Bresaola

December 16, 2016December 17, 2016 / sbaskitchen / 4 Comments

Some time back we had the opportunity to visit the farmgate of Wuk Wuk Beef, where I purchased a girello roast on the advice that it would make a lovely carpaccio. Unfortunately the carpaccio was not to our taste and I thought I would just have to roast the rest. Then, in a light bulb moment, I decided to do a little research with a view to turning it into a Bresaola. For those of you who don’t know, Bresaola is an Italian air-dried, salted beef that has been aged two or three months until it becomes hard and turns a dark red, almost purple colour, with the help of the red wine included in the cure. During my research, I discovered that some people use a wet cure, others use a dry cure… The recipe I finally decided on was that of another fellow blogger from The Apple Isle – Tasmania. The blog is Tasmanian Artisan and the post is for Wine Salt Bresaola . There is a recipe on the blog for the wine salt used in the brine, but it just so happened that I had purchased some merlot salt from a stall holder at the Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne, and decided to use that instead.

Given the girello I had was only 750g, I got to and did all of the calculations to ensure that I had the correct ratio of ingredients for the size of meat that I would be curing. (I must say, I love a dry cure, it’s a simple process and takes much less room in the fridge than the wet cure.)

The ingredients were prepared and set out, and the meat trimmed and set on a plate. Then it was time to massage the cure into the meat, taking time to ensure that it got into all the cuts and folds, and, of course, that it was evenly distributed over the meat.

The meat, together with any of the cure that was left on the plate was then popped into a snap-lock/resealable plastic bag, ensuring that all the air was squeezed out, before being placed in a dish and then put in the fridge. For the next 12 days I turned the bag and gave the meat a little massage to ensure an even distribution of the cure.

After 12 days I was happy with the feel of the meat, and moved onto the next stage. So after removing the meat from the bag, it was rinsed under cold water to remove any excess cure, and patted dry with some paper towel, before being placed on a wire rack,on the

kitchen bench, for a couple of hours, to allow it to come back to room temperature. The meat was weighed and the weight recorded on my kitchen calendar on the date it was hung, so that I would know how long it had been hanging, and could keep track of the weight loss. Finally it was wrapped in muslin and then hung.

Given the weather at this time in Australia, I had to hang it in the fridge, not exactly ideal, I know, but we have a second fridge in the garage, so I placed a couple of small trays of Himalayan rock salt under the bresaola to help manage the humidity.

Each week the meat was taken down, unwrapped and checked to ensure there were no nasty moulds developing, and weighed to check the progress of the cure – the weight needs to reduce by at least 30%.

Finally the big day came and it was time to slice and taste…

The verdict – I hope it lasts until Christmas so the family can taste it – yes, its really, really good.

To star the Bresaola, I decided to create a lovely Bresaola, Beetroot, Orange and Goats Cheese Salad, the flavours worked amazingly well together.

Bresaola, Beetroot, Orange and Goats Cheese Salad

Thank you Tasmanian Artisan, your recipe and guide were easy to adapt and follow.

Until next time…

Bon appétit!

Links:

Bresaola, Beetroot, Orange and Goats Cheese Salad

Wine Salt Bresaola

Tasmanian Artisan

Wuk Wuk Beef

Save

We have a vegie patch!

December 9, 2016December 9, 2016 / sbaskitchen / Leave a comment

It is safe to say that there has been a lot of hard work going on in the Corner Patch, particularly over the last week or so, and I can now, with much delight, tell you that the Corner Patch is now the Vegie Patch! Yes, on Monday of this week at about 6 pm we finished making the last of 12 garden beds. While we were both exhausted, we are both really pleased with the end result and all being in order, are looking forward to enjoying the fruits of our labour for many years to come. The fun now begins with planting up the beds, nurturing the seeds and seedlings into food for our kitchen and store, family and friends.

