May 25

Sweet empanadas with the last of the peaches

Since I had problems with the masa dough empanadas that I made recently, I looked for an alternative dough to make sweet empanadas to use up the last of the peaches from the recent peach glut. Though these are sweet empanadas, the dough is still savoury, so it could be used for other types of empanadas too.

Though I made empanadas with fresh peaches, you could easily use jam or any other type of fruit combinations such as apple and cinnamon. Something to note is that you could make this pastry style empanada dough by hand, but if you have hot hands like me, it would be best to use a food processor to prevent the lard or butter from melting.

Mixing in the lardPastry style empanada dough

Ingredients

  • 1.5 cups (354ml) of plain flour (all purpose)
  • 0.25 cup (60ml) of lard or butter
  • 0.33 cup (80ml) of milk
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 0.5 tsp salt

 

Method

Using a food processor, pulse together the flour and salt. Add the fat and blend together well. Mix the egg and milk together and add to the food processor little by little while pulsing the dough. Stop when clumps start to form. Divide the dough in two and form into discs. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a least half an hour. Alternatively ,you can freeze the dough until another time.

Making Peach Empanadas

Making Peach Empanadas

Making Peach Empanadas

The method for making these is similar to the masa empanadas I made with a savoury filling. Break off a ball of dough roughly 1.5″ (4cm) in size and form a disc either with a tortilla press or a rolling pin. Place some chopped up fresh piece (or peach jam) on one side of the disc, sprinkle on some brown sugar, wet the edges and fold into a crescent shape. Seal the edges with a fork or by hand. Brush with beaten egg and bake in a 400F (200C) oven for 25mins until golden brown. They are best served hot with vanilla ice-cream, but the can be enjoyed cold too.

Peach Empanadas

Peach Empanadas and ice-cream

 

 

May 25

Hot Italian Sausage Recipe

Aside from the fact that there are more then just Hot and Sweet Italian Sausages available, these two varieties of Italian sausages are types that most of us are most familiar. Whether simmering in a marinara sauce, cooked with peppers and onions or grilled outdoors the flavors and aromas from Italian sausage really is hard to beat.

Ingredients fort Hot Italian Sausage

Ingredients for Homemade Hot Italian Sausage

There are as many possible combinations of ingredients as there are recipes for Hot Italian Sausage. I can imagine that it could be a full time hobby actually making and then of course eating each one of these Hot Italian Sausage Recipes. However, you have to start somewhere and for me this was the recipe provided in Bruce Aidells’ Complete Sausage Book. From the very first time I made Hot Italian Sausage I deviated from the recipe, but this book provides a great reference point in which to make your own sausage. Below, is the most current version of Hot Italian Sausage that I recently made.

Mixing Ingedients for Hot Italian Sausage

Mixing the Ingredients for Hot Italian Sausage

Ingredients for Hot Italian Sausage

  • 3 Pounds of Pork Loin
  • 1 Pound of Pork Fat Trimmings
  • 2 Tablespoons of Fennel Seeds
  • 1 Tablespoon of Minced Garlic
  • 1 Tablespoon of Red Pepper Flakes
  • 4 Teaspoons of Kosher Salt
  • 2 Teaspoons of Fresh Ground Black Pepper
  • 1 Teaspoon of Ground Cayenne Pepper

Once you have decided upon the recipe for Hot Italian Sausage that you wish to make, you will need to Grind the Pork Loin and Pork Fat Trimmings and then following the instructions in Preparing the Ingredients. Once the Hot Italian Sausage mixture has been stuffed into the casings and the desired length of the links has been made, it will be extremely difficult to not cook them right away. You can, but allowing the sausage to air dry in the refrigerator on racks overnight / twenty-four hours does allow for the sausage links to dry out a little bit and improve in flavor. Sausages will keep in the refrigerator if wrapped for a few days and can be stored in the freezer for a few months.

