Kalua Pork

Smokey, salty, sweet; there is nothing not to love about Kalua pork.  It doesn’t need a lot of attention, it is ridiculously easy to make, it makes great left overs, and it is downright delicious.  It also shares well with a big group of friends!

Now traditional kalua pork involves building (digging mostly) an imu, which for those of you who don’t know an imu is; simply put it is an in-ground oven lined with heated lava rocks.  Drop a whole pig in it, bury it, and eventually you have some kalua pork.  There is a bit more too it than that, but that’s the gist of it.

However, I have never lived in a place where I could dig out an imu, nor do I know where to buy a whole pig.  So like many others I cheat and use some pork butt (shoulder) and a slow cooker.

To make kalua pork all you need is 4-6 lbs of pork, 1 ½-2 tablespoons Hawaiian Sea Salt, and an optional tablespoon of liquid smoke.  Drop all of that in a slow cooker.  Maybe stab the pork a few times and massage some of that salt and smoke in it, turn the slow cooker on to slow, and wait 16-20 hours!  So plan in advance, Kalua Pork is not something you cook for instant gratification.  The only attention the pork requires is a quick turn halfway through and then a few hours before it finishes go ahead and shred the pork with a fork.

The pork can be eaten simply with rice, or turned into sandwiches using either hamburger buns or even better- sweet bread rolls!  If you are intrigued read on…

I am not traditional, so I like BBQ sauce with my kalua pork.  Head Country BBQ Sauce is my favorite, but if you can’t import it from Oklahoma then go ahead and use whatever sauce you like.

I go even further afield by making a blue cheese sauce to go on the sandwiches as well!  Giving the whole package a salty pork, sweet bbq, tangy blue cheese taste.  Nothing could be more amazing and nothing disappears quite as fast off the plate.
           

The blue cheese sauce I make a couple different ways depending on how ambitious I feel.  But the most successful involves making a béchamel sauce; fancy French for a sauce made from butter, flour, and milk, and then dumping in blue cheese to melt on down.

Peanut Butter & Chocolate Mini-Cheesecakes

This may sound familiar, but I never cared to eat cheesecake until baking it for myself.  As a young lad, the idea that cheese and cake could taste good together was as foreign as carrots and cake tasting good together.  One of these I have accepted; as to carrots, I’m still not sold.

Cheesecake is great.  It is one of those dishes that you can proudly claim as American.  Which for some reason seems to confuse and fascinate people.  How could something so elegant, creamy, and delicious, come a country whose chief export we sometimes assume to be fast food?

When I teach French inevitably when doing food vocabulary a student will ask about cheesecake, wanting to know what fancy word the French have for it.  Cheesecake just seems to exude the qualities we associate with French or Italian; richness, refinement, decadence.  Students always seem to have a hard time accepting that really there is no good or special word for cheesecake because it really is a uniquely American dish.

Now that’s not to say in the 21^st century that could not go to Europe and find cheesecake.  I think I even remember seeing it at McDonald’s McCafé, “Real New York Cheesecake!”  But it is an obvious import; there is no tradition of cheesecake.  Shocking?  Maybe.  But the reason is simple.  The base for cheesecake is cream cheese, something that is very American and was in fact created during the 1880’s in New England.  There are a few similar-ish soft cheeses in Europe, like Ricotta; but nothing quite like our homegrown variety.

Cheesecake is easy.  Really it’s just eggs, cream cheese, sugar, pinch of salt maybe, some vanilla, and you’re done!  These Peanut Butter and Chocolate ones are maybe a little bit more complicated, but not by much!

Oreos and some butter went into the food processor to make a chocolaty crust, and then I took that basic cheesecake recipe, took out the salt since peanut butter already has some, and added in peanut butter.  The chocolate frosting, which I didn’t make nearly enough of; I forgot how much more surface area I have to frost when converting a big cheesecake to twenty little ones, is just sour cream, sugar, vanilla, and cocoa powder.

Considering it has been a while since I made cheesecake, everything turned out pretty well.  I maybe baked them a little bit long, but I couldn’t remember exactly how long I had baked my mini-cheesecakes before.  That’s what I get for not taking notes.  I also didn’t move my oven racks around in order to get the cakes in the center, which let the tops of a few get slightly extra toasty from the heat… though some of that was just the peanut butter.

Next time I do cheesecake I will hopefully be making Pumpkin Cheesecake!  I wanted to this time, but couldn’t find good canned pumpkin anywhere.  With Thanksgiving approaching that should change!

Chili Rice

I have been a long time fan of chili rice.  My first experience with it was late at night, off the suggestion of a friend.  The steaming bowl was accompanied by a chocolate milk shake, and I was sold for life.

Chili Rice is a very alien concept to an Okie (person from Oklahoma… though don’t you say it if you’re not from there).  Chili is usually served in a bowl with crackers on the side, or served on top of a hot dog, or even better, served on a bed of Fritos- ala Frito Chili Pie. 

