Savoring Saturday with Porchetta and Pickles May 28, 2011

I often feel too overscheduled, stressed and worn out.  All of this is my from my poor calendar management skills, and my feeling that I should attend as many things as I’m invited to, so as to be considered gracious enough to be invited again.  Sometimes, the events end up piled on top of one another, and it can be exhausting.

So, today, Saturday, I planned nothing, other than a short visit to Thrill of the Grill, an Edible Austin event at Breed and Company, where I needed to pick up cleaning supplies anyway.

After a leisurely tour of the Farmer’s Market, for a first time visitor, I stopped at Austin Wine Merchant to get some wine to pair with tomorrow’s Dai Due dinner, then I headed home to drop off my finds, and pick my mom up, down the street.  She and I went to Breed and Co. and shared a Currywurst wrap, and shopped a bit.  Then, I headed home, this time, to stay.

I had a Dai Due Porchetta that I’d been thawing, and so I seared it off on the stove, then put it in a roasting pan, in a 250 degree oven.

Seared Dai Due Porchetta

The roast would need hours in a 250 degree oven, so I had time to do other things before dinner.

I had some cucumbers from the farmer’s market and also from my garden, that I needed to preserve.  So, I decided to make pickles.  Spears, this time.  I got a recipe from my Epicurious iPhone app, and used that.  It was the typical, vinegar, water, pickling salt, dill, garlic and cucumbers.  I tossed in some pickling spice, black peppercorns, and sliced serranos.

Future pickles

After sterilizing the jars. I cut the ends off the pickles, and cut them into spears.  Eighths, for most of them.  I stuffed them into the sterilized jars.  After the pickling mixture had boiled and settled down a bit, I ladled it into the jars, to the top, then sealed them.

Pre-processed pickles

They got boiled in a water bath for 10 minutes, and the lids all popped down, meaning they were properly sealed.

They lose their pretty bright color in this process, which I hate.

Completed pickles

On to dinner.  By now, the pork roast was done.  I was too tired to make elaborate sides, so I quickly cooked a Boggy Creek Farm ear of corn, scraped it off the cob, and put a bit of butter on it.  For sauce for the meat, I made a reduction of fresh blackberries, butter, garden sage, and some  Texas Olive Ranch blackberry balsamic.

Fresh Black berry reduction

I ate the porchetta, with the blackberry sauce, and some perfect corn off the cob with a dab of butter.

Porchetta, Blackberry reduction, Fresh Corn

I was too lazy to make more vegetables for this dinner, and it was good.

Good Saturday.

Seedling Exchange, Potluck, Birthday Party March 8, 2011

The concept for this particular event was inspired by my friend Claudia’s fretting over the number of vegetable seeds in a packet, and desire not to waste them.  Even if we each didn’t have limited garden space, no one really needs 30-50 of any one plant.   So, we conspired to invite some like minded gardening folks over, for cocktails, good food, and an exchange of our excess seedlings. And we decided to do this on Cecilia’s birthday.  This seems to be the age of swapping, so it made sense.  Unfortunately, Claudia did not get to come, so we’ll be swapping again soon.

I planted Padron Peppers, Hibiscus Tea, Joe Parker Peppers, Peacevine Tomatoes, Black Krim Tomatoes, Jalapeno Peppers, Alpine Strawberries and Rosa Bianca Eggplant, and did my best to get my greenhouse, long since damaged by high winds and poor construction, in working order.

This was a potluck, and I ordered a fabulous Antonelli’s Cheese Plate.  They know what I like, and they make the plates so beautiful, they are perfect for parties.

Antonelli's Cheese Plate

Everything on the cheese plate was perfect, and there was much discussion about some of the interesting flavors and wrappings on the cheeses, and the plate in general. 

MM Pack, food writer extraordinaire, and chef, brought some delicious stuffed mushrooms and some outstanding pumpkin bread with brie which was delicious. Check our her article Japan’s Gift in the current issue of Edible Austin.

Delicious stuffed mushrooms

It was Cecilia’s birthday, and Pattie  brought not only warm, amazing bread from the new pastry chef, Mark Chapman at Monument Cafe,

but the Cafe’s delicious chocolate pie.  I accidentally started slicing before I snapped the photo.

Monument Cafe Birthday Pie

Cecilia, the birthday gal, brought over some delicious Pure Luck Dairy chevre.

After chowing down and talking for several hours, we headed outside for our seedling swap.  My Virgo contribution is labeled and lined up in rows. Not all of my seedlings came up, so some remain in the Greenhouse.

