justpigs

May 23, 2010

Easy Peasy: Mac & Cheese with Peas & Bacon

A few years ago I decided to come up with my own version of macaroni and cheese and stopped using the boxed stuff. I came up with something that is just as easy to make as the processed version, but much tastier. We eat this fairly regularly. You can make it with just the two cheeses and some salt and pepper or you can add all--or some--of the extras. We had fresh peas and scallions this week and we love both so I used them. We also love bacon, but you knew that already.

Mac & Cheese with Peas & Bacon

4 servings

1 lb of tubular pasta

2 TBS unsalted butter

3 striped of bacon, diced

1 lb fresh peas, shelled

2 scallions, including green tops, chopped

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan

salt & pepper to taste

Set a pot of salted water to boil. Put 1 TBS of butter in the water. Boil pasta according to package instructions.

Put the diced bacon into a sautee pan and cook over medium heat until some of the fat has rendered. Add the peas and scallions and cook for about 5 minutes.

Drain pasta, then return it to the warm pot. Toss the pasta with the other TBS of butter. Add the bacon, pea, and scallion mixture. Add the ricotta and the parmesan. Sprinkle in a small amount of salt and a bit more pepper. Mix well. Serve.

Filed under // bacon can be vegetarian easy peasy pasta

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March 1, 2010

Righteous Pork: Breaking Down a Hog

One early Saturday morning. Five women. Nine men. A brewery in an industrial part of San Jose. A pig. Some salt. A few spices. A lot of sharp knives. Some band-aids. These were the elements of one grand "Big Pig Day."

Periodically throughout the last nine months I have gathered with more or less a dozen people to learn the culinary art of charcuterie. It has been one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life. Our first class covered fresh sausages and terrines. We moved on to confits and salt cures (as in homemade bacon). In our third class we made dried and fermented salamis (and started a blog to discuss our success/failure/questions: www.meatclub.org). And finally on Saturday we came together again for the epic and extraordinary breaking down of a whole hog.

The pig was raised in Hollister by Sandy Dietzel, who joined us for the day. It weighted over 300 lbs (live weight). On Thursday the pig was slaughtered, scalded, bled, and gutted. It was sawn in half from nose to tail and delivered in two beautiful, clean, pristine pieces.

Our teacher, Peter Licht, gave a brief demonstration on the first half.

He removed the tenderloin (right above his left hand in the picture), part of which we made for lunch and the part of which was used for lonzino. Next Peter showed us how to extract the leg. Sandy noticed that the color of the meat was very rosy which is a good sign that the animal was humanly slaughtered. She explained to us that pale "white" pork is a sign--especially in Berkshire and Hampshire breeds, which have a "stress gene"--of anxiety and stress in the animal at the time of slaughter. "White" pork tends to be chewy and flavorless.

After the hind leg was removed we moved to the foreleg (picnic ham) and separated it from the midsection. Peter showed us the large belly area, while we stood drop-jawed dreaming of bacon.

At this point, we broke off into small groups or as individuals and began to tackle the finer tasks. Once the foot was removed, I prepped one of the hind legs for prosciutto. I removed the aitch bone and cleaned up the meat and fat around the ball joint. I was pretty focussed on my dream job, so I didn't get to see too much of what others were doing, but I know they were breaking down the other half of the pig; separating the lean meat and the fat for the sausage we were to make later in the day; cutting up chucks of belly to prep for bacon; cutting chunks of backfat up for lardo and smaller pieces of fat for sausage; removing jowls for guanciale; and putting aside ribs, head, skin, and feet to take home. The one other thing I helped with--no, I mean watched two other people do--was search for the elusive coppa. "Real" coppa is made with a whole muscle from the shoulder. It is difficult to find and remove intact. The process was one of the most hilarious mini-meat-adventures I've ever witnessed.

Here's Peter pointing out the general vicinity of the muscle in the shoulder.

Yep, it's somewhere in there.

In the end Jamie and Pierre identified 3 or 4 pieces that were "definitely" it. One of those was (accidentally?!) sliced in half.

Once everything was trimmed, we got busy seasoning the whole cuts that would be cured: prosciutto, lardo, bacon, and guanciale.

The prosciutto was weighed,

and salted.

We then put both legs in a big, lidded plastic tub covered in salt. To follow our prosciutto adventures go to The Meat Club Charcuterie site.

