I am the GREAT Cornholio!!! Charcutapalooza 3!

I had to wait all month just to use that title... Whfeewwww. Glad to get that out of my system. So the Ides of March has finally arrived. Which means two things, it is my parents aniversary today and I can blog about insane corn beefy goodness. I have a nasty habit of doing my Charcutapalooza projects waaaaaay ahead of schedule and the corn beef was no exception. The corn beef was made and consumed in its entirtly like three weeks ago.. whooops!! But it was soooo good people there was no way it was gonna last until St. Patty's day. The good news is with the corned beef out of the way I don't feel guilty making shepheard's pie and soda bread on St. Patrick's day. I also had ample time to experiment with different corn beef masterpieces. But back to the BEEF!!
This was hands down the easiest cure yet. Five days in a fridge brine... no problem. I have a confession to make however. I did not make my own pickling spice... GASP!!! I know.. I know. I REALLY wanted to people. But it was a question of economy. I could either buy all natural Beef for $40, from happy cows not pumped full of hormones or spend $40 on the spices I lacked from my shelf to make the pickling spice. I couldn't afford both that week. So the beef won for humanitarian reasons and I chose a pickling spice made by Ancona's Market, a family run grocery store down here. It was totally satisfactory and I got a HUGE container of it for 1/2 the price of the McCormick spices. The outcome was divine, as you can see above. Big D and I could hardly wait and we started nibbling on the beef as soon as it was done simmering...
Later that evening we had a splendid meal of Corn beef and cabbage. Although the cabbage was a little camera shy in this photo. I assure you it was fabulous. I will never buy a corned beef from the store again. The meat was juicy and delicious, perfectly seasoned. Didn't have any of that rubbery bloated quality that some corned beef has.

The next morning we wanted more!!! I had used two, 2 and 1/2 lb pieces of brisket for our beef so I took the remainder of one piece and made the most amazing hash. See the recipe below which includes my secret trick :) You would think we had had enough of eating the same thing meal after meal but NOPE.. later that night we broke out the Reubens.

To make the Reubens we decided to use the slicer to cut the beef.. and holy Hell it was probably the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. The meat was very cold when I sliced it which kept it together. My only regret was that this was the last of it and I couldn't fry up just one or two more slices for breakfast the next day. But with a tear in my eye I continued on with sandwich making.

Big D prefers a more traditional open faced Reuben. All the better to cram more meat and cheese on my dear. This was also made with our homemade saurkraut. Which I helped along with a little vineger (if you saw my earlier post).

This is my personal idea of perfection. With tosty crunch on both sides. If I died and this sandwich floated up to meet me I would be completely confident that I was headed directly to heaven and a world of white truffels, pancetta, risotto, and more crispy sandwiches.

This months challenge was awesome and it gave us enough food for days. For people who are non-pigs I'm sure these goodies would have fed you for at least a week instead of (errr.. two days). With a minimum of effort to boot. Can't wait to see what is next!!

xoxo
Fast Alice


Easy Corned Beef Hash

After making the corned beef reserve about 2 cups worth of the potatoes that have been boiled with the beef. (This recipe if specifically for people who like the dogfoody goodness of canned hash. Not appealing, I know, but lets not lie it totally looks and smells like that.) Mince a small onion and add to a skillet over med heat. Once slightly brown add about 2 cups minced corned beef and brown with the onions. Now the secret.... rough chop the already boiled potatoes. Add a tiny bit more oil to the skillet then add the potatoes. Use a wooden spoon to smush up the potatoes and mix in the meat and onions. Continue to fry until you start to see little brown bits on the potatoes. (It was basically start to look like the outside of a potato pancake). Once it is brown enough to your taste season with pepper (salt too if you like) and serve with a fried or poached egg on top.

Ode to Gaia's Breath Farms....

Oh Gaia's breath farm... how do I love thee, let me count the ways. Every time I take a bite of my salty porky delicious pancetta I think of you and your black piggies... I imagine them happily rolling in fields of mud and foraging for acorns in the forest, every minute becoming fatter and sweeter. This vision makes me feel sligtly like the Witch in Hansel and Gretel as all the while I'm imagining eating those same cute happy little piggies... but hey, it is good stuff and if you tasted this pancetta you would we rubbing your hands together and squeezing piggie fingers in your mind to see if they are fat enough too.

