cooking @ home

Archive for the ‘Pork’ Category

I really do get annoyed when my market doesn’t have exactly what I want. Which happens too often actually, but what can you do? You play with the cards your dealt with or you fold or you find another game. I did what I’m often (grrr) having to do, the first. This time it was uncooked shrimp and I wanted them larrrrrrge. Big-butt. Jumbo. Prawn-like. I had to suffer with 31-40s, the only size they had at the moment, and the only ones in the store, and they didn’t even have enough to make a full pound. Sheesh.

What kind of rookie-league outfit were they running here? Why don’t I have a fish monger near me? So you take what you can get. What’s the saying? When life gives you a lemon make lemonade.. Or, with me, it turned out make margaritas!

The dish is so out-of-this world, I think I’m in a mood to do my Emeril impersonation. Bacon-wrapped shrimp? Nice, oh yeah. Let’s take it up a notch. Pancetta-wrapped shrimp. Mmm. Delicious. What? Still another notch, you say? Fine. Let’s get it drunk. Let’s give it margaritas. That’s right, tequila and lime marinated pancetta-wrapped shrimp. Bam!!

Not sure how much I’ve talked about marinades before. If I have, I’ve probably only glanced at it. To be brief, I love what I call quick marinades. Yeah, yeah, I know. A lot of cooks seem to start out by saying “… and place this in the refrigerator for at least eight hours … better yet, overnight”. I dunno about you, but I have nether their kind of patience nor their kind of planning skills. If I’m going to do a pork loin sometime tomorrow evening, the last thing on mind is, let me go defrost it and marinade it right now. Then let me do all that, put it away and still I have to make dinner. Nope, just doesn’t work for me.

And their version of short of 8 or 10 hours? That’s worse! Let me go marinade some chicken while I’m trying to figure out what I want for breakfast. Sorry Charlie, I want a cup of coffee and a danish or an egg, I am not in the mood with playing with frozen-butt raw chicken at nine in the morning. Uh-uh. Ain’t happening!

What does work for me? You guessed it — quick marinades. But Harry, that doesn’t give it enough time, one might say. Fine. It does give it a lot more flavor than if I hadn’t done a thing at all, is my reply and I’m sticking with it. But, says the “purist marinader” (is there such a thing?), you’re breaking all the rules. And I say: hell, yeah. I do what I want to do. And I’ve told you there reading this before: do what works for you. Do what tastes good for you. You don’t want to marinade, don’t. You want to marinade your buns off, hey, stick it in there a month (ok don’t). But do what you think works for you. You don’t always have to listen to whatever one else tells you. And that even goes for me. Ignore what I said. I’ll try not to loose too much sleep over it.

Next: indoor “grilling”. Natch if the weather is great, do this on an outdoor charcoal grill by all means. As this was December in the Northeast, I did it inside on my stove top grill. If you don’t have one, use your grill frying pan (a frying pan with grill lines). If not that, a “stick” frying pan. Huh? You know, the opposite of non-stick, a non-non-stick pan. Cast iron preferably, if not, stainless steel. You will never never never (did I mention never?) get any “grill” action from a coated pan that makes juices in the pan instead of evaporating them. If you’re brave you could use the broiler. But I don’t like the chances of burning up a pound of shrimp, especially wrapped in pancetta. If you want to take the chance though, more power to you.

Another thing I want to touch on …. In a way this particular recipe seems very high-end and gourmet, simply because “shrimp ain’t cheap” and pancetta is even more costly. But think about it a moment. Ok, a pound of 31-40 shrimp was six bucks a pound. The pancetta was five dollars for four ounces. I used some of it in another recipe, leaving me with 12 slices which were halved and used on the shrimp here, about two dozen of them. The left over shrimp we had unwrapped. And this fed two people lunch. (You didn’t really think that was my usual hands and arm in the photos did you?)

Now, tell me outside of McDonalds where can you fed two people lunch for USD $11? So we had an upscale “gourmet” lunch for the price of fast food. Upscale? In one sense, definitely. And yet, if you look at it the other way, pricey? Heck, it’s almost a budget meal when you break it down. Look at it another way, how much would this have cost at a restaurant? I’ve seen six jumbo shrimp wrapped in American bacon go for $12. Pancetta would probably bump that to, what, $18? Now times by two, don’t forget drinks and tips, and we’ll forget about transportation. Anyways, as you see, money well-spent. And this is why you should be cooking at home!

Besides even were it a lot more expensive than it turned out, I’d have still done it and enjoyed it. Why? Harry’s rule: Every now and then you have to treat yourself. You deserve it. And if you can do it with company, all the better.

Pancetta-Wrapped Margarita Shrimp
©2007 Harry Kenney

1 lb uncooked shrimp, “large”, 31-40
4 oz pancetta
salt
pepper
vegetable oil

marinade:

1 cup tequila
2 tbsps fresh lime juice (1/2 lime)

Place shrimp in a ziplock bag or other container with the tequila and lime juice. Place in refrigerator for 30 minutes. Take out. Dump marinade. With paper towels, pat shrimp dry. Leave out to warm up to room temperature five minutes.

