Leftover Sausage Salad

So another ingredient we had leftover from the surprise party were some Kirkland Mild Italian Sausage.  I had used most of the package up throughout the week on stuffed jalapeños peppers for my office potluck, lunch for a girlfriend and a snack for Steveo.  That went a long way and we still had 4 left!  Steve and I ate two for breakfast with pancakes on Sunday and we were down to the final two!  One we used for dinner tonight and the last one will be used for the dinner repeat tomorrow.  The only thing I had to pick up for this great salad was a bag of mixed greens.  It definitely got the Steve seal of approval as he inhaled it!

Here's what I used

• Bag of mixed greens
• 1 Cooked Italian Sausage
• 1 beet
• 1 carrot
• 1 avocado
• 1 jalapeño pepper
• havarti
• almonds
• honey
• Mustard a la Provençal (mustard with roasted red peppers, garlic and herbs)
• honey
• honey mustard dip
• President's Choice Avocado Dressing - Lime and Jalapeño 

Here's what I did

1. Turn the oven on the 375.  Chopped a generous handful of almonds and coated them with about a teaspoon of honey and a tablespoon of Mustard a la Provençal.  Spread out thinly on a greased cookie sheet or my new fav kitchen toy - a silicone oven mat that you set on top of the cookie sheet and nothing sticks to it.  Let bake until they start to brown about 10 minutes. Keep a close eye as you don't want them to burn.
2. I like making salad in the individual bowls I'm serving them in when it is just me and Steve or if we are having another couple over.  I think it looks nice and it prevents the salad from getting soggy.  In your bowls place a generous portion of mixed greens.
3. Grate the beet and carrot and place a top of the greens.  Dice the avocado and pepper and put them on next.
4. Slice the sausage and add that to the salad on top of the veggies.  Grate the cheese so you have a small handful (1/8 cup for each) and place that on top of the sausage.
5. Sprinkle the almonds on the cheese warm or cooled.
6. I had some leftover honey mustard dip and thought it would go nice with the dressing so I combine about 2 tablespoons of each and drizzled that on top of the salad.

That's about it.  It really turned out to be a great salad.  The crunch and savoury taste of the almonds brought everything together. It took about 20 minutes to make and was an great way to use the leftover sausage! I'm looking forward to having it again for dinner tomorrow night.

Post Party Bisque

I'm back .... again!  

I hate making New Year's Resolutions and then being part of the 99% that doesn't follow through.  But moving on.

I threw a surprise party for my husband's 35th birthday last Saturday and went a little overboard with the food.  But hey better too much than not enough right?  The party was a success and we were left with a ton of leftovers.  And I am one that truly hates throwing food away.  I've probably said this before but throwing food in the garbage is no different than opening up your wallet and taking out a $20 bill and putting it directly in the trash.

With this in mind I had a long hard look at what was leftover in our fridge and a light bulb went off - Shrimp Bisque!

Here what I had on hand (all measurements are approximations):

• 1 1/2 cup cooked shrimp
• 1 cup bruschetta mix
• 3/4 cup cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 cup mini bell peppers
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1/2 - 1 cup 1% milk
• Worcestershire sauce to taste
• Frank's hot sauce to taste 
• Salt & Peppers to taste
  

And with all these ingredients I tossed them all in my Vitamix blender and went to town!  Now I wouldn't recommend doing this with any old blender.  I just don't think you would get the creamy consistency with an ordinary blender.  I looked around at other bisque recipes to see if what I had on hand loosely represented what other recipes called for.  The result was pretty tasty!

I took my portion for lunch at work and felt that it needed some crunch to go with it.   When I served it to my husband the following day he munched on leftover tortilla chips from the party with the soup.

Brussels Sprout Love Bacon Too

One thing that I regret is not taking pictures of the Christmas dinner I made last month.  Not to toot my own horn (I suppose that's what having a blog is for  though right?) but I really nailed it.  I will have to make everything again for easter and take photos then. 

One holiday classic I can't seem to get enough of these days is Brussels sprouts!

