Porchetta with Roasted Fennel

This was a revelation for me.  I know I LOVE roasted pork, and things like my Cuban Roasted Pork are favorites, but with this one I found that I could love the veggies roasted with the pork even more than the meat.  Slow roasted fennel might be enough to make me a vegetarian again (if it hadn't been cooked in pork drippings).

3-3.5 lb pork shoulder, excess fat trimmed and reserved
juice from one orange

Herb Rub:
2 large sprigs rosemary, stripped from stems and chopped
zest of one lemon and 1.5 oranges
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 t kosher salt
2 t toasted and ground fennel seeds
2 t ground black pepper

3-4 bulbs fennel, trimmed of tops, halved, cored, and thinly sliced (trust me, more is better, but take in to account the size of your baking dish; I can just barely fit 4 in my 5.75 qt Le Creuset)
Olive oil and ample salt to taste for the fennel

If using a bone in pork shoulder, cut three or four deep cuts in to the meat and evenly distribute the rub in them.  Use butcher's twine to hold the meat together.  If boneless, butterfly the entire roast out and spread the rub on the entire inner surface before rolling and trussing with twine.

Place the roast in a covered ceramic baking dish and bake at 350 F for two hours, turning every 30 minutes or so, and basting with the orange juice.  If things seem to be drying out too much, use juice from the other orange or from the lemon.

After two hours, add in the fennel with olive oil and salt, and toss to combine with the drippings in the pan.  Continue to roast for another hour and a half, stirring the fennel every 30 minutes and turning the meat to promote even browning.  The fennel should be almost melting and the meat should be falling apart. 

Serve with the pork with polenta and plenty of the roasted fennel.

Polenta

For being little more than corn meal, water, and a little seasoning this is a truly wonderful accompaniment to any Italian meal.  I take the basic method from Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking (which I highly recommend), but tweak the ingredients some to make it richer.

7 C water
1 T salt
1 2/3 C coarse cornmeal
6 T butter
1/2 C grated Parmesan

Bring the water and salt to a boil, then very slowly whisk in the cornmeal to avoid lumps.  Stir continuously for several minutes before reducing the heat to a bare simmer and covering the pot.  Cook, covered, for 10 minutes before removing the lid and stirring thoroughly.  Repeat this 10 minute covered cooking and stirring cycle until the polenta has cooked for 40 minutes.  Stir in the butter and Parmesan then serve.

Shakshuka

A middle eastern breakfast dish of eggs poached in a spiced tomato sauce.  While nominally a breakfast dish, it's savory enough to eat for other meals as well as being fast and easy.  This dish can be made vegan by leaving out the eggs, though it ends up lacking protein.  Serve with pita.

1 28oz can of whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes
6 cloves garlic, crushed
6 T olive oil
1 t cumin
1/2 t caraway
1/2 t cayenne (or to taste)
1 t paprika
6 eggs
salt and pepper to taste
A squeeze of lemon juice (optional)

Heat the oil and saute the garlic lightly in a large skillet.  Crush the tomatoes by hand in to the skillet and add the seasonings.  Cook for 15 minutes or so partially covered, then taste and adjust seasoning.  Crack the eggs in to the skillet and cook, partially covered, until the whites have just set.

Falafel

This is the Egyptian version of the well known fried bean dish.  Unlike other versions of the dish the Egyptian version uses fava beans instead of chickpeas, and flattens out the balls to pan fry rather than deep frying.  As a note: it is absolutely necessary that you start with dried beans; canned beans will produce mushy results.  Serve with tahini sauce; you can also serve this with pita, cucumber, tomatoes, and/or pickled turnip if you want to make sandwiches out of it.

1 lb dried fava beans, split and husked, soaked in plenty of water for two days in the fridge
2/3 C flat leaf parsley, de-stemmed
2/3 C cilantro, de-stemmed
1 T cumin, ground
1.5-2 t coriander, ground
8 cloves of garlic
1 t baking powder
2 medium onions, chopped
1/2 t cayenne, or to taste
2T flour
Salt and pepper to taste
vegetable oil for shallow frying

Add everything except the vegetable oil in a food processor and pulse to combine.  You may have to work in batches, and you're ultimately looking for it to be well combined but still have a little texture.  Form patties roughly 1 cm thick and 4-5 cm across; the patties should just hold together (add a little extra flour if they don't).  Form a small patty and cook it to test seasoning; adjust as necessary.  Fry patties until browned and crispy, with an interior that is soft (and green!).

Tahini Sauce

A wonderful garlicky tangy accompaniment for many middle eastern dishes, especially falafel. Before the water is added this will be a very thick paste, but will thin out to a rich and creamy sauce.

2/3 C tahini
2/3 C freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
Cold water to thin out the sauce (about a 1/4 C)
Salt to taste

Blend together the first three ingredients, then pulse in the water until you reach a creamy consistency.  Add in salt to taste.

Sichuan Cucumber Relish

A mildly spicy cucumber relish, perfect for snacking on or eating along side a richer Chinese dish.

