Erin's Easy Eats

Chicken with Lotsa Stuff

May 1st, 2008 by Erin

This has a really fancy title. “Chicken Cutlets on Buttermilk-Cheddar Chorizo Biscuits with Tomato-Olive Salsa Mayo.” Whew. I believe they were supposed to be sandwhiches, but um, I did mine “open face” or lazy, and I could eat it with a fork, which is also lazy. I hate olives, so I left them out. You will never see olives on this blog. If you love olives, I am just saving them so there are more for you.

Really, the standout of this meal, which was new to us this week, was the salsa mayo. We were immediately trying to think of other things it could go with. Watch next week when we have the same salsa mayo with grilled shrimp tacos and Mexican rice.

Biscuits:

• 8 oz. buttermilk biscuit mix (I didn’t have this, so I made mine from scratch. Jiffy or Bisquick would work just as well and be a lot easier.)
• 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/4 lb. Spanish chorizo (which is already fully cooked) finely chopped

Place mix in a bowl, stir in cheddar and chopped chorizo. Add water or milk according to package directions. Form into 1″ thick square. Cut into 4 squares. Bake at 450 for 12-15 minutes (mine actually took almost 20. I blame this on the “from scratch” business.)

Salsa Mayo

• 1 c. chopped tomatoes (2 plum or 1 large regular tomato)
• 1/4 red onion, finely chopped
• 3 Tbs chopped cilantro
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder (I was done with chopping at this point, ugh)
• 1/2 c. mayo
• 1/2 Tbs. lime juice
• 3 shakes Tabasco (see mom and dad, I eat it now!)
• If you like olives, add 10 chopped green olives and let me know how it is

Mix everything together in a bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste. Beg my mother to tell you the Tabasco story in the comments.

Chicken

• 4 thin chicken cutlets (I halved breasts the thin way)
• 1/2 Tbs. ground coriander
• 1/2 Tbs. lime juice
• Salt and pepper

Season chicken with all that stuff. Cook on each side 3-4 minutes, until cooked through. (I imagine it would be equally wonderful on the grill.)

I just piled everything on top of everything else, but if you want a sandwich, split the biscuits, place chicken, then mayo, then some leafy lettuce, and then the biscuit top on top. Top on top. Hop on pop. Oof.

Posted in Uncategorized, chicken, dinner, recipes, sausage || 2 Comments

Gnocchi with Chicken Sausage, Bell Pepper, and Fennel

March 30th, 2008 by Erin

I always love looking though my Cooking Light magazine until I realize that every recipe has about 9,253 ingredients to make up for the fact that it is “light cooking.” Well, most of them, at least. This one did not, and it had sausage, which I love. I was a little apprehensive at first - mostly because I’d never had gnocchi until about an hour ago, and wasn’t sure how this dish would work, texturally. It ended up being wonderful, and super simple. The combination of flavors (sweet and savory) and textures (crunchy fennel, slightly gummy gnocchi, and crisp sausage) went very well together. I think we actually improved upon the original recipe by substituting what was both on hand and available at the grocery store. (The original recipe calls for basil, pine nut and chicken sausage, as well as Asiago cheese. I’ve listed what we used below.)

Ingredients:

• 16 oz. package vacuum packed gnocchi (I looked everywhere and eventually found it with the fancy Italian food in the yellow cans and jars - not sure what brand that is)
• 6 oz. smoked chicken and apple sausage (the recipe says to remove the casings, which I found impossible) sliced thinly
• 1 c. thinly sliced fennel
• 1 c. thinly sliced onion
• 1 c. thinly sliced red bell pepper
• pepper
• 1/4 c. shaved Parmesan

Heat 1 tsp of olive oil in a non-stick pan over medium high heat. Add sliced sausage and cook until lightly browned (or not so lightly, as you can probably see in the picture,) remove from pan and set aside. In the same pan (without washing) add another teaspoon or so of olive oil, and add peppers, fennel, and onions. Reduce heat to medium and cook until veggies are tender, about 13 minutes. While the veggies are hanging out, cook gnocchi according to package directions. Reserve 1/4 c. of cooking liquid and add to pan when veggies are done. Add back sausage, add pepper and cheese, stir until cheese is melted.

