Strawberry Soup and Salad

For well over a year now, our older daughter has mimicked me cooking. She hasn't always mimicked what I've made however, and among the more creative ideas she's invented in her own mind was strawberry soup. I know it's been made. I know it could be made many different ways. But I wanted to make my own take on the concept in honor of my daughter, and in an effort to encourage spring to finally settle in for us, I figured a dinner of salad and cold soup would at least put is in the right mindset.

Strawberry Soup and Salad

I decided to keep this simple, and slightly sweet, and I wanted something cool and refreshing. I was pretty disappointed in the condition of the strawberries I'd just purchased yesterday. They looked great at the store, but by today, a cluster of them had begun to degrade pretty badly. I had to cut back my quantity, and also my hopes for the salad, where I'd planned to either add either slices of strawberry, or if there had been enough berries, perhaps even a nice fresh strawberry vinaigrette.  I put the strawberries that survived into the blender with a few tablespoons of water, a few baby carrots, honey, and a small hint of powdered sugar.

The salad was a basic mixed greens base with some sliced cucumber and Bermuda onion. I topped this with some sautéed chicken breast, and served it with a homemade honey mustard vinaigrette I generally keep on hand.

The verdict

This meal served two functions beyond feeding us tonight. It was an homage to my daughter, and with each day, I grow more and more fond of the girl she is becoming. She made me particularly proud tonight by actually tasting the strawberry soup, not once, but twice. I'll take that; she may not be ready to eat it, but at least she isn't fighting me as much on trying new things. For my wife and I, an added pinch of dried mint topped off the soup, and with that small extra flavor pop, my second purpose - giving at least our plates some hint of springtime - was served. I kept the soup portions small; too much cold soup, especially something on the sweet side, starts to feel like dessert all too quickly. I think some better-quality strawberries would have been helpful, but it was tasty, and both a refreshing change of pace, and simply refreshing.

We poured a couple of glasses of mediocre Riesling with our dinner, and the simplicity of the whole thing has me looking to the coming days, with daytime highs finally leaving the 30s, with great enthusiasm. I think I'll be making strawberry soup again, but I'll probably make sure to serve it colder, and I may add a bit more of the carrot next time. Maybe this summer, our older daughter will join us for a full helping.

Fried rice and five spice chicken

Tonight, at dinner, we hosted Ben, Amanda, Lizzie, and AJ for dinner (and, of course, Ben & Amanda's daughter!). The occasion was to work on the wedding ceremony for Lizzie and AJ for which I will serve as officiant in a couple of weeks. I decided to do a simple marinade for some chicken, and popped the chicken breasts into a large Ziploc with rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, fish sauce, some organic sugar, and some Chinese five spice earlier this morning. I've fallen in love with the flavor of five spice, and have not had nearly enough opportunities to cook with it lately, so the thought that the rain would stay away and allow me to grill gave me the incentive I needed today. When I grilled the chicken, I added a dash of garlic salt, some more five spice, and a hint of cayenne to ratchet up the flavor a bit. 
I was also looking forward to making some fried rice tonight, as well. I like using sherry wine to make my fried rice, and was glad I found the last of the snow pea pods in the produce section this morning, since I enjoy those in my fried rice, too. I added in some carrot and baby corn, skipping the egg and onion I usually add tonight in favor of a quicker version with powdered ginger, garlic salt, soy sauce, peanut oil, and a hint of fish sauce. I used both brown and wild rice, and the texture of the rice itself really stood out as a result, keeping some "tooth" in the face of large pieces of vegetable.

The verdict

The chicken was great, plain and simple. Nicely cooked, and just enough of the five spice to tantalize without overpowering. I would have liked a tinge more heat, and may play with that the next time around.  The rice was also quite tasty, but I need to add the onion and some fresh ginger next time to really keep it as I usually like it. The egg would have been nice, too, but I do sometimes feel a bit odd having both chicken and egg in the same meal (yes, I'm thinking of Paul Simon's "Mother and Child Reunion" right about now). I think our guests enjoyed as well. We did have a bit of wine, but for the life of me I can't recall what it was (maybe a Cabernet/Merlot blend). It was a bit much for the meal, but whatever. A white would have been lost to the five spice and smoky grill flavor in the chicken, even if it would have been better with the rice.

The best part of the evening, however, was having a relaxed conversation about the wedding ceremony, helping Lizzie and AJ think about what they do and do not want, and (hopefully) putting them at ease about the event. I recall planning my own ceremony with my wife several years ago, and can't help but think that some five spice chicken probably would have made that planning all the better. As I recall, we met our officiant at a chain restaurant of some sort near the interstate in Indianapolis, and it wasn't nearly as fun as tonight.

Fathers' Day - Pulled Pork

Chicago has no shortage of great places to eat. It also has several places that do justice to slow-cooked smoky meat. But sometimes I get a hankering for the taste of NC-style pulled pork BBQ, and Fathers' Day gave me an excuse to take matters into my own hands. I am less than an hour removed from eating the meal, and the lingering flavor and aroma of mesquite and pig are still full and rich.

