Sausage, peppers and pasta dinner

I have a lot of frozen Italian sausage in the freezer, frozen in packages of two or three. Last night, I decided to make a meal around a package of them. This is a simple meal, but has always been one of my favorites. When I first took a liking to it was back in the 1970’s. 

Back then, my dad and I would stop for lunch at a little Italian restaurant on the south side of Chicago. We’d never get a table. Instead, we’d sit at the bar. More often than not, I’d order the sausage and peppers, which wasn’t even on the menu. I saw an old guy ask for it one time, and followed his example. It soon became my regular order. 

Here’s how I make it. If you have fresh Italian sausage, skip the beer. The beer is only needed when you begin with frozen sausage. 

2 or 3 lengths of hot Italian sausage

1 bottle of beer

1 red bell pepper, cut in strips

1 green bell pepper, cut in strips

1 medium onion, cut into wedges

5 cloves of garlic

Extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 cup of freshly grated asiago cheese

1/2 lb. of corkscrew pasta, cooked and drained

1/2 cup of reserved pasta water

Preparation

Take the sausage out of the freezer. Don’t worry about separating them if they are frozen together. Place them in a oven proof skillet and pour on the beer. (Again, if your sausage isn’t frozen, simply broil it until cooked thru.) 

Bring the beer to a boil and simmer, uncovered, for about five minutes. Turn the sausage over and simmer another five minutes. By now you should be able to separate the sausage. Place the skillet of sausage and beer under a hot broiler and broil about another ten minutes, turning often, until the sausage is cooked through. Turn the broiler off, take the sausage and put it on a plate and keep it warm in the oven. 

Take the skillet and dump out the beer. Pour in a thick layer of your best olive oil and heat it on the stove. Add the bell peppers and onion to the skillet and sauté until soft. 

While the peppers are cooking, take a sauce pan and add about a cup of your best olive oil and heat it over medium heat. Peel the garlic cloves and smash them with the blade of a wide knife. Add the garlic to the oil along with the red pepper flakes. Heat that until the garlic just turns golden, but do not brown it. Turn off the heat and let the garlic sit in the oil. 

Finally, cook and drain the pasta, but save a half cup of the pasta water. As soon as the pasta is drained, return it to the pot it cooked in. Remove the garlic from the oil, and toss the oil with the pasta, reserved pasta water and the cheese. Mix well. 

Serving

Take a pile of the pasta and place it next to the sausages on a plate. Pile the sautéed peppers next to that. Grate on some additional asiago cheese. Toast some homemade bread, rub it with garlic, and douse it with olive oil. Open a bottle of Italian red, and you are ready to feast. This was as good last night as it was in my memories from way back. 

Goat leg roasted over wood and charcoal

Recently, the dogs and I spent a day out in the yard, sawing up fallen limbs and burning them in my backyard fireplace. Earlier in the day, I went to the grocery store, and I saw they had half goat legs on sale. They looked real good, so I picked one up. It was about the same size as a half leg of lamb. 

As I was working in the yard, I lit the grill and started the goat leg roasting. Here’s how I prepared it.

1 half leg of goat

2 cloves of garlic, slivered

Oregano

Cajun seasoning

Adobo seasoning

2 large baking potatoes

Olive oil

2 shallots, minced

Wondra instant flour (flour for gravy)

Water

Preparation

To prepare the grill, you want to have two piles of charcoal, on opposite ends of your grill, bordered with hardwood chunks, about an inch thick. Light the charcoal by making a pile of dry snappy sticks on each charcoal mound and light them with a torch. When the sticks burn down, they will light the charcoal. 

While the coals are heating up, sliver the goat leg with the garlic, using a sharp knife to insert into the meat. Place the roast into a cast iron pan. Scrub two baking potatoes, rub them with olive oil and place them around the meat. Drizzle the roast with olive oil and then shake on a little oregano, cajun seasoning and adobo seasoning. 

Place the roast on the grill, centered between the two fires, but hopefully not directly over any of the hot coals. Close the lid of the grill and let the smoke do its thing. This will take about two hours to roast. You’ll have to add more charcoal occasionally, along with additional hardwood chunks. 

You want to take the roast off the grill when you reach an internal temperature of 120º at the coldest. Bring it in and set the meat on a platter, cover it with foil and place it in a warm place. It will continue to cook internally and will end up around 130º inside, which will be a perfect medium rare roast. 

Set the cast iron pan with the fat from the roast on the stove, and add the minced shallots. Let those gently sweat down to soften, but don’t burn them. Sprinkle on enough Wondra flour to absorb most of the liquid fat. Stir and cook that for a minute or two. Some of the flour will stick, but don’t worry Comrade. We’ll fix that. 

Add water, a little at a time, and stir to a simmer. Scrape up everything stuck to the bottom of the pan and repeat. Let it simmer when it reaches a nice gravy thickness. Pour the gravy into a bowl and slice the roast. 

Serving

Serve the meat, thinly sliced, next to a baked potato. Douse the meat with gravy. Add a pile of steamed, mixed vegetables, fresh baked bread, and open a bottle of Italian or Greek red wine. Your feast is ready.