Spinach and Sausage

Spinach and Sausage

I’m an unrepentant spinach lover.  Haven’t found a way I don’t like it, but I’m always searching for something new, pretty much as I search for new wines, whiskies, and beers.

Yes, I’ve tried boiled and buttered, spinach with onions, more than a dozen versions of that Indian favorite, saag paneer , creamed spinach, varieties of raw spinach in salads, and other ways that stretch my memory to the limits.

Lately, standing in my kitchen and reviewing the contents of my refrig and wondering about alternatives, without having to drink and drive, since I was already downing my second glass of fermented grape, I hit on the idea of sausage and spinach, fried in a pan. Hey, I also had a big handful of mushrooms to use, and a sweet onion from some strange corner of the earth. Garlic?  Well, hell yes!  Grated cheese also spoke to my taste buds in a loud, but timorous voice.  “What about me???”

Well, then, nothing left to do than strive bravely onward!

Spinach and Sausage, serves 4

Only equipment you need is a stove, a large, high-sided frying pan, and a stir stick.

5 Cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped

1 Sweet onion, peeled, cut in half and sliced thinly

8 button mushrooms, sliced thinly

1 lb of sausage, crumbled

1 to 1.5 pounds of spinach, well rinsed and drained

Enough grated parmesan for the cheese lover inside you

Hot sauce (I used Sriracha)

Salt and pepper to taste

3 Tablespoons olive oil

2 Tablespoons butter ( prefer French butter)

Turn the heat to medium. Drizzle the olive oil in the pan and add the butter.

When the butter melts and starts to sizzle, add the garlic, onion, and mushrooms.  Stir and cook until everything just begins to change color.

Empty the garlic/onion/mushroom mélange into a bowl and set aside for now.

Add the sausage to the frying pan and cook, breaking it up as much as possible.  When the meat is no longer pink, add the garlic et al back in the pan and stir.  Now add the spinach and allow it to cook down, stirring and turning the whole pile, so everything gets its fair share of the heat.

When the spinach leaves are wilted and soggy, add as much parmesan as you like.  Stir well, taste and add salt and pepper.

Inform your guests that there’s only enough for four and some of them will have to leave.  (Hint: Only inform the ones who did not bring wine.)

Now you can also drop a few friends from your Christmas list.

Serve in individual bowls. Stand by!  It’s time to put some heat to the meat.  Give yourself another generous shake or two of parmesan, then as much hot sauce as you like.  Stir. Taste.  Pour more wine.  Gobble and slurp. Converse only if you must.

Bio-Fest In Bruchmühlbach

All items made from recycled plastic bags

Local juices and honeys, and honeys

Adding seeds and nuts is a nice, crunchy touch.

Sauerbraten and warm potato salad

Germany is a green country in more ways than one.  First, sprawling verdant fields and forests cover the landscape.  You never run out of forest here.  Also, Germany is a bio-first green nation.  Recycling is a passion and if you don’t feel passionate, too bad, it’s the law.  In our house, we have five trash containers.  One is for plastics and assorted light metal, another for paper, another for food scraps, another for glass, and yet another for anything that doesn’t fit in the first four categories.  Want to dispose of yard trimmings?  There’s a specific site to dump those, or there are a few pickups a year.  Likewise for big metal items, or old furniture.  It’s fair to say, if you use it, there’s a place to recycle it.

Some things would drive an American crazy.  No washing cars in your driveway, or anywhere else except a commercial car wash.  Why?  I’ve been told the reasoning is that runoff from washing a car contains contaminants, and the water must be cleaned and recycled.  Guess it never occurred to anyone that rain doesn’t give a damn.  Makes me feel like a real outlaw every time it rains.  I use my windshield wipers, honk my horn and dare someone to arrest me for unlawful runoff.

Let’s move on to food.   Although the European Union food standards are very strict, even that isn’t good enough for the Euro-purists.  Bio products are labeled and sold in practically every food market.  Germany is also awash in what we would call ‘Health Food Stores,’ but Germans call Bio-stores.  Every bakery offers Bio-bread of a dozen types.

Not that I’m complaining.  If you’ve read my blog before, you’ll know I’m an eat-clean kinda guy.  When I can, I buy organic, or free range, or grass fed, or natural, or whatever label you can find that describes pure food, non-genetically altered food, and animals not raised in cages.  Did you know genetically altered crops are not allowed in the E.U.?

However, the use of growth hormones is an ongoing battle.  The World Health Organization ruled circa 2008 that growth hormones in cattle feed and the like, pose no health risk.  The E.U. appealed.  Nothing is certain, but my understanding is that any use of growth hormones, or antibiotics for the E.U. food industry is carefully regulated.  What does that mean?  Beats me.  Specific enough to sound safe, general enough to mean anything.

This was the first Bio-fest I’ve been to.  Very friendly folk, lot of information and lots of good food and beer.   The vegetables-salads were all strictly organic, the meat and wurst all bio-pure.  Forgive me for sounding like a member of the lunatic fringe, but I think the food tastes better without additives and I think I know why.  You can’t add preservatives and chemicals and/or allow something to sit on a shelf for months and then expect it to taste the same.  All world-class restaurants and most wannabe world-class restaurants use fresh and unadulterated ingredients to the extreme.  Had lunch in a Mexican restaurant in Manhattan a few years back and the sign over the door left an impression:  ‘Our kitchen has never seen a can.’  Food was impressive, too.

So, I went to the fest.  Had a great time.  Drank beer that’s German-Law-pure, no matter where you drink it, ate some tasty food, learned about plants I want for my garden, tasted juices and waters that are supposed to clean out the pipes and allow the ol body to last a while longer.  In this case, forget about the details, Bio meant interesting, tasty, and filling.

Homemade brats right off the grill!

The sign on the bottom left means:  A future for Man and Nature.

The Germans celebrate the beauty of nature every singe day.