It’s almost officially summer. Which in Michigan means that any given time, it is either thunderstorming or it’s 85 degrees.  For me, late spring is an important time.  The students leave and campus is nice and quiet.  The markets open.  The farm shares begin.  The hot dog stands come out.  The garden gets planted.  My electricity bill goes way down…for a while.  But it also means one very, very important thing: baby vegetables.

I love baby vegetables.  They’re tender and sweet and delicate and tiny…and we all know that making food smaller automatically makes it both cuter and delicious-er.  My absolute favorite is the elusive baby turnip, which is starting to reach nearly mythical status in my household because I can never find them.  I’ve seen them at the market exactly twice in about six years and never in a regular grocery store.  They are so delicious, sautéed with butter and chicken stock and then sprinkled with salt and pepper, almost like very delicate Brussels sprouts.  If you find any, buy them immediately!  Also, send them my way.

But when I can’t have baby turnips (which is apparently all the time), I like to make do with my second favorite option: baby artichokes.  I love artichokes in general and the young ones are even more tender and have a nice light flavor.  I rarely cook full grown artichokes (I like to order them, but I don’t cook them often) but the baby ones I like to fry in oil until crispy and then sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper, dip them in tzatziki sauce and go all “Nom nom nom!”

I had actually originally intended last night’s dinner to be just a bowl of baby artichokes, fried and sprinkled with lemon.  I wasn’t super hungry, it was warm out and I was on my own, so why not?  However, about halfway through preparing this dish, I changed my mind a bit and added one more thing–Mexican chorizo.  Thus my dinner consisted of: baby artichokes, olive oil, chorizo, lemon, salt and pepper.  And it was delicious.  If you don’t count the salt, pepper or olive oil (standard recipe items), then it really only had three ingredients.  #win

Artichokes with Chorizo
Serves 1 (main dish) or 2-3 (side dishes)

1lb baby artichokes
the juice of 1 lemon
water for soaking
olive oil
1 link fresh Mexican chorizo
salt and pepper to taste

Prepare the artichokes: Squeeze half the lemon juice into a bowl of cold water.  Cut off the bottom and then peel away the first few layers of tougher outer leaves.  You want just the tender inner leaves and the heart.  Cut the artichoke in half and place it in the bowl of water.  This will keep the artichoke from turning brown.

In a medium-sized skillet over medium high heat, pour in just enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the skillet.  When the oil is pretty hot, drain the artichokes and dry them thoroughly (very thoroughly–you don’t want excess water hitting that super hot oil; it’s fun to watch but it burns) before adding them to the pan.  Fry them until the outer edges are good and crispy, around 5 minutes.  Scoop them out of the pan and let them drain on a paper towel, sprinkling them with the rest of the lemon juice and some salt and pepper to your liking.

Keeping the pan on the heat, add in the raw chorizo and sauté until brown and thoroughly cooked through.  Add artichokes back into pan, tossing with the chorizo, and then slide the mixture off onto a plate or a bowl.  If that’s not enough fat flavor for you, drizzle the whole thing with a bit of basil oil.

I know you’re going to ask, “Why not just cook the chorizo first and then fry the artichokes in the leftover grease?”  And I’m going to answer, “Because I don’t want the artichokes to be overpowered by the flavor of the chorizo.  I still want them to taste artichoke-y and chorizo has a very, very strong flavor that I’m afraid would soak into the artichokes while they were frying and then it would be like eating a bowl of crispy green chorizo.  Which, while it does sound intriguing, wasn’t what I was going for.” 

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The center piece of these lettuce wraps was a very simply roasted pork shoulder.  Pork has a lot of natural flavor and it doesn’t need to be tarted up and made pretty the way chicken sometimes does.  All it took was a bit of salt, pepper, some herbs, a dash of lime and olive oil and a few hours in the oven and you’ve got an amazing (and amazingly easy) main course that’s pretty versatile and can be made into anything.  Also…great leftovers.

I shredded the pork, combined it with some fresh veggies, added in a simple vinaigrette and a quick set of accompaniments and voila–light, crisp, crunchy, satisfying pork lettuce wraps.  Perfect for eating while lounging on the couch, watching the cinematic glory that is Megashark vs the Giant Octopus on SyFy.

Oregano Pulled Pork
3.5 lb pork shoulder
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp salt
3/4 tbsp black pepper
1/2 tbsp red pepper flake
chicken stock

Put pork shoulder in a large ziplock bag.  Add in the rest of the ingredients except the chicken stock, zip the bag closed and move and shake it around a bit to distribute the ingredients.  Let marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours.  Remove pork from the fridge and let come up to room temperature about 45 minutes before putting it into the oven.

Preheat oven to 400F.  Put pork shoulder in a large dutch oven with the lid on.  Roast at 400F for one hour, then lower the heat to 350.  Roast for 3-4 more hours, or until meat is browned and soft enough for pulling, occasionally adding a bit of chicken stock to the pan if necessary to keep the meat moist.  Remove the pot from the oven and let sit for a half hour before pulling.

