Sausage and eggs just seem to go together. While in the U.S. we usually associate the two with breakfast in other countries people often eat them for a light dinner. This recipe from Morocco combines eggs with merguez—a lamb sausage popular across North Africa—and a few vegetables to make a tasty supper. If you cannot find merguez, try this dish with another spicy sausage like chorizo or Andouille. You can use any green olives; I used some stuffed with garlic which are particularly tasty. I also used fat-free liquid eggs in place of four of the real ones.
Serves two to four
| Ingredients | ||
| Merguez sausage, halved if large |
240 grams |
8 ounces |
| Onion, finely chopped |
about 100 grams |
1 large |
| Tomato, seeded and chopped |
about 100 grams |
2 medium |
| Green olives, pitted and sliced |
about 100 grams |
10 large |
| Cumin powder |
2 milliliters |
½ teaspoon |
| Sumac powder (optional) |
1 milliliter |
¼ teaspoon |
| Eggs, large |
6 |
6 |
| Salt and pepper |
To taste |
To taste |
Cook the sausage in a large skillet a lid or in the base of a tagine over medium heat until done (70°C or 160°F).
Adjust the fat in the pan to about 30 milliliters (2 Tablespoons) by pouring off excess or adding olive oil. Add the onion, tomatoes, and olives then sprinkle on the spices. Sauté for about 5 minutes or until the onion is softened but not browned.
Beat the eggs lightly to just break the yolks then pour them over the sausage and vegetables. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover, reduce heat to low, and allow the eggs to poach gently until done, about 20 minutes.
Stretching from Buzzards Bay to Narragansett Bay, roughly from Taunton past New Bedford to Fall River, the South Coast of Massachusetts is known for its diverse population and, especially, for its Portuguese fishermen. And it is famous for its Portuguese-style seafood soups and chowders. Unlike the creamy Irish-style “New England” chowders found farther north, these have a distinct Mediterranean flair. (Manhattan clam chowder actually originated here.) Besides a variety of fish and seafood, these chowders include spicy Portuguese chourico sausage. In fact, I would say that chourico and tomatoes are pretty much the essence of South Coast soups. So feel free to use whatever fish or shellfish you have on hand. You can hardly go wrong.
|
Ingredients |
|
|
|
1 tablespoon |
15 ml |
|
|
Bay leaves |
2 |
2 |
|
Chourico, sliced ¼ (6 mm) thick |
6 ounces |
170 grams |
|
Onion, chopped |
6 ounces |
170 grams |
|
Green bell pepper, chopped |
4 ounces |
110 grams |
|
Tomatoes, coarsely chopped |
1 14½ ounce can |
1 411 gram can |
|
Garlic, minced |
1 tablespoon |
15 ml |
|
Allspice berries |
4 or 5 |
4 or 5 |
|
Firm potatoes, cubed |
12 ounces |
340 grams |
|
Fish stock or clam juice |
about 2 cups |
about 500 ml |
|
Pimentón (optional) |
¼ teaspoon |
1 ml |
|
Old Bay™ seasoning (optional) |
½ teaspoon |
2½ ml |
|
Salt and pepper |
to taste |
to taste |
|
Minced clams |
1 6½ ounce can |
1 184 gram can |
|
Cod or haddock, cubed |
8 ounces |
225 grams |
Heat the oil in a heavy soup pot or Dutch oven over a medium flame. Brown the bay leaves in the hot oil for a minute or so then add the chourico. Cook, stirring often, until rendered and brown. In the same pot, sauté the onions and bell pepper until soft, about 8 minutes. Add the tomatoes, garlic, and allspice to the mix and cook for a further couple of minutes.
Add the potatoes to the pot along with enough stock to just cover them. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer gently for about 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Stir in the pimentón and Old Bay™ seasoning, if using. Season with salt and pepper.
Gently fold the clams and fish into the broth. Simmer, uncovered, for about 10 minutes or until fish is cooked through.
Earlier this month I posted a recipe for Creole Jambalaya with this introduction to the subject:
Classic Louisiana jambalaya comes in two basic varieties, Creole and Cajun, the former being the original dish adapted from the paella of their native land by Spanish Creoles; the latter is probably a rustic variation on the more urban Creole jambalaya. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word jambalaya comes from a Provençal French word, jambalaia, meaning a mish-mash. Traditionally the Creole version contains tomatoes while the Cajun does not. And while Cajun jambalaya usually includes Andouille sausage, the Creole jambalaya recipe in The Picayune’s Creole Cook Book (New York: Random House, 1989) calls for chaurice which is similar to fresh chorizo or Portuguese chourico.
