Stuffed Pork with Cheesy Heart-Attack Sauce and Baked Potato

This is a simple dish that looks great  and taste even better. I created it when I worked at the Del Mar Lounge in St. Louis. It's a simple pork loin cut open and stuffed with a mixture of Goat Cheese, Smoked Gouda, and fresh bacon bits. Then baked till a nice medium well and topped with melted blend of the above mentioned cheeses along with some butter and a little bit of cream. Served here with a baked potato equally drowning in cheese and sour cream. It's the stuffing that get's you! When you bite into the pork it explodes with cheesy heart-attack inducing goodness that will have your doctor shaking his head. I also season the pork with A Cayenne/Cumin, Salt/Pepper mixture that adds an extra bite to the whole shebang!

Heart Attack Special: Cheesy Bacon wrapped Chicken Breast!

I am a very meat and potatoes kind of guy! I was also born and raised in the south on a diet that was not very good for ones heart. Therefore I do not create meals that are by any standards considered healthy. I try to make a lot of chicken (or yard bird as we say back home), I also throw in some fish because well it's brain food and the inner geek in me needs all the brain help he can get. With that said one of my favorite things to do is find away to slap bacon on anything that I can. So consider this  little dish a heart attack special! 

It's a very simple concoction that I'm sure some one else has stumbled upon in their own individual quest to clog their arteries and the arteries of loved ones. I took a chicken breast, grilled it and wrapped it in bacon! Doesn't sound to bad right! Well as you can no doubtingly see from the picture below, I also covered it in a heaping helping of shredded American cheese and melted it in the oven! to accompany this cacophony of gluttony, I baked a potato and used the remaining cheese to make sure you got the message. You can also add bacon to the spud, but I thought that might have been a bit of overkill.

Chicken and Gravy

Still reeling from Thanksgiving, it’s been over a week since I posted, sorry about that to anyone who actually tunes in to this blog. We haven’t developed any followers yet, but thanks to all the spammers out there who give me something to delete when I check the message box. Since my good camera is broken I can’t take any decent pictures of what I’m currently cooking. I’ve decided I will try to sit down and type out some stuff for all the pictures I took before I started this blog. I know I’ve promised to deliver before, but this time I mean it! It’s raining here in San Fran, and I’ve gotten to 100% on Grand Theft Auto: TLAD& BoGT! If you know what I’m talking about give yourself a prize for being as big of nerd as me!

I’m gonna try to break these up into individual blogs and recall how I made what as best as I can, but if I drift off topic from time to time bare with me. And if you have a blogger account or even a Google, please follow Monkee Chow, heck you can even RSS to appear on your home page thingie, you know the one nobody ever uses because we all just briefly check our mail before heading straight t Facebook for a false since of community. Alrighty then, with that let’s talk about fried chicken and gravy!

This one is really simple (that’s why I’m starting with it). For the fried chicken I used a mix that was more akin to country fried steak. Of course flour, with a lot of pepper and salt, some cayenne, and touch of cornmeal. The gravy is the real star of this dish. Just start with some grease. By grease I don’t mean some synthetic jar of lard, or vegetable oil. To make really good gravy you will have to start by saving the grease every time you use your frying pan. I like to keep mine in a coffee can by the stove. After some time you will develop this gelled culture along with some still chunky liquid. For real gravy like grand-ma used to make you gotta take the gross gelled parts and slap’em in back in the pan. Just a bit now you want more gravy later right? Then you wanna add milk and a tiny bit of flour. If you have heavy cream handy use that instead of milk, but milk works fine. Add your own touch of spices, whatever you want the gravy to taste like. I chose bear and black pepper with a little salt and hot sauce. The French cut green beans fresh out of the can, and baked potato with tons of butter to fill out the plate. You should also have a big wooden spoon-even if you don’t have kids-and use that to stir your mixture. Keep the burner on medium to low setting or you’ll have burnt tasting gravy. Add some water or more milk depending on how thick you like your gravy and move on to eating this delicious masterpiece! 

Pork-Chops w/ Baked Potato, French -Cut Green Beans, and Honey-Glazed Carrots

We'll I guess I will start with last night's feast, then work backwards for a week until I cook something new(usually on Sundays).

Last nights dish was Porkchops, baked potato's, and French-cut green-beans with honey-glazed carrots. I started with the meat, which was a Pork Loin Blade Chop. A considerably larger cut than your mom used to fry up, but more on line with restaurant size pieces. After pre-heating your oven at 350  degrees, the first task is getting out your spices.  For this I used Cayenne ( you'll find this is a favorite of mine), Ground Cumin, Garlic Salt, Basil, Black Pepper, and Sea Salt. I know it seems redundant to use garlic salt and seas salt, but I can't stress the importance of properly salting pork enough. Use each seasoning conservatively and them use your hands to rub them into the meat. Go lighter on the Basil than the others it's for accent only you don't want it coming through as strong. 

Next you open a can of pre-cut carrots, or you can cut your own, it doesn't matter. I prefer to use the canned carrots for this because I had too many cans in the cupboard and I wanted to get rid of one. Take only about 1/4 of the can and pour it on the Pork use all of the juice/water that is in the can though, you won't be needing it later. Add a few thick slices of onion. It doesn't matter if it's  red or yellow onion. You could conceivable use a white onion, but I don't know why you would. Then pour generously some cheap white wine. No need to break out the good stuff. I used this $12 bottle of 2009 12 Apostles from Austraila.  I don't drink wine because I'm not a wino, but I do cook with it! I drink cheap whiskey like a real man! You can if you are so inclined splash a little Louisiana hot sauce on them puppies as well!

After you've done all that cover your pan with tin foil to seal in the goodness and steam from the alcohol as it evaporates. Place it in the old oven and crank it up to 400. Then get your taters which you should have wrapped in tinfoil as well, so as not to burn the skin. Stab it full of holes on every side. Just pretend it's a hooker in Grand Theft Auto and go to town. This will help cook the potato's quicker and more thoroughly. These puppies are the least of your worries they are simple and need no basic care to prepare.

Once you got that going on go smoke a bowl or watch the Simpsons, or both. After about 40 minutes of chillin' come back over and begin work on the  beans. Get some Honey, Apple Cider Vinager, and slithered almond (or just cut almonds, which ever you prefer). Get your frying pan out because this magic trick can't be preformed in a pot. 

After You've sufficiently greased the pan with butter (not oil), then add your can of green beans. Be sure to empty out half the water before, you don't want this too watery. Then add your carrots, and almonds. Hit it with some salt and pepper to you liking. and then squeeze on the honey generously and add about two teaspoons of vinegar. Mix it all up, drop the oven down to 250, and go sit down for about ten to fifteen minutes.

After all that hard work pull it out arrange it on the plate to be ascetically pleasing to the eye and dig in.