Homemade Duck Sausage Caramelized Onions Apples and Gruyere Tart

If you keep up with me via Twitter or Facebook, you know I am in the process of auditioning for the new American version of Master Chef with Gordon Ramsay on Fox. Things are going well so far and its been a crazy few days. Some people have been asking what I brought to my casting call. This post is going to be short and sweet, but I just wanted to share and thank everyone for their support.
Well here it is. I got high marks for this one. Enjoy.

Homemade Duck Sausage, Caramelized Onion, Apple and Gruyere Tart

With Frisee, Dried Cranberries and Pumpkin Oil Vinaigrette

By Courtney Nzeribe

Equipment Needed

4.5 inch tart forms

Kitchen Aid stand mixer, meat grinder and sausage stuffer

Homemade Duck Sausage

1 duckling de-boned with meat and skin from legs, breast, etc.

Natural casing (hog or lamb)

1 tbsp juniper berries

1 tbsp Garlic Powder

1 tbsp salt

1 tsp green peppercorns

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp cumin

½ tsp mustard powder

½ tsp ground sage

A few sprigs of fresh rosemary, thyme, and marjoram

Soak casing in cold water for a few hours to remove any salt preservatives.

De bone a duck removing breast meat, skin, thigh/ leg meat. Reserve the carcass, wings, and extra fold of skin at cavity. Place the carcass, wings and skin, and bones in a roasting pan, season with salt and pepper and roast at 450 to render some fat. Roast until golden and crispy. Set aside and reserve fat for later.

Using the Kitchen Aid meat grinder, grind small pieces of the duck meat and skin, on coarse grind first. Once done add seasonings and grind once more on a finer grind. Chill meat until ready to stuff into casing.

Prepare Kitchen Aid with Sausage Stuffer attachments. Take the casing and attach the stuffer funnel to one end and run under cold water to flush insides. Add the sausage funnel to mixer and roll the casing onto the length of the funnel. Tie off the end of casing in a knot. Follow Kitchen Aid instructions to stuff sausage. Once all meat is stuffed, cover the sausage with plastic wrap and chill for a few hours or overnight to let seasonings blend.

Caramelized Onions and Apples

1 large onion

1 apple

* 2 tbsp of Duck Fat (see Homemade Duck Sausage recipe)

¼ cup Cognac

Sea salt & black pepper to taste

Fresh Thyme

Thinly slice the onions. Peel and chop the apple. In a large skillet, heat the duck fat. Add the onion , salt, pepper, and thyme and sauté on med low heat stirring occasionally until they start to sweat and become translucent. Add the apples. Every few minutes add some cognac to deglaze the pan and continue to sauté and stir on low heat until soft and slightly browned. Total cook time is about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and cool.

Tart Assembly

Puff pastry to line forms ( I made my own)

2 cups Farmers cheese

1 cup shredded Gruyere

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

Pinch of fresh grated nutmeg

Sea salt and pepper to taste

Baked Homemade Duck sausage

1 cup Caramelized Onions and Apples

Egg wash (1 egg beaten lightly)

Roll out puff pastry and cut and fit into tart form. Chill until ready to fill.

Bake the homemade duck sausage in a roasting pan with a little water at 450 F until golden and crispy. Set aside and let cool. Slice on diagonal.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a small bowl mix Farmers Cheese, Gruyere, eggs, milk, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Add the caramelized onions. Fill chilled tart shells with mixture and add the slices of duck sausage. Brush edges with egg wash. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes or until golden.

Frisee, Dried Cranberries with Pumpkin Seed Vinaigrette

Wash and spin dry the Frisee. In a bowl mix ½ cup Pumpkin Oil , ½ cup Balsamic Vinegar, 2tbsp Peanut Oil, ½ tsp brown sugar. Add fresh ground Black Pepper and sea salt and beat until emulsified.. Toss the Frisee with some vinaigrette. Add dried Cranberries.

Plate the tarts with the dressed Frisee. Garnish tart with sprig of fresh Thyme or Rosemary and a few cranberries.

