Christmas Remixed

Puerco Pibil

And now for something completely different. From the Yucatan Peninsula, a recipe with a variety of unusual ingredients that make this dish special.


We ventured off to both Indian and Asian grocery stores to find the spices and banana leaves for this delicious meal.

Puerco Pibil 

(Mexican slow-roasted pork)

5 pounds pork butt - trim and discard fat. Cut meat into pieces.

5 TB annatto seeds

2 tsp. cumin seeds

1 TB whole black peppercorns

1/2 tsp. whole cloves

8 whole allspice berries

2 jalapeno or habanero peppers, finely chopped (discard seeds or keep for extra heat)

1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 cup white vinegar

8 garlic cloves

2 tablespoons salt

5 lemons

1 shot of tequila

banana leaves (not essential)

Method

Purchase a grinder that you'll use just for grinding spices. We found a Mr. Coffee grinder that worked pretty well.

Place the annatto and cumin seeds, plus the whole peppercorns, whole cloves and allspice berries in grinder. 

Process until you have a fine powder. Set aside.

Using a food processor or a blender, process the orange juice, vinegar, salt, whole garlic cloves and chopped peppers. Add the spice powder, the lemon juice and a shot of tequila and blend well.

Place the pork in a ziploc bag and add the blended ingredients. Seal and let rest a few minutes while preparing the pan. 

If you're using banana leaves, take them out of the package and get a photo of them. 

In a large roasting pan, place banana leaves on the bottom. If not using the leaves, just pour the pork and marinade into the pan.

Pour the pork and marinade onto the leaves.  

Cover with more banana leaves.

With or without the banana leaves, now is the time to cover the pan with aluminum foil. Seal the edges well.

Bake in a 325 F degree oven for 4 hours. Remove from oven and carefully remove foil.

The unveiling.

Serves 4-6 people. Nice with basmati rice. 


Basmati Rice

Soak 2 cups of rice in water for a half hour. Place rice in sieve and rinse until water runs clear. Place in pan with 4 cups of water. Add about 1/2 tsp. salt if desired. Cover. Bring to boil and immediately reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes.

Makes 4 cups cooked rice. 

It's coming on Christmas

They're cutting down trees. They're putting up reindeer and singing songs of joy and peace.

I wish I had a river I could skate away on. 

I hope you clicked on the above link and listened to this beautiful song. Yes, it's melancholic for the Christmas season, but beautiful nonetheless. It's not all sweetness and light for everyone at this time of year, you know.

Including me. I'm living away from where I grew up. Many things have changed in my life. And I'm in a warmer climate. How do people get into the Christmas spirit in a warmer climate? I don't get it. It's all in what we're used to apparently. And I'm not used to this at all.

Well, what better way to rally than to put up some greenery, a few lights, and candles. Yankee Candles. Christmas Cookie Yankee Candles. Yeah, that's the spirit!

And speaking of Christmas cookies... Here's one of my favorites.

Sugar Spice Cookies

Mmmmmm. So good. I got this one from my sister. Thank you, Dottie, for this recipe and for all the happy memories I have of spending Christmas Eve with you in your cozy home.

And now the printable version.

Sugar Spice Cookies

Mix together thoroughly:

3/4  cup shortening

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup molasses

Sift together:

2 c. flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

3/4 tsp. ground cloves

3/4 tsp. ginger

Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture. Roll mixture in 1 inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheets. Press cookies down with cloth covered glass damped a bit on the bottom. Sprinkle with sugar (colored sugar is nice for Christmas). Bake 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees. If you like a chewy cookie, bake for about 8 minutes.

Merry Christmas everyone. Make yourself happy.

. 

Amazing Chicken Cacciatore

When chicken leg quarters were on special this week at Papa's Country Meat Market, I bought 3 pounds and set about making a taste sensation.

      
This charming little store is only open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday during the week. It's a much nicer place to buy meat than our only other option in town... Food Lion. It's service with a smile and at least one story. This is the best thing about living down south. The people are incredibly friendly. 