Freshly Made Homemade Hot Italian Sausage

Fresh Made Hot Italian Sausage Stuffed In Natural Casings

Homemade Hot Italian Sausage is perfect for those that are never satisfied with the options available at the grocery store. For me there are two things that truly differentiate Hot Italian Sausage made at home. The first is you are controlling the intensity of seasoning. By reducing the amount of one spice and increasing the level of another. Second, by adding an entirely additional flavoring; i.e. 2 Tablespoons of an anise flavored liqueur like Sambuca, you have completely change the flavor profile of the sausage. Where else can you have that degree of influence in the sausage that you are going to eat?

Homemade fresh Italian Sausage is very versatile. Whether it is baked or grilled and enjoyed with a salad, added to a pot of Marinara Sauce or cooked with Pepper and Onions and even used to make a Sausage Sandwich, the possibilities are endless.

Hot Italian Sausage Made at Home

Baked Homemade Hot Italian Sausage

 

May 24

Ta-da! Empanadas

Until I came to the US, I had never seen or tasted an empanada, even they are originally from Spain and Portugal. The name comes from the Spanish word ’empanar’, which means to wrap in bread, but more often they are made from dough. In essence an empanada is a pie (British sense of the word) in a crescent pocket shape, similar, but smaller than a Cornish pastie.

Empanadas filled with everything from meat to fruit can be found in various forms throughout the world from Spain, all of Latin American to the Philippines and Nigeria, Britain and India. It is believed that Empanadas were originally influenced by samosas from India.

I first made my own empanads about a year ago, when we were invited to a ‘Fry-a-thon’ party for Dutch friends who were leaving Houston. The reason for the ‘Fry-a-thon’ was that Wouter (The Frying Dutchman) bought a turkey fryer when he moved to Houston and would bring it to tailgating parties. At this party he cooked what-ever people took along, from whole chicken, cauliflower, Oreos, etc.

I decided to go with a masa (masa harina – maize flour) dough, which is traditional in Mexico and it gave me a chance to use my new tortilla press. I made a basic chilli from ground bison that I had in the freezer and filled the empanadas. I laid out the un-cooked empanadas on a tray cover with plastic wrap, to prevent the dough drying out and took them to the ‘Fry-a-thon’ for cooking. They were a great success.

Since then I have made some more, but I think I added a little too much water to the dough, because it became very tricky to handle and kept breaking, so I had to forgo the tortilla press and roll them and form them by hand. I don’t have a deep fryer so, I baked them in the oven, and though they weren’t quite as tasty as the original ones, they were still very good.

Masa Empanada Dough

Ingredients

  • 1 cup (235ml) of masa harina (Note: this is maize flour, not cornflour)
  • 2 tbls of plain flour (all purpose)
  • 0.5 tsp salt
  • 0.75 (180ml) cup of warm water

Method

Mix the masa harina, plain flour and salt together. Mix in the water little by little until a smooth, but not sticky dough forms (depending on the environment you may not need all the water). Kneed the dough for a minute, form it into a ball and then wrap it in plastic wrap to prevent it drying out.

Masa dough

Masa dough

Chilli Empanada Filling

Forming an empanada

Forming an empanada using a ravioli press

Ingredients

  • 0.5 lb (250g) of ground beef, bison, pork, chicken or turkey
  • 2 jalapeños, chopped
  • 1 clove of garlic, crushed
  • 0.5 onion, diced
  • 0.5 tin of crushed tomatoes
  • 1 tbls of tomato purée
  • 1 tsp of ground cumin
  • 1 tsp of ground coriander
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper to season

Method

First brown the meat in a little oil. Add the onion, garlic and chillies, sauté until soft. Add the tomatoes and spices and cook until the liquid has all but disappeared.

Making Empanadas

Break off a ball of dough roughly 1.5″ (4cm) in size and form a disc either with a tortilla press or a rolling pin. Place about a tablespoon of the filling onto one half of the disc, moisten the edges with water and fold in half to form a crescent shape. I use a ravioli press to do this, but it is easy enough by hand too. Crimp the edges with a fork or by hand to seal the edges of the empanadas.

Beef Chilli Empanadas

Baked Masa Dough Empanadas filled with beef chilli

Either fry them in hot oil until they are crispy or bake in a 365F (185C) oven on a parchment paper covered tray for about 30mins or until golden brown. Enjoy hot or cold.

