Puerco Asado

As a Cuban, one of my favorite meats is pork and this is one of my favorite ways to eat pork. Last week, Jeannene came home with a pork roast and asked me to make puerco asado for dinner the next day, "please, please, please." I actually had a can of Goya's black bean soup on hand, to serve over rice. I did not have plantains for maduros, nor did I have any of Goya's frozen maduros, so we were bereft of those. However, the deliciousness of the avocado & onion salad completed the meal nicely. The simple Cuban-style vinaigrette is a fabulous way to dress a simple salad. This meal is my traditional go-to for our Nochebuena feast every year, with the addition of fried yuca.

Puerco Asado

5 lb. boneless pork loin

4 cloves garlic

1/2 tsp. oregano

Salt & pepper

1/4 c. lime juice

1/4 c. orange juice

1/2 c. olive oil

A few bay leaves

In the morning, or even the night before, prick the roast all over with a knife. Mash the garlic and oregano into a paste, using a mortar & pestle (if you don't have these, you can process it in a food processor). Rub the pork with the garlic paste, salt, & pepper. Mix the liquids together in a large ziploc bag. Add the pork roast and bay leaves. Marinate at least 4 hours, turning several times. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove roast from bag and pat dry. Discard bay leaves, but save the marinade. Roast pork about 2 1/2 hours, to a 165 degree internal temperature, pouring reserved marinade over the roast about halfway through cooking and basting often. When cooked, tent with foil on serving platter and allow to rest about 10 minutes. Serves 8. 

For the avocado salad, I like to use butter lettuce (torn into bite-size pieces), avocado slices, and sweet onion slices. The dressing is 1/4 c. olive oil (Spanish is best for this, but not essential), 1/8 c. lime juice, 1/8 c. white wine vinegar (apple cider or red wine is fine, as well), salt & pepper, whisked together. That makes enough for 4-6 salads. 

Autumn Equinox Soup & Cranberry Cornbread

For my annual First Rainy Day of Fall Soup choice, I selected a recipe from the Gooseberry Patch cookbook through which I am cooking in the coming months. It turned out thicker than I would have preferred and with a bit of an odd undertone, but was still quite tasty. Of course, I cheated and put everything in together at the same time, when the recipe called for me to hold the creamed corn and onion soup mix back until the end of the 2 and a half hour cooking period. I was in a little hurry. Next time, I think I would simply omit the creamed corn and onion soup mix altogether. The dumpling recipe also made far more dumplings than I felt the soup needed, so I ended up throwing  away some of the batter. Next time, I will halve the dumpling part, as I have done here.

The cornbread, from the same cookbook, was delicious but overly delicate, rendering it nearly impossible to eat as anything but crumbs and bits. Further, it overflowed the pan and created quite a mess in my oven, although the pan was the recommended size and shape. I will unquestionably make it again, but probably in a cast iron skillet, rather than a loaf pan. I think using both self-rising cornmeal and self-rising flour, as called for, is probably a little much.

Therefore, here are my versions of these recipes:

2014 Autumn Equinox Soup

1 lb. ground beef (96% lean; can sub turkey or veggie crumbles)

1 onion, chopped

28 oz. can crushed tomatoes

5 smallish potatoes, peeled and chopped

2 cans Veg-All, drained (you can sub another brand of mixed veggies)

1 can corn, drained

10 oz. frozen lima beans

5 cups chicken or veggie broth (I like the reduced sodium version)

Salt & pepper

A pinch of thyme

1/2 c. cornmeal

1/8 c. self-rising flour

1/8 tsp. salt

Water, as needed (probably about 3/4 c.)

Brown meat & onion in soup pot. Drain any residual fat. Add tomatoes, potatoes, mixed veggies, corn, lima beans, broth, and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer 1-2 hours. Mix cornmeal, flour, and salt with just enough water to make a stiff batter. Drop by flattened tablespoonfuls into hot soup. Allow to cook until they float to the top, then turn over. Cook a few more minutes. Serves 10-12. 

Cranberry Cornbread

2 c. self-rising cornmeal

1/2 c. flour

1 c. sugar (this can be reduced)

1 egg, beaten

2/3 c. dried cranberries (I used the lower sugar kind)

1 c. buttermilk

1/4 c. vegetable shortening, melted (I would use butter, instead)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all but shortening. Stir in shortening. Pour into greased cast-iron skillet. Place on baking sheet and bake for about an hour, until top is golden brown. 

