Fall is here, although it doesn’t feel like it. Hurricanes are churning their ways up the coast from Florida. It is still sub-tropically warm and damp. And yet I am anticipating cooler weather and warmer foods. I know, come February, I will be pining away for summertime treats. Sometimes I feel like Milo in The Phantom Tollbooth, always longing for the next experience. I should be like the cat, happily napping in pools of warm buttery sunlight, but in truth I just flipped through the L.L. Bean winter outdoor clothing catalogue with relish!
Cooler weather means I will return to the kitchen and will rummage about for the big stew pots, the loaf pans, the Crock Pot and the recipes that will stick-to-our-ribs. And, I fear, enlarging our expanding waistlines… Stews, chilies, spaghetti sauces, meatloaves, lasagnes, breads, brownies and pot pies. Spices swirling in the air. Baking. Anticipating Thanksgiving. I’m dreaming of a change from the hot, all-too-familiar sameness of this stinking hot old summer. And then there are the sugar plums that arrive in December! Plus having to figure out what to do for the Christmas card this year!
I love trailing through food halls, peering through shop windows and admiring perfectly arranged still lives of fruits, vegetables and meats, getting ideas and inspirations. In London at Selfridge’s palatial food hall a couple of years ago I marveled at the goose eggs, duck eggs and quail eggs artfully displayed in small packages in a case that also included tubs of duck fat. Interesting. Perplexing. Nearby there were the picture perfect piles of roasted meats and strings of sausages, and acres of fish and pretty shiny red lobsters, too. Much easier culinary concepts for my addled tourist brain to absorb.
Closer to home we have a butcher shop where all manner of imported specialities are stacked on every surface, and they are fascinating to contemplate while standing in line for my two pounds of Italian sausage; one hot, one sweet. Perched on counters and shelves and under the counter are day-glow pink pickled eggs in Jeroboam-sized jars, capers galore, an abundance of olive varieties, huge cafeteria-sized tins of La Bella San Marzano Italian Plum Tomatoes, gallons of imported light, plain, virgin and extra virgin olive oils in varying-shaped bottles and vessels, dusty packages of pastas, trays of fresh mozzarella, and I could continue the inventory all day. I always feel humbled when confronted by all the ingredients of what must be the potential for many feasts, when all I want is some sausage.
We do not ease our way back inside from the summer spent cooking on the grill. It is done abruptly. Labor Day has come and gone. The white shoes have been banished (except for sneakers). Football games occupy the weekends. I’d prefer to have my sausage and chicken cooked on the grill, but the grill is in semi-retirement. It will only cook steaks and hamburgers until the spring rolls around again, or if our Connecticut friend comes to visit and we prepare Big Love Pizza as a threesome. It is back to the kitchen for me – the summer holiday is over.
The End of Summer
Chicken, Sausage and Peppers
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 large bell peppers, cut into strips (We like the sweeter tasting red or yellow peppers)
• 2 medium onions, sliced (I like Vidalia or any sweet onion)
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 pound hot Italian sausage
• 1 pound sweet Italian sausage
• 1 pound boneless chicken breast, cubed
• A generous sprinkle of crushed red pepper flakes
Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add peppers, onions, garlic and sauté 10 minutes. Cook until tender, about 5 -10 minutes. I like to singe the edges of the vegetables.
Cook sausages in another heavy large skillet over medium-high heat until brown and cooked through, turning occasionally, about 15 minutes. Ditto with the chicken cubes. Scoop the peppers and onions onto a platter and pile the meat on top. Add a salad, a crusty loaf of bread, a tall glass of wine and candles.
This is a good meal to make on the weekend, because you can toss the leftover sausage and chicken with pasta or rice, and voilà! Dinner is made for a dreary Monday, when no one (least of all me!) wants to cook.
Summer is almost a dream again.
https://food52.com/recipes/15846-healthy-sausage-peppers
https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/open-face-sausage-and-peppers-sandwiches
“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.”
― John Steinbeck
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