Sweet potato, rosemary and pancetta waffles, rosemary roasted pork tenderloin and a maple mustard sauce

So waffles eh? That seems to be a trend I am hearing about in the last few days. First Kerrie tells me about a conversation she had with her mom about falafel waffles and brownie waffles, the Cooking Channel Blog is all about waffles,  a couple weeks back I was thinking about Alton Browns Sweet Potato Waffles, and just last week my favorite local bar had fried chicken on special which led to a chicken and waffles discussion.

It seemed waffles and I were heading for a collision course.I just had to figure out where we were going to collide.

I decided to give sweet potato waffles a try but I wanted to go full on savory rather than attempting to make breakfast waffles with a twist. I have a fantastic waffle recipe that I love and don't really need to mess with (no it isn't posted yet, yes I will get around to it.)

I looked over Alton's recipe and started formulating some ideas, then I found this recipe on a blog called Food With Legs

I must say the author did most of my thinking for me on the waffles. I really only made one change and that was baking the sweet potatoes instead of steaming. Roasting the requisite garlic at the same time just makes sense. I think baking them brings an additional layer of flavor that you don't get from steaming.

One other note of caution about the recipe. It calls for 6 beaten egg whites about midway through the instructions but does not show them in the ingredient list. Just be sure you have them on hand.

The end result was delicious. The rosemary, sweet potatoes and garlic really played off of each other. Contrary to the authors opinion I think the pancetta was a bit too mild and got lost in the mix. It was a nice crunchy textural element but I think a little smokiness would have been welcome. I may try it again with sliced pancetta instead of cubed.

Now of course the next step was what to serve with it. I have to make a confession, I have never made fried chicken. I love fried chicken and I seek it out wherever I can. I just have never gotten around to making it myself.  It shames me. I would have tried to make it tonight but it just seemed like too much, and too much fat. So I started thinking of alternatives and I remembered this maple mustard pork chop recipe I made once upon a time and a recipe was born. Instead of chicken and maple syrup I would make roasted pork tenderloin with the maple mustard bbq suace.

The sauce comes from an often used cookbook called BBQ USA: 425 Fiery Recipes from All Across America. Every recipe I have tried has been a winner. You will need

1 Tbsp Butter
2 slices bacon cut into 1/4 inch slivers (replaced with pancetta today)
1 small onion finely chopped ( about 3/4 cup)
1 clove garlic minced
1 Tbsp tomato paste
3/4 cup maple syrup (grade b if you can find it)
6 Tbsp Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
kosher salt and black pepper to taste.

Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the onion garlic and bacon. Saute until the bacon is crispy then add the tomato paste. Stir for a minute or two then add the mustard, syrup and vinegar. Bring to a boil then reduce hit to low and simmer 10- 12 minutes.  Add salt and pepper to taste. You can serve it hot or at room temp

Since I was using it as maple syrup I just drizzled it on the waffles at room temp.

The pork tenderloin was pretty simple, I had a couple of big flavors going already so I just wanted to the pork to taste like pork. I coated it in a little olive oil, salt and pepper, I jammed a branch of rosemary in each end then seared it on all sides. 2 minutes a side or so. Then I put it into a 375 degree oven and baked it until it hit a temp of 150.

Slice up the pork, lay it on a waffle and drizzle with the sauce. It was a great combination of savory and sweet. If you love chicken and waffles then you really should try this. If chicken and waffles has always sounded crazy then try this and you may reconsider.

Lechon Asado (cuban citrus and garlic roast pork) with Mojo

This is a new recipe for me out of an old favorite: BBQ USA: 425 Fiery Recipes from All Across America, the same book I got Coffee Crusted Pork Tenderloins from. Any recipe that lists its first ingredient as 1 head garlic has to be good right? My parents are coming for a Father's Day BBQ and I wanted to pull out a new treat so I decided this was the way to go. I have made a Mojo sauce before for a cumin crusted pork paillard recipe (I will have to put that one on here some time)

The Ingredients
1 head garlic
1 Tbsp kosher salt
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups of lime juice
1/2 cup orange juice (if you can find sour orange juice you can use 2 cups of it instead of the lime orange mix)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 pork shoulder (5-7 lbs)

Put the garlic, salt, cumin, oregano salt and pepper into your food processor and pulse until everything is coarsely chopped. At this point just the aroma should make you pretty happy you tried this recipe. Turn the processor on as slow as you can get it and while it's running pour in the olive oil and juice. It should wind up looking like a salad dressing.

Next. make a bunch of slices in your pork shoulder, put the tip of a knife about an inch or so deep, wiggle it around a bit to open things up. Once you have perforated your pork, put it into a non-reactive container and pour the marinade onto it, working the marinade into the slits in the pork. Remember that Tupperware marinating container I talked about with the pork tenderloin dish? Yep, you should have one. Otherwise you can put in in a glass baking dish and cover tightly with plastic wrap. If you have a Ziploc bag big enough that would work as well. Ideally you want to turn the pork a few times to get the marinade evenly distributed. Let it sit overnight at a minimum, but 24-48 hours, or more, would be much better. Seriously, if you want this for a Saturday BBQ start it Wednesday night.

Now I am starting mine in the smoker and I will finish it on the grill, but any indirect cooking method will work fine. Charcoal, gas, giant pit in the ground, whatever you happen to have around. So heat up your cooking vehicle of choice and while it heats you can finish preparing the pork.

Open the lid, inhale heavily, then drain off the marinade and let the pork sit on a cutting board. Rub it all over with kosher salt and pepper and then put it on the heat. The recipe says it will be 3-4 hours on a grill with indirect cooking, shooting for an internal temp of 195. 195 is higher than I would usually cook pork but apparently that is the Cuban way. I like 175 or 180. You have a meat thermometer, right? Every kitchen needs one to make sure your foods are cooked to the proper temperature. Even if it's just a simple stem thermometer. (And yes, this public health PSA is brought to you by Kerrie).

For the Mojo Sauce
1 cup olive oil
12 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1 1/3 cups of sour orange juice (or the same lime orange mix from the marinade)
2/3 cup water
2 tsp kosher salt or more
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 cup cilantro

Heat the olive oil to medium or medium high in a saucepan and add the sliced garlic, cook the garlic until it is light or golden brown. Add the remaining ingredients except for the cilantro and bring them to a boil for 3-5 minutes then let it cool to room temperature. Add the cilantro right before serving.

When your pork is done let it rest for 10 minutes or so then cut it into slices.

Pour the sauce over the pork when it is ready and enjoy yourself a treat. Or you can pour the sauce over the pork and some grilled plantains which are pretty simple.

Slice 2-4 plantains on an angle so you have long evenly thick slices, slice the peel and remove from each piece. Either coat your grill with oil, or take a piece of foil and fold up the edges a bit and pour in a few tablespoons of canola oil, toss the plantains in the oil, sprinkle with a bit of salt and put the foil on the grill. If your grill has wide grates then go the foil route, you will be happier. Cook the plantains on one side until the get a nice brown caramel color then flip and cook a few minutes more. They get a really nice sweet potato flavor and the salty sweetness goes amazingly well with the mojo and the pork.

Watch this space for the amazing fresh bread Kerrie made and a really wonderful lobster, shrimp, mango and pea salad that my mother contributed.