Dateline: September 7, 2020 Boar Sweet Italian Sausage and Gazpacho

Today was the day that I am making boar sausage.  I used a conglomeration of recipes so I will provide links and details below.

I ordered the boar from D'artagnan and got 2 shoulder roasts each about 3 lbs.  I cut them up into 1 inch cubes and I also added 1.5 lbs of salt pork for the fat.  This was an experiment in terms of using the salt pork rather than the fat back.  Why I wanted to save the fat back is a mystery to me at this moment!

I had 2 very fatty packages of salt pork and decided that they would be the best.  I soaked them for about an hour to cancel some of the salinity.  I cut a thin piece and fried it up to gauge the salt level, and it was about the same as bacon, maybe even less.  I cut the salt back by half until I tasted a patty.  It needed the rest of the salt.  In it went in the emulsifying stage, along with chopped parsley and sage.

Sweet Italian Sausage, from Hank Shaw, was the major recipe of choice, and I used a bit of cure #1 because I am going to smoke them.

My additions to his excellent recipe was the chopped sage leaves, 1 tsp instacure #1, only used a coarse grind, and about 1 cup of chilled white wine.

Here they are resting to dry the casings a bit.  The 5.5 lbs of meat and 1.5 lbs of fat yielded 24 nice sausages.

They smoked up beautifully.  They actually smell more like kielbasa than italian sweets!  They are on the menu tonight!

Grilled it up last night.  Delicious.  A wonderful cross pollination between kielbasa and sweet italian.  The texture was very coarse and crumbly.  I think that was because I didn't have enough fat, or didn't emulsify it long enough by hand.  The flavor was good, it was the texture that was ok, but was looking for something less crumbly.  It is a learning process.

Served it with crispy grilled okra and a fantastic gazpacho.  This is truly a fabulous recipe.  I did make some alterations, of course!  I used some bread soaked in the vinegar, as per a suggestion from another user, added a handful of mixed herbs, parsley, chives, basil, and did not strain.  Used the vitamix and the texture was like a mousse, velvety and smooth without a trace of any fibrous bits.  Garnished with some chopped veggies, a lovely end of summer slice of heaven this meal was.

Dateline: September 5, 2020 DERBY DAY Brisket and Juleps

Bill owns a race horse that is running in the Derby.  Authentic is its name and it is trained by Bob Baffert.  Now, before your head blows completely off your shoulders, he owns just a small piece of this said horse, in fact, 100,000th of it.  If you are horse curious, then visit www.myracehorse.com and see how you too can be a stake holder.

Nothing screams out on this Labor Day Weekend like a brisket.  I got one from D'Artagnan along with some boar, which will become sausages.  I got up at 3 am and prepped the meat.  Salt and pepper only a la Franklin BBQ in Austin.  My brain does not work very well at that hour, and I prepped the meat before lighting the smoker.  

I start the smoker, and it goes through its start up cycle and says it's at 69°F.  Ok, that seemed reasonable.  Again, let me remind you, it's 3:30 in the morning.  I go back into the house, clean up, finish packing up the brisket trimmings for sausages in the future and grab the meat and head back out to the deck.  WTF the smoker is still at 69°.  

The smoker wouldn't light.  It's 3:40 in the am, and pitch dark and I have to troubleshoot the f-ing smoker.  I know that you are on the edge of your seats trying to figure out was I successful at this.  The answer is yes.  I had to pull out the grates, the grease trays, the baffle and get down to the fire pot.  After rooting around in there for a while, I reset the smoker to go back to its start up cycle, and suddenly there was a ton of smoke pouring out.  Now I had to put it back together with smoke billowing out into my eyes!  I got it done, smelling of smoke I went back to bed around 4:15.

I got up again at 7:30 and took this picture:

The internal temp was about 149° with target temp in the mid 190's.  I will probably have to wrap this in butcher's paper to help it get through the stall.  I am spraying it down with white wine mixed with water.  Brisket temp at this moment 10:20 am is in the mid 150's.  

Mint has been cut, washed, and bagged for Juleps later on.

So, it was a very exciting day yesterday!  The brisket came out lovely, albeit, a bit too salty on the top, which can be scraped off, but it was tender and luscious.  It came off the smoker around 4 PM, which made the cook about 12 hours.  I wrapped it, and put it into a cooler until 7:30, when a friend came over for a socially distant dinner on the deck.

The more exciting news was that Bill's horse in the Derby won the race!!!!!  That means he is going to be in the stud fee pool and will make back his investment and a little bit more, God willing, over the course of the horse's, ahem, ability to perform.

