Roasted Lamb Sausage with Grapes

My mom is one of those people who can strike up a conversation with just about anybody: in the grocery store, or the dentist's waiting room, or in this particular case, on the bus. A couple of weeks ago she came down to Boston for the day, and made a new friend of her seatmate on the bus ride back up to Maine. Her new friend, as it turns out, has a son, and the son has a brand new butcher shop up in Wales, Maine.

Seeing as Wales is only an hour from where my parents live, and having recently been introduced to the glories of braising (and consequently on the hunt for beef cheeks), Mom decided this butcher shop was worth the drive. Luckily for me, Mom understands that gifts of quality meat make my little heart go pitter pat and so she bought me a few pounds of garlicky lamb sausages while she was there.



Tonight I seared those sausages quickly, then tossed them in a baking dish and piled a whole mess of red grapes on top. Next to a pile of wild rice, they made a most excellent dinner. Thanks, Mom!

Roasted Lamb Sausages with Grapes
Adapted from Molly Wizenberg

Yes, you could absolutely use pork or turkey or chicken sausages here, just make sure they're not the pre-cooked ones. My lamb sausages were pretty narrow (hot dog size, rather than sausage size) so yours might take a touch longer to cook through.

1/2 to 3/4 pounds of lamb sausages
1 pound red grapes, stems removed, washed
2 teaspoons vegetable oil for browning the sausages, plus
2 teaspoons vegetable oil to toss with the grapes
1/2 a glass of dry white wine
pinch of salt

Preheat your oven to 475.

Toss the grapes with two teaspoons of oil and set aside. Heat a 10 or 11 inch skillet (stainless steel is best, I always like cast iron for searing but you're going to pour acidic ingredients in and you don't want to mess up your seasoning) over medium high heat. Add two teaspoons of vegetable oil and swirl it around to coat the bottom of the pan, then add your sausages. After the first side browns (a couple of minutes if you've heated your pan enough, flip them over and brown the other side. Once both sides are nice and brown, remove the sausages to a baking dish.

Pour in the half glass of wine, it should steam up and bubble and hiss. Scrape up the brown bits in the pan, then shut off the heat. Put the grapes on top of the sausages in the baking dish, then put it in the oven. If your sausages are narrow like mine, flip them after ten minutes. They should be done cooking ten minutes after that for a total oven time of twenty minutes.  Larger sausages will need a little more time to cook through. Remove the baking dish from the oven, and put the sausages on a plate (tent loosely with foil if you like so they stay warm). Pour the grapes and whatever juicy stuff has accumulated in the dish back into the pan you seared the sausages in and crank up the heat. Let this mess boil away for a bit until the grapes have all collapsed and the liquid has thickened. Add a pinch of salt to taste, then serve over the sausages.

We ate this with mixed wild rices, but I wish I had something green on the plate, too. Sauteed spinach or kale would have been great.

Stone Soup Farm CSA: Spring Treat Share #1

It's here it's here it's here it's here!!



No, not spring, obviously. Sigh. Behold the no-joke April Fool's Day snowstorm of 2011.

I mean the first Stone Soup Farm CSA share of the year!



Check it out! Lots of storage veg: carrots, potatoes, turnips, cabbage. Fresh spinach and arugula, eggs, and two pounds of local whole wheat bread flour from another farm out in Western Massachusetts. I made a couple of whole wheat baguettes yesterday, and the flavor is great. Wednesday night I stewed up our last quart of home canned tomatoes with a chopped onion and some garlic, added the spinach and cracked in a few eggs for dinner.



There are five more bi-weekly spring shares before the regular summer shares begin, and I'm so glad we signed up for the spring treat share. What about you, have your farm shares started yet? If not, what are you most looking forward to?

Citrus Salad (and a little news!)

Is this winter a beast or what? Two days last week it was a balmy and delightful 60 degrees, now there's three days worth of snow and sleet and garbage in the forecast. I am way beyond ready for this to be over; I want to cook with asparagus! and peas! and fava beans! But at least I've got the tail end of citrus season to brighten things up.

I first made this salad for our second annual New Year's Day brunch after spotting it over on simplebites, but I've made it a few times since then. I skip the orange blossom water, but I thin the honey out with a little warm water, and I started supreming the citrus instead of just slicing it. (If you want to learn how to surpeme (that's soo-prem, not soo-preem), Tea has a great photo tutorial). There's no real recipe, just cut up some fruit, thin out a little honey and pour it on top, and sprinkle on a little mint. Boom.

