Lavender Cured Pancetta

I was inspired to begin making my own bacon a couple of summers ago. Since then I have cured at least a dozen pork bellies, handing out little slabs of cured goodness to anyone who seemed even remotely interested, all the while extolling the virtues of preserving your own meat. (One of my friends recently told me I was her go to 'meat girl'...I blushed with pride and handed her a little slab of delicious) As a little girl, my family would buy an entire cow or pig and split it amongst everyone. We'd spend a weekend with uncles, aunts and cousins at the grandparents farm processing the meat into a variety of sausages and packaging special cuts. I learned to not look into large pots on the stove during this time if I wanted to avoid the horror of a pig face staring up at me as it was rendered down for head cheese. (seriously? head cheese?) A full larder, I knew even then, was a very, very good thing. (can you guess I was a huge Laura Ingalls Wilder fan?) 

The family that makes sausage together...well, you know the rest. 

When I left home I toyed for a while with vegetarianism, but my heart wasn't truly in it. I think now that I was rejecting the mass production of it all, no longer did I know where my meat was coming from. Plus buying it in the grocery store is expensive. I longed for those familiar packages wrapped in white butcher paper with the contents scrawled in black magic marker. (I never did open that one that said head cheese) Once I moved to Alaska, being a vegetarian was no longer an option for me. There was too much fresh fish and excellent wild game available to not embrace my new home, culinarily speaking. I love the hunter-gatherer culture that exists here. Way before it was fashionable to eat locally these people have done so because they have to. Getting goods from 'outside', while easier now, is still costly and problematic and all for an inferior product. You can definitely tell how many miles that grocery store tomato has traveled. This especially applies to meats and specifically cured meats. There is a strong culture of drying and storing proteins for long term. This area is still host to many native communities and their traditions of putting food by have seeped into the transplanted local population, helping us make the most of this life in the north. Smoked salmon is a mainstay at any party and everyone has their special version or technique. I have so many friends that smoke fish that I don't. Smoking has always freaked me out a little. However, I do love my bacon. (in my period impersonating a vegetarian, if I cheated it was with bacon) So that summer when I read this post about curing bacon at home, that you could make pancetta and not have to smoke it at all, as you can guess I was completely enamored. And as I said earlier, I have been making it for my family and friends ever since. This year I also had a big lavender plant that thrived on my porch all summer and brought into my kitchen to winter over, is still sending out little shoots. When it came time to cure my next round of belly I was out of thyme, literally. No fresh to be had in town, either. (Ah, grocery stores in winter in alaska...) I looked over and saw that lavender plant and genius struck like a bald eagle on a chihuahua. I clipped a big handful of lavender and tucked it into the bag with the cure. I did add a little more sugar as well, but that was it. When I opened the bags after a week, the smell of lavender was still very strong. I rinsed the meat and dried it as usual. John and I could hardly wait to cook it up. We both wondered if the lavender, which tastes like it smells, would transfer to the flesh. As we fried those first pieces, the room filled with the familiar flowery scent, only baconized. Then we tasted it and while not full frontal in lavender flavor itself, the essence of it was present in every crisp, sweet and juicy bite.  

What the Pho?

I hate people with tans. It's not a malicious hate, more of an envious one. I know, I know...who can blame them, these people escaping the cold and dark. I forgive them, they do it because THEY CAN. I've been one of those people. My first 5 years of calling Homer 'home' I worked at a local resort hotel that closed in the winter. It was a natural thing to go to the warmth of Hawaii and work the high season there, get some sun and return to town when things started to get fired up again. The first time I came back, all tan and fit and enthusiastic, I was met with a little animosity, even hostility, from some of the longtime locals. (Oh, is it that time of year already?, the snowbirds are returning, they'd say with a wry smile) The next time I learned to hang back a little, let the tan fade before rubbing it in these poor people's faces. The cold and the dark are great and all, but everyone of us wishes we could get on a plane and go collect our fair share of vitamin D in a sunny place closer to the equator than here. Those times when the stars don't align in our favor to go south, (read: Alaska Airlines permanent fund deals did not include Hawaii or Mexico) we'll do almost anything to make the best of it. I remember one winter when my kids were quite small and we weren't going anywhere, there was a tropical themed fundraiser in town. The decorations, made by local artists, included a palm tree made out of paper mache and crepe paper. We put that tree in the corner of our tiny bakery and it lifted our spirits all winter long. Other years we travel through food. This winter I became obsessed with Pho (fuh). A vietnamese broth and noodle dish that is traditionally made with beef (pho bo). Having the need to make one that could serve both meat eaters and veggie heads alike drove me to create this mushroom version (pho chay) that can be poured over beef or mushrooms. The spicy ginger infused broth with the crunchy fresh condiments make you feel like you've just taken a quick trip somewhere exotic, and I don't mean visiting your grandma in Kansas.

Yes, Aunt Sherry, I corned my own beef.

When I was a kid, our family regularly went to visit my aunt Sherry and I remember her often making corned beef and cabbage. Luckily, she threw some potatoes in there, or I would've starved. It was not my favorite dish. Even as a grown up, it's not put high on the list of foods I like to eat. However, I love a challenge. Who else opens a bakery one month before she gives birth, because she thought it could be a good learning experience? Crazy to think that that happened almost 18 years ago. While it continues to challenge me in ways that always suprise, it has also made me a little addicted to trying new things. You know, stretching my boundaries to the point of 'what the heck was I thinking?'. Now that my kids and the bakery are both bigger and seem to need me less and less, I have enjoyed exploring different culinary challenges whenever they come my way. Many of those I have fallen into online.
The world of food has exploded on the internet in the last 5 years since I first logged on. I am continually amazed by the wealth of information and great people sharing it right there on the computer screen in front of me.  Living as we do in a remote corner of the northern hemisphere, sometimes, it is as though we aren't a part of american culture. Alaska is often not included on maps of the US on television and in books. If it is, it's small and in a box on the side, floating...attached to nothing. But we are here and, yes, thanks to the internet, we are becoming more and more connected to what we like to refer to as the 'Outside'. I happened upon the Charcutepalooza challenge through my friend Michael Ruhlman's blog. He is the one who inspired me to cure my own bacon (I have now cured at least a half dozen whole pork bellies, we never buy bacon at my house anymore) and has overall gotten me to stretch my boundaries, both in cooking and writing. And while it sounded fun, I hesitated because thought it would just be more than I could do, with the summer coming on, I'm sure to fall apart. But then all of a sudden, I figured, why not at least try. (Aunt Sherry would like that.) I realize I'm a little late to the game, but I'll do my best to catch up.
So what does all this have to do with corned beef? It's the march challenge for Charcutepalooza (i love/hate typing that word) that's why! Well, brining meat is and I am very grateful to both Mrs. Wheelbarrow and Yummy Mummy for putting this on, and to Punk Domestics for providing a place to share our posts. Not much of a chance for me to attend any of the events (unless there are any other alaskans out there who want to join me in one here!) but I can share my experience and see how everyone else did too.

I decided to go to my butcher to see what he had before I choose what cut to brine. I found a couple of nice pieces of Angus beef brisket raised a ways up north of here in the town of Delta.  The spices for the pickling liquid were a little more of a challenge with my somewhat limited local resources. Since this was an impulse move, there was no time to order from my peeps at The Spice House. The pickling spice available had no weird ingredients and contained everything I was looking for. I bumped it up by adding some of my own brown mustard seed and more black peppercorns.

Stirred and cooked together, the brine is set outside to chill...the cold, snowy weather making it a quick process. I then put the brine into into a plastic container and submerged the brisket, weighing it down with a small plate. 

it looks like a beautiful abstract painting 

I covered the container loosely and put in the back of the fridge.

For 5 days...ok maybe it was 6, but I got busy.

On my next day off I finally pulled it from the brine and rinsed of the beef. I put it into a pot, covered it with water, added a handful of my enhanced pickling spice and cooked on medium low heat for bout 2 hours, until it was fork tender, but not falling apart. I wanted to be able to chill and slice it for sandwiches. I had guests for dinner that night, so the brisket had to head right outside to cool and get out of the way. I wasn't until two days later that I came back to it, pulled it out of the cooking liquid and wrapped it up, tucking it into my bag as I ran off to work, hoping there would be some good light for photographing my little slabs of corned goodness.

 Lucky for me, it was a friday and Sharon had some of her fantastic rye loaves in the case and Ryan's chipotle slaw was already made to go with the pulled pork sandwich special of the day. Even luckier still, part way through the afternoon, the bakery quieted down and the sun came out, so I set up shop to make and photograph my very first, from scratch, corned beef sandwich. 

this definitely ain't my aunts corned beef and cabbage!

The big flavor of the dark rye bread and the spicy sweet of the slaw were perfect with the beef. I just added a little dijon mustard for moisture and a little extra bite. In the middle of a busy bakery day, it was a perfect lunch, though most of my break was spent taking photos, I actually ate it slowly, snatching bites between cake baking and all the other things that filled up my work day. The process of making the beef was so easy, I started to fantasize about brining our own at the bakery...and then I looked into our already packed refrigerators. Reality sucks sometimes...maybe someday we'll get a walk-in.

Why Natalia may be employee of the year....

fresh from Sharon's iphone...

Nothing says love like Angel Brownies

Valentines Day is coming but you don't have to wait to give that special someone a gift that will tell them exactly how you feel. Such as how much you like their pants! 

Angel Brownies available now and through Feb 14th. a deal at $2.50 each. 

(not exactly free speech, but very tasty)

Let the wild rumpus begin!

We quietly opened for real last night to a few reservations on the books and my kids as the first table. It was a poignant scene for me as I had left the restaurant world and began the bakery when I started having kids. Now that they are so big, I get to revisit that dream. With such a talented and fun staff to help me and an amazing place like this to work in, it is all I could have ever asked for!
Last friday we had a practice night where we invited friends and a few loyal customers to help us 'play restaurant'. It allowed us to try out the menu and figure out how to transform the bakery into a bistro for the evenings. Sharon brought her family in and Irene's came, too. Even my husband John joined friends for a lovely evening of amazing food and dreams come true. It was such a huge success we decided to open in earnest this weekend. To keep it from getting too crazy, we let it go 'round by word of mouth for this week, so as to not be overwhelmed. It was a perfect mix of walk-ins and reservations giving everyone a little practice with time to breathe in between. We'll do it again tonight and, with luck, be ready when the ads hit the papers and the radio this week...let the wild rumpus begin!
I'll post a pic of the menu when I get to work today. This week it's beef shanks and fresh cod. Next week cuban style ribs that'll spice up your February!
Hours are Friday and Saturday 6 - 9 pm. Reservations encouraged. phone (907)235-2280.

You can't have a light without a dark to stick it in...

This quote by Arlo Guthrie always inspires me (I got to make Mr. Guthrie a latte and watch him enjoy it in the bakery yard a few years back, truly a highlight of bakery life!),  especially now as the light is slowly returning to our cosmic hamlet by the sea but the grip of winter is still firm. Which can mean anything, really. We have had snow and rain, cold temps and warm ones, high winds and icy roads. Baker Abbey had to take a cab to work in the wee morning hours yesterday and even with their four wheel drive and studded tires ended up in the ditch in front of the bakery. She went on with her morning to make these amazing jalapeno cheddar buns, though....Go Abbey!

one of these will spice up your day!

This is the time of year that tests the hardiest of souls. The dark is waning, but it is still pretty dark. Winter will not be gone for 4 more months... there is no fresh produce at the grocery store and people walk around with pale faces and blank stares. (though a new tanning salon just opened up in town, woo-hoo!) When there's no snow, you have to work pretty hard at staying entertained, especially difficult to do without stretching your vices, or pocketbook to the limit. When we opened the bakery 18 years ago, it was in response to the need that Homer had, or so I thought, for a little bright spot that was open during those dark times, not just for the summer when things are bright and bustling. Turns out I was right and we have carved out a merry and loyal following who keep us opening the doors every day no matter what the weather. If we do close it's because we are concerned for our employees safety in getting home, or to take a few days  to scrub the walls and slap on a fresh coat of paint. I'l admit, last winter we actually closed on sundays for a while to give our staff (and me!) a little breather. Not this year, though, instead of cutting back, we are adding on...in more ways than one! The new enclosed porch is done and to celebrate all this new space we are opening for dinners starting in February. It will just be friday and saturday nights for now as we collect signatures (only 600 more to go!) for a beer and wine license and get this whole dinner thing figured out. By spring we hope to be open 5 nights a week and to be able to serve you a refreshing locally brewed beverage with that.  It will be a bright and busy couple of months for us, so if things start looking a little too dark in your neck of the woods, come by and see what's up, or, as my friend Tom Bodett likes to say: "We'll leave the light on for ya..."

LoopyCups

We've received many favorable comments as well as questions about our new cups featuring our logo. Homer coffee connoisseurs have probably seen custom logo cups all over town and the peninsula as they flit from watering hole to watering hole. We have the inside story about these cups and thought it would be appropriate to write about it here.
About 12 years ago, we first inquired about what it would take to get our logo on our paper cups from our new paper products distributor (and future husband to Sharon) Dale Banks, with Loopy Lupine Recycled Products. At the time, two really large corporations controlled most of the production of coffee cups, and we would have had to buy about 100,000 cups at a time in order to get our name in lights, like the big coffee shops. Our tiny supply closet barely held any backstock, requiring us to constantly call Dale to heroically rescue us from our suddenly running out of cups in the middle of a lunch rush ("oh, Da-ale!!"); actually buying a gazillion cups in advance AND finding a place to store them was obviously out of the question (and may have proven detrimental to a budding romance...).
Fast forward 12 years and a lot of research: Loopy Lupine Distribution is all about the LOOPYCUP! Available in 12, 16 and 20 oz., Dale prints and forms thousand of cups for local coffee shops. The paper is sourced from Forest Stewardship Council certified paper stock, which is coated in a biodegradable plant-based plastic. The printing utilizes water-based inks, and the waste is recycled after being played in by our children.
In case you think this is just child's play, we should mention that the production space is solar heated, and is a straw bale design utilizing local wood and recycled materials.
We are sorry that not everyone has time to sit in our shop and drink coffee out of a nice mug. But if ever you forget your travel cup and you still want to make a better environmental choice while drinking coffee or soup on the go, have no fear - LoopyCups are here!

