The Scene: hotel bar in Barcelona

I was waiting for my husband. He was at a conference and I was boondoggling in Barcelona.

Sitting at a bar. Sipping soda as it was a little too early for a glass of Cava. I began to absorb the modern feel of the crowded hotel. The hustle and bustle of business being done, connections being  made. As usual, I was more interested in the kitchen staff, the ebb and flow of the food workers, than I was in the conversations around me.

Somehow I had seated myself in a front row seat for the Jamon show. A full leg of Iberico pork, aged to perfection, is bound in a metal cage, captured tightly. One young man spends his day attacking the pork, one thin slice at a time. He doesn't speak, simply slices tiny bits off the leg, changing cutting tools to suit his needs.

He covers small plates with the meat. As each one is completed, it is quickly whisked away by a very busy waiter. The task seems endless. In this modern setting his task is basic, old fashioned and greatly appreciated.

My husband finds me and we leave.

Found this memory, scribbled on a piece of hotel WiFi instructions, from 2013.

Fall Classic: Chile Verde

Assorted chiles, roasted, peeled, deseeded and ready to be chopped for the chile.

A favorite recipe for this time of year, now with pics: Cuilnary Vixen's Chile Verde.

Summer Pork Roast with Stone Fruit Compote

A gluttony of summer fruit, what to do when you have too much of a good thing.

My kids love stone fruit.  They wait all year to get their fill of plums, nectarines, peaches, pluots & apricots.  I tend to fully indulge them when the season hits. We buy pounds of the sweet fruit and indulge all summer.  But sometimes our eyes are just to big for our stomach to keep up.  We buy too much of the sweet stuff and it rots.... FAST.

This year when a big bowl of peaches & nectarines were slowly softening by the kitchen window, I devised a quick plan, a delicious, slow-cooked plan!

Summer Pork Roast with Stone Fruit Compote
(serves 4-6 as main course)

Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons Vegetable oil
2-3 lb Pork Shoulder Roast (also called Picnic Roast)
1 Tablespoon ground coriander
Salt & Pepper - to season & to taste
1 Large Onion
3 Ribs of Celery
1 Large Carrot
1 Large Jalapeno
2 lbs. Overripe Stone Fruit
3 Cloves of Garlic
1 " Fresh Ginger Root
1 12 oz Beer

Method:
In a large dutch oven heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat.  Rub the pork all over with the coriander and season liberally with the salt and pepper.
Brown the pork roast on all sides, letting it brown well on one side before turning to the next.
Chop the onion, celery, carrot & jalapeno into medium dice.
When the pork roast is on it's final side, add the vegetables to the pan.  Stir around to combine.  Lower the heat to medium.
Cut the flesh off the pit of each piece of stone fruit.  Slice coarsely into thick slices.
Peel & smash the garlic & ginger.  Mince thoroughly.
Add the fruit, ginger & garlic to the pan.  Stir gently for 1-2 minutes until fragrant.
Pour in the beer, fold into the fruit & vegetable mixture. 
Cover and Braise in the oven @ 325F  OR on the stove-top on low heat - for 3 hours.
Remove from the heat when the pork is fall apart tender.  Take the roast from the pan and put on a serving dish.  If the sauce in the pan is quite runny, boil it over high heat (do not stir or you will break up the fruit) for a few minutes to thicken into a sauce before serving.
Slice the pork, serve with the thickened compote and the Smokey Vinegared Greens.
Enjoy!

Pastie Report

The pasties were a big hit. The dough was nice and light even with the whole wheat flour. The beef and pork filling turned out amazingly tender. I used Clyde Hooper's recipe with the following substitutions:

• I used butter instead of beef suet


• Took out the turnips, used carrots


• 2 Cups whole wheat flour were substituted for 2 C of the All Purpose flour


• 2 Tablespoons of Worchestershire sauce was added to the stuffing

I made a Chimmichurri type sauce using Italian parsley, cilantro, a serrano chile, a jalapeno chile, red wine vinegar, olive oil salt and pepper. I purreed it in a food processor until smooth and bright green.

It had a nice kick and really added a nice acidic balance to the basic meat and potato filling.

