Over the summer, we cooked an entire pork shoulder in the smoker, which resulted in a ton of delicious pulled pork, a lot of which we froze for later use. Always keeping an eye out for creative uses of leftover pork and other proteins (this sugo was a good one), we were excited to find a recipe using shredded pork in Cook’s Illustrated’s “Mexican Favorites” magazine. (What? You don’t get your thrills searching through magazines and cookbooks for innovative ways to transform leftovers into new dishes? Well then, you’re seriously missing out.) The original recipe calls for braising a pork roast with some onion, garlic, thyme and salt to make “tinga,” or Mexican shredded pork. Whenever we run out of leftover pulled pork (next year sometime?), we’ll try the tinga recipe, but until then, the smoky flavor of the pulled pork adapts well to the chipotle-infused tomato sauce for a flavorful tostada topping. In fact, we loved these tostadas so much that the next time we thaw some of our pulled pork, we’re going directly to this recipe. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, do not seek out other uses of pulled pork. Continue reading “Shredded Pork Tostadas (w/ leftover pork)”
Category: Main Ingredient
Chicken Cheesesteaks w/ Chipotle Cheese Sauce
Following a bye-week, the Steelers played the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. Despite being located in the same state, there is no love lost between these two cities and their football fans. Dan tells me that Eagles fans are so notoriously unruly that their former stadium actually had a jail and a courtroom in it, so that belligerent patrons could be dealt with immediately. Drunken violence zealous team support aside, Philadelphians know their way around a sandwich — specifically, the cheesesteak sandwich. Legend has it that the very first Philly cheesesteak was made by hot dog vendor Pat Olivieri in 1930, and became famous when a cab driver smelled the beef cooking, asked for a steak sandwich and spread the word to fellow cabbies. Although the original and truly authentic cheesesteak is made with beef, we decided to try a healthier adaptation using chicken for this week’s Steeler Opponent-City Challenge, inspired by the chipotle chicken cheesesteak from this sub shop. We used a chipotle cheese sauce also inspired by that sandwich, instead of the Cheese Whiz used in the authentic version. The chipotle adds a spicy, smoky flavor that takes the cheese sauce to a whole new level. Although different from the genuine Philly cheesesteak, we actually like the chipotle chicken version better. Much as we liked seeing the Steelers beat the Eagles with a field goal in the final 3 seconds of the game. Just don’t tell any over-served, hostile Eagles fans that our sandwich is better than theirs.
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Breaded Pork Chops w/ Arugula Salad
We appreciate any recipe that incorporates a protein and a vegetable for a well-balanced meal in a single dish, especially on a weeknight. Although the combo of a protein and greens with a light vinaigrette isn’t all that original (we’ve made similar versions with beef, chicken and veal before), the components work well together, and when we find an easy, (relatively) healthy meal solution, we’re not afraid to run it into the ground by trying each and every possible variation. We found the original recipe in a magazine (“Glamour,” if you must know. So I should clarify that I found it, to preserve at least a little of Dan’s dignity) and adapted it slightly by using more shallot in the vinaigrette and adding tomatoes to the salad. We like how the arugula salad livens up the otherwise potentially plain pork and balances out the meal. And yes, I realize that this dish is basically just pork chops with a side salad, but combining the two in the recipe and on the plate fancies up the meal into more of a one-dish wonder, if you will. And we will.
Orzo Salad w/ Heirloom Tomatoes & Herbs
Although it is officially Fall (hooray!) and the first day of October (already?), you may still be able to find heirloom tomatoes at your local farmer’s market or grocery store. But if you can’t find any, regular tomatoes will still work — heirlooms just taste better, and this recipe is a great way to showcase them, in addition to end-of-summer fresh herbs. This easy side dish is a fresh and fitting way to appreciate the conclusion of a bountiful growing season before temperatures drop and gardens go dormant.
Parchment-Roasted Fish
This fish dish is more technique than recipe. Mastering a few cooking techniques can really broaden your kitchen repertoire, perhaps more so than solely focusing on trying new recipes. Although I unfortunately couldn’t find the exact quote, Dan recalls hearing or reading an assertion from Chef Michael Symon concerning the importance of technique: Learn a recipe and you can cook 1 dish. Learn a technique and you can cook 100 dishes. Chef Symon’s premise rings true with this method of cooking fish. The first time we made it, we used this recipe from Ina Garten. We’ve made it about 4 different times now, varying the flavors and ingredients each time, but always achieving perfectly-cooked and delicious fish. The key is wrapping the fish (and whatever herbs or seasonings you want and/or thinly sliced veggies) drizzled with a little olive oil into a parchment-paper-package and baking it in the oven until the fish is cooked through — about 12-15 minutes (the perfect cooking time for this dish in our oven appears to be exactly 13 minutes.) And aside from being a foolproof method for properly cooking fish, the parchment package is an interesting way to serve the fish — almost like a present on a plate.
