Grill – The Constables Larder

Pickled Pork Loin and Onion

It’s always nice when an experiment succeeds. I like pickling ramps and onions. I like brining pork. I wondered what would happen if I combined the two. In this case, I created a pickling brine and used it on both red onions and pork loin, which were then served together. Big hit. The key is doing the upfront work several hours ahead so that the pork can take in the flavor.

For the brine itself, I referenced two old posts of mine and Zen Can Cook to create the pickling liquid. Here was tonight’s version:

Pickling Brine
1 cup rice vinegar
1 cup water
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp coriander seed
1 tbsp dried rosemary
1/4 to 1/2 tsp chili pepper flakes
a few black peppercorns
2 or 3 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick (or 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon)
pinch of celery seed (optional)

Combine the ingredients in a small pot, bring to a boil then simmer for 1 minute.

Halve then thinly slice a red onion and place in a dish big enough to marinate the pork loin (I cooked two in this case). Pour the hot brine over the onions and let cool for 20 to 30 minutes. You can pour the brine liquid through a strainer to remove the seeds and spices, although tonight I did not bother and the remaining seeds did not bother anyone.

With a fork, remove the now-pickled onions to a bowl. Cover and keep in the fridge until serving time.

The brine should still be in your marinade dish. Stir in 1 tsp of mustard and 1 tsp of soy sauce. The add the pork loins. Cover and marinate in the fridge for several hours (at least 3 or 4 is my recommendation).

When it comes time to cooking, remove the pork from the liquid and grill until cooked but not dry. With pork loin I think that learning the appropriate firmness of the meat is far more effective than using an instant-read thermometer (which I like using on bigger cuts).

Let the pork rest for 5 minutes then slice and serve with the pickled onions on the side.

This pairs well with a garden salad or a variation of my 3 bean salad.

Summer Grilling: Crispy Arugula Salad and London Broil

The heat is a-rising here on the East Coast, and when it gets hot, my meals tend to get simpler and simpler. I was a bachelor tonight and made a classic (for me) summer meal, pairing a marinated, grilled london broil with a crispy arugula salad. Lisl always teases me that I never eat starch when she’s not around (she grew up in a household which didn’t count dinner as real unless there was a potato on the plate), and I guess I can’t argue with the evidence clearly in her favor. She is a lawyer after all.

The london broil marinade was a bit east-meets-west, which I enjoyed quite a bit, and the salad was simple, fresh and delicious.

Crispy Arugula Salad
1 bunch of fresh, fairly mature arugula (baby arugula is great, but less peppery)
green pepper
radishes
green pepper
fresh white button mushrooms
fresh thyme

dressing:
lemon juice
champagne vinegar
olive oil
dijon mustard
salt and pepper

Make sure you wash and dry your arugula. Rip the largest leaves in half so the diner does not need a knife to eat the salad, and go with whatever ratios you like for the other ingredients. My salad had enough for two people: half a green pepper, 3 radishes, and 5 button mushrooms.

For the dressing, I used half a lemon, an equal amount of vinegar, a dab of mustard (like an eighth of a teaspoon), a pinch of salt and pepper, and olive oil to taste.

Addition: if you have time to mince up a shallot and let it sit in the lemon juice and vinegar for a few minutes before finishing the dressing, I highly recommend it.

London Broil

4 garlic cloves
2 tbsp of chopped fresh rosemary and winter savory
salt and pepper
soy sauce
cumin

I like to tenderize my london broil (usually a cut of Round) — which entails just putting the meat between two pieces of plastic wrap and giving it a few good bangs with a heavy pot.

For the marinade, wash and dry several sprigs of winter savory (use fresh oregano or thyme if you don’t have savory — I’m now addicted to it and plant it every year) and one big sprig of rosemary, and finely chop the herbs. Then smash the garlic cloves, remove the skin and mince. On both sides of the london broil, spread the herbs, a dusting of cumin, a drizzle of soy sauce, a healthy pinch of black pepper, and a small pinch of salt (given that the soy sauce is salty, I think it is better to go light at this point and taste for salt after grilling). If you have time, cover and put back in the fridge for a few hours. Otherwise you can let marinate at room temperate for 30 minutes or so.

Grill to preference (I like medium rare), let rest for a few minutes, then slice thin.