Chicken Cacciatore

3 lbs. chicken leg quarters

½ yellow bell pepper, sliced

½ red bell pepper, sliced

1 large sweet onion, sliced

1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes

2 large tomatoes, diced (or a second can of diced tomatoes)

4 garlic cloves, sliced

1 beef bouillon cube

1 cup red wine

1 TB dried oregano                   

2 TB fresh basil, chopped

Olive oil

Salt

Freshly ground pepper

Remove skin and all visible fat from chicken. Salt and pepper chicken on both sides. Saute a couple of tablespoons of olive oil over medium high heat. Add chicken and brown on both sides for about 20 minutes. Remove chicken from pan. Remove drippings and oil and wipe pan out. Return pan to heat and add a couple of tablespoons of oil. (If you don’t care about extra fat in your cacciatore, go ahead and use the fat and the flavors left from the chicken without adding extra oil.)

When oil is heated, add peppers and onions, oregano, salt and pepper. Saute a bit over medium high heat until softened, then add sliced garlic. Saute but do not brown. Add tomatoes, beef bouillon, and a cup of wine. Return chicken to the pan. Cover and let simmer on medium, reducing temperature as needed, until chicken begins to fall off the bone. Remove chicken, pull meat off bones, and return meat to pan.

At this point, add the chopped basil and taste for seasonings. You may want to add a bit more wine, turn the heat up, and allow it to cook for a minute without covering. Add more salt and pepper to taste. Cover pan and continue cooking for another ½ hour or more.

Serve with pasta, some freshly grated cheese, bread, and a nice dry light style Italian wine. (I enjoyed Nero D’Avola with this – a Sicilian wine, that I cooked with and served at dinner.) 

Serve with a simple salad of green leaf lettuce, spinach and arugula. Combine juice of ½ lemon and twice the amount of olive oil, a clove of crushed garlic, salt and lots of pepper. Pour over lettuce just before serving.

 

Getting my Fix

Smooth and creamy peanut butter

It took a diet and exercise regime to catapult me into making peanut butter.

Driven to cheat, you say?

Not so. It's part of the sensible food plan of the 21 Day Fix. I'm on it and I'm lovin' it.

This is the first round for me of what will be multiple 21 day fixes until I'm in total Beachbody shape. But, I can tell you that this program is the best thing for me that's "come down the pike" in years.

You can buy peanut butter in the store, of course. Or, if you happen to have a great big sack o' raw peanuts hanging around in your freezer, you can whip up a batch. Here's a place where you can order shelled raw peanuts.

For "21 day approved" peanut butter, make it "au naturel", without adding oil or sugar. A little more processing, and this is close to the consistency you'll want.

Delicious, all-natural peanut butter

Here is my adaptation of the recipe from the Food Network's Alton Brown.

Homemade Peanut Butter

15 ounces of raw, shelled peanuts (with skins) 

1 ½ TB peanut oil (omit for 21 day fix)

1 ½ tsp. honey

Kosher salt to taste

Spread raw peanuts on baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, turning them over with a spatula after 15 minutes.  Remove from oven after 30 minutes and allow to cool. Once roasted, they smell and taste delicious!

Mmmmm. All roasted and delicious.

After they’ve cooled, rub peanuts in your hands to remove the skins. Place peanuts in a salad spinner and spin until all the skins are removed.

Removing the skins. Works like a charm!

Add nuts to food processor and process until it's a consistency that you like. For smooth peanut butter, add the peanut oil and process for 1-2 minutes. Add honey and salt as desired. Recipe yields 1 1/2 cups. Store in a covered container in the refrigerator. Keeps well for 2 months.

Adding oil for a smooth, creamy texture

Ready to eat!

Enjoy!

Baked Apple Pancake

Perfectly puffed on the edges

This is an old favorite from The Yankee Kitchen radio show circa 1980.

I haven't made this in a while. My son Bailey reminded me about it after his recent train trip to New England. He and his aunt got to talking about how they loved it. And voila! It's back.

This recipe is meant to replicate the famous Apple Pancake of Bickford's fame - a restaurant I remember from my old stomping grounds in Brockton, Massachusetts back in the '70s. In this version from the Yankee Kitchen, the apples aren't baked into the pancake but rather cooked on the stove in a butter/cinnamon/sugar mixture, then poured on top.

