Asian noodle bowl

First things first. The picture is really lousy (it is likely the worst pic I have ever posted here), but the good news is that I have finally gotten my cell phone to send pix to my email address. Now all I need to is hold the camera still and get more light. Anyhow - I made this one-dish Asian dinner in my wok tonight. I didn't measure anything, I did onion and both Chinese and Japanese sausage first, set them aside and did the baby bok choy while the udon noodles were stewing in some broth for 3 minutes. Tossed everything together and served it up in hot bowls. Here's what went into it:

Asian noodle bowl
1/2 an onion, cut into half moon slices
4 Japanese sausages
2 Chinese sausages
a bunch of baby bok choy, bottoms trimmed and leaves separated (it was probably 6 cups of leaves)
2 packs of udon noodles (about 4 oz)
2 handfuls of mung bean sprouts
ponzu sauce, a few splashes
Shiaoxing cooking wine, a few splashes

I guess I've done my duty by getting all that written down (it wasn't written down before I started cooking). In spite of the picture it was very tasty and filling.

Choucroute garni

I first had choucroute in France more than 40 years ago. Depending on how many people were being served, some of the platters were freakin' enormous. My version today is very modest. I used homemade sauerkraut (it only takes a few days and very little effort), a kielbasa I got on sale, and boiled potatoes. You can make this with a variety of meats, from corned beef to hotdogs (although maybe wurst is best, LOL). It bears a remarkable resemblance to New England boiled dinner, and is no doubt related genealogically speaking. For a sauerkraut recipe see "Kimchi and sauerkraut", my post from May 15, 2010. I needed to stop by the Georgetown Safeway to get prescriptions for Peter so decided to see what other meat I could find. I did find some white sausages to go with my kielbasa.

I'm not going to post a formal recipe for this. It isn't needed. Boil the potatoes; boil, steam or fry your meats; heat up your sauerkraut. Put it all together on a platter. Invite people over.

Wok-smoked turkey sausage

A few years ago I saw Jacques Pepin make turkey sausage on an episode of “Emeril Live”. I think my favorite thing about it is the pistachios. This was truly an experiment to smoke the sausage instead of simmer it. Couldn’t think of any reason in the world why it wouldn’t work. With the benefit of my electronic temp probe it was easy to monitor the cooking.

Wok-smoked turkey sausage
1 lb. ground turkey (mixed white and dark meat is essential)
¼ cup fresh sage leaves,.chopped fine
¼ cup shelled pistachios
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
½ tsp smoked paprika

Put everything into a large bowl and mix it thoroughly with your hands. Put it in the fridge to let the ingredients blend their flavors together. This can be an hour or two or a day. Jacques advocated storing it in the fridge for 3 days before cooking. I don’t have that much patience. Roll up a 1” ball and microwave it for 20 seconds to check for seasonings.

Form the sausage into a log and wrap it tightly with plastic. Then refrigerate.

After a day or two or three, remove the plastic. Wrap the sausage it in one layer of cheesecloth so that it will hold its shape.

Soak a large handful of woods chips in water for 30 minutes. Line your wok with 2 pieces of foil. Turn the heat to medium high (6 on my 1-10 dial). Place the turkey on a small piece of foil in a steamer basket and insert a temperature probe. Smoke the sausage for about 45 minutes, then transfer it to the 350 oven and bake until the temp 170 is reached. My electronic temp probe makes monitoring this quite easy.

Now, for those who ain’t gonna smoke this stuff, put your sausage log in a 1 gallon freezer bag and squeeze out all the air you can. Bring a large pot of water to boil, reduce to a simmer and put the bag into it. You may need to weigh it down with something to keep it submerged. Keep at a very, very slow simmer for one hour. Take it out of the water bath. Leave it undisturbed in the freezer bag and it will re-absorb some of the exuded liquid.

Now, what are you going to do with it? Beats me! It’s good for sliders, with eggs, with most anything.

