Homemade Vinegar

Ok.....now she's done it. She's gone completely crazy! Making your own vinegar? Why not just buy some from the store? Well my friends the answer is simple. I do it because I can mostly. It is always nice to test your limits and see if you can make something yourself even if it is readily available at every store you go in. And more times than you may realize the homemade version of anything tastes much better than store bought. So now that we have answered that question, we can move onto your next question. How do you make your own vinegar? Vinegar is basically fermented wine. If you left your wine long enough it would turn into vinegar. However that could take a long time. What you need to speed up the process is mother of vinegar. Question? Ahhh mother of vinegar....unfamiliar? Mother of vinegar is the cloudy, slimy substance added to aid fermentation of wine or cider. It can be purchased online in several places or at a brewery. They make red wine mother, white wine mother, and cider vinegar depending on the kind of vinegar you want.

The next process, once you have decided you want to make vinegar and got your mother, is to assemble your next items. The fermentation process will take a few months to mature so you needs the proper storage container. The most important thing is no metal container. You do not want the metal flavor injected into your vinegar. I also would not advise using a glass container. Once it starts to ferment there will be cloudy substances or even a thick curdlike substance inside your vinegar and you may not want to see it. Another factor to consider is a spout. I insisted on a spout for my container so that as the fermentation byproducts, which by the way is another mother that can be transferred into another batch of wine, rise I would be able to pour vinegar and taste or use without disturbing the byproducts. I would recommend ceramic. 

This is my ceramic crock with a spout. We found this one at an antique mall. But they are available online by searching ceramic crocks. 

The next step is wine. Well I am very fortunate in that my father had acquired some bottles of 1982 & 1983  cabernet sauvignon from my grandfather. These were not kept at an ideal temperature and therefore not suitable for drinking. Now why he saved these for so many years....I do not know. Maybe he doesn't even know. But one thing is for sure, after talking about wanting to make vinegar and getting the mother starters from him for Christmas, the old bottles of wine suddenly had a purpose! 

Do you need old wine to make vinegar...absolutely not! Any wine you have or like is just fine. That is what I was going to use before the old bottles came into my life. It can even be pieces of bottles leftover from a party. Now word of caution if you find yourself in possession of old wine, the corks are probably going to break apart on you and not pop out of the bottle. We pushed it into the bottle. It's just easier in my

 opinion. My dad and Alex both tried a little from the 1982 bottle and determined it not so great for drinking. Once we got the bottles home they need to be strained free of cork. But to our lovely suprise one of the bottles already had a large clump of vinegar sitting in the bottom of the bottle. I placed a coffee filter inside a hand strainer to make sure the small bits of cork did not make it into the vinegar. 

Once it was all strained it was time to start the fermentation process. First I brought forth the ceramic crock with spout and thoroughly clean it, of course. Then I placed the mother of vinegar in the bottom of the crock. Finally I slowly poured my strained wine into the crock. By placing the mother in the bottom the pouring of the wine helped to stir the mother into the whole mixture. 

Now the final step is to cover the open top with cheesecloth or other lightweight breathable fabric. We used  an old almost threadbare tshirt. There was a plastic ring that came with our crock so I placed the cloth between the plastic ring and the crock. Now you let it hang out in a warm place for 6 weeks minimum. You can taste it periodically to see how far into the fermentation process it is. This is where the spout comes in handy. 

Mine has been sitting for one week. I will let you know how it tastes as I proceed. Just remember this isn't about easy. This is about a higher quality of food in a society where McDonald's reigns supreme.......even in my house! So take a chance and have a littl efood experiment

Porchetta

Who likes pork? Of course you do....silly question. Well who likes Italian food? Silly question again huh? Of course you do. Well how about slow roasted food? Crispy pork skin? If you answered yes to these questions then you will LOVE this dish! Porchetta. So what is porchetta? It is a boneless fatty cut of pork with a crispy skin on top that is rubbed i garlic and herbs and roasted slowly. It can be done with shoulders or roasts or in my case pork belly. Mmmmmm pork belly. I was going to use a half a shoulder with a nice fat cap but at the grocery store they had pork belly.....and cheap! The only thing was they were in small pieces. But I decided everyone could have their own porchetta for Christmas Eve dinner.  But let me say this.....do not be afraid. My husband was a little nervous because pork belly looks like bacon. There is a big difference though. Bacon is cured and smoked while pork belly is fresh pork meat. And all the fat located in between the layers of meat will keep it moist while rendering down. Its absolutely delicious and something everyone should know how to do to impress friends and family!

