Archive for the 'pork' Category
I worked today, cooking for Customer Appreciation Day at Willow Park. (On these days I get to rifle through their massive kitchens and challenge myself to creatively use up whatever has piled up in their fridges and freezers. They have an entire fridge devoted to cheese. Today they had more Spolumbos sausages than I ever care to see in one place again.)
I got home around 5, and we decided to have an impromptu barbecue on the back porch to celebrate the fact that a) the trees are finally starting to grow leaves, and b) it’s actually warm enough (33 this afternoon!) to have an impromptu barbecue on the back porch. So a bunch of assorted friends congregated in our back yard; K & N brought cross sections of corn on the cob, wrapped in bacon (inspired by the menu at Palomino). J & P brought teeny sweet peppers, tossed in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and chunks of pineapple threaded onto skewers to grill for dessert. Everything got thrown on the grill, but unfortunately I got distracted taking photos of all the boys hanging out the kitchen window and our bacon-wrapped corn caught fire. After extracting the cobs, we actually had to douse the lingering flames with baking soda.
To make bacon-wrapped corn, all you need to do is cut the corn into chunks about the same width as your strips of bacon, then wrap a strip of bacon around each piece, securing it with a toothpick. (Soak them in water first if you don’t want them to burn.) Grill, turning as you need to, until the corn is sort of shrink-wrapped by the cooked bacon.
The peppers, similarly, were slicked with oil (and a bit of balsamic) and tossed whole onto the grill until they were slightly charred and soft, then returned into their bowl with its oily, vinegary residue.
I didn’t have much time to think about what to make (Spolumbos sausage would have been easy), nor did I feel much like cooking anymore, so called my trusty pork satay into service - besides being quick, they are easy for larger numbers of people to eat while sitting on folding chairs on the deck. Plus, I haven’t met a little boy yet who didn’t love meat on a stick.
I told you - when I stumble upon something that works, I make it over and over again. I did switch back to the maple-rosemary version though.
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Maple-Rosemary Pork Satay
2 pork tenderloins
Marinade:
1/4 cup maple syrup
3 Tbsp. lemon juice
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. grainy Dijon mustard (or any mustard you like)
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary
Cut the pork tenderloin in half widthwise, then into even strips lengthwise. Put them into a ziplock bag along with the marinade ingredients; knead the bag a bit to blend everything, then stash in the fridge for up to 24 hours or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
When ready to grill, soak bamboo skewers for at least 10 minutes, then thread the pork onto the skewers and grill for a couple minutes per side (depending on the thickness of the pork), just until done. Serve hot, warm or cold, preferably with peanut sauce.
Makes lots. (We fed 8 adults and 5 kids.)
For dessert, the pineapple was simply grilled until it was soft and grill-marked, then drizzled with honey.
And finally, a raspberry crumble cake, made with a handful of the frozen raspberries I keep in the freezer for smoothies. This eat-straight-from-the-pan cake is one of my favorite go–to recipes, and perfect for summer because you get the benefit of cake and fruit crumble all in one. It’s not too sweet, easy to eat with your fingers, and can be made with any kind of fruit you have around, even if it’s getting wrinkly. In the summer, use berries, peaches or plums, and add some grated lemon zest to the batter. At Christmas, try it with pears and cranberries with grated orange zest in the batter.
Apple, Plum or Berry Crumble Cake
Sometimes I throw a handful of sliced almonds into the crumble mixture, or sprinkle them overtop before the cake goes into the oven. For a raspberry-almond cake, you could also use almond extract in place of the vanilla in the cake batter; this would go well with raspberries.
Crumble:
1/2 cup whole wheat or all-purpose flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1-2 Tbsp. ground flax seed (optional)
a shake of cinnamon (optional)
2-3 Tbsp. butter
Cake:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup low fat sour cream or plain yogurt
Fruit:
a large apple (peeled and sliced), or 3 plums, pitted and thickly sliced, or a large peach or nectarine, pitted and sliced, or a cup or so of fresh or frozen (unthawed) berries
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray an 8″ square or round pan with nonstick spray.
To make the crumble, stir together the flour, brown sugar, flax seed, cinnamon and butter and blend it with a fork or your fingers until the mixture is well-combined and crumbly. Set aside.
To make the cake, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. In a medium bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until it’s light and fluffy. Beat in the egg. Add half the flour mixture and stir by hand just until it’s combined. Stir in the sour cream, then the remaining flour mixture, stirring until it’s just blended.
Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Spread the apples, plums, peaches or berries on top and sprinkle with the crumble mixture. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the cake is golden and springy to the touch. (Springiness may be difficult to test with the fruit in the way – you could also test it by sticking a toothpick or bamboo skewer into the cake. If it comes out with moist, not gooey, crumbs sticking to it, it’s done.)
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May 17 2008 | appetizers and cake and pork and snacks and sweet stuff and veg | 5 Comments »
Yesterday we spent a big chunk of the afternoon at Prince’s Island Park. Deciding that it had finally warmed up enough to warrant a picnic, we packed up all the leftover salads, a loaf of no-knead bread, chunk of cheese and the rest of the sweet potato cake, grabbed a jug of lemonade out of the fridge, stirred up a batch of peanut sauce and turned a couple of pork tenderloins that had been marinating in the fridge into satay. It was, I think, the Best Picnic Ever. As E (who is from the UK) put it: “this pork is the dogs’ bollocks!” (Apparently this is a good thing.)