Sauerkraut, sausage and potato casserole

I’ve been mulling over what to do with some Italian sausages (mild) that are in the freezer. Then it hit me – I want mustard, I want horseradish, I want sauerkraut. Normally I would prefer to make my own sauerkraut but I’m impatient just now and simply bought some at Safeway. Normally I would buy sauerkraut in the refrigerated section, either in a bag or a jar.

Turns out I used canned sauerkraut. Kuner’s brand. After tasting it, I decided to rinse it slightly. No reason to leave all the chemicals in. Even though rinsing removes some of the flavor, the addition of caraway and capers helped compensate for that.

So as to make this a one-dish meal, I added some potatoes. There is nothing astounding about my sausage/kraut/potato casserole. It’s just darned good! Peter suggested adding some cheese. I just couldn’t bring my head around to that. In the end, he was perfectly happy with the results. I did agree that he could add a bread crumb streusel, a combination of crumbs,

Sauerkraut with sausages and potatoes
1 14oz. can sauerkraut, drained and lightly rinsed
1 tsp caraway seeds, ground or smashed
8 oz. red potatoes
8 oz. Italian sausages (spicy or mild, your choice)
1 tspn caraway seeds, lightly smashed in a mortar and pestle
2 tbs prepared horseradish, or to taste
2 tbs capers
black pepper to taste
½ cup chicken stock
Streusel: unseasoned breadcrumbs moistened with melted butter, about ½ cup

Cut the potatoes into 2” pieces. Cut the sausages into 2” pieces.

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add the potatoes and sausages. Simmer 8 minutes. Drain.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Lubricate a medium casserole with cooking spray. Mix the caraway, horseradish, capers and some pepper in a bowl. Put the sauerkraut into it and toss. Put the potatoes and sausage into the casserole. Top with the sauerkraut and add the chicken stock.

Bake until hot and the sausages are cooked through, about 1 hour. You can do this as much as a day ahead. When you’re ready to eat it, top it with the streusel and run it under the broiler for a few minutes to brown and crisp it.

Sausage, broccoli and egg casserole

I hadn’t intended to post today, but just felt I wanted to mention this beautiful casserole Peter made yesterday. His motivation was partly inspired by our garden and partly by the turkey sausage we had on hand. Peter’s version is greatly modified from the original, but you can get that original at http://kittencalskitchen.com/.

From our garden: green and yellow beans, blanched; tomatoes; basil.
From our fridge: leftover gai lan (Chinese broccoli); turkey sausage.
Logical ingredients: eggs, cheese, mascarpone cheese, cottage cheese, onion, salt and pepper, etc.

This is basically a crustless quiche. The proportions of custard to solid matter are absolutely spot on. If you are quiche lover, I think it would be worth a visit to the above site to check out the original recipe.

Potato risotto

“Chuck’s Day Off,” hosted by Chuck Hughes, is an excellent show on the new (also excellent) Cooking Channel. He’s a restaurant chef, a no-nonsense cook, and doesn’t bore me with stories of his childhood. (And he doesn’t say YUMMO.) This recipe is inspired by him, modified by me, and a nice new thing to try.One curious thing: he said the stock didn’t need to be simmering the way you would want it with a traditional risotto. Ok, I’ll buy that, although I think I’ll still heat the stock so as not to interrupt the cooking with temperature drops.

A word about the sausages. The recipe below is the way I found it on the web. Needless to say I didn't make 10 lbs. of sausage. I had exactly 1.6 lbs. of lamb shoulder. I took my calculator and multiplied each ingredient by .16 to arrive at the proportions I needed. I didn't stuff it into casings; I wrapped it tightly in plastic wrap, put it in vacuum-sealed bags.

