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What I had for dinner on Saturday, January 21, 2012

Roast beef sandwiches! Made from the prime rib roast from Tuesday, sliced on our new meat slicer which is somewhat inexplicably available at Zappos, and which is cheap but awesome. With Tillamook cheddar cheese and some random storebought horseradish, on Macrina herb rolls. (I didn’t check the ingredients until I got home, but the herbs contained are “parsley, sage, thyme, and rosemary.”)

Also a salad from storebought organic lettuce, with the dressing from the other day (same day as the roast, apparently).

What I had for dinner on Friday, January 20, 2012

We were a little stir-crazy after having been snowed in, more or less, all week. I worked from home all week because it wasn’t convenient and/or safe to get to Seattle. (My bus didn’t run for most of the week due to snow and ice.)

Anyway, we were feeling like shut-ins so we went out to the Pub. I had an open-face steak sandwich with horseradish and sautéed mushrooms.

What I had for dinner on Thursday, January 19, 2012

Leftover cassoulet and polenta.

What I had for dinner on Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Leftover cassoulet, reheated on top of the wood stove, because, hey, free heat! Why not?

Served with a quick polenta from How to Cook Everything, with some homegrown homemade parsleyed chèvre stirred in, as well as some storebought organic butter with homegrown rosemary.

What I had for dinner on Tuesday, January 17, 2012

A prime rib roast from our 2010 cow, which I found in the bottom of the freezer while spelunking for duck the other day, cooked according to this guy’s method. OH MY GOD so good. I owe this guy five bucks or something. So so so good. Please go make this. It was amazing.
I have emailed the guy to ask what the point of the vodka is; when I hear back I will do some research to learn what else can fill the role of the alcohol (vinegar?) in case you don’t want to use booze.

I made oven fries with a single large Laughing Crow Snowflake potato and half of a Suyematsu Farm Delicata squash, tossed with the last of the fat from the other day’s roasted duck, some homegrown garlic, a pinch of homegrown cayenne pepper, and salt & pepper as usual. We also had a plain salad of storebought head lettuce, a Maltby Corner radish, and homemade vinaigrette with red wine and sherry vinegars and organic California olive oil.

What I had for dinner on Monday, January 16, 2012

The duck recipe from the other day had called for a 4-ish-lb duck, but I had a nearly-8-lb duck, so I hemmed and hawed about whether to cut it in half and save the other half for something else, or to cook the whole thing and then have cooked duck to go in other recipes. Eventually I decided I was afraid if I cooked only half, I’d overcook the duck while waiting for the veggies to be done, so I did a whole bird even though it was huge. Fortunately I remembered cassoulet, which is made with pre-cooked duck legs (in at least one tradition).

Ours tonight is made with the roasted homegrown duck legs; a mirepoix of homegrown carrot, Red Dog shallot, and Leapfrog Farm celery (from the freezer); some LC/hg garlic tile; a handful of homegrown dried tomatoes plus half a pint jar of home-canned Paulson Farms San Marzano tomatoes; half a pound of homemade sweet Italian sausage; and two years’ worth of homegrown Scarlet Emperor runner beans.

Two years' worth of Scarlet Emperor runner beans

We’re eating all the runner beans because we realized we underutilize the garden space every year, so we can dedicate like two full (long) rows to beans, so we’re going to order all new seed and do that, aiming for a real crop of dried beans for once.

What I had for dinner on Sunday, January 15, 2012

I took the other breast from the duck I cooked the other day, diced it, and tossed it in the pan with the rest of the root veggies. Duck hash!

What I had for dinner on Saturday, January 14, 2012

We made sausage all day. Then we went to sushi for dinner with G’s folks. I had udon, which is completely unrelated to sausage.

Sausage ingredient lists, converted for the amount of meat we had:

Sweet Italian Sausage, written for 4 pounds of meat and 1 pound of fat, but converted for just 4 pounds of meat with no fat added:

  • 32 grams kosher salt
  • 25.6 grams granulated sugar
  • 9.6 grams minced garlic (I used Laughing Crow/homegrown garlic tile)
  • 12.8 grams fennel seed (storebought organic)
  • 4.8 grams freshly-ground black pepper (storebought organic)
  • 12.8 grams sweet paprika (homegrown)
  • 48 mL red wine vinegar
  • 148 mL ice water

Breakfast sausage, converted for 2.5 pounds of meat

  • 20 grams kosher salt
  • 25 grams peeled and finely grated ginger
  • 15 grams finely chopped fresh sage (homegrown)
  • 9 grams minced garlic
  • 6 grams freshly ground black pepper
  • .5 cup ice water

Chorizo, converted for 4 pounds of meat (it called for 5)

  • 32 grams kosher salt
  • 12.8 grams ancho chile powder (I ground up storebought anchos)
  • 6.4 grams hot paprika (I ground up 4 grams homegrown paprika pepper and 2.4 grams homegrown cayenne and called it good)
  • 6.4 grams chipotle powder (I round up 3 grams of homegrown cayenne and added 3.4 grams storebought Spanish smoked paprika for the smoky flavor)
  • 14.4 grams minced garlic
  • 2.4 grams freshly ground black pepper
  • 4.8 grams finely chopped fresh oregano
  • 1.2 grams ground cumin
  • 36 mL tequila
  • 36 mL red wine vinegar

In all of these recipes, you just scatter all the seasonings except the liquids over your meat which is cut in 1″ cubes. Grind it up in the meat grinder.

New apron for making sausage in
My sister got G. this sweet apron with meats all over it.

Add the liquid to the ground meat, and stir until it is sticky and of a uniform consistency. Fry up a tiny bit and taste it so you can adjust seasonings if needed.

Normally you would stuff it into casings at this point, but we did not stuff it, just froze it in half-pound increments.

What I had for dinner on Friday, January 13, 2012

I have been eyeing this duck with root veggies and sauerkraut recipe for a while, and I managed to take a duck out of the freezer earlier this week, so I assembled this while G. was at welding college and I worked at home.

Homegrown duck, carrots and beet; Red Dog Farm shallot; Laughing Crow fingerling potatoes; Maltby Produce Corner parsnips from Pike Place Market; half of a peeled Suyematsu Farm delicata squash; and homemade sauerkraut from LC cabbage and onions.

I meant to take a picture but we were too hungry.

What I had for dinner on Thursday, January 12, 2012

I cannot for the life of me remember.