Pork tenderloin hands-down makes the best satay. It’s the leanest but also the most tender cut of pork, and its shape naturally lends itself to being cut into long strips. I cut mine in half crosswise first, then lengthwise, making sure the pieces are fairly even. The best thing about satay is that you can freeze the pork in its marinade, which acts as a sort of insulation against freezer burn. So when you buy pork tenderloin, and they are much cheaper when you buy 4 than when you buy 1 or 2, you can slice up the extras, put them in a baggie, pour some sort of marinade over (I’ll pour a glug of orange or lime juice, a glug of soy sauce, a spoonful of brown sugar or honey and a smaller spoonful of grated ginger, and maybe a crushed clove of garlic and a drizzle of sesame oil), knead it a little to blend it all together and stash it in the freezer. When I want satay, I’ll pull it out and let it thaw; in a bowl of warm water if I’m in a hurry.
In this case I had been marinating the pork tenderloins whole in maple syrup, soy sauce, grainy mustard, lemon juice and some chopped rosemary, intending to turn them into something else, but sliced, skewered and grilled they were equally fantastic. We quickly grilled them (it only takes a few minutes), then wrapped them in foil and they were the perfect temperature by the time we spread out our blanket. Peanut sauce is essential: in this case I spooned some peanut butter into a blender and added a squirt of lime juice and some chicken stock to thin it down (coconut milk would work too, but is high in saturated fat), a glug of soy sauce to salt it, and a clove of garlic, spoonful of grated ginger, and a dab of curry paste to jazz it up. Whiz until smooth and it will keep in a jar in the fridge for at least a week. (If you absolutely must have a recipe, I posted one on Day 106.)
All this to say that tonight, after our company packed up and headed toward Drumheller, M and W ate the leftover satay and quinoa salad while I met my friend T for bellinis and pizza.
Pork Satay
2 pork tenderloins, trimmed of fat
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp. lime or lemon juice
1 Tbsp. packed brown sugar or honey
1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp. curry powder and/or 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
2 green onions, chopped
Combine everything but the pork in a medium bowl. Cut the pork into strips and add to the marinade, stirring well to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight, or freeze for up to 6 months.
Soak bamboo skewers in water while the pork is marinating. Thread strips of pork onto the skewers and grill or broil for about 3 minutes per side, just until cooked through. Serve hot, warm or cold with peanut sauce for dipping. Makes about 1 1/2 dozen satay.
Per satay: 56 calories, 1 g total fat (0.3 g saturated fat, 0.4 g monounsaturated fat, 0.1 g polyunsaturated fat), 9.3 g protein, 1.2 g carbohydrate, 22.3 mg cholesterol, 0.2 g fiber. 16% calories from fat.
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May 15 2008 | appetizers and on the grill and pork and snacks | No Comments »
It is purely by coincidence that the day I cleaned out my freezer and discovered no fewer than 5 bags of frozen chopped rhubarb I had squirreled away last summer was the very same day I noticed the first few shoots of rhubarb poking out of the ground.
I didn’t have the gumption to bake a pie, and there was at least 5 pies’ worth of rhubarb there anyway. So I stirred some into muffins; a recipe from Nigella’s Feast that she credits to Bev Laing of Edmonton, and the rest I dumped into a pot with the better part of a bag of frozen cranberries, some sugar and a spoonful of orange juice concentrate, and cooked it into cranberry-rhubarb sauce. (Or compote, if you want to be fancy about it.) I mean, why not? Both are red and tart; it’s like they were meant for each other.
I had a thawed pork tenderloin that needed cooking, so I rubbed it down with a bit of cumin, paprika, brown sugar, salt and pepper, then a little oil, and grilled it. I didn’t really care what I did to it; the pork was a mere vehicle for the sauce. While it grilled (or vice versa) I boiled some brown and wild rice the way I’d cook pasta - in lots of water - for about 45 minutes, and threw in some thawed frozen peas for the last 5 minutes. (W will eat rice, and rice with stuff in it, but the peas cannot stand alone.) A great fiber combo - brown and wild rice are of course good sources of fiber, but peas are even better, containing about 4 times as much as the rice.
The leftover sauce went into a bowl with some plain yogurt, oats, raisins and the grated remains of W’s half-eaten apple, and was stirred together to make muesli for breakfast and to dip into for the rest of the week. (The oats will absorb the moisture overnight, making it nice and thick.)
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April 29 2008 | breakfast and on the grill and pork | No Comments »
There’s nothing wrong with reheated leftover mashed sweet potatoes. Until you’ve been eating them for 3 days and hardly make a dent in them. I decided they needed to be transformed into something else.
Fortunately, one of the jars on my shelf contains tiny orange lentils, which I hardly ever use but reminded me of the soup I made way back on day 2. So I chopped and sautéed the usual onion-garlic-ginger trio in a little canola oil until it smelled nice, then threw in a small spoonful of curry paste, two handfuls of lentils, a 1L tetra pack of chicken stock and a little extra water, and let it simmer. (The great thing about lentils, besides the fact that they are so good for you, is that you don’t need to pre-soak them like you do other dried legumes.) When they were soft, I scraped the last of the mashed sweet potatoes into the pot, warmed it through and blended it all, right in the pot on the stove, with my hand-held immersion blender. (I’m not the gadgety type, but this is one of the kitchen tools I could not happily live without. I don’t have the patience to transfer hot soup in batches to my blender in order to puree it.)