 

May 24

The Food of a Younger Land – Book Review

The Food of a Younger Land - Mark Kurlansky

Mark Kurlansky's: The Food of a Younger Land

I recently finished reading Mark Kurlansky’s book The Food of a Younger Land and could not help but be amazed how much the food in the United States has changed in 80 years. All who attended school in the United States were taught about the massive federal government efforts in the 1930’s to create stability and economic momentum during the Great Depression. Federal programs such as the CCC and the WPA. A lesser known program of the New Deal was the FWP (Federal Writers Program). After the successful completion of the first project of the FWP, which culminated in the publication of guidebooks for the different portions of the United States, the next endeavor was titled: America Eats. The project was never completed for WWII descended upon the United States and the unfinished and incomplete manuscripts were filed away.

The author came upon this stack of manuscripts and with minimal editing, weaving in introductions, anecdotes supporting information published a book that provides us with a glimpse into the foods, thoughts, recipes and cultural perspectives of our nation 10 – 20 years before highways crossed our nation, most homes had a refrigerator and there was a fast food / restaurant chain in even the smallest of towns.

There were several things about the books that I found fascinating and interesting. It is important to remember when reading the book, that the majority of Americans still lived in small towns and rural settings. Suburbia did not exist as we know it today until after WWII.

Ingredients:

A broad generalization of what Americans ate 80 years ago could be summarized by saying that corn meal, pork, pork fat, beans, molasses, salt, butter, black pepper, cloves, allspice, cinnamon, pickled vegetables and canned tomatoes represented a significant majority of the ingredients consumed. The preparation and use of corn meal was widespread. I truly did not realize how prevalent corn meal was used in every day cooking.

Stews:

The preparation and use of stews for many meals was widespread. It makes sense for a stew provides a nourishing meal that can be prepared well in advance of the time to eat. Inherently I knew that stews are an practical means for extending a limited amount of food to the greatest number of people, but to read how prevalent stews were a part of every day cooking was enlightening.

Meat:

Beef, Pork, Chicken, Fish, Shellfish, Rabbit and wild game (much more prevalent then today) were all of part of the American diet, but not as prevalent and not in the context in which we enjoy our protein today. It was apparent that the total number of cuts of beef that we enjoy today although may have existed 80 years ago, were much more localized in relation to the meat packing plants and where the railroad system operated. Fish and Seafood was readily eaten along the coasts and waterways, but it was eaten soon after being caught for there were no real means to keep the product from spoiling without refrigeration.

Cultural Attitudes:

The author did not edit the wording, phrases or syntax used in the manuscripts. It was interesting, disturbing, enlightening and above all else educational to read the words and thoughts of authors employed by the WPA in the 1930’s as they described the diverse people, cultures and regions of the United States.

Summary:

The book was worthy of the read and I learned facts about the United States that I did not know. It was interesting to learn of evolution of the hush puppy, the basis for the oyster roasts that I have participated in the South, the debates on clam chowder or mint juleps and how food was the means which brought people together in the community to socialize. There are a few recipes that I am going to try and recreate. I think that the hardest thing will be to initially follow the recipe and not add more flavors, spices and herbs.

The Food of a Younger Land is not the first book that Mark Kurlansky has written about food. He has also authored Salt: A World History, which I found to be a very interesting book on the history of salt and worthy of rereading, in addition to books about Cod and Oysters.

 

 

May 23

Date Shake, Check One Off Of The Bucket List

Salton Sea, California

Salton Sea – Imperial Valley, California

As I was driving CA-86 North towards Indio, CA with the Salton Sea to the east, I was thinking back to when I had first learned of the Date Shake?  If my memory serves me correctly, it was Anthony Boudain’s Travel Channel show No Reservations episode U.S. Southwest where he had tried a Date Shake. The idea of trying a vanilla ice cream shake mixed with dates was worth the 90 minute diversion to Indio, CA instead of directly driving to San Diego, CA.

