Rotisserie Pork - Char Siu Edition

First, man created fire. Then, man created a device to spin animal carcass over said fire.  I procured a rotisserie accessory for my grill last week and as soon as it arrived, put it to work on a recipe ripped off from my favorite blog Dad Cooks Dinner. 
http://www.dadcooksdinner.com/2010/02/rotisserie-pork-shoulder-char-siu-style.html

The nomBlog is a big fan of the pork shoulder.  While the pulled pork sandwich recipe proved to be a quick and easy project, this one took a little longer.  The roto (I'm not spelling out rotisserie more than I have to) took some tinkering to get the "universal" brackets to work just right.  Despite being a CharBroil product, like my grill, the parts were anything but.  Nothing a little creativity couldn't fix.  The meat itself marinated for a day (original plans to cook Saturday night ran into a sick wife who needed chicken soup, not a chunk of pork) and then I had to learn the basics of trussing.  I tied a bunch of knots that seemed to work.  Whether or not that can be called trussing, I'll let someone else decide.

The Marinade (or Brinerade as DCD calls it):

• 1 cup soy sauce
• 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
• 4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press (or 1 tbsp garlic powder)
• 2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated (or 2 tsp dried ginger)
• 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar (or dry sherry)
• 1 tbsp sesame oil

The Glaze:

• 2 tbsp reserved brinerade (or 2 tbsp soy sauce)
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup hoisin sauce

Split the pork, stab the pork, marinate the pork (anywhere from 2 hours to overnight), truss the pork, throw it on the spit.

For my 4 burner grill, I turned on both outers to full blast, placed a drip pan in the middle and let it spin for 30 minutes.  Lowered heat to medium for the remaining 45 minutes.  After 45, I took the glaze and basted it as it turned, letting it cook for another 10 minutes.

Off the grill, rested for 15 minutes, sliced.  Paired it with some stir fry bok choy.  Outstanding results.  I may try and tweak the grill a little bit next time and do the long cook at a slightly higher heat as it was slightly undercooked.  The meat thermometer registered at a nice 175 internally though, so I'll call it a success.

 

Chicken with Cannellini Beans and Tomatoes

What's that?  Two blog posts in one week? Thank Adrienne, who after hoarding piles of Realsimple magazines, dug through her collection and found two recipes that were both....well, real simple and real good.

This week of cooking has made me realize 2 things:

1. Adding fresh herbs is a must for just about any dish made at home. The flavors we got out of basic pork and chicken with nothing but salt, pepper and a few herbs was incredible
2. I need to grow my own herbs.  HEB has everything you need, but at 3 bucks a pop for a bundle of herbs, I'm paying more for that than the meal itself.  My hope was to wait for a new house, but this may be a porch project in the near future.

Ingredients

• 2 15.5-ounce cans cannellini beans, rinsed
• 1 pint grape tomatoes
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 4 sprigs fresh oregano, plus leaves for garnish
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 3 pounds total)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 425° F. In a 9-by-13-inch (or some other large) baking dish, toss the beans and tomatoes with the thyme and oregano sprigs, garlic, red pepper, 1 tablespoon of the oil, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon black pepper.
2. Pat the chicken dry and place on top of the bean mixture, skin-side up. Rub with the remaining tablespoon of oil; season with ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon black pepper.
3. Roast until the chicken is golden and cooked through, 35 to 45 minutes. Sprinkle with the oregano leaves.

 Recipe can also be found here

Final product (again, no prep shots):

Roasted Pork Chops, Sweet Potatoes and Kale

We finally sold the condo and moved into an apartment out close to Oak Hill while we wait on our dream house to hit the market. I was a little concerned that moving away from a downtown setting where everything you need is a walk or quick drive away would have spoiled us for suburban living.  Turns out, there's just as much, if not more, readily available in our new hood and we've taken full advantage.  Plus, less homeless people dying in our bushes or Rockabilly musicians dying around the corner.  So we have that going for us, which is nice.  New posts coming on Jack Allen's Kitchen and Cyprus Grill and maybe a few others we discover here soon.  However, now that we're settling in, its time to return to the kitchen and try and get those eating expenses down a scosh (Adrienne, sp?)

