Local Ingredients: Spicy Sausage with Peppers and Onions

When I was growing up, my mom would make the best grilled sausage sandwiches with sauteed peppers and onions.  There was nothing particularly fancy about this sandwich and in fact it was usually fairly messy, but it was full of lots of great flavors and really stands out among my childhood food memories. 

Last night, I decided to recreate this meal and Bret was very excited since he loves sausage and peppers as much as I do!  I was especially excited to make this dish because I had a lot of really great local ingredients to work with and I think that everything tastes better with fresh local ingredients. 

To start, I had some great hot Italian sausages from Stillman's Farm. 

I pierced both sides of each sausage with a fork and put them in a skillet.  I added enough water and a splash of vegetable oil into the skillet so that it covered the bottom half of each sausage.  I put the skillet on medium-high heat, put a cover on the skillet and then got to work on my vegetables. 

First, I washed a small handful of broccoli rabe (from Siena Farms) and put it in the salad spinner to dry.  Once the greens were dry, I gave them a rough chop and put the broccoli rabe aside.

I then got to work on my peppers.  I had a beautiful red pepper along with three Hungarian hot wax peppers that were also from Siena Farms.  I chopped those up, along with half a large white onion. 

I put another skillet on the stove on medium heat with some vegetable oil.  When the pan was warmed up, I added the onions first because they would take the longest to cook down.

I then added the red pepper and also seasoned the vegetables well with salt and crushed black pepper.

The wax peppers were the next vegetables to be thrown in.  I very casually de-seeded them because Bret and I both like a lot of heat in our dishes.

I took a break from my vegetables and quickly checked on my sausages.  The water had cooked down, which meant that the sausages would be cooked through.  I turned the sausages over to make sure that they were nicely crisp and brown on the outside.  I returned back to my sauteed vegetables and added the broccoli rabe, which only needed a quick toss.

I loaded my veggies onto a crusty ciabatta roll and added the sausage. 

Bret chose to top his sandwich with brown deli mustard but I chose a roasted garlic mustard.

I don't want to tell my mom, but I think my sausage and peppers might just be better than hers.  I really liked the contrast of the spicy sausage and wax peppers with the sweetness of the white onions and red peppers.  Plus, the crusty ciabatta bread was the perfect vehicle for the sausage, peppers and onions.

What have you made recently that was inspired from a food memory?

Watermelon and Feta Bites

The first time I went to Vlora (a local Mediterranean restaurant), I fell in love with a delightful appetizer called the Watermelon and Feta Tidbit.  This dish contains watermelon, feta, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and parsley.  While none of the ingredients are particularly exotic, the combination of flavors are really vibrant and this dish always really stood out to me.

This past weekend, I decided to recreate this dish for Bret's dad's birthday party, which would be a casual get-together with his family where we would be grilling and eating all day by the pool.  When I volunteered to help make something for the party, Bret's mom suggested that I make a light appetizer and I thought this was the perfect opportunity to finally make my version of the watermelon and feta appetizer.

The day before the party, Bret purchased a watermelon and cubed it for me while I was out at a girls golf outing.  Bret creatively scooped out a little at the top of each watermelon cube to make room for the feta cheese.

The next day, at the party, I cubed out pieces of a firm feta cheese.

The feta cheese was placed into the hollowed-out section of the watermelon.

Bret chopped up some mint.

And I drizzled the watermelon and feta bites with balsamic vinegar.

Finally, each cube was topped with a bit of the chopped mint.

Like Vlora's version of the dish, I really loved the flavor combination of watermelon and feta but I think the substitution of mint over parsley made it even better.  In the future, I will probably cube the watermelon even smaller and maybe drizzle the balsamic on the watermelon before putting the feta on it for a prettier presentation.  But overall, I was pretty happy with this dish, especially when it got a lot of compliments from Bret's family and requests to make this again in the future.

What dish have you tried in a restaurant that you just had to recreate at home?

Black Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream

This post is all about the black raspberry swirl because I already taught you how to make vanilla ice cream. You can make the recipe I posted or make your own favorite recipe. Then when you remove your ice cream from your ice cream maker, simply layer it in a bowl with spoonfuls of the black raspberry mixture.

Black Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream (adapted from The Perfect Scoop)

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups black raspberries (not blackberries)
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon vodka

Vanilla ice cream custard, ready to be churned

Preparation

At least 1 hour before churning the vanilla ice cream custard in an ice cream maker, mash the black raspberries with the sugar and vodka.

