.

This dish is also very versatile.  Either chicken or beef broth may be used, although the beef broth will make the potatoes a brownish color.  Any low salt seasoning desired may be sprinkled over the potatoes. Spice Islands Garlic/Herb Grinder is very good. The broth provides plenty of salt.  The paprika provides a pretty color.

The potatoes may be halved, quartered, or cut into chunks, depending on the length of time needed for whatever else they are being cooked with.  These may also be cooked at whatever temperature is needed.

The original recipe called for 1 can of condensed chicken broth.  I now use homemade double-strength broth that I either make by cooking down 3 cups of homemade broth to 1 1/2 c. or by mixing 1 1/2 c. water with 1 T. Better than Bouillon Chicken Broth Base.  Generally the latter as it is much quicker.

Savory Roast Potatoes

9 (4-inch or so) potatoes, peeled and halved (this is the amount I can get in a 9x13-inch glass baking dish)
1/3 c. butter
1-2 t.  low salt seasoning of choice-Mrs. Dash, herb blends, Italian seasoning, etc.
1 t. or so paprika
1 1/2 c. water
1 T. Better than Bouillon Chicken or Beef Broth Base or other broth base

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Place butter in baking dish and put  in oven to melt.  Peel and halve the potatoes.  Roll potatoes in the melted butter and place in dish.  Sprinkle liberally with chosen seasoning and paprika.  Bake uncovered 30 minutes.  Mix water and broth base together well.  Pour over potatoes.  Cover and bake another 30 minutes to 1 hour or until done.  Remove to serving dish, pouring any liquid left in baking dish over the potatoes.  Makes 6-8 servings.