Chicken Sausage, Potato, and Apple Hash

My dad devoutly opposes my usage of the word hash, which to him means shredded beef, potato, and onion browned in a skillet, but which Merriam-Webster defines as "chopped food; specifically: chopped meat mixed with potatoes and browned." So for this recipe I'm using the term loosely, since I'm not chopping the meat, but still. I think it applies.

I was originally inspired by this recipe, but decided I wanted to modify it to make it a full meal. Because Tessa and I have watched approximately one zillion episodes of "Chopped," and I already love hash, I decided to add roasted potato and deepen the flavors with a little thyme and garlic. I also healthed it up with chicken sausage instead of pork links, and subbed in leeks for onions, because I am leek-crazy.

This recipe only takes around 30 minutes (since you can prep everything else while the potatoes are roasting) and is full of beautiful fall flavors, and uses some of those fresh seasonal apples that are flooding farmers' markets and grocery stores around this time. I associate sage with Thanksgiving, and roasted potatoes and leeks are just melt-in-your-mouth comfort food.

I left the sausages whole to ensure that they didn't dry out, and started cooking them first to get a nice caramelization on them. Don't forget to take your sausages' flavorings into account in terms of seasoning. If you have a choice, choose one with a bit of heat; it'll nicely offset the sweetness of the apples. If you're a vegetarian, you could sub in veggie dogs or perhaps some tempeh for the chicken sausage.

1 package pre-cooked chicken sausages

3 yukon gold potatoes

1 large or 2 small leeks, cleaned and cut into half moons

3 small apples, cored and sliced or chunked

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp butter

1 tsp dried sage
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp thyme

sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper, to taste

1. Cut the potatoes into chunks and toss to coat with 1 tbsp of the olive oil and the spices. Roast in a 400-degree oven for 15 minutes. (Sound familiar? It's this with different spices.) Remove and set aside.

2. Melt the butter in the remaining olive oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add the whole sausages and cook for 5-6 minutes, turning occasionally to ensure even browning.
3. Stir in the leeks, apples, and roasted potatoes. Cook until leeks and apples are tender and sausages are nicely browned, about 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally and continuing to turn the sausages.

Serves four.

Carefully remove all kittens from skillet before cooking. 

Butternut Squash Risotto

This was my maiden voyage making risotto, a food I'm actually not as familiar with as I'd like to be. The recipe, apparently originally by Gordon Ramsey, Tessa got from a tweet by her friend Christina (@t0astbandit) and emailed to me so that I would make it. We both love butternut squash, so I gave it a whirl. I also found the most perfect local butternut squash I have ever seen. It was beautiful.

I usually post recipes with fairly quick/easy preparations, but this one is a little more complex. It took me about an hour and a half, start to finish, although about half of that time all I was doing was roasting the squash and prepping the rice.

It turned out lovely, though-- on the sweet side but still savory, nicely spiced, bright, complex flavor. It was also filling-- really stuck to my ribs-- and the cheese added a touch of richness that filled it out perfectly. Tessa will tell you, I was still remarking on the flavor of dinner two hours after we were done eating it. The only thing I would modify is that I would add the lemon juice more slowly, mixing and tasting as I go-- the batch I made yesterday was a tiny bit too lemony.

I've made two modifications to the recipe-- it calls for shallots, I used leeks instead, and I used whole grain brown rice as my base. The brown rice is for nutrition; the leeks are because I love them. Definitely a good fall dish. Vegetarian, too.

3 cups vegetable or chicken stock/broth.
1 1/4 cups whole grain brown rice
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large leek, finely chopped (or 2 shallots)
1 butternut squash
1 bunch of thyme sprigs

4 tbsp butter
1 cup dry white wine
2 tbsp mascarpone cheese
4-5 tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Freshly ground sea salt and black pepper
12 sage leaves, finely sliced
Juice of 1 lemon

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Lay it on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Arrange the thyme springs evenly on top and place in the oven. 

2. Roast for about 45 minutes, until they are fully cooked, soft so that a knife can easily go through the squash. If they start to colour too much, cover with aluminum foil and return to oven. 

