Chorizo Sausage Soup

I first want to start off by apologizing for not posting anything for the last several days.  I am a member of GFWC (General Federation of Women's Clubs) and we had our annual Virginia convention.  It was a crazy week leading up to the weekend and being gone over the weekend, I wasn't in my kitchen.  My husband pulled some chorizo sausage from the freezer yesterday for us to have, or for me to do something with, for dinner tonight.  The weather has turned very cool in Virginia, almost winter like instead of spring like.  I thought since it was a rainy cold damp day that soup was in order.  I did a little digging around on the Internet to find a recipe that I felt like I wanted to make.  Since I couldn't make up my mind on any one recipe I decided to use a little bit from all the different recipes I found.

Chorizo Sausage Soup
1 package of chorizo sausage (about 3/4 pound), removed from casing
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
4 cups of chicken broth
1 - 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes
1 can each of chickpeas and kidney beans, drained and rinsed, mix together
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1-1/2 cups pasta (I used chiocciole shaped pasta - looks like a large macaroni)
1 - 6 ounce bag baby spinach
Parmesan Cheese

Remove meat from casing of sausage. Make a slit down the center of each link, open the casing up and scrape the meat out of the casing into a heated (medium heat) 6 quart dutch oven that has the olive oil added.  Cook, stirring often breaking sausage into bite sized chunks (don't make them too small, you want to get those bites of sausage as you eat the soup.  Cook until brown.  It there is a lot of fat, spoon some of it out.  Add carrots, onion, and garlic.  Cook until onion is tender, about 5 to 10 minutes.  Add herbs and stir until fragrant.  Add chicken broth, tomatoes (with juice), add about 3/4 of the bean mixture and bring to a boil (you can add more of the beans but you want to make sure that you have enough liquid to cook the pasta in).  Bring soup to a boil, add pasta, cover and cook for 10 minutes until pasta is tender.  Stir in spinach (a little at a time) until wilted.  Add more salt and pepper to taste.  Serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

This post was shared on Easy Natural Food Sunday Night Soup Night 4/29/2012 and on
The Healthy Home Economist Monday Mania 4/30/2012

Ravioli with Homemade Sauce

I didn't pull a thing out of the freezer for dinner tonight, I thought about it but never got around to doing it.  So I whipped up a quick dinner.  We bought some ravioli from our local food co-op that we were keeping in the refrigerator.  They are a Porcini Mushroom and Truffle made by Bertagni (product of Italy).  Just cook those according to the package.

For the Sauce:
1 can of tomato sauce
1 can of diced tomatoes, drained
1 tablespoon oregano
1 tablespoon parsley
1 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
fresh ground pepper
salt
You can add more or less of the spices to suit your taste.  The measurements above are approximate.  Cook on stove until heated thoroughly.  Serve sauce over cooked pasta.  Top with shaved Parmesan cheese.

Serve meal with a Caesar salad with homemade Caesar dressing.
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon coarse black pepper
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 to 2 teaspoons sugar
2 pressed garlic cloves
1/4 cup Romano or Parmesan cheese
1 cup vegetable oil or extra virgin olive oil
Mix together. 
Add just enough dressing to coat romaine lettuce but not too much.  Sprinkle each salad with fresh grated Parmesan cheese and fresh ground pepper.

Chicken Drumsticks on the Grill

We bought some drumsticks from one of our local farms that raise their chickens naturally (on pasture, no antibiotic feed).  Thought it would be something a little different than having a whole chicken.

I use a barbeque spice rub recipe that I got out of the Grassfed Gourmet Cookbook.
Barbeque Spice Rub
1/2 cup chili powder
3 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons coarse salt
2 tablespoons paprika
This will make more than you need at one time.  Just place all the ingredients into a dish that you can place a lid on to seal.  Don't store this in plastic as it will take on the flavor of the spices.

Rub the drumsticks with the spice rub.  Place the drumsticks on a high heat grill and grill for 5 minutes and then turn every 5 minutes until done.

