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.
Friday, January 9, 2015
Saturday, December 13, 2014
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.
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.
Friday, November 28, 2014
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.
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.
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.
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Vietnamese Caramelized Pork
Crispy, salty, subtly sweet, delicious pork. I like to mix it with rice and serve it in a lettuce wrap with fish sauce as an appetizer, or just over rice also with a side of fish sauce as a decadent main. This recipe is an adaptation of the one found in Andrea Nguyen's excellent cookbook Into the Vietnamese Kitchen.
Ingredients:
1/4 C oil
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 small cloves garlic, minced
1 lb ground pork
3 T fish sauce
1 T Vietnamese Caramel Sauce
1 t sugar
3 green onions, thinly sliced
Add the oil to a skillet and saute the onion and garlic on medium for a few minutes until soft. Add in the pork, and break up the pieces as much as possible until the meat has cooked through. Add everything else except the green onions and cook on medium high for 10-12 minutes or until the meat develops brown caramelized spots. Add in the green onions, toss for a minute or so, and remove from the heat.
Ingredients:
1/4 C oil
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 small cloves garlic, minced
1 lb ground pork
3 T fish sauce
1 T Vietnamese Caramel Sauce
1 t sugar
3 green onions, thinly sliced
Add the oil to a skillet and saute the onion and garlic on medium for a few minutes until soft. Add in the pork, and break up the pieces as much as possible until the meat has cooked through. Add everything else except the green onions and cook on medium high for 10-12 minutes or until the meat develops brown caramelized spots. Add in the green onions, toss for a minute or so, and remove from the heat.
Lasagna
Who doesn't love lasagna? A nice big brick-like portion of noodles, cheese, and tomato meat sauce, plus the recipe makes enough for even a family to eat to get a couple of meals out of it. It's also something that you can make largely ahead of time; you can make the sauce the day before (and it's better if you do), and you can assemble the whole thing and stick it in the fridge until 30-45 minutes before you want dinner.
Ingredients:
Sauce:
1 lb sweet Italian sausage out of casings and shredded. (You could also use 80/20 ground beef, but if you're doing that add an extra 1/2 t toasted fennel seeds)
1 lb hot Italian sausage, out of casings and shredded
NOTE: If your sausage is particularly lean sweat a couple of slices of salt pork (diced) before adding the sausage
two small yellow onions, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 (28 ounce) can san marzano tomatoes, crushed
2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
1 15oz can tomato sauce
1 C water
1 1/2 t dried basil leaves
1/2 t fennel seeds, toasted
1 t Italian seasoning (a mix of marjoram, rosemary, thyme, and oregano works well)
Salt to taste
3/4 t ground black pepper
4 T flat leaf parsley, de-stemmed and chopped
Dash crushed red pepper
The filling:
2 lbs ricotta cheese
1 C flat leaf parsley, de-stemmed and chopped.
1 1/2 C of grated romano
2 eggs
salt to taste
3-4 T heavy cream
The rest:
Roughly 1 lb dried lasagna noodles (though I try to have extra on hand)
Mozzarella or provolone for the top, preferably smoked
In a large pot, lightly brown the sausage, then add the onion and garlic and saute for a few minutes. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients, and simmer for a couple of hours, covered and stirring occasionally. Adjust taste towards the end if necessary. If the sauce tastes a little flat add another couple of minces cloves of garlic at the end of cooking. At the end of cooking fish out the bay leave and use an immersion blender to break up the larger chunks of sausage to get a smoother sauce.
Mix all of the filling ingredients together while the sauce is cooking; it's easier to work with when you go to assemble if the filling is warm.
