Roasted game hens rubbed with a mix of cumin, brown sugar, pepper and salt on a bed of fennel and butternut squash. Tossed some red grapes in at the end. It didn’t need any extra starch to go with at all. I cut the hens in half so the whole thing was ready in 40 minutes.
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Yum!
We’ve been slowly making our way through the inventory offered here, to much delight.
https://www.thesausagekitchen.com/
This week it was a smoked Irish lamb sausage.
We used 2 as toppings on pizza (red sauce, bell peppers, onion and banana peppers). Good but not amazing. I think it was the sweetness of the banana peppers, it didn’t meld well with the sausage.
Last night we used one on a galette (slight mustard coating on the bottom, then sliced pre-boiled potatoes, onions and bell peppers, and the sausage, all topped with provolone). This was a nicer mix for the flavors, IMO.
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If you haven’t yet get the pork pie. My family makes ours from a mix of beef and pork or venison and pork. It’s fantastic.
The place I get this from doesn’t have a website, or any social media presence. It’s just “Euro Deli”. They make insane, very traditional Polish sausages, pickle herring, make kraut (out today though), and have a small steam tray setup with Polish dishes and some groceries. Little bit of German stuff too. Oddly it seems they started making Kimchi too.
Closest I’ve had for hardcore quality is Piast meats, a friend brings their links to bbqs.
One thing to know is that the “Bratwurst” they sell is the unsmoked, fresh Kielbasa simply linked up for grilling. That stuff is like super Bratwurst. It’s essentially the same recipe as Bratwurst but way more garlic, marjoram and spices. You take that, add nitrates and smoke it and you have the classic Kielbasa/Polish sausage every one knows.
ETA: Oh and if we’re ordering sausage from Maine.
https://www.beansmeats.com/product/red-snapper-frankfurts-2/
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The place I posted is on the way to our farm pickup, but I encourage anyone who’s too far away pop by to order! Not a huge fan of the red snapper hotdogs, though.
Also, I think I heard my grandmother roll over in her grave at the idea of buying a pork pie (gasp). Long-standing holiday tradition to make a few of those and a big batch of creton, extras for the freezer. 
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The major/favorite red hotdog brands went under in the 90’s and were bought up by Sara Lee and Kayem. Production was mostly moved to mass. Most of the ones you run into these days are terrible. There’s some smaller brands out of CT that are good. But Beans are the only red hotdogs still manufactured in Maine. And they bought the recipes for Rice’s hotdogs, who’d been the number 2 brand after Jordan’s years ago.
They’re a hell of a lot better than any other red hot dog I’ve run into in the last 20+ years.
Also available sans red coloring.
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As we are in the middle of summer, I made somem with the noodles my mother in law gave me the other day.
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That looks amazing! I love somen or soba cold in the summer!
We’re on the opposite end of the spectrum with respect to weather right now, so we’re eating a lot of stews and soups.
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In my covid alcoholic experimentation I tried something which just plain works
3 fingers of ice coffee (or 1-2 espresso shots)
1 small 7oz can of coke
Rum.
No doubt there already is a name for this.
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I saw the news on TV today. The cities in US are under a heavy blanket of snow. If lived there, I´d spend the winter eating delicious hot food, just like the ones you are posting here, under a heavy eiderdown!
Be safe and warm!
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easy there, my friend.
Cuba Libré is very colonizer lingo that is not uttered in these parts.
rum and cola with lime (key lime, obvs), is the drink.
the times I’ve been in Havana, one would be not well received asking for this and even some bars in Key West would give you stink eye.
also, actual Havana Club rum is shite and a mojito in Havana is fekkin gross.
Papa* would be verrry disappointed.
edit: though *Hemingway hated the Spanish and would himself, approve the Cuba Libré cocktail.
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Good to know. I apologize.
I brew a mojito mead - just honey, lime zest, mint, water, and yeast. It often hits 17% ABV. It turns out yeast love fresh mint. Who knew?
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intrigued! that sounds delightful!
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I made a test batch of marmalade with store-bought fruit yesterday. Half Meyer lemons, half regular (Eureka?) lemons, because the Meyer lemons were $$$$ and sparse. My homegrown Meyer lemons are a once-a-year harvest, and I wanted to see the difference.
Lessons learned:
- the Eureka lemons were a pain to prep because the peel has such thick pith behind it that you have to remove, and their flesh is harder to separate from the membranes. They contributed juice and zest, but not much fruit.
- the store-bought Meyer lemons were nice enough and easier to prep than the Eurekas, but the freshness difference between them and my homegrowns was noticeable in terms of the thickness of the zest, the juiciness, the amount of fruit flesh, all of it. (I grew some really nice citrus in 2020.)
- removing all that extra pith and not getting the expected fruit flesh from the Eureka lemons changed the sugar/fruit ratio because I didn’t weigh the fruit after prep, only before. Rookie mistake? This was a much sweeter batch, which is fine, I suppose.
I think I’ll stick to making marmalade from my own fruit for now, a special annual treat.
Other Cat “helping”
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Smells like I’m baking a sweet potato pie 
But, ha! I’m fooling everyone! I’m baking gingerbread cake, and baking a sweet potato on the side (and three Gold potatoes) to take advantage of the hot oven. Smells sooo goood!! 
[It’s currently -3°F (-19°C) in Minneapolis. Windchill is -19°F (-28°C). The overnight low was -15°F (-26°C). I didn’t bother to leave the house today. Maybe tomorrow.]
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Que tal Castro Cola?
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This just in:
Second-night stew is better than first-night stew! (Actually, we’ve known this for a while now, but I just retested the hypothesis and it was correct.)
Now back to your previous programming.
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Husband brews mead and that sounds delightful. What’s your recipe?
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In a one-gallon carboy, I add:
-3 lbs local blackberry honey
-approximately 2 limes worth of zest. I don’t use the tiny confetti-type zester, I just use a vegetable peeler and put the strips in, avoiding pith; frozen overnight
-About 20 garden mint leaves; frozen overnight
-Lalvin 71B yeast, 1/2 packet
-water to top it off
I freeze the lime zest and mint to help bust all those cell walls. The yeast will form colonies directly on the mint leaves.
Here’s a photo from this summer, when I still used the fine zest and left the mint leaves on the stem. I’ve learned that the mint stems are very hard to remove.
Finished product:
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Wow that’s terrific! Thank you for sharing.
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