Spicy Sticky Braised Belly Pork

I was contacted by a representative of 100% NZ Pork to see if I would be interested to help promote New Zealand pork by creating a recipes with their produce. In our house we only ever buy New Zealand free range pork, so this was an easy yes to promoting locally grown produce rather than imported.

100% NZ Pork also have a great website, Extraordinary Kitchen supported by well known Kiwi chefs offering more recipes and information on our local pork products.

Belly pork is one of my favourite cuts of pork, I know many people shy away from it because of the fat content but it adds so much more to a dish and tenderness to the cooked meat. Personally I would rather eat good honest fat that hasn’t been processed than the stuff hidden in processed food and lets face it, your not going to eat it every day.

I love this Chinese style spicy sticky pork, it has few ingredients and is easy to prepare and if you don’t want it too hot cut down the chillies in the recipe. It’s perfect served with steamed rice and vegetables. Any left overs, if by a small miracle there are any, is perfect shredded and stuffed into a roll for lunch the next day.

If you like this recipe I also have a belly pork cassoulet recipe and pork and mushroom stroganoff pie recipe coming soon too! I do love winter for its hearty food, I think that’s my Northern English background taking over.

Ingredients
500g New Zealand Belly Pork
Vegetable oil
2 cups water
1 Cinnamon stick
6 star anise
2 -4 dried chillies, finely chopped
2 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
2tbsp dark soy sauce
2tbsp white vinegar
2 tbsp brown sugar

Method
Cut the belly pork into 1 inch cubes.
Add 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil to a heavy based or cast iron frying pan, and heat over a medium high heat.
Add the belly pork cubes to the pan when the oil is hot.
Cook the belly pork on all sides until golden brown (approx a minute on each side).
Add the grated ginger, star anise cinnamon stick and chillies to the pan and fry for a few more minutes. Stand back as the chili fumes can make you eyes water!
Add the water and bring to the boil, then turn heat down to low and place a lid on the frying pan.
Cook on simmer for 45 minutes until pork is tender but still firm.
Remove the pork from the pan and set aside.
Whisk together the sugar, vinegar and soy sauce then add to the pan, boiling the liquid until it reduces by half.
Add the pork back to the pan and continue to cook until the juices reduce and become sticky. Stir constantly at this stage.
Serve the pork with steamed rice and a side of steamed Bok Choi.

Soy Salmon with an Avocado, Lime, Wasabi Salsa

I hope you all enjoyed a long weekend break over Easter, for me it was nice to be home for four days and the sun shone all weekend long. The last of our summer days I think, the gannets have all but a few flown from the colony, leaving just me behind till they return next year.

We often cook this dish on the BBQ as part of several dishes but Easter weekend we decided to have it on it’s own for our Sunday brunch served on a piece of whole grain toast, very decadent. It’s a really versatile dish that can be served as an entree on its own, as a main with steam veg or even as a canapé on little crispy croutons

Salmon cooks well on the BBQ, you need to remove the skin though as it will stick to the BBQ grill. The method is the same if you decide to cook it on your barbie. The marinate of soy and sugar caramelizes beautifully on the flame grill but here I cooked it in my cast iron pan and it was almost as good, I wasn’t going to fire up our charcoal BBQ for just one fillet so it was a good compromise.

I usually only buy one 4inch wide salmon fillet between the two of us, although I really enjoy salmon it can be quite rich and a small amount goes a long way so I have based my recipe on one fillet but you can easily double the quantities if you are cooking for more.

