I’ve been friends with Chef Jennifer Cole-Ruiz for a while now and I respect her wholly as a professional. I also love that I can sucker her into cooking for me from time to time. For those of you who don’t know her, she is originally from North Carolina, moved to Atlanta to apprentice under the late Heinz Schwab. Later, she spent 5 years in Atlanta working in several high profile restaurants, such as Partners and Indigo, Bice and the Hedgerose Heights Inn before moving to New Orleans to work with James Beard winner Susan Spicer. She then headed off to have a culinary adventure in Spain which kept her there for quite a long time.
Lucky for us this Chopped winner is now in Brooklyn at la mujer GALA, in prospect heights, Brooklyn where she is serving some of the best Spanish food in NY State.
I was thrilled when I asked her to contribute a summer recipe and she came back to me with Chicharrones”. I asked her why and she said: “As a southerner I grew up eating pork rinds. Spain is the temple of pork rinds and salmorejo.. A couisin to gazpacho from Cordoba is the perfect dip for those luscious pork rinds.”
Ingredients:
Chicharron
- 1 pig skin cut into medium size squares
- 6 garlic cloves
- 10 black peppercorns
- 1 sprig Rosemary
- 1 tbs salt
- 1 1/2c olive oil
- 1/2 c white wine
Method: Cook together at 250 for 1 hr covered with a double layer of plastic then aluminum foil. Remove, drain and set aside.
Salmorejo
Ingredients:
- 1 pint yellow cherry tomatoes
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/4 day old baguette
- 1 tbs sherry vinegar
- 1/4c extra virgin olive oil
- Salt to taste
Method:
- Blend and refrigerate.
- Heat oven to 500. Place pork skin in over 6 min and then check. They should be slightly bubbled and puffy. Remove and serve with the chilled salmorejo as a dip.
La Mujer Gala is located 665 Vanderbilt Ave, Brooklyn, New York