Vietnamese Grilled Pork Poboy (Banh Mi)

Ingredients

2 scallions, minced

1 fresh red or green chili pepper, seeded and minced

4 – 6 cloves garlic, minced

4 tablespoons sugar, divided

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 tablespoons Vietnamese fish sauce

Juice from 1 lime

1 pork tenderloin, about 1 1/2 pounds, trimmed

1 cup rice wine vinegar

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 loaf, Parisian bread

2 carrots, peeled

1 daikon, peeled

3 jalapeno peppers, seeded and thinly sliced

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

Mayonnaise (preferably Japanese)

1/2 English cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced

Fresh cilantro leaves

Directions

Combine the scallions, minced chili pepper, garlic, 1 tablespoon of the sugar, black pepper, fish sauce, and limejuice and stir until sugar is dissolved. Pour into a resealable plastic food storage bag, add the pork, turn to coat evenly, and seal. Marinate in the refrigerator overnight, turning occasionally.

In a small nonreactive saucepan combine the vinegar, remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar, crushed red pepper, and salt and bring to a boil, stirring until sugar and salt are dissolved. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly. Julienne the carrots and daikon (a mandolin comes in handy here, as well as with the cucumber). Transfer the slightly cooled vinegar mixture to a nonreactive mixing bowl and add the carrots, daikon and jalapeno. Place in the refrigerator overnight.

Preheated a grill to medium-high heat. Remove the pork from the marinade. Pat the pork dry and brush all over with the vegetable oil. Grill for about 20 minutes, tuning every 4 – 5 minutes (a meat thermometer inserted into the center should register 145^OF – 150^OF when the pork is done). Remove the pork from the grill, cover loosely with foil, and allow to rest for 15 minutes prior to slicing.

Cut the French bread into 4 pieces, about 6-inches long. Cut each piece in half lengthwise. Spread both sides of the toasted bread liberally with mayonnaise. Place the bread halves on the grill to toast. Slice the pork into rounds and divide evenly between the bottoms of each sandwich. Top with cucumber slices and pickled carrot/daikon/jalapeno mixture. Garnish with cilantro leaves then place the top of the sandwich over all. Cut each sandwich in half and serve immediately.

Compound butters

Great on steamed or roasted vegetables, grilled meat or fish, sandwiches or fresh baked bread, compound butters are easy to make and freeze well.

Just blend soft butter and whatever sounds good in a bowl using an immersion blender, taste as you go adding more of whatever is needed until you strike the right balance. (you should taste both the butter and flavouring)

Pictured:

Anchovy, parsley, garlic butter

Whipped lardo – (not a compund butter but still really good, dice some lardo then go to town on it with an imersian blender)

Smoked paprika butter

Others I really like:

kimchi butter

miso butter

shallot butter

chive and gin butter

tarragon butter

the possibilities are endless!

Also sweet butters are great on toast in the morning, on oatmeal or used in deserts – spiced rum butter, raspberry butter, honey butter, peach butter…

Daily bread

There is no reason not to make your own bread, and this one is easy and delicious. (because if you eat Wonderbread, then the terrorists have won.)

The thing that make this bread different (and easier) is that there is no need to knead. Just mix the dough together, let it rise, then bake it. I make the dough at night then bake it in the morning. If you want a slightly fluffier bread you can use 2 1/2 cups bread floor and 1/2 cup whole wheat floor or just 3 cups bread flour.

(If it’s cold in your home turn the oven to the lowest setting for a few minutes then turn it off)

In a large bowl combine:

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 cups bread flour

1/4 teaspoon yeast

1 1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cup blood warm water

mix well with a wooden spoon until completely incorporated and it starts to look like dough.

Cover bowl with a towel and place somewhere warm (like the oven) for about 12 hours (I’ve forgotten about it and left it for 18 hours, it was fine)

Dust your hands and a board with flour, bring dough together into a ball (it will be a little sticky) dust with flour and cover again with towel, let rise again for 1 to 2 hours.

Preheat a 5 quart dutch oven with lid in oven for 475F (you might have to remove the rubber handle from the lid. you don’t have a 5 quart dutch oven? go buy one. seriously you’ve got 2 hours while the dough rises, if I was only allowed one piece of cookware it would be a 5 quart dutch oven, spare no expense it will be around longer than you if treated well. You can bake this on a pizza stone and it’s still great but the crust will be slightly less uniform)

After the second rise carefully take the hot pot out of the oven, with flowered hands gather the dough into a ball and tip it in, cover and bake for 30 minutes, remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes until it’s dark brown and delicious. Or just throw it on the pizza stone for about 45 minutes to an hour.

Let cool on a rack for at least an hour (you should hear it “sing” while it cools. I told you that was easy!)

- Adam

Blackberry Maple Old fashioned

Muddle a good sized chunk of lemon, a small handful fresh blackberries and 1-3 teaspoons real maple syrup (to taste) in a shaker

Add 2-3 ounces bourbon and ice, shake vigorously, then strain into an old fashioned glass.

Garnish with a thin slice of lemon and a few more black berries. (Top with soda if desired)

- Adam

Freedom Pizza

Ingredients:

Pizza dough

1 bottle of obscenely expensive French wine

Olive oil

Butter

Parsley

Garlic

Fancy mushrooms

Shallots

Snails

Brie, Camembert, Raclette or other good French cheese, whichever you like

Truffle salt

Preheat oven (with pizza stone!) 475F

Purée a good amount of room temperature butter, a clove or three of garlic, salt, pepper and a large handful parsley with an immersion blender and set aside. (make a lot of the parsley butter, it freezes well and has many uses.)

