For all of my supposed food-lovingness, this place had the ability to sticker shock me - and I am a serious Whole Foods apologist, so impressing me with scary gourmand prices takes some doing. Here's how it went down....
So, I was at home, watching No Reservations in Spain - not that one one, but the other one. I know this is surprising. Anyways...
So Anthony Bourdain and this Spanish dude were sitting in some chiaroscuroly lit scene, grubbing and singing the praises of this ham that still had a fucking hoof attached to it! I mean, damn! Just a big ass hoof just ON there and they were slicing off pieces, cramming it in their mouths and rolling their eyes back in swine-induced ecstasy.
And I was like:
If I'm ever in Spain, Ima gonna get me some of that.
Then, the next day, after roaming the loop hungry for a while, I ended up smack in front of this place.
Beautiful little shop with a great collection of cheeses and meats and wines. The sandwich menu sound goods and has the potential to be super duper incredibly awesome, but are kind of inconsistent in the end product - heavy on the bread, light on the meat and cheese, a little dry. But they're pretty good and I ate mine all gone.
After my sandwiches, I perused their cases, as I am likely to do in such situations and then...
Then - I see this ham - no hoofs or anything, but it still drew me to it. It was just a really pretty piece of meat, dark and purpleyish and just...same Bourdain-looking ham.
And I was all:
Ima gonna get me some of that.
So I asked for a few slices, just like three or four since I'd just eaten and just wanted a taste. And the chick was like - You want like three or four slices of this one?, kind of worried sounding and odd and I was like yes, is that okay, and she was like yeah, that's okay, with a funny look and I was like, to myself, maybe I should get more? Like am I wasting her time with my bullshit baby sized order or something? And so then I also got a couple of slices of some duck salami, because that sounded like some impressive foodie bullshit that I could cop to having experienced and shit, if ever I'm at such a dinner party or what have you where such foodie testifying may be required.
So then she rings up my four thin slices of ham and three circles of duck salami and it comes to almost $20. Four pieces of ham, mind you, almost paper thin, and three pieces of salami, about the size of a quarter each. And then she was like - oh, wait, that's not the right price, and I was like - pssht, girl, obviously! And then she was like, that will be more like $18 and the soundtrack that follows me around in life was like Everybody Ha-yates Tina...waaaaaamp waaaaaamp.... (Tragic! TRAGIC!!)
It was $119 a pound. Turned out it was jamon iberico de bellota - free range spanish pigs that spend their whole lives grazing only on acorns. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jam%C3%B3n_ib%C3%A9rico
It was musty, nutty, earthy, almost cheesy with a complexity I was almost baffled by. And it melted in my mouth. I mean, I know that people say that things melted in their mouths all the time, but I've never really had that happen, except with like meringues and Pop Rocks. It felt like it almost dissolved. If that is ham, what in the fuck have I been "experiencing" my whole life?
Was it worth it? Yes, and probably even more so than my kind of just-okay sandwich. I loved being surprised, both by something I can't buy many places in this country.
I will have to restrain myself, pretty much forever, from coming to Pastoral with cracky urges and buying the fixins for a $100 sandwich - hell, we haven't even gotten to cheeses.
But I think it still would have been better with the hoof.
Pastoral 53 E Lake StChicago, IL 60601(312) 658-1250
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
Pork Pork Chile Chili: I won $100 bucks with this baby!
Yay! My first food contest winner. Maybe I need to get a truck and take this show on the road...
I've had to rework this recipe so that you can make one normal sized "big" pot (like a 6-quarter) - I made mine in a gigantic (like 5 gallon) pot that is about the size of 3 or 4 regular pots, so my exact exact recipe wouldn't work for most people, but this should be very very close - I'm a firm believer in inexact recipes and making cooking your own anyway, so feel free to experiment. Also it's very easy to make as a very low fat vegan recipe by just leaving out the meat. My inspiration was to do something in between a pozole and a Southwestern styled green chile stew - Enjoy!
PORK PORK CHILE CHILI with bacon and avocado cream topping
1 can garbanzo beans
1 can cannellini beans
1 can great northern beans (feel free to use dry beans instead of canned - just use 1 lb total and just use a mixture of several different types of white beans and cook before using them for the chili)
1 1/2 lbs ground pork
1 pack bacon
1 large can (probably 28oz or something) hominy
1 bulb garlic
1 bottle light colored Mexican beer (I used Corona)
1 small can green enchilada sauce
1 1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
4 4oz cans Hatch fire roasted green chiles, chopped
2 pounds fresh tomatillos
1 small jalapeno pepper
3 green tomatoes
1 large white onion
2 yellow onions
some fresh chives (I don't know...some...)
some Italian parsley (yeah, some...not like a lot, you know...)
4 shallots
1 bunch green onions
1 heaping tbsp chili powder
1 bay leaf
olive oil
salt
black pepper
1 1/2 cups Greek yogurt
1 large avocado
Chop all of the onions, about 2/3 of the garlic, shallots and chives and cook with about 2 tbsps of olive oil over medium high heat in what will be the main chili pot.
