hello again!
i am still cooking and we are still eating even though i haven't been keeping this ol' blog up to date. in fact, we've been eating really well as of late!!
let me demonstrate.
a few sundays ago i made an AWESOME cider and onion braised pork shoulder. here's the fixin's for a killer sunday dinner.
the shoulder braised for a few hours and i served it over a cauliflower puree with some braised kale on the side. mmm! tasty!
and look at these beauties!
the days are slowly but surely getting a little longer and the temperature is slowly but surely getting a little warmer so our chickens are laying again. we have 6 birds total now and are getting 4-5 eggs a day.
here's my girls!
my love for eggs is hard to put into words. i think my last meal would be dippy eggs and rye toast. or maybe a scrambled egg and chorizo taco. mmmm....eggs.
just look at these babies!!
and speaking of killer eggs - check out this incredible sandwich i stumbled across the other day - an egg in a hole grilled cheese.
my gawd! dippy eggs AND grilled cheese!! they are like my two favorite foods on the planet! i made them that night and they were HEAVENLY!
here's the supplies.
butter. eggs. cheese. seriously. this is what life is all about man!
sorry. no photo of the finished product due to me gobbling this baby up the second it came out of the pan. this sandwich is pure perfection. totally awesome. i wish i had one right now.
in other news the pork from our meat share arrived.
in addition to the nasty bits we received bacon, steaks, ham, butt roast and this gigantic tub o' lard!
i've got big plans for this lard. namely pie crusts and fried chicken. oh man. i am so pumped! i also ordered pork & sons from the library and am super excited to start researching.
my culinary co-conspirator and i are gonna kick that pig's ass!!
and speaking of my culinary co-conspirator (aka sister-by-choice aka soon-to-be-sister-in-law) check out her butchering skills!
this past weekend we played duck, duck, goose with one of our ducks and a duck and a goose from our meat peeps.
this was the first big butcher for both of us. i have done some plucking with our own birds but mike did all the butchering. i was intimidated and a little scared but NOT anymore!
we propped up our main man's cookbook for guidance and went to town. we each tackled a duck and then since it was my co-conspirator's birthday celebration she tackled the goose.
i think we did a helluva job!
and after the butchering - we cooked!
first of all we bagged up the carcasses and got them in the freezer. they will become stock at some point down the road.
then we rendered all of the fat from the fowl. it slowly bubbled away on the stove top while we tackled our other projects.
one duck breast became duck prosciutto (it's hanging right now and should be done by tomorrow). mmm! once it's ready we will slice it thin, pour ourselves a nice glass of red wine and sit back and talk about how awesome we are (hopefully).
all of the legs, thighs and wings got rubbed down with a salt/oil/pepper/garlic/bay leaf paste and went into a pot to rest for confit.
and then we tackled our dinner.
we seared the goose & duck breasts and then made a sauce using onions and garlic and red wine and fig preserves. mmm! we served the seared breasts over a sweet potato puree alongside some roasted brussel sprouts (sprouts i blanched & froze back in september or october!).
and we feasted!
to top it off - a lemon curd tart with blackberries and homemade whipped cream.
man oh man! this was a killer meal! i was exhausted and drunk on wine and enthusiasm by the end of it all. it was a wonderful day!
but the fowl didn't stop there!
we split up the legs, thighs and wings and the rendered fat and tackled the confit the next day (or was it two days later...) on our own.
i didn't have enough rendered fat to cover the fowl so i used some olive oil too. i should've used some of that darn lard but i didn't think of it till afterwards!
here it is at the beginning.
and here it is at the end (3 1/2 hours later at 300 degrees).
it had shrunk down quite a bit so i transferred it to my single woman's dutch oven and stuck it in the back of the fridge.
we'll revisit this confit in a month or so when my culinary co-conspirator and i regroup and tackle cassoulet. (and i know that ours will look much better than this wikipedia picture. blegh!).
and let's end on a sweet note. creamy, warm rice pudding with pure ohio maple syrup. mmm!!
i have been on a HUGE indian kick as of late and thankfully mike has become quite the enthusiast. (sweet!)
the last time i stopped at the indian store i snagged a big bag of green chilis and a couple packages of paneer so i'd be ready when the mood struck.
tonight it struck. butter paneer masala!
the spices.
dhania (coriander powder), garam masala and red chili powder.
ginger, garlic and cilantro paste.
rough chop your ginger, garlic and cilantro. use your mortar and pestle and make a paste. sometimes i use my mini food processor but that was in the basement and i didn't feel like going down there. plus the mortar and pestle makes it chunkier and thicker. and better. (i think so anyways).
green chilis.
mmm. i found that gnarly one on the left in the very bottom of the crisper. probably past its prime but meh - i chopped it up anyways.
paneer!
paneer is so awesome. so, so delicious. it is probably one of my top ten favorite foods. YUM! i need to start making my own....
i started the onions and chilis in a little oil in a hot pan. these cooked until they were nice and brown.
notice that rice? i have always struggled with rice. it seems so easy but i have continuously fucked it up. until i finally figured it out!!
so my old method was boil the water, add the rice, simmer. this is all wrong.
now i always rinse my rice first. i don't know what this does but two bags of basmati from the indian store and ATK suggest rinsing. and now my rice is finally perfect so i rinse.
i add the water and the rice to a pot and bring it to a boil. then reduce the heat, cover it and let it simmer until the water evaporates - like 8-10 minutes.
then remove the pan from the heat and let it sit (don't touch! keep it covered!) for another 15 minutes or so. perfect!
ok, so back to the onions and chilis. here is where i added my spices and i let this cook for just a minute or two.
then i added a couple blops of tomato paste and cooked it for another minute before adding about 1/2 cup of milk and a few tablespoons of water. i covered the pan and let that cook for about 5 minutes.
then i added some heavy cream (this is americanized butter paneer masala - i'm not going to front) and simmered it for just a few more minutes so the paneer would be heated through. and i finished it with some fresh cilantro.
mmm! and look at that naan! i wish i could tell you that i made this but i didn't. the indian store sells it frozen and you just bake it for like 5 minutes. they also sell little containers of coriander and mint chutney (again, i KNOW i can make this myself but quick week night dining = frozen naan and cups of pre-made chutney).
this was really, really good. delicious!!
remember those steak sandwiches? well there was a ton of meat leftover so i decided to make a pot pie. except - i was too lazy to make a pie crust so i opted for a biscuit top instead.
i just made my standard buttermilk biscuit recipe. easy.
but i'd also need some gravy. and since i had no meat drippings i'd need to investigate. i went with the america's test kitchen all purpose gravy. (i got their complete cookbook for christmas a couple of years ago - LOVE it!!)
anyways, the gravy was super easy and while that was simmering/reducing i sauteed some veggies for the pie - carrots, onions, celery, parsnips and turnips - in a little butter. once those were nice and soft i stirred in the cubed beef
just to warm it up.
i stirred in the gravy and then poured it all into my big dutch oven. i topped it with the biscuit and baked it in a 400 degree oven for about 25 minutes or so.
look at this beauty! (and check out that extra gravy for drizzling. mmm!)
i garnished with a bit of fresh basil (from our sweet aero garden) and i drizzled on a bit of the extra gravy. i decided to wash this down with a nice cold glass of milk.
aren't my new salt & pepper shakers cool? thanks lydia!
