Pork Cheek With Beans And Lentils Over Toast

So I did an impulse buy at my local butcher shop. I haven't eaten them but rarely do I see pork cheeks for sale. Without thinking, I bought a pound and stuffed them in the freezer for another time. And couple months went by (I actually had forgotten that I bought them) and I finally decided to cook with them. I randomly saw this video of Jamie Oliver cooking beans served with pork and that's how I came up with this idea. This is a great dish, you can eat it as is or on toast or over rice or add extra stock for soup. Oh the possibilities!

-------------------------------------------- 1lb pork cheek 1 red onion (roughly chopped) 1/2 cup lentils 1 cup beans (if dried beans, soak overnight and rinse) Handful of thyme 2 cloves of garlic (peeled and lightly mashed) Hard cider (I used a 16 oz can of Crispin cider and it was the perfect amount) Salt and pepper 3 tablespoons of butter Parmesan cheese Handful of parsley Olive oil Hot sauce and whole grain mustard (optional) Bread

1. Preheat a 300 degree oven 2. Add oil to a hot pan and brown the cheeks, both sides 3. Put the beans, lentils, onions, garlic into a roasting pan and season with salt + pepper 4. Place the cheeks on top of the beans/lentils and add the thyme 5. Pour enough hard cider to just cover the cheeks 6. Cover with tin foil and jam it into the oven for 2.5 hours 7. After 2 hours, the cheeks should be nearly done 8. Take tin foil off and cook for another 30 minutes in the oven 9. After 30 minutes, take the pan out of the oven 10. To finish, mix in butter and grate about 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese (more if you like) 11. Mix and taste to check if it needs more salt + pepper or not 12. Assemble! 13. Get a slice of toast, spoon the pork cheek/beans/lentils onto toast 13. Drizzle hot sauce, olive oil, and desire amount of mustard 14. Grate parmesan and add parsley

Note: Of course if you have a Dutch oven, you can brown the cheeks and braise in the same pot. I don't so I had to brown them in a pan first before putting everything into a pan.

Pork cheeks from Fleisher's, sourdough bread from Orwasher, and beer mustard from Anarchy in a Jar.

A Galette

Honestly I have never heard of galette before until few months ago when Marian Bull brought one to a picnic at Prospect Park. A ga..what?

And ever since then, it's all I see and hear and read about in the digital space. It's like one of those things where you go and buy a green car and suddenly, it's all you see on the road, green cars.

I've been meaning to make one but well you know, had to wait till it was cooler to turn on the oven.

Instead of doing a sweet one, I did a savory galette with eggs cause I love eggs.

This is a no-brainer. The only tough part is making the dough but now that I have made the 4 & 20 Blackbirds pie crust dough few times, it's getting easier and quicker. (You can find their all butter pie crust recipe on Food52 or go buy their book!)

The rest of this is really up to you. I went to the farmers market and didn't really decide until I saw what was available. I got couple red onions and some watermelon radishes because I have never seen them at the market.

-------------------------------------------- 1 pie crust dough 1 red onion 1 watermelon radish (or 2 if they're on the small side) 3 eggs Salt and pepper

1. Pre-heat a 400 degree oven 2. Thinly sliced the red onion and radishes 3. Roll out the dough (It's alright if it's not a perfect circle) 4. Place a parchment paper on a baking sheet and move the dough onto it 5. Place the slices of onion on the dough, starting from the center and move outward (Leave about an inch or inch and a half of edge) 6. Crack 2 eggs on top of the onions 7. Place the slices of radishes between/around the eggs (Doesn't have to be perfect) 8. Season with salt and pepper 9. Fold the edges over the filling 10. Crack the 3rd egg, scramble it, and brush it on the dough 11. Jam the galette into the oven and bake for 30ish mins or till crust is golden brown

Few things I like to add for next time. Finish the galette with a nice drizzle of olive oil, grate some nice parmesan cheese over, and sprinkle some parsley onto it.