I wasn’t going to add any coconut milk. It was good on its own. But it needed thinning, and I couldn’t stop imagining how well it would take to some creamy coconut milk. I settled on half a can of light coconut milk, with a drop of coconut extract to boost flavor without adding any more saturated fat.
The soup was tasty, but not quite enough for dinner. Besides, when I cleaned out my freezer yesterday I pulled out a pork tenderloin to thaw, committing myself to do something with it. I haven’t made chipotle pork peanut chili recently, and had also enearthed a few chipotles in a baggie in the freezer (you never use an entire can at once).
I would probably not have called this chili had I come up with it completely on my own. One might argue that this isn’t really chili because it doesn’t contain beans, and I suppose they’d be right. But it was inspired by the Georgia chili in Jane & Michael Stern’s classic cookbook Chili Nation, which doesn’t have beans either, and it still made the cut. Who am I to argue with Jane and Michael?
You start by browning a pork tenderloin, finish it in the oven (browning adds flavor and a crunchy, caramelized exterior), then slice it and stir it into a peanutty tomato sauce that is meanwhile simmering on the stove. (For some reason the spicy peanuttyness of it reminds me of the swimming rama we used to order at Thai Away Home in Vancouver.) Serve it with a spoonful of rice, and dinner’s done in under half an hour.
Chipotle Peanut Pork Chili
1 pork tenderloin
canola or olive oil, for cooking
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 14 oz. (398 ml) can diced tomatoes, or 2 fresh ripe tomatoes, diced
2 cups tomato sauce
1/2 cup all natural peanut butter, or 3/4 cup plain or salted peanuts
1-2 chipotles en abodo, finely chopped
1 tsp. cumin
salt & pepper to taste
steamed rice, to serve with
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Brown the pork tenderloin well in a drizzle of olive or canola oil in a skillet set over medium-high heat. Pop the skillet in the oven and roast for 15-20 minutes, or until just cooked through.
Meanwhile, cook the onion and garlic in another drizzle of oil in a medium pot set over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until translucent. If you are using fresh tomatoes, add them and cook for another few minutes, until softened.
Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, peanut butter, chipotles, cumin, and some salt and pepper. If you have whole peanuts or want the chipotles blended completely into the sauce, pulse them along with the tomato sauce in a food processor until smooth, then add to the pot. Simmer for 10-15 minutes.
Slice the pork tenderloin about 1/4″ thick and add to the pot; serve over rice. Serves 4.
As I was about to make a little pot of basmati rice I remembered the half can of coconut milk leftover from the soup. Perfect! A cup of rice to a cup of coconut milk and a cup of water, and we had coconut rice that, it turns out, was delicious piled into a bowl with the soup ladled overtop. I ended up eating that for dinner, and then a few slices of pork, retrieved straight from the pot with a fork.
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April 11 2008 | pork | 4 Comments »
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It occurred to me as I reached the late 90s that I should do something to commemorate my 100th post. 100! It’s astounding how much one can accomplish when one forces oneself to do a little bit every night.
I quickly emailed my family, inviting them all to dinner to celebrate. This is how I “entertain”: invite now, think and clean up later. It’s the old “throw your hat over the fence” analogy: if you throw your hat over the fence, you have to climb over and get it. People always ask how we have time to have parties or people over for brunch or dinner - if you wait until there’s a gap in your schedule, you’ll never have time. Just invite people over, and you’ll find it. Plus if we never had people coming over we’d never be forced to clean the house properly.
But. There were 8 adults coming to dinner, and 5 kids aged 2, 3, 5 and 9. All were arriving at times their schedule would permit. Mike thought I was going to make something ultra-fancy, but when I invite family or friends over for dinner I do it for the company, not to be all gourmet about it. (Although, admittedly, people are often used as guinea pigs around here.)
Solution: ham. (Question: why do they call it baked ham, but roast beef or turkey, when it’s the same process?) Ham is already cooked, so all you’re doing is glazing and reheating it. It’s impossible to screw up. It isn’t going to be ruined if people are late. Everyone can carve off as much as they like, and it’s just as fine at room temperature than fresh from the oven. Kids love it. Plus it makes the best leftovers. I’ve had my eye on this spinach-potato-ham hash with poached egg on top on the cover of last month’s Canadian Living.
Unfortunately, my plan was not as obstacle-free as I intended, but I did learn something from the experience. I sent Mike to the grocery store and he came back with a smoked pork shoulder (also known as a picnic ham, I imagine because its smaller size makes it more portable for those types who would lug an entire ham along on a picnic), something I hadn’t cooked before. It had a thick layer of fat and skin on top, and was tightly wrapped in mesh. Although it was cured, so presumably the same as any other smoked ham and not a raw pork shoulder that would require lengthy cooking, it had these vague instructions on the package: cook and eat.
