My first attempt at homemade sausages

After much procrastination I finally got around to making sausages. A few months ago we bought a meat grinder with a sausage making attachment and I had a bit of a hiccup with getting the correct type of skins - I bought edible collagen casings which did not fit on the end of the sausage maker....oops! Finally I tracked down a butcher that could supply the natural 'hog' casings (pig intestines) and we had some pork scraps that our butcher bagged up specifically for us to make sausages, from when he butchered our last lot of home raised pigs.

I did a quick search on You Tube to make sure I knew what to do, and to get some recipes. In the end I chose to make up some chorizo sausages after watching this helpful tutorial.

I was quite pleased that they came out looking like sausages should!!

However I think it should be noted that next time they need just a bit more fat in the mix as they were a little on the dry side - although they may also have been slightly overcooked. As our butcher had already supplied the necessary bits of meat, I didn't have any ability to add more fat, but will be sure to ask him next time to supply some extra to add in as and when.

With the remaining meat (I had 2kgs in total), I made another lot of sausages, and had 2 helpers which made it a lot easier. This time I made pork and apple sausages loosely based on this recipe, which were very nice, and not quite so dry.

All in all, the process was quite easy and not terribly time-consuming and the best part was having lovely fresh sausages without all the nasty ingredients added in most shop-bought ones. I am looking forward to trying out other recipes.

Any fellow home sausage makers out there? What kind(s) of sausage do you make?

Rustic fare

Just a quickie, as I wanted to post these photos of some food we enjoyed this week here at CTF.

Ham and kumara frittata

I made this ham and kumara frittata for dinner one night. The ham was from our own pigs, (we still have a couple of hams left in the freezer), and I added a little zucchini and chilli from the garden. Frittata is a great way to use up a lot of eggs. You can put in whatever fresh ingredients you have on hand.

We were also lucky to receive another pot of freshly made pate from our lovely French neighbours - merci beaucoup!

Homemade pate

Ham!

 This was the ham I prepared yesterday. It took about 4 hours to boil it, then another hour in the oven with the glaze. This was the first time I'd cooked and glazed a ham and am reasonably happy with it, perhaps next time I should do it for longer in the oven (or higher temp) as the fat was a little 'wobbly' not firm. But apart from that, the verdict from G was 'the best ham he's ever eaten' so it was a pretty good result. Our butcher did a good job on preparing the meat for us, the ham has a nice smokey flavour.

And I made a potato salad with chives to go with it - borage, calendular and nasturtium flowers on only 1/2 as I am more a fan than G!

Spring pasta dish

I harvested some of the broad beans last night:

 

I cooked them briefly, then added them to our dinner, which was smoked chicken tagliatelle (homemade pasta), with a little chilli, garlic and onion cooked in a creamy white wine sauce, topped off with some grated Romano cheese:

 

Went down pretty well!

Pumpkin, bacon and blue cheese quiche

We've got loads of eggs at the moment, as the hens are "all systems go" at producing them at the moment. Probably a few too many truth be told!
But I'm not complaining really, as it's always handy to have a few eggs in the fridge. And of course there is no shortage of homemade ice cream!

Anyway, back to the quiche. Last night we had this:

I made the pastry using 220g plain flour, 120g cold butter, 1/2 tsp salt and about 3 Tbsp ice cold water. Whizz dry ingredients in food processor, then add just enough water until a dough comes together. Roll out to fit greased quiche dish, prick with a fork and blind bake for about 10 mins, remove paper and weights, then bake for a further 5 mins until pastry base cooked. Cool.

Slice about 500g of pumpkin into wedges and bake on tray with olive oil drizzled over, 180 deg C for about 20-25 mins until just tender. Remove and cool. Then remove skin and slice into small strips.

I chopped a few slices of bacon (rind removed) and fried these. You could also use ham or another cured meat if you prefer (e.g. proscuitto if you can get it) or of course omit it if you want.

Into the base I put some grated mature cheddar cheese ('Tasty' brand in NZ), added the pumpkin strips, the bacon, then I cut up a small wedge of blue cheese (x6 small slices*) to arrange in a circle around the quiche.

For the egg custard, mix 4 large eggs with 150ml cream (or half and half cream and milk to 150mls), sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Pour carefully onto the quiche to almost cover the filling.

Bake for about 30mins at 180 deg C, until golden brown and set.

We ate this with a fresh green salad made from lettuce out of the garden and a chopped up avocado, drizzled with a dressing of lemon juice and olive oil (thanks W&P for the lovely oil!).

