Month: March 2012

The first time I decided to make pork shoulder it wasn’t met with great anticipation by my dear husband. “Shoulder? How do you cook it?” I explained it is roasted in a 300°F oven for about 4 to 4 1/2 hours. “Spice rub? he continued. I told him no, just salt and pepper and refrigerate overnight. “Marinade or a sauce?” he continued. No, I said, I’ve read it is good just as it is. I was going to serve this as simply as the directions conveyed. I think he was planning on some back-up meat, just in case but the wonderful aromas and succulent meat made a believer out of him. I used the recipe from Fine Cooking magazine and it called for a boneless pork shoulder but I could only find bone-in which in this case is the shoulder-blade. Roasts always seem to benefit from cooking on the bone.

Later shopping trips to make the recipe again revealed that a boneless roast is more than double the price so I have always stuck with the bone-in roast and just added a little cooking time (very little). Pork shoulder is also known as Boston Butt, which is a misnomer, it is not from the butt end of the animal but the upper shoulder of the hog. It consists of the neck, shoulder blade and upper arm  and contains quite a bit of connective tissue. According to the National Pork Board the name came from pre-Revolutionary war days when people wanted to live “high off the hog”,  the less desirable cuts, such as the shoulder were packed for transport in casks or barrels known as “butts” This cut became a favorite with Boston chefs, hence the name. I use the largest shoulder I can find, which in this case was about 9 pounds. The recipe calls for 1 medium onion and 3 medium carrots and every time I make the recipe I increase the vegetables. This time I used a 1 pound bag of carrots and 4 onions and I still could have used more. Other vegetables such as potatoes, fennel and squash could be added as well. I make scalloped potatoes, garlicky white beans and sautéed broccoli rabe to accompany this dish.

Recipe from Fine Cooking #97

Slow-Roasted Pork Shoulder with Carrots, Onion and Garlic

Serves 8 with leftovers

• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 8-9 lb pork shoulder roast, also known as Boston Butt
• 4-5 medium sweet onions, peeled, cut into 1/2 inch rings
• 1 lb medium carrots, peeled and cut into 2 x 1/2 inch sticks
• 10 or more cloves of garlic, peeled
• 1 cup of dry white wine

1. Combine 11/2 Tbs salt and 2 tsp pepper in a bowl. Rub the mixture all over the pork. Put  the pork, fat side up in a large roasting pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight or up to 3 days.
2. Let the pork sit at room temperature for an 1 1/2 before cooking.
3. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F (I use a convection oven). Uncover the pork and roast until tender, about 4 to 4 1/2 hours. Add the onion, carrots, garlic, wine and a cup or so of water to the roasting pan and continue to roast, stirring occasionally, until the pork is completely tender, about 1 hour more.
4. Remove the roast from the oven and raise the oven temperature to 375F. Separate the meat into about 8 to 10 chunks using tongs. Spread the meat out in the pan. Add a little more water if necessary. Return meat to oven and roast so that the newly exposed surfaces are browned, about 15 minutes. Remove pan from the oven and transfer meat and vegetables to a large serving platter. Tent loosely with foil and rest for 20 minutes. Skim excess fat from the juices and serve the juices with the vegetables and meat.

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Sundays are time with our families and most weeks that includes Sunday suppers. In the summertime most meals are from the grill and winter meals revolve around comfort foods.I  often  turn to Thomas Keller’s cookbooks for inspiration.The “Stellar Keller” as he was referred to on the CBS Morning show video I watched is one of the most re known chefs in the country. His restaurants, French Laundry and Bouchon in northern California and Per Se in New York are some of the toughest reservations to get, trust me, I know. So I do the next best thing, I like to reproduce some of Keller’s signature dishes at home. His book, Ad Hoc At Home is a collection of “delicious approachable food, recipes that are doable at home.”

The slightly stained pages of this coffee table sized volume bookmark two of our favorites, whole roasted chicken on a bed of root vegetables and crispy braised chicken thighs with olives, lemon and fennel. This week I chose his beef stroganoff recipe.

Beef stroganoff is a dish that originated in the 19th century, named for a Russian count, Paul Stroganov. It typically includes thin slices of tender beef, onions and mushrooms finished with a sour cream sauce.  Sunday is typically a very busy day so I liked the fact that I could complete many of the steps of this complex recipe a day ahead. I had beef stock from a previous cooking session in the freezer so step one was done. Pricy short ribs are the beef of choice in this dish although he says that  beef sirloin tips could be substituted. A red wine reduction is simmered to a glaze and the browned  meat is nestled in the pan, protected by cheesecloth, not allowing bits of vegetable to stick to the meat. A parchment lid rests on top of the meat during the braise which takes about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. After cooking, the meat and the strained braising liquid can be stored for up to three days, a real time saver. I also prepared the mushrooms and the cream sauce ahead, cutting down the time for cooking the day of serving. Mr. Keller suggests that the stroganoff be served with homemade pappardelle, but since my resident pasta maker was otherwise occupied I used Wegmans store bought. It was a reasonable substitution and I don’t think it affected the dish negatively.  We served the Stroganoff with roasted asparagus, green beans and a salad.

