From Beans to Meat - Cured Salami

Dear Folks,

I have been posting on my new love - bean "burgers" - something I have wanted to try making tasty-to-me recipes, and ones my bean-loving guy will love also.

I think I nailed those:  A Bean Sausage Pattie and a Black Bean Burger.

Yesterday I pulled my dry curing Salami out of the refrigerator and thoroughly enjoyed a few slices with some strawberries.  I had put it in December 14th.

I have posted about making this before, inspired by Jacques Pepin's Saucisson of Pork Tenderloin.

This is a pork tenderloin, marinated overnight in salt and sugar, then wiped clean and patted with spices and a bit of Brandy (he used Cognac).

4 or so weeks of curing in the refrigerator produces an air dried salami that is outstanding.  It is salty so a few thin slices goes a long way as a treat with fruit, maybe some cheese, and glass of juice or wine.   How long to cure depends on how thick your choice of tenderloin is.  Mine were slender pieces and I could have taken them out a bit sooner than 4 weeks.

My Dry Cured Salami

One 1-pound pork tenderloin
1 cup kosher salt
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 tablespoon brandy
1 tablespoon cracked black pepper
1 tablespoon herbes de provence
Can be double for two 1 pound tenderloins

Remove any silver skin from the tenderloin. If there are tips (points) on either end of the meat, trim so the width is similar all along. (Use the trimmed pieces for something else.)

Mix salt and sugar together place in ziplock bag, add meat, seal bag and shake to coat. Refrigerate overnight.
Have ready a pan with rack ready.
Remove meat from bag and wipe dry with paper towels. Rub meat with mix of brandy, pepper and HDP.
Place the tenderloins in your refrigerator on a rack where the air can circulate around them.
The tenderloins will dry out in five to six weeks.

Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator.  They will keep many weeks or even a couple of months - if they last that long.

Don't forget the Back 2 Basics Living Bundle starting January 17th.

This collection of simple living ebooks is a discounted library of useful information.
You can sign up here to get notified when the bundle becomes available, or watch for my post with all the information on the day before (January 16th).

And also watch for my posting later in the week with February's Planting, Sowing and Maintenance tips.

Have a best day!

-- Catherine, The Herb Lady

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Black Bean Burger Recipe, Around the Garden and The New Bundle Coming

Dear Folks,

This Black Bean Burger turned out great.  The look and close taste of a beef burger, but with all the goodness of black beans and oatmeal -- plus herbs.

I posted the other day about my very first Bean "burger" try, which is really more sausage.  I have been telling myself for several years now I just need to get to it and make some and see how they turned out.  I should have done this a long time ago.  Each is great in their own way.  Here is the link for the "bean sausage burger" recipe post. 

The side salad you see in the picture is made with my unripe pumpkin (broke from the vine), my purple sweet potato, some Irish potato and marinated artichoke hearts.  See note below about the unripe pumpkin.

Back to the Black Bean Burger.  I now have a formula that works well using a can of drained and rinsed beans and old fashioned oats ground to flour, plus a beaten egg all to bind nicely.  Herbs and spices and a little liquid smoke to give it a grilled flavor.

This plated meal was made Wednesday. Yesterday I used the remaining burgers, warmed, to make a nice burger sandwich with all the usual fixings (greens from the garden were sorrel, sweet potato leaves and a couple of good sized nasturtium leaves).  The burger on toasted bread, mine with mustard, Deane's with enough condiments to make it run down his arm, was great!

My Bean Burger Recipe

1  15 oz can black beans drained and rinsed
1/4 cup oat flour (old fashioned oats ground to flour)
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon each dried thyme and rosemary, crushed
1 egg, beaten
4 drops liquid smoke

2 tablespoons avocado oil

Mix all dry ingredients together.  Add liquid smoke to beaten egg.

In a food processor grind drained beans, leave some whole

In a bowl mix beans, dry ingredients and beaten egg.

Heat pan to medium, add oil and when it shimmers, use spatula to drop about 1/4 cup of mix on to hot pan and flatten with spatular - about 4 fit in a pan whithout touching.

Cook 4 minutes and flip, cook 3-4 minutes more.

Serve on plate with a side or as a burger with usual burger additions.

I am still waiting for my Upper Ground Sweet Potato Pumpkin to finish ripening!!  While much of the vine was killed in the frost a couple of weeks ago, this fruit is still ripening and I do not want to pick too soon. In the mean time while checking about the same time as the frost, I discovered another immature fruit had separated from the vine. DARN!  I put it aside to figure out what I wanted to do.

