grainy Dijon mustard – Buen provecho…2022

Chilled Asparagus with Citrus Dressing

For a great summer lunch try this chilled asparagus with some salmon poached in wine. I usually do the salmon with cold green beans (blanched), but not having found any at Costco, I went for using asparagus, which I believe you northerners are seeing IN SEASON. We started the meal with a cold strawberry soup ( which is somewhere on this blog if you do a search). The great thing about this meal is that you can easily prepare it all in the morning and just plate it up when company arrives.

Chilled Asparagus with Citrus Dressing

INGREDIENTS

1-pound asparagus, woody ends cut off
1 teaspoon orange zest
Juice of an orange
Juice of half a lemon
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon honey
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Black pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

2. Add in the asparagus and cook for 2 minutes.

3. Immediately remove the asparagus from the boiling water and place it into an ice bath to stop the cooking process.

4. Once the asparagus has cooled remove it from the water, blot it dry with a towel, and place it in a large bowl.

5. In a glass measuring cup combine the remaining ingredients (everything from zest down to pepper) and whisk together to form the citrus vinaigrette.

6. Pour the desired amount of vinaigrette over the asparagus and toss to coat.

7. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve, then top with a little more salt and pepper.

Maple Peameal Bacon Roast

After finally getting together all of the ingredients to make MY OWN peameal bacon, I was ready to savour the flavour of a peameal bacon roast! For those not familiar with peameal bacon, it is an Eastern Canadian thing. A pork loin is brined for 5 days and rolled in a crust of cornmeal and placed in the refrigerator for a few days before slicing OR freezing for future use. If any of you are interested in the recipe for making your own peameal bacon, drop me a line. For now here is the roast recipe…

Maple Peameal Bacon Roast

1 – 3 1/2 lb. peameal bacon
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons fresh chopped rosemary
1 teaspoon fresh black pepper
1/4 teaspoon sea salt (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 F or 180 C

Cut six 1 inch slits across the roast. Place on a rack in a large rimmed baking pan lined with foil.
Combine maple syrup, Dijon mustard, rosemary, salt and pepper. Brush the mixture over the roast.
Bake in centre of oven for 25 minutes and baste with remaining mixture.
Bake for another 50 minutes OR until thermometer registers 130 F/55 C
Let rest for 5 minutes before slicing.

Makes a great dinner with some roasted vegetables of mashed potatoes and a side dish of green beans!

French Onion Pork Chops

This marks recipe 350 on buenprovecho.me. At this point I have decided to end the blog, but it will remain accessible to my many followers. Thanks for following along all these years. Hopefully you’ve found a few that you enjoyed…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX4EGvw5wP4&authuser=0

These were quite awesome, especially since we both love French Onion Soup! Fairly easy to make as well. This recipe serves four as indicated, but since I only wanted to do TWO chops, I halved all of the ingredients except the olive oil. I didn’t want the onions to BURN! As you can see by the photo, I served it with fresh roasted asparagus, adding some Parmesan cheese flakes a few minutes before they were done in the oven.

FRENCH ONION PORK CHOPS

Serves: 4 Prep Time: 25 minutes Cook Time: 30 minutes

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 large sweet onions, sliced

7-8 fresh thyme sprigs (plus additional for garnish, if desired)

1 teaspoon salt (plus additional for the pork chops)

½ teaspoon pepper (plus additional for the pork chops)

1 tablespoon butter

3/4 cup beef stock (I use low-sodium)

¼ cup dry red wine

4 boneless pork chops (seasoned with salt and pepper)

4 teaspoons Dijon mustard

4 ounces shredded Swiss cheese

2 or 3 Baby Portobello mushrooms sliced

-Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

-In a large, oven proof skillet over medium heat, caramelize the onions in the olive oil along with the thyme sprigs (about 15 minutes), stirring occasionally. Add the beef broth, butter, salt and pepper. Five minutes before the onions are caramelized, add mushrooms.

-Simmer to reduce the broth (about 5 minutes).

-Remove the caramelized onions to a bowl and keep warm, Wipe out the skillet with a paper towel.

-Pat the chops with a paper towel to dry. Spread Dijon mustard on both sides of the chops and season each with salt and pepper to taste.

-Return the skillet to medium/high heat and brown the pork chops on both sides (approximately 3 minutes per side). Remove chops to a plate.

Lemon Dill Tuna Steaks

My usual recipe is with chopped rosemary and garlic – Tuscan tuna steaks. Time for a change and I found this one on Pinterest. Its really straight forward and turned out really well. I chose to serve it with a few cremini mushrooms, fried lightly with olive oil, a little butter and lots of garlic. Of course, you could serve it with rice.

Lemon Dill Tuna Steaks

Ingredients
1. 1 Lb. Ahi Tuna Steaks (thawed)
2. 2 Tb Olive Oil
3. Salt/Pepper
Lemon Dill Sauce
1. Juice of 1/2 Lemon
2. 1 teaspoon Fresh Chopped Dill
3. 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
4. Small Pinch Salt/Pepper
5. 1/2 teaspoon Whole Grain Dijon Mustard
6. 1 teaspoon Honey
Instructions
1. Allow tuna steaks to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before cooking.
2. Coat tuna steaks with olive oil, salt and pepper while preheating skillet over Medium heat.
3. Cook steaks approximately 2-3 minutes per side (depending on thickness)
4. Combine all lemon dill sauce ingredients until fully blended.
5. Serve tuna steaks with lemon dill sauce.