Sausage and Grapes

Sausage and Grapes

Sausage and Grapes

This recipe is adapted from Melissa Clark’s A Good Appetite in the New York Times. She suggests using any kind of sausage you like. I chose hot Italian sausage because it made a good contrast to the sweetness of the grapes.

Sausage and Grapes

Ingredients:
  • 1 large onion, thinly sliced
  • 4 tbsps. olive oil
  • Salt and black pepper to taste
  • 4 cups of stemmed red seedless grapes
  • ½ tsp. ground cumin
  • 1 lb. hot Italian sausage
  • ½ cup coarsely chopped parsley
  • 2 tbsps. chopped scallions or chives
  • 2 tsps. Sherry vinegar + more to taste
Heat oven to 450o.
In an oven proof pan, toss the onions with the salt, pepper and 2 tbsps. oil. Roast for 10 minutes or so, until the onions take on some color. Remove the pan for the oven and add the grapes, cumin, and the remaining oil. Spread in an even layer and add the sausage. Roast for 25 minutes, turning sausage and tossing onions/grapes halfway through.Sausage and Grapes
After 25 minutes, remove the sausage to a serving plate. Add the parsley and chives to the pan with the grapes and onions and mix. Use a slotted spoon to remove the grapes and onions to the serving plate. Add the vinegar and scrape up any brown bits. Put over the grapes and sausage and serve.Sausage and Grapes

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Fondant Potatoes

Fondant Potatoes.

Fondant Potatoes

I got this recipe from a bartender in an Irish pub in Manhattan. He was a chef in Ireland. He said some cooks add garlic and rosemary to the recipe but he preferred it “plain” and that’s the way I made it. Fondant potatoes go well with any kind of roast meat – beef, chicken, lamb, etc.

Fondant Potatoes.

Ingredients:
  • 3 or 4  russet potatoes
  • salt & black pepper
  • 4 tbsps. vegetable oil
  • 4 tbsps. butter
  • Rosemary sprigs (optional)
  • Garlic (optional)
  • 1 cup chicken broth
Preheat oven to 450° F.
Cut the rounded ends off the potatoes so they’ll stand upright. Slice the skin off the sides with a sharp knife, leaving ridges. Then cut them in half leaving 2 cylinders about 2 inches high.
Fondant Potatoes.Soak in cold water for 5 minutes to remove some of the surface starch and dry them well. Season with salt and pepper.

Heat the oil in an oven proof skillet. Add the potatoes flat side down and cook until the bottoms are brown. Turn the potatoes to the other flat side and pour off the oil (careful – that oil is hot). Fondant Potatoes.
Fondant Potatoes.Bring the pan back to medium heat and add the butter. (If you’re using garlic and rosemary, add it now.) Leave it on the burner until the butter starts to brown. Pour in the chicken stock and place the pan in the oven. Roast until tender, about 30 minutes, let them cool a bit and serve.Fondant Potatoes.

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Sausage and WInter Squash Ragu

Sausage and Winter Squash Ragu

I got this recipe from a northern friend (her grandparents are from Tuscany). You can use any kind of hard winter squash. I used butternut but acorn or even pumpkin would do it.
Sausage and Winter Squash Ragu

Sausage and Winter Squash Ragu

Ingredients:
  • 3 cups peeled and diced squash
  • Olive oil for basting and frying
  • Salt and black pepper
  • 1 lb. Italian hot or sweet pork sausage casing removed
  • 1 medium onion diced
  • 1 cup diced mushrooms – your choice
  • 1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes
  • 2 sliced garlic cloves
  • 1 lb. short pasta like ziti, rigatoni, etc.
  • ½ cup chopped parsley
Start a pot of salted water  for the pasta.
Heat the oven to 450o and roast the peeled and diced squash with oil and salt and pepper for 15 minutes.

Sausage and Winter Squash Ragu

Sausage and Winter Squash Ragu
Sauté the mushrooms and onion in oil in a pot until they’re soft. Remove from the pot. Add the sausage and break it up and cook until it’s brown. Return the mushrooms and onion to the pot, then add the tomatoes and garlic. Cook on a medium flame for 5 minutes and then add 1 cup of water, stir, and simmer for 10 minutes. Taste for seasoning.

Sausage and Winter Squash Ragu

Cook the pasta until almost done and add it to the pot and mix it with the sauce. Add some of the pasta water if it looks too dry. Now, add the roasted squash and parsley. Mix and serve. (My friend said it can be served with grated cheese but I think that would overpowers the sweetness of the squash.)

