Campanelle and Pancetta in a Smoky Cheddar Goat Cheese Sauce

Diana — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:40:00 +0000

I made this to go with the barbecued ribs we had for dinner the other night. Macaroni and Cheese is a classic meal to go with barbecued ribs, but I had Smoky Cheddar Goat Cheese, so I thought I’d put in a few little twists. The campanelle is a nice sturdy pasta that holds cheese well and the pancetta ups the smoky factor nicely. The Smoky Cheddar Goat Cheese looked and tasted drier than I expected, so adding a little extra milk or cream was necessary. However, in a sauce it was terrific tasting. The cheese is Misty Creek Goat Dairy Cheddar Goat Cheese Smoked from U.S. Wellness Meats. I didn’t want a thick creamy sauce because I thought it would overpower the pancetta, so it was more of a light cheese sauce – at least for me.

Ingredients:

8 oz Campanelle pasta
3 oz pancetta sliced in to strips.
2 tbs butter
2 tbs wheat flour
2 cups whole milk or cream
1 cup shredded Smoky Cheddar Goat Cheese
grated parmesan

Cook up Campanelle according to box instructions, drain in colander. In a deep pan, cook up the pancetta removing it from the pan right before it is crispy. Add the butter to the pan and turn down the heat a little so it melts and doesn’t burn. When it is melted stir in the flour until all the liquid is absorbed, and pour in the milk and whisk until thickened. Add in the cheese and stir until evenly melted. Add Salt and Pepper as desired. Transfer to another pan for use in the oven, top with grated parmesan and broil for a minute.

Because this cheese is a white, and I used whole wheat flour, the sauce is a little brown looking, as opposed to a yellow cheddar sauce, but was still delicious. I loved the extra smoky bites whenever you got a bite of pancetta.

I also used the Smoked Cheddar Goat Cheese for an egg dish the next day and it melted nicely in with the eggs and veggies. This is more of a shredding cheese and melting cheese, than a cheese and cracker cheese because it’s a little dry. Delicious in your Campanelle and Pancetta, or your egg dishes. Great topping for potatoes or sloppy joes or cauliflower.

Barbecued Beef Chuck Short Ribs – A Nice Treat That You Don’t Want to Share

Diana — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 04:26:00 +0000

The kids would have loved these ribs – if they were home, but we didn’t want to share, so we had them tonight when they were out. Does it sound terrible that we save some of our favorite things for nights when they’re out? Evenings together should be memorable, and delicious, not just sandwich night. Plus, if I put in the effort, my husband does the pots and pans, how cool is that? That’s not to say I spent all day on these ribs because I didn’t. These were precooked cryo-vac ribs in a barbecue sauce. Throw them in a pot of water still sealed for an hour and they are done.

The barbecued ribs were so soft and tender, melt in your mouth delicious. I told my husband that we were probably way over our limit in portion size and could have shared it a little, but as we scarfed it down, we didn’t really care. I made campanelle and pancetta in a smoky goat cheese, and cooked up some orange cauliflower that I froze at the end of the summer. I usually don’t go this far when it’s just us, but my kids are growing up, so I had better get used to meals for two.

The Barbecued Beef Chuck Short Ribs came from U.S. Wellness Meats.

A short background on the company:

U.S. Wellness Meats founder and fifth-generation farmer John Wood was farming the conventional way until a holistic land management seminar showed him the light. Trusting that there was something to this “natural” thing, he raised his first all-forage, grass-fed cow in 1997. The resulting meat was more delicious and healthier than any beef he’d ever encountered: high in omega-3s and Vitamin A and low in fat and bad cholesterol. And though raising beef will never be as sustainable as carrot farming, USWM uses holistic farming techniques that use natural/seasonal growth cycles to raise their animals. We think of USWM meats as a product of the “solar-powered cow.” (The sun feeds the grass which feeds the cow which feeds the, well, you get it.) The meat is free from hormones, pesticides, antibiotics, preservatives and additives.

I can tell you these ribs were out of this world good. U.S. Wellness meats is a mail order company, you order it online, then it’s delivered in a styrofoam cooler to your door. This way the meat isn’t sitting around a freezer case in a store, it’s direct from them to you. This makes a great holiday gift, especially someone who works all day and wants a no fuss delicious meal without the mess. If you go visiting, you can send a thank you for letting me sleep on your couch gift, or if you are far away from your mom, or your kids who could use a little help, this would be a great treat.

U.S. Wellness has a faq page, that I visited and was interested in finding out why they weren’t certified organic. This was their response:

Are you certified organic? Why not?

All U.S. Wellness Meats pastures and animals have been maintained with organic principles in mind since 2000. Unfortunately, the state of Missouri dropped a state-run organic-certification program and turned it over to a private certifier several years ago. The private certifier wanted 3% of the gross income of the preceding year to maintain the license. We politely said no, and felt if Thomas Jefferson were still alive he would concur.

Interesting, huh?

My side dishes used a smoky cheddar goat cheese that I got from U.S. Wellness Meats to try out also. They have all different types of meats including things like lamb oysters – betcha didn’t know where you could find them. Plus U.S.Wellness Meats has cheeses, and soaps and candles made with tallow. It’s worth investigating.

Disclosure: U.S. Wellness Sent me the Meat and Cheeses to review. I gave my honest opinon. That’s it.

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Campanelle and Pancetta in a Smoky Cheddar Goat Cheese Sauce

Barbecued Beef Chuck Short Ribs – A Nice Treat That You Don’t Want to Share