I finally decided to use it like squash, cut, clean, roast and it worked out really nicely.  This was a trick I figured out a couple of years ago when some baby watermelons fell off the vine.  Not wanting them to go to waste I reasoned they were simply "squash" and treated them like so.  In the case of the watermelon the fruit was sweet all the way to the rind.  In the case of the pumpkin it needed to be treated like the hard winter squash it is and baked/roasted to tenderness.

I used some of the baked "squash" cut up to make the "potato" salad shown with the burger above.  My Molokai Purple sweet potato along with an organic potato left over from Christmas and some marinated artichoke hearts with marinade made a nice side dish.

I still have some of this squash left over and I may add to either a chili I want to make or cook up with some scrambled eggs.

Meanwhile I am being patient waiting for the main pumpkin to ripen.  The weather was so weird this fall that the fruit did not pollinate until mid September, much later than it should have taken.

Beside the pumpkin, I have been watching my Coffee Tree.  I know it can be frost/freeze sensitive and it did sustain some damage in that frost a couple of weeks ago, but as you can see (I hope you can see the contrast) the bright new leaves are glowing.  (That is an orange tree and fruit showing behind it.)

As usual NEVER touch frost damage until all danger of frost is over with. 

I have high hopes this year that this young tree along with its "under story" companions avocado and mango will produce something.  We shall see.

Back 2 Basics Living Bundle starts January 17th.  This one week event gets you:
  
53 Authors
59 eBooks, Courses and/or Videos
$529.85 Retail Value
92% Discount (based on $39.97 sales price) 

Plus bonus offers.

Right now the link takes you to a page to sign up for the notice when it starts.  You won't be able to purchase until January 17th.


You have 1 week to purchase the bundle and 1 year to download all of the material.  You will also have the option of purchasing the bundle on a flash drive. 

Topic Categories Include:

Gardening
Homesteading
Raising Livestock
Preserving Food
Planners and Planning
Recycle Ideas
Raising Healthy Children
Natural Cleaning
Income Ideas
Emergency and Crisis Planning
and More!
 
I am taking a few days off line next week to visit with my sister.

I will be posting more on the Bundle later next week AND I will post the monthly February planting/sowing tips.

Have a great weekend in the garden and kitchen,


-- Catherine, The Herb Lady

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Coming Soon!! Back To Basics Living 2018 Bundle.

Dear Folks,

A heads-up the 2018 Back To Basics Living Bundle is coming.

Below some preliminary details.

What is a bundle?  A collection of books, workshops, planners etc. all available for download or on a flash drive (or both) at a deep discount off the combined total value.

This is an opportunity to get a library of educational materials on living a simpler, healthier life, all ready to read at your finger tips.

If you purchased the Bundle last year, you will love this year's content.

Back To Basics Bundle 2018
January 17 - 23, 2018

47 Authors
51 eBooks, Courses and/or Videos
Approx. $400 Retail Value
Approx 90% Discount
Bonus offers

Topics Include
Gardening
Homesteading
Raising Livestock
Preserving Food
Planners and Planning
Recycle Ideas
Raising Healthy Children
Natural Cleaning
Income Ideas
Emergency and Crisis Planning
and More!

Details coming soon.

Have a best day in the garden - we got a half an inch of rain last night. Yay!  




-- Catherine, The Herb Lady

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My New Calendar is Now at Amazon.

Dear Folks,

My new, perpetual calendar, is now available through Amazon.

This new format includes space to write your own garden notes in each month, allowing you to see from month to month, and year to year what your garden has been teaching you.  There is also extra note space in the middle of the calendar.

Of course, all the monthly planting/sowing information is in there too along with maintenance tips and I included some recipes and food pairing information to enhance your cooking fun with garden bounty.

And all of the pictures are from my gardens, each month showing my garden bounty.

Click here to go to Amazon.

If you prefer Barnes & Noble, click here to go there.

A note about the view on ordering sites.  The calendar opens to an 11 x 17, but commercial sites won't let me put the cover image as you see here, so it winds up being side wards.

You can also order from the publisher's site in print or as a PDF.

With all of my writing I hope to encourage and support you in your desire to grow some or more of your own food, right in your backyard, patio or balcony.

Get your growing on, and keep on growing!

-- Catherine, The Herb Lady

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