Sauteed or Grilled (Pork Souvlaki)

Any chef, at least out here on the US East Coast has a Greek chef or two in their lineage.  As I said in an earlier blog, one of my first important cooking gigs was at a Greek owned restaurant in Rochester, NY.  Christos Petsos taught me a bunch or early lessons and let me know that maybe, just maybe, I had what it took to be a professional chef.  When chefs get to late-night, end of shift boozing, everyone has a Greek chef story, most of them profane, however all of them filled with grudging respect, sometimes awe. 

You see, in the northeast, I don’t know about the rest of the country, Greeks run many of the restaurants that are low to mid priced, just perfect for a stoner to get a job where no obvious skills are required.  Sometimes all it takes is showing up at the right time, like say when the chef has just punched out a cook and thrown his tenderized body out on the loading dock to marinate in the blood and the muck and the garbage juices that collect there.  Who would you look at that scene and say, “Hell yeah, I wanna work here!!!!”  Well, I did.  That’s how I was hired at a diner in Saylorsburg.   Later, I was to be the guy doing the thumping, proving that chef DNA can be transferred by osmosis.  I’ve mellowed since then.

Pork Souvlaki can either be made in a pan, as a sauté, or more commonly grilled on skewers over an open fire.  This is serious street food.  The butchering and marinade is the same.  I’ll be preparing this version sautéed with onions and peppers, served over bread that was browned in the pan before cooking the Souvlaki.  It could also be served with pita bread and garnished with crumbled feta cheese and Tzatziki sauce.  If bamboo skewers are to be used, be sure to soak them in water for at least 30 minutes before skewering the meat.  Without soaking, they will quickly burn, making a big mess of your grill.    

_____

Pork Souvlaki (serves 6)

2 pounds pork country spare ribs, cut into 1 inch dice, ribs removed

3/4 cup olive oil

1 lemon, juiced, rind removed

4 cloves garlic, chopped

3 tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped (or 1 tablespoon dried)

1 Spanish onion, sliced

1 red pepper, sliced

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon fresh black pepper

Here's what you'll need for the marinade.  Fresh oregano, lemons, olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic.

Peel the lemon with a vegetable peeler, but not so deeply that you take off the bitter white pith.  Save the rind to cook in rice pilaf to serve with the Souvlaki.

 Combine 1/2 cup olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper in a large bowl to make a marinade for the Souvlaki.

Add the pork.  Mix to combine.  The acidic lemon juice will slightly whiten the pork.  Refrigerate for one hour.

Drain the pork.  You do not want to put wet meat cubes into a hot pan, because it will splatter and may flare up.  Heat a large sauté pan.  Add 1/4 cup olive oil.  When the pan is very hot, add the marinated pork. 

Turn the pork with tongs.  Brown each side.      

When the pork has cooked through, about 10 minutes, add to onions and peppers. 

Sauté for 2 minutes, until the vegetables have been cooked through.

We served the Souvlaki with sautéed kale and rice pilaf.

Mythology, Tomato Sauce and Your Italian Grandma (Tomato Sauce)

Our first cooking class is scheduled for next Saturday, March 28th at 1:00.  You'll find a full schedule at http://www.freshfunfoods.com/schedule/

_____

The mythology around tomato sauce is extensive.  Sworn essential ingredients are too numerous to list.  I have to use veal shins?  You certainly need olives, pork, Vidalia onions, use Chianti, no Barolo, at least two kinds or oregano, really?  Simmering times that must be adhered to vary from minimal to “I’ve had shorter vacations.”  And the key ingredient, as we all know, is an Italian Grandma’s stockpot.  An anthropologist studying foodways has a field day with this kind of stuff. 

Here’s the thing, like everything you do in the kitchen, use your head. 

Fresh is always better.  Buy tomatoes in season and make puree or diced tomatoes to can or freeze.  I’m still mourning the last of the tomatoes that my friend Jim Markowski got for me in August.  If you don’t have a connection like Jim, high quality canned tomatoes will work.  I like Furmano’s. 

