As he was putting the finishing touches on his list I presented him with a challenge. I told him I'd like something easy-to-fix for tonight's dinner. His budget was five dollars. I didn't care what type of cuisine, and it could come from anywhere in the store.
This is what he brought me:
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| Beans, sausage, and samosas |
Wikipedia, which told me that...
"Longaniza is a Spanish sausage similar to a chorizo and also closely associated with the Portuguese linguiça, which is popular in the cuisines of several regions of Spain, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and the Philippines."Now that I knew what I was working with it was time to figure out what to do. Donald suggested I incorporate the head of cabbage in the refrigerator, so I did a Google search and came up with a recipe called Filipino Sausage and Bok Choy which was close enough for me.
The dinner ended up as more work than what I'd originally what I had in mind, but it was WAY better than what I had in mind. It was basically a stir-fry with onions, garlic, and cabbage and the sausage mixed with a light sauce of broth, cider vinegar, and soy sauce. I made a batch of rice to serve with it, and at the last minute added today's tomato harvest on the side.
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| What's for dinner |
Five years ago today: Kids Today
Sounds good! I think I have some cevapi (Bosnian sausage) that I picked up in a shop over by the Bevo Mill. That would work with that recipe too. (And if I don't have any, I'll make sure to pick up some next time we're up that way!)
ReplyDeleteCan you believe (even with the large ethnic population in the area) I've never had Bosnian sausage? Is there a butcher or meat shop you recommend?
DeleteThe one we go to is called Europa. It's a block or so south of the Bevo Mill on the right. Good meat and breads! No a butcher per se but they do have the meats for sale.
DeleteThanks for the information.
DeleteThat looks delicious! I can almost smell it. ha. Yum!
ReplyDeleteIt was. I'm also looking forward to today's lunch leftovers.
DeleteIt was like your at-home version of the show Chopped! You took the mystery ingredient and some items from your pantry and transformed them into a fabulous dish. Well done!
ReplyDeleteThanks! One of the things ideas I have sitting in the 'projects' folder in my email is to have an actual Chopped Challenge. I'll get to it someday :-)
DeleteThat looks really yummy! I had leftovers for dinner.
ReplyDeleteThere's NOTHING wrong with leftovers!
Deletelooks delicious and lots of good greens!
ReplyDeleteYes, it was pretty healthy.
DeleteIt looks wonderful. It seems there are many versions of "bubble and squeak".
ReplyDeleteProbably one for every culture out there.
DeleteLooks good. You are an adventurous cook.
ReplyDeleteI try :-)
DeleteVery clever solution. I guess I don't keep enough things on hand to just pull a dinner together like that. There have been many times I didn't fix something b/c I was missing ONE ingredient.
ReplyDeleteI've never let a missing ingredient stump me--I've been known to modify a recipe so much it bears little resemblance to the original.
DeleteI bet all those years of cooking for three hungry boys made you so clever with your cooking. My daughter had a young teenage boy staying with them last week while we were there. She commented that he never stopped eating, which I knew would be the case. Teenage boys have hollow legs. She too can come up with a good meal with just a few ingredients.
DeleteYou're right about needing creativity to keep teenagers full--especially on a budget!
DeleteI was thinking the same as Mocadeaux, that you'd been presented with a Chopped Challenge -- Only you'd have had to incorporate the samosas and beans into the same meal. What you came up with looks delicious and is sort of like the stir fry I do with cabbage and Trader Joe's Andouille sausage.
ReplyDeleteIt would have been HARD to fit everything into one meal...especially since there was no time to cook dried beans. They'll get turned into hummus down the line. The samosas-I don't know yet.
DeleteI like every kind of sausage, but Andouille is one of my favorites.