Pork & Apples

When we made Anna Laura's Meatloaf over Christmas break, Mark was struck with inspiration for a curried pork loaf. Saturday night that pork loaf became a reality. We based it loosely on Alton's recipe which can be found here. Here's our rendition:

Curried Ground Pork with Apples

1.5 lbs of ground pork
4.5 oz. bag of garlic and cheese croutons
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 tablespoons curry powder
2 tablespoons smoked paprika
1 finely minced onions
6 whole cloves garlic
1 red bell pepper
1/4 cup of crushed pineapples, well drained
1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 egg
1 bottle of pre-made apple curry chutney

Heat oven to 325 degrees F.

In a food processor bowl, combine croutons and spices. Pulse until the mixture is of a fine texture. Place this mixture into a large bowl. Combine the onion, garlic, and red pepper in the food processor bowl. Pulse until the mixture is finely chopped, but not pureed. Combine the vegetable mixture and ground pork with the bread crumb mixture. Season the meat mixture with the kosher salt. Add the egg and use your freshly washed hands to toss together, but avoid squeezing the meat.

Shape into a loaf and put in cast iron skillet or on lined baking sheet. Cook until the pork reaches an internal temperature of 160 degrees.

I coated the pork with the chutney and some minced onion before I baked it, but I definitely wouldn't do that if we made this again. As I suspected, it burned off into nothingness.

We surrounded the pork "loaf" (I certainly hate that word!) with two seeded and chopped granny smith apples that were coated in the chutney.

We had leftover collard greens as a side along with some garlic cheddar biscuits I threw together at the last minute. I've been craving Red Lobster biscuits for a bit now and I can't bring myself to go there, so I thought I'd do my own rendition. We had some Bisquick from a snow day breakfast we had last year, so I put it to good use:
Stupidly Simple Cheddar Garlic Biscuits
2 c. Bisquick mix (mine was heart-healthy, mind you)
2/3 c. milk
small block of white cheddar grated
few spoonfuls of garlic out of the big jar

Mix well with wooden spoon, drop onto baking sheet, brush with butter or butter substitute and cook at 425 for 8-10 minutes.

I added a ton of garlic and it had a lovely crystallized texture.

We ate this meal as we watched the first season of This American Life. We had just finished our meal when a story about pig farming came on. Yep, I'm not eating the leftovers, but Mark doesn't seem to mind.