Pasta with Chorizo, Red Peppers & Queso Fresco

One of the main staples of our dinner repertoire is a very simple dish we call "Sausage Pasta." It started as a combination of two pasta recipes - one with sausage and onions (which required a side dish and I'm usually too lazy to make a side), and one with broccoli and parmesan (good as a side, but...). I'll post that recipe soon, but here's a variation I've had bouncing around as an idea for ages and the result is delicious. The basic idea is almost too easy to be good - sauteed onions and garlic, some sort of sausage, any short pasta, a complimentary vegetable, and a cheese to top it off. There is a dinner out there for pretty much every sausage flavor (maybe not brats...).

Pasta with Chorizo, Red Peppers & Queso Fresco
1 regular onion, sliced (or 2 of the small ones that come in the bulk bags - such a deal)
4 gloves of garlic, sliced
4 chorizo sausages, casings removed (or a little less than a pound of bulk sausage)
1 red bell pepper, sliced into about 1 inch pieces
1 t cumin
1 T oregano (fresh when possible)
hot sauce (we like Cholula) to jazz it up a bit
about 4 cups of uncooked rigatoni or penne
Queso Fresco*
cilantro

• Put a pot of water on for the pasta.
• In a large pan, saute the onions in a few tablespoons of olive oil (over medium heat, so they brown but don't burn), stirring often. When most of the edges are beginning to brown, add the garlic and saute that until it starts to brown.
• Add the chorizo to the onions and garlic, breaking it up into small pieces as it cooks. You may have to add a bit more oil, but the chorizo will release its fat any second now so add sparingly.
• Add the cumin and oregano.
• Have the pepper ready so that when the pasta goes into the water you can add it to the sausage mixture. If you have good brown bits stuck to the pan, splash just a little of the pasta water into the pan and scrape them up.
• When the pasta is cooked, toss it with the sausage mixture, and some hot sauce to taste.
• Serve sprinkled with the cheese and cilantro.

*I'm going to test cheddar or maybe asiago- Queso Fresco is $8 a package around here and that's a little rich for my blood.

Blackened Fish Tacos

I don't know where my weakness for fish tacos came from. When I was growing up tacos were something served in a hard shell, nothing else (and a burrito was ground beef with taco seasoning, cheese, and sour cream in a tortilla - no variations), but a few years ago I discovered fish (soft) tacos and I'm never going back. Yes, these tacos would probably be more exciting if I bothered to buy some cabbage to shred up and sprinkle on top (it's such a great crunch!), but I'm never able to use up the rest of the cabbage, so I skip it.

Blackened Fish Tacos
serves two big eaters (not that I am one, but...)

1 pound (or a little less) of a flaky white fish (use whatever is on sale, or try the frozen section at Trader Joe's)
blacken seasoning to sprinkle
1 lime
6-8 corn tortillas
whatever you like in your taco - we do sour cream, a simple salsa (usually tomatillo), avocado, cilantro, hot sauce, and cheese (cheddar when we're feeling broke, queso fresco when we're not)

• Sprinkle one side of the fish with a generous amount of the blacken seasoning. Heat a small amount of oil (probably not olive, canola or something like that) in a pan. When it's hot, place the fish in the pan spiced side down - now you can sprinkle the other side.Cook each side for about 4 minutes.
• Meanwhile, do your little bit of prep for the tacos.
• When the second side is almost done, break it up a bit (one great thing about fish for tacos is that you don't have to worry about it all falling apart).
• With the pan still hot, squeeze the lime over the fish and cook for just a minute or two longer to get rid of the extra moisture and finish the fish.
  
• Heat the tortillas and build your tacos (I like my tortillas toasted on a dry cast-iron griddle I have, but as long as they're warm, they'll be great).
  

Best Everyday Dressing, 2 ways

A Big Salad, a.k.a using up Easter Eggs

The love of a salad compose (basically Seinfeld's Big Salad) is one of the gifts my trips to France gave me - tender greens, a simple vinaigrette, an egg in some form, always bacon (or lardons when I find/make them), cubes of Gruyere when I'm feeling flush, and whatever else I can get my hands on (tomatoes, asparagus tips, green beans, artichoke hearts, avocado, and on). I don't eat many vegetables and I really don't eat salad. It's usually a waste of calories (almost no nutritional value and little taste), but great ingredients and this dressing make it a worthy dinner (especially in the Summer or when you need to use up some Easter eggs).
This dressing made the lemon way is my favorite for Caesar salad or marinating chicken for the grill. If you do the vinegar option you can just keep blending and it will thicken into a spread (almost) that's great on toasted bread. This is my Mom's famous "Mom Dressing" that everyone loves above all other dressings. When she used to make it I'd save a piece of bread so I could clean my plate completely (I've also been known just to lick it).

Best Everyday Dressing, 2 Ways

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (about 1 lemon) OR red wine vinegar
2 - 4 cloves of garlic, chopped (I use all 4, but I like my dressing garlicky)
1 T mustard (pretty much anything but yellow)
S & P to taste
1/2 cup olive oil

• In a smallish glass measuring cup (I use a weird 3-cupper I have, but a 2 will work fine) combine all the ingredients except the oil. I give this a little stir with the spoon I used for the mustard to let the acid start eating up the other stuff. If you add the garlic, etc... to the oil it will all be coated in oil and won't blend as well (maybe it's all in my mind, but this order just seems to make a better dressing).
• Now add an equal amount of olive oil - a little over 1/4 cup - and blend it with a hand blender* in short bursts until it's the consistency you like. I know most recipes say to stream in the olive oil, but I don't find that to be true unless eggs are involved.
• Now taste it. I like a very acidic dressing, so I'm usually done here (except for adjusting the S & P), but now's the time to add more oil if you like a mellower dressing.

*If you use a food processor just check the consistency a little more often, but even a dressing that almost gets turned into mayonnaise will still be great - call it Creamy Italian! You can even shake it in a jar, but then you have to mince the garlic and it doesn't get as thick as I like it.