Roast Pork Shoulder

I was so confused on what to make for this week’s lunch. I knew I wanted to cook the Minestrone soup for dinner because of the cold weather but bringing the soup to the office is somewhat out of the question because of potential spillage issue. After browsing online, I decided to make Roast Pork Shoulder – which can be used for lunch with some kind of side vegetables and carbs or for the toppings on our dinner salad – using a recipe from this blog My husband cooks.

It seems that the trick of making a good roast of a big piece of meat are 1) marinate at least overnight and 2) cook it slow and steady in a low oven temperature. I knew about the importance of marinating but stupid me I didn’t read the whole cooking instructions on the site until Sunday afternoon when I found out that it needed to be cooked for 9-10 hours at 250F. After scrambling around to do some more online research while preheating the oven, I found out from Simply Recipes that I can cook it in a much shorter time and still get the caramelization that I want by first cook it uncovered in a 450F oven for 30 minutes and then cook it covered in a 325F oven for 3 hours. Phew! The roast pork shoulder turned out to be super tasty and moist – thanks to all those pork fat!


Ingredients:
4 lbs pork shoulder (boneless)
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup salt
2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons cumin
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 cup of dry white wine

Directions:

• In a small bowl mix together the brown sugar, salt, paprika, cumin, red pepper flakes, cayenne, and turmeric.
• Pat dry the pork shoulder with paper towels and rub the seasoning mixture evenly over the pork shoulder inside and out.
• Wrap the pork shoulder tightly in plastic wrap to hold the marinade against the skin, put it in a large bowl and marinate overnight. It will give up a cup or more of liquid so make sure your container is big enough to prevent spillage.
• 1 hour before cooking, take out the pork shoulder from the refrigerator.
• Preheat the oven to 450°.
• Place the pork shoulder on aluminum foil wrapper roasting pan (so it’s easier to clean) and roast uncovered for 30 minutes.
• Turn the oven heat down to 325° and add the wine and cover the roasting pan with another sheet of aluminum foil and slow roast for 3 hours until the pork shoulder is very tender and pulls apart easily when probed with a fork. If you want, you can add some more white water every hour or so to baste the pork shoulder.
• Transfer the pork shoulder to a serving plate and drizzle the pan juice over the meat.

Alton Brown's City Ham

If you are going, what is City Ham? Is it made from urban pigs? Here is what chef/scientist/nerd Alton Brown has to say about city style ham: A city ham is basically any brined ham that's packed in a plastic bag, held in a refrigerated case and marked "ready to cook", "partially cooked" or "ready to serve". Better city hams are also labeled "ham in natural juices".

Simply put: those big wrapped up hefty chunk of ham you see in grocery stores that's not labeled "lunch meat." I will suggest though, get a piece with a bone in it! They yield a much tastier result.

This recipe does require hours of work, waiting for the ham to slowly roast in the oven. It's perfect for big get-togethers, like Thanksgiving, where you are hosting a large number of people, and will be stuck in the kitchen making food all day anyway. After all, City Ham is a very low maintenance dish. Prep work doesn't take very long, and it makes a very beautiful and delicious entree.

Ingredients:
1 city style (brined) ham
1/4 cup brown mustard
2 cups dark brown sugar
1-ounce bourbon (poured into a spritz bottle)
2 cups crushed ginger snap cookies

Directions:

• Heat oven to 250 degrees F.
• Remove ham from bag, rinse and drain thoroughly.
• Place ham, cut side down, in a roasting pan. Using a small paring knife or clean utility knife set to the smallest blade setting, score the ham from bottom to top, spiraling clockwise as you cut. (If you're using a paring knife, be careful to only cut through the skin and first few layers of fat). Rotate the ham after each cut so that the scores are no more than 2-inches across. Once you've made it all the way around, move the knife to the other hand and repeat, spiraling counter clockwise. The aim is to create a diamond pattern all over the ham. (Don't worry too much about precision here.)
• Tent the ham with heavy duty foil, insert a thermometer, and cook for 3 to 4 hours or until the internal temperature at the deepest part of the meat registers 130 degrees F.
• Remove and use tongs to pull away the diamonds of skin and any sheets of fat that come off with them.
  Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Dab dry with paper towels, then brush on a liberal coat of mustard, using either a basting brush or a clean paint brush (clean as in never-touched paint). Sprinkle on brown sugar, packing loosely as you go until the ham is coated. Spritz this layer lightly with bourbon, then loosely pack on as much of the crushed cookies as you can.
• Insert the thermometer (don't use the old hole) and return to the oven (uncovered). Cook until interior temperature reaches 140 degrees F, approximately 1 hour.
• Let the roast rest for 1/2 hour before carving.
  