When it gets hot, I tend to go for whites and roses rather than red wine, so I paired this with a dry Riesling.

Now the only question is whether I let Lisl have any leftovers, or greedily keep it all for myself!

Lamb meatballs with lemon zest, thyme and parsley

One of my favorite ways to have lamb is to grill lamb meatballs. I play around with a lot of variations, such as this one. Another approach is mixing cumin, spring/red onions and a few supporting players together. Tonight, I tried a new combination and Lisl was really happy with the results, so I’m recording it here (no picture, sorry!). The combination of the lemon zest and fresh thyme really give it a bright flavor.

The following measurements are a rough approximation:

1 lb ground lamb
thyme leaves from 5 or 6 fresh sprigs
1 tsp kosher salt (halve this if you use table salt)
large bunch of parsley, finely chopped
zest from 1 lemon
several grindings of fresh pepper

Combine the ingredients in a bowl with your hands, and form into meatballs about 1.5 to 2 inches in diameter. I made 9 meatballs from 1 lb of ground lamb. Grill them, turning periodically so that multiple sides of the meatball get seared and it starts to firm up. I did not find that these needed a sauce, but a bit of fresh lemon juice, or a sauce of lemon juice mixed into greek yogurt might be nice.

Make sure you wash your lemon well before zesting, since they are often sprayed. I’ll also note that lamb can be really hit or miss in the U.S. A lot of lamb sold here is too old, which I didn’t even realize until marrying an Australian and realizing how good lamb is down under. We do not eat lamb that often, but when we do, we get it from a very good butcher who works with carefully chosen local farms.

Summer Meals: Bean Salad, Tenderloin Marinade and Salad Dressing

It is so nice to have grilling season back upon us. In many cases, our jobs as cooks is to get out of the way and let the food and fresh product do the talking. Here are notes from Saturday’s dinner, when we had a few guests over for Lisl’s birthday.

Three Bean Salad

1 can of red kidney beans
1 can of garbonzo beans (chickpeas)
1 can of black beans
4 ears of corn
4 sweet peppers (multiple colors if possible), cut into bite sized pieces
1 red onion, diced
1 bunch of spring onion, diced
Large bunch of cherry tomatoes, halved
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
Large bunch of cilantro, washed well and chopped
limes
lemon
salt and pepper
olive oil
champagne vinegar

I make this salad slightly different every time, but my basic routine is the following. Carefully wash the canned beans in a colander, drain and add to the bowl. Cook each ear of corn, still in the husk, in the microwave for 2 and a half minutes, then remove husk and take kernels off with a knife once cool enough to touch. Dice the spring onions, using all of the green part, and toss it in with the diced red onion, tomatoes, jalapeno and sweet peppers ( I like using a mix of red, green, orange and yellow).

Dress the salad by taste. Stir in the cilantro, juice from 1 lemon, juice from 3 or 4 limes, a sprinkle of olive oil and champagne vinegar (but go light on the oil and vinegar — you want the citrus to stand out). Add salt to taste, and add some freshly ground pepper. Depending on how juicy your limes are, the number of limes you want to use will vary.

I like dressing this ahead of time so everything absorbs some of the citrus flavor. This is a great, hearty and bright salad for serving a large number of people.

Pork Tenderloin Marinade

Large handful of parsley, chopped
Several sprigs of fresh oregano, leaves removed and chopped
4 large cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tbsp Olive oil
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
Pinch of fresh pepper

I made this marinade for use on three pork tenderloins — the amounts are ballpark but you can’t really go wrong here. With a mortar and pestle, mash up the garlic and herbs. Stir in the rest of the ingredients then rub all over the pork. Cover and place in the fridge for several hours, then grill by searing the pork and then cooking on a cooler part of your grill until the meat hits the right point of firmness.

Side note: I was cooking on my brother-in-law’s grill the other weekend and I was reminded how difficult it is to work with unfamiliar equipment. I totally overcooked the chicken. On my own grill, where I know how and where heat distributes, I was really pleased with getting these tenderloins perfect. Lisl laughed and said it shows just how tough those Top Chef challenges are when they get thrown into crazy circumstances.

