Days off go something like this...

From the last blog post you may remember that we had a pretty super amazing experience with some fresh sausage.  To those of you who thought I would never venture into sausage making when I causally mentioned recreating that moment at Contigo in Austin I proudly say: “ I told ya so.”  And to those of you who will finish reading this post and realize that I failed to create that romantic nostalgia I was going for even though I did sweat in a kitchen for 4-6 hours I say: “Touchet.”

Here’s how this all went down:

I wrote a blog post about a great weekend getaway.
I wrote a blog post about a great weekend getaway BEFORE I ate dinner.
I got a great idea to recreate a great weekend getaway dinner.
I went to lunch with my mom at a fabulous local grocery store where she inspired me.
Enough said.

The beautiful food for thought:


As I mentioned before I went to lunch with my mom, and this picture in my head.  I then made a list of all the ingredients and equipment I would need to get in order to recreate this meal.  I decided to make a fresh dried cherry and ancho chile pork sausage.  Sounds simple, right?  Ha!  Adventures to follow.

After talking things over with the butcher at Central Market, I ended up across town at a Hispanic grocery store and using hand motions and broken Espanol I secured 4 lbs of cubed pork butt, about a pound of pork fat chunks and a package of hog casings. 

Side note: you don’t even want to imagine the hand motion/broken Spanish combination that I had to convey sausage casings!

I rounded out the afternoon with a trip to a hardware store and a household goods store yielding 2 different meat grinders (one had a sausage stuffer, but was a hand crank, the other fit on my kitchenaid mixer, but alas, had no stuffer).  It seemed I was swimming through this sausage adventure, so I decided what the heck?  I’ll throw in that home made sauerkraut too!  (Glutton for punishment!)

The dinner was a surprise for the boy, so I hauled my haul (you like that, right?) up the stairs and got to work.

I was so amped up about all this.  I started with the kraut.  It was beautiful, and had a tangy deliciousness that filled the house (exit neighbors lol).  Once I had that bubbling away, I began mixing my meat/fat/spices and freezing all my equipment.  From here things get a little gummy.  

The Hand Cranker

 I tried the hand crank grinder first.  I kept assuring myself that “anyone can grind a 100lbs. in an hour!” Just as the box stated.  I ground roughly a 1/2 cup before my weak little arm gave out, the thing gummed up, and I ran downstairs to fetch the easy, breezy, beautiful Kitchenaid attachment.  What a life altering experience. This is also the time the wine came this whole meaty shindig. I’m not quite sure who can actually grind 100 lbs. of meat in an hour with a hand grinder...if you find that person send them to my brother’s house, I’m

The star of the show...

Minor set-back we'll call a learning experience

sure he’ll be wanting to make sausage after he reads this post!  I ground almost all the rest of the meat with the kitchenaid attachment.  It still took longer than I expected.  The wine helped.

After making the sausage I rinsed my casings - there’s something I never thought I’d say out loud! This process was easier that I first thought would be, and also, didn’t smell.   The pleasant surprises end here.

My stuffer didn’t work, so I kind of “funneled” the meat into the casings.  Needless to say after this misadventure I realized I was supposed to dry these sausages for a day or so before cooking them.  I ended up throwing caution to the wind and tossin’ them on the grill pan.  Not a good idea.  The casings burst open!  Interestingly, after 4-6 hours of working on that sausage I didn’t cry.  I didn’t shed a single tear.  Those of you who know me, know this is unusual.  I simply told myself that this was a good first try and I would try try again.  I think I’ll consider that growth.


The boy assured me it tasted better than it looked.  Since then, I’ve decided to order a proper sausage stuffer.  And some better casings.  I’ll be ready next time I get in the mood for a sausage adventure!

The wine I paired with this sausage is a bargain bin special.  Palacio De Bornos is a wine from Spain made using the Verdejo grape.  The grape is native to north Africa but has a very nice expression from Spain as well.  Usually they use to it make sherry, but it’s becoming more popular in French styles nowadays.  It’s usually paired with fish because of it’s lemony characteristic, and most of the time it’s blended with sauvignon blanc, so that lets you know why I enjoy it.  This particular wine is very fruit forward on the nose.  Meyer lemon comes through on the palate with candied pineapple and mineral qualities.  I think it’s delicious, and probably is very nice with fish.  Because I sensed a bit of a sweetness to it, I decided that it would play nicely with the pork and the ancho chile.  Now the sour cherry in the sausage was probably too much, but all together I enjoyed.  I also used this wine IN the sausage since the recipe I modified called for a white.

Locals:  This wine is on sale at HEB.  You. Are. Welcome.  :)

BTW - I've been invited to blog about the Burleson Wine Crawl, which means I get to give away a free ticket!  Comment on this blog and tell me something you love to cook that has wine in the ingredients and I'll choose a lucky winner to go to the Crawl on November 10th!

