So, when you buy a whole beast you have to tell the rancher how you want it cut up. This is one of my greatest pleasures in life (next to massaging She Say while my neighbor's daughter serves us champagne and light hors d'oeuvres.)
Exploring the different possibilities for cutting up livestock is not nearly as barbaric as it sounds. You get to choose between delicious possibilities such as Tenderloin Steaks, or Standing Rib Roasts, or Whole Filets. What time of year it is plays a great part in how you have your animal cut up. For example, in the summer we get most of our beef cut as steaks, whereas in the fall and winter we opt for more roasts. An 8 rib standing rib roast is majestic at Christmas time, but kinda overwhelming in August.
Anyway, in addition to naming what cuts you want, you have to explain how you want scrap meat dealt with. For my latest hog I requested all my ground pork be left unseasoned and not processed as sausage. Unfortunately, the butchers apparently can't read and divided the ground pork half as Sage sausage and half as Italian seasoned sausage. And whereas I'd asked for no cured bacon, or ham, they went ahead and cured it.
So, I'm in a bind because I have minimal meat in my freezers and my rancher has 2 lambs waiting for me. It's not THAT far to my rancher, but I prefer to drive out there as infrequently as possible. So, I can take the improperly processed hog and my 2 lambs immediately, or pick up the lambs immediately and go back in a month for a properly processed hog.
Decisions. Decisions.
Anyway, tonight I was torn on what to cook, so basically I did a little of everything.
For starters it was a simple salad with red wine and olive oil and parmesan cheese. She Say wouldn't eat the arugula I had prepared because it has holes in it and she thinks slugs got to it, so I gave her a lovely spring mix my favorite farmer girlfriend prepares.
Secondo was a thai eggplant dish:
Turn pan on to medium high
Add 2-4 TBSP palm oil
Slice 6-9 thai eggplants 1/4 inch thick and add them to the hot oil
Add 2-3 hot peppers
Add TBSP fresh ginger
Let cook until it smells good (5-6 minutes)
Add a bunch of garlic (I used polish garlic I got from my farmer minx that is very pungent (the garlic, not the minx), but has small cloves that are tough to peel)
Add like 3-5-8 TBSP fish oil
Let this all cook until the eggplant is softened and taste good (8-11.7 minutes depending on how hot your pan is)
After the salad and eggplant we cut up a big watermelon that I bought from a wandering, homeless man and gorged.
Anyone that was still hungry was treated to bologna and american cheese sandwhiches on white bread with mayo.
Chef's helper: I been drinking Old Granddad on the rocks for the past 10 hours...when I'm cooking generic, I find it best to stick with a classic.
Music was Morrisey's solo album Vauxhall and I and then the Smiths greatest hits...not sure how I ended up there, but it seemed to fit...maybe because I've worked from home Monday and Tuesday, but have to head into the office tomorrow, so it kinda feels like Sunday night and the Smiths and the Miserable One are definitely Sunday night music.
