Porchetta... and etcetera (2011 Canada Day Event at The Boulevard)

Pork! Pork! Pork!

TS:
Having recently tried porchetta at a local sandwich shop, JS and I left reminiscing about our own porchettas from the past.

Surprisingly, it seemed that we had quite a porchetta spree in 2011. And perhaps 2012 as well!


Pork!

TS:
One such occasion -- it may actually have been the first time -- was during the 2011 iteration of our Annual Summer BBQ Event. (See the event from 2010.)

We are usually leery calling this summer party a "BBQ", as guests would undoubtably expect our oh-my-god-it's-so-good Philippine Pork BBQ Skewers. JS and I have not had the time nor energy for such a feat in years. This is, of course, because we would have had to make an obscene number of skewers to satisfy the crowd!

So, in 2011, JS came up with a new concept: a do-it-yourself sandwich bar! We can cook off huge hunks of meat and that would be that! (Well, and make all the sides and condiments, too, of course. I mean, we're not slackers or somethin'.)

DIY Sandwich Bar, aka "TJ's Sammie Shop"
a 2011 Canada Day Event at The Boulevard



WHOLE WHEAT FOCCACIA BREAD

We've used the foccacia from Calabria Bakery many times before

(here, here and here).

Fillings


PORCHETTA
Pork loin wrapped with pork belly, roasted with garlic and herbs.

There are more gratuitous shots of the porchetta below. Don't you worry.


JS’ FAMOUS ROAST CHICKEN
Our signature roast chicken, shredded and ready for your sandwiches!

ROAST BEEF AU JUS
Roast sirloin tip with Montreal steak spice, served with its own jus.
(Pictured in photo of entire buffet, after a few scrolls down.)


TUNA SALAD
Tuna, apple, celery, red onions, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, salt & black pepper.

I have been accused on more than one occasion of withholding some secret ingredient(s) and/or method. But, once again, I say,

"YES, REALLY, THESE ARE THE ONLY INGREDIENTS IN IT!"


Sides


CHEF’S SALAD
TS’ own mix of good stuff – romaine, hardboiled eggs, ham, cheddar, tomatoes
– tossed in a spectacular tangy creamy dill dressing.


TUSCAN KALE SALAD WITH CANNELLINI
Curly-leaf kale with scratch-cooked cannellini beans in a simple lemon juice and olive oil vinaigrette.


TJ Tip:
Add a little dressed Kale Salad to your sandwich for tang & texture!



Not just Roast Potatoes,
CHICKEN-ROAST POTATOES
What makes roast potatoes better?
Roasting them in roast chicken juices! A little pork fat also joined the party. Woohoo.


Condiments


GIARDINIERA
Pickled cauliflowers, carrots, zucchinis and celery. Its tang is a great addition to your sandwich! We made hot and mild versions.


CHIMICHURRI
Garlic, bird’s eye chilis, parsley, lemon juice and olive oil. More than the sum of its parts.

Oh man, what a SUPER APPETITE-STOKER!
See it in action here with flank steak and here on a burger.


OLIVE SALAD
Think you don’t like olives? Just add this to your sandwich and it will change your mind. Used in our muffuletta and "muffuletta-inspired" stuffed flank.

TJ Tip:

Mix the Giardiniera and Olive Salad together to make a SUPER CONDIMENT for your sandwich. Hell, throw in the Chiimichurri as well!

Holy, I just drooled a little. Those 3 condiments!!

BEEF JUS

(Not pictured.)

CARAMELIZED ONIONS

SAUTÉED MUSHROOMS

PROVOLONE CHEESE

MONTEREY CHEESE

FETA CHEESE

(Pictured in photo of entire buffet, after a few scrolls down.)

Of course, also available were

Mayo, Mustard, Pepperoncini, Hot Sauce…

Dessert

FRUIT CRISP

Pears, apples, mangos, peaches, blueberries and strawberries baked with a sweet crumbly topping. Great with gelato! (Pictured above before they donned their topping and got baked.)

