All posts by rmartin

Carnitas, pulled Pork – Slow cooker

Make a rub and cover a ~2kg pork shoulder roast and leave over night:

  • smoked paprika
  • pepper
  • cumin
  • onion powder
  • brown sugar

After marinating over night:

  • Place ~ 1/4 cup lime juice, 1/4 cup water, some soy sauce in bottom of slow cooker, then the roast (fat side up)
  • Cook on high for 6 hours or more
  • Remove juices, separate the fat out (and use fat for refried beans!)
  • Shred with two forks, add back in some of the juice.
  • Place on a baking sheet lined with foil, and broil for 5-10min to make carnitas.


Easter bread

Basically, the same as a 500g tresse, but with some eggs, which makes it take longer to rise:

  • 425g white flour
  • 75g spelt flour
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 3 teaspoon dry active yeast (traditional), dissolve in part of the milk
  • 1tsp salt
  • 3dl milk (luke warm)
  • 2 eggs beaten
  • 80g butter (softened, in small pieces)

Mix dry ingredients, then add yeast, milk and eggs, and add pieces of butter as it’s mixing. Mix (knead) for 10min.

Let rise for at least 2 hours (until doubled). You can place a raw egg in the middle for fun, it will cook…

Make a Tresse-style bread and curl it up to form a circular shape. Let it rise for ~30-min to an hour.

Mix 1 egg & 1 tbsp milk to make a glaze and glaze the bread.

Cook for 40min at 400F (not convection).


Tarte à la Crème

  • Mettre une pâte feuilletée dans un plat a gâteau avec un poids par dessus (p.ex. lentilles), et mettre au four a 350F/180C pendant 20min
  • Mélanger:
    • 350g de crème
    • 100g de sucre
    • 40g de fécule de maïs
  • Ajouter le mélange à la pâte feuilletée, et remettre au four pendant 45min

Tarte à la crème

Salsa

  • ~8 roma tomatoes
  • 1 large onion
  • 2 Anaheim peppers
  • 2 Jalapeno peppers

Slice the tomatoes in 2, the onion in 4, the peppers in 2 and remove the seeds. Roast everything for 10min skin side down at 450F. Rotate and roast another 3-5min skin side up on broiler.

Place the peppers in a towel wrapped tightly immediately after taking them out of the oven (to let them sweat and make them easier to peel). Peel them as best as possible (ok if not perfect…)

In the mixer, blend finely:

  • 5-6 garlic cloves
  • 4 tbsp lime juice
  • the peeled peppers
  • 1tsp salt
  • 1tsp pepper

Then, add the onion, blend it reasonably well. Finally, add the tomatoes and blend to desired consistency,

Add some chopped fresh cilantro, if you so desire…

Duck Prosciutto

Duck prosciutto
  1. Wash duck breast(s) thoroughly in cold water and pat dry with paper towel
  2. Trim excess fat that is not on the breast
  3. Carefully weigh the duck breast and calculate 65% of that weight – that is the weight that you want the dried duck breast to weigh at the end of the process.
  4. Place about 1cm of kosher salt in a container, place duck breast(s) fat side up, making sure that if that there is space around each duck breast.
  5. Cover in salt, making sure that all sides of the duck breast are coated in salt.
  6. Cover container and place in fridge for 24-36 hours
  7. Remove duck breast from salt and rinse thoroughly with water, then pat dry with paper towel (as dry as possible).
  8. Weigh the duck breast again
  9. Fold/roll the duck breast(s) so that it is as thick as possible, fat side out. This will make it easier to slice later.
  10. Wrap the breast(s) tightly in a few (1-3) layers of cheese cloth, and then wrap tightly in string to maintain the shape. Weigh this again, and using the weight from step 8, you can determine the weight of the cheese cloth and string. Add the weight of the cheese cloth and string to the weight calculated in step 3, so now you know what the “package” should weigh when it’s done.
  11. Place in the fridge for about a week, until the package reaches the correct weight.
  12. Slice as thin as possible and enjoy! (Suggest slicing much more diagonally than in the picture!)
Fresh duck breast after cleaning
Duck breasts covered in salt
Duck breasts after 30 hours of salting, rinsing and patting dry
Duck breasts wrapped up tightly in cheese cloth and butcher twine
After ~7 days of drying

Viande séchée

  1. Prendre environ 500g de boeuf (faux filet, sirloin, top sirloin), enlever le gras sur les cotes si il y en a.
  2. Couvrir dans un bol avec du gros sel et laisser dans réfrigérateur ~3-5 jours. Égoutter et remplacer le sel si besoin.
  3. Rincer la viande et tremper ~ 24h dans de l’eau propre pour dessaler
  4. Bien sécher la viande (p.ex avec du papier absorbant)
  5. Peser la viande et noter. Il faudra arrêter de sécher la viande lorsque qu’elle aura atteint 65% de son poids.
  6. Couvrir la viande avec du poivre et des herbes (facultatif), et envelopper avec un linge propre. Façonner la viande avec de la ficelle en une forme qui sera ensuite facile a découper.
  7. Placer le tout sur une grille ou la pendre, pour que l’air circule bien autour, dans un endroit frais (p.ex frigo).
  8. Laisser pour environ 3 semaines – 1 mois en appuyant dessus de temps en temps, jusqu’a ce que la viande ait perdu le poids juste.

Duck confit – slow cooker

  • 8 duck legs
  • ~1.5 kg duct fat (750g for 4 legs)

Salt the duck legs (about 3-4 tbsp of kosher salt per leg), rub in the salt on both side,  cover and store legs in fridge overnight.

Melt duck fat in slow cooker on high (takes about 1 hour to melt).

Rinse the duck legs quickly with water and pat dry with paper towel.

Place legs in fat, skin side up, and cook on high for ~3.5 hours (check if meat loose from bones).

Place legs still hot in oven dish, skin side up, and broil in oven for ~7min (5-10min at 550F broil), check after 5min

Zucchini flowers

Use male flowers just before or just after they opened. Remove all but 1cm of stem, remove the green sepals with spikes on them, and the pistil. If the flowers have been open, they are more likely to have an inhabitant.

Dip the flower in beaten egg, let the excess drip off, then toss in flour and shake off the excess.

Fry gently in oil, so that it takes about 3-4min per side to get just before golden brown.

 

Radish (or other) greens in lemon cream sauce

  • Greens from several radishes (enough to overfill the frying pan)
  • 1 small onion
  • ~2 tbsp butter
  • ~1/4 cup cream
  • ~3tbsp lemon juice
  • ~1/4 cup of water or broth

Saute the onion in butter for ~2 min (no browning), add some salt and pepper.

Add the greens, saute until welted, ~3min

Add the lemon juice and add enough water so that it takes a good 15min to reduce and the greens soften up. Add some more salt and pepper.

Once there is only a little water left and the green have simmered for at least 15min, add the cream, let it reduce until the right thickness.