Just a recap on how we got to this stage:

Trees were cut down, cut up and removed.
Stumps were dug out
Plans were drawn up
31 fruit trees were planted
A slab was put down for the garden shed
The garden shed was erected, and everything that belonged in it, relocated accordingly
Holes were dug for posts
Posts were purchased and concreted in
Holes drilled in the posts
Wires strained accordingly
An old gate that we found behind the garage was cut down and given a lick of paint before being hung.
Timber and pegs for the garden beds arrived
A bit of creative use of old posts, rescued from the pens on our family farm, before it was sold, have been put in place to stop the beautiful Duchess (border collie) from entering.
Careful measuring, cutting, nailing and screwing of timber into place to box each bed.
A mountain of soil was moved from one place to another and finally into each of the boxed beds.
Well rotted manure worked in
Seeds sown in anticipation
One inexpensive archway erected to train fruit trees over the entrance

Left to do:

Plant out the seedlings.
Plant seeds
Espaliering of the fruit trees
Three inexpensive archways to be erected, one more for the fruit trees over the entrance and two for the runner beans to trail up and over.

Click here to see some of the activity leading to this point

While all of this hard work was going on, we did have a little reprieve with a visit from our son, Chris and his family, to celebrate his birthday. It was a quick visit, just one night, as they had to return home for his work. But while they were here, we enjoyed two meals together. I can tell you that seeing our little grandson, Cooper, enjoying picking strawberries, and eating blueberries straight from the bush was a real treat.

Don’t you love it when the little ones are around, it also meant we could have cake before our main course, because he had to go to bed and he made sure he got to take a bite of almost everyone’s cake – Nana’s Chocolate Cream Cake of course!

When we did get to sit down to our main meal we enjoyed the beef brisket that I had had cooking in the smoker all day – another one of the Old Fat Guy’s amazing recipes, adjusted somewhat as the brisket I had was considerably smaller than that called for in his recipe. I also slightly changed the rub, given that I did not have any onion salt – I used a combination of home made porcini mushroom salt, together with celery salt. There was plenty left over, so we were able to send a container full home with them, together with other goodies. The rest has been sliced, vac packed and frozen for quick meals when we need them.

Smoked Beef Brisket

Until next time…

Happy Gardening & Bon appétit!

Links:

The Vegie Patch

Chocolate Sponge – AKA Nana’s Chocolate Cream Cake

The Old Fat Guys Beef Brisket

The Grand Old Dame

The Magnolia Bed

Paddock to Plate!

November 26, 2016 / sbaskitchen / 2 Comments

Part of what I am about is using local and home grown produce as much as I can, so recently I purchased another side of lamb from Forge Creek Lamb, and while you can select the cuts that you would like, I prefer to dress the lamb myself. You see I was raised on a sheep and grain farm about 500 km from where we now live, so am quite familiar with the various cuts of lamb, having observed and helped my mother and father dress many during my childhood and teenage years. One thing that I learnt was that there was very little waste. My mother was meticulous ensuring that all the meat was saved and frozen, even the tiniest of skerricks! Fat was rendered down and the fresh dripping was used to fry the BEST fish and chips – usually redfin fish that dad had caught, the bones were used to make stock for soups, the little bits were used to make pies, and so on. So with that memory, I set to work.

Firstly I set up my kitchen – bowls each for meat to mince, casserole meat and sausage meat set up close to where I would be dressing the meat; a baking dish for the bones; a bag for the fat (I think we’re probably a little more wary of animal fat nowadays, so mainly use olive oil and peanut oil for frying) were close by; my stand mixer was set up and the mincing attachment placed in the fridge; knives steel, hacksaw and chopping boards were layed out; an area with my vacuum seal machine was set up with various sized bags at the ready; and, finally a pile of tea towels were stacked up. Then I set to work….

So this is what happened

The loin was boned out and tied at one inch intervals, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, and then popped in the fridge for a while, before being cut into little noisettes.

Little cutlets were cut, their long rib bones were boned from the flap before being trimmed, and all of the excess fat was removed.