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So was it cooked? Uncooked? It was smoked, so that should have answered my question, but this is the sort of thing you want to be sure of when you have 14 people over for dinner. I Googled it, and every site I found seemed to think the thing needed to be braised, but it wasn’t raw. Apparently there are partially cooked smoked shoulders and fully cooked smoked shoulders, but there was no indication which this was. Ultimately I decided to take the advice of one site and cover it with cold water in a large pot, bring it to a boil and dump the water out to draw some of the sodium out, then fill it halfway full again and braise it for an hour (braising is a long slow cooking method with some moisture involved), then pulled it out, scored the skin and popped it in the oven like I would any other ham. The biggest problem seemed to lie with this slab of fat and skin on top - presumably what would turn into those cracklings everyone makes such a fuss about - but with it in the way, where does the glaze go? So I scored it and threw it in the oven, then when it started to turn crackly I cut it off, put it in its own pan to finish cooking, and painted on a glaze made with equal parts brown sugar, grainy mustard and balsamic vinegar. (No one ate the cracklings. They were a little too Hannibal Lecter for me.)
While it roasted (or baked?) I poked 3 big sweet potatoes/yams (depending on how your grocer has decided to label them) with a fork and slid them onto the oven rack around it. I adore sweet potatoes, and often wonder why they aren’t often used for more than oven fries. To mash them, you don’t need to peel and boil them like you might with regular potatoes. Just bake them, which contains any nutrients and gives them even more flavor - like cooking meat on the bone makes it more flavorful, so does cooking potatoes in their skins - they will darken and caramelize a bit just below the surface. When they are soft, pull them out, pull off their skins (this is easy, as the flesh tends to withdraw a bit from its skin, creating an air pocket that makes it simple to pull off wit your fingers) and mash with a bit of butter and a spoonful of orange juice concentrate - I scoop it straight from the freezer; it will melt into the hot potatoes. A bit of salt and pepper, and a drizzle of milk if they are too dry, and they are done. If you like, a drizzle of maple syrup is delicious too. Sweet potatoes tend to not be as starchy as white potatoes, so they are actually moister and easier to mash.
The mac & cheese was actually whole wheat rotini & cheese, since I knew that’s primarily what the kids would end up eating. (Brown rice pasta has an even better mouthfeel, but I didn’t have any.) Don’t hate me for saying so, but I don’t use a recipe when I make mac & cheese. I boil as much pasta as I want to make (just as you would if you were making spagetti for the family) and while it cooks, make a roux out of roughly equal parts butter and flour. A roux is just butter and flour, whacked into a hot pan and melted, smoothing out all the lumps. Pour some milk in (2 cups or so per 3 Tbsp. of butter-flour - you’ll get a feel for it) and bring it to a gentle boil. You won’t be able to tell how thick it’s going to get until it starts to bubble - once it bubbles for a full minute it will have reached its full thickening potential, and you’l get rid of any starchy, floury taste. Stir in a few handfuls of grated cheese, and it will melt into the sauce. I discovered a block of Swiss in my fridge that wasn’t going anywhere, and it melted beautifully. Drain the pasta and stir it into the cheese sauce, or vice versa. You could serve it at this point, or scatter it with crumbs (or more cheese) and bake it until it’s bubbly.
Macaroni & Cheese
Mac and cheese that doesn’t come out of a box is something everyone should be able to make. It doesn’t require much more time or effort than KD, and is the ultimate in comfort food. Experiment by adding different cheeses – intensely flavored ones such as Gruyère or blue cheese are best. It’s a great way to get rid of leftover cheese bits you might have lurking in the fridge.
1/2 lb. (250 g) dry macaroni, whole wheat rotini, small shells or other pasta
Salt
3 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. flour
2 1/2 cups milk
2-3 cups grated old cheddar cheese, or any combination of cheeses you have in the fridge
Bread Crumb Topping (optional):
2 slices sandwich bread (preferrably whole wheat), torn into pieces
2 Tbsp. canola or olive oil or melted butter
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the pasta until it’s tender but not mushy. Drain well in a colander and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In the empty pot (no need to wash it out), melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour and mustard and stir well with a whisk, cooking for a minute or so until the mixture starts to turn golden. Stir in the milk and bring the sauce to a boil, whisking constantly. The sauce must reach a full boil in order for the flour to reach its full thickening potential. Reduce the heat and simmer for a few minutes, until the mixture is nice and thick.
Remove the sauce from the heat and stir in the cheese until it melts. Add salt to taste, then stir in the drained pasta. If you want a bread crumb topping, pulse the bread, butter and Parmesan in a food processor until the bread turns to crumbs and the mixture is well blended. Pour the macaroni and cheese into an appropriately sized baking dish and top with the bread crumbs or additional cheese. (It can be made up to 24 hours ahead and refrigerated in the baking dish; sprinkle with the crumb mixture or cheese right before you bake it.) Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the topping is golden and it’s bubbly around the edges.
Serves 4-6.
The free 4 pound box of strawberries that came with $150 worth of groceries at Superstore earlier in the week made up my mind about dessert: strawberry shortcakes. Easy, not fancy, kids love it. And what else am I going to do with 4 pounds of strawberries before my rhubarb has begun to sprout?
Strawberry shortcakes are generally made with biscuits sweetened with a little more sugar; since I’ve already posted my whole wheat and olive oil biscuit recipe, I thought I’d use one that I made when I did food styling for Trish Magwood a few months ago; these are apparently her hottest sellers back at Dish in Toronto. (As usual, I changed the recipe a bit.) If you want a more nutritious shortcake, use the whole wheat biscuit recipe and add a couple tablespoons of sugar to the dry ingredients.