This meal was partly possible because I was able to talk my wife into stopping at the Paulina Meat Market on the way home from the zoo this weekend. It was my first trip there, and in all honesty, I had my heart and mind fixed on a pork shoulder from the start. I did eyeball some other meats, and it will not be long before I'm writing about some rabbit here, I'm sure. And while there is an excellent butcher shop not far from our house, I really wanted to give this place a try. I was not disappointed. I was reminded of the great butcher shops I had the occasion to visit as a kid, and it is good to know that there are still places that know how to deliver excellent quality meat with outstanding service.

I prepped the meat on Saturday night with a basic rub, the core of which involved brown sugar and paprika. I like a slightly-smoky, slightly-hot paprika in general, and it served me well for this particular rub. The 7-pound cut fit nicely in a gallon Ziploc, and spent the night in the fridge. I was treated to some fantastic pancakes for Fathers' Day breakfast (a big thanks to my wife for including both chocolate AND peanut butter chips today!), and as soon as we finished, I started getting the grill ready. It was my first time trying to really slow-smoke anything over gas. I had a can of mesquite chips on hand, and tucked them over the low flame on one end of the grill for about 10 minutes as the meat sat out shedding some of the chill from the overnight stay in the fridge. Once the smoke started to billow, I brought the shoulder out and placed it with the fattier side up, the heat as low as possible, and I watched periodically to make sure the heat did not get much higher than 250 degrees (F). My grill is a real powerhouse, it seems, and does not like living in the low end of BTU production, but in the end, I was able to get a nice steady low heat, and was able to walk away.

One of my favorite side dishes to make is also one of the simplest. I like making a carrot slaw, and mine uses a white balsamic and mayo (roughly equal parts) as a base. Today I was lucky to still have some peach-flavored white balsamic on hand, and with some craisins and shredded carrots (along with a few other flavorings), it was quick work thanks to the food processor. The only downside was, in my rush to get the work done, I did not handle the shredder blade with my usual care, and I opened up a nasty little nick on the tip of my middle finger. Carelessness in the kitchen is never a good recipe.

With that done, I turned attention to my barbecue sauce. I went for a compromise today, and took the best of the eastern NC and western NC traditions to heart, adding my own touch of balsamic vinegar to the mix (the real stuff, not the white stuff). The sauce was mildly hot, with a good mixture of vinegar, enough ketchup to keep the tomato-based touch in play, and even hint of mustard to tip my hat to the folks in SC (who sometimes serve up mustard-infused sauces with their BBQ). I should also mention that I prefer honey to sweeten most of the BBQ sauces I make, and this was no exception.

I figured with all this effort, it would be a shame to miss out on hush puppies, so I turned to Paula Deen's recipe as a starting point. She's a great go-to resource for many southern staples, and this particular recipe did not disappoint (although I'm already thinking about my own take for the next time; these were damn good, but I don't think they'd suffer from some modification). As an afterthought, I served up some buttery corn to round things out.

The verdict

An added treat tonight was sharing the meal with our friends Ali and Crystal. They seemed to appreciate the meal, and they brought good beer and hard cider to the table, which is never a bad thing! It had been entirely too long since we last shared a meal with them, and I'm glad that happenstance (running into my wife coming back from the playground with our daughter) led them to join us tonight.

The pork - fabulous. Juicy, smoky, just enough of the "crispy" stuff alongside tender strands of succulent pig. It is as close to real NC pulled pork as I have had since the last time I was in NC, and I'm not afraid to make that claim. There is simply no substitute for real wood smoke and slow cooking, and taking the time today was well worth the effort. The sauce was outstanding, too. Sauce can be such a debatable thing, and I don't know why folks need to get so uppity about one kind being better than another. I find that one of the best things about American food is the regional differences we get to celebrate, and I have not had too many sauces that I did not like. If made with thought, love, and enthusiasm, each has a place at the table, and mine was no exception. I don't know if I would replicate this one identically, and that's just fine with me. I'm sure that my next trip to NC will bring me at least one more take on the classic, and I will have a few new ideas to try out on my next pulled pork dinner.

The hush puppies were perfectly golden brown on the outside, and just right on the inside. I cannot abide over- or under-done hush puppies, and while they are not the food of my heritage, I've certainly had enough to know good from bad. Mine were good. Really good. I'm considering my options for the next time around, but I'm also open to suggestions from any hush puppy aficionados out there who care to chime in. The corn was fine, if forgettable, and that was about what I expected. No effort, no reward, and sometimes, no cares either. Just a little something to give you the excuse to eat a little butter.

The slaw was as good as always. I sometimes opt for golden raisins or plain old Sunmaids, but the craisins give a nice tartness that offsets the natural sweetness of the carrots. The slaw was the ideal complement for the pork, and was great both on and off the bun (I tried it both ways to make sure).

The real verdict today had nothing to do with the meal. The fact that I got to celebrate being a dad would have made any meal special. The fact that I got to spend the day with my amazing daughter (and wife), and with some dear friends was the most important thing. Having a meal that brought me comfort, provided me a modest challenge, and took at least intermittent focus to avoid screwing up the end product was an added treat. But it turned out so well that I'm sure I'll remember it for a while to come.

I hope other dads out there had comfort, love, and good food today, too.