Hey, so another week, another amazing meal cooked at 20 Gerald. Unfortunately, they cooked this one without me so I don’t have pictures of the final products, but from the men’s descriptions it sounds like quite the meal! On this menu you will see that due to the fact that we just got off spring break it’s “island” themed! The Muffin Men love their themes and this one sure was appropriate.
Now this meal was so tasty the guys totally forgot to take pictures of it for me while they were cooking and jamming out to their “island tunes” playlist. So what you see below is my best guess of what the meal would have looked like from various sources on the Internet. I tried my best to keep it realistic.
Mike Gordon of 20 Gerald is one of the head chefs of the Muffin Men. He says that he learned to cook from “the farmers up north off the one-five, in Catapalonic.” He further explained to me their thinking process when deciding on the menu. “We really wanted to make something that would put everyone in the mood for spring break. Even though I was going snowboarding in Colorado this break, a lot of the boys did the island life for the week. We figured as a team that we wanted to give them a taste of it before they all left for the break.” This week’s one line quote for the meal is, “We were all just riding the wave…”
On the menu: We have a pulled pork sandwich, salmon with a light salsa, and zesty rice with some island flavor.
Drinks: Coke and rum
Pulled Pork Sandwich:
Pork tenderloin: Place the tenderloin on a baking sheet (oven preheated to 350 degrees).
Rub: Salt, pepper and barbeque sauce on the tenderloin. Coat all sides of it thoroughly.
Pour: Can of beer (dealer’s choice, but the men only use the finest Natty Light) into baking sheet with the tenderloin. Don’t be afraid to use the whole can.
Place in the oven for about 2 hours, then at end, pull it out and flip it and place it back in for about another hour, or until the middle of the tenderloin has reached the internal temperature between 135 degrees to 150 degrees for a one to three pound tenderloin, respectively.
After, let it sit for 30 minutes under tin foil and then begin pulling away!
The guys served this sandwich on some thick and crunchy toasted brown bread that they purchased from Whole Foods with a little mayo and some mixed island greens (i.e. the mixed greens salad package you can get at Whole Foods).
Salmon with Light Salsa:
If you are having an island-style dinner of course you need some fish! So salmon is pretty simple. The men prefer using the skillet as the main way to cook it.
They first cover their skillet with some coconut oil. This gives the fish a nice fresh island flavor. Then afterwards, they take their salmon steak that has been seasoned with salt, pepper, and lemon and place it directly on the skillet. They take great care to make sure that they cook the salmon fully through.
Once cooked, they cover it with tin foil and move on to the salsa.
The salsa is made with Italian dressing, 1 can whole kernel corn, drained (about 1-1/2 cups), 1 medium tomato, diced (about 1 cup), 1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced (about 1 cup), diced red onion, 4 tsp. finely chopped jalapeno pepper, finely chopped fresh cilantro, and grated lime peel. You mix all of this together into a bowl and then use it to top off the salmon!
Zesty Island Rice:
So for the beginners, you want to bring you water to a boil. Depending on how much rice you are making, the amount of water you use differs; most rice bags come with their own instructions so follow those.
Once the rice is partially cooked, you want to add in your island flavors. The guy’s favorite, of course, is the scope of coconut oil. You just throw it right into the rice along with salt, pepper, chili powder and some cayenne pepper.
To cook your mixed peppers (red, green and yellow), you want to use a skillet and chop up the peppers as best you can. You’ll also need to chop up an onion. You then coat the pan in coconut oil and use the skillet to first sauté the onions and then add the peppers.
Once the rice has finished cooking you just mix the peppers and onion into your spicy rice and you have a great compliment to your pork and fish!
Coke and Rum:
For the drink this week the guys decided to keep it simple with a classic island crowd pleaser, a Coke and Rum! What is the rum that is worthy of the Muffin Men you may ask? Why Captain Morgan’s of course! The guys like to say that the more rum the better, so I think that to be safe I’m going to say you want to measure out your drink yourself because these Muffin Men were mostly having Rum with a splash of Coke and of course the lime, just for a little classy touch!
So that was their meal from this week. It was fun and easy and, from what I heard, very tasty. Hopefully I will be present at the next one and will be able to give you guys the real play-by-play of the process! Let’s give a special thanks to the sounds of the Island coming from the Muffin Man’s playlist this week. Those sounds include “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” by Bobby Mcferrin, “Wanted Dread or Alive” by Peter Tosh and “Three Little Birds” by Bob Marley! Until next time ladies, let’s give a cheer to men who can cook!
Lots of Love,
Nina and The Men at 20 Gerald
Photo Sources:
http://love-sepphoras.blogspot.com/2011/07/cuba-libre-rum-coke-cocktail-…
http://www.homewithmandy.com/2011_04_01_archive.html
http://fun4all24x7.blogspot.com/2013/11/rice-recipes-b-2.html
http://sugarandspice-celeste.blogspot.com/2012/01/lime-honey-glazed-salm…