Preheat the oven to 375 F. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and put in the noodles, working in batches if necessary; cook to al dente. Ladle out enough sauce to put a thin layer on the bottom of an oven-proof pan (I use a 9"x13" pyrex), put down the first layer of noodles, then spread a layer of filling, then a layer of sauce. Put a layer of noodles down, and repeat filling and sauce. For most pans you'll be able to put down one more layer of noodles on top of that sauce, then put sauce on top of that and top with mozzarella. You may have enough sauce left to make another pan, depending on pan size. Bake at 375 until the cheese is golden brown, 35-45 minutes.
Notes:
I keep the filling and noodles a little vague intentionally, because a lot depends on just how much you put down, and it's just easier to make the sauce the limiting ingredient as it's the most complicated part. A variation on this is to add in a thin layer of spinach with each layer of cheese, just be sure to use either baby spinach or thawed frozen spinach, stemmed, squeezed dry, and keep the layer thin.
You could also put down a layer of bechamel on the top before adding the layer of cheese to add moisture and richness.
Ingredients:
Sauce:
1 lb sweet Italian sausage out of casings and shredded. (You could also use 80/20 ground beef, but if you're doing that add an extra 1/2 t toasted fennel seeds)
1 lb hot Italian sausage, out of casings and shredded
NOTE: If your sausage is particularly lean sweat a couple of slices of salt pork (diced) before adding the sausage
two small yellow onions, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 (28 ounce) can san marzano tomatoes, crushed
2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
1 15oz can tomato sauce
1 C water
1 1/2 t dried basil leaves
1/2 t fennel seeds, toasted
1 t Italian seasoning (a mix of marjoram, rosemary, thyme, and oregano works well)
Salt to taste
3/4 t ground black pepper
4 T flat leaf parsley, de-stemmed and chopped
Dash crushed red pepper
The filling:
2 lbs ricotta cheese
1 C flat leaf parsley, de-stemmed and chopped.
1 1/2 C of grated romano
2 eggs
salt to taste
3-4 T heavy cream
The rest:
Roughly 1 lb dried lasagna noodles (though I try to have extra on hand)
Mozzarella or provolone for the top, preferably smoked
In a large pot, lightly brown the sausage, then add the onion and garlic and saute for a few minutes. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients, and simmer for a couple of hours, covered and stirring occasionally. Adjust taste towards the end if necessary. If the sauce tastes a little flat add another couple of minces cloves of garlic at the end of cooking. At the end of cooking fish out the bay leave and use an immersion blender to break up the larger chunks of sausage to get a smoother sauce.
Mix all of the filling ingredients together while the sauce is cooking; it's easier to work with when you go to assemble if the filling is warm.
Preheat the oven to 375 F. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and put in the noodles, working in batches if necessary; cook to al dente. Ladle out enough sauce to put a thin layer on the bottom of an oven-proof pan (I use a 9"x13" pyrex), put down the first layer of noodles, then spread a layer of filling, then a layer of sauce. Put a layer of noodles down, and repeat filling and sauce. For most pans you'll be able to put down one more layer of noodles on top of that sauce, then put sauce on top of that and top with mozzarella. You may have enough sauce left to make another pan, depending on pan size. Bake at 375 until the cheese is golden brown, 35-45 minutes.
Notes:
I keep the filling and noodles a little vague intentionally, because a lot depends on just how much you put down, and it's just easier to make the sauce the limiting ingredient as it's the most complicated part. A variation on this is to add in a thin layer of spinach with each layer of cheese, just be sure to use either baby spinach or thawed frozen spinach, stemmed, squeezed dry, and keep the layer thin.
You could also put down a layer of bechamel on the top before adding the layer of cheese to add moisture and richness.
Friday, October 3, 2014
Thai Vinegar with Chiles
Simple pickled chiles in vinegar; it can be searingly hot when you first make it, but it will mellow out some with age. It's the perfect side to Pad See-ew (I won't make Pad See-ew anymore if I don't have some of this in the fridge). Don't try to substitute other vinegars for the while vinegar; it just wouldn't taste right.