Beef Stroganoff

From Ad Hoc At Home by Thomas Keller

Serves four, I doubled the recipe

Cream Sauce

• 1 lb cremini mushrooms, cleaned and roughly chopped
• 1 T unsalted butter
• 2/3 c chopped onion
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 3 cups heavy cream
• Sachet of 1 bay leaf, 3 thyme sprigs and 10 black peppercorns wrapped in cheesecloth
• 1/3 c creme fraiche

Mushrooms

• 4T unsalted butter
• 2T canola oil
• 1 lb medium cremini mushrooms, cleaned and chopped
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

• 2 1/2 lb Braised beef short ribs, chilled
• Pappardelle
• 2 T unsalted butter at room temperature
• Coarsely chopped Italian parsley
• Sea salt or grey salt

1. Chop the mushrooms for the sauce in a food processor and transfer to a bowl
2. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook until translucent. Season with salt and pepper. Add chopped mushrooms, increase heat to medium high and cook until all the liquid is evaporated, about 10 minutes or so.
3. Pour in the cream and add the sachet, bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer  for about 30 minutes, reducing the cream by 1/3 and infused with the flavor of the mushrooms.
4. When the sauce is ready, discard the sachet, pour sauce in a blender and blend until smooth. Strain the sauce back into a saucepan. Reheat the sauce and add the creme fraiche.
5. Line a baking tray with paper towels and place a cooling rack over the tray. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the butter and oil. When the butter melts add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and cook until brown on one side, then flip and brown mushrooms on other side. Transfer cooked mushrooms to baking tray to drain. Reserve 1/4 of the sauteed mushrooms and add the rest to the sauce. Keep sauce over low heat
6. Cut the chilled beef short ribs into 2 inch square pieces. Heat some oil in a oven proof frying pan over medium high heat. Add meat, presentation side down and brown for 2-3 minutes. Transfer meat to the oven and heat through, about 10 minutes.
7. Cook pappardelle according to package directions. Drain pasta and toss with butter.
8. Toss the pasta with the cream sauce. Add half of the sauteed mushrooms to the noodles and arrange on a platter. Arrange the short ribs and top with the remaining mushrooms. Sprinkle with sea salt and garnish with parsley.

I often turn to the cooking magazines I subscribe to for meal time inspirations. I follow all the websites for my favorite cooking publications but I still enjoy having the magazine in hand for casual reading when I am in the car (as a passenger, of course!), at bedtime and when I am cooking in the kitchen. We are still in a post vacation semi-South Beach phase now, so I am looking for recipes that can be adapted to this style of cooking. Fine Cooking magazine’s February/March issue featured a stuffed cabbage recipe in the article, Big Buy Cooking that I made some changes to.  I used ground turkey instead of lamb, and a cup of sauteed fennel in place of the rice, which reduced the cooking time. I blanched the cabbage using separated leaves instead of the whole head and baked the cabbage in a casserole dish.  It also gave me the opportunity to use our wonderful roasted tomatoes from last year’s garden.  As a first attempt, I must say we were very pleased with the results.

Turkey and Fennel Stuffed Cabbage

Loosely adapted from Fine Cooking magazine # 115

Serves 6 or 2 with several days of lunch leftovers

• 1 large head green cabbage outer leaves discarded and cored
• 1 1/4 lb ground turkey
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped fennel
• 1 cup crumbled feta cheese (regular or low-fat)
• 1 t dried chopped oregano
• 1 Tb fresh lemon juice
• 1 t ground cumin
• 1/2 t fennel seeds crushed in a mortar and pestle
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• olive oil as needed
• 1 quart bag of roasted tomatoes (from our garden)
• or 1 15 oz can crushed tomatoes (about 2 cups)
• 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• fennel fronds reserved from the chopped fennel

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cut the core out of the cabbage and carefully pull off the leaves, keeping them as whole and unbroken as possible. Save the smaller leaves for another use. Blanch the cabbage leaves in the pot of boiling water until pliable, 3 or  4 minutes. Run the blanched leaves under cool water and pat dry.  Cut the center vein out of the leaves, this will make them easier to roll up.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large saute pan and add onion and fennel. Cook onion and fennel until softened but not browned.
3. In a large bowl, combine ground turkey, sauteed onion and fennel, egg, feta, oregano, lemon juice, cumin and crushed fennel, 2 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper.
4. Coat the bottom of a 9×13 casserole dish with 1 T olive oil. Arrange the blanched leaves on a work surface, so that they run lengthwise away from you. Put about 1 1/2 T of the turkey mixture on the end closest to you. Fold in the sides toward the turkey, and roll away from you to enclose the meat. Place rolls in the casserole seam side down as you make them. Repeat with the remaining cabbage and filling, arranging the rolls in a single layer
5. For the roasted tomato sauce; drain liquid from the tomatoes and measure out 2 1/2 cups tomatoes. Combine tomatoes, chicken broth and about 1/2 cup fennel fronds in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes. Remove fennel fronds after cooking. Once the tomatoes have cooled, puree in a medium setting food mill.
6. Pour tomato sauce over cabbage rolls. Bake in a 350 oven for 40 minutes  rotating pan halfway during cooking. Serve.