I’ve been meaning to make this recipe for a while, and since it got cold out again I figured that I could just revert to cold weather food again for a day. The recipe is almost a combination lasagna (with ricotta and such) and meatloaf, then all rolled up and sliced. I served it with wild rice and a tomato-y sauce, but you could also serve it truly Italian with pasta, or go the other way with a brown sauce or glaze.
After last summer’s success of my Barbeque Sauces, I was itching to make some more and seeing it is the “unofficial start to summer” this weekend (Memorial Day), I made this Roasted Peach and Smokey Bacon BBQ Sauce. And these ribs, which are the real star of the show. They were so “fall off the bone” by the time that I was transferring them to the grill, I needed to gingerly use two sets of thongs. The trick with oven smoking them is definitely the Lapsang Souchong tea. It is naturally smokey so it just enhances the flavor like crazy. They take a long time (read the entire recipe before starting!) but boy, are they worth it!
Things to do with Ramps, Part 2: Make pasta. Yes, I’ve been on a bit of a pasta making kick these days anyway, but I figured that this wouold be a good experiment to see if the rampiness-flavor would shine though, even if you make pasta out of it. And I am happy to report that it does, almost to the point where it didn’t need any more dressing up, so I just rendered some panchetta and added some parm, and voila.
As always, my home made pasta directions are designed to use an old-fashioned hand-crank pasta machine. I don’t use my KitchenAid for this, but I am sure that you could. Just follow those directions staring with paragraph three.
Savenor’s Market and Butcher Shop is right down the street from me. And by “right down the street”, I mean about a 6 minute walk. This is a really really good thing as they not only have the biggest selection of specialty meats (it’s where I have gotten rabbit, and duck, and venison steaks), but their cuts of meat are a cut above, so to speak. Also, as I am a huge Julia Child fan, it’s always nice to think that it was “her butcher” here in Cambridge.
So I got myself this thick cut, bone in heritage chop. Including the brine time, it was on the table in under an hour and was simply the most flavorful pork chop that I have had in the US (note: I find the pork much more flavorful in Germany as a whole, but that is because they eat more pork as a culture and still have a greater selection of pork types; and they are bred differently). This is how I prepared it, along with some heirloom carrots and bacon wrapped asparagus.
Another Spring-like endeavor! And I think that Pea Pesto might be my favorite new type of pesto. It is light and refreshing and can be used cold as a spread as in this application, or used on pasta in a warm dish. This open-faced sandwich can be dressed up with the addition of cherry tomatoes too. Yum!