Italian Sausage with Tomatoes & Beans with Polenta

Note: Make the polenta at least 5 hours ahead of time.

Polenta:  
2 cups yellow corn meal
1 tablespoon salt
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Bring 7 cups of water, with the salt added, to a boil. Gradually add 2 cups of yellow corn meal in a steady stream, stirring the entire time. Cook on moderate heat, stirring continuously until thick and stiff (about 10 minutes). Add one cup Parmesan and stir until well blended. Line a loaf pan with plastic wrap and fill with the polenta and chill for 5 hours. Turn our and slice. Fry in a heavy skillet in butter until slightly browned and crisp.

Stew:
2 teaspoons olive oil
7 links Italian sausage
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 cans dices tomatoes with basil, garlic, oregano, with some liquid drained (double the following spices if using plain canned tomatoes)
2 cans cannellini beans, drained & rinsed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoon fennel
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon ground rosemary
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon thyme
4 teaspoon oregano
1-1/2 T chopped garlic
1 Knorr’s vegetable bullion
Polenta (see recipe)
1/8 cup grated Parmesan

Remove one sausage from casing and break up into small pieces in a large non-stick skillet. Drizzle one teaspoon olive oil over the sausage and cook over medium heat (about 3 minutes). Add the remaining four sausages and brown for 3-4 minutes on each side (i.e. 6-8 minutes total). Add the wine and deglaze. Add the tomatoes and herbs; stir; cover and cook over lowest heat for 30 minutes. Stir in the beans, cover, and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Arrange two slices of polenta on each plate, overlapping. Place one sausage on each plate and spoon tomato & beans over. Sprinkle with the grated cheese.

Serve with Italian bread or garlic toast.

Kitchen Tips & Tricks

1. How to keep celery fresh: Cut off the bottom and top ends. Wrap tightly with aluminum foil. It will easily keep for three weeks in the refrigerator when wrapped this way.

2. How to avoid overcooking steamed vegetables: Add a half inch of water to your pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, but make a note of where, exactly, the dial is set. Add the strainer and vegetables. Cover immediately and note the time (or use a timer). Exactly4 minutes later prick the vegetables with a fork to test doneness. Not ready? Cover, wait 30 seconds, and test again. Soon you will find the precise point at which the vegetables are ready. Write it on a piece of paper and tape on the inside face of a kitchen cabinet. Now you can repeat this every time. On our cooktop, for example, I set the heat to 6 bars and cook for exactly 5 minutes for green beans, carrots, and broccoli, which are the vegetables we cook most often.

Gravy Out Of Thin Air

I was at a loss about what I was going to do for a gravy to drizzle over the Kopytka (Polish Dumplings) that were scheduled to accompany our New Year’s Eve dinner. Carolyn rooted around to find a package of demi-glace that she remembered was hiding in the cupboard. Hmm . . . it looked more promising than any other option. It made quite a nice gravy.

.7 oz. Jus de Poulet Lie Gold – Classic Roasted Chicken Demi-Glace
4 tablespoons butter
1-1/2 cups water
3 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons water
Salt – to taste

I added 4 tablespoons of butter, 1-1/2 cups of water, and the demi-glace to a pan. Heat and whisk over a medium heat until the ingredients are well combined. Combine flour and 2 tablespoons cold water in a small glass and mix thoroughly. Add to the pan and whisk until the gravy thickens. Serve in a hot gravy dish. Or drink directly from the pan.

Homemade Bratwurst No. 1

For New Year’s Eve 2012 we invited Mary Rose and Jens for dinner and decided to make homemade sausages. We made chorizo, chaurice and Italian sausage (see previous post about sausage making). We also wanted to make a German sausage. I scoured the internet for bratwurst recipes. I was surprised that none of the recipes I found matched . . . at all. In one case, a website had Bratwurst No. 1 and Bratwurst No. 2. The only common ingredient between the two recipes was pork shoulder and salt. I finally settled on the No. 1 recipe and added a few other spices (savory, allspice and marjoram).  Although the flavor of the product was nothing like the Sheboygan brats that we’re accustomed to buying in a store, this proved to be a very tasty sausage.

We used the cookie press again which works fine for small quantities. Also, I adjusted the Italian Sausage recipe and it turned out perfect. See the sausage making post for the updated recipe.

2 lbs. ground pork (ground to a hamburger consistency; medium coarse)
3/4 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground dried coriander
2 teaspoons ground rubbed sage
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground dried rosemary
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon marjoram
1/2 teaspoon savory

Panna Cotta

Panna Cota is about as simple a dessert as you can imagine to make. However, if you want fluted molds, instead of ramekins, you better start shopping early for them. We went to several stores and came up empty handed. We finally found fluted tin molds in an antique mall.

