A week ago I buried a duck a breast in a pile of salt for 24 hours then wrapped it in some cheesecloth and hung it to cure for seven days. As you can see by the photo it looks pretty good. What you can’t tell from the photo is how it tastes, and I can honestly say this home cured duck prosciutto tastes pretty ducking awesome! Continue reading “Home Cured Duck Prosciutto – Part 2”
Summer Squash Quiche
Summer Squash Quiche
Zucchini and yellow squash are flooding the summer markets so here’s another good light, summery dish to bake for a brunch or dinner. Making a quiche is much easier than you think. It’s really a savory tart but with a bit more custard which makes it good enough for an appetizer or main entrée. Quiche is also great for summer because it can be made ahead and is best served totally cooled with a nice glass of your favorite chilled white wine.Continue reading “Summer Squash Quiche”
Home Cured Duck Prosciutto – Part 1
What’s hiding in there? Encouraged by my initial bacon curing trip down the rabbit hole of cured meats I’ve decided more curing experiments need to take place. Nay, MUST take place. Next up, duck prosciutto. It’s something you see on the menus at wine bars and gastropubs but how hard is it to make for the home cook? Pretty simple looking by the instructions I found.Continue reading “Home Cured Duck Prosciutto – Part 1”
Curry Rubbed Grilled Pork with Currywurst Sauce
That looks really good doesn’t it? It’s not currywurst but some grilled country style pork ribs with a curry dry rub topped with currywurst sauce. Not only does it look really good but it tastes absolutely delicious! If you like the flavor and aroma of curry you’re going to love this.Continue reading “Curry Rubbed Grilled Pork with Currywurst Sauce”
More Summer Salad: Cucumber, Zucchini, and Tomato Salad
Been pretty hot lately so this Cucumber Zucchini Tomato Salad is a great cooler for those days you want to beat the heat. Yeah that’s right, it’s another freaking salad. It’s been heat wave, cool down, heat wave here in Chicago this summer which has made it interesting cooking-wise. One week I want nothing to do with cooking outdoors, then it cools down and I get all excited to be back out on the porch in front of the grill. You probably don’t need to read the weather reports to figure out what it’s been like here, just take note of what I’m making!Continue reading “More Summer Salad: Cucumber, Zucchini, and Tomato Salad”
Ratatouille – Something French for Bastille Day
Ratatouille. A dish most everyone knows but one which has lots of different versions and techniques. One of the things I love about food (other than cooking and eating) is the debate which can surround it. There’s Chicago v NYC in hot dogs and pizza, NY v the rest of the world with bagels, milk or no milk in ragu Bolognese; food debates worldwide. It seems to me ratatouille fits right in to the debatable food category and from what I can gather it’s a very passionate dish regarding technique. Do you cook the vegetables separately or combine them? Simmer in a pot or bake? Does it affect the flavor? Not going to answer any of these questions here. I’m just going to offer up a passionately debated French dish for a passionate French holiday, Bastille Day.Continue reading “Ratatouille – Something French for Bastille Day”
Homemade Peach Pie
You can tell we’re really getting into summer by the types of fresh fruits and vegetables now filling the produce aisles in abundance. Cherries, green beans, and the newcomer of the past couple weeks, peaches. Time to make one of my favorite summertime desserts: Peach Pie! I’ve been discovering many people are secret peach pie fans. We were out on our back porch when our landlord stopped by last night and Cheryl let him know he was just in time for dessert. He asked what were we having and upon hearing freshly baked peach pie he exclaimed “peach pie, I love peach pie!” My feelings exactly.Continue reading “Homemade Peach Pie”
A Cooling Cocktail for 4th of July – Bittered Gin Sling
Happy 4th of July! Happy Birthday America! Ridiculously hot here today in Chicago so Cheryl and I have been doing the most American of things today: taking advantage of central air conditioning and watching the Tour de France and Wimbledon from our couch. We’ve got a picnic to attend later when it’ll hopefully be cooler, so while waiting I thought I’d have a cocktail. Looking into my copy of Eric Felten’s “How’s Your Drink?” for inspiration I found the Bittered Gin Sling. Apparently, slings were a popular drink in the beginning days of our republic. If Bittered Gin Slings were good enough for early Americans then it’s good enough for my Independence Day cocktail!Continue reading “A Cooling Cocktail for 4th of July – Bittered Gin Sling”
Green Bean Salad – Delicious Easy Salad for a 4th of July Picnic!
This green bean salad is one of my favorite summer salads. My grandfather always had a garden and he’d always have baskets of green beans he couldn’t give away (or eat) fast enough. My grandmother would make this salad all summer long and I’d eat it all summer long. Never got tired of green bean salad either! This is one of those things which definitely says “home” to me as I can probably walk into any of my relative’s back yards during the summer and find this particular salad (or something very close) on their table. Continue reading “Green Bean Salad – Delicious Easy Salad for a 4th of July Picnic!”
Part 2 of the Making Bacon Experiment – Success!
If you read Part 1 you know I recently decided to up my game a little bit this summer by doing a Rumpelstiltskin on some pork belly and turn it into bacon. For seven days I waited, kept rotating the pork belly, and watched. Day 7 ended on Wednesday so I eagerly pulled the bacon out of the refrigerator and rinsed off the cure, which incidentally, smelled pretty awesome. So far so good. Ok so now what?Continue reading “Part 2 of the Making Bacon Experiment – Success!”
The Roaming GastroGnome 