Today I was gifted a random assortment of shit and my first instinct was to make soup. It's actually a common issue, making soup on instinct, but the truth is I didn't want to go through the process of making flan.
So let's make some soup.
That's leek and corn. Before you do anything with the leek, strip off its jacket like you paid for it all night and wash the hole thing. The dirt likes to get into its pockets and you don't want it in your soup. Shuck the corn like you don't care. I don't care. We both don't care. Compost the greenery; eat it, feed it to your gas station lady. Enjoy yourself.
Red peppers and tomatillos. I was going to say wash them but at this point just assume that if you're cooking with it and its raw, wash it. Peel the stickers off. No, I don't care that it's edible. Undress your tomatillos with the same tender love you undressed your leeks.
Broth, pork, onion. Please be enticed by the ass crack present on both pork chops.
From the left: Worcestershire Sauce, Chili Powder, Smoked Paprika, Thyme, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, and Parsley.
Imagine for a moment that I know how to take a proper photo. Secondly, slice the onion and leek like so.
You'll need a pot and cast iron. If you don't have a cast iron or gas stove, a normal pan will do just fine. People have been doing this for hundreds of years, so you'll figure it out. Charring isn't necessary, but it brings great flavor in enough of a punch that if it were me and I didn't have a gas stove OR a cast iron, I'd make a small fire in my apartment and do it that way. And yeah, I highly advise that. The only person who can stop you is you. You pay taxes. Do what the fuck you want to.
Coriander, Cumin, Thyme. I didn't mention these earlier but they're here now. On the bottom its Chili Powder, Smoked Paprika and Parsley. You're going to do these measurements in two seperate bowls, because they're going two separate places and it's easier this way. Mise en place! Garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper are automatic for both mixes, so you'll need those too.
Top:
2 tablespoon cumin
2 tablespoon coriander
2 tablespoon thyme
2 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon of salt & pepper each
Bottom:
2 tablespoons of chili powder
2 tablespoons of smoked paprika
3 tablespoon of parsley
2 tablespoon of onion
2 tablespoon of garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt & pepper each
Oh shit, there's the photo. Pretend this one is up there with the rest of them.
This should be the end result of each bowl. You're going to be using the WS, some Lime Juice and "neutral" oil. Chose an oil that wasn't involved in any World War.
2 tablespoons of Unsalted Butter.
Put the leeks and onion into the pot with 2 tablespoons of oil and bring it to high heat. You want to express all their feelings (the ones they keep in until you cut them and they make you cry). The trick is not to develop and emotional attachment. Cook them like this for 5 minutes on high.
Add the entirety of the Paprika & Parsley spice mix to your pot, mix it up, let it cook for 3 minutes. Scrape as you need to from the edges of your pot, but don't worry too much about it. There are bigger things to fret. After you mix it well, add the entire box of vegetable stock to the pot and let it come up to a boil. Add a healthy stream of lime and a few shakes of the WS.
Damn pictures posted in reverse. I don't know how to drive this thing. Either way, start grilling your peppers and corn. I stabbed the peppers just a little so they didn't explode while they sat on the cast iron. You will want to turn all the veggies occasionally to make sure they're getting that nice char on all sides. If you're doing this in a normal pan, you're not going to do anything different, it just takes longer and you have to turn them more frequently. If you have a gas stove but no pans, bring your flame up to medium height and let the veggies sit in the fire, turning to evenly char.
Sprinkle and rub down the pork with half of the cumin spice mixture. Both sides. Seriously, both sides. Pour the remaining spice mix into the pot with the leeks and onions. Mix well. When your veggies are charred enough, take them off the heat and put them on a cutting board. With the pan still hot, plop the pork in there and cook at that heat for 4 minutes. Flip them, kill the heat. Let them cook for about 4-5 minutes on the diminishing heat then remove them from heat entirely and let them rest. They've worked so hard.
They should rest like this, in full view of the knife so they have time to prepare themselves for fate.
Slice the tomatillos and make the batter. Prepare a separate bowl for bread crumbs.
Batter:
1 egg
3/4 cup flour
3 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon salt
If it's too thick and won't stick to your maters', add a little more water. Working with the wet hand/dry hand method, batter the maters' and shake them in bread crumbs.
You're going to fry the maters', flipping them after 1-2 minutes to make sure they get crunchy on both sides. Drain them of oil as you pull them and rest them in a bowl or something that has a paper towel or cloth in it.
After you chopped the grilled vegetables, you should have added them to the pot. I forgot if I told you to do that or not, but they're supposed to boil with everything else for about 6 or so minutes, then you're going to blend it. Blend it up as you see fit. I ruin every blender I've ever had, so I got this immersion blender for more control and it's been working perfectly. I can control how much chunk I want, because that's important. Once it's blended how you like to the consistency you like, add 3/4 of the entire carton of heavy cream.
It should look like this when you're done, or close to it. You're going to put it back on the stove on low to idle for a bit and let the flavors mingle. Once it's back up to a simmer, slice your pork however you see fit, but make sure its a little thin.
For plating it up, ladle the chowder into a bowl. Add the crunchy tomatillos to the top. Layer the pork. Drizzle some mayo or glop a bit somewhere on there. Shake some chili powder, parsley, salt and pepper on top. You can garnish with some lime if you'd like but I didn't have any so this dish is lacking green. I don't care.
Everyone loved it.
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