christmas stuffing.

"this is the best stuffing i ever had!"

so here's the recipe.

stuffing recipe

wetware:
- two to three green apples
- three large white or yellow onions
- two large, angry leeks
- one large bunch of celery
- about 12 cloves of garlic
- about 15 baby carrots, peeled
- 1.5 lb turkey giblets and other assorted offal
- three to four cups orange juice
- one large ginger root
- 1/4 cup turmeric
- 1/2 cup cumin seeds, toasted
- 1/4 cup mustard seeds, toasted
- six eggs
- three cups heavy cream
- three quarters of a loaf of white bread
- two or three cups of milk

the hardware:
- one food processor (optional)
- a cheesecloth
- one grater or zester
- one saucepan
- a giant mixing bowl
- a toaster or toaster oven or maybe just plain oven

Chop the vegetables coarsely and then dice in the food processor, or dice 
by hand into 1/4 inch cubes but make sure you don't lose the juices. Start 
with the onions and celery, making sure you have equal volume of diced 
celery and onion. Shred the carrots using the grater or food processor; 
dice the apples and add to the mixture. Crush and chop finely three 
quarters of the ginger and garlic and add to the mixture. Finally, chop 
and wash the leeks, making sure to chop them a little more coarsely than 
the rest. Use as much of the leaves as possible.

Mix the vegetables well. Using the cheesecloth or your bare hands if you 
so desire, wring as much of the juice out of the vegetable mixture as 
possible. Collect this juice and add the orange juice to it, mix well and 
bring to a simmer. Wash the giblets in the milk (this helps to remove some 
of the smell) and add the giblets and bring to a low boil. Add the 
turmeric (this gets rid of the meaty smell of the giblets completely). 
Bring down to a simmer, crush/grate/chop the remaining ginger and garlic 
and add to the mixture. FInally, grind coarsely and add one quarter of the 
toasted cumin seeds..

When the giblets are firm (hearts should feel hard; livers should begin to 
fall apart; and any cuts to the giblets should give clear juices; probe 
thermometers should yield internal temperature of over 165 degrees), 
remove them from the liquid and chop finely or use the food processor to 
get it to a grainy paste. During the chopping or processing, add 1/4 of 
the cumin seeds, being sure to break the seeds into small pieces.

Toast the bread, then chop it into 1/2 inch cubes. Mix the meat and the 
vegetables. Break the eggs into a mixing bowl and add the cream slowly, 
whisking throughout until the consistency is even. Mix the beaten egg with 
the meat and vegetables and then add the bread cubes, being sure to mix 
well and smush it all together with your hands. (Gloves would be good at 
this point.) Add another 1/4 of the cumin and all of the mustard seeds at 
this point.

The result is stuffing mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes and 
then broil for 5 minutes, or stick it in your turkey and cook the turkey 
as normal.

As for the remainder of the veggie juice/orange juice/giblets? Add turkey 
neck, any leftover giblet crumbs and ground oatmeal/oat flour, along with 
the last 1/4 of the cumin seeds and this becomes your gravy stock. 

irish stew.

I made veal and pork meatballs with garlic, leeks, poblano and dolce capiscum,
scallions, fennel leaf, dill leaf, and japanese breadcrumbs; and served them in
a brown sauce made from yuengling, leeks, parsnips, oat flour and fennel root.

so here's your recipe

ingredients:

software:

- six leeks - i use as much of the green stuff as possible
- four bunches of scallions
- two poblano chiles
- two dolce chiles
- one fennel plant (root and stalk/leaves)
- one bunch of dill
- two bags of panko (japanese breadcrumbs)
- one pound ground veal
- one pound ground pork
- about two cups of steel cut oats (i prefer mccann's)
- five bottles of your favorite substantial beer (no bud, miller type stuff - i'd
say use guiness or yuengling)
- a couple pinches of salt
- two heads of garlic/about twelve large cloves of garlic
- two sticks of butter (i prefer european style)
- two cups of canola oil
- three large eggs
- four or five large parsnips (you can substitute this with one potato and two
carrots, but parsnips really are better)

hardware:

- a big pot/stock pot
- a frying pan with a lot of surface area
- a sharp knife
- a cutting board
- a food processor would be really keen
- a coffe grinder or one of those Magic Bullet (TM) blenders would be equally
keen


general note about leeks:
first you chop 'em, then you put them in a bowl, then you fill the bowl with
water, and you swish it around a bit, until all the dirt and sediment falls to
the ground. Just in case you didn't know now you know. Generally I slice off
the very top and the very bottom, then split them lengthwise, then split each
half lengthwise again and chop very small slices of what's left to make very
thin quarter moons.

okay enough about that, it's recipe time


instructions:

first make the meatballs.

Chop finely or process to a pulp:
- half of the leeks
- half of the scallions
- half of the garlic
- the peppers (both kinds)
- the fennel stalks and leaves
- the dill stalks and leaves

Squeeze the juices out from all the vegetables (you can use a couple pinches of
kosher salt to pull the water out of them) and save them elsewhere.

Take the vegetable pulb and start mixing with the pork and veal. Just mash it
up in your hands and twist and pull and squish between your fingers until it is
a homogenous mixture. This is a disturbingly cathartic experience. When the
mixture is homogenosu, add the eggs and mix until the blend is kind of goopy
and a little runny. Then add 3/4 of a bag of the panko (japanese bread crumbs)
until the consistency is a little firmer. Set aside in a cool place (the fridge
is perfect for this)

Take the remaining panko and put it on a plate or tray. Take the meat, roll it
into meatballs about half the size of a regulation size tennis ball and then
roll the meatball in the panko until it is coated.

Once coated, pour the oil a little at a time into the frying pan and brown the
meatballs at medium/medium high heat. When they are browned set them aside on a
plate with some paper towels on them to absorb the oil or put them directly
into the sauce (see below). They are not safe for consumption at this point.


make the sauce!

chop finely:
- the other half of the leeks
- the other half of the scallions
- the other half of the garlic
- the parsnips
- the fennel root

Take the two sticks of butter and melt them in the pot (don't feel too bad
about yourself, most of this will be cooked away). Grind the oats in a coffee
grinder or magic bullet, or, if you're strapped, a mortar and pestle (i guess
if you were really strapped you could use an automatic pencil sharpener, but
make sure it's clean). Little by little put in a little more than half of the
oat flour until you've made a thick roux.

At this point add the leeks, scallions and parsnips; toss until the butter
coats everything, and the leeks and scallions begin to sweat/wilt. When the
leeks are about to turn transparent, add the chopped fennel root and the garlic
and toss around, sprinkling more oat flour. When the mixture is this giant
goopy paste, add the beer. If i were you i'd open the beer ahead of time, let
the carbonation come out and the beer come to room temperature. Add one bottle
at a time, stirring to make sure the roux thickens everything else. Bring to a
boil, then down to a simmer and add the meatballs as they are finished.

As the meatballs are finished, add them to the sauce, adding more beer if it's
getting too thick and more oat flour if it's getting too watery. Let it cook
for about twenty five minutes and serve with a big hunk of warm/toasted brown
bread about the size of your fist.

This went really well with a Leffe blonde ale but I'm sure it's good with milk
or juice or something too

mike

osso bucco.

Ingredients:

6 veal shanks with nice wide bones
1 can diced tomato
2 cups diced white onions
2 cups diced celery
2 cups diced carrot
6-8 large cloves of garlic
3 cups white wine
2 cups chicken stock
2 bay leaves

grapeseed oil (NOT rapeseed/canola oil - seed of grape)
drop some herbs de provence in the oil, or get herb-infused oil
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt
a wide saucier

Salt and pepper the veal shanks liberally (both sides) and let them rest/have
their water drawn out while you prepare the mirepoix (celery, carrot, onion).

Cover the bottom of the saucier with grapeseed oil, then over medium-high heat,
sear (do not brown) the outside of the shanks (both sides). After they are
seared put them in a shallow bowl. Then take about 1/2 a cup of white wine and
deglaze the meat juices/carbon from the bottom. Swirl it around and then pour
the glaze onto th emeat in the bowl to coat it. Sear the other three, and since
the bottom of the pot will be cruddier at that point, use double the white wine
to deglaze, then put the meat in the bowl on top of the old meat and pour the
reduction on there. Let it sit in that juice and soak all that goodness up.

In the saucier, put some more oil in and sautee the mirepoix for 6-8 minutes
(the onions should become translucent but not totally caramelize). Add the
garlic (crushed), stir for a minute, add the chicken stock, stir for two
minutes, add the tomatoes, stir for a minute, add the white wine. Then add the
shanks including the juice they're in and bring to a full simmer.

Once the simmer occurs, add the bay leaf and cover.

Hold at the simmer, then place in 350 degree oven for an hour. The saucier must
be covered to avoid drying out. Then take it out, flip the shanks, and back in
for another hour (still covered).

When done, take it out, let it rest for about 10-20 minutes, then serve over
polenta or risoto.

olive and date stuffed leg of lamb.

(stuffed) leg of lamb.

wetware:
	- one leg of lamb, boned. 
	  do yourself a favor and get it halal/kosher.
	- handful and a half of green or kalamata olives, pitted.
	- about 20 cloves garlic.
	- 2 dried chili peppers.
	- 1/4 cup black pepper.
	- 1/4 cup coriander.
	- 1/6 cup mace.
	- 4 large sujok sausages (preferably freshly made), sans casing.
	- 3/4 cup mint, dried.
	- 1/4 cup rosemary, dried.
	- 1 cup olive oil.
	- 1/2 cup salt, kosher.
	- two handfuls of dried dates (preferably the sticky kind in syrup)
	- 1 cup red wine.

hardware:
	- food processor or coffee grinder.
	- oven pre-heated to 495/500
	- probe thermometer
	- roasting pan
	- kitchen twine

step 1. make the rub:
	- in the processor, pulse 10 cloves of garlic, the pepper, coriander,
	  mace, mint, rosemary, 1/4 cup olive oil, and the salt.
	- when the result is good and sticky rub it into both sides of the 
	  deboned lamb leg.

step 2. make the stuffing.
	- in the processor, pulse the rest of the garlic, the sujok, the 
	  olives, and the dates until it is a sticky, chunky paste.
	- stuff it in the lamb leg, roll up the leg and tie with butcher's 
	  twine.

step 3. bake the lamb.
	- put the lamb in the roasting pan. 
	- put the roasting pan in the 495 or 500 degree oven and let it bake
	  for about 15 minutes until the outside is seared.
	- then add the wine and olive oil, mixed.
	- lower the temperature to 475 and bake for 20 minutes.
	- lower the temperature to 450 and bake for 35 minutes.
	- lower the temperature to 400 and bake for 40 minutes.
	- lower the temeprature to 375 and bake for another 15 minutes.

step 4. take the lamb out and let it rest.
	- resting should be at least 10 minutes.

step 5. enjoy.