Re-load

1-30-13

Well, what do I have to say for myself?  At least no one is reading tis so I am not disappointing anyone... right?

I am going to try and post here at least twice a week.  Until I get some photos going, I won't worry about recipes or anything else, just thoughts on food and what I have been cooking or eating lately.

So to start with, I received Chef Brian Polcyn and Michael Ruhlman's book Charcuterie for Christmas and have made a few things...

• A couple of days after Christmas I made a Rack of lamb at my parents for an adult dinner while the kids and cousins watched a movie downstairs.  I Frenched the rack, dug around for some of the meat in the scraps and made the Merguez recipe... very good as an appetizer.
• Breakfast Sausage - Yummy, I have to say, I think it says a lot about my wife (and my obsession with food) that she can wake up on a Sunday morning and see me in kitchen, dicing seasoning and grinding meat to make breakfast sausage fresh and all she says is "Good Morning",  Not "What are you doing"  not "You know you can buy sausage at the store."  
• Italian Sausage - I sort of combined his hot and sweet variations and made a slightly spicy sweet version that I really like.  I also added aged balsamic vinegar from Fustini's instead of the red wine vinegar.
• Tasso - I have made tasso in the past but not for several years.. where does the time go.  I used a combination of my recipe and Chef Polcyn's technique.  My original recipe didn't contain the #1 Cure, but I didn't really notice a difference. He had a different spice blend but I am partial to mine.  Good stuff either way.
• Duck Prosciutto - I have been wanting to make this for a long time, not sure why I didn't, saw some on a blog years ago but never made the attempt.  I did the most basic duck prosciutto in the book, salt overnight, rinse, dust with white pepper and hang for a week.  It probably could have hung for another week but it was good, easy and successful... It prepared me for bigger and better things.
• Pepperoni - I have wanted to make this since culinary school... why? Not sure.  I actually made some in the sausage portion of Chef Angus' class but because of the long drying time we never ate it, it just sort of disappeared... hmmmm, currently it is hanging in my crawl space which has a perfect temperature, maybe a little dry but I have been checking on it and I think it will be ready for tasting in another week or two.  Will take pictures and share my notes.
• Coppa - this is from the book, again I modified it slightly, adding a little paprika to the sweet recipe for color.  We just stuffed this and have it hanging in the crawl space near the pepperoni. 

Soon, I will have more, found a recipe on line for a Noisette a French Salami with hazelnuts?
Yummmmmmmmmm

Fishing Harvest

I went fishing last weekend with my brother-in-law and some of his friends and had a great time.  We rented two pontoon boats so we had two four man teams and set out to try7 our luck.  The place was Fletcher's Pond, a floodwater from a dam that was built about 100 years ago, and has perch, bluegills, rock bass, small and large mouth bass, Northern Pike, and Carp.

I am to put it mildly, not much of a fisherman.  Don't get me wrong, I like to fish and I love the idea of catching a fish, cleaning it, cooking it and enjoying it.  Unfortunately, whatever skill is required for fishing, I don't seem to have it.  What do you mean there are different weights of poles?  The fishing line matters? What lure should I use?  Too much thinking for me although I did learn some tips from and by watching the guys who were on my boat, thy really know their stuff.  Even though "Jordan" didn't have a great weekend compared to what my brother-in-law had led me to believe.

I did catch a few fish however, after buying some buzz baits, a dixie spinner, a bass-o-reno a plastic frog and some weedless lures, I caught my first and biggest large mouth on an old J Plug lure that my grandfather gave me about 20 years ago and it was out of his tackle, so it was old then.  I cast it out and as it hit the water there was a large splash as a 16 inch bass took it immediately.  I was completely startled as that sort of thing never happens to me.  Got some pictures that I plan on putting up soon.

I also caught a smaller bass a 12 inch perch and a couple of pike, all in all a record setting fishing trip for me.  I did get to bring some fish home with me, and plan on sharing the recipes, having never cooked bass before I will be doing some experimenting and hopefully you will enjoy them two... First off, here is Drunken Bass

Drunken Bass
     4 Bass Fillets
     1 t salt
     1 t Black Pepper
     1 t Paprika
     1/4 c Butter
     1 c Onion, chopped
     3 T Flour
     1 Can Beer
     1 T Honey
     1/2 t Worcestershire Sauce
     1 Lemon, cut into wedges

     1.  Rinse bass and pat dry, sprinkle with salt, pepper and paprika on both sides.
     2.  Melt butter in a hot skillet and add onions, cooking until they start to brown slightly
     3.  Add flour and cook until it darkens, the darker it gets the richer the final sauce will be.
     4.  Pour in the beer of your choice, I used a Summer Shandy and thought the final sauce was a little two 
          sweet, I would probably use something darker next time like a two hearted ale from Bell's but use
          something you like!
     5.  Let the sauce come to a boil to thicken then turn it down to a simmer
     6.  Stir in the honey and Worcestershire sauce and lay the fish in the sauce
     7.  Cover the pan and turn it down to low, let it cook 12 minutes, relax, drink another beer while you wait.
     8.  Remove the lid and carefully transfer the fish to a serving platter
     9.  Check the sauce and season it with salt and pepper to your taste
     10. Serve with lemon wedges and sauteed potatoes.