Baker boys rolling in the sunshine!

This time of year, the sun shines in low below the roof, giving us amazing light to work by...

Ben Gerhards rolls the pastry dough.

and Shea Babich is all up in the ham danishes...(or ham jobs as we like to call them)

Oh, Yeah...the new enclosed porch opened for seating this week...look for dinners on the weekend by the beginning of February! (and better pics as soon as the sun comes out again)

Ski Dinner 2011...Go Mariners!

Irene and Jill dish and dress the Cioppino

The lack of snow on the ground this year is proving that winter weather in what is essentially a northern rain forest, is not to be counted upon. When it is here, the snow provides endless entertainment for virtually every kind of person. You can ski  (downhill too!) or snowmachine on the vast and varied trails. You can go sledding or snowshoeing, build snow forts (Ryans are amazing) or just enjoy the moonlight sparkle across the yard on a full moon solstice night. When the snow is not here, what you have is a whole town full of crabby people. Winter is almost 9 months long and for many of us, it's a whole lot more fun if it's really winter. They have more of the fluffy white stuff in NYC. Makes me jealous, nothing quiets people down more than a snow storm and following the snowbound Ruth Reichl's tweets tempered with the mischievous echoes of Ruth Bourdain has me wishing I could take the forced break in my life that only a good snowstorm can bring. My friend, author Daniel Coyle addresses the necessity of solitude to our creative success on his Talent Code blog. He definitely makes a good case for getting away from it all on regular basis. I wonder how to do that.
There was no solitude this past weekend for sure as I got my chef on and, along with some friends (Thanks, Barb, Irene, Jill and Maya...you all were awesome, as usual!) made some fine food for the annual Homer High School Nordic Ski Team Dinner. The theme this year was 'Nuts for skiing' , but if this weather keeps up, they'll have to start calling it 'nuts for not skiing'! Here was the menu:
Starters-
anti pasti...spiced nuts...melon and proscuitto
Appetizer trio-
Rockfish Crudo...alaskan charcuterie...fresh oyster with pommegranate and champagne
Pasta & Salad-
Cappelini carbonara with smoked salmon roe and home cured pancetta
arugula and tangerine salad with red onion vinagrette
Main Courses-
Cioppino with crab, rockfish and shrimp
or
Flank steak and crab roulade with oven roasted polenta and red wine reduction
Dessert trio-
Tiramisu...raspberry napolean...chocolate bombe

Moose summer sausage, Reindeer salami and house made lavender cured delta pork belly

Rockfish crudo on deck

Cioppino awaits the servers

Service went great with lots of help from all the parents and students on the team.  Thanks also to Pauli and Harmon Hall for their amazing space. It is one great place for a party.

Word is they raised $10,000...Great Job everyone!

Our Ciabatta hits the big time....

 Happy New Year, everyone! I'm a little late on my greetings this year, but you'll have to excuse me, we have had a lot going on. We battled through the first weekend of 2011, staying open even on New Years Day. Then Monday saw the delivery of our new 3 door lowboy refridgerator and all the furniture for the new porch. Also, Sharon put out the petition to collect signatures for our beer and wine license. A huge project that we think will give a whole new meaning to hanging out on the porch. (Dinners coming soon, too!) Then, on Tues my friend and mentor Michael Ruhlman asked if I could pull together a guest post for his excellent blog. The top of my head almost blew off. Thank goodness I had the next day away from the bakery so I could get myself together. (read my post on ciabatta here) When I went back on Thursday, this is just a taste of what I found:

This is going to be great. More to come...

Here is a sample of what Brianna has been up to!

View from the baking table 12/28/10

We were feeding everyone today!

Happy Solstice!

