Kielbasa and Sauerkraut

 

Sometimes I just want peasant food. Simple ingredients and relatively few of them, quick and easy prep, one pan, and done. Dishes like this, I find, are great fun when served right out of the skillet from the center of the table. I found this paired particularly well with a side of German green beans. It’s also good mounded in a hoagie roll and served with a glass of hard cider or ale. Kielbasa and Sauerkraut

Adapted from thekitchn.com

 ½ large red onion

1 lb. sauerkraut

14-oz. kielbasa, sliced into 1/2” rounds

1 T. butter

1 T. vegetable oil

2 T. packed dark brown sugar

1 T.  spicy brown mustard

Freshly ground black pepper

Chopped scallions, for garnish

Thinly slice 1/2 large red onion (use a mandoline, if possible). Drain 1-pound sauerkraut.

 Heat butter and oil in a large skillet over medium heat until the butter is melted and the oil is shimmering. Add the kielbasa in an even layer. Cook until browned on the bottom, about 3 minutes. Flip and cook until browned on the second side, about 3 minutes more. Transfer to a bowl or plate using tongs or a slotted spoon, leaving the fat in the skillet.

Cook, stirring constantly, until the sauerkraut is heated through and onion is softened, 5 to 8 minutes. Taste and season with freshly ground black pepper as needed.

Return the kielbasa to the skillet and toss to combine. Garnish with chopped scallions.

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Slow Cooker Chicken and Sausage Cassoulet

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 As I mentioned last week, I intend to give my slow cooker to use every week. While this dish would no doubt be considered wintry, it is too wonderful to just enjoy during the cold months. There is a good bit of shopping ahead of time, but I tend to do my shopping the night before so that all I have to do is mix and dump. The aroma in the house while it was cooking was superb, and it made for a wonderful meal. I made rice, but you honestly wouldn’t have to. Serve it with a crusty roll, and your cooking is done in the morning so that you can relax and get on with things the rest of the day.

Slow Cooker Chicken and Sausage Cassoulet

Adapted from Food.com

1 15-oz. can cannellini beans, undrained

½ c. Bloody Mary mix

2 medium carrots, sliced into ½”-thick slices

2 celery ribs, cut into ½”-thick slices

1 3-oz. pkg. Melissa’s shallots, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 bay leaves

1 t. dried basil

1 t. dried oregano

2 - 3 frozen boneless skinless chicken thighs

8 oz. smoked beef sausage

Salt and pepper to taste

 Combine the beans, Bloody Mary mix, carrots, celery, garlic, bay leaves, and dried herbs.

 Cut the sausages in half lengthwise and slice, stir into beans.

 Place the frozen chicken thighs on top of the bean mixture.

Cover; cook on low-heat for 8 to 10 hours.

Remove bay leaves, stir, adjust seasonings as desired and serve.

Coca-Cola Kielbasa

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There is something about summer that says “sausage" to me. Well, summer says a lot of things to me, but sausage is one of them. While I love to cook it outside on the grill, there are days when the heat and humidity keep me indoors, and it’s on those days when I use recipes such as this one to make it in the slow cooker. If you are short on time and prefer, this can be prepared on top of the stove. Simply sauté shallots in a little bit of oil in a 12-inch skillet until translucent. Add the sausage and remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, reduce heat, and then simmer, uncovered, until the sausage is glazed. It’s a winner for dinner, but if you cut it into smaller pieces, it also makes an excellent appetizer or snack.

Coca-Cola Glazed Sausage

3 Melissa‘s shallots
2 lb. kielbasa sausage
¼ c. cider vinegar
2 T. stone ground mustard
1/3 c. brown sugar
1 t. cornstarch
1 7.5-oz. can of Coke

Slice shallots into rounds, and scatter on the bottom of the crockpot. Slice sausage, on the diagonal, into 2-inch lengths; scatter on top of the shallots.

In a small bowl, whisk together cider vinegar, mustard, brown sugar, and cornstarch, and pour over the top of the sausage and onions. Pour the Coke over all. Cook on low for four hours. Remove lid, turn setting to “high,” and cook for an additional hour until sausage is glazed.

