Kosher-Style Pork Cracklins

Shopping for this meal was nearly a nightmare! It called for a dutch oven and I didn't have one. The magazine had an article rating dutch ovens, so I figured I'd go buy one and then buy ingredients for dinner. The Best Buy choice was a $40 one from Target, only the Super Target I went to didn't carry it (or any dutch oven). I walked over to Linens 'n Things only to find a poor selection, only sets of pots sold together. Sears had two or three dutch ovens, but none that had been rated at all. Maybe I needed to rethink dinner? I decided to try the Bed, Bath and Beyond which would be on my way to Whole Foods anyway. I found two models available for sale as a single piece, the All-Clad and the Calphalon One. The All-Clad model was so pretty on the inside and was a recommended model, but it was $235. The other was just $99 and recommended with reservations. The only reservation was in regards to cooking fries where it got two out of three stars, stew and rice got it 3 out of 3. I doubt I'll ever be making fries, and the Calphalon One model had handles that were easier to hold, so I bought that one. I was happy that I made a very informed decision and didn't feel like I had settled.

I only had to ask for help at Whole Foods once when I couldn't figure out which chile was the Anaheim. The one in the magazine was black and white, and even looking at the colored pictures on the display, it wasn't obvious. But I got them, along with the jalapeno and poblano chiles.

I decided to time how long it took to make the chili. Jay asked if the recipe had an estimated cooking time, and I said "No, that's why I like it." (It would be so awful to see it say 1 hour, but have it take 2 or 3!) Well, we titled this chili "Four Hour Chili". It took two hours to prepare and two hours to cook. Additional pain was from cutting all the chiles (next time I'll use gloves). Even ideas off the internet eased the burning only slightly. Plus pulling apart the hot chicken was the other kind of burning to my fingers. Poor fingers! When Jay found out how long it took me to make the chili, he said he'd feel guilty eating it. (and then he went into calculating the cost in terms of money, too... haha!)

The chili was good, and even lasted for two more meals. This worked out well, because I came down with a nasty cold that night and was sick the rest of the week. The house smelled like chili half the week... yum! It was good, but not GREAT. It seemed to lack something... not sure what. I'll surely be making this again and looking forward to easy leftovers.

Lessons learned:
Wear gloves when cutting so many chilis to avoid feeling like your fingers are on fire.
When the recipe says "cut into large pieces" and you see those pieces are heading for the food processor, save time: large means large.

This was also the first time I got to use my stove since September (Thank you Triathlete Kurt for hooking our gas stove back up!!) and the first time I got to use my food processor. Both performed flawlessly!

Kitty enjoyed the box before we reused it for shipping presents!

• The Best White Chili (Cook's Illustrated, February 2007, p.6)

Although we've had tuna steaks at home before, this was the first time it was me cooking them. They were very simple to sear, but I did notice that they continued to cook after sitting on a plate for awhile. It was good reminder to take it off the heat before you hit the desired doneness.

The sauce was a bit trickier, and I'm still not sure what I did wrong. It calls for a LOT of butter and some cream heated over the stove. I did cook it for 10 minutes (I think), but I did not ever get the dark rust color the recipe mentioned. I've had sauce that's the dark brown color before, so I'll have to try it again.

This dinner was delicious! I loved how the lemon and the capers tasted. This is the first time capers have been in a meal where I've just loved them! The fennel was very nice in this, too. I'll definitely be making this again, but I'll have to either figure out how to do the sauce right and/or try a slightly different version. The recipe was from the quick and delicious section of Fine Cooking, and I'll have to agree that it's in the correct section.

We also tried Sauted Spinach with Shallots. I let Jay be in charge of that part. He cooked it well, but neither of us thought it was all that great. The shallots were a bit overpowering. I love Jay's version of spinach so much, it will be hard to find a better recipe! But we like experimenting... or perhaps just proving Jay's recipe is the best spinach one out there. I'll have to post it sometime.

• Seared Tuna with Fennel Seeds & Caper Brown Butter (Fine Cooking, January 2007, p. 82A)
• Sauteed Spinach with Shallots (Fine Cooking, December 2006, p 94A)

Heaven.

• Braised Chicken Legs with Red Wine, Tomato, Anchovies and Rosemary (Fine Cooking, December 2006, p. 59)