A Visit to A-Town

We decided we're a bit square for Austin - check out this art :)

Sunday morning we woke up late (ah, the good life), called the hotel to move our check in time back, packed up and got on the road.  I will say that the 3 1/2 hour drive to Austin was nice.  We hooked up some nerd devices in my little car and piped in a podcast (talk radio, only the nerdiest for us) and just drove.  After a couple hours I had to speak up to get a bite to eat on the way down because SOMEBODY could just drive all day without nourishment, but all together it was a spectacular day for a drive.

We arrived in A-town about 4:30, checked in with Rose, our concierge and then proceeded on a tour of the property in which the highlight for me was the little butler’s pantry where coffee service would be delivered in the morning (!).  Anyway while I lounged about the boy chatted up Rose and found a cool little locavore spot they thought we would enjoy for the evening.  How that conversation must have gone, “well, she’s really into food...and I like Diet Coke.  What kinda place seems real pretentious and serves Diet Coke in a cool glass bottle?” lol

I was told to wear what I had on, so my traveling jeans (you know the ones that I’ve worn once already and have reached the perfect amount of “stretch”), my t-shirt and I fluffed our hair, put on chapstick, and headed for the door.

Contigo. Was. Perfect.  It was basically in a playground, no really, there was pea gravel and everything.  I love when Texans describe a place as having a “beer garden” and what they really mean an elementary  school style playground with picnic tables outside that serves adult beverages.  Very different from the gardens in Germany, but a cute irony.  Anyway, we entered the completely open air restaurant and were greeted with signage stating that dogs and children were acceptable to bring with you.  We didn’t have either, but we had a great time watching other people with theirs :) 

Love me some people watching!

We had heard that at Contigo they make everything on the menu and they even have a garden area where they grow their own seasonal vegetables to include on the menu which had me super excited.  We started off with something called “face bacon” which happened to be all the parts of a pigs face ground up, seasoned, cured, and then sliced (I was thinking more of a warm, bacony situation, but I was mistaken) it was served like salami with some pears, arugula, and roasted peppers.

Face Bacon

The boy liked the bacon, very silence of the lambs!

The flavor was good.  The texture was not.  I ate one slice, and was seriously disappointed in myself. I thought I could be like what’s-his-name on the Travel Channel, and completely take my mind out of the situation, eat parts of a pig’s face all mashed together, then comment on the delectable “cartilage” that most people just “don’t appreciate.”  Sadly, I’m one of those (for lack of a better phrase) uncultured swine. 




Ok, enough about the face bacon, did I mention the wine? 

 

I selected a prosecco as a nice “welcome to the restaurant” for myself, and it was delicious.  Even though I didn’t particularly enjoy the appetizer, I do believe that the small bubbles and slight minerality in the sparkling Italian wine lifted the salty flavor in the bacon.  Leave it to the vino to save the first course!

Looking ahead at the menu I saw what the boy would choose a sausage made fresh daily with a baguette, dijon mustard, and housemade sauerkraut.  His was served with fries and Contigo made ketchup that was served in an adorable old school milk bottle.  I chose a chicken dish that was recommended by our sundress clad server gal that was served with a demi glace, fingerling potatoes.  when the sausage arrived, I knew I’d been out ordered, the sausage of the day was dried sour cherry and ancho chile!!  I would have loved it, luckily the boy let me sneak a bite (amazing).  He’s been talking about that sausage so much since then, that I’m actually thinking about re-creating it! 

Water in an old wine bottle, and housemade ketchup!

The sausage that stole the show

My chicken

There is something to be said for a simple chicken dish where every component is fresh and thoughtfully prepared.  I won’t get on a soap box about all the processed foods we eat clouding our palates with fakey fake fake imitations of real flavors right now, but you do notice these things when you eat a fresh chicken breast with demi made from real bones, and stock, paired with a salad of freshly picked greens and a warm garlicy vinaigrette.  I can’t say enough about the things Contigo does right.  I paired my chicken with an unoaked chardonnay, that I actually enjoyed (I know, you don’t believe me).  Chardonnay is obviously not my thing, but this one was unoaked, meaning there would be no woody, heavy oak flavor, so when I ordered I took that into consideration.  Malolactic fermentation had taken place in this one, so the wine had a creamy, lightly buttered mouthfeel that was balanced by a lemony acidity.  The wine played beautifully on the chicken with the rich sauce, and the vinaigrette.  It was a fun game where every time I tasted my food/wine combinations I noticed different layers of flavor.

Dessert. We chose a Marshmallow for dessert and were pleasantly surprised! 

Trying to figure out how they did this.  That marshmallow cream was stupid good!

Chocolate cookies filled with a dense marshmallow cream that was toasted, and alongside the sandwich was a raspberry thyme coulis.  I don’t even have the words for this. We fork fought over the last bite. 

Thyme Raspberry Coulis = A win!

No Joke. 

We sat under the stings of white lights listening to the conversations around us (hearing servers offer wine pairings, children running through that gravel), and we chatted about how “easy” it would be to make a place like this, what things we would do to create this ambiance, and how everyone we know would love this. What a delightful evening.

Eating the Worst is Sometimes the Best!

