It was a long time coming but some warmer, drier weather greeted us in May. And it was perfect for heading to Polson Park for a walk-about. This park has so many things Harry likes: ducks for feeding and chasing (not maliciously, he just wants to hug and pet them); bridges; ponds for plinking rocks into and giant thistles to bash. I know, I don’t get it either. I’m assuming it’s a 3-year-old-boy-thing.
Then it was time for a bath to de-mud, de-thistle and de-thatch the kid.
I don’t know if it really counts if he’s just as messy in the tub as out….
By mid-May I was starting to get a little concerned with all the meat still left in the freezer. See, I ordered a pig the prior February and my pig/chicken lady had said they would be pork by August. Well, there were two slight problems that arose (with respect to finishing that amount of meat) in the next six months. Colin accepted a promotion with SPI with a stipulation that he be physically present in the Portland office on a daily basis, and the pig did not arrive. In fact instead of August, I never got my hands on the pig until mid November. Crap.
And did you know that one pig leads to a lot of chops? I’m not a fan. So here we are, about a month before are scheduled to move across the border (and we can’t bring any meat with us) I have an entire leg, dozens and dozens of chops and half a slab of belly (I had intended to smoke it for homemade bacon but it didn’t happen.)
I decided that the deboned chops and belly would make great sausage! I didn’t realize how easy it is to make sausage. Granted, my KitchenAid did most of the work and I didn’t stuff it into casings, but these little meatballs were so delicious with a fond reminder of Thailand…
In the northern part of Thailand is a city called Chiang Mai. They have some of the best and most flavorful comfort foods! One of my very favorites was Chiang Mai sausage called Sia Oua with hot chilles (nam prik nam) and sticky rice. The sausage itself has a bit of a kick, but it’s the basil, garlic and lemongrass that make it ridiculously good.
Sia Oua
I mixed together
½ lb belly (fat)
1 lb deboned chops ( I wouldn’t call this pork “lean”necessarily, it was a farm pig, not a commercial one)
This was sliced into strips small enough to go through the meat grinder, then put in the freezer to firm up.
To each 1.5 lb of coarsely ground meat I added:
1/4 cup Shallot
1/4 cup Garlic
1/4 cup Lemongrass
1/4 cup (or more) Corriander stalks (the original recipe called for roots but good luck finding those at the store and mine isn’t big enough yet) and leaves
1 tsp Fresh Galangal
1 Tbsp Dried chili, mild
1 Tbsp Dried chili, hot
1/2 tsp Ground coriander seed
1/8 cup Shrimp paste
Salt, to taste
1/8 cup Kaffir lime leaves
1 Tbsp Fish sauce
1 Tbsp Palm sugar
I whirred all of the herbs and whatnot in the Cuisinart and, wearing food-grad gloves (as I didn’t want to smell like sausage) smooshed it all together then put it through the grinder a second time with the “fine” blade.
Using my 2 Tbsp cookie scoop that has a silicone bottom (it’s a brilliant kitchen gadget) I formed meatballs, some went into the oven to be eaten with som tam and sticky rice and the rest into the freezer.
We managed to eat almost all of these fantastic little morsels, but my Mom and Dad had to clear half or a freezer for all of the rest of the food! Because there was also chorizo and breakfast sausage made in my manic attempt to empty the freezer… Oh well, good thing I’m planning to go and visit in August.
Comments