Tag: appetizer
Navajo Blood Sausage
Navajo Blood Sausage
Every culture on every continent makes a blood sausage of some sort. They all consist of the animal’s blood(sheep, beef, or pork), a filler(cornmeal, rice, barley, buckwheat, etc), and seasonings; stuffed into either sheep stomach, and beef or pork intestines. They are then boiled until cooked through. The sausage is then eaten out of the casings(both sheep stomach and beef casings being inedible in this instance). Blood sausages can be traced back in the Navajo tribe to the 1600’s when they started farming sheep. They would traditionally use sheeps blood mixed with cornmeal, potato, chilies, and seasonings, stuffed inside a sheep’s stomach.Unless you know a farmer, finding lamb’s blood and stomach will be hard to find. Using beef blood and pork casings is an acceptable substitute. The sausages will be in a ring bologna shape instead of a softball-sized stuffed sheep stomach.
Equipment
- sausage stuffer
Ingredients
- 20 oz beef blood
- 12 oz pork fat cut into tiny cubes
- 2 cups cornmeal
- 1 large potato peeled; cut into small cubes
- 1 medium onion finely chopped
- 1 large jalapeño finely chopped
- 2 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp black pepper
- pork casings
Cranberry Mustard
- 1/4 cup spicy brown mustard
- 1/4 cup cranberries
- 1 tbsp sugar
Instructions
- Bring a small pot of salted water to a boil. Boil the potatoes until cooked through; about 8 minutes. Drain and cool completely.
- In a large bowl, season the blood with salt and pepper.
- Stir in the rest of the ingredients.
- Using your sausage stuffer, pipe the filling into the sausage casings.
- Carefully twist the sausage into rings.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the blood sausages to the water. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer the sausages for an hour.
- Let rest for 15 minutes before serving.
Cassava Cheese Balls
Cassava Cheese Balls
More people need to eat yucca, especially in this form. I boiled some frozen yucca until tender, then mashed with butter and cilantro. The mashed yucca gets rolled into balls, stuffed with a cube of mozzarella, dusted in flour, and fried. The cheese in the center is melted and gooey while the outside is crispy. Serve the cassava cheese balls with salsa rosada.
Equipment
- potato masher
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups frozen cassava
- 2 tbsp butter melted
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 cup cilantro chopped
- 4 oz mozzarella cut into cubes
- 1/2 cup flour
- vegetable oil for frying
Instructions
- Boil the yucca in salted water for 15 minutes until tender. Drain and remove any fibers.
- Mash the yucca with the melted butter, salt, and pepper.
- Mash in the cilantro.
- Roll the dough into balls.
- Stuff a cube of mozzarella into the ball. Seal and roll back into a ball.
- Roll the balls in flour.
- Heat up 2” of vegetable oil in a pot over medium high heat. Cook the cassava balls in batches, making sure to not overcrowd the pot.
- Fry for 6 minutes, occasionally turning. Drain grease on a wire rack.
Tajin Sibnekh
Tajin Sibnekh
Tajin sibnekh is sort of a Tunisian chicken and egg bake; similar to an Italian frittata. The egg bake contains chicken, potatoes, peas, spinach, eggs, and Tunisian seasonings such as harissa ans ras el hanout.
Equipment
- 9” x 13” glass baking dish
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 2 potatoes peeled and cubed
- 8 oz boneless skinless chicken breast cubed
- 1 red onion diced
- 1 tbsp harissa
- 1 1/2 tsp ras el hanout
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 tbsp tomato sauce
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 bunch spinach
- 8 large eggs beaten
- 1 cup peas
- 1/3 cup parmesan cheese
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat up cooking oil in a sauté pan over medium high heat. Fry the potatoes until golden brown; about 8 minutes. Remove from the pan.
- Add in the chicken and onions. Sauté for 6 minutes.
- Add in the harissa, tomato sauce, ras el hanout, butter, and water. Bring to a simmer.
- Turn off the heat and stir in the spinach. Let cool.
- In a large bowl, mix the beaten egg, peas, parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper.
- Stir in the cooled chicken and spinach from the sauté pan and the fried potatoes.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 9” x 13” glass baking dish. Pour in the egg mixture.
- Bake for 20 minutes until the center is firm. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.