Ingredients:
pork shoulder or pork belly

This was some of the pork belly I picked up. You can see a lot of fat mixed with some meat. What you may not see is the skin. It is sitting on the bottom. Dont worry it will be making an appearance soon. The rest of my ingredients are geared for these 3 pieces of pork belly so adjust accordingly. 

5 cloves of garlic, minced

3T fresh minced rosemary

3T fresh minced parsley

2 t fresh minced thyme

1-2t olive oil

black pepper

The night before cooking mix all the ingredients in a small bowl. It should be a thick paste. Do not add too much oil. Rub generously over the non skin side of the pork. Lightly salt the pork. 

Place foil or plastic wrap over your pork and refrigerate overnight.

Using kitchen twine roll up the pork and secure tightly with several pieces of twine. Lay a cooling rack inside a baking sheet. Lightly spray the cooling rack with cooking spray. Place the rolled pork skin side up on the cooling rack. Let the meat sit out for an hour before baking to get the chill off of it.

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Place porchetta in the oven. You are going to cook it for about 4-5 hours. So make sure to baste your skin every half hour to hour with the fat drippings on the bottom of the pan. If your pork cooks before your skin is crispy, turn your heat up to 500 degrees until skin is crispy. 

Your pork will sit perfectly at room temperature until ready to slice and eat. I decided to slice these into more manageable pieces. Do make sure you snip all the twine off before slicing and eating. The last thing you and your guests want is to bit into or have to pull off twine. 

Now how gorgeous is that?! Makes me hungry for some right now!! But one thing to keep in mind....there will be some excess fat between your crispy skin and the meat that unless you particularly crave straight fat will not want to eat. I told Alex and his mom to pull it away and not eat it. There was no big issue in doing that. But if you do not wish your guests to do that, you could always peel the skin off and scrape away the fat layer. Then either replace the skin or serve the skin on the side. 

We paired our porchetta with a spinach, dried cranberry, roasted butternut squash, and roasted shallot salad with a hazelnut vinaigrette. It helped bring a brightness to our meal. But one thing is for sure.....we ate very well that night!! Hope yours tastes as good as our did.

Red Velvet Cheesecake

Oh the holidays.....it's the best time for some really good desserts. Now normally I sit on the sidelines and watch all the better pastry chefs dazzle us with these wonderful concoctions. But you know what?? Not this year!! I vowed to mark my place in holiday 2011 history. And you know what? I think I might have done it with a Red Velvet Cheesecake. Oh yeah.....you heard me. Red....Velvet.....Cheesecake. Is that your drool I see on the screen? Well I definitely drooled.......a lot when I saw it first. It was, believe it or not, in a 1800flowers catalog. They wanted $50 for it and I realized it wouldn't be that hard. So here we are. My success!!


Red Velvet Cheesecake:
1/2c cocoa powder
2 1/2c all purpose flour
1t baking soda
1/2t salt
2 sticks butter, softened
2c sugar
4 eggs
1c sour cream
1/2c milk
1 bottle red food coloring
2t vanilla


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 2 round cake pans. Set aside.


Mix cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.


In a large bowl cream together butter and sugar with an electric mixer for 5 minutes or until fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Mix in sour cream, milk, food color, and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until mixed. Do not overbeat. Pour into prepared pans. 


Bake 30-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely. 


**I do believe I have typed these in the wrong order. You really should make the cheesecake first since it needs to chill overnight. Whoops! So just pretend I did and make it first.


Cheesecake:
I took this recipe from allrecipes.com. If you would like the recipe with all the reviews click here. 


4 pkg cream cheese, softened
11/2c sugar
3/4c milk
4 eggs
1c sour cream
1T vanilla
1/4c all purpose flour


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Making cheesecake alone you would want a crust. But since I was cutting it up, there was no need. Grease a large springform pan. Set aside.


In a large bowl mix together cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Mix in milk. Then add eggs one at a time until incorporated. Mix in sour cream, vanilla, and flour until smooth. Pour into prepared pan. 


Bake for one hour. Turn off oven and let cool inside the oven for several hours. This prevents cracking. Chill in refrigerator until ready to use.


Frosting:
1 pkg cream cheese, softened
1/2 stick butter, softened
2 T sour cream
2t vanilla
1 box (16oz) confectioners sugar


Beat cream cheese, butter, sour cream, and vanilla until smooth. Slowly add in sugar and beat until smooth and creamy. Set aside until ready to frost.