In Latin solstice means sun standing still. In Homer right now, that's exactly how it feels. The sun seems to move so slowly in it's short arc across the sky. Celebrating Solstice by the lighting of lights, the gathering of people for feasting and celebration are all really just ways to get through the long days with very little light from the sun and, in the northern hemisphere, cold temps which limits outdoor movement and gives way to 'cabin fever'. We are no strangers to cabin fever here in southcentral Alaska, though we have nothing to complain about compared to Barrow in the far north, which lost it's sun about a month ago and will not see it again for another month! All over the state, solstice celebrations go back as far as the indigenous peoples who populated our shores. When the russian's brought orthodox christianity, the roman's had already decided that christ's birth should also be celebrated at this time of year, weaving a colorful tapestry of tradition through our festivities. This year we were all brought together by a common thread in the occurrence of a lunar eclipse during the full moon on solstice. They say it hasn't happened since Galileo's time. With clear skies holding strong all week, everyone in town was buzzing about it. The weatherman called for cloudy skies that night, but for once we were glad they were wrong!

I could not get a good shot of the actual eclipse to save my life, but my friend Michael Armstrong has some great pictures up on the Homer News website. Everyone I talked to the day after had seen it. It was an amazing shared experience and I remember as I sat by the fire that night, surrounded by all our great neighbors, it felt like we stepped back in time and were celebrating the beginning of the holiday season by focusing on what really matters, the marvels of the world around us, good people to share that world with, and oh yeah...staying warm. It was one chilly night.

Here are some snowflakes that won't make you chilly! In fact they are nice and spicy so they warm you from the inside out...perfect accompaniment to hot chocolate on a cold evening of celestial wonder.

Thanks to Ben and Irene and Shea, Abbey and Ryan and Stephanie for pumping out the most amazing cookie display we've ever had. You are all awesome! And to the Barista's who keep the cookie train running: Bri and Jill, Rachel and Hailey and Beth, Maya and the amazing Natalia. We are so grateful to you all! 

We are taking orders just until the end of the day today, though our elves will be baking away to make sure there are enough holiday treats for everyone. 

We'll be open Christmas eve until 4pm. Closed Christmas Day.

Back to our regular schedule after that, yes we will be open New Years Day with lot's of biscuits and gravy to soak up the last of the holiday cheer.

Northern Lights

The clear cold weather we've been having is the perfect time to look for the northern lights. Local photographer Dennis Anderson has been shooting the aurora all over Alaska, but his images from the Homer area are my favorite (find more of his fantastic work at auroradude.com). We get less of the red colors than they see in the far north, but the greens and yellows and blues that wind their way through the sky here perfectly reflect the sea and snow of the landscape below. At the Homer Nutcracker faire this past weekend, my husband and I stopped to chat with him at his booth (see Dennis' response at the end of this post, let's just say he clears up a few things!) and his photographs reminded me of something we had been working on at the bakery.

Stained glass cookies are a beautiful way to dress up cut out sugar cookies. Just smash up any hard candy and sprinkle in the holes of your favorite shape. Bake as usual. 

  

We love these maple butter cookies, so good they'll make you see stars.

(or if your lucky, the northern lights!)

Aurora Update:

Dennis just sent me a note after reading over my post to correct me on my aurora facts. I have always seen mostly green and yellow lights here and was told by someone long ago that it was because we were so far south and that the lights were related to the cold, but he tells me:

"Even though the auroras are visible more frequently further north, the percentage of colorful shows is lower. we actually get more colorful shows down here. They are still quite rare, but one reason is that the colorful events are related to powerful solar flares.The strong geomagnetic storms resulting from these  flares, and there coronal mass ejections, or CMEs,  drive the auroras further south so even though we don't get auroras as often, when we do they are more likely to "count". Another reason has to do with the angle of the charged particles entering the atmosphere. Further north the angle is more direct and further south the angle becomes less direct so the the particles end up taking more time to penetrate the thin air. This also contributes to more red emission. Most all of my colorful shots are taken right here on the Kenai rather than further north with very little exception.

   Another mis-conception is that the auroras are  in some way is related to the cold. In reality, there is no direct relation as auroras occur all year. We just are not able to see them during the brightest summer months but I have seen them from late July to late May from Homer. Clear skies and darkness are all that is required (and a little solar activity). Of course, in the winter clear skies usually mean cold so that is how people come to relate the two." 

That's two urban, er, I mean rural, myths debunked for me...thanks, Dennis!

Aurora Update #2

An anonymous commenter left me a link to an interesting site where you can view the northern lights while they are happening!  Here it is: The Aurora Max Project.

Thanks to you, Anon...but one question...where did your comment go? First it was there, then it wasn't! Regardless, I appreciate the link, very cool website.

Cookie Nirvana 2010