Category: Pork

Kochen Sie Deutsch? Ham hocks and Spaetzle.

I have been seeing a lot of ham hocks around the blogosphere lately.Its funny because ham hocks are widely used in the black culture in soul food. I have seen first hand a love hate relationship with this cut of swine. Its been widely substituted by smoked turkey to season greens and such.And most of us wouldn’t be caught dead eating it in polite company . But its cheap and tasty and I’m happy to see a foodie resurgence. In Germany I loved the Eisbein which is the lower more meatier part of the ham hock. A typical ham hock has to much bone, fat, gristle , and skin, to eat alone. But the chunks of meat you get are out of this world. The Eisbein I had in Germany was meat fall of the bone succulent with crispy skin. I tried to recreate this with the lowlier ham hocks. I didn’t get a lot of meat, but I got. The rest went in the trash bin. But it was enough to enhance my homemade spaetzle. I didn’t have a fancy Spaetzle maker, but used a colander with large holes. This dish is for my Certain Someone. You know how some people talk dirty when their loved one is away? Me I cook this German style meal I know he would love to entice him to finish his business abroad and come home quick.

The ham hocks were cooked in a pressure cooker with about 3 cups of water, peppercorns, and 3 cloves of garlic for 45 minutes at a pressure of 15 lbs. I have had a pressure cooker for years and am just starting to discover the joys of it. I cooled it down quickly to release the pressure with the cold water method( running water over the pot and waiting till it cools down enough to release safely). I then roasted them on high to get the skin crispy. The skin is gelatinous but with patience you will get some crispy parts.

Certain Someone would be so proud of me. I made Spaetzle from a cookbook written in German! Maggi Kochstudio. Easy and straightforward. I converted the weights and measures.

Spatzletig for 2

1 3/4 cups flour ( 250 grams)

3 eggs beaten

2/3 cup water ( 1/8 liter)

salt

nutmeg

Water for boiling( approx 2 liters)

Boil your water in a pot.In a bowl place your flour. Add beaten egg,water, salt, and nutmeg. Mix thoroughly ( I used a whisk). Take a large holed colander and place a little mixture in at at time. With a rubber spatula or wooden spoon run the mixture back and forth across the hole until it drops in the boiling water. The spaetzle dumplings will rise to the top of the water when done. Remove with a slotted spoon. Season to taste.

I seasoned and tossed mine with a leek sauteed in butter and the garlic from the pressure cooker.Salt , fresh ground pepper and a grating of Parmesan cheese.

Next time when Certain Someone comes home I will got to the butcher and get the Eisbein cut to ensure we have more meat. But this was a tasty trial run.

Hazelnut Crusted Pork Chops and Nectarines , A Favorite Pudding.. It’s Sunday Dinner!

I don’t know if its summer or what, but my mind is slowing down on blog worthy entries. I am cooking, but just to eat and not to blog.Yesterday I started in the kitchen of the caterer. I arrived promptly at 8 am Saturday morning. It’s a rented commercial kitchen up in a funky yet non gentrified area of Chicago. Anyway I waited and called as no one was in yet. The janitor said they should be there. When I was about to give up I called the head chef, who was not supposed to be there. I feared waking him up. But he answered and was en route. Seems Chef #2 was supposed to be there but was called away for a private cooking assignment in some glamorous Eastern European locale. The caterer has a contract for some private residences and businesses in Europe. How fun.Anyway my first task was washing and slicing a case of strawberries. Then making fruit infused sugar for drink rims,then washing and chopping a case of Romaine for salads, and finally slicing and baking dough for the signature canapes. All went swimmingly well until they started to cook to fast. I’m not used to all the commercial ovens and ranges and some were not crisp enough and some too crispy. Anyway another dough log was pulled out for more and they were cool with them. It’s fascinating watching the detailed organization, lists and prep that go into off premise catering. All to be whisked away to assemble and finish on site.Tough but fun work. I barley looked at the clock and before I knew it it was over. 6 hours of mindless enjoyable tasks. I could have worked the event , but Certain Someone and I had dinner plans at the wonderful Korean BBQ place called Solga later that evening. The only unpleasant part is washing the dishes.That’s an operation in itself. I cant wait to be called back again and actually go on site. I so love being back of house rather than front of house. The atmosphere is way more pleasant. Enough of that lets get home cooking.

