Made a big pot of soup with Tuscan kale, smoked pork belly, floury potatoes, a whole smoked sausage ring, onions, garlic, fennel seeds and beef shin stock. Went down well on this chilly day. Leftover is for tomorrow, my weekly pub day.
As the pot was so heavy I just made some quick photos of it on the gas hob. Maybe there’s a decent one I can use for posting later.
Me too. Never cooked them but always enjoy in restaurants (where the cooks have more cooking ability than me). Absolute best ever was in a little place in tiny village (not even a village shop tiny) in the Somme region of France. An absolute delight - perfectly crispy outside, meltingly tender inside.
We’re back in the area fairly soon and may just back to the restaurant for them.
Did you look at this recipe? The most unskilled cook could do this.
It’s been a couple of years since I made sweetbreads. #1 my wife hates them and #2 they do take some work to make. Your method for preparing sounds pretty similar to mine. That was a pretty plate of food C. Oliver.
Thanks, kiddo 
The ‘cleaning’ part takes place the day before so I don’t look on it as tedious. And I steam all the vegetables early in the day. So at the end it comes together easily. But regarding #1 I would make them either. Has she actually had them or is just turned off by what they are?!?
We’re supposedly off camping tomorrow for the weekend. Of course the location we’ve booked is experiencing thunderstorms at present, although the forecast is set to improve. We’ll see if we make it.
Being cooked today in preparation for easy camping meals is Puerco pibil from this recipe: http://www.gourmettraveller.com.au/recipes/recipe-search/feature-recipe/2011/8/puerco-pibil-yucatan-pickles-and-gorditas/ sans gorditas. I’ve purchased some flour tortillas that will probably be horrible as most in New Zealand are. That’s how we ‘rough it’ camping. If the tortillas are truly revolting we’ll add the pork to ‘quicksies’ which I think are called jaffles outside of NZ. Or we’ll rustle up some sort of bean dish or lettuce wrap. Pork is forgiving and flexible.
Also to be cooked is an Ottolenghi caramelised garlic tart. I have lots of garlic and cream to use so it sounds like a good idea. The tart has been mentioned in the favourite epic recipes thread: What are the most favorite epic recipes in your rotation? and I found an unofficial recipe here: http://www.weeknightgourmet.com/vegetarian-entree/plenty-caramelized-garlic-tart/
If we can manage saving the above items for camping meals tonight’s dinner will be a hot and sour soup.
Your daughter will be in Seventh Heaven.
She was! I figured what I did wrong with my at home attempt too. She complained mine were too meaty and the sauce flavour didn’t go all the way through. I noticed the yakatori bar halves theirs lengthways, I made mine whole. I think mine were moister but the slicing does make them tastier.
WFD: ~ Red Cooked Tofu from Phoenix Claws & Jade Trees, the COTM for February.
This recipe entails frying the firm tofu that is cut into 1" cubes, and are subsequently removed to a paper-lined plate. We’ll use peanut oil. In sequence garlic; a little ground pork; then mushrooms, bamboo shoots, water, Chinese wine, 2 kinds of soy sauce, sugar, and white pepper are added to the wok; each element is stir-fried for a brief time. This will be brought to the boil.
The cubed tofu is put into a saucepan. Wok contents are poured over tofu, Pan is covered and tofu is braised in the aromatic liquid for a short time. A tapioca starch slurry is stirred into the braise which will be cooked till thickened. When serving we’ll garnish with juilenned scallion.
~ Garlic Stir-Fried Spinach. Just as it sounds: peanut oil, a little garlic, the greens, a little salt, a little white pepper. ~ Steamed Jasmine Rice.
She’s had them, just doesn’t like them. There is a slight mineralality to organ meats like sweetbreads. But she’s tasted mine and those in restaurants and still has a mental issue with them. My brother loves them so I invite him over when making them when she’s out of town
Light dinner tonight. Tuna Spring Rolls.
I have a definite Love/Hate relationship with Home Goods. Love it because I find stuff I didn’t know I needed. I hate it because…well, because I find stuff I didn’t know I needed.
But I gotz some good stuff. Dinner was going to be one thing, but I changed my mind because of something I bought at HG - a bag of lemon tagliatelle.
Sauteed some garlic, broccoli and red bell pepper. Homemade chicken stock and additional fresh lemon juice was added to the sauteed veggies, and the cooked tagliatelle was added with a healthy blup of heavy cream. Minced green onions and a handful of minced fresh parsley was tossed in, along with some grated Parm-Reg.
Dinnah. With wine. Because Google decided to screw me over and lock me out of my account on both my laptop and my phone. Even after I changed my password. Twice. Jerkfaces. AND Facebook won’t let me post to my two food groups there. They’re jerkfaces as well.
We gave up on the idea of soup and are opting to graze on what’s already cooked. The tart’s nice, next time I’ll use more garlic.
I love sweetbreads too, in restaurants. I tried to cook it once at home, but found it not easy to “clean” it, they were broken down into pieces after trimming the nerves, not like the beautiful form in the restaurants.
If you are in Carrefour, you can try to find the brand “Reflets de France”, it’s a Carrefour brand that is more AOP or regional “artisan” food, especially for cooked dishes, sausages. Most of the time, the quality is acceptable for daily consumption.
Try also to look for “label Rouge”, there is a certain quality assurance.
The ones I’ve gotten have been pretty clean so I just pull off some of the ‘membrane’ and little bits of fat. And, yes, they can get to be pretty small pieces but still have the texture/taste. Here’s a photo of some we had in a local resto. Almost like chicken ‘nuggets.’
They’re a bit of a PITA, for sure. I try not to remove too much of the membranes, and they still taste fine.
Dinner involves no more than heating through a supermarket pizza and opening a bag of salad leaves.
WWFD last night: a symphony in brown. TCC perfectly executed by my man while I was at work, plus Indian cauliflower I’d started preparing in the afternoon: painted with hot curry paste and roasted, then simmered in a not very interesting do pyaza simmer sauce from Wegmans.
Even tho I first toasted a goodly amount of mustard seeds in the pot, then sweat half a sliced onion in lots of butter before adding the cauli & simmer sauce plus some ginger and tomato paste, the result was underwhelming and needed salt.
The chicken, however, was awesome as usual. Oh, TCC – how do I love thee 
WFD: ~ Pan-roasted chicken with red wine vinegar, garlic, and hot pepper flakes. (Spezzatinedi Pollo alla Nonna). Four whole chicken leg quarters, drums and thighs separated; olive oil; lottsa chopped garlic; a goodly amount of dried red pepper flakes; a pleasant pour of red wine vinegar, in fact more vinegar than you’d ever think you would want. Fifteen minutes to brown the chicken, 15 minutes to add the aromatics and cook.
Shower with minced parsley when serving.
~ Baked sweet potato. ~ Tossed green salad with tomatoes, red onions, kalamatas, and Honey Red Wine Vinaigrette.