Strawberry Shortcakes
3 cups all-purpose flour (or half all-purpose, half whole wheat)
1/3 cup sugar
2 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
¾ cup butter, cut into pieces
1 cup buttermilk
coarse sugar for sprinkling (optional)
2 lb strawberries, hulled, sliced and tossed with a little extra sugar if you like (this will coax some of the juice out of the strawberries, which makes everything nicer)
1 cup whipping cream, whipped with a drop of vanilla and a spoonful of sugar
Preheat oven to 425°F.
In a bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add butter pieces, using fingertips or pastry blender, work butter into dry ingredients until mixture resembles course cornmeal. Leave a few larger pieces to create flakiness. (I do all this in the food processor, then dump it into a bowl to stir in the buttermilk.)
Add buttermilk and mix with a spatula until ingredients are moistened (do not over mix).
Gather dough into a disk on a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. Pat into a circle that is about 1″ thick; brush with a little extra buttermilk or milk (you can even use your fingers with this) and if you have some, sprinkle with coarse sugar. Cut into 8 triangles. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden.
Split the biscuits and load up with strawberries and whipped cream.
Serves 8.
As it turned out we were celebrating more than Day 100; my brother in law Rory just finished writing his medical exams, Emily made the 1st tier soccer team, my Mom survived their AGM yesterday, my parents bought a house just blocks from us, Willem got up in the middle of the night to pee in the toilet. (And a couple other things I’m not allowed to post for thousands to see, sorry.) And it was Wednesday, and we were all together for dinner.
So much to celebrate.
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April 09 2008 | dessert and pasta and pork and sweet stuff | 5 Comments »
Mike complained loudly last night as I was pre-roasting pork ribs for CBC that I always make ribs for Jim (Brown, host of the Eyeopener) and never for him.
There is some truth to this. OK, a lot of truth. But who makes ribs for dinner on an average Tuesday night? Or ever, really, unless it’s someone’s birthday, or a BBQ, or some other sort of big event? The only time we ever get ribs is when Mike plays the Palomino or my mom picks up take-out from Swiss Chalet.
I adore ribs, but they are so high in fat that I never feel right about making them for myself. I reserve them for making other people happy. Well-made ribs are the best way to win friends and influence people.
Then again, I’ve eaten a lot of black bean soup this year, dammit. So I bought a big rack of pork back ribs today, and popped them in the oven this afternoon. This is the secret to ultra-tender ribs: prebaking them. Some people boil them, but I find that too messy and awkward, what with the giant pot of water on the stovetop. All I do is plop them on one of my cookie sheets (make sure it’s rimmed - those suckers have a lot of fat on them), cover them with foil and bake them at 300°F for about 2 hours. If you want, you could rub the meat with a dry rub first. This would have been a good idea, except that I planned to make the honey-garlic-ginger-soy version I made for Jim (et al) this morning. Sadly, when I went to mix up the sauce, I discovered there was only about a tablespoon of soy sauce left. Thankfully we have half a case of Canadian Club BBQ sauce in the basement, left over from some samples they sent, so we used that.
(As an aside, I’m always amused when people rave about the depth of flavor Canadian Club whiskey adds to its BBQ sauce; when you read the ingredient list, the whisky comes second to last, after modified corn starch and before xanthan gum. Of course brown sugar and sugar are the first two ingredients.)
I didn’t feel like expending any more energy on this meal beyond the ribs, so threw a few small potatoes on the oven rack above them. Baked potatoes are something I hardly ever make, except as a vehicle for a scoop of chili, but they seem the penultimate ballast to ribs. Great - greasy ribs and buttery baked potatoes. I made some peas and opened up a tub of spring greens to ease my conscience a bit.
Still, it was not a healthy dinner. Mike is now lying on his back on the couch, groaning. I’m thankful for my stretchy pants, and am already anticipating a nice meal of barley and lentils tomorrow. Neither of us feel like taking W to the park now, despite the fact that it’s still sunny and beautiful outside. Ribs seemed like a good idea at the time.
I have to go digest now.
Honey, Ginger & Garlic Ribs (from this morning on CBC)
2 racks pork spareribs
1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
canola oil, for cooking with
3/4 cup honey
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tsp. cornstarch
Preheat the oven to 300°F. Place the ribs meat side up on a rimmed baking sheet, and cover the pan completely with foil. Bake them for 2 hours. (This part can be done in advance; you can then refrigerate the ribs for up to a day or so.)
Sauté the garlic and ginger in a drizzle of oil in a fairly large pot – one that will accommodate the ribs. Add the honey, rice vinegar and soy sauce to the garlic and ginger. After baking the ribs in the foil, let them cool slightly, cut them into individual ribs, and then add them to the pot. Simmer for 45 minutes, until the ribs are very tender. Dissolve cornstarch in about a tablespoon of cold water and add it to the sauce; cook until it bubbles and thickens slightly. Add more cornstarch and water if you want the sauce even thicker. Serve the ribs and sauce over steamed rice.
Oven-Roasted Barbecue Ribs (which I actually made tonight, minus the dry rub)
If you want to grill your ribs, you can do the initial cooking in the oven (up to a day or two in advance) and then finish them off on the grill.
