Mungo Jerry Pork Loin with Toasty Nuts

I've been up to my eyeballs in the backend of production for "That Night in the Garden", with all the associated pain which comes from independently producing a CD and then sending our baby off to the finishing school known as "Mastering and Artwork" at our production facility. So, I'm indulging in a little thumb-sucking and doing only creative things in the shop and kitchen. We've got peppers, lettuce and tomatoes coming in- plus an early pumpkin from the compost bin.

Today's Cooking With Mister C was inspired by what was in my fruit and veggie cooler, and it's been damned hot the past week, so I've been revisiting "In the Summertime" by Mungo Jerry. It was the first album my uncle ever gave me, but I've always been inspired by the line "just do what you feel" so I found Bing cherries and a mango that were languishing beneath a bunch of carrots and lettuce. Chopped in the blender with some ginger paste and it makes for a tart and interesting combination of fruity layers. Mango:Mungo/Cherry:Jerry and so you will know where my mind is of late. Nuts are the new good thing for men my age, so I added a couple of tablespoons of crushed cashews and pine nuts browned in olive oil as a crunchy topping for the pork loin I was going to grill. It's pretty, dark red and thick with plenty of sweet tang and the final punch of the ginger enhances the cherry and mango.

Served with my trademark Bossa Nova Salad, with fresh peppers and green beans from the garden and white rice.

Here's the recipe:

Mister C's Mungo Jerry Pork Loin with Toasty Nuts

Lean Pork Loin 3-5lbs
1 Cup Sweet Bing Cherries (Stoned, and as ripe as you can stand)
1 Medium Mango
1 Tbsp Ginger Paste (or chopped for the blender)
2 Tbsp Chopped Cashews
2 Tbsp Pine Nuts
1 Tbsp Olive Oil

Pit the cherries but don't skin them, peel and slice the mango into large chunks and add these with the ginger to the blender or food processor. Chop only long enough to break up the cherries and mango, but don't puree- it needs to be thick and chunky, almost like salsa.

Set the sauce aside to do its thing, and heat up the olive oil in a small pan on medium heat. When it starts to smell like hot olive oil, add the nuts and begin toasting them in the pan; you have to be vigilant in keeping the nuts turned so they won't scorch. When your nuts begin to smell toasty and turn golden brown take them off the heat and let them sit in the remnants of the oil for a bit.

Turn the grill to medium heat or preheat to 400F in the oven with the baking rack set high in the oven, and use about 1/3 of the sauce to make a thick baste on the pork loin, concentrating on the top of the roast. Take the nuts and add to the sauce on top of the pork loin, pressing them in a bit as you go. Close it up and cook for 1 to 1.5 hours, no more basting needed. When the loin comes to 165F through the center it's ready. Let the loin set for 5 minutes, then slice. Add the remaining sauce to the slices and get ready for the compliments.

On Goat Cheese and Geodes

A couple of weeks ago we visited Victoria in her college town of Huntsville, Alabama. We're geeks, and so instead of doing the regular parents-visiting-their-kid-at-college stuff like taking all her roommates grocery shopping and cleaning their I-really-don't-know-how-long-that's-been-there apartment (hey, look at it as an immune-system builder), we left our Pug to be doted over by beautiful college girls and their buff-but-polite guys-in-waiting and headed for SciQuest at Calhoun College. It's a hands-on science museum, literally in the shadow of the Space Shuttle and Saturn V as it's across the road from Marshall Space Center. There's a little shop inside the museum, and it took me all of 2 minutes to find the geode bin. Walnut-sized whole geodes. A dollar each. Hmmm, I have rock saws. So we took the geodes home, and discovered one was partially hollow and one had a beautiful heart-shaped pattern when sawed and polished. We're mad for geodes, some of my most prized possesions are geodes which contain ancient water that's anywhere between 40 million and 300 million years old. And they're translucent, so you can actually see the water that most likely was contemporary with the dinosaurs. That's near the top of my Cool List...

