Homemade Southwestern Pork Sausage

I didn't set out to make sausage myself. Originally, I was looking to serve some kind of game meat at my daughter's bear birthday party. Sometimes, after the spring thaw, bears eat animals that were trapped in snow or ice, so I thought game meat would work nicely with the theme. I tried to find venison or elk meat to serve, and thought that sausage would probably work best for grilling. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a source that I trusted, and buying wild game from hunters is illegal. Having gotten excited about the idea of serving sausage at the party, I went in search of some local, sustainable sausage of the more domestic kind. I found some, but none that really spoke to me.

What to do? What to do? A crazy voice inside of me blurted, "Make your own sausage!" "Yeah, right!" I said back (to myself). "I don't know the first thing about sausage-making, and this is an expensive undertaking for me to possibly louse up!" So, I did a little research ... very little research, and I made some calls to see if I could get my hands on some sausage casings (pig intestines). I scored some free casings at a local butcher shop, and I knew that was sign that I had to make sausage, know-how or no.

The general consensus about making sausage seems to be that it is necessary to have a meat grinder, or that meat must be ground to specification (coarse grind or fine grind) by a butcher. I found nearly universal recommendations to use a sausage stuffer, as well. One butcher practically bet me that I would be back to ask him to make my sausage for me. I nearly spent quite a lot of money on equipment, very unnecessarily, until I had a epiphany. I didn't want to invest $50-100 on stuff that I might never use again. Instead, I took a chance and decided to buy ground meat (coarse? fine? eh, whatever ...) and stuff the casings using a pastry bag fitted with a large tip. If even a pastry bag is an iffy investment for you, try just buying the tip ($1-2) and use it with a plastic bag.

I was absolutely exhilarated by the prospect of making something so out of my element. What an incredible experience! It was messy, to say the least, but it was also a lot of fun. I don't recommend doing this with young kids, just because there is a lot of raw meat involved, but older kids (maybe 9 years+) would probably do very well with it. Just make sure to encourage frequent hand-washing and counter-wiping.

I tried to avoid reading recipes for sausage-making, knowing that most are made with dried spices. I wanted to make something fresh and light. Yes, "light sausage" is a bit of an oximoron, but indulge me. So, I decided to go with Southwestern flavors.

I have no regrets at all about the way I went about this. Sometimes diving head-first into the unknown is the best way to get experience. Sometimes re-inventing the wheel isn't a waste of time. So, try this recipe, or make up your own, or make some other wacky dish that pleases your inner risk-taker.

Southwestern Pork Sausage
10 lbs. sustainably raised organic ground pork
natural pork casings for 40 sausages (ask your butcher to give you a little extra in case some parts split)
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
5 jalapenos, seeded and chopped
1 bunch scallions, sliced thinly
1 12 oz. jar roasted red peppers, chopped
10 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste

Work in batches of about 3-4 lbs. of meat at a time.

In a large mixing bowl, combine pork, cilantro, jalapenos, scallions, red peppers, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper, and mix well with your hands.

As a test, cook a tablespoon or so of the meat mixture in a hot skillet to make sure it's seasoned properly, and adjust seasonings as needed.

Scoop some of the meat mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a large tip. Place the end opening of the casing around the tip, and carefully pipe the meat mixture into the casing, pulling the mixture down into the casing. Be careful not to be too forceful as the casing can tear. Once you have about 2-3 feet of casing filled, pinch the sausage every 5-6" to create individual links. Twist the casing between links a few times. There is no need to tie between links; only at the ends. Repeat this process until you have filled all of your sausages.

Sausages can be frozen or refrigerated before use. When you are ready to cook them, cut apart the links. Grill or broil them until cooked through. Serve in a whole wheat hot dog bun with Cabbage, Fennel, and Jicama slaw and some mustard.

Makes 35-40 links.

Notes:
- Be careful to keep casing and meat mixture cold. If you find the meat temperature rising to a point where it does not make your hands cold to touch it, return it to the fridge for a while before progressing.
- This recipe is not spicy (hot) despite the jalapenos, so if you like things mild, you'll probably like this as is. But if you want some more kick, go for it!

Baked Tofu with Bamboo Shoots and Snow Peas

In making up the menu for my daughter's bear-themed birthday party, it was easy to find things to make that reflected the diets of brown and black bears. For one thing, they live in the same regions of the world as we do, so the foods available to them are the foods available to us. Black and brown bears are also omnivorous, as are humans, and they eat a wide variety of foods, as do humans. The greater challenges came with the diets of Pandas and Polar bears. Polar bears eat seals and Pandas eat bamboo almost exclusively. I admit, I finally gave up on trying to find a way to get Polar bears represented in the menu. For the Panda bears, I thought I ought to make something with bamboo shoots, and so, this salad was born (not that any Panda would eat it):

Baked Tofu with Bamboo Shoots and Snow Peas
2 lbs. firm tofu
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp. sesame oil
3 Tbsps. brown rice vinegar
3 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
1/4 cup orange juice
Coconut oil
2 Tbsps. orange zest
1 lb. snow peas, trimmed of ends and halved
2 15 oz. cans sliced bamboo shoots, drained

Place the tofu in a medium bowl. Place a plate on top of the tofu and weigh the plate down with something heavy, like a can. Place the weighed-down tofu in the refrigerate to drain overnight. Pour off the liquid. Cube the tofu and set aside in a covered container.

