A New Fall Favorite

I found a cookbook on my shelf that I think my Mom sent me. It's called 29 Minutes to Dinner from The Pampered Chef. I love a quick meal and this one caught my eye.

Tuscan White Bean and Sausage Stew (The Pampered Chef)

3/4 lb. hot Italian sausage links
2 medium carrots
1 medium bulb of fennel
1 can (14.5 oz) petite diced tomatoes, undrained
2 C chicken broth
4 garlic cloves, pressed
2 cans (15 oz) cannellini beans
1 package (18 g) fresh basil

1. Remove casings from sausage. Cut in half lengthwise and then crosswise into 1/2 in nuggets.

2. Place sausage into large, heavy pot and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes or until golden brown, stirring occasionally.

3. As sausage cooks, peel carrots. Chop carrots and fennel, add to pot and cook an additional 3-5 minutes or until sausage is no longer pink and vegetables begin to brown.

4. Stir tomatoes, broth and garlic into sausage mixture. Drain and rinse beans and add to pot.

5. Simmer stew, uncovered, 10-12 minutes or until vegetables are tender. As stew simmers, chop basil. Remove pot from heat; stir in basil. Serve immediately.

This is a lovely main course with a side salad and some warm, crusty bread. It makes 6 servings. It's also great as leftovers. My husband much preferred this to traditional stew since he likes the sausage much better than stew meat. The fennel is especially nice to balance the spicy sausage. If you can't find fennel, or don't care for it, you can substitute onions.

Four Alarm Dinner

It's been a crazy summer of guests and travel. I had a birthday and got some fantastic kitchen equipment, some of which is still in boxes. I hope to try it all out soon. I got to use my new Shun chef's knife on this one. It comes from a cookbook put out as a fund raiser for The Terry Farrell Firefighters Fund. Terry Farrell was a New York City firefighter (and a volunteer firefighter out on Long Island) who perished in the September 11 attacks. His brother started The Terry Farrell Firefighters fund in his memory. It's mission is to help fire departments around the country get the equipment they need, either through grants or donations. My cousin is the director of the Pennsylvania branch and has helped move used, donated equipment from departments who are upgrading to departments in need. He also sold me the cookbook.

Sausage and Peppers (from California Firehouse Cookbook, by firefighter Vito Gioiello)

6 links Italian sweet or hot sausage
2 TBSP olive oil
1 yellow onion, sliced
1 red onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, sliced
1 green pepper, sliced
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/4 C white wine

Place the sausage in a large skillet over medium heat, and brown on all sides. Remove sausage from the skillet, and slice.

Heat the oil in the skillet. Stir in the vegetables. Season with basil and oregano. Stir in the white wine. Continue to cook and stir until peppers and onions are tender.

Return sausage slices to skillet with the vegetables, Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 15 minutes, or until sausage is heated through. If you like pasta, mix the sausage with your favorite pasta for a great meal with some vino, if you are off-duty, of course.

This is very easy to make and delicious. You could easily scale this recipe down (it makes 6 servings) or up (if you have big enough pots). I would recommend letting the sausage brown as you slice the vegetable. Whole sausage takes a while to cook through and you can save yourself prep time. I tossed it all with rigatoni and made some take-and-bake bread to round out the meal. And, of course, some red wine. I was off-duty.

How's yo mama an 'em?

It's rainy and cool today after temperatures in the 90's last week. So it seemed like a good day for a hot meal.

Red Beans and Rice (from the incomparable MaryBeth)

2 TBSP olive oil
1 lb. fully-cooked smoked sausage, sliced (you can use regular or turkey sausage)
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 14 1/2 -16 oz cans red kidney beans (New Orleans style, if available)
1 C chicken broth
1 tsp or more Cajun seasoning ( I like Tony Cachares)

1. Heat olive oil in large, heavy Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add sausage, onion and garlic and saute until onion is brown; about 15 minutes.

2. Mix in kidney beans with their juices, broth and seasoning. Reduce heat to med-low. Cover and simmer until flavors are blended and mixture is thick, stirring occasionally. (about 45 minutes)

I serve this over rice with corn bread on the side. I usually make a vegetable as well, but I had salad for lunch and I was feeling lazy. A side salad is good. This is always even better the second day.