Sausage Making 101

August 13, 2009 by 32 Comments
Each month a member of our Italian/American club gets to host a cooking class of their choice, its called Cucina Italiano. I did one here. This past week I attended a sausage making demo at a members home. Homemade Italian sausage made “old school way” with a hand cranked meat grinder.

She was very prepared and had her pork shoulder all trimmed and ready to go, leaving it about 80% lean to about 20% fat. The meat was then cut into chunks and passed through the meat grinder. Seasonings such as salt, pepper, fennel and red pepper flakes were then added to the ground sausage. At this point I would cook up a tiny bit to see if your seasonings are to your liking, if not, you could always add more before you start stuffing.
Next the sausage stuffing attachment was put on and the casings were placed over the stuffing tube. It worked great with 2 people as one was cranking and feeding the sausage meat into the hopper, and the other was guiding it in the casings.

Grills and ovens were going as everything got cooked up and taste tested! Its nice to know what’s actually in your sausage. Quality meat with no fillers! Years ago I use to make my own sausage, it inspired me to try it again. I’d like to try making some of those gourmet sausages that cost a fortune, maybe a chicken sausage with sun dried tomatoes and artichokes. Yumm!

The possibilities are endless!

FINAL GARDEN UPDATE

Well I have to give a big shout out to the hubby he has proved he has a green thumb!

Our tomatoes are coming in like gang busters. Vine ripened juicy tomatoes of several different varieties, a joy to eat with our dinners. Eggplants are almost ready to be picked and the zucchini has all been perfect, we make sure to pick them before they get to big.

I’m sure gonna miss this when the cold weather comes around!

These are little Japanese beetles going to town on our grape leaves. We have a small vine on our fence and they’ve been destoying all our leaves. They feast on the tissue between the veins and leave it looking all skeletal, nasty little creatures!

Enjoy your weekend, and Buon Appetito!

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Deconstructed Grilled Veggie Lasagna w/ Romesco Sauce

August 7, 2009 by 32 Comments

Everything you see here I happened to have leftover in my frig. Grilled veggies, a cup or so of ricotta, a couple pieces of fresh mozzarella, a handful of spinach, and some need to be used up ASAP! fresh pasta sheets. I can’t stand to waste good food!

I also happened to have about 2 cups left of this awesome Romesco sauce I made for the baby shower, courtesy of my friend Stacey’s recipe.

Romesco sauce is intensely flavored by using roasted red peppers, almonds or sometimes hazelnuts, a couple of crusty bread slices, olive oil and garlic and a few other things all whizzed up in a food processor. This stuff is terrific! It goes excellent with grilled protein of any kind as well as grilled veggies.

So with the small amounts of ingredients I happened to have on hand I decided to make a lasagna in a deconstructed way, as you can see in the first photo it was really easy to do. I can’t even explain how good this was, you’ll just have to try it! Seriously, the hubby and I loved it.
The sauce was the star of the show and the flavors blended so well with everything. The only thing I changed up in the sauce was that I used some roasted garlic instead of raw.
As for the lasagna, I would recommend fresh pasta sheets if you can get them, but I’m sure it would be fine with dry, but please don’t use the no boil!

We thoroughly enjoyed every bite of this, I’ll definitely be making this again!

Buon Appetito!

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32 Comments Filed Under: Pasta, Sauces Tagged: , ,

Oh Baby!!

August 2, 2009 by 54 Comments

I wanted to share with you some of the food I had the privilege of making this past weekend for a baby shower we had that was held in honor of my son and daughter-in-law. Their request was to have it very casual, in their home, with finger foods and appetizers. I had so much fun doing it and I can’t wait for the arrival of my new Granddaughter!

The menu was:

Caprese Skewers
White Bean Dip w/ Rosemary and Olive Oil Pita Chips
Artichoke Crostini
Grilled Eggplant Rolled w/ Roasted Red Pepper and Creamy Feta and Herb Cheese
Proscuitto Wrapped… Rosemary and Lemon… and Pesto Marinated Chicken Skewers, served with a Romesco Sauce and a three Citrus Aioli for Dipping
Mini Italian Meatballs
Grilled Shrimp and Orzo Pasta Salad Greek Style w/ Fresh Lemon and Olive oil Dressing
Bow Tie Pasta Salad w/ Spinach, Sundried Tomatoes, Pinenuts, Feta and Olives

The only thing I did not make was the fruit salad, those adorable cookies that you see, (which by the way were homemade) and of course the cake, which happened to be a huge cannoli cake that we ordered from a great Italian bakery!

Four weeks more to go and we’ll be able to meet our new little family member, I’ll be sure to announce her arrival!

Have a great week, and Buon Appetito!

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54 Comments Filed Under: Appetizers, Party Foods Tagged: ,