Saturday, October 15, 2011

The Tragic Tale of Gwen the Hen | Charcutepalooza, challenge no. 10

I am participating in Charcutepalooza, a year of meat which entails twelve monthly challenges to prepare dishes using various charcuterie techniques.  For more information about charcutepalooza, click here.  To read why I decided to partake in the meatmaking festivities, read my first post here.

charcuterie plate featuring Gwen and rabbit rillettes,
served with red pepper sauce, spiced plum jam,
hot country mustard and cornichon.
Recipes:
Gwen was prepared following the recipe found in Charcuterie, the only alterations being the use of pork belly instead of back fat and a longer cooking time which was necessary to get her up to temperature.
 
I had hoped to serve Gwen with a more ambitious sauce, but time did not permit.  We threw together this pepper sauce which is dead simple and ended up being so popular that I had to include the recipe here.  

Red Pepper Sauce
3 red bell peppers
a couple hot peppers of similar color (amount depends on desired heat)
2 tbs olive oil
1 tbs tomato paste
salt and pepper

1.  Saute diced peppers in olive oil until soft
2.  Puree peppers and work the puree through a sieve.
3.  Return puree to a hot saucepan.  Add tomato paste and cook on medium high to reduce and intensify flavors.
4.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

6 comments:

  1. What a whimsical story and amazing drawings!!! Thank you for bringing true artistry to Charcutepalooza this month.

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  2. Fantastic! Thank you for such a splendid effort.

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  3. Rachel - Thank you for your kind words. From the start, this blog has been a slightly disjointed mix of art and food. This was my first attempt at combining the two in one post. I'm so happy you enjoyed it!

    Cathy - You're welcome of course but really the thanks should go to you and Kim for inspiring so many of us to push ourselves in the kitchen!

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  4. Reading you blog while wearing pajamas provided the perfect bedtime story. Great work!

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  5. What an awesome post. I love the artwork and how you put it tgether. I'm a big fan of this style of B&W line drawings. Good stuff.

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  6. Marc - I'm glad to provide bedtime story services, although I'm not sure this story is ideal. If I read this before bed, I'd probably be too hungry to sleep ;)

    Alex - Thank you so much for the compliments. Its a drawing style I've been playing with a lot recently. This post was more work than I anticipated. Knowing it was appreciated makes it all worth it!

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