Ingredients for two
1 Salmon filet, sliced in half length ways
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
1 ripe avocado
1 tsp wasabi paste
juice and zest of 1 lime
2 spring onions, finely sliced

Method
Remove the skin from the salmon, it marinates better this way.
Warm the soy and sugar together so that the sugar dissolves.
In a small flat bottom container pour the soy and sugar, add the skinned salmon.
Marinate for 15 minutes turning every couple of minutes.
While the salmon is marinating make the avocado salsa.
Cut the avocado in half and remove the stone and scoop out the flesh.
Place the avocado flesh in a bowl with the lime zest and juice and wasabi paste.
Mash together to a lumpy texture rather than smooth purée.
Add the sliced spring onions and season with salt and pepper to taste, put aside in fridge.
Heat a cast iron or heavy bottom frying pan with a tablespoon of veg oil and place over a medium heat.
Once the pan is hot put the salmon fillets in and cook for 1 minute, turn the fillets over.
Brush the cooked side with more marinate and cook the second side for 1 minute.
Turn the fillet over and repeat the process on both sides, brushing with marinate and cooking each side for another minute (cooking time altogether 4 minutes).
Test the fillets are cooked to your liking, I prefer them a little undercooked.
Serve with the avocado salsa.

Braised Five Spice Lentils with Duck & Porcini Sausages

Duck & Porcini sausages, as soon as I saw them on Rubys List which is an online butcher in New Zealand, I just had to try them. Ruby’s List offers only meat that has been pasture raised or free-farmed, as they say ” meat sourced from cows, pigs, lamb, deer and poultry that have led good lives in clean, open air. The sausages were like non I had tried before, rich and meaty with a defined Porcini taste. If Ruby’s List takes their time to source good ethically grown produce I knew I wanted to spend time and effort on the dish I would put together. Having been in France recently I had the idea of a traditional lentil meat stew but I have also influenced having eating at Cafe Hanoi and their five spice also came to mind. So that is how I ended up with this dish. Something traditional with a few exotic ingredients.

Ingredients – serves 4 with mash or polenta
1 cup brown lentils
2 cups chicken stock
1 small onions
1 inch fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic
1tsp five spice
1tsp course ground black pepper
1tsp pomegranate molasses
1/4 cup red wine
Handful chopped coriander to garnish
8 Rubys List Duck & Porcini sausages (or any game style sausages)
10 cloves of roasted garlic (optional)

Method

To roast the garlic, place whole bulbs in the oven on 180C for 15 minutes. Remove and once cold peel off the skin carefully to keep cloves in tack. I often throw a few bulbs of garlic in the oven when it is on to use later in other dishes, it keeps well in the fridge for a week.

Place the onion, garlic, ginger, five spice a glug of olive oil in a blender and blend to a paste.

Fry the paste in a little olive oil for a few minutes, stirring all the time.

Add the wine and simmer for a few minutes then add the stock, roasted garlic and lentils and cook over a low heat for 25-30 minutes until the lentils are soft.

Fry the sausage in a separate frying until brown all the way round then add them to the lentils.

Add the molasses and coriander and cook on a low heat, with a lid on the pan to retain the moisture for a further 10 minutes. If the lentils go dry add some water so there is always a sauce.

Serve with polenta or mash.

Chicken Lap Lap – Polynesian Style Chicken with Taro

We have just spent a week visiting family in Rarotonga, Cook Islands where we really did just relax at the beach and not get distracted by our everyday life of emails, blogging, Twitter, Facebook since we had no access to it. I thought I was going to blog while I was there, Facebook pictures of me lounging on the beach and tweet about local cuisine…how reliant we become on our media outlets and to find you have none came as a shock…but not for long. After the first morning the IPad and mobile phone where soon replaced with a good book, snorkeling in the lagoons, taking a siesta, shopping at the local food markets, sampling new cuisine and sun set cocktails.

While there I bought a book on South Pacific cuisine called Me’a Kai by Robert Oliver which is beautifully presented with glorious photos of local dishes, the people and scenery. I have never cooked Pacific cuisine even though we have access to a lot of the ingredients in Auckland so this Sunday, upon our return, we headed to Avondale market were we knew we would be able to buy Taro root and Taro leaves which are common to South Pacific dishes. The has a great combination of spices with a creamy coconut base. We also had the pleasure of sharing this meal with Sue from Couscous & Conscious who is currently staying in Auckland.

