Y'all Come! (Carolina Taquitos with SoCal Slaw)

Carolina Taquitos with SoCal Slaw 

Makes 12 taquitos - 4 entrée servings or appetizers for 6-8 people

We love having folks come to visit. Full stop. It’s like combining the best of two worlds - our wonderful area here in Durham, with friends and family from SoCal, work friends from around the world, our son (who now lives in Florida). You name it. We’ll take it. We love having company.

A taste of home - both SoCal and North Carolina

With this as a backdrop, you’ll understand how happy we were when our SoCal friend Sheryl (and my BFF from Cal State Fullerton) decided to come for a long weekend. This was her fourth trip in the nine years (!) we’ve live here, so she already knows the drill. But as Durham continues to evolve, we continue to have new places to go, areas to explore. It’s a blast.

Her arrival also gave me an excuse to try out a recipe I’ve been writing, which transforms the vinegary and slightly sweet and spicy pork barbecue that is common here into crispy crunch taquitos like the ones we loved in SoCal, served up with a refreshing lime and cilantro coleslaw and guacamole. Oh yeah.

We made the dish last night. It earned a Steve Barnett “Home Run, Honey!” In fact, he said it might just be a grand slam! So here it is for you.  

Here's how you do it.

For the taquitos

12 corn tortillas (try to get fresh corn tortillas from a Mexican market, but packaged tortillas from the store will do.

1 pound of barbecue pulled pork (we get this from the barbecue place up the road) 

1/2 cup Carolina vinegar-based barbecue sauce (if your pork comes unseasoned with sauce)

Corn oil to fill a skillet to 3/4 of an inch

toothpicks for securing the taquitos while frying (2 per taquito)

Garnishes - take your pick, or do them all:

Guacamole - fresh or pre-made (for a quick guac, mash a ripe avocado with the juice of 1/2 a lime, about a TBS each of diced onion, and cilantro, plus a good pinch of salt and a bit of your favorite hot sauce or salsa)

Sour cream

Mexican queso fresco (dry white cheese that crumbles well) or shredded cheddar cheese f

Method:

• Break up the barbecue into thin bite sized pieces and mix in the sauce. Set aside
• For each taquito, 
• Warm a tortilla for about 10-seconds per side over a gas flame or dry frying pan to make them pliable and easy to roll. 
• Put about 2 TBS of the barbecue mixture on a tortilla, towards one side. Then working from that side, roll the tortilla over the barbecue like a cigar. Push two toothpicks through to secure, leaving long on one side.This will come in handy when frying.
• To fry, heat the oil in a heavy skillet until a piece of a tortilla that is placed in the oil begins to bubble. Then use tongs to carefully place 3 taquitos in the oil, seam side down and long end of the toothpick up, into the oil. Fry until golden brown (about 45 seconds) then pull out the toothpicks and flip to fry the other side until done (about 30 seconds). Remove to drain on paper towels. 
• Serve with a small pile of the slaw and garnishes of your choice.

For the slaw

1/4 cup sweet onion, quarter-inch diced

1/3 cup mayonnaise

1 lime, juiced (about 2 TBS)

1 1/2 TBS jalepeno, seeded and diced

1/4 tsp kosher salt

15 grinds black pepper

1/4 level tsp coriander 

1/4 level tsp cumin

1 14 oz bag of tricolor coleslaw mix (red and green cabbage with carrots - no dressing)

2/3 cup cilantro, finely chopped

Method

• Mixture first eight ingredients in a large bowl until well combined. 
• Add the bag of cabbage/carrot slaw mix and the cilantro
• Stir well and chill at least 30 minutes

Enjoy.

Hammin’ it up (Dijon Mustard Glazed Ham)

Growing up in Southern California, we weren’t much of a holiday ham family. I know we had one now and then, but I really don’t correlate ham with holiday.  Easter was more about a leg of lamb on the grill, or a pork roast that was cooked in the “service porch,” on a Farberware

Ready to be sliced and served

rotisserie atop the washing machine that filled the house with most amazing garlic, rosemary and porky goodness.  But I digress….

Since moving to North Carolina in ’09 I’ve done more hams than I’ve probably done in a lifetime. They are great for company, and provide excellent leftovers to send home with guests, and make yummy ham sandwiches the following week.

