Ingredients
1 8-10 lb. pork loin
3-4 shallots
4 cloves garlic, minced
6-pack dark lager beer
1 c. red wine
barbecue sauce
1 loaf ciabatta bread
olive oil
salt
pepper
garlic powder
paprika
Directions
In a large soup or stock pot, caramelize shallots until brown. Coat the bottom of the pan with olive oil, add garlic and brown.
Pat pork loin dry with paper towel and generously season the outside with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika. Brown the outside of the loin in the stock pot. Pour in wine and rotate the loin, scraping any onions from the bottom.
Transfer contents of stock pot to a medium crock pot and pour enough beer to mostly cover the loin. Roast the pork on low heat for 6-7 hours until it falls apart.
3 hours into cooking, check the liquid levels and add more beer if necessary.
Remove finished loin from crock pot and let rest on a cutting board for at least 15 minutes. During that time, transfer liquid from crock pot back to the stock pot and reduce the liquid by boiling off the water until it reaches a sauce-like consistency, stirring regularly (this can take a while – just be patient).
Shred pork and add it back to the reduction. Pour in 2 c. or more of your favorite barbecue sauce to coat the meat. Serve on toasted ciabatta and enjoy alongside sweet potato fries. For a more tropical flare, grilled pineapple slices would go nicely on the sandwiches.
Ingredients
1, 26 oz. can condensed tomato soup
1 c. heavy whipping cream
1 c. white wine
2 ½ c. warm water
4-5 slices prosciutto
2 tbsp. butter
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp garlic, minced
2 tbsp. fresh basil, chopped
½ tsp. garlic salt
Directions
In large soup or stock pot brown prosciutto, remove and chop. In same pot, melt butter and scrape bottom to dissolve any prosciutto fat solids.
Add onion and sautee over medium heat until translucent. Add garlic and cook until vegetables are lightly browned. Pour in white wine and simmer for a 2-3 minutes.
Add condensed soup, water, basil, chopped prosciutto, and salt. Stir together, cover, and simmer on low.
While soup is simmering, pour whipping cream into a bowl. With an electric hand mixer (or a whisk if you are ambitious), whip the cold cream until firm. 5 minutes prior to serving, fold whipped cream into soup and mix well (you can store it in the fridge if you prepared it too early). Once uniformly heated through, serve soup warm, garnished with some shredded cheese and crumbled prosciutto on top.
Note
You can also use bacon instead of prosciutto, but I prefer the subtler flavor of the ham.
Ingredients
1 small rotisserie chicken, 3-5 bones reserved
2, 32 fluid oz. cartons organic chicken broth
1 c. sweet white wine or champagne (room temperature)
½ lb. wide Amish homestyle noodles (can substitute egg noodles or broken spaghetti)
1 c. mixed freshly grated parmesan, asiago, and romano cheese
1 package baby portobello mushrooms
1, 14.5 oz can sliced carrots
1 half white onion, chopped
1 tbsp garlic, minced
1 large lemon
½ c. flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp butter
Directions
Remove all of the meat from the chicken and either cube or shred the large pieces. Leave the skin on for an even better flavor. Reserve 3-5 small bones from the legs and wings of the carcass.
In a large soup or stock pot melt butter over medium heat. Brown onion first, then add garlic and mushrooms. While the vegetables cook, roll the lemon around on the cutting board to release the juices, cut in half, and squeeze the lemon juice into a cup, removing any seeds. Once the mushrooms have begun to brown, pour the wine/champagne over the vegetables. Simmer 1 minute.
Add in chicken broth, drained and washed carrots, bay leaf, lemon juice, and chicken bones and bring the soup to a slow boil.
Reduce heat and add in the chicken, noodles, and cheese. Cover and let soup simmer until the noodles are cooked. Add in chopped parsley 5-10 minutes before serving.
Don’t forget to remove and discard the bay leaf and chicken bones before enjoying this soup.
Serve alongside grilled cheese on sourdough and enjoy!
Tip
If you are nervous about losing the chicken bones in your soup, you can use cheesecloth to create a small flavor pouch to place in the soup.
