Friday food

Happy Friday!

But before we get onto the food festivities, I have one more Jane Austen item. Alert reader Anne sent me this link. Clearly I need to get my hands on one.

Today's food is brought to you courtesy of Voyageur Press, which gave me permission to reprint recipes from this book, which I highly recommend. Not only is a lovely book chock full of great recipes, but it has a tasty dish from one of my favorite restaurants: Hell's Kitchen. And so, without further ado, I give you--not one--but two recipes. And I bet one of them will surprise you.

Here's our cast of characters.

 

First we're going to make sausage. Yes! From scratch! It's quite easy. You just mix together all of the above, and voila! Sausage!

 

If you want, you can stop there, make patties, and fry 'em up. But heck--there's so much more you can do with sausage. Why quit when you're about to get way ahead?

 

Toast up some walnuts. Oh, and brew some dark-roast coffee while you're at it. If you're thinking ahead, you could just buy a cup at your local coffee provider.

 

While the walnuts are toasting, take some of your sausage meat, add the coffee and some dried blueberries or currants. Blend them slowly together, then add eggs. The toasted walnuts join in the fun.

Bet you can't guess what's next.

Flour. Sugar. Lots of sugar. Baking powder AND baking soda. Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.

Didn't see that coming, did you!

 

We're making bread! (food safety note--don't let your kids lick the mixer accessories, even though it looks kinda like chocolate at this point. Although it doesn't taste like chocolate. Which could make it pretty funny if someone did a little tasting...)

 

Yup--you can make bread with sausage. And the funny thing is, if you didn't know there was sausage in there, you might have a hard time guessing. It's a lovely mix of savory and sweet, neither overpowering the other.

 

Some members of the Knit Think household ate theirs with additional maple syrup on top. Me, I was happy just to use some high-quality butter. The key here? Bake the bread, let it cool, then toast a slice, so it gets a little crispy. Remember to refrigerate it--it's meat, after all, and shouldn't be left out on the counter.

Reprinted from The Minnesota Homegrown Cookbook, with permission of the publisher

Maple-Glazed Bison Sausage

1 pound ground bison

¼ cup minced shallots

¼ cup pure maple syrup

2 tablespoons minced garlic

2 teaspoons ground sage

2 teaspoons red pepper flakes

2 teaspoons fennel seed

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon ground white pepper

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Place all ingredients in a mixer fitted with a paddle and slowly blend together until just mixed. Do not over-mix the ingredients because this will compact the sausage and make for a tougher, drier product. With moist hands, patty the sausage mixture into 3-oz. portions.

Bison meat is so low in fat that these patties should be cooked no longer than 4 minutes per side. If charcoal broiling, you should cook the patties over a medium-high heat on a rack set 4 inches from the hot coals. For stovetop cooking, use a heavy skillet lightly oiled, and preferably cast iron. These sausage patties should cook over high heat.

Cook the sausages about 4 minutes per side. Hell’s Kitchen chefs cook their sausages over a charcoal grill. However, sautéing them in a skillet produces a juicier sausage because the patties cook in their own juices, instead of those juices dripping away through a grill grate. And never press down with a spatula on the sausages while they cook, since this pushes the flavorful juices out of the patties.

Bison Sausage Bread

10 oz. maple-glazed bison sausage; Italian sausage can be substituted

¾ cup dried blueberries

¾ cup dark roast prepared coffee

4 large eggs

¾ cup walnut pieces, toasted

¾ cup granulated sugar

½ pound dark brown sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

Preheat oven to 350˚F. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle, add the sausage, dried blueberries, and coffee and mix together slowly until well blended. Slowly add the eggs, one at a time, while slowly mixing.

Stop the mixer and add the remaining ingredients. Slowly beat together for 3-4 minutes, or until well blended. Stop the mixer and with a rubber spatula, scrape the bottom and sides of the mixing bowl. Bat another 2-3 minutes on medium speed.

Butter and flour a 5x9-inch loaf pan. Scrape the batter into the pan and bake about 1 ½ hours on the center rack of the oven. Test for doneness. Allow the bread to rest for 10 minutes in the pan; remove to a cooling rack. When cooled to room temperature, wrap the bread and refrigerate or freeze.

To serve, cut into thick slices, butter, and grill on a flat pan; or toast and serve well-buttered.

Comments

[planesdrifter]

Thank you so much for the bread recipe. I lost a most similar one (not bison though) out of a Talk About Good cook book from the Junior League of Lafayette LA circa 1977 and all the sausage bread recipes I found on the internet were Italian and/or cheese. That is until I cross referenced Hell's Kitchen and the type of bread to get the correct name. This bread is excellent toasted, grilled, buttered, peanut buttered. Use your imaginations and taste buds.

[rudee]

I'm intrigued by the bread. I like sausage with dried Michigan cherries and pecans. It's quite tasty.

[heather]

wow. i totally didn't see that coming. sounds like something i have to try though. you always have the most unusual and fascinating recipes :)

[Chris]

Hey, I posted about that book, too! Great minds and all...

[kate]

OK, I love bison and sausage .... but that is just weird. Seriously.

[Guinifer]

Or if you grilled it a little bit instead of toasted it - like a grilled cheese.....or I could put in on my new Pannini grill

[limedragon :-: Harriet]

I am horrified, yet oddly fascinated by that book!

[Miss T]

Oh, I'm all over that one! That two, I mean.

Do you realize you've been baking a lot lately?

[deb]

Maybe it's because I'm sick and have no sense of smell right now - but - I'll pass!