Sausage and Noodles

A good quality spicy sausage on top of pasta will always have a very special place in my heart. I love the heartiness of the sausage and could eat pasta all the time. The AC could probably never eat pasta again and not even think of it, so when he indulges me with the carb-loaded delishness, I swoon.

We really like Byerly's homemade sausages and bratwurst, the spicy Italian is fairly hot and perfect for this dish. The other key to this is the wide, quality egg noodles. These are not manaschevitz egg noddles. I took a picture of the bag so you'll know what to look for. We probably got these at Byerly's, I'm not sure. You're looking for a thick width. These noodles make kick-ass buttered noodles for those of you who appreciate simplicity and the perfection of a simple noodle, just add some butter, salt and fresh grated Parmesan. There's no need for anything more. Well, maybe a bit of cayenne. But I digress.

To recreate the rustic dish pictured above, you'll need the following ingredients. 

Good quality egg noodles, 6 oz dry
2 good quality hot Italian sausage links
8 cherry tomatoes, quartered and seeded. 
1/3 c fresh, flat leaf parsely, minced
1/8 c minced fresh oregano and thyme
3 finely minced garlic cloves
1/4 tsp kachai powder (found in most Asian groceries)
1/2 red onion, sliced thin
1 tsp Aleppo chile (Penzies has a great version)
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and black pepper to taste

Cook sausage by boiling in a shallow pan for 10 minutes and cut each into eight pieces. Briefly saute the sausage pieces until nicely browned.  

Saute slowly the onion, garlic, 1 tbsp of the olive oil and all of the balsamic, black pepper, Aleppo and some salt, saute until it starts to caramelize.

Once the above is essentially cooked, mix in the herbs and the kachai.

Boil pasta with a little olive oil.

When cooked, drain, put back into sauce pan over med-low flame, coat the noodles with butter, add the onion mixture and tomatoes, mix thoroughly. Let it cook for about 1 minute. Add salt and black pepper to taste. Plate the pasta, add the sausage (which were kept warm in the frying pan that you used to saute the onion mix).

Faux Bayou Shrimp Boil- Better Than The Real Thing. Well Maybe.

Everyone loves a good shrimp boil, or crayfish if you're lucky enough to have connections to Louisiana. The problem? It's definitely saved for a special occasion and for a large crowd, so you might do it once a year? Once in your life?

The traditional crayfish/shrimp boil goes like this: you buy a ton of crayfish or shrimp, some quartered corn on the cob, sausage, potatoes, get a huge boiler and put it in your driveway, throw it all in, toss in your Cajun spice packet, when all the shrimp/crayfish float, you lift everything out and dump it on a picnic table covered in newspaper where everyone descends on the mess. It tastes good, gets people together, creating happy memories- and sore fingers from all that crustacean peeling.

Our whole beta/alpha process often starts at the gym. We meet at the water fountain, I say: what's for dinner? I want something different... AC: I was thinking shrimp sauteed in olive oil and herbs with something else. Me: I don't want shrimp. I want sausage. How about corn on the cob and sausage. Why don't we make it all. we could make it like a thing... AC: Really, sorta like a Cajun boil? I don't know, I was going to keep it simple, that sounds like a lot... Me: just one sausage and we haven't had corn yet, I really want corn...AC: is it in season yet?? Me: Of course, it's been in the stores for awhile... AC: Okay, I'll think about it...Then we both move on to the treadmill (him) or the stationary bike (me).

So, that's how it goes, it's a simple process with all the results you see here. This ended up really good. Perfect summer evening meal, took less than 40 minutes to make, resulted in 2 servings and a much better Cajun spice mix than you get with the kit. Thus, making the shrimp boil accessible to us on a much more regular basis and now to you.  

Ingredients:
1 beer brat or andouille sausage
4-5 red new potatoes, cut into quarters
6-8 medium large raw shrimp with shells
3 garlic cloves chopped medium
1-2 Thai or Cayenne chile peppers minced, or sub in 1/2 tsp of crushed red pepper or ground dry Cayenne pepper. Fresh is best - far better flavor.
1/3 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 tbsp chopped fresh sweet basil
1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 to 1 tsp ground cumin (depends on if you want the cumin flavor upfront or in the background)
1/2 tsp turmeric or a pinch of saffron
salt and black pepper to taste
2 ears sweet corn, cut into thirds
a lot of olive oil, coat pan with 1/4 inch deep

Instructions:
Cook the corn and potatoes via your preferred method (corn is pretty much the only thing we ever microwave- a little water in a (gasp!) plastic bag, steamed for about 5 minutes, turns out perfect). When both are done, set aside.

