I had some pancetta from The Fatted Calf recently. What a treat to have access to such a great product. It reminded me of one of my favorite ways to prepare Black Calypso beans.
Fry a piece or two of good pancetta. When cooked, remove and reserve the meat but sauté some onions and garlic in the pot, using the pancetta fat. When the vegetables are soft, add a few sage leaves and some pre-soaked beans. Cover with water by about an inch and bring to a hard boil. Allow to boil for about five minutes and then reduce to a very low simmer. When the beans are soft, add salt to taste and cook for another 20 minutes. Just before serving, chop up the reserved pancetta and add it to the beans.
You can substitute bacon for pancetta, if you like.
Slow Food Nation Update:
I’m too close to the fire to be objective, but I find this whole new situation a little creepy. Locals in Livingston, Montana are fighting a proposed gated community project that is donating $500,000 to produce the San Francisco Slow Food Nation event, via Alice Waters. I guess Neiman-Marcus is selling the lots and their advertisement says, "Your home site comes with a private gourmet dinner prepared by Alice
Waters, using locally grown and sustainably raised ingredients." Yuck. Read the story at Ethicurean after you bookmark the site. It should be part of your daily reading.
I am the person whose glass is always half full..but after spending the morning reading up on this whole scenario ( I am new to the local, organic eating lifestyle folks chat about these days, even though I have raised my family pretty much this way for 27 years) I can only think of one thing: You just KNEW it would come to this. There is nothing in this world that is immune to commercialism once people start to talk about it, whatever it may be. There is always somebody there who wants to make a buck off of it or exploit it in some manner. I really think the best we can do is make the personal decision to live sustainably, to do the best we can with it and share it when the opportunity presents itself. I wouldn’t be able to afford eating at Chez Panisse, let alone shop at Neiman’s or buy a lot in Montana no matter who made my meal, but then I wouldn’t want that….I don’t CHOOSE to live like that. As much as I feel it is an exploit of something SO simple (living as substainably as one can)I don’t want to judge someone who does choose that as their preference as much as I don’t want to be judged for my way of life…even if it is simpler…has less stress…is refreshing..full of common sense…oops, see how easy that was to push my lovely bit o’lifestyle on you ?
Thanks. You make a lot of good points. I’m the first to say I’m not objective but as someone who lives in an ag preserve that is constantly challenged with new dense housing, I feel their pain.
If you get to the bay area, Chez Panisse is surprisingly affordable and worth the trip. Neiman’s I’d stay away from, but that’s just me.
I hardly know where to begin. This has to be one of the most ridiculous things I’ve heard. Alice Waters sells out for $500k that is going to go to Slow Food. OK. People are spending $2.3m on a homesite in Wyoming and getting a dinner that includes AW’s involvement. OK. Alice Waters has now encouraged people with more money than sense to rape and pillage what little pristine country is left in Montana in the name of Slow Food, which is routinely accused of being “elitist.” And we wonder why people think Slow Food is elitist?????