A Six Year Old Makes Lardo & Rat Creature Quiche {Charcutepalooza}

The eleventh Charcutepalooza challenge is curing. Alex and I have cured and dried many meats including saucisson sec, fermented chorizo, and coppa. I asked my daughter Lillian to complete this challenge with me. She's been around hanging meat for most of her life. Curing requires minimal skill and can be left for days at a time, perfect for the distractable mind of a six year old. Watch how Lil cures lardo:

While the lardo cured and dried, our family began reading Columbus-native Jeff Smith's iconic juvenile comic series Bone. One character in the book, an adversarial rat creature, is so mesmerized by quiche that he wants to cook the protagonist Bones into quiche, dreams about quiche, and even argues so adamantly about quiche that the Bones repeatedly escape capture. For the rest of the series, the Bones call the quiche-loving, negligent soldiers 'stupid, stupid rat creatures'.

As Lil says in the video, she doesn't like lardo raw but loves it cooked like bacon. We cooked some salted, dried back fat into a quiche that a Lil' rat creature might like - no green stuff or spice. We arranged a few strips of lardo into a star pattern on the center, another recurring theme in Bone.

Alas, our lardo-making daughter did not like the quiche. Alex and I, however, think the the stupid rat creatures were right on: quiche is a great way to enjoy cured meat.

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Stupid Rat Creature Quiche Makes: 6 Time: 20 minutes preparation, 40-50 minutes baking

4 ounces lardo, diced, plus several slices for garnish if desired 5 eggs, beaten 3/4 cup whole milk 1/2 teaspoon salt 10 grinds fresh black pepper 1 cup shredded cheddar single pie crust (my recipe here)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 2. Cook lardo in a skillet until lightly browned, drain fat. 3. In a mixing bowl, beat together eggs, milk, salt and pepper. 4. Line a 9-inch quiche or pie pan with crust. Tuck under edges and finish with a fork or fingers. 5. Scatter lardo and cheese on the bottom of the crust. 6. Pour egg mix over the top. 7. Bake in oven for 40-50 minutes or until top is browned. 8. Cut into six slices and serve.

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This post is a part of the year-long Charcutepalooza challenge. Read below for our other meat-curing adventures and reflections.

Modern Mistletoe: Meat, Marriage, & Duck Prosciutto Pizza Waste Not, Want Not Squirrel Rillettes English Pork Pie Photojournal Almost All-Ohio Mouselline How to Make Hot Dogs Like a Girl Mint Lamb Sausage Inspired by Jorgensen Farms Taco Truck Chorizo Sopito Red’s Canadian Bacon or Why I Had to Kill a Pig To Eat Meat Again The Story of the Rachel Salt Cure Old and New Cider Syrup Bacon

Added to Simple Lives Thursday.

Cracking Nuts aka Entertainment in a Snack {Wordless Wednesday}

This, my friends, is how Lil occupies much of her time these days: cracking nuts in shells. The only downside is the pile of sharp fragments, some of which inevitably fly across the room and end up on the floor waiting for a bare foot to poke. Sweeping up is a small price to pay for the hours of entertainment, fine motor development, and nutritious snacking.

Modern Mistletoe: Meat, Marriage, & Duck Prosciutto Pizza {Charcutepalooza}

I recently mentioned on twitter that having the first meat of the season hanging in the basement made me feel like our house was a home again. Someone (who are you? I can't find the tweet now!) replied "It's modern mistletoe!"

That got me to thinking about how meat curing is a tasty metaphor for my nearly-eleven-year-long marriage to Alex.

Curing meat takes time and attention from both parties in our house. We help each other to procure the ingredients, turn the meat in cure, and check it as it dries.

Some couples like to have independent hobbies but we like being in each other's business. Even before I ate meat, I assisted Alex with charcuterie because it's a fascinating hobby.

