Once again I am playing with my food

My Grandmother Fischer (German) used to make a cucumber salad, it basically consisted of cucumbers salt and mayonnaise, this was a large part of our summer growing up.  Then when I moved to Chicago, I fell in love with gyros and the wonderful tzatziki sauce (Greek).  I realize now that there is very little difference between the two and and now when I make my version of cucumber salad it more resembles the Greek tzatziki sauce.

This is a quick cool summer salad that I make for two most of the time but is easily made for many more; and when you make it make it to your taste adding more of what you like.

2 cucumbers, peeled

2-3 tablespoons Greek yogurt

1 clove garlic, smashed dragged in a dash of salt to make a paste

1 tablespoon dill weed

2 teaspoons shallot diced

Slice the cucumber ultra thin either on a regular of hand mandolin or peel it to the seed with a peeler.   Add the garlic/ salt (always use sea salt) mixture, yogurt, dill and shallots to the mix. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or so and serve.  The salt will pull moisture out of the cucumbers and the mixture will become more liquid.  Eat as a side salad or top your gyros with it.  This will serve 2 with a little left – maybe.

Enjoy!!

Signs of Summer, Grilling, Holidays and the wonders of eggs.

The first true sign of Summer is the holidays and Memorial Day is just around the corner.  And with it brings out the barbequing.  We here are all big on the bbq and will put almost anything on the grill and with the addition of the “baker”, my daughter’s boyfriend, we will more than likely attempt a few more sweet treats on the grill.  This time around I’m sharing a refreshing and simple (easy to medium on the skill side) desert, Grilled Pineapple, raspberries topped with a Zabaglione sauce.  Inspired by my favorite grilling site this will rock the house with the smooth texture and sweet taste.

Fruit and Zabaglione

Cook’s Note:  whenever you are working with an acid (citrus, including pineapple, use non-reactive containers for your best results.  Also be careful with these same products in tin cans – reactive.

Zabaglione

6 egg yolks

1/2 cup pineapple juice in a glass

3 tablespoons light agave nectar

1/4 cup light rum or tequila

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

6 slices fresh pineapple, center cut, each about 1/2 inch thick, peeled

2 tablespoons packed brown sugar 

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4cup fresh raspberries

Prepare the grill for direct cooking, if using a gas grill with a thermometer, ~350⁰.

 In the bottom of a double-boiler, filled about 1/3 of the way with water, bring  to a simmer over medium heat; in the top half, whisk the Zabaglione ingredients.  Reduce the heat to medium-low; place the top half over the bottom half of the double boiler once simmering (this can be accomplished with a heat-resistant bowl and a medium sized pan that the bowel can sit on top of). Whisk the Zabaglione constantly until it thickens, foams up to double or triple in volume, and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers 160° to 170°F, This should take just over 5 minutes BUT don’t be surprised if it takes longer, keep the water at a low simmer. Be careful not to let the eggs begin to set*, what does this mean, in short don’t overcook them. Remove the Zabaglione from over the water and whisk gently for 30 to 40 seconds to begin cooling. Set aside to serve warm.  You can serve it cold but it’s just not the same.  If you happen to create piece in the process you have 2 choices, 1) feed thru a strainer, and 2) start over – I highly recommend this if there are more than a few pieces – sorry folks.

Sprinkle the pineapple slices with the brown sugar and cinnamon, this will burn so be careful, coat evenly.

Clean and brush your grate with a light oil coating (of course I use olive oil OR coconut oil). Grill the pineapple slices with the lid closed 5 to 7 minutes, turning once. Remove from the grill and cut into bit sized pieces (if you have a unit for your grill that has small holes or wire mesh you can cut in advance, toss with the brown sugar and cinnamon and grill.  This will not have the grill marks but is just as good. Divide the pineapple and raspberries evenly among six dessert glasses. Spoon warm Zabaglione over the top and serve immediately.

*Eggs set at 140⁰ but this process can work smoothly for you with the constant whisking of the mixture.

Enjoy!!!

Eggs! And what we should know about them. 

Eggs are the wonder food of the kitchen, a light part, a dark part, and bind the culinary world together. Used in both savory and sweet foods, they act as:

Binders holding together meatloaf and stuffing;

Rising agents in soufflés, certain cakes, and cookies like meringues;

Emulsifiers in sauces like mayonnaise and hollandaise.

