Weekend Wrap-Up (May 15-16)

Sometimes things just don't go as smoothly as you'd like, even though you've planned for days to make sure everything goes ok. Sometimes you accidentally cut yourself when you're only washing the knife and not actually cutting. Sometimes you use the wrong ingredient. Sometimes the blade on your Kitchenaid food processor gets jammed, and no amount of hammering, drilling, pulling, heating, soaking or other form of destruction will get it off (seriously, why is this so hard to pry off?). Sometimes things just go wrong, and unfortunately this was one of those weekends in our kitchen. A lot of beer was consumed in the aftermath.

Here's what Tom made this weekend:

- Harissa (a North African hot chili sauce)
- Biscuits (for the bangers)
- Sausages - Merguez; Bangers (pork); Mint, Thyme, and White Wine Mutton Sausage
- Mutton Chop with Mint Spring Onion Burre Blanc, Potatoes a la Boulangere, and Sugar Snaps
- Sourdough Rhubarb Whole Wheat Coffee Cake
- Rolls (Kolsch, Pale Ale)
- Asparagus and Spring Onion Tart, with Carrot Top and Pea Pesto
- Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
- Roasted Radishes
- Hummus (for my lunch during the week)

And now for the problems:

Problem #1: The Biscuits vs. the Food Processor

The harissa and biscuits went into the respective meat mixtures for the sausage, so the biscuits had to be ground up. Unfortunately, they proved to be too much for the small bowl and small blade of our food processor, and ended up jamming the blade. Luckily, some of the biscuits were ground up before the blade jammed, so Tom had enough for the sausages. We tried in vain for two days to get the blade off, and nothing has worked (anyone have suggestions?). That set the tone for the rest of the cooking projects this weekend, and Tom was never able to really recover.

The actual meat grinding went ok. Here is the fat back Tom used in his sausage (complete with the US Government stamp of approval):

And here is a photo of the grinding process (appetizing, right?):

Problem #2: Intestinal Distress

Later, once the meat mixtures were chilled, Tom began the sausage stuffing process. I try to stay clear of the kitchen during the whole meat process (I only popped in to take some photos) because its a little gross. Meat is everywhere, the smell of the intestines for casing is disgusting, even the sounds of meat grinding and being stuffed is pretty off-putting (lots of sucking noises- grossing myself out just thinking about it). Since I like to eat sausage, I'd rather not have these images or sounds in my mind when I'm eating it later.

It went smoothly until sausage #3, the merguez. Tom was done stuffing them when he realized he used the wrong casings- he used hog instead of sheep. I didn't see the problem- who cares what kind of intestines it is, it's still a sausage. I thought he should have left it, but anyone who knows Tom knows he's a bit of a perfectionist, so he couldn't leave it, he had to fix it.

That meant that Tom had to pull the meat out of the casings and restuff it into the correct casings. Wait- I might have oversimplied there. First Tom had to freak out and yell, and then pull the meat out of the casings. Then he had to put the correct casings on the machine, and they kept ripping, so Tom kept swearing. I don't like when he freaks out- I feel bad that I can't do anything to help fix the situation, and eventually, those feelings of helplessness evolve into annoyance because I get tired of hearing him complain. (I should probably try to be more sympathetic...)

Problem #3: Sunday Dinner Blow-Out

Sorry, no pics on this one. I'd even blocked it from my memory until Tom read the draft of this post and said 'what about Sunday's dinner mess?'.

Tom has a lot of issues with pie crust, even though he tries really hard to make them right. The two most common problems he runs into is the crust not being done enough on the bottom/not flaky, and the crust springing a hole and the contents oozing out. When I ask 'what's for dinner' and Tom says 'quiche' or 'tart', I cringe and cross my fingers, because it rarely ends well.

For Sunday's dinner, Tom made the asparagus and spring onion tart, with carrot top/pea pesto. He served with salad (which I used to dislike, but now I'll accept a salad as a side at dinner).

While preparing the crust, Tom poked part of it, causing a rip that he tried unsuccessfully to repair. As a result, the egg mixture in the tart seeped through the hole under the crust, creating a second 'egg crust' under the crust. I really wish I had $1 for everytime the word 'gross' came out of Tom's mouth yesterday. I was getting really annoyed after awhile and started yelling, "I get it, you think its gross! I don't need to hear it anymore!" (again, I might need to work on the sympathizing thing).

The tart tasted fine, and the egg at the bottom didn't bother me, but you know it bothered Tom, and I got to watch him make faces and complain throughout dinner. (Tom- you can no longer complain when I make faces when I eat something I don't like, because, as the tart proved, you do it too!)

The Positive Things:

One of the projects that did work out was Saturday dinner. Tom made a mutton chop with a mint and spring onion burre blanc, potatoes boulangere, and sugar snaps.

I was very happy and relieved when Tom actually enjoyed the dinner he made. You know that saying 'If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy'? Just substitute 'Tom' for 'mama' and that's our house at meal time. Thankfully, Tom had no complaints. Shockingly, he even complimented himself on the mint level, the doneness of the mutton, and the flavor of everything. I thought dinner was good too.

The other thing that turned out well was the sourdough whole wheat rhubarb cake that we had for breakfast on Sunday.

It was good with coffee, but we both agreed it could have been a little sweeter and a little more rhubarb. But it was still a silver lining in a weekend of drama.