Arepas with Pulled Pork and Black Bean Corn Salsa

What inspires you to cook?  For me, it can be something as simple and as fleeting as a Facebook mention by a friend of a meal she is eating.  Sometime this summer, my friend and former college roommate, Susi, went to Miami with her beautiful daughter.  She posted a photo of an arepa with pulled pork in a restaurant and it looked so delicious that her meal has been in the back of my mind ever since.  She has probably not given it a second thought!  I just went back to find the photo, only to discover that she had shredded chicken in her arepa!  But never mind.  I made pulled pork!  Because that’s what I’ve been dreaming about for weeks.

Ingredients for four stuffed arepas with leftover pork and two generous servings of salsa. Everything can be easily doubled or trebled, if your crockpot is big enough.

For the pork:

2 pieces of pork shoulder – 1/2 kilo or about a pound total

1 large yellow onion

6 cloves of garlic

Sea salt

Black pepper

1 teaspoon ground cumin

Water

Method

Mash the garlic with the side of a knife and then chop coarsely.

Slice your onion thickly and place them in the bottom of a slow cooker or crockpot. 

Put the pork on top of the onion and season with salt, pepper and cumin.

Scatter the garlic around and fill the basin with enough water to come halfway up the pork.

Put on the lid and cook on high for five to six hours.

Take the lid off and use the pork and onions to rub the lovely brown stuff off of the sides of the crockpot.  

Use two forks to shred the pork.  Check the seasoning and add more salt if necessary.

For the arepas:

1 cup or 150g of Harina P.A.N.

1 1/4 cups or 295ml lukewarm water

1/2 teaspoon salt

Method

Add the salt to the Harina P.A.N. and pour this into a bowl with the water and stir until it is completely absorbed and makes a soft dough.

Tip it out on the counter top and knead a few times. Divide your dough into four equal pieces.

Make a circle of each about three inches in diameter. Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Place on a hot griddle and brown both sides.  (Mine scorched a bit, as you can see. I think my fire was too high so be careful to keep it on a medium flame. Despite the color, they didn’t taste burnt at all though.)

Bake in the pre-heated oven for 15-20 minutes.

For the salsa:

1/2 cob of boiled corn

1/2 small purple onion

2 small hot chilies

1 cup or 170g of cooked black beans

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Sea salt

Small bunch of fresh cilantro or coriander 

Method

Holding the stems, split the chilies down the middle and then chop them finely.

Slice the onion very thinly and then cut across to create tiny little pieces.

Add lime juice to the chilies and onion and leave them to marinate for at least 10 minutes. This takes the sharpness out of the onion and helps tame the heat of the chilies.

Finely chop the stems of the cilantro and add to the bowl, reserving the leaves for later.

Slice the corn off the cob, break the kernels apart and add to the bowl.  Mix thoroughly.

Add the black beans and mix again. Salt to taste.

Chop the coriander leaves roughly and add right before serving.

To serve all:  Slit the arepas and, using a slotted spoon, stuff them with the pork mixture. Add some extra hot sauce, if desired.  Each person gets two arepas and a good serving of salsa.

Enjoy!

Vanilla Extract and Vanilla Sugar - Easy How To

There is no easier recipe, if you can find reasonably priced vanilla beans.  I found mine on a trip to Bali, popped them in a ziplock bag in the freezer and have never used artificial vanilla again. The flavor cannot be matched by artificial vanilla extract.  This genuine vanilla extract or essence also makes a great gift for a baker you love!

Ingredients
1 liter bottle of inexpensive vodka
Several (7-8 or more) vanilla bean pods
Time

Method
Split the vanilla beans with a sharp knife but leave them in one piece.

Pour off just enough vodka to leave room for the vanilla beans. Stuff the split beans in the bottle.

Let the vanilla beans soak for at least a month. Your extract is now ready to use to give away. My bottle is several months old so it is lovely and dark isn't filled to the top as it was when I first made it.

You can top up the vodka as needed.  I will be topping mine up as soon as I remember to buy some more cheap vodka! As you can see, I have been using it regularly these the last few months.

While you are at it, split one or two more vanilla beans and pop them in a sealable jar filled with sugar. This makes lovely vanilla-flavored sugar that is great sprinkled on breakfast crepes or in coffee or on French toast.  I use it in baking as well.  It adds a vanilla flavor to muffins like these Nutella-filled Raspberry Muffins. 