We bagged all the lardo, bacon, guanciale, and coppa. Then we took a lunch break. To describe our lunch would involve a whole post in and of itself. But briefly, it included lots of meaty delights, including bacon (raw & cooked), rillettes, pork terrine, poultry pâté, seven-year-old boar prosciutto, goat sausage, duck prosciutto and all manner of salads and side dishes. Of course we ate the fresh tenderloin, cooked to perfection, and drank Peter's awesome beer.

After lunch we made all of the sausages: 25 lbs of fresh garlic sausage, 25 lbs tuscan salami, and about 15 lbs of genoa salami. We bagged it all, cleaned up, and split the spoils! I came home with coppa, 2 large tuscans, a genoa, lardo, guanciale, bacon, garlic sausage, leaf lard (for pastry), and a pig's foot. When you can't find me in the closet under the stairs in my garage ogling salami, you'll find me at Jim's house volunteering to babysit prosciutto..and drinking one of Peter's beers.

Filed under // Righteous Pork bacon pork salami sausage

Comments [6]

January 16, 2010

Weekender: Savory Breakfast Pie

"Pies needn't be confined to dinner, either. Ralph Waldo Emerson, the great American essayist and philosopher who was dubbed a "hopelessly confirmed pie-eater" by his biographer, hewed faithfully to a diet of pie for breakfast. Why not take his cue and try a riff on the classic English wake-up: a pie of caramelized, chopped tomatoes, browned mushrooms, thick-cut bacon and hard-cooked eggs? Or maybe a mash-up of spiced pears sautéed with leeks and country sausage?" -- "The Savory Pie," LA Times, January 13, 2010

This week in the Food pages of the LA Times I noticed an article about savory pies. The writer had me when she mentioned Emerson was a "hopelessly confirmed pie-eater " and that he "hewed faithfully to a diet of pie for breakfast."

I have often had leftover fruit pie with my morning coffee. I was intrigued with the writer's suggestions for savory breakfast pie. So this morning I took her advice and tried my own "riff on the classic English wake-up."

I made a batch of pie dough and set it to chill in the refrigerator while I worked on the filling. When I saw the word "caramelized," my mind also read the word onions, even though "onions" does not appear in the sentence. I decided caramelized onions couldn't hurt anything so that's how I started. I then sliced and cooked about a pound of mushrooms; fried some lardons of bacon; drained, chopped, and cooked down some canned whole peeled tomatoes. I mixed all these things together and bound them with a lightly scrambled egg and freshly grated parmesan cheese. I seasoned the mixture with salt, pepper, and fresh parsley. I wasn't sure if the filling would fill a regular pie or tart dish, so I made it as a galette. I made a depression in the center and cracked an egg into it and cooked the whole thing in a hot oven for 45 minutes. The results were delicious!

I would do a couple of things differently in future. Instead of slicing the mushrooms, next time I will chop them a bit smaller. I also will add the egg later, about 25 minutes into the cooking. I like an egg that's a bit runny. If you like a more hard boiled quality, as is described in the article, go ahead and leave it in for the full time. I could also see increasing the filling by another 50% and filling a pie pan, putting on a top crust with a small hole in the center for the egg and creating a sun design around the hole made of dough scraps. That would be a pretty presentation for guests.

Here's my recipe:

Pie Dough

2 cups flour

a pinch of salt

12 TBS cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

1/2 c ice water

Quickly mix together the salt an flour. Add the cubes of butter. Using your hands (or a pastry cutter or fork) work the butter into the flour until it feels like coarse meal. Leave a few larger chunks of butter. Add almost all of the ice water. Using a fork, and then your hands bring the dough together. If you need more water, add it 1 TBS at a time.

Separate into two equal portions and form into balls. Wrap the dough balls in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.

Makes a top and bottom crust for a standard pie plate.

Wake-up Pie

1 recipe pie dough

1 large onion sliced

2 TBS unsalted butter

3/4 lb. mushrooms, chopped

3 thick slices of bacon, cut into lardons

1-14oz can whole peeled tomatoes, drained and chopped

2 eggs

2 TBS grated parmesan cheese

2 TBS chopped parsley

salt

freshly ground pepper

1 TBS heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Caramelize the onion slices in 1 TBS of butter and a pinch of salt. When finished remove the onions from the heat and put them in a medium mixing bowl. Add 1 TBS butter to the pan and add the mushrooms. Saute the mushrooms until they have released all of their liquid and it has evaporated. Meanwhile cook the lardon. When they are lightly browned, remove them from the pan and drain on paper towels.

