The River Cafe cookbooks top my list in this blog post:
My Ten Favorite Cook Books

There are a few things in life that I truly enjoy; one of those things is anything that has to do with pigs, pork and pork products. Every Christmas when the Lavallée clan gathers in Shawville, Quebec, my mother calls upon one of the many farmers in the area to slaughter a pig for us for our numerous pork dishes that we make over the holiday season. Ragout De Pattes De Cochon, Tourtiere, Gigot De Porc and Cretons are just a few of the items that can be found at our table, and this year I tackled the “gigot de porc” for Christmas dinner and it was amazing! Here are the steps that I took to prepare this easy and awesome meal!

This year I had a huge 24lbs leg of pork; just enough to feed us hungry Lavallée’s after a hard day of present opening and wine drinking! I started off by pre-heating the oven to 400F and scoring the skin of the pig with my trusty utility knife (none of the knives in the ‘ville could even come close to cutting through the skin of this beast!). Once the skin was scored, I generously rubbed it with freshly cracked black pepper, dried savoury and lots of coarse sea salt.

Now that the first seasoning was done, it was time to stud this beast. I used one whole head of locally grown garlic; cloves peeled and cut in half lengthwise. I inserted the cloves into small slits that I made throughout its flesh. I also pushed some rosemary sprigs into the slits to add extra flavour.

Before heading into the pre-heated oven I gave our friend another sprinkling of salt and fresh pepper. As you can see in the photo, I use an old Turkish coffee grinder for my pepper. After all of the seasoning was finished it went into the oven for a six hour journey!

Three hours into the pig’s special journey, we checked in on it to see that the skin had started to “crackle” and the meat was running some very flavourful juices. At this point the house smelled amazing and it was becoming increasingly difficult to not stick our hands in the oven to scam a piece of the crispy skin!

Six hours later our “beast” made its official final appearance, and boy oh boy, did he look and smell incredible! I covered the pig with some foil and let it rest for about another half hour, then peeled off some of the crackling skin and carved him up! What a moist, delicious pig we had on our table that evening, and it was only fair to pair him with some red wine braised cabbage, mashed yukon gold potatoes and hot mustard. Hope these instructions inspire you to tackle your own beast!

Blue Hill Restaurant - Understated & Elegant

Believe it or not, my husband turns thirty this weekend, and I thought that a trip to NYC for his birthday would be amazing.  So, over comes Grammy to watch the lil’ ham for a few days and away we go. Watch out Big Apple, here we come to eat you!

We arrived in Manhattan and checked into our hotel, The Carlton.  First off, we needed some cold beverages, so we popped into a shop to grab some Stellas and a bottle of wine.  To our dismay, six warm beers cost us $15 and our bottle of wine a whopping $30!  So, strike one for us country bumpkins in the big city! Luckily, we more than redeemed ourselves with our restaurant choice…

That evening, we had a reservation at Blue Hill Restaurant in Greenwich Village. After feeding on nothing more than horrible airport food all day, it’s not surprising that we were both salivating the whole walk there.  A non-descript building housed the restaurant and we entered by going down some stairs that opened up into the dining room.  Once we were seated we decided to order some sparkling; specifically an Italian Spumante.  With drinks in our hands and visions of food on our minds, we quickly ordered with a feverish excitement.  I ordered the “Zucchini & Squash Blossom with Cured Immature Egg, Green Garlic and Purslane”, the “This Morning’s Farm Egg with Chanterelle and Corn”, and as a main “Klaas Martens’ Emmer Quinoa with Peas, Corn, Pancetta and Berkshire Pork”.  Doug on the other hand, ordered “Grilled King Mackerel with Stone Barns Galisse, Dandelion Greens and Pine Nuts”, “Sweet Pea and Mascarpone Ravioli with Stone Barns Bresola and Basil”, and as a main” Grass Fed Lamb with Summer Beans”. Oh my!  All I can say, is that every dish, every ingredient and every taste sensation, was orgasmic!  My “This Morning’s Egg” was by far, the best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth.  Our server, Steve, was very professional and knowledgeable.  He surprised us with an extra course of their “Pastured Chicken”; a luscious, moist breast and crispy piece of thigh.  He paired it with a Barbera; outstanding!  Our mains were over the top.  My pork dish consisted of fatty belly slices with the crispy skin, as well as some braised shoulder pieces. Every item on the plate literally melted in my mouth.  At this point, I was ready to tap out, but somehow managed to save room for a cheese plate that showcased old and new world cheeses.

All I can say to sum up our experience, is that Blue Hill Restaurant blew us away and left us wanting much, much more!  Thank god we went as it has inspired me ten-fold.