Smokin' Sausage

We were going to have smoked sausage for supper last night. While I normally love that simple meal with french fries or roasted potatoes and corn, I just wasn't in the mood for it. It is near the end of the month and my cupboards are pretty bare; so I got a sudden creative urge to use whatever I had on hand to dress up that little package of smoked sausage. It's always fun to create, and last night was no exception. Once I started, there was no stopping me! I cleaned out the pantry and harvested some goodies from the garden and voila! Dinner was served. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

 

Smoked Sausage-Sesame Flat Bread Pizzas

 

The Flat Bread:

 

1 pkg dry yeast

1 3/4 cups flour

1 tsp kosher salt

1 or 2 TBS sugar

1 1/2 TBS toasted sesame seeds

1 TBS extra virgin olive oil

drizzle of sesame oil

approx. 3/4 cups warm water

 

Put yeast into a small bowl. Add 1/4 cup warm water and the sugar, mix together and let sit for about 5 minutes. The yeast will become foamy and double in quantity. 

In a large bowl, mix flour, salt, sesame seeds, olive oil and sesame oil. Add the yeast mixture. Add about 1/2 of the remaining warm water and gently mix with a wooden spoon to form a dough. If the dough seems dry, add the remaining water and mix together gently. The dough should not be wet, but formed together, soft and pliable, even if a bit sticky. 

Pour dough onto a well-floured board and knead about 5 or 10 minutes, until dough becomes smooth and elastic. You may need to keep adding small amounts of flour so the dough does not become too sticky.

Put a small amount of extra virgin olive oil in a bowl, place the dough in the bowl, turning around to coat in the oil. Cover and put in a warm (NOT HOT) place to rise until double in size. It should take about 1/2 hour if you are using quick-rise yeast. You may now form your pizzas, or refrigerate for later use, or freeze for future use (allow frozen dough to thaw in the refrigerator before using).

 



 

*If using in this recipe, I would begin with dough and while it is rising, you can move to the sauce. By the time the sauce is finished cooking, you can take it off the heat and let it sit while you prepare the flatbreads.

 

The Sauce:

 

1 large sweet onion, sliced

2 TBS extra virgin olive oil

2 large cloves garlic, chopped

1 can good diced tomatoes (you can use plain; I used Hunts with green pepper, celery, onion in this recipe)

pinch or 2 of baking soda

2 TBS tomato paste

1 6-ounce jar sliced mushrooms

1 roasted red bell pepper (if using jarred peppers, about 1/2 jar)

2 TBS Lipton Beefy Onion or Onion Mushroom Soup & Dip Mix, or similar product (I think the beefy onion tastes richer)

Seasonings of your choice: I used Mrs. Dash Tomato, Basil, Garlic and also an Italian seasoning blend (without salt)

 

 Put 2 TBS extra virgin olive oil into a medium saute / frying pan. Add the sliced onions and cook until caramelized on a medium heat, about 20 minutes, stirring now and then to prevent burning. When onions are caramelized, add the garlic and cook about 1 or 2 minutes. Do not let the garlic brown. Add the can of tomatoes, with a pinch of baking soda (adding the baking soda burns away acid in the tomatoes, preventing the tomatoes from being too sour; but always be careful when adding baking soda, and add only a pinch, as too much will make your sauce completely tasteless!!). The tomatoes will foam a bit, so just stir it up. Add the remaining ingredients and seasonings of your choice; stir together and cook uncovered at a simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

 

 

 

*You may use the sauce immediately for your pizzas, or store in jars in the refrigerator for future use. It should easily last a few weeks. Or, you can freeze it for a longer period of time. The sauce can be used as a cooking sauce for chicken, pork or any type of meat, or a sauce for meatloaf. Use your imagination! Try browning some chicken or boneless pork chops and then cooking in this sauce until the meat is tender, and serve over rice, mashed potatoes or noodles. Heavenly comfort food!

 

The Pizza:

1-pound smoked sausage, cut in rounds (I use Hillshire Farms--it has a wonderful meaty, not greasy flavor--and no gristle.)

extra virgin olive oil

fresh basil leaves

sliced tomatoes

2 cups shredded mozzarella and provolone cheese (or cheese of your choice)

 

*Using fresh cheese and grating it yourself makes a world of difference in the flavor of your dish--gives a much creamier, buttery flavor; however, if you only happen to have bagged pre-shredded cheeses, go with it. It will be fine. Since I was "cleaning out the cupboards" and had no fresh cheese on hand, I simply went to the freezer and took out a pre-shredded bag of a mixed Italian cheese blend. I was not disappointed.

Divide the risen dough into 2 or 3 equal parts (depending on how large you want to make the pizzas). Flour a board and roll the individual pizzas into very flat pieces (about 1/8th inch thick). Sprinkle a little olive oil on each piece of dough; spoon on desired amount of sauce and top with basil leaves, tomatoes and shredded cheese. Bake in a pre-heated 425-degree oven about 15 minutes on baking sheets or pizza pans lined with baking parchment, until dough is cooked and crisp and browned on the bottom and cheese is melted.

