Kale & Pancetta Flatbread

This is tasty.

And really simple. Watch.

Sauté chopped pancetta in olive oil (about 2 TBSP) until crispy. Lower the heat and add 2 cloves of minced garlic and cook until fragrant, about a minute.

Add chopped kale leaves (about 2 cups) and wilt down.

(Some chopped porcini mushrooms would also be delicious in this. Add at the same time as the garlic if you choose to include them.)

Use a minimal amount of salt to season as the pancetta is salty by itself.

Spread over pizza dough or flat bread that you have rolled out to your desired thickness.

I par-bake my crust for about 5 minutes before adding toppings.

Do not waste any of the flavorful oil in the pan. If you have enough, brush the edges of the crust with the oil so they brown nicely and have extra flavor.

Top with some torn fresh mozzarella and basil.

Bake as directed for your dough.

For me that's 12 minutes at 450º

Optional finish to this would be to drizzle some good olive oil over the top, or even an infused oil.

I have a lovely sage & mushroom infused olive oil which added a lovely depth of flavor.

Yum

Devour.

Simple but tasty, and yet another way to use up ingredients in your fridge.

Express Porchetta

Craving porchetta but don't have a 4 lb. pork shoulder and 6 - 24 hrs to cook it?

I've got you covered.
You won't get the crispy skin cracklins, but at least you can hit all the flavor notes and quell your craving in about 30 minutes.
If you've got an hour, make this with a 2-3 lb. pork loin and you'll have enough to feed 4-6 people. But I'll write about that one another time.
This version is for a quick cooking 1lb pork tenderloin.

Sauté 1 small shallot (for a tenderloin) finely chopped, and 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced, in the fat of your choice. Olive oil will be the easiest, but if you have extra time, rendering a little pancetta fat will make your dish that much more delicious. (And keep that pancetta for the filling!)

Throw some chopped fresh rosemary (maybe 1 1/2 tsp) into the pan at the end to soften and become more fragrant, and let that cool.

Once more I butterflied the tenderloin and sprinkled 1 tsp ground sage, smoked salt (for more of that BBQ pit flavor, but regular kosher salt is important on the inside as well as the outside of the tenderloin, if you don't have smoked salt), a little black pepper, and only the lightest pinch of fennel pollen.

If you really like fennel, use more. We're fennel light-weights.

Top that with the cooled garlic/shallot/rosemary/pancetta mixture and tie shut.

Awaiting the sautéed goodness

Season the outside with salt and pepper, and sear in a touch of olive oil on medium high. Once fully browned, place in a preheated 425º oven until pink in the center, about 140º.

It's not cracklins, but it's crusty goodness.

Allow to rest about 10 minutes before slicing into it (but don't forget to remove the kitchen twine!)

While it rests, make some gravy.

Turn your pan drippings into the gravy of your choosing. Along with some chopped shallot and garlic, I used fresh sage and rosemary in mine, chicken stock, lemon, just a pinch of fennel pollen, and a pat of butter to finish it.

I served this up with carrots and a side of sautéed gnocchi instead of potatoes.

While it may not be a traditional proper porchetta, it should hit similar bells and whistles for you, and also be delicious in its own right.

And leftovers are fantastic on a crusty ciabatta for lunch!

Pork-tastic Saturday

This weekend served up a really wonderful Saturday.

The hubs and I slept in, watching a little streaming Netflix, got around to making ourselves clean and presentable, and then trekked down to the East Village to finally partake of the porchetta (por-KHET-ah) sandwich at the deservingly praised Porchetta on E 7th St.
(I had been telling the hubs about this place "he would love" for over a year. Then it was referenced on a segment on Cooking Channel or Travel Channel, or whatever I had on in the background, and suddenly he wanted to go! Well? It lived up to its hype. Better late than never.)

Image swiped borrowed from TONY

We each ordered the porchetta sandwich ($10), as opposed to the porchetta plate which comes w/ sautéed greens and cannellini beans. I have to say, it really was a decadent and yet beautifully balanced sandwich.