2/3 C Thai chiles, finely chopped (this is VERY hot, you can use just a couple of peppers if you want)
1 1/3 C white vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt or fish sauce to taste
Combine the ingredients in a jar and leave at room temperature for a day before moving to the fridge. Keep in mind when you're adding the salt or fish sauce that you don't want the vinegar to be salty, you just don't want it to dilute out whatever you're adding it to.
2/3 C Thai chiles, finely chopped (this is VERY hot, you can use just a couple of peppers if you want)
1 1/3 C white vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt or fish sauce to taste
Combine the ingredients in a jar and leave at room temperature for a day before moving to the fridge. Keep in mind when you're adding the salt or fish sauce that you don't want the vinegar to be salty, you just don't want it to dilute out whatever you're adding it to.
Friday, August 15, 2014
Basic Rib Rub
This is my basic rub for pork when I'm making BBQ, and it's especially good on ribs - the recipe makes enough for a typical rack of baby back ribs. You can easily change out ingredients or change amounts to get a different flavor, but this base is pretty well rounded; just make sure to put it on fairly heavily and at least half an hour before transferring the meat to the smoker so the rub has a chance to adhere. I've also included a quadrupled recipe which makes enough for a serious smoking session.
1 T pepper
1.5 T garlic powder
1/2 T mustard powder
1 T onion powder
1/2 T cumin
1 T paprika
5-6 T brown sugar
1 T cayenne, or to taste (this makes it moderately spicy)
1.5 T salt
4x recipe (makes about a quart)
4 T pepper
6 T garlic powder
2 T mustard powder
4 T onion powder
2 T cumin
4 T paprika
20 T brown sugar
4 T cayenne, or to taste (this makes it moderately spicy)
6 T salt
1 T pepper
1.5 T garlic powder
1/2 T mustard powder
1 T onion powder
1/2 T cumin
1 T paprika
5-6 T brown sugar
1 T cayenne, or to taste (this makes it moderately spicy)
1.5 T salt
4x recipe (makes about a quart)
4 T pepper
6 T garlic powder
2 T mustard powder
4 T onion powder
2 T cumin
4 T paprika
20 T brown sugar
4 T cayenne, or to taste (this makes it moderately spicy)
6 T salt
Sunday, August 10, 2014
Arugula, Walnut, and Blue Cheese Salad with Duck Confit
A rich salad, but one that takes some work because you'll have to make the duck confit (recipe to follow) yourself if you want to get the full richness of the dressing.
For the salad:
1 bunch arugula
1/2 head of frisee
1 1/2 C toasted walnuts, chopped
4 legs of duck confit
2 C dried cranberries or dried cherries
1 1/2 C crumbled blue cheese
Dressing:
2/3 C olive oil
2 T red wine vinegar
2 T sherry vinegar
1 1/2 T Dijon mustard
2 T shallot, chopped
2-3 T of confit fat*
3 T of confit jelly*
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 t liquid lecithin (optional, but it emulsifies the dressing well)
Preheat your oven to 425 F, then warm up the duck legs for ~12 minutes. Cool slightly, then separate the skin before shredding the duck. Crisp up the skin in a skillet as you would bacon.
Microwave the confit fat and jelly to liquify, then combine with the other dressing ingredients in a blender, and pulse to combine. Check for seasoning; if you omit the confit fat and jelly you'll probably need to add a fair amount of salt. Adding lecithin ensures that your dressing doesn't break as easily and makes it thicker and creamier; liquid lecithin can be found relatively cheaply in most health food stores.
Shred the arugula and frisee, then add the walnuts, blue cheese, and cranberries; top the salad with crumbles of crispy duck skin.
*Note: these are things that you can only get by making the confit yourself; after curing I confit my duck legs in a mixture of bacon grease and either lard or duck fat. When you get done with the confit you can separate out the fat from the liquid that comes out of the meat while being cooked. The liquid that comes out develops a LOT of flavor and gets a lot of gelatin from long slow cooking (it will set up like jello in the fridge making it easy to separate the fat and liquid). Both the fat and the jelly bring a lot of flavor and salt, so if you don't have these your dressing will be flatter and need more seasoning; it also won't have the same body, even with the lecithin.
