Blackberry Sauce (p196 Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home)
I was misled slightly with the quantities of blackberries that I had. So...uh...I skipped this.
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream (p148 Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home)
I made this late at night, I used double the vanilla, the taste was about right, but because of a little misstep, there were hunks of corn starch in there. So I messed this up. Though if I have time, I think I'll try again next week.
Pork Tenderloin, Chorizo, and Blackberry Balsamic Gastrique
So I put a big chunk of the blackberries in a small sauce pan. Drizzled some of my mid-range balsamic vinegar. Then cooked it slowly. I fried off some chorizo in a separate pan, then took the rendered fat and added that to the gastrique. I wrapped the pork tenderloin in the bacon and seared it off. Going back to think about it, I should've seared it on the sides to get the appropriate color and deliciousness on the bacon as well. I thought it would crisp up a bit in the oven when I put it in there. I guess having pork on the inside, prevents it from drying out before the rest of it dries out. Anyways, that being said, the combination of the chorizo, tenderloin, blackberry and balsamic went together well. Used a bit of the sauce to dress up the arugula around the plate. It worked well. Looks pretty good too.
Turkey and Blackberry "Burgers" (La Ventosa Ranch)
So I have these ring molds. Admittedly I don't do a ton of fancy presented food, but hey, I had the circle thing going this week so why not add to it. So this is the first time with the ground turkey, and I am thinking, though do not have confirmation, that they are putting their turkeys out a bit early because of the growing expense in feeding them. So it had many of the same notes as the tenderloin. The turkey was of unknown fatness, but I'm guessing lower 90% or about there. It didn't dry out too quickly (on the ones I cooked to about the right temperature). So I used one to cut out these circles in the bread, then toasted them, then used another to make these smaller turkey burgers. I didn't get their size quite right all around, but mostly consistent (basically 3 the same, and one that was quite a bit bigger. The notes worked well, we felt fancy, and we didn't have to go out...not that we don't like to, but you know... Anyways nice combination all around. You can see the cheddar (style) cheese under the turkey. So we have a layer of bread, cheese, turkey, chorizo and the blackberry balsamic from the night or two before. With a couple of locally grown (I think these where from Tai at Foxhollow) tomatoes on the side. I could've seasoned the turkey with a bit of Worcestershire, and I think that would've added to the flavor over all. Good overall and the blackberries are almost gone.
The chorizo...it's not like the Spanish chorizo, where it just exudes that magical flavor. It exudes a bit. But it is not like the Mexican style of chorizo either. But it sure isn't as expensive as the Spanish. It's ok...not spectacular. It was a new product at my Hy-Vee. I like to try new things.
Chicken and Two Cheese Tortas (p171 Food & Wine July 2012)
Yep, it is that good.
The Cheese Shop Pizza part II
So you can really tell the quality of the parmesan. I'll just say that. I didn't take the time to really spread out the sausage like I should've and there were patches of just cheese, and with the Cheese Shop's Mozzarella and the 24 month parmesan, they are quite good just by their own. So how to I continue the excessiveness? I put a whole La Quercia dry cured sausage on the pizza. And wow. just wow. Now I hope this is not to offensive to the fine people there, but damn that was magical. I don't even know what else to say.
Grass Fed Beef Burgers (Crooked Gap, yes Crooked Gap)
Ok, so adding a slice of bacon per 1/3rd pound? You kind of loose the beefy flavor. I'm going to try again, low and slow.