I'll start with the roll. Rolls are one of those things that I frequently dissect and avoid eating any excess of, because in my mind, most rolls are boring and are just empty carbs. (I'd rather save my carbs for pasta!) This roll is a proper Italian ciabatta, meaning it is crusty, yet chewy, and you really feel your jaw working as you savor your sandwich. I did not leave any leftover bread on my plate.

Stolen Borrowed from another blogger... I didn't have a camera!

Now the actual meat. Porchetta is loin of pork, wrapped in a mixture of herbs and spices, usually including at the simplest level garlic and rosemary, and this time extras like wild fennel pollen, thyme, and sage, and then THAT is wrapped in pork belly (a.k.a. where bacon and pancetta come from), which is then scored and set to roast low and slow for many hours.

And dang if this one wasn't perfectly done.

The meat was moist without being super juicy, and in alternate bites I could taste roasted pork, crispy skin w/ a fatty underside, flavorful herbs, and even really good olive oil at times. (Possibly from whatever they spread on the bread?) It was in no way a salty sandwich either, which is what I think of when I picture American Hams and such. I only took two sips of water the whole time I was eating because I was just enjoying the sandwich.

That's not to say that a sparkling glass of the Marquis wouldn't have finished it off to perfection, but still, it was a fantastic sandwich, and just the right size so that I (of grazing habits) was completely sated without feeling like I had a lead weight in my gut. The hubs had a black cherry soda, which had a nice sweetness to cut the richness.

(Note: if you get the Bruce Cost ginger ale, be prepared for some SPICY ginger in your soda. I had this once somewhere else and while it was good, it practically burned my throat from the real raw ginger in it. I did not want that overpowering my porchetta experience.)

After wandering in a delightful pork-induced trance and watching the puppies run around in Tompkins Square Park, we headed toward the West Village through a few street fairs and aimed for another of my absolute favorite places in NYC to eat, Alta.

However, we were not going in order to enjoy their delicious array of tapas, as our appetites had already been sated. We were going solely for the sangria. The red sangria, to be specific.

I am not a big fan of sangria in general, because it is usually made with a cheap wine that would not taste very good on its own, and then of all things people add peach schnapps/brandy, and I truly loathe the flavor of peach. Keep your fuzzy navels under your shirts, thank you.

That said, whatever jug of wine they use at Alta, and whatever mystery ingredients (definitely some sweet syrupy stuff going on) may be in the plastic bottle (the menu actually says they "could tell you, but then we'd have to kill you), they concoct one kick-ass glass of sangria. And it really will knock you on your ass if you're not careful, because that stuff is STRONG!

And while I'd rather it be a less costly drink, it really is worth the $12 because it is definitely a glass of happy at the end of the day.

And of course, because we couldn't enjoy a truly pork-tastic day with only one (albeit great) pork dish, so we ordered a plate of bacon-wrapped dates to offset the sweetness of our sangrias. And as always, they were sublime. I could eat buckets of them.

If you're in NYC, I'd recommend either location (tho note that Porchetta is super small and designed more for take-out than eating-in), but as always, try not to be in line in front of me ;)

P.S. - If you're really into walking-while-eating and eating delicious yet dietarily-questionable foods, hop about 3 blocks NE of Porchetta and enjoy a piping hot cone of pomme frites, at a previously blogged location, Pomme Frites!

A Better White Bean Soup

It's been a busy couple of days, with more busy days to follow. Watching Caitlin Krisko & The Broadcast at the D-Lounge on Union Square on Friday night, followed by a great game of Roller Derby on Saturday night. Even tho the Bronx trounced Manhattan score-wise (which I predicted, but also I'm not sure anything shy of a brick wall can stop Bonnie Thunder) it was a really good match.

As you may have noticed (or at least picked up on from reading here) NYC this Spring has been insane. Warm weather crept in as usual, and then we kept flipping between 85-90º weather and 60's and rain. (I for one prefer any weather below 84º be it rain or shine.) This week we actually had somewhat normal June weather (70's) which was a nice break from the insanity, and along those lines,  today dropped to a humid 72º with fairly steady rain, and it put me in the mood for a nice bowl of soup.