Pytt I Panna ( A Swedish Hash) with Marx Foods Elk Sausage

I love Marx Foods offerings and contests. Recently they asked for all bloggers to leave a comment on what they would do with their game sausage sampler. They would pick 11 lucky people and ship them a sausage variety from the sampler to create a recipe by June 5. Then the polls would open and the votes begin. I was hoping for the boar variety to make a timbale or sartu ,but I got the Elk with Pears and Port Wine. When I think of Elk, I think of Sweden where the consumption is huge. Elk is low in fat and cholesterol and perfect alternative for red meat eaters who need to watch those things.
My Certain Someone ,as most of regular readers know has a house in Sweden. One of his favorite dishes to make for his boys on Poker night is Pytt I Panna( Swedish Hash), which literally translates to" small things in a pan".Of course he uses the frozen variety. Both the Swedes and Danes have their versions and there are really no rules for Pytt I Panna, except that it contains leftover meats, cubed potatoes, onion, and bacon. Pytt I Panna is then topped with a fried egg and garnished with pickled beets and gherkins. It may not look like much, but its good and hits the spot. A lot of people use the ready made frozen variety but I wanted to make mine from scratch and more home style. The Elk sausage, while not a traditional meat for this dish, was really good. Certain Someone would have liked my potatoes smaller, but really loved the sausage and his plate was cleaned. So whether you want a quick brunch, hangover cure, or simple meal at home with your friend and loved ones with lack of pretension, try this humble dish and enjoy.The Elk sausage really raises it up a level.



Home style Pytt I Panna with Elk Sausage
serves 4
3/4 lbs chopped smoked bacon( slab cut)
2 3/4 cups chopped onion or approx 1 &1/2 onion
4 Elk Sausage with Pear and Port wine, sliced in to 1 inch pieces
6 medium potatoes boiled with skin , and chopped small
salt and pepper to taste

Parsley chopped
4 eggs fried to garnish
Picked beets for garnish
Gherkins for garnish

In a large skillet, brown bacon . When bacon is halfway done, but not golden, add elk sausage and brown. Bacon and sausage will continue to cook until golden and done. Remove meats from the pan and set aside. At this point you want to save the oils from the sausage and bacon and leave in pan. Add the onions to the hot oil and start to saute. Add the potatoes and season with salt and pepper. Toss and stir occasionally to cook evenly and brown a bit. When potatoes and onions are soft and well mixed , add the meats( bacon and elk sausage) and continue to cook to brown.
I an separate fry pan fry up your eggs for each serving. Plate the Pytt I Panna and top each serving with a friend egg. Garnish with beets and gherkins.

Glamah Does Sweden ...Day 1

This trip would be my 3rd visit to Sweden. Once alone to meet my uncle and cousins, and the last few with Certain Someone for weddings, meeting friends,etc. Getting there this time around was challenging. I had a connection via London but arrived later due to weather delays.British Airways informed me that there were no more available direct flights to Stockholm. They rerouted me via Schipol in Amsterdam.Lots of waiting around,coveting the new shops in the controversial Terminal 5.From a professional perspective this has raised the bar in Duty Free shopping. Anyway I finally arrive in Stockholm, funky, irritated, but full thanks to a upgrade on the last leg(meals and wine, would you believe American tried to charge me $6 for wine !Used to be complimentary).I had been travelling 20 hours.Another fellow Chicagoan who had the same fate as me told me our bags were still in Amsterdam.I found one bad and waited with a mob to trace the other. They took my paper and said the other(with my dress for the wedding) would be delivered to me me.Certain Someone and our friends were waiting for me.I was never so happy to see him. Talk about weary traveller.

We woke and started the 2 hour drive to Tierp to close on the house. Tierp is a small town near the summer house that can be best be described as somewhat "rural" and full of older people.We went to the supermarket\cafe for coffee and quick bite.Now you have to be black to understand this. I was waiting for the stares.There were a few, but Lo and behold I saw a "Sistah" in the market. She looked right past me.Then I saw a "Brothah". I felt better and the people were nice. A few stared , but maybe because I was so Glamah!.The real estate agent and soon to be former owner were very warm and offered to speak English. I told them to go ahead in Swedish and take care of business. Just put my name on the deed! Hahaha. I reminded Certain Someone that I was his SAMBO( which is a shortened way in Swedish meaning legal partner, not derogatory as I first thought when I heard it)!The former owner offered to introduce us to our neighbors and advised us on shopping for supplies etc. He recommended Uppsala (I say upps upside your head, I say upps upsides your head...) for the nearest dose of real shopping: Uppsala is a lovely ancient University town with a Castle and Cathedral that are breathtaking from a distance. The owner was amused when he saw me get excited seeing another black person on the street. I reminded him how would he feel if he was in the most rural of Africa and felt "different", he agreed and admitted he would welcome the site of a fellow Euro.