La Luna Cooks Mrs. Yoder: Lazy Wife Cake

Perhaps I should have called the last La Luna Cooks Mrs. Yoder entry "Mortally Wounded." The project has come to an end (well, or shifted gears, really). Almost since the beginning, I have questioned whether that particular cookbook was a good one to cook all the way through. The recipes are incredibly repetitious. There are a whole lot of recipes that call for canning or pressure cooking, neither of which I was prepared to do. I was constantly having to cut the quantities significantly and, truth to tell, the math was a mite hard for me sometimes. It's one thing to halve a recipe. It's another to reduce something made to feed an entire congregation. And, to be completely honest, I just didn't love the food. Some of it was pretty good, to be sure, and there are still recipes I want to make from that cookbook. I didn't want to be a quitter, especially not so shortly after beginning. But to continue making food I was lukewarm about, food which wasn't particularly healthy in the first place, with so many of the ingredients being either processed or simply full or carbs and fat, seemed not only an unpleasant task, but irresponsible.

However, I need to blog about one last recipe adventure before moving on to the new cookbook. Last week, I made a recipe called Lazy Wife Cake. To me, a lazy wife cake would mean one purchased at the bakery and brought home. Or, at the very least, one from a mix. A lot of women of my acquaintance, frankly, consider themselves pretty enterprising if they do a cake from a box. This cake, however, is all from scratch. It's what I have often seen referred to as a "wacky cake," with vinegar in the mix. The vinegar didn't make me nervous, although the very small amount of cocoa powder for which the recipe called did, just a little.

The recipe calls for the baker to mix the dry ingredients (No Spoons! Forks Only!---Anyone know why this would be the preferred method?) and put them in a pan (size was not specified, so I went hunting for other "Lazy Wife Cake" recipes online and determined that an 8x8 pan would suffice), then to make little wells in the mixture for the liquid ingredients. Although my oil overflowed its hole, all was well and the resultant cake was lovely and lofty. It was a humble cake, fairly light and not terribly rich.

Because I am terribly picky about cake, I took one bite and decided that it wasn't worth the calories for me. My wife thought it was tasty and it apparently got rave reviews at her plant, where I sent the rest of it, so I think lots of folks would really dig it.

What I'm Cooking, October 2014

Dinners:

-Changua (Colombian bread soup) with chèvre salad and good, crusty bread (my favorite is Pugliese)

-Veggie cheese pie, steamed broccoli, green salad, roasted pears with almond crunch

-Out for sushi in memory of my friend, Paul, on what would have been his 44th birthday

-Scrambled eggs, sweet & spicy bacon, smoked cheddar muffins, fruit

-Shrimp scampi with artichokes & basil, capellini, garlic bread, strawberry salad with balsamic-cardamom dressing

-Greek potato, zucchini, & bean stew, cheese & basil scones, fruit, mocha pie

-Sloppy joes, corn, green salad

-Warm lentils with spinach, salad, fruit, crusty bread

-Chili, cornbread, apples with caramel dip

-Chicken tagine with preserved lemons & olives, Moroccan salad, Moroccan bread

-Sausage & rice casserole, lima beans, green salad

-Vietnamese or Chinese out in memory of my grandmom, on what would have been her 93rd birthday

Special lunch treat for myself:

-Sesame brown rice & cabbage

Friday Drinks & Nibbles: 

-Bagna cauda & Fish Eye cocktails

-Artichoke nibbles & hot toddies

Special Treat for a Visitor:

-Gingersnap palmiers

Welcoming Fall with Pumpkin Waffles

I always like to welcome Fall with some kind of seasonally appropriate meal for dinner. I have a convoluted (and somewhat silly---but it works) method of deciding dinner menus, involving rolling dice and counting by sevens. You may think I'm kidding, but I am absolutely not. I mean, there is still a lot of deciding I do of my own free will---it's not all up to fate. I was inspired by my mom and the method helps me plan in a way that utilizes all my cookbooks. Anyway, the dice and the sevens landed on pumpkin waffles for this year's first dinner of autumn and I was delighted! To me, this breakfast for dinner captures the essence of fall dining as well as any pot of chili. I am, of course, definitely thrilled it's chili season. But last night, we really enjoyed our waffles, me with warm maple syrup, my sweet wife with her preferred Mrs. Butterworth. I love that we are able to accommodate everyone's food particularities in our house.

