When we lived in Virginia, our son-in-law, Blair, loved to go to the local diner for biscuits and sausage gravy. I could never see the appeal of this gray-looking glop until I decided to make it at home as a special treat for him. Good sausage meat and a little hot sauce turned the dish an appetizing rosy color. While it's not a dish I would recommend having on a daily basis, for a once-in-a-while treat it's a great change from bacon and eggs. 1 small onion, finely chopped1 lb. sausage meat 2 tablespoons flour 1 1/2 cups milk Hot sauce to taste Buttermilk biscuits to serve. Watch the video:
During a recent trip to Yorkshire, England, we had the opportunity to visit Cockburn's in Bedale. Much more than your average butcher shop, they offer an amazing variety of home-made pies, aged beef, locally sourced game, every cut of meat imaginable, and sausages. Not just ordinary pork sausages (although they are very good too) but 12 different varieties. Everything from caremelized onion, honey mustard, Italian, black pudding, and on and on. We were invited to see Wayne Pearson - the master sausage maker - produce the specialty sausage of the day, and then we took some back and cooked them for dinner. Watch the video:
This is a dish which evolved from a family recipe I learned from my mother-in-law who got many of her recipes from my father-in-law's family. They were Italian but had a lot of Spanish influence from friends in their Tampa neighborhood. This is a great dish to serve for a crowd since you can prepare most of it in advance - if you omit the shrimp you can do the entire thing in advance! Because all of the meats are cut bite-sized you don't need a knife to eat it! NOT QUITE PAELLA
Ingredients: ¼ cup olive oil ½ pound boneless chicken cut into bite-sized pieces ½ pound sweet or hot Italian sausage cut into 1" pieces ½ pound shrimp
1 medium green pepper cut into 1" squares 1 medium red pepper cut into 1" squares 1 medium onion, chopped 3 cloves garlic, chopped 1 small can tomatoes, chopped - reserve juice ¼ teaspoon saffron 2 bay leaves salt and pepper to taste 2 cups Uncle Ben's rice 3 cups hot chicken stock 1. Soak saffron threads in chicken stock. 2. In a large sauté pan, heat oil, brown chicken, and sausage in separate batches, remove and set aside. 3. Cook onion, 2 cloves of garlic and peppers till soft. 4. Add saffron, tomatoes and juice, salt and pepper. Cook for 2 minutes. 5. Add rice and stir thoroughly. Add hot chicken stock, chicken and sausage, stir well. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until rice is almost cooked. 6. Sauté shrimp with remaining clove of garlic till almost cooked then add to rice mixture for final few minutes of cooking. Dish may be prepared a day ahead up to step #6. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Reheat over low heat, sauté shrimp with garlic and add to rice mixture. You may vary the ingredients to suit your taste. For example: use chorizo instead of Italian sausage, add clams, mussels, lobster. Make it vegetarian by adding asparagus, artichoke hearts, carrots, peas, etc. and replace the chicken stock with vegetable stock or even water. You may also use Arborio or any other rice you may prefer. Watch the video demonstration:
COMMENTS:
Betty,
Made your "not quite paella" today and it was a big hit.
Believe it or not, I had never eaten pasta when I met my husband. So it was quite a revelation when I was introduced to the delights of spaghetti, ravioli and lasagne. Not to mention chicken parmigiano, chicken scarpariello, eggplant parmigiano, fettucini Alfredo, etc. I often think this was what started me on my cooking career!
Shortly after we were married, my mother-in-law, who was an excellent cook, taught me the family recipe for spaghetti sauce with meatballs - and sausage and hardboiled eggs! The recipe came from her Sicilian mother-in-law and is a great example of Italian-American cooking. I am happy to share it with you.
I am making a large quantity since this freezes well - except for the eggs. Feel free to make a smaller amount.
For the meatballs:
1¼ lbs. “meatloaf mix” - equal portions of ground beef, veal and pork
4 eggs, lightly beaten
½ cup freshly grated parmigiano cheese
½ cup chopped parsley
1 cup Italian style breadcrumbs
2 cloves garlic, grated
Olive oil
Add the eggs to the meat and mix lightly. Add remaining ingredients and mix lightly but thoroughly. Form meatballs keeping hands rinsed in cold water. (Makes about 20 meatballs.)
Heat a large, heavy stockpot (I use a 10 qt.) and add enough olive oil to cover about ¼” deep. Let the oil heat and add 6 or 8 meatballs to pan. Allow to brown and then turn to brown on all sides. Remove to a clean bowl and continue browning remaining meatballs, sausage and hardboiled eggs, if using.
For the sauce:
2 cups chopped onions
3 or 4 plump garlic cloves, finely chopped or grated
8 28 oz. cans crushed tomatoes
1½ tablespoons dried oregano
1½ tablespoons dried basil
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
Add a little more olive oil to the pan if necessary and add the onions. Cook until softened and add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes more. Add the tomatoes and remaining ingredients. Stir to combine and bring to a boil. Return the browned meats to the pan and cook at a simmer for 4 to 5 hours.
Note: I like to use a Flame Tamer to prevent the sauce sticking on the bottom. If you don’t have one, keep the heat as low as possible to allow a simmer and stir frequently. WATCH THE VIDEO DEMONSTRATION BELOW
Comment;
Betty;
My spaghetti sauce is very much like yours except that I add a potato along with the meats and eggs.
I don't have this recipe written down (watching my mother, Nanna , A. Mamie) I just eyeball everything. My mother was not one for writing recipes down.
Now when anyone ask me for my spaghetti sauce I'll give them a copy of yours.
One year we had some college soccer players over for dinner (they would help my husband Gil coach youth soccer) they went crazy for the spaghetti meal and couldn't get over that there was sausages, eggs and potatoes in the sauce. Whenever we hear from them, they always mention the sausage,eggs & potatoes in the sauce.
Enjoy watching your videos, I always learn something new. Loretta D.
Here is a short video on how to make our favorite meatballs (Recipe is above);
