In the kitchen with: Cary and Ivan Morrow, owners of Cave & Ives Portico Grill
Making: Sausages
Cary Morrow's kitchen in his Phoenix home is chic, modern-looking (complete with a stainless steel fridge, dark wooden cabinets and a marble tile counter top) and filled with family photos. His wife, Jan, has a "Groove Lounge" station playing on the couple's sound system. Jan, along with Cary's 16 year old daughter Anna and the restaurant's general manager John Windels, shuffle in and out of the kitchen. Morrow's wearing a plain black t-shirt and white khaki shorts. His brother Ivan arrives with the meat already ground--also wearing a black t-shirt (a polo) and white khaki shorts.
But they insist they don't always match.
Still, it's evident the brothers are on a similar wave length. They've been working alongside each other for so long that they hardly need to verbalize what tasks go to who. If one needs help, the other jumps in.
Once the two begin laying out the groundwork of the meal ahead (Ivan continues to prep the meat while Cary sautes a medley of veggies in olive oil to go on top of the links later--red and green peppers and onions, touched off with Mediterranean seasoning, salt and pepper), it isn't long before someone opens a beer.
Ivan brings ingredients to make three different types of sausages: a spicy Sicilian, a chicken and apple, and a Merquez sausage. Cary already has the specially made condiments ready to go: curry ketchup, Cave & Ives extra stout pub mustard and Mostarda di Fichi--a fig-based mustard ("We're sort of condiment fiends," Ivan admits).
The Merquez Sausage is made up of 2-2.5 lbs ground lamb, 5 large fresh minced garlic cloves, 2 teaspoons of Kosher salt, 1 tablespoon of fresh minced cilantro, 1.5 teaspoons coriander seeds, 1 teaspoon of lightly toasted cumin seeds, 1 teaspoon of caraway seeds, 1 tablespoon of paprika, 1/2 a teaspoon of ground cinnamon, 3 tablespoons of Harisa Paste and 2 tablespoons of minced fresh Italian parsley--all to be ground and stuffed in sheep casings.
Although the seasoning has already been done, the stuffing of the sausages is a lengthy process that leaves room to get to know the guys--and their family.
The brothers joke about the pranks they pulled on each other while growing up in rural Kansas. That slapstick humor in the family comes out when Cary trips and falls onto the kitchen floor as Ivan juggles to keep the sausage stuffer from crashing down along with his brother. Everyone in the kitchen erupts in laughter.
Cary is pretty accident-prone, according to his wife, Jan. He shows off battle scars on his arms.