When the mushrooms are done cooking season them with salt and pepper and add them to the onions. Put the chopped tomato in the pan you've just removed the mushrooms from and cook until all of the water is evaporated and the tomatoes just begin to stick to the bottom of the pan and brown a bit. Remove the tomatoes from the heat and add them to the mixing bowl with the onions & mushrooms. Add the lardons and the parsley to the mixing bowl as well.

Lightly scramble one egg. Add the parmesan and some salt and pepper and combine it the onion mixture.

Roll out the pie dough, making a circle of approx. 12 inches. Transfer the dough to cookie sheet.

Spread the filling in the center of the dough, leaving roughly 2 inches of dough around the edge. Fold the edges of dough up and over the top of the filling, leaving the center open. Make a depression in the center of the filling.

Brush the heavy cream over the exposed pie dough to glaze.

Cook the pie for 25 minutes. Pull it out at 25 minutes and crack the second egg into the center. Cook for another 20 minutes or until the crust in golden. Remove from the oven, cut into 8 slices and serve.

Filed under // bacon baking breakfast can be vegetarian eggs mushrooms pie weekender

Comments [0]

January 11, 2010

What's in the Pantry?

After the holidays, I admit, my motivation for cooking anything very challenging or creative is pretty low. I tend make a lot of old stand-byes and cobble together easy dishes out of whatever I have on hand.

(download)

Tonight was one of those cobbling nights and we ended up with a lovely dish of black-eyed peas.

Pantry Peas

1+c dried black eyed peas

2 thick (or 4 thinner) slices of bacon, diced

1 small (or 1/2 large) yellow onion, diced

1/2 red pepper, diced

1 medium carrot, diced

stock or water to cover

1 small bunch leafy greens (chard, kale, collards), sliced in ribbons

Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper to taste

Soak the black-eyed peas and drain.* Set aside.

Put the bacon in a soup pot over medium heat until it gets a little color and renders some fat. Add the onions, carrots, and red pepper and sauté until the onions are soft and beginning to turn golden. Pour in the black-eyed peas and mix thoroughly. Cover with water or stock, bring to a simmer and cook gently for about 45 minutes or until the peas are cooked through and just starting to break up and give the soup some body.

Add the greens and let them wilt. Season with salt and pepper as desired. Enjoy!

*Note: I almost exclusively use the quick soak method for dried beans. Cover the beans with an inch or two of water. Bring the water to a boil. Cover the pot and turn off the heat. Leave for one hour (or more if you need to), then proceed with the recipe.

Filed under // bacon beans pantry soup

Comments [1]

January 9, 2010

Easy Peasy: Spaghetti Amatriciana

This week I read a little factoid (in the LA Times, maybe, I can't remember) that people today spend about 15 minutes making dinner. Soon it will be 10 minutes. To me this means reheating prepared foods is becoming the norm.

I cook 5-6 nights per week. But contrary to popular belief, I promise, I don't make rabbit sausage every night. Everyone needs to have some easy stuff in their repertoire. Here's one of my favorites. What's your easy-peasy dish?

Spaghetti Amatriciana

A 1-lb. box of spaghetti

Bacon

Onion

Canned Whole Peeled Tomatoes

Crushed red pepped (optional)

Salt

Put some salted water with a dribble of olive oil on to boil.

Dice some bacon (oh, I'd say 3 strips, more or less to your taste), or pancetta, or (my favorite) guanciale. Put it in a sauté pan over med. to med. high heat and let the fat melt a little.

Dice one small yellow onion (or if you shop where I do and they only carry enormous yellow onions, half of one.) Add these to your bacon and sauté until they get some color on them (or not if you don't have the time).

If you wish, add some crushed red pepper for spice.

Drain a large (28-32 oz) can of whole peeled tomatoes*. Dice them. Add them to your onions and bacon. Salt, to taste. Turn the heat down to medium and cook for 10-15 minutes.

Boil your spaghetti, then drain it and return it to the pasta pot. Pour the sauce over it and mix it up. Plate it and grate some parmesan over it if that sounds good to you.

And there you go! Dinner.

*NOTE: I like my pasta sauce not too sauce-y. If you prefer it saucier, drain the tomato juice from the can into your onions and bacon, then chop the whole tomatoes, etc.