Breakfast Casserole

All the Major Breakfast Groups



This breakfast casserole features the major breakfast food groups - eggs, sausage, and potatoes. With some coffee and juice to wash it down, you're ready to take on King Kong. Nevertheless my standard breakfast is a few cups of coffee, some yogurt or a banana, and a couple of cigarettes (although if I have to go somewhere in the morning I like getting a sausage biscuit at Burger King) so I make this for supper more often than breakfast. But whenever you make it, it's a great, easy, and inexpensive meal.

Recipe here...

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Country Ham Breakfast Sausage

That Wonderful Machine



There was a strange old butcher, His name was Dunderbeck
He was very fond of sausage-meat, and sauerkraut and speck
He had the finest butcher shop, the finest ever seen
Until one day he invented his wonderful sausage machine

Oh Mr. Dunderbeck! How could you be so mean?
I told you you'd be sorry for inventing that machine
For all the neighbor's dogs and cats will never more be seen
They'll all be ground to sausage meat in Dunderbeck's machine

Sausage has a reputation for being made from all the things that would ordinarily be thrown away. In truth, so long as the sausage tastes good I see nothing wrong with that. Better to use those bits and pieces in sausage than throw them away. But if that kind of thinking makes you nervous the solution is to make your own sausage.

As much as Benton's hams and bacon deserve their national reputation, the sausage is even better.

There’s a place about 30 miles up the road from here that sells the best country sausage I’ve ever had. You may have heard of it, Benton's Smokey Mountain Country Hams. You may not have heard of the sausage though, because he doesn't ship it. This is a shame because as much as his hams and bacon deserve their national reputation, the sausage is even better. He sells three varieties: hot, mild, and smoked. My personal preference is the hot (the smoked is too smoky and the mild is, well, mild).

I've been eating Benton's sausage for nearly 20 years now (since my father discovered it) and it's unlike any other country sausage I’ve had. It has a strange texture — sort of grainy — and a flavor I simply couldn't tie down. Not a strange flavor, but I it baffled me. Then I figured it out a couple of years ago — he was mixing ground country ham scraps in the sausage. He was following Dunderbeck's lead and using whatever came to hand (and for all I know his sausage also contains pig lips and ears) and the ham scraps were a brilliant addition. So I set out to replicate it.

Benton's sausage is still better than mine, but he's been perfecting it for a long time. And I'm just getting started. Nevertheless I can tell you that some finely ground country ham added to the mix makes a world of difference.

Country Ham Breakfast Sausage
Adapted from a recipe by Bruce Aidells.

3 lb boneless Boston Butt roast
1 lb fat back
1/2 lb country ham
1 1/2 tbsp red pepper flakes
4 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp brown sugar
2 tsp dried, ground (rubbed) sage
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 cup water (or pork stock if you have it)

Chill your grinder and mixing bowl in the refrigerator.

Cut pork and fat into strips and toss with seasonings. Spread in a layer over a baking sheet and partially freeze. You’re going for stiff but not hard. This takes about 1 1/2 hours in my freezer and I rotate the baking sheet half way through. (The time depends on how efficient your freezer is and how much food is already in it.)

Cut country ham into 1-inch pieces and process until very fine in a food processor or blender.

Grind the seasoned pork and fat using the 1/4-inch plate. Add water, and mix thoroughly.

Fry up a small taste and adjust seasonings, but keep in mind the flavors will mature. Refrigerate overnight. Form into patties and fry.

The sausage will keep for 3 days in the fridge and up to 3 months in the freezer. (I make patties in advance, separate them with waxed paper, wrap in two layers of foil and then freeze in a ziplock bag until needed. I can then pull out a patty or two and keep the rest frozen.

