The Cookbook Experiment: Deep South Sausage and Pintos

Tonight's cookbook experiment is another recipe from Mrs. Doreen Lay. She is an awesome lady and she has quite a few awesome recipes in this book. I have been very curious to try this particular one because it sounds like something my mom and dad would have loved. Pinto beans were an every week kind of meal in our house when I was little. Mom and dad had to feed seven children so beans were a staple.

Deep South Sausage and Pintos by Mrs. Doreen Lay

(1) pound link sausage
(1) large onion, chopped
(1) green pepper, chopped
(1) 16 ounce can pinto beans
(1) 8 ounce can tomato sauce

Fry sausage until brown on all sides.  Drain off all but 2 tablespoons of the fat. Add onion and green pepper; saute until tender.  Add remaining ingredients. Stir to blend, simmer 10 minutes and serve hot with cornbread. Serves 6

My take-a-ways for this recipe:

• This recipe is very easy. It also does not list any spices to add. I found that a little bit odd.
• It has a very plain clean flavor without any spices added.
• Of course, me knowing my Italian husband like I do, no spices added would simply not do.
• I cannot give you exact measurements. I just added until it smelled right to me.
• I added, chipotle chili powder, regular chili powder, steak seasoning blend, Italian seasoning blend and some crushed red pepper.
• I let the dish simmer and bubble for about 30 minutes on very, very low to let the flavors marry up and get happy.

The Kitchen Sink

I have not been grocery shopping nor do I feel like grocery shopping.  I stood in the kitchen wondering what to do.  I needed to feed the troops so I started poking around the cabinets, what to do?  This is what I came up with:

2 cups of long grain, white rice
Green peas, frozen
Carrots, frozen
Brussel sprouts, frozen
1 onion, chopped
1 turkey sausage, chopped
butter (duh!)

While the rice is cooking, throw the peas, carrots and brussel sprouts into a pan with some water and butter to heat through and get warm.  Slice the turkey sausage into rounds and then in half.  Put into a saute pan with the chopped onion and cook until the onion is wilted and the sausage is hot.

When the rice is done, dump the sausage and onions in the rice and stir. Next drain the vegetables from their water and add them to the rice and sausage mixture. Stir well and serve.  I did not pull this out of any cookbook or show.  It came out of my brain (scary, I know!) and since it was just a conglomeration of whatever I could find, I named it "The Kitchen Sink".

Sausage Gravy over biscuits

Yep....you read it right. I flew right off the handle and straight into the loving land of Comfort Food. I guess I am stressing about a few things and just needed the comfort of my mother's cooking. Sausage gravy was something my mother made frequently. Sometimes she even made it with plain old hamburger. It depended only on what was on sale or how much money she had for groceries that week.

Sausage gravy:

(2) rolls of mild sausage gravy (the kind you slice into patties)
Fresh ground black pepper
Almost room temperature whole milk (if you are going to cheat, do it right!)
Flour


Instead of cutting the sausage into patties, I just squeezed the tubes out into a large, deep pan and crumbled and fried it until nice and done and lightly brown. Liberally pepper the sausage as you fry it. When it is done move it out of the pan to a plate.  The remaining drippings left in the pan - you decide how much you want to use.  I did not drain any of it as I wanted all the flavor. I added approximately 1/2 cup of flour into the drippings and stirred well to make a light brown roux.  Slowly stir in the milk.  I used almost 2/3rd's of the gallon of whole milk. I keep it over medium heat and keep stirring until it starts to thicken up. At this point I add my cooked sausage back into the pan.

As I am standing in my kitchen and stirring I start to get rather melancholy.  I realize as I stand here by myself that my children won't really know how to make these recipes that are so dear to my heart.  They won't know what it is like to stand in the kitchen with my mother and learn the old ways. Sometimes I think this blog will end up being the only way they will ever know how to make the comfort food that I used to make for them after I am gone.  But then in walks a hungry teenager asking if dinner is almost ready and I snap out of my sorrowful state and get back to the business at hand!

The gravy thickens up nicely and I call everyone to the table.  Nothing like breakfast for dinner! We pour our sweet, milky comforting sausage gravy over flaky biscuits and enjoy.

