At times, I am an old school grumpy kitchen purist. I remember saying, “The best pasta is made by hand from flour and eggs”. I may have even turned my nose up to bottled salad dressing or canned beans. As a cook that yearns to touch the firm rubbery flesh of a banana each morning and marvels at the different shades of red in the skin of a Pink Lady apple, I relish in the ceremony of preparing meals. However, as new blessings come into my life, like my fiancée and my canine sister, Millie, dedicating more time to them leaves me with a little less energy to simmer beans for an hour and knead pasta dough. While I still delight in mincing shallots for my red wine vinaigrette a la minute, I concede to keeping frozen peas and a few cans of beans on hand. I am also increasingly thankful for twenty-first century kitchen technology.
The advancements that I am most thankful for this week are the household refrigerator and plastic containers with screw on lids. Two weeks ago, we sautéed red and green bell peppers and onions for a Ground Turkey Hash. Before I left for a trip to the east coast the next day, I placed the left over raw peppers and onions in a plastic food storage container with a screw lid. When I returned to our refrigerator last night, to my surprise I saw the bright red and green bell peppers and white onion in almost the same condition I left them. I peered through the plastic expecting to see mold and found only a few droplets of moisture. I prepared myself for an outrageously sulphurous odor when I unscrewed the lid. Nothing. Just a mild whiff of sliced bell pepper. Amazing!
Next test, the white onion. Yes, the onions oh-so pungent sulphur smell was quite strong. But, anytime I store a severed onion, be it for one day or one week, the smell is intense and bites the inside of the nose. The two-week old onion was in suitable condition to sauté or caramelize.
As a new homemaker trying to adhere to my budget, I appreciate the industrial designers, engineers and scientists that collaborate to refine household refrigerators and plastic storage containers. Thanks to their efforts, vegetables that should have rotted, remained crisp and slightly moist for two weeks. I saved money by not having to go out to eat and I relaxed from my trip by dicing onions and peppers for a light dinner and a hearty breakfast of Sweet Buttered Peas with Ham and Chicken Sausage with Sautéed Peppers and Onions over Polenta. Keeping peas and previously cooked polenta in the freezer helped me put this meal together quickly as well. Here’s to modern appliances and food technology! Cheers!
Sweet Buttered Peas with Ham & Carrots
Yield: 2 large portions
Ingredients
1 Tbsp olive oil
½ medium onion, small dice
2 medium cello carrots, small dice
½ c honey ham, small dice
2 c frozen peas
1 tsp butter
Salt, to taste
Cayenne pepper, to taste
Method
1. Sweat the carrots and onions in the olive oil over medium heat. Cover the pan with a lid and cook over low heat until the carrots are tender.
2. Stir in the ham cubes and peas. When all the vegetables are hot, stir in the butter. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Serve with toasted bread.
Chicken Sausage with Peppers and Onions over Polenta
Yield: 1 portion
Ingredients
1 Tbsp olive oil
½ medium onion, small dice
½ red bell pepper, small dice
½ green bell pepper, small dice
1 Tbsp cranberry juice
1 chicken sausage (roasted garlic and herb are delicious)
3-4 oz cooked polenta, sliced (frozen or packaged)
Method
1. Bake the chicken sausage in a toaster oven or conventional oven at 300ºF for 10 minutes. Insert a steak knife when the sausage browns. If the liquid is clear, the sausage is done.
2. Increase the oven temperature to 350ºF and place the polenta in the oven for 5-7 minutes to reheat.
3. Sauté the onions and peppers in olive oil over medium high heat. When the vegetables start to brown, add the cranberry juice and lower the flame to medium.
4. Slice the sausage in half, spoon in the onions and peppers. Serve the sausage over the polenta slices.
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