Chill the mixture and let it macerate until ready to use or at least 1 hour.

Finish preparing the vanilla ice cream by churning the custard in an ice cream maker.

Layer the ice cream in a bowl with the black raspberry swirl mixture.

Serve in your favorite ice cream dishes!

Black raspberries are not very easy to find. We've been searching for them for months... just to make black raspberry ice cream. When I finally found some at the Charles Square Farmers' Market a couple of weeks ago, I  immediately snagged two pints. After reviewing some recipes, I realized I had to make black raspberry swirl rather than black raspberry ice cream because I would need 6 cups of black raspberries to make black raspberry ice cream. I loved the swirl ice cream, but Jeff really wanted the fruit integrated with the ice cream, so we put the leftover swirl ice cream in the food processor and turned it into a black raspberry ice cream that was really good but didn't have the strong black raspberry flavor one would want in the ice cream. Just wait 'til I get my hands on 6 cups of these guys!

Have you had black raspberries? How about black raspberry ice cream?

Raspberry Peach Cake

A couple of weekends ago I went raspberry picking with a friend of mine.  We got there bright and early to beat the heat, but unfortunately didn't find buckets of raspberries.  Alot of them had already been picked and a bunch more were unripe or moldy.  Luckily it wasn't a complete loss, as I left with three 1/2pints full of luscious red rubies!

On the drive to the farm, we were discussing our plans for the bounties we thought we'd be bringing back.   My friend mentioned a cake that she had made before that she liked that paired raspberries with peaches.  Mmm, peaches.   Sounded like a winner to me!

When I saw the first local peaches from Marshall's Fenway Farmstand, I exactly what I was going to do :)   I adapted the recipe a bit, but ended up with a delicious cake that was light yet hearty.   A perfect summer dessert, I absolutely loved it!

Raspberry Peach Cake
adapted from Fine Living

3oz (1/2c+2T +2t) oat flour (just ground oats)
3oz white whole wheat flour
1t baking powder
1/4t baking soda
1/4t salt
1/2-1t cinnamon (to taste)
4T butter
1/2c brown sugar
1/4c evaporated cane juice (or granulated sugar)
2 large eggs
2T unsweetened applesauce
1/2t almond extract
2/3c greek yogurt
1 small peach, thinly sliced
3/4c raspberries
1t evaporated cane juice
2t white whole wheat flour

Preheat oven to 350.  In a small bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flours through cinnamon).

In a mixer, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until fully incorporated.  Add applesauce and almond extract.

Fold in half of the dry ingredients, the the yogurt, and finally the rest of the dry ingredients.  Pour into an 8" cake pan sprayed with nonstick spray.   Shake the pan to spread out the batter.  Bake for 15min.

While the cake is baking, combine the topping ingredients (peaches, raspberries, sugar and flour) and lightly toss together so the flour and sugar get absorbed by the fruit.  After 15min in the oven, remove the cake and top with the berry mixture.  Return to the oven and bake 25-30min more.

Cool the cake for 15min in the pan on a cooling rack.  Remove from pan (you'll have to flip it twice, so the fruit is on top) and serve with a dusting of powdered sugar or a scoop of your favorite ice cream!

