Paleo Dinner Club Recap!

We had quite the feast this Wednesday, people.  Paleo taco night!  It was impressive.  Let's recap -

My contribution to this event turned out to be a little bit of a fail whale.  First, I couldn't make up my mind between an appetizer nibble thing and a dessert, so why not do both, right? (read: biting off more than I should have chewed)  Something crunchy and savory and something custardy sweet.  For the savory I wanted to make some yummy veggie chips to go along with the guacamole that was promised, so I did a bit of internet and grocery store hunting and ended up with some beets, turnips, and kale ready for chippy goodness.   I sliced the root veggies very thin with my mandolin slicer, and removed the ribs from the kale and tore them into chip-like pieces.  I tossed everything with olive oil, salt, and pepper (and garlic powder and cayenne pepper for the kale).  I set my oven to 350°F and got out every cookie sheet I own and started doing batches of beets and turnips.  Everything I saw online said, "they won't be crispy out of the oven!  don't worry!  they crisp up as they cool!"... but no, either the internets were wrong, or I was, because my beet and turnip chips were soggy limp little sad things.  They tasted pretty good, but not even close to a chip... back to the drawing board.



The mandolin slicer is handy when replacing packaged foods
with yummy good for you stuff!



So much promise... beet chip FAIL.

The kale chips were much more successful (but of course I didn't photograph them...).  Same deal - 350°oven for about 15 minutes, turning the leaves every once in a while until they turn very crispy but not burnt.  They were super delicious, a bit like the nori seaweed wrapping for sushi, although very very brittle.  Not dippable by any stretch of the imagination, unfortuantely.  They seemed to go over well with the crowd, though.  A good thing to hit a crunchy/salty craving, and get your dark, leafy veggies at the same time!

For my sweet thing I attempted a crazy-sounding paleo recipe for "crustless pumpkin pie."  Basically a coconut milk and pumpkin custard.  I baked and baked that sucker and it wouldn't set up, but by the minutes before we had to leave, the internal temperature was fine, so i figured it would set up more as it cooled.  Not so much.  Again, it tasted pretty good, and surprisingly similar to regular pumpkin pie, but it had all the aesthetic appeal of... well, things that parents of small children and dog owners are familiar with cleaning up.  Next time: needs an almond-based crust, and maybe add another egg or two to help the custard set.

(I'm not gonna post the recipes here until I like how they turn out... if anyone wants a go, I can point you to them)

Anyway, moving on.  The main event was grass-fed beef, bison, and/or rare tuna tacos - lettuce/cabbage wrapped, of course.  I do apologize for the crappy phone photos... need to bring the "real" camera next time, d'oh!



The ground beef and bison meat were extra yummy with the addition of sauteed onion.  I personally think most things are improved with sauteed onion, but that's my opinion.  I believe Trader Joe's brand taco seasoning provided the spices.



Fearless leader Harpa gettin' her taco meat on!



Upon arrival, I was almost immediately handed a package of ahi tuna and asked to figure it out.  I kinda just cut it into chunks, salted it a bit, and cooked it in a nonstick pan over high heat just until it was opaque on all sides (turning it often... it took maybe 30 sec.-1 min. per side), then I sliced it into bite-sized bits.  It turned out tasty and as far as I know nobody died.  Success!

Also on hand were a lovely purple cabbage slaw, dressed with a hit of balsamic vinegar, and probably some other goodness (I didn't find out), then roasted vegetables, cilantro and an obscene quantity of guacamole (which was all eaten.  I'm surprised the bowl wasn't licked clean).  I also spotted a lovely veggie salad with tomatoes and olives and all kinds of wonderful things.  Oh, and fruit!  I'm probably missing dishes, the spread was bountiful.

 

Lettuce taco wrappers and my
super-mega-gourmet tuna
(oh, AND the diy soda water... so gadgetey!)

On the liquid side, there was a more-or-less continuous flow of the semi-famous "Norcal" margarita, so named and deemed "paleo" by paleo biochemist god himself, Robb Wolf.  This is a refreshing blend of good tequila, lime juice, and soda water.  The soda water itself was homemade by one of those crazy infomercial soda makers... I'm smitten!  I love fizzy drinks and am a recovering Coca Cola addict, so I've been having visions of homemade tonic water, mint soda, vanilla soda, lavender soda, etc. etc.  Gotta get one! There may have been some fermented fruit juice and (gluten free) pre-digested grains, too.  We like to let the microbes do the dirty work for us. 


Fearless leader/mixologist Jer fixing up Norcal Margs. 

