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Archive for the ‘swine’ Category

Las Tripletas

Posted in poultry, Restaurant, swine, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 29, 2010| 1 Comment »

The food in San Juan, Puerto Rico is very expensive for what you get. I guess that’s expected in such a touristy city. That’s especially true when walking the streets of Old San Juan. While that part of town isn’t without its charm, rustic old world food certainly isn’t its draw. We found that the best way to fill your belly without emptying your wallet is to find a good kiosk and get your hands on a tripleta sandwich, a similar morsel to the Cuban sandwich.

We found this Las Tripletas kiosk on the south end of Old San Juan on the cobblestone street near the cruise docks. While I was ordering the sandwich artist told me that his tripleta was much better than any Cuban I’d ever eat. When I asked why he said because his pork was wet and juicy while most Cubans had dry pork. Nothing better than a wet sloppy pork sandwich. Well, almost nothing, I can think of a few things but that’s another conversation.

Quite spacious for a little kiosk. My man here layered the lettuce, tomato, turkey, ham, and pork on the pan de agua (typical Puerto Rican baguette), then squirted some mayo all over and pressed it on his griddle panini-style.

It was a damn good, juicy pork sandwich. Not bad for $5.50.

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El Rancho Original

Posted in Restaurant, swine, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 22, 2010| Leave a Comment »

There are few things more satisfying in life than sinking your teeth into something truly special. Living in a fast food nation this is something that is harder and harder to come by. Yuki and I were just in Puerto Rico for 10 days, and due to American influence it’s also hard to come by there. If you look though, you can still find moment of culture, that moment of awe, that moment of pure bliss. For us, that moment was found in Guavate, better known as “The Pork Highway”.

Nestled in the mountains about 45 minutes south of San Juan, Guavate has become a destination unlike any other. I was first alerted to it by Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre Foods Episode in Puerto Rico. As a fellow Jew who appreciates the fine art of lechon, suckling pig slowly and expertly roasted on an open fire, I knew I had to get me some.

After turning off Hwy 52 on Rt 184, we kept winding around the mountains looking for this juicy animal. We’d go by a lechonaria here, a lechonaria there, but nothing that resembled what could be called “The Pork Highway”. And then, about 15 minutes later…Xanadu! We had found the object of our desire. A strip with 7 or 8 lechonarias in full bloom. We had told ourselves that we weren’t going to just end up at the one Andrew featured, we would head to the one with the most action, the one that locals were eating at. Of course, that ended up being the one Andrew was at, El Rancho Original. More aptly put, hog heaven!

We got in line as our taste buds were salivating. The line was pretty long, but it moved quickly. El Rancho Original is cafeteria-style, so you just order what you want then pick it up at the register. All the while they have live music and a dance floor that is always packed with people, especially old people gettin down.

When we got up to order I just had to marvel at that pig on a spit with the master hacking it up with a machete. We speak very little Spanish, so they had to get a lady over who spoke more English to take our order. It all worked out as we got what we wanted. We grabbed our food, walked past the dancing into the back cafeteria, and proceeded accordingly.

We ordered a plate full of lechon (of course), some rice and beans, this tamale-like thing of mashed pineapple and pork, a salad of lettuce and tomato to help our bowels process this overload of nutrient information, some morcilla (blood sausage, basically pigs blood with rice and spices stuffed into its intestines and grilled), sweet potato, and a big slice of avocado. It may not look like much in the photo, but believe me, it was a lot of food for two people. All for only $21! I dare you to find a deal like that in Chicago.

Mmmmmmm, crispy skin. Or, as Yuki likes to call it “meat candy”.

This spread was so good! It really was the best pig I’ve ever eaten. My older brother is going to be mad at me for saying this, but Jews are CRAZY!!! Along with every other culture and being who deprives themselves of such pleasure. Call me a hedonist, but that pig sure is tasty! If I could eat El Rancho Original’s lechon every day three times a day I would, as long as there was some beef and scallops peppered in there.

Pork coma. You know, a good nap is a necessary part of life.

Once the pork coma wears off you really have no choice but to start shaking your hips and moving various body parts to the rhythms of old world latin music. Or, maybe all of our bodies were just convulsing from pork overdoses. All I know is that Guavate is one of the last true Puerto Rican experiences left in this world. Something not to be missed if you’re ever in our 51st state, or commonwealth, or whatever it is.