Potato and leek risotto

1 lb. Yukon gold potatoes, ½” cubes

1 tbsp olive oil

1 leek (white and light green parts), rinsed well and chopped

4-5 oz. mushrooms (whatever kind you prefer)

4 cups chicken stock

¾ cup grated parmesan cheese

1 cup mustard greens, julienned

additional baby greens as available (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Salt it well and blanch the potatoes for 5 minutes.In the meantime, cut up the mushrooms.Heat the oil in a sauté pan until shimmering. Add the mushrooms and leeks, a bit of salt and pepper, and sauté until softened but not colored.Drain the potatoes and add them to the pan. Toss to coat with the oil. Add stock in ½ - ¾ cup increments. Simmer, stirring often, in the same fashion as you would with a regular risotto. When the potatoes are nearly done (softened but still al dente), add a bit more salt and pepper and taste, then add the greens. Let them wilt for just a couple of minutes.Add cheese, taste, and adjust seasoning as necessary. Serve in heated wide bowls, garnished with the scallion.


Moroccan Lamb Sausage
10-lbs ground lamb
3-cups minced onion
3-cups finely chopped fresh parsley
2-cups ice water
3-tbsp salt
2-tbsp cayenne
1-tbsp freshly ground black pepper
1-tbsp dried oregano
1-tbsp dried coriander
1-tbsp dried marjoram
1-tsp cumin

Combine all ingredients, mix well. Form into 8 5” logs. Wrap in plastic and vacuum-seal them in bags. Boil 10 minutes and then brown in butter in a skillet.

Turkey "sausage" meatloaf

Look how white this is! Apparently I never used pure turkey breast like this before. I was stunned pulling it out of the oven.

Time to stretch my culinary imagination. A long time ago I made turkey sausage a la Jacques Pepin (from a visit he made to Emerial Live). Then I recreated it in my own image. This time I’m going the sausage route but as a meatloaf.

In yesterday’s posting I discussed turkey milanesa which I made from slices of boneless, skinless turkey breast. They each were about 6 oz. The rest of the breast weighed 2 lbs!!! Thankfully my trusty Kitchen Aid mixer has a meat grinding attachment I use often.

The turkey had been brined for several hours and then, even though I rinsed it, it sat in the fridge for another 24 hours. A little sample, microwaved, proved to be on the salty side, but Peter agreed that by not adding additional salt the rest of the meatloaf ingredients would stretch it out and disperse the saltiness. Don’t get me wrong, I could have eaten it just as it was – but it was a bit over-salty. If I had planned to just make burgers, I would have soaked the pieces of turkey breast (before grinding) in cold water for an hour.

So here it is, thanks in part to Jacques, and in large measure to yours truly.

Turkey “sausage” meatloaf
2 lbs. ground turkey breast
½ cup minced onion
1 tsp ground fennel seed
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
1/3 cup parsley, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
½ tsp dried thyme
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp black pepper, or to taste
¼ cup breadcrumbs
¼ cup heavy cream
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3 slices thick-cut bacon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Put a teaspoon or so of the mix into a small bowl and microwave it for 20 seconds. Taste and adjust seasonings to taste.

Lubricate a loaf pan with cooking spray. Put the turkey mixture into the loaf pan. Top with bacon slices (cut them as needed to cover turkey in one layer).

Bake until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees, about 1 hour. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Melange rules the day

Yesterday I made another version of choucroute garni. Peter had picked up two different sausages, Johnsonville brats and Boulder (CO) breakfast sausages. We did a major shopping excursion and stocked up on necessities for the next week’s menus. We had leftover homemade sauerkraut and were saving the homemade corned beef for lunch today: Reuben sandwiches.

I could have titled this posting “The best choucroute you will never make,” simply because nobody else has exactly the same stuff in the fridge. Here’s how it came together.

I boiled red potatoes and carrots until tender. I braised 4 brats and 3 breakfast links along with some fresh, finely sliced cabbage. I threw in salt and pepper and some ground caraway seed. When the potatoes and carrots were done, I combined them with the sausage, topped the whole thing with some homemade sauerkraut, and let everything merge and meld. We nearly wet ourselves when we started sucking up this succulent mix, accompanied by some coarse-grain mustard as a condiment.

