I love fall food! The latest Better Homes and Gardens check stand food magazine has some super yummy looking recipes. Today I tried a pork loin recipe, which I served with a 5 rice blend risotto, and Balsamic Glazed Squash. Nothing says fall like cranberries and squash!
..
Cranberry-and-Citrus-Glazed Pork Roast
..
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground sage
1 (2 1/2 to 3 pound) boneless pork top loin roast (single-loin)
1 (16 oz can) whole or jellied cranberry sauce
1/2 teaspoon finely shredded orange peel
1/3 cup orange juice
1/4 teaspoon ground sage
...
Preheat oven to 325 F. For rub, in a small bowl, combine the salt, pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon sage. Sprinkle rub evenly all over pork roast; rub in mixture with your fingers. Place roast on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. Insert an oven-going meat thermometer into center of roast. Roast uncovered, for 45 minutes.
..
Meanwhile, for sauce, in a medium saucepan, combine cranberry sauce, orange peel, orange juice, and 1/4 teaspoon sage. Bring to boiling, reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, about 10 minutes or until mixture has thickened slightly.
..
Spoon about 1/4 cup of the sauce over pork. Roast pork, uncovered, for 30 to 45 minutes more or until a meat thermometer registers 150 F. Remove roast from oven. Cover pork loosely with foil and let stand for 15 minutes before slicing. (The temperature of the pork after standing should be 160 F.) Serve the remaining sauce with pork.
..
The risotto wasn't intended to be a risotto. I tried a sort of pilaf but I made it in the slow-cooker to keep from having to hover over the stove while we had company over. It came out very creamy like a nice risotto, so that's what we're calling it! The amounts are only approximations because I didn't intend on blogging it. The rice blend was an interesting combo of regular brown rice, a thin long grain dark brown rice, wild rice, wahini rice, and one other very tiny rice.
..
5 Rice Risotto with Aromatic Vegetables and Cranberries
..
2.5 cups of 5 rice blend (from Wal-mart)
1/2 cup diced bacon
butter
2 onions chopped
1 celery heart chopped
2 carrots sliced
2 cups of sliced mushrooms
5 cups chicken broth
1 cup Craisins
salt and pepper to taste
..
Brown bacon in large nonstick skillet, and place in slow cooker when crisp. Add some butter drippings in skillet and saute veggies until softened. While vegetables cook, add rice to chicken broth and bring to a boil; add to bacon in slow cooker. Once veggies are softened, add them and craisins to slow cooker with rice mixture and stir to combine. Salt and pepper to taste. Cook of high for 2 hours.
..
I'm not including a recipe for the squash in the picture. It was good, but not nearly as good as a recipe that I recently came up with a couple of weeks ago. Our neighbor has kindly given us several giant pink banana squash which we have greatly appreciated. This type of squash is rather strange looking and can be quite huge. They peel easily with a vegetable peeler. They take some time to prepare, but are totally worth the effort. Here's a rough work-up of my current favorite way of preparing winter squash. You could probably use any kind except for spaghetti squash.
..
Maple-roasted Winter Squash
..
1 large winter squash
real maple syrup
olive oil
salt and pepper
..
Heat oven to 450 F. Peel the squash. Cut open squash and scrape out seeds. This might be easier if you cut it into sections and then cut the sections in half. Cut into long pieces or sticks or horizontally into half-moons. Pieces should be 1 inch wide. Place on a cookie sheet but don't let the pieces touch. Brush pieces with maple syrup, then drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 15 minutes and then brush with maple syrup. Repeat 2 more times for a total cooking time of approximately 45 minutes. Test with a fork for doneness. When squash is very soft and lightly browned it is done.
