Cooking for Family and Friends
Cured olives (picked last year in Cromwell), dried tomatoes, garden salad, peperoni sott’ olio (capsicum under olive oil), peperoni grigliati (roasted capsicum), calabrese salame, pickled onions, provolone cheese, focaccia and, of course, dry wine (apple and black currant) – ALL HOME MADE. I am very happy with the result of all the hard work. A few more kilograms tomatoes, capsicums and eggplants processed should see us through the winter.
Fried eggs for breakfast. The unique thing was not the bit of chili and butter in the pan but that the eggs were from top to bottom: bought brown hens egg , pure white egg, laid by my Ancona hen, egg laid by my guinea fowl hen and a pretty speckled egg laid by my quail hen. In the pan the pale yellow is the bought egg and the middle egg beside it is the guinea fowl egg. The latter took a bit longer to cook than the others. Very tasty treat. Yolk color is more often than not an indication of quality of the feed consumed and the general well being of the bird.
We were given a lovely bit of pork – free range of course! It was quite a big leg and I had to trim it quite a lot to make it fit the pot. I do have roasting trays big enough for large pieces of meat but my present oven is not wide enough for them.
PORCHETTA (leg only. In Italy one sees the whole pig roasted to perfection)
The pork will roast for a few hours so arrange the rosemary and sage twigs, a handful of bay leaves, one lemon, two whole garlic (skin on), for the pork to rest on, in the bottom of the pot. Drizzle generously with olive oil
Score the skin of the joint deeply, right down to the meat
Ingredients for paste :
1 handful of fresh rosemary
1 handful if fresh sage
3 peeled cloves of garlic
4 or 5 fresh bay leaves
3 tablespoons olive oil or more
salt and pepper
Pre heat the oven to maximum heat. It must be really hot so heat it for at least 20 minutes
Meanwhile, put all the paste ingredients in a mortar and pound vigorously. Add olive oil to make a rough paste. Cover the skin with the mixture forcing it between the scored pieces of skin. Rub salt on the skin to help the crackling process. Put the meat in the pot or pan, on top of the sage, rosemary, bay and garlic. and put it in the center of the hot oven. Roast the meat at the high heat for about 25 minutes or until you have golden brown crackling, then turn the heat down to 170 degrees and cook for 3 hours or until the meat is soft enough to break away wit a fork.
The flavor and aroma is wonderful and the leftovers are even better. With friends and family present when the pork came out of the oven, on the excitement, I forgot to photograph the finished product so you will have to take my word for it that it was perfectly crackled all over!
100 ml Extra virgin olive oil
2 Cloves garlic – finely chopped
4 – 6 Slices home made bread or good Italian style bread like ciabatta
4 Fresh, ripe and sweet tomatoes – coarsely chopped
Small bunch basil
Generous pinch salt
Black pepper
In a large bowl, combine the chopped tomatoes, basil, black pepper, chopped garlic, salt and extra virgin olive oil , mix to combine. In the meantime toast a few slices of home made bread and rub with fresh garlic. Drizzle the warm bread with extra virgin olive oil. Cover the still warm bread with the tomato mixture, and serve immediately. The trick is not to let the mix stand because it becomes watery. ENJOY !!
Back Yard Farmer 