Fukui-San, It Appears She’s Melting Butter with Celery

November 14, 2012 — 2 Comments

My sister Laura set me up with this cream sauce. I was so young and not even ready to yield its power, but I listened.

2-tbls butter,
2-tbls flour,
a nub of celery,
a cup of milk
Salt and pepper to yum-ness

And after my first batch, I cream sauced damn near everything. Tuna casserole, Mac-n-Cheese, Gorgonzola hoo-ha there was nothing I wouldn’t pop in a cream sauce. She did this little celery number. She said it gave it a little something ( or whatever babyboomers use for “pop” or “snap” or “x” ). I learned later that she taught me a Béchamel sauce to which forever after made me hum “Béchamel, Béchamel mucho” to the tune of a classic Mexican Mariachi request.

For this cream sauce, I added parsley and the much forgotten herb, Tarragon. Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, Thyme, all equally loved. But poor Tarragon, the Carreras of the herb world, sits in the wings waiting for that blessed “broken leg.” So Fukui-San, what am I making?

And with this I leave you a tune to hum when you stir your cream sauce: Béchamel Mucho-

Here’s a Quick Kid Dinner

November 13, 2012 — 2 Comments

When the kids are screaming in your ear about how they are dying from lack of food and you need to pull some magic out quick while sticking to your core values, we answer that with fish sticks. Normally, I fry in lard. As I’m all outta lard ( I’m so lost without you ), I went with my new pet fat, tallow. Because hey, if it worked Mc-D, then dern it, it can work for me.

We served with peas.

Husband was curious where his plate was. “Pot-au-Feu for us tonight,” I said. “Oh yum. Pot-au-Feu. Wow. Can’t wait. Sweetums, honey o’mine. Mmm. Mm, yeah I noticed you worked a couple days on that … What with skimming the fat and straining the bits to uncover a lovely, beefy broth,” were his words. His eyes, however, said “fishsticks, darlin’ and a dash o’ mayo.”.

Kid dinner … Adult dinner, really it’s a matter to be hankered with.

Confit Revealed

November 12, 2012 — 5 Comments

The confit has surfaced from its little retreat at flavor camp. And it came out … Delicious! Okay, so you stick duck bits in a vat of hot fat and fah-git about it. Not hard, but you need to be patient. You need to have the time ( and a hefty glass of wine ). You need to love duck. This is my third time with duck confit and this is what it takes:

Ducky bits, legs and/or machons
Thyme
Bay leaves
Salt
Pepper

Salt and pepper over night
The next day you can rinse or not rinse
Stick in a big pot and cover with duck fat for an hour or two or so I don’t even remember how long these beauties bubbled

You can stick it in a jar if you wish. I stuck my big vat in the fridge then, a week or so later, I heated it up enough to pull some out for dinner and shoved the rest in a bag. They sell confit in bags around here. I like to do like they do. I’m not certain how long it lasts in a bag, therefore I recommend you eat it in the best way you know how.

One Tasty a-Meatball

November 12, 2012 — 3 Comments

Sausage meaty balls tonight. A Nigel Slater recipe that keeps on giving. ( from his book Appetite ).

I usually do the lemongrass version, but tonight we do European porky balls. What you see above is:

Pork en vrac ( crap, what’s that in ‘merican. Loose? Just like my men )

Thyme
Garlic
Comte

Naturally and usually I fry these balls in lard. As I lost all my lard, I would usually turn to duck fat, but I’m mad at duck fat. So I used some tallow. We run a beef farm and tallow is something I need to acquaint myself with.

Porky yum balls were served with broth ‘n’ parsley and some mash ( because there’s no way my kids are sticking meatballs in broth, but let me tell you this: meatballs of the pork variety are absolutely lovely in broth
with fresh parsley. That is all. ).

And Just Like That, All My Lard Is Gone

November 10, 2012 — Leave a comment

It was a simple maneuver: Move a few things to let Gangnam Beef snug in for the evening. Everything moved accordingly until I grabbed a small bag of duck fat ( I do believe I’ve mentioned my surplus of duck fat ). It’s like it always had a “thing” for the lard. Like duck fat was not quite the tasteless animal fat that lard is and resents lard for this exact attribute. So in the only way it knew how, the small bag of duck fat grasped the shelf tightly as I tried to move it thus tipping the shelf and all its lardy contents right onto the cold, hard tile smashing all that contacted it. The biscuits, the crisp potatoes, the pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving in one moment have become a dream that will never materialize. I’ll need to find a new charming pig with lovely white gold fat to set our table right. I’m unhappy with you, duck fat, so you will spend some time in the freezer until we both cool down.