Ingredients
Base

• 2 large banana leaves
• 5 cups grated taro root
• 200ml coconut milk
• 2 cups spinach, wilted & chopped
• 4 tomatoes, quartered

1. Pre heat oven to 180C.
2. Boil or steam the banana leaf to soften and lay one leaf in the bottom of a large greased casserole dish.
3. Cover banana leaf and casserole dish with grated taro root and pour over 100ml of coconut milk. Place the spinach on top of the taro.
4. Place the quartered tomatoes around the side of the dish.
5. Pour 100ml of coconut milk over everything and cover with another banana leaf and the casserole dish lid.

Chicken Marinade

• 1 free range chicken, cut into 8 pieces
• Juice of 1 lime
• Vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1.5 tsp coriander seeds
• 1tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp cardamom seeds
• 1 chili
• 2 cloves garlic

1. Place chicken pieces in a large bowl.
2. Grind spices in a mortar & pestle then add chili and garlic and grind together to form paste.
3. Add lime juice and oil to the paste then pour over and coat chicken pieces completely.
4. Place chicken in a roasting dish.
5. Put both the taro base and chicken tray in the oven to roast for 40 minutes. After 40 minutes remove the casserole lid and top banana leaf off the taro and roast for a further 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked.

Sauce

• 5 cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp thinly sliced ginger
• Juice and zest of 2 small limes
• 1tbsp flour
• 200ml coconut milk
• 2 spring onion, finely sliced
• Salt & pepper

1. While chicken is cooking make the sauce
2. Place a tablespoon of oil in a pan with the ginger and garlic over a low heat.
3. Cook for several minutes then add the flour to form a paste and cook for a few more minutes.
4. Add the coconut milk, lime juice and zest and spring onions and cook for 10 minutes over a low heat.
   Season with salt and pepper.

To assemble arrange the chicken pieces over the taro base and then pour over the coconut sauce just before serving.

Vegan Lasagna with Harissa, Pesto Vegetables & Rice Milk Sauce

When you are moving house the last thing you want to do after a weekend of removals is to cook for the family. With my dodgy back I wouldn’t get far lifting boxes anyway but can be of use cooking for everyone after a hard days labour. Friends of ours moved last weekend and I thought a lasagne would be perfect to drop in for them and they could cook it when they were ready to eat. Our friend is vegan so I experimented with a rice milk white sauce which came out really well, it’s a little sweeter than milk but you don’t really notice with all the savoury fillings. You could use soy milk but I’m not fond of the taste and I was going to make an extra one for our dinner too so decided to try the rice milk instead.

It’s such a pretty looking lasagne with the layers of colour and the pesto and harrisa and depth of flavour. This original is a Ruth pretty recipe that I found in an old fitness magazine but I used a rice milk sauce and also added my Harissa paste for more flavour. The puy lentils offer additional protein.

Aubergine, Courgette, Red Pepper Harissa Lasagne with Puy Lentils

Ingredients

• 80g vegan marg/spread
• 80g flour
• 600ml rice milk, heated to boiling

• 1 kg (4-5) fresh lasagne sheets
• 1 tin Puy lentils (cooked) 1 large aubergine/eggplant (cut into 7.5mm thick rounds and baked at 220°C until soft through and golden brown on the edges).
• 4 large red peppers/capsicum (baked at 220°C until skin blisters, then seeded, skinned and cut in half)
• 1/2 tin tomatoes, blended and mixed with the harissa
• 4 Tbsp harissa sauce
• 4 courgetttes/zucchini (cut lengthwise into very thin strips and hot baked at 220°C until soft and golden brown on the edges)
• 30ml (2 tbsp) basil pesto
• 75g (3/4 cup) tasty grated cheese
• 35g (1/2 cup) grated Parmesan cheese

