Recipe(tried): Country Style Pork Roast For Tonight - Calabrian Asparagus Soup, Country Style Pork Roast, Curried Potatoes and Peas (Aloo Matar Rasedaar), Chocolate Passion Dessert

Country Style Pork Roast For Tonight

Mario And Nelly, a Cuban Puertorican marriage established in Puerto Rico since 1965 are coming tonight for dinner. Mario is the perfect Cuban gentleman, an engineer that came to work as an expatriate with ATT in Puerto Rico in 1965, married a Puertorican girl (Nelly) and now is as Puertorican as us, with two children, born here, that are already married. I know that I will have a lot of fun with this "bubbly" couple. Mario will bring a few bottles of Conde de Albarei, a wonderful Albari o with a comparably modest price. Here is the MENU. Buen Provecho!

Calabrian Asparagus Soup
Servings: 6 one cup servings

2 Cloves Garlic - minced
2 tb Olive oil - extra-virgin
2 lb Asparagus - trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 ts Salt
1/2 ts Freshly ground pepper
4 c Vegetable Broth - (see recipe) OR canned low-Sodium Chicken broth
4 Eggs
1/2 c Parmesan - fresly grated OR Pecorino, PLUS extra For serving
6 slices Italian bread - toasted

In a large saucepan, cook the Garlic in the olive oil over moderate heat, stirring constantly, until golden, about 3 minutes. Add the asparagus and cook until bright green, about 5 minutes. Add the salt, pepper and Vegetable Broth and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to moderately low and simmer until the asparagus are tender, about 15 minutes. In a small bowl, beat the eggs with 1/2 cup of the cheese. Reduce the heat to low so that the soup is no longer simmering, and very slowly ladle about 2 cups of the hot soup into the beaten eggs, whisking constantly. Once incorporated, gradually stir the egg mixture into the soup in the saucepan. Increase the heat to moderately low and cook the soup, whisking constantly, until it just thickens, about 8 minutes. Do not allow the soup to boil or the eggs will curdle. Remove from the heat. Place one slide of toasted bread into each soup bowl. Ladle the hot soup on top and serve with additional grated cheese. Serves 6. NOTE: Thickening soup with bread is typical of rustic Italian cooking, in which nothing goes to waste. The toasts may be made from day-old or slightly stale bread.

Country Style Pork Roast

1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon Garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon sage
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
5 pounds Pork shoulder or fresh picnic or other Pork roast

In a small bowl, mix all spices. Rub on surface of 5 lb. Pork roast. Roast on rack in shallow pan to 185 F. on meat thermometer for 3 1/2-4 hours at 325 f. Can make gravy from pan drippings.

Curried Potatoes and Peas (Aloo Matar Rasedaar)

2 lb small potatoes, halved
1/4 ts salt
1 1/2 ts turmeric
1 1/2 ts cumin powder
2 pinch chili powder
1 ts cumin seed
2 tb olive oil
1 3/4 c tomatoes, chopped
1 c frozen peas, thawed

Parboil potatoes for 5 minutes in lightly salted water. Drain and set potatoes aside. In a large skillet, saute turmeric, cumin powder, chili powder and cumin seed in olive oil. Add potatoes to skillet and stir to coat with spices. Add tomatoes and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Stir in peas, cover and cook for 5 minutes. Serve with the Pork, as an accompaniment.

Chocolate Passion Dessert
Yield: 16 servings

24 Fudge brownies
2 c Sliced strawberries
2 Bananas
2 Tubs (8 oz ea) Cool Whip
Chocolate Non-Dairy Topping thawed

Cut brownies into 1/2 inch cubes. Layer in a 3 quart serving bowl; 1/2 of the brownies, 1 cup of the strawberries, 1 sliced banana, and 1 tub of the Cool Whip Chocolate Whipped topping. Repeat layers. Refrigerate until ready to serve.