Supper – Page 3 – Tim's Kitchen Table

>Homemade Sweet Italian Sausage

A few weeks back I put up a recipe for breakfast sausage and from the feedback I have gotten it has been a big hit. Sausage adds a lot of flavor to your meal and if you make it yourself you can control the quality of meat that is used and the levels of fat and sodium.

I have a great love for Italian food and as a result I have been working on a Sweet Italian Sausage Recipe to be used in some of my favorite Italian meals. If you can make hamburgers you can make sausage meat so if you like Italian Sausage then please give this a try.

Ingredients:

1.5 pound of Ground Pork

3 Cloves of Garlic – fine chopped

3 Basil Leaves – fine chopped

¼ tsp Oregano

2 tsp Fennel – Grind the whole seeds

¼ tsp crushed red pepper flakes

½ tsp sea salt

½ tsp fresh ground black pepper

2 tbsp white wine

In a large bowl press out the sausage meat and then sprinkle the garlic herbs and spices evenly over then meat. Now get your hands dirty and mix the spices into the meat to provide even flavor. Add in the white wine, the flavor of the wine is nice but it also draws flavor out of the herbs and spices you have added to your sausage meat.

Cover and let the sausage sit in the refrigerator for a couple hours if possible overnight. This will draw the flavor into the meat. Heat up a fry pan over medium high heat and lightly oil. Take a small patty and fry it off for a couple minutes on each side. Taste the sausage and if required add more seasonings to give the flavor you want.

You can cook this sausage off in patties, make sausage meatballs or use it as a stuffing. It also adds a lot of flavor to lasagna or pizza. I will be posting recipes very soon that will use this sausage. Stay tuned.

>Beef Stock – The base for a perfect winter soup

My favorite winter food is a good hearty bowl of soup. So many people I know love a good bowl of soup but say they just can’t get it to taste right or that it is just too much work. It does take time to make a great bowl of soup but it does not take a lot of effort.

The foundation of a great soup is the stock. I have already given you the recipe for my chicken stock, and now I am going to give you my beef stock recipe. Tomorrow I will release the vegetable stock and then we will embark on a series of blogs on soup making. With these three stocks you will be able to make a wide variety of flavorful soups that your family will love.

I will again reiterate that factory food soup bases and stocks don’t come close to homemade in flavor or nutrition. The high levels of sodium and the level of processing require to provide the desired shelf life in my opinion results in a substandard product from both a taste and health standpoint. Careful caramization of ingredients and slow simmering will build flavors that will not need to be overloaded with sodium.

This stock takes about 8 hours on the stove but can be left overnight or put it on the back burner and let it simmer away. It can also be finished in a slow cooker when you are at work. Don’t let 8 hours of sitting bother you because it only takes about 15 minutes of actual time to prepare.

Ingredients

2 pound beef soup bone (shank piece with meat and bone)

One onion Pealed and course chopped

1 Tbsp Grape seed Oil

3 carrots washed and course chopped

3 stalks celery washed and course chopped (remove bottom white part – bitter)

1 bulb of garlic cut in half loose peal removed

3 Tbsp Tomato Paste

1.5 cups Dry Red Wine

1 Tbsp Freeze dried Sage Leaves or 3 Fresh Leaves

6 sprigs of Fresh Thyme

6 pepper corns

Salt to taste – 1 to 3 tsp

Preheat the oven to 375. Sprinkle salt and a few turns of fresh ground black pepper on all sides of the meat. Place on a roasting rack in a pan for about 45 minutes until meat is browned. Turn about half way through. Be careful not to burn the meat or bone because it will add a bitter flavor to the stock. You just want to get enough brown on to add flavor.

Rough chop all of the vegetables and heat the grape seed oil (preferred because of the high smoke point and neutral flavor) over medium high heat in a 6 liter stock pot. Add the vegetables to the hot oil in the stock pot stir occasionally until the onions start to turn golden, be careful not to let anything too dark. To quote Gordon Ramsey “If it’s brown it’s cooked if it’s black it’s …” (I’m not famous enough to get away with that.J)

Once there is a light gold on the onions add the tomato paste and cook for another 5 minutes or so stirring frequently. Deglaze with the red wine. Add in the soup bone and fill the pot with water. Add in the herbs and pepper corns.

Simmer on low heat. Do not bring to a rolling boil the odd bubble is not a problem but keep just below the boil covered for 8 hours. If you see foam on the top skim it off, this contains fats and other impurities. I usually do this two or three times during the process.

After 8 hours salt the stalk to taste and then drain the stock into a bowl through a strainer. (Don’t do like a buddy of mine as stain it in the sink and be left with the veg and bone :s). You can save the meat off the bone and discard the rest. Cool the stock. At this point you can skim the fat off the top and strain through cheese cloth if you desire a very clean stock.

This flavor rich stock will be an excellent base for your soups or stews. I will be posting several recipes using this stock in the near future.

Thanks to:

WippleTree CSA for providing the onion
Active Live Farm for providing the garlic
Noggins Farm Market for providing the carrots
Getaway Farm for providing the soup bone
Jost Vineyards for providing the wine
River View Herbs for providing the Thyme and Sage

And of course the Halifax Seaport Farm Market for giving me a great place to pick up my local products.

