More salad time …. and I have to say that I am prepared for the jokes …. this is Wurstsalat. Not the worst salad (it’s actually really good!), but Bayerischer Wurstsalat, Bavarian-Style Sausage Salad. Sure, might seem a little strange to make a salad out of sausage, but it’s yummy, refreshing and easy to make, something perfect for a Brotzeit (translation: savory snack or light meal), something that you would eat at a biergarten. There are actually many styles, predominantly from Bavaria and Switzerland, but also Austria, Swabia and even parts of France. Some include cheese as well, some have mayo. Load it only a piece of hearty bread or with a pretzel. In my part of the US, the sausage types are more limited (though that might not be the case with larger German-heritage populations) but I made do with German bologna. So bring on the worst jokes, I’ll keep eating!
meat
Yup, a stack of bacon! It’s breakfast, right? Well this is more about technique than a recipe per se. Everyone has their own way of cooking bacon. In the pan, in the oven, even in the microwave. My method involves the oven, covering the pan with aluminum foil, and by placing the bacon on a wire rack placed on the prepared baking sheet. This increases the airflow so the bacon cooks evenly and makes it crispier, and reduces clean up and splatters in the oven. Very much a “set it and forget it” for at least 45 minutes (and then I usually check until it is the crispiness of my liking). It might not completely count as a full breakfast, but it IS bacon, so I’ll eat it! 🙂
Last Tuesday was Mardi Gras, so I was thinking about New Orleans, and thinking about New Orleans usually has me thinking of food, so here is an updated version of my Gumbo, this time adding shrimp/prawns as well. Super delicious, not overly spicy (that sort of depends on your andouille sausage) and makes a whole lot so be prepared for leftovers (freezes well as well).
January is made for comfort food. It’s chilly and snowing just a bit which made it the perfect time to make these Cheesy Shells with Meatballs. Full disclosure: this is one of those times that you can bought store bought parts of this meal. I included directions on how to make meatballs, but you can also go buy some pre-cooked frozen meatballs. And I didn’t make the marinara or pesto sauces either — store bought is just fine. While people have this perception that it is hard to stuff shells (or manicotti, for that matter), if you cook the pasta al dente, it isn’t much of an issue. Enjoy!
Ever since I’ve been back from Quebec, I’ve been on a little bit of a kick to find more French Canadian foods that I like. I wanted to make a tourtiere, which I have done before with mixed results and when doing research, I found there are about as many recipes for tourtiere as there are people in the entire province of Quebec, so I just went with my own. The one pictured is actually only a half-recipe one because I am a singleton. The recipe is for a full-sized one though. My flavor profile is traditional meat-pie filling with ground beef and some veg and gravy, and the spices lean to the pepper and paprika side of things. I did find some recipes with cinnamon and clove but that isn’t my thing for meat pies. Happy with the result and *really* happy on how flaky the crust came out.