carnitas

 Due to the events of the weekend, I ended up with a very large pork shoulder in my refrigerator. A VERY LARGE PORK SHOULDER.  It had been rubbed with every chile in my spice drawer, and it took up nearly half a shelf of the fridge. There had been a dinner party in the works for Saturday night, a benefit for Joey and the girls' school that involved the pork shoulder, and when the kiddo got sick, the plans changed. But Sunday morning, I awoke, bleary-eyed and relieved at Sadie's lack of fever, to see the pork shoulder sitting there. And it was a little tragic--all that meat and no big party to enjoy it.

That problem is easily solved, of course.

There is nothing like a sick kiddo getting better to make me feel endlessly thankful for everything.

And so, all day long, we shuffled around in our socks. Joey made art. I organized my desk. Maia played piano. Sadie ventured outside and Rosie spun her around on the swing. 

And through it all, that pork shoulder in its evening gown of spice made its way through the day,  bubbling away in a gentle bath of chicken broth.  An extra chile and a bay leaf were tucked into the pan as its only accessories. And the smell fed us, good fat and red chile and the aroma of an anticipated full belly.

At four o'clock we transferred the pan to the counter, and the shoulder fell apart as we snuck bites of meat. I turned the heat up on the spicy stocky sauce, and it steamed out its water until it was dark and thick.   Shredded meat in the sauce, homemade tortillas, radishes.

 Lissa and Mark and Will showed up. Joey and Mark talked about baseball and The Kinks. Will entertained the girls as only a 15-year-old boy can.  Lissa started the guacamole.

We didn't even need forks. And Sadie, cheered by the fact that I had told her she was in the clear to go to school the next day, had her third pork taco.

I was having tea with a friend of mine last week who's in her early twenties. She's living alone, on the brink of some transitions, and she's working a lot out right now. We were talking about the feeling when you are medicating yourself with food, and she said she'd been struggling with that in the past weeks.  She always been a food lover--all through her teens she cooked and baked and traveled and enjoyed food. And as we talked, I was thinking about that phrase, "medicating with food." I've certainly used it, and I've absolutely done it. And I think that so often, it's looked at as a negative thing. We need love, or inspiration, or comfort, and so often food does the trick. And in times in the past when I've done this more, I know that I've started to hate food and to feel like I should avoid it altogether.

Nasty cycle, that one. 

And so, as we ate our cake and drank our tea, we talked about how important it is, through that frustration, to keep loving food. To remember that there are very few things so wonderful as a really good meal.

I think that after all, food really is medicine.

Carnitas
serves many, for days

One 5 to 7 pound pork shoulder (ask your butcher or farmer for the pork shoulder, usually they hide it in the back and give it to you for not much money)
1/2 cup chile powder, or some combination of chile powders, if, like me, you collect chile powders
3 tablespoons dried oregano
1 tablespoons salt (or wood smoked salt, if, like me, you collect unusual salt)
fresh ground pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 cups chicken stock
1 dried d'arbol chile
1 bay leaf

Three days before you intend to cook it, rinse and dry the pork shoulder. Combine the chile powder, oregano, salt, and pepper in a bowl, and then massage the mixture into every sensual curve and crevasse of that beautiful piece of meat. Keep rubbing until the entire thing is very covered in the mixture, and then rub a bit more just because you might be enjoying yourself. Put the shoulder in a casserole dish, lightly cover it with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for three days. Admire it regularly over that time. It will make it more tender in the end.

Take the pork out of the fridge and let it sit on the counter for 30 minutes.  Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.

In a large cast iron skillet or roasting pan, heat the olive oil.  Drop a bit of water in the oil, and when it sizzles, it's ready. Put the pork shoulder into the pan, and let sit for about 3 minutes, or until browned. Repeat with the remaining sides of the shoulder as much as you are able.  Remove the shoulder from the pan and let it rest on a plate.

Pour the chicken stock into the hot pan, then bring to a boil.  Scrape any brown bits that have gathered in the bottom of the pan so that they can incorporate into the stock.  Return the pork shoulder to the pan, and tuck the bay leaf and dry chile pepper into the stock. Cover the pan (if the pan has no lid, cover with tin foil.) Transfer to the pan to the preheated oven, and cook for 6 hours. 

Remove the pan from the oven, and transfer the meat to a plate. If it falls apart, you've done well. Put the pan, uncovered, over medium high heat to reduce the stock to a sauce. Let it bubble away until reduced by about half. 


Meanwhile, shred the pork.  Stir the meat into the sauce. 