I made a much needed grocery run yesterday after work.  We tolerated the Oltorf HEB at our old place b/c, frankly, it was right across the street.  We knew it wasn't great, but it was convenient and made for good people watching at any hour of the night.  I tried out our new HEB...the mecca of HEB's on Escarpment.  Holy hell.  This is what a grocery store should be.  Wide aisles, carts with working wheels, extensive selection, great produce,wine tastings...are you f'n kidding me???  Ghetto HEB's, we're done.  I'm home now.

On the menu last night was a meal with actual sides...something I tend to forget to do when I find a main course I really want to try out.  This was ridiculously simple, and relatively quick on turnaround time.  I substituted sweet potatoes for the butternut squash.  Nothing elaborate or worth taking pictures of until the final product, but here's the recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 small butternut squash (about 2 pounds)—peeled, seeded, and cut into 1 1⁄2-inch pieces
• 1/4 cup fresh sage leaves
• 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon olive oil
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 4 bone-in pork chops (each 1 inch thick; about 2 pounds total)
• 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1 large bunch kale, thick ribs removed and leaves roughly chopped (about 14 cups)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400° F. On a large rimmed baking sheet, toss the squash with the sage, 1 tablespoon of the oil, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Roast, tossing once, until tender, 30 to 35 minutes.
2. When the squash has cooked for 20 minutes, heat 1 teaspoon of the remaining oil in a large skillet over high heat. Season the pork with ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Cook until browned, 3 to 5 minutes per side.
3. Transfer the pork to the baking sheet with the squash and roast until the pork is cooked through, 6 to 8 minutes more.
4. Meanwhile, return the skillet to medium heat and add the remaining tablespoon of oil. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the kale, ¼ cup water, and ¼ teaspoon salt. Cook, tossing the kale and scraping up any brown bits on the bottom of the skillet, until the kale is tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Serve with the pork and squash.

A microcosm of my evening. Dinner, cocktail, bumbo, play mat

Pork chop was cooked perfectly, sweet potatoes jived well with the sage, kale was delicious.

Stared while I devoured my meal.  Jealous a little bit perhaps?

Risotto al Funghi - Adventures in Stirring

I've likely mentioned it before, but my favorite show on the tube is Anthony Bourdain - No Reservations.  Great writer (just finished his latest book, Medium Raw) and great TV personality.  His latest episode documented his first trip to Rome, shot in black and white.  The final scene was he and a friend on a beach in the Mediterranean cooking up a feast for family and friends.  Among many amazing looking dishes, was a simple risotto, cooked in a big pot over a grill.

I've always wanted to try making my own, but have heard countless horror stories of how long it takes, how patient you must be, etc.  These are things I'm not necessarily good at.  I like to cook, but if you look at most of my posts, its simple and its usually pretty quick.  Time be damned, I found a recipe that looked great and decided to give it a go.  End result: 5 noms out of 5.

Recipe can be found here

The major players:

 Get yourself a saute going:

In a new pan, sear the Arborio rice:

Begin adding the warm broth, 1 cup at a time:

Stir till the rice soaks it up:

Repeat 7 more times and trust me when I say, with time and stirring, that rice will soak it all up no matter how disheartened and skeptical you may be.  Finished product looks a little something like:

Closeup:

Now mix in your mushroom/truffle magic:

Add some Parmesan and a splash of additional truffle oil (mmmmm, fungus):

Plate and destroy.  You too can cook risotto.

Few notes:
1. This yielded a ton and we'll be consuming leftovers tonight with enough left for at least 2 more servings.
2. The recipe called for dried Porcini mushrooms.  At 49.99 a freaking pound, I didn't bother to do the math to figure out an ounce...I skipped and compensated with more portabella.
3. Truffle oil, also not cheap but I plan to make good use of it going forward.  Great flavors.












 

Spaghetti with fresh tomato and basil

This is my second attempt at a recipe I caught on my favorite food related tv show, No Reservations.  The show usually takes Tony Bourdain to far off lands and showcases the foods and culture of the area.  This episode took a break and focused on basic cooking techniques; things every cook should know how to do.  The one that really caught my eye was chef Scott Conant of Scarpetta and his take on spaghetti.

Recipe

Growing up, spaghetti was a staple at home, mostly for its simplicity.  You boiled some noodles, heated some pre-canned sauce and added a meat if you were so inclined.  It was never something I craved...until I caught Conant's version.  Fresh tomatoes, fresh basil, olive oil, garlic and spaghetti.