3. Once the squash is cooked, it remove from the oven set aside and allow to cool. Scoop out the baked flesh of the butternut squash, discarding the skins, and puree. (I used a hand mixer to puree since I'd made smoothies in the food processor-- this worked fine and the puree was still velvety.)
4. Pour 1 cup chicken or vegetable stock/broth in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the rice, return the stock to the boil and cook for 4 minutes, adding more broth/stock if necessary so that the rice is covered. Drain well.
5. In a medium saucepan, gently sauté the leeks/shallots in the remaining olive oil until soft. Add the wine, and cook until the alcohol has evaporated and the liquid has almost completely reduced. 

6. Heat the remaining stock to the boiling point. Add the rice to the shallots, then begin to add the stock, a ladleful at a time, making sure that each addition has been absorbed before adding any more. Continue until the rice grains are tender.
7. Add the cold butter, then quickly stir in the butternut squash puree and allow to heat through. Then turn off the heat and add the parmesan, mascarpone, chopped sage and lemon. (Be careful with the lemon-- as I said above, mine came out a little overpowering.) Stir until all the dairy is incorporated, so that the risotto is creamy. If it becomes too dry, add a spoon or two of water, and adjust the seasoning. 

Serves four, topped with fresh-shaved Parmesan.

Gordon Ramsay Kitten says: "Shut it down!"

Roasted Potatoes

I've been on a roasting kick lately, mostly because our local farmers' markets have been supplying us with lots of fresh, local produce and roasting is a super easy cooking method that can be extremely flavorful. I love roasting squash, both summer and butternut, and one of my new standbys is roasted potatoes.

When selecting your potatoes, the smaller the better, since smaller potatoes have a higher skin-to-flesh ratio, and the skin is where the majority of the nutrients can be found. Also, colored-flesh potatoes like Yukon Gold or Purple Viking are a better choice than potatoes with white flesh, because they contain extra nutrients in the actual flesh of the potato. So choose wisely. I served these potatoes last night with some spinach and garlic chicken sausage and fresh green beans, both from the farmer's market (as were the potatoes).

1 lb small potatoes
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/8 to 1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp oregano
1/8 tsp basil
1/8 tsp thyme
pinch of nutmeg
cayenne pepper, to taste
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Cut the potatoes into pieces no larger than the first part of your thumb (the one with the nail). (Do not peel. Unless they're russets. Peel russets.) Set aside.
3. Mix olive oil and spices in a large bowl until uniform. Add potatoes and toss to coat.
4. Spread potatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet or in a baking dish.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes, stirring them around twice so that they will brown but not burn.

Serves three as a side dish.

Generally, if your kitten is smaller than the potato, it is too big.

Surprisingly Addictive Brussels Sprout Salad

Don't let the name freak you out. Brussels sprouts once elicited an emphatic ewwwww from me, until I unsuspectingly tried this recipe at my aunt and uncle's one Thanksgiving. This is the recipe-- and it's delicious!

It's the nutmeg, for me, that makes these Brussels sprouts borderline addictive. I like to serve this with roasted butternut squash (cut in half, 400 degree oven for 45 minutes, season with sea salt, fresh black pepper, and 1/2 tablespoon butter each). Sometimes I like to sprinkle it with parmesan cheese, although this would make it decidedly less vegan. Though I've only used this recipe as a side dish, a large portion could pass for a full meal, since it includes vegetable, fruit, and nut components. (By the way, have I mentioned that walnuts are a superfood?) It's light and healthy, yet satisfying. It also only takes about 10 minutes to prep and cook.

1 lb organic Brussels sprouts
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup dried cranberries

1. Shred the Brussels sprouts by thinly slicing.*
2. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the Brussels sprouts, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes, until the Brussels sprouts are bright and slightly wilted.
3. Add the walnuts and cranberries, tossing to combine.

Note: The original recipe says to core the Brussels sprouts. Removing the core decreases the bitterness of the sprouts, but it's also wasteful, and when the core is sliced up, most of the bitterness will cook out anyway.

Serves four as a side dish, two as a main course. Original recipe here.

I have captured the sprout.