Invite friends. Ask them to bring cheap Mexican beer. (I prefer Tecate in the can.) Serve on corn tortillas with the toppings that inspire and excite you, including, but not limited to, guacamole, radishes, fresh lime juice, salsa, creme fraiche, queso fresco, lettuce, pea shoots...

balsamic- glazed pork chops

Well, here we are at the end of the week. I'll try not to swear, but what a ...week. I'll spare you the details- let's just talk about food.
This is the last Gourmet Today recipe I've got for you. Then it's going back to the library. I'm not even renewing it.
I know it's confusing. Me with my Gourmet love and grief, not even giving it another few weeks?
I've got a few mild criticisms- nothing to convince you not to check it out of the library, really. If you must have the details, I love Gourmet first for the writing, then photos, then recipes. This book only has recipes, so it's not really filling the void that the December issue of Gourmet is creating. But really, I'm finding that I love cookbooks for the soul that I can smell and taste in the midst of the pages, and this one doesn't have much of that, mostly because it is a compilation of the recipes of so many different chefs, and I can't find the voice in there.
It's just becoming clear to me that this is the kind of cook I am. I am a cook who loves cookbooks that talk to me, invite me in, tell me a story, and feed me a few things. I know that I don't have tat much company in this, but I think that I would cook purely from food essays if I had the time to read all day long.
A friend of mine never measures anything- she doesn't use recipes except for when she opens the Joy of Cooking for an outline of what she is trying to create. We're all looking for something different to fill that special shelf in the kitchen, and luckily there are enough cookbooks to satiate us all.
Of course, Gourmet is always good for a recipe, and I think that this was the best one that I found this week. I made it earlier in the week with those red-wine-and-maple-glazed carrots. Another sweet and lovely recipe, but I do not suggest putting them together. I'm sure if I had told you about the meal in advance, one of you would have warned me, "No! Too much glaze in one meal! And we all love shallots, but not so many in one dinner! Please!"
But of course I went ahead and did it without consulting anyone. I'm learning. But make them separately, and you will be very happy.
These pork chops have unbelievable flavor. Seriously. They are fast, and fancy, and delicious, which of course is the best combination.


Balsamic-Glazed Pork Chops
from Gourmet Today

4 center cut pork loin chops (about 2 pounds total)
salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
8 small shallots, peeled, leaving root ends intact, and quartered
2/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

Rinse the pork chops and pat them dry. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper.
Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Cook pork, in 2 batches if necessary, with shallots, turning pork once and stirring shallots occasionally, until pork is browned and shallots are golden brown and tender, about 5 minutes. Transfer pork to a plate, leaving shallots in skillet.
Add vinegar (be careful, it will go wild for a moment), 1/2 teaspoon salt, sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon
pepper to skillet and cook, stirring, until sugar has dissolved and liquid has thickened slightly, about 1 minute. Reduce heat to moderate and return pork, along with any juices accumulated on plate, to skillet, turning 2 or 3 times to coat with sauce. Cook, turning once, until pork is just cooked through, about 3 minutes.
Transfer pork to a platter and boil sauce until thickened and syrupy, 1 to 2 minutes. Pour sauce over pork.

Sticking it to the Pot with the Daring Cooks

Well, I must say, I had my doubts, but it has been quite and entertaining weekend. Do you know those days that would be really fun if they were, like, four days, but your not quite sure how to cover all that ground in 16 hours? Of course, I left my Daring Cooks challenge to the last minute just to make sure that I would be making potstickers in a high stress situation. My friends Naomi and Ron were having an Asian themed potluck on Saturday (the day before posting), and how could I not make the potstickers then? Of course if I were Audax, I would have gone ahead and made them 40 times in the month prior to the party, but I am just not that good. (Check him out, by the way- he's amazing).
So, the party was at two on Saturday, and I thought, no problem, I make the potstickers in the morning, easy peasy, lots of time. Then of course, the farm goddess calls me to work the Saturday morning Farmer's Market, which is of course, my favorite thing to do in the world, and I'm not going to refuse just so I can listen to my kids fight all morning while I make potstickers. Of course, as luck would have it, this is a recipe that really has to be made just before you eat it. So, I do what any daring cook would do- I politely inform my host that I will be making potstickers at her party.