Simple savory glaze ingredients

 

I tend toward the savory rather than the sweet side of just about every dish. So you won’t be surprised that are no hunks of pineapple or crackly brûléed glaze on my piggy. Instead, I get a hint of sweet from apricot jam and lay on a healthy helping of savory with Dijon mustard. Oh yeah.

We enjoyed this tasty glaze on a holiday ham earlier today as we celebrated Easter with good friends.  But don’t wait for a holiday to try it. I mean really, who doesn't  like a nice slice of ham now and then?

Cooling the glaze

Dijon Mustard Glazed Ham

Serves 6-8 with leftovers 

Ingredients

• 7-8 lb fully cooked, bone in, smoked ham – the bone being in is important. Far more flavor!  I don’t go for the spiral cut ones. Just give me the ham and we’ll figure out how to slice it up.
• 1 heaping cup apricot jam
• ¼ cup Dijon mustard
• ¼ cup diced sweet onion
• 1 TBS fresh thyme leaves
• 1 TBS Worcestershire sauce
• Big pinch of salt and 6 or 7 grinds of black pepper
• 1 TBS olive oil
• A palm full of cloves

Method

Make the glaze – (note: I like to do this early in the day and let it cool completely before glazing the ham)

• Heat a small saucepan, put about a TBS of olive oil in the pan; add the onion and sauté until they start to get translucent.
• Add the thyme, salt and pepper, and sauté about 2 min more
• Now add the Dijon, worchestershire sauce, and jam
• Stir to combine and cook over a low heat for 15 minutes, stirring every now and then.
• Remove from the heat and cool.

Roast the ham

Heat the oven to 375 degrees

Line a sturdy cooking sheet with aluminum foil

• Position the ham, fat side up on the cooking sheet.  I like to cut a small slice off the bottom of the ham, so it wont’ slip around throughout the cooking and glazing process.
• Take a knife and score the ham in a diamond pattern, about 2 inches between cuts
• Insert a clove where the lines cross
• Put the ham in the oven, and cook for 1 hour
• At the 1-hour mark, remove the ham carefully and brush the glace all over the meat, pushing it into the crevices of the diamond pattern.  Put the ham back in the oven, and bake another 1 hour; taking it out every 15 minutes to re-apply the glaze.
• At the top of the 2^nd hour, check for doneness with an instant read thermometer, avoiding the bone as you insert it into the meat.  It should be 135 degrees.
• Remove the ham from the oven, tent loosely with foil and let it rest for 1- to 15 minutes.
• Slice and serve.

Enjoy.

Blog Worthy - Chipotle Pig with Cilantro Rice (3WW ppv + 4 WW ppv)

"Oh yeah, that one's blog worthy!"  Six words I love to hear at my dinner table.  
It happened tonight - and wouldn't you know, no photos were taken until we were cleaning up. So what you see here is the aftermath.  And trust me, great a great salad or sandwich will follow tomorrow.

Better late than never - Chipotle Pig
with Cilantro Rice leftovers...

In case you don't know, we live in the land of the pig.  Pork is a big deal in these parts.  And luck for us, there are some pretty healthy ways to serve up a nice lean pork roast. 

Just such a thing happened tonight.  But first, let's rewind to lunch time....

I worked from home today, which often means spending the entire day at "my duty station," as a colleague of mine used to say.  Today, I had to take a break.  So at lunch time, while I was making a salad, I was also throwing together a marinade for a pork sirloin roast I bought earlier this week. 

Pretty easy stuff, just stash a 1.5 pound pork roast in a big zip lock bag along with herbs, spices, a bit of oil and an acid.  In this case:

• 1 1/2 TBS smoked paprika
• 1 1/2  chipoltle chile powder
• 1 TBS garlic powder,
• A big fat pinch of Kosher salt
• About a 1/4 cup olive oil 
• About 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar 

Then into the fridge and back to work.

Fast forward to dinner time.....

As the evening wound down, Steve fired up a screaming hot grill.  I dried off the marinade from the roast, seasoned it up with salt and pepper, drizzled senor pig with olive oil and out to the deck we went.

Time to Grill:

• First Steve seared all four sides of the roast two times each
• Then he turned off the burners in the center of the grill, and turned the outer ones down to medium
• He centered the roast in the center of the grill, over the "off" burners
• And he cooked until "done" - 15 minutes on each side (probably about 30 minutes total) and when the instant read thermometer read 130 degrees F.  
• Then into the house, tented loosely with foil. And it rested for a good 20 minutes. Yes, rare pig police, it continued to cook as it rested and was a perfect medium done, juicy and oh so good.