Grilled Asparagus
Snap asparagus (hold a piece of asparagus in both hands and bend the asparagus, the asparagus will break at the tender spot of the asparagus).  Don't throw away the tough end (the part you don't want to eat), save those (stick them in the freezer) to make vegetable broth or asparagus soup with at a later date.  Place the asparagus on foil. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with fresh ground black pepper.  Place the asparagus on the grill, direct heat and cook for 5 minutes and then move to warming rack. 


Fresh Pineapple, Blueberry and Mint Salad
Cut a fresh pineapple.  I use a pineapple cutter made by Pampered Chef, it makes cutting a pineapple effortless and very simple.  Take each section of pineapple and cut into lengthwise sections and then slice again to create small pieces.  I had some organically grown local blueberries that I froze from last year.  Just take the frozen blueberries and place in a bowl.  Add chopped pineapple, mix.  Take some fresh mint and pull the leaves off.  Dice the mint and place in bowl with pineapple and blueberries.  Mix together and let stand at room temperature until ready to eat.

Smoked Ham, Provolone Cheese Raisin Cinnamon English Muffin Grilled Cheese

I came home from running errands today and checked my email.  I follow this blog called Foodie Crush.  Today in my inbox was the most delightful looking sandwich, grilled cheese no less, that I have seen in a while.  The picture immediately made my mouth water.  Since I hadn't eaten lunch yet I got to thinking this would be great for my lunch today and I knew that I had several of the same ingredients.  In the original recipe it using a fig spread.  Since I didn't have any on hand I chose to use strawberry jam instead.


Here is what I did:
1 tablespoon butter
1 sourdough cinnamon raisin english muffin, split in half 
1 tablespoon strawberry jam 
A couple of slices of smoked ham 3 slices of provolone cheese

Heat a skillet on medium. Butter one side of the muffin. On unbuttered side spread on strawberry jam, add cheese slices (you may need to break the cheese since the muffin is smaller than the slice of cheese) then add ham.  Place other side of muffin on top, buttered side up, and grill in skillet until bread becomes golden. Flip sandwich once and cook until cheese melts and bread becomes golden. Cut in half and serve hot.  Since I used an english muffin you may need to push down on it while it is in the skillet to get everything to melt and heat up.  

Cinnamon Raisin Sourdough English Muffins

In my post the other day where I made regular english muffins I mentioned that the next time I made them I would make cinnamon raisin muffins, and so I did.  The kitchen smells like cinnamon which is so nice.  My husband says that the cinnamon smell reminds him of his childhood when he was in the kitchen with his grandmother and she would make him cinnamon toast.  I like that kind of memory.  I could tell when he was talking about it he remembers her fondly.


Raisin Cinnamon Sourdough English Muffins
In a large bowl combine 1/2 cup fresh starter**, 1-1/4 cups warm non-chlorinated water and 1-1/2 cups flour.  Set in a warm place until bubbly, (several hours).Combine these next ingredients together in a separate bowl:1 cup flour (any flour can be used)1/2 teaspoon salt1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Cinnamon
RaisinsStir the flour mixture into the bubbly sourdough batter, add enough cinnamon and raisins to incorporate into the dough.  You may want to add a little cinnamon to your board that you knead the dough on.  You want enough cinnamon and raisins to know that it is a cinnamon raisin muffin. Stir in enough extra flour to make a tough, plastic like dough, 1/4 to 1/2 cup more.  Knead 3-5 minutes until the dough is no longer sticky.  Roll on a lightly floured board to 1/2 inch thick.  Cut into 3 inch rounds with a wide mouth canning jar ring.  Sprinkle a place with cornmeal.  Moisten both sides of the dough rounds with non-chlorinated water and flop them on the cornmeal.  Place each on waxed paper, leaving enough space so that they do not touch and can rise.  Let rise until double in thickness (about 1 hour).  Very lightly grease a skillet or electric fry pan*, heating to low, 275 degrees Fahrenheit. Cook them about 10 minutes on each side until browned and puffed up.  Cool. Split with a fork and toast. 
*I used an electric fry pan so that I could regulate the temperature easier.
**Fresh Starter - In a bowl with 1/2 cup of sourdough starter add:1-1/2 cups flour1-1/4 cup warm, non-chlorinated, waterStir thoroughly, and set in a warm place as before until it is actively bubbling.  (About 6-1/2 hours) When starter is bubbly and light, stir gently, then set aside the 1/2 cup of start and put in the refrigerator until next time.  Now you can proceed with your favorite recipes with the fresh starter.  The sourdough is fresh when you start the recipe so it should be less time to see the active (bubbly) stage again depending on the temperature it is placed in.

