After sharing her Vermouth Pork Blade recipe on the last post, Connie found these recipes in a Jim Beam Bourbon Culinary Collection cookbook she had. I have to say they look wonderful.
Enjoy!
Posts Tagged ‘Connie Campbell’
Oven Braised Rosemary Sweet Vermouth Pork Blade
If you drink, don’t drive. Don’t even putt. ~ Dean Martin
It started when I shared this hilarious image on my Facebook page.
For the record, I take no credit for the above images. They are so popular on the Internet that it is impossible to find the original.
My friend Connie Campbell, of Growing, Cooking, Sharing is a consummate, always-inspiring culinary artist and when she saw the image, her creative mind started spinning out recipe ideas. It lead to this. She says you should feel free to adjust the amounts according to your palate.
Cheers!
Oven Braised Rosemary Sweet Vermouth Pork Blade
Serves 4-6
1 cup dry vermouth or more, depending on thickness of steak 2 small – med red onions or 3 medium shallots 4 or 5 pork blade pork steaks (1/2 inch thick) bone in or boneless salt and pepper 2 tbsp. dried rosemary coconut oil1. Season pork
2. In a large skillet over medium heat, add coconut oil
3. Cook onions until soft
4. Remove and set aside, add pork to skillet, brown both sides, then remove and place in large roaster
5. Add vermouth to skillet to loosen any brown bits. Add rosemary and onions.
6. Heat through, then pour over steaks, ensuring the steaks are almost covered.
7. Cover and bake in a 325 oven for approx. 1.5 hours or until tender.
8. Alternatively, add pork back to skillet and braise on stove top on low ensuring that the liquid is maintained. Add more sweet vermouth or water as needed. Braise for same length testing for tenderness.
“Not From Your Grocery Store” Icewine Marshmallows
“You’re a marshmallow. Soft and sweet and when you get heated up you go all gooey and delicious.” ~ Janet Evanovich, One For The Money
For most of my life I thought marshmallows were the simple candy treat you buy in a bag at the grocery store. Simple and inexpensive, they make great rice crisp treats and I love roasting them for S’mores over campfires at our family cabin.
Camping enthusiasts know that roasting a marshmallow on a stick over the coals of an open fire is truly an art. You want a crispy, toasty brown colour on the outside and slightly melted, warm & soft on the inside, but the temperature must be not be too hot. A burnt lip or tongue will definitely spoil the fun.
I also have a soft spot on my palate for the chocolate covered, heart-shaped marshmallows on a stick you can buy at the corner store for Valentine’s Day. A few years ago, my eyes were opened to a whole new marshmallow landscape when I found out that Reid Chocolates, our local, wonderful chocolatier made their own marshmallow for their seasonal treats. Their soft, tasty chocolate-coated sweets took marshmallow to a whole new level. I was a convert!
Chef Jason Parsons, Executive Chef at Peller Estates Winery Restaurant and the creator of this recipe, claims it is a fool-proof recipe, but I was still really happy that my friend Connie Campbell tested the recipe instead of me. She is a passionate, brilliant chef. If you know me, I don’t even consider myself a proper cook. Connie did a great job and you can read about it on her blog post “Icewine Marshmallows… or should I say Marshmellow…?”
I didn’t ask Connie if she would use them in S’mores, but I think a light coating of chocolate might be perfect.
Icewine Marshmallows - all photos on this post are courtesy of Connie Campbell
“Not From Your Grocery Store” Icewine Marshmallows
3/4 cup Icewine (Connie used red) 3 envelopes unflavoured gelatin 3/4 cup water 2 cups sugar 2/3 cup corn syrup 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon vanilla (Connie used a clear vanilla) ¼ cup icing sugar (more if needed)
- Line a 9-inch square pan with oiled plastic wrap.
- Pour Icewine in a small saucepan over medium heat and simmer for several minutes until reduced to approximately 4 teaspoons. It will be a thick syrup. Watch closely to prevent scorching. Let cool.
- In a mixer bowl, pour 1/2 cup of water and sprinkle with gelatin. Let stand 10 minutes to let it soften.
- While the gelatin sits, combine remaining water, sugar and corn syrup in a saucepan. Bring to a boil until it reaches 240°F the “soft ball” candy stage.
- Stir the sugar-syrup mixture into gelatin mixture along with the salt. Beat with whisk on high speed for eight minutes.
- Add the reduced Icewine and vanilla. Continue beating for 2 more minutes.
- Transfer mixture to the lined pan. Use an oiled spatula to spread evenly.
- Allow to set several hours in a cool area, but non-refrigerated.
