Friday Food: Sausage and Shelk

Friday 

Short version: Sausage variety, rice, carrot sticks, watermelon

Long version: We had plenty of meat around, since we spent all day cutting up the elk. This activity does not make me enthused about eating the elk, however. So instead of cooking any of the elk, I cooked some of the sausage I bought in the city when I was there on Tuesday.

I don't know if it's because this city is close to Texas, and thus Louisiana, or because the city has an Air Force base in it, but the store there had both boudin and andouille sausage. I cooked one package of each, and then, since I knew they would both be too spicy for Poppy, I also cooked two pieces of the plain smoked pork sausage.

It barely all fit in the pan.

So much sausage. And all eaten, except for one piece of the smoked sausage.

The watermelon also came from the store in the city. There were bins of watermelons outside the store, and I checked one on our way in to make sure they were seeded. The one I saw was, but the child that was with me picked out a watermelon just before we checked out, and we ended up with a seedless one.

You all know my feelings about seedless watermelons.

Nevertheless, we ate it. And you know, it was pretty good. Not as good as a really good seeded watermelon, but better than a bad seeded watermelon.

Saturday

Short version: Elk steaks and stuff

Long version: The day before while we were butchering, I had put some elk steaks in a marinade of oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, ang garlic. I was at a baby shower in the afternoon with two of the children, but A. was home with the other two, and he grilled those steaks.

They were really good. The children who were with me had some of them when we got home around 6:30 p.m., along with some roasted butternut squash I had made the day before. The children who were with A. had them with bread and butter, I think.

Sunday

Short version: Asian pork ribs, rice, corn on the cob, pots de creme

Long version: When we make pork ribs, we always put a barbecue kind of spice rub on them. However, we had used up all our chile powder and paprika making elk chorizo, so I needed to do something else.

That something else was vaguely Asian, in the sense that there was soy sauce and ginger involved.

For the initital slow and covered cooking in the oven, I rubbed on salt, brown sugar, ginger, garlic powder, and a random sample of a spice mixture that included sugar, turmeric, and coriander. There was quite a bit of liquid left after the ribs were tender, so I drained that off, de-fatted it, and reduced that with soy sauce, vinegar, and more garlic powder and ginger. I poured that sauce over the ribs and then broiled them to make them crispy.

It all worked out. They were delicious. 

Oh, I think I never told you that I got tired of running out of chocolate chips and bought a 25-pound box of chocolate chips through the school Sysco ordering program. Twenty-five pounds of chocolate chips is a LOT of chocolate chips. It gives me a great feeling of security and abundance.

I decant some into that old peanut container there. That's a bit more convenient than hauling twenty pounds of chocolate chips out of the big freezer whenever I made pots de creme.

Monday

Short version: Various leftover meats, garlic bread, raw cabbage, watermelon

Long version: We had leftover elk steaks, ribs, and smoked sausage, which I apportioned out according to preference. 

I had made the garlic bread the day before while I was baking bread, so I just warmed that up in the microwave.

And the last of the seedless watermelon. 

Tuesday

Short version: Shelk loaf, baked potatoes, green salad with vinaigrette

Long version: I know this constant combining of words to describe our random meats is probably annoying, but I just can't help myself. This was ground sheep and ground elk. Hence, shelk.

Anyway.

I combined them because I thought that might tone down the sheep meat some. I find that to be quite strong in flavor, as does at least one of the children. That child--or anyone else--didn't seem to notice the sheep in this, but I sure did. It had an unpleasant aftertaste to me. Thankfully, I was the only one, and it was okay for me if it was mixed with everything else in my salad.

Wednesday

Short version: Leftovers

Long version: I went straight from work to the first First Communion class with our future communicant, and we didn't get home until just after 5:30 p.m. This is why I had planned on leftovers. Most people had the shelk loaf, buttered rice, and salad. One child elected to have his shelk loaf in a sandwich. I had some in a salad.

Thursday

Short version: Pork, cornbread, sauerkraut, roasted green beans, rice pudding

Long version: A pork sirloin roast, slow-cooked and then broiled with mustard, maple syrup, and salt. I made the rice pudding because one child had a sore throat, and the oven was on anyway to cook the pork. And then, since there was rice pudding, I made cornbread.

My sister came for a visit this day and she brought the green beans from a store she stopped at on the way here.

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?