Skillet Sausage and Squash

I was going to call this one Spanish Sausage and Squash, but honestly, there's very little that is authentically Spanish in this recipe.  It IS, however, pure comfort food.  Stick-to-the-ribs food.  And sausage was on sale at the grocery store, not chorizo, but hot italian.  Now, if I put one more meal on the table with cauliflower this week, the kids were going to kill me, so I thought shredded squash was a better idea if I wanted to live through this week.  Besides, little secret, squash cooks down and its flavour completely disappears in tomato sauce.  If you have a sometimes orange-vegetable-adverse family like I do, this is one of those places to get it into them with minimal struggle.  Ok, this, and in chili.  Squash is awesome in chili.  And OMG, squash fries...  My parents are killing themselves laughing at me right now.  I HATED squash growing up.  I hated ALL orange vegetables except raw carrots and peppers.  I'm over that now.  Mostly.  Just don't feed me mashed squash or carrots.  Mashing them is a sin, and besides, it's just gross unless it's dessert food.

I googled "spanish spices" and apparently they include paprika, cayenne, oregano, and thyme, but then also cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and saffron.  Hmmm.  Where to begin, and what to include?  The answer?  Include whatever tastes good.  Throw the rules away.  When all else fails, return to rule #1 of paleo cooking; you take some meat, a veggie or two, throw it in a pan with some spices, and you eat it.  This recipe looks like a lot, but its not.  Its ready in a half hour.  There's just a lot of spices, and you can add or delete any that you don't like or don't have.  Maybe you have saffron.  I didn't.  That stuff is expensive.

Feeds 5-6
Ready in 1/2 hour

Ingredients:

2 lbs sausage, whatever kind you like
2 cloves garlic
1/3 spanish onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
4 c butternut squash, peeled, cored and shredded
2 (5 0z) cans tomato paste
1 1/2 c chicken broth
fat of choice for cooking
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp chipotle
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp thyme
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp turmeric
salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Prep everything.  The food processor is your best friend.  Have all your veggies chopped and/or shredded.  Chop your sausage into bite-sized chunks.  Have your tomato paste open and waiting.  Measure out the chicken broth.  Pull out your spices.

Heat a large skillet on medium heat.  When hot, add cooking fat and saute onions and garlic until fragrant and onion is translucent, add green pepper and saute for another minute or two.  Add all other ingredients, cover, and simmer for about 20 minutes until sausage is cooked through.  Taste and adjust seasonings, if necessary.

Spanish Chicken and Shrimp

Ok, I was a bit lazy the other night, and I have to say, nothing beats a dinner that you can have on the dinner table in a half hour or less.  This recipe was just that kind of simple.

So this is a variation on my Smokey Paprika Paella, the lazy version, and I have to say, I actually like this one even better than the original.  And its fast.  Can I say that enough?  Real fast.




Serves 5
About 1/2 hour total


Ingredients:



Sauce:

1/3 c EVOO

1/4 c sun-dried tomatoes (packed in olive oil)

2 tsp fresh minced garlic

1 tsp dried cumin

1/2 tsp dried lemon zest or lemon peel

2 tsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp cayenne

1/4 tsp salt

3 tsp 2 tbsp lemon juice

1 5-oz can tomato paste

The Rest:

1 head cauliflower

1 1/2 lbs chicken

1/2 lb cooked shrimp

1/2 spanish onion

2 cloves minced fresh garlic

2 fresh tomatoes

Method:  

First, get everything ready; chop your chicken into bite-sized pieces, de-tail the shrimp and rice the cauliflower, chop your onions and tomatoes.  Next, blend all ingredients for the sauce in a blender (or a magic bullet).  Set sauce aside. 

Heat up 2 frypans.  In one, heat on med-high, add a bit of fat of choice, add chicken and onion and saute until chicken is cooked through and onion is translucent.  Add garlic and continue cooking for another minute until fragrant.  In other frypan, heat to med-high, add a pat of butter or ghee, and saute cauliflower just until it begins to soften and brown.  Do not overcook it. 

When chicken is no longer pink, add tomatoes and cook just until they begin to soften.  Add shrimp and sauce and heat through.  Serve over riced cauliflower.  This will have a bit of heat on its own, but if you like more heat, add sriracha sauce.  Enjoy!

Smokey Paprika Paella

Ok, so here's what inspired me to try to cook paella this week.  This lovely picture came in the Insider's Report flyer.  The Presidents Choice makes such awesome sauces.  They've been making them since the first Sechewan Peanut Sauce came out (and rocked my boxed-foods world way back when).  The caption stated it contained "pure olive oil, smoked paprika, cumin, chili peppers, lemon, garlic and fire-roasted tomatoes".  Oh, I could so make that.  Who doesn't love that flavour combo?  They had me at smoked paprika and cumin.  Heck, I'd poach fish in that combo.  But I didn't this time.  Because I was making paella.

Serves: 5
Time: about 1/2 hour Sorry for the grainy shot, but this is the picture they stuck with it.  I chose to skip the green peas, you're welcome.  And I could have barbecued all of my ingredients, too, it would've looked this fabulous, but would it have tasted fabulous?  No, because the flavours would not have had time to "mingle."  So I didn't, and I spared both you and me a lot of time fussing around in the kitchen.  Sometimes they do this stuff to make a good photo without taste in mind.  I like simple and tasty, presentation isn't a priority for me.  So here's how it went down:

Ingredients:

Smokey Paprika Sauce

1/3 c EVOO

1/4 c sun-dried tomatoes (packed in olive oil)

2 tsp fresh garlic

1 tsp dried cumin

1/2 tsp dried lemon zest or lemon peel

2 tsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp hot pepper flakes cayenne

1/4 tsp salt

3 tsp lemon juice

1 fresh tomato 5-oz can tomato paste

The Rest

1 lb boneless chicken (white or dark)

1/2 lb cooked shrimp

2 large tomatoes

1/3 large spanish onion

1/2 c shelled pistachios

1 red pepper*

1 head cauliflower

Ok, first throw all of the ingredients for the Smokey Paprika sauce into a blender--I used my magic bullet-- and just puree everything together.  Set aside.  **(see notes below on added uses)

Rice your cauliflower. Chop your tomatoes and onion.  Chop your chicken into bite-sized pieces (and if you buy your chicken skin on, make cracklin's in another frypan at the same time as you cook dinner to snack on while you cook....)

Alright, in a large skillet, brown chicken on all sides (chicken may still be a bit pink in the middle).    Add onions, cooking just until the onions begin to turn translucent.  Reduce heat and add cauliflower, red pepper, sauce and tomatoes.  Cover and cook for 5-7 minutes, or until cauliflower begins to soften.  Add shrimp, stirring and allowing to heat through.  Remove from heat and add pistachios.  Eat!

   

Your sauce will be thicker and more red than mine is here; I used a fresh tomato in the sauce the first time around.  Using tomato paste will make for a far richer, fuller flavour and thicker sauce that coats the "rice".

This has a hint of heat to it already due to the cayenne, but feel free to add sriracha sauce if you're anything like me.  My family agreed this was a keeper recipe; they'd eat it again and again.  No one argued that it was too spicy, but no one else added extra heat, either.  Hmm.  Must be just me.

**You could throw this sauce into the fridge and it would stay fresh for weeks because of the olive oil base. This sauce would be very good on many things; fish, pork, ribs, sauteed okra...  On a lazy night, just stir-fry some chicken and shrimp with a couple of chopped tomatoes, add this sauce and serve it over top of steamed cauli-rice.
*I used a fresh red pepper because that's what I had.  If you have the time or happen to have one on-hand, use a roasted red pepper for a more intense sweet.