Tomato Sauce – The Mother of Mother Sauces

There are 5 Mother Sauces in French cooking and I will at some point in time hit all of them but for today I am focusing on my favorite. A bold rich tomato sauce can be the base for so many great dishes and will be referenced in future recipes. This is my basic Red Wine Tomato Sauce with Basil which I used as the foundation to most of my Italian cooking.

Ingredients:

1.5 TBSP Good Virgin Olive Oil (It is a waste to heat really good Extra Virgin Olive Oil)

1 White Onion chopped

2 Medium Carrots chopped

2 Ribs Celery chopped

3 Cloves Garlic chopped fine

2 Tbsp Tomato Paste

1 Cup Dry Red Wine

2 Cans of Roma Tomatoes Drained of Liquid (Use fresh only if in season 8 Cups Chopped)

4 Turns fresh ground black pepper

Salt to Taste

2 tsp sugar

1 Hand Full Fresh Basil Chopped

¼ Cup Fresh Parmigiano – Reggiano Grated Fine

When cooking it is best to have all of your chopping (prep work) done in advance. This way nothing burns or over cooks while you are chopping the next ingredient, a mistake I have made more than I like to admitJ.

In a large stock pot or Dutch oven heat the olive oil over medium heat until it is hot but not smoking. You can tell it is hot by the way it thins out and easily moves around the bottom of the pot. If you are not sure throw a little onion in, if it sizzles it is good to go.

Put the onion, carrot, celery and about a half a tsp of salt into the pot and stirring occasionally cook until the onion starts to turn a little golden. Add in the garlic and cook another 5 minutes or until you see a touch of golden in the garlic, do not let it get brown it will turn bitter. You will see some light brown on the bottom of the pan, rejoice, that is flavor. Add in the tomato paste and cook another 2 to 3 minutes, you will see it release a little oil.

Now it is time to get all of the flavor you developed into the sauce. Add in the 1 cup of red wine and allow it to simmer until it reduces buy half. Now add the Roma Tomatoes and bring to a slight boil and reduce to a simmer over low heat (it should bubble very slightly and there should be steam). Let simmer for about a half hour stirring occasionally and using an immersion blender blend all of the ingredients into a smooth sauce. If you don’t have an immersion blender (buy one it is my favorite toy) you can use a potato masher, it will be a little chunky or you can transfer the sauce a little at a time to a blender. Use care with the blender keep the lid loose so the steam can come out and pulse. Put the lid on tight and the steam can cause the top to pop off, messy and ouch!

Once you have the sauce to the consistency you like let it simmer until it reduces by about ¼ over low heat with the cover off. This will concentrate the flavor. When it reaches the thickness that you and you family like it is time to flavor it.

Add the Parmigiano – Reggiano and chopped basil. Stir and let simmer for about 5 min, you don’t need long. Taste, salt, taste again. If you want more cheese or basil add away. If you like a little spice add some crushed red chili. More pepper required, add away. This is where your inner chef comes out, taste and make it the way you like it. If you find it is too acidic, add a ¼ tsp of baking soda. It will bubble away, taste again. Make it your own special creation. Ingredients are never the same so this step is a little different each time to get the flavor just right.

This sauce is great on pasta, as a base for a meat sauce, lasagna, or what ever you need tomato sauce for. I will reference this sauce in future recipes. Enjoy !!!

Chicken Stock – The secret to great soups

There is nothing more comforting than a hot bowl of chicken soup on a cold fall day. Rich broth with chicken, veggies and either rice or noodles. The biggest secret in making a good soup is the stock. You can buy stock but it is not very good. For companies who package food shelf life is the most important consideration. Now that I am over 40 I am more concerned with my shelf life than the shelf life of the food I eat. Even using the reduced sodium stock you are getting half your allotment of sodium in a bowl of soup and it is really not very flavorful.

Making chicken stock is simple and cheap. It does take time but just the time the pot is sitting on the stove. Make lots, it is great in soups, stews, gravy and for cooking rice and freezes well.

Ingredients

Bones and skin from 1 or 2 chickens

2 carrots

3 ribs celery

1 onion

5 black pepper corns

1 tsp salt

Thyme (2 to 3 tsp dry) or a bunch of fresh thyme tied with string

Simple Approach:

Clean and rough chop all of the vegetables (peal the onions). Put vegetables, chicken bones and thyme and salt and pepper into the pot. Fill the pot with water (about 8 to 10 cups). Over medium heat bring the stock to a simmer and reduce the heat to maintain the simmer. Do not boil the stock, it draws the gelatin out of the chicken and muddies the flavor. Simmer for 3 to 5 hours. Strain the stock well and then put back in the pot and boil the stock down to concentrate flavors; I usually reduce it by about 20%. After the stock is reduced add salt to taste. Adding salt before you reduce will result in salty soup.

For Richer Stock Flavor:

Place chopped vegetables and chicken into a roasting pan sprinkle with salt and olive oil. Roast in a hot oven 400 degrees for about 15 min until slightly browned. Deglaze the roasting pan with white wine and empty the roasting pan into your stock pot. From there add water as above and continue with the recipe.

This stock gives you a good base for your cooking. Play with the recipe, add additional herbs, sometimes I like to crush a knob of ginger and add it with the veggies. Some good soup recipes to follow. Updates will be announced from my Twitter @CheckRaiseNS.