- When the marshmallow mixture is firm, remove from the pan. Cut into squares with a lightly oiled knife and coat each square in icing sugar.
Tip! When you cut the marshmallow be sure to pull the pieces apart or they will join back together again becoming “uncut.”
The marshmallow mush took over Connie's food processor!
The Marshmallow plant
Marshmallow probably first came into being as a medicinal substance, since the mucilaginous extracts come from the root of the marshmallow plant, Althaea officinalis, which were used as a remedy for sore throats. Concoctions of other parts of the marshmallow plant had medical uses as well. The root has been used since Egyptian antiquity in a honey-sweetened confection useful in the treatment of sore throat. The later French version of the recipe, called pâte de guimauve (or “guimauve” for short), included an egg white meringue and was often flavored with rose water.Pâte de guimauve more closely resembles contemporary commercially available marshmallows, which no longer contain any marshmallow plant. The use of marshmallow to make a sweet dates back to ancient Egypt, where the recipe called for extracting sap from the plant and mixing it with nuts and honey.
Gin & Tonic Sorbet
Recently, Connie sent me a picture of a recipe she and a friend found online for Gin & Tonic Sorbet. They tried it out and found it “yummy and very sweet.” I told her that at some point we need to publish “Cooking With Sin With Connie” because she is such a rich source of interesting food and recipes.
G & T Sorbet
- 400ml cold water
- 300g caster sugar
- 300ml tonic water
- gin to taste – around 50ml
- juice of 2 lemons
- 1 tablespoon glucose (optional)
Here is the original recipe from Walnut Grove Cookery in France.
See Connie’s other posts here on “Cooking With Sin”
“Oops I Did It Again” Bouillabaisse
“All the charming and beautiful things, from the Song of Songs, to bouillabaisse, and from the nine Beethoven symphonies to the Martini cocktail, have been given to humanity by men who, when the hour came, turned from tap water to something with color in it, and more in it than mere oxygen and hydrogen.”
~ H. L. Mencken (1880-1956)
Trips to the hair salon are mini vacations for me. Having someone who knows how to handle my curly mop is a really nice treat. The staff are always fun. They take my coat and offer me something to drink. When I’m sitting with the foils setting in, they bring me a whole array of magazines to peruse and I always go for the trashy, gossipy ones. I can’t resist. I would never spend my own money on them, but I think it is a riot to turn off my brain and catch up on ridiculous rumours that never materialize. Plus, that young actress who has gained all of 10 pounds makes me feel so good about myself. LOL!
Connie Campbell on the other hand uses her time at the hair salon very differently. Being a trained chef, she scours the magazines looking for delicious recipes and stores them away in the culinary file of her creative mind.
Photo courtesy of Connie J. Campbell
Last week one of those recipes came in very handy when Connie accidently left the freezer door open. It’s an upright freezer and she hates to admit it, but she’s done this before, usually because something sticks out and keeps the door from sealing. One of her freezers has an alarm on the door, plus she has also learned to strategically place the food items least likely to be ruined in the locations that warm up first.
With company coming the next day, Connie’s menu was a no-brainer. The thawed food needed to be eaten and she had most of the ingredients to create a type of bouillabaisse. Using a recipe she had found in a magazine as her inspiration, she created her own from the items she rescued from her freezer.
Bouillabaisse is a French soup recipe from Provence made with Mediterranean seafood. A thick slice of toasted French bread is placed in each bowl and the soup is served on top of it. Traditionally a Rouille sauce is served on the side. Today, it commonly served as a one-bowl soup. Connie made sure hers had a nice amount of wine in it!
This is Connie’s own recipe based on the items she had to work with. If you experience a similar freezer melt-down, you can alter it to suit your items.
Photo courtesy of Connie J. Campbell
“Oops I Did It Again” Bouillabaisse
2 shallots, finely chopped 1 red onion, chopped 1 tablespoon butter 2 cups white wine, dry 1 Litre crab stock 1 cup chicken broth with crab stock ½ cup cilantro, coarsely chopped 3 teaspoons dried chilies The peel of 2 small oranges, grated 1 teaspoon fennel leaves ½ teaspoon dried thyme leaves ½ teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon saffron threads 4 whole tomatoes, skinned & cut up 2 pounds shrimp 2 pounds scallops
- Sauté the shallots and onions in the butter.
- Heat the wine and stock in a large pot. Reduce to simmering then add the softened shallots, onions and butter.
- Add all the other ingredients, except the seafood. Simmer for 5-10 minutes.
- Turn down the heat and add the seafood. If you have seafood in a closed shell, add them first and cook until the shells open. Then add the rest of the seafood and cook until it is opaque.
