When Life Gives You a Bowl of Salsa Made With Cheap Tomatoes

December 4, 2012 — Leave a comment

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… Make some tomato sauce.

I’m doing a lot of fresh salsa at the moment and look, I know, I was wrong to buy those cheap tomatoes, but they were gorgeous and cheap ( just like my men ). Should you take a moment out of your busty life to make fresh salsa ( onions, garlic, hot pepper, lemon juice, cilantro, tomatoes, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper ), please don’t use cheap tomatoes. It no worky. K. ’nuff said on that. This tomato sauce, however, is tasting great due to fancy shinanigans with tom purée and Italian spices. I suppose only time will tell.

Saucisse Toulouse

December 3, 2012 — 1 Comment

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I’ve seen recipes call for Toulousaine sausage that featured a picture of short sausages that were not exactly Toulousaine. I’m sure the spices were right, but for me it’s the extremely long-ness of it all that captures sausage inspired by Toulouse.

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When you buy this type of sausage from the butcher you don’t tell them, “how many” but rather, “when.”. When do you want them to stop winding sausage around their forearm.

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A bit of a boil, then a brown. Pull out for some sauce. Stick it all back together like BFFs and pop in an average oven to make up again. We call this “Brown Note Sausage .” I suspect I’ll detail this later.

I Feel Like Chicken Tonight

December 1, 2012 — Leave a comment

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Chook covered in olive oil ( and butter if it’s not totally frozen ). Lemon squeeze. Garlic smoosh. Thyme and salt and pep. Roast that baby and forget about it because your toddler didn’t nap and dagnabit, it’s time you grabbed a glass of wine and walked around the farm in the feezing cold for a few minutes while dinner cooks.

The Beginnings of a Lovely Beef Curry

November 30, 2012 — Leave a comment

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( beef cubed, ginger and perfectly blended Sri Lankan spices )

A friend hand delivered a box full of ingredients that would do me good for a fine beef curry. Alls I have to do is add the beef. Seeing as we are beef farmers, I happen to have a kilo or two of beef in the freezer ( or on the field depending on how you wish to slice it ).

Thus far, I’ve got my meat locked and loaded for a few hours of supermarionation. This will soon be followed with a quick sweat of the onion bits, a browning of the beefy bits followed by some water and tomato purée to bubble away for a couple hours.

I must say, the “curry kit” was an awesome gift. As I know you don’t Patek your curries, that pre-spice blend can take a little time. Having it pre-made was a great gift. A little holiday idea for you. As a recipient, I was most pleased.

A Final Dish of Brown

November 29, 2012 — Leave a comment

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Today marks the conclusion and ending ceremony of Thanksgiving. There will be no poultry paraCelebration. This is it. With the final few bits of turkey parts, I bring you: Turkey Soup.

I stuck the rest of the turkey, any leftover gravy, all the celery and friends in a pot with an onion pricked with a few cloves, some bay leaves and a dash of sage and thyme.

That bubbled away as stock ( but not too bubbly ). After a chill and a strain and a meaty bits sort, I made some soup. It turned out good. When the husband eats a couple bowls, you know it’s not for pity’s sake.