French Pigs In California?!

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I've signed up!  Come join me!

Kate Hill, of Kitchen at Camont, is taking her French workshop, French Pig - the butcher and the cook, on the road to northern California and the Pacific Northwest this April.

An all-day workshop, replete with wine tasting and a succulent pork dinner, awaits you at Kelley & Young Wines in the Sonoma wine country of northern California.

If you have an interest in the art of French butchery and have always wanted to learn how to prepare your own meats for charcuterie, the French way, here's your chance.  Better sign up now as space is limited.

Hope to see you there!

Bon appétit!

Copyright © 2005-2010, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

Make Your Own Saucisson de Porc

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When Peter at Kalofagas cured a few pork tenderloins several months ago, I knew I had to do my own - for the experience if nothing else. Peter is quite an adventurous and prolific cook who made the whole curing process seem so easy that I felt confident in following his directions. And guess what? It worked! I have two lovely lean saucisson pork tenderloins in my fridge waiting for holiday guests to nibble and enjoy. Thanks so much for sharing your triumph Peter. Never say you can't teach an old cook new tricks: It's now my triumph too and I'll be doing more charcuterie in the months ahead.

Cook's Notes:

Update - I found this book on charcuterie at Amazon.

Copyright © 2005-2007, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

Pimientos de Padrón And Smoked Goat Sausage...

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Happy Quail Farms fried Pimientos de Padrón

Achadinha Summer Goat Sausage and Cypress Grove Lamb Chopper Cheese

I waited a bit too long to begin this post about the Happy Quail Farms fried pimientos de padrón, as I just now saw that Sam (whom I was delighted to meet for the first time last weekend) and I made the same recipe but she got it on her blog before me. So I'll spin this post a bit differently.

The fact that Sam and I bought our pimientos from the same guy, on the same day, at the same farmers market, it stands to reason that we would both cook them up the same way. Great photos, Sam!

If you happen to find yourself at the SF Ferry Plaza Farmers Market of a Saturday morning and the folks at Happy Quail Farms have their little green mesh bags full of these beauties on display, do buy a bag or two, or three (I wish I had bought a bushel) and follow the recipe on the label or on their web site. I promise that you'll be very happy you did.

Also to be found at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market is the Achadinha Goat Cheese Company. A new favorite find of mine, the delightful Donna Pacheco and her husband Jim make rustically beautiful, delicious goat cheeses. But the reason I sought them out this time was for their Summer Smoked Goat Sausage. Be still my heart - this stuff is incredible!

I paired it with our local Cypress Grove Lamb Chopper sheep milk cheese. Combine these with the fried Pimientos de Padrón and you've got a match made in heaven.

PS - To my RSS readers, during the process of writing this post, I accidentally hit the publish post button waaaay before it was ready for reading. Please accept my apologies.

Copyright © 2005-2007, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved