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!
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.
Here is a variation on my usual beef stew recipe, this time using some Guinness as some of the braising liquid. I usually use red wine (or even coffee), but thought that since it was St. Patrick’s Day-ish (and I had a bottle of stout available), I would use that instead. Adds a nice bitterness to it. Note that you should not use Guinness Extra Stout (just the draught) otherwise it will be too bitter. Also, in addition to my usual potatoes and carrots, I had a few parsnips from the winter market, so I used them too.
Everyone has their own way of cooking bacon. In the pan, in the oven, even in the microwave. My method involves the oven, covering the pan with aluminum foil (for easier clean up), but also by placing the bacon on a wire rack placed on the prepared baking sheet. Why? Well, two reasons: 1. by raising the bacon away from the pan, there is better airflow, so the bacon crisps from the bottom as well, leaving the bacon nice and flat and 2. also because the bacon is raised from the pan, it causes less splatters (the reason bacon splatters is because the heated grease under the bacon doesn’t have any place to go with the bacon on top of it, so it eventually “pops” to have the air/grease escape, causing splatters. I don’t know that this is the “best” method, but it is the one that I use. Onwards: