That's why the rum's gone

Josh and I took the plunge this past Saturday.  No, we didn’t get married.  Well, we did but that was three years ago.  No, no, this event was almost as important.  We bought a new grill.  It was definitely time.  Our friend Brian helped us drag it home from the store, down the side of I-94…sorry about that traffic backup near Belleville, but we lost one of the wheels and I had to run after and retrieve it.

Just kidding.  We put it in Brian’s truck.  And drove it back.  And we didn’t even take 94.

Anyway, as a thank you to Brian and a celebration of our newest member of the family (what?  I take my grilling very seriously), we had Brian and a couple other friends over for burgers and things.  Josh decided he wanted more mojito slushies at this particular event and I obliged.  Two things made these mojitos even more awesome than the original version.  The first was the substitution of pomegranate juice for the lime.  My dear friends at Pom Wonderful sent me a free case of pomegranate juice.  I love when this happens.  Last time, I made pomegranate barbecue sauce, molasses and pomegranate-braised beef.  This time, I’m making these mojito slushies and…well, a few other things that will be posted later.

The second fabulous thing about these mojitos came courtesy of our other guests, Chase and Carrie, who have a giant, amazing garden complete with chocolate mint.  If you’ve never seen it, chocolate mint is a hybrid herb and it actually smells and tastes like chocolate and mint.  It’s amazing.  And I know that maybe in your head, chocolate, mint and pomegranate (and rum, don’t forget the rum) seems a little odd, but trust me, it works.  It works.

Pomegranate Mojito Slushies with Chocolate Mint
Serves 4-6 (depending on glass size)

3/4 c. simple syrup
3/4 c. light rum
1 cup Pom Wonderful pomegranate juice
4 limes and their zest
1/4 c. fresh chocolate mint leaves, plus extra mint sprig for garnish
8 c. ice cubes

Put the syrup, rum (don’t forget the rum), pomegranate juice, lime zest, mint leaves and ice cubes in a blender and blend until the ice is finely crushed.  Pour into a pitcher.  Quarter the limes and add them to the pitcher, along with a mint sprig for garnish, if desired.  Pour into cups and party on, Wayne.  Party on, Garth.

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We needed to cut down a line of small trees by our driveway, as several were dead and falling down already.  My mom and step-dad took the wood.  As the trees were a fair-height and there were about 8 of them, Josh enlisted my step-dad’s help in the project, as well as our friend Brian.  We also invited another coworker and his family to come watch the festivities.  It was truly a feat and I’m sure that all the guys are duly sore now with all the lifting—luckily, no human limbs, dogs, fences, vehicles or power lines were harmed during the making of this blog entry.

tree in motion

To reward everyone for their help, I planned out a big work-party feast, which, I admit, was partially inspired by a trip to Costco.  Ah, Costco–is there nothing it can’t do?

And I’m totally serious on this one.  Josh and I were doing our monthly bulk-shopping trip when we stumbled upon the deal of a lifetime in the meat department—14 pounds of pork shoulder.  For $20.  14 pounds.  Twenty dollars.  And lo, the Heavenly Choirs of Angels did exclaim in one voice: “Holy s***!  That is a great deal!”  (They probably didn’t say that—but they would, if angels ate regular food…or shopped at Costco.)

Now THAT is a whole lotta pork

What do you do with 14 pounds of pork?  Barbecue.  What do you do with 14 pounds of pork when it’s only 30 degrees outside?  Roast.

So all the pieces were falling together here.  Needed a meal to feed a lot of people (10 total).  Had 14 pounds of pork.  Had an idea—pernil.  I first saw this dish on a Tyler Florence show on the Food Network and with a bit of online searching, I found a few recipes to give me a sense of what I was doing.  It’s basically a marinated and roasted pork shoulder and, if your cut of meat happens to still have the nice thick fatcap on top, you can also produce some nice crunchy cueritos, or basically, crackling, kind of.  The pictures I found online looked delicious–I had to try it.  I actually ended up cutting the pork shoulder in half, only using 7 pounds which means I still have another 7 pounds in my freezer.  Oh baby.

First was the marinating—it was a very simple concoction of garlic, oregano, salt, pepper and olive oil, rubbed all over and into the pork.  Next, it roasted in the oven at a high temp for an hour, then down to a low temp for another 4.  Due to the tree-cutting timeline, mine was in the oven for about 6 hours total—and it was perfect.  The first best thing about this dish was that it smelled freaking fantastic.  Even when I was just putting together the marinade, it smelled great.  While it was in the oven it smelled positively heavenly.  In fact, the entire house smells delicious.  It just seeps into the walls.  So great.  The second best thing about the dish was how easy and hands off it was–just marinate, throw it in a pan in the oven and let it go.  And the third best thing—really, the best-best thing–was the taste.  Moist, flavorful, soft, delicious.  Especially with all the fixins.

Because don’t think there was just the pork.  Oh no.  I also made a vegetarian version of my frijoles rojas, a simple guacamole, an amazing baked goat cheese salsa and cilantro-lime rice brought by my friend Rita—-and two essential staples of being: a chimichurri sauce and mojito slushies.

Let’s start with the chimichurri.  It’s an herb-olive oil sauce, although there are various ways to make it that includes other ingredients.  It’s ubiquitous in some South American countries, particularly Argentina, and I am a huge fan of it and have been for several years.  It’s also super easy to make.  You can drizzle it over meat, beans, rice dishes, vegetables….anything.  It’s just an awesome yummy sauce.

And then there was the real star of the show: the mojito slushies.  Now, I’m not a huge drinker.  I do love mojitos though.  They are my favorite drink–crisp and minty and sweet with lime.  This version takes the usual mojito ingredients and makes a slushy out of it.  Oh and it is good.  In fact, if you make any of these recipes—well, you should actually make all of these recipes.  But you should make a triple batch of the mojitos.  We needed more.  Much more.  I want another one as I type.  Ohh yes.  Yes I do….Mmmm….mojito……

I’m sorry, I forgot where I was going to go with this.

Pernil
from El Boricua

7 lbs. pork shoulder – picnic cut (with fat)–if you can’t get the fatcap on top, don’t worry—it will still be delicious, just no cueritos
9 garlic cloves, minced
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon crushed oregano
1½ tablespoons olive oil
1½ teaspoon salt

Combine cloves, pepper, oregano, oil and salt into a nice, fragrant paste.  Cut deep slits all over the meat (under the fatcap–you may have to gently cut around the cap just enough to lift it up but don’t cut it off entirely) and rub the marinade all over the roast and into the slits.  Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 24 hours (or at least overnight).

Bring pork out to come to room temperature for at least an hour before cooking it, and warm up the oven about a half hour before cooking.  Place pork in a pan, fat-side up.  Roast at 400F for one hour and then drop the temperature down to 300F for another 4 hours or so, or until the meat shreds easily when pierced by a fork.  Cut and serve.

If you have the thick fatcap on, if it’s not crispy when you pull the roast from the oven, then turn up the heat to 400F again for the last 15 minutes or so until it does crisp up–watch it carefully.  Then cut off the fat cap and break it into pieces to serve along side the pork—that’s the cueritos.

Easy right?  Goes really will with:

Chimichurri
from global gourmet

1/2 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup minced fresh parsley
1 clove garlic
2 minced shallots
1 teaspoon minced basil, thyme or oregano, or mixture
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and let set for at least 2 hours before serving.

Mojito Slushies
from Tyler Florence

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1/2 cup fresh lime juice, about 4-6 limes
2 limes zested
1/2 cup light rum
8 cups crushed ice
mint sprigs & lime wedges for garnish
In a saucepan over medium heat, add the sugar and water. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often, until the sugar is dissolved and the syrup is clear. Set aside to cool.

Put the sugar syrup, lime juice, mint leaves, lime zest, and rum into a blender and blend until smooth. Add the ice and blend until slushy. Spoon into glasses; garnish with a sprig of mint and a lime slice.

Notes from Lauren: This recipe makes 4 drinks.  You will need more.  You will crave more.  I warned you.  Also it may seems like a lot of ice, but really, use it.  It doesn’t have to be crushed already—just put a lot of regular ice cubes into the blender and go with it.  It will not disappoint.

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That’s right, we’re going to make hot cocoa.

Don’t say it.  Don’t tell me that you make hot chocolate all the time–”All you have to do is open the packet of Swiss Miss and add hot water.”  That’s not making hot cocoa.  That’s just barely making it through the day and being willing to settle for something, anything with a mere wisp of chocolate in it before you go insane and take somebody with you.

Now, while I am a fan of melting down shaved chocolate into a pool of lightly simmering, frothy milk in the celebrated winter ritual that is settling down with a piping hot cup of hot chocolate whilst mentally praising those brilliant Mayans, sometimes you don’t want to spend the time, effort or money to do that and sometimes you’re at work, mentally (or physically—although in that case, you have more serious problems than chocolate-deficiency) to a desk, or snowed in at home behind 2 feet of frozen little water pellets.  In those cases, you want–nay, you need–instant cocoa.