Method

1. Preheat oven to 190°C
2. Roast all the vegetables as above.
3. To make the sauce Garlic Bèchamel sauce, melt the butter in a medium size saucepan over a low heat.
4. Add the flour to the melted butter and mix to a smooth paste. Cook for 2 minutes while continuing to stir the paste.
5. Add the hot rice milk a ladle at a time and stir the milk into the flour. Only add another ladle of milk when the paste is smooth. Continue until all milk has been added and you have a smooth medium think sauce.
6. Lightly grease base and sides of a deep baking dish. (27cm x 20cm).
7. Spread 1/2 cup of Garlic Bèchamel Sauce over the base of the dish.
8. Divide Puy lentils into 3 portions and sprinkle sauce with 1st portion of Puy lentils and cover with single layer of lasagne sheets.
9. Lay cooked eggplant on top of lasagne sheets and cover with 150ml of Garlic Bèchamel sauce.
10. Top with 2nd portion of Puy lentils and cover with a single layer of lasagne sheets.
11. Cover lasagne sheets with tomato & harissa sauce and top with cooked peppers.
12. Cover peppers with single layer of lasagne sheets and spread sheets evenly with pesto.
13. Lay zucchini onto pesto and top with 100ml (1/3 cup + 1 tbsp) of Garlic Bèchamel and remainder of lentils.
14. Top with a final single layer of lasagne sheets, remainder of Garlic Bèchamel Sauce and sprinkle with cheeses for non vegans.
15. You can store in the fridge for up to 2 days until you are ready to bake and serve.
16. Place in oven and bake 30-40 minutes until lasagne is soft and top is golden brown.

Smoked Snapper & Kelp Kedgeree

Happy New Year everyone!

Every New Years Day P and I make a list of goals we want to achieve in the coming twelve months and looking back on last years I have managed to achieve all of the ones I set so. I think it is important to make the goals visual, its amazing what the sub conscious mind can do, so we put our lists on the fridge door so we see them every day.

Do you set goals for the coming year? New Years resolutions?

A sneak preview of some of mine for 2011….

• Move to a four day week in my full time job (allowing me more time for foodie stuff)
• Increase classes in the school to one a week (last years was to open the school and I still can’t believe we did it)
• Open a B&B as part of the school
• Go to a Cordon Bleu class in London or Paris while in Europe
• Surf more!
• Read more (that seems to have taken a back burner last year which isn’t very useful when you are part of a book club)
• Learn more French

So what else do we do New Year? Eat of course and how about starting the day with a nice kedgeree for breakfast? I have used smoked snapper friends had caught and smoked, traditionally haddock would be used but you can replace this with any of your local smoked fish. I have added the smoked kelp to the recipe since home smoked fish is is often not as smokey as haddock and this is the perfect alternative as well as adding additional nutritional benefits.

Ingredients – 4 people

• 2 large free-range eggs, boiled
• 500g smoked cooked fish
• 1 cup Pacific Harvest Sea lettuce kelp
• 2 cups long grain or basmati rice
• salt & pepper
• 1 tsp cumin seeds, ground
• 1 tsp coriander seeds, ground
• 1/2 tsp cardamom seeds, ground
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2tsp mustard seeds
• 1/2tsp Pacific Harvest smoked kelp granuals
• 200g chopped tomatoes (fresh or tinned)
• Juice of one lemon
• 100g butter
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• Handful chopped fresh parsley to garnish

Method

1. Cook the rice in salted water or rice cooker till al dente. Refresh in cold water, drain again, and leave in the fridge until needed.
2. In a small pan boil some water for the kelp, soak the kelp in boiled water for one minute then drain. Divide sea lettuce leave up into smaller pieces.
3. Melt the butter in a large frying pan over a low heat and add the onion and garlic and cook for 5 mins on a low heat.
4. Add all the spices and cook for a further few minutes
5. Add the chopped tomatoes and lemon juice.
6. Remove any skin from fish and flake into chunks and set aside.
7. Quarter the eggs.
8. Add the fish, smoked kelp, sea lettuce and rice to a pan and gently stir through until all is coated with spice and the rice is hot.
9. Add the eggs and garnish with parsley and serve warm.

