getting better and the market selection picking up, I've actually been braving the horrendous parking around the DuPont market, and have found some really nice vegetables coming in (ramps, asparagus). Not to mention some great cheeses - Everona Dairy and Firefly Farms come to mind right away...Anyways - first up was something I threw together after picking up some really nice green beans, some baby red potatoes, and
some mid-sized tomatoes. I'd picked up some Spanish chorizo from the Italian Market in Philly, so I diced that up with some slab bacon, sweated them out, and did a slow stew of some onions, the parboiled potatoes, the green beans, and finally the tomatoes.I kept the seasonings mostly Spanish-style: paprika, garlic, some sherry vinegar, and finished it off with some parsley and toasted
pine nuts... It's lunch this week with some brown rice or by itself.
Next up was a bit of an old stand-by, but when I stopped off at GrandMart after volunteering with Max, the Belgian Malinois Mix with Lost Dog over in Seven Corners on Saturday, I picked up some supplies to make a "salsa verde" with roasted tomatillos, onions, peppers, and cilantro. The recipe was in an earlier post,
but it's quick, versatile, and is great for packing and storing away hen you're not quite sure what you're going to cook up.
And finally - another idea inspired by GrandMart... They sell pork picnic roasts (shoulders) for a pretty good price, but frankly, it's a lot of food for one person, and it's just not something I can justify if there's not a cookout or get-together involved.
However, they have started carrying half and quarter roasts, cut down the length of the 
shoulder - which are much more reasonable and manageable when cooking for one... Or two even.
They still come with the skin and fat attached, so I tried seasoning the roast by first scoring the skin, cutting a pocket between the layer of fat and the meat, and then seasoning it very aggressively with three different types of peppers: green peppercorns, black peppercorns (both crushed), and Alleppo
pepper.
I mixed these with some salt, sugar, and some garlic powder, and then went to town on the pork roast, covering all sides liberally. I started roasting the pork at 350 degrees, but backed it down to 250 or so after the pork started browning and some of the fat rendered out.
Towards the end of the cooking time, I basted the roast with a mixture of mirin and black
Chinese vinegar - then sliced it after pulling it from the oven and giving it some time to rest. You can see the pork in the bottom three pictures - a decent amount for sandwiches or even stir-fry...
I had actually gotten some udon noodles and some nice looking enoki mushrooms from GrandMart, so I was planning on using the pork in some sort of noodle soup for a dinner this week. Will
update if it turns out okay.
