Monday, March 28, 2011

Menu Plan Monday


During my blog lapse I was actually still menu planning. We discovered a new awesome recipe. I don't really know the rules of posting non-original recipes. Mine comes from Mark Bittman's Food Matters cookbook. At first glance I thought this cookbook had a lot of weird food in it. But each recipe we try we really like and makes me feel more open to some of the weird recipes. In fact I just found one and I thought "hmmm, this seems so normal, why did I think it was weird?"

"Cannellini with Shredded Brussels Sprouts and Sausage" from FoodMatters Cookbook
3 TBSP Olive Oil
8 ounces Italian Sausage (I use 6 ounces)
2 TBSP minced garlic
red chile flakes to taste...in another recipe he discusses the different ways to had heat, flakes, chili oil, hot sauce, peppers etc. and how each one adds it's own unique flavor but is really interchangeable in any recipe. I would NEVER have veered from the recipe before reading this. Dumb, huh? I find flakes give hot spots, so I add Arizona Gunslinger liquid to get a more uniform seasoning throughout the dish. ANy hot sauce you like will do.
salt and pepper
1 pound brussels sprouts, shredded or roughly chopped
1/2 cup white wine or water (I use the wine)
2 cups cooked cannelini beans drained. I used 1 1/2 cups dry pintos

1. (Paraphrasing) Put oil in skillet over medium. When hot add sausage, brown and break into
small bits. Add garlic and chile flakes (hot sauce), cook for a minute or so.
2.add brussels sprouts and wine, stir frequently, cook until tender but crunchy, about 10 minutes. Salt and pepper.
3. add COOKED beans, stir occasionally, taste and adjust seasoning. I took the photo before adding beans because at this point I thought it would look really pretty with white beans, but my pintos were kind of ugly. It totally looked fine with the pintos.
He suggests serving over a cooked grain like farro, bulgur or cracked wheat. We just aren't ready for that level of crunchy granola-ness. So we just ate it in a bowl with no grain.

EVERYONE gobbled it. Even Gus:
On the menu this week:
Monday: Beans and Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Sausage
Tuesday: Baked (in marinade) Pork Chops, brussels sprouts gratin
Wednesday: Chicken Tetrazini, green beans
Thursday: out
Friday: Stirfry with brown rice
Saturday: Tortellini with peas and cream sauce
Sunday:
Veggie Soup (I just make my own concoction of whatever we have: carrots, celery, onion, mushroom, diced tomatoes, green beans, peas, chicken and beef stock, small soup pasta and a little sausage. A salt-free seasoning like Mrs. Dash table blend, Turmeric, paprika, salt and pepper.)

Check out other menu ideas at Organizing Junkie.

3 comments:

Jen Preston said...

Heather if it helps, generally recipes aren't copyrightable. Photos and descriptions may be but not a list of ingredients

Here's what the US Copyright office says about recipes

http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl122.html

JessieLeigh said...

My best friend's husband does amazing things with brussels sprouts... I bet he would love this recipe! :)

Susana said...

Please come over here and make my kids eat real food! I cannot believe that picture of Gus eating the real food! That is awesome!

The brussels sprouts recipe sounds really good! Y'all are loving those brussels, aren't you:-)?!