Lime Kelp Prawns with Sea Lettuce Soba Noodle Salad

For something a little lighter after all that Christmas food! Although this is probably more appealing to those in the Southern Hemisphere enjoying sunny warm days rather than those in the Northern Hemisphere. If like my family in the UK you are snowed in you will probably prefer something heartier than a noodle salad but perhaps keep it in mind for next summer. I image many people in the UK will be whipping up a turkey meal from the leftovers of the monster bird cooked on Christmas day? I have only attempted once to cook a turkey in NZ for Christmas after feeling rather homesick for a traditional dinner… never again, it was so hot in the kitchen baking the dam bird I just didn’t feel like eating it afterwards. This year we had Rick Steins scallops on a smoked pepper salad, rabbit in a sherry sauce and for dessert a black forest trifle. What did you all have for Christmas lunch?

Ingredients – serves 4 main or 6 entree

• 200g soba noodles
• 16-18 large prawns
• 1 cup Pacific Harvest Sea Lettuce
• 1 tsp Pacific Harvest Lime Kelp
• 1 tbsp Pacific Harvest Dulse Flakes
• 3 spring onions
• 1 red pepper
• 100g needle mushrooms or any readily available mushroom (thinly sliced if not using needle mushrooms)
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• handful fresh parsley leaves
• handful fresh coriander leaves
• salt & pepper for seasoning
• 4 tbsp olive oil

Method

1. Half fill a medium size pan with water then bring to the boil.
2. Place sea lettuce & dulse flakes in a sift and dip into the boiled water and allow to soak for 2 minutes. Remove from water then strain and cool. Place in a large bowl.
3. Add the soba noodles to the boiling water and cook for 4-6 minutes or until al dente, on a low simmer. Drain noodles, then run briefly under cold water to cool them and drain again. Place in same bowl as sea lettuce.
4. Thinly slice the red pepper and spring onion and add to the bowl with noodles, sea lettuce & dulse.
5. Briefly fry the mushrooms in a frying pan with a little oil, then add to the bowl with above ingredients.
6. To make the salad dressing take a large mortar & pestle and grind the parsley & coriander leaves. Add the lemon juice, sesame oil and 2 tbsp olive oil. Season with a pinch of salt & pepper and grind further until you get a lovely green paste. Add 2 more tbsp olive oil and grind again. If you don’t have a mortar & pestle you can use a blender, whiz stick.
7. Add the dressing to the bowl with the noodles and toss through to coat all the ingredients. Divide the noodle salad between four serving bowls/plates.
8. In a small bowl add 1 tbsp olive oil & 1 tsp lime kelp. Coat the prawns with this mixture.
9. In a cast iron or non stick frying pan fry the prawns on each side till pink and just cooked through (approx 1 min each side). Arrange prawns on top of the cold noodle salad and serve.

Note, the salad can be prepared in advance and kept in the fridge several hours prior to serving. The prawns can be served hot or cold.

Smoked Kelp Encrusted Lamb Loin with a Sea Lettuce Broad Bean Salad

Ingredients

• 400g lamb loin
• 2 tsp Pacific Harvest smoked kelp seasoning
• 2 tbsp oil
• 2 tins (800g) broad beans
• 1 bunch asparagus
• 1 cup Pacific Harvest sea lettuce
• 2 tsp Pacific Harvest dulse
• 1 tbsp capers
• 8 sundried tomatoes, sliced
• Handful parsley
• Handful Thyme
• Juice of one lemon
• 3 tbsp olive oil

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of experimenting with some kelp products from the New Zealand company Pacific Harvest. They were running a competition for the best recipe so I decided to have an experiment. Rather than run with an Asian style recipe which we associate with kelp products I wanted to marry the flavours to a European dish. I was quite surprised at how delicate the flavours and textures are in the range and would be easily adapted to most dishes and got very excited creating, this being the first of many dishes. Unfortunately I didn’t read the rules of the competition properly which ruled out people in the food industry which includes me because of my cooking school. But as with the Masterchef competitors the runner up always seems to do better. I may not have won the competition or a prize but I did get to meet one of the owners of Pacific Harvest, the lovely Louise and discovered a new product I will continue to use.

