Spicy Sausage and Mustard Green Soup

The garden has gone mad. It got off to a very slow start this season but now we have more mustard greens (and chard and kale) than any normal family could use.
And . . . it's spicy, super spicy.
With polish sausage carried home from Ostrowski's in Baltimore and mustard greens in the kitchen I started on soup. First I sautéed celery, carrots, chopped garlic and leek tops I had stored away in the freezer. I hate to waste anything so when I am leaving town I chop and tuck away any vegetable that won't be used while I am gone. The leek tops I was tucking away for a future vegetable stock but since I hadn't been to the store and we had no onions for the soup I tied the leek tops into little bundles and let them simmer as the soup cooked for a little onion flavor.
When the vegetables had softened a bit I added in slices of black pepper polish sausage and let it crisp just a bit. Then I poured in chicken stock and a jar of tomatoes canned from last year's garden. When the liquid came up to a boil I added in handfuls of mustard greens and let the whole pot simmer until the greens were tender and had lost a bit of their assertive flavor. After about 25 minutes I added in cooked white rice (I had that in the freezer too) and some beautiful scarlet runner beans I cooked of all places in the rice cooker.
Soup from the freezer. A warm dinner and then leftovers tucked back in the freezer for James while I am gone again.

A Little New York At Home

Flying back to San Francisco from New York my checked luggage included a bright red cooler bag literally stuffed with Italian Sausage and cheeses from New York's finest shops (and a couple from my family in Baltimore too). This seemingly innocent coil of Faicco's Sausage Shop's broccoli rabe sausage started it all.  James loves broccoli rabe and James loves Italian sausage and I have never seen one flavored with the bitter vegetable before. I had to bring it home for him to try. So started the cooler.
I proudly laid this coil in a pan heated with a slick of olive oil and a splash of water and cooked covered over medium heat until the sausage was browned on the bottom. I flipped the coil and let it cook for about 10 more minutes still covered until brown on both sides. Okay -- sausage carried lovingly home is one thing, but the polenta -- that's another.
Mercifully I always have some polenta or rice in the house so I can always pull together some kind of dinner. I used to stir polenta on the stove. Then I discovered oven baked polenta and I thought why ever make it any other way. Then came crock pot polenta. It takes longer to cook but stays warm waiting for diner. Make in advance, worry free polenta. Why ever make it any other way.
Until now. For some reason I started browsing rice cooker recipes on the internet. I had read some chef mention that he makes oatmeal in a rice cooker. I tried it and low and behold without paying a bit of attention I had a warm sweet delicious breakfast for James.
What else could I do in there?? Polenta of course.
1 cup of polenta. 4 cups of liquid (I used 2 of chicken broth and 2 of water but if I'd had any milk in the house I might have used some too). A pinch of salt. A knob of butter.
Cook on white rice setting. When the cycle ends give everything a good stir and mix in grated cheese. Set the rice cooking cycle to go again (we like ours a little extra thick) or just allow it to sit on warm. When you are ready your polenta will be too.
No mess, no stirring, no bother. Polenta becomes and everyday dish.
Really -- why make polenta any other way.

New Year's Eve

I'm not superstitious in the least or much for most tradition. But, I do love a food theme I can, so to speak -- sink my teeth into. Though I did not don the traditional red underwear of Italian New Year's eve, I did gather up a meal of lentils and sausages. The round lentils representing coins are said to bring abundance and good fortune in the coming year.
Usually the sausage would be cotechino (I've done that some years), something like an uncured salami that is generally boiled for several hours before serving. Our hurry up version of the Italian classic was just hot Italian sausage which I browned in olive oil (with onions and garlic) and then -- with a cover on the pan -- cooked through with a splash of red wine and water (the sausage steamed through for about 15 minutes -- I tossed in pre-cooked lentils for the last 5 minutes).
For a little bit of American style I served the sausage in a stack with a smattering of bright green kale -- a harbinger of the dollars to come our way in 2015.
Farewell 2014!

Low Country Boil

The best one pot dinner I know. Low Country Boil, also called Frogmore stew for the little town where it was created (in the 1960's I believe) is a Southern style clam bake famous and highly revered throughout Georgia and South Carolina. As much an activity as a meal -- potatoes and smoked sausage and set to boil in water flavored with plenty of Old Bay Seasoning (that's what I like, some folks use shrimp boil). After about 15 minutes you add in halved ears of corn and boil another 10 minutes or so. When crabs are in season you might find blue crab or even crawfish (the dish has spread West to Louisiana and beyond) but LCB always features shrimp and plenty of it. The shrimp go in the boiling water last and after just a couple minutes when they turn pink the pot is drained and spread across the table -- traditionally on sheets of newspaper -- for everyone to dig in.

