Herby Butter

This butter is very versatile and you can use any combination of herbs you like, or just experiment with different ones every time. You can also use twice as much the amount of herbs and the butter will be much greener and more flavoursome.
This recipe is perfect for taking to a party or other occasion as it is relevantly cheap, easy and quick to make and can be used with many things like bread, potatoes and even as a dip.

Ingredients:

1 block of organic grass-fed preferably raw unsalted butter (usually 250 g)
you can use salted butter too, then you would not need salt
1 handful of fresh organic parsley stalks with leaves
1 handful of fresh organic basil leaves
1 small clove of organic garlic
unrefined sea salt (to taste)
3-4 drops of organic freshly squeezed lemon juice

Equipment:

food processor or hand blender (optional)
wrap paper from the butter or 250 g glass jar with lid or butter dish with lid

Instructions:

I recommend to leave your butter on the kitchen counter overnight or for at least 2-3 hours so it is soft and pliable. However if you forgot to do that or have no time to wait then just cut up the block of butter into smaller cubes and place in the warm oven for a while but be careful not to melt it to the liquid consistency, it needs to be just soft like this.

Alternatively you can use the cold butter, but it will take more effort and a bit longer to fluff.

Put the butter into the medium bowl and using a wooden spoon or spatula fluff the butter.

Now using your favourite knife and preferably wooden chopping board chop up parsley very fine

place it in your food processor or the cup for the hand blender, if using. If you are not using anything to blend your herbs then just try chopping them as fine as you can and place it straight into the fluffed butter.
Chop the garlic and basil, add them to the parsley and squeeze a few drops of lemon juice. Now blend it if using the blending equipment.

Now add the blended herbs into the fluffed butter and mix everything together, season with sea salt according to your taste.

Taste it for salt and adjust if needed.
Now it is up to you what container you want to use for your herby butter, you can wrap it back into its original wrap or place it into the butter dish with lid or just a random jar with a lid, like I did

Enjoy and please remember to share your favourite combinations in the comments below!!!

This post is linked to Kelly the Kitchen Kop’s Real Food Wednesday blog carnival, and to Fight Back Friday blog carnival at Food Renegate.

Home Made Sausages Without Skin or any Special Equipment. Super Healthy! Super Easy!

My family loves sausages. My son prefers them with fried brussel sprouts or asparagus or with some rice. I am not always able to source the decent ones without wheat and other unnecessary ingredients so I came up with the simple recipe of my own.
This recipe is based on the traditional Russian meat patties (kotleti) and has absolutely no wheat!  I do add some liver into my sausages so it is an excellent way to include liver into your family's diet if some of the members don't favour it in any other form like my son.
As you probably know, organic pastured liver is an excellent source of vitamins A, B and C, folic acid, iron and many more vital nutrients, more information on that is here.
I also add some lard, it makes the sausages fluffier, and is also an excellent source of vitamin D, more information on that here.
I eventually stopped buying sausages and started making my own. I prepare a batch and freeze it. When I need to use sausages I just thaw some on the kitchen counter or covered in the fridge overnight or if I am in a hurry in the oven-proof shallow dish in the oven.
I also use this same recipe for making meatballs and burger meat, I just freeze the meat in around 100 g balls on the plastic lid covered with cling film and then transfer to a zippy bag and keep in the freezer.
This recipe is calling for experimenting, so if you and your family have some favourite spices that you think will go well, then please do add them and share the results in the comments.

Ingredients:

250 g organic grass-fed beef/wild venison mince
250 g organic pastured pork mince
1-2 organic pastured chicken liver/s
(I use the ones that come inside the chicken carcasses I buy for the bone broth, the liver inside usually comes with a chicken heart, so I throw that in too)
1-2 tbsp organic pastured lard
2 stalks of organic parsley with leaves (and/or any other spices you like) - optional
1 small organic onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 small organic potato (optional)
unrefined sea salt
freshly ground organic black pepper

Equipment:

food processor (optional)
cling film

Instructions:

If you are using the food processor, pulse together onion, garlic, peeled potato, parsley and liver almost to the liquid consistency. If  you are not using the food processor cut each ingredient mentioned in the above sentence very fine, as fine as you can.
Combine all the ingredients in a fairly large bowl, season with salt and pepper and add any other seasoning you like. Now you need to 'beat' the meat 'dough': pick it up with one hand and drop it back into the bowl and so on for 3-5 minutes. This will bind the meat quite well, this is what my mum always used to do.

Cover the bowl with cling film and leave to season for 2 - 6 hours. I leave mine overnight in a cool place. If you are seasoning your meat for 2 hours only then you can do that at room temperature, if longer first 2 hours at room temperature and the rest of the time at cooler temperature (like pantry) or in the fridge.

When ready to make the sausages take a spare cutting board or rectangular plastic lead from one of the food containers or something similar and cover it with cling film leaving as much extra cling film on the sides as necessary to cover the sausages later. Scoop half of the meat and place it on top of the cling film. Using wet spatula or bench scraper shape the meat into about 2 cm thick rectangle, helping yourself with the cling film edges as well as the fork, see what works best for you.

 Using wet spatula or bench scraper again divide the meat rectangle into separate sausages, leaving space between them, like this

try to do it more evenly than I did it :)

Cover the sausages with the cling film, folding the sides and covering it completely. Place the tray with sausages into the freezer. Repeat the process till all the meat is made into sausages. I usually leave mine in the freezer overnight or for 24 hours. The sausages need to harden so you can uncover them and transfer them into a plastic zip bag and store them in the freezer until you need them.

When I am ready to cook the sausages I thaw them on the counter at room temperature or if I am short for time in an oven proof dish in the oven. I then fry them and serve.

Hope you like the recipe and will share your experience in the comments below!

This post is linked to Gluten Free Wednesdays, Kelly The Kitchen Kop's Real Food Wednesdays and Food Renegad's Fight Back Friday blogs' carnivals.