Inside My Mid-life Crisis

Today I must extol the virtues of my Food Saver Vacuum Packer. I am on my second unit in about 10 years. It is approx $200 initial investment and well worth the money. You will recoup this expense in savings by buying food in bulk then packaging in your desired sizes and freezing for later use.
Meat purchased in family packs is normally a $1 or $2 cheaper per pound. If you buy cheese at Costco or Cash & Carry in large packages you can also break that down into smaller packs and cheese freezes easily.
Many of you know we make our own sausage and we also grind our own hamburger by buying sirloin tip steaks when they are on sale for $3.49 or $3.99 per lb; this is waaaay cheaper then buying the extra lean hamburger and you know EXACTLY what is in it.

I will now demonstrate how to blanch and freeze fresh green beans. I have been doing this for several years. You wind up with lovely packs of green beans that taste as they should that can be enjoyed all winter. You will need:
Beans, Big pot, Bus tub or sink for ice bath, Ice, Big collander, Vac Bags, Vac Packer

Buy your beans at a local market-we have great green beans right here in the Puyallup Valley. I bought this 15 lb box for $18.95 at Valley Farms on River Rd.

Get your BIG pot on the stove and fill with water, bring to a boil--no salt. Mine has a strainer basket in it so it is very easy to remove the beans-if yours doesn't you will need to use tongs to remove when the time comes.
Prepare your beans by cutting the little end off where the bean was attached to the plant. No need to cut the other end off.
Gather them up in a handful and do a bunch at a time. I toss into a bus tub (we bought for making sausage but they are very handy to have around) I like to leave mine whole but you can cut into smaller pieces if you like.
When your water is at a full boil, drop beans by handful into the pot- careful not to overcrowd or flood your pan!
Bring back to a boil (takes a couple minutes) then boil for about 3 minutes. Beans should be "al dente" which means "to the tooth" in Italian and means firm to the bite.
After blanching, place the beans in an ice water bath. This shocks the beans and stops the cooking process. Bring your water back to a boil to get ready for the next batch. Notice the nice vibrant green color the beans remain. mmmm

When cool-remove from the ice bath and drain. If you don't have a big tub for your ice bath, you can use one side of your sink--just be sure to clean it well and rinse any soap or comet out of the sink.
Fill your vac-pack bag with the desired portion and vac and seal accordingly. I portion in about one pound packs which is about 4 one cup servings.

Date your bags and freeze! My box of beans yielded 18 packs of beans so that is $1.05 per bag. They are fresh, local, no additives or preservatives and you did it yourself.
These will last in the freezer a year (if you don't run out!). You don't have to buy 15 pounds- buy 5 and give it a try; you can use zip top freezer bags but with out vac packing them you won't be able to get all the air out and they will only hold about 2 months and may get ice crystals in them which will make them a bit watery but still pretty good.

Has it been a month already since my last post? Time is really flying by and we have been busy enjoying this great summer weather. One of my stand-by's for camping meals (especially for a group) is my baby back pork ribs.
This is a 3 step process so planning is everything. Dry rub overnight-braise-grill.

Ribs:
I usually pick them up at Costco or Cash & Carry ranging in price from $2.99 to $3.99 per pound. They come in packages containing 3 racks of ribs. (Yield is about 9 servings of 4-rib sections).

Dry Rub:
1 1/2 C Brown sugar (light or dark)
1/4 C Kosher Salt
1 t Black Pepper
1/4 t Chipotle Pepper (ground or Chili Powder)
1/2 t Smoked Paprika (optional or regular paprika)
1 t Cajun Seasoning (good 'ol Penzy!)
2 t Sweet Curry Powder (yellow)
Mix rub ingredients in a bowl.
Line a deep roasting pan with 2 layers of foil overlapping a few inches to hang over the top.

Lay the racks in the pan "meat" side up "silver" side down, they will likely overlap a bit or you may need to use more then one pan depending on how big your pan is. **NOTE-you don't have to take that "silver" off, these babies will be so tender you actually need it to hold the meat on the bone!**
Coat liberally with the dry rub on the top/meat side only.
Cover the ribs with another layer of foil pressing it down against the meat and folding over your overlap edges--Refrigerate overnight (or a minimum of 4 hours).
Good morning! The next step is the braise, braising is cooking at low temperature in a liquid. This technique is used for making tough cuts of meat tender, liquid can be water, stock, beer, apple juice or hard cider or something a little more special as below. Use this same technique with a beef or pork roast for succulent results.
Braise Liquid
2 C White Wine (I like to use a Chardonnay)
1/4 C Vinegar ( I used white wine vinegar but cider is great too)
2T Honey
1 T crushed garlic
Dash Tabasco or Franks
Dash Worcestershire sauce
Mix braise ingredients in a bowl and gently poor over the top of your now-24 hour-rubbed ribs. Cover again with the foil.
Bake at 300 for 3-4 hours until meat is tender and pulls away from the bone. Check them after about 2 hours and add more wine or water if needed, you don't want your liquid to dry out.

These are ready to eat now, you can serve immediately with a little BBQ sauce on the side.  To serve later, let them cool a bit before putting them back in the fridge. When you are ready to serve them you can just heat them up on the grill. If you want you can coat with BBQ sauce on the grill. I usually just serve it on the side because these babies don't even need the sauce, they are amazing just as they are. Enjoy and remember, anything worth having is worth working for.

Wine Corner: I have been remiss in getting pictures of bottles for you but I do have this one. Suffice it to say that does NOT mean I haven't been tasting new wines and taking tasting notes tho :)

2007 Athena Dolcetto from the Viansa Winery in Sonoma County CA.
Dolcetto is a black (red) grape from originating from the Piedmont Region of NW Italy. This wine appeared clear and ruby in color. Aroma was light and pleasant with fruit notes. Taste was medium dry with a low acid soft finish. Pretty easy drinker especially in this hot weather, chill it a little so it is not at "room temp" of 80!!