Season the dried shrimp. Take pancetta, cut in to even halves. Carefully wrap as many of the shrimp as possible; 4oz pancetta will wrap approximately two dozen shrimp. (No toothpicks to hold. Careful handling and heat will hold all but one or two on.) Preferably use the stove top grill or an uncoated iron or steel pan at medium-high heat. Use vegetable oil or butter-spray to coat surface. Place on grill or pan with plenty of space to turn. About three minutes on each side. Serve.

If this is the only food, it makes a nice lunch for two. Goes with red or white wine or beer or margaritas. Fresh cut loaf of bread on the side would be great. With other appetizers or sides etc, can serve more. Double or triple this recipe easily for upscale party snacks.

You can substitute bacon but if you do and with shrimp at this size, should be thin sliced. If larger shrimp you can use bacon at the normal thickness, cut it into thirds or quarters instead of halves, and figure one additional minute for each side in grilling time.

This year I wanted to make stuffing from scratch and I wanted to do something completely different from the usual, traditional Thanksgiving turkey and stuffing. I also wanted it to be something a bit more “modern”. Seems chorizo is all the rage, and as I finally got my hands on some — yes, it’s easier to find in the South and Southwest then here in the Northeast — so I decided that was where I would go with this recipe.

Now then we have the words “stuffing” and “dressing”. So what is what with that? Well, they’re pretty interchangeable, basically. In the US, stuffing is used more often in the Eastern and Southern areas, whereas dressing more preferable in the rest of the country. That said, none of this is written in stone by any means.

As to where did the word dressing come about, it seems the word stuffing was replaced in Victorian times with “dressing” because in that age of going all sexually conservative and repressive, it was decided that “stuffing” sounded rather vulgar to the new straight-laced society. Tsk-tsk.

Technically though, nowadays, stuffing tends to mean it’s been cooked in the bird. Whereas dressing suggests it’s not been in it. (Yes, I know, Stovetop Stuffing mix is technically incorrect; but then let’s ruin a good alliteration.) For my recipe, then, dressing is the more correct word as instead of an entire bird, I did the Turkey breast with ribs as I often do anymore. So there was nothing here to actually stuff in the first place.

The technique of stuffing, by the way, historically goes back quite a ways. Turns out the Romans were big on stuffing things, not just fowl. One of the oldest cookbooks we have is that of Apicius’s “De Re Coquinaria” with recipes for stuffing chicken, pig, hare and that lovely delicacy of the ancient empire, dormouse. Another fun historical fact, in France during the Middle Ages, stuffing was called “farce”; yes, the one we know from writing and comedy. And at the time it initially referred to a short, light-hearted skit or play “stuffed” in between more lengthy and weighty productions.

A recent search by me for this article on regional differences for stuffing, surprising I came up empty-handed. That said, I think it’s safe to say that oyster stuffing is more popular in the New England states, and cornbread stuffing is more commonly found in the Southern states. Fine. Enough of what the Romans and the French did and what they do elsewhere. What exactly did I end up doing?

I initially wanted to use Challah bread for my stuffing as it would have given a nice texture and sweetness to it. Unable to find any the day before I needed it, I decided upon good ol’ Italian rolls, specifically the kind here in Philadelphia we use to make cheesesteaks and hoagies with — soft but very firm inside, with a nice crust, not too much, on the outside. I took the classic mirepoix and rearranged the amount so there would be more celery, as to me, I can’t think of stuffing or dressing without having that more predominant flavor. That and of course sage.

So how did it turn out? Overall, enjoyable. It must be noted this is a strongly flavored dressing version thanks to the chorizo and the smoked paprika and other spices that make it. I wanted something not traditional but still delicious and that’s exactly what I got. One thing though what is missing from dressing (done outside the bird) compared to stuffing (done inside it)? Turkey drippings. So what ends up tasting best — no surprise here — is putting the stuffing on the plate and then being sure to add the traditional turkey gravy on top of it. By itself, this dressing is very nice; with the gravy on top, mmm, a home run.

Cranberry-Chorizo Dressing
©2007 Harry Kenney

1/2 cup red onion, finely diced
1/2 cup carrots, grated
1 cup celery, finely diced
12 oz. chorizo sausage
three six-inch Italian rolls, small chunks
2-3 cups chicken stock
2 cups dried, sweetened cranberries

to taste:

sage
rosemary
thyme
salt
pepper
onion powder
garlic powder

Take your chorizo sausage links and brown and cook them well in a frying pan on medium heat. Let cool. Remove to plate and cut up into chunks. Preheat oven to 350°F. Take your bread, or in this case, roll chunks. Place them on a baking sheet, drizzle plenty of oil (extra virgin olive oil or vegetable oil, your choice) over them. Season well. Add more oil. Mix them around. Put in oven for 10-15 minutes until browned.

