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Not Bob, Bacon and finally the Mushrooms


I am eating dinner and writing, I had to work late and turned the computer off but whipping up a quick mushroom pasta (yep I scored the mushrooms) inspired me to get back in front of the screen. I will  document the recipe, omitting my cock ups which included 1. Firing the pasta into the water and going outside to do a couple of jobs while it all stuck together as I had neglected to stir it. 2. Thinking I would give the sauce a little lift with some of Lincoln McCrea’s famous Bum Burner sauce, made several years ago with Ghost chillis. We could rename it Covid as it required gloves and a face mask to handle the chillis. It is served from an eye dropper and is to be treated with the utmost respect. One chilli fan when given a bottle, gave it back a few days later and said :”thanks, but I cannot find a use for your sauce”. But it has become a favourite with others, including Laddy who augmented his porridge with it, of all things, and was thrilled to receive a bottle. Anyway I digress, I added 3 drops of Bum Burner from the eye dropper, had a little taste and felt it was insufficient so went back for another round. In my usual crash round fashion I got a little heavy handed and ended up with another drop and Oh Fuck a squirt! So it has a little more “lift” that I planned but nevertheless good, as field mushrooms always are, the icing is the sprinkle of the sage leaves I have been drying, so good I have just gone back for a second sprinkle. The rest of the time just cook up your mushrooms in garlic butter and serve on toast, what could be better fresh from the paddock.



Fifteen Minute Field Mushroom Pasta

2 serves of dried pasta of your choice about 1 C per person seems to work

1 small onion

2 cloves garlic

Oil

½ t salt

3 cups sliced mushrooms

3 D sour cream

A dash of your best chilli sauce to taste

½ a lemon

Dried sage leaves



Boil the kettle, add you pasta to a warm pan and pour boiling water over it. STIR and boil gently.

Peel and slice the onion and garlic, fry in the oil and add the mushrooms and salt and saute slowly, if it get a little dry add a splash of the pasta water. Once the pasta is nearly cooked salt it, add the chilli sauce and  sour cream to the mushrooms, stir until saucy. Combine drained pasta and mushroom sauce in a serving bowl finish with lemon juice and a generous amount of sage leaves.



Crockery Rider: Stunning blue bowls, a huge variety of equally sexy pottery and other household items you probably don’t need but may well be compelled to buy anyway, available from www.tonyslypottery.co.nz.



Sunday was a day of outside jobs, shopping for people that needed a hand and trying to avoid too many beers in the sunshine. I made an epic cock up of making a hole in the deck for the downpipe to go through, which firmly offset and previous outdoor bench success. Bev Thomas gave me this incredible blanket that her sister Maureen crocheted, what a treasure more and than fair recompense for a bit of grocery shopping! (crochet, crocheted…..Bit of a spelling/grammer test there, no doubt someone better informed that I will share their notes on that one.


I didn’t really cook anything worth reporting on yesterday but I got this splendid photo when cooking a few chops on the brazier.




I managed to get a couple of pieces of pork belly from Countdown so I have got some bacon on the go. Here are today's photos I will post a pic every day so you can see the progression from pig to bacon. I had a recollection that I had some flash recipe documented but on tracking it down in the “book of random things that worked that my well one day become a cook book “ it gave me 1kg salt, 4 T caster sugar, 2 t pepper……. hardly inspiring. But I also recall the bacon being excellent. So get your pork belly, if it is a whole one cut it in half. Rub as much of the salt mixture on it as it will absorb probably 5-6 T if a whole belly. Place the flesh sides together and put in a plastic not metal container and shove in the fridge. (I made good use of the meat trays) I will now have to do some research with Mr Fingerstall AKA Hugh Fernley Wittingstall as to how many days to do this for. More tomorrow.

Comments

  1. VickiApril 6, 2020 at 5:07 PM

    Never knew that was how you made bacon. Very interesting

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Celine FilbeeApril 7, 2020 at 2:12 AM

      It is only one way, it turns out quite salty better for cooking than eating.

      Delete

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