Dry Rub (enough for about 4 big racks of ribs)
2 Tbsp. paprika
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 Tbsp. ground cumin
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. salt
2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp. oregano
2 racks spareribs, trimmed of excess fat
1-2 cups barbecue sauce
If you want to use the dry rub, combine all the ingredients for it and rub the ribs all over with the mixture, covering both sides. Let them stand at room temperature for an hour, or wrap them well in plastic and refrigerate them for up to 24 hours to intensify the flavors. If you aren’t using the rub, just sprinkle the ribs with salt and pepper. Keep any extra rub in an airtight container – it will last for about a year before it starts to lose its punch.
Preheat the oven to 300°F. Place the ribs meat side up on a rimmed baking sheet, and cover the pan completely with foil. Bake them for 2 hours. Remove the foil and slather the ribs generously with barbecue sauce. Roast for another hour, until the meat is very tender and starting to fall off the bone.
If you want to grill your ribs, cook them in the foil for 2 1/2 hours. (They can be made ahead up to this point, and then refrigerated for up to a day before you need them.) Brush the ribs with sauce and grill over medium-low heat for about 15 minutes.
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March 11 2008 | on the grill and pork | 3 Comments »
I was home for dinner tonight! We taped overnight last night - 10:30 pm until about 11 am - so by dinnertime today a sane person might have considered ordering a pizza. Stephen, the Sound Guy on set, asked the other day if I ever get tired of cooking. I do. But not very often, and not for long. And for some reason the thought of pulling together dinner tonight was not at all daunting; after all, I didn’t need to tag team with Ned, or time everything right for the camera, or think of anything smart and witty to say about whatever it was I was chopping or cooking while trying to stand up straight and suck it in. The thought of pulling together a quick dinner for the three of us at home in my own kitchen in my PJ pants without talking anyone through it was a relief.
I made a sort of chile-spiced pulled pork goulash kind of thing back in January, and while rummaging through my freezer the other night in an attempt to locate something prepared and edible, unearthed a container and pulled it out. I threw it into a pot. Further rummaging revealed the last of the baked beans, which I figured would get along nicely with the pork. That went in too. And to serve it over, Sloppy Joe-style, some warm biscuits. This is my favorite biscuit recipe: made with olive or canola oil and half whole wheat flour, they take on any flavor you like very well. Had I had some in the fridge I might have added some grated cheese. On weekend mornings, I add a couple spoonfuls of sugar and throw in some fresh or frozen (unthawed) berries, or raisins, or chopped dried apricots and ginger. Brushing the top with a little milk will make them brown nicely. If you are making a sweet version, some plain or coarse sugar scattered on top is also a Good Thing.
Whole Wheat & Olive Oil Biscuits
These are made healthier with the addition of olive oil and whole wheat flour, but you can use all white flour if you like. To flavor the dough, add grated lemon or orange zest, ginger, fresh or dried herbs (such as basil or rosemary) or spices (such as cinnamon, star anise or fennel seed), or stir in a handful of grated cheese or fresh, frozen or dried berries.
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 Tbsp. sugar (optional)
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup butter, chilled and cut into pieces
1/4 cup olive or canola oil
3/4 cup milk or buttermilk
Any additions you like (optional)
Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray.
Put the flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in the bowl of a food processor or into a medium mixing bowl and pulse or stir until well blended. Add the butter and oil and pulse or stir with a wire whisk or fork until crumbly. If you’re using a food processor, transfer the mixture to a medium bowl.
Add the milk and stir gently until the dough begins to come together. Add any additions (cheese, raisins, nuts, fruit etc.) as you stir the dough together.
For wedge-shaped biscuits, pat the dough into a circle that is about 1” thick and 8”-9” in diameter on the cookie sheet. (If they are sweet and you want a brown, crunchy top, brush them with a little milk and sprinkle with sugar.) Cut the circle into 8 wedges with a knife or pastry cutter and separate them on the sheet so that they are at least an inch apart. For round biscuits, pat the dough about 1” thick and cut it into rounds with a biscuit cutter, glass rim or open end of a can, rerolling the scraps only once to get as many biscuits as possible.
Bake for about 20 minutes, until golden. Serve warm. Wrap well and freeze any you don’t eat the same day. Makes 8 biscuits.
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March 03 2008 | beans and bread and pork and sandwiches | 1 Comment »
Wor won ton soup is one of Mike’s favorite things. From King’s in particular - there was that one time, when he was working for a helicopter company out by the original King’s in the northeast, when he went for the Friday wor won ton soup run and bailed down the icy slope right outside the front door, dumping 6 large (about 1L) containers of the soup version of pure gold all over himself and producing a chunky, icy soup slide as it instantly froze on the grass. On a happy note, King’s graciously replaced them all for him, but he now frequents the southeast location.
I had pulled a package of won ton wrappers from the freezer awhile ago in order to make chips - to do this, cut the wrappers into triangles or strips, brush them with a little oil or water to help any seasonings adhere, and sprinkle them with any number of flavorings: lemon pepper, sesame seeds and Parmesan cheese, curry powder, or some of that powdered ranch dip mix. Toast them in the oven on a baking sheet until golden, and you’ll have crunchy, low calorie crackers that are able to structurally tolerate loads of chunky dip.
But a package of wonton wrappers will produce more chips than you’ll need for even the biggest bash. Fortunately, there are other uses for them. Wontons, for example.
(Note: When they are round, they are referred to as gyoza wrappers, and the square ones are wonton wrappers. Same thing, different shape.)
