Caribbean Jerk Pork Chops

Occasionally I like to meander down memory lane and dabble in what I consider 'retro' foods....you know, those foods we were forced to eat as children and now love. Or maybe something that we ate every week that we swore would never cross our lips once we were in charge of our own kitchen.

One thing that I didn't eat for years after leaving home was boiled potatoes. Nine out of ten days my mother put a big bowl of boiled potatoes on the table for dinner.  On the other days, they were fried or mashed. I have 65 different recipes for potatoes.  Boiled isn't one of them.  Don't get me wrong,  my mother was a good cook, but she didn't enjoy it; it was a chore, something she had to do every day.  It was a rare occasion when she found a new recipe or tried something slightly different.  She would ask my aunts:  "How do you fix your chicken" or "how do you cook your asparagus".  The implication was that each cook in the world had one, and only one, tried and true way to cook something, whether it was chicken or asparagus or pork chops.

This is one of my many recipes for pork chops; I made these for dinner last night and they were delicious.  I hope you enjoy!

• 1 habanero chile, seeded and chopped
• 1 small onion, coarsely chopped 
• 1 scallion, thinly sliced 
• 1 garlic clove, thinly sliced 
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice  
• 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme  
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger 
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, plus more for brushing 
• 1 cup store-bought Kansas City–style barbecue sauce
• 4 pork rib chops (12 ounces each)
• 1/2 cup hickory, pecan or oak chips

1. In a mini food processor, combine the habanero, onion, scallion, garlic, allspice, thyme, ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Process until finely chopped. Add the 1 tablespoon of oil and process to a smooth paste.
2. In a small bowl, whisk 1 tablespoon of the paste with the barbecue sauce. Spread the remaining paste all over the chops and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
3. Light a gas grill. Wrap the wood chips in heavy-duty foil, pierce the packet all over with a skewer and add to the grill. Cover and let the chips begin to smoke, about 5 minutes.
4. Lightly brush the chops with oil and season with salt. Grill the chops, covered, over moderately high heat, turning and shifting the chops occasionally, until they are lightly charred and a meat thermometer inserted nearest the bone registers 140°, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer the chops to a platter and serve with the spiced barbecue sauce on the side.

Grilling Hamburgers Properly

I love grilling (well I actually love grilled food but prefer to have Steve do the grilling) and grilling hamburgers or cheeseburgers is one of our favorite BBQ'd meals.

When grilling burgers, most outdoor chefs forget and/or ignore a few basic principals that result in a semi-oval meatball that is burned around the edges and sometimes kind of raw in the middle.And if you haven't learned this yet, undercooked ground beef is a real no-no.

Let's cover a few basics that will make your next grilling attempt a success and the culinary star of your household:

Secrets for Grilling Hamburgers

• Proper Meat: With today's emphasis on health, everyone tries to eliminate fat. This is not good for hamburger, as it is the fat that keeps the hamburgers moist and provides flavor. I think 20% fat content is perfect.
• Flavoring: You can have some fun with this, but don't overdo it. If you have good beef, you want to taste it.
• Proper Patty Preparation: This is HUGE. Flatten the patty and then add a concave indentation in the middle. This step eliminates the half raw meatball result that most backyard grillers are known for.
• Grill Preparation: Whether using gas or charcoal, make sure the grill is preheated and the grill surface is scraped with a wire brush after it is preheated. You may want to rub it down with some cooking or olive oil as well.
• Technique: Once you start grilling the hamburgers, do not leave them!  Also, do not press down on them! That will turn them to leather. Wait for the fluids to start collecting in the indention, as that is the perfect time to turn them.
• Buns: Do something unique with the buns. Toast them or steam them, and think about using alternatives from your bakery or try english muffins which adds some great texture.

Look at my recipes (well not mine, but something I stole from Food & Wine) for two GREAT grilled hamburger ideas.

Happy Grilling!

Cheddar-and-Onion Smashed Burgers

What better way to celebrate a weeknight in the city than by eating a juicy, succulent hamburger?  I still remember the first time I ever ate a hamburger:  It was 1972; my crazy mother fetched some ground chuck from our local butcher and....
OK wait. Stop! I can’t do this. I’m sorry. When I first decided to do a food blog, I was completely lost.  It didn't help that certain reputable sources stated that the only people who wrote food blogs were wealthy Asians… I’m not Asian. But I’m closer to being Asian than I am wealthy.  Regardless, I said: “Y’know what? Racial stereotypes be damned! I’m on board!” And I couldn’t wait to get started.

Then we watched Julie & Julia…

After that, I just didn't know if I could write anything about food.  Anything that would connect me, in any way, to Julie Powell- even if it’s writing just ONE food blog post- would make me die inside.  I just couldn't do it. The Julia scenes were amazing (obviously) but the Julie parts?  The only piece of Julie Powell’s story that I enjoyed was when her heart was broken, Ralph Wiggum-style, once the news reached her that Julia Child kinda thought she was bullshit.

The rest of the time, she either threw temper tantrums or made the same frowny faces that toddlers make when they’ve filled their diapers. She never apologized for any of her behavior, with the exception of blogging some weird rhetorical question in which she drops that she MAY be treating her husband poorly. And the only thing she learns, the biggest lesson she walks away with, is “make sure you finish what you start.”  I’m sorry, that’s the kind of thing you’re supposed to learn from one of Aesop’s fables.

Wait! Now I too am suddenly overcome by wanting to draw thin connections between myself and Julia Child!

