Haven't been making many meals over the past few days (been living mainly on leftovers and restaurant food) because was I gearing up for a family/holiday get-together we hosted yesterday. Made a couple of appetizers . . .
Pimento Cheese Mise En Place & Hitohira TD Blue #2 Kurouchi Gyuto, 210mmMayo, pimentos, jalapenos, microplaned garlic, sharp white cheddar and worcestershire sauce. Love this minimalist recipe that Pigmon & Trixie-Pea shared with me. It's a real crowd pleaser.
Pimento Cheese & Ritz CrackersThere's a raging debate in our house when it comes to pimento cheese: Ritz or Townhouse. Last time, I diffused it by baking some fresh bread (for Masters-style sandwiches). This time Ritz won out.
Time for a little guacamole . . .
Mise En Place & Hitohira TD Blue #2 Kurouchi Gyuto, 210mmRed onions, dried/ground/seeded arbol chiles & salt, homegrown cilantro, avocados, mini tomatoes, lime and salt.
GuacamoleAs it turned out, way too much arbol. Those babies from Rancho Gordo were potent. I only used 4 but that resulted in an usually spicy guacamole. A few of us liked it but it wasn't as big a mover as I'd hoped for.
There was also one very special appetizer that I didn't make but was fortunate enough to receive as a gift . . .
Country HamI don't know what I did to be worthy of such a gift but my chum Justin sent this ham -- that he cured himself -- to me a few months ago. It was at 22 months when I received it and is now at about 28 months. Here, you see it after 4 days of soaking (changing the water every ~12 hours) and some very mild brushing to clean it up. It was in beautiful condition and needed very little work. Rich, deeply flavorful and funky as all get out. Just a glorious piece of legmeat.
Ham, Stand & Takeda Classic Sujihiki/Yanagi, 310mmIf this looks like the worst slicing job you've ever seen, you'd be right about that. I did my best but being a rookie, even with some very nice tools, this was a challenge. When I went high, I slipped off the ham. When I went low, I sliced too thick. I nailed a few slices but it's clear how much sawing I was doing here. There's a lot more left, so I'll continue to practice and give packs of this amazing ham away to friends and family. Gotta' pay it forward, for sure.
Justin's Country HamWe ended up snarfing this down on some fresh biscuits that one of our guests was nice enough to bake . . .
Plated UpCoupla' little sandwiches and a blob of the holiday-weekend slaw.
Also made a few sides . . .
Kale Mise En Place & Hitohira TD Blue #2 Kurouchi Gyuto, 210mmBlack pepper, salt, smoked pork hock, evoo, winterbore & redbore kale leaves/stems, smashed garlic cloves, shallots, red chile flakes, granulated sugar and white vinegar (=gastrique).
Kale & Ham HockThese turned out really well but still,I didn't like them nearly as much as the kohlrabi greens I made earlier in the week.
How about some pasta salad?
Pasta Salad Mise En Place, Global Cheese Knife & Hitohira TD Blue #2 Kurouchi Gyuto, 210mmFusilli, parmigiano reggiano, blanched carrot, red pimentos, salted/drained Persian cucumber, castelvetrano olives, mini tomatoes, blanched peas, homegrown basil leaves
(wanted to wait until the last possible minute to mince them up), microplaned garlic, trio of feta cheeses, fresh oregano, balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, evoo, dried oregano and black pepper. Not pictured -- and really key to the whole thing -- is some dijon mustard, which I used to emulsify the vinaigrette that was made with the evoo and the vinegars.
Pasta SaladI like this method a lot (thanks, Chef John) -- the cooked pasta is drained and immediately tossed in about half the vinaigrette. Stir it every few minutes and once it's no longer warm, add the remaining vinaigrette and the rest of the ingredients.
Beans, anyone?
Rancho Gordo Pinto BeansMise En Place & Hitohira TD Blue #2 Kurouchi Gyuto, 210mmEvoo, yellow onion, slitted jalapenos/fresnos & bay leaves, overnight-soaked pinto beans, chopped garlic, carrot, celery, salt and black pepper.
"Baked" BeansDon't tell anyone but I actually cooked them on the stove top.
There was more and annoyingly, the rain never let up until it was time to grill the mains. Once the weather cleared, I took to the deck. Doing my best to get it all ready at roughly the same time, I fired up a couple of charcoal grills. First, was some chicken thighs on my 27" kettle . . .
Chicken Thighs GrillingLess is more. Just went with salt, pepper, granulated garlic & onion and dried oregano. These cooked for about 30 minutes, covered/indirect the whole way.
While the chicken was cooking on Grill #1, I went over to Grill #2 to cook a few rounds of skirt steaks . . .
Skirt Steaks GrillingThese cooked direct, very briefly. I think there were 3 or 4 rounds, so I built a pretty big fire to make it all the way through.
Charcoal-Grilled Skirt SteaksOnce the final round of steaks was off (and resting) and the fire was fading, I got the final meat of the day on the grill . . .
Hot Dogs GrillingKayam natural casing beef & pork dogs. Of course, I love Vienna Beef dogs but every once in a while, it's nice to change it up.
Charcoal-Grilled Hot DogsWaiting for bunnage and condimentation.
Once the dogs were done, it was time to pull the thighs . . .
Charcoal-Grilled Chicken ThighsOther than the plate of mini ham sandwiches shown above, I never did get a picture of any of my other multiple plates (or cocktails!).
Hoping everyone has a great holiday!
=R=
Same planet, different world