Canteen

Last week Porgy and I celebrated our quasi anniversary by having dinner at Canteen. We used to go there for brunch regularly a few years ago but we had not been there in awhile, in fact the last time I went there was more than a year ago! Our friend, Jeremy, was kind of enough to babysit Arthur so we were able to enjoy dinner without having to worry about him. Things haven't changed much there - the food is deliciously well executed and the atmosphere is wonderfully casual.


Cherry with Blue Cheese and Cracked Pepper


Bigeye Tuna with green tomato, avocado, coriander and chili


Rabbit Salad - Crispy rabbit leg with fresh chickpeas, fava beans, mustard


Sea Bass with sweet corn, peppers, spring onion and scallions


Pork Shoulder Confit with lentils, braised bitter greens, paprika, bacon


Hazelnut Cake with fresh figs


Chocolate Croquettes with espresso sauce

Ike's Place

After hearing the positive raves about Ike's Place in the Castro and its ongoing legal battle with the landlord for the past few months, we decided to check it out a couple weeks ago. To avoid the long line and wait time, we called in the order first and picked it up 30 minutes later. I got the Name of Girl I'm Dating (Halal Chicken Breast, Honey Mustard, Avocado, PepperJack) on Dutch Crunch bread while Porgy got the Al Bundy (Salami, Ham, French Dressing, Avocado, Smoked Gouda) on Sourdough bread.


After eating the sandwich, we both were not sure whether we liked them or not. Yes, they were tasty and the breads (specially the Dutch Crunch one) were perfectly baked ... but at $9.99 per sandwich, I'd prefer the $3.50 Vietnamese BBQ Pork sandwich from Little Paris Coffee Shop in Chinatown.

Chicken and Vegetable Cobbler

I love a good chicken pot pie but I have never made it before because I'm too lazy to make the dough. So when I saw Mark Bittman's article last week on NYTimes, I knew that I would make his Chicken and Vegetable Cobbler this weekend. I added garlic, shallots, ham and more carrots to his recipe in order to stretch the dish even more. It turned out really well and it's definitely easier than making it the traditional way.


Ingredients:
2 leeks, well washed and chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 shallot, finely chopped
salt and ground black pepper
2 cups of quartered crimini mushroom
1.5 cups of chicken stock
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
4 carrots, sliced into coins
2 boneless chicken thighs, diced
1 cup cubed ham
1 cup frozen peas
2 tablespoons corn starch
1 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into bits
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 egg

Directions:

• Heat oven to 400F.
  
• In a large skillet, stir fry the leek, garlic and shallot with oil over medium heat.
• Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes.
  
• Add mushrooms and cook until liquid has released and evaporated, about 8 to 10 minutes.
• Add stock and rosemary; bring to a boil, and let bubble for a minute or two.
  
• Add carrots, ham and chicken and reduce heat so the liquid simmers and cook for 8 to 10 minutes until carrots are almost tender and chicken is cooked through.
• Add peas and cook, stirring occasionally for another minute or so.
• Take out rosemary stem and discard.
• Whisk cornstarch with a few tablespoons of broth to make a slurry, add slurry to pot and stir until liquid thickens slightly.
  
• Transfer everything to an ovenproof dish and set aside.
• Put flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a food processor.
  
• Add butter and process until mixture resembles small peas, no more than 30 seconds.
• Add in buttermilk and egg and mix quickly until it just comes together; it should be sticky.
• Drop spoonfuls of batter on top of vegetables and chicken and smooth with a knife, covering as much surface area as possible but leaving a few gaps for steam to escape.
  
• Bake for 35 to 45 minutes until golden on top and bubbly underneath.
• Scoop into bowls and serve immediately.

Berkshire Pigs in the Blanket

Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of my Food4Wibowo blog. Woo hoo! It's interesting to read the all comments and suggestions that you all wrote and to remember what I cooked or ate just a few months ago. I want to thank everybody who ever read my blog and those who encouraged me to keep it going even when I was not up for it. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Now I want to share with you the recipe of one of my favorite snacks introduced by Mo-Fo a few years ago - Pigs in the Blanket. Since it's a celebration, I decided to amp it up a little bit by using Berkshire little sausages instead of a regular hot dog, slathered some Dijon mustard on the dough, and simmer half of the sausages in a sweet ketchup sauce for 15 minutes or so.


Ingredients:
16 Berkshire mini sausages
1 can (8oz) of Pillsbury's Crescent dinner roll
2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon of tomato ketchup
1 tablespoon of Hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon of honey
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 teaspoon of Worchestershire sauce
1 tablespoon of Vermouth

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 375F.
• In the meantime, simmer half of the sausages in a ketchup, Hoisin sauce, honey, soy sauce, Worchestershire and Vermouth mixture for 15 minutes.
• Separate the dough into 16 triangles and brush the dough with Dijon mustard.
• Wrap dough triangles around each sausage.
• Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 12-13 minutes until golden brown.