*Put more blue cheese in if you desire, although we found that just the small slices were enough to give a bit of a flavour punch without being overpowering.

Another home-produced dinner

 

Last night we had a delicious meal of corned beef (silverside) done in the slow cooker, with mustard sauce, mashed potatoes and beans (OK I'll be honest, the beans weren't actually from our garden..).

Homemade pasta

At last I found the time and inclination to try out my new pasta machine. I made wide ribbons - pappardelle - I tried some dough through the cutting blades but the noodles turned out too narrow for the recipe I had in mind, I guess these are for making fettuccine and spaghetti. Anyway, once I had put the test dough through several times to clean the machine, and practice handling the pasta, I got started on making the noodles. The dough is just 1 egg and 100g flour per person, whizzed in a food processor until it comes together slightly then knead on a floured surface.

I made a simple pasta sauce using chopped red onion, a little chilli, some chopped smoked bacon, white wine, cream, sea salt and pepper. The pasta took a minimal time to cooked in boiling salted water (about 2mins). After draining the pasta I added it to the sauce, and served it with some grated parmesan and a green salad on the side.

The taste of the fresh pasta was amazing, much superior to using 'fresh' pasta from the supermarket. I can see this pasta machine will be getting a lot of use!

Delicious duck pate

Once again we were the lucky recipients of some delicious pate from our French neighbours down the road. A few weeks ago we'd given them one of the ducks that G shot.

I don't have the exact recipe, but I know this contained hazelnuts, green peppercorns, orange zest and a dash of Grand Marnier. Absolute heaven - we munched our way through quite a substantial chunk of it on crackers the other night.

I've only ever made pate from chicken livers, so I'd be keen to find out how it's done, this pate is more like a terrine that requires cutting rather than able to be spread. To receive a treat like this as a gift once in a while really is fantastic.

Fried chicken and kumara chips

Last night we had some of our own chicken. G culled another 3 birds yesterday, this was a young cockarel and the 2 hens have gone into the freezer. We did the chicken pieces in the deep fryer, using the same recipe as for fried rabbit that I've done previously, slow cooking first. The only difference was I used lemon thyme instead of standard thyme. Also we did some kumara fries using our own kumara. All very nice.

Roast chicken

G butchered one of our chickens yesterday and today I cooked it up. It was a young cockarel, 20 wks old, and weighed in at just over 1.5 kgs.
After trussing it, I put the chook in the slow cooker with a lemon in its cavity, a little olive oil on its skin and a dash of stock in the pot, covered it with tin foil and then the lid of the slow cooker. I left it to cook for about 6 hours.
Then I roasted it in the oven for a couple of hours (covering it with tin foil after it had browned so that it didn't dry out) with some additional lemon thyme scattered on top, and some sea salt and pepper. We ate it with some roast potatoes and parsnips and some boiled veg on the side, plus of course gravy. The meat was quite tender and very tasty. Will try this method (slow cooking first) again with an older chook (we have a couple of mature hens to cull) to see what the results are.
Sorry no photos, we were in too much of a rush to eat!

The M word and steak

Yes we're still eating the wild mushrooms would you believe! I'm quite amazed how well they're keeping actually, we're up to 6 days now, but we do have them in paper bags in the big veg drawer of our lovely Mitsubishi fridge so it's probably at the right temp. for them.

There aren't many more to eat now. Planning to have the last of them on home made pizza tomorrow.

Anyway, this was good old rump steak on the BBQ, with mushrooms (recipe below), some boiled potatoes out of the garden and a side salad. Yum.

For the mushrooms, heat a good lug of olive oil and a knob of butter in a frypan. Briefly fry a crushed or chopped clove of garlic, add the sliced mushrooms, some thyme leaves, salt and pepper and a little water. Cook quickly on a high heat. Add a little more butter near when the mushrooms are nearly cooked. Pile on top of meat and eat immediately.

Homemade tortillas and tortilla bake

I found a recipe for tortillas, something I've usually bought in the supermarket for convenience but the downside being they contain additives that I would prefer to avoid. Anyway, the tortillas were so easy to make using the following recipe:

1 cup cornmeal
1 tsp salt
1 cup boiling water

Mix the above, leave for 10 mins. Then add 1 1/2 cups wholemeal flour and mix, using hands, until the mixture forms a stiff dough.