Take your onion, carrots and celery, place in a larger than needed sauce pan on low heat. You want to sweat these together, but zero browning. Add the chorizo to the pan, then the chicken broth. Stir and let simmer slowly a few minutes. Take off heat and add the toasted bread chunks, stir well, season as required. Add the dried cranberries. Add butter if desired. Add more chicken stock if needed to get the desired consistency.

Take mixture and place in a deep casserole dish, cover with aluminum foil and place in oven at 400°F for 20 minutes. Remove foil and let top get a bit crunchy, leaving it in another 10 minutes. Done. Be sure to serve with liberal amount of traditional turkey gravy on top. Makes roughly 8 servings.

There are so many combinations of meatloaf in the world. Use 100 percent beef. No, use beef and pork. No, has to be the tri-meat combination of beef, pork and veal. No, it’s lamb as the third, not veal. You can use milk-soaked bread, big crouton things purchased or made yourself. You can use breadcrumbs. Nope, use the oats in oatmeal. With and without eggs. Mayonnaise as an extra binder; no way, hold the mayo. Gotta have some gravy. Gravy has to be brown. No, it’s gotta be tomato. No gravy anywhere; that ruins it. … And the list goes on and on.

And then, like myself, many cooks have more than one meatloaf. Why? Same as above. There’s so many ways to do it and there’s no one right way. In fact, it’s pretty tough to mess up. Hope all you newbie cooks are listening up. Meatloaf is many things: The perfect comfort food being one. And an excellent dish to start on if you’ve never or rarely cooked before.

I mentioned various meatloafs myself. I recall it being one of the first things I ever did, back around the age of 18 or 20. I followed the directions on the side of the Quaker Oats box, and yeah, oats, the stuff I would have for breakfast on freezing cold winter days here in Philadelphia, it actually worked. It was a pretty decent meatloaf as I recall.

Since then, who knows how many variations. Many of the early ones I would overcook and make too dry inside, and sometimes burn the glaze (if I remembered to have one, that is.) Sometimes myself I use the triple combination of meats, sometimes it’s all beef. Each has it’s own interesting characteristic and flavor from the other. I came up with another interesting variation about a year ago when I had a big jar of salsa left over after a party. It dawned on me, the ingredients were basically three I would normally use in a meatloaf: tomato, and red and green peppers. And yes, the jalapeno gave it a really nice kick, not too hot either. I’ll no doubt get to making that one later in the season and of course, when I do, I’ll publish it here complete with the requisite photos.

For this recipe, I decided to do a gravy. I don’t always do that. This time it was simple. I had a half pound of gorgeous pre-sliced mushrooms I picked up from the store and needed to do something with. While a vegetable or chicken ratatouille came to mind, I knew with Thanksgiving days away, the last thing I needed in the fridge was going to be not one but two kinds of leftover poultry. In fact, each year the same thing happens. Before Thanksgiving you can’t wait to “get to the bird”, and days later you get tired of eating turkey and turkey and turkey. One of the best things I know is to get around that — besides creative leftovers, I mean — is to vary the leftover meals by having something beefy to switch off from. Meatloaf will work perfectly.

So, that meant I knew what I was going to do with my mushrooms, make a chunky gravy with them. I decided to go for the creamy and the wine version. Yes, it is more of a contrasting gravy than a complementary one, but I think it still works. That said, no, this meatloaf — and this new glaze I tried on it, big yums! — does in no way need the gravy. It’s got a bit of crispness on the outside and it’s moist inside. So, feel free to skip the gravy by all means, you will not miss it. On the other hand, if you want to treat yourself to something extra, something involving mushrooms, heavy cream and wine, I say go for it. You’re worth it.

     

Meatloaf with Tomato-Balsmic Glaze and Creamy Mushroom Gravy
©2007 Harry Kenney

Meatloaf:

2 lbs combination of ground beef, veal, pork

2/3 cup green pepper, cut finely
2/3 cup red pepper, cut finely
2/3 cup onion. cut finely
3 cloves garlic, cut into slivers
2 tbsps worchesterhire sauce
1 1/2 tbsps soy sauce
dash of hot sauce
2/3 cup grated parmegan
1 cup Italian breadcrumbs
1 egg, whipped slightly
1/3 cup ketchup
1/4 cup dijon
to taste:
salt
pepper
garlic powder
onion powder

Tomato-Balsamic Glaze

1/2 cup ketchup
4 tbsps balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp worchestershire
dash garlic powder
dash onion powder
2 tbsps light brown sugar

Creamy Mushroom Gravy

8 oz sliced button mushrooms
1 cup beef stock
1 cup red wine, Merlot
1/2 pint heavy cream
1/4 tsp corn starch
to taste:
salt
pepper
garlic powder

Preheat oven to 400°F. Mix all of the meatloaf ingredients well and by hand in a large bowl. Free-form into a loaf, place on baking sheet and put into oven.

