Pepper Cheese Fried Wontons Please

Dear Bloggers,
     The weather is slowly cooling down and the evenings fly in so quickly. We had some lovely friends join us this weekend and I decided to try something new. I had always heard of jalapeño poppers, but I wanted to take my own spin on them. I decided to make Pepper Cheese Fried Wontons and they were so creamy and had such a nice warmth from the peppers. I started by combining cream cheese, diced red pepper, diced poblano peppers, fresh garlic, salt, and pepper into a bowl. I combined all of the ingredients until well combined. I picked up some wonton skins and stuffed them, just as I had in my previous blog, closed them with some egg wash then fried them. Those were vegetarian and I also used the same ingredients and added ground beef that I sautéed and added to the pepper cheese mixture. They both had very different tastes but were equally delicious. If you wanted to take the heat up you could use fresh jalapeño or serano peppers instead. I wanted to make sure that my friends could handle the heat so I chose the poblano. These wontons are pretty forgiving. You can substitute anything you'd like, such as spinach and cream cheese. Well, give them a try, and stay warm this Thanksgiving. Embrace your family and forget not to get caught up in the materialism of the seasons and enjoy what's most important. To me that's family and food. Until the next blog, stay healthy and happy cooking!

A Taste of Asia

Dear Bloggers,
      I never thought I would possess such a profound passion for Asian food, particularly Chinese. Yes, don't we all turn to a takeout box of greasy chicken lo mien on a lonely Friday night? I occasionally turn to Chinese food as it is near and dear to my heart. After going through a year of detesting Chinese, I came around to the dark side and returned my heart. I have always loved eating wanton soup with sliced green onion, spinach leaves, chili paste and some crispy fried wanton strips. The soup brings my heart to a euphoric phase of peace and pleasure. I decided to take a spin at making my own wantons and they were fairly easy. I began by combining 1 cup of ground turkey, with 2 tbsp of green onion, 2 tbsp of carrot, 2 tbsp of spinach, 2 tbsp of parsley, 5 garlic cloves, 1 tsp of fresh ginger, 1 tbsp soy sauce. I added all of the ingredients except the turkey to the food processor until well blended. The consistency should be a very fine chop. I combined all of the ingredients adding salt and pepper to taste and let it sit in the fridge for two hours before working with it. I picked up a package of wanton skins at the local Asian market and tried with both circular and square skins to come up with two different looks.

     When time for stuffing the wantons arrived, I beat 1 egg with 1 tsp of water in a bowl and placed 1 tsp of the filling or less, added a ring of egg wash around the filing then folded them. You can get creative with this step to achieve any desired look. The best idea is to fold the wanton in half then to pinch the bottom end of the stuffed portion and then twist the other two ends around to touch each other. After they are all prepared the simply need to be boiled or fried. I choose to make soup with them and generally they take 6-8 minutes to cook, or until they float for 2 minutes. Careful not to overcook them, or they become mushy. I like to top the soup with fresh spinach leaves, slightly cooked cabbage, fresh green onion, parsley, and chili paste. It is quite a delicious day time snack. Eat up kids and until next time, stay healthy and happy cooking!

Charcuterie At It's Finest

Dear Bloggers,

Happy Saturday evening! I'm hard at work writing a debate for my argumentation class in favor of expanding the DC public transit from its current 17 mile radius to a 40 mile radius. I can't help but want to write about my true love, salame and today I am here to do so. I thought that it would be wise to take the art of charcuterie or salumi as it is in Italian, into my own hands. I figured, why spend $30 on a 2 lb cut of coppa piccante from Colombus when I have the capabilities to make it myself. Thus, I researched several blogs and youtube videos, providing multiple insights to compare which products turned out best. I came to find my own way, in which I hope will turn out fine. I have yet to complete the product, but I wanted to start this blog to show you my journey through this process.
I began by first purchasing a cut of pork shoulder with the fat and skin attached. After cutting four inches from the bone, I mixed 1 part himalayan pink salt with 1 part kosher salt and began rubbing the meat generously, working it into every crevice of the tissue. I placed the shoulder on a cookie rack on a pan, covered it in plastic wrap and came back to it two days later. It lost a significant amount of moisture and most of the salt was gone, so I again mixed up the pink and kosher salt, liberally applied it, and turned the meat over. I repeated this process until day seven.

At day seven, I knew the meat was ready as it shrunk slightly and reached the firmness of pancetta. I rinsed the meat off in cold water, then created a bath of red wine to rinse the meat and let it absorb some of the flavors. I chose to use a Spanish wine I picked up at Trader Joe's, La Granja, a nice dry flat wine. I didn't want the meat to absorb too much flavor from the wine, so I thought it would be appropriate to use a subtle flavor.

Following the wine soaking that lasted about 10 minutes, turning it halfway through, I patted it dry with a paper towel. I mixed 1 tablespoon of paprika, 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper, 1 teaspoon of black pepper, and 1 teaspoon of cumin together. I then dry rubbed the shoulder in the same fashion as I did with the salt, getting it into ever flip and flap. After, I grabbed my beef bung, yes, that's the end of the large intestine of a cow, and stuffed my pork shoulder carefully into the casing. I picked up some butchers twine and tied it however made sense and it looks like it came out pretty well. I proceeded to rinse off my beef bungy hands and hang the coppa in the corner of my fridge. 

After three weeks, this is how it is looking. It's sitting in my fridge where the temperature is approximately 45 degrees. It is supposed to be in a curing chamber where the temperature can be perfectly regulated at 55 degrees fahrenheit, but I had to settle on the good ol' fridge. I read through another blogger's experience with homemade coppa and he cured it in his bathroom at room temperature 70-75 degrees fahrenheit and from his results, it worked out just fine. I didn't want to take any unusual chances with my first coppa, so I played it safe and decided the fridge would be a good alternative. Now it's just a waiting game. Based off of what I read and from professional charcuterie websites, you must wait for the meet to decrease by 2/3 it's original size. This can take anywhere from three weeks to 6 months and it is also a matter of preference. Do you want a really hard texture or do you prefer a softer, meatier texture. With coppa, it is a medium between rock and bacon. Thus, I will get back to you, my bloggers. Thank you for keeping up with me and I'm sorry about the magnificent delay in entries, but consistency will improve because it's getting closer to the holidays and that can only mean one thing, indulgence. Until tomorrow, stay healthy and as usual, happy cooking!