This recipe is an adaptation of a brown Cajun jambalaya with a few twists. First, when I started prepping the ingredients I discovered that I had absentmindedly made mire poix instead of the Cajun trinity; that is, I had used carrots instead of bell pepper. Well, there is no way to unchop a carrot so I left it in and added the pepper. Second, I decided to make it with brown rice instead of white. (I used medium grain because that is what I had on hand but I recommend long grain.) Ideally one would use Andouille sausage in this dish but it is very difficult to find in most places (but it is easy to make) so I used chourico instead. Any smoked sausage would work but I avoid commercial kielbasa because it is so fatty. The real secret to Cajun jambalaya is to brown the meats and vegetables thoroughly because that is what gives it its rich dark color. Allow about 45 minutes to get everything ready for the stock. Finally, the best implement by far for cooking this jambalaya is a cast iron Dutch oven. If you do not have one, you can use any heavy pot but be careful that you do not scorch it.
Rinse the rice and leave to soak in cold water.
Melt the fat in a cast iron Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Brown the sausage slices thoroughly on each side without burning. Remove to a bowl.
Put the chicken cubes into the pot allowing them to stick to the bottom before turning. Brown them well on all sides. Remove to the bowl with the sausage.
Add the carrot, celery, bell pepper, and onion to the Dutch oven. Sauté, stirring often, until the onions are begin to brown. Add the garlic and hot pepper. Continue to cook; now stirring almost constantly, until the vegetables are caramelized but not burned, about 20 to 30 minutes all told. Pour in the chicken stock and, with a wooden spoon, scrape all the burned bits from the bottom fo the pot. The stock should turn a rich dark brown.
Return chicken and sausage to the pot. Stir to combine and bring to a boil. Drain the rice and add to the pot along with salt and pepper to taste. Reduce heat to low and simmer until the rice is done, 30 to 40 minutes. If jambalaya is a little soupy, let it stand uncovered for a few minutes to thicken. Stir to fluff up before serving with a bottle of Lousiana hot sauce on the side.
This recipe is an elaboration on Eggplant and Shrimp Bake from Emeril Lagasse’s Louisiana Real & Rustic (New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1996) 90. While the original is a side dish my version is a meal in itself. It is intentionally lacking in starch so as to be low in carbohydrates. If you wish you could add rice and more stock but then you would have something more like jambalaya.
Serves 2 generously
Preheat oven to 375° (350° for convection).
Pour ⅛ inch of oil into a 12-inch frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and brown well. Remove to a bowl leaving as much oil behind as possible. Put the shrimp into the pan and cook quickly until pink. Remove and set aside.
If needed, add a bit of oil to the pan then sauté the eggplant for about 3 minutes or until just beginning to soften. Season with a good grind of black pepper then add the onions, celery, bell pepper, and chili. Cook, stirring often, for another 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes, garlic, and dried herbs to the pan. Toss to combine and sauté until the tomatoes are just soft, about 2 minutes. Pour over the stock and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the bread crumbs and parmesan. Turn into a suitable casserole dish and bake for 30 to 45 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown.
Classic Louisiana jambalaya comes in two basic varieties, Creole and Cajun, the former being the original dish adapted from the paella of their native land by Spanish Creoles; the latter is probably a rustic variation on the more urban Creole jambalaya. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word jambalaya comes from a Provençal French word, jambalaia, meaning a mish-mash. Traditionally the Creole version contains tomatoes while the Cajun does not. And while Cajun jambalaya usually includes Andouille sausage, the Creole jambalaya recipe in The Picayune’s Creole Cook Book(New York: Random House, 1989) calls for chaurice which is similar to fresh chorizo or Portuguese chourico. Then there is the third, far less common version of Jambalaya, sometimes called white jambalaya, in which the meats and rice are cooked separately. Confused? Don’t worry, so is no less an authority than Emeril Lagasse who uses tomatoes in what he calls Cajun jambalaya.
In this recipe I have tried to recreate what I think the original jambalaya probably looked and tasted like by using ingredients that would have been available to colonial era Creoles to make what is basically paella. I used a heavy, deep cast iron skillet in place of a paella pan and Caribbean spices in place of saffron. The proportions of the various meats are not important; mine is a bit heavy on chicken only because I package chicken for the freezer in half-pound packages. I used chicken thighs because I think they stand up to other flavors better but you could certainly use breast meat if you prefer. The sausage I used is what Wegman’s sells as Andouille but which is more akin to chaurice than to the smoky Cajun sausage. While most jambalaya recipes build the dish by adding the ingredients on top of each other, I have opted to use the same technique I use for paella which is to cook the various components of the dish separately then combine them for the final cooking. And like paella I cook it uncovered.
Serves 2 generously with leftovers
Slice the sausage into ¼-inch rounds, dice the ham into ½-inch cubes, and cut the chicken into 1-inch cubes. Set each aside separately along with the peeled and deveined shrimp.
