We Are Never Full » sour cream

My Type of Yule Log: Pork Roulade with Sausage, Pistachios and Chestnuts (and Cider Gravy)

Amy — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:48:42 +0000

Before we head off to England (and a five day side-trip to Northern France) to visit the across-the-pond family, we wanted to leave you with a different option for your Christmas Day meal. Some families love making hard-core meals for Christmas Day dinner – meals that take hours to cook and include many courses or many side dishes. If that is your type of meal, then you may want to save this recipe for another time (perhaps when you’re hung over on New Year’s Day?). This dish is so flavorful and so freaking easy to make. You know what makes it even better? It’s a cost-effective. So chat with your butcher, make it easier and just ask him/her to butterfly that pork for you, grab a huge mug of egg nog or mulled wine, throw on some Johnny Mathis and spend some time doing what real Americans will be doing – hanging out with Ralphie.

MERRY CHRISTMAS/HAPPY HANUKKAH/HAPPY KWANZAA EVERYONE! Thank you for supporting us, commenting on posts and actually reading our words. It means more than you know! Have a delicious 2010!

PORK ROAST ROULADE WITH SAUSAGE, PISTACHIO AND CHESTNUTS WITH CIDER GRAVY (serves 4 to 6 – adapted from When French Women Cook by Madeline Kamman)

2 1/2 to 3 lb. boneless pork roast, butterflied (center cut is best, but we used a tenderloin which worked just fine – the cooking time we list in this recipe is based on a tenderloin which will cook faster than other cuts – internal temp will always be the same, though, about 150-155F. )
1/2 lb. of sweet Italian sausage (loose, not in casings – if you buy it with casings on, just slice it and squeeze out the sausage)
1 egg
1/4 to 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs (you may use more or less to get the right consistency)
1/2 cup of shelled pistachios (about 20-25)
1/2 cup shelled and boiled chestnuts - directions below (you may use jarred/canned chestnuts as well)
1 teaspoon french four spice (aka Quatre èpices)
optional: 1/2 teaspoon ground juniper berries
salt and pepper
1 cup hard cider (preferably French but English or Canadian could do)
3 or 4 tablespoons creme fraiche or sour cream
olive oil
need: kitchen twine and meat thermometer

What to do:

How to shell the chestnuts: With a knife, make and “x” on one end of each chestnut. Bring water to a boil and boil chestnuts for 15 to 20 minutes. The chestnuts will be soft. Peel the chestnut shell off, starting where you placed that “x”. You may also choose to roast your chestnuts by cutting the “x” again at the top and then roast for 15 to 20 minutes in a 400 degree oven, shaking the pan every five minutes.
Time to make the pork! Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
In a bowl, combine the sausage meat, egg, and 1/4 cup of the breadcrumbs. Mix well and add more breadcrumb if mixture is too wet.
Sprinkle the butterflied pork with salt and pepper. Spread the sausage mixture over the whole butterflied pork, leaving a 1/4 inch space on each side. Sprinkle the pistachios and chestnuts all over the sausage – push a bit into the sausage mixture.
Roll the pork up like a cigarette/joint and get your twine ready to be used.
Now, tie up your roast.
Sprinkle pork with the four spice (it’s strong in flavor, so a little goes a long way), rub with olive oil, place in the roasting pan and into your oven.
Roast the pork, at first, for 10 minutes at 450 degrees. Set a timer to remember to turn the oven down after 10 minutes to 250 degrees.
Depending on the size/shape of your pork loin, it will cook for anywhere between 50 and 80 minutes (remember – this is cooking time for a pork tenderloin) or until it reaches an internal temperature of about 150.
Take out of the oven when it has reached temperature, allow to rest under some tented foil for about 15 to 20 minutes.
While pork is resting, make the cider gravy. With the pork roasting pan on your stove top, deglaze the pan with the cider and allow to cook down for a few minutes, picking up all the goodness from the bottom of the pan. Pour this into a cup or small bowl and allow to sit for a few minutes. Using a baster (or, more tediously, a spoon), remove the fat from the lean part of the gravy. Add gravy back to pan, reheat on low and taste to add some salt and pepper. Add the sour cream and blend with a whisk. When sauce comes up to perfect temperature, it’s ready to be served.
Slice pork with a sharp knife – about 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick. Pour gravy over pork and enjoy!

