I Love You More Than Food

Tag: sausage

  • Scallops in Fava & Pea Puree, Littleneck Clams on White Beans, Sausage & Chard, Creme Fraiche Pannacotta with Strawberries

    Scallops in Fava & Pea Puree, Littleneck Clams on White Beans, Sausage & Chard, Creme Fraiche Pannacotta with Strawberries

    [donotprint]

    creme fraiche panna cotta with strawberries (sunday suppers at lucques)

    I had occasion to cook last night– a Sunday– and was feeling pretty inspired by a very solid weekend of good eats. Friday night a feast in our back yard, Saturday a hike from our doorstep to the top of twin peaks, down into the mission for a stop at Delfina Pizzeria, an errand at Tartine (here’s a hint: it involved walnut bread, croissants and an eclair) and another at BiRite (which involved this steak) and yet another feast in our back yard.

    There is a huge collection of cookbooks in my living room. You can tell they aren’t used often because they’re behind glass, stacked with ornamental things on top that would have to be moved to use them. I woke up around 9 on Sunday and tip toed into the living room to loot a few, returned to bed and did the most serious reading I’ve probably done since college…and the result, my final paper, if you will–this menu.[/donotprint]

    Scallop in Fava & Pea Puree from Amuse Bouche (slightly altered for scale and for oil content)
    With Vouvray

    Clams with White Beans, Sausage & Chard from Amuse Bouche (altered significantly)
    With Vermentino from Sardegna

    Creme Fraiche Pannacotta with Strawberries (From Sunday Suppers at Lucques — perfect as is but would use more milk/less cream next time)
    with Moscato di Asti

  • White Lasagna with Kale, Sausage, & Sweet Potatoes

    White Lasagna with Kale, Sausage, & Sweet Potatoes

    white lasagne with sausage, kale, sweet potatoes & leeks

    For the lasagna assembly:
    1 pack no-boil lasagna sheets (GASP, a shortcut!)
    2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly
    2 lbs kale (mixed is OK), blanched, drained, and chopped finely
    1 lb sweet italian sausage, no casing, pan fried and set aside
    2 large leeks sliced thinly and cooked at medium low heat in fat from sausage

    Bechamel sauce for white lasagna

    8T butter
    1/2 C flour
    1/2 tsp nutmeg
    1/2 tsp garlic powder or 1 clove fresh garlic
    3 3/4 C milk
    1 C chicken or vegetable stock
    2 eggs, beaten
    1/2 C marsala
    1 C mixed grated cheese such as parmesan, pecorino, fontina, gruyere
    salt & pepper

    Melt the butter. Once it reduces spitting/bubbling, add flour and whisk, cooking for 3 minutes at medium heat. Slowly add the milk and the stock, raising heat to high. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, until sauce coats the back of a spoon. Set aside to cool until warm to touch.

    Once warm to touch, add the beaten eggs, 1/2 C marsala, 1/2 C of cheese and salt & pepper to taste.

    Assemble the lasagna

    Preheat oven to 375. Pour a thin layer of bechamel sauce on the bottom of your lasagna pan (preferably 8×10 or something similar/bigger), add two layers of lasagne sheets. Spread the sausage evenly, add salt & pepper, and cover with more sauce.

    Add another 2 layers of lasagna sheets, next adding the kale. Top with salt & pepper, sauce, and more lasagna sheets.

    Add a thin layer of leeks, and then as if making a gratin spread the sweet potato slices in a single overlapping layer.

    Add more salt & pepper, sauce, and the final layer of lasagna sheets. Top with sauce and remaining cheese.  Bake for 40 minutes to 1 hour.

  • St. Louis Style Cannelloni with Pork, Ricotta, & Chard

    St. Louis Style Cannelloni with Pork, Ricotta, & Chard

    cannelloni with ricotta, chard, and sausage

    This recipe will feed about 4 people with a side dish or 3 hungry people without one. It helps to have a food processor available.

    Filling
    2/3 lb spicy or sweet Italian pork sausage, out of casing
    3 cups chopped chard and/or spinach
    1 cup ricotta cheese (preferably sheep’s ricotta)
    1/2 yellow or white onion, diced

    Cook the sausage in a medium high heat skillet in a little chunks, seperating with your fingers, until brown on one side. Add the onions, and cook until mostly tender. Add the chard/spinich, and cook briefly until wilted. Allow mixture to cool slightly in pan or in thin metal bowl, and if you have one, use a food processor to make the mixture more even/fine. Once cooled to room temperature or close to it, add the ricotta and stir until blended. Adjust seasoning.

    Red Sauce
    1 container chopped or strained tomatoes (I used a carton of POMI)
    1 stick butter
    1/2 onion, peeled and intact

    Combine all ingredients in sauce pan and simmer until delicious. Add salt. About 30 minutes. Can make ahead.

    White Sauce
    1 T butter
    2 T flour
    1-2 cups milk
    salt & pepper
    1/2 tsp thyme or 2 tsp fresh thyme chopped

    Melt the butter until the water content has fizzled off, add the flour and whisk, cooking about 1 min until slightly darker. Slowly add milk until you have a nice, somewhat thick consistency sauce. Set aside. You’ll be reheating this shortly and possibly adding more milk to pour over the cannelloni.

    Pasta
    2 eggs
    00 white wheat flour if possible
    0 semola / semolina flour

    Use this recipe and roll out as thin as possible into sheets, cutting into strips about 10 inches long by 4 inches wide, roughly. It is ok if the sheets vary in size, so long as they’ll roll into a cannelloni giving it a few layers around. Boil water, add salt, and one at a time blanch the strips for 30 seconds or so, until they toughen up a bit. Remove, set on paper towels flat, not touching other pasta, in layers, to reserve for use.

    Alternatively you can buy cannelloni tubes from the grocery or lasagna sheets without the ruffles.

    Assembly

    Put a thin layer of red sauce in your baking/casserole dish to prevent pasta from sticking to bottom. Roll several spoonfuls of filling into each pasta sheet, placing each closely against the next in the dish. Once finished, top with red sauce thoroughly, then white sauce. Top with grated parmesan or asiago, bake at 375 for 25 minutes until golden and beautiful on top.