Why am I writing about this without a recipe? It’s “ideas” my friends. It’s all about ideas.

By the way, the artisanal sausage from Boulder was way less flavorful than the Johnsonville brats. Chemicals be damned. Sometimes it’s about the taste! We ate far more than we intended and have slotted in Monday’s dinner to polish off the rest (and there’s still a lot of it). Buon appetito!

Sausage and sauerkraut casserole

The finished product

After rummaging about in the freezer and fridge I hit on an idea to use up a long piece of frozen German sausage and the rest of a bag of sauerkraut we've been using to make Reuben sandwiches. Gosh, this was good!

Sausage and sauerkraut casserole
16 oz. German or Polish sausage
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1/2 medium onion, sliced
½ cup chicken or beef stock
2 carrots, in bite-size pieces
8 oz. red or new potatoes in bite-sized pieces
1 tsp fennel seed, coarsely ground
1 tsp caraway seed, coarsely ground
black pepper to taste
salt to taste

1 Granny Smith apple, quartered, cored and sliced thin
sauerkraut, drained but not rinsed (enough to cover the top of the casserole)

Cut the sausage into 2-3” pieces. Heat olive oil and butter in a large sauté pan. Add the sausage and onions and season lightly with salt and pepper. Saute 10 minutes, until the sausage is browned and the and onions softened. Deglaze the pan with stock.

Meanwhile boil the potatoes and carrots in salted water until nearly done – about 12 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

The veggies and sausage await the apples and sauerkraut

Grease a casserole. Put the sausage mixture into it. Add the potatoes. Add ½ the fennel seed, caraway seed, salt and pepper. (Be judicious about the salt – the sauerkraut and sausage might be salty.) Add the broth. Scatter sauerkraut over the top, enough to cover everything.

Bake covered until hot and bubbling, 1 hour if chilled; 30 – 40 minutes if already warm.

Serve with a grainy mustard and crusty bread if you wish.

A soup redux

This is one of my simpler recipes (I do go on a bit, don’t I?). I made mine with a type of whole lentil bean called urad dal, but any lentils or even canned beans would suffice. Why don’t I add the lentils until the very end? I find that they (or a soup pasta) will suck up a lot of liquid overnight in the fridge (assuming you have leftovers). Beans are less of a problem in that regard. The second time you serve the soup you can warm the lentils in the microwave and the soup will have a fresh taste.

I combine broth and water again for a freshness that all broth might not give you. I think half and half broth and water would probably be fine as well. Individual taste trumps the details of any recipe after all.

A soup redux
3 bratwurst or other sausages
1 tbsp olive oil
½ medium onion, finely chopped
1 large clove garlic, minced or pressed
1 large carrot, cut into ½” pieces
3 cups beef broth (or chicken broth) – low sodium
2 cup water
salt and pepper
1 cup lentils (any kind, cooked according to package directions)
juice of ½ lemon
cilantro or parsley for garnish

Put the sausages in a sauté pan with 3 tbsp water. Turn heat to medium. Cook, turning frequently, until the water has evaporated. Add the olive oil and sauté until browned and nearly cooked through (about 10 minutes).

Remove the sausages from the pan and set aside.

Add a little more oil if necessary and when hot add onions to the pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened (4 min.) and then add the garlic. Add the carrots and sauté 5 minutes, again stirring occasionally.

Add the broth and water and bring to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

In the meantime, cut the sausages into bite-size pieces. Add the sausages to the vegetable mixture and simmer until the carrots are tender.

When ready to serve, place an appropriate amount of lentils in each heated soup bowl, garnish with lemon juice, cilantro or parsley (or both!) and a drizzle of olive oil if you wish. Refrigerate any leftover lentils for seconds another day.

