Ponce Panini and Honey Matcha Bread

As part of my partnership with Good Cook, I was sent a set of their nonstick knives. The blades are high-carbon steel with a brightly colored nonstick coating, and each one comes with its own color-coordinated knife guard.

So far, I think my favorite of the group is the bread knife, although the red utility knife is going to be very handy for tomatoes.

Now, don't get me wrong - these knives are no substitute for that hand-forged knife made during a full solar eclipse and quenched in unicorn tears that you picked up on your last trip to Atlantis.

These are affordable knives. You can take one to the neighbor's barbecue and you won't have to file an insurance claim if Crazy Aunt Sally packs up your knife along with her left over potato surprise salad.

These are the knives that you pack up and take with you to a picnic or to a potluck. They're nice to use, but not tragic to lose. The least expensive knife is $14.99 and the most expensive is $29.99, so they're budget-friendly. 

Maybe these wouldn't work for slicing sashimi, but they're great for slicing sandwiches. And the little serrations are great for cutting tomatoes. I'm still testing to see which knife I like best for slashing bread dough, which is something I do a lot around here.

The splash of color is nice, too. I'm sure you'll be seeing them in photos on my blog, just because they are so colorful. 

Ponce Panini

See, I think that red knife looks good back there!

I'm using "panini" in the American sense of the word here ... and while you're at it, this is a sandwich, so I'm listing ingredients but not specific amounts for each item. I'll leave that to your excellent discretion.

Butter
Bread
Brown mustard
Thinly sliced ponce (recipe here)
Tomato slices
Baby spinach
Smoked mozzarella

Butter the sides of the bread that will be the outsides of the sandwich. Layer the ingredients. I like to have the cheese right next to the bread, and since I wanted the spinach to wilt a bit that was right next to the cheese.

Use a sandwich press to cook and smash the sandwich (don't smash too hard or you'll have spurting tomatoes) or grill the sandwich in a pan as you would for grilled cheese, until the bread is toasted an the cheese is melted.

Slice and serve while hot.

Honey Matcha Bread (in the bread machine)
Since that was a simple recipe, here's another for the bread I used for the sandwiches. I liked the flavor of this bread a lot, but the color was a little odd. Not quite green, but not quite any other normal bread color either. Like you'd look at it and say, "what color does that want to be, anyway?" I think the color would actually have been better if I had added more matcha to make it more obviously green.

1 teaspoon instant yeast
1 tablespoon honey powder
2 1/2 cups (11 1/4 ounces) bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon matcha tea
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup water

Add all the ingredients to your bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Some want the yeast on the bottom, some suggest that it be on top. Some want water poured in first; some want you to pour it over the flour. So follow their recommendations.

If you have specific settings, set the machine for a medium loaf, light crust. Press buttons as appropriate. When the bread is done, remove it from the machine and let it cool on a rack before slicing.

This post was sponsored by Good Cook.

Ponce - have you ever cooked it?

photo courtesy of Teet's Food Store with permission.

Maybe I should ask you if you know what ponce is. Do you?

First, let me tell you the story about how I got this particular food item. You see, a few months ago - or heck, it was more than that - I was sent some lovely Cajun meats from Teets Food Store through the blog group 37 Cooks. One of the things I received was smoked ponce.

Well, when I got that ponce, I was in the midst of my husband's health crisis. That hunk of ponce was pretty big for just me.

I thought about whacking off a bit and cooking just a little of it, but then I decided to save it so I could share the whole experience with my husband. He's always interested in trying new foods, and this was truly a new food for both of us.

You see, ponce is sort of like a smoked pork sausage, but it's stuffed into a pig stomach. Yep, that's what it is. It's no weirder than sausage stuffed into an intestine, but it does have an ... interesting ... shape.

But how the heck do you cook it?

Let me tell ya, there's not a huge array of recipes for cooking ponce, but I found a few suggestions. And then I figured, hey, it's not much different than other pork products I've worked with. I decided to make a really simple version so the ponce wouldn't be overwhelmed by other flavors.

On night one, I served the ponce simply sliced  with some rice on the side. And then I started using it in other recipes. More recipes will be coming along soon. Very soon.

Braised Ponce

Ponce, sliced

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 ponce (about 3 pounds)
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
2 cups water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or similar heavy pot on medium heat on the stove. Add the ponce and brown on all sides. Or, seriously, since this thing is so odd-shaped, brown it as well as you can.

Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring, until they are fragrant and beginning to soften. Add the water, slap the lid on, and cook for 2 hours.

Since I had no idea what ponce was all about, I wasn't sure what to do with the "skin" I removed some string that was tying the openings shut, and then I sliced it. I could slice through the skin really easily, but it wasn't something I particularly wanted to chew on. So there ya go. Discard the skin, I guess.

Note: if you read the comments, you'll see that the casing is edible and some people say it's the best part, so we'll go with "personal preference" on that one. If it was more crisp, I would have liked it better, so maybe next time I'll either brown it more ahead of time or crisp it more after cooking.

The cooking liquid made a spicy, flavorful "gravy" to serve with the meat and rice.

The ponce I got was the "plain" version; Teet's also sells a cheese and jalapeno version. The one I got was a little bit spicy but not blazingly hot. Really tasty. Very versatile. Highly recommended.

Black Bean Soup with a Cajun Twist

I adore black bean soup with plenty of white rice, plus a garnish of some diced onion for a bit of crunch.

I've been known to add so much rice that I end up with something more like a stew, and other times, I leave it a little more soupy. Sometimes I'll add a little cilantro or sour cream or crumbled cheese as well. Like any soup, there are plenty of opportunities for customization and embellishments.

This recipe is so simple to make, it's almost cheating. Sure, you have to do a little slicing and dicing, but then it all goes into a slow cooker and there's nothing else to do until you're ready to serve.

The sausage I used here was from Teet's who partnered with the blog group 37 Cooks. It was a smoked garlic pork sausage - a spicier Cajun version of a typical smoked sausage. It added a nice amount of spice to the soup, but it wasn't at all what I'd consider spicy hot - just what I'm looking for in a black bean soup.

Black Bean Soup (with a Cajun twist)

2 cups dried black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup diced onion
2 cups diced Teets smoked garlic pork sausage
1 teaspoon cumin
2 teaspoons salt
1 tomato, diced
1 fire roasted red pepper, diced
2 quarts water
2 cups rice, cooked
Diced onion, for garnish

Place the beans, 1 cup of onion, sausage, cumin, salt, tomato, pepper, and water in a slow cooker.

Set the cooker on low and cook until the beans are fully cooked. It took about 14 hours in my cooker, but the time will depend on your slow cooker. And I live at high altitude, and dried beans always take longer to cook.

If you prefer the soup with a little more body, you can use a fork or potato masher to smash some of the beans. If you prefer something even thicker, you can use a stick blender briefly to puree some of the beans.

Serve hot. Pass the rice and onions separately.