Tag: featured

Food

Rack of Pork

thestlouiscooks

Happy New Year! We’re back at it with a holiday favorite, the rack of pork which is a pork loin with the bone in. I never had a rack of pork until later in life. This cut of meat is so succulent and flavorful. We love it when Fall hits and Costco starts selling this meat which is typically around Thanksgiving. Preparing the rack of pork is super easy. The challenging part is making sure it’s cooked to perfection while in the oven. All it takes is a close eye and a little TLC.

We celebrated the New Year with the rack of pork. The second time this holiday season. Cheers to the New Year!

Rack of Pork

  • Difficulty: Medium
  • Print

Ingredients:

  • 5-6 lbs. Rack of Pork – Pork Loin Bone In
  • 1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil or enough to rub the whole rack
  • Rub pork with minced garlic – don’t hold back
  • 1 1/2 Tablespoon of Rosemary
  • Season with Salt and Pepper to your liking

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and prepare a broiler pan lined with foil.
  2. Place the rack of pork on the pan and rub with olive oil.
  3. Season with rosemary, salt, and pepper.
  4. Place the pork in the oven and cook in 450 degree oven for 15 minutes and then reduce to 350 degrees for 70-90 minutes or until an internal temperature of 145/150 in the thickest cut of meat. Halfway through cooking the pork, flip the rack to ensure proper cooking and browning on all sides. At some point, you may have to foil the bone part of the rack so not to brown too much.
  5. Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes before cutting. Eat and enjoy with your favorite sides.

Food

Breve Coffee

thestlouiscooks

Good Friends and Good Coffee! Two of life’s greatest perks taking place right here in St. Louis! Yes, that’s right my dear friends at Breve Coffee are still roasting amazing coffee. With over 23 years of coffee experience, Breve Coffee is doing something right.

Today, I’m super excited because I received my box of Breve Coffee. I received two of their best sellers; House and Jamaican Me Crazy. Why am I so excited? Well, I can’t wait to try some cold brew recipes with the weather getting warmer. Also, I have an exclusive offer. You can get an additional 20% off your order when you use my promo code – Angie20 – and there’s always free shipping. Besides that excitement, Breve Coffee is special and unique. It’s high quality coffee. There’s no comparison. Breve Coffee is a small batch roaster which has many benefits. Let me give you a little basic coffee 101.

Breve Coffee only uses the top 1% of handpicked beans in the world. They are handpicked, handwashed, and hand sorted by people – not machines. The beans are then screened ensuring all beans are uniform. There are good beans and bad beans. The bad ones might be cracked, chipped or in pieces. This is very important. Breve only uses good beans that are all uniform, not cracked, or chipped. Some people might wonder why their coffee tastes bitter, it is probably because they are drinking bad beans. The good beans which Breve coffee uses are all uniform, therefore ensuring an even roast. In addition to the importance of bean selection, the roasting process is very important. Breve coffee handles the roasting in small batches. This allows the roaster to pay extra attention to sight, sounds, and smell so they can make adjustments accordingly. This ensures that Breve Coffee is roasted to perfection; not burned and not under-roasted. The other benefit of being a small batch roaster is that you are getting fresh coffee. It hasn’t been sitting on a shelf somewhere getting stale.

As the premier Midwest coffee supplier, their Roastery is located in Pevely, MO. Shipping is always free and you can find Breve Coffee sold in many locations in the St. Louis area such as Fresh Tyme, Freddies, Digregorios, Karsch’s and more. Please don’t forget when ordering to use this exclusive promo code – Angie20 – to get an additional 20% off. You can’t beat free shipping and an additional 20% off. Please visit http://www.brevecoffee.com.

Don’t worry if you haven’t experienced Breve Coffee yet, better latte then never!

The St. Louis Cooks love to support and promote small businesses.  I hope that you will too!

Cheers!

Food

Asparagus Wrapped in Prosciutto

thestlouiscooks
Asparagus wrapped Prosciutto

My newest addiction is grilled asparagus wrapped in prosciutto.  It’s the perfect side dish, snack, and appetizer.  I usually make the asparagus wrapped in prosciutto on the grill stove top, but of course you can do these asparagus wrapped in prosciutto right on the grill outside.  I add a little brown sugar for that sweet and salty taste.  They can be wrapped individually or in pairs as I did this time.  Sometimes it all depends on the size. The thicker asparagus work better wrapped as individuals while the smaller ones are better wrapped in bundles of two, three, or four.

Going to a party, bring these grilled asparagus wrapped in prosciutto and you will be the hit at the party! They are so darn good and so easy to make! Check it out!