Quick Dinner At Home

Hands off cooking. That's what I call it. Long cooking dishes that simmer with barely any help at all. More often than not I am doing three or four other things while I am getting dinner ready. So I keep a mental catalogue of busy day dinner recipes.
At the top of that list is crock pot polenta. I don't know why I would ever make it any other way (except maybe baked). Whisk together 2 cups of polenta with 7 cups hot water  (sometimes I use part stock or milk), a pinch of salt and 2 TB of olive oil. Then whisk in a good quantity of grated cheese (12 ounces maybe) -- I like parmesan but cheddar, fontina, or pecorino are all good choices. No stirring (unless I walk by and feel like peeking in), no worrying just 2 hours on high and you have a creamy, cheesy, comforting base for dinner.
Vegetables are usually the last minute dish I am struggling to have ready with the rest of the meal. While I was slow cooking I thought I'd try a variation on long cooking broccoli rabe. I combined 2 cups of broccoli florets and peeled stems. 1 cup of olive oil, a hearty pinch of crushed chile peppers,  6 peeled cloves of garlic and a sprinkle of salt in a saucepan. I put everything over medium heat until the oil started to sizzle, tossed in 1/2 cup water, covered the pot and let the broccoli simmer on low for an hour and 15 minutes. This is old fashioned. Not modern crunchy vegetables, but soft warm deep green flavor.
I turned the polenta to low after maybe an hour and 45 minutes and let the broccoli wait while I pan fried spicy Italian sausage.
A perfect combo, homemade with hardly a moments work.

Not Quite As Light

What's that saying about the best laid plans?
I started off with soaked beans, innocent enough. Big beautiful white beans not gathered from my garden or some tony farmer's market but plucked from the bins at The Napa Valley Olive Oil Company, a ramshackle Italian grocery in St Helena.  In addition to beautiful jugs of their own olive oil this hidden gem offers a small selection of cheese, meats and imported groceries. It's one of my favorite places. They have a new, show place store in Napa but I've never been and will probably never go. I'll stick to my fantasy life of mom and pop olive oil and casual pleasantries in Italian.
But back to my simple bean dish. I cooked the beans in simmering water with a head of garlic cut in half, sage, bay leaves, onion, and a pinch of chile until creamy and tender. In a separate pot I sautéed garlic and diced onion in olive oil and that's where I veered off path. Suddenly this simple virtuous vegetarian dish cried out for sausage. There was hot Italian sausage in our CSA box this month and before I knew it I was pan frying links along with the onions. When the sausage was just about cooked through I put it aside and added a few diced tomatoes to cook down into a flavorful sauce. Next went mounds of chopped kale picked fresh from the garden (still a little wet from washing). The kale wilted into the tasty oil and I let it cook until almost fully tender (about 15 minutes) and added in the drained beans, sliced sausage and gave everything a good stir to heat through. Topped with a drizzle of grated parmesan our simple dinner was hearty, rustic and filling if not exactly spa cuisine.

Two Weeks Away, Looking At Two More

I just made it home -- long enough to wash clothes, snuggle with the dogs and gather an armful of kale for a quick soup. Loosely based on Portugal's Caldo verde I sauté smoked sausage (usually linguica) along with onions, peppers, and loads of garlic in olive oil. After the veggies are soft I toss in loads of cubed potatoes, give them a turn in the flavorful oil and pour in chicken broth, along with the flesh of a few grated tomatoes. I usually open a can of beans but our garden offered some oversized Romanos that I can chop up and add into the stew. I bring it all to a boil and let the soup simmer for about 15 minutes. Then I add plenty of shredded kale. After another 15 minutes soup is ready.
Because the girls have been busy while I was away I poach a fresh egg in the bubbling broth and serve everything with a sprinkled of parmesan cheese. Everything is better with cheese.

Edible Thistle

I don't like to trim artichokes. Pity, they are one of my favorite vegetables. When I see them on a menu or salad bar I jump but I rarely make the prickly thistles at home. Today there was a sale on artichokes and I figured I'd better try. Admittedly I took the easy way to a dinnertime recipe. First I trimmed the bottoms so each artichoke would stand up on it's own. I cut off the top third or so of the thorny leaves and a few of the tougher outer leaves and placed four in a covered baking dish with a splash of olive oil, S&P, and about 1/2 cup of water. I covered the dish with tin foil and the heavy lid and let the artichokes roast for about 35 minutes. After they cooled down (uncovered) I was able to reach in and remove the feathery choke and prepare the thistles for stuffing.
I wanted our artichokes to be a main dish so I opted for a hearty sausage stuffing. I simply pan fried Italian sausage (out of the casings) with shopped onion and plenty of garlic. To the cooked sausage I added breadcrumbs, grated parmesan and a dash of tomato sauce (I happened to have it in the fridge) for moisture. I placed the stuffing mostly in the center but also between the leaves of the waiting artichokes, drizzled the tops with more parmesan and olive oil and baked at 400º until heated through, about 15 minutes.
Admittedly these are going to win and vegetable beauty contest but this pretty quick recipe made artichokes accessible at home. I might just try it again.