Meat curing and marriage benefit from a healthy dose of humor. Much of making bacon (or duck prosciutto in this case) is icky work - there's raw meat, mildly-toxic salt, and the possibility of insects being attracted to the drying meat. The cure for the gross parts of curing is to laugh. We make jokes (sausage is especially good for word play), gently tease, and sometimes try to drip meat juice on a spouse during a photo shoot. It's all good fun.

When meat is done curing, we cook up creative dishes together. In the case of the duck prosciutto, we added it to homemade pizza. Alex made the dough and I popped open a jar of my home-canned tomato sauce. We added a pile of arugula and mozzarella before topping the 'za with thin prosciutto slices and a grate of Parmesan.

Alex and I enjoyed the pizza with a glass of wine and candle on the table in the company of our daughter Lil (who also served as the photographer for the three portraits above). We savored the from-scratch food we made together.

Curing meat challenges us to work together, listen to each other, and enjoy the finer things in life. Meat IS our modern mistletoe, the object under which we find love.

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Duck Prosciutto Pizza Makes: 1 12-inch pizza Time: 2 hours dough, 20 minutes assembly, 7-10 minutes cooking

1/4 recipe homemade pizza dough 1/4 cup tomato sauce 3 ounces fresh arugula 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese 2 ounces duck prosciutto, sliced as thinly as possible 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees F with a baking stone on center rack. 2. Make a thin circle from the dough and place on a cornmeal dusted pizza peel or back of a cookie sheet. 3. Top pizza with a bit of tomato sauce, then arugula and mozzarella cheese. 4. Arrange duck prosciutto and top with Parmesan. 5. Transfer pizza to the baking stone. 6. Bake for 7-10 minutes until cheese is melted and slightly brown. Remove from oven, let rest 1-2 minutes, cut, and serve.

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This post is a part of the year-long Charcutepalooza challenge. Read below for our other meat-curing adventures and reflections.

Waste Not, Want Not Squirrel Rillettes English Pork Pie Photojournal Almost All-Ohio Mouselline How to Make Hot Dogs Like a Girl Mint Lamb Sausage Inspired by Jorgensen Farms Taco Truck Chorizo Sopito Red’s Canadian Bacon or Why I Had to Kill a Pig To Eat Meat Again The Story of the Rachel Salt Cure Old and New Cider Syrup Bacon

On My List

It is list making season, no? No matter your place on the HanuSolMas spectrum, there is some holiday that calls for presents.

In my family, gifts are made of love and time. Much of what we give and receive is handmade. We flip the consumerism coin and come up with heads and hearts - my family makes some awesome gifts.

And yet, we give and receive indulgences that cannot be made by hand. Our wish lists are typically exchanged over Thanksgiving which is why I'm making my wish list today. Here are a few things I would love to receive:

I feel like a disingenuous cook without a Le Creuset yet I can not fathom paying so much to replace our affordable, made in USA Lodge cast iron ware. Still, I lust after the cassis color cassoulet crock. I fell in love with club soda this summer. It soothed my sinuses and refreshed me from the months of heat. The packaging waste makes me sick though. Is a pricey Penguin SodaStream worth it? Our wheelbarrow is broken. The tire axle is bent and with cheap wooden handles and a plastic bed, it's not worth fixing. Instead, I think a cart would be more fun and utile. Our kitchen scale is an old analog one. We're using it more and more to weigh charcuterie ingredients, flour for breads, and science projects. Maybe Santa thinks a digital one is finally in order. We have several vacations planned for 2011 and hope to jump on some of Alex's business travel too. My current rain jacket does it's job well but is bulky. Alex loves his Marmot Precip and I think I would like one too.

What do you wish for this year?

PS. I keep an ongoing wish list for myself and Lil in Evernote. Do you use this app? I LOVE having my lists and notes with me at all times!

In light of the US economy, many people are opting to make handmade gifts this year and shop at small businesses. I highly encourage the shop local movement! I will publish a suggestion about central Ohio gift shops and a couple make-your-own ideas soon.