In all seriousness I was really overwhelmed with how amazing this product was. It rang in at $8 a pound but I was able to order exactly the poundage I needed without the skin. If you remember, at the regular butcher it was going to be $4 a pound for regular pork but I had to buy the whole belly with skin approx 20lbs!!! Stupid!! So my total cost for 5lbs natural pork belly was $40. In addition to the lower price tag overall I had the most wonderful interactions with Mark, who runs Gaia's Breath. He got back to me super quickly asked what I was making, offered advice, then sent me the most amazingly perfect pretrimmed belly for pancetta. I was left with virtually no waste. When I tied up the pancetta itself I trimmed two small pieces from each end, purely for asthetics and devoured them quickly with my husband for brecky. Mark also answered my many questions about different products, even the price for a whole pig head. Which was very reasonable needless to say, I can't imagine many people ask for it these days. The belly was delivered to Gosset's Farm Market where I picked it up at their booth.

I was so pleased with the results I went back to the Market and had Tara, who runs the Gaia's booth, help me pick out an amazing 60 day aged Jack cheese to make my Saltimbocca recipe with. I can't say enough about my experience with this company!! I def plan to do their farm share. So exciting :)

Mark!!! If you are out there... You must get a booth down in NYC so my friends can try your products. They are too wonderful to miss. Wait... no!! Don't go to NYC.. stay here.. only here... Yes.. so that they have to come and visit me whilst picking up their pork and cheese. Ahhh.. much better.. lol.

xoxo
Fast Alice

A Belly to Rub... Charcutapalooza: Challenge 2

Recently, Kim at The Yummy Mummy asked us Charcutapalooza peeps to get deep and make our blogs our memoirs... to tell our ever growing blog community why we have embarked on this challenge and what we are learning.

I debated with myself for a long time about writing this post. Most of the time I bill myself as an extremely open person. In fact I often have a penchant for discussing things that most people would find inappropriate. However, I don't usually care to talk about my problems or things that are going on in my life that worry, scare, or intimidate me. Those topics, I tend only to discuss with a very VERY select few. Mostly people who would love me or have to love me no matter what. That said, despite the effortlessly witty blog title that sprung to my mind for this post, I was and still am apprehensive about talking about this on my blog. But I'm going to take our "To the Meat!!.." saying to heart, and make this post about what is really at the center of Charcutapalooza for me.

Not too long ago Big D and I adventured into baby making land.... Blindly, with the notion that in moments we would be blessed with a little Fraley to call our own. But as many of you know getting pregnant sometimes takes a little (or a LOT) longer than you could have expected. True to form, I immediately threw myself into every activity, job, craft, cure, etc in a desperate attempt to keep my mind off this process. A process which is supposed to be fun but at a certain point invariable becomes something stressful instead of joyful.

I didn't want to talk about this for a number of reasons. Um fear.. yeah, that's a big one. Fear about something being wrong with me, that is probably the #1 fear. Which is totally unfounded at this point. But every month that ticks by closer to that one year "Hey You're Infertile :)" mark... the anxiety starts to rise. Fear about other people judging or feeling bad for me, or giving the old "just stop trying advice." Ughghhh, I hate that and at this point if I try any less we will just stop having sex all together. I seriously almost cried when a former client of mine referenced our baby making as "Our little problem." Another fear, and I know it's a stupid one, but I'm sure some of you out there would understand.. is that Big D and I have been blessed, I mean amazingly blessed with material abundance beyond our wildest dreams. My worst fear is that there is some sort of cap on happiness. That of all the things I have been most fortunate to receive in this life I will have to be denied at least one thing. And this is the last thing people... the one little bundle between me and my dream life. It's a big fear.. A gnawing never ending fear in my heart that no amount of prosciutto is going to fix despite my best efforts.

So Charcutapalooza is an escape for me. Something constructive to do with my hands, where I can see results and feel good about a project that is entirely unrelated to baby making at all. In fact it revels in not being pregnant, as cured meats become a "no-no."

I don't know what I expect from writing this. I thought maybe it would help just to get it out of my head. And this pancetta is undoubtedly the most beautiful kitchen creation I have ever mustered. But despite it's beauty the more you try not to think about something the more it pops up... so here is my recipe...

