CutandBaste.com

Ingredients:

• 4 grass-fed beef sausages (or really any other sausage)
• 2 stalks baby leeks, rinsed and chopped into long strands (see image)
• 2-3 cups maitake mushrooms, cleaned and roughly chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup cornmeal for polenta
• 1 quart chicken stock

Prep:

1. Over low heat in a medium pot, saute garlic in olive oil or butter and cook for 1-2 minutes.
2. Add stock, increase heat to high, and bring to a boil.  Slowly add cornmeal while continually whisking until all has been added.
3. Cook about 35-45 minutes until cornmeal is cooked through (no longer gritty), whisking every 5-10 minutes to avoid lumps forming.
4. Meanwhile, saute sausages in olive oil over high heat until browned and almost cooked through.
5. Remove, add more butter to saute pan and saute mushrooms and leeks until cooked through (~15 minutes).
6. Very important: taste all components for salt & pepper and adjust accordingly.

Sources:

Polenta: Cayuga Pure Organics

Sausage: Arcadian Pastures

(Brooklyn Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket)

• 2 links of Merguez lamb sausage, crumbled and sauteed in olive oil
• 2 baby leeks, cleaned, chopped and sauteed
• About 1.5-2 cups of grated fresh Asiago cheese (Asiago Pressato)
• 2 small ripe plumbs, sliced
• 1 cup pureed tomato sauce
• Pizza Dough

Prepare all ingredients and have ready near grill. (See below — this is crucial because you have to move fast in assembling the pizza after grilling one side)

Roll out pizza dough, brush one side lightly with olive oil and place that side down on grill over direct, high heat.  Once the dough has some nice color, slide it off the grill onto a plate or board, brush the uncooked side with olive oil and flip over.

Place ingredients on cooked size of dough and slide back on grill.  Cover and cook until bottom is nicely grilled and cheese is melted.

(Makes 2 large pizzas)

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• 2 ears of corn
• 2 links of sausage, crumbled
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/4 cup tomato sauce
• 1/2-3/4 cup chopped scallions
• 1/4-1/2 cup chopped parsley
• 1 lb orzo
• shaved parmesean reggiano to garnish

Shave the corn kernels from the ears and saute in butter over med-high heat until cooked through. Remove.

Saute sausage in a small amount of olive oil over high heat until browned and almost cooked through. Remove and add to corn.

Add shallots to saute pan (add a bit more oil if necessary) and saute until transparent and wilted.  Add jalapeno pepper and garlic and cook over lower heat for about a minute.

Turn heat up and add white wine.  Reduce and add tomato sauce, corn and sausage.  Continue cooking over low heat until orzo is ready.

Cook orzo according to package instructions until just under al dente.  Drain and add to saute pan with a bit of the cooking water if the sauce looks like it could uses some liquid.  Cook for another minute or so until orzo is al dente.

Top with shaved parm and parsley.

After the long awaited move to Brooklyn, we made it over to the Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket last weekend.  I was hoping to find ramps for a pizza, but they are out of season so we picked up wild onion and garlic shoots instead.  We also found some incredible manchego cheese and homemade sausage.  Sunday night we did the pizza (recipe below) and last night we made some very tasty orzo with the leftovers (recipe to follow).

Sausage Pizza with Wild Onion and Garlic Shoots:

• 4 sweet Italian sausage, casings removed and chopped
• 1/2 cup marinara sauce or chopped canned tomatoes
• finely chopped wild onion (you can use all of the bulb and as much of the greens as you wish)
• finely chopped garlic shoots
• fresh pizza dough (recipe below)
• shredded young manchego cheese

Saute sausage over med-high heat until nicely browned and almost cooked through.  Remove and add onion and garlic to the saute pan.  Saute until transparent and wilted and remove.

Roll out dough and start with a very thin layer of tomato sauce.  Add sausage, cheese and onion/garlic mixture.

Bake on a pizza stone at 500 degrees until dough is cooked through and cheese is nice and bubbly.

Pizza Dough:

• 3 ½ cups flour
• 1 cup warm water (between 95 and 115 degrees F)
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 2-3 T honey
• 1 t salt
• ¼ cup olive oil

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water in a small bowl.  Add honey once yeast has been dissolved.
2. Add 1 cup flour to large bowl and mix in yeast/water mixture with wooden spoon.  Continue to add flour to bowl until a ball begins to form.
3. Transfer ball onto floured surface and begin kneading and incorporating flour until the ball no longer sticks to your hands.
4. Add ball of dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a damp kitchen towel, and set aside in a warm, draft-free area.
5. After about 45 minutes, the dough should have doubled in size.  Punch down the dough, so it deflates.
6. Cut the dough into thirds, cover again and let it sit for another hour.
7. Roll out dough into a nice even circle and transfer to a pizza slider.