So now the fun begins!! You get to assemble your cake.  Trim the edges off one red velvet cake. If your cake is slightly taller in the center, as most are, slice the top until it is flat. Slice the trimmed red velvet cake in half to create two thin cakes. Place one thin cake on a cake plate or other serving platter. If you want to keep your presentation clean, place 3 small strips of wax paper or parchment paper under the edges of the cake to catch crumbs and dripping frosting. Place a thin layer of frosting on the top of the cake.


Depending on how large your cheesecake is depends on how much you need to trim it. One thing for sure is you will need to trim the edges and probably the top layer. If the bottom of your cheesecake is dark or burned, trim it off as best you can. Once you get it where you want it, gently place on top of the frosted red velvet half. If there needs to be any cheesecake trimming, now is the time to do it. 


Otherwise place the other red velvet half on top of the cheesecake. Take your frosting and coat the sides and the top.  Now take your remaining red velvet cake and in a large bowl crumble it into fine crumbs. Take the smallest crumbs and press into the frosting around the entire side of the cake. Place more crumbs around the outer edges on the top of the cake. And voila!

So now what do you think?? This girl can bake!!! Muahahaha!! But you know what? You could do it too. It isn't the easiest process, but definitely worth it. It tasted quite delicious as well. We all agreed that this could be done with just about any flavor cake you liked. Maybe next time.....chocolate.

Rosemary Rack of Lamb

Lamb......that is the yummy topic today. For those of you reading this and are hungry, it might create discomfort as you will start to drool and stomach will growl in protest for you arent making this right now to enjoy. For those of you hungry.....you will be! 


This meal was eaten at my Dads after Christmas. I was so excited. So we went to the store and Dad bought a beautiful looking 8 rib rack of lamb. And that night we marinated this wondrous animal.


Marinade:
2 lemons, juiced
1/4c chopped fresh rosemary
3T olive oil
1t pepper
1 rack of lamb (7-8 ribs)


Mix all ingredients in a bowl. 


Our lamb was cleaned pretty well so there wasnt much to do to it. Most racks I have seen in grocery stores 
are cleaned pretty well. If you are breaking down large cuts of lamb might I suggest Jacques Pepin's Technique book. Take your rack and trim off the large fat cap on the rack. Leave some fat, but a large portion can be cut off.


Place rack in a gallon zipper bag. Pour marinade over rack. Seal the bag and swish the marinade all over for even coating. Place in the fridge overnight.


Cooking:


1-2 hours before cooking pull the lamb out of the fridge and out of the marinade bag. Let the rack unchill so it will cook more evenly. 


When you are ready to cook preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Use a skillet that can be placed in the oven. 
Turn your stove to high heat. Once the pan is screaming hot add a drizzle of olive oil. Place the rack of ribs in the pan and sear for 2 minutes. Flip over the rack and sear for another 2 minutes. Place you skillet directly into the oven. Cook for 14 minutes and remove from oven. Take the rack out of the pan and let rest for 5-10 minutes.

Your rack should look like this. If the smells and sight of this beautiful cut of meat dont make you salivate then I do not know what will. But if it does....then boy are you in for a treat. Once the meat has rested begin cutting the rack into portions of single chops. 

The thing to remember with lamb is that you absolutely positively do not want to overcook your meat!! You want a nice medium-rare to medium. This should be around 130-135 degrees on a meat thermometer. Once you slice all of your ribs there will be some nice juice at the bottom for extra flavor. Do not pour off!!

To go with our lamb I made some couscous with pine nuts and dried cranberries and steamed green beans.

Green Beans:

1-2 lbs fresh green beans

1 shallot, minced

3-4 garlic cloves, minced

1/4c creme fraiche or mexican crema ( mexican crema is typically found in the cheese section at grocery stores with the mexican queso cheeses)

In a double boiler or steamer basket steam your green beans until tender crisp. This should take 5-10 minutes. Beans should still be bright green and slightly crisp. Once they are cooked instantly plunge them into a bowl of ice water. 

While the beans are cooking you can make the sauce. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add a drizzle of olive oil and add your minced shallot and garlic. Cook for a couple of minutes until golden. Add your crema. It should start to quickly heat up and melt. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Add the cookedand cooled beans to the sauce. Toss around until beans are well coated and hot. Remove from heat and top with some sliced almonds.

This is a nice accompaniment to any meat dish. It is easy to prepare as well. For me it was the perfect pair to tender lamb.

We all dove right into dinner with gusto!! It was juicy, tender, flavorful......everything you look for in a lamb chop. There was even a little juice sopping going on!! Chops are not cheap, but if you or someone who loves you a lot can get them......be sure to chew slowly and savor every bite.