"What to do with this ?" meals.

Every now and then, my husband triumphantly comes home with a sausage, a Polska Kielbasa beef sausage. He likes it as a side dish with eggs, scrambled eggs, on week-end brunch. Usually we use up only one half of it, and the rest goes to the refrigerator. He usually totally forgets it, until I find it hiding somewhere in there, and it's up to me to decide what to do with it. Of course according to our house rules, no eating the same thing twice, so there is no way we are having eggs and sausage again soon. But another rule I have is that no food should be thrown away. So, I have to come up with a way, or ways, to use the remaining piece of sausage, of course not as a side dish to eggs. I've tried it in salads, potato and pasta, but as you may know by now, salad doesn't count for my husband. So here is what I came up with yesterday.

SPANISH INSPIRED CHICKEN

This can be a one dish meal or an end of the month meal. It has all the ingredients of a meal in the same skillet, and you can make it using ingredients you have at hand in your refrigerator and pantry. You can also be very creative with it, you can use fresh or canned ingredients: I used fresh tomatoes I had from my yard, but canned diced tomatoes can also work. On the other hand the classic paella recipe (hence the "Spanish inspired" part) calls for fresh red bell pepper, but I had roasted bell peppers in a jar, so I used them. Also you can use more or less meat (chicken and sausage): for this dish I used a package of chicken thighs with 5 pieces in it and the leftover sausage I had (1/2 of the Polska Kielbasa beef sausage). You can use turkey sausage or any kind you prefer. You'll need:

5 boneless skinless chicken thighs

1/2 sausage beef Polska Kielbasa

1 medium onion

2 large tomatoes (or 1 can, 14.5 oz, diced tomatoes)

1/2 red bell pepper

1/2 bag (16 oz) frozen peas

1 1/2 cup rice

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp each: garlic powder, paprika, dried oregano, turmeric

1 tsp lemon juice

2 cups chicken stock (or 2 tbsp granules plus water)

Salt and pepper to taste

Rinse and pat dry the chicken pieces. Trim all the visible fat, and you may cut the thighs in half. Put the chicken pieces in a bowl, add the garlic powder, paprika, oregano and salt and pepper. Mix to coat, add the lemon juice and let stand to marinate while you prepare the vegetables. Dice the onion, the tomatoes and the pepper. Slice the sausage in 1/2 inch slices. In a nonstick skillet, brown the chicken in 1 tbsp oil. Remove the chicken thighs to a platter. In the same skillet add the other tbsp oil, then cook the onion til tender. Add the turmeric, the sausage and stir. Add the rice and stir to coat with the oil and turmeric. Add the tomatoes and return the chicken pieces to the skillet with their liquid. Stir, and add 1 cup of stock. Remember that tomatoes and the other ingredients have some liquid in them so you don't need to add all the liquid needed according to the rice package directions. So we'll start with one cup and add as needed. If you are using the granules, add them when the liquid is hot so that they dissolve easily. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and let cook til all the liquid is absorbed. Check the rice for donness. You may need to add some more liquid. When the rice is almost tender, stir in the peas and the diced bell pepper. Stir to incorporate and let the liquid be completely absorbed and the rice tender.

NOTE: If you are using fresh red bell pepper, you should add it with the onion so it can take its time to cook. I used roasted bell peppers, so I added them at the end. 

POTATO SALAD WITH SAUSAGE

This salad couldn't be easier. You don't even need to have a recipe for it: simply mix the ingredients with a light dressing and you're done. I never make it the same way twice. It all depends on what I have at hand, and what we are in the mood for. This time I had half of a Polska Kielbasa beef sausage, some potatoes, which I boiled, a carrot, 3 or 4 scallions (white and green parts), 4 celery stalks, 2 sprigs of rosemary, 2tbsp mayo and 2 tsp mustard. Cube or slice the sausage and cook it in a drop of oil. Slice the celery and scallions, grate the carrot or pulverize it in the chop chop, cube the potatoes, put everything in a bowl. Sprinkle the salad with the chopped rosemary and mix the whole thing with the mustard and mayo. Adjust the seasoning and serve.