Enjera Ohio

I love Ethiopian food. It's even better when you can make it at home. If you are lucky enough to live in Columbus Ohio, then you have easy access to all the ingredients you need to make a Habesha feast.



My sister, Finny and I went out to a mini mall on Hamilton, our first stop was Awash Enjera. There we picked up some Barbere, some other spices, and of course enjera. Awash has most everything you need, but if you want to comparison shop you can mosey a few doors down to the Muna International Grocery.





I bought some green coffee beans, I'm gonna try roasting my own.



Berbere (I have seen it spelled different ways) is mixture of spices somewhere between chili powder and curry.



My sister, (Jeanlouise: Jolie) did most of the cooking, she made lentils, Chicken stew (doro wat), green beans, and a tomato salad. everything is pretty easy to make, if you want a recipe, send me a note using the "contact us" button.

Fun food that's easy to make, give it a try.

Cheers.

Awash Enjera
1403 S. Hamilton Rd.
Columbus, OH 43227
614-237-4533

Muna Grocery
1419 S. Hamilton Rd.
Columbus, OH 43227
614-231-3005



PS: Now for some pictures of stuff I don't think you should try at home (yet). Jeanlouise just got back from Ethiopia here's a few shots of what she ate there:



Tibs



Tere Sega



All served with Hamot (Click on picture for translation).

Tortillas Columbus

If touring taco trucks in Columbus has inspired you to roll your own, then I know of a place you should go to pick up some tortillas.

Kokis is a tortilla factory on Columbus' West side and my mom has been there enough times that she gets greeted with very friendly and familiar hello. As I was admiring the line through a window, someone invited onto floor to see the whole process. They start with corn, treat it with lime (nixtamal), then grind that into masa. the masa is fed into rollers which flatten and cut the tortillas to size. they bake in an oven then zigzag over racks then are packed by hand into plastic bags. Show up in the morning and you can get warm tortillas. While we were at Koki's my mom asked where was the best Mexican grocery store. We were directed to La Plaza Tapatia.



Living in Chicago all these years, I have been to a wide range of Mexican Groceries from Chicago Heights to Pilsen to Albany Park and La Plaza Tapatia is very very nice store. They have everything you would need for a barbacoa.



Did somebody say cookout?



I love pork tacos. We have had a lot of adventures here in Columbus, including bacon camp, the fair and butchering a whole pig. I hope to write about this stuff soon, but in the meantime take a look at the pics from this trip on flckr. Better yet, go fix yourself something good to eat.

Cheers


Kokis Tortillas
2992 Sullivant Ave
Columbus 43204
614-279-5000

La Plaza Tapatia
4233 Shoppers Lane (Behind Westland Mall)
Columbus 43228
614-276-0333

Springtime In Columbus

We went to Columbus for Easter, and we had a great time. Spring in Columbus always seems about three weeks ahead of cold dreary Chicago, and this past weekend we had nice weather to get out and hit some of our favorite spots.



On Friday we went to Yankee Trader to load up on trinkets for the Easter egg hunt. Plastic bugs, stickers, butterfly erasers, fuzzy gnomes, you just get a paper bag and write down what yer putting in the sack. I hadn't been there in a long time, it seemed a lot less cluttered but still fun. Just don't play with the whistles.





Then Ma took us to Pistacia Vera for cookies.





Once back in Clintonville I made a trip to Wasserstrom where found a wok brush and I also stopped at Giant Eagle for a 25Lb bag of Sapphire flour.



For Dinner we had turkey sandwiches and blue cheese potato chips. The turkey was left over from the Seder dinner my mom had at church.

On Saturday I made my pantry run to Penzeys then ma took me to The Fresh Market and Marcs. She calls them the yin and yang of grocery shopping in one stop.



In the Afternoon we hunted for eggs and had cake.










For dinner Bonne Femme made Blue cheese burgers. She said she gets them like this at Hackney's and they're called the Inside Out Burger.



Could it be a Jucy Lucy?



I fried up some shoulder bacon to top it off. After dinner I took Bonne Femme to Studio 35. She thought it was pretty cool.



Sunday started with a trip to church. I'm not much of a church-going person but I liked walking to Church. Crestview Presbyterian is where my parents got married, I got baptized, and I attended many a mother-son banquets. It was a nice day for a walk. The boys got to ring the tower bell.



For brunch we had a salmon bendict with a sorrel sauce. Sorrel is the first green up in my mom's garden, we got the recipe from the Herbfarm Cookbook. My mom cured the salmon and got the eggs from the coop.



After brunch we walked to grandma's house. We hunted for Easter baskets.



Then for dinner I prepared a leg of lamb on the kettle.