Sausage and Winter Squash Ragu

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Cod Fish Cakes

 

Cod Fish Cakes

Here’s another recipe adapted from The Ellis Island Immigrant Cookbook. This one is for cod fish cakes. It was created by Ena Forde-Findlay of Brooklyn, New York. 

cod fish cakes

The Ellis Island Immigrant Cookbook

Hailed as “One of the year’s more engaging cookbooks...” by the New York Times, the book has sold well over 100,000 copies. 
“…a one of a kind collection of heartwarming stories and authentic recipes that you’ll want to have for your cooking library…these recipes recall special memories of far away lands or of dearly loved relatives…much more than a recipe compilation, it is a personal journey with stories and reminiscences that will touch your heart.” ~ Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book Club

Cod Fish Cakes – adapted from the Ellis Island Immigrant Cook Book

cod fish cakes

The cod fish needed for this recipe is preserved by salting. Before cooking, the salt has to be removed by soaking. The amount of soaking depends on how the codfish you bought was preserved. Goya sells it in 1-pound packages and I find this brand is the easiest to use. Some other brands come salted, dried and as stiff as a board and require more preparation. It’s your choice. Besides cod you can also use salted pollock.

Goya’s instructions:

After de-salting boil the fish for 30 minutes. Drain and let it cool then shred it by pulling it apart with 2 forks. Finely chop the peppers, onions and scallions. Saute them on medium-low until they are soft but not browned.
cod fish cakes

Add the vegetables to the fish in a large bowl. Scramble and add the eggs to the mix. Blend the flour, baking powder, black pepper. and paprika and then add it to the cod mixture, alternating with the water. Continue adding the flour mix and water until you come to a pasty consistency.cod fish cakes

Pour an inch of oil into a pan and heat to 375o. Scoop up some of the cod mix with a table spoon and scrape it into the oil with another tablespoon. Turn over when golden brown on one side, then brown on the other side. Add oil as you need it. Drain on paper towels and serve with lemon and/or hot sauce.

cod fish cakes

Get a copy of the The Ellis Island Immigrant Cookbook HERE.


cod fish cakes

Get information on Save Ellis Island’s  Hardhat Tours HERE.

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Biscuits and Gravy

Biscuits and Gravy

I may be a native New Yorker but I’ve always loved Southern food. I got this recipe in the New York Daily News. Even if you don’t want the sausage gravy, it’s still a great biscuit recipe.

For the Biscuits –

Biscuits and Gravy.

Ingredients:
  1. 2 ½ cups flour
  2. 2 tbsps. baking powder
  3. 1 tbsp. sugar
  4. ½ tsp. salt
  5. 4 ozs. butter
  6. 1 cup buttermilk
  7. Melted butter
Pre-heat the oven to 425o.
Mix the first 4 ingredients in a bowl. Grate in the butter into the bowl and blend. Add the buttermilk and stir until it comes together like a rough dough. Sprinkle some flour on your counter and knead the dough by folding it in half a few times. No need to over do it.

Biscuits and Gravy.

Roll out the dough into a one-inch layer. Use a biscuit cutter (I use a glass) to cut 2 to 3 inch diameter biscuits. You should get about 12. Put the cut outs on a buttered baking sheet. Brush the tops of each with melted butter and bake until golden, about 15 minutes.Biscuits and Gravy.

For the Gravy –

Biscuits and Gravy.

Ingredients:
  1. 2 tbsps. oil
  2. 1 lb. pork breakfast meat (or remove sausage casings)
  3. 4 tbsps. butter
  4. ½ cup flour
  5. 3 – 4 cups chicken broth or stock.
  6. ½ cup heavy cream
  7. Salt and black pepper (easy on the salt if the broth is salty)
Brown the sausage meat in the oil in a  frying pan. Remove the meat leaving the oil and some brown bits. At medium heat, add the butter and when it melts and stops foaming quickly stir in the flour. Don’t let it brown. This is a light-colored gravy.

Biscuits and Gravy.

Raise the heat and whisk in the chicken broth. When it thickens and becomes smooth, return the cooked sausage meat to the pan. Simmer for 20 minutes. Heat the cream, add it to the pan and mix. Taste for seasoning. Serve it hot, spooned over the split biscuits.

Biscuits and Gravy.

The biscuits are pretty good with butter and preserves too.

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