Chicken Impregnated with Pancetta

or

Chicken Saltimbocca with home cured Pancetta

Needed:
Two chicken breasts cut in half the long way. ( I press my palm into the top of the breast and cut evenly down the center with a sharp knife. Risky business, so be careful, but it comes out really even that way.)
2 cups shredded stinky cheese (I used a 60 day aged Jack cheese from Gaia's breath farms. But in the past I have used Asiago cheese. Anything stinky and melty will work)
4 large sage leaves
8 thin cut Pancetta slices
1/2 Cup white Wine
1/2 lemon
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 cup flour seasoned with Salt, Garlic Powder, Pepper and Chili powder.
4 toothpicks

Preheat oven to 350 deg:

After slicing the breast in half pound them out until they are very thin. ( I do this between pieces of plastic wrap until the chicken is slightly translucent). Set them aside so they can get to room temp. In a frying pan over med heat cook the pancetta until crisp and put on paper towel to drain. Remove pan from heat but keep bacon fat for frying the Chicken later. Take a piece of chicken (lay it the long way)lay one sage leaf at the narrow end with 2 pieces pancetta on top . Take 1/4 of the grated cheese and place on top of the pancetta (I squeeze it in my palm into a rough log shape so it doesn't escape as much during frying). Roll tightly all the way up and secure with a toothpick. Continue with the other four pieces of chicken. Put the frying pan with the bacon grease back over med heat. Dredge all four Chicken rolls in the seasoned flour then add to the pan when hot. Sear the chicken on all sides then place in the heated oven on a baking sheet. Take the white wine and deglaze the pan making sure to get up all the tasty chicken and bacon bits off the surface. Reduce 2/3 then add the chicken stock. Reduce again by 1/2 and squeeze in the 1/2 lemon. Cook sauce until it thickens. Remove the chicken from the oven and return to the frying pan. Toss gently with the sauce then serve over anything ( I chose Swiss chard and teeny potatoes roasted with shallot)... it will taste awesome :)


xoxo
Fast Alice

Lil' Bitty Bacon!!

I went to the Gossets Famer's Market on Saturday (as I do most Saturdays) and purchased the most beautiful Cheddar-Chili biscuits. They were just begging for an egg and some duck prosciutto bacon. They came out just sooooooo cute. Itty bitty baby bacon slices... almost too cute to eat. I stress almost because after a snapshot and a sigh this meal was devoured by Big D and I in no time flat.

Also..... our pancetta.. is done!!! I seriously can't wait until the 15th to blog about this. I don't think I have ever made anything I was quite so proud of. Making bacon comes with a satisfaction I just can't describe. I encourage you all to try it for yourself if you haven't already.

Valentine's day is just around the corner. Made up holidays always make me feel weird. Part of me wants to indulge and take advantage of any excuse to celebrate in February. The other part says.... Gross comercialism=lame. But at the end of the day I'm a sucker for those Russell-Stoffer chocolates (all dark if you are taking notes). I usually buy them for myself the day after Valentine's Day so I can get one of those HUGE boxes and eat them in bed and whisper.. I love you.. to myself in the mirror...lol. Only half of that is true buy it made me laugh thinking about it.

Happy Valentine's!!

xoxo
Fast Alice

Duck Prosciutto Take Two :)

Sorry for the radio silence this weekend.  But we had a lot going on here at the ol' Fort.  It was our housewarming party this weekend.  Complete with In-Laws and City friends galore.  Seriously it was awesome... A lot of work.  But awesome.   For the party I decided to revisit the Duck prosciutto for our cheese plate.  This time I did a few things differently.  I did two different seasonings.  One breast was cracked pepper encrusted the other Herbs de Provence.  I used a scale to ensure that the breasts lost between 20-30% weight.  They were much more firm this time and more cured through the center.  I also used our new deli slicer to shave off super thin slices.  Which worked AMAZINGLY well.  We got our slicer at target online for $99 dollars and it was worth every penny.  I already sliced meats for the party which would have cost easily $50 to buy at the deli so it already half paid for itself. 

