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Some quick and dirty food porn
Oct. 14th, 2005 02:11 pmWe ought to be on the road already, so pictures will have to wait (the part I dislike most about digital photography is one of the parts I love best about black and white film... the darkroom is tedious for digital. It has no magic in it... and it seems to take forever. Then I have to code the html to post them here and whine, whine whine).
But I can toss out a sop to those who want to read something.
Sunday after we got back from looking at the colt, I took out the chops and cooked six of them (there were nine). Cast iron grill pan, very hot. The chops had been soaking in lime juice, and ground cumin. I took some brown stock and reduced that to a demi-glace, reduced some wine, with chopped oregano. Strained the rosemary out and voila, sauce. It hid the notes of lime and cumin, when unsauced the lime was just the right note. With the sauce the lime notes didn't conflict.
Salad and some baby potatoes, a bottle of Tartaglie '02 Zinfandel (Webb's last name is Tartaglie, if any of you want to drop by for dinner I can get some more (there being only one bottle each of three varieties here now, and that going to change). It was pretty good.
The lamb was really rare. Which was fine, because the next morning I boned the three chops which had been unused, as well as the one I didn't eat. I lined a shallow pan with tinfoil, and I chopped a carrot and an onion; coarsely, put them in the pan, put an oven rack with the bones on it and browned the lot for an hour and a half. Tossed it all into a stock pot, covered with water and ended up with about three quarts of lamb broth.
Strained the veggies out, stripped the meat (now mere protein, lacking in flavor) from the bones, and those went to the dogs.
Supper was based on the remaining meat. I made a pottage. For ingredients it was something Esau might have sold his birthright for, as all the ingredients could have been found in the Middle East (well, perhaps the black pepper wasn't there yet, but it was all old world foods).
Double the liquid with some water, add two cups of barley; and a healthy dose of salt. Brown the lamb, toss it in when the barley is almost done. Add onions and carrots. Ten minutes before you plan to serve, toss in some celery.
That's it. A small dose of dry white wine will brighten it just a touch and no one will complain (at least no one here did).
I also made bread. I'm trying to get a really sour sourdough. So far I've had no luck. I'm just getting good bread. The crust is developing well; and coloring nicely. The crumb is smallish (I need to work on catching it just before it peaks, so I get better spring, though the spring is nice. The other problem may be too thorough a degassing in process) All in all these are minor to the main problem, lack of bite.
Today I'll be feeding the starter, and letting it sit out all weekend. Three days is the most one can let it sit before using it (after that the bacteria start to break down the gluten) so we'll see if a slow, but not refrigerated, growth will let the bacteria catch up to the yeast.
I'll also feed the room temp levain I've been using for the past month. It's making a very tasty bread.
Tues. next I'll be making veggie lasagna, and lots of bread will be needed, so I'll feed it again when we get home on Sun, and aim for a pain a l'ancienne (which is really, a la moderne as it needs ice, and a refridgerator, to make).
If it fails, well the important thing to remember about homemade bread... no one ever complains.
But I can toss out a sop to those who want to read something.
Sunday after we got back from looking at the colt, I took out the chops and cooked six of them (there were nine). Cast iron grill pan, very hot. The chops had been soaking in lime juice, and ground cumin. I took some brown stock and reduced that to a demi-glace, reduced some wine, with chopped oregano. Strained the rosemary out and voila, sauce. It hid the notes of lime and cumin, when unsauced the lime was just the right note. With the sauce the lime notes didn't conflict.
Salad and some baby potatoes, a bottle of Tartaglie '02 Zinfandel (Webb's last name is Tartaglie, if any of you want to drop by for dinner I can get some more (there being only one bottle each of three varieties here now, and that going to change). It was pretty good.
The lamb was really rare. Which was fine, because the next morning I boned the three chops which had been unused, as well as the one I didn't eat. I lined a shallow pan with tinfoil, and I chopped a carrot and an onion; coarsely, put them in the pan, put an oven rack with the bones on it and browned the lot for an hour and a half. Tossed it all into a stock pot, covered with water and ended up with about three quarts of lamb broth.
Strained the veggies out, stripped the meat (now mere protein, lacking in flavor) from the bones, and those went to the dogs.
Supper was based on the remaining meat. I made a pottage. For ingredients it was something Esau might have sold his birthright for, as all the ingredients could have been found in the Middle East (well, perhaps the black pepper wasn't there yet, but it was all old world foods).
Double the liquid with some water, add two cups of barley; and a healthy dose of salt. Brown the lamb, toss it in when the barley is almost done. Add onions and carrots. Ten minutes before you plan to serve, toss in some celery.
That's it. A small dose of dry white wine will brighten it just a touch and no one will complain (at least no one here did).
I also made bread. I'm trying to get a really sour sourdough. So far I've had no luck. I'm just getting good bread. The crust is developing well; and coloring nicely. The crumb is smallish (I need to work on catching it just before it peaks, so I get better spring, though the spring is nice. The other problem may be too thorough a degassing in process) All in all these are minor to the main problem, lack of bite.
Today I'll be feeding the starter, and letting it sit out all weekend. Three days is the most one can let it sit before using it (after that the bacteria start to break down the gluten) so we'll see if a slow, but not refrigerated, growth will let the bacteria catch up to the yeast.
I'll also feed the room temp levain I've been using for the past month. It's making a very tasty bread.
Tues. next I'll be making veggie lasagna, and lots of bread will be needed, so I'll feed it again when we get home on Sun, and aim for a pain a l'ancienne (which is really, a la moderne as it needs ice, and a refridgerator, to make).
If it fails, well the important thing to remember about homemade bread... no one ever complains.
