Braised Pork Shoulder Chops With Leeks

After a weekend of shopping the local Farmers Market and picking wild blackberries, Monday night became a marathon dinner endeavor in my tiny little kitchen at home.

Poblano, Yellow Banana & Gypsy Peppers - All Sweet

I know to many cooking is a chore, but for me it's an absolute delight. I love chopping the vegetables with sharp knives. I love caramelizing onions until golden brown. I love the gorgeous kiwi and Martha blue colors of my cooking instruments. And I especially love sipping on some vino while taking in the wonderful aromas of a home-cooked meal. It's been awhile since I've been able to actually spend a couple hours cooking a really nice meal for two, mainly due to my work schedule and overzealous summer social-life. But after shopping the local farmers market and coming home with some of my absolute favorite veggies, I just had to take some time to be in the kitchen - finally!

As many of you might know, peppers are in season in abundance. Red, yellow, green, orange, purple. Not only are they beautiful, but so sweet and fragrant and absolutely delicious. They are so easy to work into a wide range of recipes and I just can't seem to get enough of them. And the corn! The corn is finally sweet! I've been waiting all summer for sweet corn and peaches and I finally found both. I also grabbed some gorgeous leeks, the first of the season.

So, what to make?

Braised Pork with Leeks

On a recent trip to the supermarket I decided to try a different cut of pork - the shoulder blade chop. I had never cooked with it before and since I have been trying to cook with a lot less beef and a lot more pork, I thought I'd give it a shot. So I found a recipe on MarthaStewart.com and modified it based on what I had at home. And thus, Braised Pork Shoulder Chops was born.

And for a side dish?

Leeks & Peppers Caramelized & Sweet

My favorite summer side dish is a corn succotash. My standby recipe is for Confetti Corn with Mixed Peppers by Ina Garten and it is fantastic!

Serve the Pork over Orzo and dinner is served!

Leftovers Will Be Made Into Soup!

Confetti Corn Recipe:

• 2 tablespoons good olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 1 small red bell pepper, 1/2-inch diced
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• Kernels cut from 5 ears yellow or white corn (4 cups)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons julienned fresh basil

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large saute pan. Add the onion and saute for 5 minutes, until the onion is soft. Stir in the bell pepper and saute for 2 more minutes.

Add the butter to the pan and allow it to melt. Over medium heat, add the corn, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 7 minutes, until the corn just loses its starchiness. Season to taste, gently stir in the basil or other green herbs, and serve hot.

Pork Rib Ragu Recipe:

• 1 large leek
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 pounds pork spare ribs, cut into 4 sections
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 2 large carrots, coarsely chopped
• 2 celery ribs, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 
  
• 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Halve leek lengthwise and rinse thoroughly; dry well and coarsely chop. In a large Dutch oven or heavy pot, heat oil over medium-high. Season ribs with salt and pepper. In batches, cook ribs until browned, 4 to 6 minutes per batch. Transfer ribs to a plate. Add leek, carrots, and celery to pot. Cook, stirring frequently, until vegetables soften slightly, about 5 minutes. Add wine; bring to a simmer and reduce wine by half.
  2. Return ribs to pot and cover with water by 2 inches. Bring to a boil, cover, then place pot in oven. Cook until meat is falling off bones, about 3 1/2 hours. Transfer ribs to a rimmed baking sheet and strain cooking liquid into a heatproof container; skim fat from liquid. When ribs are cool enough to handle, shred meat (discard fat and bones).
  3. In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium. Add onion and cook until soft, about 8 minutes. Stir in flour to coat. Gradually whisk in cooking liquid and simmer until thickened, about 8 minutes. Add pork to sauce and heat through.
     
     

Spice World: Muscovado Sugar

What’s not to like about a sugar that resembles chocolate? 

The Musc

I know, muscovado sugar is not technically a spice, but rum is made of it and I would not balk if someone stir fried it into my pad Thai or sprinkled it on top of salsa. Plus, it’s located in the Chef Tools spice department. 

Muscovado is the focus of this edition of Spice World because of its versatility and uniqueness among sugar. That is, muscovado is direct-to-you from the sugar cane, unrefined and unadulterated. Muscovado is dark – darker than brown sugar, which is white sugar mixed with molasses – and slightly wet, like beach sand near the tide.  

The flavor is, of course, sweet, but a little heavy, similar to molasses. In the brown sugar flavor hierarchy, muscovado is closest to molasses, while turbinado is close to caramel and demerara is close to toffee.  Can you remember the last time you ate a gingerbread cookie? It’s that kind of sweetness. Muscovado complements more savory-sweet items.

So, recipe suggestions: sprinkle it in any stir fry and discover how well soy sauce and sugar mix; sauté with carrots; use it in place of standard sugar in sugar cookies for darker, richer morsels; baked beans; mix it with salt, pepper, cayenne and garlic powder for a nice meat rub; but the best recipe I found from Yummly is to use it in ginger beer.

At any rate, keep a bag of muscovado in the pantry (long shelf life) for those occasions when brown sugar just isn’t sweet enough.

Meri Meri Party Kits

Triceratopses and stegosauruses go together like pirates and galleon ships just like flower fairies and princesses go together like the Eiffel Tower and the Arch de Triumph. 

Of course, I’m talking about Meri Meri party supplies. 

A couple of weeks ago, we here at Chef Tools started noticing that party throwers were buying three or four pieces in one line by Meri Meri. For example, the napkins, plates and centerpiece from the Meri Meri Peter Rabbit line. So we thought, “Why not combine those items into one kit?”