The prosciutto is hanging in our sun room.  Gently veiled like a bride in cheesecloth. (I was worried it would leave a greasy stain on the wall...lol).  I'm not gonna lie we sampled a little of the prosciutto that I trimmed when I was rolling/tying it... and it was CRACK.  It is taking all my power to keep from running outside and licking it right now... Sigh.  Seven days!!! Arrrghghghhh (shakes fist at the sky).  

But I have this to console myself with..

Hello Lover...

 (Duck Prosciutto and pear)

Hey.. Shorty!!!

Short Ribs the other day!!! Huge Success.. The Dover sole I made tonight... Fail :( Whaaa Waaaa Mostly because I thought there was some beer (or as a lovingly call it Ghetto white wine) left to deglaze a pan. But lets not dwell on our failures shall we, I'll get to those ribs later.

Big D and I were also very productive today. We went back to our old apartment in Queens to pick up the very last of our stuff. I got pretty choaked up guys.. Not that I'm not happy to be where I am now. Our new home is amazing and I have no regrets. But I was a little overwhelmed at leaving a place where so many big events happened for us. I really loved that space, it was the first home I ever shared with a person I was dating. It was where Big D proposed to me after a beautiful dinner (pork chops, funny enough STL). It was where we returned and lived for the first time as husband and wife. It was where we started our journey together and it was harder to say goodbye than I thought it would be. Not to mention that I have been a total tear machine for the last few days. Ughghggg... hormones I hate you.. hisssssss. So that didn't make it any easier.

Anywho, back to the ribs. I used the Thomas Keller recipe for boneless short ribs. However, the bone in short ribs were on sale so I went with those. Big D is also a bone knawer so I figured old Thom would be cool with it. I'm not gonna lie. This recipe was an afternoon in the making, which I was glad to spare and it was totally worth the time. The meat came out tender and delicious and the reduction from the braising liquid was quite possible the best reduced sauce I have ever made. I also have about a quart and a half of left over braising liquid to use to braise again or reduce at my leisure. Pretty much a big win.

I served the short rib with mashed turnips (one of my favs) and creamed pearl onions (Bid D's fav) For the short Rib Recipe go here. I also substituted fennel for the leeks in the recipe because I didn't have leeks but it was just fine.

Time to go back to spinning and watch Big D play "Fall Out: New Vegas."

xoxo
Fast Alice

PS. I picked up my belly today and it is amazing!! Can't wait to blog about the Salt Cure.. How am I supposed to wait until the 15th.. ARRGGGGG!!!

Ho.. Hum... and Ravioli with Duck Prociutto

So I started my two new jobs this past week and so far so good.  The health food store job is really fun.  But everyone there keeps telling me about how much better it was before the owners sold to a big investment company.  Apparently, the small chain of 6 stores was sold a few months ago to some big Canadian investment company and things have been going downhill since.  Not so much in sales but just in ease of day to day operations.  I'm sure sure most of you know the story... great place run by a family, amazing to employees taken over by evil bureaucracy with a new manager every day, nothing getting done, yaada yadda.  Just the general shittyness that ensues when it becomes all about turning a profit and everyone is expendable. 

 So despite liking it in terms of what I'm actually doing all day, it's kinda been a bummer.  I'm not sure if it's just the general moral being down but now I feel really down too.  And believe me folks I have 100% nothing to be upset about.  The biggest tragedy in my life right now is having a gloriously inconsistent e-flat above High C.  It is either totally amazing or completely non existent and I mean like.... whoa.. cry me a river over that one right.  

So in an effort to rally myself out of this totally unnecessary malaise lets talk about things that are great!!  

I found a provider of natural pork and other meats.  It is called Gaia's Breath farm and they have a stand at my local farmers market.  They have a limited variety of items at the market but you can put in an order and they will have it for you the following Saturday for pick up.  They also have a CSA that can be delivered Saturdays to my market too so I'm considering this as well.  Not only am I receiving my belly this weekend but the owner Mark is totally into charcuterie and willing to answer questions and help.  I also purchased 2lbs of pork back fat to freeze for future sausages and confit.  I'll let you know how the curing etc goes once the belly is mine!!   

My ravioli came out great the other night.  The stuffing was a little dry but other than that it was fab.  It was my first time making ravioli solo and I was pretty happy with the outcome.  I used the Thomas Keller recipe for Agnolotti dough.  It worked great.  However, I was really sceptical that it was coming out right.  The dough was REALLY dry.. I mean really.  I was convinced that my eggs, despite being large, were undersized making a less moist dough.  Perhaps I was right or perhaps it was the magic of Thomas Keller and it was totally fine the whole time. 