This Weekend I

-Wrote two posts but didn't quite capture all that my weekend entailed.
-Shopped at Anthropologie on Friday afternoon after consuming a large amount of Sake. I do not shop here on the regular, because I can not afford it. However, I had a gift certificate from Tricia burning a hole in my wallet since my birthday last year! I've been excited to use it ever since. But stayed away for fear of the inevitable. I used the gift card and then some (read: spent way way too much). I guess if I have a nice buzz going, I CAN afford their clothes. Who knew?!
-Played in a Fireball Island Tournament on Friday night at a friends house in Central Square.When my guy friends spoke of "Fireball Island night", I seriously thought they traveled to some mysterious island off the coast of Boston and shot fire into a pit. Or something. What actually goes down on said night is much cooler. Fireball Island is an old school Milton Bradley board game. Think Mall Madness but for guys. (Well not really, in fact not at all, but I figured more girls could relate / get excited if I made that comparison.) I enjoy board games, so this last minute night out (but really a night in) proved to be a lot of fun! We drank beer and ate Hot Dog Pizza. My friend had been talking about this pizza for awhile now and every time he mentioned it, I was grossed out. But you know me, I'll try anything. I ended up loving it. Seriously, don't knock it till you try it. For dessert we ate Hubig's New Orleans style pies. Shipped directly from NOLA! They are like the Hostess brand pies but way way better. We cut them into individual pieces and sampled various flavors throughout intense fireball action. Flavors included Lemon, Pineapple, Coconut, Apple, Chocolate, and Blueberry. I loved them all. Such a fun idea.
-Cleaned my apartment like a mad woman, and rewarded myself afterward. Hey, cleaning is tough work. It spanned the course of Saturday and Sunday. Saturday I mostly procrastinated and Sunday I did the heavy duty work. Saturday my reward was a Bloody Mary.
Sunday my reward was a Margarita. My drinks are lacking appropriate green garnishes in the form of celery, olives and limes, respectively. Ah well. At least I managed to salt my margarita glass. These beverages were the perfect way to relax and de-stress after scrubbing the toilet and tub etc. -Made Breakies on Sunday morning. Egg + American cheese + roasted red pepper on a Thomas's English Muffin. With a hash brown on the side. And a cup of coffee.

-Read your comments complimenting the blue sunglasses that I wore on Friday. Want to know the story behind them? Ok, I'll tell you. I got them at a friends going away party at a bar called Hong Kong in Faneuil Hall. Guess what brand they are? Skye Vodka. That's right. It was Skye promo night and in addition to free drinks and a plastic muddler, they hooked me up with these fun blue shades. I love putting SWAG to good use. So thanks for noticing them and thanks for your compliments!-Received a package in the mail. I won my first blog giveaway last week!! Alycia from Fit-N-Fresh hosts her own giveaways, minus the mile long checklist you're often required to complete in order to enter. Good clean fun. The giveaway was for Chickpea Brownies, but check out the additional loot. The treats came individually wrapped and labeled and she even included a card. They are quickly disappearing from the platter I spread them out on last night AKA they are delicious!! I ate the entire bag of mini Super Charge Me Cookies today at work. I felt super charged and super healthy when eating them!Thanks Alycia. You Rock!

Write.Shop.Play.Clean.Make.Read.Receive. It turned out to be a pretty good weekend for having no plans.

"Clean Out the Fridge" Potato and Mushroom Hash

If you cook as much as I do, you're bound to have lots of leftover ingredients in your fridge.  As I've written about before, I absolutely hating wasting food so I try to utilize and maximize every ingredient before it reaches its expiration date.

Last Thursday, I already had a simple summer meal planned out of grilled hot dogs and corn on the cob.  I wanted to add a small side dish to this meal but I also wanted to use the ingredients pictured below that had been sitting in my fridge for way too long:

I decided to go with the first idea that popped in my head - a potato and mushroom hash!  The preparation was simple enough and mostly involved lots of chopping.  Bret and I slowly got to work on the ingredients while we caught up with each other about our respective day.  I honestly think this is what I enjoy most about cooking with Bret - the bonding that we do as we spend time together.  But I digress.

Bret washed and chopped up the two potatoes.

Meanwhile I got to work chopping up the mushrooms at a similar size to the potatoes.  We wanted to make sure everything was cut uniformly so that all the ingredients cooked evenly.

Around this time, Bret got the skillet ready by heating it at medium-high heat with vegetable oil.  When the skillet was sizzling, he added the potatoes since they would take longer to cook through.  We liberally seasoned the potatoes and I chose a mix of seasonings like salt, fresh cracked peppercorns, cayenne and cumin.

While the potatoes were cooking, Bret got to work on chopping one large onion.

And I remembered that we had some leftover red Russian garlic from Siena Farms.  The bulbs were on the smaller side so I roughly chopped up one entire bulb.

Then I got to work slowly adding each ingredient to the skillet.  I started with the onions and mixed up the hash.  I then added the mushrooms and let those cook down a bit.  Finally I added the garlic and after giving everything a good taste, I added a bit more of the spices to make sure it was seasoned well.  I put a cover on the skillet and let all of the great flavors come together.

And it was delicious.  Of course our ingredients made a lot of potato and mushroom hash, but it was an easy leftover side dish and even better when it was re-heated!

What are your favorite "clean out the fridge" recipes?