Provide structure to custards and body to ice creams.

Important temperatures in eggs.

135⁰ for 75min equal pasteurization

140⁰ eggs have a tendency to set

144⁰ most proteins in the whites denature

149⁰ most proteins in yolk denature

176⁰ whites and yolks firm up

194⁰ yolk starts to crumple

Because of this aversion to water, the protein structure folds up on itself. As kinetic energy is added to the system—in the form of heat or mechanical energy (e.g., whipping egg whites)—the structure starts to unfold as kinetic energy overtakes potential energy.

When in doubt check the list and see if the wonderful egg can fill the void in what you are making.

Mother's Day and BACON!!!

Hi folk's!

This is a little bit of a repeat from the newsletter.  We have been getting wonderful response from our social network sites and not much from our newsletters so we are goiing to focus on the social stuff.  With all the chaos we are having right now I can't promise a weekly post but I will try and I need the break too!

My Mother's Day - a new Cuisinart from my Daughter, an antique
stained glass shade , punch bowl, 6 champagne glasses a bud
vase, a manual coffee grinder and finally the
Terracotta Cazuela and all for the price of just he cazuela!

Hope all you Mothers had a wonderful Mother's Day - I did.  We started VERY early with chorizo and eggs, breakfast patties, home made bacon, mimosas and almond flour and milk pancakes(these need some more work).  from there we made a trip to Santa Rosa for an estate sale, I know I need to have my head examined, but David and I have been expanding our culinary ethnicity.  We have been looking for a couscousier, cataplana and a Cazuela.  I missed the first two on ebay both in copper - too much fun yesterday and the third, the Cazuela, was the reason for the trip.  A Cazuela is an earthen ware dish used in Mexican dishes use to cook over an open fire for stewing or slow cooking.  I have seen them used to make mole which we do often and I am working on a short rib with blackberry mole sauce and since David is sensitive to chili powders, I have to recreate our BSO2 blend without the powder replacing it with maybe fresh peppers instead, we'll see.  The cataplana is next on the list as this is for making steamed seafood and we love our steamers.

Okay so on to the good stuff, If you haven't figured by now I love to play with my food!  our latestet endeavor is home cured/made bacon.  We have tried with and without the skin, a savory and a savory sweet version.  We are still changing the cooking process but I believe we are pretty set in the flavor department.  David likes the skin on because it makes a crunchy bit on the edge, I prefer to remove it, and to satisfy his cravings I have been making chicharone with the skin I remove.  Why make your own bacon you ask?  Because there is less fat and more meat, it's less expensive than store bought, it's easy, and better, and you can make it to your liking.  I will probably never purchase bacon again, that is as long as I have access to pork belly.  The process takes a week and I go through about a pound and a half in 10 days.  David like it so much he is having me make extra to give to family and some friends! 

Below is the recipe I use to make the our bacon.  Have at it folks - I know you can do it!

Home Made Bacon

1 1/2 pounds pork belly, skin removed

2 1/2 tablespoons flake salt

1/2 teaspoon pink salt, optional

1/4 cup honey, brown sugar, or agave (with or without flavor)

2 tablespoons black coffee or apple cider

2 garlic cloves, smashed, I leave the skin on - it does not matter

1 tablespoon ground royal pepper blend

2 teaspoons fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried

1 teaspoon fennel seed, toasted

1 teaspoon coriander seed, toasted.

In a large resealable bag, add everything less the pork.  Combine well and then add the pork.  Rub the ingredients all over the pork.  When covered, lay in the bag and remove all the access air.  I am able to lay it sideways in the bag and fold the bag over to once side so that the liquid that gathers stay around the meat.  if you own a FoodSaver you can use that to remove all the air.  Each day, flip the bag over. Some liquid will begin to gather in the bag.

After seven days, wash the cure off the meat, rinsing thoroughly. Pat the bacon dry with paper towels and set it on a rack over a baking sheet. Allow the bacon to air-dry in the refrigerator overnight for best results.  If you are anxious, you can go fro the drying stage to the next step.

Preheat the oven to 225 degrees. Roast the pork belly in the oven to an internal temperature of 150 degrees for about 90 minutes. Chill the bacon well, then slice to preference. ( we are experimenting here as we are trying to get a thinner slice.  We will let you know how our experiments work on the next month or so as it may take a few batches to resolve the problem.