Lime Vinaigrette
3 tbsp vinegar
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp dried oregano
pinch of salt and pepper
1/2 c. olive oil

Combine ingredients in a small bowl, mixing thoroughly.

Lime-spiked yogurt
1 c. nonfat Greek yogurt
1-2 tbsp lime juice
salt and pepper to taste

Mix yogurt with salt and pepper and lime juice to taste.

Pork and Red Pepper Lettuce Wraps
3.5lb cooked pork shoulder (recipe above), shredded
lime vinaigrette (recipe above)
2 whole bell peppers, thinly sliced lengthwise
2 c. cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 red onion, thinly sliced
lettuce leaves for wrapping
toppings: lime-spiked yogurt (recipe above), salsa, cheese

Combine shredded pork with bell peppers, mushrooms and onions.  Toss thoroughly in vinaigrette.  Spoon into lettuce cups and top with yogurt, salsa, cheese and other favorites.

Enjoy!

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Luckily, to combat this, my office had a chili potluck on Friday, complete with 4 delicious chili concoctions to take the freezing edge off, as well as chips, cheese, cornbread, biscuits–all the necessary accompaniments–cookies and cupcakes.  It was delighful.  But all too soon it ended and I found myself on my own Saturday morning with the cold wind trying to slide into the creaky doorways of my house.  My house is a delight.  I enjoy it immensely.  After all, we did strive to pick a house that we adored, because I intend to live there until I die and then I’m going to haunt it (although admittedly, indeed, I do plan on retiring someplace warm and sunny, but I still plan on keeping and haunting this house).  But some days, the grand old house is a little less grand.  Like days where it’s 14 degrees outside.  My house is three solid layers of brick wall (so if that big bad wolf ever comes around, I’m golden)…and no insulation.  And all wood floors.  And single pain, 150 year old windows.  It just soaks up the cold like a sponge.  With Josh off playing some RPG game with friends, and the dogs out of the house playing at day care (you laugh but it’s the greatest thing in the world if you have a puppy, especially one that weights 95 pounds and is the size of a deer, like our mastiff), I knew that if I followed my instincts and just melted myself into the couch, cloaked in a blanket like a ghost and watched endless hours of the Cooking channel, eventually….wait, why didn’t I do that?  That sounds awesome.

No, instead, I decided to battle the cold by keeping busy…cleaning the house.  How stupid was that?  I mean, it worked, but I kind of like the “couch” option up there much better.  Oh well.  I least I did something right–I made a big batch of this chili and let it simmer while I (fruitlessly, I might add) tackled the sagebrush-like dust balls that roamed the open desert of our floors.

This chili is one of those “take what you have, put it in the pot” kind of deals.  I love those.  Not only do you use up extra ingredients, but it’s easy, requires no real thinking or planning, and you end up with a lot of flavors and textures usually.  Now I love chili.  I’ve been making chili since I was 13—no joke, I recently found my original chili recipe from 7th grade: ground beef, crushed tomatoes, canned beans, onion, chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper, oregano.  That was it.  No instructions listed, no measurements.  13 year old me…not that different from current me.

But anyway, I’ve progressed since those days.  I no longer use ground beef in my chili.  I prefer chunks of beef stew meat instead, as I like to cook my chili for hours at a time and beef stew meat will get nicely soft in that scenario without completely melting into the background and losing its shape and texture like ground beef will after 8 or 9 hours.  I do, however, still use crushed tomatoes for my chili base.  I just find tomato-based chili to be filling and comforting.  I also tend to use three types of beans–black, pinto and red beans.  But this chili, this chili was slightly different from the ones I normally make.  It’s broth based…due largely to my own laziness and not wanting to go downstairs into the presumably cold basement to retrieve Josh’s canned tomatoes.  It lacks onions, because I didn’t have any.  It has just one type of beans, black beans, cause that’s what I had.  It has large chunks of red bell peppers, cause I had plenty.  And instead of cubed beef stew meat, it has cubed pork loin, andouille sausage and hot Italian sausage.

And it was pretty good.  It smelled fantastic, and that’s a good sign, when you walk into the kitchen and your first response is to go, “Mmmmm.  Yuuummmmmmyyyyyy.”  It was thick and chunky.  It had a lot of texture, from the peppers and the cubes of meat and the ground sausage.  Delightful.  I topped it with some cheese, a homemade buttermilk biscuit and sat on the couch (under a blanket) and watch food shows.  Take that, winter.

Three Little Pigs Chili

1.5 lb pork loin, cubed into bite-sized pieces
2 large red bell peppers, chopped
1/2 lb fresh andouille sausage
1/2 lb fresh hot Italian sausage
2 cans low sodium black beans,undrained
1-2 c. chicken stock
your favorite spice mix (I used: 1/2 tbsp salt, 1/2 tbsp pepper, 2 tbsp dried oregano, 1 tbsp cumin, 1 tbsp  paprika, 2 tbsp chili powder)
2 tbsp olive oil

Place pork loin in crockpot.  Sprinkle with spice mix and then drizzle with olive oil.  Stir pork around in the spices and oil, coating as much as possible.  Add in peppers, mixing thoroughly with the pork.  Place top on the slowcooker, turn on and cook on high for 2 hours.

