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This week's Photo Hunt theme is 'bliss'. Funny how with some hunts it's a challenge to find a single picture to fit the theme. With this one it was a challenge to narrow it down! Presumably we take photos of blissful things so there was so many to choose from - finally I narrowed it down to pics taken at the lake last summer.
I could use some of this bliss right now . . .
Continuing with the 'clean out the house' - pile of recipes, tons of dry pasta in the cupboard, fresh fennel in the fridge - Paul selected this recipe from Fine Cooking to make for dinner the other night. The folks at Fine Cooking write: 'Make tonight’s dinner feel like a mini vacation to Italy with this quick pasta that pays homage to classic Italian flavors like sweet sausage, fennel, tomatoes, and fresh basil.' GRRR
A mini-vacation to Italy might come from actually cooking food as one might experience it in Italy. One could go to Olive Garden, eat pasta with a tomato basil sauce (and knowing that chain a gazillion other things) but no one would say 'I had a mini-vacation in Italy'. OK They might, but they'd be confused.
There you have it, mini rant directed to the writers at Fine Cooking.
The recipe itself was great. Paul pulled it together in record time and we both enjoyed the flavours even if it weren't a mini vacation to Italy (which we would have enjoyed as well *smile*).
Orecchiette with Fennel, Sausage & Tomatoes
Kosher salt
3 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 lb. sweet Italian sausage, casing removed
1 large fennel bulb (about 1-1/4 lb.), quartered, cored, and finely chopped
3/4 cup dry white wine
2 cups fresh (or canned) seeded diced tomatoes, drained if using canned
12 basil leaves, torn into small pieces
1/8 to 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
Freshly ground black pepper
3/4 lb. dried orecchiette
1/2 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano
Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil.
Heat 1-1/2 Tbs. of the oil in a 10-inch straight-sided saute pan over medium-high heat until shimmering hot. Add the sausage and cook, breaking it up with a metal spoon, until browned and cooked through, about 5 minutes. Transfer the sausage to a paper-towel-lined plate and pour off and discard any fat left in the pan.
Set the pan over medium heat and add the remaining 1-1/2 Tbs. oil, the fennel, and 1 tsp. salt. Cook, stirring, until the fennel softens and browns lightly, about 6 minutes. Raise the heat to high, add the wine, and cook, scraping the bottom of the pan to loosen any browned bits, until almost evaporated, 1 to 2 minutes.
Add the sausage, tomatoes, half of the basil, the red pepper flakes, and 1/2 tsp. each salt and pepper. Lower the heat to medium, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes break down, 6 to 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, cook the orecchiette in the boiling water, stirring frequently until just tender, about 11 minutes. Reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water and drain well. Return the pasta to the pot, add the sauce, and cook over medium-high heat, stirring, for 1 minute so the sauce and pasta meld. If the pasta seems dry, add enough cooking water to moisten it to your liking. Stir in half of the pecorino, season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve sprinkled with the remaining pecorino and basil.
So we're back to de-hoarding . . . cleaning out the cupboards, using up ingredients that we have on hand, cooking our way though the piles of recipes I've printed off over the years.
This recipe came form the folks at Fine Cooking. I printed it off a few years ago yet never made it. It was time. It was also time to clean out some of the 9 bags of lentils I found when I cleaned the cupboard. . . of use up some of that walnut oil that has been hiding at the back of the shelf for some time . . . and then there was that smoked sausage we bought for New Year's day that needed to be used up before it grew furry. This is how it is done our twisted world.
This classic bistro salad would make a fine first course, but it's also good at the center of a weeknight meal. The very small, dark greenish-brown du Puy lentils (also called French lentils) are firmer than brown lentils and hold their shape better during cooking although if you can't find them green lentils make an OK substitute. In France, the sausage would be saucisson à l'ail, a semi-cooked, smoked garlic sausage. Kielbasa makes a fine substitute.
We really liked this recipe. The warm lentils combined with mustard accented dressing were excellent combined with a good smoked sausage with crisp skin. The key for this one is excellent ingredients.
Warm French Lentil Salad with Smoked Sausage
1-1/2 cups du Puy lentils (about 10 oz.)