Cinnamon Raisin Muffins on Left, Regular Muffins on Right

Bratwurst, Onions and Beer on the Grill

I decided to thaw out some bratwurst that we get from our local farmer.  The bratwurst is made purely of pork, not your typical German Bratwurst.  I wanted to cook the brats on the grill along with some beer.

Bratwurst, Onions and Beer on the Grill
Slice thinly 2 onions
1 bottle of beer (your choice).  I used a pint of a local beer called Roanoke Railhouse - Track 1 Amber Lager
Butter
Add butter to a cast iron pan (deep enough to add beer), melt butter, add onions and cook until soft.  Add beer, cover and continue to cook.  Don't let it boil too much.  Place brats on grill and cook until done.  Add brats to beer and onion mixture.  Let simmer in pan until you are ready to eat.  Add a brat to a hoagie style roll adding onions and a little juice.

Grilled Sweet Potatoes with Cinnamon Sugar
Take 1 Japanese sweet potato (Japanese Sweet Potatoes are purple on the outside and white on the inside.  They are not the orange color you associate with American sweet potatoes), slice super thin (I used a mandolin, no not the musical instrument, but one of those slicers that you can slice stuff really thin).  Place slices onto a piece of foil, overlap the slices slightly.  Add a couple of slices of butter; place the slices throughout the top of the sweet potato slices.  Sprinkle the top with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar (I used regular white sugar).  Place another piece of foil on top and turn up the ends so that you are sealing the potatoes into a foil packet.  Place the packet onto the grill over high heat, cook for 5 minutes, turn packet over and cook for another 5 minutes.  Removing to warming rack for 10 minutes.  (Once you remove the packet to the rack, place salmon onto the grill.  Remove from heat. 

Salmon Cooked on a Himalayan Sea Salt Plank

When I did a order last week for seafood through SeaBear I saw this really cool cooking tool called a Himalayan Sea Salt Plank.  I was intrigued by how you cooked using this huge chunk of salt.  So I bought one and tried it for the first time tonight.

Here is what I did:
While leaving the skin on, cut salmon fillet into strips approximately ½” wide. Set aside on a cold platter for cooking later.   Brush each side of the salmon with olive oil.
Properly heating your salt plank will take approximately an hour or so.  Place your dry salt slab into a cold oven and turn the heat to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. When the oven has reached 250 degrees, carefully remove the salt slab and let cool for about 30 minutes on a stove top, or other safe area. Then return it to the oven and set the temperature for 400 to 450 degrees Fahrenheit  for 30-35 minutes. The heat will distribute slowly and evenly throughout.  Remove plank from oven, place on a safe surface.  Place salmon strip onto plank.  It will take only a couple of minutes each side for the salmon to cook.  Here is a cool video so that you can see how the salmon is cooked.  


I made a herb aioli to go along with the cooked salmon.  I didn't have any fresh herbs available so I used dried.  You only want to use a little bit of each and make it to taste.
It consisted of homemade mayonnaise, dill weed, parsley, thyme, tarragon, cilantro, fresh ground pepper,  little bit of lemon juice and a splash of Tabasco sauce.


Along with this we served couscous and a small side salad.  This kept the meal nice and light.

Salmon while on the sea salt plank beginning to cook