Simply cut a piece of cheesecloth around 1 ft square and place your chicken bones and bay leaf in the middle. Pinch the four corners of the cloth together and tie in a tight knot. Place this in the soup during cooking and simply pull out and discard when you are finished. Remember to wring out the cloth to make sure you don’t lose any flavor in the fabric!
Source: Inspired by Giada De Laurentiis’ Lemon Chicken Soup with Spaghetti
I had initially been tempted to call this dish Black Bean Étouffée, but in doing my research learned that in order to be considered an étouffée, the dish must incorporate at least chicken or seafood, neither of which I chose to go into this recipe. While my process is arguably similar to that of an étouffée, it is distinctly lacking some critical ingredients needed to bolster such a status.
At any rate, here is my take on cajun food with my Black Beans and Rice.
Vegetables
1 green pepper, sliced in medium sized pieces
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1-2 jalapeños, sliced into half-medallions
1 pkg sliced button mushrooms
2 cans black beans
Spices
2 bay leaves (dried are fine)
1/3 c. hot sauce (I used Frank’s)
½ – 1 tsp. cayenne pepper (optional – depends on your heat threshold!)
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. cumin
1 tsp. paprika
1 tbsp. minced garlic
½ tsp. onion salt
salt (to taste)
Other
4 tbsp butter
1/3 c. all-purpose flour
1 bottle light lager beer (I used Redstripe)
2 cups brown rice (uncooked)
Directions
Pour half of the beer into a bowl and place the bay leaves in the beer to partially rehydrate. In a rice cooker or medium sized saucepan, cook the 2 cups of brown rice. Brown rice takes around 40 minutes to fully cook so make sure you start it right away.
Melt 3 tbsp. butter in large stock pot over medium to medium-high heat. Brown onion and garlic in butter. Then, add mushroom, pepper, and jalapeño. Cook until the mushrooms have started to brown and the peppers have lost some of their firmness. Use a straining spoon to transfer the vegetables to a separate bowl. Allow the butter to drip from the vegetables.
Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter in the stock pot and add ½ c. of flour to the butter to form a roux. You have the right consistency in your roux when after stirring it together, it will start to spread out on its own slowly. If it doesn’t do this, then add another tablespoon of butter. Brown the roux to a golden-brown color. Watch your temperature carefully during this part – turn down the heat as needed. Nothing tastes or smells worse than a burnt roux!
Pour the vegetables back on the roux and mix everything together well. Remove bay leaves from beer and pour the beer in to quench the roux. Partially drain one can of the beans and leave the other undrained. Pour both of these into the pot and stir.
Depending on the amount of flour you used, this may be too little or too much liquid. If too little, add more beer. If too much, add more flour to thicken.
Bring to a light simmer and add in bay leaves, hot sauce, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, cumin, and salt. Taste your mixture periodically and adjust its saltiness according to your liking.
If your rice is not done cooking by this point, cover and reduce heat to low until the rice is ready.
Serve over rice and enjoy!
Note:
After enjoying my black beans and brown rice for a few meals, I ended up running out of rice. Instead of making more rice, I discovered that the black beans were also quite enjoyable when eaten with crackers.
In preparing my statements for the Fulbright scholarship I have been refining what I think about foreign language education and the relationship between cultures. For me, language requires a social context. This got me thinking about why is it that young Europeans are required to learn English, but made wary of the American lifestyle?
Whether this is a result of less-than-stellar diplomacy, an issue from the Freudian subconscious, or an attempt to thwart the homogenization of cultures is unclear.
I am particularly interested in the German attitude toward Americans. Every German citizen that I have ever met has been warm, welcoming, and hospitable; and for the most part has accepted that certain aspects of American culture have become part of German Alltag. But why is it that with our increasingly interconnected societies, the American stereotypes still persist?
The most persistent of these typifications is that of the American diet. I look forward to addressing this topic in my research if selected as a Fulbright scholar.
In the meantime, I am calling out to everyone to help me out. What do you eat on a daily basis? What foods do you remember fondly growing up? What’s a regional specialty where you live?
