This weekend was one of first time food experiments . . . first time I made proper sausage and the first time I made scones. The later I know for sure came out delicious, but I have yet to try to the sausages. Sausage-making wasn't quite as daunting as I thought it was going to be, but it was time consuming. To be honest, I was scared to death to work with natural casings, but they were easy to work with (other than being super slippery) and weren't as "gross" as I had anticipated. Butchering the pork butt took the longest, grinding was easy, and by the time I had gotten to the second batch of sausage, I finally was getting the hang of using the sausage stuffer. The only thing I was missing was a sewing needle to puncture small holes into the casing when an air bubble formed, so I improvised by using a toothpick - definitely will make sure I have a sewing needle next time, the toothpick end was too dull to pierce the casing and they kept breaking.
I made two completely different types of sausage - one recipe my Grandma Tina use to make and the other I came up with one my own. My grandmother's sausage called for garlic, red wine, fresh chopped parsley, and pecorino romano cheese. I added red pepper flakes and fennel seed, so it ended up being an Italian/Sicilian sausage hybrid. When I was looking at the ground pork to make the second batch of sausage, I had all sorts of flavor ideas in my head...using fresh herbs, sun-dried tomatoes, peppers, onion, chipotle, etc. I decided to go the spicy route and used chipotle powder, cumin, chili powder, and smoked paprika. Pretty sure we will use my Grandmother’s sausages tonite in a dish for dinner, so I will let you know how they turned out in a later post.
Scones
The scones were made in light of us attending a British Grand Prix party. I love scones, but know they are sinfully bad for you. For some reason I always thought they were hard to make, but after looking at some recipes I realized I was completely wrong. Perhaps I was associating their high fat/calorie content as being difficult to make as I have a hard time dealing with items I make being terribly unhealthy. I originally wanted to make zucchini and lemon scones, but my husband turned his nose up at that idea. Apparently he doesn't have the love of zucchini bread and muffins as I do. Not too mention, the only recipe I could find called for a POUND of butter. I spent about 30 minutes searching for a decent scone recipe and I needed one that didn't call for buttermilk as I didn't have any in the house. Epicurious had a recipe for Dried Cranberry, Walnut and Lemon Scones and after reading some of the comments, I realized I could make them tiny bit healthier by reducing the amount of sugar, substituting some whole wheat flour, and substituting Smart Balance for some of the butter. These came out well and the husband didn't even realize I used whole wheat flour...
Dried Cranberry and Lemon Scones
Serves 12
2 tablespoons plus 3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, divided
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup of whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon peel
1 teaspoon salt
1 stick chilled unsalted butter - shred into dough using a grater
½ stick of Smart Balance
1 cup dried sweetened cranberries
½ cup (or more) skim milk
Preparation:
Position rack in top third of an oven; preheat to 375̊F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or if you have it use a slip mat. Whisk 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 tablespoon lemon juice in bowl for glaze, set aside.
Whisk flour, baking powder, lemon peel, salt, and 1 cup sugar in large bowl. Add chilled butter; using fingertips, rub in until coarse meal forms. Mix in cranberries. Add ½ cup milk and 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Toss with fork until dough comes together in moist clumps, adding more half and half if dough is dry. Gather dough into ball; divide in half. Press out each half on floured surface to 6-inch-diameter (1-inch-high) round. Cut each round into 6 wedges. Transfer to baking sheet; bake scones for 10 minutes, then brush with lemon-sugar glaze. Bake for additional 8-9 minutes or until scones are golden and tester comes out clean.
Serve warm or at room temperature
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