I’ve been trying to gear myself up to make my own sausage. I’m not sure why, but it’s been intimidating. Neil got me an attachment for my stand mixer and my friend Michael got me a book on charcuterie. I watched loads of Italian and Polish men stuffing sausage on YouTube. But still I was intimidated. I ran into a friend on his way to a “sausage party”. Wasn’t sure if this was a cooking demonstration or a lifestyle party. Turns out he took a sausage making class. We went to their house with pickles a friend of mine and I made (she made pickled eggs) and George showed us how to stuff sausages.

A couple of weeks ago a good friend of mine visited from Toronto. He’s a fabulous cook, so we thought it would be fun to make a nice meal together. We made pasta, which was great because I wanted to see the consistency of his pasta dough (I think I make my dough too wet). And we made sausage. It was a whole family affair. Neil grilled it on the bbq and we were talking about it weeks later. We followed the recipe for a basic sweet Italian sausage, but added fresh basil, ground coriander and a cube of porcini bouillon.

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I am in the midst of making my first batch of fruit vinegar. If it works out, it will be ridiculously simple. You just take some ripe or even overripe fruit, add sugar water and wait. I’m going to see how it turns out before I post a recipe. My elderflower experiment wasn’t the success I had hoped it would be.

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Last week we went up to my in-laws to celebrate the Jewish New Year. One of their big traditions is the making of kreplach, which is the Jewish version of a dumpling or wonton. It is filled with brisket and carmelized onions that are then ground together.

My father-in-law learned how to make them as a young boy by helping his bubbe (grandmother) and mother. His job was to crank the meat grinder. He has carried on the tradition, using his bubbe’s old rolling pin. They are extremely labor intensive, as you make and roll out the dough for each dumpling. And we’re not talking about making a dozen. He makes about 18 dozen at a go. He experimented with using wonton wrappers in the past to save some of the labor, but always preferred the real kreplach dough he and his bubbe made.

This year we decided to help him make them. I brought up my KitchenAid stand mixer, with the meat grinder and pasta roller attachments. I figured we could make the dough and then run it through the rollers to make it thin. If that worked, it could save a lot of labor. It turned out to work really well, and we set up an assembly line of sorts with each family member rolling, cutting, filling and folding the kreplach. We made about 19 dozen in exactly 3 hours. After they have been filled, you boil them for a few minutes and then lay them out to dry. When you are ready to eat them, you fry them in corn oil, or put them into soup. They are delicious and something to look forward to every year.

My father-in-law said that as kids, he and his brother used to fight to get the next kreplach out of the frying pan. And don’t you know that while we were making them, his brother called.

I can’t give you their family recipe, as it’s not mine to give, but here’s a link to a different one. They show very different fillings than what Neil’s family uses, but I’m sure they are delicious as well.

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Next stop in tackling apple mountain was an apple cake. This recipe can be made with almost any kind of fruit. It’s delicious and not overly sweet. And it comes out looking gorgeous. The pieces are apple quarters that are sliced thinly, but not all the way through. You place them on top of the batter, cut side up. They sink in and fan out and look amazing. I just sprinkled the top with some sugar and cinnamon.

European Fruit Cake

2  Sticks of butter

1 1/2  cups Sugar

2  Cups Flour (all purpose)

2  teaspoons baking powder

teaspoon cinnamon or cardamom or vanilla, or any other spice you might like

Zest of one lemon

1 pinch of salt

4 eggs

Any fruit you like: plums, peaches, apples, or mixture

Lemon juice for mixing with fruit

1 to 2  tablespoons of sugar mixed with spice to sprinkle over fruit

• Preheat oven 350 F
• Butter your springform pan (10 to 12 Inches) well;
• In a bowl, mix the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time; mix.
• In another bowl mix your flour, baking powder, spice, lemon zest and salt.
• Prepare your fruit, cut in pieces or halves. Use some lemon juice for your fruits – to taste.
• Add your flour mixture to your egg-butter mixture. Spoon batter into your springform pan; add all the fruit on top of batter (fruit will sink through the batter as it cooks). Remember you can add as much fruit as you like but the cooking time will vary slightly. Sprinkle the top of the fruit with some sugar and spice.

Place in oven for approximately 45 to 65 minutes, test with a skewer, it should come out clean.

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