Longaniza Sausage Burgers

I haven’t been back in the states in six months and every once in a while I’ll get very specific cravings for American fast food. McDonalds and Burger King are out of the picture, since they’re everywhere in Spain. What I’m talking about is slightly classier fast food. In & Out burgers are on top of the list, with a side of baked fries drenched in ketchup, mayo, and drippings of their secret sauce. Closely followed by authentic Mexican burritos found in little shacks so prevalent in Southern California, big juicy kosher hot dogs from Costco topped with relish and onions, and of course, food truck tacos! I guess the list involves a lot of meat. So let’s make this post nice and quick, in true American style.

I had a craving for a real greasy burger. And what’s a girl to do but satisfy her craving. I didn’t have any ground meat at hand so I used a spiced sausage filled with ground pork called longaniza. One doesn’t traditionally make burgers with sausages but I’m a big fan of longaniza, or any kind of meat that makes its own grease when you drop it in a hot pan. YUM. We’re young, let’s not worry about calories. Soak up the remaining red, delicious meat juices with the hamburger buns. I dare you.

And by the way, if you're not in Spain you probably won't find longaniza sausages. I don't know what the English translation would be, or if there is one. Spain's highly specialized in pork products and there are so many varieties here. Any raw pork sausage should do the trick. Anyway, this recipe is enough to yield two pretty hefty sized burgers.


INGREDIENTS//

+ 12 inches worth of raw spiced sausages
+ 1/2 an onion
+ whole wheat mustard
+ your favorite type of cheese
+ handful of arugula
+ salt & pepper
+ rosemary & oregano
+ hamburger buns


RECIPE//

Chop your sausages in easily bitable chunks and slice your onions into rings. Heat up the pan and leave the fire on medium, then drop in the meat. After about a minute the sausages should be spewing out grease, which is your cue to add the onion slices. Lower the fire a bit. Throw in just a dash of salt (since the sausages already have a strong flavor), pepper, and a pinch of fresh rosemary and oregano if you have any. Longaniza sausages have a ton of spices but adding more can’t hurt anybody. However, fresh rosemary is pretty strong, so don’t go crazy with it or else the burger will taste overwhelmingly like rosemary.

Let everything cook for 6 or 7 minutes, or whenever the meat is fully cooked/onions become soft. An alternative way to make this would be to sweat the onions first with olive oil in the pan, then add a bit of sugar to caramelize it. Either way works.

Toast the buns in the oven for a few minutes. Top off your burger with whole grain mustard, a bed of arugula leaves, and cheese. I used a local artisan cheese called Payoyo to compliment my longaniza burger. My boyfriend picked it up from Grazelema, a tiny mountainside village near his own pueblo. Payoyo cheese is a mix of goat and sheep’s milk, making it very savory with just a hint of sweetness. I like my burgers to have strong flavors, which is why you’ll never see me use lettuce in almost anything. What a boring vegetable.

Anyway, craving satisfied!

Two Ways to Make Shiitake Mushrooms with Rice Noodles

Right before coming to Spain this third time around, my mother decided to help me with the packing. Before I even got to put any personal belongings in my suitcase, it was already stuffed with three different types of loose leaf teas, freshly ground sesame paste, spicy Korean instant noodles, various hard-to-find Asian spices, sweet Chinese sausages, rice noodles, and a very large bag of dried shiitake mushrooms. Yes, these all went on a plane and passed the security check point in four different countries. From the states, I flew to China to visit family for a week, then got on another plane to Spain with a transfer in Moscow. Everything made it – even the sausages, which were a big hit among my Spanish roommates.

I let those dried little mushrooms sit in my pantry for over four months. I had no idea what to do with them, what with no instructions. But since I’ve been more adventurous in my cooking in recent months, I finally decided to open the package. I’m a bit of a lazy cook I have to admit. I never remember to soak dried food in water overnight, nor do I have the patience to thaw meat (it’s a bit hard when you have two naughty cats with sharp noses around the house), which is one of the reasons I don’t cook meat very often. Anyway, found a shortcut: soak dried mushrooms in boiled water with a lid on it for 15 minutes and voila! Mmm and the aroma that rises up from the steaming bowl when you remove the lid is enough to make you want to take a big bite of that juicy mushroom.