Sunday In A Jar

So last time when I made pie crust cookies, I was left with the dilemma of having leftover pie crust. Obviously there were many things I could've used it for but I was craving something else. Inspired by my favorite Big Gay Ice Cream treat, the Mermaid (which has vanilla ice cream, key lime curd, homemade graham crumble, and whipped cream), I wanted to make a sundae. I thought of using the same pint of vanilla ice cream I used for my pie crust cookie ice cream sandwiches but nope, I had an even better idea.

The one thing I'm good at is making tiramisu. Especially after getting tips from the crew at Brucie in Brooklyn. It's the only thing I'm confident that it'll come out good every time. SO.....why not use the mascarpone cream in the sundae instead of regular old vanilla ice cream?

-- RECIPE

Please note: This recipe contains raw eggs. I used the ones I get from the farmers' market.

Leftover pie crust

Mascarpone Cream: 2 eggs separated 8oz mascarpone 7 tablespoons sugar 1 cup heavy cream

In a bowl, whisk 2 egg yolks and 6 tablespoons of sugar until you get to the ribbon stage. It should be smooth and pale yellow.

Add the mascarpone cheese into the egg/sugar mixture and incorporate completely.

In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites till stiff peaks. Gently fold the egg whites into the mascarpone mixture. This will lighten the mixture.

In another bowl, whisk heavy cream and 1 tablespoon of sugar till you get stiff peaks. Fold whipped cream into mascarpone mixture. The cream gives the mixture body.

To Assemble: Put your leftover pie crust in a ziplock bag or tea towel. Smash it up. It's fine if there are big pieces and small pieces.

In a bowl or a jar or a cup or a sundae glass, put in a layer of pie crust crumble then mascarpone cream then plum sauce and repeat.

And...EAT

Pie Crust Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade but what happens when a friend gives you a big bag of plums? This was my dilemma couple weeks ago. "Sure," I said to my friend while she handed me a giant ziplock bag of tiny plums. Her uncle had sent her lots and lots, which he grows in his backyard in California and she was happy to get rid of some.

You know what's not fun? Taking tiny pits out from tiny plums.

Facebook and Instagram were great help, with people giving me ideas for what to do with the plums. From jam to pies to cobblers to sangria to sorbet. Though I ended finding my inspiration from Tara O'Brady's plum sauce in her plum rippled ginger crunch ice cream recipe.

But what do I do with the plum sauce?

Use it in ice cream sandwiches!

Instead of making cookies, I decided to make pie crust cookies. I still haven't master the art of cookie making but I made the Four and Twenty Blackbirds pie crust once and it came out pretty good. Also there's less work in making pie crust dough, I think.

Plum Sauce: 2 lbs of plums sliced in half and pit removed 6 tablespoons 1 handful mint leaves Zest and juice of 1 lemon

I'm sorry about the amount of plums. I'm guessing it. I don't own a weight and wasn't able to find out how many pounds of plums my friend gave me. I just know that I stood in the kitchen for a long time and removed pits from 50 mini plums aka enough to fill a half sheet pan.

Place plums, sugar, and mint into a pan/pot over medium heat. Stir it occasionally. Lower the flame to low when the plums begin to soften. Mush them up a bit. When all the plums have soften, push them through a sieve over a bowl. Then pour the plum sauce back into the pan/pot over low flames. Add the lemon zest and juice and stir them into the sauce. Taste it now. Too tart? Add a little bit more sugar.

Simmer the sauce for a minute or two and then pour it into a jar. This yields about 8oz. Let it chill in the fridge.

Pie Crust Cookies: I used the Four and Twenty Blackbirds pie crust dough recipe for the cookies.

Roll out your dough and use whatever you like to cut the cookies out. Then brush them with an egg wash and top with a generous sprinkling of sugar. Bake till golden.

When your cookies are done, let them cool a bit before assembling the sandwiches.

Hhhmmmmm these came out pretty darn good. Buttery cookies, tart plum sauce with vanilla ice cream (store bought, sorry). Maybe my next step is to make my own ice cream?