One day a very little girl came walking in the store
She ordered up some sausage meat and eggs, a half a score
And while she stood a-waiting she whistled up a tune
And the sausage meat it started up and danced around the room

Oh Mr. Dunderbeck! How could you be so mean?
I told you you'd be sorry for inventing that machine
For all the neighbor's dogs and cats will never more be seen
They'll all be ground to sausage meat in Dunderbeck's machine

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Penne with Sausage

Summer's Gift



I bought a Grainger County tomato yesterday afternoon. Grainger County has a micro-climate that allows tomatoes to ripen about two weeks early and at one time we food freaks sought them out for our first taste of summer. Sadly, the secret got out and today Grainger County tomatoes are mass-produced and only slightly better (because they're harvested only a couple of days early instead of a couple of weeks early) than the standard supermarket tomato imported from Florida or California. For lunch today I made a BLT with that tomato (because it needs the help of bacon, lettuce, bread, and mayo to be its best).

But genuine local tomatoes have begun peeping out at the farmers' market. They aren't quite in season yet and the ones I've seen were picked earlier than the ideal (except for the green ones) but I'm guessing they'll be on every farmer's table by the week after next.

I'll stuff my face with good tomatoes until my skin turns red.

If you haven't guessed, I happen to be a tomato-eating fool. I'll stuff my face with good tomatoes until my skin turns red. Once they're readily available my lunch almost every day for a month will be sliced tomatoes with basil and cheese dressed with salt, lemon juice, and olive oil. The only variation will be in the cheese: feta, fresh mozzarella; or chèvre. I'll also snack on "cherry" tomatoes most afternoons.

And tomatoes will appear in my suppers. I've got a Roasted Garlic and Tomato Soup recipe that I'll be passing on here later and I make gazpacho two or three times every summer — both are great with sandwich suppers. But something I made last year and never got around to writing about is first on my supper list this year. It's simple but incredibly intense and really makes the best of the ingredients.

Penne with Sausage and Roasted Tomato Sauce
Serves 6.

3 links Italian Sausage (about 3/4 lb) — cut into 1/4" slices
8 lg roasted tomatoes with oil
1 md green bell pepper — 1/2" dice
1 md yellow onion — 1/2" dice
3 anchovy filets — rinsed and minced
3 lg cloves garlic — finely sliced
1/4 c red wine
1 lb penne or rigatoni
Leaves of 2 sprigs of fresh oregano
shredded Parmigiano Reggiano

Roast tomatoes and pour off oil, reserving. Coarsely chop tomatoes in a blender or food processor.

Brown Italian sausage in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat then drain on paper towels.

Pour off rendered fat, reserving about a teaspoon and add oil from roasted tomatoes - you should have about 2 tablespoons of oil in total. Add pepper, onion, and anchovies and sauté over medium heat until onions are lightly browned. Add garlic and cook 1 minute longer.

Add red wine and deglaze skillet. Add chopped tomatoes and sausage and simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions. When pasta is done, drain. Add fresh oregano to sauce, spoon sauce over pasta, and top with shredded Parmigiano.

Try Penne with Sausage with...
Feta Stuffed Peppers
Fraised Brussles Sprouts
Grape/Rosemary Focaccia

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | pasta | main dish | italian

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Lamb Sausage

A Lamb for all Seasons



Last summer I wrote about Locust Grove Farm and their raw sheep's milk cheeses. That visit was the beginning of a longer association when the cheesemaker, Tim Clark, asked me to make some lamb sausage for him.

I did a lot of research looking for a recipe, but didn't find what I had in mind. Most of the recipes were Middle-Eastern/Arabic and I found a handful of Scots and Irish recipes. But what I was thinking about was something Mediteraean involving garlic and herbs. So I set out to create my own recipe.

The sausage definitely evokes the taste of Spain, Provence, Italy, and Greece.

I made the first batch from some lamb Clark happened to have in his freezer. I ended up with two pounds of sausage that came close to what I wanted, but was still a tad off. I took notes and planned my next effort. Just before Thanksgiving Tim gave me another batch of lamb and I finally got around to making batch two the week before Christmas. It was much better, and this time I packed it into sausage casings. It definitely evokes the taste of Spain, Provence, Italy, and Greece but without being recognizably any single one of those cuisines.

Clark and his partner each got a third of the batch, and I kept the last third. I used some of the sausage to make cassoulet for Christmas dinner and I've got two links left that I'm thinking would be good in a pot of potato chowder.

Lamb Sausage
Makes 3 pounds.

