Daikon Calzone and Momofuku Lemongrass Pork Sausage

Living by myself, I find it most convenient to just cook up a big pot of stew or one-pot meal (like jambalaya) at the beginning of the week, and to eat the same thing throughout the week. After a while though, this gets to be really boring, and I was hankering for some non-liquid meals.

I just got the Momofuku cookbook as a present from my sister, and decided to try out the grilled lemongrass pork sausage to go with the bread I've been making in the Lodge Logic Dutch Oven. It turned out well - it's a lot of cutting and mixing but otherwise it just bakes for a while and then you grill/fry the sausages. They freeze really well, and one batch of these lasts a long time. The lemongrass gives a nice, sharp contrast to the porky taste.

I also for some reason had a hankering for daikon in flaky pastry, but without the super greasy flaky pastry. Daikon in flaky pastry is a common dim sum dish, but I decided that putting it into pizza dough would make for a much more refreshing snack. I was really happy with how these turned out, not just taste-wise, but this was also just about the first time that I improvised a new recipe. The daikon and carrots give a nice crunch (conveniently the ingredients were leftovers from the pickled carrot and daikon I made from the Momofuku cook book), and the pizza crust indeed made a savory but ungreasy container for the filling. These also freeze well, and need just a pop in the toaster oven to reheat. Or they're good cold, and sturdy enough to carry on a road trip or bike ride (I know, I did it myself).

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Lemongrass Pork Sausage

adapted from Momofuku

The book says serves 4 to 6, but I think it made at least a dozen sandwiches like the one you see above. It's quite rich so I don't like to eat a lot at once.

Ingredients

1/2 cup minced lemongrass

1/2 cup choppped shallots

1 tbsp kosher salt

2 tsp sugar

2 tbsp plus 2 tsp fish sauce

2 tbsp sriracha - I didn't have this on hand, so I soaked 2 tbsp chili flakes in vinegar, and then ground it up with some garlic in a food processor. Worked well, and I got to skip all of those preservatives in bottled sriracha.

3 lbs ground pork - this deserves its own post, but it's impossible to find 100% ground pork on the shelf in the Netherlands. 80% pork / 20% beef is the best you can do, and this worked fine.

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Method

1. Heat oven to 300 degrees F (150 Celsius)

2. Combine first 6 ingredients in a food processor and process until finely chopped. Transfer to large mixing bowl, and toss in the last two ingredients with your hands.

3. Put meat into 8 by 11 inch baking pan in an even layer, and bake for 20 minutes. I actually baked for a lot longer, because it was still really pink inside after 20 minutes.

4. Cut into 1 inch by 3 inch strips.

5. The recipe calls for grilling, which you can do, but I don't have a grill so I used my cast iron pot's lid to put a nice crust on these sausages.

Daikon Mini Calzones

- filling based on the "Flaky Pastry Filled with White Turnips and Ham" recipe from Florence Lin's Complete Book of Chinese Noodles, Dumplings, and Breads

- dough recipe from King Arthur Flour

Makes 18

Dough Ingredients

10 oz all purpose flour (~2 cups)

4 oz whole wheat flour (~1 cup)

1 teaspoon yeast (instant or active dry)

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup + 2 tablespoons lukewarm water

Sesame seeds

1 egg, beaten

Filling Ingredients

10 oz daikon, shredded

4 oz carrots, shredded

1 pack chunky bacon, finely cut

1 scallion, minced

½ tsp sugar

1 ½ tsp sesame oil

1 tsp salt

Dough Method

1. Combine all dough ingredients in bowl of stand mixer. First use paddle to combine ingredients, then switch to dough hook and knead for 5 minutes.
2. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 45 minutes. Then place into refrigerator 4-36 hours.
3. Remove from refrigerator. Take golf ball – sized pieces of dough and stretch with fingers into 2-3 inch rounds.
4. Lightly dust bottoms of rounds with flour, then place on parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Let sit for 1 hour.

While dough is in its second rise, make filling and preheat oven to 500 degrees F with rack in lower third of oven.

Filling Method

1. Place daikon and carrots in a bowl with salt. Mix together and press down. Let sit for 10 minutes.
2. Drain water from bowl, and put daikon and carrots in several sheets of paper towel or cloth towel and wring out excess water into sink.
3. Combine with bacon, scallion, sugar, and sesame oil

Assembling

1. Put 1-2 tbsp of filling in each round, and seal edges.
2. Brush beaten egg on top of each pastry.
3. Sprinkle with sesame seeds
4. Place baking sheet into oven, and bake until tops are brown, about 18-20 minutes.
5. Let pastries cool on baking sheet 5 minutes out of the oven. Transfer to rack to cool completely if necessary.