Salsiccie all'Uva - A Delicious and Really Easy Tuscan & Umbrian Sausage Dish

I found this terrific recipe several years ago on the New York Times' Diner's Journal Blog (http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/28/recipe-of-the-day-sausages-with-grapes/?_r=0). I've prepared it several times, most recently last night. I've always been happy with the results.

The first couple of times I tried it, I used Publix mild Italian sausage. However, last night, I tried Roma Sausage from Mazzaro's Italian Market in St. Petersburg, FL. The Roma sausage's ingredients include capicola, pepperoni, and asiago cheese. I'd never heard of it before, but it was very nice.

This recipe serves 4 and takes about 30 minutes to prepare.

Ingredients

- 1 to 1&1/2 pounds fresh Italian sausage
- 4 cups seedless grapes (I used red grapes)
- 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar or lemon juice, or to taste. (I used 4 teaspoons of balsamic.)

Method

1. Place sausages in a 10- or 12-inch skillet, and turn heat to medium. Cook the sausages turning from time to time, about 15 minutes. When they are brown all over, prick each sausage in a few places with a thin-bladed knife and cook for 5 minutes more. (The author of the NY Times blog posting advised that waiting 15 minutes to prick the sausages to release their fat would minimize the mess and that the sausages would brown perfectly even in a dry pan. He was right; and per the recipe, I used a dry skillet.)

2. Remove sausages to a warm platter. If more than a tablespoon or two of fat remains in the pan, remove the excess. Add grapes and turn heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring occasionally, until some of the grapes collapse. Add vinegar or lemon juice, stir, and turn off the heat. Serve sausages nestled in grapes.

(Note: The NY Time author used the "salsiccia," the Italian singular for "sausage." I used the plural, "salsicce." If you Google the recipe title using either, you'll find lots of results in both English and Italian.)

Mojo Peach Pork Sauté - Delicious & Easy Publix Recipe

Tonight, I tried making a Mojo Peach Pork Sauté I had sampled at Publix the other night. We loved it. The recipe serves four and takes about half an hour to prepare.

(http://www.publix.com/aprons/meals/SimpleMealPDF.do?mealId=8269)

(I have a soft spot in my heart for Publix recipes since I learned to cook at Publix Aprons Cooking School.)

Ingredients

- 2 firm peaches, coarsely chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh chives, coarsely chopped (I skipped the chives because I didn't want to buy a package of chives just for a tablespoon)
- zest & juice of 1 lime
- 1 lb of pork tenderloin sliced into 1-inch thick slices
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 12-oz bag of Publix fresh fajita vegetable mix. (If the fajita mix is not available, use about half an onion, half a red bell pepper, and half a green bell pepper sliced.)
- 1/4 cup Publix Bakery spicy peach butter. (You could probably substitute spicy or regular peach preserves)
- 3 tablespoons mojo marinade.

Directions

- Preheat large sauté pan on medium high for 2-3 minutes. Season pork with salt & pepper; place oil in pan. Add pork; cook 1-2 minutes on each side, or until browned. Remove pork from pan.

- Add fajita vegetables to same pan, and cook 3-4 minutes, or until peppers begin to soften.

- Combine peach butter, mojo, lime zest, and lime juice.

- Add pork, peaches, and peach butter mixture to vegetables. Cook and stir 1-2 minutes until sauce thickens. Top with chives and serve.

Chicken Katsu - Tasty and Easy Japanese Dish

One of the types of dishes I enjoyed in Japan was Katsu dishes such as Tonkatsu (Ton = pork), Katsudon, and chicken Katsu. Americans who are not vegetarians usually enjoy katsu dishes. What many don't realize are that the original Japanese katsu dish, a beef dish first created in Tokyo in 1899 are Japanese versions of western dishes. Katsu is an abbreviated Japanese pronunciation of the English word "cutlet" (katsuretsu) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonkatsu#History).

I decided to try making Chicken Katsu. I found an allrecipes.com recipe that was very easy, and the results were excellent (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chicken-katsu/). The author of the recipe says it can also be used to make Tonkatsu (by replacing the chicken with pork.) I plan to give that a try.

This recipe serves 4 and should take less than half an hour to prepare. I served it with Japanese-style short grained sticky rice.

Ingredients

- 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - pounded to 1/2 inch thickness. (I avoided the pounding by purchasing thin-sliced chicken breasts.)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 egg beaten
- 1 cup panko bread crumbs
- 1 cup oil (I used canola oil) for frying

Directions
1. Season the chicken breasts on both sides with salt and pepper. Place the flour, egg, and panko crumbs into separate shallow dishes. Then:
- Coat the chicken breasts in the flour, shaking off any excess.
- Dip the chicken breasts into the egg.
- Press the chicken breasts into the panko crumbs until well coated on both sides.

2. Heat 1/4 inch of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Place the chicken in the hot oil, and cook 3 to 4 minutes per side, or until golden brown.

3. Serve with rice and tonkatsu sauce. (You can often find tonkatsu sauce at oriental food stores. The brand we prefer is one called Bull-dog sauce. Tonkatsu sauce also sounds very easy to make. Google "tonkatsu sauce recipe" to find recipes for the sauce.)

