One Charming Mutha F-in Pig

November 4, 2012 — Leave a comment

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.

Beef ‘n’ Sauce ‘n’ Noodles

November 4, 2012 — Leave a comment

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 Came Home With This Big Sausage

November 2, 2012 — Leave a comment

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.

Leek Potato Soup

November 2, 2012 — Leave a comment

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.

So it Started Out With This Giant Squash

November 1, 2012 — Leave a comment

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.

Dinner Tonight: Chops,Pots,Salad and Candy

October 31, 2012 — Leave a comment

I got out of making salad as the cold set in. I love salad and it grows well in the fall. You must say it like the French, “Sal-ahd.”

Chops fried, pulled out of the pan to grab some onion gravy ( of the non-milky variety ) then in the oven to work it all out.

Don’t forget the creme fraiche with the mash. Total magic.

This is how Smarties look through onion watered eyes.

Chicky Pot Pie, Biscuit Edition

October 30, 2012 — Leave a comment

I have yet to make an actual chicken pot pie. I always opt for the baking powder biscuit version. Oh crust, so much rolling, so much chilling, so much pre- baking. I have no patience for these.

Cook everything in advance. Make some cream sauce with chicken stock. Stick it in a pot and cover it with biscuits.

It’s a hearty meal as winter approaches as you try to figure out what the heck to do with this big squash.

Chicken Fried Steak

October 30, 2012 — Leave a comment

I can’t believe it’s not fried chicken chicken … er … steak chicken steak. Chicken fried steak is one option for steaks without fancy names. Pound it out with some ancient wheat, salt and pepper then do a quick fry job in duck fat ( or your animal fat of choice. Don’t under estimate the power of lard ).

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 compliments and sets the tempo of your steak preparation before it gets fried like chicken.

It’s best served with a milky onion gravy and some mash. “Milky onion gravy” sounds like something you’d find on a fifties recipe card, but in truth, it’s lovely. We did ratatouille. Not the best match, but fine for a quick Tuesday lunch.

One bite of chicken fried steak sends your taste buds dreaming of other taste-buddie horizons for pounded meat. Suddenly, you want to play around with katsudon ( “Japanese Schnitzel” on rice ).

Ratatatouille Tonight with Some Firm Duck Breast

October 29, 2012 — Leave a comment

I love ratatouille. I had a Marseillaise pop ’round last time I made this lovely dish. I showed her the Ripailles recipe that included some lemon. “Citron? Mais NON! Jamais!”. Then she told me all the secrets of a standard French dish of which I will share as the blog rolls.

“Duck again?” the kids whine. Oh if they only knew how lucky they are. Yes, it’s duck again. We learned this little “finger” number at a restaurant in Toulouse after our Carte Vital was renewed. Slice the duck breast in fingers with a little salt-and-pepper’s-here action then do your fry routine. The slices give it a nice, even cook with some juicy redness in the middle without being too red.

For whatever reason or child or chicken or cow, I have forgotten to finger and had to cut fingers mid-fry. This worked like a charm and you can feel an obscure recipe developing ( now why do I slice the duck breast into fingers after I’ve started frying it? I’ll tell you why, because whomever wrote that recipe had kids and cows and chickens and farm and they forgot to slice the damn breast. )

But 6:30 is approaching. In a very non-European way, dinner is served before 8pm. As such, we need to let the ratatouille rest overnight and serve up a new squash dish.

Macarons Again

October 28, 2012 — 1 Comment

This photo is inside-out and upside-down. I really should read the manual for my very shattered iPhone, but I’m showing you that I’m getting close. Yes, I know it feels like I’m sharing the raw data that will support my book, “Fucking Up Macarons: Let Me Count The Ways.”. Each iteration brings new, tasty mistakes.

Not only did I not fold, I also used noix de coco rapee. The recipe clearly asks for noix de coco en poudre. And I overlooked it. Did I mention that I have a one-year-old? Thus explains my solid march into “macaroon” territory.

Through this, I see clearly that should I ever find myself in a hip new band with a hunky bass player, I will put in the hat “Desiccated Coconut” as a band name to be reckoned with.

I happened to have a little coconut powder on hand, but not enough. I filled in with the shredded cousin.

Folding didn’t work at all because I essentially made coconut marzipan. So I whipped the crap out of it with a balloon whisk.

All this effort to reliably repeat a flour-free cookie for my family to enjoy.
Next time, I’ll try the ones with the almond powder.

Girl On Grill Action

Stick a fork in it