Usinger sausages
Somehow I’ve managed to make a big mistake, I’m not sure how it happened but I hang my head in shame. I’ve lived in Wisconsin for 8 years and I’m just now finding out about Usinger’s sausages. It seems unthinkable… all the sausages I could have eaten but didn’t. I promise to make up for lost time though, they are that good.
I’ve always been crazy about sausages, ever since the ’80s when Bruce Aidell introduced the Bay Area to his delightful and tasty sausage blends. Then as per usual many other companies jumped into the fray seeing that they could make a fast buck and many, many, bad sausages were made. Here in town our Whole Foods makes the worst sausages on earth…they disgust me they are so bad. I know that might sound harsh, but really, they’re awful!
But let me tell you, these Usinger’s sausages are fabulous. We tried the chicken cordon bleu, named as such because they have some ham and cheese in them, and they have a juicy, big flavor that just knocked us over. They’re already cooked so I heated them up and gave them a nice brown finish. It made for a quick and easy weeknight dinner with a side of spinach and some caramelized onions and fennel.
Usinger’s is a family owned and operated business located in Milwaukee. They have a ton of good-looking products that I’m looking forward to trying.
Note: they didn’t pay me or ask me to say these nice things, because you know I wouldn’t do that.
Another note: Thanks to everyone who so kindly let me know about the php error at the bottom of my blog. It was a nightmare to try and fix, mostly because my theme was ancient and the developer dropped off the face of the earth. I’ve been fiddling about with it for awhile trying to fix it and today I gave up and adopted a new theme that I hope will remain current for another few years. Let me know if you see any issues or have any problems.
Reinterpreted Moussaka
The other day at the grocery store I picked up two eggplants. I had no idea what I was going to make with them, I just saw that their aubergine skin was tight and they were very plump…in other words, they were in great shape and that is a rare thing around here (except of course in August when eggplant is in season and local). Some vegetables travel well and others don’t and I’m of the opinion that eggplants often don’t. Besides I was looking for anything SBF (south beach friendly).
Somehow between Monday when I bought them and yesterday I came up with the idea to make Moussaka; I have no idea where that idea came from other than I probably read the word bechemel somewhere and started drooling and fantasizing about bechemel, which then brought me to Moussaka, which usually has a bechemel sauce as one of it’s layers.
But of course bechemel isn’t SBF, is it? No. So I improvised and created a substitute with low fat ricotta and 2 egg yolks, plus salt and pepper. It actually worked pretty well if you don’t think of it as a bechemel…oh well. The final dish may not have much in common with a real moussaka but it was damn tasty, very satisfying, and SBF. The fenugreek, cinnamon, and nutmeg gave it an intriguing flavor.
SBF Moussaka
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2 eggplants
1 pound lean ground meat
1 onion, diced
1 tub of low fat ricotta
2 egg yolks
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground fenugreek
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
salt/pepper
1/2 quart tomato puree
1/2 cup low fat mozzarella
olive oil
Preheat the oven to 375°.
Peel the eggplants, cut into 1/2 inch slices, salt, and set it to drain in a colander or on a rack. Do this first so it can drain while you do the other components.
Brown the meat over a medium flame, breaking it into bite-sized pieces and seasoning it with salt. When it’s cooked drain it in a colander. Sauté the onion until soft, then add the meat back to the pan. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, and fenugreek and let this simmer on low for about 5 minutes. Stir and set aside.
In a small bowl combine the ricotta, the egg yolks, and salt and pepper. Set aside. Grate the mozzarella and set it aside.
Blot the eggplants dry with paper towels. Heat a heavy skillet up on a medium flam and add a thin shimmer of olive oil. Once the oil is almost smoking hot, add the eggplant and brown on both sides. Set aside and continue until all of it is browned.
Now for the fun part, layering the components. In a deep baking dish put the eggplant down as the first layer, then the meat, the ricotta, the pureed tomatoes, then the cheese. Pop it into the oven and let it bake until it’s bubbly and brown on top.
Makes 6 servings and warms up great in the microwave.
Beefy Southwest Salad
Last month I hung up my shackles as a part-time office worker and made the leap to freelance writer. It has many perks, including a business casual attire that centers on the classics …tshirt and jeans. Now I don’t have to hurry off every morning, I can take my time, go for a walk with Lovejoy and listen to the birds chirping like crazy in the trees outside my office. I admit that I’m decidedly more relaxed even though I’m working about the same number of hours each day, it’s just that these hours are on my terms, and I think that’s perfect.
I also love my lunch break. It usually starts with me trying to ignore the fact that I can’t concentrate because I’m hungry…that can go on for almost an hour if I’m not careful and it’s such a waste of time. I’m sooo easily distracted when I’m hungry…I’ll check email, my project bids, google news. Then I might tinker with some html work I’m doing on a new theme for the blog which will then lead to reading other blogs. All the while I’m still trying to work, so I’ll flip back to the screen with whatever I’m writing and I’ll ponder some paragraph or fiddle with some punctuation. Absolutely nothing serious, just wasting time until I finally realize that I’m hungry! Then I head into the kitchen and whip up a salad for lunch.
Today’s salad was my favorite yet. In a bowl I put one chunked up avocado, some diced red onion, a handful of chopped cilantro, and some cherry tomatoes cut in half. I dribbled on some olive oil and lime juice, hit it with some salt and a sprinkle of ground cumin and ground chipotle and gave it all a good toss. Then I plated in on a bed of iceberg lettuce. I absolutely love iceberg for its crunch and its crisp, cool texture. On the side I laid on some nice rare beef that I rolled up and sliced and on the other side I added some pepper jack chunks.
This was my kind of salad with the spicy, tangy, southwest flavors of the salad playing nicely against the beef and cheese. It all eventually gets mixed together but I really do like a salad that let’s me compose each bite…at least a little bit.
I’m still doing phase one of South Beach and I’m sticking to it. But I will say this…I miss granola in the morning and wine in the evening. But I’m almost half way through phase one, so I’m cool.