- Actually tastes better the next day, but will keep in the fridge up to two days.
Here is Connie’s version of her story-recipe on her blog. It includes the original magazine recipe: Lemonade from Lemons, Bouillabaisse from the Open Freezer Door?
See more of Connie’s culinary expertise on her previous post: “Good Neighbour” Gluten-Free Beer Braised Beef
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“Una Della Famiglia” Limoncello
Photo courtesy of Anita Iaconangelo
“For mad scientists who keep brains in jars, here’s a tip: why not add a slice of lemon to each jar, for freshness?”
~ Jack Handy, Saturday Night Live “Deep Thoughts” comedy sketch
Did you know? Italy grows more lemons than any other country in the world. Did you know? Lemons in Italy along the Amalfi coast are ginormous! I know. I’ve been lucky to see them.
Two years ago my family and I took a tour of Italy and Greece. It was my first time in Europe and I just loved it. Because the tour was fast-paced I promised myself I would return and spend more time in some of the places. One of those places was the island of Capri. It was on Capri that we bought several bottles of limoncello.
Limoncello is sold in all kinds of small, interesting shaped bottles and it is delicious!
My friend Connie Campbell, from the post “Good Neighbour” Gluten-Free Beer Braised Beef, recently introduced me to Anita Iaconangelo. Anita is from Washington D.C., but now lives in Italy and owns “Italian Connection” tour company. She specializes in walking and culinary tours, taking people to special places most tours speed right on by. She calls herself, “an Italian free spirit trapped in an American businesswoman’s body.”
Of her life in Italy, Anita says,
Life in Italy is a love-hate thing. I admit to being seduced by Tuscany’s magical golden light, besotted by the Renaissance, tantalized by Sicily’s sensuous pastry shops, charmed by the Italian language and then quickly disenchanted by the brutal reality of getting almost anything done. I’ve suffered heartless years of waiting for an insurance claim, submitted to diabolical rules for getting a driving license, and wept broken-hearted sobs when the plumber never called back. The tempting dream to live in Italy may sound like a romantic endeavor, but it helps to be nuts.
If I am ever lucky enough to return to Italy, I hope to connect with Anita. She promises to take her guests off the beaten track to discover the Italy of the Italians and share the best of Italian food and wine. She treat her guests like una della famiglia—one of the family.
Photo courtesy of Anita Iaconangelo
Anita has a blog “Anita’s Italy” where she posts her favourite Italian recipes and food tips. She has several lemon recipes: Limoncello, Lemon Cake from Sicily and Lemon Granita.
Limoncello is a very simple recipe. It is just lemon peel soaked in alcohol and sweetened with sugar syrup, but take note of the details so it is clear and tastes wonderful.
“Una Della Famiglia” Limoncello
10-12 lemons
1L (4 cups) pure ethyl alcohol (95%)
600 grams (3 cups) sugar
2L water (8.5 cups) water
- Rinse, wipe & dry the lemons so no residual dirt and wax remain on them.
- Zest the lemons peel being sure to only use the yellow peel. The white part will make the flavour bitter.
- In a large glass container, with a lid that seals well, put the lemon zest and cover with the alcohol. Put the lid on tightly.
- Place the container in a cool dark place for a month. Occasionally check it and swirl the zest and alcohol together. The alcohol will start to turn yellow in only a few days. After a month of sitting you are ready for the final steps.
- Bring the water to a simmer in a large pot then pour in the sugar and stir until it completely dissolves. Set it aside to cool.
- Using a fine sieve, strain the alcohol and zest mix, then strain it again through a paper towel or filter. *Tip – Anita lines her strainer with dampened paper towel or several layers of cheesecloth and places it over a wide mouth jar or funnel.
- Place the strained alcohol back in the large glass container and mix in the cool sugar/water syrup.
- Seal the jar and put it back in the cool, dark place for at least a week or another month.
- If it is cloudy, you will need to filter it again.
- Taste your limoncello. You can add more sugar/water syrup if it needs to be sweetened. Bottle it when you like the taste. If you use small bottles, it makes a nice gift.
- Limoncello often mellows with time, so the longer you keep it, the nicer it tastes. Mmm…
*Tips
a) If you can’t get 95% ethyl alcohol, get the closest thing and adjust the water content.
b) The left over lemons can be juiced. Fresh lemon juice is great for iced tea or cocktails. It can also be frozen until needed.
Inspired by Anita’s post://blog.italian-connection.com/living-in-italy/limoncello-recipe-make-homemade-limoncello
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