What do Thomas Jefferson, Harlem Jazz Musicians and the PA Dutch Have in Common? Chicken and Waffles, Baby!

Amy — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 21:52:45 +0000

Chicken and Waffles. Two foods that many obsess over individually but wouldn’t even think to pair together. Why, I wonder? Have you ever dipped your crunchy piece of bacon into your pancake syrup, even if it’s accidental? How about some fabulous thai sauces that have that sweet sticky flavor paired with some fried calamari? What about any dish with sweet, salty and crunchy combination? If you’re a nonbeliever, please, believe. One taste of Chicken and Waffles and it quickly gained a top 10 spot on my “Death Row Last Meal” list. You know you have one too.

The history of the beginnings of Chicken and Waffles is a perplexing one. No one is really sure of its origins. One of the original theories claims that Thomas Jefferson brought a waffle machine to the US from France in the 1790′s, thus beginning a waffle craze (even though the Pilgrims brought it to the New World back in the early 1600′s, we guess Tommy really sparked the interest). Soon after, being embraced by the African American community, Chicken and Waffles began appearing in cookbooks (although, curiously, it did not appear in the first cookbook written around 1880 by a Black former slave called What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking by Abby Fisher). The Pennsylvania Dutch (the first Germans to have settled in the US) have been pairing chicken with waffles probably before Thomas Jefferson was a twinkle in his mother’s uterus. Instead of frying their chicken pieces, the PA Dutch version uses shredded pieces of boiled or roasted chicken on top of waffles and top it with lots of creamy gravy instead of hot sauce and syrup. You may think this either looks like sick on a waffle or, possibly, chicken pot pie over a waffle. The final and most common origin is that Chicken and Waffles began in the 1930′s during the Harlem Jazz hayday, specifically at a place no longer in existence called Wells Supper Club. When the Jazz musicians walked into Wells after a long night of playing, they wanted a combo of dinner and breakfast (dickfast? dinfast?) and the staff created the crispy, crunchy, salty, sweet combo we love today.

Clearly we’re not the first to try making chicken and waffles at home. I still remember drooling over our friend Heather’s version almost a year ago. After our fun maple syrup taste-test, we figured it was the perfect time to make something we had wanted to make for a long time. This experience also gave me a chance to finally give that damn supposedly amazing Thomas Keller fried chicken recipe a whirl. I combined his recipe with some tips from Serious Eats supposed “Best Fried Chicken Recipe”. The result? Damn ass good. If I could be guaranteed to not gain weight or get a major cholesterol problem, I could possibly eat this every day. This recipe is hands down worth the time and effort if you’re going to bother doing your own fried chicken. Please, take my word for it – it was perfectly cooked, perfectly crunchy, and very, very moist inside. If you don’t try the chicken and waffles, please use this recipe for some damn good fried chicken. Make it with a side of Lipitor.

PS: How awesome does that old Herbie Hancock album cover look against this “set”? I laugh every time I look at those gold medallions on his neck. By the way, we’re cheap – that’s one of Jonny’s shirts as our “faux country” tablecloth. We’re professionals, folks. Real professionals.

FRIED CHICKEN AND SOUR CREAM WAFFLES (Adapted slightly from Thomas Keller’s killer recipe)

Ingredients:

All ingredients on Thomas Keller’s recipe list
1 quart of buttermilk
iron skillet
TIP: Buy yourself a frying thermometer – so key to producing perfectly fried chicken.
Optional: 1 thick piece of country ham or smoked ham hock, cut into thick chunks
your favorite waffle recipe
waffle maker
real maple syrup
hot sauce

What to do:

