Pancetta and Carbonara

Yeah, I know. Crappy picture. Wah.

My pancetta finished a week ago, but, due to my work schedule and various things going on, was only able to use it today. I decided that the best way to use it was in a carbonara, of sorts. And by the way? I was a little nervous about my Pancetta. Since we are in Utah, and the air is so dry, I was worried that it would be Pancetta Jerky instead. Although my edges were a wee bit dry, it was gloriously red and beautiful once I cut into it. I was so excited and really, quite proud of my charcuterie accomplishment!

Back when we were living in Virginia, just outside of DC, one of our favorite places to eat was Brio at Tyson's Corner (after they added on the extra wing). They always made a great Carbonara, and we would always get it with their chopped salad. Carbonara seemed like the perfect vehicle for my home made Wild Boar Pancetta for challenge two of Charcutepalooza.

Since I didn't have access to anything large (pork belly-wise), I secured a lovely wild boar pork belly from Caputo's in downton SLC. A little less than 2 lbs., so I thought too small to roll and tie. I decided to just wrap it in cheese cloth and hang it flat. The edges got a little too dried out, but the inside was just too divine, as you can see from the mediocre picture above. The curing process was quite simple. I really must invest in a wine refridgerator to control the humidity until we buy our dream old home with a root/wine cellar that will do double duty. In any event, using the wild boar made it a bit richer than typical pork, but oh! How could you go wrong??

In any event, like I said, Carbonara! I spent a week researching various methods of Carbonara. Cream? Stock? Which is better? I determined that the best first method would be the authentic stock version. If worse came to worse, we still have lots of pancetta to try the cream version, right? (I may still do that just for experimentation purposes, even though it isn't quite authentic).

So, I wasn't much in the mood to make my own pasta tonight (that is reserved for tomorrow wherin I will make Duck Breast Prosciutto Ravioli), but I got this lovely tri-colore bowtie pasta by Rao's (in NYC!!) . Salted the pasta water exceptionally well, and set it to boil. Pre-heate a sautee pan over a medium high heat. Prepped three eggs, separated (froze the whites for macaroons or whatever...nothing goes to waste), whisking the yolks gently for use in a prep dish or small mixing bowl. Cube about a cup of pancetta (in about a 1/4" dice), and once your water for pasta is near boiling, add your pancetta to the sautee pan. Since pancetta is a high fat cut of meat, it will render quite a bit of fat. Yum! In this case, don't drain it. It's a great seasoning agent, and really helps everything come together. Measure out 1 1/2 cups of stock. Once your pancetta has cooked for a few minutes and rendered quite a bit of fat *AND* you know your pasta is al dente,  add your stock to the sautee pan and bring to boil, which will come together quite quickly. Transfer your pasta directly to that sautee pan using a spider, stirring well to combine. Remove from heat immediately, and add your three egg yolks. (The heat from the pasta will cook your yolks, but if you are pregnant, elderly, or of ill health, please excercise caution and coddle your eggs briefly in hot water or the stock before adding them to the pasta). Immediately add two large hand-fulls of fresh grated parmesan cheese (don't use the crap from the green can or the whole thing will be ruined), and stir until melted and combined. Serve immediately.

I used fresh eggs and fresh cheese, and stock that I made last weekend. The pork belly turned into pancetta was humanely and locally raised. It makes all the difference in the world!

Duck Prosciutto

Again, apologies for the crappy picture.

This is my first experiment with Charcuterie at home. I'm so pleased! I was really concerned with how the dry air of Utah would affect the outcome, and as you can see the bottom side did dry out a little more than I think it was supposed to. Also, I was really nervous to eat this. I know I know - a week of a full salt cure took care of any risk of botulism, but I still thought that I might put it in my mouth, seize up, and collapse on the floor, much like you see in the old Looney Tunes cartoons... even with "x" for eyes.

Nevertheless, we are still here. We only have half of the breast left! My husband couldn't get enough of it! It really is incredibly flavorful, and has a delicate saltiness to it. I actually chiffonade-d a bunch of it and threw it into a baked mac and cheese dish. I thought it would go well with the three cheeses I used - a local sheep's milk blue cheese from Snowy Mountain Sheep Creamery, Promontory Cheddar from Beehive Cheese Co., and a french Gruyere. Yum! We pretty much ate a lot of it the moment we brought it in. I think I will definitely pick up more duck breast from Nels on Saturday at the locavore market.