Pretty nice right!!  They were filled with chestnuts, garlic, parsley, Romano, home made ricotta, salt and pepper.

The finished dish: Chestnut Ravioli with a sauce of duck prociutto, carrots, cherries, and white wine over Khale.

It was pretty tasty, next time I need to get two quarts of milk to make my Ricotta though.  If I had a little more cheese the filling would have had a better texture.  Tonight I'm making the braised short ribs out of the Ad Hoc cookbook.  I'll keep you posted if it comes out great :)

xoxo

Fast Alice

TailSpin

Thus far I have been very true to my word about projects.  The duck was cured and it was time to begin spinning.  I had been reading the book I bought about spinning.  In fact I read it twice just to be sure I knew what the hell I was doing.  I also watched a few videos on how to spin on  Youtube, check out my fav here.  I was pretty nervous about starting.  

Just as a reminder my Aunt was kind enough to give me a beautiful bunch of wool roving made from the sheep she raises on our family farm.  She told me that it was Shetland wool and was prized among spinners as a great wool to work with.  I didn't want to waist a single fiber I was so honored that she gave me some!!  It takes almost a year to get the wool processed and it costs extra to get back the same wool you put in (think of it like a wool bank but it's cheaper to put in wool and just get back equal weight).  The bag she gave me even has a Ewe number so we know exactly which sheep it came from.  

So I read took notes and decided exactly what I was going to make.  I wanted a thick warm soft yarn to make something cozy.  I chose to make a Woolen double plied (two strands spun together after you spin two singles) with an S twist.  Choosing a plied yarn required more spinning.  First the singles then spinning the two singles together.  Although it is harder I figured it would give me more practice of the mechanics of spinning.  That way even if the outcome wasn't too fantastic I would have felt I truly took advantage of having such great material to work with.  And behold!!!!!.....  I give you... Yarn!

Not bad for a first try right??!!

It isn't totally even, but it did come out better than I expected.  And the Color!!! Who could think of dying this wool it is just soooo pretty.  I love the grey and it has little black fibers too.  

So I was feeling pretty confident folks.. pretty confident indeed.  My Duck came out beautiful, my spinning was great and then I moved on the the pork belly.. and low and behold!!! It is like impossible to get it around here... Whaaaaa Wahhh.  I found one butcher who could get it but I would have to buy the whole belly.  Aprox 20lbs, plus what they wanted per pound just did not make it feasible on our budget.  I went to our local farmer's market today and I may have some success there but I have to wait for the owners to respond to my email.  And I need pancetta right now!!!!  Well, maybe need is a strong word.  I have everything ready to go, salts, juniper berries, deli slicer, but no pork. But I do have a back up plan... Guancialle.  If I can't get or afford a belly I will go with cheek.. So There Universe!! Hah!  You shall not thwart my curing!!  I could also have Big D get one from the meat market in NYC.  But I'm trying so hard to go all natural peeps, so hard.  And it is even more important with a really fatty cut of meat to have good quality.  So if I have to do cheeks, I'll do'em... Sigh.

Now on to home made Chestnut Ravioli.  My Saturday project :)

xoxo

Fast Alice

Pasta Maven

Glorious success my friends in the pasta department!! OMG.. I had waayy to much fun and my first fettuccini (tear) came out just great. I can't lie I had a couple of practice runs with supervision so I felt pretty confident going solo. Big D was pretty impressed. Although we differ slightly in our idea of ideal doneness in pasta. I like mine very aldente so it has some bite. He prefers more well done. I got my way since I made the meal and it was complete pasta heaven.

My lovely pasta strained and ready for sauce.

I will leave the blogging of this recipe to STL. But all I will say is that is was soooooo good when she made it for us that I had to make it again the next night... Yeah.. that good. Making my own pasta was totally a pretense.

Oh and pork bellies beware.. I am ready for you!! Muahahahahahahaaaa

xoxo
Fast Alice

My Foot is tapping...

