Apple and Sage Turkey Sausage
This was breakfast today. Yes, I broke the yolk. This happens in real life. Yesterday, I dropped a whole omelette on the floor so today was an improvement. These turkey sausage patties are actually better the next day making them perfect for reheating. I have a ton of fresh sage and was thinking of a way to start using some of it. It is one of the few herbs that is loving the partial shade on our terrace. (I, however, am not loving it and am thinking of sneaking my tomato plants in with the apartment’s landscaping…) Sage can be really strong, but turkey can be pretty bland. The combination with the apples and onions give these a great texture. Don’t worry about making flat patties as you are forming them. They will be very delicate before you cook them. I just flattened them once they were in the pan. They will cook quite quickly, and I found frying them to be easiest as two man job if you can recruit the help. Of course, these are great with a sunny side up egg.
I am now somewhat obsessed with the idea on making sausage links. Real sausage. Last night I took the first step: adding the grinder attachment for my standing mixer and natural sausage casings to my wishlist on a certain website.
Apple and Sage Turkey Sausage
1.5 pounds lean ground turkey
1 Granny Smith apple, diced
1/2 onion, finely diced
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp fresh sage, finely minced
1 tsp fresh thyme
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl, form the mixture into small rounded patties. Heat enough oil to coat the bottom of a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Place the patties into the oil and press with a spatula to flatten. They will cook fairly quickly and need about 2-3 minutes per side.
Scenes From Today…
Sometimes, I like baking for no reason…
and letting my dog nap in a warm pile of clean laundry…
I also really enjoy browsing pictures to procrastinate when I should be finishing a project. Oh, look a heart shaped kiwi from the farmer’s market! Cute, no? Photos are the best distractions.
Okay, back to work. I will be back soon with a bunch of new recipes, including a remarkably delicious but un-photogenic guacamole recipe.
A Wall of Jasmine and Bougainvillea
J: Are you going to stop and take a picture of this every single time?
Me: Yep.
Lentil and Almond Granola
When I saw this recipe for Lentil Granola at Stone Soup, I knew I would have to try it immediately. I used to eat oatmeal and granola all the time before I went grain-free for health reasons a year ago. I made a few changes to the recipe to make it Specific Carbohydrate Diet friendly. This includes soaking the lentils overnight to remove some of the starch. This does change the texture a bit and affect the cooking time so you could follow the original recipe if this isn’t an issue for you. Many people don’t eat coconut on the SCD, so you could also leave it out and this would still work well. For anyone following this diet, you know it can be difficult to find substitutions for grains, but this is really good.
The mellow flavor of the red lentils is absolutely key for this recipe, and you can find them in just about any market. They are my go-to choice for soups so I actually had all these ingredients on hand. You could add dried fruit or other nuts to this granola. I found that I really liked it with just lentils and coconut. I will be posting another variation of this recipe soon that is perfect if you prefer your granola to have more crunchy clusters.
Lentil and Almond Granola
Adapted from Stone Soup
4 cups pre-soaked lentils *see note below
1/2 cup honey
3 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup desiccated unsweetened coconut
1 cup raw almonds
1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil
Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the lentil. Cook for about 2 minutes. Drain well and allow to cool. In the warm pot stir together the honey, coconut oil, cinnamon and vanilla. Add the lentils and combine well. You can taste it at this point to check for sweetness. Spread the mixture onto a parchment lined sheet pan and bake for about 15 minutes. Add the almonds and stir well. Bake for another 45 minutes stirring after about every 15 minutes. Add the coconut after 45 minutes have passed. Turn the oven up to 325 degrees and bake for another 15-20 minutes or until the lentils are golden brown. Allow to cool in the oven for a crispier granola. I kept this refrigerated in an airtight container.
* To prepare the lentils, rinse well in cold water. Soak overnight in the refrigerator and rinse again prior to use. I have an hand held strainer that I can fit into a large bowl to prevent this from turning into a huge mess!