2 large cucumbers, ends removed, halved and cut in to chunks
2-3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 t Sichuan pepper, ground
1 t chile bean paste
2 T hot pepper oil
1 T salt
2 t sugar
1 T chinkiang vinegar
2 T sesame oil

Place cucumber pieces in a colander and sprinkle with the salt.  Let sit for a couple of hours before rinsing.  Mix the cucumber with the rest of the ingredients, stirring to coat.  Allow the flavors to blend for three hours or overnight before serving.

Cuban Roasted Pork

This is a slight variation on a typical Cuban roasted pork, using a dutch oven, Le Creuset, or other large covered baking dish along with lots of marinade and onions to give you a bunch of caramelized onions to mix in with the deeply browned and meltingly tender pork.

5-6 pounds pork shoulder in 2-3 large pieces, trimmed of any large pieces of fat
10-12 cloves garlic (or a few more if you want to add in some finishing garlic)
2-3 t oregano
1-2 t cumin
1/2 C orange juice
1/4 C lemon juice
1/4 C lime juice
1 C sherry (or more)
4 large yellow onions, quartered and thinly sliced.
Salt and pepper to taste (you'll likely need 1.5-2 T salt, this is a lot of meat)

Mash together the garlic, oregano, cumin, and salt (reserve some of the salt for final seasoning so you don't over salt the dish); rub all over the meat then put the meat in a large seal able plastic bag.  Add the rest of the ingredients and refrigerate for a day, turning occasionally.

Heat the oven to 350 F, and put the pork (reserving the marinade separately) in your roasting dish of choice.  Roast, un-covered, for an hour, turning occasionally to brown all the sides.   Add the marinade with onions to the dish and cover; cook until the pork is falling apart (maybe 3 hours or so), turning the pork and stirring occasionally; add sherry if anything starts to look too dry.  Remove the pork, let rest, and then shred.  If the onions haven't pretty much fallen apart by this time, continue to cook, covered, until they have (if using the finishing garlic add them, minced, in the last few minutes).  Mix the shredded pork with the the onions. 

Pad See Ew

Pad See Ew, literally soy sauce stir fry; this is a Thai dish with lots of Chinese influence (gai lan, soy sauce, and oyster sauce).  The Chinese lap chong isn't traditional, but I think it adds to the dish.  Additionally I never serve this without Thai vinegar with chiles.

1 lb Fresh wide rice noodles
3/4 lb Chinese broccoli (gai lan)
6 oz pork loin, trimmed of fat and cut in to thin strips
2 links of Chinese dried sausage (lap chong), thinly sliced - optional
2 T vegetable oil or lard
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 shallots, minced
Thai chiles to taste, minced
1 T fermented soybean paste (I use Pantai brand soybean paste in a bottle)
3 T kecap manis, or other dark sweet soy sauce
2 T soy sauce
2 t white vinegar
1.5 T oyster sauce
3/4-1 t sugar

Cut the bottom inch or so off of the gai lan stalks, then separate the leaves from the stalks.  Chop the leaves into roughly 1 inch squares, and the stems into roughly quarter inch pieces on the bias.

Mix together the kecap manis, soy sauce, white vinegar, sugar, oyster sauce, and fermented soy bean sauce.

If the fresh wide rice noodles are stuck together in large clumps heat them briefly in the microwave, then separate them.

Heat the oil in a large wok over high heat, then add in the chiles, shallots, and garlic, and stir fry them until fragrant.  Add in the meat and the lap chong, and stir fry until almost cooked through.  Add in the noodles and stir fry for a minute or so before adding in the sauce ingredients.  Stir fry for 4 minutes or so, allowing the mixture to rest without interruption twice for a minute each to brown the noodles.  Add in the stalks of the gai lan and stir fry for about a minute, then add in the leaves, tossing briefly before removing from the heat.

Hard Boiled Eggs

Making hard boiled eggs is pretty ridiculously simple, but peeling them can be another matter.  This method will give you perfectly cooked eggs and make them quite a bit easier to peel.

Eggs as needed
Water to cover the eggs by an inch
Ice water bath

Place the eggs in a pan and cover with room temperature water.  Place over high heat and bring just to a boil.  Kill the heat and let sit for 10 minutes.  Remove from the water and crack the shell lightly all over (quickly), then submerge the eggs in the ice water bath.  This stops the cooking and separates the shell from the egg.

Roasted Garlic

One of the essential basic ingredients: roasted garlic.  Roasting takes away the harshness and provides a richness and depth of flavor.  Many recipes call for cooking it as whole bulbs with just the tops trimmed off, but I find it better to separate the cloves, remove the stem end, and peel them.  It makes it easier to use without having to squeeze it out of the peels; if you still want it crushed just use the side of a knife.

Garlic as needed, trimmed and peeled
Olive oil, ~2t per head of garlic

Preheat the oven to 400 F.  Place the garlic in a large enough piece of aluminum foil to completely wrap them up, coat them with olive oil and seal the package.  Place the foil package in a dish of some kind in case the oil leaks (I've used everything from pyrex to cup cake pans).  Bake for ~40 minutes, or until the garlic is soft and golden.