How to Make a Cajun Sausage Sautee

Ingredients:
Cavallo Nero Kale
Escarole
Wilted fall greens with Andouille sausage
2 cloves garlic

Other greens that work:
Radicchio
Curly kale
Frisee
Chard

Brian Streeter: For this month’s recipe, we’re going to do the easy week night
meal really good during the fall season when it’s a little bit cool
outside using cool vegetables.

Well, I told you to eat a lot of leafy greens and so this is an
opportunity to do so. All very simple to put together Escarole is
probably as its best now. It’s also when it’s going to pay least and
which is when you want to seek it out. It’s a little bit sweeter not
nearly as assertive. Cavallo Nero goes by a bunch of different
names in the grocery store, all the same vegetables. And basically
it is a type of Kale. When you do go to the store and you can
utilize what looks good.

We’re going to use the Cavallo Nero and the Escarole on the
recipe--but usually I want to get rid of the stem and the stem is
rather woody so you get rid of that and then just tear it up into
pieces.

The Andouille, this is a spicy smoked, Cajun pork sausage. It’s
already cooked. We’re going to slice it so we can sauté it and get
some of the flavor into the greens. Cut them into coins about half-
inch thick or so. A little bit of slivered garlic and slice it as thinly
as you can sort of lengthwise. Add a tablespoon of olive oil, a little
bit of sausage. It should sizzle as soon as it goes in. Get a little bit
of color on it also some of the juice is going to come out and that’s
going to help the flavor our greens. Toss them once or twice a few
seconds out of the pan.

Turn to the heat. Throw in a little bit of slivered garlic, second to
soften a little bit, add then a couple of good handfuls of the greens.
And you want a little bit of water clinging to your greens because
that’s going to create steam when your greens are wiltt down as
you’re cooking them, a little pinch of salt.

Remember that your garlic is in the bottom there so I want to try
and toss these around. Turn them over. I don’t want the garlic to
get really brown. Everything is wilted down probably to about half
its volume.

Go ahead and throw your sausage back in and toss that around, get
a little bit more of flavor to coat your greens and then a quick easy
meal to put on the table during the week when we’re all busy. It
goes really nicely with a glass of Cakebreads in.

I like to just let everybody put a little splash of red wine vinegar on
top of it. Just a little bit that I think it sort of perks it up and it gives
a little bit of zip.

Julianne Laks: The aroma is incredible.

Brian Streeter: Good.

Julianne Laks: Even before the vinegar right on there it’s just beautiful, beautiful
aroma.

Brian Streeter: I’m glad you started making Zinfandel. It’s always been a favorite
at the winery.

Julianne Laks: Zinfandel is an amazing wine for food. It just lends itself to a lot of
different things and it really does go well with this vegetable
earthiness kind of goes well with the wine as well as the little bit of
spice in the sausage very, very nice --

Brian Streeter: A lot of smokiness too so particularly the way that we’re using has
a lot of smokiness to it so I think that marries well with it.

Julianne Laks: The dish almost intensifies, a red berry, and then that beautiful
spice behind it, very, very nice, beautiful combination.

Brian Streeter: The scents in the nose are just sort of over the top.

Julianne Laks: Our style is not to be real heavy and laid and they're -- as it has all
that concentration but it’s still very, very, bright essence and that’s
what we like.

Brian Streeter: And make my job much easier, thank you.

Julianne Laks: Cheers.