Posted in dinner, fast, potatoes, recipes, sausage || No Comments

Red Beans and Rice with Smoked Sausage

February 20th, 2008 by Erin

This is a recipe from Cooking Light. The first time I made this, I had a little stomach thing going on, so I didn’t eat but a bowl of it, but let me tell you… you know Popeye’s red beans and rice? And how I’m sure they’re full of gross and disgusting and fattening things? These taste like them, and they’re not at all fattening and gross. Also, smoked turkey sausage is el-cheapo ($2 for 2 links, at my grocery store) so this is quite economical as well. Dried beans round it out at about a dollar a bag…  This recipe makes a ton of food, and it all disappeared quite quickly last time.  (Probably even more now because I’m actually going to be eating it.)  The cook time is long, but the prep is fast and the ingredients are simple and few.

 

Ingredients:

• 2 c. dried red beans (kidney)
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 2 c. chopped onion
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 10 c. water
• 2 Tbs Cajun seasoning (salt free, preferably)
• 2 bay leaves
• 3/4 lb. smoked turkey sausage, thinly sliced
• 3 c. cooked rice

Wash and sort beans. Cover with water to 2″ above beans. Let stand 8 hours. Drain beans. Heat oil in a pot (you’ll need a big one) over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic, saute for 4 minutes. Add everything else except for rice, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 1 1/2 hours or until thickened and beans are cooked through.  Season to taste with salt. Serve over rice.

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Pumpkin Pasta with Sausage and Wild Mushrooms

January 14th, 2008 by Erin

I cannot claim ownership of this photo - I gakked it because my camera is dead. So there’s my disclaimer
Anyway, this is another Rachael Ray dish. You can’t go wrong with sausage and pasta! We thought maybe that it would be too similar to the other sausage dish I’ve posted, but it ended up being very different and quite wonderful.
Although this recipe called for mushrooms, we’ve decided they could easily be omitted as they sort of just blended in and didn’t really add much to the finished dish. There are a lot of ingredients in this one, but most of them I had lying around anyway, so it’s not a whole lot when you check your cupboard for the basics (pasta, onions, stock, garlic, wine, cheese, spices, etc. I all had on hand.) The pumpkin really lends a richness to this sauce that was unexpected (although I’m sure the cream helped too.) It’s full of simple goodness and is quite healthy. This is the first time we’ve tried this dish, but it certainly won’t be the last.

Ingredients:
1 lb. sweet or hot sausage (we use turkey, always)
1/2 lb. cooked penne pasta (or whatever shape you like, not too small)
1 chopped yellow onion
3 chopped cloves garlic
14 oz. canned pumpkin
3/4 c. chicken stock
1/2 c. white wine
1 Tbs dried sage
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
pinch cinnamon
1 3oz. package shitake mushrooms, sliced thin
1/2 c. half and half/cream/milk
Grated Parmesan
Chopped chives

Remove sausage from casing, cook until browned. Push to side of the pan. Add mushrooms, onions, and garlic. Cook until onions have started to soften and mushrooms have slightly browned. Stir together. Add white wine and let cook mostly off. Add chicken stock and simmer for one minute. Add pumpkin and stir (this will be thick!) Add cream, nutmeg, cinnamon, and sage, allow to simmer briefly. Add pasta and stir. Top with chives and cheese (Rick informs me that the “stinky cheese” is optional and the dish is still delicious. I am a girl who loves stinky cheese, so I piled it on.)

Posted in pasta, recipes, sausage || 6 Comments

Simple Sausage Pasta

December 28th, 2007 by Erin

So I used to make this dish back when I was a vegetarian and I used the fake “GimmeLean” sausage rolls. And my dear man even ate it then and raved. Last night was the first time I’ve ever made this dish with “real sausage” (even though I’ve been eating poultry again for over a year) and let me tell you, there were no leftovers.

Ingredients:
1 package turkey sausage (Hot or mild - I prefer hot)
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup cream (I used light last night but have used heavy in the past)
2 Tbs country Dijon mustard
1/4 cup (a good handful) chopped fresh basil
1/2 pound pasta (something small) cooked according to package directions

Start your water boiling for your pasta. (You’ll want it close by.) Remove your sausage from the casings and crumble and brown over medium high heat. When your sausage is done, add your pasta to the water (I use small shells and they normally take about 6 minutes to cook.) Add white wine and let cook off until reduced by about half. Turn heat wayyyyy down, add mustard and cream, stir to mix. Let simmer together for about 3-5 minutes. Add basil and pasta, stir to combine.

Now, yesterday, when I made it, I got hot sausage by accident and preferred it. Normally I got mild and added a couple of red chili flakes - you choose. Also, the sauce was really sparse, so I took about a ladle full of pasta water and mixed it in before I added the pasta and it worked well. Some tips, ya know?

Posted in dinner, pasta, sausage, turkey || No Comments