crafty_packrat

Today, I made sujuk rolls with the ground lamb I bought on Saturday and a sheet of puff pastry dough that was probably a little more freezer-burned than was ideal.

Sujuk sausage rolls are basically pigs-in-blankets, but fancy.

( Ingredients )
( Directions )

I used a milk wash instead of an egg wash (not wasting most of an egg when they're not easily available at the moment), and skipped the hemp seeds. I had a good chunk of the ground lamb leftover, so that's back in the freezer until I decide what to do with it -- I might try making some sort of stuffed quick-bread or noodle dish with it.

I made Vaquero Bean and Chorizo Stew tonight, using vaquero beans from Rancho Gordo, chorizo from the farmer's market, and chiprika instead of the cayenne and paprika.

It's quite tasty and filling, and will go with the cornbread I made from a box mix.

I definitely want buy vaquero beans again. Along with the sangre del toro beans, which are absolutely fabulous and I can't find anywhere.

Also, I'm going to try ayocote morado (a runner bean) and Good Mother Stallard beans the next time I order beans.

I'm trying the braised cabbage with apples and sausages recipe with a red cabbage tonight -- I've only ever made it with green cabbage before, so it may or may not work.

Wish me luck!

I'm using this recipe by Melissa Clark. Isued this weight-to-volume converter to figure out how much of the leaf lard I needed, because it wasn't in a nice pre-measured form, and neither was the butter.

So far I've made the crust and but it in the fridge -- it might have been easier with a food processor, but I managed with a sifter, a bowl, and a pastry cutter. The crust dough has a texture slightly better than the quark cheesecake dough, slightly sticky but malleable, like children's molding clay.

Tomorrow, I'll bake the crust -- maybe use rice as pie weights? -- and then the pie. I won't be using kirsch or brandy, but maybe I'll add a dash of Mexican vanilla...

Pork Stew with Tomatillos (and Cilantro and Poblano Chiles)

( Tomatillos! In stew! with Pork and Chiles! )
( How to roast fresh tomatillos )
( How to roast fresh chiles )

This is actually a pretty mild dish. You can zip it up by adding other varieties of chiles, like New Mexican greens

From my Independence Day Cook-In (all recipes from Purple Citrus and Sweet Perfume)

( Grilled Zucchini with White Cheese and Zucchini Flowers Salad )

Notes: The zucchini cooked up well in my Lodge griddle-grill, but because the burner is a bit lopside, the oil wasn't distributed evenly; the zucchini also came out fried or roasted, depending on where on the grill it was (though still tasty). We couldn't find nigella seeds, but substituting toasted sesame seeds works well. As does foregoing the flowers, if you can't get them. We also used Bulgarian feta -- which the author of the cookbook recommends, though it was a complete coincidence that our feta was Bulgarian.

From my Independence Day Cook-In (all recipes from Purple Citrus and Sweet Perfume)

( Crunchy Red Swiss Chard Falafel )

( Tahini, lemon, and sumac sauce )

Notes: We didn't make the tahini sauce, because neither of us could find sumac ... we found za'atar, which contains sumac, but not sumac by itself. Also, I'd make the falafel rather smaller than 'golf-ball' sized, since some of ours were a bit mushy in the middle even though they were crispy brown on the outside -- still tasty, though.

From my Independence Day Cook-In (all recipes from Purple Citrus and Sweet Perfume)

( Smashed Cucumber, Mulberry and Pistachio salad )

( Pomegranate Molasses )

Notes: 1/3 cup of lemon juice is about 2 large lemons. The cucumbers should be 5 to 8 inches, and you'll really want to get seedless if you can. Make sure your pomegranate juice is 100% pomegranate if you decide to make your own pomegranate molasses -- there are a lot of blends out there.