So Sunday dinner is always a special for me. If we don’t go out, I like to cook something .So whats new about that? But its a way to unwind and indulge before we go back to the grind. I created both dishes based on what I have on hand.
For the main course we had Hazelnut Crusted Pork Chops and Nectarines. Basically I used toasted hazelnut flour( which is just ground hazelnut not flour, so this can be gluten free) which was sitting the freezer .Pork goes so well with fruit, and I have a lot of fruit. This is rather simple. Dredge your chops in hazelnut flour, chopped fresh rosemary, salt and pepper . Spray a baking sheet with non stick cooking spray . Bake the chops in a preheated oven at 350 degrees until done. Turn once.In a separate sauce pan, add 4 tablespoons butter. Place halved fresh nectarines and 3 tablespoons sugar and cook down. We want to keep the fruit intact but turn occasionally to soften and cook through.The mixture should start to slightly bubble and caramelize.Add about 1 tablespoon of sherry and let mixture cook down some more. You should a nice syrup from the juices, sugar, butter and sherry. Serve atop the chops.

For dessert I made a pudding.Linda over at one of my favorite blogs Make Life Sweeter , has an event going on called Got Milk. The purpose of the event is to raise awareness for Word Breastfeeding Week during the first week of August. I know nothing about breastfeeding,other than I was breast fed and it has tons of benefits for both baby and Mommy. If my day ever comes, that’s the route I’m going. Anyway Linda is asking for recipe involving milk as the key ingredient. I wanted to experiment with fried milk, a Spanish treat, but the heat and laziness won. So I decided to use what I had on hand and create a Pistachio Tapioca Pudding. Certain Someone loves puddings, as do I. As I kid my favorite flavor was that instant pistachio pudding you get in a box. Now with more grown sophisticated tastes,I have created my own. I had leftover pistachio paste in the refrigerator.This was a store purchased variety.I also had some granulated tapioca in the pantry. The rest is history. How real and natural a real pistachio pudding looks without food coloring. The flavor has way more depth too.

Coco’s Pistachio Tapioca Pudding

5 1/2 tablespoons of pistachio paste
3 cups of milk
1 1/2 teaspoon Almond Extract
6 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons granulated tapioca( fast cooking variety)
In a large bowl whisk eggs,almond extract,sugar, and pistachio paste. Heat the milk in a pot.Do not burn. Slowly add about 1/3 of the hot milk mixture to the egg/sugar mixture. Note, I used my stand mixer and added hot milk as the it was whisking the egg mixture. Add the egg mixture back to the reaming hot milk. Mix. Add tapioca. In a double boiler heat the mixture over med/high whisking constantly until thickened. It will take approximately 15 minutes for the tapioca for the tapioca to get clear and start thickening the mixture. When mixture coats the back of a spoon it its ready. Pour into serving dishes. Place a film of plastic on top. Let cool at room temp, than place in the refrigerator.
Well I know this was a long post, but I wanted to show the meal altogether. It wasn’t too heavy at all. Certain Someone may have preferred his chops fried more Southern Style, But I was trying to keep it lighter and healthier for us.

Sunday Dinner, Another Wedding, and More Travel Woes

So this week I have been kind of AWOL. I have tried to keep up with my reader . My cooking attempts have been dismal. I wont even describe it.But I hadn’t been grocery shopping yet since our return and needed to use what was on hand. Friday evening I caught another flight to Washington D.C for my cousins wedding. She was a former Miss Maryland and first runner up in Miss America. Not only had I lost my cooking mojo, but the travel curse continued. I was calmly informed that my flight was delayed and I would miss my connection in Detroit( it was the cheapest fare!).I almost secretly sighed oh goody , I get to turn around and crawl back to my sweet bed and have a weekend to me!But no, the most efficient airline agent got me on direct flight with my nemesis airline of last week. So I had to go. But more delays and I finally arrived at BWI .I crawled into the hotel bed at 3:00am finally and had to wake for a early morning wedding. I don’t recognize my hometown at all. Downtown Silver Spring is not what I remembered from 10 years ago.There was some film festival going on connected with the Discovery Center.Lobby talk was of being in Tokyo, So Ho, Tribeca,Sydney etc. on their documentary assignments.Since when did Silver Spring become so glamorous? I guess you cant really go home again. The bride was gorgeous naturally and all the aunts started grilling me as to when I would become legal. You know the usual good natured meddling. I was the oldest cousin and still single. Certain Someone wasn’t there because he was stretched to thin with work, time , etc after the events of the past few weeks. It was all just to much going on. We left the hotel that night /morning at 3:30am to catch or early 6:00 am flights. I had been riding in my youngest aunts rental car. We missed our exit and turned around only to be slammed in the rear by some young kids rushing to their internships at 4:00 am. More drama , but no serious injuries or damage. When the police came I had to chuckle when my aunt started with why we were here, to attend the former Miss Marylands wedding,surely you know her,etc. The officers admitted he didn’t keep up with the beauty pageant circuit. We made our flights down to the wire and alas I’m home.After eating crap all week I wanted a nice home cooked meal.