I made a Panna Cotta, based on a recipe I found on a Polish recipe blog, for New Year’s Eve dinner 2012. It was a Panna Cotta “lite” recipe and it proved to be a disaster. So today I made a second batch as follows. I didn’t include the vanilla extract because we plan to serve it with kinoto marmalade drizzled over the Panna Cotta.

1/4 cup cold milk
1 package gelatin (2.5 teaspoons)
2-1/4 cups of half and half (or heavy cream, if you don’t care about your waist line)
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/2 t vanilla extract (optional)

Spray or lightly oil your mold or ramekins. Sprinkle the gelatin over the milk and allow to sit. It will soak up the milk and “bloom.” Meanwhile, heat the milk and sugar in a medium saucepan until it’s very hot. Remove it from heat right at the point it is about to boil.

Add the gelatin and whisk the liquid until it is completely dissolved in the milk. You can put the pan over a medium heat, as you whisk.

Pour the liquid into your ramekins or molds. Place into the refrigerator for about 2 hours to cool and set. Serve.

Kopytka (Polish Dumplings)

 Kopytka, a word that translates to “little hooves,” are dumplings that are similar to gnocchi or spaetzle. This recipe is based on my mother’s oral recipe. Kopytka refrigerate well. Serve with a gravy or simply buttered.   -jb 12-31-12

2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-1/2 pieces
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
2+ cups of flour
2 tablespoons butter (optional)

Fill a large pot with water, the potatoes and the salt. Boil the potatoes until fork tender.  Remove from heat, drain, and allow to cool, covered. When the potatoes are warm (i.e. not hot to the touch), mash them until they are smooth and not lumpy. Spread 2 tablespoons of flour on the working surface. Heat a large pot of water to boiling.

Add the eggs and mix well. Add the flour, one cup at a time, and work it into the  potatoes with your hands. Place the dough on the work surface and sprinkle with some flour. Create a log shape and squeeze it into the shape of a thin baguette. Use flour, as needed, but just until the dough is no longer sticky. The less you “work” the dough the better. Cut the dough into equal medallions (about 1” wide). (Or you can cut the “baguette” in half lengthwise and make smaller kopytka.)  Heat a large (microwave safe) bowl in the microwave. If you are planning to serve the kopytka without gravy, add 2 T of butter to melt.

Drop 1/2 of the medallions, two at a time, into the boiling water. In about 4 or 5 minutes, the kopytka will float to the surface. After a minute or two, remove them to the hot bowl with a slotted spoon. Repeat until all the kopytka are done cooking and transferred to the bowl. Mix them to coat them with the butter. Cover with aluminum foil to retain heat until serving.

The kopytka store well in the refrigerator. To reheat, simply add some butter and a tablespoon or two of water to a pan. Cover and place pan over low heat until warm. Optionally, you can fry them in butter.

Smacznego!  (translation: bon appétit!)

Oaxaca-inspired Eggs

Above, just before covering.

Above, the final product!

When Carolyn and I were in Oaxaca (Mexico) about 12 years ago, we had breakfast at a restaurant that served an interesting dish that consisted, essentially, of a bowl of tomato sauce in which the cook had floated a couple of eggs. The eggs were very soft (runny) and combined with the tomato sauce. Yesterday, we had tortillas and cilantro on hand and inspiration hit me. This is very different recipe, but the tomato sauce is a mental reference to that dining experience. You can make this in an 8” skillet, but ideally use two 6” skillets. You can use tomato sauce, but pizza sauce is thicker and more flavorful.

8 oz. pizza sauce
4 eggs
4 pcs. – corn tortillas
Onion powder
Cumin powder
Chile pepper powder
Cayenne pepper powder
Salt
Black pepper
Queso Chihuahua (grated or shredded)
Fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

Divide the pizza sauce between the two skillets. Sprinkle with onion, cumin, and chile pepper. About 1/8 of a teaspoon of each. Then sprinkle a little bit of the cayenne pepper.

Turn on the heat to medium. When the sauce is hot (bubbling), add two eggs, carefully, so the yolks don’t break and turn the heat down to low (i.e. just above simmering). Quickly distribute about 1 tablespoon of cilantro leaves and about 3 tablespoons of cheese. Cover.

Place two microwave safe plates into the microwave. Add the four tortillas on top and cover with a piece of wax paper. Heat two minutes.

Place two tortillas on each plate and slide the contents of the skillets off on to each. Salt and pepper to taste.