Pullt pork

Spring term is winding down, so finally I have time/energy to think about cooking again. We had a party the other night, and we made this recipe. It's so simple it's hardly a recipe, but it sure is tasty. I got it out of a slow-cooker recipe book that Akiko got me for Christmas.

Ingredients:
pork shoulder roast
1 or 2 bottles barbecue sauce of your choice
1 onion, chopped
buns or rolls

1. Cut any twine holding the roast together. Put the roast in your slow cooker and cook on high for 6 hours.

2. Take the roast out, put it in a dish, and shred it with two forks. Discard the juice that has collected in the bottom of the slow cooker.

3. Put the shredded pork back in the slow cooker. Add the chopped onion, pour the barbecue sauce over it, and mix. Cook on low for 2 more hours.

4. Stir. Serve.

Amounts: We were feeding 12 people. I used a 3.5 pound roast, and that was just right. We had none left over, and nobody left hungry. For that amount of roast I used all of one bottle of sauce (18 oz), plus about a third of another. That seemed right, too - but then, we like our pulled pork sloppy.

For sauce, of course everybody has their own preference, and if you're serious you'll probably make your own. Someday I'm going to try that, but for now I used Stubb's Honey Pecan. Perfect for pulled pork.

We served this with Akiko's potato salad, which disappeared very quickly, and some cole slaw that we got at the supermarket. That was because I realized that, as much as I love cole slaw, I've never actually made it.

Anybody have a good cole slaw recipe?

One of our guests was one of Akiko's grad students, and her back story is surprisingly similar to Dad's. Her mom's from Mississippi, but she was raised here in Oregon. She was telling us the difference between the "pullt" pork (real slow-cooked, barbecue-sauced stuff) that her Southern relations eat and the "pulled" pork (not soft enough, not flavorful enough) that she gets here. She (only a bit reluctantly) pronounced this recipe "pullt" enough. So, we were pleased.

Beans and Brats

So we've all been busy and the blog has been slow, but I'm hoping we'll be able to pick things up for the summer. Yay! I've tried some new recipes and foods in the last few weeks, but none of them have been winners. So instead I present a really easy recipe that I like to make once in a while.

Beans and Brats (serves 2-3 adults):

2 or 3 of your favorite bratwurst sausages, sliced into 1/2-inch rounds (I use fake, of course, but I still haven't found any that brown up nicely, so real will probably be even tastier in this recipe)
1 medium onion, diced
1 15-oz can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 15-oz can diced tomatoes, not drained
3 Tbs unsulphured molasses

1. Heat a large nonstick pan, with a little oil, on medium and brown up the brats, then set them aside. 3-4 minutes.
2. In the same skillet, turn up the heat a bit and saute your onions until they're soft and maybe a little brown. 5 minutes or so.
3. Add tomatoes, beans, molasses, and put the brats back in. Season with salt and pepper and simmer 10 or 15 minutes until the sauce thickens a bit and the flavors concentrate. If it gets too thick, add a little water. When you think you're done give it a taste--if it doesn't have a nice sweetish flavor it needs more cooking or more molasses.

And that's it. The original recipe called for leeks, and it turned out good that way, but onions are cheaper and easier to work with, so I generally use them. You can also dice a potato into it for extra veggie power and such, but I think it's unnecessary.



P.S. I've been looking for/experimenting to find a nice, basic pasta salad recipe with a lot of flavor, so if anyone has ideas that'd be super. I've been looking for something Italian dressing-y or vinaigrette-y.

Aioli Potato Salad

I haven't forgotten about the blog, but none of the recipes or foods we've tried lately have really been worth posting about. But since picnic weather is fast approaching (though you'd never know it from Utah's weather lately) I thought I'd post one of my favorite summer recipes. It's a very zippy potato salad and really easy to make. The recipe makes enough to bring to a potluck, so if you're just making it for home use you'd want to cut it in half.

9 red-skinned potatoes (medium to large), cut into cubes of your favorite size
1 cup chopped green onions
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise or Miracle Whip
2 Tbs lemon juice
1 1/2 Tbs mashed garlic
2 tsp salt
1 tsp fresh black pepper

1. Place potatoes in a large pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and cook until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain, pour into a large bowl, and toss with the green onions.
2. Mix everything else in a separate bowl and then toss with warm potatoes.
3. Cover and chill overnight.

The original recipe says to boil the potatoes and then cut them, but I've had an easier time cutting them first. Starting them out in cold water helps them stay firm. You can use white potatoes or Yukon Golds, but not russets.

Hawaiian Sun

So, Maidservant of the Monster and me were in Honolulu a few weeks ago for a conference. I should probably update y'all about that in real-world terms, but suffice it to say our presentations went well, and we had a little time to enjoy where we were. And then we came back to the 'Gene and it's been nonstop work every since.

One of the unexpected pleasures of being there was that a lot of places we went to eat they had Hawaiian Sun juices. Some of you will know what these are: guava juice, or passionfruit juice, or passion-orange-guava, or whatever, in brightly colored cans. We used to be able to get them at the Embassy commissary when we lived in Tokyo (we being the nuclear Walley clan), and as I recall we even used to bring home flats of the stuff when we'd go shopping at Yokosuka or Yokota. I don't know if I've had any since then - so that would make it eighteen years - but the cans haven't changed at all.

The stuff is probably available in the contiguous 48 - I think I've seen it in Asian groceries - I just never thought to look. Now I'm obsessed with it. Boy, did it bring back memories of life on the Embassy compound.

Seafood subs

I feel guilty not having posted here in so long: been too busy with work to be very creative or attentive about cooking, is my excuse. This recipe isn't complicated enough to make up for it, but it's a start at least.

Seafood subs. Simple and common to the point of cliché, but I was still pretty thrilled when I learned how to make them at home.

Ingredients (makes 2 sandwiches):
Imitation crab (our local supermarket sells it "fresh," whatever that means in this context; you can also get it frozen), maybe 1/2 pound
Mayonnaise (the real stuff)
Dried chives
Old Bay
Chopped black olives
Hoagie rolls

1. Cut up the imitation crab. Put it in a bowl.

2. Add mayo until it looks like you have enough. I didn't measure. It's not important.

3. Add chives and olives to taste. Mix with a fork.

4. Add Old Bay to taste.

5. Toast the rolls and fill with the above mix.

That's it. Hardly a recipe. But goodness gracious it's tasty.

Hasselback potatoes

I hardly ever make potatoes but occasionally a recipe will catch my eye and I'll try it out. This was a joint effort of Scott and myself:

3 whole russets, washed with peels on

3 cloves of garlic

2-3 tbs butter or margarine

salt and pepper

olive oil for drizzling

Slice the potatoes most of the way through (leave about a 1/4 inch of whole potato on the bottom) into ~3mm slices width-wise. Slice your garlic thinly and tuck it in between your potato sections. Shmear with butter (if it is stick butter break it up and put it in between slices like the garlic). Drizzle with olive oil. Bake in a 425 degree oven for about an hour until they are crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Very unhealthy, very awesome. It should look like the picture at the top.

St. Patrick's Day

For Saint Patrick's Day breakfast we had Lucky Charms, of course. A venerable Irish tradition if there ever was one.

And let's be honest, the dinner I'm cooking now is just barely more Irish than that. But we're barely more Irish than this dinner anyway, if I remember right, so this seems about right:

roasted potatoes with garlic, rosemary, and oregano
Glynne's cabbage salad recipe, minus the daikon because I forgot to buy it
southwest-y falafel with Irish cheddar on top

So that's my tribute to St. Pat.

May the road rise up to meet you and the wind be always at your back. :)