In a medium bowl, combine the soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar, garlic, and orange juice. Pour the
mixture over the tofu and allow to marinate for 1 hour, turning the tofu midway through.

Pre-heat the oven to 300F. Prepare a large cookie sheet by greasing it with coconut oil. Remove the tofu from the marinade (reserve marinade) and spread around the cookie sheet in a single layer. Bake for 1 - 1 1/2 hours, turning every 30 minutes.

In a large salad bowl, toss together baked tofu, orange zest, snow peas, and bamboo shoots. Dress with remaining marinade. Serve cold or room temperature.

Serves 20-25 as a side dish

Salmon Balls

Based on my salmon burger recipe, these little balls are a party hit! They are very easy to make, healthy, inexpensive, and very tasty. They're casual enough for kids' parties and fancy enough to serve at cocktail parties.

Salmon Balls
3 14.75 oz. cans wild Alaskan red salmon
1 ½ cups rye bread crumbs (made with 100% rye bread, crumbled in a food processor)
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
6 Tbsps. tomato paste
2 Tbsps. dried thyme, crumbled
3 Tbsp. dried parsley flakes
3 Tbsp. dried chopped onion
1 Tbsp. garlic powder
Salt & pepper, to taste
Safflower oil spray
Mustard

Pre-heat oven to 375F. Combine all ingredients (except safflower oil) in a large bowl. Mix well with your hands or a wooden spoon. Form into 1 1/2" balls. Grease two cookie sheets with safflower oil. Place balls on sheet, 1" apart. Bake for 15 minutes, turn balls, and bake for an additional 10 minutes.

Serve hot or at room temperature with brown mustard.

Makes about 7 dozen balls. Serves 50 as an hors d'oeuvre.

Mini-Spinach Knishes

I knew I had to make something with potatoes for my daughter's bear birthday party, partly because bears apparently eat potatoes, but also because potatoes tend to be crowd-pleasers. Short of making potato salad (been there, done that), there aren't too many dishes to make with potatoes that can easily be served to a crowd in a park. So, I thought, why not knishes? As is par for the course for me, I make things for the first time when serving them at parties, and such is the case with these knishes. They were good, but not fabulous. A little wheat and egg would have done a world of good for the crust.

This recipe is based on this recipezaar recipe. I substituted cannellini beans for the tofu and I added spinach to the filling. Otherwise, very little is changed here. Here is my version:

Mini-Spinach Knishes
2 cups mashed yukon gold potatoes (1 1/4 lbs. boiled potatoes with 2 Tbsps Earth Balance stick, 1/4 cup milk substitute, and salt to taste), divided
3 cups barley flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup cold water
1 cup chopped onions
2 Tbsps. olive oil
1 1/2 cups cannellini beans
1/2 bunch of spinach
3 Tbsps. parsley
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
salt, to taste
safflower oil
milk substitute (soy, rice, almond, oat, hemp, etc.)
brown mustard

Combine 1 cup of the mashed potatoes with the barley flour and baking powder. Add the water, and mix well. Knead into a smooth dough. Let the dough rest in a glass bowl covered with a damp kitchen towel for 30 minutes.

While the dough is resting, heat the olive oil in a small skillet. Saute the onions in the oil until soft. In a food processor, combine the cooked onions, cannellini beans, spinach and parsley. Process until fairly smooth. Combine processed mixture with 1 cup mashed potatoes, garlic powder and black pepper. Season with salt, to taste.

Pre-heat oven to 350F. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper, and brush the paper with safflower oil.

Cut the dough into four sections, rolling each one out separately to 1/8-1/4 inch thickness. Using a medium-sized biscuit cutter, cut rounds from the dough. Drop 1 Tbsp of filling in the center of half the circles. Then top the filled circles with empty circles, pinching along the perimeter to seal the knishes (to look like raviolis).

Place the knishes on the prepared cookie sheet, about 1 inch apart. Brush each knish with a little milk substitute. Bake for 25 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature with brown mustard.

Makes about 4 dozen knishes.

Bear Break-Fast Salad

What does a bear eat when he wakes up after months of hibernation, skinny and starving? No, he doesn't pounce on the first wild boar he encounters. He eats a lot of fresh, springtime sprouts and other plant life. So, at my daughter's bear-themed birthday party, I served a salad inspired by a bear's break-fast. If it satisfies an eight hundred pound ravenous bear, it ought to quiet the belly of a 34.5 lb. four-year-old.