Follow the brining recipe/method from Thomas Keller’s recipe here, but only for about 8 to 10 hours (you could even cut this in half and it will still be moist, maybe not as moist, but moist). Use the same amount of chicken pieces Keller calls for.
Remove chicken pieces from the brine and pat dry with paper towels. Lay chicken pieces in a pyrex bowl and cover with about one quart of fresh buttermilk. Allow to marinate in the buttermilk for an additional 8 to 10 hours (again, cut in half if you really only have to).
Meanwhile, prepare your peanut oil by heating it very gently on low and adding the chunks of ham. Cook on low for 30 to 40 minutes. This will give your cooking oil some extra flavor.
While the oil is being flavored with the ham, prepare the flour – again, same as Keller’s. When it is time to fry, turn up the heat until the oil reaches 330 degrees. Prep your chicken by taking it out of the buttermilk and draining off as much as you can from the pieces. Toss in the seasoned flour and add to the 330 degree oil. DO NOT OVERCROWD YOUR SKILLET. Chicken and Waffles tastes even better with room temperature fried chicken so take your time. Again, use Keller’s frying times:
- legs and thighs (turning once) = 13 minutes
- breasts = 7 minutes
Make your waffles and drain chicken on some paper towels. Pair waffles and chicken however you want (some like it side by side, some like one on top of the other) and put the syrup on the waffle or chicken or both. Whatever floats your boat. Enjoy.

Lettuce Convince You – Butter Lettuce Soup is Good!

Amy — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:42:14 +0000

Ahhh, don’t you love a nice, cheesy pun in the morning? I know I do! If there was an emoticon (Omg, am I dating myself by using that word? Do people even use the word emoticon anymore? Do emoticons even exist anymore?! A quick search shows yes. Still, why do I feel like such a geek for discussing emoticons? Do I even want emoticons to exist anymore? Ok, back to the sentence) showing someone giving a wink, wink, nudge, nudge or slamming on to the top of a microphone saying, “Is this thing on!?” then that would have gone at the end of the post title.

Regardless of how stupid the title of this post is, the finished product was better than expected. Since I met my husband Jonny, I have heard about his mother’s famous Lettuce Soup, always made with butter lettuce (also called Boston or Bibb). Unfortunately, Jonny’s mother passed away many years ago and he is left only with the memories of the way his mother cooked this fabulous soup, remembering the flavors only in his mind.

This soup is meant for summertime, when lettuce is absolutely fresh and it’s too warm outside to eat a bowl of piping hot soup. In fact, like a gazpacho, melon or cucumber soup, this soup is to be eaten cold. Think of how delicious a crisp salad with buttermilk dressing is – the flavors just go together. This soup is very basic, very simple and very refreshing.

So I raise a glass to Jonny’s mom and thank her for not only raising an amazing man, but also for serving her kids her lettuce soup!

BUTTER LETTUCE SOUP (Serves 3 or 4 as a main, 6 as a starter)
Ingredients:

2 heads of Butter Lettuce (aka Bibb or Boston)
bit of olive oil or a pat of butter
1 large onion, diced
1/2 potato, peeled, cubed and boiled till soft
1/8 cup chopped chives
3 tablespoons fino sherry or white wine
1 1/2 cup veggie stock (or chicken stock)
1 cup buttermilk (or you can thin 2 tablespoons of sour cream with some regular light cream- but I recommend buttermilk)
ice bath
stick blender or regular blender

What to do:

Boil some water and make an ice bath by putting ice cubes and cold water into a bowl. Chop the bottom of the lettuce and immerse the leaves of the lettuce in the boiling water for thirty seconds. With tongs, remove the lettuce from the boiling water and “shock” them in the ice water to keep their color. After cooking in the ice water, remove and allow to drain and dry on a towel.
Meanwhile, in a tablespoon of olive oil (or a pat of butter), sauté the diced onion until translucent. After three minutes or so, add the boiled potato and stir. Add a pinch of salt. Toss in half the chives and stir again. After a minute, add the fino sherry or wine and allow to cook down (about one minute). As soon as the alcohol has been absorbed, add the stock and stir. Add the rest of the chives and allow to cook for 30 seconds then kill the fire.
Remove pot from stove and add half the cup of buttermilk to the pot along with the cooled and drained lettuce and start blending in the pot with the stick blender (if using a blender, add everything in and puree). Add the final bit of buttermilk and blend one more time.
Chill in the fridge for an hour or in the freezer for 20 to 30 minutes.
Serve in bowls with some chopped chives and sliced radish and swirl in some thinned sour cream, buttermilk or regular cream! Enjoy.