2.5 lb lamb
.5 lb pork fat
4 tbsp minced fresh rosemary
2 tsp cracked black pepper
1 tbsp dried thyme
25 grams fresh garlic — minced
10 grams juniper berries — cracked and chopped
1 tsp Spanish hot paprika
2 tsp kosher salt
1 c red wine — reduced to 1/2 c

Cut lamb and pork fat into 1" chunks. Toss with all remaining ingredients except wine and refrigerate for 12 hours. Spread on a tray and freeze for 1 hour until meat is partially, but not completely, frozen. Chill meat grinder and bowl for 1 hour in fridge.

Grind using a 1/8th inch die. Add reduced wine, and stir to mix. Stuff into medium pork casings.

Sausage is really easy to make, especially if you have a Kitchen Aid stand mixer. Get the grinding and stuffing attachments.

Technorati: Food | recipe | kevin d weeks | seriously good | lamb sausage | sausage | lamb | charcuterie

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Teaser

Teaser



This is farfalle and rotelli pasta with homemade lamb sausage and local sheeps milk cheese. No recipe worth mentioning, except the sausage.

But that recipe isn't quite perfect yet. Almost, but not quite. It needs more wine, a touch of heat, a soupcon more garlic, and the mustard seed is worthless.

When it is perfect I'll share it. In the meantime, with pasta olives, and sauteed onion and bell pepper it's pretty damned good. In fact, it's pretty damned good just fried in skillet.

Technorati: Food | photo | kevin d weeks | seriously good | pasta | lamb | sausage

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Italian Sausage

Sausage is a Shallow Curve



There's something counter-intuitive about the phrase learning curve. Back when I had a real job programming computers for a living the term came up a lot in reference to users learning a program and most folks seemed to think a shallow learning curve was best. The intuition is that shallow is easy and steep is hard because shallow hills are easy to climb and steep hills are hard. But the learning curve's axes are time and amount learned, effort doesn't come into it. This means that a steep learning curve represents a lot learned over a short period of time. Steep learning curves are good.

Yesterday afternoon I made four pounds of Italian sausage — about two pounds more than I should have because it's not great sausage. I made so much because I'm an optimist (or pretend to be) and because I used the recipe in Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn (click here for my review). Charcuterie is one of the two best books on food that I bought last year and one of the best cookbooks (if you can call it that, it's more a primer than a simple collection of recipes) I've ever purchased. Despite earlier travails with sausage, I was sure this book would steer me right because it had on everything else I'd made from it. Nope.

Nobody seems more obsessed by diet than our anti-materialistic, otherworldly, New Age spiritual types. But if the material world is merely illusion, an honest guru should be as content with Budweiser and bratwurst as with raw carrot juice, tofu and seaweed slime. ~ Edward Abbey

After making it I tried a sample and it was almost flavorless. The fennel seed, coriander seed, basil, and oregano were way in the background. There wasn't even enough salt in it. The only spices that came out as I hoped were the peppers. There also wasn't enough fat, but I can't really blame the book for that lack. Cuts of meat vary in their fat content and the pork butt I bought had been trimmed too closely and I should have added more.

Based on the sample I'd cooked and eaten, I went back and doubled the fennel, coriander, basil, oregano, and salt. The second sample was much better, but still not great.

But here's where you run into the real trick of sausage making. I could have tweaked the mixture again, but doing a third mix on the batch would have seriously overworked the meat, destroying the texture. Also, I wasn't sure what was needed. Thinking back, I suspect I needed some caraway seed, but I'm not on a first-name basis with caraway seed, or fennel seed either, for that matter. Or mace or anis seed. Finally, the spices in sausage need at least 24 hours to meld properly so today the flavor will be different from yesterday. However, I don't know how it will be different.

To make excellent sausage I need to know the seasonings well and know how they'll interact over time.

So I have four pounds of not-so-great Italian sausage. It'll be fine for cooking with, and in fact that's what I planned on doing with it, which is why instead of stuffing it in casings I made up 1/4 pound balls, but it'll be a while before I get to try making Italian sausage again. And it looks like my sausage learning curve is more shallow than I'd like.

Technorati: Food | italy | sausage | charcuterie | essay

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