Welcome to “Wide Open Recipes and Culinary Adventures,” a new bi-monthly column dedicated to exploring the vast and varied world of food and cooking. This column is penned by Jon Bennion, a Montanan who shares his culinary creations and kitchen experiments on Instagram under the handle Intermediate Chef.
Can you imagine a life without seasons? I can’t, and I don’t want to. Here in Montana, we are blessed with four distinct seasons, each bringing its own traditions and memories. I could argue that each season is my favorite. For instance, as I crouched on the side of a mountain in Mineral County picking huckleberries at the peak of summer, I thought to myself, this could be the best season.
But the truth is, I love autumn the most. I always cross my fingers that fall won’t be cut short by an early winter. I break out my flannels, turn to comfort foods, and hope to see beautiful fall foliage. Fall is a prized season for many Montanans — the return of the school year with a more regular schedule, football season, hunting season, and sausage season.
Yes, you read that right: sausage season.
If sausage season has eluded you up to this point, it’s about to become a regular part of your life. For me, it’s a tradition I’ve grown to love since my earliest memories of watching my grandpa and uncles huddle around cutting boards, knives, grinders, and stuffers as they made the family Volga German sausage.
I have tried to carry on that tubed-meat tradition and use the lessons learned to branch out and make other kinds of sausages.
For the last few years, I have developed a sausage recipe that is quintessentially Montanan. This herby breakfast sausage uses that great Montana treasure I was picking in August as one of its stars — huckleberries. It also co-stars sage, a traditional breakfast sausage ingredient native to Montana, along with other herbs.
Sausage-making can seem like a complicated process with too many tools to acquire before you start. Not true! The fundamentals of sausage-making, especially if you make patties, require no special tools. Here are a few tips:
Freshly ground pork — If you don’t have your own grinder at home, never fear! Go to your local butcher and tell them you need freshly ground pork with a ratio of about 25% fat to 75% lean. That ratio might surprise you, but sausage traditionally has that amount of fat to keep the meat from drying out.
Game meat — If you harvest some game this hunting season, you get Montana bonus points for swapping out half of the pork for some nice elk or venison. Keep the fat/lean ratio I mentioned, however, which is why you want to keep some of the pork to contribute a good amount of fat.
Keep your meat cold — One reason sausage is made in chillier weather is because you want the ingredients to remain cold during the process. Heat starts to melt the fat, which makes for bad texture. Keep it cool, folks!
Ratios — If you have a kitchen scale, the appropriate salt level is about 8-10 grams per pound of meat. Many people don’t have a scale, so I’ve approximated the salt amount in teaspoons per pound. Salt is the most important ingredient in any sausage. Feel free to adjust according to your preferences.
Do a taste test — Want to know the best part of making a batch of homemade sausage? It’s the taste-testing. We were all born with different taste buds, so frying up a little sample patty and checking for salt, sweetness, herb levels and more is your chance to make this sausage your own.
Use frozen huckleberries — After all the other ingredients are combined, add the frozen huckleberries and gently fold them in. You don’t want to add thawed huckleberries or they will pop everywhere before you can enjoy their delicious berry burst in your sausage.
MONTANA HUCKLEBERRY SAGE BREAKFAST SAUSAGE RECIPE
1 pound freshly ground pork
¼ cup of frozen huckleberries
1 ½ tsp of kosher salt (adjust according to preference)
1 ½ tsp chopped fresh sage
1 tsp chopped fresh marjoram
¼ tsp fresh thyme
½ tsp fresh ground pepper
1 tbsp huckleberry or real maple syrup
Freeze for patties or use sheep casings to make breakfast links if you have a stuffer. Enjoy!
I took some big bites last year. Really big bites in my life and work. I’m talking about those almost mortifying first date kind of big bites… the kind where you can’t decide if you should take that piece of sushi in one bite or two. The answer is always one bite because trying to divide a piece of sushi into two bites will inevitably lead to you having seaweed and pieces of rice stuck to your chin. But that one big bite.. man… that’s the kind of bite that has you covering your mouth with your hands (both hands), deep breathing through the nose, with eyes wide that betray just the slightest bit of panic. That was my year: full mouth, eyes wide with bits of panic, chewing through it… just chewing through it.
I’m taking this month to recollect and reconnect. January seems like a good month for that. I want to see some friends, plan some collaborations, and sit at my desk and eat some meatballs. That’s really all I want to do.
Meatballs might just be as therapeutic to make as pie. I think it’s all the chopping, sautéing, and general smooshing. It’s slice and dice and stress-ball therapy.
I start with ground turkey. You could also use ground chicken. If you’re in the market for more of a beefy ball, these Cup of Jo meatballs are probably what you’re looking for.
A few slices of bread (I used Spelt bread because I’m really into it) are soaked in milk. Onions and garlic are sautéed and softened.
Eggs are an important binder when it comes to meatballs. The proteins in eggs will help the whole mixture stick together and not crumble.
It’s just about time to turn this meat into balls.
I like to bake my meatballs in a bit of tomato sauce. Let me be perfectly honest, I used store-bought tomato pasta sauce. No shame in my game. Meatballs are from scratch and I just give myself a bit of a break when it comes to the sauce. If you’re thinking of making your own sauce, well… high-five, and this recipe (with onions and butter) is my very favorite.
These meatballs are swimming in a bit of tomato sauce, and also topped with a bit of a sauce just before being baked. Baking the meatballs will keep any sort of splattery mess in the oven and not on the stovetop. We’re doing all sorts of winning, if you’re keeping track.
This recipe is adapted from Deb’s recipe for Chicken Meatballs on Smitten Kitchen. This might be the fourth time I’ve made them and every time I tweak them just a bit. This go-round I added grated parmesan cheese and extra parsley. Just because. Just because.
With pasta. With salad. Cold from the fridge. Thawed from the freezer. Meatballs. You know what to do!
BAKED TURKEY MEATBALLS RECIPE
Makes 24 meatballs
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen and Gourmet
6 slices Italian or whole wheat bread, torn into medium chunks
2/3 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 pounds ground turkey
2 large eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or more to taste
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh parsley
3 to 4 cups tomato-based pasta sauce
Place racks in the center and upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
In a medium bowl, pour the milk over the bread crumbs. Allow to soak for 5 minutes.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Add the onions and cook until softened and browned, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for one minute more. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
Place the ground turkey in a large bowl. Squeeze any excess milk from the bread. Add the bread to the turkey and discard the milk. Add the cooked onions and garlic. Add the eggs, salt, red pepper flakes, oregano, cheese, tomato paste, and parsley. Use a wooden spoon to work all of the ingredients together. You may need to get in there with your hands to thoroughly and evenly combine all of the ingredients.
In two 9×13-inch pans, spread about 2 cups of sauce (1 cup in each pan). Shape together 24 meatballs. Each meatball will be about 3 tablespoons of the meat mixture. Use your hands to best shape the meatballs. Rinse your hands in warm water every few meatballs to keep your hands from getting too sticky. I found that having slightly damp hands helps tremendously in shaping the balls. Place 12 meatballs in each pan. Top each meatball with a small spoonful of sauce.
Bake meatballs for 25 minutes, or until bubbling and cooked through. Remove from the oven and serve with pasta, or just with sauce and a hearty green salad. Meatballs will last up to 4 days well wrapped in the refrigerator.
Source: Montana Free Press, Smitten Kitchen, Gourmet