3 fresh thyme sprigs
2 bay leaves
3 garlic cloves, smashed
1/4 tsp. black peppercorns
1 small onion, peeled
1 small carrot, peeled and split lengthwise
8 oz. smoked sausage, such as kielbasa
1 cup dry white wine or dry white vermouth
2-1/2 Tbs. red-wine vinegar; more as needed
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
Kosher salt
3 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
3 Tbs. walnut oil
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/4 cup finely chopped scallions (3 to 4 scallions)
Freshly ground black pepper
Pick over and rinse the lentils, and put them in a 3- to 4-qt. saucepan. Pile the thyme, bay leaves, garlic, and peppercorns on a 5-inch square of double-layer cheesecloth. Gather up the edges and tie into a little pouch with kitchen twine. Add the pouch to the pan along with the onion and carrot. Fill the pan with cold water to cover the lentils by about 2 inches, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Immediately lower to a gentle simmer—boiling can break the lentils—and simmer, uncovered, until just tender, 30 to 40 minutes. (If the water level drops below the surface of the lentils as they simmer, add a little more water.)
Meanwhile, put the sausage in a small saucepan or deep skillet. Add the wine and enough water to cover by about 1/2 inch. Bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat as needed to cook at a bare simmer (bubbles should only occasionally break the surface), uncovered, until a metal skewer inserted into the center comes out feeling hot to the touch, 15 to 20 minutes.
While the lentils and sausage cook, make the vinaigrette: In a medium bowl, whisk 1-1/2 Tbs. of the vinegar with the mustard and a pinch of salt. In a steady stream, whisk in the olive and walnut oils. Season to taste with salt.
It's time for Travel Tuesdays. please feel free to play along - all you need to do is to post one of your travel pics (and who doesn't have a gazillion of those) and then pop on over to Sandi's blog to join her Linky.
Last week I mentioned that the stars have aligned and it looks as if we'll be able to travel somewhere next Christmas - something we've never been able to do.
Now the challenge is - where to go!
One possibility is Rome . . .
One of the things I plan on doing this year is getting out of the house more - amongst the company of humans was how I explained it to a colleague. Now I don't necessarily want to interact with those humans, I certainly don't want to be touched by them, and annoying humans can stay away . . .
The other day I moved in this direction by heading out to see a movie. There are lots of movies out right now that I want to see but we rarely go to the theatre. Crazy! Especially when you consider that we can go to the adult only cinema near our house where drinks are served and annoying adolescents who titter at every bad word spoken on the screen or sexual innuendo are banned!
The movie we ended up seeing was the second installment of the Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes franchise starring jude Law and Robert Downey Jr. Ritchie is known for gritty movies featuring martial arts, violence, loud noises, and dark scenery which seems an odd mix with Sherlock Holmes, yet it works.
The movie is at its best when focused on the Downery Jr's and Law's comedic (and often irresistibly mean-spirited) banter and the palpable chemistry between Downey Jr and Law certainly cementing this feeling. Some have suggested that the two characters seem more like lovers than friends. Whatever - they're funny together and the dialogue sparkles when they interact with one another on screen.
In 'a Game of Shadows' we catch-up with Holmes in pre-WWI London where he is even more eccentric and entirely obsessed with what seems to be a completely random series of sinister events which he attributes to criminal mastermind at large—Professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris). In Moriarty, Holmes admits he’s met his match and he is further hampered in his pursuit by the fact that his trusty sidekick, Watson is about to wed and is totally uninterested in Holmes latest obsession. It isn't long before Holmes drags Watson fully into the action and the two are off through Europe trying to stop Moriarty's plan.
Sherlock Holmes has always been the smartest man in the room... until now. There is a new criminal mastermind at large - Professor Moriarty - and not only is he Holmes' intellectual equal, but his capacity for evil, coupled with a complete lack of conscience, may actually give him an advantage over the renowned detective. Long-time Holmes fans will remember Moriarty as a criminal mastermind, described by Holmes as the Napoleon of crime and while he only featured in two of the Holmes novels he has come to be seen as Holmes' arch-nemesis.
Overall the movie is an enjoyable romp, and I liked it far more than the first one. Fans of the first movie should enjoy this; even new comers should be able to pick things up quick as it does offer a good adventure during this time of year. But it never becomes a classic thanks to its writing, but then again popcorn movies can be a great piece of escapism.
Chicken pozole is a hearty Mexican stew made with chicken (duh) and hominy. Hominy is dried white or yellow corn kernels from which the hull and germ have been removed. This process is done either mechanically or chemically by soaking the corn in slaked lime or lye. Hominy is sold canned, ready-to-eat or dried (which must be reconstituted before using). I've seen lots of recipes for making your own (involving lots of lye and a caustic process) it looks complicated so we buy it canned when we're across the border. Perhaps you can find it here in Canada . . . we've yet to find it.
There are many variations on pozole, a traditional hominy-based Mexican stew closely associated with the Pacific-coast state of Guerrero. Anya von Bremzen's, version, a green pozole, derives much of its flavor from tangy ingredients like tomatillos, cilantro and green chiles. I foudn this recipe on the Food and Wine site and printed it off - almost thee years later, as a aprt of my desire to work through all of those flipping things I keep printing off, I finally got around to making it!!!