We drove along the country gravel road and what I saw took my breath away. Certain Someone had managed to buy a paradise! It was lovingly cared for by the former owner and his family for 35 years.A beautiful yellow wooden summer house on 1.5 acres of land with a guest house, outhouse,woodshed,work shed, etc. Apple, pear, and plum trees, deers, and all sorts of more flora and fauna, and impish magpies galore.A five minute walk and your by the Baltic Sea. The former owner was distressed that the water line had receded this year. So getting the boat out will be difficult because of the shallow waters.Around the boathouse is a spot that the government used to spy on the Russians. There is a listening post by the dock. All I kept saying throughout the walk through, was this would be great for a party(the last thing the former owner wanted to hear from the American)! I mean it was huge! Three bedrooms in the main house. The city girl in mna had to adjust to nature, but I loved it.My creative mind started running away with improvement plans. There is a huge rock pile that I wan to use to build a stone BBQ range.There is even a spot for bonfires. Its to arid and against the law to start them now. My only regret is that we cant use it all the time. His parents will use it more than us.And perhaps short term vacation rentals down the line.This area is going to be hot soon because the prices are way more favorable than the popular archipelago region and the new highway makes it a straight shot.Our neighbors were an elderly couple that had lived there forever.The man grew up there and the wife had been there for 40 years. Their property looked more farm like. Since they live there all year round they will kind of keep an eye on things. If we did give a party it would most likely freak them out(hundreds of Swedish yuppies\ brats with loud techno blaring, just kidding ) , so we need to be considerate.The former owner bought a farm and has a new project to occupy him. We invited him to check in anytime, and he invited us to his new farm.I know it was hard for him to part with this charming property.Memories.To bad we wont be here for Midsommar!We drove back sleepy from the sun and all the sensory overload.

Some friends were coming for a BBQ at our friends house that evening. Since everyone was working Certain Someone and I did the shopping and menu planning. He paid,I planned and executed. Food is expensive in Sweden.We spent $100 for what I probably have gotten for $75 back home.I made skewers of shrimp with pineapple,pineapple and Halloumi,Halloumi,mushroom,pepper kebabs, a quick thin sliced pork cutlet marinated in Hoisin, brown sugar, pineapple,spices,oil, sausages,ribs,etc. They didn't marinate for as long as I would have liked but the result was fabulous. Our host BH made a warm potato salad with mixed greens,feta, and asparagus. Delish. A foodie friend of theirs chipped in with a nice dressing for the vegetable kebabs an being the grill master. I introduced them to something new as they never had pineapple on the grill before. I also made rum cocktails with spiced rum, lime, pineapple,and lime. Delish!I apologized for taking over my hosts kitchen, but she said she was happy I was in her kitchen.What can I say, I thrive in the kitchen.Can you believe this is only DAY 1 on a Monday? Tomorrow moving day.

Playing Around With Country Bob's Original All Purpose Sauce

A few weeks back, the people at Country Bob's emailed me and asked would I mind reviewing and talking about their product.Would I mind? Send it on over.

The promptly sent over 2 bottles of their Original All Purpose Sauce. Come to find out they are based in Illinois! With all my cake projects, etc I was to busy to cook. Certain Someone was leaving for Sweden and I relented and let him have his Harold's chicken. He's addicted to this South Side Specialty. Normally they drown the chicken and fries in either a hot or BBQ Sauce.Its unbelievable. I told him to order it plain and undressed so we could add the Country Bobs to it. On first taste it pretty good. Not as sweet, thick, and gooey as most BBQ sauces. I actually described it as cross between a Steak Sauce and a BBQ . I liked. I just felt eating it with the chicken, I poured more on as it was a thinner sauce.