I decided to take the last of the pork loin in the freezer and cook it like Certain Someones mother taught me . Only I took extra measures and studded it with garlic gloves, added my own rub of spices and juniper berries on top with rosemary, and then baked it in a bed of salt. Nuria did a post on this last week. Its an amazing way to cook meat. Missing Sweden I served it alongside with Ligonberries. I also made a nice egg noodle dish with cream, leeks, oyster mushrooms, red peppers and a fine drizzle of Black Truffle oil. Certain Someone said I got my cooking mojo back and all is right with the world.

Glamah Does Sweden …Day 1


This trip would be my 3rd visit to Sweden. Once alone to meet my uncle and cousins, and the last few with Certain Someone for weddings, meeting friends,etc. Getting there this time around was challenging. I had a connection via London but arrived later due to weather delays.British Airways informed me that there were no more available direct flights to Stockholm. They rerouted me via Schipol in Amsterdam.Lots of waiting around,coveting the new shops in the controversial Terminal 5.From a professional perspective this has raised the bar in Duty Free shopping. Anyway I finally arrive in Stockholm, funky, irritated, but full thanks to a upgrade on the last leg(meals and wine, would you believe American tried to charge me $6 for wine !Used to be complimentary).I had been travelling 20 hours.Another fellow Chicagoan who had the same fate as me told me our bags were still in Amsterdam.I found one bad and waited with a mob to trace the other. They took my paper and said the other(with my dress for the wedding) would be delivered to me me.Certain Someone and our friends were waiting for me.I was never so happy to see him. Talk about weary traveller.

We woke and started the 2 hour drive to Tierp to close on the house. Tierp is a small town near the summer house that can be best be described as somewhat “rural” and full of older people.We went to the supermarket\cafe for coffee and quick bite.Now you have to be black to understand this. I was waiting for the stares.There were a few, but Lo and behold I saw a “Sistah” in the market. She looked right past me.Then I saw a “Brothah”. I felt better and the people were nice. A few stared , but maybe because I was so Glamah!.The real estate agent and soon to be former owner were very warm and offered to speak English. I told them to go ahead in Swedish and take care of business. Just put my name on the deed! Hahaha. I reminded Certain Someone that I was his SAMBO( which is a shortened way in Swedish meaning legal partner, not derogatory as I first thought when I heard it)!The former owner offered to introduce us to our neighbors and advised us on shopping for supplies etc. He recommended Uppsala (I say upps upside your head, I say upps upsides your head…) for the nearest dose of real shopping: Uppsala is a lovely ancient University town with a Castle and Cathedral that are breathtaking from a distance. The owner was amused when he saw me get excited seeing another black person on the street. I reminded him how would he feel if he was in the most rural of Africa and felt “different”, he agreed and admitted he would welcome the site of a fellow Euro.