Making wontons by hand, to drop into simmering stock or brown on the stovetop and steam to make potstickers, are far simpler than you might think. All you require is a pound of ground pork, turkey, chicken or a combination (chopped shrimp or scallops are divine too), spiked with a little ginger, soy, green onion and sesame oil. Fill the wrappers, moisten the edges and seal them. While you’re at it, make a lot, and freeze them on a cookie sheet; this will prevent them from sticking to each other when you transfer them to a freezer bag.
The frozen wontons can be dropped into simmering stock with some broccoli, carrots, bok choy, and even whole shrimp or leftover slices of roast pork for wor won ton (or just won ton, if you don’t want to accessorize) that almost makes it unnecessary to do soup runs anymore.
(I said almost.)
Wonton Soup
For the wontons:
1/2 lb. ground pork, or half pork and half ground turkey
2 green onions, finely chopped, or some chopped fresh parsley or cilantro
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. rice vinegar
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. grated fresh ginger
salt & pepper
About 30 wonton wrappers, thawed if frozen
Chicken, beef or shrimp stock
Bok choy, chopped spinach, sliced carrots, broccoli, pea shoots, baby corn, fresh or frozen shrimp, sliced cooked pork tenderloin, or anything else you like in your soup
To make the wontons, stir together all the filling ingredients just until combined – as with any meat mixture, don’t overwork it or it could end up tough.
Put a little water into a small bowl. Put a couple wonton wrappers on your work surface, keeping the rest covered so that they don’t dry out. Place a small spoonful of the pork mixture in the middle of each one, dip your finger in the water, and run it along two edges to moisten. Fold the wonton over to make a triangle, and press to seal. Now you could leave them like that, or moisten the tips and fold them closed, like a tortellini. Or, you could moisten the edges and then just squish them all up in a bundle, pressing them together so it doesn’t pop open. You’ll get the hang of it.
To freeze, lay them in a single layer on a cookie sheet and freeze solid; then transfer to freezer bags and store for up to 4 months. To make soup, drop fresh or frozen wontons into simmering stock; add bok choy or any other veg you like, and simmer for a few minutes, 3 or 4, to cook the wontons through – the veg should cook along with them, but still stay fairly crisp. If you want to add shrimp, add them at the end and cook just until they turn opaque, or if they are already cooked, just until they heat through. If you want to add bits of cooked pork, add it at the end as well.
If you like, soak some Asian noodles and divide them among bowls; pour the hot soup overtop. If you like, sprinkle with some torn cilantro. Put bottles of soy sauce and chili sauce on the table so everyone can season their own bowls.
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January 30 2008 | freezable and pork and soup | 4 Comments »
Mike saw my blog last night. He came into the bedroom and said, “people are going to think you’re so full of it. They aren’t going to believe we eat that kind of thing for dinner on a normal night!”
Is this true? Am I coming across as a food snob? Because really, any meal that you write out in overly descriptive terms comes across far more cheffy than it really is. I learned this a couple years ago, when they invited me to be a presenter at Epicurean at the Jasper Park Lodge. The lineup included Chef Michael Smith, Brad Horen (recently named the best chef in Canada), some other serious restaurant chefs, and me. I argued that they didn’t really want me there - I’m not a formally trained restaurant chef with my hard-earned whites and line experience. My expertise is more on the eating end of things. They seemed confident that I would fit in, so I set to work putting together some menus - we were each responsible for a course at every fancy meal. And it turns out if you use superfluous words when describing your food, anything can sound cheffy. Example:
roasted grain-fed tenderloin of pork in a maple-cider reduction
with fresh rosemary and caramelized pink lady apples
(I love because they were my Grandma’s favorite, and in homage to the Pink Ladies of Grease.)
smashed Poplar Bluff Farm potatoes with buttermilk and grainy Dijon
vanilla bean panna cotta with braised cherries
Translation: roast pork tenderloin in an easy marinade, with apples that have been sliced and sauteed in the same pan the pork was browned in, with the simmered marinade poured over top. The bag of potatoes we found under the sink, gouged the sprouting eyes out of and chopped in pieces without bothering to peel them, boiled and roughly mashed with a potato masher with a few glugs of buttermilk, a small knob of butter and a spoonful of grainy mustard. Cream Jell-O - literally, you make panna cotta in about 4 minutes by dissolving gelatin and sugar into half & half, spiking it perhaps with some vanilla and chilling it in little bowls - with dried cherries simmered on the stovetop in some sort of juice or booze until plump.
So tonight there were 31 people at my class, and it was fun. I was so excited about that goat cheese gratin the other night, I made it for all of them to try. Then I made the aforementioned pork tenderloin (although the idea to use mustard came afterward; I added a spoonful of the onions I caramelized for the stuffed chicken), those orange peanut shrimp (with spinach thrown in to wilt this time, and extra sauce), chicken breasts stuffed with brie, caramelized onions and garlic (read: onions and garlic cooked in a pan until brown), and an easy lasagna made with layers of fresh ravioli, which I think I’ll make tomorrow, it looked so good. And for dessert, chocolate sorbet.
Maple Roast Pork Tenderloin with Apples
This made it onto the Epicurean menu – for which we fancied it up with mashed potatoes and parsnips (correction: puree of potatoes and parsnips with crème fraiche) and roasted tomatoes on the vine. But I suggest serving it on the couch in a wide, shallow bowl, over a big glop of mashed potatoes to catch all the drips.