At the end of the 2 hours, add in both sausages, chopped into bits, black beans and chicken stock.  Stir until everything is well incorporated.  Replace top, cook for another 2 hours on high.  Top as you like and eat.

And stay warm.

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Ever since we got a couple of adorable little pie pumpkins in our farm share back in October, I’ve planned on making this dish.  Sure, it’s two months after that, but thanks to the wonders of living in a 150 year old brick house that doesn’t retain heat very well, the pumpkins were still good and ready to go.

Like most of my…life in general, I didn’t really have a plan, more a set of guidelines: fill pumpkin, bake.  I happened to have some hot Italian sausage I picked up from Steinhauser Farms at the Lunasa market a while back.  I thawed it out to use in a pasta dish earlier this week and wanted to use up the rest of it and this seemed like a good way to do that.  I also had some extra sharp white cheddar and thanks to a stocking-up trip to the store, I got mushrooms and arugula as well.  That’s it.  That’s all there is to this recipe–five main ingredients and some seasonings and olive oil.  You put it together, you let it do its thing in the oven and you have these adorable little self contained meals.

Not to mention, I think your taste buds are really the limit on the filling options here.  My next experiment I think is going to deconstruct this pasta I’ve made before–penne with pumpkin-gorgonzola sauce.  I loved it.  Josh wasn’t a fan, because he doesn’t like gorgonzola.  (Between you and me, I think that’s a bit nutty.  Josh, not the gorgonzola.)  I’m going to fill the pumpkin with pasta–maybe goat cheese ravioli or some small shaped pasta, I don’t know yet–and cream and some sort of creamy cheese (gorgonzola if Josh isn’t home, something else if he is).

Speaking of Josh, the hilarious thing is that part of the reason I made this dish is because Josh likes pumpkin.  Well, no.  Josh likes pumpkin pie.  He doesn’t like pumpkin–or squash of any kind, really–unless it’s been coated with sugar.  He did like the dish, but he’d like it more if I had sprinkled brown sugar into the pumpkins before putting in the filling.  So keep that in mind if you have a fellow fickle eater in your home.  The rest of you, however, will probably love this dish as is.  It’s got everything you could want on a blustery winter night: spicy sausage, sauteed mushrooms, cheesy goodness in a soft pumpkiny bowl.

I made two pumpkins but Josh and I just split half of one and it was enough; the other went into the fridge for leftovers.  A hungrier person might want an entire pumpkin to themselves.  I think a half a mini pumpkin and a salad, maybe a little bread, is an excellent meal for a dinner party.  I mean, once you’ve made one of these, it’s pretty easy to scale.  You could also just stuff a larger pumpkin, cook it longer and then serve slices of it.

Baked Stuffed Mini Pumpkins
Serves 2-4

2 2-lb pie pumpkins
olive oil
10oz spicy Italian sausage
4oz shiitake mushroom caps, roughly chopped
3 c. fresh arugula
4oz shredded extra sharp white cheddar
salt and pepper to taste
fines herb, or other herb mix, to taste

Preheat oven to 375F.

Cut the tops off the pumpkins, set aside, and remove the innards, scraping the inside walls to get rid of extra stringy guts.  Save the seeds for baked pumpkin seeds later.  Sprinkle the inside of the pumpkins with a bit of olive oil.

In a medium skillet, brown the sausage.  Add in the mushrooms and arugula, as well as any salt, pepper and herbs you’ll be using, and sauté until the mushrooms are softened.  Sprinkle in 3oz of the shredded cheese.

Split the stuffing between the two pumpkins.  Top each with half of the remaining ounce of cheese.  Put the tops back on the pumpkins, place in a casserole dish or on a cookie sheet and put in the oven.

Bake for 2 hours or until pumpkins are fork tender.  Let cool slightly and then slice and serve.

Pumpkin

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“Like awesome! Oh, wow!  Like totally freak me out.  I mean, right on!  Tamales sure are number one!”

Oh come on.  I know that every single one of you use cheers from Bring It On in your daily life.

But we have more important things to discuss than Kirsten Dunst’s witty, razor-sharp cheer-snark.  We have tamales.

This is going to be a long post.  If you need to use the bathroom, I suggest taking your laptop with you.

THIS GOT STARTED BECAUSE…

…I’m not really sure why.  At some point months ago, Chase and I were discussing tamales, probably as part of a larger discussion about Pilar’s tamale cart and street food in general.  We decided, “You know what?  We should totally make our own tamales sometime!”  It was just like that, only pretend we sound more sophisticated about it.  Flash forward to a short time later and I brought up the idea to Paul, who was like, “Yeah, I used to do that with my grandmother.”  Light bulb!  The three of us agreed, yes, we would have to do this.  We’d use Paul’s experience and his grandmother’s recipe and my kitchen and an entire Saturday and just get. it. done!

