“San Juan and Beyond” premieres Saturday, April 24, 12pm. Sunny’s recipes take a trip to beautiful San Juan as she cooks up a Puerto Rican meal. She prepares a mouth-watering P.R. Pernil, a slow-roasted pork shoulder that boasts tender meat and crispy skin. To complete this tropical meal, Sunny puts a twist on a traditional Puerto Rican dish with her flavorful Faux-Fongo with Red Bean Gravy.
P. R. Pernil
Faux-Fongo with Red Bean Gravy
Recipe courtesy Sunny Anderson, 2009
2 cups orange juice, divided
2 teaspoons white vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
10 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ancho chili powder
1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
1 (8 to 9-pound) picnic-cut, bone-in pork shoulder
Water, as needed
In a large bowl, combine 1/4 cup of the orange juice with the vinegar, olive oil, garlic, cayenne pepper, oregano, cumin, ancho chili powder, black pepper and 1 teaspoon of the salt to form a paste. Set aside.
Wash the pork shoulder and pat the meat dry with a paper towel.
Put the shoulder, fat side up, on a cutting board. Leaving the fat in a single piece and attached at 1 end, use a knife to remove the layer of fat from the shoulder, opening it like a book to reveal the meat. Then, use the knife to poke 1-inch deep holes into the meat on all sides. Rub the spice paste around the shoulder, working it into the punctures. Return the fat back to its original position. Score the fat with diagonal cuts and sprinkle the remaining salt over both sides of fat. Wrap the shoulder tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 8 hours or overnight.
Remove the pork from the refrigerator 1 hour before you start cooking.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Pour the remaining orange juice into a roasting pan. Unwrap the pork from the plastic and put it in the pan, fat side up. Roast, uncovered, for 30 minutes, then lower the oven temperature to 300 degrees F. Roast for 3 hours and 45 minutes longer. If the orange juice dries up during the cooking process, add in more juice or water. Serve when the internal temperature of the pork reaches 185 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer. The meat should pull away with the prick of a fork and the skin is crispy. Remove the meat from the oven to a cutting board and let rest for 20 minutes, under a tent of aluminum foil, before serving. Slice the meat, arrange it on a serving platter and serve.
Faux-Fongo with Red Bean Gravy
Recipe courtesy Sunny Anderson, 2009
Red Bean Gravy:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced into 1/4-inch pieces
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 pound or 6 Roma or plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
3 cups chicken broth
1 (15-ounce) can red beans or pinto beans
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
Faux-Fongo:
Vegetable oil, for frying
4 green plantains
8 slices bacon, fried crisp, plus 3 tablespoons reserved bacon fat
3 garlic cloves
Kosher salt
Special equipment: food processor and 4 (6-ounce) ramekins
For the gravy:
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add in the onion, green pepper and garlic. Saute for 3 minutes to soften the vegetables. Then, add the tomato paste and cumin and cook until a deep reddish-brown color is achieved. Stir in the tomatoes and cook until they become tender, about 5 minutes. Pour in the broth and the beans, bring everything to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the gravy thickens slightly, about 15 minutes. (Chef’s Note: The consistency will be soupy.) Adjust the seasonings with salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste.
For the faux-fongo:
Heat 2-inches of vegetable oil in a deep skillet to 360 degrees F.
Cut the plantains into 2-inch pieces, then remove their skins with a knife by cutting through a corner of the flesh along the length of the slice to get a lead, then peel the fruit. Fry the plantains, in batches, in the oil until when tapped with a metal spoon it sounds hard, about 8 minutes. Transfer the pieces to a paper towel-lined plate and repeat with remaining plantains.
Sandwich the plantains between parchment paper and, using a small plate or a coffee mug, press them so they are about 1/2-inch thick. Fry the plantains again at 360 degrees F until crisp and golden, then transfer them to a paper towel-lined plate to cool slightly.
Add the fried plantains to a food processor. Combine them with the bacon, bacon fat, and garlic, then pulse until everything is blended, but still chunky. (Chef’s Note: The texture should be a mix of crunchy, moist and tender.) Taste for seasoning and adjust with salt, if needed.
To serve, spoon in enough Faux-Fongo to fill a 6-ounce ramekin and press the mixture down well. Invert the portion onto a plate and ladle the gravy around it. Repeat with remaining 3 servings.
