Sausage (16 page)
Authors: Victoria Wise
In a large pot, combine the leek, carrot, turnip, barley, tomato paste, and broth and bring to a boil over high heat. Decrease the heat to maintain a simmer, cover partially, and cook until the barley is tender, about 45 minutes.
Add the sausage balls and salt and continue cooking until they are firm and rise to the top, about 20 minutes.
Ladle the soup into individual bowls, garnish with the parsley and black pepper, and serve piping hot.
POULTRY MEAT IS LEAN
and thus desirable for dieting reasons, but on its own it is a difficult customer for sausage making. To be delectable, any sausage needs a fat and a moistening element: Chicken fat (schmaltz) in a chicken and matzo meatball works. So does a creamy chèvre sauce over turkey and pistachio meatballs, or broth for simmering a chicken
ballotine
. The recipes in this chapter employ those and a few other ways to keep poultry sausage succulent, either without any pork at all or without a preponderance of it.
Chicken and Spinach Crépinettes
Chicken and Matzo Meatballs in Rich Chicken Broth
Chicken and Almond Meatballs in White Gazpacho
Chicken Breast Ballotine Stuffed with Ham Sausage
Asian-Style Minced Chicken Sausage with Roasted Rice Powder and Lettuce Leaves
Turkey and Pistachio Meatballs with Creamy Chèvre Sauce
Braised Duck Skin Sausages with Cauliflower-Horseradish Puree
Chicken and Spinach Crépinettes
Crépinettes
get their name from the veil fat that is used to wrap them. They were a classic at Pig-by-the-Tail, one of the most requested of our sausages for uncountable neighborhood and family potlucks and summer grilling parties. It’s no wonder. A
crépinette
patty wrapped in its transparent caul with a whole basil leaf showing through is a thing of beauty.
Caul fat
is difficult to find, though that is changing with the renewed interest in charcuterie. If you prefer to keep it simple, here is the modified recipe, caul optional. Made without caul, the
crépinettes
are equally delicious, though somewhat less mysterious without the umami the caul provides, and the lovely look is simulated by pressing a basil leaf on top of the patty just after cooking.
SERVES 6
6 ounces bunch spinach, not baby leaves
½ pound ground chicken
6 ounces ground pork
Small pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
Small pinch of ground cloves
¼ teaspoon powdered ginger
⅛ teaspoon ground coriander
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
⅛ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
Scant ½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ pound
caul fat
, soaked and rinsed, optional
6 large fresh basil leaves
Extra virgin olive oil, if cooking on the stove top
To prepare the spinach, chop the leaves and stems all the way down to the roots and wash them in a large bowl of water. Reserve the roots for another dish. Lift out the spinach and place it, still moist, in a medium saucepan or microwave-safe bowl. Cover and cook over medium heat on the stove top or in the microwave until wilted but still bright green, about 4 minutes either way. Drain in a colander and set aside to cool completely.
To make the sausage, combine the chicken, pork, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, coriander, black and white peppers, and salt in a medium bowl. Gently squeeze any remaining water out of the spinach and add it to the bowl. Mix with your hands, without kneading, until well blended. Form the sausage into 6 patties about 3 inches in diameter. If using caul, cut it into 5-inch squares. Place a basil leaf in the center, set a patty on top, and fold up the caul to enclose it. Cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, at least 2 hours or up to 2 days.
When ready to cook, prepare a medium-hot grill, or film a large, heavy skillet with oil.
Place the sausages on the grill directly over the heat source, or in the skillet over medium-high heat. Cook, turning twice, until nicely golden on both sides and no longer pink in the center but still moist, about 20 minutes total either way. If you did not use caul, press a basil leaf on each patty. Transfer to a platter and let rest for 5 minutes to allow the juices to settle before serving.
Uncomplicated, straight from the heart of the cook to the mouth and belly of the diner via the stove, a bowl of matzo balls in chicken soup is a sure-bet comfort food. With chicken in the matzo balls and the homemade “twice-cooked” broth, that simple bowl of comfort food becomes a substantial meal. It is a good idea to make the broth and meatball mixture the day before, so that when you’re ready to eat, there’s not a long wait. Also, that way you can use the fat that congeals on top of the broth, the schmaltz, in place of butter in the matzo balls.
SERVES 4 TO 6
Broth
3 pounds chicken backs and wings or other parts
½ yellow or white onion, halved
1 small carrot, cut into large chunks
1 rib celery, cut into large chunks
3 fresh flat-leaf parsley sprigs
2 fresh thyme sprigs or ½ teaspoon dried thyme
4 cups
chicken broth
4 cups water, or as needed
Meatballs
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon butter or schmaltz, melted
6 tablespoons matzo meal
½ pound ground chicken
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons finely chopped scallion, white and light green parts
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
To make the rich broth, in a large pot, combine the chicken parts, onion, carrot, celery, parsley, thyme, broth, and water as needed to cover the chicken and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Decrease the heat to maintain a gentle simmer, cover partially, and cook until the meat is falling off the bones and the broth is well colored, about 2 hours. Remove from the heat, let cool to room temperature, and strain through a fine-mesh sieve. Discard the contents of the sieve and refrigerate the broth until the fat congeals across the top, at least 2 hours, or preferably overnight.
To make the meatballs, crack the eggs into a medium bowl and whisk to mix. Add the butter, matzo meal, chicken, and salt and knead with your hands until thoroughly blended. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to overnight.
