Bring Home the Bacon
Add prosciutto or slab bacon to a dish for the sheer delight of it.
Any dish that calls for prosciutto or slab bacon can probably be made without it. You don’t really need either one in a simmering soup or a long-cooked beef stew. But you’d miss the delightful salty or smoky flavor they lend a pot. And without it, the classic pear and Gorgonzola appetizer – in which paper-thin slices of prosciutto di Parma are wrapped around the fruit and cheese – would look, and taste, pale. Slab bacon, or bacon that hasn’t been sliced, is an American favorite, yet it’s hard to find. Only quality smokers leave the bacon in one piece, and good butchers sell it that way. Prosciutto, on the other hand, which is dried, rather than smoked, is at delicatessen counters everywhere. Though the nearly transparent slices are expensive (prosciutto can cost $21 a pound), they add luxury to a dish.
PEAR HALVES AND BLUE CHEESE WRAPPED IN PROSCIUTTO
Serves 4
The fruit must be very ripe for this appetizer. If you have only nearly ripe pears, they can be roasted (see below); their heat will melt the cheese slightly to form a cream sauce.
2 large ripe Anjou or Comice pears
2 ounces Gorgonzola or other blue-veined cheese, cut into 4 slices
4 slices prosciutto
½ cup walnut halves (optional)
Halve the pears and use the tip of a knife to remove the cores. Leave the stems in place. Set a slice of cheese on each pear half. Wrap a piece of the prosciutto around the halves. If using walnuts, toast them in a dry cast-iron skillet over medium heat for a few minutes, shaking the pan constantly, until the nuts are aromatic. Sprinkle the pears with nuts and serve at once.
ROASTED PEARS
Lay the halved pears in a small baking dish, cut sides up. Dot them with butter. Roast the fruit in a 400-degree oven for 20 minutes or until they begin to brown and their fragrance fills the room. Remove them from the oven. Follow the instructions for ripe pear halves above.
BRAISED BEEF WITH WINE AND BACON
Serves 6
1 chuck roast (4 pounds)
4 thick strips slab bacon
1 tablespoon butter
2 onions, each cut into 6 pieces
2 carrots, cut into 2-inch pieces
½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
¼ teaspoon pepper, or to taste
½ pound shiitake mushrooms, quartered
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups chicken stock
2 cups water, or more if necessary
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Cut the meat along its natural lines, separating it into 5 or 6 large pieces. In a large flameproof casserole, render the bacon over medium-low heat, turning often, until it begins to soften and the fat melts. Turn the heat up to medium and cook the bacon for 5 minutes, still turning often, or until it is golden. Transfer the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels. Set it aside.
Discard all but 1 tablespoon of fat from the pan. Add the butter. When it melts, cook the chuck over medium-high heat, turning it often, until it is browned all over. Remove the meat from the pan. Add the onions, carrots, salt, and pepper to the pan. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring often, or until the vegetables begin to soften. Add the mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Stir the flour into the pan. Cook for 3 minutes or until the flour starts to brown. Stir in the stock and 2 cups of the water. Let the mixture come to a boil, stirring constantly.
Cut each piece of bacon into 6 pieces. Add them to the pan with the tomato paste. Return the meat to the pan. Add 1 tablespoon of thyme. Let the liquid return to a boil. Turn the heat to low, partially cover the pan, and simmer for 2 1/2 hours or until the meat is very tender – when you pierce the center of the meat with a fork, it should offer no resistance. During cooking, add more water to the pan if necessary. Taste the liquid for seasoning and add more salt and pepper if you like.
Cut each piece of meat into 2 pieces. Sprinkle the stew with the remaining 1 tablespoon of thyme and the parsley. Ladle onto 6 deep plates and serve with steamed potatoes.
MADE IN THE USA: La Quercia Prosciutto Americano was recently introduced to the US market by Herb and Kathy Eckhouse, who produce it at a small plant in Norwalk, Iowa. For more than three years, the couple lived in Parma, Italy, where they learned to make prosciutto. Using humanely raised American pork, the Eckhouses bone out the less desirable parts of the leg, hand-salt the meat that’s left, and let it cure for seven months. This mimics the Italian system of slaughtering in the fall, holding the legs through winter and summer, and eating the ham almost a year later. La Quercia prosciutto is available at many Whole Foods Markets and at Formaggio Kitchen, Cambridge (617-354-4750).
ASK THE COOK: Stop on Green
I have often heard that once the skin of raw potatoes begins to turn a greenish color, they are not safe to eat. Is this true, and if so, why? If they are peeled before cooking, would they then be OK to eat? And is there a way to store raw potatoes so that they do not turn green?
As with most plants, the greening seen in potatoes is from the development of chlorophyll caused by exposure to light. Thus, storage guidelines typically include keeping potatoes in a “cool, dark place.” But it is hard to eliminate all light in storage and processing, and a small amount of green on a potato chip or a french fry is not uncommon.
The greening may indicate a possible increase in glycoalkaloids and in particular solanine, a naturally occurring chemical that is part of potatoes’ biological defenses. The amount of solanine in a potato is usually not harmful. To a person highly susceptible to allergens, however, it could represent a serious problem.
To be safe, purchase potatoes without any greening whatsoever, and then protect them by storing them in paper bags in that proverbial cool, dark place. Peel any potatoes that have started to discolor to remove all traces of green before cooking.
It is interesting to note that potatoes belong to the so-called nightshade family of plants, a group that also includes belladonna – which can be poisonous but also produces a chemical used in the treatment of asthma – and tobacco, whose glycoalkaloid is nicotine.
Answer by Peter J. Kelly, a chef-instructor at Johnson & Wales University. 