Wednesday, June 16, 2010

raw milk life!

My quest for finding raw milk in my area turned out to be quite easy. as its illegal to sell in markets or grocery stores, you can buy the latte crudo from a number of farms in massachusetts.  I'm not sure about the laws in other states but for example in Alabama it is illegal to sell raw milk for human consumption.  These are some shots from Cricket Creek Farm in Williamstown Massachusetts.  The milk is fucking delicious....so rich and creamy, im convinced I can make panna cotta with it.  Also available is raw milks cheese, raw honey, eggs, yogurt, and fresh bread, amongst other thannnnnggzzz.
Me and Anthony brought back some ground beef and veal neck bones from the farm, and made a Rigatoni al ragu (pictured above).  I let the bones sit in the sauce and flavor this all mighty ''sucu''... We opened a gorgeous bottle of vino... a brilliant offer I wanted to mention.  Whole foods pulling through with $13 bottle of Vietti 2007 Barbera d'asti ''tre vigne''...a steal!  about 15 minutes into dinner this wine was fucking ripping out of the glass with blackberry, plum and other dark fruits on the nose.  Balanced with a enough dirty earth notes, acidity and touch of tanin to be accepted with open arms.... especially after some rubbish california zin i've been dabling into...
Cheers y'alllllllllll

Thursday, June 3, 2010

heady fiddles in the berkshires

upon arrival into the berkshires, massachusetts i wanted to cook with some local ingredients, and of course pasta came into the situation.  although they are out of season now, you can find fiddlehead ferns and morel mushrooms in the spring around the area .  Here is a pasta i came up with off of the top of my dome using fiddlehead ferns. i was quite pleased with it, texture, taste, and the uniqueness of it....
i dont ever measure anything but below is a rough recipe i threw together....

 spaghetti con fiddleheads e zafferano!

spaghetti
fiddleheads
saffron
parmigiano reggiano
1 raw egg yolk per person
salt/pepper
olive oil
garlic

     while spaghetti is cooking take a small portion of the cooking liquid out and into a cup.  place a pinch of saffron into the water and let sit. this will release the colour and essence of the saffron (like when making risotto alla milanese). saute fiddleheads in olive oil, when almost done throw the garlic in until finished, sprinkle with salt. take your al dente pasta and throw it into the pan with the fiddleheads.  add the water with the safron in it and stir well... place into bowls, for each bowl top with parmigiano reggiano, and one raw egg yolk in the middle as pictured above.

I really like how the saffron and egg yolk are together and it works well with the fiddleheads.  if you dont use fiddleheads you can substitute with asparagus.  when you mix the pasta the yolk will coat your spaghetti and create this delicious texture with the slightly damp spaghetti from the cooking water... 
we drank a 2006 chianti from monsonaccio, because it was handy.  it worked well, but of course an italian white (maybe a falanghina) would go well too.

buon appetito!