Shorter cooking times are probably better.  Tomatoes are acidic.  If you simmer them for 24 hours, the sauce will be…acidified. 

Good booze is always better than cheap booze.  While you don’t need to reduce a great Bordeaux for sauce, go a step up from New Jersey plonk.   It might make sense to use an Italian style wine. 

A simple, clearly explained recipe is always better than the nonspecific, “whisper down the lane” family recipe.  That said, maybe you should find some time to cook with Grandma and write down her recipes.  That goes for Grandpa too.  He probably knows a trick or two. 

Still, with all that behind you, you will need to understand some basic technique to make a great red sauce.  Follow the directions below.  Take your time, enjoy how the smell of the various ingredients fill your home as you build the sauce and develop layer after layer of texture, aroma and flavor.

_____

Tomato Sauce (three quarts)

4 tbs. olive oil

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 medium onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 tbs. fresh oregano, chopped

2 tbs. fresh basil, chopped

1tbs. flat parsley, chopped

2 c. dry red wine

6 oz. tomato paste

3 28 oz. cans of petite diced tomatoes

salt and fresh black pepper

In a large heavy bottomed stockpot, heat the olive oil on medium.   

Add the green pepper and onion.  Season with salt and fresh black pepper.  Sauté for five minutes, until the aromatic vegetables begin to wilt, but not brown.  Add the garlic, oregano, basil and parsley.   

  

Cook while stirring just for one minute, and then add the wine.  Increase the heat to high.  Reduce by half.

Reduce the heat to low, stir in the tomato paste and mix until it is smooth.   

Add the diced tomatoes, season with salt and fresh black pepper.  Add one can of water.  Increase the heat to high, bringing the sauce to a boil, adjust the seasoning with salt and fresh black pepper, and then reduce the heat to a low simmer. 

Simmer the sauce for 20 minutes only.  In that time, the sauce will have reduced slightly and will still taste light and fresh.

Nuttin' In the House (Garlic Chili Potato Wedges)

Here’s a quick one for when you have almost nothing around the house, yet folks are hungry.  Potatoes always fill the belly.  The garlic and chili powder will make sure that there are no leftovers.  Preheat the oven to 375°F and go for it.

_____

Garlic Chili Potato Wedges

1# white potatoes, washed, cut into wedges

3 tbs. olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 tsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. salt

and a couple of grinds of black pepper

In a large mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients.  Mix to evenly coat the potato wedges.  Turn the seasoned potatoes out onto a baking sheet.  Arrange the wedges so that they do not touch.

Bake for 15 minutes.  With a metal spatula, turn the wedges, so that they brown on the other side.  Bake for an additional 15 minutes.  After 30 minutes in the oven, the potato wedges will be evenly browned and crispy.  Serve immediately. 

On the off chance that there are any leftovers, Garlic Chili Potatoes are great for breakfast, chopped up and sautéed with onions and green peppers.  Fry an egg  or two and drop 'em on top.

GMOs and Why You Should Live On Only Popcorn (stove top popcorn)

I’m doing my best to understand Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) foods and determine whether they are safe to eat.  It is difficult to do, since the companies that produce GMO seeds assure us of their absolute 100% safety and the anti-GMO groups are hysterical about their danger.  I tend not to trust folks like Monsanto, Dow or Hooker Chemical based on their past history of deceit to protect profits.  The anti group likely has a valid point, but they are unusually bad at expressing it.  I often dismiss them, because they really don’t know how to present their argument in a cogent way, instead relying on fear and uncontrolled emotion to make their case.  For example, you just can’t scream “GMOS CAUSE CANCER” on a discussion board and fail to present any evidence showing how.  Similarly, you shouldn’t smear me with “YOU HATE THE PLANET” if you do not know my opinions, for certain and for sure, because actually I sort of like this planet and either way, it’s the only one we have.

