Home At Last! with Patty Gironda

I've been on a quest to use up items stored in the "deep freeze" zone! Surprisingly, the meals created from these mystery ingredients have yielded some pretty awesome and quick dinners. I had a thought today that I might have need for a "freezer journal". As I add foods to my freezers I would place a dated entry in my freezer journal. Just a thought. My current method of writing on the zipper bag works fine if I bother to write on the bag. I've also had success placing a note in the freezer bag filled with individually packaged tablespoons of items such as tomato paste. A recent dig revealed a lost bag of lightly-smoked picnic ham from the Porchetta episode of Home At Last! It was well-wrapped in foil and placed in a freezer bag.  Thawed and sampled I was pleased with its condition after three months of excile in "the zone". Paired with a small amount of homemade bbq sauce (also from the depths of my fridge) and a quick...

      I have finally come to the end of the second roast pork. I have surprised myself with all the creative uses for this succulent recipe-including some toasty appetizers with slivers of pork, homemade rolls rubbed with fresh garlic, topped with mozzarella and crunchy German barrel pickles. The latch batch of homemade Italian bread was made into crunchy rolls using my muffin tin. It paired well with my pork sandwich topped with seasoned pineapple and chive mayonnaise.

  Taking a cue from Korean cooks, I roasted another pork on the infrared grill with a scallion sauce laced with sesame oil and lots of fresh garlic! The red potatoes were parboiled and placed on a marble slab to roast. I tossed them with olive oil, turmeric, paprika and the perfect amount of cracked salt! They were creamy-seasoned to perfection and topped with a remarkable sour cream sauce full of earthy goodness derived from Srilankan curry and black cumin! I parboiled the beans in the potato water and then tossed them with garlic olive oil and black and white sesame seed! The meal was one of the first I could taste after this long bout of bronchitis! YEAH!

        Making the Roasted Pork proved to be a real time-saver this week. With so many new projects in the works I was more interested in playing all weekend and really fell back on the pork for some quick delicious meals. Last night we enjoyed panninis with Roast Pork, provolone cheese and a nice loaf of freshly-baked foccacio, courtesy of my new corporate sponsor, Panera Bread Company! The crusty sandwiches transported us back to our favorite Friday market in Terranouva, Tuscany, where succulent porchetta is a favorite amoung locals. Tonight, after slicing the last of the pork into nice thick slices, I decided to chunk it and make and open-faced BBQ sandwiches. Simple, delicious and satisfying! And happily my Lemon Cake with Marscapone and Hazelnuts was a huge success! More on that later!