Sausage Ragu, with Polenta

Kudos to Cooking Light for this recipe - REALLY tasty, and fairly easy to make.  Total time to cook, about 25 minutes.  We just used off the shelf  Stop and Shop Italian Sausage links - very tasty, with lots of fennel.... yumm.

Ingredients:
1 tbs olive oil
12 oz Italian Sausage - chopped.  If you get links - squeeze out of the skin.
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
2 cups coarsely chopped onion
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped carrot
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 1/2 cups water, divided
1 15oz can  unsalted tomato sauce
2/3 cup polenta
1 oz parm cheese, grated ( about 1/4 cup)
1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley, for garnish

Directions:

Heat, oil in large, high sided skillet.  Crumble, and cook until browned, about 6 minutes or so.  Stir in pepper.  Remove sausage from pan, and remove pan from heat - do NOT wipe out pan.  Add onion, carrot and garlic to pan, Cook 7 - 9 minutes until tender ( add a splash of water if needed to help the carrots along), cook until tender.  Add sausage mixture, 1/2 cup water, and tomato sauce to pan, cook a couple of minutes .

While sausage is cooking, bring remaining 3 cups water to a boil in a medium sauce pan, and whisk in polenta.  Reduce heat, and cook for about 3 minutes until thickened, whisking frequently.

Serve pork mixture over polenta, garnish with parsely.

Enjoy!!

Cauliflower Fried Rice

Cauliflower Fried Rice!

Yummy Fried Rice, with no Rice!

So I made this the other night, while my wife is away on a biz trip.  Pretty simple recipe - no rice involved.  You can make it vegetarian, but I chose to add some Chicken.  I also took the time to dice and saute fresh carrots, instead of using the tasteless frozen peas/carrots combo.  I used a knife to dice up the cauliflower - I think a food processor would render it too fine.  It's good to be a little chunky.

So, here it is:

Ingredients:

1 head cauliflower, cleaned, center cut out.  ( I quartered it and diced it by quarter, a little easier, than trying to dice the whole thing)
1 egg, beaten
1 small onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup carrots, diced fine ( about 3 medium sized)
2 stalks celery medium diced
1/2 c frozen peas
2 TBS soy sauce
1/2 TSP Sesame oil
Pea sized squirt of Ginger paste ( tubes available in the produce section)
3 Green onions, not the white parts.
2 TBS olive oil
1 pkg pre cooked chicken breast, diced fine ( optional)
Sriracha Sauce to taste ( optional - I like hot...lol)

Directions:

Dice fairly small.

Heat olive oil in large saute pan till hot.  Add onion, garlic and carrots and celery,  saute till tender, about 5 minutes or so.  While that is cooking, mince the cauliflower, fairly fine.  Add to pan, and cook for about 8 minutes or so, stirring constantly.  Cauliflower should be fairly soft.  Add the egg, and cook for another few minutes, till cooked.  Add soy sauce, sesame oil, peas, ginger, and green onions, and chicken if you wish.  Cook till soft and fragrant - probably another 5 minutes or so.  Serve garnished with green onion

Saute till cooked and soft