cook pot stories

Okay, so I don't live in New England anymore. But in a burst of sympathy for my New England friends, and in celebration of the easily accessible Mexican ingredients here in Kansas City, I made pork posole for dinner tonight. Warm, spicy enough, fragrant, comforting... just the thing to eat while holed up from a blizzard. Or while thinking about people you love in a blizzard. Or, really, anytime you want something rich, comforting, and have lovely tomatillos on hand. I added olive oil to a large pot, then sautéed a chopped onion 6 cloves of garlic I sprinkled all of this with about a tablespoon of oregano a few shakes of cinnamon and clove about a teaspoon of cumin and a few bay leaves for good measure After a few minutes I added a seeded, chopped green pepper 2 jalapeño peppers, seeds in, roughly chopped And a few minutes later I added 12 husked, rinsed and roughly chopped tomatillos. These were what prompted me to make posole in the first plac...

Happy New Year! I know I'm almost two weeks late with the wish, but it's still kindly meant, so please accept it in the spirit intended. The New Year is a (somewhat arbitrary) time to look at our lives, evaluate and decide what we want to work on in the coming year. For example, I want to post in this blog more often. It's a time full of cultural tradition too, from the ball dropping in Times Square to fireworks to more personal traditions. In my family, I was allowed to stay up to midnight, watch Guy Lombardo and eat smoked oysters. A big treat, really. This year I decided to see in the new year with a broader cultural tradition, enacted late because I rarely pull these things off on time. I made Hoppin' John. This is a southern dish (though I was introduced to it by a Rhode Islander) made of black-eyed peas and ham hocks. It's said if you eat Hoppin' John and corn bread on New Year's Day you'll be prosperous throughout the year - eat poor on New Y...

I should have taken a picture, but I didn't, so you'll just have to take my word for it. I made the best pork roast last night. It looked as good as it tasted. And I used herbs from the garden! I don't know how much the roast weighed, so you'll have to improvise. Take 1 boneless pork roast, the kind that's tied with string. It should have some fat on at least one side. Rub the inside (between the two halves) with a mixture of salt, pepper and a little sugar. Peel and roughly slice an entire head of garlic. If your fingers are garlicky afterwards you can always rinse them in lemon juice, that helps. Tuck maybe 12 pieces of garlic, four rosemary sprigs and at least four sage leaves into the roast, between the two halves. It will look nice if a little of the rosemary is sticking out. Preheat the oven to 450. Poke at least 15 holes in the less fatty side of the roast. Shove a garlic slice into each hole. Rub this side with the salt, pepper and sugar blend. Pull a rosema...