Mix ingredients for glaze and apply to meatloaf, half-way through cooking (the 30-minute mark), covering the top and letting some spill down the sides.

For the gravy, medium heat, oil in pan, a light dusting of garlic powder in the oil, dump in the mushrooms, and cook well until browned, stirring often. Toss in the beef stock, mix, two minutes later toss in the cream and the wine. Reduce by at half to a third. Season. Add cornstarch. Let thicken and reduce until you get a nice gravy consistency.

Meatloaf should be done after one full hour. Check to make sure glaze is not getting burnt, and use a meat thermometer to check for doneness. Serve gravy a top of or on the side of the meatloaf. Makes 6-8 servings.

Gourmet and gourmet food. Exactly what do these mean? And I am not talking about people who are “gourmets”, which by the way, is actually supposed to be “gourmands”, and either way (truthfully or not) seem to equate with snobbery. No, what makes something gourmet cooking or gourmet food?

The definition it seems nearly everyone uses is the same: “gourmet food is of the highest quality and flavor, prepared well and presented in an artful manner”. A three year old discussion on a forum a person, saying the thinks there should be more, posts: “I have had some of the best meals at non-’gourmet’ venues and some of the worst at ‘gourmet’-venues.”

Kate the global gourmet thinks likewise: “Personally, I think it’s important to keep in mind that ‘quality’ is the operating term here. I have had many a meal in fancy 3-star restaurants that I would not consider gourmet—the ingredients were tired, the flavors overwhelming and presentation in the form of skyscraping towers entirely overdone. For me, a simple dinner of a roast chicken, fresh vegetables and fruit and cheese for dessert can be the epitome of a gourmet meal—but only if the ingredients are of high quality and cooked properly.”

Which brings me around to what I think. I think the word is changing and evolving and becoming less “snooty”. I basically agree with the two people I quoted above on what they say. I think though it goes further … especially with food. I think if something is difficult to find or to procure or is expensive, that that often makes something “gourmet”. For instance, if you rarely eat duck or quail or frogs legs, then having them is for you a more gourmet meal.

Building on this, if I’m cooking with something that is available to me, and most people I know around me have never had it, it too is possibly gourmet (though, yes, it might just be unusual in the Anthony “I’ll Eat Anything” Bourdain style of things.) If I have something that is plentiful around me, and others too can easily get their hands on it, and it’s not expensive, yet because of either true or perceived difficult, people do not buy nor cook nor eat it much, that too might be gourmet.

The reason I am “going here”, you see, is I think this particular meal is somewhat “gourmet-ish” if that were an actual word. Chorizo (a spicy Spanish sausage) I finally found after a lot of looking. Now I’m betting a lot of people seeing it in the meat case at the market would pass it up though, maybe for simply not knowing what it was, and not wanting to try it. Meanwhile, while there were dozens upon dozens of butternut squashes at the market, I’m betting you would not see one in everyone’s shopping cart. In fact, I’d bet the number of people who might buy one to be a ratio of one against something with three zeroes, 1:100 or maybe 1:250 or 1:500, I can’t say which, but I’m betting the number comes out to less than 1 percent. And why? Because of difficulty and/or unfamiliarity.

Another thing about the term “gourmet”. And this has to do also with it’s opening up and evolving. Forty years ago a perfectly delicious meal cooked at home would not be called gourmet; in fact it would be ignored by nearly all chefs. Then about 20 years ago I started hearing the term “peasant food” used by chefs. It suggested that everything from hunter’s stew to a mixed fried rice, food of the poor or the peasants, historically — but weren’t they also suggesting the middle class of today I always suspected — came on the map. Today the terms are “comfort foods” and regional or local fare and this once overlooked field of poor man’s cooking or everyday cooking, is covered by everyone to some degree even if upscaled. For example, chefs Mario Batali and Lydia Bastianich co-own an upscale pizzeria in Manhattan. You would not have seen that twenty years ago, and never forty years ago, not by nationally and internationally known chefs, no way. Imagine Julia Child opening up an upscaled KFC! And just last week I saw Robert Irvine cook for the crew at Pixar; among items served was oxtails. These are what I’m talking about in terms of the evolution of what gourmet food means today.

So what brought these thoughts to mind, as said, is that in some ways I consider this recipe here to be “gourmet”. In part because chorizo is so hard to find and is regional to Spain and because the butternut squash, while cheaper and more plentiful, is often passed by as being too difficult or mysterious. In another way though, I sorta want to toss the whole “gourmet” word out the window, and say it comes down to good food — a perfect pizza slice or a beef wellington, a BBQ pork rib or coq au vin, an Italian merlot or a cold pint of Yuengling. Is it good? Really, really good? Do you like it? Do you absolutely love it? Would you have it again and again? To me that is the new gourmet.