I didn't start eating them until I was an adult.  My mom doesn't like them so she never made them.  The first couple of times I had them I didn't really care for them either.  They were overcooked, bitter and bland.  But then one day, and I can't remember when but my view towards these little fellas was completely transformed.  When combined with sweet, salty and a little crispy, brussels sprouts are everyone's favourite!  I wonder if my mom's feelings about them would changed if I served her this variety.

Yes, as the title of this suggests, I made these Brussels sprouts with bacon.  And bacon really does make a lot of foods better.  But I also recommend venturing out and trying other delicious cured meats with your sprouts for a change.  At Christmas time I used pancetta and I also recommend prosciutto.  Superstore has chopped pancetta that screamed "Throw me in your Brussels sprouts, I won't disappoint you".  How can you say no to talking cured meat??

When Steve's parents came to visit a few months ago Steve took out a rack of ribs while I was on veggie duty.  I've never made a rack of ribs before and Steve did a great job without my help.  He slowed cooked them on the bottom rack on the oven on a low temperature for a couple hours brushing them regularly with bbq sauce with chopped garlic added.  They turned out great and complimented the sprouts perfectly.

Now that your mouth is watering for ribs let's get to sprouts which I kept really simple with this recipe.

Maple Sprouts

1/2 package bacon, sliced into 1/2 inch pieces

4 Cups Brussels sprouts

4 tbsp of maple syrup

salt and pepper to taste

1. In a large non-stick skillet cook the bacon over medium heat.  When the bacon is just over half done (5-8 min) drain the fat.

2. Add Brussels sprouts and maple syrup continue to cook for 5-10 min until sprouts are a bright green with a lid on the skillet.

3.  Remove heat and turn heat up on skill to high (not quite max heat).  Stir continuously until sprouts are a nice brown colour and starting to get crispy.

4.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

I don't remember but I sure hope we had a salad or something before diving into this meal!  Oh well if we didn't it was rustic and simple and sometimes that fills the belly better than anything else!

Sushi so Nice I Had to Make it Twice

A bamboo mat is a must for sushi

When Steve and I first started dating he informed me he knew how to make sushi.  Yes my tall ginger may have had me at hello but this was icing on a 6'3" cake.  Sushi is one of my favourite foods and as with anything in the kitchen if you have the right tools it really isn't that hard to make.  Steve made me sushi a couple times and it was great!  The only thing that keeps me from eating sushi daily is all that white rice.  It is a different kind of full after a night of sushi, right?  Well the idea came to me try making sushi with quinoa instead of rice.

Tools of the home sushi making trade

Steve was EXTREMELY skeptical when I made this suggestion.  We had to compromise to making sushi with rice and quinoa.  The two most important tools you need to make sushi at home are bamboo mats for rolling and a sharp knife.  At the time the best knife I had was a Henckel 10" chef's knife.  We are slowly starting to upgrade our knives to Cutco but Henckel knives are great too.  The next thing for making quality sushi is salmon and/or tuna.  My favourite place for sushi grade salmon and tuna in Calgary is Boyd's Lobster Shop.  You just have to let them know you're looking for salmon for sushi.  They will pull out a box of beautiful cut pieces of frozen salmon and you can pick the ones you want.  Salmon needs to be frozen before it can be used for sushi to kill any parasites.

Strange but delicious!

A must for Steve for a night of home sushi is canned fried bean-curd pockets.  They seem a little weird but they are quite tasty and you can stuff them with anything you would put in a sushi roll.  And if you've ever been to the Cactus Club you may have seen them on their menu as West Coast Pockets.  I guess the other thing that prevents me from making sushi more often is that I have to make two stops before hitting up the regular grocery store! One stop at Boyd's and another at the asian market.  Oh well when you're entertaining and in the mood for sushi it is totally worth it!