Another particularity is that she loves maple bacon & maple sausage. I pretty much hate sweet and meat together. So, she is often longing for maple breakfast meat, but giving it up because I don't like it. Me, I adore pepper bacon. But, I usually defer to her preference for plain bacon because, well, who's going to complain about bacon? (unless it has maple---but I digress) So, last night, when we were strolling the meat section of our local grocery, she encouraged me to get pepper bacon and I encouraged her to get maple sausage. Then, she hit upon a brilliant solution! I can't believe we didn't think of it sooner. Get both, make enough of each for one person, and freeze the rest!

I'd intended to add fruit to the meal, so at least something would be healthy. That didn't happen. Ah, well. I got lots of good root veggies at lunch with my friend, Frank's, fabulous pork & root veggie stew with cider & curry.

Welcome Fall Pumpkin Waffles

1 c. flour

1 tbsp. sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

About 1/4 tsp. nutmeg (I grate mine directly into the bowl, so I am just guessing)

2 eggs, separated

3/4 c. milk (skim is fine)

1/2 stick butter, melted (you could probably reduce this with no disruption to the recipe)

1/4 c. pumpkin (I might add more next time; I'm putting the rest of the can in oatmeal)

Cooking spray

Maple syrup (or whatever your preferred waffle topping is)

Preheat waffle iron. Mix the dry ingredients together. Whisk egg yolks with milk, butter, and pumpkin. Combine with dry ingredients. Beat egg whites to stiff peaks and fold into batter. Spray waffle iron with cooking spray. Add 1/2-3/4 c. batter per waffle & cook until browned & crisp. Makes 4 Belgian waffles. These freeze well. To re-heat, just pop them in the toaster. The recipe also happily doubles, although I would only use 3 eggs when doubling, rather than 4. 

La Luna Cooks Mrs. Yoder: Back on the Horse with Red Ribbon Punch & Barbecued Hamburgers

I almost called this post "Bloodied, but Unbowed." That lemony peanut butter pie knocked the wind from my sails, for sure, and last Wednesday over coffee, friends tried to talk me into dropping the project. I was just about to cave, too, but my wife begged me to continue. It's a good thing I'm not being paid for this project, because I am completely unable to talk myself into making 18 different sauerkraut recipes. But, I gave myself permission to skip anything too repetitious (the 42 "taco salad" recipes that vary only slightly, perhaps) and permission to revise recipes, rather than cooking them as written, if something sounds quite wrong.

After skipping the entire week last week, I talked myself into jumping back into the game over the weekend. I made Red Ribbon Punch for my annual Fall Harvest Game Night (along with hot mulled cider for folks who just couldn't bring themselves to consume all that sugar and artificial coloring). The punch is not at all what I would expect the Amish to serve as punch. I would think their punch would consist largely of real fruit juices, mixed together, not a punch brimming with artificiality. But no. What I served was very reminiscent of the sort of punch I encountered regularly (albeit somewhat watered down) at church as a child in the 1970s, gussied up for partying. We never had the sherbet sort of punch at Vacation Bible School, but the vibrant color and super-sweet flavor of this punch was right on. I have to admit, I do like that sort of punch on occasion. My favorite punch, though, will always be the punch they served at coffee hour when I was a kid & now serve only for special receptions. It has become my go-to punch for my birthday & is our traditional Christmas tree decking beverage, as well. I call it Westminster Punch because that was the name of my childhood church.

Westminster Punch

1 12-oz. can frozen lemonade (preferably pink)

1 12-oz. can frozen limeade

2 qt. pineapple juice

2 liters ginger ale

Small box sweetened, frozen strawberries (more, if you like)

Mix everything together and stir to melt the frozen juices.