A Cold Rainy Night

Rain is falling outside but inside the wood stove is roaring and I've got a pot of creamy, cheesy, polenta bubbling on the stove. On top just a simple sauté of spicy Italian sausage, kale from the garden and baby spinach. A perfect warm dinner for a cold rainy night.

Cotechino and Beans

Usually served on a bed of braised lentils, cotechino sausage is an Italian New Year's Eve tradition, originally from the ancient town of Modena but now spread throughout the country. Eating the thick, round (coin shaped) slices if thought to bring good luck and good fortune in the new year. It's never too soon for fortune and good luck so when I saw a nice plump cotechino on the shelf I decided to bring it home and serve it up.
There were plenty of lentils in the pantry and polenta too -- another traditional accompaniment. But we had aplenty of fresh beans, north shell and green waiting to be picked so I decided on a sauté of beans topped with the mild flavored sausage.
I simmered the cotechino in water flavored with garlic, celery and bay leaves for about 1 1/2 hours. Meanwhile I brought the beans (shelled only) up to a boil and let them simmered until tender (about 20 minutes). For the last 5 minutes or so I added in the green beans to cook through. Just before serving a sautéed the bean mix in olive oil with leeks, garlic, chili flakes, and prosciutto then added a dressing of balsamic vinegar, olive oil and dijon mustard and let the mixture heat through. The sausage slices (not traditionally) I crisped in olive oil before placing on the colorful bean combo.
Good Luck, Good Fortune, Happy New Year (early).

I'm Ba-ack!

I've been away for about a week and James has been home eating frozen leftovers from our dwindling "fridgeventory." I have to get a few good dinner dishes in before I have to leave again, all too soon.
With almost no ingredients in the fridge but a garden ready and waiting I managed to toss together a creamy, cheesy polenta with a savory ragout of Italian sausage, fresh green zucchini and home-grown cippolini onions.

Greens And Beans

Collard greens, spicy sausage and beans. A Southern classic cooked together based on a  recipe from the New York Times. It's perfect dish to store away in the freezer for James to heat up while I'm gone.

I started with smoked andouille sausage (3 links), 2 cloves of garlic, and a bit of onion in a hot pan with oil. When the sausage had a bit of color I added in about a pound and a half of soaked white beans and 1 quart of chicken stock and let the beans simmer for 1 hour, covered. When the beans were still crisp tender I added in the cut up collards and let the entire mixture (seasoned with salt, pepper, and chili peppers) simmer for another 1/2 hour until we had a thick strew ready to serve -- with a splash of hot sauce -- over fluffy steamed rice.

Sort Of Macaroni And Cheese

In between rushing through the kitchen cooking up dishes for the freezer to keep James fed while I'm away, James walked in and looking happily into a pot of pasta and chard fresh from our garden he said," Is this dinner?"
Well no, it wasn't supposed to be. But, I quickly changed course and headed the collards beans and sausage dish I was stirring towards the freezer and whipped up a quick white sauce -- a very cheesy white sauce. I didn't have quite enough milk for all that pasta so I thinned the sauce with some of the pasta cooking water which gave this decidedly rich dish a deceptively light feel. Chard, pasta, cheese, sausage and a little time in the oven for dinnertime magic. And and a couple for the freezer too.

A Little Olympic Provisions at Home.

I love polenta. I love grits. I love Olympic Provisions.
Tonight I riffed off one of the Portland restaurant's entree plates to whip up this creamy polenta (well it was half polenta and half Trader Joe's new stone ground grits) for James' dinner. I mixed the grains ( 1 1/2 cups) with salt, butter, 3 cups of water and one cup of milk and popped them into the oven, uncovered, to bake for about 80 minutes. When the polenta came out of the oven I quickly mixed in a hunk of fresh goat cheese and ladled the creamy grains into a bowl topped with griddle sausages and -- because James is not a big tomato fan and our garden is still producing like crazy -- braised kale.

