Charcutepalooza: the smoking challenge

The Charcutepalooza challenge this month was hot smoking. If you know me, you know I love to use my smoker, but the weather here in the Pacific Northwest tends to complicate things. The day I smoked this tasso ham, it was 40º and grey, but by golly, it was mostly dry! It's funny when I think about how much my standards have changed since we first moved to Portland almost 6 years ago. Just the threat of rain was enough to keep me inside. What can I say? I grew up in Las Vegas where it rains maybe twice a year (and is usually accompanied by flash flooding!) Now it has to be raining on an apocalyptic scale to get my attention. I can't even be bothered to use an umbrella anymore. Mind you, I'm  not saying I like the rain. I've just made my peace with it. I must be turning into an Oregonian.

I went off on a tangent, didn't I? Let's get back on topic.

Making this tasso ham was easy. I just followed the recipe in Charcuterie. Here's the gist of it:  4 hours in a dry cure, quick rinse and dredge in a bold spice mix, overnight rest in the refrigerator then into the smoker. The smoking took about 3 hours. Overall, a very easy and relatively short project. Great way to get your feet wet if you're just starting with the homecuring or smoking.

The ham itself is delicious. It's equally smoky and spicy, which makes it perfect for flavoring stews and such. Our whole family loved it in scrambled eggs. I've sliced it thin and used it in a fried egg, cheddar and tomato jam sandwich. Awesome. I also combined it with peas and served it with homemade pasta in a cream sauce. The combination of sweet peas and spicy-smoky ham in a creamy sauce—what can I say? Super awesome.

I apologize if you were looking for a real recipe. It's so simple, there's no need for one. Here's the basic idea: In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, sauté 1 finely chopped shallot with a couple cloves minced garlic and about 1 cup (or more) of the ham for 2 to 3 minutes. Add cream (about 1 cup or so should do for 1 package of pasta), bring to just a boil then reduce heat to a simmer. Add about 1/2 to 2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese and stir to melt. A couple minutes before the pasta is done, add peas (fresh or frozen is fine) and salt and pepper to taste. Once the pasta is done, drain and toss in the cream sauce. Serve with additional parmesan sprinkled on top and a few turns of freshly cracked black pepper. How quick and easy is that?

Here are some other cured and/or smoked foods you may enjoy:
Smoked mackerel
Bacon
Canadian Bacon
Smoked Salmon
Pastrami

Enough with the Holiday Food Already!

I finally used the last of the Christmas ham. And let me just say if I have to eat one more bite of turkey or ham before November 2008, I'm going to barf. I'm even tired of prime rib (can it be true??)!

Anyways, I made pasta with caramelized onions in a Gorgonzola sauce and threw in the ham. You could just as well add leftover roasted chicken or pork tenderloin. If you prefer vegetables, peas, cooked or roughly chopped fresh spinach, broccoli or sautéed mushrooms work well. Served with a nice salad, it made a very filling and delicious meal.

This pasta needs no embellishing, but I added some diced honey ham. The sweetness of the ham and caramelized onions complements the saltiness of the Gorgonzola.

Rigatoni with Caramelized Onions in Gorgonzola Sauce
Serves 3 to 4 (recipe can be doubled)

• 3/4 cups heavy cream
• 4 oz hard Gorgonzola, crumbled
  
• 2 large onions, sliced
• optional embellishments: diced honey ham, cooked chicken or pork tenderloin, peas, broccoli, sauteed mushrooms, cooked (drained) spinach
  
• 1/2 pound rigatoni (or other pasta of your choice)
  
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Put a pot of water on for the pasta. Cook the pasta for about 2-3 minutes less than indicated on the package instructions. You want the pasta undercooked because you’ll finish cooking it in the sauce.

In a frying pan over medium-high heat, add some oil and sautee the onions until they caramelize. This could take 20 minutes or more. Adjust the heat if necessary to keep the onions from burning.

In a saucepan, heat the cream over medium-low heat. Add the cheese and stir to melt. If the sauce is simmering too vigorously, turn down the heat. You want to slowly melt the cheese. Don’t worry if the sauce is not thick. It will thicken when you cook it with the pasta. Keep over low heat until the pasta and onions are ready.