I am afraid my friends who have lived in Hawaii a long time will think me a little funny.  How could rice not go good with something?  Why would I think putting rice in a bowl and covering it with chili was strange?  Trust me I’m converted now, but people in Oklahoma don’t usually assume rice goes with everything.

Though how peculiar did you think it was when I said we put chili on top of Fritos?  It all makes perfect sense really, in fact it’s pretty much the same thing; a bed of starch plus a delicious spicy chili.

My mother would like me to warn people that my chili is hardly traditional chili.  Which I accept.  I have never made “real” chili.  Mine is some strange hybrid of some of my favorite chili components with a few extras.  So here is quick rundown of how it works:

It all starts with another fancy mirepoix- but this time no butter, I like to render some bacon in the pot first- then dump in a few chopped celery stalks, a diced onion, and let all that cook down while I prep the rest.

I load the chili with ground beef, though I love bison when I can find it cheap, and spicy turkey sausage; this way I can call it healthy.  Give those a good sprinkle of Black Pepper, Garlic Powder, Hawaiian Sea Salt, Chili Powder, Cayenne, Red Pepper Flakes, Cinnamon, and Basil.

I love roasted vegetables, so my chili gets a nice portion of some toasty diced Eggplant, a couple roasted Red Peppers, and a couple little roasted peppers.

Once everything is happy in its pot, I toss in the crushed tomatoes and sometimes a few ripe tomatoes cut into nice big chunks.  Lastly, in goes the corn- which is a good substitute in terms of mouth feel for the beans since no one seems to care much for beans anyway.

When feeling more traditional I add some beer before letting it simmer down for a few hours- when feeling untraditional I add red wine. 

Voila!  Delicious Matt-kine Chili.  It may not be like that of my homeland- but my roommate says its better than Zippy’s and that’s good enough for me.

Stuffed Tomatoes and Roasted Chicken

I was going to start this post off all about  Chicken… but I realized a few people out there might be a bit squeamish reading about a dead bird.  So let’s begin with the tomatoes!

The idea to make Stuffed Tomatoes came to me while I was wandering around the grocery store trying to figure out what I could fix to go with the Roasted Chicken.  Often times I pair it with a potato dish, or sauté some vegetables, but this time I wanted to make something a little different, a bit fancier.

Seeing some nice big red tomatoes, I thought how delicious they would be stuffed with even more goodness.  Deciding what that goodness should be was the easy part; what better to pair with big red tomatoes than something green!  Spinach!  And what goes best with spinach?  Mushrooms!  And what goes best with mushrooms?  Bacon!

That was pretty easy.  I just grabbed some fresh mozzarella to stuff inside and top it off with- and that was that!

The stuffing was easy.  Just rendered some bacon in a pan, tossed in the sliced mushrooms to suck up all that yummy bacon fat, then tossed in some spinach to cook down, a little salt, a little pepper, and it was done.

Next the tomatoes needed to be hollowed out a bit.  This is the part I was less sure about.  Tomatoes do like to fall apart on me when I get try to be fancy cutting them.  Fortunately this time there were zero problems.  I decapitated them, cored them out, got all the seeds and gunk out, and then added some mozzarella, the spinach mixture, and a little more cheese on top.

The whole pan just took twenty five minutes or so in the oven and it was that easy!

Five, six ingredients total?  Definitely worth it.  I’ll make a few changes next time… but let’s say Stuffed Tomatoes are here to stay and have been roommate approved!

As to the flightless fowl…

I hardly ever cook chicken.  I don’t like messing things up and chicken always seemed a bit too fussy to me.  I don’t want dried up tough chicken, nor do I want salmonella poisoning.  Not to mention chicken, is well, chicken.  Not really the most exciting animal.

That is until I realized a chicken is really just a small turkey.

I can feel you shaking or head or smirking at me.  But seriously, I never really thought about them as being more or less the same, until I was really craving some oven baked turkey- think Thanksgiving, and realized I could just do a chicken the same way and that it didn't have to be any more complicated than that.

So while I still don’t like cooking chicken; I can at least enjoy roasting a chicken.

If you are squeamish about touching dead animals, sticking your hand up one, or loosing its skin from its body; then maybe making Roast Chicken isn’t for you…

If all that still sounds fun, then the rest is pretty easy.  All we need to do is give the chicken a good rinse, get the innards out, and pat the sucker dry.  I love crispy skin and moist meat- the best way to guarantee this in my experience is to stuff a bit of butter between the skin and breast meat.  Yum!

I keep my chicken spiced pretty simply.  The breast gets a good dose of Hawaiian Sea Salt, Pepper, and some Brown Sugar… and maybe some more butter.  The extremities get the same, but with some Garlic, Cayenne, Smoked Paprica, and more butter.  Tie the bird together (to help cook it evenly)- or since I don’t have any string I stab my chicken together.

