Cream of Potato Soup with Sausage and Scallops

Pretty thrown-together, but a huge success.

Ingredients

• Four medium or two large potatoes, diced small (1/4" cubes)
• 5-6 oz. scallops, diced small (1/2" cubes)
• 8-10 oz. sausage (either loose or liberated from its casings)
• 6 oz. milk
• 6 oz. heavy cream 
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• butter

Procedure

1. Warm butter over medium heat in heavy, deep-sided cast iron skillet with cover
2. Put potatoes in skillet, and mix around in butter
3. Add salt and pepper
4. Making sure to mix the potatoes to keep from sticking, sautée for 15 min. until soft
5. Add sausage and mix well; cover, and cook for another 15-20 min.
6. Add milk and raise heat to medium high; cook for 5 min.
7. Add scallops and cook for 5 min.
8. Add heavy cream, raise to a low boil, and cook for 5 min.
9. Serve hot or lower temperature to lowest setting, and keep warm on stove until serving
10. Enjoy!

Verdict

Just fantastic - good blend of flavors and textures, and a great way to start a meal.

Duck and Vietnamese Sausage Soup

Finally got around to using the duck stock when I found some Vietnamese sausage at an Asian market; put together a few ingredients from recipes I found and let 'er rip.

Ingredients

• 4 oz. Vietnamese sausage, sliced
• 4 cups duck stock
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 1 3-inch knob of ginger, sliced into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1/2 package rice noodles
• 3 Star anise
• 1/2 tsp. Chinese five-spice powder
• 1 tbs. soy sauce, or more according to taste
• 1 tbs. fish sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• sesame oil

Procedure

1. Soak rice noodles in cold water, drain and set aside
2. Heat sesame oil over medium-low heat
3. Add onion, ginger, star anise, sugar and five-spice powder; mix thoroughly
4. Add a few tablespoons of the duck stock, soy sauce and fish sauce to prevent ingredients from sticking
5. Add sausage and sauteé for several minutes
6. Add remainder of stock and raise to boil; lower temperature and simmer for 15 min. on medium heat.
7. Add noodles and cook for 10 min. at a simmer
8. Serve and enjoy!

Verdict


Spicy (this may be the result of some leftovers I threw in with some spice of their own, and the inclusion of the chilis the Vietnamese sausage came with), savory, tasty. A winner! Probably would be equally excellent with chicken stock if that's what you got.

Sausage and Beer

The Sausage: Giacomo's Spicy Italian Chicken Sausage on challah with cheddar with horseradish mustard and collards with spring onions

The Beer: Witterke White

The Seat: My back porch

The Verdict: Yes

Taco of Opportunity

Saturday brought physical labor, and so Saturday lunch necessitated high-protein refueling. Result - the Taco of Opportunity.

Ingredients:

• spicy pork sausage
• kale
• garlic
• beer
• flour tortilla
• spicy German yellow mustard
  

Instructions:

• Sauteé pork sausage in pan on high heat; when lightly browned on both sides, add beer to pan and cook until beer is half boiled off; remove sausage
  
• Sauteé garlic and kale (with stems intact) in pan until half-wilted; after removing sausage from other pan, move kale to sausage pan and finish in beer/sausage juices
• Warm tortilla. When warmed, slather with mustard, followed by a layer of kale, and then sliced pieces of sausage.
• Enjoy!