Il Cane Rosso

Last night, after having a flight of wine at Press Club, I went to Il Cane Rosso in the Ferry Building with Porgy, Mo-Fo Duo, Auntie Sandy. It's a joint venture between Daniel Patterson of Coi and Lauren Kiino of (soon to be opened) Bracina and was first opened as a casual rotiseerie and sandwich shop earlier this year and started to serve early (5-8pm) dinner a couple months ago. Their menu is pretty straight forward yet high quality comfort food sourced from local farmers. Although Daniel Patterson is not the chef (Douglas Borkowski is), I still think that it's a good opportunity to sample DP food vision for a reasonable price. As usual, I forgot to bring my camera so I had to take pictures using my iPhone.


I felt so San Franciscan foodie because of we all sat on the hallway of Ferry Building in front the shop and that we had to endure the cold breeze every time people coming in and going out of the building. After checking out the menu, we all opted for the family style 3-course prix fixe dinner for $25 and picked the non-vegetarian option.

Arugula and radicchio salad with warm chicharrones, pecorino and sherry vinaigrette

House-smoked Marin Sun Farms spareribs with fennel-orange barbeque sauce and creamy Ridgecut polenta

Citrus torta with yogurt mousse and candied orange

In general, I think the food was great - although the ribs were a bit too salty for us. I loved the light and tasty salad with the chicharrones bits and the refreshing Citrus Torta. Porgy who usually only likes chocolate-based desserts even ate some of mine because he enjoyed it so much. I know I will go back there again for either lunch or dinner some time in near future.

Grown Up Mac and Triple Cheese

My take on Ina Garten's Grown Up Mac and Cheese. It's easy to make although it's darn hard to take a picture of since I didn't bake it in a cute gratin dishes.


Ingredients:
1 lb fusilli pasta, cook according to instruction, al dente
1.5 cup of broccoli, blanch for 1 minute
4 oz sharp white cheddar cheese, shredded
4 oz swiss cheese, shredded
2 oz blue cheese, crumbled
1 onion, roughly chopped
1/2 lb of ham, cut into small cubes
2 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of flour
1.5 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
1.5 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup bread crumbs

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 400F and butter a 9x13 inch baking pan.
  
• Saute the onion in a small pan over low heat for 10 minutes until caramelize.
• Add in the chopped ham and cook for another 5 minutes. Set aside.
• In a large pot pan, melt the butter over low heat and add the flour. Continue cooking for 2-3 minutes stirring with a whisk.
• While whisking, add the milk and cook for a minute or 2 more until thickened and smooth.
• Remove the pan off the heat, add the Blue, Cheddar and Swiss cheese along with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
• Add in the pasta, broccoli, ham and onion and mix well.
• Pour into the prepared pan and sprinkle the bread crumb on top.
• Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the sauce is bubbly and the pasta is browned on top.
  

Brunch at Serpentine

I had a nice brunch with Craig, Mo-Fo duo and ShunBun. We were planning to go to Just For You Cafe but the wait time was over 1.5 hour so we decided to cross the street and checked out Serpentine.


Strawberry Buckwheat Pancake with toasted walnuts, whipped cream and maple syrup (to share...)


Savory bread pudding with Zoe's smoked ham, swiss cheese, sage, roasted onion and green salad


Fritata with fontina cheese, asparagus, roasted red pepper & caper relish, arugula and crispy potatoes


Fried oyster and egg benedict with bernaise sauce, corn bread and crispy potatoes


Baked eggs with black eyed peas, spring onion, green garlic, baby spinach, herb & grana padano cream and corn bread


Flannel hash of prather ranch beef brisket with chiogga beets, crispy potatoes, horseradish crème fraiche, poached eggs and grilled ny rye

Dinner at Chow

After having beer at Pilsner Inn with ShunBun and Danny for happy hour, the three of us went next door to Chow Restaurant on Church for a mellow Friday evening dinner. It was still pretty early in the evening so we didn't have to wait for a table.

Fennel-Sausage Pizza with mozzarella, escarole, tomato, red onion, oregano and ricotta.


Sustainable seafood of the day - Halibut with asparagus, peas, pea-shoots and mashed potatoes


Slow pot-roasted Beef Short Ribs with mushroom-herb gravy and mashed potatoes

President's Day

To celebrate President's Day, Porgy and I decided to have American food. We met our friends Dan, Aaron and Charlotte at City Bakery for the annual Hot Chocolate Festival. Today's special flavor was Darkest Dark Chocolate Hot Chocolate. It was super rich so I only had a few small sips.


For dinner, we went to 67 Burger in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Porgy had the Cheddar Cheese Burger and a Stella, and I had the Bacon & Blue Cheese Burger with Brooklyn Lager. We both shared a side of curly fries.


They were good and moderately priced. Afterwards, we had to waddle home because we were so stuffed, but we didn't mind.