Cool, Very Cool

I'm referring to our weather. It's nearing the middle of April, normally a time when we get some of our hottest days of the year because the fog is out to sea and the sun is already strong, but still we are having very cool weather.

Because of the unseasonable coolth, when I saw this organic pork pot roast in my local supermarket, I thought, "Why the heck not?" This is still the right weather for pot roast.

I was in a mood to fuss with it a bit, so I browned it in my Dutch oven, dusted it liberally with Chinese five spice and ginger powders and added a whole bunch of stuff to simmer with it for hours. After browning in toasted sesame oil, I added celery tops, 6 peeled shallots, 8 lightly crushed and peeled garlic cloves, 1/2 cup of Aloha teriyaki sauce, 3/4 cup of chicken broth, a splash of banana vinegar and 3/4 cup of brewed coffee. Brought it up to a boil, then turned it down to a simmer, covered it and let it cook gently for three hours until it was tender and falling off the bone.

Brought to the table on a platter with some bright green peas and young colorful carrots, it was wonderfully flavorful with all the ingredients that infused the meat. I skimmed the fat off the goozle and served it in a little pitcher to pour over each serving. More of a jus than a gravy, that goozle was full of all those flavors, too.

Best of all, it is a large cut of meat - we will enjoy it even more in subsequent meals as the flavors ripen and improve, and any leftover goozle will end up in soup or something.

The whole dinner was cool, very cool.