Día de los Muertos Chicken Mole

I had previously never attempted to make mole because, correctly, I assumed it had a million ingredient,s and that those ingredients would be hard to find in Mexican food-deprived NYC. But I stumbled upon a slow-cooker recipe for mole a few days before our annual Dia de los Muertos party for Xavier's birthday.

http://www.marthastewart.com/868410/slow-cooker-chicken-mole

It looked too easy (and since when is Martha Stewart a mole expert?!), but I decided to give it a shot. The weather forecast was crappy and my informal, picnic in the park looked like it was going to turn into a 25 person dinner party in my tiny apartment. I threw everything in the blender, pureed it until smooth and tasted the sauce. It was surprisingly good....but it felt like a good base and not a finished product. I poked around online a bit and read a bunch of recipes - some good and some bad. Campbell's soup in mole? No. I landed on toasting 1/4 cup each sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds and sliced almonds and adding those to the blender to give it more depth. Seeing a great opportunity to use some of my more neglected spices, I then toasted 5 gloves and 1/2 teaspoon each of anise and coriander seeds. So yes, it got more complicated. But it still only involved, toasting and pureeing..and then throwing into a slow-cooker. And the sauce was enough for 8 lbs of chicken.
In the end, it wasn't that much work considering how many people were fed. But next year, I'm hoping for sun. And chips and salsa in the park.



Happy 4th Birthday Xavier!!

Slow Cooked Cuban Pork Shoulder

Who doesn't love the idea of a slow cooker? When I think about a perfect crock pot recipe, I picture tossing a bunch of vegetables and a cut of meat into a pot and returning home hours later to a perfectly cooked meal. However, most crock pot recipes suck. They either involve cream of mushroom soup, French onion dip in a packet or an entire bottle of Ketchup. I recently read one for meatballs that suggested combining a jar of BBQ sauce, cherry preserves and frozen meatballs. I'm not kidding.  

On the other extreme, there are some crock pot recipes that require you to sear the meat, roast the vegetables in the oven, toast your spices, make a separate sauce...and only then combine everything into the slow cooker. No, gracias.

This recipe for Cuban pork has only a handful of ingredients and it truly is a 'toss it all in the crock pot' recipe.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/27/slow-cooked-cuban-pork-sh_n_1057339.html

I did skip the last part where you roast the pork skin. While I'm sure it's delicious, I don't think I need to incorporate chicharrón into my weekday menus. The only trick to this recipe is to use good limes, and don't skimp. I served it with rice and beans and sautéed greens. If you have some good recipes for the slow cooker, PLEASE send my way!

White Strawberries

This is the time of year when you don't need recipes. The produce is so good that you can just cut a tomato and serve it as is. Or eat a plane green salad that just tastes like fresh lettuce. In a few months, tomatoes will need to be roasted and salad will need nuts, feta and bacon to give it some character. But for now, cooking is simple and I have been taking advantage of our farm stand to be lazy.

The last few weeks they have had white alpine strawberries, and these little guys haven't even made it home before they were eaten. They are soft and sweet, and remind me that I actually like strawberries. (I think I have been traumatized by one too many bodega strawberries that are hard, white in the middle and sour.) Last week, they actually let us pick our own. Xavier said he felt like he was in Blueberries for Sal. How about that for good parenting? I figured that earned me at least 10 hours of "let my kids watch TV while I tune out and pretend I'm not a mama" time.  Score.

Anyways, buy up that produce! Before you know it, we'll be in beef stew and pumpkin pie territory.

Charred Okra with Tomato, Garlic and Preserved Lemon

To be honest, I don't get that excited about farmer's markets, especially in this city. I like the idea of them, but around here I feel like they are filled with overpriced bee's wax candles and what look suspiciously like mass-produced pies. But last summer a Project Eats stand opened up across the street from me. Project Eats is an urban farming initiative, and they converted an ugly vacant lot in the public housing in front of my apartment into a garden. These guys rule.

