Vegetables on Ice; Lebanese subs; Firehouse Fare; Cute Cupcakes; Yi Cuisine; Pig Perfect; Yucky Food

Laura Avery spoke with Barbara Spencer from Windrose Farm about her grass-fed lamb. She also spoke with local food writer and chef Amelia Saltsman, who provided this delicious recipe for a Fourth of July potato salad.

Potato, Romano Bean, and Olive Salad
Makes 8-10 servings

• 3 lbs waxy potatoes, such as Rose Finn Apple, French fingerling or Onaway
• 1 lb Romano beans*
• 6 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 3 Mediterranean bay leaves, broken in half
• 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 6 anchovy filets (optional)
• 2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley
• 1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted and halved
• 2 Tablespoons capers
• Kosher or sea salt

Scrub potatoes and cut into 1-inch cubes. Cut beans into half-inch pieces. Cook potatoes and beans in boiling salted water until just tender, about 15 minutes for the potatoes and 5-7 minutes for beans. Drain and place in a large bowl.

While potatoes and beans are cooking, heat olive oil with garlic, pepper flakes and bay leaves in a small pot over medium-low heat. When oil is hot, remove from heat and add anchovies, mashing them with a fork until they are completely dissolved. As soon as potatoes and green beans are cooked, toss them with half of the oil mixture. Stir vinegar into remaining oil. Add olives, parsley and capers to salad and toss with remaining dressing. Add salt, vinegar or olive oil to taste as needed. If you make the salad early in the day, taste again just before serving and correct seasoning if necessary.

* Blue lake green beans may be substituted. These will cook in 5 minutes.
- 2005, Amelia Saltsman

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Mark Bittman, author of How To Cook Everything and host of the new PBS cooking show, How to Cook With America's Chefs, spoke about frozen food. He says that brussel sprouts, green beans, frozen bell peppers, peas, snow peas, greens, turnips, winter squash are all reliable substitutes for fresh when the fresh vegetables are unavailable or out of season.

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Gustavo Arellano, food editor of the OC Weekly, invites us to try the Lebanese subs at Victory Bakery and Restaurant (714-776-4493), a Lebanese/Armenian cafe at 951 South Euclid Street in Anaheim. He recommends the pressed Lebanese sub with spicy sausage, garlic sauce, and veggies as well as the Middle Eastern pastries like baklava and maamoul.

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Keith Young is a classically trained chef with a culinary degree from Johnson & Wales who gave up working in a state-of-the-art kitchen for an opportunity to become a FDNY firefighter with Ladder-156 in Brooklyn. He also became the crew's chef. His book, Cooking with the Firehouse Chef, features over 100 delicious, easy-to-prepare recipes, including a mouth-watering fried chicken recipe that's better than KFC. He said the guys in the firehouse are crazy for his Pulled Pork which he serves with his Creamy Coleslaw.

Pulled Pork Sandwich with a Jack and Coke BBQ Sauce
Serves 6
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Marinating time: 24 hours
Cooking time: 3 hours

5 to 6 lbs boneless center-cut pork loin or pork shoulder (remove the fat back from the shoulder), sliced in half at its widest point. (This could also be made with brisket of beef.)

For the marinade:

• 4 cups cola, Dr. Pepper, black cherry soda, or root beer
• 1 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 2 Tablespoons cider vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon Tabasco sauce
• 2 teaspoons celery salt

For the Jack and Coke BBQ Sauce:

• 1 cup ketchup
• 2/3 cup cola
• 1/3 cup Jack Daniel's whiskey
• 1/4 cup Frank's Hot Sauce, or other hot sauce of your choice
• 2 Tablespoons honey
• 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
• Goya Adobo seasoning or kosher salt, to taste
• 6 kaiser rolls

1. Combine the ingredients for the marinade in a bowl, pan, or pot large enough to hold the pork. Add the pork, turning to be sure it is well coated, cover, and marinate in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
3. Combine the ingredients for the Jack and Coke BBQ Sauce.
4. Place the marinated meat in a roasting pan. Cover the roasting pan with aluminum foil and cook the pork in the preheated oven for 1 1/2 hours. Pour off 2/3 of the liquid in the pan and spread the meat with the barbecue sauce and return it to the oven, uncovered, for another 1 1/2 hours. When the pork is done, it will shred easily with a fork. Test it, and if it's still a bit difficult to shred, return it to the oven for another 15 minutes and try again.
5. When the meat is done, remove it from the oven and shred it with a fork. Slice the rolls in half, pile on the pork, and serve with Creamy Coleslaw.

Creamy Coleslaw
Serves 6 to 8
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Marinating time: 30 minutes

• 1 large (3 1/2 lb) head white cabbage, cored and thinly sliced
• 1/2 Vidalia onion, thinly sliced
• 2 carrots, peeled and shredded
• 1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
• 2 Tablespoons cider vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix gently until all the cabbage is covered with a thin coating of dressing. Allow the slaw to marinate in the refrigerator for half an hour before serving.

Variations

1. Add 1 chopped fresh jalapeno pepper to make it a spicy slaw.
2. Add 1 cup red cabbage to give it a little more color.
3. Add 2 to 3 teaspoons freshly grated ginger to give it a little bite.

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Pat Saperstein, Senior Editor at Variety in Los Angeles, has written about cupcakes on her blog: www.EatingLA.blogspot.com. She spoke about Magnolia Bakery and Cupcake Cafe in New York City. Her favorites in the Los Angeles area are:

Sprinkles
9635 Little Santa Monica Blvd
Beverly Hills
310-274-8765

Leda's Bake Shoppe
13722 Ventura Blvd
Sherman Oaks
818-386-9644

Joan's on Third
8350 West Third Street
(between La Cienega and Fairfax)
Los Angeles
323-655-2285

Toast
8221 West Third Street
Los Angeles
323-655-5018

Auntie Em's
4616 Eagle Rock Blvd
Los Angeles
323-255-0800

Town and Country Bakery Cafe
3823 Sunset Blvd
Silver Lake
323-667-3331

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Hawaiian native Rod Aglibot has opened Yi Cuisine (323-658-8028) at 7910 West 3rd Street in Los Angeles. The restaurant, which honors his Pilipino heritage, serves family-style small plates of Hawaiian-influenced Pilipino food. Evan liked the "crispy pata" confit berkshire pork shank with a foie gras scented sauce, and the Portuguese donuts or "malasadas".

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Lfelong "hamthropologist" Peter Kaminsky is the author of numerous books, including The Moon Pulled Up an Acre of Bass. Formerly New York Magazine's "Underground Gourmet," his Outdoors column runs regularly in the New York Times. His work has appeared frequently in Food & Wine and Field & Stream, and he was Managing Editor at National Lampoon. Kaminsky's Pig Perfect travels from Kentucky, Burgundy, and Madrid to the Yucatan and back to Brooklyn to tell the tale of the pig.

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Jane Goldman, founder and editor of the new Chow magazine, speaks about how we might be genetically predisposed, among other things, to think of some foods as "yucky". She also notices a trend in non-alcoholic beverage pairings.