Supermeow!

Sausage with many ingredients!

A couple months ago or so, I went to my mom’s house where she made something rather fantastic for dinner. She told me that she’d been making such a thing for herself and my father a lot recently. She took sweet and hot Italian sausage and cooked them with garlic, sliced white onions, strips of roasted red pepper, pepperoncini, and some very tiny potatoes from Trader Joe’s. The dish was basically invented so she’d have something to do with these tiny potatoes. When it was all done, she’d cover it with some shredded cheese, and there you had a meal.

I decided to try it at home, though mine ended up a little different from hers. I’ve also added olives and artichoke hearts, and today I decided to throw in roasted cherry tomatoes and sliced leeks. The first time I tried this at home, the potatoes didn’t get quite soft enough, so I also tossed in some chicken broth and white wine, both to deglaze the pan and add flavor. I also added some lemon zest and lemon juice to give it a little brightness, but it’s got lost with all the other strong flavors in here.

This isn’t a finished product, but it’s an evolving recipe that’s basically the sort of thing you come up with when you’ve got various ingredients and aren’t quite sure what to do with them all.

This recipe assumes that there is a Trader Joe’s within distance and that they carry all the same stuff that I used in this recipe, such as the teeny potatoes. I also used heirloom cherry tomatoes from TJ’s in this recipe, along with their chicken broth because I tend to like theirs the best.

Finally, this is not a great recipe to serve to someone who has problems with acid reflux or heartburn. It’s pretty spicy and acidic.

Sausage cooked with many ingredients

Serves 4-6

• 2 leeks, white/light green parts only, sliced into thin rings
• 1 lb. cherry tomatoes
• 1 lb. hot Italian sausage (I prefer Whole Foods’ sausage over all others – great flavor, not disgusting and fatty/gristly)
• 1 large white onion, sliced
• 6-8 cloves garlic, crushed (add more or less at your preference)
• 1 shallot, sliced (very much optional)
• 2 roasted red peppers from a jar, sliced into thin strips
• 8-10 small pepperoncini, sliced into rings
• 8-10 Kalamata olives, coarsely chopped
• 1 14 oz. can artichoke hearts, drained
• 1 bag of tiny potatoes from Trader Joe’s (~12 oz? I imagine that you could use any type of small potato in this dish)
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• ~1/2 cup chicken or vegetable broth
• ~1/4 cup white wine
• Shredded Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place your cherry tomatoes and leeks onto a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Toss to combine. Roast for 40 minutes, stirring after 20 minutes. Set aside to cool.
2. In a large frying pan or sauteuse or basically a large but not tall-rimmed pot (not a Dutch oven: you want space for liquid to evaporate), start cooking your dang sausages. Brown on both sides, takes about 20 minutes total. While they cook, toss in the onions, garlic, and shallot, stirring so they don’t burn.
3. When sausages are about done, remove from pan and set aside to cool. Add red peppers, pepperoncini, olives, artichoke hearts, lemon zest, lemon juice, tiny potatoes, and white wine. Stir to combine.
4. Add the tomatoes and leeks.
5. Add chicken broth to cover the bottom of the pan. Cover pot and cook over medium heat for about 25-30 minutes.
6. Slice up the sausage on the diagonal. Put it aside.
7. Check your veggies/potatoes. Check if the potatoes are tender with a fork. If they’re still a little firm, cover and cook another 5 minutes. Otherwise, smush the potatoes down with gentle force using the back of a spoon: don’t mash them, just sort of gently break them open so they start to absorb the cooking liquid.
8. Toss in the sausage, stir, and cook for another two minutes.
9. Serve with parmesan cheese and antacids.

Anyhow, this recipe is an evolving one. Like a lot of stuff that I cook, it ends up being pretty visual. You can probably throw just about any vegetables into this and it’ll taste awesome. I also forgot that my mom adds more raw garlic and freshly chopped parsley at the end when she  makes this. I’ve considered making it into a tomato-based sauce, too. Pretty tasty.