Dinner also included a farro and vegetable salad and a crunchy salad.  I definitely decided that I am not a fan of diet juleps.  The after taste of the diet soda is just terrible.  I made a mint simple syrup, and then forgot to put it into my julep.  Sort of describes how yesterday afternoon into the evening went.  

Dateline: September 4, 2020 Pasta Norma, Sorta

I had 3 big eggplants that needed to be cooked.  I didn't want babaganoush, or curry, I wanted pasta.  I checked out a couple of recipes on NYT Cooking website, and combined the best aspects of 2 or 3 and came up with a very satisfying dish.

Ingredients

3 eggplants, cut into about 3/4 to 1 inch crosswise slices

1 onion, minced

3 sprigs of thyme

a HUGE mess of cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 jalapeno, seeded and minced

olive oil

salt and pepper

3 cloves of garlic, smashed

4 oz pancetta

1 14 oz can diced tomatoes, drained and juice reserved

1 T calabrian pepper paste, optional

1 lb pasta of your choice, I used farfalle

Large handfuls of mixed herbage, I used basil, parsley, mint and chives

1/4 lb ricotta salata, cut into small cubes

Method

1.  Light a grill and let it get quite hot.

2.  Heat the oven to 300°F and on a sheet pan pile the onions.  Coat with a bit of olive oil, top with salt and pepper and the thyme sprigs.  On top of that pile the halved cherry tomatoes, garlic, salt and pepper and if necessary add a little olive oil.  Into the oven they go for about 1 hour.  Check on them, you want them to start to shrivel and give up some of their juices.  Adjust temp accordingly.

3.  While grill is heating, brush, or use your fingers, the eggplant slices with some olive oil.  Hold until grill is hot.

4.  Grill the eggplant until the slices are deep brown on both sides.  Cool them for a bit and then dice into 1/2 cubes and hold.  

5.  In a pan large enough to hold the tomatoes and eggplant comfortable, heat some olive oil and add pancetta.  Saute until the pancetta gives up most of its fat and is just starting to brown.  Add drained cubed tomatoes, pepper paste, and garlic.

6.  Set up a big pot of salted water for the pasta.  Bring to a boil and cook pasta when sauce is just about finished for the recommended al dente time.

7.  When tomatoes have shriveled and the edges browning a bit, dump the entire sheet pan of stuff into the pan with the pancetta.  If more liquid is needed add some, or all, of the reserved tomato juices.

8.  Chop the herbs and hold.

9.  In a bowl large enough to the pasta and the sauce, put 1/2 the sauce, 1/2 the herbs, and 1/2 the ricotta salata, top with the pasta, on top of the pasta add the balance of the sauce, herbs, and diced cheese.

10.  Serve immediately

Of course, guess who forgot to take a photo of the finished product, this gal!  This was very tasty.  The grilling of the eggplant added a nice flavor profile, and the pepper paste a necessary kick.  The layering in the serving bowl works well because this is not a "saucy" dish.  All things are about the same size and blend together nicely.  You could use cubed mozzarella, or grated romano cheese, but the ricotta salata was perfect in its saltiness.  

Even Bill, who really does not like eggplant, enjoyed it and grew to like the contrast of the charred thicker skin on the eggplant cubes.  It was given 2 thumbs up!

Dateline: September 3, 2020 Fresh Yellowfin Tuna

As luck is running these days, there was a knock at the door last night just after we finished dinner.  At the door was Eugene with a BEAUTIFUL loin of yellowfin tuna which he caught the night before.  It never fails, I order swordfish and Eugene will show up with a big hunk of tuna either that day or the next.  It's a beautiful thing.

I decided to grill it and put it on a nicoise salad of sorts.

Ingredients

Tuna steaks

olive oil

salt and pepper

Handful of yellow pear tomatoes, halved

2 yellow beefsteak tomatoes, cubed

jicama, cubed

1/2 sweet onion sliced thinly

3 waxy potatoes, steamed and sliced

green beans, steamed and cut into pieces

1/2 jalapeno pepper, minced

1/4 fresno pepper, minced

1/2 orange sweet bell pepper, cubed

herbage, I used parsley, basil, mint, chives, and thyme, chopped finely

sherry vinegar

olive oil

Method

1.  Prep tuna, lightly oil both sides and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.  Set aside.

2.  Light grill get really roaring.  When it reaches a temp of about 400°F, damp down vents, and clean grates.

3.  Assemble salad douse liberally with sherry vinegar and mix well.

3.  Grill tuna 2 minutes on a side.  No more!  If you have thin steaks, then only 1.5 minutes.  You can always heat them up more, but once they are toast, they are done!