 

Shrimp Boil Foil Packs

Ever since making my first foil pack meal (that I told you about last week, when I used spinach and scallops), I've been keen to learn more. While perusing recipes on the Internet, I came across one for a Shrimp Boil Foil Pack that sounded heavenly! I happened to have all of the components on hand, so was eager to try it. I cut the recipe way down, just making two, so that I could enjoy them two nights in a row, and posted a picture on Instagram and Facebook. Almost instantly I started getting requests for the recipe. I found this one on Le Crème de la Crumb blog, but made quite a few changes of my own.

This dish is both delicious and easy.  I didn't bother to boil the corn, but instead microwaved it in the husk, wrapped in a damp paper towel, for three minutes. Upon completion, I cut off the stem end, and then squeezed the top, allowing the entire cob to slide out cleanly with nary a silk attached. I let it cool, and then cut it up as directed. If you don't know about this easy method of microwaving corn, you need to give it a try. It is life-altering! I got my dad started on this a year or so ago, and now he's eating corn like crazy. Nothing could be easier.

The recipe below is adapted from the above-mentioned blog. I added onion because I liked the additional flavor, I also drizzled beer over the tops of everything before drizzling with butter and grilling. It made one heck of a delicious sauce, and had me wishing for some crusty bread to soak up the goodness.

Shrimp Boil Foil Packs

Adapted from Le Crème de la Crumb

1 lb. medium shrimp, peeled and de-veined

2 ears of corn on the cob, husked

½ lb., sliced

1 pound Melissa's baby red potatoes

2 medium onions, quartered

3 T. Old Bay Seasoning

Salt and pepper, to taste

3 t. minced garlic

Juice of ½ lemon, plus lemon wedges for serving

3 T. butter, melted

1/2 c. lager beer

Wrap each ear of corn in a damp paper towel. Microwave 2-3 minutes per cob. Remove from microwave using a potholder. Place cobs on cutting board and chop off the stem end of each about an inch from the end. Pick up the silk end and squeeze. The corn will slide right out free of silks. Cut each cob into thirds, and chop each third in half lengthwise.

Cut potatoes in half lengthwise. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and boil for ten minutes. Drain and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine shrimp, sausage, corn, potatoes, and onion. Stir together melted butter, Old Bay, garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste, and pour over shrimp, sausage, and veggies. Stir to coat.

Divide between four 12x12 inch sheets of aluminum foil. Drizzle each foil pack with two tablespoons of beer.  Fold edges of foil up around the food to create a closed packet.

Cook on preheated grill over medium-high heat for 8-10 minutes on one side, then flip and cook another 5-6 minutes on the second side. Alternately, you can bake the packets at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes until corn is tender and shrimp are pink and fully cooked.

While packets are cooking, melt remaining butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Once melted, continue to stir gently for 3-4 minutes longer until color changes from pale yellow to a golden amber (but be careful not to burn it).

 Serve shrimp boil packs topped with chopped parsley, lemon wedges for squeezing, and browned butter for drizzling over the top or dipping.

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Mini Sausage Pastries

If you’re looking for an appetizer in a hurry (and who isn’t during this very busy holiday season?), then you might want to try these.   I based my recipe on this one that I found in last week’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch, kicking it up a notch with the addition of Dijon mustard.   We’d found ourselves dipping the pastries into mustard, so I figured why not just add it to the pastry and be done with it.   It worked!  The key here is to have a very flavorful, spicy sausage that is a relatively fine grind.   I used the Bob Evans savory sage pork sausage as suggested in the original recipe to find it rather grisly and insipid, so went with our usual Bob Evans 'hot' variety and it worked out much better.

I also made just a third of the recipe, using the remaining two thirds of the puff pastry for Palmiers so I ended up with two delicious appetizers in relatively little time, having assembled the palmiers during the baking process of the sausage pastries.   The jury is still out on whether or not the sausage pastries freeze successfully.   I’ll have to let you know.