Heat the pan on med-low and saute the garlic, crushed peppers, paprika, cumin, turmeric, salt and black pepper in the oil for about 5 minutes.  

Add the parsley and basil, the sausage cut into 4-6 pieces and shrimp for 2 minutes. Flip the shrimp and cook for 2 more minutes. When the shrimp is done, add the corn, and potatoes into the pan. Remove the shrimp and continue to cook potato, corn and sausage for two more minutes....make sure eveything is well coated with oil/spice.  Remove and plate.

I hate peeling shrimp and this sauce was particularly yellow, so I made AC peel them for me. He says that cooking them in the peel adds depth of flavor, I told him I would forgo the flavor in favor of nails that aren't yellow for days- he'll peel mine before cooking next time. Surprisingly, the real stand-out in this dish was the corn. The combination of the oil and spices rendered it perfectly sweet, buttery and spicy all at once.

So there you are, a quick down and dirty "cover" of a shrimp boil that turned out, dare I say, better than the real thing. Sometimes perfection needs to be tweaked to work with everyday life.

Esteban's Espaghetti

Hola. Yeah, not much is sacred in the AlphaChef's world of food. A few years back, I made a twisted version of Mexican Chorizo Noodles and now its one of UB's favorite comfort foods.  I love it because its even easier to cook than getting a Republican to explode "That's not American!". Of course its American. We live in a melting pot of cultures and cuisine. I bang a Mexican dish against Italian, add a 'titch' of Thai and we get American Food. So there. If you don't like it go back to your walled compound.

Doing my patriotic duty, I first take one can of diced tomatoes and plop it, without draining, into a blender. I also add 1/2 chopped white onion, 2 chopped cloves of garlic, black pepper to taste, 1 tsp of fish sauce, 1/2 tsp of roasted ground coriander seed, 1/4 tsp of roasted ground anise and 1/4 tsp of roasted ground cumin.  Sometimes I also add handful of fresh parsley. Sometimes I add 2 chipotle peppers and other times I add couple of Thai chiles. I blend the cultural mish-mash into a puree. We'll deal with the stuff later.

For the next step, I use a large skillet that I can put a top on. Its about 14 inches across and 4-5 inches deep. I take 1/2 pound of fresh ground chorizo and massage it into a 1/2 pound of fresh ground hot Italian sausage. In the fifties, this would have gotten you lynched in NYC. We have come a long way baby.  And no, I have never been a member of the Communist party unless they cooked really great food.  Heat a skillet on medium to medium high, add enough oil to coat and then cook the mixed-background sausage through. Make sure it doesn't burn and chop it up so it stays in little pieces of loose meat. After it's thoroughly cooked, remove the meat and try to keep all that good, flavorful oil in the pan. Now, brown 1/2 pound of dry fettuccine or linguine pasta in the oil. I usually need to break the pasta in half to get it to fit into the pan. I typically do this in two batches. Once complete, remove the pasta.

Pour the pureed tomatoes and goodness into the pan. Keep stirring for the next couple of minutes until you think its cooked through. When you hit that point, and if you don't have a good vent, you've had a good cry from the onions and chiles, pour in about 16oz of chicken stock and about 8 oz of cheap Italian, French, Australian, Californian, or Chilean white wine. It can be a blend for all it matters. But no. I repeat, but no. Never sweet white wine. Yuck. Bring it to a boil. Once its boiling, add the pasta. Make sure you have enough liquid to easily cover all the pasta. Cover it for about 5 minutes and turn the flame down just enough so it doesn't boil over. Don't ask me how low. I don't know your stove. Just enough to keep boiling without boiling over. If you can't figure that out, run for Congress and call yourself Michele Bachmann. Maybe I shouldn't make that joke. I am losing my appetite.

After the 5 minutes have passed, take the lid off and add the meat and perhaps 1/2 of a finely sliced red bell pepper if its laying around and about to go bad. Mix it all in. Turn the heat down a bit more.  You want the liquid to boil off without causing everything to stick to the bottom of the dish.  If I didn't do it already, I sometimes add a 1/2 cup of chopped cilantro or parsley too. You want to cook this until it's almost dry. This means for the last few minutes you gotta keep moving it around. Also known as stirring or playing with your food.

Once cooked to the point its almost dry, plate it up.  I typically garnish with a bit of chopped cilantro or parsley, crumbled queso fresco, feta or chevre, sliced avocado and a squeeze of lime.

Eat. Feel good about yourself. And don't elect selfish, xenophobic idiots into office.