Half a Wine Glass White Man





Thursday 15/9/2005

 Email JCBorresen@GMail.com

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Diary and Notes

Italian food today - I've been inspired by my recent trip and thought I'd cook up something tasty. I made some bread, did some pasta and stewed up a wild boar which I'd killed with a hunting lance in the morning. You do have to be careful when spearing a wild boar as they tend to be ornery beasts and are liable to have at you with their tusks. This one didn't stand much of a chance though as the lance I was using was connected to the national grid and had over a million volts running through it - poor beastie, just didn't know what had hit it.

When I dragged it back home the people of Levenshulme seemed a little surprised to see me riding up Stockport Road dragging the carcass of a dead pig behind me, I don't see what's so unnatural about hunting wild boar - if nobody culls them they'll overrun the city and then where will we be? It might get as bad as London with their crocodile infestation or Birmingham and the roving bands of angry hippogriffs which have been terrorising the city centre of late - perish the thought.

So how to cook the dead animal was the next question. I'm not an expert at cooking boar so I checked the internet for suggestions. I did find a fantastic sounding Italian dish which Google translated for me into English and this is what it said:

CIGNALE BETWEEN TWO FIRES

Placed in the bottom of a casserole three or four slices of lardo thinnest, you place the piece of the cignale over to the same ones, conditelo with knows them and pepper and you add an entire onion, pezzetto of butter and, if the cignale were a kilogram approximately, half a wine glass white man. You stretch on the piece of the meat others three or four slices of the same one lardo and, you cover it with a sheet of paper from furnace greased with the butter. You put in furnace with fire under and over for approximately 45 minuteren controlling if it stretches to dry up itself, in that case inumidire with brodo of meat.

Sounds simple enough - aren't translator programs fantastic?

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A note on the ingredients for the stewed wild boar: My friend Fran brought a 'Noix d'epaule de sanglier' (a cured wild boar shoulder) back from France. I've no idea if you can get these in Britain so if you want to make this really quite good dish you'll have to find a cured boar shop somewhere. Also the preserved lard isn't easy to get either. I only know one place that sells it and that's the Barbakan Deli in Chorlton, Manchester. Cured lard is fantastic stuff, really tasty. It's eaten all over Europe (except in Britain) and every country seems to have its own variety. It's nothing like British lard at all, don't be confused by the name - I'm not suggesting ruining a tasty piece of boar by adding some stinky cooking lard.

Also, corzetti. This is an odd pasta I bought back from my trip to Italy. It is actually holy wafer shaped (and has designs pressed into it). I've no idea if you can buy it outside of Liguria/Genoa. It's normally served with walnut sauce, but I don't like walnuts much so did something spicy and fishy instead.


Cake Blog

Lemon Shortbread: The recipe was sent to me by Elena Thomas. Along with the recipe came a warning that if I didn't actually weigh out the contents it might be a bit of a disaster. I don't actually have any scales though and had to go by eye. I followed the recipe as best I could except I didn't read the last bit which said that you should let it cool for several hours to set properly. Mine was served still slightly warm and the shortbread was still moist. I liked it very much - and the left overs which had cooled properly and taken on a biscuit texture were excellent for breakfast.


Menu

  • Corzetti Arrabiata
  • Wholemeal Rosemary Foccachia

  • Stewed, Cured Shoulder of Wild Boar
  • Potato and Parmesan Bake (Mash baked with Parmesan and nutmeg)
  • Roast Carrots

  • Lemon Shortbread with Chantilly Cream


    Ingredients*

    Corzetti Arrabiata
    300g Corzetti
    2 Shallots
    8 Sun Dried Tomatoes
    ½ tsp Crushed Chilli
    2 Cloves Garlic
    2 Tbsp Olive Oil
    20 Black Olives
    Small Can Anchovy Fillets
    1 Tbsp Pickled Capers
    Blac Pepper
    Parmesan Cheese (to serve)


    		 Stewed, Cured Shoulder of Wild Boar
    400g Cured Wild Boar
    1 Onion
    50g Preserved Lard (see above)
    1 Glass White Wine
    100ml Chicken Stock
    1 tsp Oregano
    1 tsp Black Peppercorns
    		 Lemon Shortbread
    For the base:
    250g Plain Flour
    50g Caster Sugar
    225g Unsalted Butter, cut into chunks
    Zest of a Lemon
    For the topping
    4 Eggs
    30g Caster Sugar
    75ml Lemon Juice (about 1½ lemons)
    30g Plain Flour
    ½ tsp Baking Powder



    Preparation

  • Corzetti: Warm some olive oil in a pan and add the chilli. Finely dice the shallot and garlic and sweat in the spicy oil. Chop the rest of the ingredients and stir in when the shallot is soft. Boil the corzetti for 15 minutes, drain and stir into the sauce. Serve with fresh Parmesan cheese.
  • Wild Boar: Place three very thin slices of preserved lard in a casserole dish. Slice an onion and place on top. layer the thinly sliced cured wild boar and top with more thinly sliced lard. Pour in the wine, stock and flavourings. Put the lid on and bake for 45 minutes.
  • Elena Thomas's Lemon Shortbread: Preheat oven to 180 degrees C/gas 4. Line a 33cm x 23cm tin with baking parchment, or lightly grease. To make base, sift flour, add caster sugar and rub in butter till crumbs, mix in some chopped lemon zest. Press crumbs into tin and cook for 15-20 mins till lightly golden. In a large bowl, beat eggs, sugar and lemon juice together. Stir in flour and baking powder. When the shortbread base is ready, remove from oven, cool slightly. Stir the topping again, then pour on top. Bake for a further 20-25 mins, or until the top is crisp, set, and lightly golden. Leave to cool in the tin for several hours before taking out, cutting and sprinkling with icing sugar.

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    *All quantities are very approximate and for four people