Bloody Mary Week: Classic B.M. w/Fire Roasted Tomato Olives + Bresaola

    Today's Bloody Mary garnish has no cheese in it.  I know.  That's pretty weird.  But bear with me, here.  For Charcuterie makes a strong appearance.  Particularly Bresaola Piccola from Creminelli Fine Meats.  
    I'm not much into eating beef, however this air-dried eye of round is amongst my favorite pieces of charcuterie.  The salt and pepper profile of the beef blends well with the spicy-tomato of the Classic Bloody Mary.  Meanwhile the olives provide their astringent vegetal flavors paired with a fire-roasted tomato filling.  All together this topping lends a smokey, vaguely peat-y, roasted note to the cocktail as a whole.  

Fire Roasted Tomato Stuffed Olives w/Bresaola

Green Olives, pitted

Fire Roasted Tomatoes,  in oil

Bresaola, sliced paper thin

• Drain and pat dry olives
• Drain tomatoes(Set aside the oil. It makes an awesome drizzle for arugula salad or chicken breast.) cut width wise into thin strips.
• Stuffing these olives is fairly easy.  I found that folding up the tomato piece and just poking it into the olive worked fine.  
• String your stuffed olive and Bresaola slices onto a skewer in an ascetically pleasing way.
• I also suggest taking a little nibble of garnish before sipping the cocktail.  Though, I'm sure that goes with out saying.

Enjoy!

    (Responsibly)     

For the Classic Bloody Mary recipe see The Board and Wire post here!

(Oh and one more thing.  That little bit of something dangling off the skewer is called a flower pepper.  It's a real scorcher!)

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Casalingo Salami

    So it seems I haven't made enough time for that other area of specialty foods dear to my heart.  Charcuterie (or Salami).  Now Charcuterie is really the Luigi to cheese's Mario.  As Bourdain is to Ripert.  You understand.  They are meant to occupy the same culinary space.  As most cured meat also developed in tandem with a cheese.  In a time when finding creative ways to preserve food was of utmost importance.

Continued after the jump...

A Letter from the Author: Milestones

    You guys.  I have big news.  The Board and Wire Blog is turning one year old.  Seriously.  I can hardly believe it myself!

    Here's to one whole year of fits and starts.  One year of learning what the heck all (or two of) those buttons do on my Fiance's camera.  One year of finding some semblance of style, then scrapping it and starting over.  Here's to being the crazy neighbor on her balcony in the evenings shooting frame after frame of inanimate food just to catch the "right light".  And becoming better at it.  Here's to one year of successful documentation of one of my life's greatest passions.
    To celebrate that milestone I have taken what I feel to be a next step in my journey with T.B.A.W.  I have purchased my first set of business cards.  Whoa.  This is starting to feel legit.
    Thank you, dear readers, for sticking it out through the shaky first posts, a long absence, and ultimately to where we are now.  It only gets better from here.

Best,
Ash

P.S. I could not have come so far in my photography endeavors without the help and guidance of my Dear Fiancee, Ian.  Thank you, love, for pushing me, helping me, and unflinchingly reading my T.B.A.W efforts through good and bad.  You are my favorite.

Vine Street Brews.

Lookit that lace.

Mountain Sun Brewery Bavarian Hefeweizen.  

 Playful citrus, clove, and candied banana notes.  Circus peanut even made a brief show.  All kickin' flavors when it comes to a well rounded Hef.  The only beer to end a 100 degree high desert day.  Pair with Humboldt Fog, Lamborn Bloomer or a nice puck of Capricho de Cabra

Random Recipe: Buttermilk Roasted Chicken

Okay folks this post actually has nothing to do with cheese.  Thus making my closing statement of my last entry null and void...at least until next time.  However I feel compelled to share the following recipe link with the world.
I prepared this Buttermilk Roasted Chicken (note: I added a dash of chile powder and a pinch of tumeric since I was lacking paprika) for friends last night and was rewarded with squeaky clean plates and arguments over who got the last piece.  Yeah, ego trip.

How it looks in the Smitten Kitchen.  Mine was less boney.

The Smitten Kitchen (see clicky links in the side bar) is now my favorite go to blog for quick, innovative, and so-good-your-friends-will-dry-hump-your-leg recipes.