Delicious & Easy Glazed Carrot Recipe

If you enjoy glazed carrots, you may enjoy this really easy Emeril Lagasse creation which I found on the food network. It's named, "Oh Yeah Baby Glazed Carrots."  (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/oh-yeah-baby-glazed-carrots-recipe/index.html)

Ingredients

- 1 one-pound bag of baby carrots
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

Place all the ingredients in a medium, heavy saucepan

Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally until the carrots are tender and the sauce becomes a shiny glaze, about 15 minutes.

Serve

Terrific Pork Chop Recipe

In searching for a good, easy pork loin chop recipe, I found a YouTube creation - "Juicy Pork Loin Chops"  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAjlfkzr2sg) that easily produces moist, delicious results.

Ingredients

- Pork loin chops (I used two center cut chops from Publix.)
- Several sprigs of rosemary
- As many cloves of garlic as you'd like, chopped coarsely. I used four large cloves
- one onion, sliced
- salt, pepper, and any other seasoning you'd like. I used pepper and a very nice French sea salt with herbes de provence, lavender and cornflower, called Balade en Provence by Delices d'Ophelie. The salt was a gift from friends Kathy & George.

Directions

- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Put a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in an oven-safe skillet.
- Heat the olive oil over medium high heat.
- Put the pork chops and rosemary into the skillet and cook the chops for 3-4 minutes on one side.
- Turn the chops with tongs, not a fork.
- Add the onion and garlic, and cook for another 3-4 minutes.
- Put the skillet in the oven and cook for 4-5 minutes.
- Remove the skillet from the oven, using oven-safe gloves or other protection to hold the skillet.
- Remove the pork chops from the skillet and cook the onions and garlic for another 5-10 minutes. (I did 5 minutes.) You can add salt, pepper, and/or other seasonings to the cooking onion-garlic mixture.
- Combine pork chops, onion, and garlic. Serve.

Baked Salmon with Dijon & Garlic

Since Publix had wild Alaskan Sockeye salmon on sale this week and since I also had a coupon for $2 off any Publix fresh seafood item, I googled "sockeye salmon recipe" and came up with this fast, easy, tasty recipe from Natasha's kitchen (http://natashaskitchen.com/2012/06/08/baked-salmon-with-garlic-and-dijon/). I was very happy with the results.

I used two 7-ounce fillets for the two of us, but I made the same amount of sauce specified in the recipe. I used it all on the two fillets.

Ingredients

1.5 lbs salmon (this was wild sockeye salmon)
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
2 large OR 3 small cloves of garlic, pressed
1.5 teaspoons Dijon mustard (grey poupon)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 cup mild olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Lemon slices (mostly for effect)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

 

2. Line a rimmed baking dish with foil. (Natasha wrote that she had not lined the dish and regretted it because she had to scrub the dish fiercely for a day and a half to get it clean. I followed her advice.)

3. In a small bowl, combine the chopped parsley, garlic, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper, olive oil and lemon juice. Mix well.

4. Cut salmon into even portions: I made 4 generous cuts of salmon. (I used only two cuts of salmon.) Lay them onto the lined baking dish skin side down.

5. Generously brush all sides of the salmon with the sauce and top with fresh lemon slices.

 6. Bake at 450 degrees F for 12-15 minutes or until just cooked through. Don’t over-cook or the fish will be dry. (I had two pieces of salmon - one thin and one thicker. I cooked the thin one for 12 minutes and the thicker one for 14 minutes. That worked fine.) 

Lobster Roll Sandwich Recipe - Delicious, but Can Be Expensive

Thanks to our daughter pointing out a nice and easy recipe, we had delicious lobster roll sandwiches last night. The recipe was from Real Simple magazine (http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/lobster-roll-00100000106298/index.html) Depending on the time of year, the lobster can be expensive.

The recipe serves 4. I scaled the amount of lobster and corn down to serve the three of us.

The recipe supposedly takes 20 minutes to prepare. It took me a bit longer, principally because the lobster did not come out of the shell as easily as I had hoped.

Ingredients

- 4 lobster tails (about 1&1/2 pounds total). The lobster tails I used were small and would not have produced that amount, so I calculated that this recipe calls for 6 ounces per person. It took six 3-oz tails.
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 cup fresh corn (from 1 ear) (The ear I bought yielded only 2/3 cup.)
- 2 stalks celery, sliced
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- Kosher salt & black pepper
- 4 potato hot dog buns (Publix didn't have the potato hot dog buns, so I used their tasty hoagie rolls.)

Directions

1. Fill a large saucepan with 1 inch of water and insert a steamer basket. Bring the water to a simmer and place the lobster tails in the steamer basket. Cover the pan and steam until the lobster is opaque throughout - about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the tails. Using kitchen shears, cut straight down the central membrane (the thin, paler pink portion on the inside of the tail) and pull apart to break the tail in half. Remove the meat from the shell immediately (to stop the cooking) and coarsely chop. Let cool.
2. Meanwhile, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the corn and cook, tossing, until tender - 2 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and let cool. Reserve the skillet.
3. Into the bowl with the cooled corn, add the lobster, celery, mayonnaise, lemon juice, and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Toss the ingredients to combine.
4. Brush the insides of the buns with the remaining two tablespoons of butter. Brown the buns, buttered side down, in the reserved skillet over medium heat until golden - 5 to 7 minutes.
5. Divide the lobster salad between the buns.