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Ginger Pork with Pumpkin Quinoa

Posted in Home Cooking, swine, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 15, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I try to make quinoa a regular in my diet, but don’t make it as often as I should. Being one of the world’s superfoods, as well as being relatively inexpensive, I think everyone should eat it at least a few times a month. I’m just waiting for the McQuinoa to show up on menus. Although, to get most Americans to eat it they’d probably have to use burger patties as the bun.

First thing I did was marinate the pork chops. I mixed together 2 tablespoons of sake, 1 tablespoon of mirin, 3 tablespoons of soy sauce,1/2 inch ginger grated, a large garlic clove grated, and some cracked black pepper. I turned the pork around in the marinade a few times to coat it entirely, then I covered it and set it in the fridge for about 2 hours. I turned it a couple of times while marinating. I also took it out about 30 minutes prior to grilling to bring it to room temperature, this ensures that it cooks more evenly.

For the quinoa I used 1 tablespoon of curry powder, 6 green onions sliced, 1 yellow bell pepper sliced, 2 garlic cloves minced, 1/2 inch of ginger minced, 1/3 of a small pumpkin (I just eye-balled how much I wanted to use, I have no idea how much it actually was), 1 cup of quinoa, and a couple large handfuls of baby spinach.

In a small sauce pan I brought 2 cups of water to a boil. While the water was getting hot, I heated up my medium pan and poured in about 2 tablespoons of sesame oil. I threw in the pumpkin, bell pepper, and green onions. I let them saute for about 5 minutes and then added the garlic and ginger. While the garlic and ginger started to heat up, about a minute, I thoroughly rinsed the quinoa and then added it to the pan along with the curry powder, a touch of salt, and some black pepper. I stirred it around for about 3-4 minutes so that the quinoa would start to give off a slight nutty aroma. After that I poured in the boiling water, covered the pan, and let it simmer over medium-low heat for about 15 minutes. Once that 15 minutes was up I turned off the heat and let it rest for another 10 minutes.

While the quinoa was simmering I got the grill hot and grilled up the pork chops. It took about 5-6 minutes per side.

Just before serving I toasted my last piece of manakeesh from the Tannourine Bakery. I also fluffed up the quinoa with a fork and then mixed in the baby spinach.

If I were to make this recipe again I would do two things different. Instead of using 1 tablespoon curry powder I would use 1.5-2 tablespoons, or maybe a touch of cinnamon. I would also squeeze a lemon or lime into the quinoa as I stir in the spinach. The quinoa was good, just much more lightly flavored than I would have liked.

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Rosemary Meatloaf

Posted in beef, Home Cooking, swine, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 15, 2010| Leave a Comment »

One of the great things about meatloaf is that you can do pretty much anything you like with it. You can use any kind of ground meat, vegetables, sauces, etc. It’s also extremely simple to make. I have some rosemary still growing on my back porch and with the weather starting to cool down here I figured I should use it up before my plant dies. With that in mind I decided to make a very straight-forward meatloaf and use up the rosemary, although I still have some left that needs to be used within the next week or so.

My ingredient list includes 1.5 pounds of ground beef (20% fat), 1/5 pound of ground pork, 2 small celery ribs diced, ketchup, 2 eggs beaten, 3 cloves of garlic minced, a bunch of green onions sliced, panko, 1/2 cup of frozen peas, and a bunch of rosemary chopped.

In a large glass bowl I mixed together the ground meats with the celery, eggs, garlic, green onions, peas, rosemary, and some salt and pepper. Once it was all good and mixed I let it sit for about 15 minutes to let the flavors settle.

 

Once the meatloaf settled a little I shaped it into a loaf and put it into a loaf pan. I squeezed some ketchup on top and brushed it to cover the entire top surface. Then I sprinkled some panko over the ketchup. I put it in a 350 degree oven and let it cook for about an hour.

For some side vegetables I used 1.5 carrots chopped, 1/2 onion sliced, a bunch of haricots vert, and some more chopped rosemary.

