Freezers Full

Two porkers arrived back from the butcher on Friday morning. Two porkers, minus 2 legs and a side, as they are being cured for ham and bacon respectively.
Thank goodness they were much smaller than our previous pigs. Still, we had our work cut out (scuse the pun), transforming the meat into suitable sized portions.

Luckily, our friend Sophie was here to help.

She's been such a trooper, grating nutmeg as if there was no tomorrow, peeling pistachios, sausage guider and linker, de-boning, slicing chops and dicing for stewing meat....

This time I asked the butcher to mince the meat from two shoulders. I have a meat mincer on my Kenwood food processor, but for such a quantity it is much quicker if the butcher does it.

We made three types of sausage. A Belgian style bratwurst with white pepper, salt and NUTMEG ! A curried sausage and a mild chorizo (see mixture in photo above)

 Belgian braadworst (Bratwurst)

We have acquired a sausage stuffer (see red contraption in photo above). It can handle 3 liters of minced meat at a time and it does a fantastic job. Again, much better than my Kenwood version.

And here they are drying for a few hours. Allegedly, this helps to tighten the sausage and skin together. I believe it worked. We've had some for dinner the other night and they were absolutely stonkingly tasty and firm.



Wait ! I'm not done yet !

This is my sous vide cooker. And what's in there is this :

Our own homemade luncheon meat or mortadella-esque Bologna sausage, with pistachios, pink and green peppercorns. No artificial colouring or flavour enhancers added. Only good quality meat, herbs and spices and pistachios.
We stuffed these on Friday and left them to settle in the fridge till Saturday. Then they went in the sous vide cooker for 3 hours at 60°C. Very nice they are, but next time I'll probably use less salt than what was stated in the recipe.

With that out of the way, it is high time to get the chicken and duck run electrified. The ultrasonic sensors seem to have helped so far (touch wood), but I'll be more relaxed with extra precautions.

In between, I have been sorting through my craftroom too. Moving furniture and folding fabrics. Neatly. A long way to go still, but we'll get there in the end.

Have a lovely week.
Patricia xxx...x

Mushroom and Chorizo Ragout with Creamy Polenta

It's been a few years  (8, at least)  since I last made polenta. But the idea must have been on my mind because a couple of months ago I bought some in the wholefood shop in Kenmare. I stored it safely away in the pantry in case of an apocalyptic event.
That apocalyptic event happened on Monday when I ran out of steam after I sliced about 6 kg of cucumber, plus onions, salted the bejaysus out of them, ready for pickling the next day.
Starving I was.  Right, I have mushrooms.  I'll make an autumnal  mushroom ragout and thus I set to trawling the internet.  I used this recipe as a guide, adapting as I went along.
I used only fresh mushrooms and not my dried porcini as they are for another apocalyptic event. I also added 4 of our homegrown chorizo sausages.

My recipe went as follows.
For the ragout.
Ingredients - serves 2 to 3

• sunflower oil, 1 tbsp (or thereabouts)
• 4 chorizo sausages (or other, of good quality)
• 2 shallots, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• thyme, a few sprigs - hard stalks removed.
• butter, 1 tbsp
• 3 portobello mushrooms, sliced
• 200 gr closed cup mushrooms, quartered
• 250 gr chestnut mushrooms, halved
• tomato concentrate, 1 heaped tsp
• white wine, 100 ml
• chicken stock, 200 ml (from a cube is fine)
• 1 tbsp cornflour in 1 tbsp of cold water
• freshly chopped parsley,  a few sprigs
• seasoning, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparation Use a pan large enough to receive all the ingredients at one stage or another.

• Heat the oil in a pan and brown the sausages all around. Please don't turn them into lumps of coal, so brown them on a low to moderate setting. 
• Remove from the pan when cooked through. Set aside.
• In the remaining oil, sautee the shalots with the whole, but crushed garlic cloves and add the thyme
• When the onions are translucent, add in the butter.
• Turn the heat up a notch and sautee off the mushrooms.
• Then stir in the tomato concentrate and let it cook for a minute.
• Next in is the white wine. 
• Let it reduce before adding the stock.
• Cut the sausages in disks and add to the pan.
• Let this all simmer for about 5 minutes or until the liquid has reduced somewhat.
• This is where I then add the cornflour if the sauce is too thin. Let it cook through for a minute.
• Season to your liking and stir in the chopped parsley.

Oh the polenta !

I didn't even know instant polenta existed, therefore I used the guidelines on the packaging. I suggest you do the same.

• 750 ml water to 120 gr polenta
• chicken stock cube, bay leaf and sprigs of thyme
• 1 tbsp butter
• a splash (100 ml) of cream - I used double
• a couple of handfulls (depending on the size of your hands, I've got shovels) of grated parmesan cheese.  
• black pepper

Preparation

• Bring the water with stock cube and herbs to the boil
• Reduce to a simmer and pour in the polenta in a steady stream while you whisk with a whisk to prevent lumps.
• Revert to a wooden spoon and stir, this time to prevent sticking to the bottom and consequently burning your polenta !  Low setting.
• Now, my packet said 30 flippin' minutes. Luckily, it was ready in 10 to 15.
• Take off the heat and mix in the parmesan, butter and cream.
• Season with black pepper and serve.

Don't let my long-winded post put you off, or the seemingly long list of ingredients, because it was a doddle and ready in half an hour.
The flavour was as rich and intense as the colour of the ragout. And boy did it shout autumnal!

Patricia xxx...x

Sausage and Bean Casserole

This is a recipe for a quick one pot wonder.  I say quick because you can have it on the table in half an hour.  And no, I'm not trying to be a Jamie Oliver, even though I like his cooking style very much. Sometimes I have to prove to myself that I can rustle up something delicious without spending ages on the prep and cooking. I am the slowest person I know.

The French charcutier who has turned one of our pigs into delightful morsels of cured meats also made lots of sausages and while they are all very tasty, I really like the chorizo sausages. Especially for a dish like this.
You can use any good quality sausage, of course, but if you can add some cubed chorizo salami to the pot for extra smoky flavour, it makes all the difference.

Ingredients - 2 people

• 4 fresh chorizo sausages
• sunflower oil
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• 2 fat cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped or grated
• half a red pepper, cut into 1.5 cm pieces
• half a green pepper, same as above
• chilli pepper, take one that suits your palate, super hot or just mild, sliced
• 1 star anise
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 sprig of thyme
• 1 tsp cumin, powdered
• 1 tbsp sweet paprika
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp concentrated tomato paste
• 1 tin +/- 400 grs kidney beans, drained
• 1 tin +/- sweetcorn, drained
• 100 ml water or stock
• Seasoning (salt, pepper)

Preparation

• Heat some oil in the pan and brown off the sausages on all sides. Give this time and do it over a low-ish setting. Add the oregano and thyme to this.
• When they are cooked through, take the sausages out of the pan and set aside.
• Depending on how much oil is left in the pan, you can add some or not. 
• Sauté the onions with the garlic until they're almost translucent.  Then add the peppers and chilli.  
• Sauté for a few minutes longer.
• Stir in the tomato paste and spices. Let it cook for a minute or so, but don't burn the spices.
• Add the beans, sweetcorn, stock or water and sausages.
• Simmer, with lid on, until everything has heated through.
• Season to taste.  I always add a good portion of coriander leaves, because I like it.
• Serve with crusty baguette or oven roasted sweet potatoes or both.

Fast food cooked at home.

Patricia xxx...x