It sure appears that we planned our dinner tonight (Satruday) around this blog post, but it's not the case.  Pork shoulder just looked good at the market and what better to do with pulled pork but stick it in a lettuce leaf and cover it with guacamole?  Oh, and fix me a weekend cocktail with that leftover lime, will you?  Now I can give you a real recipe with this post.

Mark's Daily Apple's Garlic Pulled Pork

3-4 lb. Pork shoulder roast (for a little bit faster cooking, cut off any strings and slice the roast into 3 or 4 pieces... you're gonna shred the meat, anyway)
1.5 T kosher salt
.5 t ground cumin
1 t fresh ground black pepper
1.5 T garlic powder
6 whole garlic cloves, peeled
juice of one lime (or bitter orange, if you can find one of these... I never have)
1 onion, sliced
1 bay leaf

Preheat oven to 300°F.  Combine the dry seasonings (except bay leaf) in a small bowl and mix in lime juice to form a paste.  Rub all over the pork roast.  Make small slits in the roast with a sharp paring knife, and insert garlic cloves (or just put the garlic in the pot with the onion).  Place sliced onion and bay leaf in a heavy, ovenproof pot with a lid, put pork on top.  Cover and bake in the oven for 3-4 hours, until the pork shreds easily with a fork, about 190°F internal temperature.  Shred it up and stick it in a paleo taco!



If you have a leftover lime and a bottle of Perrier, mix yourself a Norcal something-or-other with your favorite distilled sprit!  You deserve it!


Dramatic reenactment: the Norcal Margarita (cachaça standing in for tequila)



Dramatic reenactment: paleo tacos with garlic pulled pork and guacamole!

Next time: Good-for-you roadtrip snax!  We're off to Albuquerque by way of Cali!

Whatever-You-Want "Minestrone"

The weather turned frigid early this week, the leaves suddenly shriveled up and fell en masse on my yard, and my big Le Creuset pot started wailing plaintively from the shelf, "soooouuuuppp! soooouuuupp!"  The cast iron musn't be ignored. 

I was lurking around on Four and 20 Blackbirds (warning: paleo people, avert your eyes from the pie) and found a fantastic minestrone recipe that I took and made into a Frankenstein's Monster of a tasty soup.  The original recipe is apparently found in Soup: A Way of Life by Barbara Kafka, which I'll have to get my hands on ASAP.  Please to enjoy.

The beginning is where I diverge from the original pretty significantly.  I wanted some big protein in my soup, and chickens were on sale at the market, so I picked up a free-range bird for about $7.  Nice!  I also wanted to multitask my chicken cooking and spruce up my cartons of chicken stock at the same time, so I cooked the whole chicken in 50/50 purchased chicken broth and water and added some bits of vegetables, herbs, and spices I had in the fridge/pantry.  You can absolutely skip this step and use leftover or a storebought rotisserie chicken and purchased chicken broth or water and go ahead to the soup part instead.

Here's what you need for the "long version" (this whole recipe fed 6-7 hungry crossfitters, maybe 12 normal people? Heh. But really, it would be excellent to make a big batch of this and freeze it for a rainy day.)

1 whole chicken, as close to pastured as you can find/afford, innards removed, washed and dried
4 C purchased low sodium chicken broth, or homemade chicken stock
Enough cold water to mostly cover the chicken (as in the photo)
Aromatic vegetables, use what you've got on hand, or: 1/2 onion, the celery leaves and tops from a bunch of celery, 1 roughly chopped carrot, 1T peppercorns, 4 whole cloves, several sprigs of fresh thyme, sage, and bay leaves tied together with kitchen twine
Kosher salt

Put the chicken and vegetables and herbs in a big stock pot (mine is 11qt) and cover everything with the chicken broth and water.  Set over medium or medium-high heat and bring to a simmer.  You DON'T want it to boil vigorously.  This will ensure that the chicken meat stays tender.  You'll probably notice a fair bit of greyish looking scum float to the top.  Just skim this off with a spoon and discard it as it rises.  The scum will quit after a while and now you can just let it simmer away for about an hour (turn the chicken over halfway through if it's not all the way submerged) or until the chicken is cooked through (170°F in the thickest part of the breast).  Remove the chicken to a bowl or carving board to cool.
Now turn the heat up so that the stock boils.  You want to reduce the stock slightly to intensify the flavor, so let it boil and taste it periodically for flavor.  Also start adding some kosher salt to your taste.  It took me about 30 minutes of boiling and maybe 1/2T of salt to get a flavor I was happy with.
Meanwhile, once the chicken won't burn your hands off, get all the meat off the bones and remove all the skin and yucky bits, and shred the meat into bite-size chunks in a bowl.  Set this in the fridge for later.
Once you're happy with the stock, strain out all the vegetables and herbs, pressing on the vegetables in the strainer with a spoon to get all the tasty flavor out of them.  Put the stock in the fridge.