With that discussion aside, do check out my recent article on Peeling and Cutting a Butternut Squash, if you haven’t already done so, before trying this recipe. Also, you can leave the rice and chorizo out of this dish if you want a simpler and more silky dish (or just a vegetarian one); obviously I wanted something more rustic and meaty and chunky. And finally, while they aren’t the same, if you want to substitute chorizo, I would suggest, in order: hot Italian sausage or smoked kabasa and add a healthy amount of paprika while cooking it.

Butternut Squash Soup with Chorizo and Rice

1 medium squash, peeled, deseeded, cut into 1 inch cubes
9 oz chorizo sausage, cooked, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

(mirepoix)
1 medium red onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
1 celery stalk, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1/2 one large carrot, chopped (about 1/2 cup)

1 cup cooked white long-grain rice (or your favorite rice)
32 oz. chicken stock
1 cup dry or slightly-sweet white wine
1/2 pint half-and-half
2 tbsps butter (not margarine)(optional)

salt
pepper
nutmeg
garlic
thyme
olive oil

Preheat oven to 400°F. Place cubed squash on baking sheet, drizzle with oil, mix around to make sure completely covered. Sprinkle on spices listed, go light on the garlic powder and the nutmeg, and heavier on the thyme. Sprinkle a bit more oil on top and once again, mix and turn to ensure coverage. Place in oven for 35-50 minutes until softened and slightly browned on bottom side. Let cool somewhat.

While the squash cubes are roasting, if you haven’t premade your rice, make it now. Ditto cooking the chorizo sausage. Place your mirepoix in a saucepan with oil and sweat for about 10 minutes. When mirepoix and squash are finished, place both in food processor. (Note, I will often save 10 percent of the squash chunks to put in separately later). Then add two cups of chicken broth into processor, puree, then the third, then the fourth cup.

Dump all back in the pot. Place on medium heat. Add half-and-half, wine, rice and chorizo chunks (and reserved squash chunks if you’ve done so) and stir to mix well. Add seasonings listed above to this as desired. Mix well for a few minutes over medium heat. You may optionally place butter in at this point to give a more velvety sheen to the soup. Serve. Makes 4-6 servings.

This soup is extremely rich. If you need to “cut” the taste further to your liking, use an extra cup of milk first; if you feel the need to thin it out more, then use an additional cup of water. Would serve with a salad to offset the taste if part of the main meal. Naturally this also serves as an excellent first-course appetizer.

If you desire, you can alter this by leaving out the chorizo and rice and no reserved squash chunks if you want a silkier and/or a vegetarian soup; if you do this you will probably need less liquid and so adjust by using less or no wine, or less chicken stock to offset the fewer ingredients.

I love this town. I love it for so many reasons, too many, I won’t even get into cause I might not be able to stop. But one of the reasons is food, baby. Philly is hometown to so many foods, it’s just crazy. Probably first that comes up on everyone’s list is the Philly Cheesesteak. If not that, it’s the Hoagie. Whats a hoagie? Ever have something called a “sub” or submarine? Ever have something called a “hero” or hero sandwhich? Well, if so, they are just pale, lack-luster imitations of a hoagie.

What else? There’s the Philly pretzel. Much superior to those things they burn in NYC and call pretzels. There’s scrapple, a mysterious and wonderful substance — sorta like haggis, not in taste, in mystery — that is a wonderful alternative to bacon, ham and sausage as a breakfast meat to go along with your eggs. And then, to my surprise, there’s the stromboli.

To my surprise? Well I’ve known strombolis ever since I was little. The local pizza shop or steak shop always had them along with the calzones. Wasn’t actually until just a few days ago when I looked up in various food encyclopedias on the web — Epicurious’s is my favorite by the way. And I was wondering just what was technically considered the difference between a calzone and a stromboli.

According to the Epicurious-Barron’s database: “Originating in Naples, calzone is a stuffed pizza that resembles a large turnover. It is usually made as an individual serving. The fillings can be various meats, vegetables or cheese; mozzarella is the cheese used most frequently. Calzones can be deep-fried or brushed with olive oil and baked.” Whereas a stromboli is “a specialty of Philadelphia, a stromboli is a calzone-like enclosed sandwich of cheese (usually mozzarella) and pepperoni (or other meat) wrapped in pizza dough.”

So, a stromboli, yet another food originating here in Philly, is something akin to (but not) an inside-out pizza, a loaf of Italian bread that’s stuffed, a giant non-fried calzone, the world’s biggest “hot pocket” (except it tastes 100 times better). Let’s face it, these are just comparisions. A stromboli is what it is — a stromboli. And it’s delicious!