Enjoy!

Survived the Weekend

Well, I managed to pull of the menu over the weekend.  The boys had a friend over to spend the night and I think he ate 2 watermelons by himself... wasn't feeling to good after that, but it could have been the fact that they were running around outside all day and seemed to be allergic to water.  "I'm Hot" was a commonly used phrase and yet they did not want to get wet in the sprinkler or with water balloons.  Jeesh, kids these days

Due to a minor difficulty with the camera and some apple juice, I don't have any pictures yet, but here are the appetizer recipes.  I like them a lot because all of them can be made ahead of time and put in the freezer, except the aioli.  You don't have to make your own pita chips but I usually due, they turn out much better than anything you can by IMHO.

Scotch Eggs with Aioli

            Aioli

                        2 Cloves Garlic, peeled

                        2 Egg Yolk

                        1 c Olive Oil

                        Juice of one Lemon

                        1 t Cider Vinegar

                        Salt to taste

            6 Hard Boiled Eggs, peeled

            1 lb Pork Sausage

1.      In a food processor combine garlic and egg yolks

2.      Pulse to combine

3.      Add oil in a slow steady stream to in corporate

4.      After the oil is added, stir in the lemon juice and vinegar

5.      Taste and season with salt.

6.      Refrigerate aioli

7.      Pre-heat oven to 375º

8.      Divide sausage into 6 equal portions and wrap one portion around each egg

9.      Bake eggs for 35 minutes

10.  Cut into wedges and serve with aioli

Vidalia Onion Dip

            4 ½ c Onion, chopped

            4 ½ c Mayonnaise

            4 ½ c Cheddar Cheese

            1 ½ t paprika

1.      Mix all together well

2.      Pour into a casserole dish

3.      Bake 350° for 25 minutes

Pita Chips

            1 Package Pita Bread

            3 T Olive Oil

            1 T Seasoning Salt

1.     Cut Pita into bite size pieces

2.     Toss with oil and salt

3.     Bake in 350º oven for 15 minutes

4.     Stir chips every 5 minutes

Pecan Stuffed Morels

            As many Morel Mushrooms as you can find, beg, borrow or steal if you have too!

            2 T Olive Oil

            ½ c Onion, finely diced

            ½ c Celery, finely diced

            1 T Garlic, chopped

            2 c Bread Crumbs

            ¾ c Chicken Broth

            ½ c Pecans, toasted and chopped

            1 # Butter, melted

1.      Wash morels and soak in cold water sprinkled with kosher salt

2.      Heat oil in a sauté pan and add onions and celery

3.      Sauté until soft and translucent, about 6 minutes

4.      Add garlic and sauté 1 minute

5.      Stir in bread crumbs and broth and remove from heat

6.      Rinse Morels and cut in half

7.      Stuff with stuffing, (If you are lucky enough to have more morels than stuffing, make another batch.

8.      Place stuffed morels on a sheet pan in the freezer for 1 hour

9.      Dip in melted butter to coat

10.  At this point, you can freeze these for later for up to about six months, wrapped tightly under lock in key… in a refrigerated safety deposit box if you can.

11.  Pre-heat oven to 400°

12.  Place morels in a cast iron pan, or a nice heavy baking dish, I like to put a layer of extra stuffing on the bottom of the pan and arrange the mushrooms on top.

13.  Bake 20 minutes until golden.

Start with a bang! Happy 4th of July

Well, please forgive me, this is my first blog and I might tend to ramble a little bit.

Fourth of July weekend is here and our plans started simply enough, friends from out of town were going to let their son spend the night Sunday and we would all get together Monday for the big Milford parade, and then something grilled at our house, water balloons and sparklers...  So I started a menu which has evolved into this:

4^th July, 2011

Appetizers

Scotch Eggs with Aioli

Pecan Stuffed Morels

Vidalia Onion Dip with Pita Chips and Fresh Vegetables

Drink

Rhubarb Mojito

Fresh Lemonade

Bread

Roasted Rhubarb Muffins

Westphalian Pumpernickel

Salad

Watermelon and Feta Salad w/ Mint

Vegetable

Grilled Corn on the Cob with a Trio of Butters

Starch

 Green Tea Soba Noodles

Entrée

Tahini Encrusted Sirloin Steak

Dessert

Dulce de Leche Brownies a la Mode

Not too ambitious by my standards, the Vidalia Onion Dip, Stuffed Morels and Scotch Eggs are already made and in the freezer so I just have to make the drinks, the breads, the salad, the steak and the dessert.  It's probably a good idea to do the drinks last...

As I work, I will be publishing the recipes with their inspirations and sources where possible. So, I hope you enjoy this as much as I do and have a great meal!