But don’t be so hasty. The taste of shiitake adds a lot of flavor to other vegetables too. So if you’re not living in Spain, where shiitake mushrooms cost a fortune – if you can even find any that is – try these recipes:

Shiitake Stir-fry with Fried Rice Noodles

One day I got off work early and was craving mushroom risotto for lunch. I do this a lot on my walk back home: plan my meals in my head and get terribly hungry thinking about it and start half running towards my house once I reach the river. What a terrible disappointment when I got to my apartment and turned my fridge upside down only to discover that I didn’t have any mushrooms left. My only resort was the dried shiitake in my pantry which I had barely given a thought until now. A pungent fungus traditionally used in Asian cooking doesn’t go well with cheese and butter. All right, skip the risotto idea. A stir-fry, why not? Let’s do it!





INGREDIENTS//

+ 4 large shiitake mushrooms halved or quartered (whichever you prefer)
+ 1/4 of a head of cabbage roughed chopped
+ 1 carrot in julienne (sliced long and thin)
+ 1/2 zucchini in julienne
+ 1/2 piece of ginger minced
+ one spring onion finely chopped
+ one teaspoon of sugar
+ salt to taste
+ soy sauce for coloring
+ rice noodles to deep fry
+ vegetable oil

RECIPE//

This is enough for about two servings. So as I said before, soak your shrooms in boiled water for 15-20 minutes. If you are patient, the longer the better.

First, I made the fried noodles which take about 20 seconds. In a wok or a deep pan, fill with vegetable oil to approximate two inches deep. Wait until the oil is hot then toss in the dried rice noodles and witness magic before your eyes. They pop up instantly like popcorn. Place them on a paper towel to soak up the oil. When the noodles are done, save up the oil for your next frying adventure, but leave just a bit in the pan for the veggies.

Now, put in the ginger, carrots, zucchini, and shiitake first to saute for three minutes. Then add the cabbage, spring onion, sugar, and drizzle in just a bit of soy sauce. Cook for another two minutes, add salt, then you’re done! Serve with fried noodles on the side.


Spicy Shiitake and Tofu Potpourri

For lack of a better description, we will call this dish a potpourri, since it is a confusing mixture of random ingredients that were handy. My friend Gwyn came over one night with the excuse of wanting to play our guitars but we ended up cooking for most of the time. Coincidentally I had just purchased a pack of smoked tofu the same day. Gwyn just happened to have a jar of bamboo in her backpack. Tofu, bamboo, shiitake, leftover ginger – it was an Asian food night.







INGREDIENTS//

+ 4-5 shiitake mushrooms diced or chopped
+ one pack of smoked tofu cubed
+ 1/2 a bell pepper cut into rings
+ one tomato diced
+ 2 small cayenne peppers finely chopped
+ canned bamboo shoots
+ 1-2 cloves of garlic minced
+ 1/3 ginger peeled and minced
+ soy sauce
+ salt to taste
+ olive oil
+ rice noodles to boil
+ raw carrots to garnish

RECIPE//

This would have been nice if we had some spring onions, but alas, none was to be found in the fridge. Let’s not dwell on the impossibility of turning back time. Unless, of course, we had an H.G. Wells patented time machine! I digress, on with the recipe.

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees C, which is about 400 F. Paint your little tofu cubes with soy sauce on both sides then stick them in the oven for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, cut the shiitake in small pieces and toss them into a wok or pan with the olive oil, garlic, ginger, cayenne peppers, and bell pepper. When the tofu is done roasting, add them to the pan along with the bamboo shoots and tomato. Drizzle in just a bit of soy sauce, sprinkle in the salt, and toss for 5 minutes or so (or whenever the tomato juice gets soaked up). Gwyn and I also added a bit of the leftover water that the shiitake were soaking in just for that extra earthy flavor.

As for the noodles.. super simple to prepare. Boil them in water or the leftover shiitake water until they are soft. They cook much faster than pasta so don’t overboil! When they’re drained, add them to the tofu-shiitake potpourri and mix.

Gwyn recommends that you artfully cut some pieces of carrot to garnish. It will get a bit spicy, so carrots are a refreshing element to the dish. So try it out and let me know what you think!