Last summer over two weeks we hosted two of our favourite couples: The Hardy's and The Oltmann's.  The sushi turned out so great the first time with the Hardy's that we had to share it again with the Oltmann's.  You already know that sushi is one of my favourite's so the following is really just putting it on a pedestal.  Being it the new year and all if you're done with holiday food for the season and are having people over for dinner sushi with quinoa could be a great change.   We love to bbq but other than cooking the rice and quinoa it was nice leave the bbq and oven off for a night.

Alright! let's get started.  The first thing to do is thaw out the fish.  You can do this simply by putting it in the fridge the day before you use it but if you forget just put the fish still wrapped in plastic in a bowl of cold water for a couple of hours.  Next make the quinoa.  The quinoa or rice needs to cool before making the rest of the sushi so I recommend doing this 1-2 hours ahead of time.  Also I like to eat sushi at room temperature and when it is fresh so if you're having a party and making a bunch of appies then make the quinoa first, make anything that can be put in the fridge and then make the sushi.

Nori 

Quinoa for Sushi

1 cup quinoa

2 cups water

1 tbsp rice vinegar

1 tbsp mirin

2 tbsp tahini

1. Bring the water to a boil and add quinoa.  Turn down to simmer and cover.  Simmer until water is absorbed 8-10 minutes.  Fluff quinoa with a fork and add rice vinegar, mirin and tahini.  let cool.

The fun part about making sushi is that you can add whatever ingredients you like and play around with the combinations.  You definitely need nori which are seaweed sheets.  You should be able to get rice vinegar, mirin, japanese mayonnaise and nori at your local grocer in the asian food section.  Otherwise don't feel intimated by the asian food store.

Here are my favourites things to have on hand before you begin:

• sesame seeds
• thinly sliced avocado
• thinly sliced carrots
• thinly sliced cucumbers
• thinly sliced red pepper, 
• chopped green onion
• chopped lettuce
• diced jalapenos
• pickled ginger
• soy sauce
• chop sticks

I'm probably going to say this every time I blog but preparation is key.  Once you have the fish thawed, quinoa made, and veggies chopped then slice the fish.  Get the sharpest knife you have and then sharpen it!  Slice the fish into similar size pieces that you did the vegetables and if you like sashimi then cut some larger cube shaped pieces.  Next get a glass of water and put a large table spoon in it.  You will be using this to smooth the quinoa over the nori.

Alright, I think we're ready to start stuffing and rolling!  All of the rolls I make are with the rice on the inside of the nori.  You can make rolls with the rice on the outside but they take more skill and well there's no difference in taste so I just can't be bothered!  I also wrap my bamboo mats with plastic wrap.    You don't have to but for me I just find the rolls a bit easier to make and then the bamboo mats stay clean.  Last little bit of advice is that nori has two sides a shiny side and a rough side.  The shiny side should face out.

So to get started ...

1. Place a sheet of nori shiny side down on the edge of a bamboo mat.  Scoop a few spoonfuls of quinoa on to the edge of the nori.  Wet the back of a spoon and smooth the quinoa down so it covers the width of the nori, 3/4 of the down length and 2 or 3 mm thick.  (hmmm I should have taken a photo of this but you can fiddle with it until you get the amount of quinoa that works for you.
2. Get creative with you roll combinations!  Place the ingredients a few at a time and see what you like!
3. Rolling is the tricky part and takes practice.  The key is keeping it tight and together as you go along.  Some are going to be messy.  Just know that and be ok with it.  
4. When you've made one roll you can take a little water and smooth down the edge of the nori so the roll is kept together.
5. This is where your extra sharp knife come in.  Cut the sushi into pieces and start to arrange on a plate.
6. Make another roll!

For the bean curd pockets start by filling them 2/3 full with qunioa and then fill the rest of the way with veggies and fish.

The quinoa added great flavour.  The tahini not other kept the quinoa sticky enough to hold things together but it also added a nutty flavour but was a fantastic substitute for rice.  And even better I didn't feel as full after eating this sushi as I normally do.  And Steve liked the quinoa more than he was expecting.  Actually making the rolls is the hardest part of sushi.  It just takes practice more than anything but I highly recommend giving it whirl!