Shallot & Lemon Salad Dressing

There’s nothing rocket science here, but I’m addicted to the following salad and dressing and figured I would make a note of it:

Mince up a big shallot (or more than one shallot) and let the shallots sit for 20 to 30 minutes in the juice from 1 lemon and a couple splashes of champagne wine vinegar. Then wisk in some olive oil, a dab of dijon mustard, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Toss over a bunch of baby arugula (rocket), with some nice tomatoes and maybe some sliced mushrooms or red pepper. Can’t beat it.

Addendum

I’ve had Disqus installed on my tech blog forever and I *finally* have it installed here. I much prefer the threaded comment system and after a few goes, it looks like it has imported all the old comments.

Slow Baked Dry Rubbed Spare Ribs

Theoretically, I should experiment more with dry rubs but, well, it’s just… for me, this stuff is like the grill equivalent of crack. Crack and pork. Pork and crack. I play around with ratios and leading actors, but I always come back to the same basic cast of characters. When these players hit the stage of Fleisher’s berkshire pork, spectacular things happen.

If you are looking to shut down all table conversation, and revert your guests to a neanderthal state of grunting and gnawing, try the following:

Buy two racks of (berkshire if possible) pork spare ribs for every 3 people.

With a mortar and pestle, grind up:
1 tsp coriander seed
1 tsp cumin seed
1 tsp yellow mustard seed
1/2 tsp black pepper

Then stir in:
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tbsp kosher salt
heaping tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp dried oregano

I sometimes use pre-ground cumin, but I really like using the seeds for the coriander, mustard seed, and black pepper for that extra texture. I also will note that I don’t bother removing the membrane on the bottom side of the ribs.

Rub the spice mixture all over the ribs, then place them in a suitable holder (I use a baking dish), cover with plastic wrap, and return to the fridge for 6 hours or more (overnight is ideal).

You can cook these with indirect heat on the grill, or with low heat in the oven. In this case, it was raining, so I baked these on broiler trays (so any melted fat didn’t pool) for 3 to 3.5 hours at 250F degrees.

That’s it. Easy peasy. Dig in caveman!

Urgh gllrgh mmmmmmmm

The ribs before cooking

Additional notes: I usually don’t use oregano with this dry rub, but really enjoyed it here. Another good spin is to add some heat with cayenne or red pepper flakes.

Summertime: mint watermelon lemonade; cilantro chimichurri w/ flank steak

Summertime has finally come, although here in the Catskills the spring rains have decided they like hanging around. They enjoy our company in the afternoons. That, or they’re out to kill everyone’s tomato plants, and doing a good job of it too. We are just finishing a week vacation here in “slightly-upstate” New York, and while work and mozzies invaded quite a bit, it has been quiet and beautiful. (if you don’t speak Oz, mozzies = mosquitoes)

The farms have been fighting with the weather – what a tough profession farming is, subject to the whims of weather. I was really looking forward to the return of fresh roma beans at our local farm, but the wet weather has left them tough and unenjoyable, resistant to even a long stew in tomato sauce. The cucumbers have suffered even worse, including the little kerbys.

Still, the chard, wax beans, and golden zucchini are all beautiful, and I have high hopes for the corn season. I was glad to see Gill’s farm stand open for business. Here is my first payload:

Given the onslaught of work (trying to get a new venture off the ground in this environment is not a simple task), I have only had time to cook oldies but goodies, rather than creating new dishes. With summertime eating, I also tend to go simple — fresh salads and well-seasoned meat cooked on the grill.

A dry rub of smoked paprika, ground coriander, salt, and brown sugar was a smashing hit with our niece visiting from Sydney. We have also been playing around with chimichurri-like green sauces to go with flank and skirt steak, some with parsely and some with cilantro. My favorite so far was the following:

Cilantro Green Sauce (chimichurri inspired)
large bunch of cilantro (fresh coriander)
2 cloves of garlic
1/3 of a hot jalapeno
pinch of salt
1 tbsp of olive oil
red wine vinegar and rice wine vinegar to taste

You can finely mince everything and combine with the liquids, or just use a food processor (which is what I did last night). The bite of the vinegar and the heat of the jalapeno are a fabulous complement to a flank or skirt steak, well seasoned with salt and pepper, cooked to medium-rare on the grill, and sliced thin across the grain.

