An Azerothian Thanksgiving - 2016

Every year I host Thanksgiving for the extended family, and every year I have a theme. I also play a lot of World of Warcraft, and there is an analogous holiday in-game, Pilgrim's Bounty. This year, Blizzard Entertainment released an official WoW Cookbook, which includes five themed foods that players cook as part of PB:

Slow Roasted Turkey

Spice Bread Stuffing

Candied Sweet Potatoes

Cranberry Chutney

And pumpkin pie, which I don't have patience for. But I will make the brown sugar whipped cream from that recipe for my pies.

Hence my theme, and the title of this post, "An Azerothian Thanksgiving". Now, my menu generally has more to it that those 5 dishes, so I have scoured the cookable recipes in-game as well as foods that can be bought or harvested. To those above I add the following:

Conjured Croissants - Pillsbury croissants. <shrug> But I pair them with freshly churned I Can't Believe It's Butter.

Sauteed Carrots - recipe from WoW cookbook

Crudite tray

Relish tray

Desserts:

• Store-bought pumpkin pie
• Store-bought apple pie

Drinks: 

• Moonberry Fizz - aka pomegranate mimosas
• Various ales and wines
• Hot Apple Cider
• Ice Cold Milk

My riff on pozole

This is a recipe for pozole rojo, or red pork stew. Pozole (Mexico) or posole (outside Mexico) comes in three colors/flavors: rojo or red, verde or green, and blanco or white. Food Network has a brief explainer with some recipes. 

This is not a super-authentic recipe in the sense that I don't make my own pork broth, I don't spend a ton of time grinding multiple different chiles, etc. If you're very interested in that, here are a couple of recipes that I think are pretty authentic: 

• Mole Mama Authentic Pozole Rojo Recipe
• Hola Jalapeno The Best Pork Pozole Recipe

I've simplified it substantially so it's almost all ingredients I keep in my pantry. I also changed the pork cut from pork shoulder to leaner cuts like pork sirloin chops or pork  tenderloin, and I trim them of all visible fat. Thanks, doc! But it comes together much more quickly. As with all stews, good the first day, better the second. 

Ingredients:

1 lb pork sirloin chops or pork tenderloin, diced
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 cup Anaheim or Hatch chiles, roasted, peeled, and diced
1 tbsp chipotle chili powder (can reduce to taste)
1 tbsp minced garlic

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/4 tsp salt

2 quarts chicken stock
1 25-30 oz can hominy, drained and rinsed
1 8oz can tomato sauce (I use El Pato which is a spicy tomato sauce)
2 or more cups water

2 bay leaves
1/2 head chopped cabbage or cole slaw mix
Lemon juice to taste (I use about 1/4-1/2 lemon per bowl depending on size of lemon)

Directions:
1. Heat 1 tbsp oil in large pot or Dutch oven, Brown pork in pan, 5 min.
2. Add onion and saute 3 min.
3. Add chiles, chili powder, garlic, cumin, oregano, pepper, and salt and sauté 2 min, stirring constantly.
4. Stir in chicken stock, hominy, tomato sauce, water, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 30 minutes, or until pork is tender and cooked through (145 F). Add more water as required to maintain soupy consistency, somewhere between a soup and a stew. 
5. Remove from heat and serve.

To serve, put 1/4-1/2 cup of shredded cabbage in each bowl. Fill with hot pozole, then add lemon juice. Eat as-is or top with tortilla strips, cotija (or feta) cheese, and/or sliced raw radishes. Can also be served over hot cooked rice.

Valentine's Day Dinner 2015

Grilled porterhouse steaks and vegetables (asparagus, red bell peppers, onions, shallots) in a balsamic reduction with shaved parmesan and a balsamic drizzle.

Super Bowl 2015 Menu

For the adults: 

Bacon Cheeseburger Dip

Bacon-Wrapped Tater Tot Bombs

Boneless Wings 4 Ways

Amy's Cilantro Cream Sauce, aka "Green Shit"

Taco Cupcakes

Bacon Beer Bread

Deep Dish Pizza Bites

For the kids:

Mini corn dogs

Lil' Smokies in BBQ sauce

Misc:

Assorted chips & dips

Veg tray

And of course adult beverages. :)

Southwest-stuffed peppers

More assembled than actually cooked, but I did have to turn the oven on.

Filling consists of some frozen southwestern vegetables (corn, black beans, peppers), some of the scraps of the peppers diced up, 2 slices of aged cheddar diced up pretty fine, and about 1/2 cup of ancho chile bbq sauce I had on hand. Mix it all in a bowl, dump it into the peppers, foil over, cook at 400 degrees for 30 min for 2 stuffed peppers.

Cuban Sandwich

I think I first had this at a chow hall in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where I was stationed in the early 1990s. I've noted on several occasions the affinities between mustard and pickles, and especially with pork. This may be the most direct, most sublime expression of those affinities. 

Note that the list of ingredients is complete. If you add something else - salami, prosciutto, bacon, a different type of cheese, mayo, etc., it may be a fantastic sandwich, but it is not, in my opinion, a real Cubano. 

Ingredients:
Cuban bread if possible; other substitutions could include baguettes, French/Italian bread, bolillo rolls, etc. Slice lengthwise and then into shorter pieces if needed. 

Dijon mustard
Ham
Roast pork, preferably Cuban mojo-style
Swiss cheese (I prefer aged when I can find it because of the stronger flavor)
Dill pickles, sliced lengthwise fairly thin

Directions:
1. Spread mustard on one or both pieces of bread. Add slices of Swiss cheese to both pieces of bread until well covered. 
2. Add 1+ slices each of ham, roast pork, and pickle slices until bottom piece of bread is well covered. Place the top piece of bread, with the additional Swiss cheese, on top. 

3. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Apply cooking spray to the outside of the sandwich and add the sandwich to the pan. Press the sandwich down with a heavy pot or pan.
4. Cook for 1-2 min or until crusty and brown. Spray other side of sandwich with cooking spray, flip it, and cook until crusty and brown, 1-2 min more.
5. Remove from heat, cut sandwich in half at an angle, and serve warm.

The results:

Also try the Medianoche, made exactly the same way, but with a sweeter bread such as a brioche or even a Hawaiian sweet bread sub roll. 

For the pork, I generally use a mojo-style marinade - something like this -  https://www.cocoandash.com/authentic-cuban-pork-roast/ - but I generally use a pork tenderloin, marinated overnight, then roasted to 145-150. The linked recipe is more of a pulled pork texture. 

Bacon-Wrapped Fried Pickle Spears

I love fried pickles, especially the spears. Chunks are also OK...but not a huge fan of the pickle chips because they tend to end up being pickle-flavored fried bread.

Today is also International Bacon Day. And there's something about bacon and pickles that just works. The German dish rouladen features both prominently, and the Cuban sandwich is only made better by the addition of bacon in my opinion.

So I thought I'd combine the two and make bacon-wrapped fried pickle spears!

My mis en place:

I started by draining the pickle spears, patting them dry with paper towels, and wrapping precooked bacon around each spear.

I then made a beer and egg wash with 1 cup Guinness and 1 egg beaten well, and a flour dredge made of 3/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup cornmeal, 1 tsp Tony Chachere's seasoning, and 1/4 tsp chipotle chile powder. I dropped each pickle spear into the wash, then dredged in flour thoroughly.

On the stove I had about 2" of oil heated on medium and dropped each spear into the oil. I cooked them for about 5 min each and then pulled them out and drained the excess oil on paper towels.

Here's the final result - I served the spears with spicy mustard. :)