Garden Gone Wild

While I was out of town our garden, with James' faithful watering, went wild. It is positively overflowing with collard greens, chard and kale. Today was a big harvest day and dinner just had to be based on our backyard produce.
The collards were a little bigger (and probably tougher) than I generally like, so I figured a good long stewing period would help tenderize them. I started a pot with olive oil, garlic and chopped onions and added in the just washed (and still a little wet) collards. I covered that pot and let the greens steam tender a bit (about 8 minutes). Then I tossed in a can of crushed tomatoes (from last year's garden), a little water,  a good sized splash (or more like a glass) of white wine, crushed chili peppers, a couple dashes of hot sauce, and because our collards were a little bitter, a splash of balsamic vinegar. I brought that up to a bubble and added in some sliced fingerling potatoes. When the potatoes were tender we had flavorful, spicy collards ready to ladle over fluffy brown rice.
I started out to make a vegetarian stew but mid way through thought maybe those collards -- as they often do -- could use a little crispy, fatty pork. I pan-fried a link of hot Italian sausage to top James' almost vegetarian dinner.

Afternoon's Harvest Evening's Dinner

 After being gone for just a fews day the garden is brimming over. Mustard greens are crowding arugula, cucumbers are being nudged over, collards are reaching out for chard. Time to harvest. I went out and cut armloads of greens picturing flaky Greek style stuffed pies, bean soups with savory collards and spicy arugula pesto.

Tonight I washed up a big bunch of mustard greens and sautéed them with onions, garlic, spices, and rounds of Italian sausage. Simple garden fresh supper served over creamy baked yukon gold potatoes.

Taco Night

A pound of pork sausage in the fridge. Defrosted and almost in the fridge too long. I didn't want to banish it back to the freezer so I needed a dinner idea that was quick (it's been a pretty big day) and pork ready. This was pretty mild sausage so I decided to spice it up a bit and make a quick chorizo. In the blender I combined crushed red peppers (I should have used the who toasted chiles but that would mean more time and maybe more dirty dishes), chili powder, paprika, cumin, cilantro, garlic, S&P, apple cider vinegar and warm water until smooth.  I mixed that into the sausage and fried the meat in a hot skillet with olive oil and chopped onions.  After about 8 minutes, when the sausage was cooked and a bit crisp I added in peeled, cooked potatoes and mashed them into the sausage. Ten minutes later the mixture was spicy and ready to be spooned into tortillas for a quick taco dinner with leftovers for lunch the next day.

Stuffed Artichokes

 I love artichokes but honestly I don't like the bother of cleaning them. Spiny and prickly and in need of a good rubbing with lemon juice to keep the edible thistles an appetizing color. But artichokes are in season and compared to the exorbitant prices I am seeing for organic vegetables -- a relative bargain. I picked up a few globes and found a new technique on the internet. I blanched the whole artichokes in boiling water  (4 quarts) with a bit of lemon juice (2 TB) for 20 minutes. When drained and cooled I easily peeled off the lower leaves, snipped the spines and cut each in half to remove the choke with the edge of a spoon. Much easier.
To serve I mixed up a stuffing of cooked Italian sausage (another gift from our pig raising neighbors), chopped garlic, parmesan cheese, crushed red peppers, bread crumbs and olive oil. I filled the leaves and the cavity of the artichokes with this savory stuffing and baked the vegetables, sprinkled with more parmesan and drizzled with olive oil,  for 45 minutes at 375º.
A surprisingly hearty and surprisingly popular easily made supper.

Polenta And Greens

Another play for my super easy oven-baked polenta. While the cornmeal cooked (without stirring or any work from me) in the oven, I sautéed Italian sausage with garlic and crushed red peppers. When the sausage was browned I took it out of the skillet and rendered some chopped pancetta for a little extra flavor. Then I tossed in ribbons of kale a splash of water and a sprinkle of salt. The kale cooked, covered, for 5 minutes until well wilted. To finish I added the sausage back in along with a good dollop of olive oil, about 3/4 cup of cooked cannellini beans and nearly 1 cup of the bean cooking liquid. I let the mixture simmer for a couple minutes while I served up the creamy polenta.
Hearty cold weather food for a brisk April night.

Spaghetti with Sausage, Radicchio and Red Wine sauce

Simple and quick and a chance to use up a few things in the fridge. I started with sausage (out of the casings), red onion, garlic and shallots in a pan of hot oil and let the sausage brown and the onion soften together. I thought the sausage might be a bit bland so I added in crushed red peppers, rosemary, fennel seeds and oregano along with some finely chopped Italian dry salami. Next I tossed in the radicchio and let everything cook down until the red leaves were just tinged with brown. I added in about a cup of red wine and a cup of chicken stock and let the sauce simmer while the pasta cooked and the radicchio softened.

The drained pasta went right into the skillet with the sauce, a knob of butter and a handful of chopped parsley. I gave the spaghetti a good couple turns in the sauce and brought it to he table with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese and a little more fresh parsley.

A pretty hearty wintery dinner.