Once the pasta is done, drain it (don’t rinse it) and return it to the pot. Put the pot over medium-low heat. Add the sauce (and optional embellishments, if using) and stir gently but thoroughly to mix. Cook for 2 or 3 minutes, or until until the pasta is done to your liking. By then, the sauce should have thickened up from the starch in the pasta. Add the caramelized onions and mix well. Serve immediately.



And lastly...if you're looking for a sweet fix, I want to point you to Sugar High Friday to check out the round-up. It's all about pudding and all the entries look so yummy!

What's Your Christmas Dessert?

I made out like a bandit this Christmas! But I feel kind of bad because I only got Hubby a book. We agreed we weren’t going to do anything big, so I didn’t. He got me a gift certificate to my favorite clothing store, this awesome stainless steel roasting pan and Morimoto’s AWESOME new book (click the thumbnail in the sidebar to check it out). From my mom I got McCormick & Schimick’s Seafood Restaurant Cookbook, slippers, gloves and a scarf. My Danish in-laws got me an ice cream machine!!! Brother-in-law- wrote me a cookbook. Just joking. He sent me the cookbook he wrote and published showcasing seasonal Danish ingredients. It’s a modern take on classic Northern European ingredients. The presentations look delicious. Between the cookbooks and ice cream making, I expect I’m going to be busy in the kitchen in 2008.

Sonny made out too!

After a leisurely morning of opening presents and watching the snow fall, we had a leisurely brunch with Girlfriend M and family. Did I ever mention she’s an amazing baker? She is the one who taught me to make the world’s most awesome chocolate cake (I promise to post the recipe one day). Today she made monkey bread, which is kind of like one big sticky bun sans nuts but oozing with caramel and cinnamon. She baked it in a ceramic mold. When she flipped and un-molded it, I almost passed out. It looked and smelled that delicious. She says it can be made in a regular bundt pan, so I will definitely have to try.

I have no idea why they call this monkey bread. If anyone knows, please chime in. Don't it look yummy?

My contribution to the dessert table was a Thai tea crème brulee. If you like green tea ice cream and crème brulee, you will definitely like this dessert. I like it so much, I've made it twice in less than a week! It’s quite easy to make and you can use any other tea that you would add milk and sugar to. I’ve used green chai tea and I imagine it would be great with chamomile tea or Earl Grey.

I used tea bags, but you could use loose tea as well. But be careful because loose Thai tea can be very fine. A regular tea infuser won't hold it. You'll need to use fillable teabags or filter the cream through a clean kitchen towel. I think even cheesecloth will be too porous.

Thai Tea Crème Brulee

• 1 egg
• 5 egg yolks
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 4 to 5 Thai tea bags
• 3 cups heavy cream
• 1 vanilla bean

Preheat the oven to 300°.

Using a small knife, split the vanilla bean. Scrape out the inside and put it in a saucepan along with the pod, heavy cream and tea bags. Bring to just boiling. Turn off the heat. Cover and allow the tea to steep for about 5 minutes.

In the meantime, whisk the egg, yolks and sugar together in a large mixing bowl.

After the tea has steeped, remove the bags (squeeze out all the liquid from the bags) and vanilla pod. If necessary strain the cream mixture into a large bowl to remove any remnants of the pod.

Using a large wooden spoon (or the like), stir the egg mixture quickly while slowly (!!) adding the hot cream. Pour the mixture into individual ramekins (it’s enough for 8 ½-cup ramekins) or a shallow 1½ quart ovenproof dish (which is what I did this time). Bake in a water bath until the center is set, about 35 minutes for ramekins and 55 minutes for the large dish. When done, allow the custard to come to room temperature before covering with plastic wrap and chilling in the fridge. For the large dish, it will take at least 4 hours.

To serve, caramelize some granulated or turbinado sugar on top with a kitchen torch or under the broiler. If you do it under the broiler, I recommend freezing the custard for about 30 minutes beforehand to keep it from getting too warm in the oven.

The crust should be warm and crackly while the custard stays chilled.