Spicy Sausage over Rice

FINALLY, all my cooking by the book has paid off! I needed a quick and easy lunch so I took a look in the fridge and created something out of nothing based on a previous recipe I made here on HWM. I'm calling this dish Spicy Sausage over Rice, and it was brilliant (if I do say so myself.) Remember the Shrimp and Grits from last year? I took what I learned from that recipe and pulled out the following ingredients.

I used leftover spanish rice as my base which was great because it was already seasoned, but if I didn't have this in the fridge ready to go I could have used another starch like grits, mashed potatoes, white rice, egg noodles or other pasta. We had three brats, butter, diced ham, tomatoes, a carrot, some chives and not pictures are white wine and some seasoning I added while cooking.

 

I started with a tablespoon of butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. When the butter melted I added one chopped carrot and 1/4 cup of diced ham. Other veggies that would work great here are celery, garlic (not sure why I didn't think to add garlic to this, I know I had it on hand.)

 

After a few minutes, I added about a cup of white wine and the chopped tomatoes and let this simmer down until almost all the liquid was gone.

 

I took the sausage out of the casings and dropped them into a small skillet to brown the sausage balls.

 

Once browned, but not fully cooked through I added the sausage balls to the tomato sauce.

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I tasted and adjusted seasoning by adding a dash of ground mustard, garlic powder and red pepper flakes.

 

I added a lid and let this cook down until the sauce was thick and the sausage was cooked through.

Done!

And the other two brats? Jim grilled them and ate them on a bun. (boring)

I liked my version of these brats much better. Spoon the sausage and tomatoes on top of the leftover spanish rice and finish off with a sprinkling of green onions and voila, a delish meal made from odds and ends. I love cooking!