Saturday, June 3, 2017

Roasted Italian Sausage and Fennel Salad

I made this a few summers ago and it's really good if you hate salad, or even find it hard to get enthusiastic about. My guess is this serves 2 people.

a container of arugula or spinach or red leaf lettuce, washed and torn into bite sized pieces
1 large head of fennel aka anise
2 potatoes (or one head of cauliflower in one inch florets)
1 avocado
1 ripe large tomato (or two little ones)
half a pound of sweet italian sausage
one lime
cumin
chili powder
oregano
garlic (optional)
olive oil
salt/pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

1. Cut the stems off the head of the fennel bulb, cube the bulb in half inch dice.
2. Peel the potatoes and cube them in one inch dice/break the head of cauliflower into one inch florets.
3. Get a glass pan and toss the fennel and cauliflower with: 2 T or more olive oil, salt and pepper, 2 t cumin, 2 t chili powder, and half a teaspoon oregano (crush it with your fingers over the veggies). Toss. Roast for 20 minutes, then stir, roast another 20 minutes, take out of oven, let cool on the stovetop while you do the rest.
4. In a pan, heat olive oil at medium high/7 until it's a got a little haze on it. Turn on stovetop fan. Saute the sausages in their skins 3-4 minutes a side, then lower heat to medium low and put a cover on it with 1/4 cup water to really steam the pork all the way through. Set aside on a paper towel.
5. In a container you can shake up, put 1/4 olive oil, juice of one whole lime, a clove or two of garlic minced, 1 t cumin, 1 t chili powder, a pinch of oregano, salt and pepper. Shake! Taste and add salt if you need to.
6. Slice up the tomato and avocado.
7. On each plate: make a bed of lettuce, put the tomato and avocado on one side all decorative-like, and then put the potatoes/cauliflower on the other side and put the sausage on top.
8. Pour dressing on with a spoon. It's easy to get too much, so be careful.

Mmmm.