Put the chicken stock and shrimp shells into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil then let steep while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Heat whichever fat you are using in a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. When nearly smoking, add the sausage and brown well. Remove to a bowl leaving as much fat behind as possible. Do the same with the ham putting it into the same bowl. Add the chicken and sauté until nicely browned and nearly cooked through. Remove to a second bowl. Finally cook the shrimp until pink but not overdone. Remove and set aside.
Reduce the heat to medium and, if needed, add more fat to the pot, perhaps a half a tablespoon. Add the onions, celery, and bell pepper. Sauté until well softened, about five to eight minutes, then add the tomatoes. Continue to cook, stirring often until most of the tomato liquid has evaporated. Add the chili, garlic, and spices. Stir to combine well and cook for a further five minutes or so.
Add the rice to the pot and mix to coat with the spice and vegetable mixture. Cook for about three minutes then strain in the stock. Sprinkle on about ½ teaspoon of salt, stir, scraping up any bits sticking to the bottom of the pot, and bring to a boil. Arrange firs the chicken over the rice, then the ham and sausage, and finally the shrimp. Press down gently into the stock but do not stir. Lower the heat and simmer gently, uncovered, until the broth is absorbed, about 20 minutes to one half hour. Taste and adjust salt.
Remove the pan from the heat, cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel, and let rest for five minutes.
Originally a simple peasant dish, cassoulet has, in the best French culinary tradition, been endlessly complicated to where it has become a 2-day project. This version, assembled mostly from pre-cooked ingredients, returns cassoulet to its humble roots.
If you read the recipe I posted last December you may recall that I recommended avoiding smoked sausages like kielbasa. Necessity has led me to recant. (I would still avoid store-bought kielbasa because it usually is really nasty.) I had some lovely smoked chorizo from Sunny Hill Farm that was threatening to succumb to freezer burn and some homemade smoked bacon that was nearing old age so I used both. Duck confit is traditional in cassoulet but, alas, I had none so this version is poultry-free. The beans are from the double batch I made the other day when I made Tuscan salad and the tomato sauce is the extra I made for yesterday’s eggplant parmesan. You could use canned for either or both. And, to make the dish gluten-free I made the crust with corn flakes instead of bread crumbs. Use whichever suits your table. Note, by the way, that quick is a relative term. Set aside about an hour to make this dish.
Serves four or more
Pour the olive oil into a small Dutch oven (I use a 3-quart one) over medium heat and render the bacon until crispy and browned. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the fat, reserving the extra.
Working in batches, brown the sausage well in a single layer. Remove and set aside.
Let the pot cool a bit then set over medium-low heat, adjust the fat, and cook the onion and garlic, stirring from time to time, until soft and just starting to brown, about 5 minutes.
Return the meats to the pot along with the beans. Pour on the tomato sauce and enough bean cooking liquid or water to just cover. Stir in the herbs and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes to meld the flavors.
While the cassoulet is simmering, preheat the oven to 350°. Put the corn flakes, thyme, and oregano into the food processor and reduce to a coarse meal. Spread over the top of the cassoulet, pressing down gently with the back of a large spoon so that the juices moisten them. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a crust forms. (Traditionally the crust is supposed to be broken and allowed to reform 7 times!) Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Stew, in my opinion, should not only taste good but look good as well. The choice of ingredients should encompass a range of compatible colors as well as flavors. And, of course, they should add up to a nutritionally balanced meal. This simple stew, loosely based on a Portuguese classic, meets all those criteria. You might notice that this dish is similar to a Portuguese chourico stew that I posted a while back. That is no accident because I used that recipe as a starting point. But in my quest to increase the ratio of vegetables to meat in my meals I have halved the amount of sausage and added carrots. The result is every bit as tasty and better for you and for the environment.
Film a suitable lidded pot (I use my trusty 3-quart enameled Dutch oven) with a bit of olive oil and, over medium-high heat, render the pancetta until brown and crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon, leaving as much fat behind as possible, and set aside.
Add the chorizo to the pot and brown well on both sides. Remove and set aside. Pour off any excess fat.
Reduce the heat to medium and put the carrots and onions into the pot. Sweat gently until the onions just begin to color, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or two. Pour in the sherry and deglaze the pan. Add the tomatoes, green beans, and potatoes then return the meats to the pot. Season with the salt, pimentón, and black pepper then add the water and bay leaf. Bring to a boil. Turn the heat to low and simmer for about 30 minutes. Uncover, raise the heat a bit, and cook for another 5 minutes to concentrate the broth.
This recipe that I adapted from Joanna Farrow & Jacqueline Clark, The Mediterranean Cookbook (New York: Lorenz Books, 2004) 203 is one of my standby favorites. It works well with whatever chicken parts and spicy sausage you have on hand. And it scales up easily if you have company coming. The one ingredient that you really should try to get is pimentón—Spanish smoked paprika. It comes in hot, picante, or sweet, dulce, varieties and is readily available online. Serve with Spanish-style potatoes such as patatas alioli, recipe below, or patatas bravas .