Oh, and one more thing! Monday the 28th of March (in like a week) I'll be the student guest chef-for-a-night at EVOO Restaurant in Cambridge. I'm meeting with Chef Peter McCarthy on Tuesday to figure out the menu, and according to my classmates who've done this before, it should be a great night! If you're interested in coming you might want to make your reservations now, the last one filled up fast. Hope you can come!

A Bitter Spritzer

A while back a friend and I were lamenting a crappy Manhattan. I believe my rant was something along the lines of how there was too much Vermouth and not enough bitters, and she came up with the brilliant idea of carrying a small bottle of Angostura in her purse for emergencies. While I haven't gone quite that far (and I'm half sure she was joking), I do think the bitters family needs more attention in the home cocktail arena.



For example: celery bitters by Scrappy's. Excellent with gin or in a Bloody Mary or just about anything in the warmer months. Kind of expensive, but worth it. If you buy it at The Boston Shaker in Davis Square, they'll probably let you try the chocolate flavor, too.



Then there's Regan's Orange, concocted by Gary Regan in the 90s since he couldn't find an orange bitters he liked. Not as expensive as Scrappy's, and more widely available, too. It's great in the aforementioned Manhattan or anything with whiskey, really. But most bitters are good in a way you might not expect.



Chez moi (sorry, we started Classical French cuisine in school today) we like a drop or two of bitters over ice, topped with seltzer. It's tasty and a little special, you know? Plus the seltzer bottle makes such a satisfying FWoooooSHHHH! when you screw in the CO2 cartridge.

Celery and Potato Soup with Tarragon Yogurt Swirl

Did you see Grey's Anatomy last week? One character is cooking for another and she says she's adding tarragon, even though she has no idea what tarragon tastes like, but that adding tarragon makes you sound like you know what you're doing.

[Aside: Yes, I still watch Grey's, and don't you judge me. Did you know that there are people out there writing Grey's fan fiction? I didn't know until I googled the tarragon quote.]

And that's the thing about tarragon; it's sort of a tricky herb to use. If you can figure it out, you will definitely look like you know what you're doing. It tastes a little licorice-y, like fennel, but not nearly as strong as a black jellybean. Floral, fragrant, interesting. Goes very well in chicken salad, and in this soup, specifically in that it makes potatoes and celery (cheap-o pantry staple type vegetables) taste like a million bucks.

Celery and Potato Soup with Tarragon Yogurt Swirl
Adapted from Bon Appetit
serves 4-6

6 green onions or scallions, chopped
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons olive oil
1 lb celery, chopped, including leaves
1 lb white skinned potatoes, peeled, cut into 1 inch chunks
1/4 teaspoon celery seeds
1 - 2 teaspoons salt
1/8 teaspoon white or black pepper
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 tablespoon lemon juice (you may only need a few drops, really)
1 cup cubed bread (sourdough or baguette or whatever you have)
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
1 teaspoon fresh tarragon, chopped as fine as you can

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a pot and saute the green onions over medium-high heat for a couple of minutes until they start to soften. Add the celery and celery leaves, potatoes and celery seeds, saute another minute, then add the chicken or vegetable broth. Bring soup to a boil then reduce heat to medium and simmer until all the veg is soft, 15 to 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the tarragon swirl: mix the yogurt and fresh tarragon in a small bowl, set aside. Toss the bread cubes with a teaspoon or two of olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt and a little fresh black pepper, then toast the cubes in a low (300 degree) oven or toaster oven until crispy, set aside.

When the potatoes and celery are tender, shut off the heat and puree the soup in the pot using an immersion blender, or puree it in batches in a traditional blender. Put it back on the heat to warm up if it's cooled down, and season with salt and pepper and a few drops of lemon juice. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve topped with tarragon cream and croutons.

Tagliatelle with Brussels Sprouts, Walnuts and Gorgonzola

This is not the pasta I ate tonight. Today I practiced making tortellini for my upcoming midterm and made a big batch of marinara. But what if, say, you're watching your team fumble themselves out of the playoffs and you just don't have time for homemade pasta? Or you have a bunch of brussels sprouts and you're sick of roasting them? Then this is the pasta for you, my friends.

