We've moved.....kinda

Hey hey. The daily blogging has moved, however the 2 pages will still link with regards to recipes and such...

http://www.bitecateringblog.wordpress.com

Beagles

OK, so having to get over this bunny thing, I need a new focus (other than food)....

Back to Beagles...

So I finally phone this number Fudge's breeder gave me in May, on our last visit. Long story short, they're moving to Australia!! And they're looking for homes for their 3 Beagles - females (I just don't like calling them bitches *shrug* shoot me)
Oh man, I wanted to offer right there and then to take all three girls....well I think I kind of did, when a little voice in my head said that maybe I should chat to The Husband first. I can't breed with any of them though...

Right, so the outcome of that discussion was pretty predictable, I know, but, but but BUT, the possibility of getting one is a little more real...I think...I hope.

With me getting on the phone and online.... I "met" a dude from Pretoria, Raymond from Jenar Beagles. Very nice, ex-Capetonian, and going to keep in contact with me, getting a pup from him sometime next year *fingers crossed* and also, getting me into contact with some of the people he's sold pups to down here. Sell Fudge's services ;-)

So yeah, the end of yesterday ended up being quite productive in the Beagle department. Oh, and found www.beagles.co.za , cool

....so happy

Kitchen Cupboard Cooking - Creamy Leftover Sausage Pasta

You know those days, when you need to get to Pick 'n Pay, REALLY neeeeeed to get there, because there's "nothing" in the house. I say "nothing" - because, in all honesty, unless you're possibly a bachelor or a student, chances are, there's something...

Often sometimes there's stuff left over from a dinner party or something special you bought just to try out some new recipe. But alas, other than the special new recipe, you have no idea what to do with that leftover mascarpone or tapenade or chickpeas.

I love experimenting and "inventing" with these ingredients and new recipes. I always write it down as I go along, because you never know how it's going to turn out.

This is how I came about this recipe I'm going to post now. We were pleasantly surprised at the final product, Husbundos (my toughest critic) gave it a 10/10. Something that does not happen that often, believe it or not...

Leftover Sausage Pasta
Serves 4

250ml Cream
250g Mascarpone
20g Parmesan
1 tsp Dried Chili Flakes
1/2 tsp Smoked Paprika (or plain if you don't have smoked - it's worth getting a tin of the smoked stuff though!)
Salt & Pepper
1 Tbsp Chili Sauce (I use All Joy Hot & Spicy Pasta Sauce)
2 Tbsp BBQ Marinade
150g Frozen Corn
4 Leftover Bacon Sausages (or whatever other leftover meat you might have)
Few Sprigs of Thyme (dried thyme is fine if you don't have fresh, about 1 tsp)
Squeeze of Lemon (really just according to taste)
1 Tbsp Chutney (plain)
About 300g Pasta (make enough for 4), cooked

1. In a pot heat up the cream, mascarpone, parmesan, chili flakes, paprika, salt & pepper, chili sauce and BBQ marinade, until all is melted.

2. Add the frozen corn. Stir until defrosted and heated through.

3. Slice the sausages or chop them roughly. Add to the sauce.

4. Mix the cooked pasta and the sauce

Done..........so easy.

We suggest a Jordan Whole 9 Yards Chardonnay to go with this, or a wooded Chardonnay if you don't have that. The white Burgundy we had paired really well with it...as a non-local alternative ;-)

Now I REALLY need to get to Pick 'n Pay....

Animal Obsession

Even people that just kinda know me are aware of my love of animals. And I go through certain phases of mild obsession...

I had a serious Meerkat obsession for almost a year a couple of years ago, having had the experience of having one in the house during a visit to my bro-in-law's farm. There had been lots of rain and this little critter was rescued as the rest of the mob (yes, that's what a whole bunch of meerkats are called....isn't it cute?!) had left the burrow and this little thing had been left behind.

I could go on for hours and hours as to how cute it was, teeny tiny, makes the most awesome noises.....remember the huge ant in Honey I Shrunk The Kids...? Like that :-)

Man, now I want a Meerkat again...But seriously, look at them, how can you not fall in love?

Anyhoo. I get over these phases for numerous reasons. The reasons mostly stem from 2 places, 1. doing research and 2. hubby dearest not wanting to get on board with my newest idea.

You see, I research something every which way till Sunday until I feel I know all there is to know. One of the reasons I do this is so that I have good argument to any objection of my idea that comes my way, the other, because I genuinely am interested in wanting to know more.

In the case of the Meerkats, I found out that they live in these communities - mobs. So I approached Hubby with this dilemma:

M: Guess what?
H: What?

M: Meerkats live in Mobs

H: Mobs? What does that mean?

M: It means I need at least five, coz one'll be lonely

H: Are you crazy?

M: No *big smile* I don't want anyone to be sad

H: You're not getting a Meerkat, or MeerkatS. They are naughty

M: I can train them

H: You can't, they're wild animals

M: No no, I saw it on a website, you can train them, I'll show you...

I don't think you need the rest of the convo, but 2 months later I got Fudge :-), my dearest Beagle Boy....and besides, having a Meerkat is illegal (the voice of reason and sensibility of my husband that seems to always put an end to my latest craze)

Well, my newest craze is bunnies. I want what they call a House Rabbit. Yes, that's exactly what it sounds like, the rabbit lives with you in the house, some people aren't new to this idea, but I know alot of you are, so this info might not be interesting to everybody.