So this Year of Meat. Charcutepalooza. What am I doing this for? Well, I've always been a science nerd. My favorite part of science was always lab. I see cooking as a giant, and tasty, extension of lab. Except there is no chance of explosion... generally speaking. I'm looking to expand my cooking chops in new ways that push my comfort levels a little. I also know I could just buy most of this in the store, but it's really expensive to do that, and you don't always know what its provenance is. Part of this is in an effort to learn conservation. I have discovered that when you are really invested in every step of the process of cooking, you are far less likely to create food waste. I also like the idea of being as self-sustaining as possible, and being able to turn the most basic of ingredients into a finished item. You don't *need* to go buy ricotta... you can make it with milk, cream and vinegar. You don't *need* to buy bread or bagels or pasta... you can make it with flour, eggs, water, a little salt and sometimes yeast (of course other things if you are making more than the basics). I get a great sense of accomplishment to say that I made this, and the taste difference shows. Lastly, a lot of this is just because I really like to eat these things. Not gonna lie. I like meat. (But only good meat!)

Anyway, enough rambling. My Wild Boar Belly has cured for the last week, and was just set to hang in the closet. I didn't roll it - it was just too small - so I just wrapped it in cheesecloth, and it will hang for 5-7 days. Yum!

Challah Bread from Scratch

So my husband and I have this joke. When I am out of the house and I call him, when he picks up I say "Challah!" (Pronouced Holla) and he replies "bread". Get the joke?! Yeah, we're nerds. We always laugh, even if you don't.

Per Michael Ruhlman's month of bread, I just tried the recipe posted for Challah. It was so easy to make, AND so rewarding in the taste department.

For those of you who don't know what it is, Challah is a bread made by those in the Jewish faith (normally, although anyone can make or eat it) for holy days, and it has very specific religious symbolism. In NYC it is everywhere. When you go to Ben's, there is a basket of Challah placed on the table. When you pass Zabar's in Penn Station, there are fresh loaves in the cases. When you go to any diner (ANY diner) a basket of challah is put on the table. It is a sweet and eggy bread. Eat it with butter and jam, make french toast with it... pure decadence however you like it.

Like I said, it's not even time consuming. You make the dough, knead it a little, rise it over night, and then the next day you separate it out, braid it, and bake it. Done! If you do go about making this, when you set it to rise overnight in the fridge, do make sure to put it in your largest mixing bowl. The dough really rises - it almost eclipsed my 5 QT mixing bowl! It's like the dough that ate New York! I advise making this on a weekend - dough on Friday night, bake on Saturday, French toast on Sunday (if it lasts that long). This recipe does yield two large loaves, or four smaller loaves.

Enjoy!

Why We Should Eat Local

I'm pretty pleased. My work schedule, for the first time in a long time, has become  "normal", as in I have  my weekends free. Caputo's hosts a locavore market during the winters (I think it runs until March) wherein local farmers bring their wares downtown, and we shop gleefully. :-)

Since my schedule just shifted to "normal", albeit temporarily, my first order of business was to attend the locavore market.

As an aside I have to say that I am really suspicious of any supermarket meat - even Sunflower, much as I love them - because they just can't seem to tell me where their meat comes from. I've seen way too many documentaries about how places like Perdue, and other no-name brands pump their birds so full of god-knows-what that their legs cannot support their bodies and they collapse under their own weight, eventually either eating their own shit and being laden with bacteria and antibiotics, or their waste and bugs and decomposing bodies being eaten later on by cows which meat is *also* commonly sold in most every 24 hour supermarket, and then washed with Ammonia to prevent eColi or Salmonella. No joke. Ugh. A long time of eating disorders has made me uber-controlling about what goes into my mouth. But then, regardless of eating disorders, why would you want to eat meat treated with ammonia? Or from an animal who eats its or other animal's waste?

Since my father in law passed away this fall my husband and I have talked alot about where we would like to land, geographically. He inherited a sizeable gun collection, and we've often talked about the practicality of hunting, and living in a place where this is an option. We're both huge animal rights peeps, and my husband has often said that, although he would love to hunt for our food, he's not sure how he would feel about killing an animal.

There are a few points I would like to make.

First, where my parents live in upstate NY, there is a huge hunting community. Someone pointed out to my mom that a big reason they hunt has to do with humanity (I'm sure you are all wondering how that works out) and the point made to my mom was that the herd needs to be thinned. If we did not hunt, many of the herd would die of starvation. How is it humane to let an animal die of starvation? Let it serve a purpose!