It's a shame that I waited so long because this was very good. We loved the warm spice and the wonderful citrus hints from the tomatillos and cilantro. I could eat food like this every day. Very flavorful, hearty and healthy.
Mexican Chicken Pozole Verde
7 cups chicken stock or low-sodium broth
2 cups water
4 chicken breast halves on the bone, with skin
1 pound tomatillos, husked and halved
1 small onion, quartered
2 poblano chiles—cored, seeded and quartered
2 jalapeños, seeded and quartered
4 large garlic cloves, smashed
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon oregano leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Three 15-ounce cans of hominy, drained
Finely shredded iceberg lettuce, sliced radishes, chopped onion, diced avocado, sour cream, tortilla chips and lime wedges, for serving
In a large, enameled cast-iron casserole, bring the chicken stock and water to a boil. Add the chicken breasts, skin side down, cover and simmer over very low heat until they're tender and cooked through, about 25 minutes. Transfer the chicken breasts to a plate and shred the meat; discard the bones and skin. Skim any fat from the cooking liquid and reserve.
In a blender, combine the halved tomatillos with the quartered onion, poblanos and jalapeños, smashed garlic, chopped cilantro and oregano. Pulse until coarsely chopped, scraping down the side. With the machine on, add 1 cup of the cooking liquid and puree until smooth. Season the tomatillo puree with salt and pepper.
In a large deep skillet, heat the vegetable oil until shimmering. Add the tomatillo puree and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the sauce turns a deep green, about 12 minutes.
Pour the green sauce into the cooking liquid in the casserole. Add the hominy and bring to a simmer over moderate heat. Add the shredded chicken to the stew, season with salt and pepper and cook just until heated through. Serve the pozole in deep bowls, passing the lettuce, radishes, onion, avocado, sour cream, tortilla chips and lime wedges at the table.
This week's Photo Hunt theme is 'circular'. I confess to being at a disadvantage. I'm at the office today (BAH) and my PC died on Tuesday so all I have a pictures on various flash drives . . .
Happily I found this picture of a lovely bowl unearthed from Pompeii which we saw at the National Museum of Archeology in Naples . . .
We have a wonderful chain of grocery stores in the area called Fortinos. Started by an Italian family and originally catering to other Italian families, it has grown into a popular chain of stores catering to everyone. of course, those Italian roots are strong. Whenever I need an ingredient for an Italian recipe I know I'll find it at Fortinos.
Years ago we noticed an interesting thing - in the weeks after Christmas the store always featured specials for 'sausage making'. This was when giant pig parts would appear in the meat counter. sausage casings. Salt for curing. Slabs of pork fat.
We were intrigued.
Then a few years ago we took a cooking class from a chef who was of Italian descent. She mentioned how her dad and uncles always got together shortly after Christmas and made thousands of sausages. It was what Canadian-Italian men did. What a wonderful custom.
We were more intrigued.
Sausage making isn't that complicated - grind the meat, add the spices, stuff the casings, enjoy. So many sausages we buy are full of fillers and crap, the thought of controlling what when into those casings was a strong pull towards a new project.
It was the grinding and stuffing that stymied us. We had no grinder or stuffer.
Last spring I was at an outlet mall in California when I spied a grinder and sausage stuffer attachment for Kitchen Aid mixers at a kitchen supply shop. I quickly bought it, brought it home, and stored it away until some future time when we might make sausages.
Last week, when the grocery store ads came out, Fortinos featured their sausage making and once again. not wanting a whole pig worth of sausages, I purchased a large pork loin roast and some casings.
Then I had no idea what to do.
Turning to the internet I found a number of helpful websites.
I found this helpful recipe and guide on Simply Recipes posted by Elise's friend, Hank Shaw.
Hank's Sweet Italian Sausage
Special Equipment Needed for basic sausage
Additional Equipment Needed for Stuffed Sausage Links
Make sure your ingredients are laid out, and the meat and fat are very cold (fat can be completely frozen), before you begin (put meat and fat in freezer for 2 hours). Put bowls and grinder in freezer or refrigerator for an hour before using them.
Prepare a large bowl of ice and put a medium metal bowl on top of it. Slice your meat and fat into chunks between an inch and two inches across. Cut your fat a little smaller than your meat. To keep your ingredients cold, put your cut meat and fat into the bowl set into a larger bowl filled with ice.