I simply laid vegetables out in a roasting pan, drizzled them with olive oil, and seasoned them with salt, pepper, and the rosemary. I put them in the oven for about a half hour.

Once I got the vegetables in the oven I boiled some water and salted it. I took 5 good-sized Yukon Gold potatoes and skinned them then chopped them into quarters and dropped them in the boiling water along with 2 garlic cloves cut in quarters as well. I let them boil for about 10-15 minutes. Before draining them I reserved a cup of the water. After draining them I put the potatoes and garlic back into the pot, scooped about 1/3 cup of sour cream in, about 1/2 cup of the reserved water (didn’t need the rest but had it there in case I wanted to thin out the mashed potatoes), salt, pepper, and more chopped rosemary. With my potato masher I mashed it all up till they were smooth and creamy.

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Hawaiian hors d’oeuvres

Posted in Home Cooking, swine, tagged , , , , , , , on September 6, 2010| Leave a Comment »

We attended a Hawaiian-themed pot-luck party this weekend. I decided to make something really simple, but tasty. I came up with this hors d’oeuvres using typical Hawaiian ingredients; purple potato,  ham, pineapple, macadamia nuts, and cilantro.

I lightly oiled my baking sheet and then laid down slices of purple potato about 1/4 inch thick. I drizzled a little olive oil on top then seasoned lightly with salt and pepper. I threw that into a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Then, I took it out and put some thin-sliced ham (regular lunch meat ham) on top and then a slice of pineapple. I put that back into the oven for about 10 minutes. I poured a handful of macadamia nuts into a plastic bag and bashed it up with a bottle. I took the baking sheet back out of the oven and sprinkled the macadamia nuts all over and then put it back into the oven for another 5 minutes. I took it out, turned off the oven, and sprinkled some chopped up cilantro all over and let it cool. That’s it, about as simple as it gets.

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Panko Crusted Shiso Pesto Pork Tenderloin

Posted in Home Cooking, swine, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 3, 2010| 1 Comment »

I still had some of the shiso pesto I made a few days ago in my fridge. I decided to use it as a marinade for a beautiful pork tenderloin, one of our favorite cuts of carcus.

In a non-reactive baking dish I marinated a 1.5 pound tenderloin in the shiso pesto. I really rubbed it in there. I covered it and let it sit in the fridge for about 3 hours. Every hour I took it out and turned it over to keep it nice and coated.

While the pork was marinating I made some asparagus soup. I took a bunch of asparagus and reserved ten of the tips. The rest I chopped up along with 3 cloves of garlic, 3 yukon gold potatoes, and half an onion.

In a heated pot I poured in about 3 tablespoons of olive oil and tossed all of the vegetables in. I kind of stir-fryed them for about 7 minutes and then poured in two cups of chicken stock. I seasoned with a little salt, let it come to a boil, then covered it up and turned the heat to medium so that it could simmer for about 10 minutes. I didn’t want to overcook the vegetables, I just wanted them softened so that I could puree them. After the 10 minutes were up I turned off the heat and let it cool down for about a half hour. Then, I poured it all into my blender and pureed it nice and smooth. I poured it back into the pot, seasoned with pepper, and set it aside until dinner, at which time all I had to do was re-heat it gently and garnish with the reserved asparagus tips.

Then, I took the last half of my daikon and two carrots and chopped them up. In a small baking pan I tossed them with some olive oil, salt, and pepper.

I poured some panko on a plate and then rolled the marinated pork loin all over it to crust the entire thing. I put a rack over some foil on a baking sheet and laid the crusted loin on top. I used a rack so that I’d get some convection in the oven, keeping all of the panko nice and crispy, even on the bottom.

I heated my oven to 375 degrees and put the loin and the daikon and carrots in. I let them all roast for about 55 minutes.

When I took everything out I let the pork rest for about 10 minutes before slicing to allow the juices to redistribute throughout the meat. In the meantime, I plated up the white rice and vegetables and heated the soup. After slicing and plating the pork I drizzled a little Bull-Dog sauce on top.

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Inarizushi

Posted in Home Cooking, swine, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 30, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Yuki and I picked up some pre-flavored aburaage (deep-fried tofu) for inarizushi at the Assi Plaza the other day. So, last night for dinner she made some sushi rice with hijiki to stuff into them and I made a quick stew with a couple of kielbasa that I picked up from Andy’s last week. I mean really, what matches sushi better than Polish sausage?