This recipe serves 2.



Baked Apple Pancake

1 cup milk
2 eggs
2/3 cup flour
3 TB sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp. grated lemon zest
2 TB melted butter

Process all ingredients except butter. Pour melted butter into a 9" pie plate. Add the batter. Bake at 400 degrees for 30-35 minutes until puffed and golden. Serve with sauteed apples. (Recipe follows.)

Awaiting the oven

Soft, chewy and buttery in the center

Sauteed Apples

2 cups Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced thickly
2 TB butter
3 TB sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon


Melt butter in skillet. Add remaining ingredients. Cook over medium heat until apples have softened. Pour over pancake after it has baked. Serves 2.

Naked Granny Smiths

Softened and syrupy

Easy to make and good to eat anytime

Wild blueberry cake

Once upon a time there was a mother who had a little girl. The mother loved to bake and the little girl loved to watch her bake.

When her mother would make cakes, the little girl would watch her mother measure the flour, leveling it by scraping the flour straight across the top of the measuring cup with a knife. The little girl learned what "creaming" meant - when butter and sugar is mixed up together to make a "creamed" mixture. Then, there was the step where you added the dry ingredients first, then alternated with the milk, and you always finished with the dry ingredients. Folding was very important, too. Folding was fascinating to watch. It wasn't really stirring. You sort of scraped around the edges of the bowl and turned the batter over, sort of like catching the air into the batter.


I am my mother's daughter. I love baking, too. And although it's not blueberry season, here is a delicious cake that's easy to make. And if you have a bag of Wyman's frozen wild blueberries handy, there's no reason not to make it right now.

Wild blueberry cake

½ cup butter

1 ½ cups sugar

½ cup sour milk (or ½ cup milk and 1 ½ teaspoons vinegar)

2 eggs

2 ½ cups flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

3 cups wild blueberries (if using frozen there’s no need to thaw)

Cream butter and sugar. Add milk and eggs and beat well. Sift flour and soda together and add to milk and eggs. Fold in blueberries – don’t skimp. If using Wyman’s 15 oz. size bag, use the whole bag. Bake in well-greased and floured 9 x13 pan at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes or until springs back when touched. 

Chicken in a luscious, white wine sauce

Today's Sunday - the most relaxing day of the week. When I was growing up in Massachusetts, we had "blue laws" and nothing was open on Sunday. We had a big Sunday dinner in the afternoon and chances are we would still be sitting at the dinner table playing cards that night.
     
I'm living down south now where the restaurants and stores downtown are closed Sunday. There are very few cars on the road and it's nice and quiet. It's relaxing to walk by the waterfront, peek in the storefront windows, and listen to the church bells ringing. It's like stepping back in time.

If you want a lovely, relaxing meal for your Sunday, here it is. It's easy to make so it won't frazzle the cook. It's perfect for family or guests, keeps well on a buffet, and is deliciously satisfying. It's my all-time favorite, go-to recipe. I know you'll love it, too.

Chicken in a White Wine Sauce  

1 & 1/2 lbs. chicken breast, sliced and pounded thinly & cut into serving pieces

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 c. flour

1/2 c. fresh, finely grated parmesan cheese

Dash of nutmeg

1-2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced thinly

3/4 cup beef broth

1 cup dry white wine (a nice chardonnay or sauvignon blanc works well)

Salt & pepper

Fresh parsley

Squeeze of fresh lemon (optional)

Combine flour, parmesan cheese, nutmeg, about 1/4 tsp. salt and freshly ground pepper. Place chicken in the flour mixture and press well to coat chicken. Place sauté pan over medium heat and add olive oil and butter. Add garlic slices and chicken pieces and sauté on both sides until lightly browned.

Add the beef broth and wine and bring to a boil. Cover pan, and turn heat to medium low. After a few minutes, lift cover and stir a bit.

Cover pan again and allow to cook for about 20 minutes. Remove from heat. Taste for seasoning and add more salt and a squeeze of fresh lemon if desired. Garnish with parsley and serve. Excellent served with rice pilaf.

It's a very nice start to the week.