The entire "sandwich bar" in all its glory.

TS:
Of course, it was a bit of a struggle getting everyone to actually build sandwiches. Everybody just went straight for the meat (and the salads, too, actually). I guess that's just how we roll.

And now, more about the PORCHETTA!

Porchetta


JS:
TS is pressuring me to write my bit for the porchetta.

You have to remember that this party was almost three years ago! How can I remember what I did to a piece of pork three years ago?!?

Deliciousness of the porchetta not withstanding, everything seems like a dream now, and in two more years, it would not be far-fetched to imagine this porchetta dropping from the sky, like manna.

Maybe we'll just have to wait a couple of years. . .then this post would be FIVE years old.

Wow.



JS:

With a hunk of meat like this, I had to get it special from a butcher. An expensive butcher. I believe the whole thing cost about $300. . . three years ago.

I had asked for a loin and I had asked for belly.

I was concerned that it would take too much muscle (although these butchers were big guys) to try to wrap the belly around the loin, so I suggested to them that draping the belly over the loin would be good enough. They were going to tie the whole thing up with string anyways.

I had the butcher score the skin, as we only had dull knives at home. We still do.

Getting the pork was probably the hardest thing here.


The skin!

JS:
From there, it was a matter of seasoning the outside of the log.

Salt and pepper it was! And, I believe, some garlic powder and dried herbs as well (oregano, thyme).

Turned out that was all was needed because the pork was delicious as it was.

TS:
Perhaps, technically, this wasn't a "porchetta" because we didn't get to stuff the rolled up piece of meat. But no matter, we're still calling it porchetta.


The loin.

JS:
Look at it, so white and so tender and so juicy.



TS:
Since we were making this for sandwich filling, we decided to disassemble the porchetta after roasting. We sliced the loin and chopped the belly. We also separated the skin from the meat and chopped that up.

I believe for our subsequent porchettas, we mostly went with just pork belly. Who needs all that lean loin meat anyway?



JS:
If I may, I just want to say that the gardiniera was my favourite! Piled on top of the porchetta, it was simply fabulous. I loved the tang, the crunch, and the heat.


Want to try your hand at porchetta? Why not look to The Food Lab at Serious Eats?
The Food Lab: How to Make All-Belly Porchetta, the Ultimate Holiday Roast

Chinese New Year Menu (2011)

Happy Chinese New Year!

To celebrate, our family will be dining at Fisherman's Terrace tonight. However, we also had a party at home last night (New Year's Eve), inviting friends and family/relatives.


Our Chinese New Year Menu
(This will be one of those "ugly pictures, good food" kind of moments.)

Dumplings


TS:
Dumplings are supposed to resemble gold ingots, and hence, are good to serve during New Year dinners. We did two types: a plain one with a soy sauce-based dipping sauce, and another with Sichuan chile oil sauce.

Recipe:

Sichuan "Crossed Hands" Wonton Dumplings, Two Ways

Red-Braised Pork



TS:
I don't know what this dish is supposed to represent. It just happens to be delicious and popular. =)

Recipe:
Mao's Hunan Red-Braised Pork (毛氏紅燒肉)



Noodles: Pancit Canton


TS:
Of course, the Chinese New Year table has to have noodles to symbolize long life.

This is one of CSC's absolute favoritest dishes. Just the mention of "pancit canton" lights up her face and sets her eyes a-twinkling.

We have previously mentioned that we always make a humongo batch of pancit canton. Well, for this party, it was even more humongo than usual!



TS:
Yup, we used this whopping 18QT pot. And, there were barely any leftovers!

Recipe: Pancit Canton (Philippine Braised Egg Noodles)

Whole Chicken


TS:
Hmm, it seems impossible to make this dish look good in photographs.