We are stuck in a quandary.  The data from producers asserts that we should eat up all their GMO, trademarked foods.  We’ll live a long and happy and healthy and holy (since this is the American way) life.  On the other side, if you do a little digging, avoiding the crazies who troll the interwebs, you will find some pretty scary stuff about GMOs.  So, what is a person who wants to do the right thing for themselves and their family to do?  My best take on this is to avoid GMOs until the verdict is in. 

What does that mean?  You could do worse than follow the Fresh Fun Foods mantra of “When I die, I want to decompose.”  At the Farrell house we’ve been living this way for a long time.  Years back, when I was first diagnosed with diabetes, I took a diabetes education class at the local hospital.  It was enlightening, because I realized I didn’t need to know how many fats and carbs were in a Bigg Mack, since I literally hadn’t been in a McEvil for 25 years.  Most of the presenter’s recommendations did not apply to me or our family, you see we don’t buy any processed food, there’s little junk food around the house and we don’t drink soda, sticking almost exclusively to water, beer, cidre or wine.  I have never had a Hot Pocket.  Why would I buy DiGiorno when Vinny’s is just down the block?  

Since GMOs turn up in processed foods, almost all corn in the USA is GMO, the best way to avoid GMO until the research and legislation shakes out is to quit buying the frozen prepared stuff and cook for yourself.  That’s where I come in.  Cooking is a wonderful family activity.  You’ll need to shop and chop.  Kids should be taught to value fresh foods and need to learn the best way to prepare what they buy from local producers.  Why not buy good, healthy food and prepare it yourself, rather than let someone make it for you in a factory.

If you want to completely avoid GMO, there is only one way that you can and that would be to go on a popcorn diet.  If you only eat popcorn, you will avoid all GMO, since popcorn comes from a type of corn that has never been modified, at least for the moment.  Now, there has to be a couple of qualifications here.  A popcorn diet may not give you all the vitamins and nutrients necessary to live.  That’s a big downside.  Also, you will have to learn to cook popcorn on a stove, because as we have learned, microwave ovens are rotten and so is that sickly yellow “butter flavored” stuff they jam in the package.  While the corn in microwave popcorn is ok, everything else around it wants to kill you.  

You’ll need a heavy pot with a tight-fitting lid, unless you want popcorn all over your stove.  Don’t use enamel lined pots like Le Creuset.  They don’t hold up to the heat.  Use peanut or salad oil.  Olive oil might sound good, but it does not hold the high temperature that you need and will burn, contributing an acrid flavor.  Popping up just a couple of kernels lets you know when the oil is hot enough to pop the remainder of the corn quickly, without burning.  Butter added early will burn and should go in at the last minute, preserving its sweetness.  Yes, once again, technique matters, even with popcorn.

_____

Popcorn  (serves 4)

1 c. popcorn

1 tbs. peanut or salad oil

1 tbs. unsalted butter

1 tsp salt

pinch black pepper

In a heavy pot with a tight fitting lid, heat the oil and three kernels of popcorn on a high heat.  When those kernels pop, reduce the heat to medium and add the remaining popcorn to the pot.  It should cover the bottom in 1 layer.  More is not better.  Cover the pot and shake it back and forth while still on the heat to coat the kernels with the oil.

After a minute you will hear the corn begin to pop.  Resist the urge to look in the pot.  Shake it a couple of times.  After less than 5 minutes the popping will cease.  Give it another shake.  If there is no more popping, carefully remove the cover avoiding the burp of steam, add the butter, salt and pepper.  Recover the pot and allow it to rest one minute so that the butter melts.  Stir to mix in the butter and seasonings, turn the popcorn out into a large bowl and start fighting with the kids so you can get the chef’s share.

*If you want to play around with flavored popcorn, try adding a shake of paprika or chili powder with the butter.  Some garlic, finely chopped, could also work.  How about a squeeze of lemon and chopped fresh oregano?   If you want to get really crazy, skip the butter and season the popcorn with olive oil, garlic, finely chopped basil and diced sun dried tomatoes.