4.   Slice enough tuna for the salad and reserve any remaining steaks.  Add olive oil to salad, as well as salt and pepper.  Toss well.  Add tuna sliced on top and serve.

Dateline: September 2, 2020 Swordfish, Farro, Cauliflower and Salad

 I ordered FreshDirect Swordfish, again.  When they rate something 5 stars, don't think about it, just order it.  It will be fabulous, unless, of course, you don't like that food to begin with!

I wanted to keep it relatively simple, as it was raining, so I would have to cook it indoors.  

Into the InstantPot went the 1 cup of farro, rinsed well, and 1.25 cups of water, along with a nice glug of leftover white wine.  Shut it up, and hit pressure, high, for 12 minutes.  Perfect!

For the cauliflower, I cleaned up the head, and sliced it into thick steaks.  Then I oiled them with olive oil and a nice coating of salt and pepper and into a 450°F oven they went.  I reduced the oven to 400°F after they went in.

Salad was beautiful yellow beefsteak tomatoes, cored and chopped into 1/2 dice, sliced onion, diced jicama, a few cherry tomatoes for color, and cucumber.  Sherry vinegar and olive oil finished it out.

For the garnishing the fish, I finely minced the other half of onion, diced a yellow bell pepper, a bit of hot pepper, 3 cloves of garlic, smashed and mashed with a bit of salt for grit.  Now I collected some herbs from the garden, basil, parsley, thyme, mint, and chives.  These all got minced up as well.

In a frying pan large enough to hold the fish in one layer, heat up some oil.  Pat the fish dry, and coat with a little bit of oil and salt and pepper it to taste.  When the pan is hot, add the fish.  You want to cook it only long enough to get a nice brown crust on the bottom side, so don't play with the fish, let it sit in the pan and just wait!

Turn the fish, and brown the other side.  These were very thick steaks, so I also checked with a thermometer and the fish was at about 125-135°F when I removed it to a waiting plate.  Into the pan went the onions, peppers, and garlic.  These were sauteed until they softened.  The minced herbs went in, along with a bit more oil and the remnants of the preserved lemon marinade from the other night and the juice of 1/2 a lime.  Combine together and add the fish back in, brownest side up, along with any juices that have accumulated.  Lid the pan and turn the heat to simmer.  Depending on how done you like your swordfish, you may just turn the heat off and lid the pan.

When the cauliflower has browned up a bit and can be easily pierced with the tip of a knife, it is dinner time.

Dateline: September 1, 2020 Chicken Thighs and Greens

I had a hankering for lemon, preserved lemon, and decided to take one out of the jar in the fridge and blitz it with 3 big cloves of garlic and a bit of a hot pepper that was in the brine.  After it was ground up, I added some olive oil and blitzed again.  A chunky luscious puree was the result.

   

This puree was then the marinade on chicken thighs and added to collards and kale cut into ribbons with 1/4 an onion thinly sliced, plus some olive oil and hot pepper flakes.  Oh my, this was tasty.

I grilled the thighs over a hot fire and they got beautifully browned and crisped edges.  These were naked thighs so I had to be careful about letting them cook too long.  Stringy thighs might work on 

models, but not on a dinner plate.

Speaking of dinner plates, I ate on Uncle Ho's face!  Not to disrespect him, but his face is everywhere on the set of commemorative plates we bought in Hanoi.

This dinner turned out fabulously.  Bill, who really does not see lemon as an essential ingredient, found the greens to be wonderful...had multiple servings!  That's my indicator on the like or no like meter.  I even got him to put some of the surplus marinade on the crunchy salad.  I thought it was an exquisite addition with that extra hit of salt and tart.

Dateline: August 31, 2020 Cleaning out the Fridge! Vegetarian Red Curry with baked Spicy Tofu

I realized that the situation in the fridge had become untenable.  I had veggies in all corners of it, and each at a different level of "goodness".

Out they all came, and those close to their maker were set aside, those that already were shaking hands with their maker were tossed, and those still on this side of heaven were put back for another day.

What I had to work with:  a very small head of cabbage, 3/4 of a yellow bell pepper, a couple of hot peppers, onions, scallions, and a tomatillo.  Bingo!  Red curry with veggies and rice noodles.