 I love sit-down dinners with my husband and my kids.  I hope some day they do the same thing with their families, whether they have children or not.  Dinner should be eaten together, at the table, thanks given to God and laughs and stories of the day shared.  Reminds me of the words that I try very hard to live by:  In ALL things give thanks.  Thank you Jesus for my family and my life.

Red Beans and Rice

Okay....right out of the box I will admit this is not the best picture I could have taken.  It is dark.  That is because instead of taking it with my awesome camera, I took it with my yucky phone that does not have a flash.  BUT in my defense, teenagers were hovering and I knew if I did not snap a picture soon that it would be gone.

This was tonight's dinner.  I was sad.  I was not sure what to do but I knew I needed to make dinner.  I leaned back to my favorite and busted out the rice.  As the rice boiled away nicely, I chopped up two medium sized sweet onions and about eight cloves of garlic.  I threw the onions and garlic into my large skillet with some olive oil to get all soft and yummy.  While the onions got tender I chopped up a large package of Andouille sausage.  I added this to the pan.  Of course, the next item to hit the pan was some of my favorite Soul Seasoning and then the Chipotle chili powder. I really love this stuff and it is worth every penny!

Next I added a rinsed can of red kidney beans.  Rice was finished so it was dumped next into my large skillet where the onions, garlic and sausage were cooking.  I mixed it well and through in a healthy dose of Kitchen Bouquet and stirred well.

Now, I know that the above is not some Cajun secret recipe for red beans and rice.  It was mostly just me doing what I do best:  going into the kitchen and throwing stuff into a pot and making dinner!

It turned out well!! And, quite frankly, I don't think I have ever tasted authentic red beans and rice anyway!

Jumbled-laya otherwise known as OOPS!

I set out tonight to make another batch of jambalaya.  I ended up committing "cook's homicide" when I did not check and make sure I actually had ALL the mandatory ingredients.  UGH.  I know better than that.  What follows below is an account of my maniacal recipe mangling, otherwise known as tonight's dinner.

It started out all good.  Here are my boneless, skinless chicken thighs frying in my large pan.  I sprinkled them liberally with Soul Seasoning and let them cook until done.  While they were cooking I chopped four small to medium yellow onions and two green peppers.  I did a large rough chop, not small dice.  It is important (I don't know, it sounded good!).

After the chicken was done (I forgot to tell you I fryed them in a little bit of vegetable oil) I put it aside on a plate with paper towels on it.  I drained away most of the left over oil but left a smidge to saute my veggies.

I only sauted them until just tender, I wanted them to retain some of their texture.  Next I sliced my package of Andouille sausage and microwaved it for 30 seconds.  After the nuke cycle I added the sausage to the peppers and onions.  I added the six cups of chicken stock and the bay leaf. 

And here my friends, is where my recipe ran OFF THE RAILS!!!!  As I started to slice my mushrooms I suddenly realized my rice was MISSING.  Good gravy! I thought I had an entire package and it was gone!

I did what an self respecting cook would do....I PANICKED!  I called my daughters into the kitchen because they are taller than me.  I wanted them to check up in the cabinets where Miss Shorty could not see.  No luck.  Next I called my son (who was not home, I called his friend's cell phone to find him).  He was like...NO. I don't know.

Of course, next, I pouted.  Fumed.  Paced.  Then my husband said, "just use pasta".  WHAT? Pasta in my jambalaya??? PFFTT....

Since the recipe was already wrong I decided to just add other stuff.  I added a can of drained and rinsed pinto beans.  I added some chopped green onion.  Then I paced some more.  What on earth could I add?  I did not have any rice.  I started looking at my pasta but I only had angel hair and I just knew it would turn to mush.  That is when I saw it.  I had two bags of Lipton Creamy Chicken Noodles.  They are flat noodles and are rather sturdy.  So I dumped both bags with their seasoning in. 

Well....it actually turned out pretty well.  I like the rough chopped mushrooms and onions.  I like the addition of the pintos.  Even the noodles work.  So, I have some new weird creation.  And the family is fed.  Mission accomplished.