Porky’s

Six-Spotted Berkshire

Apologies for the pork-heavy week, but little did I know when I served an herb-roasted pork loin on Tuesday night that yesterday a heavy box bound from Decorah, Iowa, would land on my doorstep.

My heritage pork chops are here! I can’t tell you how excited I am to have a freezer full of big, beautiful Six-Spotted Berkshire pork chops! I had initially thought I’d be getting Red Wattle chops, but I am thrilled with these brightly colored, marbled beauties from Certified Humane® farmer David Holthaus, who has been raising pigs since 1974. Stay tuned for more adventures in pork!

Triveting News

My biggest regret about our lovely marble countertops is not the chip my husband innocently took out of one while putting a beer bottle in the recycle bin or the acid from the lime juice I spilled while making margaritas that ended up eating the surface and leaving white blotches, but the fact that you can’t put hot pans down on it like you can with granite. My quick fix is this awesome Japanese wood trivet that I got yesterday for $10 at OK on Third Street. It’s so tactile. I love it! 

For those who aren’t familiar with OK, it is without doubt one of the most smartly edited stores in L.A., with everything from exquisitely etched sake glasses (one of my absolute favorite wedding gifts, from my friend Lizzie), Heath Ceramics, and groovy placemats to Anne Ricketts bronze sculptures, Max Bill clocks, recycled gold wedding bands and chic little Comme des Garçons wallets. The best news is that they recently launched an online store: okthestore.com. Happy surfing!

Herb-Roasted Pork Loin

Last night we had a bunch of friends over for dinner, three of whom are professional comedians, and I don’t know what hurts worse—my sides from laughing for hours, or my head from all that intoxicating (in every sense of the word) Brunello. There were 7 of us total, so I needed a menu that I could shop for after work and have on the table several hours later. I’d been leafing through the April Gourmet, and was totally sucked in by the photo spread on their easter dinner story. So last night, I made their herb-roasted pork loin, along with the golden potatoes with caper brown butter crumbs, as well as the green beans with celery salt. I feel like each of these deserves its own post, but I was too wrapped up in eating the food to photograph it. So instead I’ll share some broad strokes about the pork loin, and simply say that this menu is crazy good. 

Just from a visual standpoint alone, how gorgeous are herbs??? For this pork loin recipe, not only do they infuse the meat with a totally seductive flavor but they make for a spectacular presentation. After browning the loin on all sides, you lay a bed of savory, rosemary, sage and thyme  on the rack in a roasting pan.

Then you place the pork loin atop the bed of herbs, and slather with a mixture of dijon mustard, minced garlic, olive oil and chopped shallots.

While the roast bakes at 350 for an hour, start the potatoes, green beans and vermouth sauce. The potato recipe is actually pretty involved so next time I’ll do the peeling, slicing and blanching the night before. You also have to make your own bread crumbs, which you mix in with a brown butter and chopped caper sauce. Making bread crumbs in the food processor couldn’t be easier. I just cut the crust off half a baguette, and then hit pulse a few times.

You toss the blanched potatoes with the rest of the caper brown butter and then put on a roasting pan, then sprinkle with these insane breadcrumbs. The potatoes go into the oven to roast while the pork comes out to rest. The nutty-briny flavor and crispy texture means we’ll be making these a LOT. Thank you Ted, Shana, John, Jessica and Alec for coming out to play on a weeknight! 

Perfect Roast Chicken

A couple weeks ago my friend Hugh blogged about Mary’s Free-Range California Bronze Heritage Chickens on GastroKid. They are, as Hugh says, “the best danged whole chicken you can buy in a supermarket.” They’re available at Whole Foods, and the fantastic news is that they’ve lowered their prices yet again to $2.69/lb! (Not so long ago, they fetched double the price and were worth it then.)

For the past few years I’ve been roasting chickens à la Zuni Café, which involves salting the hell out of them and letting them sit under plastic wrap in the fridge for 24-48 hours before roasting at high heat. It’s a great go-to method, and produces deliciously crispy skin.

But last night I discovered an even better method. I have to attribute the ridiculous success of this chicken as much to the simplicity of technique from—who else?—Thomas Keller, as to the bird itself. Keller has famously said that his last meal would be a roast chicken, and his Bouchon cookbook features a somewhat involved version that requires a six-hour brine, but epicurious.com has Keller’s abbreviated method that requires nothing but a lot of salt, a little pepper and a bit of fresh thyme and twine. 

Crank up the oven to 450 degrees. Rinse the bird and thoroughly pat dry inside and out. Salt and pepper the inside, and then truss the bird with kitchen twine. Then sprinkle a generous amount of salt over the bird and a few twists of pepper. No butter. No herbs. Just salt and pepper. 