FOUR OR FIVE MONTHS LATER…

“We should probably schedule that tamale thing.”
“Yeah.”
“Ok let’s just pick a date.”
“Ok.”
(Insert various technical difficulties in establishing an online group chat, followed by a lengthy, somewhat coherent discussion about dates and availability and the impending holiday season here.)

THREE WEEKS LATER
“Hey, isn’t TamaleFest this weekend?”
“Oh, s***, yeah!  We should probably get on that.  What do we need again?  Everything?”
FRIDAY

TamaleFest was going to be reasonably small—there were 6 of us involved.  I say “reasonably small” because our last food festival, BBQFest, in September, had about 40 attendees.  Paul was going to be the band director in the great tamale symphony, being the only one of us who actually knew what he was doing.  The rest of us–Chase, Brian, Rita, Josh and I– were there to work and learn.

We’d decided we’d do two types of tamales: pork (because it’s easy to find pork shoulder for cheap at Costco and because it’s delicious), and bean and cheese (Paul’s a vegetarian).  If you’ve never made tamales before, they rather intensive and there’s a lot of components to put in place.  It really is a group effort and you  want to make a big batch to make all the effort worth it.  We split up the gathering of the essentials:

• Paul got the corn husks and chihuahua cheese, and made the beans and the masa (Yes, Paul did most of the work.)
• Brian and I each bought, slow-cooked and shredded a little over 10 pounds of pork (total).
• Chase brought the really important items: alcohol.  And food to nibble on.
• Rita made the mimosas.  And then proceeded to kick everyone’s ass at whipping out those tamales.

The pork cooked all day Friday (or all night, in Brian’s case), simmering slowly in a spice blend of ancho, hot chile powder, cumin, salt, pepper and cocoa.  Paul fried the beans, then slow-cooked them and we later added a blend of cumin, chile and ancho powder.  He also mixed several large pots worth of masa, which is the cornmeal mixture that wraps around the filling in a tamale (recipe below).

SATURDAY

Paul got to our place bright and early, and we immediately….went out to breakfast.  At Beezy’s.  You should always eat breakfast, kids, it’s the most important meal of the day.  Then we got back to the house, let the masa and pork sit out and come up to room temperature and waited for everyone else to arrive.

THE PREP

So here’s what had to happen:

• Mimosas had to be made.
• The corn husks come in giant bundles.  That’s a lot of corn husks.  They had to be separated, any debris cleared off and then soaked, so that they’d be pliable and easy to fold.  We did that in batches, so they wouldn’t get too waterlogged or dry out after being pulled from the bath.
• The masa had to be mixed up, spiced and ready to spread.
• A steamer  had to be created.  Tamales are steamed in batches.  We were hoping to make around 15 dozen tamales.  The thing about making tamales is that how many you make and how much of the raw components you need really depends on your preferences and how large you want the tamales to be.  When they’re assembled and folded, they get put in a large, heavy pot and steamed until the masa and filling have sealed together and the masa is no longer dough-y and begins to pull away from the cornhusks on its own.  We were using this 7 gallon pot Josh and Jeff use for brewing beer; it’s massive.  The tamales shouldn’t touch the water or the pan, and because we had so many, they were sort of piled on top of each other in an awesome tamale teepee, but that meant that Josh had to devise an internal structure for the tamales to rest on, above and away from the water.  He accomplished that with 1)the steamer pan from his steam canner, 2)a colander and 3) a tinfoil cylinder made from using a champagne bottle as a mold (and you thought the champagne was just for drinking).
• We had to set up an assembly station.  We used our dining room table, so we could sit down and have plenty of room.

THE ASSEMBLY

After getting everything ready for the first batch, which was gonna be pork, Paul gave us all a rundown of what had to happen and how to do it, including spreading the masa on the cornhusks, which isn’t the easiest thing in the world to do.  He also showed us how to properly fold a tamale and mentioned we shouldn’t bother trying to “tie” them because it was a lot of extra work and if they were folded and placed properly, it wouldn’t matter.  After that, we manned our stations.

Rita, Brian, Chase and Josh were “spreaders,” meaning they got out the just-soaked cornhusks, laid them flat on the table and spread a good cover of masa across the husk, which is the difficult, more time-consuming job as the masa is a bit hard to spread.  Then it went to me and Paul, who spooned in the filling, folded the tamales and placed them fold-down in the magnificent steamer scupture.

It was an interesting process.  Some corn husks were really big and needed to be cut down.  Some were too small to be useful.  The masa didn’t want to spread, or got stuck to the spoons, or your fingers.  We ate a lot of masa; it was really good and well spiced.  You had to figure out just how much pork to add in, how tightly to roll the tamale, how to keep them from falling over in the pot.  The average tamale is, I think, 3 or 4 ounces.  Ours were um….quite a bit bigger than that on average.  Maybe 5-7 ounces on average.  And then there was Big Bertha, Chase’s tamale, which weight in at a burrito-sized thirteen ounces.  No, seriously.  It was like the Arnold Schwarzenegger of tamales.