Asparagus Wrapped in Prosciutto

  • Servings: 6
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Ingredients:

  • 16-20 Asparagus Spears (1/2 to 3/4 thick) with ends trimmed – I like Costco’s asparagus
  • 16-20 Slices of thin Prosciutto – I like Costco’s
  • 2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
  • 3/4 Tablespoon of Brown Sugar
  • Salt and Pepper

Directions:

  1. Trim off the ends of the asparagus spears, wash thoroughly and pat dry with a paper towel.
  2. Wrap asparagus with thin prosciutto either as doubles or singles depending on the size of your asparagus. Place on a cookie sheet.
  3. In a small mixing bowl, add the olive oil, brown sugar, salt and pepper to taste.  Mix together.
  4. Brush the olive oil/brown sugar mixture over both sides of the asparagus spears.  Add more salt and pepper as desired.
  5. Over medium/high heat add the asparagus bundles to the stove top grill.  Flip the asparagus at least once and cook until prosciutto is crisp and asparagus is tender.  Be careful not to over cook the asparagus.

Enjoy!

Family, Food, Kids, Snacks

White Chocolate Strawberries and Pretzels

thestlouiscooks
White Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Wow! Amazing, delicious, decadent, pretty, sweet and salty are just a few ways to describe our favorite snack – white chocolate covered strawberries and pretzels.  Really… anything white chocolate is fantastic in my book.  And, here’s the added bonus…they are one of the easiest things to make!

These goodies are my favorite all time snack to make with the kiddos.  I usually keep a few bags of chocolate morsels (white or semisweet) in the kitchen along with strawberries and a bag of pretzel rods. I’m a huge fan of white chocolate so it’s always my first choice for dipping.  Many people think this type of dessert would be difficult to make but I prepare it in a way that is super easy and fun for the kids – no long process or stove top melting!

Next time you want to involve the kids in the kitchen, this is one snack they will surely love to make and eat!

White Chocolate Strawberries and Pretzels

  • Servings: 10-15
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Print

Ingredients:Jack dipping

  • 1-2 bags of Nestle White Chocolate Chips (or any kind)
  • Strawberries (or any berries for dipping)
  • 1 Bag of Pretzel Rods
  • Vegetable or Canola Oil (optional)

Directions:

  1. Clean Strawberries and allow them to dry thoroughly keeping the stems on.
  2. Place chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl.  Heat in 30 second intervals stirring Nick dippingthe chocolate in between.  At this point, you can add a touch of oil to help smooth the chocolate or you can pass on the oil for a thicker consistency of chocolate.
  3. Once the chocolate is fully melted and smooth, begin dipping the strawberries holding the stems with your fingers.  Place the dipped strawberries on a baking pan lined with wax paper.  Repeat for other berries and the pretzel rods.
  4. Place the chocolate covered strawberries and pretzels in the refrigerator to set and chill.

Enjoy!

White Chocolate Pretzels
Family, Food

Pasta Primavera

thestlouiscooks
Vegetables

It’s Friday folks so that means no meat for us so I wanted to share another quick meatless meal. We make Pasta Primavera several times a year. I add different vegetables every time. This time I used vegetables that I had in the refrigerator. I was missing a frozen bag of peas but I highly recommend using peas in your Primavera. The beautiful thing about Primavera is you can make it so many different ways: butter/olive oil sauce, red sauce, Alfredo sauce, and so on. Our favorite is a light butter/olive oil base.

Ingredients:

  • 1 Bag of Spaghetti or any choice of pasta noodle (17.6 ounces)
  • 3-4 Cups of Mixed Vegetables (cut carrots in match sticks, zucchini and squash in match sticks or quartered, and cut cauliflower)
  • 1 Medium Onion, chopped
  • 4 Garlic Cloves
  • 4-5 Tablespoons of Butter
  • 3 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
  • 1 Tablespoon of Italian Seasonings
  • Sea Salt and Fresh Pepper to taste
  • Dash of Cayenne or Crushed Red Pepper (optional)
  • Fresh Grated Parmesan Cheese

Directions:

  1. Prepare pasta according to directions.  Meanwhile, cut and prepare all vegetables.
  2. Heat the olive oil in a large wok or saucepan over medium to high heat. Add the onions and fresh garlic along with the cauliflower and carrots. Cook for 4-5 minutes.  Add the butter and the zucchini and squash. Cook for another 4-5 minutes or until vegetables begin to soften.
  3. Next, add the Italian seasonings, sea salt, pepper, and red pepper.  Add pasta to pan and toss lightly.
  4. Heat on low heat for 3-6 minutes or until heated through.
  5. Serve with fresh grated parmesan cheese.

Enjoy!

Cooked Vegetables
Pasta Primavera