Now, as said this here is not your average stromboli. (Oddly, now that I’ve made the monster one, I’ll have to make a “normal” one to show you in the near future.) This is brimming with pounds of delicious meats, plus a substantial amount of savory veggies too. Some believe that where calzones were made to be eaten by hand, that strombolis were too. Personally, I have never (even with the normal ones you get from the shops) believed that. When you slice it you have two open ends, what a slop that would make eating by hand. So I’ve always used the knife and fork. And with this particular one, heavy-weighted, jam-packed “big guy”, manly-sized log, that is the only way to eat it.

Needless to say, this is one puppy you definitely want to make for a tailgating party, or bowling night, or on the big game day to feed a bunch of big hungry guys. The loaf ended up being 17 inches long, 6 to 7 inches wide and an inch to an inch and a half thick and even weighed (I’m guessing here) a good five to seven pounds. Tell me this isn’t going to be the hit of the party?! You know it!

When slicing a serving, figure rbout an inch width; perhaps an inch and a half or even up to two for a jumbo slice. This is going to make anywhere from 10 to 16 servings. If you figure in the price of the ingredients, and what the same amount of food would cost at the pizza joint, this is even a pretty sweet budget saving meal to boot. Oh, and just cause it is party food, doesn’t mean it’s not dinner or lunch. I didn’t make this for a party but for “dinner with lots of leftovers”, the kind I can reheat for a couple more dinners or as a few more hot lunches later in the week.

One last item here, before we hit the recipe. There’s also two schools of thought with those who make strombolis. (Geez, aren’t there always at least two schools of thought with food?) One is, you put some of the sauce inside; other’s say no, it leaks, it’s too messy; no sauce inside the stromboli itself, instead have some spaghetti sauce or marinara on the side for dipping. Me? I figure why does is it always have to be one way or the other — both ways together works! You need some of that inside, and hey, offer some to dip too to accomodate people’s taste.

Ok, get yourself plenty of napkins, grab a cold one to “go along” outta da fridge, dig in, and enjoy!

     

Over-Stuffed Meat Lovers Monster Stromboli
©2007 Harry Kenney

ingredients:

3/4 lb sweet Italian sausage, cut open from casing
3/4 lb hot Italian sausage, cut open from casing
1/2 lb thinly sliced pepperonis
4-5 slices of frozen sandwich steak, chopped

3 green (or red or mixed) bell peppers, cut to chunks
1-2 medium yellow onions, cut to chunks
2 cloves garlic, sliced thin
1/2 pound baby portebellos (or any mushrooms) chopped

one portion of pizza dough (enough to make one large pizza pie)
12 oz marinara or spaghetti sauce
6 oz shredded mozerella or mixed Italian cheeses

grated parmagena
salt
pepper
garlic powder
oregano

Take one serving of pizza dough, roll and knead out into a rough rectangle about 18 inches long and 8-10 inches wide and place inside baking sheet. Add oregano and grated parmagena to dough and press in with palm of hand. Lightly add shredded cheese all around and do same with hand again, pressing in slightly

In one very large pan, bring up to medium-high with very little oil, add half of sliced garlic, put in the pepperonis and brown. These have ton of oil. After turning constantly a few minutes, dump the oil, place pepperonis on a plate with paper towels and let sit, getting off the excess oil. Add sausage mixture into this pan and start to brown, lightly salt and pepper only as these are already well seasoned.

In a second smaller skillet, add oil, remaining sliced garlic, and put on medium-low and add the peppers. Remember you’re browning the meat, but you’re going to be sweating (not browning) the veggies. As peppers start to soften slightly add onions and mushrooms. You want all the ingredients to soften, stir constantly. Add some seasonings including some oregano.

In meat skillet, make some room in the pan and add the crumbled steak, season and brown. When everything nearly done in the meat skillet, put the pepperoni back in, mix everything up and add about 4 oz of marinara or spaghetti sauce and incorporate well.

Now to layer. Take handfuls of shredded cheese and thickly make a line down the center, about six inches or so wide. Take meat and spoon out down the middle of the dough, forming a line from near top to bottom, should end up being four to six inches wide and maybe half inch or so high. Now, do the same with the veggies, right on top, form a line top to bottom, should end up being roughly two to three inches wide. Take your sauce and add a thick bead, no more than an inch wide again down the length, atop the veggies.

Fold one side up across the top, then the other side, gently prodding as needed to make oval loaf. Fold the two ends up neatly as possible. Score slits in top of dough width-wise roughly four or five inches in length and spaced and inch-and-a-half or two down entire length. Take grated parmagena and liberally sprinkle atop the entire loaf. Now drizzle some olive oil across top. This will add flavor and aid in browning. Place the baking sheet into a preheated 400°F for about 35 minutes. When nice and brown, and you see the liquids inside boiling through some of the slits, you’re done.

Let sit on sheet at least 15 minutes before serving. Optionally take some of the sauce and add to a bowl for additonal dipping. Serve with knife and fork and plenty of napkins. Servings 10-16. Beverage of choice, beer of course, but works with anything.