Tarragon Chicken

Tarragon Chicken is lovely dish of chicken, cream and tarragon - a classic in France. Serve it over rice or pasta.

I read cookbooks like novels. Every recipe evokes an emotion and hints at a story, the person who invented the dish, the culture that nurtured the tradition or the landscape that grows the local produce used. Jamie magazine’s 22nd issue is all about France and French cooking.

The whole issue was like snuggling into a warm bed in the dead of winter, while cold rain falls outside. We lived in Paris for three years and, while it wasn’t all a bed of roses and I can acknowledge the highs and lows of Paris, all in all it was a happy three years full of family, friends and fun and fresh food.

When I read this recipe, I knew I had to make it. Just the word tarragon brings me back. (Does anyone use tarragon but the French?)

Tarragon Chicken

Call it Tarragon Chicken or Petite Blanquette De Poulet a L’estragon, if you are feeling fancy. This recipe is adapted from one in the cookbook Boundary by way of Jamie magazine, Issue 22. 

Ingredients
3-4 tbsp olive oil
1 x 3 lb or 1.4kg chicken, cut into 8 pieces
1 large carrot, roughly chopped
1 celery stalk, roughly chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
5 1/4 oz or 150g button mushrooms, quartered
3 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon or 50ml white wine
1 bunch of thyme, tied with string
5 bay leaves
2 cups + 1 tablespoon or 500ml chicken stock
1/3 cup or 40g flour
1/8 cup or 40g butter, softened
Juice of 1 lemon
Scant cup or 220ml whipping cream
2 egg yolks, beaten
3–4 tbsp chopped tarragon

Method
Heat two tablespoons of the olive oil in a large pan over a high heat. Add the chicken, in batches if necessary, and cook until browned on all sides. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Wipe out the pan then heat the remaining oil. (I skipped this step because I couldn’t bear to wipe away all the beautiful caramels of the pan. I don’t know why on earth you would want to get rid of all that flavor!) Add the carrot, celery and onion and cook over a medium heat for five minutes, until the onion is translucent.

Add the mushrooms and cook for a further five minutes. Add the wine and simmer until reduced by half. 


Return the chicken to the pan with the thyme, bay and stock. Simmer, covered, for 40–50 minutes or till the chicken is falling off the bone.

Spoon the chicken and vegetables into a serving dish and keep warm. Strain the cooking liquid into a saucepan. 
(I simply used a slotted spoon.)

Whisk together the flour and butter, (which we all remember is called beurre manie, right?) add to the cooking liquid, whisking continuously, and place over a medium heat.

Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for five minutes. (I don’t know if my simmer is hotter than the Jamie test kitchens, but I didn’t have a whole lot of juice let after the chicken and the vegetables were scooped out so I had to add about 3/4 cup of water to make the sauce easier to stir.)

Add the lemon juice and season to taste.

Combine the cream and egg yolks in a jug and whisk into the sauce.

Stir in the tarragon, pour the sauce over the chicken and serve. 



I served this over some lovely linguine. It was indeed delicious! Enjoy! 

Dutch Sandwiches

Toasted artisan bread spread with garlic mayonnaise then topped with grilled chicken and tomatoes makes a lovely lunch. 

Long ago, in an era we call BC (Before Children) we lived in Abu Dhabi and I worked at the InterContinental Hotel. My boss was head of marketing and I was in charge of Public Relations, which meant I entertained the journalists who came to see a performance at the hotel, or attend a restaurant opening, and I produced our in-house brochures and newsletter, among other tasks. I got along well with my boss and his wife, a Dutch couple of enormous height with an equally large sense of humor. Aside from me, all the executive staff lived in the hotel. (As I already had accommodation through my husband's company, I opted for a transportation allowance instead.)

One day they invited me to their hotel apartment for sandwiches. Much to my surprise, they brought out bread with ham and cheese on top. Apparently, in the Netherlands, all sandwiches were open-faced. And there I was thinking that a sandwich was a sandwich all over the world. From them, I also learned that the Dutch kiss three times upon meeting. Left cheek, right cheek, left cheek or the other way around. It doesn’t matter as long as it’s three times. Both lessons have stood me in good stead in the years since.

