Barbara Bretton: Wish You Were Here

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The Food Goddess is in the Kitchen! I am delighted beyond words to present my friend, my pal, Kali Amanda Browne (daughter of the beauteous and talented Marie) aka The Food Goddess. Enjoy!

Roast Pork en español: ¡Feliz Navidad!

My mother's friends were intent on giving me an education when I moved back with her for my last year of high school. Each person had their own area of expertise and they each took the opportunity to let their individual culture shine.

As a result, I was lucky enough to participate in an array of traditions that most people get only from watching independent films. I had a Southern Christmas ham; Hanukkah laktkes; Greek roast lamb and spinach pie; Italian feast of the seven fishes and grappa; Spanish turron; and the great American turkey.

Great feasts made to celebrate and in anticipation of a free flowing and ongoing crowd of friends and family.

Of course, fresh in my memory and most vivid are the Christmas meals from my childhood. Some were spent here and some in Puerto Rico (some at home in suburbia and others in the campo). The menus changed but the ceremony of a house full of women, cleaning, boiling, chopping, peeling, frying and mixing, gossiping and laughing was everlasting.

Some dishes are not as easy to duplicate here because the odds of me running into a guy who just caught two dozen Atlantic crabs and is selling them off road by the sea is unlikely at best. Thus, the rice with crabmeat, the authentic version, is more a fantasy.

The traditional Christmas meal tends to include rice with pigeon peas, pasteles and roasted pork (pernil). The beauty of the pernil is that it makes awesome Cuban sandwiches and the bone is a magnificent base for a pork stew.

We usually get a small (4-5 pound pork shoulder), but for larger gatherings a larger cut may be required. Pernil is very forgiving, it is very difficult to mess it up and it is a snap to prepare.

At least one night before cooking, peel and crush a head of garlic, add crushed oregano, 2 teaspoons of pepper (or more, to taste), salt to taste, and a ratio of 2:1 parts olive oil and white wine vinegar – half a cup of oil to 1/4 cup of vinegar. Mix and adjust for taste (it'll mellow as it cooks). With the tip of a knife, stab the meat (including the skin). Slather the meat in the mixture and try to get some deep in the slits. The meat will absorb most of it; the rest will incorporate into the pan drippings.

Cook uncovered (skin side down) at 350°Ą for 35 minutes per pound. Let it rest for 20-30 minutes before slicing and serving. An alternate method is to cover in banana leaves and then in foil – which creates a new dimension and a juicier product.

You may make gravy off the pan drippings; serve with a chimichurri sauce; or even with a cranberry sauce

You can email me at kali.templeofdoom@gmail.com.