There is even a House Rabbit Society...... for real. Check it out: http://www.rabbit.org/

Learnt everything about training them, introducing them to Fudge, feeding, bunny-proofing (although alot of useful info came from one of my online friends). Then the searching, phoned every Perky Pets in the Western Cape, they all have the white ones with pink eyes, I don't want white ones with pink eyes. I want a cute brown one or black one, well even white with dark eyes'll be OK. I found someone in Durbanville that sells Angora ones....ooooh, so cute, but maintenance sounds high, then I found out about ones you can fly down from Durbs, again, this could go on forever...

Hubby Dear put up with the Meerkat crazies way longer than he did the Bunny one. Prolly coz the Bunny one is WAY more likely to happen. And it will still happen, I've just put it on ice, let it lie for a bit. Pick my moments.

OOOOH, did you see that programme on Animal Planet about the Tigers??

Confit Pork - Full Recipe

Time for the full recipe. The pork was finally served on Friday night to, may I just add, our most health conscious friends. My appologies guys, but the consensus at the end of the evening was that it was worth it. After all, you're not eating all that lard, it was just cooked in it ;-)

As long as you have the space and time, this is not a particularly difficult dish to make. Make sure you have a large enough dish or pot to brine the pork shoulder in, enough room in the fridge to store it while it's curing, and enough fat to submerge it in.

Rendering The Fat:

The rendered fat

Lard is melted, rendered pork fat. Freshly rendered lard is not the same thing as commercial lard, which is hydrogenated. There is a smokiness, toastiness and richness to freshly rendered lard.

1. Ask the butcher for 6kg (for this recipe) of Pork Fat ("spek"). It's Ok if there are still bits of meat on it. It adds to the toasty flavour of the rendered lard.


2. Oil a cast iron or other heavy oven-proof pot or pan with olive oil. (If you don't have something that big to go in the oven, that's fine, just find a big pot, you'll transfer into the ovenproof dish later). Pour in 2 cups of water per 1kf of fat.


3. Place the fat in the pot with the water. Cover with a lid and boil for about 5 - 6 hours (for this quantity of fat. You can check the time, most of the fat dissolves after a few hours. Stir every once in a while. I find that when it REALLY starts sticking to the bottom of the pot, it's had enough boiling.


4. You can now strain some of this, because there will be alot of liquid, or just pour all of it into your oven-proof dish, with all the bits of fat**. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.


5. With the lid on, roast all of this for about 2 hours. Remove from oven, and let it stand for a few minutes.


6. Pour the fat through a wire mesh sieve, placed over a heat-proof container. When cool enough, transfer into a container with a lid.


7. Store in the fridge, where it will keep up to a month. Or freeze up to 6 months.
   
   **Before transferring into the oven proof dish, remove all the bits of meat, and follow the instructions in the previous post to make rillettes.

The Pork:

Ask the butcher for 1 deboned Pork Shoulder. This should be enough for about 4 people, with a bit left over for you to make a pasta sauce or something.

¼ cup Juniper berries
¼ cup Allspice berries
¼ cup Dried Dill
½ cup Sugar
½ cup Salt
1 Onion, in chunks
1 cup Celery, cut into chunks
1 Carrot, in chunks
½ cup Parsley, torn
½ cup Thyme, torn
3 Cloves
2 Bay leaves
2 tsp dried Chili flakes
Boneless Pork shoulder
2 ½ - 3 litres rendered Pork Fat

1. Crush the Juniper, Allspice and Dill in a mortar and pestle, or in a bag with the pack of a heavy pan or a rolling pin. If you use a spice grinder, make sure to keep it coarse. Dissolve the sugar and salt in 2 cups of hot water in a container large enough to keep the pork shoulder. Add 2 cups of cold water, stir in the onion, celery, carrot, thyme, parsley, cloves, bay leaves and chili. Add the pork shoulder, and enough water to cover the meat. Brine the pork in the fridge for 48 hours.

2. Remove the pork from the brine, pat it dry and clean with paper towels, and let it sit while you heat the lard; discard the brine. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius. Warm the fat gently in a large, deep, oven-proof pot over low to medium heat until it liquefies. Submerge the pork shoulder in the fat and put the pot in the oven. Cook 2 hours uncovered. Cover, and cook another 3 hours.

3. Cool the pork in the fat for 1 hour. (At this point you could transfer the shoulder, submerged in fat, to the fridge for up to 5 days. Before you grill the shoulder, remove the pot from the fridge into an oven at about 120 degrees Celsius to re-liquefy the fat, then proceed.) Remove the shoulder from the fat and put it on a cutting board (strain the fat and refrigerate or freeze it until the next time you make confit)

4. Heat up a pan or griddle pan, heat should be moderate.

5. Slice the pork into 2 – 3cm slabs across the grain of the meat (save scraps to make awesome sandwiches or to put into scrambled eggs). Brush the slabs with a bit of melted fat and grill or fry for 2 – 3 minutes. You should have a crisp, deep, golden crust.

The Gravy:

4 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Onions, sliced
2 lrg Carrots, chunks
3 ribs Celery, chunks
Handful Thyme
Handful Parsley
4 Tbsp Rillettes
2 cloves of Garlic, sliced
Clementine preserve

1.Fry all the above ingredients in a large pot, about 10 minutes, or until it gets a nice brown colour.
2. Add 1 bottle of red wine, boil about 15 – 20 minutes.
3. Add 2 litres Beef Stock (the cubes are fine).
4. Boil until reduced by about ½.
5. Strain into a smaller pot, add about ½ cup of chopped Clementine preserve and a little of the syrup and boil again until reduced by ½.
6. Make a paste with 2 Tbsp butter and 3 Tbsp flour, stir into the sauce until thickened.

I just served the meat and gravy with mash and green beans. You must keep it simple, the flavours of the pork and the gravy are so rich, you don't want it to compete with a whole lot more flavours.