Eat Around the Pitt is a Transplant's View of Pittsburgh and Food.
Recently in Category: Cheap Eats
September 28, 2009
The Beauty of Pork Shoulder
Posted by Kathryn @ 12:12 PM
I adore pork shoulder, it should be the official food of the slow food movement because it can be simultaneously slow, delicious, and really really easy. This recipe isn't really a recipe, just a thrown together meal that you will love and want to make just for the leftovers.
I started with 1 small pork shoulder it was probably about 1.5 to 2 lbs. I just bought the smallest package at the store since there are only two eaters in the house. I sprinkled about 2 teaspoons of Adobo seasoning all over the meat. The I threw it in my slow cooker on low for about 7 hours. Once the meat was completely tender I threw in 1 small diced tomato about a quarter cup of stock and 1 chopped green onion. Tada! You are done... you are ready to eat tacos... spoon over rice or eat with tostones. There is something magical about pairing this with plantains if you have them.
Then after the first dinner you still have enough for another dinner. Beans and Pork on cheesy rice. It is a comfort food for me. Saute 1/3 cup diced onion and 1 hot pepper like a jalepeno. Through in 1 large tomato that is roughly chopped and simmer until it is saucy. Add in one can of drained pinto beans, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp coriander powder, and any leftover pork. Cook for a few minutes maybe 10 to allow the beans to absorb the flavors. Serve over cheesy rice.
Cheesy rice- I have made this dozens of ways but today's version involved 1.5 cups of rice sauteed lightly with a tablespoon of butter. Add to this 1 tsp coriander and cumin powder. Add a little less than 3 cups water to the pan and cook until almost all the water is absorbed. At which time sprinkle over the top 1/3 cup feta cheese crumbled and 1/4 cup monterey jack. Cover. Once the rice has absorbed all of the liquid and melted the cheese add 1/3 cup sour cream and mix until combined. It may be necessary to add a tablespoon of milk to loosen things up. Serve with pork and bean mixture.
It has been ages since my last entry and I have an excellent excuse. My kitchen is being remodelled. I thought that while it was out of commission I would go to a lot of new restaurants... but reality is when you are paying contractor bills... you want to eat for cheap. This meant that i made a ton of food in my basement out of a really handy little appliance... the electric skillet.
I bought the electric skillet just for the purpose of having something to cook in while the Kitchen was torn up and it has worked beautifully for grilled cheese sandwiches and the like. My most recent invention with the skillet was a simple chickpea curry.
1/2 can coconut milk ( I have used low fat and regular and regular turned out a bit better)
1 can chickpeas
1 can Rotel ( chopped tomatoes with diced chiles)
3 spring onions chopped
1 tb madras curry (or to taste)
Cook coconute milk, drained chickpeas, and entire can of rotel for about 15 minutes or until thickened bubbling and the chickpeas are very tender. Add madras curry powder to taste. Then toss in spring onions at the last minute.
This is pretty satisfying over rice and is really fast for somebody without a kitchen.
Yesterday, we ventured down to the South Side Works for the McCormick and Schmick Happy Hour and a movie. Little did we know that neither would come to be. Apparently everyone else in Pittsburgh had also descended on this small section of town with similar ideas. We found a parking spot and because we had a few minutes ( so we thought), we went into the book store to look around. Once again I got sucked into the cookbooks, while Ian looked at what was in science and math writing. After the relaxing trip to the book store we entered McCormick and Schmick hungry for a 2 dollar burger and quickly realized that there was no way we could get served in the bar area before happy hour ended. Not sure where we should head next we considered our options. I decided that to continue to the bar food theme , Claddaugh's would be our best option. We get there and there is a line, but it is not as crowded as M&S.
I ordered Guiness and fish and chips. The fish was crisp and typical cod. The table had the requisite malt vinegar. The plate came with a very vinegary tartar sauce that was called "irish tarter".... I had hoped that this would be the pleasingly pink concoction sometimes called Rose Marie.... but no luck there. I think the chips may have been sitting a bit and had some sort of unnecessary coating on them. I would suggest that Fish and Chips fans stick to Piper's pub, but in a pinch these were ok.
DH chose a turtle sandwich which had turkey, irish rasher, hard boiled eggs, lettuce, tomato, mayo. It certainly looked appetizing and was well liked. I am happy to report that our Guiness and Harp were very tasty. Unfortunately service was not very responsive and did not bring everything that was requested. In fact compared to a recent excellent experience at Red Robin ( and I usually avoid chains) the service was downright crummy.
We did try to go to the movies but the place was a zoo and we didn't think we would get good seats, so instead we walked around a bit and I spied a new coffee place. Big Dog. I wasn't in the mood for an espresso so we just went over to see whether they had any dessert and what the ambiance was like. The place had a lot of character, colorful walls, comfortable seating, and a fun selection of sweets. I picked out a bakery made version of a HoHo.... it was really really good. So consider this a qualified review of Big Dog.... the sweets are good... the atmosphere is nice, but I can make no comment on the coffee quality.