Getting back to the Red Ribbon Punch, let me just say right now that it would probably not be allowed in most churches now. For one, most churches ban anything bright red because it will likely stain the carpet. Secondly, more parents are vocal about their children not being fed so much sugar or artificial anything. However, it's a fun retro drink to serve, if impossible to find the exact ingredients. I'm not entirely sure Hawaiian Punch still exists. I haven't seen it in years. Honestly, though, I haven't looked for it in years. When I was a little kid, I loved the red kind and I especially thought the opening of the can with a puncture in either side was cool. I was a weird little kid. Red Kool Aid, though, seems to be essentially the same thing. Because I couldn't find Faygo orange pineapple soda, I subbed pineapple orange juice for the pineapple juice called for and used plain old orange soda. It was fun to do a punch, not least because I got to use my mother-in-law's beautiful vintage punch bowl with polka dots etched into bowl & cups. it looked festive indeed! I must also tell you that it paired pretty nicely with vodka. Ahem. Probably not what Miss Troyer intended when she included the recipe. But, perhaps okay during the rumspringa. 

I had planned to make a caramelized onion meatloaf for Sunday dinner with the kids. However, my Wild Mango Queens bookstore outing was a success and we stayed far too long over appetizers and drinks at Bar Louie. So, short on time, I turned to the Amish for a good alternative. I'd planned to have scallion mashed potatoes and corn with our meatloaf, so I went ahead with those to go with the barbecued hamburgers from the Amish cookbook. I wasn't sure how the oven-baked burgers, with their strong, ketchup-y, vinegar-y sauce would go over. I was especially worried that my wife would object to them. However, she and I both really liked them. Bubbles isn't much for red meat, but she ate half of hers, and Pie isn't usually much of a sauce guy, but he cheerfully ate his with half the sauce scraped off. I only made 2 modifications. One was to use 96% lean burger, which I am fairly certain is not part of the Amish repertoire (I could be wrong). The other was to sub a tablespoon of brown sugar for half the white sugar the recipe called for. Next time, I think I will make it with all brown sugar. It probably doesn't matter that much, but I think it would add a little more depth to the flavor.  There will definitely be a next time! Oh, and those scallion mashed potatoes were heaven.

Scallion Mashed Potatoes

1 1/2 lb. small red potatoes, quartered

2 tbsp. butter (you can use less, certainly---the original recipe called for a whole stick!)

1/4 c. heavy cream (or more, as needed---you can sub skim milk)

1 bunch scallions, sliced 

Salt & pepper

Cook the potatoes in boiling water (salted, if you like) until fork-tender. Drain. Meanwhile, heat butter and cream together. Mash into the cooked potatoes, adding more cream/milk, as needed, for desired consistency. Stir in scallions and seasonings. Serves 6-8.

Goulash, Johnny Marzetti, American Chop Suey

When I was a kid, I loved going to eat at my grandparents' house. While we ate well at my house, my mom and stepdad were vegetarian and the pizzas we ordered came from a little hippie place that offered whole wheat crust and all kinds of vegetables like bamboo shoots on their pizzas. So, dinner at my grandparents' house was a chance for me to eat like mainstream Middle America. One of my grandmom's dishes, called "goulash" in our family and "Johnny Marzetti" in my wife's family, seems to have been popular in most mainstream houses. The noodle and ground beef dish is easy to make and feeds a bunch of people for not much money. What's more, it's terrific comfort food!  As fall arrives in the Northern Hemisphere, it's all about the comfort food. So, I offer you this version of the classic dish. Feel free to post your family's favorite way to eat it in the comments section. I'm always up for trying different versions.

Johnny Marzetti's American Goulash Suey

3 tbsp. butter (or, as I did, sub 1 of olive oil or use cooking spray)

1 onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 lb. ground beef (I use 94%-96% lean)

1 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. basil

Salt & pepper

15 oz. can diced tomatoes

15 oz. can tomato sauce

1/2-2/3 c. tomato juice or V8

Pinch sugar (this lessens the acidity of the tomato, they say)

1 lb. macaroni (or whatever small pasta shape you have on hand---whole grain is good, too)

Heat butter/oil in large pot. Add onion & pepper and cook until softened, 5-8 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds to a minute. Add ground beef and brown it. Add seasonings, tomatoes, sauce, and sugar. Simmer while you cook the pasta al dente & drain it. Add pasta. If your wife is cheese-addicted, add lots and lots of that. Or serve it at the table so people can add or not add cheese, as their tastebuds and heart condition dictate. Lowfat cheese is good, too, because you're not relying on it to melt. Serves 8 & freezes well.