While the roast was resting, I made up a nice batch of fluffy white jasmine rice.  And when it was done, I stirred in a pat of butter, about 1/8 cup of finely diced Vadilia onion, a big ol' pile of chopped cilantro (probably close to 3/4 to a full cup) and some salt and pepper.  I stirred it all up in a bowl to keep it fluffy.

We served it all up with sliced heirloom tomatoes from Funny Girl Farm.  

And yes, it was definitely blog worthy.

(Roast = 3ppv for 3 oz and cilantro rice = 4ppv for 1/2 cup. Sliced Tomato = 0)

Farmers Market Find: Braised Pork Shank

Ready for the oven. See you in
three hours!

I went to the Carboro Farmers' Market for eggs yesterday.  Came home with a pork shank to boot.  I guess that's what happens when Cain Creek Farm, the people who raise some of the best pasture raised eggs in the area, also raise hogs.  I'm not complainin, just 'splainin.  

I've never cooked a pork shank, but I'm thinking it will work a lot like my signature dish, oso buco.  And, flash back to last Sunday's pot roast.  Big hunk of meat.  Sear. Saute some veg.  Add liquid. And letter rip, so to speak.  Low and slow for about 3 hours.

The eggs I went to the Farmers
Market to buy.  Yes - pasture raised
chickens raise superior eggs!!

Turns out pork shanks are pretty fatty, so I'm making this one way early and then I'll chill the resulting liquid in an ice bath in the fridge so I can skim off all the bad stuff.  I'll also be able to remove any visible fat from the meat before I serve it.  I know the cooking show folks revel in fat.  But not quite part of the lifestyle we're living.  While there will be some residual fat, but hopefully the wind will die down and I'll get some tennis in this afternoon.  Otherwise, to the treadmill we will go.  Hi Ho.  

Here's how I'm doing it... posting early, but I'm quite confident that it will be yummy.  I will make adjustments tonight if necessary

• Pre-heat the oven to 325
• Trim any excess fat from the shank, down to about a quarter of an inch to half inch if necessary.  Liberally season the pork shank with salt and pepper
• Heat a medium sized Dutch oven and place the shank, fat cap down and leave it there without fussing with it until it is well browned, and a good amount of fat has been rendered.
• Turn and repeat until the entire shank is well browned. Remove and set aside. Pour off the grease and toss in the trash. (Note, do not pour the hot grease into an empty plastic yogurt cup.  Yes, they melt down to nothing.)
• While the browing magic is happening, chop up half an onion, about six cloves of garlic, two stalks of celery and three carrots.  I had some frozen sliced leeks in the freezer, so I thawed them, squeezed out the liquid and added them as well. Saute these until they are just getting soft.
• Now for the herbs and spices:
• As the veg sauteed, I added a pinch of kosher salt and some fresh cracked black pepper; a bout a teaspoon of fennel seeds, about a half teaspoon of celery seeds, a scant palmful each of dried sage and dried oregano, and three dried bay leaves.  
• Now place the browned shank back into the pot.
• Next comes the liquid
• If I'd had an open bottle of dry white wine, I would have added a cup or so, but since I did not I added about two cups each of chicken stock and enough vegetable stock to come up just over half way up the shank.  If you don't have veg stock, use whatever stock you have.  Seriously, do not over think this!
• Now bring it to a bubble, clamp on the lid, put the whole thing into the oven and set your timer for 90 minutes.  

• Figure out and do what extra exercise you will do today so you don't feel guilty.  Write blog post.

• At the 90 minute mark, flip the meat.  
• Adjust the liquid if necessary (this is rarely needed) and set the time for another 90 minutes.
• Do that exercise if you didn't do it earlier.
• When it is all done and the meat is literally falling off the bone, remove the shank and let cool, then refrigerate until you get ready to serve. I
• f you are doing this the day before, put the braising liquid in a bowl, and let cool, then put in the fridge over night.  If you are serving the same day, put the bowl of liquid in a larger bowl filled with ice and water to speed up the cooling process.
• When the fat has congealed remove it and throw it away.  
• Feel good about doing what you an to make this a more figure friendly dish.
• When you are ready to serve, pop the shank into a 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until it is headed through.  


• Meanwhile, heat the liquid in a sauce pan and puree it with a stick blender to make a velvety sauce.  
• Enjoy.