Sweet Italian Sausage

I realized one of my culinary dreams today by making homemade sausage. A few years ago, before Jess and I started traveling, I started a list of things that I wanted on this blog and sausage was at the top of the list. It was an overwhelming success! I can't wait to keep improving. These were juicy and flavourful. I actually found this easier to execute than deep frying because it didn't stink up the apartment.
This procedure required some specialty equipment. I used my Kitchen-aide stand mixer with the grinder attachment to grind the meat and a LEM brand 5lbs stuffer to fill the sausage. These worked flawlessly.
I decided to make the safest (flavour-wise) fresh sausage and settled on the sweet Italian. I wrestled with the idea of trying the Kitchen-aid stuffer but decided against it after a little research. I saw the LEM stuffer at Bass Pro Sports but they did not have any in stock. I liked the all metal gearing and started looking online for stuffers. I found the same stuffer online for the same price but with a ton more than just the machine. For $200 I got a kit that included seasoning and casings for over 20lbs of meat as well as a book about sausage making.

Ingredients:

• 5lbs pork butt (boneless)
• 1 package Backwoods Sweet Italian seasoning package
• ~ 5 feet LEM Collagen Casings (32mm)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 tsp fresh basil
• 2 tsp crushed chili pepper

Directions:

1. Trim your pork butt into 1 inch square pieces.
2. Freeze the meat for about an hour and thirty minutes.
3. Grind the meat with a medium blade. 
4. Refrigerate for 30 mins.
5. Add the garlic, garlic, basil and pepper to a food processor with 4 or five cubes of ice.\
6. Puree.
7. Mix the seasoning package in 3/4 cup of ice cold water.
8. Add the puree and seasoning to the meat and mix thouroghly.
9. Add the meat to the hopper and put the casing on a 3/4 inch stuffing tube. (I was amazed that the collagen casing did not need to be soaked).
10. Tie off the end of the casing and stuff. Try to avoid air bubbles and over filling the casing. I didn't have problems with bubbles but the sausages were pretty plump when I twisted them into links.
11. Grill on medium/low or until they are cooked through.

Yorkshire Pudding

I have been reunited with my giant sized muffin tins and attribute my Yorkshire Pudding redemption to their colossal size. These were the perfect vessel for gravy and puffed up to the perfect size.

Ingredients:

• 4 large eggs
• 1tsp salt
• 2 cups milk
• 2 cups flour
• vegetable oil
• chopped rosemary (optional)

This made six giant yorkies.

Directions:

1. In a medium/large mixing bowl use a whisk to mix up the milk and eggs. Set it aside for 10 mins.
2. Add 1/2 tsp vegetable oil to the muffin tins (I recommend spraying the tin with cooking spray so that they don't stick)
3. Add the salt and flour to the eggs whisk until there are no lumps and you have a thick creamy batter. Set it a side for at least 30 mins (I think this is important).
4. Preheat the oven to 450 F.
5. Put the muffin tin in and wait for the oil to smoke.
6. Quickly add the batter to the tin until they are 3/4 full (the oil will start to bubble and sit on top of the batter).
7. Bake for 20 mins or until they are nice and brown.

 Here a couple shots of the family, turkey, and stuffing that I made.

Yorkshire Pudding FAIL!

Here is a quick little post about how I failed at making a beloved dish from my childhood. It's not the best start to a long weekend but hopefully I will be able to do an update with a successful outcome.
Jess was working late so I decided to test make some Yorkshire Pudding for Easter diner. I ended up ruining a muffin tin and setting off the smoke detector in the apartment. They ended up being pretty tasty but their bottoms were welded to the bottom of the pan.
Growing up my mom would make the most delicious roasts with potatoes, parsnips, carrots, yorkies, and enough gravy to drown in. Yorkshire pudding was everyone's favourite so they didn't last long. My brother and I would devour them and then end up having a slice a bread covered in gravy in a sad attempt at recapturing the moment.
I whipped up the gravy from some chicken stock in the fridge, a little butter, flour, salt, white pepper, and black pepper.

I think the recipe is OK... my execution held me back.

Ingredients:

• 4 large eggs
• 1tsp salt
• 2 cups milk (I only used one cup of flour and milk and mine ended up being a little eggy)
• 2 cups flour
• vegetable oil

 

 

Directions:

1. In a medium/large mixing bowl use a whisk to mix up the milk and eggs. Set it aside for 10 mins.
2. Add 1/2 tsp vegetable oil to the muffin tins (I recommend spraying the tin with cooking spray so that they don't stick"
3. Add the salt and flour to the eggs whisk until there are no lumps and you have a thick creamy batter. Set it a side for at least 30 mins (I think this is important).
4. Preheat the oven to 450 F.
5. Put the muffin tin in and wait for the oil to smoke.
6. Add a couple tbsp of cold water to the batter and whisk it one last time.
7. Quickly add the batter to the tin until they are 3/4 full (the oil will start to bubble and sit on top of the batter).
8. Bake for 20 mins or until they are nice and brown.

