Sunday, October 12, 2008

Pork Chile Verde


Saturday we did our usual trip to the Poway Farmers Market to pick up fresh vegetables, fruit, eggs and anything else that looked good. While making are usual walk through the market we stopped at the stand that sells roasted peppers. He actually roasts them on the spot. I saw a little cardboard sign that said "X-Hot New Mexico Green Chile Powder $4.00". I am familiar with chili powders but had never seen a green chili powder. Instantly I think about Bishers, which is the butchers right across the street. Side note: I have them on my cell phones auto dial, you never know when you need to chat with your butcher! So we picked up the green chili powder and headed for Bishers and picked up some boneless pork shoulder which Randy cut into 1 inch cubes for us. now the challenge was to find a recipe. We have a huge collection of cook books at home. We were digging through all the usual books, Paula Deen, Bobby Flay, Julia Child, the New York Times Cook book and really could not find anything of interest. So then we hit the Internet and had the same results. So back to the cook books and I found a Betty Crocker Mexican Cookbook with recipes by a chef named Jose Leopoldo Romero. Who? I had not heard of him either. He is chef/owner of a authentic Mexican restaurant in Boston of all places! Here is the web site http://www.casaromero.com/. The book was published in 1981. So we look through it and find a great recipe for what he calls Puerco en Salsa Verde (Pork in Green Sauce).


Puerco en Salsa Verde

2lbs pork boneless shoulder cut into 1" cubes
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1 can (13 ounces) tomatillos, drained and mashed (I used two 12oz cans)
1 cup water
1/2 cup cilantro (I hate cilantro so we did about 1/4 cup)
1/2 cup chopped green chiles (we used a 7oz can of diced green chiles, drained)
1 tbs dried oregano leaves
2 tsp instant chicken bouillon
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Note: not in recipe but we added 2 tbs of the x-hot green chile powder!

Coat pork with flour. Heat oil in 10-inch skillet (we used our 5qt LeCreuset) until hot. Cook and stir pork over medium heat until brown.; drain and return to pot/pan. Stir in remaining ingredients. Heat until boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer until pork is tender. We put this on our smallest burner and let sit on low for 2-3 hours instead. Garnish with fresh cilantro and a touch of sour cream!


Friday, October 10, 2008

EXCITING NEWS

We found out that Erin is having a BABY! It will be the first for us so we are extremely excited! A few of our friends have been having babies so we will have some other children in the same age range! My sister also has 2 kids under 2 years old!
Erin is about 7 weeks and the due date 1s 6/1/09. She has been feeling pretty good. She seems to be hungry as soon as she gets home, I mean the second she walks in the door! So I have been trying to be ready to cook dinner as soon as she gets home. She has not had morning sickness which is nice.

Will keep you up to date!

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Hawaiian Vacation

I have not been posting lately for two reasons. First , we have not done much cooking worth posting about. Second we were in Hawaii for a vacation. We were on the big island and spent time around Kona ans Waikoloa.

In the picture above Erin and I are at the outdorr bar at Ruth Chris. They had 1/2 of appetizers during their happy hour. We had some great carpaccio, crab cakes, crab stuffed mushroom and some BBQ shrimp on top of gralic mash! We also had a great bottle of 2004 Shafer One Point Five Cabernet Sauvignon http://www.shafervineyards.com/

Above is an "IMU PIT" for a Luau. http://www.primitiveways.com/Imu1.html The pig is seasoned the Hawaiian Alea salt only. I did not find the pork to be all that good. One thing i did not like was that they served it "pulled" or "shredded". I thought we would get some nice chunks of the pig with skin and all the good stuff! I also tried the Poi and it was pretty bland. One of the best theing was the Lomi Lomi which is like a ceviche. They also had mahi mahi, teriyaki ribs, potatoes, salads, just a ton of food!

Above is a beautiful Hawaiian sunset! We took this at the bay across from our condo!


Below I listed some of the meals we had!

1.) Hawaiian Styles Cafe Waimea - The best local joint we found. Huge portions and great flavors I had the kalbe ribs (Korean Style Ribs) with rice and potato salad. Erin had the Big Mok which is white rice topped with spam, portugese sausage, pork sausage, egg and brown gravy! Hert attack anyone???






Hawaiian Style Cafe65-1290 Kawaihae Rd, Kamuela, HI 96743 (map)(808) 885-4295


2.) Fresh Ono Fish and Chips. We just had this a local sports bar, but it was the best fish and chips I have ever had!


3.) Maui Onion and Ale soup at the Canoe House @ Mauna Lani Resort. Had a great rib eye and lobster tempura also! Just a beautiful location, see picture below!


More to come!