Our annual family reunion always includes fantastic food, but how could I tie it into our campaign for good Japanese food? And then it appeared…. neatly arrayed on it’s disposable tray, all brightly colored and geometrically organized with it’s little cup of piped out faux wasabi. The bane of our existence….. supermarket sushi. Purchased by a well intentioned cousin, this was not just any supermarket sushi. This was Costco sushi! And it wasn’t just Costco sushi, this was Indiana Costco sushi (and it was a day old to boot). Chiko cast her discriminating eye on the oddly square rolls, filled with imitation crab meat and surrounded by a gelatinous white starchy substance from which it would be impossible to distinguish an actual individual grain of rice. In her always straight forward way of speaking, she simply said “Yuck, I’m not eating that!”
It’s probably not a good idea to serve
bad sushi to a Japanese fishmonger.
Bad sushi aside, this was a much needed break for the both of us. Chiko had worked eight straight days at Whole Foods, closing most nights (including July 4th). Because we had a 3:30PM flight out of Hartford, she requested the opening shift on the 5th (5:00am to 1:30) and I would need to wake up with her at 4 to drive her to work. Eight fish slinging hours later I picked her up and we headed straight to the airport. Knowing that we had a long afternoon of air travel with little opportunity for good food ahead of us, I brought along one of my homemade multigrain baguettes, some prosciutto and a soft brie like cheese from Iceland that I grabbed in WFM while waiting for Chiko to finish her shift. We boarded our flight and the pilot proceeded to pull away from the gate and then made that announcement we all hate to hear. Bad weather over Pennsylvania meant we would be delayed while air traffic controllers tried to find an alternate route and oh by the way, unfortunately the air conditioning wasn’t working and it would be very uncomfortable in the 90 plus degree weather. While all around us nerves frayed, experienced frequent fliers that we are, Chiko broke out the baguette, brie and prosciutto and we ate. Silently munching away I wondered what our plane mates were thinking about our impromptu meal (or if they even noticed).
After several more delays we arrived in Indiana, headed to my uncle's farm and hit the sack for some much needed sleep. Friday broke clear and warm, and following breakfast, my cousin Dan and I hit the road to start working on dinner. Lunch time arrived and we were still out shopping so Dan proposed a true American classic, burgers from the drive through at White Castle. We grabbed a sack of Jalapeno/Cheese Sliders, onion rings and two "medium sized" Diet Coke's that were so huge they didn't fit into the cup holders on my rental car. A local resident walked past proud as a peacock with his mullet and Nascar t-shirt with the sleeves cut off and Dan commented "Check out that redneck!" (as we sat in a Walmart parking lot eating our little mini burgers and each drinking from our own Methuselah of Diet Coke). Tonight's dinner would be my "Texas" Pot Roast (slow smoked chuck underblade roast, dry rubbed with spices and sliced brisket style).
Rubbed and ready to go
In the smoker
Six hours later
Because the theme for this year's reunion was Sicily, we would be serving pasta, eggplant parmigiana and I would incorporate some morrocan spices, pine nuts and raisins into the sauce for the meat. For dessert I made individual cups of panna cotta, in a choice of three flavors (almond, coffee and vanilla). Rather than using my Aunt's small farmhouse kitchen, we cooked everything outside either in the smoker or on the BBQ grill. We even used it for the eggplant parm and for baking bread.
Grilled eggplant slices
Dress with a little homemade sauce
Cheese and fresh herbs
Back on the warming rack of the grill till cooked through
Homemade whole wheat Ciabatta baked on the BBQ grill
(indirect heat, 500 degrees for 30 minutes)
Saturday's dinner would be roast pork, grilled chicken, sausages, brats etc. Aunt Carol had already done all the shopping for this, so all I had to do was cook. A couple of picnic shoulders got rubbed and put in the smoker first thing in the morning, and then I was free until two hours before dinner when I would need to start grilling the rest of the meat.
Pork in the smoker
This left time for a couple games of Whiffle Ball. When we started this family reunion, I was 19 and the youngest of 13 cousins. As the years progressed, a few of my cousins had kids and we would accommodate the little ones into our ball games, letting them try to bat and run the bases. We grown ups intentionally dropped simple pop flies, threw wildly past the cutoff man and the ball sailed into the neighbors corn field as a four year-old stumbled around the bases. In fact every child's at bat remarkably resulted in an inside the park home run, although we never let them know that their runs didn't count. As I approached the ball field I saw these kids (now 13 or 14) performing the same antics for their younger cousins and I thought how nice it is to have family.
Whiffle ball on Frankie and Bobbie Memorial Field
After Whiffle Ball and a dip in the pool, time to check on the pork and start getting the grill ready. For pulled pork I would use Boston Butt and take it to an internal temp of 195 degrees, but since we were going to slice this I took it off at 175 and got to work on the grill.
Cooked to perfection
Sliced and ready to serve
I par-cooked the chicken in the smoker for about an hour then finished it on the grill alongside with sausages. Sweet corn, fresh from the field, was boiled and dinner was ready.
Whose gonna ring the dinner bell?
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