Vote For Ohio's Community - No on Two

Halloween decorations are still up when we celebrate our second favorite fall holiday - Election Day. Alex and I value voting and have taken Lil to the polls with us since she was a tiny babe. We always try to explain the issues to Lil. Defining the differences between politicians is difficult for her to comprehend but issues are usually more understandable. Here's how the discussion on Issue 2, the proposed repeal of an Ohio Senate bill that restricts bargaining rights of public sector employee groups, went down:

Rachel, explaining: "In our country when you work for a company, workers are allowed to form a group called a union to talk about how much money they are paid, what hours they will work, and how the company treats them. Government workers, like Alex, police officers, firefighters, and teachers, can form unions.

Some of Ohio's senators passed a bill that doesn't allow union groups to negotiate with their bosses. Issue 2 is about whether that bill was a good idea or not. What do you think?"

Lil's answer: "I think that unions have to be able to talk to their bosses. I think that if people want to have workers, they have to be nice to them. If they aren't nice to them, they won't have good workers." Smart cookie, I say.

This year, Alex became a member of the American Federation of Government Employees. I asked him to include his opinions about Issue 2:

Public sector unions serve an important role in protecting the rights of public employees and enhancing the services they provide to the general public. Firefighters and police officers are able to bargain for better safety equipment, leading to improved efficiencies. Teachers are able to bargain for smaller class sizes and deliver higher quality of education. Administrative and technical personnel bargain for improved working conditions, retaining highly qualified employees who might otherwise be attracted to work elsewhere.

Over the past several years my union has bargained on issues concerning the conditions under which employees at my agency work. We have negotiated flexible work hours, enhanced job training and an expansion of telework policies. The union also serves as a very functional tool by which employees can resolve grievances with their management. Without these improvements in the workplace, I and several co-workers likely would have looked for work in the private sector. A high turnover of well-qualified employees costs tax payers.

Proponents of Issue 2 argue that the majority of the bill is about reducing pay and benefits due to tough budgetary times. While the argument that we should all race to the bottom in terms of compensation and turn into wage slaves should be discussed on its own merits, it is a red herring. Issue 2 is plain and simple about union busting. Certain segments of our political spectrum view unions with loathing and believe they should be brought low at every opportunity. Issue 2 is about reducing the influence of unions and increasing the absolute control the government has over its workers.

I will vote no on 2 to preserve my ability to unionize effectively, to retain high quality workers in government service, and to maintain efficient public sector practices.

When you go to the polls, we hope you will support the public sector community of Ohio and vote No on 2. If you disagree, we still hope you go vote, as it is our most precious national right.

Consult the Ohio Secretary of State election page for info about where and how to vote.

PS. Ironically, the only other time I used this platform to address politics, I was also advocating a No on Ohio Issue Two. I wonder what Issue 2 will be next election cycle?

Sews Like She Cooks

I realized when seaming Lil's Halloween costume (she is Super Kitten, a hero of her own creation) that the way I approach sewing is much like I cook. Here's how: 1) I eschew patterns and recipes. Patterns are expensive, I don't like to be told what to do, and I rarely follow the rules precisely.

2) I rely on prior experience and existing garments to guide my designs. I spend a lot of time staring and thinking about what pieces need to go inside out and curve in 3d. Likewise, my mind is constantly trying to recreate restaurant dishes.

3) I measure as I go, just like I taste as I cook. This is a tedious habit but it ensures that the fit or saltiness is perfect.

4) I make do with what I have. So the tail has light pink thread instead of a matching white - I grabbed the closest match in my stash instead of running out for new thread. I am always more likely to substitute an ingredient in a dish than go to the store for a single item.

5) I make mistakes. The shimmery sheer fabric Lil chose was a huge pain to work with but now I know that for the future. In cooking, I don't always achieve what I had in mind, but again every failure teaches me something new.