My seedling contribution

Seedlings up for grabs

Renee brought some 4th generation Purple Cherokee Tomato Seedlings.  That takes some dedication, and I am treating my seedlings with care.  Renee also brought a new friend, (new to me) Iris who was absolutely delightful.  Iris brought beet seedlings and Mexican Feathergrass.  Addie brought some very interesting tomato seeds, and some saved Armenian Cucumber seeds, amongst others. Pattie brought some mache and other greens.

We had a wonderful time, and we all ended up with some seeds we may not have started ourselves.  It was an interesting way to kick on the Spring Gardening season.

No Grocery Store, Days 353-355 December 12, 2010

Yikes, I didn’t realize how far behind I had gotten!  Time flies in December.

Day 353, was very long and I started with some yogurt, made from raw milk by my friend Jamie.  I had to take my mom to 3 Dr. appointments through out the day – we were either driving, or waiting all day.  We had lunch at 34th street Cafe, since it is over near all the medical offices, and I had the BLT.  It was one of my favorite things I’ve gotten there.   I did get an exciting call mid-day, from Marla Camp, the publisher of Edible Austin.  I had won the Better Bites of Austin blogger gift basket!  So, I picked that up before the last Dr. visit of the day.  It was huge!  Filled with Texas Gourmet pasta, Reel Popcorn, Delysia Chocolate, Texas Olive Ranch Olive Oil, Nazareth Olive Oil, Gluten Free products from Bona Dea, Coffee from Third Coast Roasting and more.  It was a lovely treat on a difficult day, and I greatly appreciated it.  I skipped dinner.

Day 354, yogurt for breakfast, lunch was a Deli Belly taco and a Bison taco from Taco Deli.  These were their 2 Eat Local Week offerings, and they were both delicious.  For dinner I had the Reel Popcorn from my Better Bites basket.

Day 355, I had Bola Pizza breakfast pizza, which I shared with a couple of vendors at the Farmer’s Market.  Breakfast has been a struggle for me this whole year, not so when Bola hit the market.  It is so good, with Full Quiver Cheddar, Salt and Time Pancetta, red onion, and a perfectly cooked egg.  Genius.  No lunch to speak of, as I hosted a Holiday Shopping party that afternoon.  The afternoon’s snacks included cheese from Antonelli’s cheese, a Full Quiver cheese ball, some cookies and savory cheese wafers from Food Food, gluten free cookies from Bona Dea, and cheese paired with Confituras preserves.  I knew we would be cleaning up at dinner time and wouldn’t want to cook, so I brought home several curry dishes from Thai Fresh from the farmer’s market, that that was dinner.

So, there are less than two weeks left to my No Grocery Store Challenge.  I’ll be reflecting back on the year, and the lessons learned in a post in the next couple of weeks.    So much has happened in the last year, and I’ve met so many wonderful people who have inspired and helped me along the way.  I appreciate you all.

No Grocery Store, Days 347 and 348 December 5, 2010

Day 347 I had tangerine juice for breakfast.  It was a busy day, with a vet appointment for my golden retriever followed by a Confituras sampling event at Con’ Olio.  So, I skipped lunch.  I had a couple of samples of Stephanie’s Fig and walnut conserve with Manchego Cheese and we tasted several flavored olive oils and vinegars.  On an empty stomach, I felt like I had just drunk salad dressing.  Friday family dinner was to be at Jeffrey’s, but my dad didn’t end up going, so just mom and me.  I had the Thumbalina Salad and the beef tenderloin.  Unexpectedly, Jeffrey’s famous oysters arrived, a gift from the chef.  We ordered my dad the same steak to go, and they generously threw in their Chocolate Intemperance and some other treats.     The meal was delicious and the special treatment was very nice.  I love the locally sourced ingredients and they do a great job of it.

Day 348 – Pork.  For breakfast at the Farmer’s Market, I had 1 slice of Bola Pizza breakfast pizza.  That’s just how Saturday is going to go from now on.  For lunch, a slice of Bola Pizza Mushroom pizza and shared with my vendor buddies.  Day 349 will be Tamale Making Day, but the process started Saturday.  I put two shoulder roasts in the slow cooker at 7:30 a.m.  When I got home from the Farmer’s Market and errands, around 2:00, the pork was falling off the fork and ready to be shredded and sauced.  So, I processed pork all afternoon, before heading to the Springdale Farms Pig Roast, part of Edible Austin’s Eat Local Week.  See previous post.  I was so full from tasting and working on my pork tamale filling, I didn’t eat at the Pig Roast.  I did have a taste and it was delicious, but I skipped the whole dinner and helped out instead.