So the festivities of yesterday evening have ended and I'm stuck home with Big D feeling that kind of feeling you get when the run of a show is over.  Not that I have had even the slightest feeling of malaise since we moved here but having my Besties over did make me realize how far away they are :(  But I just remind myself that although there are many more miles between us,  in actual commuting time they are only an extra 20 minutes further on the train than when we lived in Queens.  This idea picked me up enough to gets to house cleaning.  

My wonderful StepMom gave Big D and I the Shark Steam Mop as a house warming gift.  Invariably despite my excitement it has managed to sit in the closet since we moved in until today.  After a grueling hunt for distilled water I was able to use it and the results were very nice!!!  It was light, easy to use, and has washable pads that clean the floor.  We have been really trying to go Green here at Fort Fraley.  The steam kills the bacteria without cleaner and left the floor looking pretty awesome.  My only complaint if I had to make one would be that it was a little more difficult to push than I anticipated.  Not heavy, just the resistance of the floor made it a little tough.  Even writing this I feel like a weenie, I know someone is going.... Um... isn't she a personal trainer... and Yeah!! I AM.. SO WHAT!!  My arms get tired too sometimes.. especially when you are hopelessly right handed.  If I could have switched to my left I wouldn't feel so pooped.  Also, the whole downstairs of the house got cleaned today which is no small feet trust me.  But it only took me maybe 45 minutes, including vacuuming time prior to mopping so not bad.  If you are looking to Green up your house I say go for it.  Now if only I could cure my HORRIBLE addiction to paper towels.  I'm trying people I am!! 

My curing salts don't come in until Tuesday and I really can't stand the wait.  I'm just sooooo eager to get started.  However, I did purchase a food scale at Costco so now I can check weights instead of using a crystal ball to tell when meats are done.  My deli slicer should be coming this week too.  My plan is to kill the anticipation by trying to make home made pasta tonight.... SOLO.  I was lucky enough to have The Boss supervising me the last two times.  But I feel ready.  I'll let you know how it goes.  

Time to go back to the fire and finish reading Emma :)

xoxo

Fast Alice

Charcutepalooza January!!

Duck Prosciutto

So as I mentioned before I am taking part in Charcutepalooza: The Year of Meat. The first challenge was of course Duck Prosciutto which I have posted on previously.  But the duck... she is a done!!!  I unveiled our pretty duck boobies yesterday afternoon and much to my great excitement they seem to have come out just great.  I was a little concerned that our temporary loss of heat may have affected the outcome so I let them sit in our heated porch (which I left at 50deg)  about 2 extra days.  In all honesty I think they could have perhaps used one more day.  I also don't have a scale so I didn't do any of that useful weighing stuff that may have saved me some anxiety.  I pretty much just went by a.. does it still feel squishy?... methodology.   Hopefully I won't end up with crazy food poisoning.  But who is a real adventurous chef without a little food poisoning....  Another thing was my (duck) breasts were HUGE.  I was wondering why they were so expensive at the Butcher.  

This is a regular size cutting board and you can see they easily take up most of the width... Crazy.  A few things about the outcome.  I was really surprised by how tasty the fat was.  I mean, of course fat usually makes things taste good.  But I'm really much more of a lean meat person.  I get totally turned off by blubbery chewy fat.  It is just not a texture I enjoy.  I was concerned that this recipe would yield a product with a lot of chewy fat and that I wouldn't like it.  However, I was pleasantly surprised that curing the fat made it firm, velvety and delicious.  Not at all what I expected.  Plus, I love that this will keep in my fridge for a few weeks.  This is totally a rich treat and I can't imagine having to gobble it up without sharing with company.  I also have to put it out there that the duck didn't really make me think of eating prosciutto.  It has such a deep minerally taste it really reminded me more of a red meat rather than pork.  Almost like venison.  If you want to get all technical game birds and wild animals usually have more endurance based muscle fibers to help them keep alive in the wild, hence the darker meat with a deeper taste... BAM!!! Personal trainer knowledge!!  

Anywho.. next week is the Salt Cure and I already have my Pink salt and juniper berries on the way. As well as my new meat slicer.  I am just writhing with excitement people.  I just can't wait to make some pancetta, which Big D and friends lovingly call Super-bacon.  Happy Curing and I can't wait to give you more job news soon :)  

xoxo

Fast Alice