This is simply whole chickens poached with leeks and shiitake mushrooms, served in its own broth. Oh, for interest, I made the standard Chinese ginger and green onion sauce to serve alongside.



TS:
When serving chicken for New Year's dinner, one has to serve the chicken whole to symbolize togetherness. There's the proof above: the chicken feet are still attached to the chicken bodies!

Mussels: Baked Tahong


TS:
Clams and mussels are supposed to resemble coins (money, in other words). Of course we would want them on the table!

We decided to make the Filipino/Philippine classic, Baked Tahong. Mussels are topped with garlic butter and cheese, then baked. The aroma when they came out of the oven was swoonworthy!

Recipe:

Baked Tahong (Mussels)

Vegetable: Braised Napa Cabbage with Abalone


TS:
This is one of those dishes with a "subtle, yet profound" taste profile.

A Chinese meal won't be complete without vegetables. We were also going to cook a broccoli dish, but did not have time. We had to pump this out quick!

We braised some napa cabbage in stock until soft, then simply used canned sliced abalone. The stock was then thickened slightly with cornstarch slurry.

That's it!

Shrimp: Shrimp and Walnut with Honey Mayonnaise


TS:
In Cantonese, at least, the word for "shrimp" sounds like "ha". Hence, it is quite nice to have a lot of "ha ha ha" when celebrating the coming new year. =D

This is our ghetto take on the restaurant dish of honey walnuts and shrimp with mayonnaise sauce.

In my much simpler version, I toasted the walnuts first. Then, I cooked the shrimp (seasoning them as I did) and set them aside. I made sure the pan I used was dry before proceeding. I heated some oil, added the walnuts and honey, stirring them round. Next, the mayonnaise went in. When they were well-mixed, I turned off the heat and added the shrimp back. I stirred until everything was well-coated.

This dish is so popular that even my poor-man's version went fast!

Whole Fish


TS:
Last, but certainly not the least, whole fish!

For me, there is nothing like Cantonese-style steamed whole fish. And so that's what we made. In this case, we used tilapia because that was the only fish available live at the Chinese supermarket.

Needless to say, one has to serve the fish whole!

Why serve fish, you may ask? Let me show you this sign at the Chinese supermarket which offers the explanation:


"The pronunciation of FISH in Chinese is as surplus which implies surplus of wealth."

TS:
To make this, we lay the fish on a little julienned ginger and sprinkled them with a little bit of coarse salt. I topped them with more julienned ginger, then some yellow chives. A little splash of Shaoxing wine, and the dish was covered with plastic wrap and microwaved for about 8 to 10 minutes.

Yes, you read right! This was simply microwaved. Easy.

In the meantime, I heated a small pot with a little bit of peanut oil and in a small bowl, added sugar, Shaoxing wine and sesame oil to soy sauce.

Instead of the usual green onions and cilantro, we opted to use yellow chives. So, when the fish finished steaming, I topped them with the tender portion of the yellow chives, then poured the hot oil over them. Sizzle! The soy sauce mixture was poured in next.

And that's our Chinese New Year menu!

Once again, Happy New Year to all!

We are off to Fisherman's Terrace to have professionals cook for us! What to have? Peking duck? Whole steamed fish? Crab or lobster?

2010 Annual Summer BBQ Event at The Boulevard

Philippine-style Pork "BBQ"

TS:
When people mention that they're having a "BBQ", they are usually talking of throwing some hotdogs and hamburgers on the grill. We do not subscribe to the same school of thought.

Among our circle, a "barbeque" is centered around skewered Philippine Pork "BBQ" and Philippine Chicken "BBQ" with peanut sauce. If you're grilling something else, don't call it a barbeque!

JS:
Of course, our mileage varies, because in the American South, when they say "barbecue," they mean something else too and we'll be asked not to call our barbeques "barbecue"!

Talking amongst ourselves one day, we've come to a decision. We've decided to have two "big" parties per year, one summer and one winter.