 

Springdale Farm Pig Roast December 4, 2010

This evening I attended a Pig Roast at Springdale Farm, which was one of the first events of Edible Austin, Eat Local Week.  I love Springdale Farm, and Glenn and Paula Foore, the owners.  Springdale Farm sits on just under 5 acres on Springdale Lane, near Boggy Creek Farm.  Unlike Boggy Creek Farm, the Foore’s don’t live on the property.  They have a farmstand on Wednesdays and Saturdays, from 9-1:00, selling their produce and eggs.  They have beautiful chickens.

Springdale Farm

I showed up a bit early, to get some pictures in the last of the daylight.  I wanted to see the pig roasting in action.  There were two pigs, the one roasted on an open flame, and a larger one that had been quartered and placed into two La Caja China boxes, like the one we used at my house a couple of months ago.

Pig roasting in cinder block pit

Off the spit

I didn’t take pictures of their largest growing area, but I love this wine bottle raised garden.

Wine Bottle Raised Garden

I’m also a huge fan of their growing tables, mostly filled with lettuces.  These would have come in handy when I was having back problems.

These growing tables are genius

Before the pig was ready, guests were provided fresh garden produce for sampling.

Garden snacks

When the first pig was brought to the serving tables, it was still in large chunks.  An instructor from the culinary school started shredding it and asked me to help him, so I put on gloves and got to work.

There were seasonal sides prepared by Elizabeth Winslow of Farmhouse Delivery.  Broccoli, sweet potatoes, salad and a sautéed mushroom dish.

Sides

There were desserts from Pie Fixes Everything, Whole Foods and Blue Note Bakery.  There was live music, and everyone sat on the lawn, under a sprawling pecan tree adorned with Christmas lights.  It was such a nice evening.  Good people, good food in a great setting for a wonderful cause – Urban Roots.  There will be events for the next week for Eat Local Week, and lots of area restaurants are participating with special, locally sourced meals.

Get your Edible Austin Raffle Tickets – Great Prizes! December 2, 2010

 Edible Austin’s Eat Local Week benefitting Urban Roots, kicks off this Saturday, beginning at the SFC Farmer’s Market at Republic Square and the East Austin Urban Farm bike tour.  At every event for the next week, including the Farmer’s Markets downtown and at the Triangle, there will be opportunities to purchase raffle tickets.  I bought 5 yesterday.  The prizes are as follows:

Grand Prize – Value $1000 – Central Market private hands-on cooking class for 8 taught by Chef Christina Lee, winner of the 2010 Chefs Under Fire Competition.  Create a 5 course meal complete with wine pairings.

First Prize – Value $685 – A 2011 Urban Roots CSA Share.  17 weeks of fresh, organic produce grown by local Austin youth.  Winner must commit to picking up their produce from the Saturday or Wednesday SFC Farmer’s Market or from Urban Roots farm.

Second Prize – Value $500 – A weekend stay in San Antonio at the new boutique Hotel Havana.  One of the newest hotels to open along the San Antonio Riverwalk.  Stay includes breakfast.

Third Prize-Value $150-A give certificate for a free month of Greenlings “local box” delivered to your home.

Fourth Prize – Value $65 – An Earthbox from Austin Urban Gardens.  Perfect for balconies and patios, the Earthbox is maintenance free and more than doubles the yield of a conventional garden.

Tickets are 1 for $5.00 or 5 for $20.  Great prizes for a great cause.

Give the Gift of Local, Part Deux November 23, 2010

Aside from the gift ideas straight from the SFC Farmer’s Market downtown, there are lots of other great choices for keeping your gift giving funds in our local economy, and exposing friends to new local businesses they might not be aware of.

Antonelli’s Cheese Shop is loading up on gift type items, and has a catalog in the works to make shopping easier.   Aside from fabulous cheese, charcuterie, wine, beer, olive oils and preserves, Antonelli’s has a great assortment of serving pieces, like cheese boards, cheese knives, cheese plate markers, and an entire wall of other items that would be great for the cheese lover in your life.

Gift ideas from Antonelli's Cheese Shop

They have one of the more interesting wine selections in town as well.

Wonderful wines

Another product I’m hoarding for my gift baskets is the locally made Cajeta and Bourbon Cajeta from Blue Heron Farm.  Oh, heck yes!  Goat milk caramel is to die for.  Spoon it over Vanilla ice cream, please.

http://www.antonellischeese.com

Other gift items can be found at Con Olio, in the Arboretum.  This shop has an amazing variety of olive oils, balsamic vinegars, pastas, sauces, and another interesting wine selection.