It turned out pretty good. Family and place are made special by what we make of them. Take care to make it good and the memories will flow.

Cheers.

Chile Time

We had our first freeze in the Chicagoland area yesterday, so I brought in the last of the peppers. I'll hang these somewhere to dry. For the last month I have been real busy with school and travelling, I did manage to make some Italian style chicken sausage yesterday, but no time for blogging. Jolie is off to Paris today to embark on her Baking and Pastry odyssey, she has promised to send postcards.



A couple of weeks ago we were in Columbus where we smoked trout and made Ethiopian Food. We got enjerea from a bakery on the east side. Check out the pictures on flickr



Cheers.

Pound for pound

Liver Sausage, the third time's the charm. August in Columbus.

"I've never been more ready in my entire life

To do this right now

Never

It's all been leading up to this moment

All right now right here

My whole life..

Right here"

Two Friday's ago me and the boys were rolling Northbound on Governor's Highway. At the time I was very down on the Southland, because I had been driving to all corner's of this huge sud-surbopolis looking for something I couldn't find. In the strip mall at the corner of Vollmer I was surprised to see what looked like a mini-circus set up in the lot. It was the Farmer's market in Olympia Fields. I promised the boys they could pat the pony at the petting zoo as I wheeled around to the lot. Amongst the cheese stand, the Labriola bread table and many vegetable vendors, I found the Dickman's. They raise pasture fed poultry, Bonne Femme, found them last year for our Thanksgiving turkey, but I didn't know they worked the market circuit. From their stand the Dickmans sell Chickens, eggs, and other assorted products. Mr Dickman told me they take birds to the processor about every three weeks, and that following Monday was processing day. They would have fresh Chicken all that week. At the time, I was excited, but I was heading out of town and I would not be able to go to Olympia Fields the following Friday. I went home and made mayonnaise with the eggs I bought. Then over the weekend, it hit me, so on Monday I called, and on the phone Mrs. Dickman answered: "Yeah I have chicken livers, we are just heading back from the processor now, how much are you looking for?"

On Tuesday, I went to the farmer's market in Richton Park and picked up about two pounds of fresh, grass fed, chicken livers.

Next stop le potager de saucisson.

Thyme

Fresh bay leaf

Hyssop

Garlic

I didn't use a book on this one, so feel free to adjust for taste.

MAC's Herbed Liver Sausage

921 g (about 2 lbs.) Fresh pasture fed chicken livers

580 g Pork shoulder, diced

160 g Pork fat (from shoulder), diced

32 g Salt

9 g Quatre-épices (white pepper, nutmeg, ginger, clove)

4 g White peppercorns

3 g (1 large clove) garlic, minced

1 g Fresh thyme, chopped

4 Fresh bay leaves, veins removed, minced

the leaves from 1 stem of Hyssop, chopped

2 large cold eggs

25 ml Fino (dry white wine sherry)

Hog Casings

I started out rinsing the livers, the setting them in a colander, over a bowl to drain in the fridge for an hour. I ground the peppercorns fine and combined them with the other spices (not herbs)and salt and mixed them with the cubed pork and pork fat.

Since the day was hot and I needed to keep my ingredients cold, I chilled the grinder attachment and the bowl in the freezer then set the bowl in ice while grinding. I ground the pork mixture first then the livers. I used the small grinding plate.

Using the paddle attachment, I added the herbs, the eggs, and the fino, and mixed until it all came together about two minutes. The consistency is a little runny, but it will be okay.

I stuffed them into hog casings. I suppose you could pack the mixture into a terrine (pronounced loaf pan), but I like the look and the portability of the casing.

I decided to poach the sausage in the oven. I used these really cool roasting pans I got from IKEA . I preheated the oven to 325F., then filled the pan to just under the rack with boiling water. I inserted a temp probe and inverted another pan on top and into the oven.

After about forty minutes the internal temperature read 165F., time for the ice bath.

After about 20 minutes on ice I put the sausage (Still in the rack pan) in the fridge to rest, uncovered, overnight.

The next day I put the Sausage into a Ziploc, because it was time to go to Columbus. As I have mentioned in previous posts, August is our favorite time to go to Columbus. Mom and Dad (and Buzz) have been working on the South side of the house and It has gone from spooky-no-doorbell haunted house to respectable country estate (in the middle of Clintonville).

The kids and Grandpa Bob stayed in the pool the whole time.

Mom made chicken tikka marsala from this month's Cook's Illustrated, and nan.

Once again I had to use a knife to open the sparkling wine (I would be happy to do this at your next party).

For serving the liver sausage, grab some bread, cut desired amount of pâté, squeeze from casing, spread on bread. Isle of Mull Cheddar from Katzinger's makes a nice accompaniment.

Cheers.