When we filled the pot, Josh and Paul carried it to the stove and, using a funnel, gingerly poured water into the bottom of the pan thanks to the tinfoil cylinder Josh had made.  Then the steaming began.  It took about 4 hours for that batch to properly steam, with Paul and Josh keeping an eye on it to make sure there was enough water in the pot.  When a batch finished, the tamales were pulled out of the pot with tongs, set aside to cool and bagged in freezer gallon bags, with the exception of a couple “test ones,” which we ate.

THE BREAK

Then we took a break.  We watched an episode of Glee and drank homemade hot cocoa spiked with peppermint schnapps or coffee liqueur. Hey, gotta keep your strength up!

THE REST OF IT

While the pork tamales steamed, we repeated the same procedure for the bean ones.  All in all, we went through 3 bowls,  I think,  of masa, 10 pounds of meat, Lord knows how many beans, two pounds of cheese and two giant packs of corn husks, plus two rounds of mimosas, one round of spiked cocoa, one round of pizza and wine and fourteen hours later.

FOURTEEN HOURS!
And that was just from the time we started on Saturday to the time when we pulled the last bean tamale of out the pot.  Yeah, that’s right.  It took about 3-4 hours to steam each pot of tamales, and we did about 3 pots.  We ended up with just over 15 dozen tamales, hitting our target perfectly.  Of course, some of our tamales were really the size of 2 or 3 normal ones but hey…they were all delicious and that’s what matters.

WHAT WE LEARNED

• Tamale making is hard and it takes a long time.  You should be prepared, and start early.  I have so much respect for people who make them for a living now.
• Tamale making is fun, though, and we’re gonna do TamaleFest again next year, with more people, maybe in shifts.  It’s a great way to spend a day where the weather is kind of crappy, just indoors, rolling tamales, hanging out with your friends.
• Mimosas and spiked cocoa=necessary.
• Tamales are pretty easy to customize.  You need to have the basic things–corn husks, masa and some filling.  The filling can be any kind of meat, beans, veggies, even fruit.  You just keep rolling until you run out of someting.  You can put in your own flavors, your own spices, your own anything.
• Don’t let the water run out while steaming.  Things will start to burn.  That is a bad. thing.
• Your finished tamales will be good for a few days, but after that can be frozen.  To reheat, just steam them again, or pan-fry them until the husks start to pull away from the filling.
• You can buy masa, you don’t have to make it.  But making it lets you customize it.  You can find a lot of things at some place like Meijer, but you should explore your area and try shopping at a Mexican market instead.
• You should try it.  Really.

Now, to help you try it, I’ve compiled the following resources:

• The Crepes of Wrath blog has an awesome write up of tamale making that was posted just as I was writing this!
• How to Make Tamales from About
• Making Tamales
• More about Tamales from AllRecipes
• Tamales in video!

Paul’s Grandma’s Tamale Recipe:

6 cups masa
5 cups warm water or chicken broth or Veg Stock or Pork Stock (also can use left over stock from your meat)
2 1/3 cups lard or shortening (2 2/3 Cup if using Veg stock or water)
1 tablespoon of backing power
Spice to taste with (or anything else you would like): onion powder, cumin, chile powder, salt

You can mix with a mixer, but it’s best to do it by hand.  Add more stock or masa to get the best consistency–should be similar to peanut butter.  If you store it overnight, add warm stock when you’re ready to get started and mix it again until you reach a good consistency.

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I had a delicious dinner last night.  “But, Lauren!” you say, “You have a delicious dinner most nights.”  And you’re right, you crazy kid, you.  But last night was especially delicious.  I dunno, maybe it was the Lauren-friendly sunny, hot weather.  Maybe it was the light, fresh romaine salad straight from my Needle Lane farm share box.  Maybe it was the company of my husband and the relaxed atmosphere of our very old house.

Or maybe it was the pork wrapped pork with the side of pork-filled cornbread.

Oh yeah.  You read that right.  Pork wrapped pork.  Pork filled cornbread.

This whole thing got started because a) Josh’s department was having a picnic-themed potluck and b) I found a recipe for Savory Prosciutto Muffins on EatingWell.  I thought, hmmm, what kind of picnicky item can I make for Josh?  Muffins.  Muffins can be picnicky.  Muffins are an anytime food.  And these proscuitto muffins sound great.  But you know what’s better than regular muffins?  Cornbread muffins.

Cornbread.  Ain’t nothing wrong with that.

And thus an idea was born.  Nay, not an idea.  A stroke of genius.