Con Olio

http://www.conolio.com

One more amazing local food maker and purveyor is Delysia Chocolates.  Nicole Patel has a way with her chocolates, imparting some of the most interesting flavors I’ve ever tasted.  There are wine flavored chocolates, autumn inspired flavors, and some off the radar flavors like cigar, which is evocative of a cedar cigar box.  I am partial to the chocolates infused with heat from peppers.  Delysia has also now introduced a line of chocolate barks.  Big Fan.  www. delysia.com

Delysia Chocolates

Yet another interesting idea is to give the gift of a CSA Membership.  You choose the frequency of delivery of local produce from area farms.  Farmhouse Delivery offers not just produce from local farms but locally made products, such as Confituras’ locally made delicious preserves, and local cheeses.

http://www.farmhousedelivery.com

Edible Austin, a wonderful resource for all of the local goodness that Austin has to offer, would also make a wonderful gift.  Subscriptions are a mere $28 annually.  http://www.edibleaustin.com

If you are building gift baskets, as am I, another good resource is the Better Bites of Austin, Local Holiday Gift Fair event at City Hall on December 8, 2010 from 4:00 to 8:00.  This is a free event, where you can meet and shop from our local foodmakers and buy local products.

No Grocery Store, Day 268 – Whole Pig Roast September 26, 2010

Warning, this post contains pictures of a whole pig.  Dead.  It might be disturbing to some.   It would have freaked me out a couple of years ago- so, no judgment.

So, this whole pig roast was conceived almost 2 months ago by my friends Marshall, Kristi and me, while having dinner at a Dai Due Supper.  I think it was mostly Marshall’s idea, and we jumped on the band wagon.  Digging a hole in the yard was discussed, but renting a Bobcat seemed out of the question.  Our mutual friend Addie suggested we think about La Caja China.  (www.lacajachina.com)  Marshall contacted La Caja China and they graciously sent us a pig roasting box.

La Caja China Roasting Box

Marshall ordered a 50 pound pig from Richardson Farms, three weeks in advance, and started reading up on cooking a whole hog.  We invited some friends over to watch the UT game (and Marshall’s Arkansas game) and had a plan.

Kristi made pork belly rillettes, and I assembled assorted sausages from the Kocureks and some from The Noble Pig.  Christian brought over the newly tiled Bola Pizza Oven.

Bola Pizza Wood Fired Oven

Pick up time for the pig was 8:00 a.m. yesterday.  Marshall had already received the news the night before that the pig was frozen.  It was not supposed to be.  And it was almost 10 pounds larger than expected.    Once we all got back to my house at around 10:00 a.m., we started trying to thaw the pig.  It was not just a little frozen, it was frozen solid.

Marshall and the Frozen Pig

This was a scene I’d never imagined, my friend Marshall, resting on a frozen pig foot, in my kitchen.  We determined that we needed to put the pig in water, but really had no idea where that would be.  We put the pig in several layers of trash bags, sealed them tightly, and moved him to the bathtub where we put about 3 inches of water.  Trust me, no pig touched the bathtub, and it has now been bleached.  When you have a frozen pig in your bathtub, a mobile pizza oven in the driveway, and 8 pounds of sausages in the fridge, you just know it is going to be a good day.  After a couple hours in the tub to no effect, Marshall and Kristi headed out to buy a new trash can, in which to submerge the pig.    I started cooking sausages for pizza, and Christian fired up the pizza oven.

Never enough pork

By the time we were ready to submerge the pig into the trashcan and fill it up with brine, it had started to thaw, or so we thought.  After about an hour in the trashcan, we pulled it out and Marshall began the process of cutting the pig, so that we could flatten it out in the roasting box.  The hacksaw, minus its porky blade, is still in my kitchen window.  Marshall worked it out, then the process of flattening the pig between two metal grates (for turning) began.  This took several people, a step stool and a coat hangar.  No lie.  Eventually the pig was transported to the box and stuffed in.  We had already fired up charcoal on the top of the box.

Pig in Box

So, finally, by this time, others had started to arrive for game time, and we had the pig in the box, and ribs and sausages in my smoker.

Full Smoker

After all this, we were hungry.  Thank goodness Christian was on hand with Bola Pizza.  Game on, pig in box, full smoker and we need pizza!  And out they came:

Bola Pizza

It is nearly impossible to get between a hungry crowd and Christian’s pizza, so I didn’t manage any photos of whole pies.  Best pizza ever.