The Hooper kids tell me that Clyde would have paired his with Malt Vinegar and Catsup. Yum!

Here's a pic of the one I sampled.

My Chile Verde Recipe

I've been making green chile stew or chile verde for quite a few years. Originally I'd use a recipe I found at the old rec.food.recipes newsgroup, which was quite simple, but never really had enough punch for my taste. So, I've modified it over the years and it's become better and better.

I usually make the dish using pork. I dice up a picnic roast or pork butt roast (it's really pork shoulder, don't ask me why they call it butt!). Recently I made it with chicken and it turned out wonderful. If you are using chicken, I suggest boiling a whole chicken with some onion, carrot, celery, parsley and peppercorns and then pulling the meat from the chicken. Now you've made the chicken stock for the recipe and you don't need to brown the chicken, just add it after sauteing the onion and spices.

I think either way, this is a fabulous recipe and worth the effort.

Vickie's Chile Verde

Serves 6

Ingredients:
8 fresh Anaheim green chiles
8 fresh Pasilla dark green chiles
1 lb. fresh Tomatillos
1 large white onion
4 garlic cloves
2 lb. lean pork, cut into large dice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon Mexican oregano
salt and pepper
1 12-oz. bottle of Mexican beer
1-2 Cups Chicken Stock
1 lime

Method:
Roast, peel and de-seed the chiles. Cut them into small dice. If you have never done this, please, look online and read up on how to do it right. You really want to get rid of all the skin off the chiles and blackening them is the best way.
Preheat your oven to 375F. Remove the husks from the tomatillos and rinse them well. Put them on a baking sheet. Cut the onion into quarters and put them on the baking sheet as well. Roast the tomatillos and onions until the tomatillos have brown spots and are soft (20-30 minutes).

Roated onion, tomatillos, garlic & zucchini - did them all in the oven for this batch.

While the tomatillos are roasting, smash the garlic cloves. Heat a Dutch oven over medium high heat. Salt and pepper the diced pork. Brown the pork a few handfuls at a time. Don't crowd the pan, you want the pork to get some nice brown carmelization. Set asside the cooked pork.

Browning the cubed and seasoned pork in small batches to get some good carmelization going.

Pulverize the tomatillos in a blender until smooth. Dice the now softened onion. Saute the onion in the pot, add the garlic, cumin, oregano and a little salt and pepper. Now add back the pork and stir well. Pour in the tomatillo mix. Stir again. Add the beer and enough chicken stock to just cover the meat. Bring to a boil and then lower heat. Simmer for 30 minutes. Add the roasted green chiles, mix well. Add the lime juice and mix again. Taste. Adjust for salt.

The final stew.  This batch had multicolored chiles and added zuccini.

Variations:

• Add a minced serrano to make it more spicy.
• Add some corn (cut from the cob and fried up a bit OR a small can).
• Add a can of hominy.

Accompaniment ideas:

• Tortillas hot off the griddle
• Corn tortilla chips
• Mexican Crema or sour cream
• Chopped fresh cilantro
• Sliced Green Onions
• Xenepek (google it!)

Enjoy!

Slow Cooked Pork Ribs with Sour Orange, Fennel and Chipotle

Happy Birthday Lenae!
It was Bruce's sister's birthday last week and we invited her and her son over for dinner. Lenae loves my cooking. I asked her if she had any requests for her dinner. She mentioned her usual favorites, MEAT and cooked celery. She has a thing for cooked celery.
I bought a pork roast and was contemplating what to make exactly. Then, other obligations got in the way and usurped the pork roast. I had a few beautiful sour oranges waiting to be turned into something special. I've never even seen a sour orange until two weeks prior when I was on a foodie shopping adventure with Edythe. We were at the Arab Market and there they were, with all the other gorgeously fresh, ripe and seasonal produce. Sour Oranges are used in many cuisines around the world (Spanish, Italian, Central American, Cuban, etc.) but haven't really become popular enough for even specialty shops to carry here in the US. I had to buy some. I couldn't wait to play with them.
I searched for recipes using the sour oranges. I found a pork recipe or two that looked interesting. I read through them and kept thinking. When it came time to make the dinner it came together with ease and made for an incredible dinner.
The tender pork absorba the delicate orange flavor, the fennel seeds pair perfectly with the celery and the chipotle adds a subtle heat which pulls them together. Serve over roasted or mashed potatoes or rice, something to soak up all the wonderful juices.