This is not a subtle dish to be sure. Brussels sprouts can be bitter if overcooked so make sure you don't cover the pan when they're cooking, and don't stir too often! You want to make sure they get some nice golden brown bits on them. Gorgonzola is a good strong blue, but I think cambozola (a triple cream blue) would be a nice choice here as well.

Tagliatelle with Brussels Sprouts, Walnuts and Gorgonzola
serves 2-4

1 1/2 lbs brussels sprouts, trimmed and roughly chopped
1 onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (or more)
2 ounces (ish) gorgonzola or other blue cheese
tagliatelle or fettucine
olive oil
salt and pepper

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in large skillet. Saute the onion until translucent, then add the chopped brussels sprouts. Cook over medium heat until the sprouts are tender and starting to turn golden. Season with salt and pepper to taste (be generous, you're about to add a bunch of pasta).  Toast the walnuts in a dry skillet or a 350 degree oven (I use the toaster oven) for a few minutes until they smell extra nutty. Be careful not to leave toasting nuts unattended, they go from toasted to burnt in an instant.

Meanwhile bring a large pot of salted water to a boil for the pasta. Cook the pasta until al dente; note that if you're using fresh pasta this will only take a couple of minutes, otherwise the timing will depend on the type of dry pasta you choose. If you forget to start the pasta until the sprouts are ready, just turn down the heat on the sprouts and let them hang out over a super low flame for a while, it'll be ok.

When the pasta is al dente and the brussels sprouts are done to your liking, use tongs to transfer the pasta from the cooking water into the saute pan. A little water clinging to the noodles is a good thing, it'll keep everything moist. Add the toasted walnuts and toss the pasta and sprouts together long enough to heat the sprouts back up if they've been resting. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary (mine needed more salt and pepper). Dish the pasta out into serving bowls and top with blue cheese and a little drizzle of olive oil.

Sesame Bok Choy

Hello again, friends. How were your holidays? Things got a little crazy for me (ahem, hence my long absence), working most days I wasn't at school and traveling a lot. We spent Thanksgiving with my parents in Maine and the week of Christmas in Oklahoma with Adam's family (including our adorable nephew Eliot, squee!).

This bok choy isn't much like what I've been cooking lately. My midterm practical exam was supposed to be yesterday but, uh, it got snowed out. Anyway, I did a bunch of practicing this past week: lemon souffles, braised beef in red wine, puff pastry to hold the beef, poached salmon with beurre blanc, roasted chicken and veloute to go with it, creme brulee, mayonaisse, hollandaise, cheese danish for New Year's Day brunch, and the list goes on. Please note how much butter and cream and wine goes in all of these things. Oof.

Even though I still have to take the exam (it's been rescheduled to next week), this afternoon I just could not take it anymore. I wanted something simple and a little spicy, so I sauteed some greens with garlic and red pepper flakes and called it lunch.

Sesame Bok Choy
serves 2 as a side dish or 1 as a light lunch

If I had any rice in the fridge I would have put this bok choy on top of it, but I didn't. So I just ate it plain, on the couch, watchng Desperate Housewives on Netflix. And now you know how I unwind after spending the morning studying for the written exam, which is on Saturday. Heh. I found this pleasantly spicy but if you're looking for more heat, increase the red pepper flakes. The other good thing about this is that it took me all of ten minutes from getting the bok choy out of the fridge to eating. Yay! 

1 head bok choy, sliced crosswise into half inch wide strips, separated into rib pieces and leaf pieces
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 large pinch red pepper flakes
several dashes soy sauce
a few drops of toasted sesame oil
sesame seeds for garnish

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat until hot but not smoking and add the garlic and red pepper flakes. Saute, moving everything around the pan so it doesn't burn, until the garlic just begins to take on color.

Add the stem pieces of the bok choy - they take longer to cook, so adding them to the pan first ensures everything will cook evenly. Give them a minute or so until they just start to soften, then add the leaf pieces of the bok choy and continue to cook over medium high heat until the leaves wilt, just a few minutes.

Turn off the heat. Add a few dashes of soy sauce and a couple drops of sesame oil and stir it all around. Take a bite. It might need more soy sauce. Remove to a plate, garnish with sesame seeds, and enjoy.