The flap takes time as there is quite a bit of fat to be removed, and invariably you will end up with the odd hole here and there, but they are easily filled with some offcuts. When it was done, it was laid out flat on a large piece of plastic wrap and then rolled up ready for packaging and freezing. The flap is delicious filled with lamb sausage mince, rolled and wrapped in prosciutto and then cooked at low temperature for a while . It makes for a delicious hot meal with veg, but alternatively makes an amazing sliced cold meat for sandwiches or salad.
The shank was removed from the shoulder and Frenched.
The shoulder was partially boned out.
The neck takes quite a bit of work, removing the ribs and cutting the meat away from the vertebrae. But it is well worth the effort with the finished product rolled and slow cooked for a delicious warming meal.
The hind shank was removed from the leg and Frenched.
The hind leg was totally boned out and butterflied in readiness for summer family gatherings. It will be cooked on the BBQ.

The chump was boned out.
Larger off-cuts were set aside for casserole and stir-fry
Smaller off-cuts were minced
Fattier off-cuts were minced together with seasonings to become sausage mince.
Finally the bones were roasted and then placed into a large stock pot with water, onion, celery, carrot, bay leaves and peppercorns and left to simmer away for a few hours. After being strained and allowed to set in the fridge, the fat was removed and the stock was pressure canned in Mason jars for use at a later date.

I know it sounds like a lot of work, and I can’t lie, it is! But I have a beautiful product to work with and the most amazing childhood memories to guide me along the way. I hope that my efforts have ensured that the lamb I cook has been treated with the utmost respect – from paddock to plate!

Now with all this beautiful Forge Creek Lamb in the freezer, I have the delightful task of coming up with the best way to prepare and serve it. The first meal that I prepared with it used the little lamb noisettes. I simply pan fried them to pink and placed them on a small disk of fried potato.

To accompany these little noisettes we had steamed peas, baby broad beans and asparagus topped with roasted baby rainbow carrots. On the side I put a little roasted beetroot and goats cheese, and to finish it off, I prepared and a delicious sauce with the lamb stock, white wine and aromats. I was so happy with this plate of food, inspired by the lamb and a trip to the local farmer’s market where I purchased all the vegetables to accompany it.

Of course we had to have dessert – Tarte chantilly aux fruits rouges – a berry and cream pie with the first strawberries from our garden.

Tarte Chantilly aux Fruits Rouges

The work still continues on the corner patch, it is now fenced and has a gate. We’re still waiting for the timber to box the beds, but hopefully it will be ready next week! I have managed to get a few things planted though, including a Boysenberry.

We have a gate!

Until next time…

Bon appétit!

Links:

Tarte chantilly aux fruits rouges – Berry & Cream Pie

Slow Cooked Lamb Chump

Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks

Glossary

Corner Patch

Forge Creek Lamb

The Humble Hock

November 21, 2016 / sbaskitchen / Leave a comment

It has been a really busy week in the garden, so not to much time in the kitchen. Gary has been working tirelessly to get the trellising done for our fruit trees in the corner patch, and I have been helping him when needed, but also getting on with other jobs in between.

The two blueberries and the mulberry have been planted,

and the bed around the magnolia

has been weeded and mulched. Seedlings for the vegie patch are being nurtured in readiness for their new home too. There have also been trips to the timber yard to collect more posts, and order the timber to edge the garden beds with, and a few to the local hardware as well.

With this all going on we still need to eat, but it needs to be quick and simple., so some of the pre-cooked meals from the freezer have come in handy. However, I have still managed to cook up a few things too. One morning, before breakfast , I quickly made a batch of mini banana & walnut muffins (gluten free) – they have been a welcome sweet treat.

Mini Banana & Walnut Muffins (Gluten Free)

Then yesterday I just couldn’t get my head around what to have for dinner. I had put one of the smoked ham hocks, that I had brined and smoked a couple of week’s ago, into a pot with some water and aromats to simmer away, thinking that I would just can the stock and freeze the meat because I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it – it wasn’t exactly pea and ham soup weather, and I wasn’t so sure about making choucroute.