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Some things I put off trying (for a while) having convinced myself that the item, the recipe, the dish is too intimidating. Oddly pizza was one of them. I know, silly — such a simple thing too! I think I know what it is. Failing something complicated seems fine, but failing something simple seems wrong. Thing is often the simplest things are the most difficult. No shame there. Plus, some of my best successes began as failures the first time out. Long story short, at long last I’ve gotten to make homemade pizza. And you know what? Don’t you put it off like I did. You’re missing out on some fun and some good stuff here!

I’ve tried a few homemade chinese dishes, all worked out. Already have my steak quesadilla recipe up as well. And now pizza. Am I going to stop doing take-out now? Heck no. Am I going to stop buying DiGiorno’s? Nope, there’s still that occasional late-night pizza urge that hits me after the store has closed and when I just don’t want to do much work. Besides, I don’t know about you, but I like to be treated or pampered once in a while, and having someone else do the cooking for me is just grreat. And the second best is sticking pre-made in the oven. Especially the delcious self-rising frozen pizzas of today!

That said, being able to do some of your favorite dishes that you normally get delivered or hat you run out and pick-up is a very “liberating” experience. Not only is it nice to say “hey, I can do that as well as they can” (and sometimes better) … but when you get to “home make” your take-out favories, it gives you tons more freedom. What does that mean?

It means you can give yourself more of what you like — with Chinese or pizza, more meat or more toppings. You can control the degree of spiciness — as with homemade quesadillas. Or, as with pizza, you can give yourself greater variety than what’s otherwise normally available. I must have no less than 25 pizza places covering where I live. Not a single one has ham and pineapple as toppings! Definitely none of them venture anywhere near the realm of the “dessert pizza”. (We’ll get to that again in a future recipe.) But making them myself, the sky’s the limit as to what I want, how I want it, how much of it I want!

That said, some tips and then the simple recipe. First off, almost everyone makes the mistake of putting on too much pizza sauce. A little goes a long way. Place some down on the dough. Move it all around with your tablespoon or big spoon or whatever you’re using. Looks like it needs more? Chances are it doesn’t. (Like everything else, practice makes perfect. You’ll figure out if it’s enough or not).

Next tip: Dough doesn’t have to be round. It’s tough, especially at first to make a round pizza. Don’t get hung up on how the overall shape looks. Homemade remember. No Jeffrey Steingarten or Ted Allen around to judge you on “shape concaveness” or whatever other ridiculous element. So, just chill out. This is meant to be one of the more fun things you’ll ever cook!

Also, keep in mind that pizza dough can be forgiving — up to a point. If you go too thin and make a hole (check out the one photograph above) you can even rip off a piece elsewhere and sort of “plug” the hole. That said, over kneeding or using a baking pin or recombining from scratch into a new ball — anything major such as that — will make for too tough of a crust.

One last tip for now. Either: get frozen pizza dough at the market, or buy some from your local pizza place (yes, some sell it) or, make it your own from scratch (seriously) — but whatever you do don’t use that Pilsbury silly puddy thing they sell. It doesn’t behave like normal dough. It has a mind of it’s own and it is stubborn. It also tastes more like a pretzel than a pizza.

Ok, not one but two pizza recipes here. Same recipe, different toppings. Try your own creations!

Homemade Pizza
©2007 Harry Kenney

ingredients:

Pizza dough
Spaghetti or tomato sauce
Bag of shredded mozzarella or Italian mixed cheeses
parmesan
garlic
basil
oregano

Follow the instructions if frozen dough, for mine, it said take out, put in bowl and let sit at room temperature for six hours. I did. But I also put a bit of olive oil all around it. And since I didn’t want any flying insects or dust or whatever, I also placed a paper towel on top of the bowl and got some string to hold it loosely there so it had a “breathable” lid. From there, six hours later, again, followed the instructions, stretching the dough out.

I find putting some spice down right on the dough before adding spaghetti sauce works great. For me, I sprinkle some garlic powder, dried oregano and dried basil on the dough. Plus a light dusting of parmesan. Then put down the sauce and then the shredded cheese and finally the toppiings.

Pepperoni and Jack Pizza

My local convenicnce store, Wawa, has a fresh snack section where one of the items they sell is this plastic cup or glass thing with two crackers in it, tons of sliced pepperoni and some monterey jack cubes. So I used those to make up the first pizza. More spices on top, into the oven.

Pineapple and Pork Roll Pizza

I wasn’t going to use the sliced boiled ham, too thin. I did have some premium ham in the freezer but that was frozen. Ah, Taylor’s Pork Roll next to the bacon and eggs in the fridge. Dunno what it is, it’s a cross between ham and sausage, basically smoked ham and spices. Think Canadian bacon with a definite sausage edge instead of a ham taste. A can of Dole Pineapple rings, cut into chunks. And then the spices on top and bake.

My instructions said 350F for 14 minutes and then turned out perfect. Out of one clump of dough (see photos) I got two pizzas, thin crusted. The pepperoni one I got eight slices out of it. The pineapple and “ham” one, I got six. Your mileage may vary.

Here we go. The meat of meats, the summertime special, the reason — so many thousands of years from cavemen, we still like to do it their way — old school, neolithic old school — we’re talking about BBQ spare ribs, baby.

Maybe you’re totally into BBQ and smokin’, or perhaps you’re totally new. Either way, I’ve decided the best way to get the main elements across isn’t to repeat them in every barbecue recipe, but to refer to a single primer on the subject BBQ: Bringing Smoke to the Fire.

So feel free to give a once-over before continuing. Or, if you’re a veteran or you feel confident, let’s jsut get at it. One quick thing first, you need a grill, charcoal and wood chips. (If you do propane, fine, recipe doesn’t change at all.)

This is going to take about 2.5 hours of cooking time. That’s an important phrase. Like football playing time, 2.5 hours cooking time may actually mean 3-3.5 hours. This is an investment in time. And if you know me and my way of thinking, I don’t like putting a lot of time into my cooking unless the reward is worth the effort. And when it comes to BBQ spare ribs, yeah, it’s definitely worth it.

BBQ Pork Spare Ribs
©2007 Harry Kenney

ingredients:

One, three-pound slab, pork spare ribs

dry rub:

1 tbsp Paprika
1 tbsp Cumen
1 tsp Ginger Powder
2 tbsp Garlic Powder
1 tbsp Chilli Powder
1/2 tsp Cayenne
1 tsp Dry Mustard
1 tbsp Onion Powder
1 tsp Cinnamon
2 tsp Salt
1 tbsp Pepper

bbq sauce:

1 cup Ketchup (base)
1/3 cup Worchishire
2/3 cup Soy Sauce
1/2 cup Honey
2 tbsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Ginger Powder
3 tbsp Dijon
1 tbsp Pepper
2 tbsp Lemon Zest
2 tsp Hot Sauce
2 tsp Horseradish sauce
Juice of 1/2 large lemon (or all of small lemon)

smoke:

chardonnay wood chips, personal preferrerence (mesquite or apple wood are very nice choices)

Put together dry mixture for rub. Rub all over the defrosted ribs. About 2/3 or 3/4 on the top, and the remainer on the underside. Place on cookie sheet, cover with plastic wrap and aluminum foil and place back in refrigerator for 1-6 hours. (No, not that long, you’re saying.) Bare minimum time 30-60 minutes, but really, the longer in the fridge with the rub, the tastier the meat and the more the tough meat will breakdown. Rush this and you will pay for it later; your call.

Get your grill going with your charcoal and wood chips. Shut the lid. Internal temperature of your grill should be at least 180°F and rising, also smoke should be seen coming out the sides. At that point, place the rack of ribs on the grill, facing upwards, on the side of the grill without coals nor wood. Remember this is indirect-heating and smoking. Shut the lid and check the grill’s temperature (from the outside) every half an hour. You should keep the heat between 220°F and 240°F; this is the ideal zone.

After the first hour, you will need to change wood chips for certain, and probably refresh the coals as well.

If you haven’t changed the coals in the first hour (you probably have), you’ll definitely need to add to them by hour-and-a-half. Again, let your temperature gauge tell you. Remember too, when the temperature has gone down to much, and/or the smoke has thinned to much, the cooking time has halted. You can’t start counting again until heat and/or smoke are back up to proper levels.

Before the two hour mark, make the BBQ sauce up as given above.

At the two hour mark, see how things look. Good chance the ribs are looking good. Pick them up with the tongs by the middle, over the grill. Just lift them up in the air. See how much bend you get. They should be benind like a U-shape at least as the cartiledge is cooking between each rib. Place back down, still facing upward. Add coals as needed. You probably do not need to add more chips. But it’s up to you to gauge this.

Take an internal meat thermometer and see if the ribs are getting towards where they should be. 150°F is the minimum safe temperature to safely eat pork and have any contaminants killed off. In terms of doneness, for pork: 160°F is considered medium, 170°F as well done. If you feel there’s about a half-hour or so left, start brushing on the BBQ sauce and do so every 10 minutes. Remember, the longer the lid is up, the longer amount of time for heat to escape. so do it right, but do it quickly and shut that lid back down.

Two things, you don’t want to burn sauce; put it on too soon and you will. (That is if you think there’s 30 minutes left and it’s close to an hour, you could burn the sauce). Second, when it’s all done you want the meat to almost fall off the ribs by themselfves with little prodding.

When you pick up the rack with tongs in the middle and it bends so much the two ends want to touch each other, you’re definitely at doneness. So, sight it, keep an eye on the barrel or drum (the grill’s inside) tempeature to make sure it stays in that zone, see how much the rack bends, and when you get 160°F-170°F, bingo.

Take inside, slice into individual ribs. Serve with sides and call yourself King (or Queen) for the BBQ.

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