So, we did. And now Meri Meri party kits are available for an introductory period at our Amazon.com store; eventually we’ll put them up on ChefTools.com. These kits will help you save money, and shorten the amount of time you have to spend clicking around on the Internet.

The Flower Fairies party kit

We put together the kits – depending on the line – in several different sizes. We have large kits that include cake stands, napkins, party hats, invitations, plates, cups, garland and cupcake kits. The small kits include cups napkins and plates – enough for up to 12 guests. Some of the Meri Meri lines we kitted-up include Flower Fairies, Peter Rabbit, Cowboy, Big Rig, Roarrrr! Dinosaur, Parisian, Space Cadet and Animal Parade. 

So check out the kits and throw an awesome party. Just be careful which ones you order – pirates and cowboys don’t typically get along …

Spice World: Part 1

The dessert pepper

The Chef Tools salt and spices department fascinates me. I’m always finding new and interesting seasonings hidden in there. I’m so fascinated that I think I’ll make it a regular feature of this blog to highlight the salts, spices, seasonings, chilies and more in the department. The Spice Girls reference is just serendipitous … .

Today: new additions to the spice department.

The lovely people over at India Tree have imported a couple of new and exotic items for our consumption. They were added to ChefTools.com on Tuesday. Here’s a rundown and some facts about each spice and seasoning we added:

Green Peppercorns: These furious little balls of pungent spice are actually just unripe black peppercorns. Their youth gives them a vigorous flavor, slightly sour; a round flavor, as opposed to the square kick of black pepper.  Perfect for soups, stocks and pasta sauce.

Pink Peppercorns: The dessert pepper. That’s right, these mild peppers have a slightly (slightly) sweet flavor that complements sugary desserts, especially ones made with sweet and sour fruits like strawberries, rhubarb and raspberries. Plus they’re beautiful and sourced from a tiny island in the East Indies.

Turmeric: one of those miracle spices. Not only is it delicious and essential in curries and American yellow mustard, but it’s also renowned in holistic circles as a digestive aid. Turmeric is a great natural food coloring (yellow, of course) and is pungent and mixes well with salt (I always add turmeric to my home fries).

Mexican oregano: Like Italian oregano, except that it’s different. Mexican oregano is citrusy, as opposed to the Italian variety’s straight-up sweetness. In spicy foods, it holds its own better than its Mediterranean cousin (they’re actually biologically unrelated). Good in chili and salsa.

Cinnamon quills: What’s better than a stick of Ceylon cinnamon in a holiday drink? Delicious in apple cider on Halloween night or after Thanksgiving dinner; or in hot brandy or whiskey on Christmas Eve. Also, grind these sticks on toast, on desserts or in Mexican preparations.

Chilies: This is actually an offshoot of our spice department, and it’s entirely new. We’ve added chipotle, ancho, Thai (bird’s eye) and chilie de arbor chilies. For heat, shred the Thai or de arbors in any Asian or Mexican (or South American or Central American) dish. The chipotles and anchos are for depth and for condiments like salsa.

Mushrooms: Another new spice-related department. We now offer dry shiitakes, porcinis, morels and a mixed bag of mushrooms. Bring these dry ‘shrooms back to delicious life with a little hot water. My favorite among these fun-guys is the shiitake; a piping hot sweet and sour soup with just shiitakes and frozen tofu swimming around is excellent, and the perfect fall/winter dish.

Popcorn: actually, corn kernels.  This is a great fall snack. Just looking at the package reminds me of raked leaves, the smell of a billowing chimney and … scarecrows. This is a bag of several varieties of corn. Each has a slightly different flavor and produces a bowl of popcorn that has enough flavor without salt, sugar or butter.

The Mystery of Davy Crack'it

Raised in the woods so's he knew every tree, cracked him a nut when he was only three.

So, we’ve been selling these metallic woodland creatures like toasted acorns over the past few days, especially today, and we have no idea why. Sure, they’re cute, they’re useful and rather funny – but how do people know that they exist and that ChefTools.com has them?

Usually when we see many sales for one item it’s because it was on The Today Show, or received a favorable review in Cook’s Illustrated or The New York Times. But we can’t find any mention of this little guy anywhere. And our fancy computers tell us that no one is really searching Google, Bing or Yahoo for it. So what is it? Why is Davy so popular all of a sudden?

I’d like to think that this is a zombie- like curse, but instead of craving brains, a bunch of people woke up one morning with a very specific thirst for cute, squirrel-shaped nutcrackers made by Norpro. 

So help us out readers. Do you have any clues as to why Mr. Crack’it is this year’s Tickle-Me-Elmo?

Calphalon Update ...

… As promised, we’re adding more great Calphalon products to ChefTools.com. Since yesterday, we have added the following fry pans and sauté pans and saucepans: 8-inch Commercial Omelette Pan 12-inch Commercial Omelette Pan 1-1/2 quart Commercial Saucepan with lid 2-1/2 quart Commercial Saucepan with lid 3 quart Commercial Saute Pan with lid

Calphalon Commercial 3 quart saute pan

You can find all the pans here. For re-emphasis: we’re carrying pans from Calphalon’s Unison and Commercial lines. The Commercial pans are made to stand up to a beating and keep on cooking. The Unison series features coatings of SLIDE or SEAR nonstick, a revolutionary nonstick coating that lasts longer and allows you to cook with less fat.