Andouille Sausage w/Rice

Today I got home from work and decided to whip up a quick thing for lunch tomorrow and dinner tonight. I decided to use some Andouille Sausages...with rice from my rice cooker. A tasty quick meal that leaves everyone full!






Ingredients:
3 links of Andouille Sausage
1 cup Rice
Italian Herbs

This recipe is so simple, only 3 ingredients plus water. So nice, so easy. Start off with making your rice. I used my rice cooker with 1 cup of rice, 1.25 cups of water. Then just clicked it on and that was that.

Right after that I grabbed a small pot and filled it up about 2/3 with water. Set on stovetop and turn the heat to medium or just above that. Put your links of Andouille Sausage in there. DO NOT COVER IT! IT WILL FOAM OVER AND BE EVERYWHERE! TRUST ME!

The Andouille Sausage links will float to the top when they are close to being done. The water should be boiling at this point, you might want to turn the heat down. You also might notice the massive amount of foam forming as well, which does go away somewhat. Once they have been floating/boiling for a few minutes, turn the heat off and take them out of the pan and onto a plate or cutting board. Cut them into small sections.

The rice should be done just before the Andouille Sausages are done cooking as well. So prepare it as you will. I chose to put rice down first, Andouille on top in a dorky pattern, then a sprinkling of Italian Herbs. Enjoy.

Appetizer: Asparagus

This was simpler idea than the previously posted Asparagus and Mushrooms. This is just the Asparagus, but a little different. I like to change my recipes a little bit here and there because the exact same thing is just too boring! Let's get to it...





Ingredients:
Asparagus
Butter
Italian Herbs
Ground Black Pepper
Garlic Salt
Sake

I began this recipe by cutting off the base of the Asparagus spears. I did this because I have noticed that the bottom end of the spear is the first part to get soggy and/or go bad. So instead of risking that ruining the entire thing, I just cut it off. Oh well, it's compost.

I put my large saucepan on the stovetop and turn the heat to medium. If you have not noticed by now, medium heat is my best friend for cooking. It lets me take care of many things at once since I have a pretty good idea how most things cook at that temperature. Back to point, I then grab a stick of Butter and cut approximately 1/3 of the stick off and toss it gently into the saucepan. It should melt pretty quickly, but good thing we have everything else ready.

The Asparagus spears should go in once the Butter is mostly melted. I just tossed them in there, no need to be gentle. Once they are in there, I moved the saucepan back and forth while stirring with a wooden spoon to make sure they are all liberally covered in Butter. I place the saucepan back down and turn to my spices. Ground Black Pepper first, followed by the Italian Herbs, and rounded out with the Garlic Salt. Choose your own amounts to fit your tastes, or to not fit your tastes and try something new!

About 3 minutes in, I grab my bottle of Sake and pour in about 1/3 of a cup. I do not recall how much exactly, I poured straight from the bottle. It sizzle right away, sounds amazing! Stir everything together to make sure the Sake gets to every one of the spears.

Taste test on occasion to make sure it's cooked properly. Once done, take out and serve. I chose to serve mine with a small Campari Tomato and a dash of those Italian Herbs and Sesame Seeds on top. Enjoy.

Brussels Sprouts

Brussels Sprouts are not my favorite food in the world, however I don't always cook for JUST me. I cooked these up today as a treat for my girlfriend and possibly some lucky people at work tomorrow! There aren't too many photo's for this one since I was almost halfway done cooking them when I remembered to reach for the camera, sorry everybody!


Ingredients:
Brussels Sprouts
3/4 cup Olive Oil
Ground Black Pepper
Italian Herbs
Garlic Salt

I began by cutting the Brussels Sprouts in half, top to bottom. I put all these into a mixing bowl and turned my attention to the stovetop.

I began with putting a large saucepan on the stovetop and turning the heat to medium. I then poured in about 3/4 cup of Olive Oil, possibly an entire cup's worth.

Once the Olive Oil is heated, pour in your Brussels Sprouts. Stir them around to get them properly coated by the Olive Oil. Then season them with your Ground Black Pepper, Italian Herbs, and Garlic Salt. I did not give an exact amount due to the fact that I know everyone has their own taste preferences. It will be hard to mess this up since only 3 spices really, so you can just add more here and there to get it to be perfect.

Every once in awhile stir them and by once in awhile, I mean do it regularly. You do not want them to sear themselves to the bottom of your pan. Let them cook for about 8 to 10 minutes, stirring regularly.

Now the fun part, taste test them! You should have enough in there to steal one or three out to taste. If they taste done, then take them off. If not, well just cook them a little longer! Then, enjoy!

Summertime Lunch

So today I decided that my girlfriend needed a tasty lunchtime snack because she was quite famished. So I decided to use the Capresi Skewers with a small salad and guacamole.

I won't have an overall recipe with this post since the Capresi Skewers are already mentioned in this blog. The only recipe I will say was new, was the basil sauce used in the Skewers recipe, and by new I mean changed. I changed the recipe to equal parts olive oil and italian caesar dressing plus the basil and herbs mixed in. I sprinkled that on the skewers and salad, and added the guacamole to the side. Enjoy.