Slow Cooked Pork Ribs with Sour Orange, Fennel and Chipotle

Serves 4

Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 racks of Pork Ribs
2 Onions, cut into 1" dice
1 head of Celery, cut into 1" dice
4 large cloves of Garlic, smashed
1 Tablespoon Fennel Seeds
1 - 3 Teaspoons ground Chipotle Chile
2 Sour Oranges, juiced
2 Regular Oranges, juiced
Salt and Pepper

Method:
Rinse the pork ribs under cold water, pat dry with paper towels. Salt and Pepper them well. Heat a Dutch Oven over medium heat. Add the Olive Oil. Brown the pork ribs. You can cut the racks into halves which will make them easier to manipulate.
If you are using a slow cooker, move the ribs into it after you've browned them. If not, put them aside on a plate.
Add the onion and celery. Cook for about 5 minutes until softened. Add the garlic, orange juices, fennel, and chipotle. Bring to a boil.
If using the slow cooker, add the vegetables to it and let it cook on low for 8 hours.
If using your Dutch Oven, put the ribs back into the pot. Put in a low oven (250 F) for 8 hours.

NOTE: Since sour oranges are hard to find, you may use a substitute: juice of one lime and one regular orange for each sour orange used.

The Ribs

Many years ago we were planning our annual outing to Mammoth Lakes, CA for the Fourth of July celebrations. Bruce put in a request with me for some baby back pork ribs for the feast. He wanted something smokey and spicy with perhaps a dried chile sauce.

At the time my selection of barbecue cookbooks was dreadful. I spent some time digging around in books and on the internet. But then, in a strange place I found the great rib recipe. It's a Mark Miller recipe which was published in a book titled: Cooking with Patrick Clark. Patrick Clark was a chef who passed away suddenly and left a wife and children. The book was put together as a fundraiser for the family. It's filled with Patrick's recipes as well as all the top chefs from the early 1990's.

I always tell Bruce that it takes three days to make these ribs. But the truth is, we made 12 racks of ribs for a party two weeks ago and I didn't put them in the marinade until the night before and I made the sauce on the morning of the party. Easy Peasy. I suppose the other two days are spent gathering all the ingredients, there are lots of them and in large quantities. Don't skimp, this is powerful good stuff!

Glazed Prok Ribs with Black Coffee Guajillo Barbcue Sauce

Based on Mark Miller recipe

Marinade and Sauce for up to 6 racks of ribs

Marinade
4 Tablespoons ground coriander
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
6 Tablespoons honey mustard
2 Tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon salt
3 Tablespoons ground chile molido (pure chile powder)
1 1/2 Cups apple cider vinegar
1 Cup balsamic vinegar
1 Cup honey
1/4 Cub liquid smoke

Combined all the ingredients for the marinade in a large bowl. Stir well. Rinse the ribs in cold water and place in a non reactive container. Pour the marinade over the ribs. Let them marinate overnight in the refrigerator.

To Prepare the Ribs
Remove the ribs from the marinade and place in a single layer on large baking dishes. Cover them tightly with foil. Bake at 225F for at least 2 hours. At two hours check the ribs to see if they are tender to your liking. For more tender ribs, bake longer.


The Sauce
1 Cub chopped white onion
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 Tablespoon butter
1/4 Cup sherry vinegar
1 1/4 Cup tomato puree
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 Cup crushed dired quajillo chiles
1 Cup strong, freshly brewed black coffee
1/3 Cup molasses

Heat a saute pan over medium heat and add the butter. Sweat the onion and garlic over low heat for 10 minutes until very tender. Deglaze the pan with the sherry vinegar and add all the remaining ingredients. Simmer for 20 - 30 minutes until the chiles are very tender. Puree until smooth and strain if desired.


Heat a grill to medium heat and char the ribs on both sides for 2-3 minutes per side.
Slather the sauce onto the ribs as they come off the grill.

Enjoy!