Thursday, April 24, 2008

Crossing my fingers


I have an experiment in the oven.

I browned a pound of crumbled Italian pork sausage. I microwaved a bag of baby spinach for a few minutes, in batches, and squeezed out the liquid. (Awesome trick, might I add.) I chopped up the spinach and some white onion.

I drained the pork and wiped out my Le Crueset pan. I sauteed the onions in butter, added the spinach and some diced garlic, sauteed it lightly, then turned off the heat. I had preheated the oven to 400.

I added cottage cheese, cheddar cheese, parmesan cheese (a yummy aged American one I found - so tasty!) and four beaten eggs. Into the oven it went.

What should I name it? Spinach pork frittata pie thing?

Monday, April 14, 2008

Not a boring return


I made wild boar tonight.

No, for real!

My neighbor is a native Floridian (like Picky and me). He has hunted in central Florida for years. Today he gave me some wild boar that he shot with a bow and arrow.

I just had a recent conversation with someone about "eating meat that you know", so I figured I'd put my money where my mouth is. I just took a parasitology and mycology test in med school today, so it seemed fitting to eat some exotic wild meat with a questionable refrigeration history. (My neighbor swore he kept it on ice the whole time).

I butterflied the tenderloin (pictured) with a mojo marinade and fresh homemade mojo on the side (a Cuban orange juice and garlic sauce) on my cast iron grill pan. It was worth smoking up the house - it is a beautiful night tonight anyway, and now we have the windows open. Everyone loved it. After the kids had a bath and a shower, they saw me eating the cold leftovers of the boar, dipping it the sauce. They clamored for more - and ate it cold, too. It was a big hit. I think it helped that our neighbor shot it with a bow and arrow.

The hindquarter (picnic butt?) piece that I got is cooking on the stove right now, pulled pork style.