Sea vegetables are rich in vitamins, contain all fifty-six minerals and trace elements identified as bodily requirements, plus they have other nutrients, many of which are known to offer protection against radiation or chemical pollutants. For more information please visit: http://www.pacificharvest.co.nz/wawcs0135715/ln-Wellness.html

You can also find an NZ stockist list of the products here: http://www.pacificharvest.co.nz/wawcs0135713/ln-Where-to-Buy.html

Method

1. Cover the lamb loin with some olive oil and then roll it in the smoked kelp, put aside to marinade for an hour or two if you have time.
2. Cut the the asparagus into 1inch pieces and blanch in a pan of boiling water for 1 minute.
3. Remove the asparagus from the water once Cooked but keep the boiled water for the sea lettuce and dulse. Rinse the asparagus under cold water and place in a large serving bowl.
4. Place the sea lettuce into the pan of boiling water and the dulse into a sift then submerge in the pan of billing water also. Allow both to soak for several minutes until softened.
5. Rinse with cold water, drain then add to the asparagus.
6. With a mortar and pestle grind together the herbs, lemon juice and 3 tablespoons of olive oil to form a thick drawing for the salad.
7. Drain the broad beans and add to the bowl with the asparagus.
8. Add the capers, sun dried tomatoes and dressing to the bowl and mix all ingredients together.
9. For frying the lamb, take a good heavy bottom or cast iron frying pan and place over a medium heat.
10. Cook the lamb loin for 2 minutes on all sides (4 sides) to seal and brown the meat, turn off the heat and place a lid over the lamb and allow it to rest for 2 minutes. This should give you a medium rare piece of lamb, cook it longer if you prefer it not to have any pink meat.
11. Slice the loin thinly and lay on top of the bean salad.

Creole Quinoa Jambalaya

The first bag of quinoa I had in the cupboard was almost up to it’s expiry before I got around to using it but once I got into the swing I was pretty well hooked. I love the texture and the nutty flavour it offers a dish, it’s perfect for warm salads and works perfectly as an alternative to rice in Jambalaya. I’d seen the recipe on a product advertisement for Ceres Quinoa and decided to try it. I have changed the method slightly and added a few more ingredients like paprika and tumeric which I associate with Paella. I found that rather than cook it all in one pot which is typical for Jambalaya the quinoa is better cooked on it’s own to help it ‘sprout’ then added to the rest of the dish for the final stages of cooking.

Creole Jambalaya originates from the French Quarter of New Orleans. It evolved by the Spanish attempting to make paella in the New World, where saffron was not readily available due to import costs and tomatoes became the substitute for saffron. As time went on, French influence became strong in New Orleans, and spices from the Caribbean changed this New World paella into a unique dish.

Ingredients – serves 4

• 1.5 cups Quinoa (I used the red variety)
• 4 chicken legs (thigh and drum separated)
• 12 large prawns
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 red pepper, de-seeded and sliced
• 1 yellow pepper, de-seeded and sliced
• 1 can of chopped tomatoes
• 2 cups of stock
• Handful of fresh oregano or thyme, chopped
• 2 tsp sweet paprika
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp chilli flakes or 1 fresh chilli, chopped
• handful of fresh parsley, chopped
• salt & pepper to season
• Olive oil for frying

