Lentils and Pork

We had some leftover pork, and decided to make the very classic French Dish: Petit-Sale aux Lentilles –(salt pork with lentils) from Paris Bistro Cooking by Linda Dannenberg.

This very hearty dish is the perfect cold rainy weather dish. We use the leftover pork rather than salt pork. It was delicious.

Petit-Sale aux Lentilles

[salt pork with lentils]

Paris Bistro Cooking – Linda Dannenberg

In France, salt pork, or petit-sale, is made from pork belly or hock cured in brine; in the United States salt pork is usually made from pork back fat, a less meaty, fattier cut. Ask your butcher to select for you a particularly meaty piece of salt pork, or substitute a piece of cured pork belly, shoulder, or loin, if available.

salt pork

2  Pounds Meaty Salt Pork, Rind Removed

1  Large Onion, Stuck with 2 Whole Cloves

2  Large Carrots

1  Bouquet Garni   (1 Sprig of Parsley, greens  of 1   Leek, Thyme Sprig, and 1Bay Leaf, Tied in a Square of cheese cloth )

lentil garnish

1  Pound Lentils, Cleaned

4  medium Carrots,   Quartered

2  Medium onions,   quartered

1  bouquet Garni   (same as above)

Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper

2 Tablespoons  Chopped  Fresh Parsley

To prepare the salt pork:

Place the salt pork, onion, carrots, and bouquet garni in a large pot. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 2 hours, until salt pork is tender.

To make the lentil Garnish:

Place the lentils, carrots, onions, and bouquet garni in a pot and add enough water to cover the lentils by 3 inches. Bring to a boil, then simmer gently for about 1 hour.

When the salt pork is ready, drain and discard accompanying vegetables and bouquet garni. Place the salt pork in the lentils pot and simmer for 30 minutes. (Add water if necessary to prevent the lentils from drying out.) Adjust seasoning. Before serving, remove bouquet garni from lentils.

To serve, slice the salt pork, place it on top of the lentils, and sprinkle with the parsley

SERVES     4

A Green Dinner

We LOVE pasta. Unfortunately, the doctor told me this week I have to loose 10 pounds. Oye! Well, we will continue to serve pasta, I will just have to have smaller portions. That should be a good compromise.

A wonderful recipe is Orecchiette Carbonara with English Peas and Pea Shoots from the book Sunday Suppers at Lucques. We decided to make it with Sugar Snap Peas from the Hollywood Farmer’s Market instead of English Peas. One advantage is the peas don’t have to be shelled. The tips of the peas are cut off and then the pods with the peas inside are sliced in ½ diagonal slices. It is very easy. The pasta recipe is delicious and can be found in our blog of: April 28, 2009. Click the date to get the recipe.

We started with a simple salad of fresh blanched Asparagus, covered with Brown Butter, Burrata Cheese and Hazelnuts. This is another spring salad that is delicious an easy to make.

The Pork Roast That Thought It Was Prime Rib

We saw a recipe for a Potato Leek Gratin in the New York Times. It has been cold and rainy here in LA so we decided to make it. What goes better with a Potato Gratin than Pork?

We wanted to make the pork roast on the Egg, but we didn’t know if the weather would cooperate for outdoor grilling. We decided to try and hope the weather would clear. It did! For that one day, the clouds disappeared and I was able to smoke the pork in the Egg. It was the first time we had used it in several months.

The recipe we made was: Herb-Crusted Pork Loin Roast from License to Grill by Chris Schlesinger. We purchased the pork loin at McCall's Meat and Fish. This is a very easy and good recipe. I used maple wood for the smoke flavoring. It only takes about an hour and a half in the egg to have a great smoky taste. You can get the recipe in our blog of: July 2, 2008. Click the date to get the recipe.

We haven’t returned to McCall’s Meat and Fish since we made this pork, and I want to find out more about the pork that he cut for us. This pork was unbelievably good. It was richly marbled and had the consistency of prime rib, not pork. It was an amazing piece of meat. When we picked up the meat we knew we were getting something special, we had pre-ordered the meat, and Karen grabbed a pork roast for us, Nate told her he had a different cut for us, so she put the one she was going to give us back and gave us the one that Nate suggested. Amazing!

New York Times

March 11, 2011

Potato Leek Gratin

Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, more for greasing the pan

2 large leeks, trimmed and halved lengthwise

1 1/2 pounds peeled Yukon Gold potatoes

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 thyme sprigs

1 cup heavy cream

1 fat garlic clove, finely chopped

1 bay leaf

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

3/4 cup Gruyère, grated.

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees and butter a 2-quart gratin dish. Wash the leeks to remove any grit and slice thinly crosswise.

2. Using a mandoline or sharp knife, slice the potatoes into rounds, 1/8-inch thick. Toss with 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Layer the rounds in the gratin dish.

3. Melt the 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add leeks, remaining salt and pepper, and thyme. Cook, stirring, until leeks are tender and golden, 5 to 7 minutes. Discard thyme and scatter the leeks over the potatoes.

4. Add cream, garlic and bay leaf to the skillet, scraping up browned bits of leeks from the bottom of the pan. Simmer gently for 5 minutes. Stir in nutmeg.