I have posted about a simple white bean soup before, but this time I stepped it up a notch or two, and it was really delicious. Warm and soothing without being heavy. I picked this soup because I had all the ingredients on hand already, except for the swiss chard. And yes, I actually went out in the rain (a whopping 2 blocks) to buy the greens so I could make this, because I just did not think that defrosting a box of frozen spinach would be the same in this soup.

Ingredients:
2 cans of cannellini beans, puréed (optional)
3 cloves of garlic, grated
1 medium shallot, minced
1/2 to 1 cup of white wine
1/4 cup of pancetta cubetti/small dice (use as much as you'd like tho)
1 bunch green swiss chard, or hearty dark green of choice
olive oil
1 TBSP butter
3-4 cups chicken stock
salt
Pecorino Romano, grated

I started out by browning the pancetta in about 2 tablespoons of olive oil in the bottom of a dutch oven/stock pot. Once it has browned up and rendered most of its fat, I remove it from the pan and set it aside for later. (I absolutely used more than you see in this photo... I did two batches when I realized my mistake.)

To the oil and rendered fat I add the diced shallot and sauté that until softened, just a few minutes. Then I add the garlic and the butter and cook that for another minute or two, until the garlic is fragrant but not yet browning.
  (You can omit, or add another TBSP of butter when making this, depending on how rich you want the final flavor of the soup to be. I can almost always taste when there is butter in a broth-based soup, since I don't cook with it all that often.)
To that I add between 1/2 and a whole cup of white wine, which picks up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan, but then let that reduce for about five minutes so some of the alcohol burns off and the flavor intensifies.

I find so many store-bought chicken stocks to be a bit thin in flavor, so I like the depth the wine adds, especially since I'm not using any fresh herbs in this soup. As with all recipes, you're in your own kitchen and you can add or omit anything you wish.

At this point I added the puréed beans to the pot. (It's just a personal thing for me. I dislike biting into whole beans in soups.) Season with salt and pepper to taste (lightly, remembering the salt from the pancetta) and add as much chicken stock as you like to make your soup however thick or thin you like. I used about 3 1/2 cups.

Once that has come up to a simmer, I add the chopped swiss chard and add the pancetta back into the pot as well. I also throw about half a cup of grated pecorino romano into the pot at this point, and let the whole thing simmer and meld on low for another half an hour or so.

A note on the swiss chard: if you have never used it before, you want to gently pull the greens away from the center vein in each leaf. Discard the stems/veins and chop the greens into reasonably sized pieces.
Special Note: Make sure that when you are gathering these large leaves together and chopping through them that you can see ALL FIVE FINGERS before you bring your knife down. In the attempt to control the giant pile of leaves, it would be only too easy to cover your thumb and bring your knife right down on it. (This note is not from experience, but the thought flashed through my mind as I was chopping and made me shudder.)
It's too bad the greens change from their vibrant color to a muddy green, but that's just the way of cooked greens.

When serving this up, I have two suggestions for garnish. One is simply more grated pecorino romano cheese, as it is a perfect topping for so many things, and this soup is no exception.
The other item that I found delicious for finishing this soup was Smoked Chipotle Sea Salt from Secret Stash Salts. It added a really nice kick and extra dimension. But also a reason to make sure you do not over-salt while cooking the soup, what with using pancetta and a salty cheese.

As I said, very soothing on a rainy afternoon/night, and also a mostly healthy meal full of greens, fiber, and protein. All the things a Gotham Girl needs to get by. That, and a vicious Booty Block/Pop Tart move.

(It's true, I can only aspire to the awesomeness that is Suzy Hotrod, Beyonslay, and the other amazing athletes that are true Gotham Girls Roller Derby skaters. If you ever have the chance, try to catch one of their bouts at Hunter College on the UES. You won't regret it. Even tho the hubs and I miss when the bouts were back in the Bronx and they served cheesy nachos... but only the hubs misses the nachos.)