A Tale of Two Sausages

Two fresh Sausages, Asparagus, and Pan Fried Rice

Oh boy, this was a tasty dinner - even tastier than it looks. It's worth going into my cooking method for this meal, which I'm pretty proud of looking back.

So, for the week leading up to this dinner, I had been slowly seasoning my cast iron pan with fat from several steaks, multiple rounds of bacon, and other juicy meat drippings. I knew it was time to cash in on the flavor I had put into the pan. I started this meal by cooking a pot of sticky rice in my rice cooker. I recently switched to Japanese sushi rice for its flavor and great consistency; the one pain with it is that it must be thoroughly washed before cooking, else it gets overstarched and the rice cooker will foam over. Next, I simmered two fresh artisan sausages I picked up in Whole Foods in around an inch of water, with a cover on the pan to allow the whole sausage to cook.

After the rice and sausages were done, I tossed them into the sizzling hot cast iron pan, searing and glazing the sausages. With some spices and a drizzle of olive oil, I pan-fried the rice, allowing it to soak up the meat flavor from the pan. The asparagus got thrown into the original sausage pan, with a quarter inch of concentrated water that had soaked up flavor from the sausages. I added some oil to the water, and after the asparagus had soaked up all the flavor and the water boiled off, I sauteed them to give them a nice outside.

Plated together, this meal was great. The rice had a deep meat and seasoning flavor, but was still bland enough to offset the sharp flavor of the sausage. The asparagus still had its hearty flavor, but the savory sausage flavor had really penetrated into the vegetable. This was one great meal.