White bean salad with brats and fresh tomato

With all the challenges in life: unemployment, same-sex marriage (and lack of same in our household), medical reform, medical challenges, etc, Peter and I have two constants: (1) the meticulous planning, execution, and consumption of our daily meals; (2) cocktails at 5 pm while we watch an episode of Jeopardy or Millionaire. If this seems pedestrian or prosaic, all I can say is it works for us!

Lunch is usually a sandwich, ranging from banh mi, to grilled ham and cheese, to chicken or tuna or egg salad, and so forth. Lunch also includes a daily mix of cutup fruit with plain yogurt as a dressing. Dinner will include a protein, a starch, and a vegetable (often a salad these days with remarkably resilient lettuce from our own garden). The regularity of substantial and varied meals, enjoyed in the preparation nearly as much (but not as much) as in the eating.

Having bought some brats on sale at Safeway a few days ago, I got to thinking about a salad with white beans (my favorites of which are called Navy beans and come in cans at Safeway). In part I like them because they are small.

I sat down at this computer yesterday and composed the following recipe. Try it – it’s superb!

Sorry there’s no photo – the one I took at the dinner table didn’t come out well.

White bean and sausage salad
2 bratwurst, cooked and cut into ½” pieces
1 15 oz. can white beans, drained and rinsed
1 small shallot, minced
1 medium tomato, chopped
¼ cup canned black olives, halved
1 medium garlic clove, minced or pressed
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp chopped parsley
½ tsp fresh rosemary, minced
½ tsp fresh thyme leaves
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp Dijon mustard

Start the bratwurst. I use a Rachel Ray technique for this. A small amount of water in a sauté pan; add the brats and cook, turning occasionally until the water has evaporated; add olive oil or butter and continue sautéing until the sausages are browned and cooked through.

While the brats cook (or do ahead of time), put the beans, shallot, tomato, olives, garlic, salt and pepper, parsley, rosemary, and thyme in a large bowl and toss to combine. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil and mustard. Add to the large bowl and toss to combine. Set aside.

We heated wide bowls in our excellent convection toaster oven, served up the bean mix and added the hot sausages (after cutting into ½” pieces). The result is basically a room temp to warm salad, very pleasing on a summer evening.

Giant meatballs, risotto-style orzo with butterbeans, and braised radishes

This will be one of my most ambitious postings. Pazienza.

I dreamed this up over the course of several days. I got a 2-pound tube of Jimmy Dean sausage from the manager’s specials bin at Safeway a few weeks ago and cut it into 2 pieces and froze it. While re-reading a recipe from the NY Times magazine from 2 weeks ago for Chris Cosentino’s malfatti, I found a way to use his concept for great big meatballs.

The picture is, of necessity, a collage comprising photos of orzo, a meatball, and braised radishes. For the radishes I must thank Lydia Bastianich. The recipe is hers. I include it here because this entrée is a one-dish meal for 4 and you’ll want everything if you want to try it.

The method of making risotto-style orzo is pretty standard, except for the (inspired I would say) addition of the butterbeans.

I stake my claim when it comes to the meatballs. A person could certainly make small meatballs, but this was just whimsical enough to amuse yours truly.

Giant meatballs, orzo with butterbeans, and braised radishes
For the meatballs:
1 lb sausage, any kind, casing removed
3 oz. crusty bread, cubed
½ cup heavy cream
1 tbsp butter
½ onion, fine chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 tbsp flour
salt and pepper, to taste
olive oil

Preheat the oven to 375°.

Put the bread cubes into a food processor and only slightly pulse until roughly chopped.

Put the bread in a large bowl and soak it in the cream.

Melt the butter in a little olive oil and sauté the garlic and onion until soft, 3-4 minutes.

Add the sausage and egg yolks to the bowl with the bread and combine.

Add the breadcrumbs and flour and mix in.

Add salt and pepper.

Put 1 tsp of the mixture into the microwave for 30 seconds and taste for seasonings. If necessary, spice it up with pinches of dried oregano, thyme, and/or ground fennel seed; or, of course, more salt and pepper.