Brioche Burger Buns

I made some Deli Buns last week and love the "pretzel" flavors of the onion, poppy seeds, and sesame seeds on the top. From the other recipes on here I am sure you can tell that I am a burger and fries kind of guy so when we decided to make burgers this week I wanted a fresh bun that would hold up the amount of cheese an toppings we were going to pile on.
On weekends I can usually be talked into to going out for a meal or two and one of the places within walking distance with great food is LOCAL on 8th. They make fresh burgers and buns that are worth the 13 bucks. I wanted to recreate their "rustic" bun and settled on a "brioche" bun.
These buns ended up being perfect with the exact eggy/buttery flavour that I was craving along with looking like a million dollars. I would have been happy if I ordered this in a restaurant.
For my birthday Jess got me this Vintage looking canvas that I have hanging in the kitchen that really inspired me for this meal:

Ingredients

• 1 cup warm water
• 3 tbsp warm milk (I microwaved it for about 45 seconds)
• 2 tsp active dry yeast
• 2 1/2 tbsp sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 3 cups bread flour (I used all purpose flour because I didn't have bread flour and used 3 1/2 cups total)
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened.
• sesame seeds, minced onions, poppy seeds

Directions:

1. In your stand mixer, combine 1 cup warm water, 3 tbsp milk, yeast and sugar. Let proof about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, beat 2 eggs.
2. Add the flours, salt and butter.
3. Stir in beaten egg. 
4. Run the mixer about 8-10 minutes (I only use the dough hook because I am too lazy to wash anything extra).
5. Shape the dough into a ball. Cover bowl with damp kitchen towel (or paper towel) and let the dough rise in a warm place until it has doubled is size (about 1 hr).
6. Line a a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper. Divide the dough into 8 parts.
7. To shape the dough into balls. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let buns rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
8. Beat the last egg and brush the buns with the egg wash then top with the sesame seeds, minced onions, poppy seeds.
9. Preheat your oven to 400 F. Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. 
10. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

 

Red Velvet Waffles

With Jess being 4.5 months pregnant we have gotten a little waffle crazy in the last couple weeks. We started with the basic buttermilk, made a savory potato, onion and cheddar, then moved on to the pinnacle of the waffle world the Red Velvet Waffle with a salted caramel sauce. It took us two tries before we actually got the red colour we were looking for but I think it was worth the wait.
Red velvet waffles and salted caramel isn't something that I would come up with on my own. When we went to New York we tried to get some cronuts but the place was lined up forever so we ended up going to a cupcake & wine bar for breakfast and I ordered the waffles. See below:

It is a sweet heavy meal that was right in Jess's wheelhouse. It was a little too sweet for my tastes (I ended up having some cheese, crackers and pickles to get a little salt in my life).

Jess's parents have this ancient waffle iron that makes the best waffles with a perfect crust while being light and fluffy in the middle. Our waffle iron was the cheapest one at Canadian Tire and doesn't get the crust you really want.
The red colour is only a novelty as it is purely the product of dye. It does make the waffles look fancy and interesting so they would be worth making for kids or easily amused adults (me).

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 4 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup butter (melted)
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 small bottle of red food coloring

 

 

 

 Directions:

1. Preheat your waffle iron.
2. Separate eggs.
3. With a hand mixer, beat egg whites until stiff.
4. Mix dry ingredients together.
5. Mix wet ingredients. 
6. Combine wet into dry.
7. Fold in egg whites.
8. Pour about a cup of batter into waffle iron and cook until it stops steaming.

Deli Style Sub Buns

A couple nights ago I came home from work and all we had for dinner was fettuccine and pesto sauce and I decide we needed some buns to go with it. Jess was working late and I had a couple hours to get this off the ground. These ended up making the house smell like a bakery and were perfect soft buns that made you crave more. I slathered them in butter with the pasta, then we made some BLT subs the following day. The toppings are what make these so perfect with garlic pickles, bacon, mustard and all the other deli fixins you can put on them. Jess said they were better than "Keg Bread".


Ingredients:

• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp butter (melted)
• 1 tbsp dry active yeast
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 egg (lightly beaten)
• Poppy seeds, sesame seeds, minced onion
• 1 cup of cheese

Directions:
 

1. In a stand mixer throw in the flour, butter, salt and cheese.
2. In a separate bowl add the warm water, sugar then add the yeast. After 10 min it should double.
3. Add the yeast to the other ingredients and mix on a low setting for around 10 min. 
4. After it looks consistent put it in a mixing bowl and cover with plastic wrap and a cloth. Let rise for about an hour.
5. Once it doubles in size, punch it down and divide into six balls. Roll the balls into logs (about an inch thick and six inches long) and put on a baking sheet.  Let them double in size again.
6.  Wipe them with a little egg wash and top with the poppy, sesame, and onion.
7.  Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees.
8. Bake for 20-25 mins or until they are a nice brown color on top. Put them on a wire rack to cool then make your favourite sandwich.