Nothing like a little Southern Comfort

Comfort food that is. Although SoCo is pretty delicious too. Anyways, I've got a double recipe for y'alls today (Double recipe? What does it meaaaaaan????), both of which are partly inspired by Southern style cooking. We're talking hearty meals that satisfy body and soul. Just like momma used to make. Mmmhmm.

-=Pork Two Ways Harvest Soup=-

1/2 lb ground pork

3 strips thick cut farm raised bacon (or substitute 1/2 lb regular bacon), chopped

2 large sweet potatoes, cubed

1 onion, chopped

1 cup corn kernels

1 cup green beans

garlic salt, pepper, oregano, parsley, crushed red pepper flakes

1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup

6 cups water

In a large soup pot, bring the water to a boil and start cooking the sweet potatoes and onions, about 10 minutes, then turn down to a low simmer. Heat a medium skillet on high. Cook the bacon until it starts to get crispy, but not too crunchy. When done, add the bacon to the pot, but reserve the bacon grease to cook the ground pork. Add garlic salt, pepper, oregano, parsley, and red pepper flakes to the pork to taste. When the ground pork is fully cooked through, add that to the pot. If you really want, you can strain out the fat, but I recommend keeping it; it adds a lot of flavor. Finally, add in the corn, green beans, and condensed soup, and stir until even. Let simmer another 5 to 10 minutes, serve hot.

-=Reds n Greens=-

1/2 lb ham, cubed

2 strips thick cut farm raised bacon (or substitute 1/3 lb regular bacon), chopped 

1/2 lb collard greens

garlic salt

This one's real simple. Heat a large skillet on high and start cooking down the collard greens with a little garlic salt and the bacon. When those are done (the greens should have shrunken down quite a bit, and be a bit crisp), add the ham, and toss together on medium heat for a few minutes more. Done! You can add a can of cooked black eyed peas with some milk and corn starch to add a creamy sauce as well; I would have, but I didn't have any on hand.

Epic Meatloaf

So, it was 11, and I felt hungry, and decided to cook something. And then it just sorta...snowballed into this. Feel free to substitute out some of the more obscure ingredients. Seriously though, it's delicious, and those obscure items are worth getting. Trust me.

-Meatloaf-
3 Italian Sausages, removed from casing
2 cups spinach, diced
1 slice potato bread
rosemary
fennel seed
garlic salt
truffle oil
Parmesan cheese
smoked oysters
2 tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 350. Chop up the bread into small pieces. In a small skillet, heat up some olive oil on high, and toss in the bread for toasting. Add 1 tsp rosemary, 1 tsp fennel seed, and garlic salt to taste. Drizzle a little truffle oil, ~ 1/2 tsp, over the bread crumbs. Toast until crispy and set aside.

Combine sausage, spinach, and bread crumbs in a mixing bowl. Add 1/2 cup Parmesan, and about 6 oysters, chopped. Add the milk, and another drizzle of truffle oil.  Press the meatloaf together, transfer into a baking dish, and place in oven for 10-15 minutes.

-Sauce-
1 cup Puttanesca sauce
1-2 ounces gin
6 cloves garlic, minced

In a small saucepot, toast the garlic with some oil. Add the puttanesca sauce and the gin, and simmer on low heat. When the meatloaf has cooked for 10-15 minutes, and the outer surface is starting to brown, pour the sauce over the meatloaf in the baking dish. Continue cooking for another 15 minutes or until meat is cooked through.