Sangria Soy Tri-Tip
This week the Steelers took on the Oakland Raiders. Oakland doesn’t really have a particular food for which it is known (at least not that we could find), but since it is located in Northern California, we decided to look to that region for a cuisine to cook in this week’s Steeler Opponent-City Challenge (S.O.C.C.) When we think Northern California, we think about our trip to Napa, where we discovered the world’s greatest tri-tip sandwich (among other amazing food.) We’ve grilled tri-tip before (the classic Santa Maria style), but wanted to try a new recipe this time. Not so coincidentally, I found this recipe after searching the Internets for Oakland Raider tailgate food. We adapted the marinade by using red wine and orange slices for sangria-esque flavor instead of sangria, and we reduced the quantities since we were using about 2 pounds of tri-tip to feed 2 people, rather than 18 pounds of meat for 54 servings as contemplated in the original (tailgate) recipe. Aside from doing the math to reduce the marinade ingredients, the second most difficult aspect of this recipe is having to wait to eat it. We marinated the tri-tip for about 18 hours (it doesn’t need to marinate that long, but at least for a few hours), and it was hard to be patient after smelling the marinade ingredients mixed together: red wine, soy sauce, jalapeno, shallot, garlic, ginger and orange slices. These components combine well to impart complex flavors to the beef — a nicely pungent heat from the jalapeno, shallot and garlic; some saltiness from the soy; richness from the wine; and bright freshness from the ginger and orange. The marinade would be just as good with other cuts of beef too (top sirloin, london broil or flank steak maybe) if you can’t find tri-tip, which can be costly and/or difficult to find outside Northern California. The key is the delicious marinade. Much like the key to the Raiders’ win this week was the field goal in the final seconds of the game (sad face.)
Orecchiette w/ Pulled-Pork Sugo (w/leftover pulled pork)
“Sugo” means sauce. Cooking an entire pork shoulder on the smoker means a lot of leftover pulled pork. Combining the two and adding veggies and delicate, ear-shaped pasta seemed like a pretty good idea. So we adapted this recipe and were delighted by the resulting dish that is reminiscent of bolognese, but with different texture and more smoky barbeque flavor. We also appreciated how easy it was to make — especially using leftover pulled pork (although the original recipe includes instructions for roasting the pork if you don’t have any leftovers) — with basic ingredients: onion, celery, carrot, garlic, dried oregano, tomato paste, white wine, chicken broth, cannellini beans, cider vinegar, a bay leaf and orecchiette pasta (you could use other types of pasta, but the little orecchiette cups soak up the sauce really well.) As delicious as pulled pork is on its own, we really liked the flavor and texture that the shredded pork brought to this unique pasta dish.
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Manhattan Clam Chowder
The Steelers played the New York Jets this week. Continuing with our Steeler Opponent-City Challenge (“S.O.C.C.” for short), it was a little daunting to try to pick a dish indigenous to New York, a city known for its food and diversity of cuisine. When we think New York, no singular food automatically comes to mind. The city has entire neighborhoods centered around different types of cuisine, from all over the world. Ultimately, we decided to go with a dish that purportedly originated in New York, and is named after its oldest, and perhaps most well-known borough. Not to be confused with its creamy cousin from New England (hmmmm, do the Steelers play the Patriots this season??), this version of clam chowder has a clear broth base, with tomatoes to provide its signature red color. Famed chef and food writer James Beard supposedly once characterized this version as “that rather horrendous soup called Manhattan clam chowder . . . resembles a vegetable soup that accidentally had some clams dumped into it.” We respectfully disagree. Although we were initially a lot more familiar with the New England style of chowder (and like it very much), we found the Manhattan chowder to be equally good in its own way, with sweetly rich tomato flavor balanced out by the salty clams. Just as there are die-hard fans of particular football teams, there are people who likely side with Chef Beard in their unwavering preference for New England clam chowder versus the Manhattan version. But we feel there is room for both in our little food world. (Unlike our feelings for other teams in our little football world — suck it Jets, Steelers win!)
Grilled Bison Steaks w/ Cabernet Sauce
If you’ve spent any time at all around this little blog, you probably know that Dan is a die-hard, life-long fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Football season is his favorite time of year, and after growing up in Central Pennsylvania and graduating from the University of Pittsburgh Law School, he bleeds black and yellow. Sadly, he married an apathetic-at-best football “fan” who has been known to refer to football season as “shopping season.” In my defense, I do wear Steeler garb on Game Days (as long as it’s cute) and I “watch” the games (while multi-tasking with magazines and/or blogging and/or online shopping and/or doing my nails) to support the Team. In an effort to get me at all more interested in football, we decided to try something new this year: The Steeler Opponent-City Challenge. For as many weeks as we can manage, we’re going to cook something from the city or region playing against the Steelers that week. To begin the season, the Steelers played the Denver Broncos. The first Denver-indigenous food that came to mind (after granola) was bison. We decided to try bison steaks, fancied up with a red wine sauce, just in case we didn’t like the bison as much as we like beef steaks. Turns out that the grilled bison was really good on its own, but the sauce was also decadently delicious and would taste great with beef steaks or other proteins as well. Win-win. (Unlike the outcome of the Steeler game against the Broncos, unfortunately.)
Crispy Beef Tacos
Living in Texas, we appreciate a really good beef taco. Until recently, however, we didn’t bother trying to make them at home, believing that the home-cooked version couldn’t possibly be as good as the tacos we get at our favorite Tex-Mex joints. Turns out we were quite mistaken. We found a recipe from Cook’s Illustrated that is even better than what we had previously considered the best tacos around. Although these tacos require more ingredients and steps than the home version made with the store-bought flavor packet, the beefy end result is well worth the (minimal) extra effort.
Update: We’ve made these tacos with ground turkey (93% lean) instead of beef, and honestly cannot tell the difference. So if you’re craving beef tacos, but trying to eat less red meat, this is the recipe for you.