Bacon Jam

This is really amazing stuff Bacon Jam, sigh....

You gather bacon, onions, some brown sugar, vinegar, maple syrup, and coffee simmer and viola!!!!

I sliced up two onions and cut up my bacon and make a pot of coffee. I warmed up my pot on med high heat and cooked my bacon until it was nice and crumbly and drained it on napkins.
I then save a bit of the bacon drippings in the pan and sauted my onions until they were nice and caramelized. I returned the cooked and drained bacon to the pan with the lovely onions and added coffee, vinegar, brown sugar and syrup and brought it up to a simmer.
My lovely bacon-y goodness starting to simmer. I cooked it until most of the liquid was reduced and it was nice and thick and I put it in my food processor and blitzed it to a nice spreadable consistency.
I toasted a slice of bread and spread some bacon jam and topped it with a lovely egg. I read that bacon jam was delicious and I am bit late on the bacon jam trend of last year but wow, it is really delicious.

CharcutePalozza

I am so excited to say I am participating in CharcutePalozza. It is a year long commitment based on Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Poleyn and we will be given a challenge each month introducing us to the amazing world of Charcuterie.

So here is my first challenge turning duck breast into prosciutto. I have my book and I bought a fresh organic, free range, pasture raised duck at the farmers market. I watched a online video on cutting up my duck.
Here are my duck breast are resting in salt overnight, then I will rinse season and wrap and hang to cure. I think it is going to be odd to see hanging meat in my home and not be in a deli.

So I am excited and fascinated that a art that was created before refrigeration was conceived and could be lost except to wonderful places in Europe for example Spain and their serano ham and Italy with salami, prosciutto and parma ham. When the world was being traveled and discovered by ship there were sailors at sea eating cured meats and cured fish it is truly inspiring to know how important salt plays in all of this. Salt is not just in a shaker on the dinner table it really has more important roles than in a shaker our bodies actually need salt.

So as the saying goes you get what you pay for, so for a quality end result I did start with a organically free ranged, pasture raised duck. I will post pictures during the curing process and end result.

Almond Torte

I am making a lovely almond torte, I am grinding the almonds into a lovely flour
and I kid you not my vitamix blender blended it into a amazing flour.
I am such the novice when it comes to baking and the whole mindset behind it. Here I have a greased pan and my beaten egg whites I am folding into the almond flour in thirds it is so light and lovely.
Here is my lovely almond torte in the oven baking into a light lovely deliciousness almost like a angelcake and we had it for dessert topped with my amazing papaya marmalade/jam.

I can't even explain how amazing it is yum......

Lima Bean Soup with Chipotles

I just realized that I have had this blog for 6 years, wow.... I haven't blogged consistently by any means and I have a long ways to go learning the ways of the blog sphere. I originally started this blog when I was learning how to knit and then started sharing different creative avenues I have taken along the way which include my love of cooking and everything cooking related so "cheers!"

Today I made this lima bean soup, I have made it twice and its really delicious. I love all beans and when I found this recipe Baby Lima Bean Soup with Chipotle Broth at 101 Cookbooks I knew I wanted to try it. So I made it again and it is so simple and easy and so full of flavor. So to go with my lovely pot of lima beans I baked skinless, boneless chicken thighs and made a simple salad of cut romaine with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

I love to read 101 Cookbooks and I have to say what I love the most about Heidi Swanson and her blog is not only is she a inspiring cook using natural foods and simple techniques I love to gaze at her pictures. I can say she really inspires me, I want to learn how to photograph my food properly. Rather I should say I need to learn how to take better pictures period I haven't a clue basically I aim, say "smile" and press the button hahahaha one day.....

Beef Bourguignon

My version of Beef Bourguigon

1/2 cup diced pancetta *I know your suppose to use bacon but I had pancetta

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 1/2 lb of cubed chuck

flour

salt and pepper

I large onion cut into large chunks

1 pound carrots peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces

7 cloves of garlic peeled

3 cups beef stock

1/2 cup cognac or brandy *you can omit

1 bottle red wine

1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 tablespoons tomato paste

3 sprigs fresh thyme

1 sprig fresh rosemary

2 bayleafs

1 pound fresh mushrooms

flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Heat a heavy dutch oven and add about a tablespoon of oil and add bacon I used pancetta since I had some frozen and stir until golden brown and remove with a slotted spoon to a bowl. Sprinkle cubed meat with flour and add in two batches to pan and brown in hot oil and pancetta drippings until seared on all sides and then remove with slotted spoon to bowl with pancetta. Then to same drippings add onion and carrots and saute for 8-10 minutes and then removed to same bowl with slotted spoon and set aside. Then add garlic cloves lightly saute and add to bowl also.

Then add brandy or cognac and a cup of the broth and stir to pick up all the good drippings and simmer to reduce it then return the meat and all the vegetable back to the pan add the bottle of wine, tomato paste, brown sugar and stir to mix well. Add mushrooms thyme, rosemary and 2 bayleafs and simmer for a few minutes stirring a few times.

Put the lid on the pan and put in the oven for a hour and a half lower heat to 300.

I can tell you as I am writing this my house smells amazing I feel like I am in France sitting at french bistro or in a farm kitchen.

Tomatillo salsa and jalapeno salsa

Originally uploaded by sauvageblue

We have been on a salsa kick lately from making scrambled eggs and adding salsa to chilaquiles or huevos rancheros and of course standing at the counter and dipping tortilla chips yum.....
So I made two fresh salsas the first is in the blender a tomatillo salsa and then a red salsa with charred tomatos, jalapenos, onions and garlic and then blended. The charring of the tomato's and jalapenos add a smokiness to the salsa which is different from your salsa fresca's.
I also have a fig jam simmering in the red pot and a pear and vanilla bean jam in the yellow pot I have my jars simmering and getting ready to get filled. I will post my completed jams including a blueberry jam I am making and a cranberry jalapeno one I experimented and made.