Fall Veggie & Sausage Sauté

Have I mentioned lately how much I love getting a CSA? Because boy howdy do I love it. I'm already despondent thinking about trying to get anywhere near the quality at the market once the CSA shuts down for the season. This dish was, yet another, example of "what can we make with what we have on hand?" As I was eating it I realized that, sausage aside, this flavorful dish was actually really healthy. No butter, no cheese, only a handful of pasta to the mound of sauté... this could become a recurring guest on our table.

A couple of notes: the squash I roasted a couple days prior and put in the fridge. I under-roasted it slightly so it would stand up to being sautéed without becoming mush. Also, the sauteé is hefty and filling, so you could forget the pasta base entirely if you wanted to avoid carbs. Me, I like starchy bases, so it stays :) The large sausage links I bought at McKinnon's, a local meat shop. Struggles and I have been loving their garlic-cheese ones for just about everything. (There'll be another post about mushroom soup and how I punched it up the second time around with these delicious meat tubes.) I pre-cooked the sausages a bit so they'd hold their shape when I sliced them. Oh, and as always, anything marked with a * came from the CSA!

(so good, even the picture makes me want to eat it again)

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1/2 large red onion, large dice
• 1/3 medium butternut squash, roasted and cut into inch cubes*
• 3 small bell peppers, rough chopped*
• 1 medium zucchini, cut into 1/4" half rounds*
• 1 bunch asparagus, cut into 1.5-2" pieces
• 3 large sausage links, slightly precooked and cut into 1/4" slices (see notes above)
• 1.5 teaspoons crushed red pepper
• salt & pepper

• 1/2 pound pasta, cooked and tossed with:
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 tablespoon dried thyme

1) Olive oil, garlic, and red onion go right into the pan to sauté over medium heat until they're translucent. Throw the not-entirely-cooked sausage medallions in there. (I'm using a LARGE, flat bottomed skillet, by the way.)

2) After 2-3 minutes, toss in the zucchini, peppers and asparagus, along with the spices. Cover. Open and stir every 90 seconds or so until the asparagus is BRIGHT green.

3) Push everything around to the sides, leaving an empty spot in the middle of the pan. Fill the empty spot with butternut squash cubes. Cover and let sit for 1-2 minutes. Open and stir very gently so you don't squish the squash.

4) Serve over pasta. Dust with parmesan, if you want.

Making it up as I go along: Moroccan Quinoa/Kale/Carrot Salad

Struggles has inspired me to go out of my comfort zone cooking-wise lately. He's got a big love for Moroccan, so most of our dishes lately have featured the flavors of pomegranate, apricot, cumin, coriander, etc. This salad we came up with based on random stuff we had lying around. I took to the internet for some guidance on the dressing, but it's all ad hoc. I'm pretty pleased with the result. The dressing has a little kick and the salad is healthy but hearty, thanks to the heft of the kale and quinoa.

1) For the salad, mix together, in a large bowl, the following:
4 cups fresh kale, hand shredded to bite sized pieces
2 cups cooked quinoa
1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
3/4 cup dried apricots, diced to pom seed size

2) In a small frying pan, toss 1/3 sliced almonds with the following and cook over medium heat until the almonds are toasted.
     - 2 tablespoons olive oil
     - ground coriander
     - ground cumin
     - garlic powder
     - allspice
     - ground black pepper
     - salt

3) Spicy Moroccan Dressing*:
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 1/2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons dried parsley
2 teaspoons paprika
fresh ground black pepper
salt

4) Whisk it all together and toss the salad thoroughly.

* As with many things, spiciness is a personal preference, so be sure to taste the dressing before mixing it in. It's okay for it to be slightly spicier than you actually want since it'll be distributed over a lot of salad ingredients.

Pibil Mission Chili

Amusingly, this is based on a Meatless Mission Chili recipe out of the 15 Minute Gourmet Vegetarian book by Pauline Mitchell. The pibil pork was made by my companion, Struggles, a few days prior for tacos. He cites the recipe as being from Once Upon a Time in Mexico and offers this link. I will note that he didn't use habaneros, as called for, as we couldn't find those at the local supermarket, so he used several green ají dulce peppers instead. These little things are slightly lower in Scoville units so he used 5 or 6 instead of the 1-3 habs called for in that recipe. Also, there was no tequila to be had, so he omitted that.

1- 29 ounce can Goya black beans, drained and rinsed

1- 29 ounce can Goya red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1- 29 ounce can Goya cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1- 15 ounce can diced no salt added tomatoes, do NOT drain

1 quart low sodium chicken stock

7 garlic cloves, minced

1 medium yellow onion, diced

1 orange bell pepper, roughly chopped

1 yellow bell pepper, roughly chopped

1 green bell pepper, roughly chopped

1 small/medium zucchini, roughly chopped

1 small/medium zucchini, grated

4(ish) green ají dulce peppers, finely chopped (borderline minced)

20-30 ounces of shredded pibil pork 

3 tablespoons oil (I was using canola)

2 tablespoons chili powder

2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon rubbed (dried) sage

3-4 tablespoons ground cumin (fresh is best, of course)

1 cup roasted, unsalted whole cashews

1) In a *large* stockpot, heat the oil over medium heat. Dump in the onion, garlic and ají dulce peppers. Sauté until the peppers are translucent. I like to add in about half of all the spices here, both for their aromatic effect and so the spices added closer to serving time are more pungent. 

2) Dump in the pibil, tomatoes (with the juice,) the bell peppers and the chopped zucchini. Sauté until the bell peppers soften.

3) Pour in the drained and rinsed beans and the grated zucchini. Next in is the chicken stock. the liquid should cover the contents of the pan by about an inch. If it doesn't, add some water until it's right.

4) Bring it to a boil and then turn down to a simmer. This is where the rest of the spices go in and you can start playing with the flavor. Generally, I prefer my chili to have heat, but be really richly flavored. Simmer for at least an hour, or until it's a hearty thickness. Make sure to taste it at least five minutes after each spice adjustment, so you don't over spice, especially if you're kicking up the heat.

5) When doling out individual servings, throw a small handful of roasted cashews on top. Of course, serving with cornbread is highly recommended.