Here, then, I offer you, my Dutch sandwiches:

Ingredients
1 very small clove of garlic, minced finely
1 teaspoon of lemon juice
2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
1 grilled chicken breast (Those of you who read Caesar Salad with Grilled Chicken might have been wondering what happened to the third breast. Here it is.)
1 tomato
6 slices of artisan wholegrain bread

Method
Add the lemon juice to the minced garlic in a small bowl. The lemon juice will reduce the sharpness and pungency of the fresh garlic so leave it to steep for at least five minutes before adding the mayonnaise and mixing thoroughly.

Meanwhile toast your wholegrain bread slices, slice your chicken breast and your tomato.








Add a nice spread of the garlic mayo to each golden slice. Top with chicken and then tomato. Finish it off with a good grind of fresh black pepper and a sprinkle of sea salt, if desired.

1. Garlic mayo 2. Grilled chicken 3. Tomato slices

Best served with a glass of crisp white wine and eaten while watching England trounce poor Romania in the Rugby World Cup. I wonder how many times the Romanians kiss upon meeting. They could sure use some love right now.



Enjoy!

Caesar Salad with Grilled Chicken

This Easy Caesar salad with grilled chicken recipe - with creamy homemade dressing - is a full meal, or divide it up as starters.

For years when I asked elder daughter what she wanted for dinner, this was her most frequent request.   After she went off to university, her little sister continued the tradition.  We even have bowls, big lovely salad bowls - one is large enough when making for side salad for everyone - which replace plates when we are having Caesar salad as a main course.  We have four such bowls.  It makes me sad tonight to be filling only two.

Ingredients for dressing

2 tablespoons fresh or reconstituted lime or lemon juice (You can also use vinegar, in a pinch.)

¾ cup olive oil

¼ cup cold water (Cold helps the dressing emulsify.)

1 small (45g) can of anchovies in olive oil

¼ teaspoon sea salt or to taste (Some anchovies are saltier than others so you can wait to add the salt until after the dressing is emulsified so you can taste it.)

¼ teaspoon powdered English mustard (Colemans)

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3 large cloves of garlic, peeled

Method

Puree all together in a blender or with a hand blender until emulsified.  This will keep for a couple of weeks stored in the refrigerator in a closed jar.

Ingredients for chicken

One chicken breast per person

Sea salt

Black pepper

Vinegar

Olive oil

Method

Sprinkle the chicken breasts with your vinegar.

This can be a flavored vinegar, red wine, white wine, balsamic, cider, etc.  Your favorite vinegar. I keep several in my cupboards, but my go-to bottle for most marinating is plain white vinegar. I poke a hole in the lid with a sharp knife and then sprinkling is very easy. You don’t need much and, without other flavors and spices, the flavor of the charred chicken comes through.  I also always buy the same brand, same size bottle so I can reused the lid on each new bottle instead of flailing about with a sharp knife re-poking holes each time I run out.

Sprinkle with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. 

Put a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a Ziploc bag and pop the chicken in.  Zip it up and rub the oil all around. Leave bag of chicken in the refrigerator to marinate until you are ready to grill it.

When you are ready to grill, heat your griddle pan until it is screaming hot.  Imagining your grill pan is a clock and the lines on the grill run from 12 to 6 o’clock, put your chicken on point to the right at about 2 and 8 for three minutes.  Try to move the chicken with tongs. If it is still sticking, leave it on for another minute or so.

Turn the chicken over and point it to the left at about 11 and 5 for another three minutes.

Turn the chicken once more and keep it pointing left for about one minute.

Turn the last time and point it right for one more minute.   

Remove the breasts from the hot pan and allow to rest for a few minutes, lightly covered with foil.  These times are approximate, depending on the thickness of your chicken breasts. If you think yours may be thicker than average, cut the thickest part to check for doneness before serving and pop them back on the grill if you see any pink.

To serve, slice the chicken breasts on the diagonal.

Ingredients for salad

Salad greens (Romaine, Romaine hearts, Baby Cos, Rocket, Arugula – even some of your heartier spring mixes or mesclun. They need to be able to stand up to the thickness of the dressing.)

Caesar dressing

Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Grilled chicken

Croutons (optional)

Method

Make sure your greens are clean and dry.  Drizzle them with your Caesar dressing and toss until lightly coated.  Add the Parmesan and croutons, then the chicken.  Serve, with extra freshly ground black pepper if desired.