When the meat and fat are cut, mix them quickly. Pour in most of your spices; I leave out a tablespoon or two of fennel seeds and a tablespoon of black pepper for later. Mix quickly. Add the salt and the sugar and mix one more time. Put into a covered container or top the bowl with plastic wrap and put the sausage mixture into the freezer for at least 30 minutes and no more than an hour. Now you can call back whoever might have bothered you when you started this process.
Meanwhile, mix ¼ cup of sherry vinegar and ¾ cup of dry sherry and put it in the fridge. I know sherry is not traditional in Italian sausage. You can use white wine and white wine vinegar if you’d rather (I save red wine and red wine vinegar for the hot sausages).
If you plan on stuffing your sausage, take out some of the casings (you need about 15-18 feet for a 5-pound batch of links) and immerse them in warm water. (If you are not planning on stuffing your sausage, you can skip this stepAfteryour sausage mixture has chilled, remove your grinder from the freezer and set it up. I use the coarse die for Italian sausage, but you could use either. Do not use a very fine die, because to do this properly you typically need to grind the meat coarse first, then re-chill it, then grind again with the fine die. Besides, an Italian sausage is supposed to be rustic.
Push the sausage mixture though the grinder, working quickly. If you use the KitchenAid attachment, use it on level 4. Make sure the ground meat falls into a cold bowl. When all the meat is ground, put it back in the freezer and clean up the grinder and work area.
When you’ve cleaned up, take the mixture back out and add the remaining spices and the sherry-sherry vinegar mixture. Using the paddle attachment to a stand mixer (or a stout wooden spoon, or your VERY clean hands), mix the sausage well. With a stand mixer set on level 1, let this go for 90 seconds. It might take a little longer with the spoon or hands. You want the mixture to get a little sticky and begin to bind to itself – it is a lot like what happens when you knead bread.
When this is done, you have sausage. You are done if you are not making links. To cook, take a scoop and form into a ball with your hands. Flatten out a bit. Cook on medium low heat in a skillet for 5-10 minutes each side until browned and cooked through.
If you are making links, put the mixture back in the freezer and clean up again. Bring out your sausage stuffer, which should have been in the freezer or refrigerator. Run warm water through your sausage casings. This makes them easier to put on the stuffer tube and lets you know if there are any holes in the casings. Be sure to lay one edge of the flushed casings over the edge of the bowl of warm water they were in; this helps you grab them easily when you need them.
Slip a casing onto the stuffing tube (And yes, it is exactly like what you think it is). Leave a “tail” of at least 6 inches off the end of the tube: You need this to tie off later.
Take the meat from the freezer one last time and stuff it into the stuffer. If all the meat will not fit, keep it in a bowl over another bowl filled with ice, or in the fridge while you stuff in batches. Start cranking the stuffer down. Air should be the first thing that emerges – this is why you do not tie off the casing right off the bat.
When the meat starts to come out, use one hand to regulate how fast the casing slips off the tube; it’s a little tricky at first, but you will get the hang of it. Let the sausage come out in one long coil; you will make links later. Remember to leave 6-10 inches of “tail” at the other end of the casing. Sometimes one really long hog casing is all you need for a 5-pound batch. When the sausage is all in the casings, tie off the one end in a double knot. You could also use fine butcher’s twine.
With two hands, pinch off what will become two links. Work the links so they are pretty tight: You want any air bubbles to force their way to the edge of the sausage. Then spin the link you have between your fingers away from you several times. Repeat this process down the coil, only on this next link, spin it towards you several times. Continue this way, alternating, until you get to the end of the coil. Tie off the other end.
Almost done. Time to hang your sausages. Hang them on the rack so they don’t touch (too much), and find yourself a needle. Sterilize it by putting into a gas flame or somesuch, then look for air bubbles in the links. Prick them with the needle, and in most cases the casing will flatten itself against the link.
Let these dry for an hour or two, then put them in a large container in the fridge overnight, with paper towels underneath. Package them up or eat them the next day. They will keep for a week, but freeze those that will not be used by then.
Makes 5 lbs of sausage, or about 15-20 links.
So we sort of followed the technique. Other sites didn't not call for all of the freezing and that seemed like a lot of work so we left it out. This may have been what killed our Kitchen Aid. More on that later.
On to the photos . . .
The sausage ingredients all chopped, ground, and measured. We're ready to go.
The sausage mixture. The grinding was HARD. I suspect this is because the fat wasn't as cold as Hank suggested. It worked the Kitchen Aid motor a lot and the poor thing whined.
Soaking the casings - they come packed in salt. I soaked them in 4 changes of water. Then you have to rinse the insides. Other sites suggested blowing them up to check for air holes. It was like a big balloon. Yes, it was gross.