This weekend (the first I’ve had 2 days off in a row for 3 weeks) was a weekend for celebrating!  Not only do I have two days off, but the boy and I have been together for a whole two years (!).  So, we decided to get out of town even if we did only have 1 night.

leading up to this you all know that work has been downright crazy, so I was pretty excited when I discovered that going on a mini vacation was a possibility.  Naturally I over reacted (in a good way) and booked a getaway to a cute little boutiquey hotel in Austin, TX, and I spent all week looking forward to the trip! 

If you know me, and of course you do, you know that this whole vacation hinged on the food.  This is the story of a weekend filled with food so good I would consider it bad...maybe even dirty.

I got off work on Saturday afternoon around 4 and we began our weekend by attempting to visit The Woodshed, a restaurant popular in our area due to a “celebrity” chef named Tim Love who opened it in conjunction with our city (somehow I find this unfair, but I won’t get into that as I work for a municipality myself...).  At any rate, we attempted to go there, but were unwilling to wait 2 hours to dine (at 8pm), so we ended up at one of my former employees’ restaurants just across town.  I will say my old place (Wine Down) does live on through menu items I find when I visit the “kids” from my past at their new restaurant jobs.  
Exhibit A:

These shrimp and grits look awfully familiar!

 Didn’t Mom always say that imitation was the ultimate flattery?  I think so :)

The wine was great at the restaurant we went to for our celebration.  Our wait was long so I started with a...drum roll...Sauvignon Blanc (you knew that was coming, right?).  It was deliciously crisp with tropical pineapple notes that rounded out the mouth. I chose a pork osso bucco for my entree that was served with a wild mushroom risotto, so I chose a pinot noir to go with dinner.  The earthy notes in

Crazy huge pork Osso Bucco with mushroom risotto

the wine paired beautifully with the shitake mushrooms in the risotto.  Have you ever noticed a “piggy” flavor in pork when you eat it?  Maybe that’s just my farm-raised roots coming through, but sometimes I do. I characterize the flavors I find in pork the same way, leaving me thinking “piggy” instead of “porky.”  Either way, I think that piggy taste was complimentary to the strawberry jam I smelled/tasted in the California pinot noir.  We finished the dinner with a healthy slice of coconut cream pie to which I added a glass of tawny port.  Now, Tawny port is one of my favorite ways to end a meal, and I will concede that this was NOT a great pair necessarily, but I thoroughly enjoyed the port, and simultaneously enjoyed the pie, leaving me one happy gal even if the two things did not play on each other perfectly.

The “kid” we visited, my former chef at WD, is now an Executive Chef at this place, making me one very proud previous employer.  I also got a visit from the chef at my table (super cute).  This night was a perfect precursor to our out of town vacation that began the following day.  

I hope you’re all having a nice week so far.  I’ll continue reminiscing about my weekend as our week progresses, and you’ll be able to see how the C-man and I have the best time because we know just how to eat the worst!

Go Back With Me...I Wrote This Last Saturday :)

Today I actually smelled myself, like not in a quick-sniff-under-the-arm-to-check-myself, no, I could smell my body in a negative way without trying.  Glamorous.

Work is crazy right now.  I work in a branch of hospitality centered around a sport, in a venue that has been closed, nearly since I was hired, for remodeling.  I won’t go into depth on the scale of the remodel or bore you with yammering on and on about being forced to use the men’s room at work because the women’s was out of order, but I will yammer just a bit about my crazy job.  I’m a chef with Classical French training, basically managing two business.  Maybe 3.  There’s a snack bar, a restaurant, and a catering situation on the side...and then there’s me.  And my friend Kim.  And. That’s. It.

We’re doomed. 

I’ve hired people, 1 of which chose another job instead, but failed to mention it until she was on the schedule.  I did receive a really lovely handwritten apology note from her today. Odd.  The other guy worked a couple days and on opening day, TEXT (?!?) to say he would not be coming in that day or any day in the future.  Since Monday Kim and I have worked too many hours to count...our customer service abilities are declining to say the very least, but we are surviving, and hopefully so will our client base :-/

I say all that to say I have not forgotten to blog, I’ve just been simply too tired.  Wine to me is about stopping to pause and enjoy something with a little whimsy to it.  Sitting down, and reflecting on memories brought back through aromas, and exploring, through the senses, something that brings pleasure to me.  For that there has been no time.  I won’t deny the fact that I’ve indulged  over the past 2 weeks (that’s sometimes part of survival!), but I will say it wasn’t the same.  It was less civil.

Gotta Love Central Market - shopping there changes my mood!!

Tonight a part time “gummy bear” came in to work though, and afforded me a trip to a grocery that is a pleasure for me to shop in (Central Market) to pick up a “chef prepared” dinner and a new bottle of vino. I put no thought into the pairing, and I’m not sure if it will work out, but the description on the bottle of Italian white read “citrus flavors,” I bought salmon, and I’m pretty sure it’ll do.

Bear with me friends, this too shall pass.  For now, I say have a glass of wine tonight for me!  Maybe you could share a favorite that got you through in a pinch...and give me a suggestion for a future post?? 

Salude