The cultivation of dates in the United States can be traced back to the 1700’s when the Spaniards brought them to San Diego after importing them  to Mexico, via Cuba from Spain. Until the late 1800’s there was limited success in growing date palms commercially for fruit production. During this time, a few date seeds found their way to the Sacramento and Coachella Valley’s. In a few years, date palms were found to be successfully thriving and producing fruit. It was this discovery and a few additional factors that created a viable commercial date fruit commercial industry.

Date Palms at Shields Date Garden in Indio, CA

Date Palm Grove – Shields Date Garden in Indio, CA

Dates are known as nature’s natural candy, with Medjool sugar content reaching 80% when ripe. Dates can be classified as either soft, semi dry or dry and are naturally dried when ripened and then harvested. 90% of dates consumed in the United States are produced in California with the most of these being the sweeter dessert dates known as Medjool and Deglet Noor. Dates are technically not classified as dried fruit for no additional dehydrating processes are involved except the heat and the sun as the fruit ripens on the palm.

Welcome Sign for Shields Date Garden

Welcome Sign for Shields Date Garden on CA-111

From where I was located in southern California, three options try a date shake were available. There was Hadleys in Cabazon, CA, Date Gardens located in Dateland, AZ and Shields in Indio, CA. Shields Dates was the most conveniently located for my excursion. The operating hours of Shields Dates is from 9AM – 5PM and I was going to arrive with very little time to spare. After reading the website, some reviews and remembering the No Reservation episode, I had this impression that Date Shields was this circa 1950’s building / tourist stop on the side of a dusty road surrounded by groves of dates. At one time, the dusty road and surrounded by groves of dates may have been true, but now Shields Dates is surrounded by the clean, modern lines of recently built suburban retail stores. Thankfully, Shields Dates has not upgraded their exterior or for that matter interior decor.

Shields Date Garden Store

Shields Date Garden Gift Store

I park the car and rush into the store, look quickly around and see that this lady is restocking the diner counter at 4:55PM. I ask her if I can have a Date Shake and she responds with “Si”. I am relieved, this 90 minute diversion was not a wasted effort. She takes a large paper cup out the the freezer and places the cup under the milk shake mixer. I had read that the Date Shakes at Shields were prepped with the ingredients already in the cup. As my milk shake is being mixed, I walk around the store, realizing that I could spend an hour and drop some serious cash on the different variety of packaged dates and other goodies in the store. I nibble on a few dates that were available for sampling, select a few small variety packages of dates, make a few more purchases and then with regret leave the store for the employees are patiently waiting for the “blue hairs” to finish their purchases.

Shields Date Garden Famous Date Shake

Date Shake made with Vanilla Ice Cream and Date Crystals at Shields Date Garden

The Date Shake is thick. With time (desert heat) and effort I am rewarded with the first taste of the vanilla ice cream shake flavored with dates (more specifically date crystals). The taste of the dates starts off faint, but eventually the flavor of the dates becomes more pronounced and I am also rewarded with small pieces and flakes of actual date. It was a pleasant surprise and was enjoying the flavor of the dates. What I had not been expecting despite reading previous reviews was the intensity of the sweetness of the shake. The shake is insanely sweet and can satisfy the sweet cravings of almost anyone before they finish the shake. Vanilla ice cream is sweet, but the addition of dates, a naturally sweet fruit makes the shake even sweeter.

Date Palm - Shields Date Garden in Indio, CA

Date Palm – Shields Date Garden in Indio, CA

All in all, the excursion to Indio, CA was a success. I wish I had more time available to me, or had made an effort to have gone to Shields Date Gardens sooner. The date groves of Coachella County may not be a surprise to those living in southern California, but for this visitor, it was a pleasant experience. Indio, CA is about 2 hours from San Diego, El Centro, Los Angeles, 1 hour from Temecula Valley (wine tasting) and not far from Palm Springs. If nothing else, the scenery viewed during the road trip is well worth the excursion. I only wish I had had time to take picture of the road sign pointing towards Mecca, CA.

 

Purchases Made at Shields Date Garden in Indio, CA

Purchases Made at Shields Date Garden in Indio, CA