Adrienne and I have been hitting up the local farmer's market the past few weekends and this Saturday I loaded up on locally grown tomatoes, a bunch of basil and decided to give this another go.  Prep time is the toughest part.  The tomatoes I got were heavy on the seeds and needed the skin removed.  The easiest way to pull this off is to score an X on the bottom of the tomato and toss it in boiling water for 20-30 seconds.

   
 Take them out, let them cool and the skin should peel right off.

Cut the tomatoes, get out as many seeds as you can and place them in a saucepan with some heated olive oil.  Allow them to heat up for 10 minutes or so then use a potato masher to break them up.

Let the sauce simmer for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally.  While that's going, get a small saucepan and put ~1/3 cup of olive oil on some heat.  Once it begins to heat up, add a couple cloves of garlic and some freshly cut basil.  This is where the magic happens.

Get your pasta going and once its close to al dente, move it into the tomato sauce and add your garlic/basil infused olive oil (everything is better with something that's infused).  Make sure to strain out the garlic and basil.  Toss the noodles (this is where you can work on that nifty wrist flip thing the pros do) and make sure the sauce really coats everything.  Add tablespoon of butter, some more chopped basil, plate and serve.

Crabmeat Stuffed Portabellos - Proving once again, any food stuffed in another food is bliss

The nomBlog and I have had a talk and I have agreed to pay her more attention.  The truth is, I've got several meals piling up in my "yet-to-be-blogged" list its just a matter of throwing them up there in the ether.

I love cooking shows.  Good Eats, Emeril, Rachael Ray, even a little Paula Dean when I want to increase my cholesterol just by watching.   They provide some great recipe ideas but also show technique and the prep that can go into meals.  Emeril in-particular tends to have fairly involved recipes with many ingredients and steps.  I tend to go for simpler recipes so most of his stuff I stray away from.  However, I came across this recipe of his and was thrilled at the simple ingredients and potential awesomeness that could result.

 

    * 6 portobella mushrooms, stemmed caps (fresh from Greenling)
    * 3 tablespoons olive oil
    * 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
    * 3/4 teaspoon fresh ground white pepper
    * 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
    * 1/4 cup small-diced onion
    * 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
    * 1 cup whole milk
    * 1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg
    * 1/2 lb lump crab-meat, picked over
    * 1/3 cup grated Gruyère
    * 4 teaspoons breadcrumbs

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F

Toss the mushroom caps with the 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and season with 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper.

Place the caps on an aluminum foil lined baking sheet, stem-end up, and roast in the oven until well roasted and browned, about 35 to 40 minutes.

Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes.
Result:

Set a 1-quart saucepan over medium heat and add the butter to the pan.

Once the butter is melted, about 1 minute, add the onions and sauté until translucent, about 3 minutes.  I went ahead and diced up some of the mushroom stems to add to the mix.

Sprinkle the flour into the pan and stir to form a roux.
Continue to cook the roux for 2 to 3 minutes before adding the milk.
Result:

 

Bring the milk to a boil and reduce to a simmer, season with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of pepper and the nutmeg.

Cook the bechamel sauce for 5 minutes before removing from the heat. Allow the mixture to cool slightly before folding in the crab-meat and cheese.
Result:

 

Combine the bread crumbs with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil.

Spoon 1/3 cup of the bechamel over each mushroom cap and sprinkle 1 teaspoon of the bread crumb mixture over each stuffed mushroom.

Place in the oven and roast until the bechamel is bubbling and lightly browned on the edges, about 8 to 10 minutes.
Result:

 

At this point I had 20 minutes to scarf down the stuffed goodness before my softball game so no plated photos.  A and I were both happy with the results.  Portabellos are about as close to meat as you can get w/o involving something with 4 legs.  The seasoning may need to be tweaked a bit as the flavor was a little bland, but the Gruyère cheese made sure I didn't care that much.