Divide into balls (I made 9 medium size tortillas) and roll out on a board with more cornflour, until they are quite thin. Place on a plate, separating each with a piece of baking paper.



Fry in oil (I used grapeseed) for a few moments on each side - not too long or they become tough. Drain each one on a piece of kitchen paper.



For the bake, you'll need 6 tortillas.

Make up some tomato based bean sauce, I fried an onion and garlic, added chilli, then a tin of tomatoes (we've finished all of our own frozen ones now), and a can of cannelloni beans, some black pepper and a small amount of oregano. Cook for about 15mins.
I used some chopped up leftover roast chicken from last night, but there wasn't much, about 1/2 cup. You could put more in, say 1 1/2 - 2 cups.
Grate some cheese, about 2 cups. You also need a few dollops of sour cream.

To assemble, line a greased dish with 2 tortillas, then put on 1/4 of the sauce, 1/4 of the cheese, a few dollops of sour cream and 1 cup chicken (or half what you have), put on 2 more tortillas then repeat sauce/cheese/sour cream/chicken. Top with 2 more tortillas, then put on the remaining sauce, sour cream and cheese.
Cover with foil and bake for about 30mins on 180degC.

A gourmet gift

We were visited by our neighbour during the week, a Frenchman, who brought us a gift, homemade pate. It came in a smart glass jar. Only the day before we had been talking about pate and how we (I) should make our own, it's not hard and the taste and quality is above anything sold in shops. So here we were the next day taking possession of a fine pot of pork pate.

To go with the pate, I made a foccacia loaf. I made the dough in the bread maker, then baked it with rosemary and sea salt on top.

The pate was delicious. It had quite a lot of green peppercorns which gave it a nice flavour.
Thank you neighbour!

Fried rice

I only learnt how to cook a good stir fry in recent years, since viewing Kylie Kwong's cooking show on TV.

This recipe for fried rice is based on a recipe from her book Heart and Soul.

As well as being a nice comfort food, fried rice is the best homemade "fastfood", it's so quick to cook (so long as you have cooked rice in the fridge).

About 2 Tbpsn peanut oil
2 large eggs, beaten

1 1/2 Tbspn ginger, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 onion, finely diced
1/2 cup chopped bacon or ham
1 tsp white sugar
2 Tbpsn shao hsing wine/Chinese cooking wine (or if not available use sherry)
3 cups cold cooked white rice (day old is best)
1 Tbpsn oyster sauce
about 1/2 cup spring onions, finely sliced
1 tsp vege stock powder or a splash of liquid stock
1/4 tsp sesame oil
Chopped red chilli(es to suit your heat requirement)
Splash of soy sauce

Prepare everything first and have it all lined up ready to go in the wok, as the cooking time is very short.

Heat oil in wok and pour in beaten eggs. Cook for about 1min, scrambling them lightly with a fish slice. Remove and set aside on a kitchen paper towel.

Wipe wok (carefully it will be very hot!) with more kitchen paper, add extra oil and stir fry ginger, chilli and garlic for 1min. Add onion, stir fry for 2min, add bacon and stir fry for another minute. Then add sugar and wine. Lastly add rice, the reserved cooked egg, oyster sauce, spring onions, stock and sesame oil. Stir fry for about 3min. Roughly chop egg as you stir.

Serve in bowls, eat with fork (or chopsticks if you prefer) with a splash of soy sauce or tamari to taste. (This quantity serves 2 people). Obviously omit bacon or ham if you are wanting a vegetarian meal..

The goose dinner

Well last night I cooked the goose breasts. I chose an easy recipe which involved marinating the meat in some honey, thyme and balsamic vinegar. Then I roasted some potatoes in butter and thyme, added the goose about 20mins before the potatoes were due to be ready. Made some crab apple "jus" (red wine, stock, then crab apple jelly boiled up and added a knob of butter). Steamed some fresh cabbage to go with it all.
Although it all looked good and wasn't too bad to taste the goose was pretty tough! We couldn't eat most of it! So not a very successful wild food meal. I think next time I will cook it in the slow cooker and try another recipe as I don't think the balsamic vinegar really improved the flavour.
The other thing to bear in mind is we didn't know the age of the goose, and apparently they are quite long lived.

Liver and bacon casserole

Tonight I cooked up half of the piece of beef liver we were given from hubby's workmate Bruce, and it was delicious, nice and tender. I sliced it and coated it in flour then fried it to seal, and then put it in a casserole dish with some fried onion and some chopped bacon, a bay leaf and some stock. Cooked in the oven for about 1 1/2 hrs.