Mini Sausage Pastries

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed (half of a 17.3-ounce package)

2 to 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 pound spicy pork sausage (your favorite brand)

1 large egg

Preheat the oven to 450° F.  Cut the sheet of dough into 3 equal strips, cutting along the fold lines.  On a floured board, roll each strip into a 4-by-8-inch rectangle.   Brush center of each pastry (running lengthwise) with 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard.   Divide sausage into 3 equal portions.  Roll each portion into an 8-inch log.   Place one log in the center of each dough rectangle, leaving room to seal the dough.  Moisten one long edge of dough with water (you can use a pastry brush for this, or your finger – I chose the latter – fewer dishes to clean), then fold the dough over the sausage, making edges meet.   Flute the edge to seal, leaving ends open.  Cut each log into 10 equal pieces.  Repeat with the remaining sausage and dough.   Transfer sausage rolls to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Score the pastry tops.  Whisk the egg with a fork, then brush across the tops of the rolls.   Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until pastry is golden brown.    Let stand on baking sheet 2 minutes; remove to a cooling rack.   Sausage rolls may be served hot or cold.

This post is linked to:

On the Menu Monday

Mouthwatering Monday

Totally Tasty Tuesdays

Tasty Tuesday

What's Cooking Wednesday

Foodie Friday

Kirsten's Fried Pork Chops with Country Gravy

Believe it or not, this is actually a breakfast dish. Now I don't know about you, but no matter how hungry I am in the morning, the last thing I want is a pork chop.  Pancakes yes, pork chops, no!  So, I made these for dinner.  I was actually looking for a recipe that was fairly quick, easy, and didn't call for any oddball ingredients when I stumbled upon this one in Bruce Aidells's Complete Book of Pork: A Guide to Buying, Storing, and Cooking the World's Favorite Meat.  It advocates what I've been doing for years, namely brining pork (I'll never cook another pork chop without brining ever again!). If you're one of those people like I used to be who thought pork chops were chewy and dry, wait until you try this!  I let them brine for about 6 hours before cooking and they were moist and tender and so delicious.  It's worth making for the gravy alone, but do try the chops as well.

Kirsten's Fried Pork Chops with Country Gravy

BASIC BRINE:
3 cups cold water
1/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup sugar (I used light brown)
2 cups ice cubes
6 bone-in pork rib chops (each 1/2-inch thick) or 6 boneless pork chops

COUNTRY GRAVY
1/2 pound bulk fresh sausage (I used Bob Evans' "Hot")
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups half-and-half, plus additional if needed
Freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Hot sauce (recommended: Tabasco)
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Sausage fat or bacon fat

DIRECTIONS

To make the brine: Put the water in a large bowl and stir in the salt and sugar until the sugar is dissolved (I add the salt and sugar to a cup of water and microwave it for 3 minutes until everything is well dissolved, then add the rest of the water and ice cubes). Add the ice cubes and cool the mixture to at least 45 degrees F. Submerge the pork chops in the brine. Refrigerate for 2 hours or up to 4. Remove the pork chops from the brine, pat dry, and wrap in plastic wrap. Store in refrigerator until ready to cook.

To make the gravy: In a large skillet, cook sausage over medium heat, breaking it up with a spatula or fork. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the fat and discard. Reserve the fat in a cup for cooking chops.

Sprinkle the flour over the cooked sausage in the skillet; stir to coat. Gradually stir in the half-and-half, nutmeg and Worcestershire sauce. Cook, stirring, until the sauce thickens, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add more half-and-half if the sauce becomes too thick. Season, to taste, with salt, pepper and hot sauce. Cover the skillet and set aside while you cook the chops.

Sprinkle the chops generously with pepper. Dredge them in the flour, shaking off excess. In a large, heavy skillet, heat the reserved fat plus additional oil to a depth of 1/8-inch over medium-high heat. Put the chops in the pan, as many as will fit without crowding, and fry until golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes. Turn and cook on the other side, 2 to 3 minutes. If you're cooking more than one batch of chops, keep the fried chops warm in a preheated 250 degrees F oven.

To serve, put 1 chop on each diner's plate (you will have 2 remaining for second helpings) and spoon the gravy over them. Serve extra gravy on the side to pour over biscuits or grits...or not.