Here's where you can start if you're not neurotic and want to use pre-made chicken and stock:


I bet this would be good with any combination of vegetables that sound good to you.  I used the ones suggested in the original recipe this time, but I might start improvising with other things in the future.  The pesto is key, though.  Do not skip the pesto.


1T butter
1T olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 carrots, sliced into rounds
3 celery ribs, 1/4" dice
1.5lb. white potatoes, peeled and 1/4" dice
2/3lb. green cabbage, thinly shredded
3 yellow squash, 1/4" dice
1 bunch swiss chard (rainbow chard or red chard are other names), ribs removed and sliced into thin ribbons
1 bunch of spinach, washed, stemmed, and sliced
1 can of diced tomatoes, or 14 oz. diced fresh tomatoes in season
the rind from 6oz. Parmesan cheese
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
5-7C chicken stock
shredded cooked chicken meat
Pesto (recipe below, or use storebought)


Heat butter and olive oil together over medium-high heat in a large stockpot (I love cast iron!), add onion and saute until beginning to soften, about 5 minutes.  Add carrots, celery, and potatoes, saute 5 minutes.  Add cabbage and squash, saute 5 minutes.  Add chard and/or spinach, tomato, garlic, cheese rind, and stock, bring to a simmer and let everything cook for about 15 minutes.  When 5 minutes remain, add chicken and pesto.  Serve with shredded Parmesan cheese and maybe some sliced avocado!


Pesto!
2C fresh basil leaves, washed and dried
3 cloves of garlic
handful of shredded Parmesan cheese
Salt and Pepper
a few tablespoons of olive oil, enough to bind everything together


Put everything but the oil in a food processor and chop finely, then add the oil slowly with the blade of the food processor running, until a uniform sauce is formed.  Add the whole mess to the soup pot and get ready to eat!!



 

Harpa's Pork Chops a la Diane

First recipe!
Harpa started waxing poetic about some awesome pork chops she made using improvised ingredients.  I of course started drooling and had to re-create them immediately:

Serves 2

4 slices bacon
2 thick cut pork chops from a happy pig (I like 'em with the bone in)
Salt and pepper to taste
4-5 leaves fresh sage, thinly sliced
1 onion, quartered and sliced thin
2 apples, cut in 8ths or 16ths
dash of cinnamon and nutmeg (fresh grated if you have it)
1/3 C white wine or apple brandy (paleo mod: chicken stock or water)
1/3 C heavy whipping cream (paleo mod: coconut milk)

Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a heavy, oven proof skillet over medium heat, cook the bacon until it's about halfway done, set aside.  Season pork chops with salt and pepper.  Increase heat to medium-high and brown the pork chops about 3 min. each side in the bacon fat. Set those aside, too.  If the pan seems dry, add about 1/2T olive oil and add the sage leaves and fry them until fragrant and crispy, about 1 minute.  Add onion and apples, a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg, and cook over medium heat until beginning to soften, about 5 minutes.  Add wine or brandy to the pan and boil for a minute or two, scraping up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan with your spoon.  Now stir in the cream, and nestle the pork chops in the apples and onions.  Either lay the bacon slices on top of the pork chops, or crumble the bacon and add it to the pan.  Stick the whole thing in the oven and bake for about 15-20 minutes or until the pork chops are done (170°F internal temperature).

I just slapped down some spinach leaves under this for something green, but a nice salad would be good along side as well.

Welcome!

Ok, I don't know anything about these here interwebs and things, but I'm putting together this ramshackle bloggy forum thing to share some of my food ideas, and I hope I can figure out how to let other people post here, too.
I'm aiming to create a space for people who want to eat a diet similar to my own: whole foods that one's great-grandmother might recognize, things that don't use too many factories to get produced. A pre-industrial agriculture diet, if you will.  I'll personally post whatever recipes I feel like, but will try to include modifications for stricter "primal" and "paleo" diets where I see them, but obviously you should know the limitations of your own diet and follow suit. Please be creative and mod my ideas to suit your needs (and then tell me what you did, because I want to know!). 
Here we go, flying by the seats of our pants...