Form the remaining sausage mixture into 4 large balls.

Line a shallow baking pan with foil and spray the foil with cooking spray.

Bake the meatballs uncovered until they reach an internal temperature of 165°. Mine took about 35 minutes. Remove from the oven, tent with foil, and allow to rest 5-10 minutes.

For the orzo:
1 cup orzo pasta
½ onion, very finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
4 cups chicken stock
1 14.5 oz can of butter beans
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
¼ cup white wine
salt
lemon pepper
finely chopped scallion greens or parsley
1 lemon, cut into wedges

Heat the chicken stock to a simmer and add ½ tsp salt and ½ tsp lemon pepper or white pepper.

Heat 1 tbsp of the butter and 1 tbsp oil over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic, reduce heat to medium and sauté until softened but not colored, 4-5 minutes.

Add the orzo and stir to coat. Continue to sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add the wine and allow it to be absorbed.

Add enough chicken stock to just cover the orzo. Simmer and stir often. When most of the stock has been absorbed add another ½ cup. Stir occasionally. Repeat until the orzo is tender/al dente. It will take 10-12 minutes.

Drain and rinse the butter beans. Add to the orzo along with the other tbsp of butter and heat through.

For the radishes:
1 bunch organic radishes with their greens.*
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
¾ cup chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste

Cover the radishes with water in your sink. Gently shake them under the water. Remove and empty the sink, rinsing any grit down the drain. Repeat this 2 more times.

Melt the butter and olive oil over medium high heat in a sauté pan.

If any of the radishes are large, cut them almost in half from bottom to top. Don’t cut all the way through because you want the greens intact.

Add the radishes to the sauté pan and toss them until the greens start to wilt.

Add the stock, salt and pepper to taste, and bring to a simmer.

Cover the pan and braise the radishes at a bare simmer until they are softened but still with a little crunch, about 6-8 minutes.

To assemble this dish, ladle orzo into wide heated bowls. Top each portion with 1 meatball. Place a few radishes next to each meatball and drape the greens over it. Scatter scallions or parsley over everything, sprinkle with a little lemon juice (to taste), and drizzle with a bit of olive oil if you wish. Serve.

*In my experience, the green tops of non-organic radishes don’t cut the mustard. Organic ones are much more appropriate to this recipe. The rinsing is essential. Radishes are always dirty when you buy them.

For a free excerpt of my book, “A Year of Food,” in which I opine, report, cook, muse and philosophize about everything that passed my lips for an entire year, write to me at: scrout1944@msn.com.

A light and delightful soup

Soup, wonderful soup. That’s today’s topic.

Here’s the simplest soup to make you’ll ever find.

Egg flower soup with pork
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 quart low sodium chicken broth
2 scallions, chopped
2 sausages (Italian, bratwurst, whatever)*
¾ snow peas
¼ cup Chinese cooking wine
salt, to taste
white pepper (or black), to taste
pinch of Sichuan pepper
juice of ½ lemon

Cut the sausages into ½” pieces. Put them and the broth on the stove and bring to a simmer. They should cook through in about 6-7 minutes. Remove them to a small pan along with about ½ cup of the broth. Place the pan over low heat, add the snow peas and cover.

Bring the broth back to a strong simmer. Season it with salt, pepper, and Sichuan pepper if you have it. With a wooden spoon stir it vigorously in a circle to create a sort of whirlpool effect. Slowly drizzle in the egg, pouring it through the tines of a fork.

Add the pork and snow peas and the liquid they are in. Add the lemon juice and scallions. Taste to check for seasonings. Serve in heated bowls.

*You can use some ground pork, chicken or turkey if you wish. You'll need to season the soup differently if you're not using a flavorful sausage.


For a free excerpt of my book, “A Year of Food,” in which I opine, report, cook, muse and philosophize about everything that passed my lips for an entire year, write to me at: scrout1944@msn.com.