Last week they had great looking tomatoes and okra so I tested out Ottolenghi's recipe in the Jerusalem Cookbook.

http://www.ottolenghi.co.uk/charred-okra-with-tomato-garlic-preserved-lemon-shop

Like everything in that cookbook, it was delicious.

Roof Deck Dining in Brooklyn

Last Friday was perfect. Taking advantage of summer hours, I left work at lunch and headed out to Brooklyn to visit Rupal. (There were ballerinas dancing outside of Macy's promoting Lancôme's new mascara so maybe I made a quick stop to splurge on overpriced eye makeup.) Anyways, we had agreed earlier in the week to make a meal based entirely on what she was growing on her roof. It had been a hectic few weeks, and the idea of having an entire afternoon and evening to relax was making me giddy.

 First, we stopped at her local wine shop, Passage de la Fleur, the kind of wine shop with a charming owner who makes you feel like you are purchasing something special. Armed with two bottles of crisp, summery wine, our next stop was Rupal's roof where she picked eggplants, cucumbers, tomatoes, greens, edible flowers, chives and other spices.

Once downstairs again, Rupal poured me a glass of wine and insisted I sit down and look through her new cookbook - Japanese Farm Food. Over the next few hours, she pickled cucumbers, prepared a fresh curry paste, and chopped up vegetables for a salad. I did nothing but drink wine, and drool over the gorgeous food porn.

When dinner was ready, we went back up to the roof and ate the freshest, most perfect meal ever. The curry paste is based on our mutual hero Nigel Slater's recipe:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/nigelslatersthaigree_80244

We then finished with a glass of Amaro that she brought back from her recent trip to Italy. I mean???  It was the kind of night where you can't stop smiling, where you love your city and your friends, where you help yourself to thirds and, of course, solve all the world's problems over many glasses of wine. And to top it all off, I made it back home on the C train in 30 minutes, long eyelashes and all!

Grilled Baby Zucchini

I'm still not really cooking. And for the same fairly lame reasons. Time, picky kids and all those other typical excuses. My shopping trips lately revolve around purchasing food that is healthy, cheap and very easy to prepare. Bananas fall into that category. So does wine.

On Saturday when we headed over to Theo and Emel's to welcome baby Sjor, I brought some wine, but I didn't feel like bananas were appropriate for a summer BBQ. Luckily I have also discovered the packages of baby zucchinis at Trader Joes. They are pre-washed and due to their 'babyish' nature, you don't even have to trim off the stem. It doesn't get any easier than that. Since this was a celebration, however, I decided to rally some of my old enthusiasm for new recipes and try a new marinade.

Slice about two pounds of zucchini in half and marinate with 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of minced garlic, 1/3 cup olive oil and salt. If you have some fresh herbs (not me!), you can throw those in too. Let them sit at room temperature few a few hours and then grill. And then hope that somebody else is cooking a giant leg of lamb!

Grilled Spareribs and Frozen Coconut Limeade

I have done a lot of eating this summer, especially in Lima, but I haven't done a lot of cooking. Between the travel, the park picnics and the unappreciative kids who would prefer plain pasta, it just isn't happening. I had plans over the 4th of July to try some new summer recipes, but between the parades, the parties and the beach, I was too wiped (just like Xavier apparently) But I did, however,  manage to get some boys to cook for me!

Peter made great pork spareribs based on a recipe I researched so I feel I can take some credit. And Ryan made frozen coconut limeade with rum from the Smitten Kitchen blog which I follow so I take credit for that too. Kind of a stretch?

Peter  had made ribs before many times but they never quite worked out. This recipe calls for using a dry rub, wrapping them in tinfoil and baking them at 250 for 3-4 hours. You then smear them with BBQ sauce and finish them on the grill. They were awesome with the coconut limeade which is like lighter, tart pina colada. Summer heaven!