So then I decided to actually cook with it. If you visit their web site, they have a lot of great recipes. On a leisurely Sunday with the man away I decided to make Chicken Sausage. With that I was going to make Chicken Meatballs baked with Country Bobs! I much preferred using Country Bobs Original All Purpose Sauce as a cooking sauce , but it was good as a dunking sauce too. I definitely would like to try their other products.

Here is my quick Chicken Sausage Meatballs recipe:

Chicken Meatballs

4-5 chicken thighs

1 leek

1 apple

1 egg

1/2 cup unseasoned bread crumbs

1/2 bottle of Country Bob's Original All Purpose Sauce

olive oil

Spices to season:* play around with your qty's to suit your tastes

Maple Sugar

Red Pepper Flakes

Salt

Smoked Paprika

Cumin

Run the Chicken Thighs, leek, and apple through your Kitchen Aid Meat Grinder. Season with your spices. Add egg and breadcrumbs. Mixture is slightly runny, but able to handle with oiled hands to form balls. Place formed meatballs in a pre oiled baking dish. Bake at 350 for approx 25 minutes. Pour 1/2 bottle of Country Bobs and toss the meatballs. Cook for an additional 10 minutes. Serve as appetizers, as a sandwich, etc.

Sorry you missed it Honey!

Sartu ...Festa Italiana

When Maryann and Marie announced their event I was so excited. I really respect and love these bloggers, and look forward to seeing their great Italian cuisine each week.I felt intimidated by the event as they really know they stuff . However I reached for one of my favorite cookbooks The Silver Spoon, and decided on a dish that was new to me , and sounded great,Sartu. This recipe attracted me for many reasons. 1)Certain Someone would love it.2) The use of chicken livers and other sorts of meat and sausage.3) It reminded me of a alternative version of a dish Marie presented on her blog called a Timpano from the movie Big Night.

Certain Someone is heading out for Germany this weekend and I wanted a special hearty dinner before he goes home to his Mama CS( I love her dearly,she's a amazing cook). But I don't want him telling her I haven't been cooking good things for him lately due to our schedules. Plus with him gone , who's going to eat all the leftovers? So timing was important. This dish is pretty simple , just requires some time and prep. If I do it again I will make the risotto before , etc,and just assemble. I also took the liberty of adding green peas.If your not a fan of chicken livers( like Certain Someone) just add more meat. This dish can be so versatile.He said next time skip the livers. I don't eat a lot of chicken liver , but make a mean chopped liver with black truffle oil that my family and friends love.But I digress. Final verdict was he had two servings and said it was OK. By the fact he ate two helpings was a good enough sign to me. We served it accompanied with tomato sauce.

Timbale Sartu from The Silver Spoon,Phaidon

Serves 6

7 tablespoons butter, plus extra for greasing

1 1/2 cups bread crumbs

1/3 cup dried mushrooms

1 thick bread slice, crusts removed

¾ cup milk Scant 1 cup ground beef All-purpose flour, for coating

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 1/2 ounces chicken livers, thawed if frozen, trimmed and chopped

2 ounces Italian sausage, peeled and crumbled

2 1/2 ounces mozzarella cheese, diced

3 cups Meat Stock

1/2 onion, chopped

1/4 cup bottled strained tomatoes

Scant 2 cups risotto rice

2 eggs, lightly beaten

Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 3500F. Grease an ovenproof dish with butter and sprinkle with the bread crumbs, turning to coat. Tip out any excess.

Put the mushrooms in a bowl, add hot water to cover and let soak for 20 minutes, then drain, squeeze and chop coarsely. Tear the bread into pieces, place in a bowl, add the milk and a pinch of salt and let soak for 10 minutes, then squeeze out.

Combine the ground beef and soaked bread, then roll the mixture into hazelnut-size balls and coat with flour.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the butter with the oil in a skillet, add the meatballs and cook until golden brown all over. Remove with a slotted spoon, drain on paper towels and set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the remaining butter in another pan, add the mushrooms and a pinch of salt, cover and cook over low heat for 20 minutes.

Melt 2 tablespoons of the remaining butter in another skillet. Add the chicken livers and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes until lightly browned. Remove from the heat and season with salt.

Heat the sausage and mozzarella in a small pan until the cheese has melted.

