New Recipe Tuesday: Paprika Pork

We don't eat a lot of pork in our house. It's not because we dislike it; face it, pork is just not good for us, the "other white meat" campaign notwithstanding. Occasionally it graces our table, usually as ham when we have visitors, or as bacon and sausage. But when I saw this recipe, I knew I had to try it. I mean, FOUR ingredients? Really? And it looked delicious. I found the recipe in this book:

This is out-of-print but are a few copies available on Amazon for $3.99 and up; I think it's well worth the price just for this one recipe.

When I found some boneless pork ribs on sale for a very good price, I bought it. I also had to buy peppers since the recipe wanted them in strips and my frozen chopped peppers did not seem like a reasonable substitute for this particular recipe. The four ingredients are pork, peppers, paprika, and tomato sauce. That's it (oh, and a bit of water).

Here's the recipe:

2 red, 1 yellow and 1 green sweet bell pepper, seeded and cut into strips
1 1/4 pounds of lean boneless pork (the recipe recommends tenderloin)
3 TABLESPOONS paprika (yes, tablespoons--sounds like a lot, but it works)
11-ounce jar of tomato sauce with garlic or herbs (I used herb & garlic pasta sauce)

1. Preheat the broiler. Put the pepper strips in a single layer on a foil covered tray and cook under the broiler for 20-25 minutes, until the edges of the strips are slightly charred.

 I learned that it's best to put the skin side down as the ones I had turned skin side up charred a lot faster than the others.

2. While the peppers are cooking, cut the pork into chunks. Season with salt and pepper and cook in a heavy pan that's been sprayed with olive oil cooking spray (my addition to the recipe) or a non-stick pan. I used my deep cast iron skillet and it worked beautifully. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the meat begins to brown. I cooked it til all sides of the meat chunks had seared.

3. Add paprika, tomato sauce and some water. This part of the recipe was a little confusing because it reads "300ml/1/2 pint/1 1/4 cups --which is a lot more than 1/2 pint. I added the larger amount and realized that I should have started out with less and added more as needed. Add any seasonings you prefer. I added nothing but next time I'll add garlic and a little red pepper.  Bring to a boil, reduce hear. cover and simmer gently for 30 minutes.

4. Add the grilled peppers and cook a further 10-15 minutes. until the meat is tender. Taste for seasoning.

That's it--really simple, I promise. Cooking time is a bit long, but while the pork was cooking, I made a salad and cooked the rice.

The salad was an experiment and one I will repeat because it was delicious. I used lettuce from the garden, chopped canned pears, dried cranberries, and diced goat cheese with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Amazing! And simple, which is even better.  

          

There are other great recipes in this book, all of them simple and with easy step-by-step instructions.

Then there's my Five-Ingredient cookbook...hmmm...

Linking today to How-To Tuesday and Try a New Recipe Tuesday, both excellent places to find creative recipes, ideas and helpful hints to make your day brighter and easier.



Copyright 2012 Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.