Inarizushi is really simple to make. Yuki measured out the rice to make 2 cups in our rice cooker. After she poured in the water the put about 2 tablespoons of dried hijiki in and let it sit for about 30 minutes before turning the cooker on. Once the rice was cooked she dumped it into a large glass baking dish. I stirred it around while she fanned it to release the excess moisture. Then, she poured in a mixture containing 4 tablespoons of rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and a pinch of salt. I mixed that all in until the rice was cooled to room temperature. Prior to that Yuki took the aburaage and boiled it for a few minutes. Aburaage is covered in oil and by boiling it you can remove most of the oil. Then, it’s simply a matter of stuffing the rice into the packets, a job that fell into my hands. Make sure to keep a bowl of water nearby to keep your fingers wet otherwise the rice will stick and you’ll never get the aburaage filled.

For the kielbasa I sliced up half an onion, 1 yellow bell pepper, 3 cloves of garlic, half a long napa cabbage, and the two kielbasa. In a pot I heated up a tablespoon of olive oil and tossed in the onion, pepper, and garlic. I let those saute down for about 5 minutes and then added the kielbasa, I let that cook for about 4 minutes. Then I tossed in the cabbage and let it wilt down for about 4 minutes. I poured in 1/4 cup dry white wine and let it boil for a few minutes until it evaporated. Finally, I poured in a mixture of 1/4 cup soy sauce and 2 tablespoons of mustard. I let that boil down for about 5 minutes and that was it, just a little black pepper to season.

To serve, we put a shiso leaf underneath the inarizushi. We also served the extra rice because we made more than we could stuff into the aburaage.

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Pork Tenderloin – Greek Flavor

Posted in Home Cooking, swine, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 28, 2010| 1 Comment »

I just got the new Saveur issue the other day and it was all about Greek cuisine. This inspired me to make my own little Greek dinner last night. Since Yuki mentioned that I haven’t made pork tenderloin in a while and it was great weather to grill I put 2 and 2 together and came up with a delicious meal.

I got a beautiful 1.3 pound tenderloin. To marinade it I mixed together 1/4 cup of olive oil, 1/4 cup of red wine, the juice from 1/2 lemon, 1 tablespoon of dried oregano, 4 garlic cloves minced and mashed into a paste, 1 bay leaf that I crumbled, and a decent amount of black pepper. I let it marinate in the fridge for about 3 hours and then at room temperature for another 2 hours. Every hour or so I flipped it around so that the marinade would penetrate evenly.

I made some spanakopita for a side. I melted 1 tablespoon of butter in a pan, sautéed 1/2 diced onion for about 6 minutes, then wilted down a 5 ounce package of baby spinach. I put that in a bowl, let it cool, then seasoned it with salt and pepper, 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg, and 4 ounces of feta cheese.

Instead of the usual triangles I decided to make them into cigars. I cut some phyllo dough into about 5.5-6 inch strips. At one end I placed some of the spinach mix. Then I folded in the edges, rolled them up, and brushed them with olive oil. I got 5 cigars out of them. So I guess you can figure about 1 ounce of spinach for each one. I put them in a 375 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes. They burst open a little while cooking, I must have rolled them a little too tight. I guess I’m used to rolling other things. If you make these, don’t make them too tight.

While the spanakopita was cooking I grilled up the tenderloin along with a zucchini that I thinly sliced. I brushed the zucchini with olive oil prior to grilling. I did it over a medium heat for about 10 minutes on each side. I don’t like cooking tenderloin all the way through like a chop, that kills the soft texture. If you have a good fresh piece of meat there should be no worry about trichinosis with a tenderloin as there isn’t much fat for the little buggers to hide in. Also, drinking alcohol helps (it helps a lot of things!). Oh, I also sprinkled some salt on both sides of the tenderloin before grilling as well. I don’t like salting marinades because that draws the moisture out of the meat. It’s best to salt just before cooking.