Bring the stock to a boil.

Meanwhile, melt the remaining butter in another pan, add the onion and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes, then add the strained tomatoes and stir in the rice. Add a Ladleful of the hot stock and cook, stirring, until it has been absorbed. Continue adding the stock, a ladleful at a time, and stirring until each addition has been absorbed. This will take 18—20 minutes.

Cover the base and sides of the prepared dish with a layer of risotto. Combine all the filling ingredients and spoon them into the dish, pour the eggs over the filling and cover with the remaining risotto. Bake for about 45 minutes. Remove from the oven, let stand for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a serving dish and serve.

Sausauge Making Part 2

Not another sausage post! When you find something fun you want to improve on it. Last week or so I attempted sausage making for the first time. Certain Someone loved them and ate them all up. We both agreed however we didn't care for the collagen casings. Maybe it was my cooking method. But we cut it away. Nevertheless who knew he would devour chicken sausage. I found natural hog casings on the Internet and decided to try them. They came dry packed in salt and I had to soak them for one hour.Natural Hog Casings reminded me of chitterlings( which I guess they are without the lings).

I took approximately 6 pounds of lean stewing beef and pork loin and ran it through the Kitchen Aid food grinder. Certain Someone and I had seen Tina Nordstrom make Swedish meatballs using pork and beef , and figured why not make our sausage this way. I added a leek to the grinder as well.I had made a seasoning in the spice grinder using juniper berries, a dried chipolte chile, mustard seeds, salt, brown sugar,garlic granules, and paprika. Juniper berries are common in marinades and German cooking. Next was the down and dirty part. I rolled up my sleeves to blend in my spices in the meat mixture. I attached my sausage hose and took one of the long hog casings. Amazingly that one casing was enough for all but a little meat! I still had about 11 more casings soaking I didn't want to waste. They ran about $3.25 but I hate waste!So I figured you could freeze chitterlings, I would freeze the casings and that and re soak for another time.And I still have another dry pack from the order. The hog casing is very thin but durable. I had to use the smaller stuffer, but they expanded to accommodate the meat nicely. If your squeamish about meat and casing which a lot of people are then you may have a problem. I'm all about the process and its great to learn how things we take for granted are made. I feel way better about eating it. These sausages cooked up great. The casings didn't slip, shrink or break way. They browned nicely. Certain Someone gave his approval. He has his supply for the mans weekend he planed. We are checking out the Boat Show(indoors) in this - 3 degrees weather outside.We can dream about summer days on the lake. And his games tomorrow. All in all it took me about 2 hours to process and cook. But that's me .

Sausage Making...WhenThe Going Gets Tough, The Tough Make Sausage

Lets just say I had a crap day at work. One that makes me shake my head in wonder at people,their schemes, and motives.Enough said about that. To relieve my stress in a healthy way I decided to get out my new Baby Kitchen Aid,and tackle making sausages. I had ordered some collagen casings a while back and had boneless chicken thighs defrosting. I was nervous using the food grinder attachment , stuffer tube , and casings. I took out some onion, sun dried tomato, herbs, and spices to add to my dark chicken meat. I figured the thigh would be a little fatty and juicy to make a good sausage without adding anything.I tossed everything into the grinder tray and let it rip.Pretty fun! The casings gave me a bit of a problem, but I figured it out. Air pockets were another problem. No amount of smoothing helped. I read afterwards to poke a hole in the casings afterwards. I tried to twist my links and they wouldn't stay. This part I have to finesse. I should have tested a piece of the force meat in a skillet to test the flavors, but I didn't. The meat started expanding out of the non tied off casings as I cooked it.I ended up with a highly spiced sausage , that may have been to strong for some tastes( hello garlic and onion!). I found the casings a little chewy, and perhaps would like to try natural casings next time.However I can throw my always throw it a batch of sauce.All in all I'm pretty pleased with my overly ambitious self, and I had a few stress relieving moments.Now I'm just waiting for Certain Someone to fly home and give his critique. This will not be the last of my sausage making.

Note: I used perhaps a quarter of my collagen casings for a 3 large ground chicken thighs.I made about 7 generous links. I ordered my 34mm collagen casings from here. They have all sorts of sausage making supplies.