Archives for January 2007
Crustless cheesecake
I know, you’re probably thinking “Poor Vanessa, something happened to her cheesecake, its so flat”. Nope, nothing happened other than I wasted way too much time doing taxes and reading blogs so that by the time I got to the kitchen it was 4:00. Knowing that GH would be jonesing for a sweet after dinner I quickly threw together a cheescake batter. However, none of us like the cheescake crusts that use graham crackers, and since we are trying to reduce calories, I decided to forgo a crust.
I originally planned on baking it in a 9″ x 13″ glass baking dish but then realized that would take longer to bake and longer to cool. I hastily buttered a jellyroll pan and dumped the batter in an baked it for about 15 minutes. When it was done I set it outside to cool. We were able to eat cheesecake as soon as we wanted after dinner. It was delicious, light, and easy. A perfect “rush” dessert. If you felt so inclined (which I did…in the interest of experimentation, of course) you can stack two slices and then have a “normal” thickness of cheesecake to eat with your berries.
Vanessa’s Crustless Cheesecake
1 pound neufchatel
8 oz cream cheese
5 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
seeds from vanilla bean
Zest from one Meyer lemon
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup sugar
Cream the cheeses in the mixer until totally soft. Add the sugar, mix well. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla and vanilla bean goodness. Mix well. Add the 5 eggs. Mix until well combined. Pour into a buttered jellyroll pan and bake at 350 for about 15 minutes. Cool and chill and serve with mixed berries.
If you have a silicon baking pan of some sort it would be perfect for this recipe.
Pork Cheeks and polenta
I love pork…and so it is with great delight that I write about pork cheeks and the superb dinner I prepared last night. It was pork at a new level, with bigger flavor, a delectable mouth feel, so so tender, so rich…it was unbelievable. I’ve never prepared pork cheeks (aka hog jowls) before but you can bet they have a place on our menu from now on.
This all started with my day-dreams of eating pork cheek. These porcine flights of fancy have been taunting me for weeks and though I had no recipe, and knew nothing more than chef’s cook them for family meal, I knew I had to eat pork cheek. Then I saw Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations, you know, the one where he went to Namibia and ate some wild boar pork cheek and made a face like I’ve never, ever, seen him make. The man has chowed down on all of the most, shall we say, “intimate” pieces of offal known to humankind, and never has he flinched like that.
This vision of a gagging Bourdain did little to put me off my quest. Oh no, it only intensified it. So when I found out that Tony and Sue Renger of Willow Creek Farm were adding the holy grail to their product list… well, you can imagine my glee…okay, maybe you can’t, but remember I easily tilt towards obsessive.
So off we went to the Dane County Winter Farmers’ Market . Here’s a picture of Tony and Sue (my heroes) and some exquisite grow-your-own lettuce from Indian Trails Greenhouse.
At home we eagerly unwrapped the cheeks. Although we purchased both cured and fresh cheeks, I planned on serving 2 fresh cheeks for Sunday dinner. I have to say that I had 
a somewhat bizarre and naive notion of what pork cheek would look like. Think Paul Galdone’s Three Little Pigs and those rosy red cheeks. I was expecting a cut of meat shaped like a circle and about the size of my palm. Reality brought me a oddly shaped polygon of what appeared to be mostly pig fat. This too did not deter me.
I knew they had to be cooked low and slow so I opted for a classic braise. Because of its richness I chose to serve the cheek with a simple, rustic polenta. Here’s the recipes:
Vanessa’s braised pork cheeks
2 pork cheeks, boneless
2 small yellow onions, chopped in chunks
5 cloves of garlic, each halved with germ removed
3 Roma tomatoes, chunked
Salt / pepper
Penzeys Bavarian Seasoning
1 cup (approximate) of red wine
Chicken stock
Sear pork cheeks in a dutch oven over high heat until golden. Add the the other ingredients, bring to a boil, cover, remove from burner and put the pot in a oven preheated to 325. Bake for 3 hours. This will be 3 hours of aromatic happiness in your house.
When they’re done, transfer the cheeks to the preheated skillet, turn off the heat, and cover (this will keep them warm while you make the sauce). Transfer the pan juices and solids to a sieve suspended over a saucepan. Press all the juices out of the solids. Deglaze the dutch oven with water. Skim the fat off the pan juices, add the deglazing liquid and allow this to reduce over medium-high heat until you have the consistency and amount you want. Taste and season accordingly.
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Rustic Polenta
2 - 3 cups water, brought to a boil
1 cup stone ground cornmeal
Salt and pepper
1 cup 1/2 & 1/2
Bring the water to boil in a pot or kettle. Put the 1/2 & 1/2 in a heavy pot on medium heat. Stir in the cornmeal as you add it in a thin stream. Add the hot water slowly and reserve about 1 cup or so and only use it if the consistency of the polenta is too thick. However, don’t make that judgment until you have cooked it on medium for at least 15 minutes, briskly stirring it as often as possible. You should be preparing the cheek sauce at the same time so expect to be busy…don’t worry, it’ll be fine. I usually cook my polenta anywhere between 20 - 30 minutes. I judge when it is done by its taste. It should no longer taste like cornmeal but it should transcend into a flavor like a mellow, light, corn memory. Almost like the aftertaste of corn in August after a huge gluttonous corn feast.
Preheat your serving bowls in the oven. Tackle separating the pork cheek meat from the fat. Don’t hurry, take your time gently teasing the tasty meat from fat. Spoon the sauce into the warm serving bowl, add the pork and the polenta and you’re set.
We found that 2 cheeks were ample for 2 adults and one adventurous teen. The meat is rich beyond rich and although GH wanted more I could easily see how more could be too much of a good thing.
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Chow!
Strawberry scones…again
The boys really like the strawberry scones and are more than willing to be be my taste testers as I work on the recipe and try to improve it. This latest batch was probably the best yet, not too many strawberries, not too wet, not too dry, but still just a little to light…not dense enough. I’ll keep trying. Here’s the recipe…let me know if you have any suggestions:
Strawberry Scones Number 2
2 cups unbleached, all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
6 tablespoons of cold butter, diced
1/2 n 1/2 or cream
8 frozen strawberries, sliced
Preheat oven to 400. Put the dry ingredients in the mixer bowl and give it a spin to combine. Add the butter and mix until combined. Add the strawberries and mix until combined. Now add the cream slowly and use only enough to get the dough to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Turn the bowl out onto a lightly floured counter and give it a few kneads with your hands. Shape the dough so that it is about 1 inch thick and cut scones in squares. Place on a parchment covered baking sheet and bake for about 12 minutes or until golden brown. I glaze them while they are still hot with a powder sugar, vanilla, orange juice glaze.
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