I made up my usual, delicious batch of cornbread batter but then, taking inspiration from EatingWell, added chopped up bits of prosciutto that I crisped up in a bit of butter (what? I had to melt butter for the batter anyway and since there was residual butter in the pan after that I might as well fry the prosciutto in it, right?) and instead of the onions they used, I used diced chives from my farm share, which gave the muffins a delightful oniony flavor, as well as hearty doses of dried thyme and oregano.  I actually made two batches of muffins–some vegetarian, with just the chives and no prosciutto, and some carnivore-friendly.  Both are good.  But only one has pork in it.

these ones are actually pork-free...and it's a shame

Anyway, since I had leftover prosciutto and I was going to pan-fry/oven roast pork chops, I figured…might as well wrap the prosciutto around the pork.  I mean, that’s the logical conclusion here.  It’s not unusual to do this and you know why?  It’s logical.

Step 1: Have pork.
Step 2: ???
Step 3: Profit

You know what Step 2 is?  It’s “Wrap pork in pork.”

hot pork on pork action

Anyway, so first I got out my two boneless pork chops, nice meaty thick ones.  Then I rolled them in a mixture of grated Romano cheese, dried thyme and black pepper.  No salt, because the proscuitto is salty enough.  Then I wrapped each pork chop in two overlapping pieces of prosciutto.  Those went into my beautiful cast iron grill, which was lightly coated in olive oil, over medium high heat until the proscuitto was crispy and browned, then flipped and then put into a 350 oven along with the cornbread.  Twenty minutes.  That’s it.  To go with that, though, I made just a very simple balsamic vinaigrette to go over a basic green salad of Romaine and boom.  Done.  Delish.  Tasty, quick and full of pork.  That is the American way.

Sadly, the battery on my Nikon was dead–I forgot to charge it after we got back from Alaska–so I had to use my cell phone to take less-than-optimal-but-still-tasty pics.  But you should make it yourself so you can see it in 3D HD!  Remarkable how technology works these days…

Prosciutto and Chive Cornbread Muffins
Makes about 12 muffins

1 1/3 c. coarse stone-ground yellow cornmeal
1 c. unbleached all purpose flour
1/4 c. sugar
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 c. buttermilk
9 tbsps melted butter
1 large egg, 1 large egg yolk, beaten
2 oz prosciutto, chopped and fried til crispy
2 heaping tbsps chopped chives
baking spray

Combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Temper the eggs by adding a little bit of melted butter at a time to bring them up to temperature, then add both eggs and butter to the cornmeal mixture.  Add in buttermilk and green onions.  Slowly stir to combine.  Let the mixture sit for about 25 minutes or until stiffened.  Stir in prosciutto.

Heat oven to 375F.  Prep a 12-cup muffin pan with baking spray.  Using an ice-cream scoop, dish out an equal amount of batter into each muffin cup.  Bake in the oven for about 18 minutes, give or take a few, or until just finished.  Serve with butter.  Yum.

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2. My name is Muffin. English Muffin.
3. Chili and Cornbread are the new Hall and Oates

Let me tell you, I’ve had quite a week.  The first week of May is always a terrible one for me, at least for the last few years.  It is actually the busiest week of my entire year.  Those of you who know me in the “Real World” (I’m in Season 27, how about you?) know that by day, I masquerade as my alter-ego, the instructional technology consultant.  Or the academic technologist.  Or the learning consultant.  Or whatever version of that title I happen to respond to on any given day.  Anyway, I work for a university and during the first week of May, myself and dozens of others like me (we are legion), put on a campus-wide conference and offer workshops on various technological and pedagogical issues and solutions to faculty and staff.  It’s fun.  It’s enlightening.  And it is tiring as hell.

I have so much respect for classroom teachers, such as the delightful Patti from Palate of Patti.  It’s exhausting to be up in front of 30 people, trying to teach something most of them consider to be completely alien to them while simultaneously trying to engage both the quick learner and the slightly slower to catch up, whilst still minding your time limits.  And doing it for hours.  During a normal week, my voice is strained.

But this week was even better.  Because I got the flu the Saturday before.  So that’s great, y’know.  Losing my voice, being exhausted.  Having to do all the regular duties of my job on top of giving 4 workshops, assisting 2 others and helping to host several large social events and on top of that, the cherry to my sundae of doom, as it were, feeling like complete an utter crap despite sleeping ten to twelve hours a night because I could not stay awake.

Good times.

But it was all worth it to hit Friday at 3pm.  That’s when I was done.  That’s when my fellow intrepid coworkers and I left it all behind and celebrated our victory over the malicious May with the hard-won feast of champions: mojitos.  First we headed to Cafe Habana in Ann Arbor for mojitos (my favorite drink–I may have had 3) and chips and salsa.  Then, on to Corner Brewery in Ypsi for dinner and beer.  I can assure you, a good time was had by all.

So as you can imagine with a week like this, where at the end, I literally pour myself into bed, there as no time for cooking.  There wasn’t even the inclination to cook.  Nothing.  It was terrible.  It was barren and lonely and lacking in delicious flavor (except, of course, for the mojitos and beer).  So on Saturday, after a full night of rest, I decided I had to fix this.  This travesty could not stand.