Hide the chicken in the oven for an hour and forget about it!  The smell will remind you when it is almost done!  Though I suggest using an oven timer too.  When it’s done, the chicken just needs a quick rest and is ready to be carved and devoured!

Roasted Squash and Red Pepper Soup

Do you have any idea how to make soup?  It seems like it should be easy.  Just throw some things in a pot and presto- soup!  At least that’s how it always seemed to me.  Why should soup be any more difficult?  After all, I’ve seen dozens of soups blended to victory on Iron Chef.

Perhaps that is why my first foray into soup making went poorly.  Though that might be generous; more honest would be to say it went nowhere.  I thought I could make a beef soup without a recipe.  I was so sure of myself after watching Iron Chef and having learned to make steak and potatoes.

Well, tossing some spices, some steak, and some water in a pot, does not soup produce.  Just some weakly flavored water and boiled meat.

Though I have always been interested in soup, for some reason I never bothered seriously looking at a recipe.  When I did, I often thought, ‘too complicated’ and surrendered to store bought soup again. 

This recipe isn’t very hard at all.  It is loaded with delicious vegetables and could just as easily be made vegetarian by dropping out the bacon and switching from Chicken Stock to Vegetable.

It all starts with a mirepoix- a fancy French word for chopped carrots, celery, and onion (green onion is this case) sautéed with butter.  Throwing this in a pot on low heat, giving it a quick stir every so often, allows the vegetables to cook without caramelizing and gives them a chance to release lots of natural sugars and other tasty things.

The squash, the headliner of the recipe, gets whacked in half, deseeded, and thrown in the oven and forgotten about for an hour.  For being a star the squash is very undemanding.

Eventually the fancy pancy mirepoix is looking translucent and ready for the next stage.  The party expands with the introduction of some bright red roasted peppers, a nice ripe tomato, and chicken stock.  Just scoop in the squash afterwards and everything is ready!

The soup just needs a quick blend and some salt and maybe a few herbs if they are handy.

But why stop there?!?  What the soup really needs is some heat, a little spice to warm the tummy and make you smile.  So here is where I add some spicy Cayenne Pepper, Smoked Paprika, a dash of Red Pepper Flakes, Hawaiian Sea Salt, good heap of Pepper, dash of Ginger, and a good shake of Cinnamon.  – If the soup is still missing something I turn to my friends Tabasco, Tapatio, or Sour Cream.

Now, blend it all together till smooth.  Put some in a mug.  Sprinkle some cheese.  And eat!

Blueberry Lemon Scones

So why start with Blueberry Lemon Scones you may ask? Simple! Blueberry Lemon Scones are by far the most requested and rerequested pastry I have ever made. I have baked batches and double batches for everything from birthdays, to post break-up blues, and even just because blueberries were on sale.

They were one of the very first pastries I ever baked completely from scratch.  The scones turned out so amazing that very first time, that I have left their recipe almost completely unaltered since that first batch.

But what makes the scones so delicious? The Butter! After all, scones are not really that complicated in terms of ingredients; Eggs, Blueberries, Flour, Butter, Sugar, and Cream. Just toss in a pinch of baking powder, some salt, and presto! Scones.

However, the butter is key. Not just the slightly obscene amount of butter, but the way it is mixed into the flour. The more care and attention that is paid the butter- the better the scones will be. Unfortunately and somewhat annoyingly, you cannot toss the butter into a blender and watch from the sidelines, even a pastry mixer can be a bit dubious.

The Butter needs to be cut or mixed into pea sized morsels and cannot melt while you are doing it. Using a whisk works, cutting the butter into smaller chunks before adding it to the flour helps, but best may be grabbing two knives and cutting through the flour, sifting every once in a while checking to make sure the butter is small enough, but still big enough. If it sounds like a lot of work, it can be, but the results speak for themselves.

The butter matters because of the way it melts inside of the scone while baking. As the baking powder reacts releasing carbon dioxide and the water in the cream turns to steam and evaporates the scone begins to rise; and as the butter melts within, it leaves little pockets of buttery goodness behind in the scone.

If the butter has been done properly the scone should be light, buttery, and moist. If done wrong the scone can be heavy, dense, and dry.

All this goes to explain why I never liked scones before I decided to try making them myself. I always loved the idea of scones, but never cared for the hard, dry variations that I sampled in the coffee shops at which I worked.

The only change I have ever made to the scones has been the addition of a lemon icing. The scones themselves are light and flaky, but not too sweet. The Lemon icing takes them up one more notch and makes them perfect for dipping into coffee or snacking on at any time of the day.

Freshly Iced Lemon Blueberry Scones!

As to the recipe; I would highly recommend taking a look at the scones in Joy of Cooking. That is where I started and I cannot think of any better place to find very basic, easily adaptable recipes.

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