Classic cassoulet

“Cassoulet is a rich, slow-cooked bean stew or casserole originating in the southwest of France, containing meat (typically pork sausages, pork, goose, duck and sometimes mutton, and pork skin. The dish is named after the cassole, the distinctive deep round earthenware pot with slanting sides in which cassoulet is ideally cooked.”

The above is courtesy of wikipedia, as is the picture.

Peter went out of town yesterday and I made myself a double helping of cassoulet, according to my own plan, though influenced by a published recipe. Good golly was it satisfying!

I may have mentioned the other day that I had some pork cuttings I cured in the same solution one uses to make corned beef. It essentially turned out to be like ham. Instead of using fatback or some other pork cut for my cassoulet I used my homemade product. If I hadn’t had it, I would have simply used bacon.

For the purposes of the recipe below I have doubled what I made yesterday. It would be enough to serve 4, or 2 meals for 2 people. There seemed to be little purpose to going to all this trouble (mostly just time cooking) for a single serving.

I will make this for Peter just as soon as the weather chills down again. As for me, I couldn’t have enjoyed it more than I did even in spite of the outside evening temp being about 60°.

For the beans I used the remains of a package of frozen black-eyed peas. Use fresh dried beans if you wish, but it just makes the prep more laborious. The sausages I chose were a brat-like Italian-style link sausage.

Cassoulet
4 strips thick-cut bacon
4 sausages, your favorite kind
1 medium onion, quartered
2 medium carrots, cut into 1” pieces
3 cloves garlic, sliced thick
2 red-skin potatoes, quartered, skins left on

1 qt. chicken stock

1 lb. frozen black-eyed peas
1 14 oz. can whole peeled tomatoes
salt and pepper
bouquet garni (1 sprig parsley, 1 stalk celery, 1 sprig thyme, bay leaf, tied together in a bundle)
½ cup fresh bread crumbs

In a cast iron pot, render bacon. Remove and set aside.

Brown the sausages in the bacon faat. Remove and set aside.

When you quarter the onion, just trim the visible roots, trim the top, but leave the thick root-end part on so that it will hold the quarters together. This is largely a presentation thing, so if you want slice the onions in thick pieces.

Add the carrots and onion and cook over moderate heat, turning the onion pieces occasionally, until they begin to caramelize, about 7 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute. Add, potatoes, the bouquet garni, and bacon. Add just enough stock to come up to the level of the vegetables and bring to a boil. Season with salt and pepper. Cover the casserole and gently simmer over low heat for 1 ½ hours, stirring occasionally. Add the frozen black-eyed peas and sausage after 45 minutes, increasing the heat briefly to get back to a simmer.

Bring the tomatoes to a simmer in a saucepan and preheat the oven to 325°.

Stir the tomatoes into the casserole and sprinkle with the bread crumbs. Add more broth if necessary. It probably won’t be if you use the tomatoes with their juice. Bake the cassoulet for 1 hour longer, removing the lid for the final 30 minutes. It is done when the bread crumb topping is well-browned. Remove from the oven, discard the bouquet garni, check the seasonings, and allow to rest, covered, for 20 minutes before serving.

For a free excerpt of my book, “A Year of Food,” in which I opine, report, cook, muse and philosophize about everything that passed my lips for an entire year, write to me at: scrout1944@msn.com.

An off-the-cuff dinner

Sure you can get out your “Joy of Cooking” and find a perfectly good meatloaf plan, probably with optional variations. But when you find a piece of top round in your freezer that you just know is not going to give you an edible London broil (I know from experience), and the weather is quite cool, screw your courage to the sticking point and get creative. I did consult “Joy” for just one thing: internal temperature for the meatloaf - 160°.

The fact is you could simply prepare ground beef as if for a burger, put it in a loaf pan, top it with cheese and have “burger loaf.” Same for chicken, turkey or pork. A standard meatloaf mix will generally have 2 or 3 different kinds of meat. Anything you would do to a hamburger you can do to meatloaf. Be brave. You have to go quite a distance to screw it up.

