Winter Fake-y-que

This is certainly the winter of snow. What this does mean of course, are snow days. I am fortunate enough to actually get snow days, and I promise I’ll try not to rub it in. But, I have had some free time on my hands which means I have been baking/cooking more than usual. (Joe’s had it pretty good, let’s put it that way.) After a couple rounds of bread, a cake and an apple gallette I was in the mood for a savory, hearty treat, and this past weekend’s below zero temperatures reiterated that feeling.

Plus, the football games on Sunday just gave me the extra nudge I needed to make a gigantic dinner. Well, I decided that I could fudge a little indoor BBQ this weekend to remind me of warmer days. And the results weren’t too bad. I guess it can’t really be BBQ since there is no smoking of the meat involved, but it is slow cooked and when some homemade barbeque sauce is poured over it, I think it totally still counts.
I followed the basic tenants of traditional barbeque but adapted them to the work in the oven without a smoker. I know you can get indoor smokers, but in the interest of our upstairs neighbors, I opted not to try and actually smoke anything. So the basic steps were, make a dry spice rub, rub it on meat, sear the meat, braise meat, shred meat, douse with sauce.

In braising the meat, I took a ‘less is more’ approach – not in time; no that was about 5 hours, but in flavors. Since most barbequed meats are basted with some kind of mop sauce, I thought I could let it cook in the mop sauce instead. And letting it slowly cook for 5 hours was easy, plus as a bonus the kitchen was nice and warm for the entire afternoon.

Once I took the meat out and shredded it, I poured the remaining braising liquid back over the whole mess, and let people add their own barbeque sauce. But the true test of the pork was from my 20 month old neighbor, who would walk into the kitchen every minute or so and say “Pork?” in her tiny high pitched little voice. I would find a bite sized piece and hold it out to her like a little bird, pop it in her mouth and she’d walk away. Since she kept coming back, I assumed the pork had to be good – and it was.

So the next time you are in the deep winter doldrums, host your own fake-y-que. Or if you find yourself in a snow day with 5 plus hours to kill, try this recipe out.

Braised BBQ Pork
You can use your favorite spice rub, or make your own. Choose flavors that you prefer, but be sure to include a little heat, and if you have it, a little smoke flavor. I used a smoked paprika, but any smoked spice will do. I also made a bbq sauce, but again you can use store-bought if you’d like.

For the Rub
1 (3-4) pound pork butt
1 Tb salt
1 Tb ground pepper
1 tsp. Aleppo pepper (or 2 tsp. red pepper flakes)
1 ½ tsp. smoked paprika
1 tsp. oregano
½ tsp. dried rosemary
2 tsp. dried onion flakes
½ tsp. dried thyme
½ tsp. ground mustard
½ tsp. ground allspice
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. paprika

For the Braise
1 small onion, sliced
1 Tb olive oil
1/3 c apple cider vinegar
1 c water
1 bay leaf

For the spice rub, combine all the spices together in a little bowl. Rub mixture all over pork and let stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes. You can let it sit longer to really develop the flavors in the refrigerator also.

Preheat the oven to 300°. In the bottom of a heavy Dutch oven, sauté the onions in the oil until soft, about 5 minutes. Next, brown the pork on all sides. Some of the spice mixture will come off and stick to the bottom of the pan, that’s ok. Remove the pork to a plate and set aside.

Next, deglaze the pan with the apple cider vinegar, scraping up all of the brown bits. Place pork back in pot as well as any liquid on the plate. Add water and bay leaf, the water should come up about an inch and a half on the pork. Bring this to a boil, then cover and place in oven. Cook for about 5 hours.

The pork should be smaller in size and incredibly tender. Remove pork and place on a cutting board. With two forks, pull the meat apart to get shredded chunks. Pour onions and sauce over meat after you have finished shredding.

To serve, place meat on a roll, top with BBQ sauce and coleslaw (optional) and enjoy!

(If you want to make your own BBQ sauce, there is again, a basic recipe you can tinker with. Sauté some finely diced onion in a little oil. Next add in apple cider vinegar, mustard, ketchup and brown sugar. If the sauce is a little sweet add some Worcestershire sauce, simmer and serve.