Red Curry Vegetables and Rice Noodles 

Ingredients

1 14 oz container of firm or extra firm tofu

1 cup homemade or store bought spicy bbq sauce

1 large onion, sliced into thin quarter moons

1 tomatillo cut into small chunks

1 yellow bell pepper cut into thin strips

1-2  hot red peppers, seeded and cut into thin strips

1 small head of cabbage, cored and cut into thin strips

1 bunch of scallions, sliced cross-wise into rings

1 small jar of red curry paste

1 can coconut milk, chilled without shaking

fish sauce

1 T shrimp fry paste  (Indonesian ingredient, optional)

1 T coconut oil

2 servings of rice noodles, I used a fresh brand, but any rice noodle will do, just prepare according to directions on the package

Method

1.  Press the tofu to remove as much water as you can.  I find wrapping it up in lots of paper towels and pressing down on it gently with my hands several times does the trick.  Unwrap from paper towels and turn the block on its long side and divide into thirds, so you have 3 one-half inch blocks.  Cut the blocks into 1/2 cubes.

2.  Pour 1/3 of the sauce into a plastic bag, add 1/3 of the tofu cubes.  Be gentle, do not break up the cubes.  Add 1/3 more of the sauce and another 1/3 of the tofu, followed by the last third of each.  Gently distribute the sauce all around the tofu and put into fridge for at least an hour.

3.  After an hour pre heat oven to 400° F and line a sheet pan with sides with either a teflon cooking mat or parchment paper.  I used a mat.  Gently tumble the tofu cubes onto the paper or mat and spread them out in a single layer.  Put pan into oven for 15 minutes, then rotate the pan and bake for another 15 minutes.  There should be no watery residue on the paper or mat.  If there is, put back into oven for a bit.  Remove from oven and if any residue has burned, gently pry away from the cubes.  Take those burnt bits, if they are NOT bitter, you can stop fussing and just all burnt bits and all in later.  

Crispy tofu bits separated from burnt bits

4.  I used my instant pot but not for pressure cooking, just for saute and slow cook in the pot.  Melt the coconut oil and add the ENTIRE jar of the red curry paste along with the shrimp fry paste.  I used Roland brand curry, which is not very spicy, to my taste buds, if you are using a Thai or Indonesian brand, use smaller amounts and add more to your liking.

5.  Mix the curry paste with the coconut oil until well combined.  Allow to cook on low until the fat separates from the mixture.  Spoon in the coconut cream from the can of coconut milk trying not to take any of the liquid beneath it.  Reserve what remains in the can of coconut milk.  It will get added later.

6.  Mix well and allow to cook on low until the oil separates again.  When that happens, add the vegetables and mix well and cook until softened.  

Veggies on their way to being softened up

7.  Add coconut water from can and mix well.  Taste.  If too spicy, add a bit of sugar to cut the spice.  If not spicy enough, add some more hot peppers.  Add fish sauce if the salt level is too low for your.

8.  Prepare the rice noodle according to the package, and then add to the curry.  Mix well.  If more liquid is needed, add water or broth to get the consistency you like.

9.  Put cooker on slow cook for 30 minutes.  Serve with tofu bits and thinly sliced cucumbers on top.

Just before adding the noodles

For Bill and I this had a perfect spice level, enough to get us both sniffing and reaching for tissues, and not so spicy that we couldn't eat more!

 

Dateline: August 30, 2020 CHORIZO

As per usual, I had a delivery from FreshDirect and I had a big ole pork shoulder coming.  I had been thinking about making chorizo and decided Friday was the day.  

Mexican Chorizo Recipe  click on link for recipe from Serious Eats

I made a few changes to grind size and number of grinds, but other than that, it was a written.  I ground the meat through a large plate, added the cold vinegar, and then ground thru a medium plate before stuffing into casings.

Another change I made was to cube the meat and fat up add the spices and let rest over night in fridge before grinding on Saturday.  Sure made the house smell good.  After filling the casings, I left them on a rack over a pan to air dry over night.  Sure made the fridge smell good.  I cut them apart, and portioned them into bags to be shared with neighbors.  I only made 3 lbs of chorizo, now thinking back, that seems stupid!

The over night rest really help set the deep reddish brown color associated with chorizo.  Good enough to eat raw!  Well, perhaps not.

Beautiful color, no?

Just before sealing them up!

Happy Sausaging!

 

Dateline: August 29, 2020 Almost Vegetarian Mexican-ish Stew

I had a hankering for a Mexican Style stew and thought of beans, peppers, corn, and tomatillos...All available in fridge or pantry.  I also had about 7 ounces of uncased chorizo which would add some flavor to the party as well.