We drove along the country gravel road and what I saw took my breath away. Certain Someone had managed to buy a paradise! It was lovingly cared for by the former owner and his family for 35 years.A beautiful yellow wooden summer house on 1.5 acres of land with a guest house, outhouse,woodshed,work shed, etc. Apple, pear, and plum trees, deers, and all sorts of more flora and fauna, and impish magpies galore.A five minute walk and your by the Baltic Sea. The former owner was distressed that the water line had receded this year. So getting the boat out will be difficult because of the shallow waters.Around the boathouse is a spot that the government used to spy on the Russians. There is a listening post by the dock. All I kept saying throughout the walk through, was this would be great for a party(the last thing the former owner wanted to hear from the American)! I mean it was huge! Three bedrooms in the main house. The city girl in mna had to adjust to nature, but I loved it.My creative mind started running away with improvement plans. There is a huge rock pile that I wan to use to build a stone BBQ range.There is even a spot for bonfires. Its to arid and against the law to start them now. My only regret is that we cant use it all the time. His parents will use it more than us.And perhaps short term vacation rentals down the line.This area is going to be hot soon because the prices are way more favorable than the popular archipelago region and the new highway makes it a straight shot.Our neighbors were an elderly couple that had lived there forever.The man grew up there and the wife had been there for 40 years. Their property looked more farm like. Since they live there all year round they will kind of keep an eye on things. If we did give a party it would most likely freak them out(hundreds of Swedish yuppies\ brats with loud techno blaring, just kidding ) , so we need to be considerate.The former owner bought a farm and has a new project to occupy him. We invited him to check in anytime, and he invited us to his new farm.I know it was hard for him to part with this charming property.Memories.To bad we wont be here for Midsommar!We drove back sleepy from the sun and all the sensory overload.

Some friends were coming for a BBQ at our friends house that evening. Since everyone was working Certain Someone and I did the shopping and menu planning. He paid,I planned and executed. Food is expensive in Sweden.We spent $100 for what I probably have gotten for $75 back home.I made skewers of shrimp with pineapple,pineapple and Halloumi,Halloumi,mushroom,pepper kebabs, a quick thin sliced pork cutlet marinated in Hoisin, brown sugar, pineapple,spices,oil, sausages,ribs,etc. They didn’t marinate for as long as I would have liked but the result was fabulous. Our host BH made a warm potato salad with mixed greens,feta, and asparagus. Delish. A foodie friend of theirs chipped in with a nice dressing for the vegetable kebabs an being the grill master. I introduced them to something new as they never had pineapple on the grill before. I also made rum cocktails with spiced rum, lime, pineapple,and lime. Delish!I apologized for taking over my hosts kitchen, but she said she was happy I was in her kitchen.What can I say, I thrive in the kitchen.Can you believe this is only DAY 1 on a Monday? Tomorrow moving day.


It’s The Little Things

Life for me is erratic. Sometimes I have a lot on my plate and sometimes things are kind of slow.I constantly push myself.But I go out on a limb because I want to. The key is to find balance. Besides my day job I have some sidelines. I wouldn’t call them profitable yet, but I get pleasure and some other things from them. This past weekend to ‘support” my sideline product I gave a free demo on my dime and time.I really wanted to stay home with Certain Someone, play in the kitchen, blog, and veg.The day seemed fine enough. I noticed a man arrive besides me who seemed at a loss. Seems he was supposed to demo at this fine wine emporium but didn’t speak much English or know what to do. I thought it was odd and tried to help him out. We spoke a little English and French as he knew French. We offered each other samples. About a few hours into our boring Sunday the store manager came by. Seems this kind interesting man was the owner of the vineyard and made these fine wines! From that point on they moved him to his proper place and make a big fuss. Where were they at the beginning I ask? Anyway I went over to say goodbye and took a bottle of his Moscato. He grabbed the bottle and said something in halting English. He returned with the bottle all wrapped up for me . Gratis! A small thank you. Made my day.Check out his vineyards.

The today I had a special package awaiting me. I won some Amano Chocolate from Blake Makes! I don’t know how this blogger does it but he always has great giveaways. I’m waiting for Certain Someone to return so we can sample together.

And a final thought from me for the week. I want and love good food. Time is a question most times. While I don’t shy away from the complex, sometimes I like it simple. I pulled this one out of my hat the other morning.A slow cooked pork loin in my favorite Asian spices and seasonings. I wanted this slow cooked meal to be similar to my favorite Schezwan green beans. Not quite, but a good meal . I don’t have to tell you the Certain Someone had a few servings of the meat!

Slow Cooked Pork Loin

1 pork loin

1/2 cup Soy Sauce

1/2 cup water

4 Star Anise

Dried Chilies to your taste( I used 4)

1 tablespoon minced garlic

I/2 cup of a simple syrup I made infused with rum( leftover from the rum buns). Your could use Golden Syrup

Put all ingredients in a slow cooker. Place on 8 hours. Go about and enjoy your day. Serve with steamed Jasmine Rice and green beans.