Roast the chicken without basting for 50-60 minutes, until the oven gets kinda smoky and the skin is golden brown and crispy. Remove from oven (careful of spattering hot fat) and add chopped fresh thyme to the pan, then baste with all those lovely fatty, thyme-scented juices. Let rest on a cutting board for 15 minutes, and then slather with a pat of good butter and serve with a healthy dollop of spicy dijon mustard. The flavor of this bird was mind-blowing—my husband swore, and then asked if we could roast a chicken every week (note: we do). But I know what he means. It was like tasting something new and intoxicating for the very first time. It was that good.

$8 Is Enough: Budget wines for the times

The other day I got an email from my friend Jill, who was on a quest to find good wine for $8/bottle or less to drink midweek. The truth of the matter is there is some really good stuff out there that won’t break the bank, so for the foreseeable future, I’m going to try to call out a bottle each Monday for $8 or less. While these won’t taste like $50 bottles, they might fool you into thinking there were at least $25, which is kind of like tripling your investment!

2006 Arancio Nero d’Avola, $7.99

I discovered this Sicilian red at K&L Wine Merchants in Hollywood, and it has fast become a weeknight favorite. Made from the nero d’avola grape, it’s surprisingly elegant and smooth for the price, with sort of plummy peppery flavors. Great with pork or other grilled meats.

Saffron and Shrimp Risotto

Last night we riffed on paella, using arborio instead of long-grain rice and cooking stove top in a saute pan instead of in a paellera over an open fire. I was really in the mood for something simple, and though it was super easy and cheap to throw together (the shrimp cost $7 and we had everything else already), it tasted incredibly luxe and indulgent. We enjoyed with an herb salad and a glass of fruity Tavel rosé. 

Saffron and Shrimp Risotto

Serves 2 with leftovers

3 cups organic low-sodium chicken stock 
1/4 teaspoon saffron threads

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup chopped shallots
1 cup arborio rice 
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup dry white wine
15 uncooked large shrimp, peeled and deveined
3/4 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

Salt and pepper

In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, bring 2 cups chicken broth and saffron threads to a simmer.

Heat olive oil in large sauté pan over medium heat. Add shallots; sauté until tender, about 2 minutes. Add the rice and garlic. Using a wooden spoon, stir for 1 minute, making sure all the grains are well coated. Add white wine and stir until absorbed, about 2 minutes. Add 1/2 cup saffron stock and simmer until absorbed, stirring frequently. Add remaining stock 1/2 cup at a time, allowing stock to be absorbed before adding more and stirring frequently until rice is cooked halfway, about 10 minutes. Add remaining cup of broth, shrimp and chopped tomatoes. Cover and simmer until rice is tender and shrimp are cooked through and liquid is absorbed, about 10 minutes. Season to taste.

Glossy Finish

Without doubt, I’m a gloss addict.

All gloss is not created equal. There are several considerations to take into account, the obvious of course being hue. But beyond that are the crucial nuances of tackiness (as in how sticky it is), endurance, the wand and flavor. The best gloss ever to grace the planet is no more for reasons I can’t begin to comprehend—and that was Lorac’s high shine gloss in Frolic, a luscious raspberry pink. It was in a little pot the size of a nail polish, complete with a tiny wand. It was heaven.

The closest I’ve come to anything that sheer and glossy is Chanel’s new “Aqualumiere” sheer high-shine concentrate line that comes in 12 hues. I have Party Red, and am loving it. I also have a couple tubes of classic Chanel Glossimer in Glaze, which looks like you’ve just licked your lips—no discernible color and perfect for everyday use. I’ve tried some of the shimmery tinted Glossamers and they’re terrible and don’t stay on. But for some reason Glaze works a treat.

For a sheer with a hint of shimmer I’ve bought tube after tube of Dior Addict Ultra Gloss in A Pinch of Ginger, which looks pale yellow in the bottle but goes on sheer with a warm golden shimmer. Sometimes I dab a bit on over lipstick. When I need something a little darker, another favorite Dior Addict is A Feast of Plums—a burgundy gloss that adds sophisticated color that’s still sheer enough for daytime use. Sadly, I haven’t seen either color around in sometime, and the packaging has since changed. And finally, I’ve saved the best for last: YSL Golden Gloss in Golden Peony, a pale pink with a hint of golden shimmer. It’s really pretty and very subtle. It’s what I wore at our wedding. Doesn’t hurt that it smells—and tastes—delicious!

