Snow Day Eating

O.k., YES, I'm a little disappointed we didn't get more snow....BUT I'm still very, very happy in my cozy little house.  I left work early yesterday and Ernie and I ran to the store for essentials (frozen waffles) and then snuggled in at home.  We sat and read by the fire and had bowls of homemade chicken soup.  I've come to realize that although I love a good vegetable soup, when I want chicken soup I want chicken and chicken alone.  I put carrots, onions, celery and garlic in when I'm making the broth but then I strain it so it's just pure chicken broth.  I'm not careful enough to end up with a clear broth so it's sort of thick and rustic and all I add is some noodles (spaghetti for Owen, egg noodles for us) and some pieces of chicken that I'd pulled off the bone before I simmered it forever.  We didn't even have anything with it....no salad, no bread....just thick bowls of pure chicken soup.  It was the perfect thing for the night.

This morning I dithered about whether I should try to get into work and finally decided that I was staying home.  Our alley has some drifts in it and my afternoon meeting was cancelled.....so here I sit.  In a few moments I'll have Owen start a fire in the fireplace, and Ernie got me the new New York Times cookbook from the library and I've got my coffeemilk and my kindle.  Ahhhhh.  To top it off I just finished Ernie's homemade biscuits.  He sliced them in half and put a bit of mustard and some warmed pieces of the leftover pernil (roast pork) on them.  Oh my.   I've done many a slow cooked hunk of pork but this will be one of my favorites.  I'm not generally the hugest fan of Mark Bittman's recipes.  Many are great but I had several disappointments out of his How to Cook Everything cookbook....enough so that I got rid of it.  I think many of the ideas are solid but the recipes aren't well written.  This one however, is a keeper!  The flavors are simple but perfectly balanced.  No picture I'm afraid....we were too hungry when it came out of the oven after five hours.....

Pernil
Puerto Rican Roast Pork

from the Minimalist by Mark Bittman/New York Times

Time: At least 3 hours

1 pork shoulder, 4 to 7 pounds (or use fresh ham)

4 or more cloves garlic, peeled

1 large onion, quartered

2 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves or 1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ancho or other mild chili powder

1 tablespoon salt

2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Olive oil as needed

1 tablespoon wine or cider vinegar

Lime wedges for serving.

1. Heat oven to 300 degrees. Score meat's skin with a sharp knife, making a cross-hatch pattern. Pulse garlic, onion, oregano, cumin, chili, salt and pepper together in a food processor, adding oil in a drizzle and scraping down sides as necessary, until mixture is pasty. (Alternatively, mash ingredients in a mortar and pestle.) Blend in the vinegar.

2. Rub this mixture well into pork, getting it into every nook and cranny. Put pork in a roasting pan and film bottom with water. Roast pork for several hours (a 4-pound shoulder may be done in 3 hours), turning every hour or so and adding more water as necessary, until meat is very tender. Finish roasting with the skin side up until crisp, raising heat at end of cooking if necessary. (ours was 7 lbs and we cooked it 5 hours..just depends how falling apart you want it)

3. Let meat rest for 10 to 15 minutes before cutting it up; meat should be so tender that cutting it into uniform slices is almost impossible; rather, whack it up into chunks. Serve with lime.