A note about the chorizo: this recipe is best made with Spanish chorizo or Portuguese chourico both of which are fermented and usually smoked. Mexican or fresh chorizo works as well but will give the dish a different flavor.
Preheat the oven to 375°. Coat the chicken pieces with paprika. Heat a Dutch over or other heavy, lidded, oven-proof pot medium-high heat then pour in about ⅛ inch of olive oil. When hot add the chicken pieces, working in batches if necessary, and brown on both sides. Remove leaving as much oil as possible behind.
Add the onions to the pot and sauté for about 3 minutes or until they just soften. Add the garlic and chorizo. Continue to fry for another 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, bay leaves, and sherry. Tuck the chicken pieces into the sauce, bring to a boil, cover, and bake in the oven for 30 to 45 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.
Patatas Alioli
These garlicky potato cubes are often served as tapas, the snacks that Spaniards are fond of eating between then of the work day and their traditionally late dinner. Catalan in origin, alioli or allioli is similar to its Provençal cousin aioli except that it does not contain egg. That makes it a bit difficult to emulsify so it is best made in a blender. These are usually served at room temperature.
First make the alioli. Peel the garlic cloves and put them into a blender jar along with ½ cup of the olive oil and the lemon juice. Pulse to chop the garlic then run on high until the sauce thickens. Pulse in salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
Scrub or peel the potatoes then cut into ½-inch cubes. Pour about ¼-inch of olive oil in a heavy-bottomed frying pan over medium high heat. To check whether the oil is hot enough carefully place one piece of potato into it. If it immediately sizzles the oil is ready. Add the potatoes and cook, tossing carefully or stirring often until brown and crisp, about 10 minutes.
Remove the potatoes to a large bowl and season with a bit of salt. Add about half of the alioli and toss to combine, adding more sauce if needed.
Okay, this is really Italian sausage with grilled onions and peppers served over polenta. But it so resembles the English pub classic that I thought the name appropriate. And it occurred to me to prepare it using techniques similar to what I would use for real bangers and mash. That is, I boiled the sausages before grilling them and I finished the onions and peppers with a bit of pork stock. The sausages I used are made by Lupo’s of Endicott, New York, probably the best Italian sausages you will find anywhere. The result was delicious and an appropriate nod to the spirit of European unification.
A note about bell peppers: rather good fresh bell peppers are available year round but they do tend to be a bit pricey in the winter. I minimize the cost by purchasing what Wegman’s calls “Club Pacs” of six peppers that sell at a more reasonable price than single ones. To store I cut out the stems, remove the seeds and placenta (pith), cut them lengthwise into 1-inch strips that I freeze on baking sheets and store in a freezer bag. To use, simply thaw what you need in a bowl of cold water. I cut them into wide strips because when they are thawed I can use them as is or cut them into thinner strips or dice. For Chinese food I cut them into 1-inch squares.
Turn the oven on and heat to 200° then turn off. Heat about 2 Tbsp. olive oil in a large (12-inch) non-stick fry pan over medium heat. Add the onions and peppers. Season with a good grind of black pepper and about ½ tsp. salt. Sauté, stirring often, until the onions and soft and lightly browned, 15 to 20 minutes Be careful that the heat is not too high. You want to brown the onions, not burn them. Add the tomatoes and continue cooking and stirring until the vegetables are nicely caramelized, another 10 minutes. Stir in the pork stock and cook until the liquid is evaporated. Set aside in a warm oven.
Put the cold water into the top of a double boiler and whip in the cornmeal. Add the boiling water slowly while beating vigorously. Cover and let cook over the hot water for 20 minutes. Stir in the parmesan cheese and season to taste with salt. Turn off the heat and leave over the hot water, covered, until ready to serve.
Bring a pot of water to a boil, prick the sausages in a few places with a fork, and set them to boil for about 10 minutes. Place a grill pan or cast iron skillet over medium-high heat and lubricate with a bit of olive oil. Cook the sausages for about 15 minutes, turning, until nicely browned. Use a meat thermometer to ensure that they have reached at least 160°.
The lowly sausage is, in my opinion, a thing of beauty. Nearly every culture makes them using an amazing variety of ingredients from animal blood to rice. Here in Binghamton we are fortunate to have available very good fresh Italian sausage made by Lupo’s of spiedie fame. This simple stew surrounds the spicy Italian sausage with vegetables making a filling one-dish meal perfect for a cold winter night.
Serve 2 to 4
Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onions and carrots as sweat for about 5 minutes or until they begin to soften. Meanwhile brown the sausage in skillet to render out some of the fat. Add the tomatoes and garlic to the Dutch oven and cook for a couple of minutes than add the sausage, potatoes, stock, and oregano. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 45 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Add the green beans and continue simmering for another 10 minutes. Serve!