While the meat was grilling I boiled down the marinade to make a quick sauce. I also made some orzo with cherry tomatoes and rosemary. I simply boiled 3/4 cup of orzo in salted water according to package instructions. After draining it, I tossed it in a bowl with a handful of halved cherry tomatoes and one sprig of rosemary that was given the once-over with my knife. A little salt, pepper, and olive oil and my starch was good to go.

Last thing, I let the meat rest for 10 minutes before slicing it. That gave it time for the juice to chill out and redistribute. If meat doesn’t rest after cooking the juice will run out and your meat will go dry. No one wants dry meat. A little juice goes a long way!

PS- This came out to 3 portions instead of my usual 4. I had lunch plans today, so I didn’t need lunch for myself.

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Bolognese di Japonese

Posted in beef, Home Cooking, swine, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 24, 2010| 3 Comments »

I had some angel hair pasta that I wanted to use up last night. Combine that with all of the Japanese ingredients I had in my fridge that needed to be eaten I whipped up a bolognese sauce with Japanese flavors. Note, I usually cook for 4 so that we have lunch the next day, but since it was Friday and we don’t need to take a lunch anywhere on Saturday this recipe was for 2.

My ingredient list for the bolognese was a package of enoki mushrooms, 1 negi thinly sliced (I had two but decided only to use one), some ginger and garlic minced, 1/2 carrot cut into quarter moon slices, 1 rib of celery cut down the middle lengthwise and then sliced, 10 cherry tomatoes halved, some wakame seaweed, 1/4 pound of ground beef, and 1/4 pound ground pork. What I didn’t get in the photo was some cooking sake, mirin, and soy sauce.

In my pot I heated up about 2 tablespoons of soy oil and 1 tablespoon of sesame oil and then let the garlic and ginger go for about a minute. Then I tossed in the carrot, negi, and celery for about 5 minutes until they just started to soften a little. After that I added the ground meats. They took about 5 minutes or so to cook and break up, I added just a touch of salt (not too much since I was about to add some soy sauce) and some black pepper. Once the meat was broken down I poured in about 3 tablespoons of sake and let that boil off for a couple of minutes before adding about 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of mirin. Once all the liquid was almost completely boiled off, about 2 more minutes, I added the cherry tomatoes and enoki. A couple of minutes later I mixed in the wakame and then turned off the heat. The wakame doesn’t need to be cooked, so I just wanted its flavor to incorporate into the meat.

While that was all going on I cooked some angel hair pasta and drained it thoroughly.

To serve, I piled the pasta on the plate and then topped it with the bolognese. On top of that I put some katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes). Some Asahi to wash it all down and we were good for the night.

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Baby Back Ribs

Posted in Home Cooking, swine, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 9, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Whole Foods had some really nice baby back ribs on sale the other day, so I really had no choice but to get a slab. I only wish I had a smoker, but even without one ribs can be done with flavor and tenderness.

I started by coating the slab with a spice rub. I used a very basic mix for this slab. I mixed together about 1/8 cup of paprika, 1/8 cup of sugar, 2 tablespoons of black pepper, 2 tablespoons of salt, and 1 teaspoon each of cayenne, dry mustard, and white pepper. I let the rub sit for about an hour before throwing the slab into a 250 degree oven. I let it go for about 2.5 hours.

Once the meat was cooked through and tender I put it on the grill over about medium heat. I had some BBQ sauce in my fridge that I needed to use so I didn’t make any of my own. I brushed the sauce on both sides of the ribs and let them cook for about 10 minutes per side to get the sauce nice and carmelized.

Besides white rice I stewed some chickpeas. I diced half of an onion, one yellow bell pepper, two tomatoes, and two garlic cloves. I also used one can of chickpeas and two sprigs of rosemary from our herb garden.

In some hot olive oil I sautéed the garlic for about 30 seconds before adding the onion. A few minutes later I added the yellow pepper and the rosemary sprigs. I let that go for about 7 minutes before adding the chickpeas and tomato. I poured in about a quarter cup of water and then seasoned with salt, pepper, a dash of cumin and a dash of paprika. I let the water come to a quick boil then covered the pot, turned the heat to low, and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Once the chickpeas were fully heated I turned off the heat and squeezed in the juice from a half a lemon. That’s all, ready for consumption.

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