For mine, I didn’t use any sugar but I did use some pomegranate concentrate I had, as well as lemon juice and oyster sauce, I let it simmer for about an hour and then let it cool before serving. So get creative, and if all else fails, keep your favorite sauce in the pantry.)

In Honor of June Cleaver

My house growing up was full of people and activity, that is, if we were home. Both my parents worked, multiple jobs and they usually took us with them if we weren’t in school. Some of my favorite memories are of having chicken broth out of a vending machine at the YMCA or eating Apple Jacks in the back of my Dad’s Dodge Colt while he delivered newspapers early one morning.

That is not to say that we did not have family dinners. We just had ours a little differently. At a fairly young age, my mom had my sisters and I cooking at least once a week. This included planning the menu, adding it to the grocery list and then preparing and serving it. My go-to meal was frozen raviolis (it still is, I usually have a bag for when I just cannot cook anything that requires thinking). I do remember gathering around a table for meals and trying to get my sister to laugh so hard she shot milk out of her nose. I was on a role for a while until my mom threatened us with some unnamed horrible punishment if Jen’s milk went anywhere but down her throat.

Or a few years later setting the table complete with glasses of milk (I had given up trying to neti-pot my sister with milk by this time) then coming back to find our little dog standing on the table lapping the milk out of everyone’s glasses. We had and still have a lot of good times around the dinner table. And I understand how hard it must have been to ensure we always had some time set aside for family dinners.

Today, I am blessed with a job that lets me get out of work fairly early by normal standards. And when Joe is in season, I have even more time to get dinner on the table. I’m no June Cleaver (my apron has a swear word on it heehee) but I like to have dinner ready for when Joe comes home. Not every day, and I have previously mentioned how after a bad day I may in fact be on the couch in the dark 2 martinis in by the time Joe comes home (hence the frozen raviolis).

Not everyone has this much time to cook dinner, and I always like to look for recipes that can be done quickly and taste good. While visiting my ex-college roommate and her husband this past weekend, I got to thinking about how difficult it can be to prepare something healthy and varying week to week. So Neerali, this one is for you.

Pork Agrodolce
As adapted from Gourmet April 2008 and Cooking Light
This is a quick and dirty way to make agrodocle –but I really like it. Be warned however, it is very strong on the vinegar flavor, so if you don’t like that, this recipe is not for you. I typically make this sauce for pan seared salmon, but the store was completely out of wild salmon. If you want to use salmon follow the * for directions below. This pork version takes a little longer but the hands-on time is about the same.

For the Pork
1 pork tenderloin
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Fresh (or dried sage) optional
Dried mustard (or fresh) optional

Agrodolce
1 large red onion, cut into 8 wedges (if it is a gigantic onion cut it into 16 wedges)
2 Tb. Olive oil
2/3 c. balsamic vinegar
1 tsp. sugar
½ tsp. salt
1 Tb butter

Preheat the oven to 400°. Rub the pork with olive oil and spices. Place pork on a foiled baking sheet or roasting pan and cook for about 20-30 minutes, until cooked all the way through. (if you have a meat thermometer, the pork should register about 140° or longer if you want it less pink)

Once the pork has finished cooking, turn off the oven and let it rest. While the pork is resting, cook the agrodolce. Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan, and add red onion, some of your wedges will fall apart, but don’t worry. Cook onion for about 6-8 minutes until their color has lessened and they start to get a little brown. Then add sugar, salt and vinegar. Cook for another 5-7 minutes until the vinegar is thick and syrupy. Add the butter to the sauce and stir until it is blended into the sauce. Spoon agrodolce onto plate and serve with sliced pork over top. This can be served with your favorite vegetable (roast broccoli) and potatoes or egg noodles (I have a weakness for egg noodles).

*For Salmon, take wild salmon and slice filets into single serve portions. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a pan, and cook salmon skin side UP for 8-12 minutes, until a nice golden crust forms on the salmon. Flip and cook for another few minutes. This version is much more quick then the pork, but both are fairly easy.