Restaurants in Pittsburgh are hard to read. The exterior does not always give you a good read on how good the food is. I moved here thinking that this would be a great place to check out some dives and get cheap eats. I have found several good dives and several expensive and decent restaurants. For every good dive though, there are many many that are no good at all.
So the other night I was in Bloomfield at the Crazy Mocha picking up a 6 pack of tickets for the 3 Rivers Film Festival. I was in the mood to not cook even though I had a set of meatballs ready and waiting in the fridge. My husband suggested we eat out and I remember there was a local joint that I really wanted to check out, Thai Cuisine.
What a name. No pretty descriptions it just cuts straight to the point. With a name like that you don't know if you are going to get the best or the worst food of your entire life. It is going to be an adventure. So we walk in to the unassuming but clean restaurant and order some appetizers. The place is BYOB but we didn't bring anything along that night, so we stuck to water which was frequently refilled.
I started with Tom Kha Gai and my husband picked out golden pockets which were similar to wontons but with a curried potato filling. My soup was excellent although light on the meat.
I then ordered Panang vegetables with tofu (the watiress asked how hot I wanted it on a scale of 1-10) and Ian ordered Cashew Nut Chicken. At 6 the Panang was spicy but not blistering. The tofu was very soft, not my top choice, but the vegetables were overflowing and I had plenty of curry for two meals. I was afraid the Cashew Nut chicken would be like bad chinese take out, but fresh crisp vegetables dominated the dish and the chicken was nice cuts without grizzle. All in all it was a lovely meal. Not super cheap, but very reasonable and good flavors. I will be back!
So as it is CSA season, I frequently end up with one particular vegetable piling up over a couple of weeks. It isn't that I don't like Cabbage, it is more that it is one of the few early summer veggies that will last a while in the fridge and the majority of my favorite recipes for cabbage are really hot more wintry fare. Eventually I get too much of it and something must be done!
So whenever I have a vegetable without a dish I spend some quality time flipping through cookbooks for ideas. One struck my fancy for cabbage. Cabbage Gratin from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for everyone. After I made it, I decided it was a true winner... unfortunately I don't have any good pictures because we ate it too fast! The end result is a nutty almost broccoli frittata flavor ( not surprising considering they are the same family). Next time I might try a higher ratio of cream/milk to egg so that it is creamier, but that would just be for the sake of experimentation... the casserole was gorgeous as it was.
Butter and freshly grated Parmesan for the dish
1 1/2 pounds cabbage ( I used a mix of green varieties) diced into 2 inch squares
1/3 cup flour
1 cup milk
1/4 cup creme fraiche or cream ( I used some butter since I had neither on hand)
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
3 eggs
3 tb parsley
salt and pepper
I also tossed in some ground mustard and some leftover cheddar
Preheat the oven to 375. Butter the dish and coat with parmesan. Boil cabbage for 5 minutes in salted water. drain pressing out as much water as possible. Whisk remaining ingredients together and then add cabbage. Bake for 50 minutes until firm and lightly brown.
So this past weekend I wanted to do a BBQ because the weather was so nice. This Texan cannot resist the opportunity to sear meat on a grill, but in this instance many of my guests followed a vegetarian diet, avoided milk products, or had other dietary restrictions. So I decided to change up the traditional Chicago slider to fit their needs a bit better! So here comes the lentil slider. It looks suspiciously like a falafel on a small bun, but it has a differently delicious texture/flavor combo.
Zest and Juice of one lemon
6 scallions chopped
3/4 of a package of lentils cooked through
2/3 of a baguette or other bread (check the ingredients for milk products or eggs) whole wheat works nicely
Salt
Ground Pepper
1/4 cup mint
1/4 cup parsley
1-2 tsp cumin
2 tsp of red pepper flakes
1 tsp ground coriander seed
2 tsp of cornstarch in 2 tb of water or an egg
3 TB olive oil
Blitz the bread in a food processor. Add the additional ingredients and blend to a paste (don't loose all of the lentil texture, but if you are using cornstarch rather than egg it will need to be more pureed so that the patties don't fall apart. Heat a skillet with additional olive oil and roll1-2 tb quantities of the puree into balls. Fry each patty until golden brown on both sides. Place on a tiny roll and serve with tahini or yogurt with mint and lemon zest as toppings.
The patties are also excellent on a salad. I know it is CSA time so many people are trying to come up with new ways to spice up lettuce and this is a great one!