A Whole Lotta Short Ree-Yibs

November 10, 2012 — 2 Comments

There was a time in my life when I used to flip through cookbooks searching for yummy stuff to make. I would go with a feeling or an urge. Then I’d construct the shopping list and off I’d go. But this is not the way it works when you’re living, breathing and running a farm. Ingredients fall upon you ( big zucchini, odd beef cuts, foie gras trades … ) and you are left with a task. “What do I do with a few kilos if very ripe tomatoes?” Or “Wow fifteen kilos of beef to grind and process. Where do I go from here?”

When it comes to short ribs and you are in France, you make Pot-au-Feu. Or as we affectionately call it “Faux Pho.” These short ribs are called “Plat de Cotes” ( there’s a little hat on the ‘o’ … still working out iPhone symbols ).

Now I could totally Faux Pho the lot, but I thought I’d Gangnam Syle some of them ribs because that’s how we roll. I found this Korean Short Rib recipe that looked too good to refuse. Progress is smelling divine, we’ll see how it tastes.

As a side note, part of Gangnam Style Ribs is a browning phase. If you are not living in France you will not appreciate the next photo, but trust me, I browned meat – our meat – and I think I shed a little, happy tear of success. Our beef, you can brown it! So let me present to you, browned beef:

Makin’ Soup

November 9, 2012 — Leave a comment

It’s not very cold, but daylight slips away from us so quickly. This is the time for soup. This is one of those soups that sits around for hours slowly gaining flavor.

I happened to have this ham hock in the freezer. A ham hock in French is a jarret. Promise me the next time you use a ham hock in your soup, you will refer to it as a jarret ( “shjah-ray” and don’t forget that back of the throat French thingy noise).

The Samosas Are Off and Running

November 8, 2012 — 2 Comments

All my amazing fans … Okay, all my number one dedicated fans … Okay, my husband was interested in what the heck Kheema was for. To this, I celebrate my fan base and say that Kheema is “Indian Bolognese.”

Most scrumpciously, you stick that stuffing in Samosas or serve family style with ciapati. With that ginger and that cinnamon and that dedicated love, Kheema knows no boundaries.

Of course my favorite Bollywood star turn amazing Indian chef recommends veg oil. I use Charming pig dripping. And duck fat ( have I mentioned that I have a lot of duck fat? ) to fry the lovely parcels in.

I’ve done Kheema many times, but this is the first time I’ve popped them in fatty, floury parcels and deep fried them. They turned out pretty tasty. I think a little sauce might be in order. I still have a pile of Kheema leftover that I’ll stick in the freezer for future inspiration.

My Standing Mixer, It Broke

November 8, 2012 — 1 Comment

I don’t want to talk about it. It was my own, damn fault.

Don’choo worry, the motor is just fine. I sort of “cut some teeth” on my big, bad mixing friend.

He was affectionately known as the “pig fucker.” Lovely dark pewter finish, no frills … I hope we can get him back to his happy place soon.

Let Me Tell You A Thing or Two About Whipping Cream in France

November 7, 2012 — Leave a comment

It’s always been so simple. Put cream in a bowl and whip it with whatever whipper deal you choose. Without issue, I’ve whipped cream in America with a hand-held beater, a standing mixer and by hand. With a fancy, French name like “Chantilly” and creme as the star ingredient with most French desserts, I expected to whip cream like a pro. Yet with every batch of cream I whipped, I never got very far. With products available like “chantifix,” I know I’m not alone.

I’m a HUGE fan of Pav. So for you, I offer these tips:

1) Use fresh cream.

The UHT milk products occupy one side of a supermarket aisle. This will not give you the X-factor in the whip cream world. Sometimes, it’s hard to find fresh cream. I imagine that all the lovely cream is rushed off to cheese makers around the country mixing, setting and aging into one of the two hundred and forty-six varieties of cheeses offering absolute gastronomic bliss.

2) Use a balloon whisk.

The hand-held beater has no bidness whipping cream

3) 30% mat.gr.

That’s obvious. No fat, No fluff. Plus, dessert without fat is a crime in some countries.

Girl On Grill Action

Stick a fork in it

Month: November 2012