Preheat oven to 375.
Essentially the base of the sauce begins with caramelized onions, so while you make and prepare all of the other ingredients, you will be constantly stirring the onions and then adding each new vegetable to this mixture and continuing to stir it over medium heat. Whenever it seems to not stir easily or not have enough moisture, hit it with a shot or so of beer, being sure to also stir up any browned bits in the pot with the beer.
Lay your bacon and the jalapeno pepper out on a cookie sheet and cook til crisp, about 10-20 minutes - keep an eye on it. Pour all bacon grease from the pan into a separate skillet. Reserve bacon. Chop and de-seed pepper and add to onion mixture.
Add ground pork and the rest of the garlic to skillet and cook in the bacon grease until cooked through. Add one can of the green chiles, a shot or so of the beer and a cup of water to the skillet and let the meat braise over medium heat.
Chop the green tomatoes and the tomatillos and add them to the onion mixture. Add green chiles to the onion mixture. Add hominy, spices and enchilada sauce to the onion mixture.Add all of the pork mixture to the onion mixture.
Use remaining beer to deglaze the pork pan - over medium heat just pour the beer in there (add a little water to the beer bottle if you need a little more) and then basically stir and scoop up all of the little porky bits left in there.
Add all of that liquid to the chili pot. Continue to stir and cook as the chili thickens as desired.
Chop up/crumble all of the bacon.
For the avocado cream mixture - mash avocado and mix into the yogurt. Whip until fluffy.
Top chili with the bacon and avocado cream.
Enjoy! You know...in the comfort of your own home...don't even think of trying to come at me at some random chili cookoff all Bobby Flay Throwdown style...seriously....
I've had to rework this recipe so that you can make one normal sized "big" pot (like a 6-quarter) - I made mine in a gigantic (like 5 gallon) pot that is about the size of 3 or 4 regular pots, so my exact exact recipe wouldn't work for most people, but this should be very very close - I'm a firm believer in inexact recipes and making cooking your own anyway, so feel free to experiment. Also it's very easy to make as a very low fat vegan recipe by just leaving out the meat. My inspiration was to do something in between a pozole and a Southwestern styled green chile stew - Enjoy!
PORK PORK CHILE CHILI with bacon and avocado cream topping
1 can garbanzo beans
1 can cannellini beans
1 can great northern beans (feel free to use dry beans instead of canned - just use 1 lb total and just use a mixture of several different types of white beans and cook before using them for the chili)
1 1/2 lbs ground pork
1 pack bacon
1 large can (probably 28oz or something) hominy
1 bulb garlic
1 bottle light colored Mexican beer (I used Corona)
1 small can green enchilada sauce
1 1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
4 4oz cans Hatch fire roasted green chiles, chopped
2 pounds fresh tomatillos
1 small jalapeno pepper
3 green tomatoes
1 large white onion
2 yellow onions
some fresh chives (I don't know...some...)
some Italian parsley (yeah, some...not like a lot, you know...)
4 shallots
1 bunch green onions
1 heaping tbsp chili powder
1 bay leaf
olive oil
salt
black pepper
1 1/2 cups Greek yogurt
1 large avocado
Chop all of the onions, about 2/3 of the garlic, shallots and chives and cook with about 2 tbsps of olive oil over medium high heat in what will be the main chili pot.
Preheat oven to 375.
Essentially the base of the sauce begins with caramelized onions, so while you make and prepare all of the other ingredients, you will be constantly stirring the onions and then adding each new vegetable to this mixture and continuing to stir it over medium heat. Whenever it seems to not stir easily or not have enough moisture, hit it with a shot or so of beer, being sure to also stir up any browned bits in the pot with the beer.
Lay your bacon and the jalapeno pepper out on a cookie sheet and cook til crisp, about 10-20 minutes - keep an eye on it. Pour all bacon grease from the pan into a separate skillet. Reserve bacon. Chop and de-seed pepper and add to onion mixture.
Add ground pork and the rest of the garlic to skillet and cook in the bacon grease until cooked through. Add one can of the green chiles, a shot or so of the beer and a cup of water to the skillet and let the meat braise over medium heat.
Chop the green tomatoes and the tomatillos and add them to the onion mixture. Add green chiles to the onion mixture. Add hominy, spices and enchilada sauce to the onion mixture.Add all of the pork mixture to the onion mixture.
Use remaining beer to deglaze the pork pan - over medium heat just pour the beer in there (add a little water to the beer bottle if you need a little more) and then basically stir and scoop up all of the little porky bits left in there.
Add all of that liquid to the chili pot. Continue to stir and cook as the chili thickens as desired.
Chop up/crumble all of the bacon.
For the avocado cream mixture - mash avocado and mix into the yogurt. Whip until fluffy.
Top chili with the bacon and avocado cream.
Enjoy! You know...in the comfort of your own home...don't even think of trying to come at me at some random chili cookoff all Bobby Flay Throwdown style...seriously....
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