It was a good day for chili.  The weather in Michigan is a lot like a platypus: a strange, confusing creature that is cuddly and oddly adorable one minute and then attacking you with its poisonous spurs the next.  And this day was definitely a poisonous spur.  Rainy, cold, blustery like I was about to walk into the Hundred Acre Wood–just the kind of day that you spend inside, wrapped up in a blanket and watching old musicals.  Hello, Dolly.

I’ll be completely honest here.  The chili was kind of an excuse for cornbread.  And both were kind of an excuse to make another batch of chimichurri sauce which is kind of three sorts of awesome.  I figured I would make a batch of a new kind of chili (for me), broth based, light, full of delicious flavors that would nicely compliment the chimichurri and the cornbread.  And I think I managed that.

At least, Josh seems to think so.  He loved it.  One thing he said that caught my attention was that regular chili is always the same, pretty much; maybe the spice level changes but otherwise, it’s all the same.  But this was different.  This was a different texture, a different taste, had chili components but took it to a different level.  I will admit, though, that though I was going for a “chili,” I really consider this more of a “stew” but we can debate the back-and-forth classification of sauce-based dishes some other blustery day.

I threw this together as I went along but kept notes–yay me!  I started by roasting the basic elements to bring out their flavor–the poblanos, the garlic, the onions–and then used them to flavor the pork, which I browned first.  I sort of layered things in together, using dried oregano as a constant theme throughout, which tied in very nicely with the fresh oregano I put in the chimichurri, which was drizzled on top of the final dish.  All in all…not bad.  Got me back in my stride, anyway.

Pork, Poblano and Black Bean Stew
Serves 6

3 poblano peppers
1 fresno pepper
1 large onion, cut in half
1 medium head garlic
1 tbsp kosher salt
2 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp dried oregano
2 tsp ancho chile powder
1 tbsp dried cumin
3 tbsp flour
1/4 c. olive oil plus 2 tbsps
2 pounds pork shoulder, cut into bite-size pieces
48oz chicken stock
2 small cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp corn starch and a bit of water for thickening
chimichurri sauce to drizzle on top

1.  Place the peppers, half the onion and garlic (cut the top off, sprinkle with olive oil and wrap in tin foil) on a baking sheet lined with tin foil and bake at 400F for 40 minutes, or until the peppers are scorched and blackened.  Place the peppers in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let cool for 10 minutes.  Peel and chop.

2.  Purée the roasted onion half and place in a bowl.  Squeeze the roasted garlic out into the same bowl and add the oregano, salt, pepper, ancho chile powder, cumin and 1/4 c. olive oil.  Mix ingredients thoroughly and add the pork to the bowl, covering well.  Let sit for about 30 minutes.

3.  Place a large skillet over medium-high heat and melt the butter with the extra 2 tbsp of olive oil.  Sprinkle the pork with the flour and toss to coat.  Fry pork in the olive oil-butter mix until browned on the sides.  Chop the other half of the onion and toss that in as well; let cook for just a couple minutes to soften.

4.  Place pork mixture, chopped peppers, black beans and chicken stock into slowcooker.  Cook on high for 4 hours, or low for 8.  Add corn starch near the end to thicken a bit.

5.  Serve and drizzle with chimichurri sauce (also good with cheese on top), and cornbread.

Related posts:

1. that is some pig: hoisin pork and peppers
2. Right, Lisa, a wonderful, magical animal: Garlic and Herb Pork Roast
3. Silent and Savory: Roasted Squash-Stuffed Poblano Peppers (in Pictures)

These meatballs were the one gastronomical high point of my week, and that’s sad.  The meatballs aren’t sad; they’re fantastic.  What’s sad is that I have yet to follow them up with anything as delicious.  To make it up to you, and to my poor, poor belly, I think I will make some barbecue this weekend and post all the mouth-watering photos that I can.  That’s my gift to you.  Or it will be.  If I do it.

Anyway, I can’t really remember but I’m pretty sure I made these on Monday, before my week went completely to crap.  I really love meatballs.  I’m intrigued by them.  Not the “Why the hell would you do that?” kind of fascination that I have with meatloaf, oddly enough, but a simple curious adoration (I’ll do anything for meatballs but I won’t do that?).  In fact, if you recall, my previous iteration of this blog was chickenmeatballs.wordpress.com.  It’s one of my food goals to master the art of meatball making (along with icing, pulled pork, chocolate turtles, pancakes, biscuits and a few thousand other things—luckily, I think I’ve got the chocolate chip cookie down).  Well, this week I think I moved a tiny bit closer to my goal of meatball perfection. 