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Whenever I ask J what kind of cookies he wants me to bake, he says chocolate chip. These were going to be Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies, but he convinced me to make them Oatmeal Chocolate Chip. We agreed to disagree on the merits of dried fruit in cookies. Since I don’t actually eat them, he won. I still think this recipe would be great with dried cranberries or the nutmeg and raising that were called for in the original recipe. Old fashioned oats and dark brown sugar give these cookies a nice chewy texture. Just be very careful not to over bake them. J liked these so much that he took a few for breakfast. They are oatmeal cookies after all!
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Brown Eyed Baker’s Recipe for Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened but still cool
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or dried cranberries or raisins)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Sift the dry ingredients together in a bowl. In a mixer cream the butter and sugars. When fluffy add the eggs and vanilla. Slowly add the dry ingredients, oatmeal and chocolate chips. Stop the mixture as soon as they are combined.
Using a rounded tablespoon of dough, roll each cookie into a ball. Allow each cookie about 2 inches to spread. Bake for about 18-20 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for about two minutes and transfer to a rack to cool completely.
Italian Pot Roast
When we moved nearly a year ago, we decided not to get cable. It was partly to save money and partly to be all sanctimonious about not watching much television. I am mostly kidding about the second part. Having access to Real Housewives of Wherever wasn’t much of a loss, but I did miss the Food Network. Even though I would complain about the quality and general lameness of most of the shows, bad cooking shows were better than no cooking shows at all. Then, I realized they show cooking shows most Saturday mornings on PBS. This began my obsession with America’s Test Kitchen and Cook’s County episodes. J will even watch it with me and discuss the food science stuff.
This recipe for Italian Pot Roast is slightly adapted from the recipe on the show. I generally don’t use tomato paste and replace it with anchovy paste. I know you don’t like anchovies. But, you probably do. I promise they don’t taste fishy in tomato sauces. Just try my lasagna. The most important step in this recipe is to make sure to really sear the meat on all sides (maillard reaction for fans of the show!). This will make a huge difference in flavor when the roast is done.
Italian Pot Roast
Adapted from Cook’s County
3 1/2-4 Pounds of Chuck Roast (you can ask your butcher to truss it for you)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 pound sliced cremini mushrooms
2 tsp anchovy paste
1 14.5 oz. can of chopped tomatoes
1 cup of tomato juice
1 cup of red wine, divided into 1/2 cups, (I used a Zinfandel)
1 head of garlic, remove the outer skins and slice it in half
4 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 spring of fresh rosemary
salt and pepper
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Pat the roast dry with paper towels and season generously with kosher salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large cast iron dutch oven. Brown the roast on all sides, this will take about 8-12 minutes. This will also smoke so open some windows! It should look something like this:
Remove the meat from the pan and allow to rest. Sautee the onion, celery and mushrooms in the rendered fat and oil for about 8 minutes. Add the 1/2 cup of wine, garlic, thyme, tomatoes and tomato juice. Bring to a simmer of medium high and add the roast back to the pan. Cover the top of the pot with foil and then the lid, and place it in the oven. Flip the roast every hour or so. Cook until fork tender. My roast was just under four pounds and cooked in about four hours. You can skim the fat off the top as necessary. I waited until then end of cooking. (Note: If you are not going to serve it the same day, this is a great time to let it cool and store it before the final steps.)
Remove the roast from the pan and cover loosely with foil. Remove the garlic and thyme from the pot. Discard the thyme and squeeze the garlic cloves from the skins. Bring the sauce to a boil and add the second 1/2 cup of red wine. Add the mashed garlic and rosemary and simmer for about 2 minutes. Remove the rosemary and taste for salt and pepper.
After removing the twine, slice the roast again the grain. It will likely be just about falling apart. Serve with additional sauce.
Other people have had great results with this recipe too! Check them out:
Italian Pot Roast @ Making Life Delicious
Italian Pot Roast @ Follow Your Bliss
