Cold Pork and Rice Salad

THERE ARE CERTAIN DISHES AT OUR HOUSE THAT BELONG TO MY WIFE OR ME. I don’t try to cook hers; she doesn’t try to cook mine. This is hers. I’m only allowed to serve as sous chef when this is on the menu. In other words, I get to do the chopping. She once allowed me to start the recipe in her absence but she insisted on being there for the final preparations. I wouldn’t think of changing anything in the recipe, but those of you who aren’t married to my wife may fiddle with it to your heart’s content.

We actually got it from an old friend, Karolyn Shuster (also known as Karolyn Harwood when she’s not free-lance writing), when we visited with her and her husband, Bob, one summer back when we were all 30-somethings. They lived on the north shore of Long Island in one of those great shorefront houses that started life as a cottage in the 20s and gradually grew through different additions into eclectic year-round homes.

Bob and I had worked together early in our careers in Pittsburgh and did two-martini lunches (actually ours were scotch) back when those kind of lunches were what you did. The Harwoods were also frequent guests and/or hosts of our Sunday Pittsburgh Steelers buffets.

But then Bob and Karolyn moved off to Long Island, saving both our livers. Drinking at lunch went out of fashion; aerobics came on the scene and things have never been the same since. But, when we got together at their place on Long Island, we spent the days on Bob’s sailboat and the evenings making and eating good food washed down with good, if not always great, wines.

One of our most memorable dinners was stuffed lobster tails. I don’t recall the recipe—actually it was Bob’s. I served as the sous chef that evening as well. The meal was superb, except for the part when Karolyn began to puff up. Seems she was (and still is) allergic to shellfish: actually it’s the iodine in the shellfish that causes her problems. She found out about that allergy when, following a party where the host had poured cheap scotch—some of which is colored with iodine—out of a Chevas bottle, she ended up in the emergency room.

That night, however, it wasn’t the scotch. It was the shellfish. And there was no run to the emergency room. Karolyn simply retired to the adjacent sofa, which served as a room divider between the dining area and the living area in the house’s great room, fortified herself with a dose of Benadryl, and continued to participate in the conversation. There were no allergic reaction problems when she served cold pork the following night. In fact, as I recall, Karolyn arose from her sickbed to marinate the pork that evening.

Cold Pork and Summer Rice Salad: The Recipe

Serves eight to ten people

Ingredients

Two 2½ lb. boneless pork loins, trim off any fat

THE MARINADE

1 clove garlic Minced.

2 tablespoons coarse salt

½ teaspoon pepper

½ teaspoon dried thyme

THE SUMMER RICE SALAD

Three cups steamed rice, let cool to room temperature and set aside

½ cup thinly sliced radishes

½ cup thinly sliced scallions

1 green pepper minced

2 tablespoons minced gherkins

2 tablespoons minced parsley

2 tablespoons snipped chives

THE FRENCH DRESSING

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar or lemon juice

One-third to one-half-cup of a good olive oil

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Salt and white pepper to taste

First: Marinate the pork. Mix the minced garlic, coarse salt, pepper and thyme together and rub into the pork loin. Let stand for at least two hours in the refrigerator.

Second: Cook the roast. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Brush off the salt and garlic mixture with your hands. Tie the two pork loins together at two-inch intervals with kitchen string. Roast in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Reduce the heat to 325°F and continue roasting for two hours or until the internal temperature reaches 180°F. Remove from the oven. Let cool for about 20 minutes, and then refrigerate to chill the meat.

Third: Prepare the ingredients for the salad (chop, chop, chop) and refrigerate. Actually, you can start while the pork is cooking. Your arm will be tired before you are finished chopping. Do not combine the ingredients until just before serving.

Fourth: Make French dressing. Blend the vinegar, salt, pepper and Dijon mustard. Beat in the olive oil in a steady stream. Set aside.

Fifth: Put it all together. Mix the rice, the chopped and sliced vegetables and the French dressing. Slice the pork roast into ¼ inch slices.

Sixth: Spoon a bed of rice salad onto a large serving platter and artfully arrange the pork slices on the rice. Serve the rest of the salad in a bowl.

And finally: Pour the wine and enjoy.