Secondly, I've been reading Glen Beck's book "Broke" (please don't judge me... he makes some great points). One of the points he makes that has resonated the most with me is how in "olden days", which is to say 100+ years ago in this country, for those of us whose ancestors have been here that long, there were no food stamps or welfare. We came together as a community to take care of one another, supporting those who were in need while we were caring for ourselves.

I feel like this second point is a lesson that I really need to focus on this year. I have found this message repeated to me in at least three different manners so far this year, and we are only going into our third week of the year (the first being from "Broke", the second being from "Lark Rise to Candleford", and the third being from my charcuterie project, in terms or learning how to use every part of every animal).

Back to the locavore market...

So this morning we went to the locavore market, and there was local poultry farmer. I was so excited about their product! They had duck! And they were just so friendly and so accomodating! In true Nicole fashion, when we got home I jumped online to see what more I could learn about this farm. I found this compelling article from the SL Tribune about their story. Honestly, I wish I had known they were going to be there... I would have waited to buy my duck breasts for my charcutepalooza makeup assignment. My hubby and I were both so excited that they had duck. Both of us are native East Coasters, and grew up eating duck relatively frequently. The only time we can ever get duck here in the Mountain West is when the local supermarkets get it from Canada, frozen, and pumped with God-knows-what. The farmer, Nels, was so excited that WE were so excited about duck! Whatever we wanted he would be able to provide... duck breasts, thighs and legs for confit, whole birds, chickens... special orders even! Fresh! When I looked at his profile on Slow Food Utah we found out that he also sells Rabbit and Pheasant, in addition to his chicken, turkey, and duck... YUM!!!

After I read the article on SL Tribune, I was reminded of why it is important to support each other. Our governmental forefathers did not intend to have extensive involvement in our lives. They believed in limited government, and set up the Constitution to reflect that. Welfare, Food Stamps... these are expensive and new govenment programs, none of which are altruistic. Wouldn't it just be better if we got back to our basics of learning how to support not only ourselves - but also those around us? I suppose I mean to say that, yes - buying from a local farmer is a little more expensive than buying from Smith's or Harmon's or - God Forbid - Walmart... but you know that you are not only supporting another person just like yourself trying to make ends meet, and getting amazing quality at the same time. When I began roasting our duck tonight, I smelled everything that duck was. The apartment was filled with aromas of fresh fields and grass and every good thing that it was fed. Not only can you smell it, but you can taste it in every bite. You can't get that anywhere else.

Segue... my husband and I were talking on the way home from the locavore market about hunting again. I said to him that it is a big decision to either hunt or buy local. By buying local we are taking our lives out of the hands of places like Con Agra, Perdue, and other nefarious major meat producers, and taking control. I said, wouldn't you rather know, as an animal rights person, that the animal you are eating led a happy life and was treated humanely? Or would you rather eat an animal that was just another dollar sign and did not lead a happy life, packed like sardines into a pen where their bodies, in an effort to increase revenue, were pumped full of crappy things? Does the dollar or two that you save buying that shit (and it really is shit) really make that much difference in your day-to-day life? Research has already proven that additives in your meat really do create health issues. Doesn't it feel good to know that, in sustaining yourself you are also helping to sustain another?

That is why you should buy local.

To contact Nels Anderson and family (and please do if you are local - his poultry is amazing):
Heritage Valley Poultry
12025 North 10800 West
Tremonton, Utah 84337
(435)770-2365
mbanca@nebonet.com

They are going to be at the locavore market again on Feb 5th, and they will take special orders. They also do CSA shares (full and half). Please support your local farmers, wherever you are.

Ciabatta Bread from Scratch!

On Michael Ruhlman's blog, he is dedicating this month to bread making from scratch. A recipe was posted here for a fabulous recipe from Two Sisters Bakery up in Homer, Alaska for Ciabatta bread from scratch. The pictures were mouth-watering, and I just knew I had to try my hand at it.

It was a great success! The process is a bit fussy, but I think alot of that was my lack of confidence that I wasn't royally f***ing everything up. Was my starter too dry in this Utah air? I think it looks funny! Oh good, it wasn't dry at all. Will the starter break down enough when I add the rest of the dough ingredients? Is it rising properly? Did I stir it down enough? Blah, blah, blah... but as Carri from the bakery said "Trust the process... it works!". It really does as long as you follow the recipe, which I hawked over throughout the entire process.

I was probably never buy another loaf of bread again (well, maybe French Bread, since that one is a little beyond me right now). Once I got over the insecurities I had, it was a remarkably easy process. And the end result was AMAZING! When my husband tried it he started to think of a hundred ways he could enjoy it. :-) It's chewy, and light, and has a delicate flavor (and the holes are even an appropriate size, considering how dry it is here in UT). Do it!