This post is linked to:

Savvy Home Made Monday @ Home Savvy A to Z
Melt In Your Mouth Monday @ Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms
Mouthwatering Mondays @ A Southern Fairytale
Homemaker Mondays @ 11th Heaven’s Homemaking Haven
Recipe Sharing Monday @ Jam HandsMenu Mondays @ Faith and Family

Making You Crave Monday @ Mrs. Happy Homemaker

Spicy Sausage and Potato Soup

It's hard to imagine waking up near the end of March and seeing five inches of snow on the ground, at least where we live, so inasmuch as springtime normally doesn't have me thinking about thick, hearty soups, today certainly did.  In digging through the fridge I found the remainder of a package of andouille sausages that we'd bought for making jambalaya and remembered that I'd printed out a recipe for an andouille and potato soup, so decided to give it a try.  The recipe can be found here, but for the sake of convenience I've also listed it below.

Before I proceed, let me tell you that it is delicious!  I'd never made soup in a skillet before, so that was a first, nor had I ever made soup with andouille.  The skillet preparation makes it quick and easy, with little need for extensive clean-up afterwards, and the andouille makes for one delicious soup.  It's very hearty, so a bowl of this and a roll, and you have dinner.  I served mine with a tiny little side of mixed greens.

The recipe called for the sausage to be diced, but my husband thought he'd prefer it sliced, so that's what I did.  I'm not so sure dicing isn't the better idea in order to get a better sausage-to-spoonful ratio, but do whatever you'd prefer here.

Spicy Sausage and Potato Soup

3 tablespoons butter

1 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped celery

12 to 16 ounces andouille sausage or other smoked sausage

1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup chopped green onions

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley or 1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes

1 teaspoon dried leaf basil

1 teaspoon salt, or to taste

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

3 cups chicken broth

2 pounds baking potatoes, peeled and diced

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

In a large skillet over medium-low heat, melt the butter. Add the onion, celery, and diced (or in my case, sliced) sausage.

Saute until the vegetables are tender and sausage is lightly browned. 

Stir in the flour until smooth and well-blended.

Stir in green onions, parsley, basil, salt, and pepper. Continue cooking, stirring, for 1 minute. 

Blend in the chicken broth. Add the diced potatoes, cover, and simmer for 25 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. 

Stir in the heavy cream and continue cooking until heated through.  

Serves 6.

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Scotch Eggs

While the London department store Fortnum & Mason lays claim to originating the Scotch egg in 1738, I had my first one at an Irish pub in Dublin back in the summer of 1999; I have loved them ever since.  Fortunately a local Scottish restaurant keeps them on their permanent menu, so I can get a quick fix whenever the crave hits, but it's cheaper and more convenient to make them at home.  Plus, it's FUN, and they never fail to be a hit.


These can be served warm or at room temperature, so don't worry about not being to make a lot of them all at once, you don't want to crowd the pan or you'll run the risk of them knocking into each other and pulling off some of the coating.  You can keep them warm in the oven on a low setting, if desired, but placed on a rack to drain after frying will suffice.  Also, if you don't have (or don't want) a deep fryer, don't let that deter you from making these.  A heavy, deep pan will work just fine.


SCOTCH EGGS

1 1/4 pounds bulk sausage, variety of your choice
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon rubbed, dried sage

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Pinch of cayenne pepper

4 hard-boiled large eggs

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 large eggs, beaten

1 cup plain bread crumbs

Vegetable oil for deep-frying the eggs

Combine the first six ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix thoroughly. Remove mixture from bowl and divide into four equal portions; flatten each portion into a thin round. Wrap each hard-boiled egg to cover in one of the sausage rounds, pressing carefully to seal completely.  Dredge the sausage-coated eggs in the flour, then dip them into the beaten egg.  Allow the excess egg to drip off and then carefully roll in the bread crumbs, coating well.  Heat 2-3 inches of oil in a deep fryer or Dutch oven to 350°F.   Carefully lower the eggs into the hot oil and fry 4-5 minutes until the sausage is thoroughly cooked, turn turning once during the cooking.  Use a slotted spoon to remove them from the oil to drain on a paper towel. Serve with a spicy mustard sauce.

If recipes for pub food interest you, I recommend this book.  It's fun to read and is full of easy-to-prepare recipes for dishes like Scotch Rabbit, Cock-a-Leekie, oatmeal cookies, Scottish shortbread, and many others.

This is linked to Foodie Friday.