I also love making twists on lemonade. Last summer I had fun freezing watermelon cubes and using them instead of ice. This year I did a similar thing, but with more of a mohito-making approach.

Lemon-limeade with Watermelon and Spearmint

Juice 4 or 5 lemons and 2 limes, and place in a large jug. Add mint leaves from several sprigs of spearmint or regular mint. Add in 1 lime, washed and quartered. Cut a half-inch slice from a watermelon half, and slice into 1/2 inch cubes. Add in 3 tbsp of sugar. Mash everything up. Pour in cold water and ice, then taste for the amount of citrus juice and sugar, adjusting to taste.

Grilling ideas: ground lamb, marinated london broil steak

When summertime arrives, as it did in gorgeous fashion this weekend, a lot of my cooking shifts outside to the grill. If you are the same, and looking for ideas, here are two different flavor profiles you might find interesting: grilled lamb and feta meatballs with a yogurt mint sauce, and a ginger, mustard seed and soy sauce marinated london broil (aka flank steak).

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Chicken, Ramp and Hot Paprika Skewers

If you are like me, and have used your ramp whites for pickling, then you have a whole bunch of delicious ramp greens to use before too much time passes. Here is a really simple thing to try that got a great response from Lisl:

Chicken, Ramp and Hot Paprika Skewers
Chicken breasts
Ramp greens
salt
pepper
hot hungarian paprika (or a mix of paprika and chili powder)
olive oil

If you are using wooden skewers, soak them in cold water.

Place chicken breasts between two sheets of plastic wrap on a sturdy surface, and thin them to 1/4 inch or less by banging with the bottom of a heavy sauce pan (cast iron has *so* many uses!).

Cut into slices 1.5 inches thick and about 4 or 5 inches long. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then place a ramp green on top, roll it up, and place on the skewer. If you end up with some smaller pieces of chicken, just cut them into squares about the same height/width as your rolls, cut up some ramp greens to about the same size, and alternate chicken and ramp green on the skewer, packing together closely.

Sprinkle both sides of the skewer with a little more salt, pepper, and a liberal amount of the hot paprika. Flip and do the same for the other side. Let rest for 20 minutes or so.

Ideally you will cook these on a hot grill, but in my case my grill is not totally fixed, so I broiled them right up under the heating elements in the oven for just over two minutes a side.

Serve by drizzling e.v. olive oil on top, and with a slight sprinkle of coarse sea or kosher salt. The ramp flavor really comes through and it all works together nicely. Don’t forget the olive oil at the end!

Weekend Tinkering: Lime Pickle; Slow Baked Pork

Rainy weekends call for tinkering in the kitchen. Tinkering, however, runs smack up against one of the hidden catches to having children. They never tell you this beforehand, for fear of putting you off. It belies description, this 10th circle of hell, this other-worldly zone of chaos, sugar, and tears. See, just a few words and you already know what I am talking about: children’s birthday parties.

Like Sartre’s No Exit, you cannot escape. The unwritten rule is that your child has to go to every birthday party of every other child in his or her class. And (warning: you cannot escape this either), those children have to come to your child’s party too. They, and by “They” I of course refer to SPECTRE, who after some market testing decided to rebrand under the code M.O.M.S. … They insist on attendance, but (wait for it) they want you to take the kiddo. It’s right there in the M.O.M.S. 21st Century Handbook: when facing suicide mission, find patsy to take the fall.

Fear not. With almost catlike powers of resurrection, I have emerged from these experiences, emotionally scarred, occasionally paint splattered, and usually hard of hearing. Kitchen tinkering has been disturbed, oh so unjustly, but it has taken place as it can. This weekend’s journey took us through the beginnings of pickled limes, slow baked dry rub pork, and the stuffed cabbage that kept on giving (subject of another post).

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An Early Taste of Summer

The peach blossoms are barely out, but weather’s whim delivered 80+ degree sunny days this weekend. It felt like a whiplash jolt into summer, and I had to keep on reminding my optimistic brain that the local produce was still some time away. Not that I am complaining — I fired up the grill and we ate like kings.

I had thought that the re-emergence of warm weather would put me in a vegetarian mood, harkening back to those wonderful Food Blogga salads from last year. That was before I made a stop into my favorite butcher, Fleishers. So much for being leaf-eaters. We devolved into fully fledged T-Rex.

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