But that doesn’t mean you should rush headlong into the arms of the Swiss Miss.  Not to impugn her honor or anything, but I hear she really gets around.  You deserve someone more special than that.  Someone unique and hand-crafted.  And I am love to play matchmaker.  Well, me and Alton Brown.

Alton Brown’s Hot Cocoa

* 2 cups powdered sugar
* 1 cup cocoa (Dutch-process preferred)
* 2 1/2 cups powdered milk
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 2 teaspoons cornstarch
* Hot water

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and incorporate evenly.  Seal in an airtight container, keeps indefinitely in the pantry.

To make hot cocoa, fill half a mug with the cocoa mixture and then pour in hot water or milk.  Stir, sip, smile.

If you want to make it even more betterer (yes, that’s right, even more betterer), you can make some snickerdoodles to dip into your cocoa.

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Piri piri.  Just say it, “piri piri.”  It sounds adorable.  It tastes delicious.  It’s easy to make.  It’s a win for everybody.  Well everybody who likes to eat foods with fun names.

I was on my own for dinner again tonight and after a lot of deliberation (seriously, I dwell at length on the existential question of “What to eat for dinner?” just about everyday), I decided to try making my own piri piri sauce and using it with some grilled chicken.  I figured I could have a nice couple of sides by cooking some broccolini we just got from the farm share this week and by cooking up some quick whole wheat couscous AND I could make enough to have a hearty lunch for tomorrow.  Epic win.

I put together the piri piri sauce (recipe below) and marinated two boneless skinless chicken breasts in it for an hour, before grilling them to delicious grate-marked perfection for about a half hour over medium high heat. (I kept a quarter cup or so of the sauce on the side to drizzle over the chicken when done.)

While the chicken was cooking, I washed and rinsed the broccolini, sprinkled it with a tablespoon or so of olive oil and a sprinkling of salt and pepper, wrapped it in a secure tinfoil shell and placed it on the grill as well, on the shelf above the main grates so it wouldn’t burn.  Finally, just after I pulled off the chicken and let it rest, I cooked up some whole wheat couscous and seasoned it simply with salt, pepper and olive oil.  It would be a nice mellow compliment to the piri piri sauce.  I added a cute little garnish of thinly sliced green onions, which I had placed in a cold water bath for about 10 minutes; this makes them soft and curly.

Now I know you’re thinking: what the hell is a piri piri?

According to Wikipedia, a piri piri is an African birdseye chili pepper that is small and extremely spicy and is often used in preparing sauces and marinades for chicken and fish.  Now, piri piri peppers are not easy to come by at your average grocery store so I replaced them with serrano peppers, as instructed in my recipe from Food Network’s Ask Aida.  Having never tried it before, I found the sauce to be quite flavorful, not too spicy, sort of like a low-temperature hot sauce.  I would have liked more spice and should’ve kept more seeds in the sauce than the recipe specified.  Overall, I greatly enjoyed it, finding it to be a good compliment to an overall very healthy meal and am looking forward to experimenting with it again.

Piri Piri Sauce
3 medium serrano chiles
4 medium cloves garlic
1 tablespoon paprika
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil

Heat oven to 500 degrees F and arrange rack in upper third.
Place chiles on a baking sheet and roast until blackened and soft, about 10 to 15 minutes. Trim chiles and remove seeds.
Combine chiles, garlic, paprika, lime juice, and vinegar in a blender and blend until smooth and combined, about 1 minute. Add olive oil and blend until thoroughly incorporated and marinade thickens slightly.

So now I had a delicious dinner but what to wash it down with?  Well I’m feeling light and healthy…how about I try something new, light, and fruity?

Agua Fresca!

I’ve been wanting to try this recipe for a while.  It’s not a smoothie, really…it’s healthy, flavored water–in this case, flavored with crushed strawberries and lime.  It was indeed light, refreshing, not super sweet (maybe could have been sweeter, I should have added more lime, too, maybe).  I cut the recipe down from 8 servings to just 2 and enjoyed a nice tall picturesque glass of it.

Strawberry Agua Fresca
8 cups

4 cups water
1/3 cup sugar
6 cups hulled strawberries
1/4 cup fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)

Combine water and sugar, stirring until sugar dissolves. Place strawberries in a blender, and process until smooth. Combine the sugar mixture, strawberry puree, and juice; stir well.

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