Pancetta Enoki Rolls

Since Vancouver (B.C. not Portland) is a city of many faces, it's hard to bump into the Pacific Northwest influence in some way. Since I actually live in Richmond (a municipality directly south across the river from Vancouver, our influence is Asian. Richmond is considered a "Pearl of the Orient" . Ever see a ball in a stone dragonlike creature's mouth the Kirin? The river delta of Richmond is that pearl in the mouth sides by the Fraser River.  The pearl is a symbol of good fortune. Therefore, as soon as you cross any bridge from north, south, or east to Richmond, it's  a good opportunity to brush up on your chinese. :-)

Which brings me to my next post. I salivated over  a picture in Anthony Sedlak's cookbook of his grandmother's pork roulade. Anthony Sedlak is a local boy made good in the world of cooking, now a major Foodnetwork star. His roll entailed of pounded pork tenderloin anointed with Dijon, rolled around pickles, bound with bacon and served with a sour cream sauce. Since favorite son and favorite daughter don't enjoy pickles yet, I replaced them with enoki mushrooms in my version. I actually didn't end up using the shimeji mushrooms, as I ran out of meat. That was just as well, cos the shimeji have a bit of a bitter kick to them.  Thinly sliced shabushabu pork butt replaced the tenderloin, and pancetta replaced the bacon. Finely chopped capers and homemade creme fraiche served as sauce.

Here's the key to homemade creme fraiche. Put a dollop of sourcream into a litre of whipping cream. I left mine in a very warm spot near a forced air duct out all day, then put it in the fridge over night. The next day, success! Most concoctions asked for buttermilk, and less whipping cream, but my experiment worked. It's been about a week now, and still hasn't separated. I put it on everything! It's hard to come by creme fraiche where I live. The closest thing (which doesn't have the tang) is Devonshire clotted cream, at $7 CAD is too dear for my taste.

L-R: Enoki, capers, Shimeji mushrooms, kecap manis soy sauce, creme fraiche, pancetta and thinly sliced pork butt. 

Since there was a dearth of baker's twine in the house, I scrounged around for any foodsafe string, which happened to be a grass holding bamboo leaves left over from joong. (Another post).