Pork Fat Rules

Having company over for dinner is something I haven't done enough of this year. There's not much in the world that I find more gratifying than feeding people. Well, even more gratifying is feeding people while watching the Red Sox win Game 5 of the ALCS. Especially if I'm feeding them slow-cooked pork shoulder, white beans with sage, and sweet potato oven fries. With lots of red wine.

So I bought this giant 7.5 pound pork shoulder at my local butcher on Wednesday with the intention of cooking it last night for my guests, my friends Jackie and Stephanie. The only problem was that it was so large that it wouldn't fit in my slow cooker. I ended up cutting off and freezing about a third of it, but even still, we had more meat than we could finish. I've never made pork shoulder before, and boy, that is a fatty piece of meat. Fatty and delicious. We were remarking last night how odd it is that pigs get fat in their shoulders. Not that I'm complaining - as Emeril would say, pork fat rules.


I don't really have recipes for what I made; I was just winging it left and right. Fortunately everything turned out great. Here's the play-by-play:

For the pork shoulder, the night before I wanted to cook it, I roasted 3 big bulbs of garlic for a half hour in a 400-degree oven, then peeled it and put it in a blender with about 2 T each of salt, coriander, and dried rosemary; 1 T each of mustard powder and dried thyme; and about a teaspoon of ground black pepper. After blending it into a paste, I rubbed it all over the pork and let it sit in the fridge overnight. Before I went to class the next morning, I threw it in the slow cooker with just a bit of water in the bottom (1/4 c. maybe) and let it go about 8 hours on low.

For the white beans, I just soaked a half-pound of them overnight, then cooked them with 3 cups of water, a few tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil, and about a tablespoon of chopped fresh sage.

For the sweet potato oven fries, I peeled 3 yams and then cut them into french-fry-sized pieces. I tossed them in a bowl with some olive oil, salt, and pepper, and then baked them in a 500-degree oven for 30 minutes. When I served them, I sprinkled some fresh thyme on top.

Warmest January Ever!

This has got to be the warmest January I have ever experienced in Boston. Granted, this is only my fifth winter in the city, so my sample size is somewhat limited. But really - it was almost 70 degrees today. In Boston! In January! In protest, I decided to make cold-weather-appropriate soup. Actually, it was mainly because I was home studying all day and felt like using my slow cooker, but I can think of it as a weather protest if I want, ok?

So you know how you're in line at the supermarket and they have those little mini-magazines with recipes and stuff in them on the shelf above the check-out conveyor belt? I actually bought one while I was at home for break. It's all slow cooker recipes, which is why I bought it. The soup I made tonight is the first recipe I've tried, and it's not bad for coming from one of those crappy little grocery store cookbooks. It's a Chipotle Chicken Stew and, yes, it probably would have tasted even better if we'd been having real January weather today.

The most important ingredient in this stew – and indeed, the stew's namesake – is the chipotle pepper. Chipotles are smoked jalapeno peppers that date back to Mexican civilization before the time of the Aztecs. Nowadays, a full fifth of the Mexican jalapeno crop is dried and smoked to turn into chipotles. The natural heat of the jalapenos is preserved in the process, so the chipotles end up at between a 5,000 to 10,000 on the Scoville scale used to measure hot peppers (this is usually considered a "medium" heat level). Chipotles are often used to add a smoky, hot flavor to Mexican and Southwestern dishes.

You can buy ground dried chipotles, whole chipotles, or, most commonly, chipotles canned in adobo. Adobo sauce is made of spices, vinegar, tomato sauce, and sometimes other chilies. I've never made anything with adobo sauce, but I hear it's great on its own. That could be something new and fun to try in the future!

This is my entry for this week's edition of Weekend Herb Blogging, in which food bloggers write about their favorite herbs, plants, vegetables, and flowers. This week, WHB is hosted by the event's creator herself, the famous Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen.

Chipotle Chicken Stew

• 1 pound boneless/skinless chicken breasts, cubed
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, minced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 can navy beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can crushed tomatoes, undrained
• 2 cups chicken broth

Combine all ingredients, along with a generous squeeze of lemon if desired, in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high about 4 hours. Remove bay leaf before serving.

Remember, if you want to make this on the stove top, cook the chicken first, and add more liquid because it will boil off during cooking. It should probably cook for about 30 to 45 minutes.

*note: apologies for the formatting errors in this post. Stupid blogspot doesn't want to let me publish all my text in the same font. Boo!

Slow Cookin'

I just got my new crockpot slow cooker from Target in the mail the other day, and I could not wait to use it, so I made myself a yummy chicken chowder for dinner yesterday. I did all the prep work in the morning while I still had a modicum of energy, and by the time I got home after a long day of class, my apartment was full of delicious smells telling me that dinner was ready. What a lifesaver!! I'm making everything in the slow cooker from now on. Seriously. Not only is it convenient, the chowder turned out delicious. I enjoyed it with a glass of a French table wine from Vaucluse called Culture du Sud, 2004, but it would go nicely with any light red, like a pinot noir. The chowder itself is really hearty (good for a cold Boston winter night), it's pretty healthy (if you use fat-free half and half), and it has the best dill flavor!

Dill has always been one of my favorite herbs. I grew up associating it with salmon because my mother never made salmon without heaping tons of fresh or dried dill on top. It's a great combination for sure, but there are lots of different uses for dill. You can whip it into herbed butter, veggie dips, and of course, infuse it into dilled pickles. Dill has such a clean and simple taste that you can incorporate it into a great many recipes. Most people recommend using fresh dill to get maximum flavor, and fortunately, dill is a hardy plant that is easy to grow yourself (although I admit I don't have a dill plant).

Fun fact about dill: The ancient Greeks thought of dill as a sign of wealth, so richer members of society flaunted their success by burning dill-scented oil. And throughout history, dill has been used medicinally for its calming and soothing properties - in the 8th century, Charlemagne placed little vials of dill on his tables to stop the hiccups of guests who ate and drank too much!


Slow-Cooked Chicken Chowder

• 1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 tsp. garlic pepper
• 8 new potatoes, cut into fourths
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. dried dill weed
• 15-oz can corn, drained
• 2 c. chicken broth
• 1 c. half-and-half (I used fat-free)
• 3 Tbsp. cornstarch

Sprinkle chicken with garlic pepper and place in a 4-5 quart crockpot. Add remaining ingredients except half-and-half and cornstarch. Cover crockpot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or until chicken is thoroughly cooked and vegetables are tender. In a small jar, combine half-and-half and cornstarch and shake until well-combined. Stir into the chowder and mix well until blended. Cover crockpot again and cook on high for 30 minutes until thickened.

This is my entry for Weekend Herb Blogging, the weekly blog event where people write about recipes featuring their favorite herbs, plants, veggies, and flowers. This week, WHB is hosted by Pookah at What's Cooking in Carolina. Be sure to check out her round-up of recipes when she posts it on Sunday or Monday!