Sausage and Eggplant Sauce

I never had eggplant until we joined the CSA, so I have been experimenting with new ways to have it.  Hummus worked well, now I made an eggplant sauce.  One of the best things is that it is made in a slow cooker - I highly recommend a slow cooker liner.

16 ounces hot italian sausage

3 cups eggplant - peeled and cubed into 1 inch pieces

1/4 cup garlic, minced

3 lbs tomatoes - seeded, diced

14 ounce tomato sauce

6 ounces italian tomato paste

3/4 cup red wine

3 tbl dried italian herbs

Cook italian sausage in a large skillet until browned.  While cooking, add prepared eggplant to slow cooker.  When sausage is cooked, drain and transfer to a 5 to 6 quart slow cooker.  

Add garlic to sausage pan and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, add tomatoes.  Cook tomatoes until soft, process lightly with a stick blender.  Add remaining ingredients and stir then pour over sausage.

Cook on high heat setting for about 4 hours.

Apple Sausage Skillet

  A few weeks ago, we made apple sausage.  Last weekend, we made Peach BBQ sauce.  Thought we should try it together - we liked it.

2 Tbl vegetable oil

12 ounces apple sausage

1 cup bell peppers, diced

16 ounces shredded hash browns, thawed

4 ounces shredded cheddar

1/2 cup peach barbecue sauce

Heat 1/2 tbl oil in large skillet over medium high heat.  Add sausage, cook until done.  Transfer to a bowl.  Add peppers to the pan, sautee for about 5 minutes, add to bowl with sausage.  Add remaining oil to the pan, add the potatoes to the pan.  Cook, stirring often, until lightly golden.  Add reserved sausage and peppers, cook and stir until everything is hot.  Serve, garnishing with barbecue sauce.

Spice and Mustard Rubbed Tenderloin

  Pork Tenderloin can be cooked on a grill, but you take a chance of it getting dry.  What helps? A great rub.  Try this:

Mix together:

1 tsp dry mustard

2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

Rinse and pat dry a 2 to 4 pound pork loin.  Rub dijon mustard all over the pork loin then rub with dry mix.

Grill on a medium heat grill until it is 145 degrees.  Rest for 5 minutes before slicing.

Plum Pound Cake

Plums abound, getting REALLY ripe - what to do?  Pound Cake.

2 sticks butter, softened

3 cups sugar

6 large eggs

1 tsp orange extract

3 cups all purpose flour

1/4 tsp baking sode

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup greek yogurt

2 cups chopped plum

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour a 12 cup bundt pan, set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add orange extract and extract, mix well.

In another bowl, stir together flour, baking soda and slat.  Add to egg mixture and stir until just combined.  Add plums and fold in gently.

Pour into pan.  Bake for 70 to 80 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes outclean.  Cool in pan to 10 to 15 minutes then turn onto a cooling rack.

Rustic Peach Tart

It's Peach time again and I have a bumper crop available to me - picking, CSA, received from others.  What to do?  Make a tart.

To make the dough:

1 cup cake flour
1/4 cup wheat flour
2 tsp sugar
7 Tbl butter, cubed
3 Tbl Ice Water

Put first three ingredients in a food processor, pulse until blended.  Add butter and pulse until pebble texture.  Add the ice water, 1 Tbl at a time, until the mixture just comes together, but does NOT form a ball.  put plastic wrap on your counter, dust with flour and place ball toward one end.  shape into a disk, wrap in plastic (adding flour as necessary to make sure it doesn't stick).  Place in refrigerator.

While in refrigerator, prepare your filling.  You'll need:

3 Tbl sugar
1 tsp cornstarch
5 cups peeled and sliced peaches
1 Tbl Lime Juice
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  In a large bowl, stir together all ingredients except the egg.  Remove dough from refrigerator, transfer to a piece of parchment paper and let stand for 5 minutes.  Roll into a circle about 14 inches in diameter. 

Pile the fruit in the middle.

Fold the edges of the dough up so it overlaps at least 1.5 inches, you should have a fold in your dough about every two inches. 

Brush the dough with the egg and sprinkle liberally with sugar.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes until the crust is golden brown.  Transfer to a wire rack, on the parchment, to cool.

Picante Chicken Marinade

Now you have made picante sauce, time to marinade chicken.

Mix 1 cup picante sauce, 2 Tbl Lime Juice, 1 Tbl minced garlic and 1 tsp cumin in a large plastic bag. 

Add 2 to 4 chicken breasts cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes.  Add chicken to the bag with the picante mixture, shake to coat and let sit at least an hour.

Thread onto skewers, spray with cooking spray, grill until done.

Picante Sauce

I wanted to make a chicken marinade with picante sauce, but I didn't have any.  I also didn't have any salsa that I could puree, but I did have a garden full of tomatoes and chili peppers.  What could I do?  Make something else or make picante.  I made my version of picante, and here it is:

2 lbs tomatoes (I used Roma tomatoes)
1/4 cup minced yellow onion
1/2 cup minced chili peppers with seeds
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Cut tomatoes in half and remove seeds with a melon baller.

Place all ingredients into a saucepan and cook until the tomatoes are soft.

Puree with a stick blend and continue to cook until thickened.

Store in an airtight jar in refrigerator until serving.