Do you sew like you cook? Or am I the only one sewing costumes at all anymore?

added to Simple Lives Thursdays

Beet Creme Brulee {Recipe}

One birthday tradition in our family is that the birthday girl selects the dessert for the day. My dad always has German chocolate cake; Alex and my sister Megan usually share a pie; Lil likes chocolate cake (homemade, of course). Now that my youngest sister Heather is a trained pastry chef and freelance cake and truffle maker, I usually give her a few ideas and tell her to make me something tasty. This year, I wanted to see her interpret the trend I see of including beets in desserts.

Heather served up two awesome sweets for my beety birthday earlier this month - chocolate beet cake and beet creme brulee. KatySheCooks has a great chocolate beet cake recipe.

The first thing one notices about beet brulee is that it is shockingly pink. The color would lend itself to a baby girl shower or Halloween 'bloody brulee' treat.

The earthy beet flavor compliments the eggy custard nicely. It is great on its own, as we ate it, but we all thought it might be fun to play with additional flavors - perhaps a tiny bit of smoky paprika in the crust, or a tad of spicy ancho powder in the custard. If you try it with an extra flavor, let me know!

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Beet Creme Brulee

courtesy of Taysetee Pastry chef Heather Tayse

Makes: 4-6 servings, depending on the size of ramekins

Time: 30 minutes active cooking, 1 hour baking, 12 hour cooling

2 2/3 cups cream

pinch salt

2-3 medium sized beets, peeled and roughly chopped

1 cup egg yolks (approximately 16 eggs worth)

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 t vanilla

2 tablespoons turbinado sugar

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1. Pour cream, salt, and beets into a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Cover, and set to a very low simmer for 45-60 minutes or until the cream has a deep pink color and tastes of beets.

2. Pour hot cream mixture into a blender and blend until fully smooth - this step may need to be done in batches, or you can use an immersion blender.

3. Whisk yolks, sugar, vanilla, and salt together until ribbon stage. (Light and fluffy)

4. Temper the egg mixture into the cream mixture by pouring a little bit of hot cream into the yolks and whisking. Add a little more cream and whisk again. Pour both yolks and the rest of the cream back into the pot.

5. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens to coat the back of a spoon.

6. Strain through a fine sieve and cool over a water bath, then chill 4-8 hours to let flavor's mellow (over night is better).

7. Pour into oven safe ramekins or bowls and place into a deep casserole dish (or a pan with at least 2" sides).

8. Place into a 325 degrees F pre-heated oven.

9. Pour hot water into the casserole dish to come at least half way up the sides of the brulee dishes, being careful not to splash any water on the dessert.

10. Cover entire dish with a cookie sheet, sheet pan, or aluminum foil.

11. Bake for 30-90 minutes (depending on the size of ramekin/bowl you use), or until when the creme brulee is gently shaken, the mixture is no longer in a liquid form.

12. Remove from oven, being careful not to spill the water bath into the brulee.  Immediately remove dishes from the water bath and let cool to room temperature.  Once at room temperature cover each individually with plastic and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving so they are thoroughly chilled.

13.  To brulee: Place a thin layer of turbinado and granulated sugar on the surface of the brulee and using a blow torch very carefully caramelize the sugar.  Let cool for 2-3 minutes before serving.[/print_this]

Added to Hearth and Soul.

Jar Jack-o-lanterns

When I saw this idea combining three of my favorite things (canning jars, pumpkins, and Halloween), I knew we had to make jar jack-o-lanterns. I dug out a stash of not-acceptable-for-canning jars (ones without a brand name) and our acrylic paints.

Lil, her friend, and I each painted three jars in shades of orange. The girls played while I painted the top black and let them dry. About an hour later, we painted black faces over the orange.

Lil lined up our jar jack-o-lanterns as the sun set. Tea light candles brought the scary and sweet faces to life.

I love the rustic look and can't wait to light our homemade luminaries on Beggar's Night!