Who? Oh, Vic. She had a great time with Pugsley, and it's nice to finally be able to have a cocktail with my oldest daughter while talking about things adults talk about (True Blood, Dragon*Con- you know the drill). We took her out to dinner at Bonefish Grill where we saw the inspiration entree for today's Cookin' With Mister C. No one ordered it, but it was billed as "Lily's Chicken", grilled with lemon and basil and served with goat cheese, sauteed spinach and artichoke hearts. Not being one to simply rip off a signature dish of a nationwide chain of fine restaurants, I thought about how it might be prepared and then changed the parts I thought could be done differently. It's significantly different from the Bonefish recipe as I really wanted to make a goat cheese sauce with a bit of color and tang:

This was served with mushrooms sauteed with oilve oil and pine nuts, over whole grains with roasted garlic and pecans. It came out so much better than I expected, even Conor wanted seconds; in retrospect I'd double the goat cheese sauce recipe and juice a fresh lime to add more tart to the recipe. The only downturn is that it comes out distinctly purple instead of red, looking a bit like baba ganoush but a true knockout for the taste buds. Take a Lactaid or two, this is rich.

Mister C's Lemon Basil Chicken with Red Wine Goat Cheese Sauce

Six Boneless Chicken Breast Halves (2lbs or so)
4 Tbsp Butter
A Handful of Fresh Basil (or 2 Tbsp Dried Basil)
1 Lemon, Juiced
1 Cup Chicken Broth
4 oz. Goat Cheese
1 Tsp Mediterranean Seasoning (or 1/4 tsp each: grated lemon peel, salt, pepper, parsley, garlic)
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
3 Tbsp Red Wine (or 1/4 cup for less thick sauce and more tang)

Melt the butter, chop the basil finely (save a pinch for the sauce) and mix with the lemon juice into the butter. Keep this at room temperature or warmer for at least 20 minutes to allow the oils and acids to mix and mingle. While you're waiting, preheat the grill and begin the sauce:

Red Wine Goat Cheese Sauce

Add the chicken broth, olive oil and wine to a saucepan and simmer until reduced by about half. Add the Goat Cheese and Mediterranean Seasoning, simmering and stirring until it thickens.

Grill the chicken, turning and brushing with the lemon basil mixture frequently until done. Add the Goat Cheese sauce in a healthy portion to the sliced chicken breasts, and serve with the sides and a salad. I'm one of those people who believe that red wine goes with everything except a Baby Ruth, but a cold crisp white would also do nicely.

Spend some time over this meal, it's worth it.

Summer Rain and Summer Everything

We just wrapped up Emerald Rose's latest live CD titled "That Night in the Garden", which does a fine job of summing it all up. It's been a challenge physically as well, in that Arthur's wife had open-heart surgery and a dear friend of mine died of a series of heart attacks- culminating in yours truly leading the funeral in a Presbyterian church of all places. The title does as good a job as any describing our common touch-stone for the summer. Speaking of Summer, this is the time in our year when the "first fruits" come in- namely the peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers. Add to that the berries that have just finished producing and we have the bounty of Summer, and a harbinger of the Autumn to come. So, it's time to modify that old stand-by of ribs and fruit glaze to reflect the current season. Dinner tonight is a double-rack of ribs grilled with a glaze of black currant, red raspberry, strawberry, apricot (it's first harvest in California) and a bit of pineapple for zip (it's always pineapple season in Hawaii). Recipe to follow after I finish rambling...

On the jewelry design front, I'm preparing to make a series of Argentium silver pendants and earrings fashioned to remind the beholder of the moons of the Cosmos. They'll be individual creations, but not modeled after specific celestial bodies. They'll also be augmented with small gemstones, but they should most affordable when I'm done with them, especially in light of the fact they will all be unique. I'll post photos as I make progress....

Grilled Ribs with First Fruits Glaze

2 Racks Pork Spare Ribs (10lbs or so)
1 lb of the first fruits for your neck of the woods (blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, etc)
2" section of ginger root, sliced (substitute 2 tbsp dried if no fresh available)
1 Hot red pepper
4 tbsp Soy sauce
2 Tbsp Honey

Preheat the grill to 300F, then puree the fruit, ginger, pepper, honey and soy sauce. Remember, you're not in the zone without something tasty to refresh your parched tongue, so while the glaze ingredients are getting acquainted do yourself a favor and take care of that little detail straight away. By now your grill should be hot enough, so toss the ribs on without glaze for 10 minutes, then brush just enough glaze to lightly coat the ribs. Close the grill up and forget about it for the next 20 minutes. Brush the glaze on every 20 minutes until they are done to your taste. I've given up posting cooking times as everyone has their personal opinion of "done": you're a grown-up with your own car keys and credit cards, and I know you'll be fine. For what it's worth, mine usually take around two hours... and the remainder of the glaze is just fine after 2 minutes in the microwave on its lowest setting. Makes a great dipping sauce.