Mexican-ish Bean and Chorizo Stew

Ingredients

3/4 cup each of three different type dried beans, I used greek white beans, caballero, and cranberry

6-7 ounces uncased chorizo

1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped

1 Fresno pepper, seeded and chopped

1 large onion, minced

3-4 large tomatillos, chopped

salt and pepper

1 T Mexican oregano

1-2 T dark chili powder

1.5 t chipotle chili powder

1 t ground cumin

1/2 t ground coriander

sprinkle of adobo seasoning

28 oz tomato sauce, marinara type or one 28 oz can crushed tomatoes 

2-3 c water

3 ears of corn stripped of kernels

Method

1.  Either soak the beans overnight, or using a pressure cooker, cover with 3 inches of water and bring to a boil.  Boil 2 minutes and remove and let rest for 1 hour.  (I used an InstantPot for this entire recipe).  After 1 hour drain and rinse the beans.

2.  Heat the InstantPot on saute, medium heat, and when hot add chorizo.  Cook until most of the fat has been rendered, and remove to a small dish.

3.  In the rendered fat, add the onions, tomatillos, and hot peppers and saute until softened.  Add beans, tomato sauce, chili powders, cumin, coriander, oregano, adobo and salt and pepper.  You may need to add about 1 or 2 cups of water here.  You don't want to get the burn message!  Change the setting to pressure cook, high, for 23 minutes.  

4.  When time is up, allow 10 minutes of natural release and quick release the rest.  Stir well to keep things from getting too thick at the bottom.  Taste the sauce, and check the beans.  Take 1 of each type of bean that you used out and cut in half.  If there is ANY white regions in the beans, add corn kernels and return to pressure cook for another 10 minutes.  Natural release for 10 minutes again, and check the beans again.  

If your beans were completely cooked, then add corn kernels and put InstantPot on stew for 20 minutes.

Taste for seasonings.  Serve with steamed rice.

Dateline: August 28, 2020 Ribs with Sauce, Broccoli, and Crunchy Salad

My order from FreshDirect came this morning.  In it were 2 racks of pork ribs and a boneless pork shoulder.  The shoulder was cut into two 3+ lb. chunks.  One frozen for another purpose, to be decided, and the other chopped up and mixed with chorizo spices waiting to be ground.  Tomorrow's project!

Tonight, I took one of the racks of pork ribs and coated it with a pig rub variation.  

Rib Rub II

Ingredients

1 T guajillo chili powder

2 t kosher salt

1 t ground cumin

1/2 t ground coriander

1 t dry mustard

1 t smoked paprika

1 t ground black pepper

white wine/shoju/sake

Tomato Based BBQ Sauce for Ribs

2 c tomato sauce, preferably homemade, with any bay leaves removed

1/3 to 1/2 c cider vinegar

2 T chili powder

1 T agave syrup

1 T molasses

salt to taste

Methods

1.  Mix rub ingredients together well, set aside.  Set oven to 350° F.

2.  Dry off ribs, and remove membrane from bones.  Trim off any excess fat and freeze for sausages!

3.  Rub the rub all over the ribs, coating each side and edges and rubbing in well.  Place in a shallow sheet pan and put into oven for 1 hr and 10 minutes.  At about 35 minute mark, pour enough wine/shoju/sake into the bottom of the pan to create a shallow lake.  This will create a moist environment where the ribs will steam as well as roast.

4.  While the ribs are cooking, get a sauce pan and add 2 cups homemade tomato sauce (preferably a marinara sauce or equally straight ahead tomato sauce).  To the saucepan, add a good glug of the cider vinegar, chili powder, and the agave syrup.  Stir well and taste.  Add salt, vinegar, more agave or chili powder.  Bring to a slow simmer.  Use an immersion blender to blend everything together.  Taste again.  Add molasses and another glug of cider.  Stir and bring to a simmer again.  Reduce to thicken.  Taste and adjust, if necessary.

5.  After 70 minutes, pull ribs out and coat the top with a couple of hefty tablespoons of the sauce.  Coat the ribs evenly.  Raise the oven temp to 500° F and return ribs to over for about 15 minutes or until the sauce has set and is beginning to darken on the meat.  

6.  Remove ribs to a cutting board and separate them into individual ribs.  Serve with the remaining sauce on the side.

Uncut and waiting for the main event

Cut up and ready to eat

Sauce to the left, and broccoli, steamed to the right

Go to crunchy salad, cucumbers, onions, celery, peppers, tomatoes dressed with sherry vinegar and olive oil

The ribs were really, really tasty.  Easy eating, little resistance and nicely spicy.  I am usually not a sauce girl, ever, but the mood struck me as I was hunting through the fridge and saw the containers of tomato sauce from the other night.  It was an excellent stroke of genius, I might add.  Sweet, just barely, tart, moderated, spicy, pleasantly, and thick!  Will try the sauce again in the future.