Pulled Pork Sammiches - Hot Crock-Pot Action

Quick. Easy. Cheap. Plentiful.  That's the way to properly rock the crock-pot my friends.  We'd used ours once since the wedding so it was time to break it back out.  Last week was a busy one but with softball being rained out I swung by HEB on the way home for the essential ingredients:

1 pork shoulder (~3.5 pounds)
1 liter-O-Cola (this Super Troopers quote/reference shamelessly brought to you courtesy of my recent celeb sighting Saturday night http://twitpic.com/tiar0 director and star of Super Troopers, Beerfest and newly released Slammin Salmon, Jay Chandrasekhar )
1 12 oz bottle of Stubbs BBQ sauce
1 pack of slider buns

This was ridiculously easy to put together and fed an army (or A and I for 3 or 4 meals):

1. Trim any excess fat off the shoulder
2. Place it in crock-pot on low heat
3. Cover in Cola (we used Coke but I've heard Root Beer works well)
4. Get on with your business for the next 8-9 hours
5. Remove from crock-pot and use forks to shred (save a cup of the liquid)
6. Return shredded pork to pot, add bbq sauce and cup of the liquid
7. Mix and put on high heat for 30 minutes.
8. Plate on toasted slider buns
9. Win!

We had ours with sweet potato fries which were even easier to prepare:
1. Cut up sweet potato into 1 inch wide, half inch thick, whatever length.
2. Toss in bowl with olive oil
3. Place on oven sheet and dust with salt, pepper and some chili powder.
4. Cook on low rack @400 for 20 minutes.  Move to high rack for 10 minutes to crisp them up.

Behold

From Green Bean Casserole to Greenling: One Man's Culinary Evolution

When I decided to start this blog I didn't really put much thought into why.  Was it readership, credibility or just another cog in the social media machine that keeps us all connected?

Readership I've got.  Google Analytics tells me I've had 100 visits since the nomBlog's inception which may not be much compared to other bloggers out there, but I'm thrilled after just 2 posts.

Credibility....I'm still waiting on those invitations to new restaurant openings so perhaps that's where I need to focus some attention.  I'm not a chef.  My restaurant experience is limited to the following:

1.Concession stands at my high school stadium.  I held such illustrious titles as “Hot-dog Defrosting Technician” and “Lead Queso Associate”.  Despite what I know about how those things operate, I still find myself ordering a hot dog and nachos at DKR.  Pavlovian tendencies are tough to overcome.

2.Pizza delivery – the smell of pizza does not come out of vehicle upholstery.  I'm pretty sure that's a good thing.

3.Head food leecher- My parents purchased K&G Restaurant in Brenham shortly after I graduated high school.  Unfortunately, it was within driving distance of Austin so any trip home meant heavy grazing by yours truly.  If the buffet wasn't up, I was in the kitchen pestering the cook or tasting the latest pie or cake my mom cooked up for the day.  The freshman 15 evolved into the senior 40.

So, I'm not gaining any credibility based on work experience.  Everything I've learned over the past (gulp) 31 years has been passed down from some amazing cooks/people in my life.

It started with “Janet's (Mom's) Green Bean Casserole” which made appearances at just about every Thanksgiving/Christmas/family gathering mainly due to my siblings and I demanding it.  I don't remember how old I was when I was first trusted with preparing the dish, but I remember being floored when it got the seal of approval from my mom (the family seal of approval was an empty dish).  At that moment I realized that one of the best parts of cooking was seeing your work being enjoyed by others.  That's one of the biggest reasons for this blog.  Food is meant to be enjoyed, be it a simple casserole dish or a complex brisket on the pit.

When I turned 24, my mom gave me a recipe book that she'd put together that included many of the foods I'd grown up on.  Over the past 7 years I've made it a point to add to that book with recipes from friends, family and a bunch I've run across online.  The instructions are there...unfortunately, the will power to put them together has been lacking for quite some time.  Simply put, I can be a lazy guy; especially when it comes to grocery shopping.  A isn't much of a go-getter in that arena either so we've been living off a steady diet of quasi-fast food and various restaurants for far too long.

Enter Greenling.  In an effort to start eating better we've found our savior (or perhaps half-way house is  a better term).  Online grocery shopping.  Locally owned.  Farmed locally.  Organic.  Did I mention they bring it to your front door?  We're talking eggs from right here in Austin.  Cheese made in the Brazos Valley.  Beef raised in Bastrop.  Its going to be a gateway to help us start cooking more at home while simultaneously boosting the local economy.  Win friggin win.

Our first round was successful (breakfast for dinner one night, pork loin with acorn squash another) so I hope this leads to more home recipes on the blog.  If I can find a good price on steak my next entry will be overcoming the lack of a grill: how to pan sear steaky goodness.  Nomdiddilynom.