Method

1. Rinse quinoa in cold water, then drain. Add grain to a pan with 4 cups of water and bring to the boil then simmer for 8 minutes until the grain has ‘sprouted’. Drain in a colander and put aside.
2. Place a little oil in a large frying pan and add the chicken, browning on all sides.
3. Remove the chicken from the pan and add the onion, garlic and peppers and cook on a medium heat for 5 minutes until the onions are opaque, stirring constantly.
4. Return the chicken to the pan and add the tomatoes, stock, oregano, paprika, chilli and turmeric.
5. Bring to the boil, cover with a lid and simmer on a low heat for 20 minutes.
6. Stir in the prawns and the quinoa and return the lid and cook for a further 5 minutes. The dish should still have some liquid, if it doesn’t add a little water.
7. Check the chicken and prawns are cooked, add chopped parsley and serve immediately.

It does re-heat well if you want to make it in advance, the quinoa holds better and doesn’t absorb all the liquid liek rice would.

Upcoming Classes & Events at the Gourmet Gannet – 2011

Cheese Making – Halloumi, Mozzarella & Ricotta

Cake Decorating – learn how to decorate a kids novelty 3D birthday cake

Tapas – Make and enjoy a range of Tapas

Creative Salads – How about a Moroccan Quinoa Salad? Or Mediterranean Lentil Salad?

Creole Cooking with a Twist – Quinoa Jambalaya, Pineapple & Mango Ice cream

Savoury Pie Workshop – Come and make traditional pork pies or gala pies with a hot water pastry crust.

Homemade Sausages – No additives or fillers, just great taste!

Chocolate & Plain Croissant – Ever wanted to make your own croissants?

Moroccan Spiced Lamb Sausages

It’s almost BBQ season here in New Zealand and Oktoberfest month in Bavaria so what better way to celebrate both than with homemade sausages and sausage making workshops. With two workshops coming up this month and our own Oktoberfest at the Gourmet Gannet I have been busy creating new recipes as well as stocking up on German style sausages for 20 guests. Pork and Caraway for the traditional Nuremburger style and a not so traditional German sausage with the Moroccan Spiced Lamb on this post. I will also be dabbling with a beef and smoked paprika this weekend too. It’s really satisfying producing your own sausages and having complete control over what goes into them. Since leaving Germany I rarely eat sausages, the majority here only have 60-70% meat content whereas the Germans have sausage regulations and are not allowed to adulterate them with either fillers or additives. We might think that is a bit pedantic but they are proud to produce quality sausages and I have to say they certainly do make some of the best in the world.

Ingredients

• 1kg lamb (shoulder or leg with a good bit of fat on it)
• 1 onion
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/4 tsp tumeric
• 1/4 tsp cinnmon
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• zest of one lemon
• handful fresh parsley leaves
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 metres of natural sausage casing

Method

1. Slice the onion in half and put in a pan of boiling water and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from meat and allow to cool.
2. Put lamb and fat (but no skin) through the mincer. You want to use the fat so the sausages do not become dry.
3. Feed the parsley and onion through the mincer also.
4. Place the cumin seeds into a frying pan and heat over medium heat for 2 minutes until aromatic.
5. In a large bowl place the lamb, onion and all the spices.  Using clean hands work the pork mixture for 5 minutes until very sticky – the mixture should stick between your fingers.
6. Heat a little oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Roll 1 tbs mixture into a ball then flatten into patty and cook 2 minutes each side until cooked through. Taste the meat and adjust seasonings if required.
7. Clean the casing by running cold tap water through the sausage casing 3 times.
8. Cut a length of wet casing and slide onto nozzle of sausage maker, leaving a little un-tied hanging over the edge.
9. Feed the mince through the machine, sliding the casing off of the nozzle as the mince comes out.
10. Run your hands over the sausage to expel the excess air. Tie one end in a knot then twist the casing to for 12 sausages. Place onto a tray, cover and refrigerate overnight if time permits, this helps prevent the sausages from splitting while cooking.
11. Heat a little oil in a large non-stick frying pan over low heat, add the sausages and cook slowly for 10 minutes or until golden and cooked through