We've already blogged about two of our New Year's Eve parties -- see NYE 2008 (Starry, Starry Night) and NYE 2009 (Spanish Menu) -- and this is our first-ever Summer Barbeque Event at The Boulevard (our pretentious name for our house).

Anyways, without further ado, the menu.

2010 Annual Summer BBQ Event
at The Boulevard

Specialty Beverages


CANTALOUPE MELON SLUSH
MANGO SLUSH
In keeping with the Philippine/Filipino theme, we had mango and cantaloupe flavors. The cantaloupe was fantastic!

~

Dinner


PHILIPPINE PORK BBQ SKEWERS
Instant hit!
This is the item everyone has been yearning for.
Click here for the post/recipe.


CHICKEN ADOBO
The classic flavours of Philippine adobo:
vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, bay leaves and black peppercorns.
Click here for the post/recipe, as well as links to all our other adobos.


KARE-KARE (Philippine Oxtail Peanut Stew)
Oxtail and brisket pieces stewed together with eggplants and vegetables
in a rich achiote-tinted broth thickened with roasted rice powder and ground peanuts. Must be eaten with bagoong (shrimp paste)!
Click here for the post/recipe.


SARDINAS NA BANGUS
Milkfish (bangus) done "sardines-style":
confit’ed in olive oil, with garlic, peppers, olives and spices.
Click here for the post/recipe.


EMBUTIDO (Philippine Pork Roll)
A fiesta staple. Ground pork w/ peppers and raisins (and various others), stuffed with eggs and sausages.
Click here for the post/recipe.


INIHAW NA MAIS
Grilled corn on the cob.
Click here for the post/recipe.


GISING-GISING
Green beans cooked in coconut milk, flavoured with shrimp.
Click here for the post/recipe.


MANGGA ENSALADA
A composed salad: fresh mango, tomatoes, red onions, green onions, hard-boiled eggs and bagoong (shrimp paste).
Click here for the post/recipe.

WHITE RICE

~

After dinner...


BIBINGKA GALAPONG
A fragrant rice flour and coconut milk cake baked in banana leaves,
topped with butter, sugar and a golden cheese crust,
served with grated fresh coconut and salted duck eggs.
Click here for the post/recipe.


MAMA’S PHILIPPINE-STYLE FRUIT SALAD
A party favourite! Mixed fruits in a creamy, sweet “dressing”.
Click here for the post/recipe.

A great time was had by all! Thank you to everybody who attended!

And of course, thanks to CSC, The B, and The B's wife for helping out! It was such a pleasure for JS and I not to be the ones skewering 20 pounds of pork!

The Volume

a gigantormous pot (18 QT) purchased especially for making our big-batch kare-kare

TS:
Several people have remarked to us that we do seem to prepare quite the amount of food, even for our regular family meals. So, we thought it would be fun to share the quantities of the food we prepared for this BBQ event.

The day before, we had a head count of 37 people, plus 10 kids. Now, if that was really the number of guests that arrived, I can't say for sure.

The following items were prepped for the party:
20 pounds pork butt
18 pounds chicken thighs
10 pounds oxtail
5 pounds beef brisket
5 milkfish (bangus)
1.5 pounds shrimp
6 pounds ground pork
approx. 50 eggs (I lost count!)

Wait, there's more!

at least 10 heads of garlic
24 ears of corn
14 pounds tomatoes
5 pounds eggplant
6 pounds green beans
4 pounds Shanghai bok choy
approx. 8 cups of coconut milk
2 liters (2 quarts) extra virgin olive oil
and more...

I haven't even counted what we used to make the desserts, as well as other "incidental" ingredients like bell peppers, onions, other embutido ingredients, butter, sugar, cheese, etc.

After the event...


TS:
Cleanup of prep-related items was already done before the party. So, this mess was purely post-party, and after there had already been a few rounds of dishwashing!


You guys up there will have to wait until tomorrow to get clean. We are going to bed.

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