Bear Break-Fast Salad
2 bunches dandellion greens, tough stems removed, leaves torn into bite-size pieces
1 container alfalfa sprouts
2 bunches fresh oyster mushrooms
1/2 cup pine nuts
2 navel oranges, supremed (see note below)

Toss ingredients in a large bowl. Serve with salad dressing of your choice.

Serves 20-25 people as a salad course, or 40-50 people as a side dish.

Note: To supreme an orange, cut the top and bottom off the orange, and then cut the rind and pith away from the sides, cutting from top to bottom. Remove individual orange sections by cutting between the orange membranes, so all you have at the end are segments of orange flesh.

Basic Balsamic Vinaigrette

This is your basic go-to salad dressing. Easy to make, healthier and cheaper than bottled dressings, and goes with just about any green salad. Keep it in a glass bottle in the fridge, and use it whenever.

Basic Balsamic Vinaigrette
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp. stone ground mustard
1 1/2 tsps. dried basil
3/4 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
20 grinds of fresh pepper
1 cup extra virgin olive oil

Combine vinegar, mustard and spices in a bowl, and whisk together to combine. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil, whisking constantly, until emulsified. Pour into a glass bottle, and use as needed. If the dressing separates, shake vigorously before using.

Note: Olive oil will get cloudy and solidify in the fridge. Take the dressing out about 30 minutes before you need it, and the olive oil should return to a liquid, clear state.

Happy Bear-Day!!!

My daughter recently turned four, and she requested that the theme of this year's birthday party be about bears. Last year's party was about birds (the details of which can be found here). As I often try to do, I made the food reflect the theme, at least in part. I tried to make foods that bears eat, and fortunately, bears eat a lot of things, ranging from sprouts to tubers to fish to bamboo to blueberries. Lots of fun to come up with a menu. I did stray a bit from the theme here and there, but mostly, I kept to it. This is what I served:

Just for the Kids, I made a Bear Food Face Buffet. The idea here is that the kids get to make a bear face out of food, and then eat it. The kids really enjoyed this, and the parents seemed to, too. My daughter and I make food faces all the time, and it's always a hit. The great thing about the prep for this is that it takes virtually no cooking. It's just some chopping and shredding, and some things just need to be put in a bowl as is. The kids really do all the work! These were the buffet items:

- brown rice
- yogurt
- shredded lettuce
- alfalfa sprouts
- shredded carrots
- sliced kiwis
- hardboiled eggs
- grapes
- cashews
- peas
- olives
- broccoli florets
- mushrooms
- sliced beets
- grilled shrimp
- orange sections
- carrot circles
- celery semi-circles
- grape tomatoes
- blueberries
- very small cheese cubes
- pine nuts

I served a balsamic vinaigrette on the side, for those who wanted.

For the adults, and kids who wanted, I served:
- Bear Break-Fast Salad (made of things bears eat when they awaken from hibernation) with the balsamic vinaigrette above.
- Mini Spinach Knishes (wheat and egg-free)
- Salmon balls (wheat-free)
- Baked tofu with bamboo shoots and snow peas
- Southwestern Pork Sausages (made from scratch!) on Whole Wheat Buns
- Refried Bean Sloppy Joes (vegan alternative to sausage)
- Cabbage, Fennel, Jicama Slaw (a condiment for sausage and/or refried beans, or a side dish)

For desserts (kids and adults alike), I made:
- Bear-face mini-honey cakes with vanilla frosting
- Vegan lemon curd cups with blueberries
- Chocolate whole wheat bear cut-out cookies
- Berry Beary Plate (strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, kiwis)

Ordinarily, I don't make drinks and serve just water, or sometimes water and hot tea. Given the 85 degree weather we had, hot tea would not work at all. So, this year, I also made blueberry lemonade.

Most of the food went over very well, but a few dishes need some tweaking. Although lots of people commented that they enjoyed the knishes, the dough was a little challenging, I thought, and that's mostly to do with the lack of wheat. Unfortunately, that couldn't be helped, unless I was willing to forgo eating them (and really, I was not too keen on that option).

The lemon curd, which was delicious when I made it two days earlier, had become a bit too tart by party time. The leftovers of the curd got progressively more and more tart as the days past until I couldn't bear to eat it anymore. A lesson learned about lemon curd. Next time, I'll make it the day of, or I'll just sweeten it much more.

The sausage, which I think was one of the best things I ever made, hardly was eaten, because by the time it came off the grill, people had already had their fill of food, and were looking for dessert. On a positive note, one dear friend of mine, who did eat a sausage, asked where I bought it ... it took a lot for me not to squeal with glee that I made it myself. That was a satisfying moment.

It was really a great party overall, and one that I think my daughter will remember for a long time. There are so many ways to celebrate with kids, and the party food is supposed to help make their day special and memorable. That's something pizza and ice cream cake just can't do.