Delicious ... nay, gourmet entrees from inexpensive, lean pork recipes!
We can't control the cost of food, so you smart cooks have to be innovative in order to serve nutritious and delicious food, despite reduced buying power. When buying meats, it looks like you've got to reinspect those per pound prices. You can't have chicken every night! Fortunately, pork is a versatile meat which hasn't gotten entirely out of hand. The pork industry promotes this meat as 'the other white meat', to advertise the fact that pork these days is very lean. Here are some ideas for pork recipes that are both easy and inexpensive, with some that are also elegant entrees fit for the gourmet table.
You've probably noticed that the supermarkets occasionally run sales on whole pork loin fillets. While they're at least several pounds, it's a good buy when you consider how many and diverse family meals you can get out of a $20-25 bulk purchase.
Decide which dishes you'll be making and divide the meat in portions according to the menu item. For example, if you want three pork loin roasts, cut the meat into pieces of sufficient size for a family meal, then mark and freeze.
Wienerschnitzel is a wonderful German pork recipe, consisting of a 1-inch pork loin chop, flattened to paper-thinness with a kitchen mallet, breaded and fried briefly, just until the edges are crispy. Some people like to dip the flattened chop in milk and then breading. For this dish, cut as many 1-inch chops as you need, lay them between sheets of wax paper in a freezer bag and freeze. Flatten only after defrosting. The traditional dish is usually served with applesauce, but it's also excellent drizzled with lemon juice and punctured with a fork before eating.
Another excellent pork recipe uses thicker pork loin chops about one and a half inches thick. Broiling gives you a nice, slightly crusty outside which makes a nice contrast to the juicy inside of the chop. While the chops are cooking, make a simple white sauce, seasoned with sage. Pork and sage are good friends in the culinary world.
There's nothing more tender than a pork loin roast cooked in a slow cooker. You hardly need teeth to eat this succulent and flavorful meat! You can rub the meat with a lemon pepper marinade, a 'Porketta' Italian style rub mix or sprinkle with sage and parsley. If you wish, you can make gravy from the drippings.
If you cut your pork roast in a slightly larger portion, you've got another dinner from the leftovers. Pork recipes which lend themselves to new and different dishes won't be viewed with suspicion by the family. They may not even know they're eating that pork roast. Here are several more easy pork recipes you can make with leftovers from a roast.
Dice the leftover roast, along with some bright veggies. Combine with pasta or rice. Mix with a sauce, cream of mushroom soup or simply top with soy sauce. Pork fried rice is another easy and nutritious pork recipe. For a special touch, mix the meat with barbecue sauce and fry briefly before adding to the rice. Make a noodle, pork and veggie casserole. Again, a soup type of sauce makes the dish heartier. You can also shred the leftover meat and use it for enchiladas or dice it for tacos. Have you ever had a roast pork loin sandwich? These are good as Hoagies, with a little onion, lettuce and dabs of Dijon. Our last suggestion for roast pork leftovers is the inimitable chef's salad.
It's easy to see that you can get a lot of meal mileage out of your pork recipes!
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