Cinghiale Recipe

I first came to know about cinghiale while watching an episode of Rachel Ray's $40/day show. She visited an Italian restaurant in Chicago and ordered it off of the menu. I searched around and found a couple of recipes for cinghiale and through trial and error put together the one listed below.

Cinghiale is a simple, rustic dish that has been popular in Italy for centuries. Originally it featured wild boar but a simple pork shoulder works great. It takes at least 3 hours of slow cooking to break down and tenderize the meat so that it falls off of the bone. As such, you may want to save this for the weekend as it takes about 4 hours to prepare.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 pound pork shoulder
1 tspn salt
1 tspn pepper
2 medium yellow onions, diced
1 carrot, diced
2 pieces of celery, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 oz can tomato paste
1 tbsp flour
2 cups red wine (I usually use Cabernet)
1 bay leaf
1 tspn rosemary
1 tspn thyme
1 tspn sage
1 box of pasta (I usually use rigatoni or farfalle)

Preparation:

1. Trim 3 to 4 inch pieces of pork that are about 1 to 2 inches thick from the shoulder. Save the pieces that you have cut and also save the central piece containing the bone.
   
2. Heat olive oil in a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat.
3. Put the piece of pork containing the bone in the center of the pot with the other pieces of pork surrounding it.
4. Sprinkle the salt and pepper over the pork. Brown the pork on both sides. There should be a dark brown layer of pork residue cooked to the bottom of the pot.
   
5. After pork has browned, add the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic. Cook off most of the moisture. This should take about 5 to 7 minutes.
6. Add tomato paste and flour. Stir until flour and tomato paste have combined with vegetables.
7. Add red wine, bay leaf, rosemary, thyme, and sage.
8. Cook over low heat for 3 hours.
9. Remove pork pieces from mixture. Shred the meat and add it back to the pot with the vegetables.
10. Stir pork and vegetable mixture together and serve the cinghiale over pasta.
    

Italy

Cooking Grass-Fed Beef: Episode 5 – Homemade Beef Stock (There's Nothing Funny About It)

This video recipe for Homemade Beef Stock is the fifth in a series of videos I'm doing with grass-fed beef from Steve Normanton, focusing on how to cook the various cuts.

Normally when I get my package from Steve, I look to see what I have to work with and then decide what recipe would best show off the meat. This time I had no such decisions to make. When I saw this beautiful box of bones I knew there was only one option – a classic beef stock.

You know I like my cartons of ready-to-use stocks and broths. For the busy home cook they offer an easy way to have an array of cooking liquids on hand, which significantly expands anyone's recipe repertoire. Those recipes that say "add 3 cups of beef broth, or water," don't really mean that.

But when beef bones are available, making your own is a great idea. Not only will you be thrilled with the flavor of homemade stock, but you'll save a ton over those handy, but expensive cartons.

One statistical oddity to share – after watching this video I realized there wasn't one humorous moment in the entire thing. No bad puns, no pithy observations, no obscure references, no intentionally mispronounced words, nothing.

How ironic that the day I learn we've won Saveur Magazine's 1st Annual Best Food Blog Award for Most Innovative Video Content, I post this culinary cure for insomnia. Now that's funny! Enjoy.




Ingredients:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large yellow onion, cut in 8ths
2 large carrots, cut in 1-inch chunks
2 stalks celery, cut in 1-inch chunks
5 pounds beef marrow bones
2 teaspoon tomato paste
8 whole black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
5 quarts cold water

We Won a Saveur Magazine's 1st Annual Best Food Blog Award!

I am proud to announce that Food Wishes has won a Saveur Magazine's 1st Annual Best Food Blog Award for Most Innovative Video Content!

A million thanks to everyone who voted and helped spread the word! Congratulations to all the other winners and nominees.

Dutch Babies Recipe

The Dutch Baby was originally derived from the German pancake, Apfelpfannkuchen. It is said that it was slightly modified and given the name "Dutch Baby" in the 1930s by Manca's Cafe, a family owned restaurant in Seattle Washington.

If you don't feel like attempting to bake one of these Dutch Babies up in your own kitchen, the Oregon based, Original Pancake House chain serves up a pretty good one. If you get the chance, give it a try. It could change your life.

Recommended Equipment:
Mixer
Cast-iron skillet

Ingredients:
6 eggs
1 cup flour, sifted
1 cup milk
1/2 tspn vanilla
5 tbspn butter, melted
1/2 tspn cinnamon
confection sugar

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees
2. Put cast iron skillet in oven until hot
3. Mix together eggs, flour, milk, vanilla, butter, and cinnamon.
4. Pour mixture into skillet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown on top.
5. Remove from oven and sprinkle with confection sugar.
6. Optional toppings: maple syrup or fruit such as strawberries, blue berries, etc.

Recommended sides:
Apple Sauce

Germany

Happy Easter

Just a quick post wishing you all a happy Easter. I've been having a great few days away from the computer – spending time with family, eating, drinking, and taking some pictures of things that aren't going to be eaten minutes later (good thing for the goats).

Michele and I will be back in San Francisco Sunday, and ready to dive into a whole new batch of video recipes. Stay tuned!

What If Your Chef Was Your Doctor?

This delicious spiced and smoked leg of lamb with red wine sauce comes compliments of my friend Heidi from the fabulous food blog Savory TV. It features chef Michael Fenster, who, by the way, is also a Board Certified Cardiologist!

Check out Heidi's great post here, and read all about Doctor Fenster, as well as get the written recipe in case you want to give this a try for Easter. Enjoy!

Ham Steaks with Caramelized Apples – Timely and Finally

I'm done! The cookbook is finally done! Well, at least the first phase of submitting all the recipes, and photographing all the plates. Pictured here is the last recipe I had to shoot, a lovely ham steak with caramelized apples.

I couldn’t video the recipe, but I have included the very simple written recipe below, since these apples would be great with that Easter ham. Especially after that amazing breakfast of coffee and warm, homemade Easter bread you're probably going to be enjoying.

Michele and I are getting ready to head up to Bodega Bay for Easter with the family, and a much needed break. I want to thank everyone who helped test recipes, and gave me such great feedback regarding the various dishes going in the book.

I'll have publishing details soon, and now that the bulk of the cookbook production is done, after this little break I hope to return to my normal routine of doing at least 2-3 new video recipes a week. In the meantime, I hope those of you celebrating enjoy your Easter meals, and that some of you find this apple sauce recipe useful and delicious. Enjoy!

Caramelized Apple Sauce
Enough for 6-8

1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 cup apple cider or juice
small pinch of cinnamon
2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
4 firm apples (I like Granny Smith, but any good cooking apple will work), peeled and sliced into 16ths. Cut each apple into quarters, and then each quarter into 4 slices.
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
fresh baked ham slices or pan-warmed ham steaks

In a small bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, cider vinegar, apple cider or juice, cinnamon, and Dijon mustard. Reserve until needed. Prep the apples as directed.

Melt the butter in a large skillet over high heat. As soon as the butter melts, wait half a minute and add the apples. Sauté for 3-4 minutes, or until the edges start to brown slightly.

Pour in the reserved mixture, turn the heat down to medium-high, and cook until the apples are tender and the liquid has reduced down to a glaze. If the liquid begins to get to thick before the apples are tender, just add a splash of water and continue cooking.

Taste and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. It may seem odd to add salt and black pepper to this apple sauce, but it's a very important flavor component. Serve hot, spooned over sliced ham, or ham steak.