If you are using ground beef and ground veal 160° is too high a temp. However, lots of people use chicken, turkey or pork along with beef. The poultry must get up to 160°; the pork to 145°. That low for pork? Scientists tell us the infrequent potential from undercooking piggy meat is obviated at a temperature of 137°. Personally I go for 140° for, say, pork tenderloin or a roast of pork.

“Joy” told me to get the meat up to 160° with ground pork in it. I didn’t think I wanted to go that high, but caved in to my uncertainty about the processed pork sausage I used. In the end the meatloaf was well done and a little dense but had excellent flavor. And, dressed with some homemade tomato sauce (you could use a jarred spaghetti sauce for this), it was very, very good. Next time I’ll go for 150°, as I indicate below.

I couldn’t help but notice some other components of the cookbook meatloaf recipe: meat quantities, egg quantity, bread crumbs, etc. But I was dealing with specific amounts of ingredients I had on hand and adjusted everything accordingly.

I went out to buy one thing I didn’t have, pork sausage. The Safeway had some available in bulk and I was able to buy the ½ pound I wanted. The clerk assured me it was spicy sausage. That turned out not to be true. If I do this again with that same product, I’ll definitely add some red pepper flakes.

Recently I posted a recipe for baked artichoke hearts. I got it from Rachel Ray. Each time I’ve made it I like it less. The food network website gave me a few ideas and I invented an artichoke braise that I think is superb. It was a side dish to the meatloaf along with some polenta.

So, starting from square one…

(Don’t let your) Meatloaf
1.4 lbs. top round, ground
½ lb hot Italian sausages, casing removed
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup unseasoned bread crumbs
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 tsp dried thyme
½ medium onion, finely diced
1/8 cup parsley, chopped, plus more for garnish
1 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper
2 tbsp pimiento, chopped
4 bay leaves
4 tbsp tomato sauce, plus more for garnish

In a large bowl, mix the meat and sausage together with your hands, just until combined. Add remaining ingredients except bay leaves. Toss lightly until combined.

Put the sausage through the grinder if it is particularly sticky. It will blend better with the beef than way.

Preheat the oven to 350°. Place the oven rack in the lower third of the oven.

Spray a loaf pan with Pam. Place bay leaves on the bottom of the pan. Add the meatloaf mixture, pressing it carefully into the pan to eliminate air pockets. Top it with tomato sauce. Place the loaf pan on a baking sheet and put it into the oven.

Bake until the internal temperature is 150°. Remove from the oven, tent with foil, and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes. The sides of the loaf should start to pull away slightly from the sides of the loaf pan.

You could try to remove the meatloaf from the pan, but I chickened out and managed to extract the first (most difficult) slice intact. Slice with a serrated knife into 1-inch slices or larger if you want. Served with your favorite steak or barbeque sauce if you wish.

Braised artichoke hearts

I am far too lazy to disassemble artichoke hearts. You can get them frozen at the market and, while not quite as good as fresh, they are perfectly viable.

1 package frozen artichoke hearts, thawed and at room temperature
6 thin slices of lemon
1 clove garlic, minced or pressed
salt
pepper (white if you have it)
½ cup chicken stock

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a sauté pan. Add the lemon slices and the garlic and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. A word about the lemon: slice them across including the peel and be sure not to include any seeds. The rind will not be bitter after its cooked.

Add the artichoke hearts and salt and pepper and sauté just until the hearts start to take on a little color. Add the broth, cover, and simmer for a few minutes while you finish up other dinner preparations. You can always reduce the heat to very low at let them sit a bit longer. Or, you can take them off the heat and serve them warm, though I think not a room temperature.

What could be simpler than that?

For a free excerpt of my book, “A Year of Food,” in which I opine, report, cook, muse and philosophize about everything that passed my lips for an entire year, write to me at: scrout1944@msn.com.