me beautiful delicate kale - which in my mind meant soup!I took half the package of sausge - around 1/2 lb. and place in a hot skillet - the fat content and non-stick saucepan I was using meant no greasing the pan. After breaking up the sausage a little bit, I added some chopped onions (if I haven't mentioned it before, I'm totally onion lazy and buy pre-chopped frozen) and let that mingle for a bit. In the mean time, I cut some small red skinned potatoes into 3rds, and then cut the 3rds into 3rds. I did not blanche or steam the potatoes, just tossed them into the pan, stirring occasionally. The heavy paprika content of the sausage means everything takes on a nice orangey color.
When the potatoes started to get a little tender, I added a healthy spoonful of minced garlic, some pino grigio and a little veggie broth. A few weeks ago I marniated a chicken in white wine and roasted it over potatoes. I saved and froze the wonderful stock that was created as a result of this and pulled it out Sunday, thawing it and adding it to the pan. At this point, I finely chopped some kale, careful not to get the large stems, and added it to the mix. I was really lucky to get such a good bunch as it can turn out tough no matter how you prepare it- this was soft and tender. I also added half a can of organic cannellini beans which i rinsed and drained.
I made a roux and added half n half, parm blend (parm, romano and asiago), goat cheese, garden veg cream cheese. I added this to the pot and then just let it all simmer on low heat, stirring occasionally and, let's be honest...adding more goat cheese crumbles periodically.
On the same shopping trip I picked up some garlic foccacia which I have previously enjoyed on its own. I decided to dress it up and use up the half can of cannelini beans, so into the food chopper they went with goat cheese and garlic. I spread it on the bread, and topped it with
chopped tomatoes and some red and yellow peppers that I had roasted a few days ago. I topped it with a little parm blend.Needless to say it was a meal that did not dissapoint! Fast forward to today. I had several zuchinni that needed to be used, and half a pound of the remaining sausage, so stuffed zuchinni it was!
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, then brown your sausage and onions, adding a little white wine and some black pepper and garlic, then I added a mirepox blend (onions, celery and carrots). After the mirepox softened, I poured in some more wine and veggie both, a finely chopped tomato and the last of my roasted peppers. I poured in about a cup of whole wheat orzo (maybe not that much....half a little box of it at least), covered and walked away for 5 minutes or so until all the liquid was absorbed....oh and since i'm going to Whole Foods on Friday (!!!!) i tossed in one of my precious parm rinds prior to the orzo...).
I had just bit of goat cheese left so I also mixed that in which produced the perfect creaminess factor.I popped the zuchinni shells (i hollowed out the middle making little boats) into my microwave steamer for about 1 minute, then put them into small baking dishes and halved my yummy concoction into and ontop of the zuc
hinni. I could have easily stuffed 3 or 4 shells but I just did two and piled them up....my hubs said it was more like inundated zuchinni rather than stuffed....i topped with a lil more parm blend and into the oven they went. YUM!Because there weren't already enough calories being dished out (haha) we finished the meal off with homemade brownies (my great granny's recipe) and homemade marchino cherry ice cream.
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