5. Pour the cream over the leeks and potatoes and top with the Gruyère. Cover with aluminum foil and transfer to the oven. Bake for 40 minutes, uncover and bake until the cheese is bubbling and golden, 15 to 20 minutes longer. Let cool slightly before serving.

Yield: 6 servings.

Spring is Here!

You wouldn’t know it from the rainy weather, but spring has arrived and the Hollywood Farmer’s Market is a sight to behold with all its spring vegetables.

One of our favorite springtime dishes is Fava Bean Pasta. It is best made with young Fava Beans when they first appear in the market. They of course have to be double peeled. First you peel them from their pod (that is good for an hour). Secondly you blanch them in boiling water and then slip their skin off (another 45 minutes). It is best to NOT cut your fingernails before you work with them.

Bacon is my favorite seasoning, and the pasta sauce is made with lots of bacon. The recipe can be found in our blog of: April 30, 2008. Click the date to get the recipe.

Robert and Darryl had dropped some Sumo Oranges. They are all the rage this year. This is the first year they have been available. They are kind of an ugly orange, correct in color but a bit misshaped and pockmarked. But peel away the orange rind and there is a delicious fruit. We made a Salad featuring Dates, and slices of Sumo Oranges.

Yes, Spring is here!

Cooking with Wolfert

We cooked a dinner using two different Paula Wolfert recipes from two of her excellent cookbooks.

We started by making a delicious thick and rich soup: Creamy Farro and Chickpea Soup (Italy) from Mediterranean Grains and Greens by Paula Wolfert. Paula is one of those amazing cookbook writers that has never been a professional chief or owned a restaurant. She is a scholar of recipes, especially from the Mediterranean region. The recipes she collects are an inspiration to us. This soup is a perfect example of a country style soup. You could imagine having a bowl of this soup on a cold winter day and then going out to work in the fields.

We followed the soup course with Expatriate Roast Chicken with Lemon and Olives from The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen by Paula Wolfert. It is absolutely one of our favorite chicken dishes. It is very moist and I love the taste of preserved lemons and olives. You can find the recipe in our blog of Aug 2, 2008. Click the date to get the recipe.

After eating this delicious chicken, then having it again for leftovers, we kept all of the bones and used them to make a Chicken Stock which we froze for future use.

Creamy Farro and Chickpea Soup (Italy)

Mediterranean Grains and Greens

Paula Wolfert

Farro is Farro," says Ronaldo Bellacamda, an importer of the Tuscan cereal grain, by which he means it's a specific type of polished grain (Triticum dicoccum Schubler) and not, as some people will tell you, a "kind" of spelt or a "kind" of something else.

Here's how Suzanne Hamlin put it in the New Tork Times: "A grain of farro looks and tastes some­what like a lighter brown rice. It has a complex nutty taste with undertones of oats and barley. But lacking the heaviness of many whole wheat grains, farro tastes more elegant than earnest."

Yes if you must, you may substitute hulled barley; but if you do, please remember: don't soak it overnight.

¾      cup dried chickpeas

¾      cup farro or hulled barley

½      teaspoon sea salt        '

2       imported bay leaves

3       tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil plus more for garnish

½      cup chopped onion

4       oz. chopped prosciutto

1       tablespoon minced celery

1       quart homemade chicken stock

½      teaspoon dried marjoram

2       whiffs of freshly grated nutmeg

Freshly ground black pepper

Freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley for garnish

1.   Pick over the chickpeas and soak them in water to cover overnight. Rinse the farro and soak in water to cover overnight.

2.   Drain the chickpeas and place in earthenware, if possible, (beans cook more evenly in clay), cover with plenty of cold water, and bring them to a boil. Add the salt and bay leaves. Reduce heat and cook, covered, until very soft, about 1-1/2 hours.

3.   Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, heat the olive oil and gently cook the onion, prosciutto, and celery for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they are soft but not brown. Drain the farro and add it along with the stock, marjoram, and nutmeg to the onions and cook, partially covered, for about 1 hour.

4.   Drain the chickpeas, discard the bay leaves, and reserve the cooking liquid. Puree the chickpeas with 1 cup reserved liquid in a food processor. Add pureed chickpeas to the farro and, if necessary, additional chickpea cooking liquid to achieve the consistency of a creamy soup. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Wait 10 minutes before serving and sprinkle each portion with chopped parsley and a drizzle of olive oil.

Veal Pasta with Asparagus

Bea came over and joined us for dinner. We started with a home made creation: Asparagus with a Parmesan-Béchamel Gratin.

We followed the Asparagus with the Veal Ragu Pasta that we had made from the leftover veal shanks

Asparagus with Parmesan-Béchamel Gratin

·      Break-off the Asparagus tough ends

·      Place in Boiling water for 2-3 minutes to partially cook, you don’t want them to be mushy

·      Make a Béchamel Sauce, we use Julia Child’s recipe.

·      Add about 1 cup grated Parmesan Cheese to the Béchamel Sauce, stirring well.

·      Place the Asparagus on an oven proof pan, cover with the Béchamel Sauce and place under the broiler until golden brown – just a few minutes.