As the Horns started to implode, people migrated outside and away from the game.  Unfortunately Marshall’s Hogs didn’t prevail either.  Not a good football day.

After 3 hours, it was time to turn the pig.  We pulled the hot top off the La Caja China, to see how it had progressed.

Turning Point

When push came to shove, it ended up being the girls that hoisted this pig out of its box and flipped it over.  Good Job Kristi and Jenna.  Girls rule.

By around 5:00 or so, the others had arrived, some thankfully bringing vegetables.   Lisa brought Kale Salad with Butternut Squash and some yummy dessert bars using Stephanie‘s yummy preserves.  Natanya brought a tomato, cucumber salad.

Kale, Butternut Salad

Tomato, cucumber salad

Once it became time to take the completely cooked pig out of its box, we started wondering how that was going to happen, where we were going to take it, and how to deal with a whole pig.  We determined the best course of action, was to move everything off my kitchen island, line it it paper bags, then plastic bags, then a layer of fabric.  We used an old table cloth and an old cotton duvet cover, clean of course.  The end result, was something that looked like a white table cloth, but could be discarded.  So, out, and in came the pig.

Cooked Pig

Yes, it looks slightly gruesome.  If we had wanted a pork chop, wrapped in plastic and sitting on styrofoam, we would have gone to Randall’s and we would not have this image of a whole hog.  But, in reality, we all are personally acquainted with the source of this pig, the Richardsons; we know that it was raised humanely, fed well, treated well, not loaded down with growth hormone and antibiotics; and raised by a family committed to treating their animals in the best way possible.  We know that it was processed by a U.S.D.A. approved facility, and that it is of the highest quality possible.  And we celebrated it by eating it, enjoying it, and learning from it.  And it was good.

Then we ate cake!  Thanks to uber everything Michelle who rocks the planet, and her lemon cake.

Lemon Cake

And, she showed up in this shirt!

Theme shirts rock!

In the end, we learned a lot.  We kept the party smallish, so as not to be intimidated by our lack of knowledge of how to pull this thing off for a larger group.  We had a great time, although the day was full of losses, sports wise.  There was also a great amount of folly, looking back on us moving that frozen pig, feet up,  from room to room.  Memories like these are hard to come by, I’m thinking, and I wouldn’t have changed one single thing about the day.  Yes, we’ll do things differently next time, but all in all, it was a perfect day, because of the people I got to spend it with.

Special thanks to Zack Northcutt, Mulberry Executive Chef and soon to be Haddington’s Executive Chef, for the whole hog butchery advice, support and amazing Fois and pork sausages!

No Grocery Store Days 112, 113, and 114 April 25, 2010

Catching up and jumping a bit ahead, because I know what I’ll eat today, most likely.

Friday, Day 112  was the first day of the Green Living Show, in which I have a booth for Austin Urban Gardens.  These shows are grueling, and I worked it alone, so I came prepared with food so I didn’t have to eat Convention Center Food.   I had garden strawberries for breakfast, a sandwich from Sweetish Hill for lunch, and Kocurek rabbit pie for dinner.

Saturday, Day 113, strawberries for breakfast, and also a shrimp pastry thingy brought to me by Marla, the editor of Edible Austin.  She picked up breakfast from Rio Brazilian at the downtown Farmer’s Market on her way to the show.  Thanks Marla!  Late, mid afternoon lunch was half a sandwich from Sweetish Hill.  For dinner, the other half of the sandwich, after a really long day.

Sunday, today, I had strawberries for breakfast.  I will stop at Sweetish Hill to pick up lunch on my way to the final day of the Green Living Show.  I have nothing planned for dinner, because we’ll be breaking down our booth until probably late, so who knows what it will be.

I’ll be looking forward to getting back to my normal routine, the farmer’s markets, and better food after today.

Green Living Home and Garden Show Starts Today! April 23, 2010

The Austin Green Living Home and Garden Show starts this afternoon at 2:00, in the Austin Convention Center.  Come on down and say howdy.  Austin Urban Gardens has a big booth set up right in front by the front doors, and sustainability stage.  We will have drawings to give away garden seeds, some garden gloves, and an Earthbox, and will be selling Earthboxes.

There will be lots of interesting food, Green Building things, Chicken Coops, Better Bites of Austin, and really cool landscaping booths.  Edible Austin will also have a big presence.  I was set up early, so I’m not sure who all is there this weekend.  If you come, please come by and say hi, I’d appreciate it!  Today, 2-7, Saturday 10-7, and Sunday 11-5.