To make the soup, skim the fat off the broth. Pour the broth into a large pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. With moist hands, form the chicken mixture into 1¼-inch balls and drop them into the boiling broth as you go. Decrease the heat to maintain a brisk simmer, cover, and cook until the meatballs rise to the top and are tender all the way through, about 30 minutes.
To serve, ladle the broth and balls into large individual bowls and garnish each bowl with scallion and parsley. Serve piping hot.
White gazpacho is a soup from the time long before there were tomatoes in Spain for making chilled red gazpacho, a familiar and beloved paean to summer. But there
were
almonds, garlic, chickens, and bread. White gazpacho is essentially a mild chicken soup made forceful, filling, and hearty with a garlic-almond mayonnaise and bread soaked in the broth. To make it more sumptuous, I add chicken and almond meatballs, echoing those same ancient ingredients. It is ultrarich. A bowlful with a side dish of sturdy-leaf salad garnished with orange slices suffices for a meal.
A tip: The recipe calls for a total of ¾ cup slivered blanched almonds, divided into ¼ cup portions for three different steps. To facilitate the division, toast the whole amount of almonds in a microwave or toaster oven until the nuts begin to brown and have a toasty smell, 5 to 6 minutes, depending on how fresh they are. Set aside ¼ cup of the toasted slivers for garnishing the soup. Pulverize the remaining ½ cup in a food processor until reduced to a paste. Divide the paste into two parts, one for the sausage, one for the soup.
SERVES 4
Meatballs
½ pound ground chicken
¼ cup slivered blanched almonds, toasted and pulverized
¼ teaspoon ground coriander
¼ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
1 large egg yolk
Gazpacho
¼ cup slivered blanched almonds, toasted and pulverized
4 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped with a little salt
4 large egg yolks, at room temperature
¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
3 cups
chicken broth
2 cups water
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ baguette, torn into 1½-inch chunks
¼ cup slivered blanched almonds, toasted
To make the meatballs, place all the ingredients in a medium bowl and knead with your hands until thoroughly blended. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or up to several hours, to chill and firm the mixture. Form into 1-inch balls and place on a plate. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
To make the gazpacho, place the almonds, garlic, and egg yolks in a food processor and process until blended. With the machine running, slowly drizzle in the oil to make a thick emulsion. Reserve the almond-garlic-yolk mixture in the processor.
In a large saucepan, combine the broth, water, and salt and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the meatballs and simmer briskly until they rise to the top and are firm, about 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the meatballs to a plate and set aside in a warm place.
With the food processor running, slowly pour 2 to 3 cups of the broth into the almond-garlic-egg mixture, adding as much as you can before it spills out the top. Transfer the contents of the food processor to the saucepan with the remaining broth. Return the meatballs to the broth and heat over medium-low just until beginning to steam. Do not allow the soup to boil.
To serve, divide the bread chunks among 4 individual bowls. Ladle the soup and meatballs into the bowls, and top each bowl with the toasted almonds. Serve “piping warm.”
A ballotine is a boneless cut of any meat, fowl, or fish, stuffed and wrapped into a bundle and braised. It is like a miniature galantine, except that a galantine is a more elaborate preparation involving the whole beast, or like a roulade, which is a simpler preparation of a piece of meat pounded thin and wrapped around something. All are a form of sausage, and the stuffing can be almost anything edible. Here, the wrap is chicken breast and the something is ham sausage. You might think of it as a sausage with a sausage filling. Fancy though it might sound, its preparation is not difficult, and the outcome is decidedly elegant. Because this is a dish where the chicken takes a lead roll, it is important to have the best-tasting chicken available: organic and with a fatty skin still on the breast. It’s the skin that makes the sausage unctuous. The cheesecloth wrap ensures that the breast remains moist throughout as it braises.
I serve the ballotine warm for a main dish with the braising liquid reduced to a sauce. I also serve it chilled as an appetizer. To serve chilled, refrigerate the ballotine overnight still wrapped in cheesecloth. The next day, remove the wrap, slice thinly, and arrange on a platter. Accompany with cornichons, Dijon mustard, and baguette slices.
SERVES 4
Ham Sausage
¼ pound mild ham (not smoked), coarsely cut up
1 small shallot, coarsely cut up
½ teaspoon chopped fresh tarragon or ¼ teaspoon dried tarragon
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ cup heavy cream
2 large or several small Swiss chard leaves, enough to cover the chicken breast generously
1 boneless large whole chicken breast with skin
Kosher salt
2 tablespoons butter
3 cups
chicken broth
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
To make the ham sausage, combine the ham and shallot in a food processor and process until finely cut. Add the tarragon, pepper, and cream and process to blend without pureeing. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
To make the ballotine, bring a medium saucepan filled with water to a boil over high heat. Drop in the chard leaves and boil just to wilt, about 30 seconds. Drain and set aside to cool while preparing the chicken breast.
Place the chicken breast between sheets of waxed paper and pound with a mallet until no more than ¼ inch thick. Place the breast skin side down on a work surface and sprinkle generously with salt. Set the chard leaves across the surface of the breast. Place the ham sausage in the center and spread it over the leaves, leaving a 1-inch edge exposed along the long sides. Starting from a long side, roll up the breast to enclose the sausage and then tuck in the ends. Wrap in a length of cheesecloth long enough to leave 1 inch at either end after wrapping. Tie off the ends with kitchen string, and girdle the roll in four places with kitchen string.