As directed EVERYWHERE we cooked a bit of sausage up to check the flavour - WOW This was better than any sausage we had ever eaten. We were happy sausage makers.
This is a casing threaded on the sausage maker all ready to be stuffed. Hank suggests leaving the end open to allow air out. Other sites say 'no, tie it in a not but prick it with a pin to allow that air out'
This is what happens when you don't leave an air hole (we had to learn for ourselves). Oh my. Once the air was allowed to escape all was good.
Well, all was good until the Kitchen Aid motor stopped sounding happy and smoke rose from the back.
Then it died.
RIP Kitchen Aid. You've made thousands of cookies, bread, whipped cream and butter only to die whilst stuffing sausages.
An inglorious end.
We put the sausage mixture in the fridge, opened a bottle of wine, and thought of happier things.
The next day I had a lovely, new Empire Red, Professional Kitchen Aid mixer (with 250 more watts of power than the old one) and proceeded with the stuffing.
I followed Hank's directions for making links and froze the links. We made 26 links in total.
At work on Monday I mentioned my experiment to a foodie friend and she wanted to try the sausages. I brought some in for her and this was the verdict:
'OMG! Just had two of your sausages (spicy, the fennel is perfect) with fresh kamuto tomatoes and nicoise olives. Amazing. Thank you.'
There you have it. A success. In hindsight I don't know if it would have been different if I had followed Hank's directions to the 'T'. Wasthe old Kitchen Aid we had just not powerful enough to handle grinding the meat?
Who knows?
What I do know is I need to experiment with more sausages!!!!
A few years ago I signed up for a 'recipe a day e-mail' from Fine Cooking magazine. It seemed like a brilliant way to expand our menus (and hopefully not our waistlines). It worked well, every day I receive a recipe, if it seems interesting I can print it off for future use.
This is the problem! I have a stack of print outs three inches high waiting to be cooked; I estimate that if I cooked something different every night for the next three years I just might have worked my way through them. of course, I'd be receiving something new and interesting each of those days as well. ARGH
I'll whine but really, it is a happy mistake.
The other night we had a wonderful lentil and smoked sausage salad (French Bistro cooking at its best) that I had printed off in 2010. It was freaking amazing - and healthy.
We recently made a sesame beef stir fry that was printed off a titch more recently - 2011. Mind you, it was January in 2011 so I've been hanging on to this recipe for a full year before we finally got around to cooking it.
What a shame since this was brilliant and included all of those wonderful Asian flavours that we love - soy, rice vinegar, Sriracha, sesame, ginger. YUM! Once all of the slicing and dicing was done the meal came together in a snap (bad pun unintended but when I realized it was there I went with it anyway). The one thing I'd do differently . . . cook the beef in batches as it steams rather than stir fries since the pan is so full.
All-in-all, a brilliant week night meal.
Seasame Beef with Snap Peas
1 lb. flank steak or skirt steak, cut into thin strips
1 Tbs. plus 1 tsp. reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 Tbs. plus 1 tsp. Asian sesame oil
Kosher salt
1 Tbs. ketchup
2 tsp. rice vinegar
1 tsp. granulated sugar
1 tsp. Asian chili sauce (like Sriracha)
2 tsp. sesame seeds, toasted
3 Tbs. canola or peanut oil
3 Tbs. finely chopped ginger
10 oz. sugar snap peas, ends trimmed
1 tsp. cornstarch
Toss the beef with 1 tsp. each of soy sauce and sesame oil and 1/4 tsp. salt. In a small bowl, mix the remaining Tbs. each of soy sauce and sesame oil with the ketchup, vinegar, sugar, chili sauce, and half of the sesame seeds.
Heat 1-1/2 Tbs. oil in a large (12-inch) skillet or wok over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the beef and cook, stirring occasionally, until it loses its raw color and browns in places, about 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a large plate. Cook the ginger with the remaining 1-1/2 Tbs. oil until it sizzles steadily and starts to brown lightly around the edges, about 1 minute. Add the snap peas, sprinkle with 1/4 tsp. salt, and cook, stirring, until they turn bright green and start to brown in places, 1 to 2 minutes. Add 1/3 cup water and cook, stirring, until about half of the liquid cooks off and the peas start to soften, about 1 minute. Add the soy sauce mixture and beef, and cook, stirring, for a coupleminutes until the mixture heats through and coats the peas and beef. Whisk the cornstarch with 1/4 cup water; add to the beef, and cook, stirring, until the sauce thickens, about 1 minute. Sprinkle with the remaining tsp. sesame seeds, and serve.