Sauté some minced shallots and finely chopped mushrooms in a little oil and butter, deglaze with a splash of wine, add a spoonful of parsley butter and set aside.

Drink remainder of wine.

Dust a large board of pizza peel with cornmeal. Roll, toss or stretch dough into a large thin disk and spread mushroom mixture evenly on top. Smear each snail with parsley butter and arrange on pizza in between chunks of cheese. Slide into oven and bake until golden and bubbly, about 14 minutes. Sprinkle with truffle salt before serving.

- Adam

Monday Night Football

Wings and Sweet Potato Fries with Curry Dipping Sauce

Wings:

1 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
2 dozen chicken wings
1/2 cup light butter
1/2 cup Frank's hot sauce
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
vegetable oil

• In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, salt, cayenne pepper, and paprika.
• Wash the chicken and pat dry with paper towels, then toss in the dry mixture to coat (reserve the leftover mixture).
• Refrigerate the coated chicken at least 1 hour.
• Pre-heat vegetable oil to 375^OF (set the burner to high-medium heat).
• Heat the butter, hot sauce, pepper, and garlic powder in a saucepan over low heat, just until butter melts, and keep warm.
• Coat the wings individually in the leftover flour mixture, then deep fry, 12 pieces at a time, in the oil for 13 minutes.
• Drain the chicken on paper towels, then transfer to a Tupperware container.
• Pour half of the hot sauce mixture over the first 12 pieces, then toss to coat.
• Repeat with the second batch of wings.
• The wings can subsequently be frozen and reheated in a 400^OF oven for 10 minutes.
• Serve with ranch or blue cheese dressing.

Curry Dipping Sauce:

2/3 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup sour cream
2 to 3 tsps curry powder (Penzey’s Hot Curry Powder is great)
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp salt

• In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise and sour cream.
• Whisk in the curry powder, ginger, turmeric, chili powder, paprika, and salt.
• Cover and refrigerate 1 hour to overnight.

Sweet Potato Fries:

3 medium sweet potatoes (about 1½ pounds)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
vegetable oil

• Cut sweet potatoes into strips about ¼ of an inch thick. You can theoretically use a mandolin for this, but sweet potatoes are kind of tough, and you may have better luck just cutting them with a knife. Pat dry with paper towels.
• Heat the vegetable oil over-medium high heat. Blanche the sweet potato strips in batches for about 3-4 minutes, until soft.
• Use a slotted spoon to transfer the sweet potatoes to drain on paper towels.
• Now crank the heat on the vegetable oil to high (If you want to recharge the oil, add Canola oil). Go back through and re-fry each batch of sweet potato strips for about 2-3 minutes to crisp them up.
• Sprinkle with the salt and pepper, and serve warm with the curry dip.

- Josh

Pizza!

For dough (to make 2 thin crust 12 inch pizzas):

Mix 1 cup warm water (100-110F) with one package yeast and let stand for 5 minutes. Mix 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup bread flour, 1 tablespoon salt in a bowl (you could probably use a different flour ratio, if you do let me know how it works) Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to the yeast water then stir in flour mixture. Stir with a strong arm for 10 minutes until dough is well mixed. Place dough ball in an oiled bowl and cover with a towel, place somewhere warm until dough has doubled , about 2 hours.

After dough has risen, place a pizza stone in the oven and set to 475F

(you don’t have a pizza stone? Are you poor? Okay you can use a large unglazed ceramic tile, or unglazed quarry stone, or a big flat slab you take from your neighbor’s patio under cover of darkness. You must be certain to use an unglazed stone though, as glazes contain lead and other chemical and you will die. If you can’t find a stone you can use an over turned cookie sheet, though a stone is ideal as it absorbs moisture and will result in a crisper crust)

Sprinkle a large cutting board generously with cornmeal (if you have a pizza peel good for you, use that) Cut off half the dough ball and roll out to a thin 12 inch disc.

Top with stuff, then slide from board to stone (if it doesn’t slide easily you didn’t use enough cornmeal) Bake for about 10-17 minutes until crust is golden (all ovens are different, keep an eye on it)

I say top with stuff because you can pretty much use anything, let your imagination run free!

I made a pizza with acorn squash, caramelized onions, bacon, local cheese, bitter greens, balsamic and honey that was amazing, I highly recommend it.

For one 12 inch pizza you’ll need:

1 small or half a large acorn squash

a scant quarter cup bacon (I used good lardons but a few chopped up slices should work)

1 onion and a few cloves garlic, sliced

bitter greens, I used young chicory, arugula or maybe young radish leaves should work

a local semi soft sharp aged cheese, see what you can find at your farmer’s market

good balsamic vinegar

honey (local and seasonal, obviously)

for the acorn squash, slice thinish, sprinkle with salt and olive oil and roast until tender, about 20-40 minutes at 350F. (bake acorn squash halves while you’re at it to make the roast jalapeño corn pudding in acorn squash, or bake dessert while you’re at it, such as clafoutis. And while you’re at it wash the seeds, toss with a nice amount of salt and canola oil and spread out on a cookie sheet, roast for 20 minutes, eat as is, sprinkle on salads or grind and add to chili)

on to the pizza!

Render bacon until crispy and reserve. Add onion and garlic to bacon fat, sprinkle with a little salt and cook over low heat until soft and caramelized (it might take a while, don’t rush it, add olive oil if needed)

Top pizza dough with squash, caramelized onion, bacon and grated cheese. Bake on a pizza stone until golden and remove to a board. Top with some greens, drizzle lightly with balsamic and honey.

Enjoy!

- Adam