I finally decided that we’d have a mushroom risotto, easy to make, and delicious… However, while working outside, I started to play with the idea of making a risotto with the meat from the hock that was gently simmering away on the stove inside. Then it came to me – use similar ingredients to the traditional pea and ham soup, but freshen it up using some frozen peas and lovely fresh mint from the garden – so that’s what I did . I made Pea and Ham Risotto with Mint, it worked and it was delicious, and it gave me another way to use the meat from the humble hock.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

After another hectic week at Tranquility…

Bon appétit!

Links:

Smoked Ham Hocks

Pea and Ham Risotto with Mint

Mini Banana & Walnut Muffins – Gluten Free

The Corner Patch

Magnolia Bed

Glossary

Save

Scotch

November 15, 2016November 15, 2016 / sbaskitchen / Leave a comment

Just over a week ago I took delivery of a couple of kilograms of pork Scotch fillet from Coltish Pork. Unfortunately I neglected to say that I wanted my Scotch in the piece, and so received it in steak form. They offered to take it back, but no, I wanted the challenge, so what to do. Again it took a little while, but given the fun I had doing the “Herbs & Spices” cooking class recently, plus my wonderful husband had added a coffee/spice grinder to my cupboard of appliances, I just had to make an Indian Curry.

I dragged out all my Asian/Indian cookbooks and started pouring over them for the right recipe, and this is what I decided on – Mangalorean Pork Bafath from The Food of India – a journey for food lovers. This recipe is from the South of India and uses Kashmiri Chillies of which I had none! So I re-jigged the recipe for our taste, without 20 Kashmiri Chillies and 6 green chillies that their recipe called for !!!! It still has a bit of a kick to it allowing us to enjoy the beautiful blend of spices together with the delicious pork. While curry is normally served with rice, I chose to serve it with smoked sweet potato, a simple yoghurt and mint raita and oven baked tiny tomatoes – surprisingly the flavours went really well together.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

There was plenty of the curry left over, so portioned it out into vac bags, sealed them and we now have curry in the freezer for when we are going to be very busy on other jobs and there is no time to cook.

With the preparation for the curry, I decided to keep the pork in largish pieces as the steaks weren’t very thick, but I did trim most of the fat off (probably a little too much in hindsight). Not wanting to waste the trimmings, I cut them up into small morcels and dragged out my weary old Kenwood Chef – still going, just, after more than 31 years! I have a mincing attachment for it, so the lean off-cuts were put through the course cutter, vac sealed and frozen for another day. The fattier off-cuts were mixed with sage, garlic, cracked pepper, salt and red wine and minced twice, first through the course cutter, then most of it was put back through the finer cutter. Both grades of sausage went into the bowl of the Kenwood, and with the K beater in place, was mixed for a few minutes until it was well combined. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with this sausage mince – Scotch Quail Eggs.

I like my finished Scotch Eggs to be the size of a normal hen’s egg, so use either quail eggs or small pullets eggs, when I can get them, and while I used my own sausage mince, you could use some of your favourite sausages and just remove the casings – pure pork or pork, sage and onion would be delicious, but there is no reason why you couldn’t use beef or chicken either.

Wanting a different way to serve my Scotch Eggs, I hit the net – how boring. I know they are quintessentially picnic food, and that was pretty much all that I saw – tomato, lettuce, cucumber! So this is what I did…

Scotch Quail Eggs served on a bed of pureed pumpkin with beetroot two ways (pureed and thinly sliced), parsnip chips and a little carrot top pesto to finish it off.

Yes, I also made more than needed, so have three waiting in the fridge for a light lunch or picnic this week.

Now for outside… Great excitement! Finally, the posts have arrived for the espaliering, so poor Gary is hard at work measuring, sawing, leveling, etc.

Soon we will be able to train all the fruit trees accordingly and big foot – AKA Duchess, will not be running all over my carefully prepared garden beds. The frames are also going up for all things climbing! I even picked our first three strawberries yesterday – and we have another resident in the garden!