For the salad:
1 bunch arugula
1/2 head of frisee
1 1/2 C toasted walnuts, chopped
4 legs of duck confit
2 C dried cranberries or dried cherries
1 1/2 C crumbled blue cheese
Dressing:
2/3 C olive oil
2 T red wine vinegar
2 T sherry vinegar
1 1/2 T Dijon mustard
2 T shallot, chopped
2-3 T of confit fat*
3 T of confit jelly*
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 t liquid lecithin (optional, but it emulsifies the dressing well)
Preheat your oven to 425 F, then warm up the duck legs for ~12 minutes. Cool slightly, then separate the skin before shredding the duck. Crisp up the skin in a skillet as you would bacon.
Microwave the confit fat and jelly to liquify, then combine with the other dressing ingredients in a blender, and pulse to combine. Check for seasoning; if you omit the confit fat and jelly you'll probably need to add a fair amount of salt. Adding lecithin ensures that your dressing doesn't break as easily and makes it thicker and creamier; liquid lecithin can be found relatively cheaply in most health food stores.
Shred the arugula and frisee, then add the walnuts, blue cheese, and cranberries; top the salad with crumbles of crispy duck skin.
*Note: these are things that you can only get by making the confit yourself; after curing I confit my duck legs in a mixture of bacon grease and either lard or duck fat. When you get done with the confit you can separate out the fat from the liquid that comes out of the meat while being cooked. The liquid that comes out develops a LOT of flavor and gets a lot of gelatin from long slow cooking (it will set up like jello in the fridge making it easy to separate the fat and liquid). Both the fat and the jelly bring a lot of flavor and salt, so if you don't have these your dressing will be flatter and need more seasoning; it also won't have the same body, even with the lecithin.
Friday, May 30, 2014
Cornbread
Simple cornbread, perfect to accompany BBQ. This is cooked in one of the greatest pieces of cookware ever: a cast iron skillet, which gives it a wonderful crunchy exterior.
1/2 C butter, melted
1/2 C white sugar
2 eggs
1 C buttermilk
1/2 t baking soda
1 C cornmeal
1 C all-purpose flour
1/2 t salt
Kernels from an ear of sweet corn (you can use two ears if you want extra fresh corn taste, but the cooking time increases slightly)
1-2 T rendered bacon grease, chilled (or oil/shortening if bacon grease isn't available)
Place a 10" cast iron skillet in the oven and preheat it to 375 F. Continue to heat it for another 15 minutes after the oven comes to temperature to ensure that the skillet is hot.
Meanwhile mix together all the ingredients except for the bacon grease.
When everything has preheated grease the skillet with the bacon grease; if the grease is chilled you can generally use a fork to move it around the sides and bottom of the skillet to cover the whole surface. Add the batter and bake for ~25 minutes, or until done.
1/2 C butter, melted
1/2 C white sugar
2 eggs
1 C buttermilk
1/2 t baking soda
1 C cornmeal
1 C all-purpose flour
1/2 t salt
Kernels from an ear of sweet corn (you can use two ears if you want extra fresh corn taste, but the cooking time increases slightly)
1-2 T rendered bacon grease, chilled (or oil/shortening if bacon grease isn't available)
Place a 10" cast iron skillet in the oven and preheat it to 375 F. Continue to heat it for another 15 minutes after the oven comes to temperature to ensure that the skillet is hot.
Meanwhile mix together all the ingredients except for the bacon grease.
When everything has preheated grease the skillet with the bacon grease; if the grease is chilled you can generally use a fork to move it around the sides and bottom of the skillet to cover the whole surface. Add the batter and bake for ~25 minutes, or until done.
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