A rare Kitchenista original!
You may say to yourself, wait, hasn’t she made something like this before? And yes, I have – matambre is a roulade as well. Roulade (from the French word “rouler”) just means “to roll” and can apply to anything from a jelly roll to sushi. In this case, it’s a butterflied slab of pork loin slathered in a paste made of Italian parsley, a bulb of roasted garlic and lemon juice, seared and chucked in the oven. Couldn’t be easier. Let me show you.
Wasn’t there a Smurf with a name like garganelli? Anyway. Hello, internet friends! I apologize for the long delay in posting. You’d think with the holidays and all I would have a multitude of food-related posts to make, and I did make a lot of food, but I just couldn’t get the words out. This is why no matter how much I’d like to be a successful author it’s just not meant to be – no discipline. What can you do, you know?
My first two issues of Saveur hit my mailbox this month and I am positively giddy about it. Don’t get me wrong, I love the artistry behind the recipes that come from Gourmet and Bon Appétit, but the authenticity of what Saveur has to offer strikes the deepest chord in me. Fancy food is terrific, and it’s created with the whole palette taste has to offer in mind, but recipes from home kitchens, from outdoor kitchens, from remote locations designed simply to eat well with what your homeland has to offer appeals so much. The culture of food at its most basic, at its most honest, fascinates me. From dusty camps in India to farmhouses in Pennsylvania, whatever you’re having is what I want to have, too.
I started simple this time around, picking a recipe from December 2009’s issue of Saveur, which happens to be loaded chock full of my favorite animal, the pig. Of couse, it’s also the least interesting of the many interesting recipes I could have chosen, with little of that anthropological spirit I mentioned in the paragraph above. However, getting my toddler to eat Terrine de Jambon seemed perhaps a little too ambitious.
Garganelli with Prosciutto and Peas
from Saveur
You will need:
1lb garganelli or penne
2 cups heavy cream (and arteries of steel)
1 1/2 cup fresh or frozen peas
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
4 oz thinly sliced prosciutto, Serrano or country ham, torn into strips
1 cup fresh mint leaves, torn
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
Garganelli is a pasta that’s shaped like a calla lily, and I have to tell you, I am not a huge fan of it. I find where the sides overlap never really gets done enough for my tastes, though it is really pretty. I first tried it in an Amatriciana sauce with the now-infamous guanciale (that, I have to tell you, I am tempted to try again!) and had the same reaction then as I did now. I think if I make it again I’ll go the penne route since penne is delicious and cooks evenly. Mine, by the way, is spinach garganelli because that’s what was available at the time. It has no bearing at all on the taste.
OK, on to the bones of it. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Remember, if it tastes like an ocean you’re on the right track! Unsalted pasta water makes everyone sad. Unless you have arterial issues and then unsalted pasta water makes everyone happy! I believe in fairness, after all. Add the pasta and cook to your desired level of doneness – if you’re using the garganelli, you’ll want to take a piece out and bite through the center to check the overlap. Drain and reserve 1/4 cup of the pasta water, with all its starchy deliciousness.
While all that’s happening, bring the cream to a boil over high heat in a large skillet, 12” is the recommended. Let it reduce by half, which’ll take about 8 minutes or so. Add the pasta and the peas and cook, stirring every now and then, until the cream starts to coat the pasta. Add the parmesan and season to taste. If it looks too thick, add the pasta water in small amounts until you reach your desired consistency. Gently stir in your prosciutto and chopped mint, and enjoy.
Something about that picture puts me in mind of a fish. No idea why. Anyway, so in yet another magazine post (hey, at least it’s a different one), Food Network magazine puts out 6 issues per year, instead of the usual one per month. This recent addition is action-packed with recipes, including one for hot buttered rum. I’ll give you one guess as to who created that one!
Buried amidst the plethora of turkey and stuffing and other traditional Thanksgiving feasts was a section entitled “A Cuban Feast” and it had me at this title: Slow-Roasted Pork with Citrus and Garlic. You might have picked up on it by now, but I love pork. I think I subconsciously look for the pork recipes before I even consider other meats. This particular recipe calls for a 6-8lb Boston butt, which is a shoulder cut (also used to make the incredibly and surprisingly delicious cabbage soup from Veselka) and not only does the grocery store I use to buy my meats not carry any that size, it’s just too much for my small family. The side dishes listed weren’t great for us, not big squash eaters here and bananas flambé, well, let’s just say I think it’s better if I don’t intentionally light things on fire in my kitchen since I do it so well accidentally already. I served this up with some honey-balsamic glazed carrots and some pan-fried corn with red pepper and parsley.
Continue reading ‘Slow-roasted Citrus and Garlic Pork with Glazed Carrots and Pan-fried Corn’
In yet another stunning narrative of my life thus far, not a week after I finally got around to getting a subscription to that bastion of American food magazines, Gourmet, did I get an email notifying me of its imminent demise. By demise I mean that they’re no longer printing it, in case you did not know. I cried every day until my two and only issues arrived, and then I went shopping. You might think this would be a segue into a recipe from Gourmet, but as it has substituted the remaining issues in my subscription over to Bon Appétit (which I subscribed to anyway the same time as Gourmet), I felt it was appropriate to start with Bon Appétit as well.
It always seems like I have a good month with multiple posts and then I have months like this one, where I’m just too busy to accomplish anything outside of what I’ve got going on in life. My in-laws have been visiting this past week and so do not doubt that I’ve been cooking (aiming to impress, you know) delicious food like braised short ribs and a lovely ham and a surprisingly good bourbon peach and raspberry pie, but I took no pictures and wrote no posts for it because I just haven’t had the time. Tomorrow marks another busy week and after that, I’ve got still more photo editing so I’m not sure where another recipe post will find its way to this website in September.
In other news, my oldest son, Grey, turned 3 on the 15th. They grow so fast, no matter how many times people tell you that while you’re pregnant you never really believe it until it starts happening right in front of your face. It seems like just yesterday he was a tiny little baby, and yet I look at him now and he’s practically a teenager. He started preschool on Monday, too, so it’s been a lot of fun around here with all the preparations.
I read a recipe this morning for a grape and pear pie, so once this place has been cleared of cake and cupcakes, I think I’ll make that and let you know how it goes.