I really wanted to make meatballs on Monday. I don’t know why.  But I was driven to.  The planets were in alignment.  They are shaped like giant meatballs!  Clearly a sign.  Clearly.  So the problem I usually have with meatballs is the consistency–mine often fall apart and I use mostly beef or chicken and they’re ok but it usually ends up being more of a meat sauce than a meat ball. More of a gathering and less of a par-tay.  And while I had ground beef and pork on hand this time, and I thought ahead and grated my onions and garlic in the food processor and I had an egg and all this stuff, I lacked something to hold everything together and absorb the extra grease.  Usually recipes call for breadcrumbs or crackers or something.  I didn’t have any of those.  But I figured I’d try something else, something that I knew was a common thickening agent in Indian food (and I knew this because I’m currently reading a book on the evolution of Indian food that I will write about later, when I’ve finished this last chapter–fabulous book though) and it mentions that ground almonds are commonly used to thicken up dishes.

Ground almonds, hmm?

I didn’t have any almonds.

I did have pecans though, because I made another batch of turtles this last week.

Ground pecans, you say.

The devil you say!

What’s that you say?

Who’m I talking to?  I don’t know.  Let’s just move on.

Indeed, I ground up a half cup of pecans and added that to my meatball mixture.  And it seemed to work.  They took shape nicely, they held together, the flavor was great–the pecans were barely noticeable but still gave it a bit of something.  I mean, clearly this needs to be tested again (and again and again until I’m full) but this first time worked out beautifully.

Doing all that, I was too lazy to then make sauce from scratch (well, not too lazy, but I didn’t have any tomatoes to use) so I decided to jazz up my favorite canned sauce by adding some spinach, some cream cheese and roasted some poblano peppers in the oven at 400F for about 25 minutes until blistered, peeling and seeding them and then pureeing them in the processor and adding them to the sauce.  Gave the sauce delicious tang.  Two forks up.

Now That’s a Meatball Meatballs
Makes about 10 large meatballs

1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork
4oz shredded parmigiano regianno
1/2 onion, grated
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 c. pecans ground
1 1/2 tbsp salt
1 tbsp pepper
1 large tbsp dried oregano
2 tsp chipotle
1 large egg

Preheat oven to 400F.

Put all ingredients in a large bowl and mix together with a fork until everything, especially the almonds, is fully incorporated.  Using a regular-sized ice cream scoop, scoop out portions of meatballs and lay on a cookie sheet that has been covered with tin foil and baking spray.

Bake in the oven for about 20-25 minutes or until just done.  Add to sauce to finish for another 2-3 minutes.

Related posts:

1. Linguine with Lemon, Swiss Chard and Chicken Meatballs
2. Hate Mondays, love lasagna and other similarities between me and Garfield
3. Pasta!

I could do all of those things.  But I will let the pictures speak for themselves:

Now, the only recipe I’m actually going to give you here is the one for the hummus.  The pork chops are more of a method, easy to do, easy to manipulate.  I just bought two good sized, center-cut boneless pork chops.  I cut into the side of each one and stuffed them with slices of Cordobes cheese, which is a Manchego-like Spanish sheep’s milk cheese I found at Whole Foods (delicious).  Then I dredged each pork chop in flour that had been spiked with a garlicky steak rub and dried oregano.  The point of that is the flour adheres to the pork and then helps make a nice golden crusty exterior when you fry it.  I put an oven-friendly cast iron skillet on the stove over high heat, melted down some butter in olive oil and fried the pork chops on each side until browned and then put the whole pan in the oven at 400F for about 10-15 minutes.  Voila.

The potatoes, I really didn’t know what to do with.  I just made it up as I went along, even more so than usual.  I par-boiled them, let the cool and then sliced them lengthwise into half an inch pieces, put them on a baking-sprayed cookie sheet, sprinkled them with salt, pepper and dried oregano and popped them in the oven with the pork.  After I plated everything up, I then drizzled them with the leftover juices from the pork.  Yuuuuuuummmmmmmmeeeeeeeeeee.

All of this was pulled together with the hummus, which I dolloped on top of the pork.  It added a big flavor boost and a nice touch of creaminess–more than a sauce but still just soft and luscious.  Josh wasn’t a huge fan of the hummus because he doesn’t like artichokes, but I do and I loved it; I can’t wait to use it as a sandwich spread.  I’m thinking some focaccia bread, roasted turkey and I haven’t quite decided on a cheese yet, maybe Campo.  But anyway, where was i?  Oh right.  Tastytown, USA, that’s where I was.

Spinach Artichoke Hummus
adapted from gimmesomeoven

1 (15 oz.) can chickpeas, drained (juice reserved)
4 cups fresh spinach, loosely packed
1/2 cup artichoke hearts, drained (add juice to chickpea juice)
2 tbsp. tahini
2 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp dried red pepper flake
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a food processor, and blend until smooth. To thin it out, add in a few extra tablespoons of the reserved chickpea/artichoke juice.

Related posts:

1. Good Ol’ Meat and Potatoes
2. Meal For One: Black and Green Pasta
3. Green Goddess Potato Salad…

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.

Related posts:

1. Wrap it up: shredded pork and red pepper salad
2. Right, Lisa, a wonderful, magical animal: Garlic and Herb Pork Roast
3. Porky's Revenge: In Pictures