This time I served a Bossa Nova Salad (my black bean salad with cucumber), but in keeping with the "First Fruits" motif I scavenged the garden for fresh green beans to add to the mix.

I'm not posting pics this time, because cooked ribs look pretty much the same no matter how you prepare them- unless you boil them. If you boil them you need to read this blog from the first post forward before you attempt to cook ribs again.

Recording Blues and Squid Tacos

We've encountered our usual snares during this latest round of recording- the studio computer's main hard drive gave up the ghost and so I spent many days scrambling to make everything exactly the way it was before. We've been hard at work in the studio but also recording live before our fans: this is the shortest deadline we've ever given ourselves, so it's been intense. Jewelry commissions are a bit thin but I always have enough material to cut that I'm not without more work than I care to do artistically.

We've been eating a pretty eclectic diet lately, but a summertime favorite is fish tacos, San Felipe-style. Easy, low-impact and quick cleanup. We substitute or add squid to the cod fillets usually used, and the beer batter is the key as always. Here is the batter recipe:

1 cup Regular All-Purpose Flour
2 tbsp Cornstarch
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp Oregano (optional: San Felipe recipe)
1 egg
1 cup fresh dark beer
1 lb fish (Cod is our favorite for tacos)

Mix all ingredients together until smooth. Cut the cod into 1" wide strips, cut squid into tentacles and 1" tube sections. Add to the batter and stir to coat thoroughly. Heat oil to 375F, enough to deep-fry (at least 2"). Add fish and squid a bit at a time, taking care not to overcook (a light gold is perfect). Drain and set aside.

Now, all that's needed is about a dozen corn tortillas, a couple of chopped fresh tomatoes, shredded cabbage and cheese. And that frosty rum-laced drink. I bet you thought I'd forgotten about the booze, eh?

Enjoy

Bossa Nova...Salad!

Bossa Nova- my ultimate chill music. No other music quite captures that combination of relaxed anticipation, the languorous sensuality and ease of mind that tropical breezes and bright colors incite. I have a passion for Portuguese although I don't speak a word of it; but that's the beauty of Bossa Nova: it doesn't require fluency, only an open ear. Ashley's cousin Jessica Sarles is one of the up-and-coming artists in the NYC Brazilian acoustic jazz scene, and she's very good- check her out at her MySpace page to hear some samples of Gringa. If you're a fan of Brazilian jazz (it's smooooth) do yourself a favor and give a listen.

In my last post I promised the recipe for Mr. C's Black Bean Salad so without further ado, here 'tis:

Mr C's Black Bean Salad

2 Large Bell Peppers (red, yellow or orange)
1 Medium Tomatillo
1 Medium Cucumber
1 Can Black Beans, drained
1 Can Sweet White Corn, drained
3 Green Onions
Italian Salad Dressing

Dice the peppers, onions, tomatillo and cucumber and toss into a salad bowl. Add the black beans and corn, toss again to mix, then add salad dressing to taste- usually about 4oz. Toss again to coat the salad and chill covered for at least 2 hours before serving. This dish gets better the longer it chills, so be sure to make enough to enjoy the next day- Relaxe e Desfruite!!

Easy as Pie: Mr. C's JerkBerryRibs

Back in the early '90s I was working as a full-time bench jeweler and salesman while going through a rough divorce. The first Bush had recently left office, and I was reeling from the mini-recession a single Bush term had cast the nation into; I was in need of comfort, and so I discovered the music of Bob Marley, the local graduate school and gourmet cooking on a budget.