Steak and kidney pie, crock pot version

Once again we were very fortunate to be given some more fine food. This time, fresh kidneys and some liver courtesy of hubby's workmate Bruce, who had recently had a steer butchered. So steak and kidney pie was on the menu.
I found a good recipe for a crock pot version of cooking the steak and kidney, then just make some short crust pastry for the actual pie.

Ingredients:

Some Stewing beef about 500 or 600g
Kidneys or just one chopped up beef kidney, it was quite large
3 Carrots, peeled and chopped
2 onions, chopped
A good slug of Worcestershire sauce
A small dash of Balsamic vinegar
About 8 juniper berries
About 8 whole black peppercorns
A squirt of tomato ketchup
A small handful of dried shitake mushrooms, soaked in hot water (add some of this liquid to the stew)
A handful of fresh thyme, chopped
Enough stock to almost cover the contents of the crock pot

Preheat crock pot and spray with oil. Chop up the beef and kidney into bite size pieces. Toss in flour to coat. Add to crock pot. Add carrots and onions and stir.Add other ingredients and stir. Cook for about 10 hrs. I started mine on high for a couple of hours then turned it to low.

Pastry:

2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
about 180g cold butter chopped
about 6 Tbspn ice cold water

Make pastry, chill then cut in half, roll out to fit base of pie dish, plus top. I used a pie funnel, put meat filling in, then topped with pastry. Brush with beaten egg. Cook 180degs C for about 35 mins.

Roast chicken (our very own)

Last night we ate the Indian Game rooster that hubby had butchered while I was away on my travels. For what looked like a small bird it was 2kgs in weight so not bad at all.

I stuffed it with a mixture of prune, couscous and pistachios, also a little fresh ginger, cardamom and cayenne. Then I roasted it in the oven for a couple of hours. Very nice.

Our first attempts at eating our own chicken weren't quite so successful as previously we took the feathers and skin off together as it was much easier than plucking. However, the meat dries out too easily without the skin so it's worth the extra effort to pluck the bird, rather than take the easier option. One or two errant feathers still remaining in the skin came out after cooking so no problem there.

Holidays, roosters and roast lamb

I'm back after a couple of weeks touring NZ with my sister and her son, who were over from the UK. We had a great time. It's lovely to be home though and hurrah we have rain today at last! It has been so dry and we were just about out of water (being on tank supply - filled off the roof).
In my absence hubby has butchered a young rooster and put it in the freezer all prepared to go in the oven, so we can have a nice roast chicken one night when we feel like it.
Also we sold one the other big Indian Game rooster (in picture) to a local lady. Our hens will no doubt feel a lot better not having the attention of so many male chooks!
Tonight though I'm cooking up roast lamb with some rosemary and olive oil. We were given a couple of joints of lamb by the local farmer a while back. Since I'm using a very small benchtop oven I don't have room to do roast veges too, so it will be a mash of potatoes and pumpkin (out of our garden) and maybe some good old peas as we are a bit lacking in the green vege dept.

Wild goat curry

A little while ago we were fortunate to be given a couple of legs of wild goat from a friend who went hunting. I put these in the freezer for keeping. Here is the recipe for the goat curry we ate last night using one of the legs.

I thawed the leg of goat first, then soaked it overnight in milk. Previously when we've eaten wild meat it's invariably been quite tough, so I figured the soaking might help. It did.

Then I sprayed the bowl of a slow cooker with oil (olive), set it to 'low', rinsed and dried the meat using kitchen paper (I just put the whole leg in or you could dice it). Then I added the following spices mixed to a thin paste with a little water:

about 2 tspns ground coriander

about 1 tspn turmeric

about 1 tspn chilli (depending on how hot you like your curries)

about 1 tspn salt

I poured the 'paste' over the meat and spread it all over using a spoon, put the lid of the slow cooker on and left it for about 5 hrs. Remember not to lift the lid of a slow cooker while cooking unless you really need to otherwise the cooking is interrupted by 30 mins each time!

After about 5 hrs I turned the meat over to make sure it was all coated in the curry paste and liquid that forms during cooking.

After about 10 hrs cooking time it was considered ready to eat, and we were hungry, so out it came. It was tender and tasty and fell off the bone. I served it with a little jasmine rice and some peas, and it went down well with us and our guest. The meat was really no different in taste to mutton.