Sausage Ravioli

For my birthday, I got a KitchenAid mixer with a sausage grinder attachment.  For Xmas, I got a pasta roller attachment.  I hope you can see where this is going.

So, we start with the sausage.  And because I like seeing food purists cringe, I'm going to make chicken sausage.  Chop up some thigh meat.

Combine in a bowl with salt, fennel, red pepper flakes, coriander, garlic, black pepper, and a bit of rendered bacon fat.  You know, because bacon.  

Throw that into the freezer for about half an hour, along with the metal parts of your grinding attachment.  While you're waiting, make the pasta dough.  Start with an equal mix of semolina and all purpose flour.  Make a sort of well in the middle.

Add salt, eggs, water and oil.  Beat with a fork, and slowly, gently, incorporate the flour into the wet mix.

It will get to the point you'll have to use your hands.  Do so.  When all the liquid is absorbed (adding more liquid if too dry, or more flour if too loose; you're looking for barely sticky, but not cracking), wrap in plastic wrap and put in the fridge for an hour.  The point here is to get the gluten really rocking.

Ok, everything in the freezer is cold, and ready to grind.  Just shove the meat down the tube.  It's hard to believe it's that easy.  Yes, I know.  The tough part is casing.  This recipe conveniently calls for crumbled sausage, so I don't have to deal with that.

What we're going to do here is mix this sausage with some ricotta cheese.  Because that sounds weak, we're gonna add some mint, basil, lemon zest, garlic, fish sauce, and mozzerella to the ricotta.

Fry up the sausage!  Let cool, and combine it with the ricotta in a ratio which pleases you.

When the dough is ready, set up the pasta roller, tear off a chunk, and pass it through.  Each pass should be one level thinner.  I stopped at "5", but if you really wanted to, you could go thinner.  I didn't see the need, though.  

Lay the sheets out on a rack, so they don't stick to anything and get gross.  Cut a workable portion, and put a small spoonful of sausage/ricotta mixture on the lower half.  Fold, cut to size, and crimp edges with a fork.

Get your water boiling, add salt, and then cut the heat back a bit.  These things are kind of delicate, so a hard boil might detroy all your work.  More than a simmer, less than a boil.  Add a few ravioli, cook for 3 minutes or so, then remove.

Ok, now for the part you're not going to like: I had been making a marinara this whole time, but because I cribbed it from my mother-in-law, it's sort of a secret.  Just know that it has tomatoes in it, along with some other stuff, and has been simmering for a few hours.  Add a spoonful or two of that to the ravioli, and top with parmesean cheese and fresh basil.

Nirvana Chicken Congee

Chef Karen over at Myers and Chang supplied the recipe for this.  It's one of those simple, all-day meals that requires very little effort, and makes your kitchen smell amazing.

Start with chicken, scallions, ginger, soy sauce, star anise, Michiu (Chinese cooking wine), and sambal olek (chili paste).  The black vinegar shown (sort of like an Asian balsamic, but different) will be used to finish the dish.

Brown the chicken, then add chicken stock, soy, michiu, sambal, star anise, scallions and ginger.  Add enough water to cover.  Bring to a siimmer, then put into a 350 degree oven for 2-3 hours.

While that's filling the house with awesomeness, gently fry thinly sliced shallots in vegetable oil.  By "gently" I mean heat the oil on high until it reaches 275, then tun the heat to low, add the shallots, and cook for about 20 minutes until they've turned brown. Remove to paper towels, and reserve the now infused shallot oil for another day.

so, time's up. Move the chicken to a plate and shred with a fork.  Remove and toss the other chunky bits, then return the chicken to the liquid.  Give it a taste; if it's too intense (the soy can definitely do that), cut it with more stock or water.

Add four parts of the chicken/liquid deliciousness to one part rice.  Cook over low heat until the rice is soft, between 30-45 minutes.

Serve topped with a mixture of fresh scallions, black vinegar, fresh chili peppers, and finish with some of the fried scallions.

Thanks, Karen!

Another Massive Thanksgiving Update.

We decided to host Thanksgiving this year.  Twelve seats around the table, which isn’t the largest dinner ever hosted, but it was the most people I’ve cooked for at one time.  So, what was the plan?  What about trying something you’ve never done before, and hoping for the best?  Sounds like a plan.  So, off to the internet to order…

A TURDUCKEN.

Which is a duck breast, wrapped with Creole sausage and cornbread stuffing, then placed inside a deboned chicken, wrapped again with sausage and stuffing, and then THAT is placed inside a mostly deboned turkey.  Excessive?  Perhaps.  Exciting?  Definitely.  And if nothing else, the table will look amazing (many thanks to my wife Tracy, who has quite the eye for design.  Also, this is her photo).

The question though, is what to have with it?  Well, gotta have cranberries.  Here’s something courtesy of mom: A cranberry compote.  Shallots, orange zest, orange juice, cranberries, sugar.  Put it all in a pot and let it cook down.  Done.

Next up: Potatoes.  Decided to go easy and fancy at the same time, so here’s how to make a Hassleback potato.  Make 1/8” slices in a Yukon Gold, but not all the way through.  I laid two wooden spoons on either side of the potato to help with this.

Then, coat with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and put in the oven for about half an hour.  They’ll start to fan out.

Take them out, put some bacon fat on them, re-season, and then back in the oven for another half hour or so.  The fat will run into the slices, and everything will be both tender and crispy at the same time.  For toppings, your choice of chives, bacon, sour cream, and parsley.

It’s not all meats and starches.  Let’s do a salad.  Chop some unsalted pistachios, add to a pan with fennel seed and oil, and cook until slightly brown.  Let cool.

Slice some fennel. 

Add chopped tarragon, chives, parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, and horseradish (just a little!).

Toss it with lettuce, olive oil, and the pistachio mixture.

Is it lunchtime already?  I didn’t think about what to do.  Wait, I have some sausage.  And some chicken stock.  And some white beans.  And some kale.  Yeah, I got this.

Top with parmesan.

Where was I?  Ah, yes.  Green beans.  Trim, steam for 3 minutes, salt, lemon juice.  That was easy.

We have to have snacks.  Pecans, coated in butter and baked with salt, paprika, and rosemary.

Crudité with sour cream dip.

Smithfield ham, cheddar cheese, and salami (note: I didn’t actually make any of this).

Dessert is store-bought pumpkin pie (hey, a guy’s only got one oven).  But to jazz it up, let’s turn once again to mom, and make a bourbon apricot sauce.  What’s in it?

What do you do?  Add one to the other, and then add heat.

Put it on pie.

It seems like I’m forgetting some-

TUR.

DUCK.

EN.

I ordered one at cajungrocer.com, and it came frozen solid in the mail.  Thaw it out (this will take several days in the fridge).  Four hours covered, one hour uncovered, until the temp hits 165.   In theory.  Ours took a few hours longer, because it still wasn’t completely thawed, even after two days (see above parenthetical hint).

Let it rest for about half an hour, and madly scramble through the kitchen to get the rest of the food finished and plated.  Then, remove the legs and wings, and slice.

Make a roux (this was done the day before), separate the juices in the pan from the fat using a fat separator, and then add to the roux to make gravy.  Season to taste.

Time to eat!  Hm?  What’s that you say?  You want to know what that is in the lower right corner?  Oh, that’s a batch of red beans and rice.  For more information, go to http://earfatigueproductions.blogspot.com/2009/01/its-time-my-friends-for-little-red.html .

Happy Thanksgiving!