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 Tbsp. Dijon or grainy mustard
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 – 3/4 lb pork tenderloins
1 Tbsp. canola oil
1 Tbsp. butter
2 of your favorite apples, cored and sliced
1 cup apple cider or juice, or more to taste
1 tsp. cornstarch
In a small bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, mustard, rosemary, lemon juice, and soy sauce. Pour over the pork and marinate for at least 2 hours, or overnight.
When you’re ready for dinner, preheat the oven to 400F. Heat the oil in a large skillet set over medium-high heat. Remove the pork from the marinade, reserving the marinade, and brown the tenderloins on all sides, turning as necessary. This should take about 5 minutes.
Transfer the pork to a baking dish and bake for 15-20 minutes. (If you have a meat thermometer, it should register 155°F/68°C). Transfer the pork to a cutting board, cover it with foil, and let it stand until you’re ready for it.
Meanwhile, add the butter to the skillet (don’t wash it out!) and sauté the apples for 5-7 minutes, until the apples are tender and golden. Transfer the apples to a plate. Add the marinade and apple cider to the pan and bring to a simmer, scraping up any flavourful browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pan.
Pour a small amount of the sauce (about 1/4 cup) into a small dish, whisk in the cornstarch until you get rid of all the lumps (this is called a slurry) and return the mixture to the pan. Simmer for about 5 minutes, until the sauce is slightly thickened. Return the apples to the sauce along with any juices that have collected on the plate.
Slice the pork and serve it topped with the apples and sauce. Serves 4-6.
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January 22 2008 | pork | 3 Comments »
Today I’ve been working on an article about chiles, and as such, testing recipes that use them. My countertop is covered with dried guillano, ancho and as-yet-unidentified green, red and purplish chile peppers.
One of the recipes I tested was sort of a pulled pork-goulash-sloppy José kind of thing. Using pork shoulder, I wanted to braise it, so since I didn’t get started until after 10 pm I browned it first in my skillet, then put it all in the slow cooker last night before I went to bed, fully intending to get up at 3am and check on it - in fact, I got a little giddy at the idea of sitting alone at the kitchen table in the middle of the night, writing something stirring that could only come to me at such an odd hour. The single light above me might swing subtly back and forth, as if I was in the bowel of a ship. Why does the image of a brilliant and intent writer always include darkness save for a single light source?
So yeah, at 3am I could not think of anything I wanted to do less than to go downstairs and sit at the kitchen table to think Deep Thoughts. Especially since last night a rare event occurred - W didn’t climb into bed and claw at my face all night long. (The only problem with this scenario is that I always wake up anyway, assuming he has suffocated or sleepwalked out a window.)
So tonight, dinner was taken care of. Being a sloppy mixture of pork, tomatoes and chilies, I figured it would do well over a wedge of cornbread, to which I added some sauteed orange pepper and grated queso fresco - fresh cheese - which I grabbed at La Tiendona market the other day as I was chile pepper shopping. (Cheddar would work just as well.)
I think, though, that there are other things you could do with this. 1) add a can of beans and call it chili, or 2) add a few spoonfuls of low fat sour cream, serve it over buttered noodles and call it goulash. But I’ve always been a fan of corn bread.
Chile-pulled Pork Goulash/Sloppy José
6 dried guajillo chiles
1 dried ancho chile
1 14 oz. (398 mL) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. hot or 1 Tbsp. mild smoked paprika
1/2 tsp. cumin
canola or olive oil, for drizzling
3-4 lbs. pork shoulder, with or without bone
2 onions, cut in half and thinly sliced
1 red pepper, seeded and sliced
1 yellow or orange pepper, seeded and sliced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
½ cup sour cream or crème fraiche (optional)
Buttered egg noodles, steamed rice, or cornbread, for serving
Cut the ends off the chilies and empty out the seeds. Tear or chop them into a bowl and pour boiling water overtop; let stand for 10 minutes or so.
Meanwhile, heat a drizzle of oil in a heavy skillet set over medium-high heat, and brown the pork shoulder on all sides. Transfer it to a Dutch oven or slow cooker. (If you want to cook this in the oven instead of the slow cooker, preheat it to 325°F.) Add the onions to the pan and cook until they start to turn brown; transfer the Dutch oven or slow cooker and brown the peppers in the same way. Add them to the pork and onions, and add the garlic, sugar and salt to the pot too.
Drain all but about 1/3 cup of the water from the soaked peppers, and add them to the bowl of a food processor or blender. Add the tomatoes, vinegar, oregano, paprika and cumin, and pulse until well blended and smooth. Pour over the pork.
If you are cooking the pork in the oven put a lid on the Dutch oven and put it into the oven for about 3 hours. If you are using a slow cooker, set it on low for about 6 hours. Take the lid off and test the meat – it should pull apart easily with a fork. Remove any bones and continue cooking with the lid off if you’d like to thicken the sauce. Skim any fat from the surface, or cool the pork completely, then refrigerate it overnight; this makes it easier to pull the solidified fat from the surface, and it always tastes better reheated the next day, after the flavors have had a chance to improve.
Using two forks, shred the meat and distribute it through the sauce. If you like, stir the sour cream or crème fraiche into the mixture right before serving over noodles, rice, or a wedge of warm cornbread.
Serves 8.
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January 18 2008 | pork and stews & braises | 2 Comments »
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