My new roommate Dan was a wealthy grad student and epicure, raised in the surf culture of the Eastern Shore and had already enjoyed life as an international downhill skiing champion. To my everlasting gratitude he was also a die-hard live music fan and a world-class connoisseur of reggae music. We were both young, single and enjoyed cooking Caribbean food while partying hard, so we devised a sure-fire method of keeping the people coming (with a focus on female grad students) and the fun times going: "Bring it and we'll cook it" parties. Add booze, grad-school "party favors" and music and we had a serious event happening, but adding the booze and other stuff to the mix made for some interesting experimentation in the kitchen. And in the back yard, upstairs den, and on the stoop of our townhouse. Soon there were people I didn't know in my dining room, showing up with all sorts of meat to grill or bake and we began to see the need to move the party out to the back garden with an eye towards co-opting the communal greenspace (and industrial-sized grill) behind our building. That decision was not well-thought out, as there are always more people who want to come to a cookout than you have space to accommodate, and we soon ran afoul of the building association. We also realized that we were actually reducing our ability to stay under the radar of the local constabulary, as those worthies have always gone the extra mile to ensure that no group of grad students has a good time off-campus... but I digress...

Being health-conscious surfer/snowboarder types we tried to ensure that our offerings were indulgently organic if not specifically low-calorie, and so we began to combine fruit with tahini and other interesting textures to use as sauces or glazes. As our epicurean mob began to expand with the addition of girlfriends and friends from abroad, Dan and I found ourselves relying increasingly on the grill in the garden rather than the oven; more fruit found its way into glazes because it's so easy to combine taste and texture and save the leftover glaze as a sauce. Our garden was full of organic peppers, tomatoes and herbs plus we had a huge organic grocery store a couple of miles away which carried a variety of inexpensive jams and preserves which served as the carrier for the glazes. Then we added herbs and spices as time and availability permitted, and settled in for one gastronomic journey of discovery after another. It was cheap, allowed us to drink and party at home and acquire a reputation for being Really Cool.

Why the long ramble down memory lane when you're waiting for a recipe? Because the road to a favorite recipe often leads past landmarks in the memory: cooking for others (whether they are your family or friends) is equal parts creativity, nurturing and social justification. When we set out to cook something other than burgers or fishsticks we usually have a memory associated with what we're preparing; sometimes it's an attitude or feeling that motivates that desire to re-create or embellish a memorable dish. Personally I like to remember favorite times and what type of cuisine I associate with them, and then get creative from there. Tropical always works for me, and fruit is somewhat neglected in meat and fish recipes so I like to experiment with them mixed with jerk spices on the grill. In the present, I make sure we have plenty of all-fruit preserves because this is one of the family favorites. This time I served it with a Black Bean Salad and white rice. I'll post my Black Bean Salad recipe in the next post-

With all that said, here's my JerkBerry Ribs Recipe:

Mr. C's JerkBerry Ribs
*double or triple amounts for multiple racks

Rack of Pork Spare Ribs (at least 5lbs)
1 cup of mixed all-fruit preserves (or fresh fruit mashed into goo for less sweet and more tart)
*This version used 1/3cup each of strawberry, red raspberry and black currant preserves
4 Tbsp Jerk Seasoning (adjust the quantity to your heat preference- we like it hot)
2 Tbsp Minced Ginger or Ginger Paste
2 Cloves Garlic, Minced
1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
2 Tbsp Honey (to carmelize)

Warm the preserves or fruit mash with the honey until soupy (about 30 sec in the microwave), then add the other ingredients and mix well. Now's the time to do several things: Start the grill, and try to get it no warmer than 300F... it's harder than you'd think, at least for my grill. Now you can fix that frosty beverage of your choice and prepare for the basting. Toss the ribs on the grill bone-side down (I used foil and nonstick spray because I loathe cleaning the grill more than I absolutely must) and baste the top and sides of the meat with the glaze. Close the grill and resume partying with your friends or kids (in appropriate fashion, of course). Check on them every 20 minutes or so, basting fresh each time until they are done. I usually cook them for at least 2 hours if I can: Because they cook at such a low temperature the juices are retained and they practically fall from the bone.

Let me know how yours turns out, and share it with a Dad Who Cooks.

On Beltane, or May Day

Welcome the "official" debut of Life at GreenWood- the place where I live and work. Here I hope you'll find enough that's interesting that you'll drop by or leave a comment about Cookin' With Mister C, GreenWood Studio creations, Church of The GreenWood or the many things of a musing nature I hope to post here. Music and video will show up here too, with Emerald Rose news as well as other projects I'm working on.

Happy Beltaine to those of us who celebrate in the Old Style- may your day be lascivious and fun! Happy May Day to my friends who celebrate for Workers' Rights, and to those who just want some reason to dance around a Maypole!

Be sure to catch the previous posts for recipes and other minutiae- I'll have more recipes and studio updates soon