The Dog's Breakfast

This past November has been unusually warm and bright. Until last week when we finally dug them up, our geraniums were putting out beautiful new red buds. And one of our neighbours has a rosebush that’s still blooming. At the same time, the street at night is half-illuminated by Christmas lights. So days have a strange hybrid feeling about them – there are moments when you want to say ‘Indian summer’, but then the sun goes down, and the low clouds smell like snow.

This is actually my favourite time of year. I think of it as the mirror of early Spring, when the snow has melted and the grass starts turning green. It’s essentially the same landscape: clean, with crisp air and scintillating skylines. And holidays on the horizon.

It’s a feeling that’s hard to photograph, because this quality of mature light, unfiltered by leaves, starts to dissipate in the middle of the afternoon. By the time we’re cooking, it’s pitch black. We anticipated this, and have been using a pretty fancy set up of high-intensity bulbs on tripods with diffusers, but wow it’s hard to make stuff look as nice as it does under the sun.

Today was a real challenge. Check out the sunlight we had at the market this afternoon. People were walking around drunk on the stuff. The pictures look doctored, but this is really what it was like. The apples were gilded. The eggs were drawn in soft oil pastel.

Fast-forward to three hours later in the kitchen, when we’re trying to make the bacon and Brussels sprouts look handsome under artificial light. It’s a real challenge. So we’re trying different visual  approaches, aiming to make the best of what we’ve got. It’s like having to cook with what you have on hand, instead of from a list of perfect ingredients. It forces you to be creative.

Anyway, the photos this weekend aren’t perfect, but dinner nearly was. We had in mind a braised pork shoulder, something we do often on Sunday afternoons when it’s too cold and dark out to do anything but tend a slow oven and warm bed.

We started with an Alice Waters recipe from The Art of Simple Food and decided to honour the season with apple cider, Calvados and dried figs. Works great with any combination of roasted or mashed root vegetables, but these roasted Brussels sprouts and cippolinis with lemon, bacon, walnuts are easy as pie, and just as delicious.

Cider-braised pork shoulder

1. You’ll need a 3 – 4 pound pork shoulder with a nice cap of fat on it, if possible. Ask your butcher to tie it up snug. Rub the pork all over with a paste of salt, pepper, ancho powder, fresh rosemary, and olive oil.

2. In a heavy roasting pan or Dutch oven just large enough to hold the pork, scatter a chopped onion, a chopped carrot, a few smashed garlic cloves, 3 seeded ancho peppers, and a seeded chipotle pepper. Place the roast on top of the vegetables, and then pour in enough cider to come just a quarter of the way up the side of the roast.

3. Slide the uncovered roasting pan into a 325° oven. After about an hour, start turning the roast every 30 minutes or so, which will alternate the top and bottom between browning and braising. Total cooking time should be at least 3 hours, but can be extended for even more tender meat. Just make sure the cider doesn’t all evaporate.

4. When the roast is done, remove it to a warm platter to rest before carving it, while you make the sauce. Strain the braising liquid through a sieve into a saucepan, and scrape the solids back and forth with a wooden spoon, so most of the vegetable pulp gets into the sauce. It shouldn’t need much reducing to become thick, but boil it down a little if it’s thin. Finish it off with a shot of Calvados, some chopped dried figs, and salt and pepper, if necessary.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Cippolini Onions

Brussels sprouts
Cippolini onions (regular onions and shallots are also terrific)
A lemon, cut into thin wedges
Some walnuts
Some chopped bacon or lardons
Olive oil
Salt, pepper, and some dried thyme or rosemary

1. If the sprouts are large, cut them in half, otherwise keep them whole.

2. Toss everything together with the oil and seasonings in a roasting pan or on a parchment-lined sheet. Roast in a 400° oven for 25 – 40 minutes, turning everything once about half-way through.