Black eyed pea pork soup

Save the juice from slow cooking a pork shoulder. Add a bag a dried black eyed peas to the juice and enough water to bring the level up a few inches above the dried peas. Bring to a boil and let sit covered for one hour. Add chopped carrots, a diced onion, a cup of chopped celery, left over chopped pork, sun dried tomatoes, some fresh sage and rosemary, a little salt and add white wine. Bring to boil, simmer for an hour or so. Eat. A heavy bread is a nice accompaniment.

pork shoulder instapot + herbs d' provence gravy

I made him wear this tonight (long enough to film) but I also made a gravy so it all works out.

Pork shoulder roast

Cheap white wine, maybe 1 cup?

Something sweet (I used agave syrup because it was there) heavily dashed in

1/4 of a lemon

Oregano

Herbs d'provence tbsp -ish

Put the roast in the pot on a the thing you can lift it out with, fat side up

Add wine, a scant  cup of water

Heavily salt roast, sprinkle with oregano, and some pepper. Just throw in the lemon.

Pressure cook (high) for 90 min. 

After venting pot pull out the roast. Pour 3 cups of juices (there should be a lot) into a shallow pan, high heat to cook it down. Add herbs d provence, salt to taste, 1/2 cup of white wine (you already know I didn't measure it) a pat of butter - let it start to boil down. Sprinkle in flour (using a little shaker with a mesh top works best for me) and whisk until just starting to thicken. You want this still a little translucent and not to thick. Done. It still has a very lemony fragrance but it wasn't overpowering and really worked with the lavender in the herb mix. Slice pork and pour on gravy. (Leftover pork shoulder works great with bbq sauce and pulled the next day)

angels on horseback

Apparently these aren't really Angels on Hirsebak - but I had them this way at Merroir in Topping and thought, I can do that. A little Googling informs me the name usually applied to bacon wrapped oysters. This is better.

Shuck fresh oysters, keep one on the half shell. Pour out some liquid if too much - but not all of it. Place an oyster size piece of prosciutto (or smaller of sliced Va ham) on each oyster. Then sprinkle with fresh sage, thyme, rosemary and chives chopped up. Then place a thin sliced of butter on top. All in a cookie pan with enough edge to catch any spillage. Bake at 350 to 400 about 10 minutes - just to when the ham starts to curl. Eat hot. Kiss the shell. (You'll want to). Best appetizer ever. And even better when the oysters are from here.  

Shepherd's pie (ish)

Making do because I had no peas and no carrots and just 3 old potatoes. But I had lamb stew meat (a little over 2lbs I think). Some lovely baby bella mushrooms, garlic, olive oil, onions, celery, fresh herbs, and some red wine. Oh, and Bisquick (it is handy sometimes). 

And a nice enameled roasting pan with lid  (actually the cheap kind I got at Walmart for a cooking emergency once)

Saute a couple of minced garlic cloves in olive oil. I singed them again but decided that would work. Throw is a few handfuls of chopped celery and the lamb on medium. Once the lamb was browned I added ~8 cloves garlic, some more celery, half a large onion (in big chunks), those 3 potatoes cubed and then the mushrooms just cut in halves. I tied a bunch of fresh oregano, rosemary, thyme and sage up and put that in (mostly rosemary). Then wine (1/2 cup?) And enough water to come 1/2 way up and some salt. I let that come to a boil then turn it down and put the lid on and left it to simmer for a couple of hours. I added more red wine and water as needed to keep the liquid up. I stirred it every now and then. 

When all ingredients were tender I made basic bisquick (yes, a cheat) for about 12 biscuits and patted handfuls to about 3/4 inch thick and covered the stew. Baked at 400 until top turning "golden brown". It needed a little more salt at the table which is how I like things. 

Served with a nice spring salad. 

Eat outside wearing wool. (From same farm)

cooking tip

If you burn the garlic throw it out and start over. Trust me. It's got to go. We ate the mussels anyway but with sadness.

cheese sauce

Cheese sauce like grandma made: butter a few tbsp s, and some way to sprinkle in flour. Medium sauce pan, white wine, milk and all the extra sharp cheddar you can get a 15yr old to grate. And curry. 

Melt butter. Sprinkle in flour, whisk over medium heat. Keep whisking, add wine, add more flour, maybe more wine, maybe some milk, then the grated cheese keep whisking. Lower temp so nothing sizzles. Add a few punched of curry - a light touch. For extra creamy add some dollops of cream cheese. Keep whisking. Pour over any steamed veggies, cauliflower rice and cold salmon left over in the refrigerator. Especially the leftover salmon. 

Finally getting the biscuits right...

At least right for me.
Turn on oven to 400deg
1 stick of margarine (chilled(as in take it right out of the fridge))
3 cups of flours +5tsp baking powder +1/2 tsp salt
Pastry cutter it all up
pour in 1 1/2 cups of blinky milk
stir, but don't go crazy
Butter big ol' cookie sheet
Dump the dough on the cookie sheet and with floured hands
press it out to about 3/4" thick
Cut (a pastry scraper thing works well) into squares and sorta push them apart
Bake until "golden" edges

These split nicely and they are a moist biscuit. Great for gravies and leftover roast.

By "blinky" I mean you don't really want it on your cereal but it's not exactly offensive to the nose if you tell the nose you aren't planning on drinking it. If you zap it in the microwave for <30 second it gets thick and might make you feel more secure. I know you can sour the milk with a little lemon juice but that's cheating plus it just tastes like you added a little lemon juice to your milk.

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I would have taken a biscuit picture but there was no time. This beaver has nothing to do with biscuits. But I imagine when they are somewhere warm and dry (the beavers) they might like a nice moist biscuit with jam. Also they have the general body shape and work ethic I associate with eating good homemade biscuits...with butter of course.