Macaroni and Cheese with Roasted Poblano Chiles

This recipe comes from the Jimtown Store in Healdsburg, which is about 45 minutes from where I grew up. We used to stop there on our way to Mendocino for tapenade and chocolate pudding and sea monkeys. When owner Carrie Brown and her late husband John Werner came out with the Jimtown Store Cookbook in 2002, I snapped it up for the pudding recipe alone. It’s one of my favorite cookbooks, and within I discovered my all-time favorite recipe for Macaroni and Cheese with Poblano Chiles. There’s a subtle, but not overpowering, heat from the roasted chiles, which cuts through the richness of all the béchamel and sharp cheese. The parm (both in the breadcrumbs and mixed in with the other cheeses) adds a nutty note. I like to use a large tubular shaped pasta, like oversized conchiglie or even rigatoni to trap all that cheese! But some prefer a penne shape for a toothier texture.

It’s a little labor intensive—roasting chiles, making a bechamel and breadcrumbs, and I highly recommend making the effort. But for last night’s dinner I cheated and got some fresh breadcrumbs from Whole Foods. Bonus in this recipe: a rustic and sublime trick with breadcrumbs, whether homemade or store bought! Toss a cup of breadcrumbs with a cup of grated parm and then sprinkle over the top. Would be great over a cauliflower or broccoli gratin as well. This macaroni and cheese has become a favorite with my family and extended family. I hope you enjoy as much as we do!

Macaroni and Cheese with Poblano Chiles

Adapted from the Jimtown Store Cookbook, Serves 8

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 large fresh poblano (or pasilla) chiles

Sea salt

1 pound dried conchiglie or penne pasta

4 cups hot Béchamel sauce (recipe follows)

8 ounces sharp white Cheddar, grated

8 ounces sharp orange Cheddar, grated

8 ounces Parmigiano-Reggiano or Asiago, grated

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon Hungarian paprika

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

1/2 teaspoon Tabasco

1/2 cup homemade breadcrumbs

Béchamel Sauce

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter

1/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

4 cups whole milk, heated till steaming

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a 9 x 13-inch baking dish.

Lay chiles on their sides on a gas burner and turn flame on high. Roast chiles, turning with tongs, until skins are evenly charred, about 10 minutes. 

Steam until cool in a closed paper bag, about 15 minutes. Under cold running water, rub off burned peel. Then discard stems, core and devein chiles (scraping away all seeds), and cut into long, thin strips.

To make béchamel, melt 6 tablespoons butter over low heat. Whisk in flour and cook, whisking often, without allowing flour to brown, about 4 minutes. Remove pan from heat and whisk in hot milk. Add salt and nutmeg. Return sauce to medium heat and bring to simmer. Continue to cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, until sauce has thickened to texture of melted ice cream, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook according to instructions on package (about 8 minutes?), until just tender. Drain pasta and transfer to large bowl (do not rinse), and toss with butter. 

Stir white and orange Cheddar cheeses and all but one cup of the grated parm into the hot béchamel. Add cayenne, paprika, mustard and Tabasco. Heat, stirring, until cheese just melt and sauce is smooth.

Pour the sauce over the pasta in the bowl. Add the chiles and stir. Spoon into the prepared dish. In a small bowl, combine reserved cup of grated parm and the bread crumbs.

Sprinkle breadcrumbs evenly over pasta in the dish. Bake until pasta is heated through, sauce is bubbling, and top is browned, about 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and let stand on a rack for 5 minutes. Serve.

Whisked Away + Bowled Over

Several years ago I was given this ball whisk as a gift by a designy friend, who picked it up at MoMA. But unlike many kitchen utensils that rate high in looks, this one actually works. It has become my favorite whisk, particularly when it comes to cleanup as there are no crevices for food to get stuck in. Also, the design means that the ball rods can generate more whipping action using less effort. What’s not to like?  They are now available with silicone handles and balls, as well as a flat-whisk option. I’m guessing these are less likely to leave scratches on those amazing Rösle stainless mixing bowls that you knew you had no business spending that much money on, but then your awesome friend Dreanne got them for you as a wedding present and they are the BEST. BOWLS. EVER. You know, those.

Sealed with a Twist

Is there a more perfect cocktail than an icy cold Negroni, straight up? One part gin, one part Campari, one part sweet vermouth, it was invented in 1919 by a bartender in Florence at the Caffè Casoni for Count Camillo Negroni, who requested that gin be added to the popular aperitif, the Americano. Truly pro-y bartenders will hold the orange twist over the cocktail, and light a match beneath the twist for just a second, which briefly—very briefly—ignites the orange peel and releases oils into the cocktail. Sublime. I need to work on my technique, because when it works, it’s pure cocktail magic.