Hazlenut Truffles

I regularly make truffles - not always this kind - but I just finished these last night. Delish!

Edited to add: In my haste to get back to my Ciabatta bread, I neglected to put the recipe for the truffles on here.

3.5 oz of good bittersweet chocolate
3.5 oz of good semi-sweet chocolate (don't use chips - they have stabilizers in them which will ruin the whole thing.)
1/2 cup of heavy cream
1 1/2 tbs of Frangelico or other Hazelnut Liquor
1/2 tsp of good vanilla extract

Put your chocolate in a heat-resistant mixing bowl.

Put your heavy cream on the stove in a small sauce pot, and heat to just at a boil (don't let it boil for more than a second... yuck!)

As soon as your cream hits the boil, remove immediately, and strain over your chocolate bits. Stir until smooth. Add your liquor and vanilla, stir until smooth.

Cover and let it set in the fridge overnight.
~~~~~~~~~~
The next day (or whenever you get around to it) chop 1 cup of hazelnuts and set them in a bowl. I used my mini-cuisinart.

Using a cookie scoop, scoop your chocolate mixture, roll in your hands to achieve a round-ish form, and then immediately roll in your hazelnuts. Set on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper, and return to fridge to firm up, or until you eat them.

Enjoy!

I don't know what to call this except for a fish stew.

First, I have to apologize for the lame pictures. Unfortunately my camera died (permanently), so until I can afford to replace it with a lovely DSLR camera, you will have to deal with the crappy cell phone pictures. :-)

This recipe came from "Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy". I think I've said it before, but, buy this book! It's filled with fabulous recipes, and I find myself cooking from it regularly.

You'll want to make your pasta first. It's a pretty simple 1lb of flour to 1.25 cups of very cold water, kneaded, and left to rest for a half an hour. Roll it out, cut it into large diamonds, or really whatever shape you like. Set your cut pasta on a cookie sheet to dry out while you cook dinner, but make sure the pieces don't touch each other or they will stick together something fierce. As in, you won't be able to separate it unless you tear it.

For this dish it's really important that you have all of your ingredients prepped, which is to say "mis en place". Things tend to move fairly quickly in some places, so you want to be prepared.

You will need:

1 medium onion, chopped
1 lb red potatoes, diced into a .25" cube
2 tbs tomato paste
2 medium stalks of celery, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 lb skinless fish of your choice (I used Mahi Mahi last night and it was better than the last time when I used a pretty delicate tasting fish, so I would recommend something with a stronger taste)
2 ripe medium sized tomatoes, cut into 1" cubes
3 qts of water

Now, since I generally only make this for me and my hubby, I only use some of the pasta. Too much is overwhelming, I think. I just chuck the rest in the freezer for another time.

So, you'll want about a quarter of a cup or so of good extra virgin olive oil. Set your large heavy bottomed (preferably enamelware, like Le Creuset or similar) pot over a medium heat and put in your olive oil and onions, sprinkling a good four finger pinch of salt on top, stirring to mix. Once your onions have softened, add in your cubed potatoes. When those begin to caramelize and stick to the bottom of the pan, clear a space in the middle, and put your tomato paste right in the hot spot and leave it for a moment or two. Stir your paste in with your onions and potatoes. Add your bay leaves and celery, get everything hot, and then add in 3 qts of cold water. Stir one more time, put your lid on, bring your heat up to high, get your stuff boiling, and then reduce your heat to a steady perk. Let this go for 30-40 minutes.

When your 30-40 minutes have passed, uncover, and drop in your fish and tomatoes. Leaving the lid off, let your stew go for about 15 minutes, or long enough for your fish to cook through and your tomatoes to fall apart into the stew. Add your pasta right to the pot, and let it cook for about 5 minutes. Serve and eat immediately.

Charcutepalooza - Let There Be Meat!

I think I am going to participate in Charcutepalooza... stay tuned. I'm really intimidated but excited for the learning process. :-)

My 2011 Resolutions

How cliche. A New Year's post about one's New Year's resolutions.

Generally I try to refrain from such activities, but I really feel that, especially this year, putting the energy "out there" for things you hope to really and truly accomplish, can never hurt.

For those who know me, 2010 was a less than stellar year. It feels like things really can't get any more challenging than this past year. It felt like we could not dig ourselves out of the gloom and doom of events that occurred, and although some things will take time to recover from, just as the year came to an end we see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel. Thank God.

I feel like declaring my intentions to the world, as that helps me to become more accountable to others for my actions. More than saying to myself in the shower, "I'd like to change this and that", but rather, aver the following:

1. I want to be less offended when people claim me to be an "excellent homemaker". I've been a proud descendant of very strong feminists, one of whom was a suffraget (my great grandmother). The women in my family never burned bras, but they always instilled the belief in me that I could and would do anything I damn well wanted to. The world was my oyster, and being a wife or mother would never hold me back. Even before I found out I could not bear children, I never thought I would ever stay home to raise children. I was raised to have the best education I could have, educationally, socially, and artistically, and why would any educated woman choose to give up the world just to raise kids? The term "homemaker" to me is a "four letter word", synonymous with women who give up their whole lives just to live some antiquated idea of what women should be (stay at home, clean the house, cook (mediocre) meals, cater to their husband, run the children around, etc...) , and some time ago one of my husband's nieces praised me as being an "excellent homemaker" because I am an excellent cook and have exceptional needlework skills. At the time I was extremely offended to be backed into such a corner although I think I played it off pretty well. Then one day I was watching "Barefoot Contessa" and my perspective shifted. Ina mentioned something about how she had striven for many years to make a nice home for her husband. Now, Ina Garten has had many years in government policy, and is a former business owner. She is accomplished. And, like me, has no children. She's hardly what I would call a "homemaker" in the traditional sense, but at the same time she is an excellent entertainer, creating a second home for her non-traditional home friends who have become estranged from their families for various reasons. I want to be more like that, and can identify strongly with that cause.

2. On that note, I want to be a better friend. I realized recently, that, although I often feel isolated, I have quite a few friends who would help me bury a body if needs be. I suck at Birthday Cards/Christmas Cards/etc... I used to send regular letters, but have gotten lazy since the advent of e-mail. I was talking to one of my friends lately about how much we each appreciate receiving "real" mail (not the bills kind, but something that actually makes you feel good!), and so on that note, I aspire to regularly send notes to my friend. After all, I can't expect to be remembered thoughtfully and graciously if I don't do the same. As I always tell my husband, "It's a two way street".

3. Get back to blogging about food regularly. I really have a huge pile of new recipes to try and I want to share them. Even if only one person ever gets anything informative out of my blog, I know I have effected change. :-) I know of a few people who do actually try the things I post about, and I'm happy to hear that. I'm considering moving to a new site shortly. I've been thinking about adding video clips. Thoughts?

4. I want to be more authentic. I feel that in many venues I generally hide myself away... which is to say that I know that most people don't like my authentic, abrupt, straight-forward self and I have a habit of editing the way I appear to others in order to be "less offensive". I'm tired of it. This is not to say that I will go around being rude to everyone, but rather that I don't really care anymore what most anyone thinks. It's just too tiresome, and there will be no apologies. It's something I've started to gravitate back towards in recent months, and I think it's a positive move. I can better spend my energy on other things, like sending lovely notes to people who really care about me!

4. On a large scale, hubby and I are planning our great escape. What do we need to do and accomplish to get the hell out of Utah permanently?  Events at the end of 2010 are leading to the point we knew would always come.

If I can think of other things I will post them but these are some of the bigger things I've been mulling over recently. I don't want to spread my cosmological energy too thin.

Crumb Cake

Growing up in NYC had alot of perks. Can you imagine that it wouldn't? Anyway, my dad is entirely German, with a teeny touch of Swiss thrown in. His family has always lived in predominantly German areas of Brooklyn and Queens after they immigrated from the Black Forest region of Germany back in the early 1800's. In these areas there are fabulous German bakeries. We even had one 5 blocks from my house on Jamaica Ave - I forget what it was called - and there was Reinwald's over on Braddock. Then there was Glendale Bakery, in, well, Glendale (where my dad spent some time growing up). Maybe the one on Jamaica was called Glendale Bakery too? Anyway, they always made these fabulous crumb cakes (a very German cake, unique to New York City), and forever I've been searching for a great recipe for one. This is probably the closest to the kind I grew up with, although the texture and taste of the cake is a little different than what I am used to. Nevertheless, this recipe from Martha Stewart is pretty freaking good, and of course you give it a good spanking of powdered sugar at the end. My husband says it is better than he has ever had, which were dried out and well, probably not from NYC. Yum!

PS - don't forget the cinnamon in the crumb topping... I did the first time around and had to scrap the whole thing after it was baked.