The what, when, how much stuff used for each dish
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).
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.
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.
Two big bags of stew meaty Gordito have been thawed and ground ( yes and thank you lovely hubby for getting all the meat grinder bits sorted out ). I love stew meat and all its stew meaty yumminess, but sometimes you need to grind that meat for some warm winter meals to feed an army.
We found homes for some kilos, but with the remaining mince ( it’s so fun to use the word mince ), I plan to do this:
Chili
Shepherd’s Pie ( base )
Kheema
Cooky Beefy Bits with Potential ( and not the kind of potential that sits in the corner like a little kitten mewing ).
The chili is on and just about done. The Shepherd’s Pie is rolling. If my giant, American mug of coffee I had at four o’clock holds out, the Kheema should get a chance to live in our freezer for future meals. Should the Madiran take hold, I believe we’ll have browned beef with no name.
I was thinking pork fried rice, but with my leftover boiled sausage broth and in need of a quick dinner for the family, I went with Risotto. Otto loves this because it’s HIS rice.
We served with the lovely, tasty Noir de Bigorre. So far, so good …
This is a very tasty, local black pig called Le Noir de Bigorre. Oh and it really is tasty, but oh so fatty. The meat makes American pork taste like chicken ( the other white meat ). If you will, check out that fat layer.
Too much fat for my modest roast pan, I cut the skin off for future crackling and trim the fat for future lard ( read pie crusts ).
After a soothing olive oil, thyme, crushed garlic, salt and pepper massage, stick it in a low heated oven for an hour or two. We served with mashed pots and juicy, oven roasted mushies. And onion gravy … I’m all about onion gravy at the moment.
And another thing you can do with steaks without fancy names, Beefy Saucy Noodles! I love Beefy Saucy Noodles. It reminds me of home. Though I don’t feed the family TheMan’s Wheat™, we can still play along at home with a little Einkorn. Because sometimes, even before Jesus, you need a little something to sop up the sauce.
My mom used to make homemade noodles like these. I usually roll it in the pasta roller, but tonight I said “frack it” I’m making them by hand.
The noodly appendages came out all right, but I must say the thinner, pasta rolled noodles were better.
This is Gordito. He was a grassfed, young bull which turned into some very tasty beef. Saucy Beef was simple and used:
butter
onions
browned beef sliced thin
mushies
cream
He said to boil it with friends. Then, serve it as a broth with sausage cut up on the side.
As a huge fan of broth-n-meat, I acquiesced. I suppose we’ll soon see its power.
As you wait for your pork roast to defrost and your large bags of stew meat to be ready for grinding. And your very suspicious sausage is not quite ready for boiling, you need to feed the troops. But with what? Leek and potato soup ( and poor celery, the “key grip” of the soup world which never even makes it to the tagline ). Purée after it’s ready, add some cream then salt and pepper to taste.
I’ve received my fair share of giant zucchini, but never a giant squash. Until now.
It was so brilliantly orange inside. I cut it to bits, steamed it and did a purée jobby.
Sweat some onions, stock, purée, give it a whiz, add some cream, a dash of nutmeg and it ends up as soup.
Girl On Grill Action 