Experimenting

Life is too short to not try everything...now when I say everything I am referring to food. I don't necessarily mean everything in the Andrew Zimmern fashion of everything. There is something about sitting in a cave munching bbq'd bats that does not say yum to me.

However, when I walk into the Allentown's Farmer's Market I get this over all buzz that takes over my brain and pulls me to every stand looking for the perfect combinations of vegetable, meat and seasonings.

My favorite shop of late, about 2 years now, is the Clover Farms butcher. They have some of the most beautiful cuts of meat I have ever seen. They also make the most delicious artisanal sausages I have ever had the pleasure to cook with. Although I must confess we have never just sat down and eaten them in a sandwich or with pasta or mashed potatoes. I find that I like to take their sausage meat out of the casing and use it with other ingredients to create exciting combinations that even the employees at the butcher haven't thought about.

For instance, they make this amazing sausage called "The Godfather" it has wild mushrooms and parmigiana reggiano cheese mixed in with the pork. I took that out of the casing, sauteed it with shallots and a little garlic mixed in some mascarpone cheese and a cup or two of green peas and then served it over pasta (homemade tagliatelle was the best) but you can also use linguine or other wider pasta too.

They also make this great sausage called "American Pie", it is pork mixed with apples and cheddar cheese. I took this out of the casing and again sauteed it with shallots and garlic. I then took a turkey breast, filleted layers into it and filled it with layers of prosciutto, the sausage mixture and asparagus spears. Rolled it up, placed more prosciutto on top and then baked it till it was 180 degrees. It was amazing for dinner and then made a delicious sandwich when sliced and put on a crusty roll. We've also used this same sausage sauteed with cauliflower and served over sweet potato ravioli too, but that is another entry all together.

So, what is my goal here? To try new things, to explain what it was like and get feedback from others as to what their experience is with the same item.

I hope we can have a good time here and have every meal together be a celebration of all that is available to us.

See you next time
dina