Slot Car Cooking

[waaytoomuchintothis]

Virginia tends to be more like the folks I knew in Ontario and the Lake District in England. Its very English here. I expect John, being in New England, has had similar discoveries.

[Ember]

Time for a favourite standby.... Risotto

Nope. I'm not going to teach you how to cook it. It's a simple staple that every cook should know how to do, though some do it badly. Just going to share some of my favourite flavour combinations.

Saffron: Good quality saffron threads used to flavour a clear light chicken stock. Sauteed shallots. Cultured butter and parmigiano reggiano to finish.

Venison: Leftover roast venison and well caramelised onions, red wine, veal stock flavoured with juniper berries. Butter and peccorino to finish

Mixed mushroom: A mixture of exotic mushrooms (whatever's on chuck-out at the supermarket: enoki, shemji, shitake), brown chicken stock finished with grana padarno (doesn't need the delicate refined flavours of the reggiano)

Portabello: Portabello mushrooms, port, beef stock finished with grana padarno

Asparagus: Shallots, verjuice, light chicken stock with the woody ends of the aspargus added before heating. Make as if you were doing a plain risotto. Add the asparagus in the last 3 minutes f cooking. Finish with butter and parmagiano reggiano and serve with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Pea and prosciutto: Saute garlic, shallots and chopped prosciutto. Sherry and chicken stock are the fluids of choice. Add frozen baby peas in the last 2 or 3 minutes of cooking. Finish with butter and parmigiano reggiano.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

[*drooling*]
Woof, I mean yum.
Uh, was it good for you? Why do I feel like I need a cigarette now?

[Ember]

At risk of damaging my reputation, it's time to mention the S word.

Quick 'n' Simple Potato Salad (best served warm)

Scrub and boil potatoes in well salted water until just tender. Drain and peel while hot (ok, you can peel them before cooking but they are better this way). Cut into rough cubes and put in serving bowl. Immediately dose liberally with plenty of good red wine vinegar. NB: They have to be hot so they will drink in the vinegar.
Meanwhile cut speck, pancetta or streaky bacon into strips and saute over low heat to render fat. When fat is well rendered and bacon nicely browned add it all to the bowl with the potatoes.Yes, the fat too. It and the vinegar will form the dressing. Toss well with fresh cracked pepper. Herbs or onion can be added as desired. I usually add plenty of chives or spring onions at the very least. Dill fronds are also quite nice. Salt shouldn't be required due to the bacon.

As I said. This one is best served fresh and warm however leftovers can be refrigerated (yeah... like there are going to be leftovers) but should be allowed to return to room temperature before consuming.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

That's a classic German Potato Salad. Perfect.

[Ember]

Well... There ya go. My grandma's so called German spud salad is a whole lot more complicated and doesn't taste near as good.

[Ember]

I bought some belly pork rashers with the intention of doing classic sweet & sour pork or even a Chinese clay pot braise, but the weather turned hot suddenly.

Hanging round here inspired me to come up with this one:

Red chilies, finely chopped I had some birdseye chilies in the fridge
Garlic, crushed
Dark soy (for the salt)
Dry sherry (for the acid) Does anyone still drink this stuff? I only ever buy it for cooking.
Maple syrup

Used that for both the marinade and glaze.

Now I don't have outdoor cooking facilities and it was too darned hot inside. So after marinading the rashers for a few hours I put the pork on a rack in the oven at a very low temperature (about 100C) for a few of hours while I sat outside under the shady tree consuming a shandy or two. The marinade was also put in a pot over a very low flame and used to baste the pork every quarter hour or so.

Three hours later (yeah well... it was supposed to be two but visitors turned up) the pork was thickly coated in sticky mess, the glaze pot was almost empty, the drip tray was absolutely full of fat and the pork fell apart when you looked at it. Poured the last of the glaze over the pork and woofed it down.

It'll take some practice for me to perfect it, but I think it was a pretty good start. Because of the short notice the pork didn't marinate as long as I'd like. Next time I'll mix up the marinade as soon as the pork comes home from the butcher and vacuum pack the two together and leave it to sit for a few days.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

While search the whole world to find out what Lynne was cooking (I did find out, so now I can cook it), I found this guy in Aussieland who makes...

BRACE YOURSELF

A BETTER Pow Fatty! And its made entirely of pork belly! We've got to get on this to save face! God, it looks good.

[Ember]

I don't know what I was making other than a sort of BBQish pork ribbish thing without the bones. Belly rashers are cut just about the same thickness as spare ribs, but a bit further around the circumference of our fat little friend.

It was a 100% make it up as you go along instance. And Ye it was good.

BTW: He said shoulder not belly

[waaytoomuchintothis]

LOL. I was so distracted by the dialogue, I turned the volume down. Oops. Still, dark meat is dark meat to some degree. It didn't look like what we call shoulder. I suspect it was back bacon, which is further up close to the area we call shoulder.

[Ember]

I guess there's only so many ways to cut up a pig. Only trouble with the current popularity of cooking competition shows, all the slow cook cheap cuts like pork belly and beef shin have gone up in price. They were my subsistence cuts.

Have to make sure His Lordship makes a goat or something fall over with his pointy sticks. The annoying thing is, he's probably seeing plenty of deer at the moment fleeing before the bushfires, and can't do anything about them. :(

[Ember]

I used to get roo steak for $9.99 per kg and roast for $6.99. But because of the cooking shows more people have actually tried it rather than "Yuck...how can you eat skippy." Now it's $24.99 for steak and $19.99 for roast. It sucks!

[Ember]

They're only allowed to sell "Farmed roo" Dave. And only certain people with special tickets and permits are allowed to cull them. Makes more sense to me to farm and eat something that is suited to our land and climate than hard hooved critters that damage the environment.

Oooooh.... My ultimate favourite winter comfort food would have to be oxtail. A nice thick oozy brown stew or soup of oxtail cooked really slow for a good day. Oh, I'm hungry now.

[Ember]

I must admit to not being a big offal fan. Being served tripe in a cream sauce, and lamb's fry that was on the turn, as a kid rather put me off. The lamb's fry episode was a pub meal too. And pressed pickled tongue was on the menu for almost every second meal when I stayed with my nanna for school holidays as a kid.

His Lordship is a big fan of pigs trotters and is always begging his mother (who is 89) to cook them for him. I know well enough there are some things that I will never be able to cook just like Mother. So I'll leave that one to her. ;)

[waaytoomuchintothis]

I made this for lunch today, since its still soooo damned cold and thought I'd pass it along.

LEEK AND POTATO SOUP (short cut version)

This is a lot like vichyssoise, just run it through a blender and chill it if that's what you want- its the same.

3 leeks, the white plus a tiny bit of the green, sliced very thin (wash leeks very thoroughly- they collect dirt as they grow)
2 russet potatoes, cut into chunks
1 pint chicken stock, somewhat clarified, or just use broth
1 cup heavy cream
1/8 pound butter
dash of mace
salt
white pepper
1 tablespoon onion juice
chopped chives or parsley (there's some argument about dried herbs. I grow my own in the summer and usually run out by Christmas, and even drying them myself, fresh is definitely better. Give up- grow your own- its cheaper anyway.)

Saute the leeks and chives in the butter on low heat, add a little splash of olive oil to keep from burning the butter.
Boil the potatoes in the chicken stock.
Add the leeks and butter directly to the soup, add seasonings, and simmer 10 minutes.
Add cream just before serving and stir gently.