Comfort Foods and Indulgences

We love pulled pork sandwiches in our house, but I don’t always love working with pork. I do admit to loving the taste and making a huge 5 pound pork butt is easier than any week night meal. And I know that pork is the “other” white meat, but I just don’t like eating it that often.

I do make a really good pulled turkey recipe that I discovered over ten years ago in Sara Foster’s The Foster's Market Cookbook, but like the pork, it takes hours to cook. This recipe is great fall dish when the weather is cooler and turning the oven on for 3 to 4 hours is no big deal. I have been searching for a pulled chicken recipe and alas, I finally found one over at The Comfort of Cooking. Georgia uses a dry rub to marinate her chicken and I think it is the rub that gives the chicken it’s tenderness.

I use organic, grass fed chicken from Whole Foods. For this dish, I don’t purchase the boneless, chicken breasts. Instead, I get the chicken breasts with the ribs attached. I then ask the butcher to remove the ribs. The breasts without bones tend to dry out on the grill. The taste, using the chicken in this way, is significantly different. If you don’t use your butcher at your local supermarket, you are missing out! They are always so accommodating, friendly, and they love their meats and poultry.

I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I am not addicting to shopping, but I do confess to overindulging when it comes to chocolate. I have always loved chocolate and I pretty much need it everyday. I do admit to being addicted and it isn’t an addiction I care to break.

Sees candy was my first love. It was always the same selection; California Brittle, Scotchmallow, and Almond Royal. A trip to Sherman Oaks Fashion Square wasn’t complete with out a visit to Sees. Bess, an elderly lady with short white hair, was always behind the counter and as she saw me opening the door, she would start filling a little bag with all of my favorites. Bess was one of the special ones. I was blessed to have found her and would have loved her even if she didn’t work behind the glass counter at Sees.

Other favorites included Honey Comb at Little Johns in The Original Farmers Market, the perfect melt in your mouth truffles from Kron and now, as an adult I treat myself to Recchiuti caramels, and anything from Fran's.

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, I am thinking about what to give to all of those that I adore. Last year I made caramels, heart shaped butter cookies, and a rocky road fudge(originally chocolate covered marshmallows that turned into a disaster). Truly, I am not there yet, but I wanted to start with one of M’s childhood favorites – Almond Joy.

I like Worcestershire Sauce.  I admit it.  One of the things I like about it is its name – how it was that extra thing in it – wor-cest-er-(shur)-ire sauce. I like the bottle, how it comes wrapped almost like a present.  It’s almost a guilty pleasure, a secret ingredient that you don’t necessarily want to reveal, like sugar in spaghetti sauce, or sour cream in anything, or ketchup on a steak which I don’t feel guilty about, at all. 

I don’t pour Worcestershire Sauce on top of steaks and grill them, the way my Dad used to in the backyard.  But sometimes I just have to make my mother’s cottage cheese dip.  It’s really great.  And it’s really soothing.  And I fool myself into thinking that it might even be good for you, well, sort of.  But take my advice, if anyone asks you what’s in it, you might consider saying, “You don’t want to know.”

A few nights ago, I made a roast chicken, a huge salad, and some baked sweet potatoes. I ate my sweet potato and although Eli loves them, he ignored them. I couldn’t waste them, so I took the skin off, tossed the potato meat into my ricer and threw the puree into the fridge. As I was cleaning out my fridge days later, I remembered the puree.

I turned to my trustee baking bible, Dorie’s, Baking: From My Home to Yours and adapted her pumpkin muffins for my left over sweet potato puree. They were perfectly light, not too dense and deliciously complimented my morning tea. The uneaten muffins went to work with Miguel. The kids were happy, I was happy and hopefully, Miguel’s office will be happy, too.