- We’re both 6’2” (I'm 5'6)

- Neither of us liked Julie Powell (she's a whiner)

- When making sauce and pasta, and I grab a piece of cannelloni from a boiling pot with my bare fingers, I exclaim, “It’s hotter than a stiff cock!” (not always....but sometimes)

Oh my God! Julie Powell IS inspiring! I’m going to go out there and become totally self-absorbed and then when my friend calls me a bitch I’ll be cool with it.  Then every time I eat stuff I’ve made in front of my friends, I’m going to talk about how awesome it tastes!

I have gotten off track. Part of me wants to just stop right now and go out on a really spiteful note… But no. No, Julie Powell has taught me to finish what I started. So...CHEDDAR-and-ONION SMASHED BURGERS!

Being no stranger to self-absorption, Cheddar-and-Onion Smashed Burgers are called Cheddar-and-Onion Smashed Burgers because they have cheddar and onion in them.  

Get yourself 1 1/4 pounds ground chuck; we're doing this whole sustainable thing now, so we got grass fed meat from Tony's Meats.

Then it’s just a matter of securing the following, incredibly rare ingredients:

• salt
• freshly ground pepper
• 16 thick bread & butter pickle slices, patted dry
• 2 thinly sliced white onions
• 4 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, sliced
• Four 4" potato buns, buttered & toasted

The hardest thing to find (the freshly ground pepper) is available in most specialty “ethnic” supermarkets. Chances are they’ll be sold out though, so just buy in bulk online.

1.  Heat your grill until very hot.
2.  Without overworking the meat, loosely from it into 4 balls and place them on the greased (cooking spray will work just fine) grill.  Cook the meat balls over moderately high heat for 30 seconds.  Using a sturdy large spatula, flatten each ball into a 5-inch round patty.  Season the patties with salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes, until well seared.  Press a handful of sliced onions onto each patty.  Using the spatula, carefully flip each burger so the onions are on the bottom.  Top with the cheese and cook for 4 minutes.  Transfer the burgers with the onions to the buns and enjoy!!
OK. That’s it.

Macaroni & Cheese

I’m sorry. I know, this isn’t right. Not fair. Totally cruel.   Bathing suit season is upon us and this here is no friend to Lycra.

 

But I had to. I promised you this and I had to make it right.

You see, I wanted to give you something that was honest to goodness-ly the easiest macaroni & cheese recipe ever invented.   The problem I've had:  real cheese–and not Velveeta or other eerily stable cheese products–really don't like to be melted, cooled and remelted again. It needs something to help it stay creamy, to help suspend it- and that thing is quite often a bechamel (milk thickened with a bit of cooked flour and butter).

So I turned to the one recipe I had heard from ten thousand people (and their mothers) was the bee’s knees. Cat’s meow. A triumph of the macaroni & cheese spirit and do you know what? It was all that and then some. This mac & cheese recipe might be the best thing since both macaroni AND cheese. Even better, it passes the most important test:  it reheats like a charm, staying creamy and ohmahgawd.....…

I just melted into a puddle remembering how good it was. Seriously, why haven’t you made this yet?

 

This week:  I'm on vacation right now. Most likely, I'm going to try and track down some cheese-filled sausages but my head is saying, “no, no, this cannot possibly be a good idea.”  Until I can come up with a recipe for these treats, I’ve left you with macaroni & cheese.....so you know I still love you. 

Now, please be warned, this makes a ton o' mac & cheese.  Not interested in going on an all-mac, all-the-time diet this week, but wishing to try the recipe at last?  I halved it and guess what? We still had three dinner’s worth of macaroni & cheese, or a full six servings. Which is, of course, what the recipe said it would make if halved, but I was in denial.

This is particularly delicious with a big, crunchy salad and a steamed vegetable, like green beans or broccoli.

Serves 12

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for casserole
6 slices white bread, crusts removed, torn into 1/4- to l/2-inch pieces
5 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons coarse salt, plus more for water
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 1/2 cups (about 18 ounces) grated sharp white cheddar cheese
2 cups (about 8 ounces) grated Gruyère or 1 1/4 cups (about 5 ounces) grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1 pound elbow macaroni

Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter a 3-quart casserole dish; set aside. Place the bread in a medium bowl. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Pour the melted butter into the bowl with the bread, and toss. Set the breadcrumbs aside.
Warm the milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Melt the remaining 6 tablespoons butter in a high-sided skillet over medium heat. When the butter bubbles, add the flour. Cook, stirring, 1 minute.
While whisking, slowly pour in the hot milk a little at a time to keep mixture smooth. Continue cooking, whisking constantly, until the mixture bubbles and becomes thick, 8 to 12 minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in salt, nutmeg, black pepper, cayenne pepper, 3 cups cheddar cheese, and 1 1/2 cups Gruyère (or 1 cup Pecorino Romano); set the cheese sauce aside.
Cover a large pot of salted water, and bring to a boil. Cook the macaroni until the outside of pasta is cooked and the inside is underdone, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the macaroni to a colander, rinse under cold running water, and drain well. Stir the macaroni into the reserved cheese sauce.
Pour the mixture into the prepared dish. Sprinkle the remaining 1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, 1/2 cup Gruyère (or 1/4 cup Pecorino Romano), and the breadcrumbs over the top. Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes (though we needed a bit more time to get it brown, but your oven may vary). Transfer the dish to a wire rack for 5 minutes; SERVE!.