 

 

*Baking parchment is not a must; however, I always use it, as it helps to prevent burning and gives a lovely, evenly-browned crust. A pale, yeasty beer, such as Miller High Life, truly pairs well with this meal, and gives a very pleasing lingering flavor!

 

Peace All,
Monica

Comfort Food

Top, My Brother and Sister and I

Bottom Left, My Mother (coming to call us in for hot chocolate!)

Tired of the snow yet? I can recall lying in bed as a child, in the early morning hours, waiting with butterflies in my stomach for that announcement of the news I already knew: "Schools will be closed today!".  And they were, usually  for the next two days as well. Snow in Cleveland meant instant vacation back then. The type of snow we have experienced these past few days in much of the country was the usual winter fare in Cleveland "back in the day".

The excitement would build as I curled up in a warm bed, planning my day. My sister and brother and I would wake up to a good, hot breakfast—which usually included cream of wheat, our favorite on such a cold, snowy day. We would force our mother to promise not to stir it so that soft, chewy lumps of grain would form and then eat it with butter, sugar and lots of milk, something I do to this day. After breakfast we bundled in our snowsuits, leggings (what ever happened to leggings?), boots, scarves and gloves, and somewhat resembling robots, headed outside for most of the day. Once outside we began making a snow fort out of the entire back yard. We would each focus on a particular corner of the yard and built our forts as high as we could with ice "bricks" which were broken off of mountains of snow, and then tunneling through the crusty drifts to prepare for the snowball war to soon follow. 

We never needed to be told to "find something to do". There was a whole world of things to do, given birth by our imaginations. Winter, summer, spring, fall, we were outside all day until supper, interacting with each other and our friends, enjoying the world around us, simply being children. As children we didn't need "love lives" then, we didn't have an unhealthy obsession with sex or interest in drugs or  experience anxiety from societal pressures constantly bombarding us with "be more". Perhaps it is our self-complacency as adults which is ever-increasingly manifested in our children. We didn't need to hear TV commercials focused on telling us to "Get up, get up, get up, be a player" or "Play an hour a day". Does it not seem odd and unnatural to hear social advertisements telling children to play? It does to me and it makes me sad. What has happened to childhood? What has happened to us, that we would allow such destruction of childhood?

After the war ended, frozen and wet, we headed back into the house to change into dry clothes and drink the hot chocolate that was keeping warm on the stove, waiting for us. The house was always warm, even in winter. The love and security we felt as children warmed us as no blanket ever could. And, perhaps, this is what I remember most about my childhood. We would rest easily at night, ready for sleep after a full day, knowing we were loved for who we were, that nothing we might do could change that, never doubting that we were the priority in our parents' lives. It was never something that had to be verbalized. It just was.

My father would come home after work, and supper was soon to follow. On every Saturday, and especially on snowy, winter days, supper would consist of a huge pot of beef soup. It was my father's favorite meal. And when I cook that same soup today, the wafting fragrance serves up a feast of warm and satisfying memories which nourish me and keep me grounded.

Perhaps the word that best describes my childhood is "comfort". I did not know the pain or anxiety of having to take on adult roles. I was a child and concerned with those things befitting a child. My parents knew how to love, each other and us. Neither was overly concerned about place in life, and both were concerned more with their children's well-being than the views of the world. There were no power struggles, within the family or society. The focus was on our welfare and happiness and our growth as individuals. There was love. And there was consolation and solace in knowing it would always be that way.

And as we drifted off, sleep—and peace—came to us sweet and warm. It drifted down from the rafters with the love and laughter which protected us when we were children.  And as I sleep each night, the memories, sweet and warm,  ring from distant rafters, drifting down to comfort me, ground me, slow me down when this world begins to move a little too fast. 


Comfort Food

We always laughed
As daddy ate his soup
From a large serving bowl
Filled to the brim
With hot savory beef broth,
A mountain of thin noodles
And a dash of Tabasco,
Pausing every now and then
To wipe his perspiration-covered face
And sit back, gratified, proclaiming
"I like soup no matter what flavor it is!"

We would race to drain
Our bowls in order to be first
To claim the prize—the juicy bones
Layered with chunks of soft beef,
Chewy gristle and mouth-watering
Beefy marrow which we would
Spread on our heavily salted meat

This was Saturday supper
Every week, every month,
All the years of our childhood
And the contentment
Of those early years was not only
From young, full bellies
But the love and security
That seemed to hover
Around our table, cloaking us
From the elements
Of change, floating

Like the rich, golden bubbles
Swirling in our Saturday soup

-->

Cocoon

Laughter rose

And rang from the rafters

Drifting down softly

To comfort at night.

Sleep was sweet and warm

Within the cocoon of family

In my youth.

Laughter rose

And rang from the rafters

Drifting down softly

To comfort at night.

Sleep was sweet and warm

Within the cocoon of family

When my children were young.

Long-ago laughter echoes

And rings from distant rafters

Drifting down softly

To comfort at night.

Memories are sweet and warm

Within the cocoon of family

As I sleep.

Thank you for reading; and keep warm...