It has come to my attention that Pretzels... particularly fresh soft salted pretzels are big around here. Pittsburghers seem particularly fond of a spot called the Pretzel Shop. Admittedly while I was living off Carson Street I frequently passed by the shop on the way to the bus. I regularly wondered why the shop was not open in the evenings when people might pick up a pretzel to eat before or after the beer they drank at other fine Carson St. establishments. So one day I don't have any cereal in the house and I decide to stop to try a Pretzel. In addition to the Pretzel, a Pepperoni Roll caught my eye. The pepperoni roll was perfect! The pretzel was a tad eggy for my taste, but I figured I would give the place another try. Just yesterday the opportunity arose to check out the Pretzel Shop again. I was early for an appointment on Carson St. It was cold and rainy... what a better time for a hot pretzel could there be? So I head over to the shop and there is a line inside. The people in line are pros.. they just say 10 or 2, they don't even specify what it is they want. Clearly these Pittsburghers are not easily distracted by pepperoni rolls or pretzel sandwiches. It was finally clear why this place has no need to be open in the evenings... they probably sell out by early afternoon at the rate people were hauling out large bags of Pretzels.
This time the pretzel was great. Then of course a coworker told me the secret is to go early in the morning around back where you can pick up a pretzel right out of the oven. Darn it! That means I have to go back to seek pretzel nirvana early in the morning. At 50 cents each I am sold!
Today I had a networking lunch with someone who helped me find a job here in Pittsburgh. As she had been a student at CMU but had not been around campus much recently she recommended that we check out Il Valletto on Forbes. She couldn't quite remember the name, only that some of the guys at school called it "Romantic's." Which I suppose is a fitting name from a college student's perspective. Il Valletto is right about Panther Hollow next to a vintage clothing store. I had peered in the window several times and wondered about this curiousity that combines card tables and folding chairs with white table clothes.
My friend was held up looking for a place to park, so I had a chance to peruse the menu and note the special prix fixe options for Valentines Day. While I don't think is on my romantic list, it was a good lunch option in Oakland. I had the veal and pancetta tortellini in vodka sauce with a cup of spicy white bean soup. The soup was not spicy as advertised, but had good flavor and was perfect on such a chilly day. The tortellini was generously sized, with a nice flavor, but also did not knock my socks off. So for an average italian meal at a student size price, Il Valletto's is a place to consider.
So I have passed the Orient Express almost every day since beginning work in Oakland. I always dismissed it because I am not a big bubble tea aficianado. Today though, my husband suggested we try it out for lunch. It is a simple restaurant with more ambiance then the neighboring Little Asia but less then Lulu's Noodle.
I opened the "dinner" menu and found on the last page a lunch menu. The typical suspects were present but I was pleasantly surprised to see Chinese Casseroles and other combinations on the adjoining page. I ordered beef curry with rice. The beef was pleasantly tender, there was no grizzle or visible fat to speak of, the sauce was nice but not over powering, and the portion was enormous. It could just be that beef potato and rice are filling, but it seemed like a mountain of food. For under 6 dollars I essentially bought myself two meals, which while not gourmet were nice winter comfort food. My husband ordered his perennial favorite at all Chinese restaurants, the lo mein lunch special. The vegetables looked fresh, the chicken was tender, and it seemed slightly less greasy than his favorite version, but on the whole had less soy flavor than he expected. One the side came a chicken teriyaki skewer. My husband thought it was good, but I thought it was rather bland and on the tough side. We both agreed that we would come back for the beef curry though!
Have you ever been told by someone that
you just must try something? Before moving to Pittsburgh my husband
and I had been told to try Primanti Bros Sandwiches. So the second
weekend we are in town, Ian and I head down Carson St. in search of
brunch, while we had no luck locating a suitable brunch spot, we did
see a Primanti Bros. I was hesitant since it wasn’t the original
location, but I was hungry so I caved. I order the Pittsburgh Cheese
“steak.” Being a newbie, I recognized that the quotations would
probably lead to disappointment but the description as the “second
most popular” menu item meant I had to order it. My companion
ordered the pastrami. When the sandwhiches came out, the fresh
Italian bread looked so promising. I quickly picked up a half of the
sandwich. The cheese steak was apparently a 1/4 inch thick burger (
more like a Salisbury steak considering it looked like it had been
simmering in a brown substance for a while). On top were the
promised fresh cut French fries…. Slick with oil and a pale creamy
color I realized there were not crunchy in the typical sense but
rather under cooked under salted blah potatoes. The coleslaw was
crunchy, but not particularly flavorful. Actually I would describe
both sandwiches as tasteless. Soon after this incident I mention the
“supposedly fun thing” to a colleague. He told me the secret.
Go out with friends, drink at least 5 beers, head over to Primanti
Bros about 1:00 AM and then it will hit the spot. So apparently I
will have to do a revisit to Primanti Bros under the correct
conditions and I will report back shortly.
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