See how happy I am with myself? I got Joey in on it, and that's Naomi's mother-in-law there who couldn't resist being drawn into the potsticker hole.
I have to admit, I'd had quite a bit of champagne at this point. I was having a bit of a hard time getting over an experience that I had had earlier at the Farmer's Market. This was the first market that I've worked this season, and I was getting into my groove. Lots of math in my head, recipes for every vegetable at will- I was getting into it. And it was really busy. And then, I found myself face to face with a woman who I think that I can safely say is one of the most famous food writers in the world. It wasn't entirely a surprise- I know that she lives around here, and I knew I would run into her one of these days. And as I try to get closer to figuring out what I want to be when I grow up, I've thought of a lot of things that I should say. But in the moment, when she looked at me and asked, "What do you do with green garlic?", I had no words. Quietly, I stuttered, "sautee?" Jesus. I guess there's always next time. But why couldn't she have asked me about white turnips? I would have mesmerized her with my carmelized turnip suggestions, enchanted her with the thought of turnip soup that uses both the perfect juicy white turnips and their bitter, buttery greens? Sigh.
Okay, back to the potstickers- I just had to get that off my chest. I had made the filling the night before, only because it would have been entirely impossible to make it all happen the same day. So on Friday, I did a bit of chopping.

I was not so scientific about what went in there. I just put everything I could think of. And at the end of the market, I scored some free baby shitakes, and I threw those in too.


And on Saturday, in the fifteen minutes I had after the market, I threw the dough together. I was in a hurry, and I barely looked at the recipe, this was a bad idea. By the time I got to the party, I realized that my dough was too wet, and I wasn't really sure how I was supposed to shape it. And I was far from my recipe. I remembered that I needed to get the dough into little balls.


But everything was so sticky! And although I had been very attentive to the "pleating" directions, without them in front of me, I was clueless. That's when I brought Joey in.


I am so lucky that he is artistically inclined. So I rolled, then handed him irregularly shaped circles, which he turned into little potsticker shaped things.
The challenge gave us the option to boil, fry or steam the potstickers, and, because I like to live dangerously, I boiled them. I was sure they would all explode. But they didn't!

Ron and Naomi had prepared this whole incredible make your own soup spread. And the potstickers were actually really good floating in the soup. I was relieved to put them on the beautiful table and be done with the whole thing.

Thanks so much to Jen of Use Real Butter for making me do this. And go see everyone else's potstickers- I think they're prettier than mine.
Oh yeah, and p.s. just so you you get the full breadth of the weekend, I feel it necessary to show you what Joey did to the clover in the back yard.

Yes, that is a heart.

Potstickers

For the filling:
1 lb ground pork sausage
1/2 cup minced fresh ginger
3 T toasted sesame oil
3 oz chopped pea shoots (yes I put them in everything. You've got a problem with it?)
1/8 cup chopped chives
1 carrot, small diced
2 cups shredded napa cabbage, lightly sauteed in olive oil
3 T soy sauce
1/2 T fish sauce
2 cups chopped baby shitakes, lightly sauteed in olive oil

Mix everything together in a bowl. Cover, and put in the fridge for an hour, or if you're having a crazy weekend like me, a day.

The dough:
4 cups (500g) all purpose flour
1 cup warm water
flour for work surface

In a large bowl mix flour with 1/2 cup of water and stir until water is absorbed. Continue adding water one teaspoon at a time and mixing thoroughly until dough pulls away from sides of bowl. I kept thinking my dough was too dry and I added too much water. Don't do this!

Knead the dough about twenty strokes then cover with a damp towel for 15 minutes. Take the dough and form a flattened dome. Cut into strips about 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide. Shape the strips into rounded long cylinders. On a floured surface, cut the strips into 3/4 inch pieces. Press palm down on each piece to form a flat circle (you can shape the corners in with your fingers). With a rolling pin, roll out a circular wrapper from each flat disc. Take care not to roll out too thin or the dumplings will break during cooking - about 1/16th inch. Leave the centers slightly thicker than the edges. Place a tablespoon of filling in the center of each wrapper and fold the dough in half, pleating the edges along one side. Keep all unused dough under damp cloth.

To boil, fill a large pot with water and boil dumplings until they float.

And of course, I entirely forgot to make dipping sauce. Good thing there were lots of dipping sauces at the party. But here's Jen's recipe for that, if you're not lucky enough to be going to an Asian potluck.

dipping sauce:
2 parts soy sauce
1 part vinegar (red wine or black)
a few drops of sesame oil
chili garlic paste (optional)
minced ginger (optional)
minced garlic (optional)
minced green onion (optional)
sugar (optional)

I had a fair amount of filling left over, but the recipe made about 4 dozen potstickers.

Until the next challenge then....